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We will discuss about the Great Indian Bustard and the important aspects that is related to today's news. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Let us move on to the news article. The Great Indian Bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds and they are found to be endemic to the Indian subcontinent. They are primarily terrestrial birds with huddled males ranging around 122 cm in height and 11 to 15 kg in weight. Similarly, the huddled females reach up to 92 cm in height and to about 4 to 7 kg of weight. It is one of the rarest birds in the world and among 200 individuals that are found in the world, more than 90% of the birds are found in India and very few birds are found in Pakistan. And even among this 90%, the largest number of about 150 is found in the Thar desert in Rajasthan and few birds are also found in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and in Karnataka. These species usually inhabit open habitats like in short grasslands, open scrub and rain-fed agriculture. See, the Great Indian Bustard is a crucial indicator when it comes to grassland ecosystems. They usually breed in traditionally selected grasslands and during the mating period, the males display themselves to attract the females and the males have got a gular pouch. Whenever they wish to attract females, they inflate the gular pouch and the pouch helps them to produce a resonant booming mating call to attract females and the sound of this mating call can be heard up to a distance of 500 meters. This species is known for very slow reproductive rate i.e. it lays only one egg for one or two years and the success rate of these eggs under ideal situation is found to be around 60 to 70% only. Because of such low reproductive rate and specific habitat requirements, the species is found to be highly vulnerable and there have also been reports on their nest predation by foxes and dogs. There are several threats to Great Indian Bustard and today we will see about the most important and the current threat that is faced by the bird. The threat is that these birds are prone to collision with power lines. This is because of their poor frontal vision and their inability to see power lines from a distance. Due to their large size and since they are heavy, it becomes difficult for them to maneuver or to shift trajectory quickly after seeing power lines. Many a times there is a huge impact with these lines and even if there is no electrocution, the birds die because of the impact of collision and sometimes they also die because of electrocution. The habitat of Great Indian Bustard have a high density of transmission lines because of the potential for renewable energy production in Rajasthan and Gujarat. It is in this context that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Wildlife Conservation Society of India has come up with a unique initiative. The initiative is to install firefly bird eye water for overt power lines. These firefly bird eye water are attached with or installed on power lines. These eye water are called fireflies because they look like fireflies from a distance. They shine on the power lines in the night and the workers reflect us for bird species like the Great Indian Bustard and the birds can spot them from a distance of about 50 meters and can change their flight path to avoid collision with power lines. The advantage of this measure is that the eye water will not only save Great Indian Bustard but also other large bird species as well and this measure is expected to conserve and save a lot of birds from collision including the Great Indian Bustard. Please remember, Great Indian Bustard is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. By listing in Schedule 1, the species is accorded the highest level of legal protection under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. With this, we have come to the end of analysis of this news article. Let us move on to the next part of the discussion. Now, let us take up this news article which talks about the recent District Development Council elections which took place in Jammu and Kashmir. The Gupkar Alliance which is an amalgam of six regional parties including the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party has emerged as the frontrunner in the election while the BJP was the single largest party. In this context, let us have a brief understanding about DDC. We know that the Centre has amended the Jammu and Kashmir-Panjayati Raj Act of 1999 in order to facilitate the setting up of District Development Councils as a third tyre of the government. This move marks the implementation of the entire 73rd Amendment Act in Jammu and Kashmir. Here, DDCs will include a DDC and a District Planning Committee which is also called as a DPC. This system effectively replaces District Planning and Development Boards in all districts and it will prepare and approve District Plans and Capital expenditure. It is to be noted that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Adaptation of State Laws 4th Order of 2020 states that for each district there shall be a District Development Council and it shall have the jurisdiction over the entire district excluding such portions of the district as are included in a municipality or municipal corporation constituted under any law for the time being in force. Accordingly, every district in Jammu and Kashmir are divided into 14 territorial constituencies to elect members of the body. Here, we know that the members of the DDC will be directly elected by the Otas in the Union Territory and these elected members will subsequently elect a chairperson and a wise chairperson for the DDC from among themselves. So, therefore, the key feature of DDCs is that they will have elected representatives from each district. The