 A very good evening aspirants, we are going to start our today's video with an important note. Yes, this is about the pre-storming 2023 batch 3. As you all know, the orientation program of batch 3 has already concluded and the first test is going to be conducted on 20th November 2022 that is on Sunday. Like the previous two batches, this batch will also contain 6 to 6 tests and it will be conducted both online and offline mode. So grab this opportunity which helps you to increase your prelims score. We all know question paper solving is very important when it comes to prelims, right? So with this note, let us get into the daily Hindi news analysis for the date 18th of November 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay, let's get into the article discussion. Today we are going to start our discussion with this front page news article. This news article is about a RIT petition filed in the Supreme Court. The petitioner questioned the efficiency of collegium system in the RIT. He even called the collegium system a synonym for nepotism and favoritism. So the petitioner in the RIT petition asked to revive the National Judicial Appointments Committee and this is to replace the collegium system. See regarding the collegium system, even our union law minister mentioned that nowhere in the world except India, there is a practice that judges appoint their brothers as judges. So for all of these things, Supreme Court mentioned that there are enough checks and balances within the collegium system itself and even the Chief Justice of India in this regards pointed out that collegium system was provided by a judgment of the court and it was introduced through an iron judge bench judgment in the year 1993. And he also wondered whether an iron judge bench judgment could be challenged through a RIT petition and this is about the news article given here. So in this discussion, we will be focusing on the National Judicial Appointments Committee. But before that aspirants go and watch the October 16th, 2022 in the news analysis. In that analysis, we have covered the collegium system fully. So if you go and see that, you will get a hold of the continuity of events. Now let us start our discussion. First of all, understand that the National Judicial Appointments Committee was introduced to give the executive a say in the appointment and transfer of judges in the upper judiciary that is Supreme Court and the High Court. And in the year 2014, Parliament enacted the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act. See this amendment only introduced article 124A into the Constitution. And it is the article 124A that provided for the composition of National Judicial Appointments Committee. So basically through 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, our Parliament created the National Judicial Appointments Committee, which is shortly referred as NJAC as a constitutional body. And this is to replace the collegium system. See here you have to notice one thing. The 99th Constitutional Amendment Act received the unanimous assent of both the houses of the Parliament except for one opposing vote from Rajya Sabha. And also know that the amendment received assent from 21 state assemblies. See here I have a small question for you. What necessitated the need for the assent of states in regards to 99th Constitutional Amendment Act? Aspirants if you know the answer to this question, post your answer in the comment section. Now coming back, the NJAC was brought to ensure two things. One I already mentioned. It is nothing but to give the executive essay in the appointment and transfer of judges in the upper judiciary. And the second thing is to ensure transparency in appointment and transfer of judges of the Supreme Court. So this is about the background of NJAC. Now let us see about the composition of NJAC. See NJAC is a six member body. Firstly, there is the Chief Justice of India and then two senior most judges of the Supreme Court and then the Union Law Minister and finally two eminent persons. See these eminent persons were to be nominated by a committee consisting of Chief Justice, Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha. Now there is a condition for these eminent persons. See these eminent persons they were to be nominated for a three year term and they are not eligible for renomination. And this is about the composition of NJAC. How many members are there? Six members. Chief Justice of India, two senior most judges of Supreme Court, Union Law Minister, two eminent persons. Now let us see what happened to this NJAC. See in the year 2015 the Supreme Court through the four judges case struck down the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act. So what was the reason behind striking down the NJAC? For this the Supreme Court said that primacy of judiciary is one of the basic structures of the Constitution. So NJAC by giving the executive some power in the appointment of judges is diluting the primacy of the judiciary. And for this reason only Supreme Court said that it struck down the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act. And remember this happened in the year 2015. And also remember it was struck down by four judges case. And this is all you need to know about the NJAC. Now coming back to the news article again. See the news article mentions about an interesting judicial term void ab initio. Now what does this void ab initio mean? See ab initio literally translates to from the beginning. So in judicial practice if something is declared void ab initio then the said thing is invalid from its very inception that is from its very beginning. So in the news article the petitioner who filed the petition mentioned that 2015 four judges case judgment must be declared void ab initio. That is the 2015 four judges case judgment should be declared void or invalid from the very beginning itself. So this is one interesting term that is mentioned in the news article and I thought you should know about it. And this is all regarding this particular news article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the Constitutional Amendment Act which created the NJAC the need for NJAC the composition of NJAC and finally we ended our discussion by seeing an interesting judicial term void ab initio. