 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar A's Academy for the date 18th of January 2023. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay let's get into the article discussion. Now look at this news article, the news article says that the budget session is set to commence on 31st January. Our president is said to address the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as this is the first session of the year. And know that this joint sitting will take place in the new parliament building. And this is about the news article given here. In this context let us see about the joint sitting of the parliament. See we have been seeing the governor's address for the past couple of days due to the Tamil Nadu incident. Now we will see about the president's address today. See article 176 provides for the special address by the governor this we saw in detail yesterday. In the case of parliament we have article 87. Article 87 provides for the special address by the president. It provides for joint sitting on two occasions. One at the commencement of the first session after each general election. And the second occasion is at the commencement of first session of each year. That is generally budget sessions. Because budget sessions only happen at the start of each year right? See in these joint sittings the president will address both the houses of the parliament, assembled together and inform the parliament of the causes of its summits. And such an address is called as special address. This is because no business transactions can be done till the president has addressed both the houses of parliament, assembled together. See if Lok Sabha is not in existence and has been dissolved at the time of commencement of the first session of the year, then Rajya Sabha can have its session without the parliament's address. Now comment if you know whether such an incident happened in India or not. Now coming back to our discussion. In the case of the first session after each general election to Lok Sabha, the president addresses both the houses of the parliament assembled together, after the members have made the oath or affirmation and the speaker has been elected. See this is an additional information. So when will the president address take place? It takes place after the members have taken the oath and the speaker has been elected. Now coming to the content of the address. See similar to article 176, the president's address under article 87 is drafted by the ruling government. Basically the president's address is the statement of policy of the government. So the address contains a review of various activities and achievements of the government during the previous year. And it also sets out the policies, projects and programs which the government wishes to pursue about regarding the important national and international issues. And adding to this the address also indicates the items of the legislative business which are proposed to be brought during the sessions in the following year. See this address of the president is discussed in both the houses of the parliament on a motion called as motion of thanks. And at the end of the discussion the motion is put to vote. This motion must be passed in Lok Sabha otherwise it amounts to the defeat of the government. In addition to article 87 the provision for joint sitting for both the houses of the parliament are provided in article 86 as well as article 108. Now first let us take the article 86. See article 86 is similar to article 175 which we saw yesterday. Article 86 deals with the president and article 175 deals with the governor. According to article 86 the president may address either house of the parliament or both the houses of the parliament assembled together. And while making such an address the president might require the attendance of the members of the legislature. And like article 175 the address of the president under article 86 is also not mandatory and it is also not put to discussion. See here the president can express his or her mind while addressing the houses under article 86. See what did we saw in the article 87? We saw that under article 87 president addresses the statement of policy of the government. But under article 86 here he can express his opinion before the houses of the parliament. Now moving on do you remember I said two articles provided for joint sitting of both the houses of the parliament right? We saw article 86 and what is the other one? The other one is article 108. See article 108 provides for joint sitting of both the houses in certain cases. The main purpose of a joint sitting under article 108 is to prevent a deadlock. Here what is deadlock? See our Indian parliament is bicameral right? It means we have both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha a lower house and upper house. And to pass a bill the concurrence of both the houses is necessary and then only it can become an act. Now consider a situation where one house of the parliament passes the bill and the other house rejects it. And this situation is only called as deadlock. It is to break this deadlock we have provision of joint sitting in our constitution. See according to article 108 the joint sitting is called by president. And he calls for joint sitting in certain specific cases. The first case is if one house of the parliament passes a bill and the other house rejects the bill. And in that case president can call for joint sitting. And the second case is if the houses do not agree on amendments made to the bill then also president can call for joint sitting. And the third case is if one house passes a bill and the other house receives the bill and does not take action for six months. Then also the president can call for joint sitting. Here you have to note that while calculating the period of six months you should not include the time when the house is prorogued or adjourned for more than four consecutive days. And these are the three specific cases where the president calls for the joint sitting. Adding to this know that there are exceptions to joint sitting as well. See the provision for joint sitting is not available for money bill and constitutional amendment bill. Money bill does not have the provision for joint sitting because Rajya Sabha has very less power regarding money bill. The maximum the Rajya Sabha can delay a money bill is 14 days. So in the case of money bill deadlock is not an option. And hence joint sitting is not provided for money bill. Then in the case of constitutional amendment bill as per article 368 the bill must be passed by both the houses with two third majority. And article 368 does not provide for joint sitting. So in case of a constitutional amendment bill if one house does not agree with the provisions of the bill then the bill lapses. So here also deadlock does not occur and hence there is no provision for joint sitting for constitutional amendment bill also. And other than this you have to know that joint sitting of both the houses of the parliament is presided over by the speaker. In the absence of speaker the deputy speaker of Lok Sabha presides over it. And in the absence of deputy speaker of Lok Sabha the sitting is presided