order further states that each DDC will consist of the directly elected members from territorial constituencies in the district and the members of the Legislative Assembly representing a part or the whole of a district whose constituency lie within the district and also the chairperson of all the block development councils of the district. The term or the tenure of the DDC will be for five years and the electoral process will allow for reservations for SC, ST and women. Also know that the Additional District Development Commissioner who is also called as the Additional D.C. of the district shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the District Development Council. The order also states that all members of DDCs whether or not elected by direct election from territorial constituencies in the district shall have the right to vote in the meetings of the council. However, for the election or removal of the chairperson and wife's chairperson, only directly elected members shall have the right to vote. This means that MLAs will have no voting rights in the latter case. Now, talking about DPC, know that for every district there will be a DPC comprising MPs representing the area, members of the state legislature representing the areas within the district etc. among others. The MP will function as the chairperson of this committee and the committee will consider and guide the formulation of development programs for the district. This editorial is again with reference to farming issues. See we are frequently seeing news and editorials related to the ongoing issues in the farming sector and here we are trying to cover most of them in our Hindu news analysis because there is a chance that questions can be asked from this topic both in problems as well as in mains. So, due to this reason we are trying to give you a 360 degree analysis of the issue in our Hindu news analysis and today the author of this editorial, he talks about the right to protest and its relevance and he also mentions about the issues in the farming sectors and the various ways in which they could be addressed. The syllabus relevant for this editorial article is given below for the reference. Now, let us move on to this editorial article. See, taking into account the ongoing protest, the Supreme Court is suggested to form a joint panel in order to look into the demands of the agitating farmers. Here the author observes that this move by the Supreme Court is not only given a space to the government to look into the issue but it also indirectly upholds the farmer's right to protest. Now, see when a group, a community or even a person goes up to protest, it is usually done to showcase the disapproval against any action or a policy or even a statement of the government or any other private organization. Mostly the flow of protest is driven through political waves, through protest, they demonstrate the collective organization of people and they also attempt to make the government or the state to address their issues and also to take steps in overcoming them. Coming to protest, they generally work in two ways. First is that it helps a particular community or a group or person to show their disagreement with the policy in question and second it helps a government to identify the loop holes in their policy or action and also it helps them to work towards its betterment. When you look back, protests in India have got a long and eminent history and one of the classic example for that would be a freedom movement. Please remember, protests are not only done domestically, it is also done at international level as well and here the author in his editorial, he takes an example of India's demands and protests had bringing reforms in the norms of the World Trade Organization where in India showed its protest against an unequal set of rules that favored developed countries like the US. This protest were done in regard to in pursuing country specific food security policies in keeping with the socioeconomic responsibility. Having done all this, now let us see what exactly is the right to protest. See, the right to protest is a fundamental right that is guaranteed by the constitution of India. In this regard, Article 19 Clause 1 Clause A of the constitution elucidates the right to free speech and expression. It includes that every person has got the right to express their personal opinions but subjected to reasonable restrictions. Similarly, Article 19 Clause 1 Clause B states about the right to assemble in a peaceful manner and without harms. Thereby it is made clear that the right to peaceful protest is bestowed to Indian citizens by our constitution itself. But you should also note that reasonable restrictions are imposed on our freedom by the constitution. It is this reasonable restrictions is given in Article 19 Clause 2 which states, reasonable restrictions are imposed in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offense. And also Article 51 A makes it a fundamental duty for every person to safeguard public property and to avoid violence during the protest. This means that resulting to violence during public protest may result in the infringement of key fundamental duty of citizens. So we can say that protesting is not only a fundamental right that is granted by the Indian constitution but protesting against injustice is also a moral duty. And here in this case farmers are demanding a total repeal of the new agricultural laws that are meant to bring out reforms in the agricultural sector. In this regard the author notes about the attempts of successive governments in bringing reforms in the agricultural sector since the economic liberalisation that took place in 1991. Now here it is important for you to know about India's new economic policy that was announced on July 24 of 1991 which is also called as LPG or