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. For our next discussion we are going to take this editorial article. See this editorial article talks about the recent extension of Pradhan Mantri, Garib Kalyan, Anayojana and the extension is for another three months. So what is the scheme and what is the extension will understand them in this particular news article discussion but before that the syllabus relevant to the article is highlighted here for your reference please go through it. Now let us begin the discussion with Pradhan Mantri, Garib Kalyan, Anayojana. See this Pradhan Mantri, Garib Kalyan, Anayojana shortly referred to us PMGKAY. It is a scheme which is a part of Atmanirbaar Bharat and its objective is to supply free food grinds to migrants and poor people. I hope you all know about Atmanirbaar. See it is nothing but a 20 lakh crore rupees economic stimulus package aimed at creating self-sufficient and resilient India. See it was announced by Prime Minister in his address to nation in the month of May 2020 and this package is to cater to various sections including cottage industry, MSMEs, labourers, middle class industries among others. And this Garib Kalyan, Anayojana is also a scheme which is a part of Atmanirbaar Bharat and as we already saw its aim is to supply free food grinds to migrants and poor. See this scheme was operational from April 2020 and it was launched in six phases up to September 2022. Now the scheme has been extended again for another three months which is from period October to December 2022 and this phase is called as phase 7. Now let's look into the benefits of the scheme. See under the scheme more than 81.35 crore people were provided with 5 kg of free wheat or rice per person per month along with 1 kg of free whole channa to each family per month. So what does the family get? The whole family is getting 1 kg of free whole channa per month but as for as wheat and rice is concerned 5 kg free rice per person per month. Now know that wheat has been allotted to six states or union territories. They include Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Delhi and Gujarat and rice has been provided to the remaining states and union territories. Remember all these are over and above the regular monthly entitlements under the National Security Act of 2013. Now what is this National Food Security Act? See this act covers up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population under Anthodaya Anayojana and priority households. See here priority households include poorest section of the population and the Anthodaya Anayojana which is shortly referred as AAY includes the poorest of the poorest section of the population. So this Anthodaya Anayojana was a step in the direction of making targeted public distribution system. It is shortly referred as TPDS and it aimed at reducing hunger among the poorest sections of the below poverty line population. See this scheme that is the Anthodaya Anayojana suddenly came up because of the National Sample Survey exercise which pointed towards the fact that 5% of the total population in the country sleeps without two square meals a day. So in order to make the targeted public distribution system more focused and targeted towards this category of population the Anthodaya Anayojana was launched in December 2000 for 1 crore poorest of the poor families. See do you all remember the Global Hunger Index of 2022? We saw that India scored very low right. So when a question is asked in the mains relating to hunger you can very well write this point. You can write it under steps taken by the government to address the hunger situation in India. The Anthodaya Anayojana scheme is one such step and the National Food Security Act is also one such step. Now coming back to the discussion. See under the National Food Security Act the Anthodaya Anayojana households are entitled to 35 kg of food grains per family per month and the priority households they are entitled to 5 kg per person per month. So this is the entitlements as per the National Food Security Act. See moments before we saw about the entitlements that were given under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana right. So as you can see the limits that were given under Garib Kalyan Anayojana is way above the limit that is prescribed in the National Food Security Act. See this is done to make sure that the migrants and poor they do not sleep without food during the COVID-19 pandemic. So this is the basis of the Garib Kalyan Anayojana scheme. See I have given here the eligibility criteria for the scheme for your reference just go through it. Now apart from the eligibility criteria you should know that the Garib Kalyan Anayojana scheme it covers approximately 80 crore poor people and it functions under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs food and public distribution. See the program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution working under the same ministry and we already saw that the scheme has been extended for another three months and this is the phase 7. See this move it is very surprising for