liberalisation privatisation and globalisation model. This liberalisation refers to the process of making policies that provides less constraints when it comes to economic activity and also it provides for the reduction of tariff or removal of non-tariff barriers. Coming to privatisation it refers to the transfer of ownership of property or business from a government to a privately owned entity and globalisation refers to the expansion of economic activities across political boundaries of nation states. The main objective was to plunge Indian economy into the arena of globalisation and to give it a new thrust on market orientation. The LPG policy was intended to move towards higher economic growth rate and also to bring sufficient foreign exchange reserves to India. Coming back to an editorial in this regard the author is of the opinion that all the major agricultural reform initiations that have occurred since the LPG era by the success of governments were met with criticisms and protests from parties and oppositions and now at present in our ongoing issue the opposition towards the laws are due to the reasons that the new laws provide for setting up private market outside the designated Mondays and that it allows contract farming without government regulation and also because it lifts stock holding limits for farm produce which can result in hoarding. We have elaborately covered these issues now 14th December Hindu news analysis so please watch it for your reference. The author in this editorial alleges that the new form laws enable a private entity to control and monopolise the market this means that they can control the rate a farmer will get for his or her produce and they can also influence the market price at which the hen product will reach the retail customers. Next we know that the new laws aim to promote mechanisation and corporatisation of agriculture in this regard the author notes that without adequately skilling training and empowering the small and marginal farmers to become competitive this move can be a threat to the survival of farmers in India. This is because more than 80% Indian farmers are small and marginal operational land holding farmers who hold land of less than two hectares as per the 10 agricultural census which took place in the year 2015 to 2016. The author also talks about the government's ambitious target of setting up 10,000 farmer producer organisation by the year 2023-2024 which must be registered as a company or a cooperative to run farming as a business but the author notes that till now only 881 FPO's have been registered. In this context it is important for you to know what is an FPO. Before that let us first understand about a producer organisation. This producer organisation is a legal entity that is formed by primary producers which includes farmers, milk producers, fishermen, weavers, rural artisans and craftsmen. A producer organisation can be a producer company or a cooperative society or any other legal form which provides for the sharing of profits or benefits among the members. Here a producer company means a body corporate that is registered under the amended companies act of 1956. The main aim of this producer organisation is to ensure better income for the producers through an organisation of their own and FPO or farmers producer organisation is one such type of producer organisation where the members are farmers. It is to be noted that the small farmers agribusiness consortium or SFAC is providing the necessary support for the promotion of FPO's or farmer producer organisations C this SFAC or the small farmers agribusiness consortium is an autonomous society that is registered under society's registration act of 1860 and this SFAC is promoted by the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare and it is governed by the board of management. This board of management is chaired ex-officer by the union minister of agriculture and farmers welfare. With this broad overview let us know what exactly does the author prescribe in this article. According to the author for time being it will be appropriate for the government to put on hold the implementation of contentious pieces of legislation and here at present the need of the HAR is the initiation of widespread transparent and participative consultation with all stakeholders which includes gram panchayats so that informed decisions by consensus can be arrived at. With this info let us move on to the next analysis. This December marks the fifth year anniversary of the Paris Agreement so recently the international community including the European Union and India gathered at the climate ambition summit 2020 to discuss on how to reduce the net carbon emissions and also on the ways in making the earth a better place to live. In this light first let us see about the climate ambition summit. The UN, UK and France in partnership with Chile and Italy hosted the climate ambition summit on December 12th 2020. Leaders across government, business and civil society gathered for this virtual summit in order to discuss on the measures to limit global temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius. With this information let us move on to this open article. In this article the author analyses the current period to be the most relevant time to talk about the global action against climate change in spite of the downfall in the global economy. The author here wishes for the post COVID-19 recovery to be a green recovery. To achieve this green economic growth the European Commission had come up with the European Green Deal back in December 2019. In this context let us see the provisions of the European Green Deal. First the European Union will bring a law binding on all its member countries to ensure in becoming climate neutral by the year 2050 then in its climate action plan declared under the Paris Agreement the European Union is committed to make a 50% reduction in its emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and it also aims in making this reduction to 55% in future. This action helps in reducing the cost of low carbon technologies the cost of solar photovoltaics is already declined by 82% between 2010 and 2019 and further on achieving the 55% target it will help us to save around 100 billion dollars in the next decade and up to 3 trillion dollars by the year 2050. Apart from these main provisions European Green Deal also includes its provisions to come up with next generation European Union Economic Recovery Package which consists of an earmark close to half a trillion euros assigned for fight against global change. Also the author remarks that the fight against climate change should be fought by all countries together and this was understood by India and it is evident in India joining hands with the European Union to fight against global climate change. Here it is to be noted that over the years India has given a major push to replace fossil fuels with solar and wind energy. Now let us see about the efforts taken by India against climate change along with the support of European Union. European Union and India are committed to the full implementation of the Paris Agreement India has so far partnered with the European Union in initiatives like the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and also in the Leadership Group for Industry Transition. India and Team Europe are engaged in making a success of the forthcoming international gatherings which includes the COP26 that is to be held in Glasgow focusing on climate change and the COP15 that is to be held in Konming which focuses on biodiversity. Now let us see in brief about the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and about the Leadership Group for Industry Transition. Now talking about the International Solar Alliance, it was conceived as a coalition of solar resource rich countries to address their energy needs. Please note these solar resource rich countries includes those that lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The ISA will provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource rich countries in order to help them in achieving the common goal of increasing the use and the quality of solar energy. Now let us see about Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure which is a platform where knowledge is generated and exchanged on different aspects related to disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure. It also creates a mechanism to assist countries in upgrading the capacities and practices with regard to infrastructure development, keeping in mind the climate change and disaster risks. Coming to Leadership Group for Industry Transition, it is a global public private effort done to ensure every industries and mobility companies in finding workable pathway to deliver on the Paris Agreement. So all this shows that there is a greater momentum gaining towards keeping up with the goals of Paris Climate Deal. So in the next COP or the Conference of Parties that is to be held in Glasgow, team Europe will continue to work closely with India on green investments and in sharing of best practices and technologies. It is to be noted that already European Union has given around 100 billion dollars of climate financing to countries in most need. So we should take this recovery phase of the economy as an opportunity to build back ourselves in a better manner. This can be attained by ensuring climate neutrality. To achieve this we should mobilize our scientists, business people, policy makers, academics, social activists and citizens to protect together the thing which all of us share beyond borders and species. Yes that is none other than our planet earth. This news article states that the central government is planning to set up a development finance institution in the next three to four months. The objective is to mobilize around 111 lakh crore which is required for funding the national infrastructure pipeline or NIP. It is found that banks are not viable for financing some important long-term projects. This is mainly because long-term projects do not provide any deviant or profit for banks for many years. With reference to NIP as an investment plan it aims to make an investment for more than 100 lakh crores. Out of this total amount it was planned that 39% would come from the central government, 39% from states and the remaining 22% from private. But given the economic slowdown and the financial changes imposed on banks and private by COVID-19 it is really challenging to realize this funding plan. In this scenario a development finance institution could serve the purpose of funding long-term projects to those important projects which lack funding support from banks and others due to risks involved. The DFI will also announce the credit rating of projects. The news article states that prior to liberalization that is prior to 1991 India had development financial institutions that were engaged in development of industry. The present day ICIC Bank and IDBI Bank have earlier served as a development financial institution. The news reports that the country's oldest financial institution IFCI Limited 2 had acted as a DFI. See IFCI stands for Industrial Finance Corporation of India and it was established by the Government of India on July 11 in the year 1948. It was established as India's first and premier development financial institution in the name of Industrial Finance Corporation of India in order to cater to the long-term financial needs of the industrial sector. By the early 1990s there was a need for greater flexibility to respond to the changing financial system and therefore IFCI was mandated to directly access the capital