two reasons. Firstly in the months prior to the latest extension that is during the months of September 2022 there was much of a debate on relevance of freebies right and we have also covered about it in many of our analysis. See people were talking about the relevance of freebies and how it is disadvantageous in various angles. We saw all of that but again now government is opting for giving free food grains. So this is surprising. Secondly there were reports in June that expenditure department is not favoring this move because there is fund crunch in the center and it is also seen that the scheme is no longer needed because we have overcome the pandemic situation right. This is a non-pandemic scenario. So it is surprising why the government is extending the scheme for another three months. That too in non-pandemic times and one more relevant factor here is the Russia-Ukraine conflict. See we all know the consequences of Russia-Ukraine conflict particularly in the agricultural sector is significant and we have also seen the adverse impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the world's food and energy sectors. So these are the two reasons why the move by the government to extend the scheme is very surprising and having seen all about the scheme now let us see some of the issues in the scheme. See firstly even though the scheme tries to cover the bottom layer of the society many are left to behind. See this is because the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act they are based on the last census that is 2011 census and since then the number of food insecure people has increased and they remain uncovered. See the beneficiary list cannot be expanded unless we conduct the next census. So this is the first issue. Secondly the scheme is very expensive. See it is very expensive because the government they have to sustain and increase the need for an abundant supply of cheap grains. I hope you all remember that in 2022 India was forced to limit the wheat and rice exports due to erratic weather and this increased the food prices and it adversely affected the global agricultural markets and considering all this the scheme is very expensive. Now this is the second issue. Thirdly the scheme will increase the fiscal deficit of the government. See the scheme will pose a risk to the government's target to narrow the fiscal deficit to 6.4% of the GDP. Now you may ask how will fiscal deficit increase if the government is giving away free food grains. See if there is fund crunch in the center then obviously the government has to borrow to fund the scheme right and that's how the fiscal deficit happens and this is the third issue and finally the scheme might cause inflation. See what happens when the production is low and distribution is high it leads to inflation right. See the prices of rice and wheat makes about 10 percentage of India's retail inflation and due to decreased production brought by heat wave and Apache monsoon rice and wheat prices are increasing. So in such a situation distributing extra free grains might lead to food inflation and this is the final issue. Now that's all about this article discussion. In this discussion we saw about Pradhan Mantri, Garib Kalyan, Anayojana, the extension of it and we also saw about the National Food Security Act 2013, we saw about Anthodaya Anayojana, we saw about the eligibility criteria of the implementing ministry and after that we moved on to see why the extension is surprising and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the issues of the scheme. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now see this news article it is about the Siberian ruby throat. See it is a migratory bird. This bird was recently spotted in Nilgiris. So in this discussion we'll focus on the Siberian ruby throat. See this bird breeds in the Siberian mixed coniferous forest where there is undergrowth. Now you may wonder what is undergrowth? See it is nothing but the vegetation found near the forest floor and why does the Siberian ruby throat breed in the mixed coniferous forest where there is undergrowth? See this is because these birds build their nest near the ground and since the bird is very shy the undergrowth provides the much needed cover for the bird and as I already mentioned this is a migratory bird. Now look at this distribution map of the species to understand the extent to which these birds travel. See in the summers the birds travel northwards and they breed in the Siberian forests of Russia and in the winters they escape the harsh Siberian winters and they travel southwards and spend their winters in Thailand, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. See they do not breed in the winter and this is about the migratory pattern of the Siberian ruby throat. See in India also during the winters it is mainly confined to the eastern part. Now you can see the main range of this bird in the light green area mentioned in this image here and it is due to this reason only the sighting of the bird in Neil Geary's is a rare and significant one. Now coming to the physiological features of the species. See the scientific name of this species is caliope, caliope. Here caliope is a Greek term which literally means beautiful moist. So it is basically a song bird and occasionally it also does mimicry and note that this is an insectivorous bird so it mainly feeds on insects, spiders, worms and small invertebrates and rarely the bird also eats berries and fruits. Now finally coming to exam specific information. See the IUCN status of the Siberian ruby throat is least concerned. Now this is about the bird Siberian ruby throat. Now let us move on to see about the importance of the migratory birds. The first importance is the dispersal of seeds. See migratory birds play an important role in dispersal of seeds along their migratory root and through this activity they help maintain the biodiversity of the region and the second importance is soil fertility. See the droppings of the bird which is also known as guano they are rich in nitrogen and they act as organic fertilizers and in addition to this eggshells of the birds can add calcium and even other minerals also and this is the second importance and the third is that the migratory birds act as an indicator of a healthy environment. See the presence of migratory birds help evaluate the state of the environment in a particular area and these are the three major importance of migratory birds. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this article discussion we saw about Siberian ruby throat its distribution physiological features, IUCN status and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the importance of migratory birds. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now we are going to take this news article for our discussion. This news article talks about a declaration made by the High Court of Karnataka. See the High Court of Karnataka has declared that the nominated members of town panjayat and the municipality they have no right to vote in the elections to the Karnataka legislative council. So this is about the news article given here. In this context let us understand the procedure of election for the members of legislative council. See we all know that the legislature of every state consists of governor and the state legislature. In some states the legislature consists of two houses namely legislative assembly and legislative council. But in the remaining states there will be only one house namely legislative assembly. If you have any doubt how is this possible it is because of constitution. See the constitution provides for the abolition or creation of legislative councils in the states and accordingly the parliament can abolish or create a legislative council. Provided the legislative assembly of the concerned state passes a resolution to that effect. So if the legislative assembly of the state passes a resolution regarding abolition or creation of legislative council then the parliament can abolish or create a legislative council in the respective state. And this is about the basics of the legislative council. Now coming to its composition see according to article 171 of the constitution the legislative council of a state should comprise not more than one third of the total members of legislative assembly of the state. And it also says that in no case the total number should be less than 40 members. So it is nothing but it should not be more than one third of the total members of legislative assembly and it should not be less than 40 members also. Now this is about the composition. Moving on let us see about the election procedure. See the members of Vidhan Parishad or the state legislative council they are indirectly elected. So how are they indirectly elected? One third of the members are elected by members of local bodies like municipalities, panjayat, district boats etc. See here only today's news article becomes relevant. As per the Karnataka High Court the nominated members of local bodies that is the town panjayat and municipalities they cannot take part in the election of Karnataka legislative council. But what does the provision says it says one third are elected by members of local bodies but it does not specify whether it is by elected members or nominated members. So that is why we are discussing this article today. So this is the first provision and the second one is that one-twelfth of members are elected by graduates of three years standing and residing within the state and another one twelfth are elected by teachers of three years standing in the state not lower and standard than the secondary school and after that one third are again elected by the members of legislative assembly from amongst the persons who are not the members of the assembly and finally the remaining members are nominated by governor from persons who have a special knowledge or practical experience of literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service. So what does this mean this means that five sixth of the total number of members of legislative council are indirectly elected and the remaining one sixth are nominated by the governor. See these members they are elected in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote and the bona fide or propriety of the governor's nomination in any case cannot be challenged in the courts and this scheme of composition of legislative council which is laid down in the constitution is tentative and it is not final. See as per the constitution the parliament is authorized to modify or replace the procedure. However parliament has not enacted any such law so far so the constitutional provision stands till today. Now this is about the election procedure to legislative council of state. Now coming to its tenure see like the Rajya Sabha the legislative council is a continuing chamber that is it is a permanent body and it is not subject to dissolution but know that one third of its members retire on the expiration of every second year. So what does this mean? This means a member continues as such for six years and the vacant seats are filled by fresh elections and nominations at the beginning of every third year. Know that the retiring members are also eligible for re- election and renomination for any number of times. Now that's all regarding this particular article discussion in this discussion we saw about the abolition and creation of legislative council of state its composition election procedure and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the tenure of the legislative council of a state. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now this is the final article for today's discussion. This news article talks about the national investment infrastructure fund. See according to the news article our finance minister has urged the national investment and infrastructure fund to expand its operations and find ways to bring in private capital. She also asked the NIIF which is expanded as the national investment infrastructure fund to focus on projects under the national infrastructure pipeline Prime Minister Gatti Shakti and national infrastructure corridor. And this news article also says that NIIF has proposed setting up its first bilateral fund. See it is titled as India-Japan fund with contributions from government of India and Japan Bank for international development. And this is about the news article given here. In this context let us understand some important points about NIIF. To understand about the national investment and infrastructure fund you must know about the development banks. See development banks they are specialized banks that provide long-term and high volume funding to various developmental projects. For example they provide funding for the construction of ports transport corridors etc. Here the main difference between the development banks and the commercial banks is that commercial banks take deposits from the public and they provide it as loan to the others. But the development banks they rise funds from the high net worth investors or by issuing bonds. And afterwards they lend this money to the developmental projects. See in India once we had various government owned development banks. For examples we had industrial finance corporation IDBA and ICICI. It's surprising no. Yes IDBA and ICICI where started as the developmental banks. But the problem was these developmental banks stayed as loss making banks. So post 1991 liberalization they were transformed into commercial banks. And in some cases they even got privatized. So currently in India we do not have any big developmental banks which is focused mainly on infrastructure. But as India is a fast growing country there is an increasing demand for infrastructure and it needs funding also right. Now here you may ask even commercial banks can also lend for these projects right. Yes it can but commercial banks they lack the expertise in this regard. So basically there were large infrastructure projects but there was no dedicated institution to provide them the credit. So a vacuum was created in this situation. So to fill this vacuum only NIIF was created. See NIIF was created in 2015 and it was created with an initial funding of 40,000 crore from government of India. See the Indian government has 49 percentage holding in this and the rest of the capital is raised from third party investors. Third party investors in the sense either foreign or domestic investors. See since the Indian government holds a 49 percentage in NIIF it is also termed as quasi sovereign wealth fund. So what is the sovereign wealth fund sometimes the national governments generate excess income right. And this surplus revenue is maintained as a separate fund. If this excess amount lies idle it will not generate any income. See they will invest this amount in low risk areas to generate revenue and this fund is only called as sovereign wealth fund and the Indian government's 49 percentage holding in NIIF it is also a sovereign wealth fund and this you should know. So we know that Indian government has 49 percentage investment in NIIF. Then who are the rest of the investors look at this image here. These institutions are the other major investors in NIIF and using this fund only the NIIF invests in commercially viable greenfield brownfield and stalled infrastructure projects and it mainly focuses on energy transportation housing water and waste management sectors. So basically NIIF achieves two things one is that by investing in commercially viable projects it provides commercial return to its investors and the second thing is that it provides the much needed funding to the investment lacking India's infrastructure sector. So what does this mean? It means that NIIF kills two birds with one stone it is a win-win scenario. See another important point about the NIIF is that it is registered as a category two alternative investment fund with SEBI. See this is an important point take note of it while taking note go and find out what is alternative investment fund also and add that also to your notes. Now coming back to the discussion see NIIF it maintains three funds the first one is master fund it is the NIIF's core infrastructure funds this fund is primarily used for investing in infrastructure projects like roads ports airports power generation etc and the second fund is the fund of funds. This fund is maintained by third party well renowned fund managers see these fund managers can use this fund another private funds to invest in equity that is the share market. So fund of funds main role is to earn returns to the investors of the NIIF. So this is the second one the third one is the strategic opportunities fund shortly referred as SOF. See it has been established with the objective to provide long term capital to high growth future ready businesses in India. Basically it is providing capital to businesses in India. So these are the three funds one is master fund the other one is fund of funds and the third one is strategic opportunities fund. So what is the significance of these funds see the main advantage of NIIF is that since the risk is divided among three funds even if one fund is making loss the other two can cover for that. So the amount provided by the investor is secured by this way and this move will attract investor confidence and that is why many investors are planning to provide funding to the NIIF. So this is all about the national investment infrastructure fund that you have to know and this is all regarding this particular news article discussion. In this discussion we saw about development banks the difference between development banks and commercial banks and after that we saw about the national investment infrastructure fund the different investors of NIIF the three types of funds maintained under NIIF and the significance of it. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next part of the discussion that is the practice prelims question discussion. Today we have four prelims questions I'll solve three of them and one of them is a quiz question for you. Now let us solve this first question consider the following statements regarding the transfer of judges of high court statement one according to article 222 of the constitution precedent after consultation with chief justice of India may transfer a judge from one high court to any other high court. Statement two post the three judges case before expressing his opinion to the precedent the chief justice of India should also take into account the views of four senior most supreme court judges. See these two statements they are correct according to article 222 of constitution precedent should consult chief justice of India before transferring a judge from one high court to any other high court and the chief justice of India he in turn should consult four senior most supreme court judges. Now coming to statement three for transferring a high court judge other than the chief justice of high court the chief justice of India should take the views of the governor of the concerned state. See this statement is incorrect for transferring a judge other than the chief justice the chief justice of India should take the views of chief justice of high court concerned as well as the chief justice of the court to which the transfer is taking place. Adding to this the chief justice of India should also take into account the views of four senior most supreme court judges. This we saw in the second statement but in case of transfer of the chief justice of high court the chief justice of India should only take into account the views of four senior most supreme court judges. He need not consult with the governor of the concerned state. So the third statement is incorrect so the correct answer to this question is option A one and two only. Now moving on to the second question which among the following birds migrate to India? Siberian Crane, Greater Flamingo, Rosy Pelican, Raleena, College Fessent. See the correct answer to this question is option C one two and three only. Why is this? See the first three are migratory birds which migrate to India during winter. Raleena otherwise known as the great Nicobar Craig is a flightless bird as the names are just it is found in great Nicobar biosphere reserve. So these birds do not migrate. Now coming to College Fessent see it can fly but only for a shorter distance. They also do not migrate. On 21st October 2021 the government of Jammu and Kashmir declared College Fessent as bird of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. So again the correct answer to this question is option C one two and three only. Now moving on to the third question consider the following statements regarding Legislative Council. Statement one unlike Legislative Council composition of the Council of States is not mentioned in the Constitution. Here don't get confused. Legislative Council is Vidhan Parishit. Council of States is Rajya Sabha. So what has the statement given? The composition of Rajya Sabha is not mentioned in the Constitution. See this statement is incorrect. Rajya Sabha it is the upper house of the Indian parliament. It is also called as Council of States and the composition of both the Council of States and Legislative Council is mentioned in the Constitution itself. We saw the composition of Legislative Council in our discussion. Now coming to the Council of States which is nothing but the Rajya Sabha the Constitution provides that the Council of States shall consist of 12 members to be nominated by the President and not more than 238 representatives of the state and of the Union Territories. So in total 250 members. So the statement which says that the composition of Council of States is not mentioned in the Constitution is incorrect. Now coming to the second statement both Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha are permanent bodies. This is correct. This we saw in our discussion itself. Now read carefully what has the question asked. The question has asked to identify the incorrect statements. So what is the correct answer here? We saw that statement one is incorrect and statement two is correct. So the correct answer to this question is option A 1 1 Lee. Now moving on to the final question. See aspirants this is the quiz question for you. Read the question carefully think for a moment and post your answer in the comment section. Aspirants I have given here a main question for your practice. So interested people write it and post your answer in the comment section. If you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today, post that also in the comment section. And with this we have come to the end. If you find the video useful, like, share and comment and do subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.