markets for its fund needs and therefore the constitution of IFCI was changed in the year 1993 from a statutory corporation to a company under the Indian Companies Act. So therefore the name of the company was changed to IFCI Limited with effect from October 1999. These are some of the information related to the DFIs. Now let us move on to the next news article. Now let us take up this article regarding the Legion of Merit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was awarded the Legion of Merit for his role in advancing the India-US relationship. The award of the Legion of Merit was instituted in the year 1942 by former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is awarded to members of the US armed forces and also to members of foreign armed forces and sometimes even to the heads of state or government. Please note the first Indian to win the Legion of Merit is Field Marshal K. M. Karyappa. He received this award in the year 1949 from the then US President Harry S. Truman. Now talking about the advancing Indo-US relation, India and the US have signed four foundational agreements, the last on being BECCA signed in October. The other agreements are LEMOVA, Kumkaza and Jisomya. Next, India has also received the status of strategic trade authorization from the US. This status enables the export of high technology products in civil space and defence from the US to India. In addition, the Indo-US relationship also progressed with the frequent 2 plus 2 meetings on strategic issues. In these talks, defence and external affairs ministers of both the countries discussed on the strategic areas to further progress the cooperation between the nations. In the recent years, US emerged as one of the major defence equipment suppliers to India. This includes the purchase of C-17, Globemaster III for military transport, Boeing's Chinook CH-47 has available helicopters, etc. Further, a first ever tri-service military exercise between India and the US named Tiger Triumph was held last year and India-US bilateral relations have further progressed into a global strategic partnership. And as said at the start, Prime Minister Modi has been awarded Legion of Merit, which is a prestigious honour of the US government. So with all these developments, we can understand how Indo-US relationship have progressed in the last few years. And with the new US president taking charge in the next month, it is expected that Indo-US relationship will further enhance under the presidential ship of Joe Biden. Let us now move on to the discussion of the prelims practice questions. With reference to the newly created district development councils in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, consider the following statements. Statement 1. They replace the district planning and development boards in all districts. Statement 2. They will have elected representatives from each district. Statement 3. Only elected members of DDCs shall have the right to vote in the meeting of the council. Which of the above statements is or are correct? When you look at the above statements, you find that the third statement is incorrect because as per the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation, Adaption of State Laws, Fourth Order 2020, which states that all members of DDCs, whether or not elected by direct elections from territorial constituencies in the district, shall have the right to vote in the meetings of the council. However, for the election or removal of the chaired person and vice chaired person, only directly elected members shall have the right to vote. So, this means that MLAs will have no voting rights in the latter case. So, therefore, the right option is option A, that is statement 1 and 2 only. With states, consider the following statements. Statement 1. Great Indian Buster is commonly found in all states in India and statement 2. They are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Which of the above statements is or are correct? Now, when you look at the first statement with states that the Great Indian Buster is commonly found in all states of India is found to be incorrect since the Great Indian Buster is mainly found in Rajasthan and few of them are found in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. So, in this regard, the statement 1 is found to be incorrect and coming to statement 2 is correct. Protection under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Therefore, the right answer is option B, that is 2 only. With which of the following countries did India sign Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement or BECCA? And the four options are Australia, USA, Japan and Russia. As seen earlier in the news analysis, India and US have signed four foundational agreements with the last one being BECCA, which was signed in October. Therefore, the right option is option B, that is USA. Now, let us take up this main practice question. Do you think at a time when global economy has seen a great fall, is it right to focus on environment than on the economy? Also, elaborate on the various initiatives taken up by European Union and India to fight against the climate change. Please write your answer and post it in the comment section below. With regard to the right to protest, let us look at this main practice question, which states, peaceful protests and demonstrations are considered to be a treasure in respect to safeguarding the rights of a democratic society. In this context, discuss the provisions relating to right to protest enshrined in the Indian Constitution and with recent examples, analyze how it has helped the society to show its disagreement with state policies. Write the answer and post it in the comment section below. With this, we have come to the end of today's news analysis. 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