over by the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha. If any of the above mentioned people are not available any member of parliament can preside over the sitting by consensus of both houses. Here know that chairman does not preside over the joint sitting. And the quorum to constitute joint sitting is one tenth of the total number of members of the house. See when a bill is passed in joint sitting by a majority of total number of members of both the houses present in voting then it is considered to be passed by both the houses of the parliament. And this is all regarding joint sitting of the parliament. We saw that joint sitting happens in many scenarios in parliament. The first one is special address by the president. Here special address occurs in two scenarios. One at the commencement of first session of after every general election. And the second at the commencement of first session of each year. Generally it is budget session that only happens at the start of the year. And the second occasion where the joint sitting happens is it is under article 86. It is where the president addresses both the houses of the parliament assembled together to express his or her opinion. And the last occasion is to prevent a deadlock joint sitting of both the houses happen. Here the president only calls for joint sitting. And we saw what are all the cases where the joint sitting can be called by the president. Now that's all for this article discussion. With these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this editorial article. It talks about the need for regional cooperation in South Asia. See in the past century the trend was globalization. However now there is a shift in trend towards regionalization. The author is expressing concern towards the absence of regional cooperation in the South Asian region. She cites many reasons for this. She also quotes many examples on how the trend of regionalism is absorbed in the world lately. So this article becomes significant for our exam. We'll discuss the important perspectives given in this article. But before that take note of the syllabus which is relevant to the article given here. First of all the author tries to highlight why South Asian regional cooperation is significant. And what are all the areas that are available for us to cooperate. See climate change is a global phenomenon right. So a single nation cannot try to mitigate the effects of climate change that we are facing in a particular region. See according to World Bank report 9 South Asian cities are among the world's top 10 worst cities affected by air population. Apart from this there are some success stories as well. Countries of the ASEAN have proved that the solution to the problems of air pollution lies in whole of region approach. See apart from the climate change there are many avenues for cooperation. The author particularly blames India and Pakistan for blocking any cooperation efforts. Because these two nations only bring up their past disputes as reason to hold up South Asian summits like SARC. See as per the author it is very important that we cooperate. During the Russia-Ukraine war we saw the energy prices went skyrocketing right. If the South Asian nations formed a cartel we would have easily bargained and got a favorable price. But this did not happen. Apart from this there are other areas of cooperation which includes trade, exports, healthcare, tourism and actions against terrorism. But any efforts to cooperate are hindered by regional fissures between countries. Before we see what they are we will try to understand about the growing trend of regional cooperation across the world. This will help you appreciate the need for such cooperation. See we are well aware of the tendency of polarization that is happening in the world. After the dissolution of USSR the world became unipolar with the power concentrated with the US. Now countries like China are trying to assert their supremacy in the world stage. And because of this we are again seeing a shift towards multipolar world. Now the countries that are asserting supremacy for example like China they are trying to catch hold of their neighbors. And because of this groupism regional trade now makes up for more than half of the global trading. Agreement such as United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement, the Southern Common Market, the European Union, Eurasian Economic Union, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, African Continental Free Trade Area and the recently signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership are the examples of this regional trade. See the World Bank in its reports has shown that nations who have been involved in free trade agreements have higher instances of economic growth compared to the countries which do not have these agreements. If you see the European Union Trade Block the integration led to the formation of single European market and substantial restructuring of industries in the region. And the countries have gained so much in terms of trade, access to resources and market opportunities. But unfortunately South Asia is still remaining as an exception to this trend of regional cooperation. Now you know why regional cooperation is very important. Now with this information we will see what are all the fishes that is there in the South Asian region. Now this helps you understand the cost of opportunity we are missing out and this is because of the chaos in the region. See I wouldn't say there were zero efforts for cooperation. There are platforms like SARC. SARC free trade agreement was signed to reduce custom duties of all traded goods to zero by the year 2016. See there were few concerns with respect to this agreement but they are not resolved because the countries are reluctant to come to the table. And the other drawback is that the frequency of SARC meeting is very low. Apart from this tensions between India and Pakistan severely hampers the prospects of any cooperation. See India is not having any talks with Pakistan because Pakistan is supporting terrorism. And it is also bringing up the Kashmir issue every time in every forum and uses every opportunity to accuse India. But nevertheless Pakistan had allowed the transit of Indian wheat to Afghanistan through its land. See the two sides are still not able to find a way to hold talks on the issues between them. So as a way forward India Pakistan and Bangladesh and all other South Asian countries should begin talks between scientists, officials and eventually ministers and leaders to create a mechanism for cooperative management in South Asia. And this is what is given in this editorial. See in this discussion we saw the areas that are available for the South Asian regional cooperation and after that we saw the growing trend of regional cooperation across the world and finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the issues in the South Asian region. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now according to the news article here, a FIE judge constitution bench of Supreme Court has questioned the need and the utility of passive euthanasia and advanced directives. First let me give you a little bit of background ok. In March 2018 the Supreme Court upheld the passive euthanasia and advanced directives. The thing is that it made the process of implementation very difficult. So a plea was filed to Supreme Court to modify the 2018 judgment and while hearing the plea the Supreme Court questioned the utility of passive euthanasia and advanced directives and this is about the news article given here. In this context let us see about euthanasia and its types and its legality in India. First of all what is euthanasia? Euthanasia or commonly called as mercy killing is an act of providing painless death to an individual who is under a lot of pain. See the term euthanasia comes from two ancient Greek words you and tantos. You means good, tantos means death. So euthanasia means good death and know that there are two types of euthanasia. One is passive and the other one is active euthanasia. See active euthanasia involves direct intervention to cause death to an individual. In the case of active euthanasia substances are used to end the life of an individual. The classic example is use of lethal injections to weaken the death. See active euthanasia is also called as aggressive euthanasia and the other type is passive euthanasia. See in the case of passive euthanasia the death is caused simply by stopping the life saving treatment. So in case of passive euthanasia death is caused by omission. For example when death is brought to a person by withdrawing the life support or ventilator it is called as passive euthanasia. And this is about euthanasia and its types. Now let us see its legality in India. See to understand its legality we need to see three important Supreme Court judgments. The first one is Gyan Corvus' State of Punjab case in the year 1996. In the 1996 case Supreme Court held that the right to life did not include the right to die. And the next case is Aruna Shanbach case of 2011. The Supreme Court reversed its previous position and said that right to life under article 21 of the constitution is inclusive of the right to die with dignity. And also the same judgment asked for scrapping or removal of Indian Penal Code section 309. The section 309 only penalizes or criminalizes those who survives the suicide attempts. And this landmark judgment made euthanasia in India legally permissible. And the last one is Common Cause Vs Union of India case. In its 2018 judgment regarding this case the Supreme Court concluded that a person of competent mental faculty is entitled to execute an advanced medical directive. Through this judgment the Supreme Court declared that an adult human being having the mental capacity to take an informed decision has the right to refuse medical treatment including the withdrawal from life saving devices. So the judgment has paved the way for terminally ill patients to seek death through the passive euthanasia under a living will. So right now active euthanasia is illegal in India but passive euthanasia is permissible. Here I mentioned two phrases right one is living will and the other one is advanced medical directive. So let us see what does it mean. See living will and advanced medical directive both refer to the same thing only. It is a legal document in which any person can lay down instructions for actions to be taken or should not be taken regarding their health if they are unable to make decisions for themselves in the future. For example let us say someone has met with an accident and they went to coma. Now they are not able to make decisions for themselves right. So a person can precautionarily write down instructions for actions to be taken or not to be taken regarding their health. And basically these are the instructions regarding a person's preference for medical care if the person is unable to make decisions for themselves. And this is only called as living will or advanced medical directive. Now that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about euthanasia, its types and its legality in India. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now for our next discussion we are going to take this editorial article. This article talks about the government's latest announcement on free food grinds. Yes, recently the union government decided to discontinue the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojina. And this is shortly referred as PMG KAY. But know that the government decided to merge the benefits provided under PMG KAY into the National Food Security Act. And it decided to continue providing the benefits till 2023. So basically even though the PMG KAY scheme is now discontinued the people who received benefits under the scheme will continue to receive it till December 2023 as a part of National Food Security Act. And this is about the government's latest announcement on free food grinds. Now the author of this article says that this new free food grind scheme is an illusion. Sounds confusing right? Don't worry, in this discussion let us understand the important points mentioned in the news article by the author. But before that I have given here the syllabus relevant to this particular news article. Quickly go through it. First of all let us revise about the PMG KAY scheme. See Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojina was provided as a part of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package. Under the scheme nearly 80 crore people who are covered under the National Food Security Act are provided with 5 kg of free rice per person per month. So for a family of 5 members 25 kg of free rice will be provided per month. Remember this is provided in addition to the benefits provided under National Food Security Act. So what are the benefits that was provided under the National Food Security Act? See under the Act every beneficiary will be provided with 5 kgs of food grinds per month at a subsidised rate of Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 1 per kg for coarse grains. So under the National Food Security Act food grinds were given at a subsidised rate. But under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojina 5 kg of free rice were provided per person per month adding to the benefits provided by the National Food Security Act. Let me explain this with an example. Let's take the rice part. See a family of 5 members will get 25 kg of free rice per month under the PMG KAY scheme. And they will also get 25 kg of rice at Rs 3 per kg per month under the National Food Security Act. So we can say that the total cost incurred for the entire 50 kg rice is just Rs 75. So these are the benefits provided under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojina scheme as well as the National Food Security Act. But the government have decided to discontinue the scheme and it decided to provide the benefits under the National Food Security Act. Now as we already saw the author of this editorial says that this announcement is an illusion because see a family of 5 members now can only avail 25 kg of rice per month as free under National Food Security Act. And if they have to buy the remaining 25 kg of rice that is necessary for a family subsistence they have to buy it from the outside market only. We saw that under the PMG KAY scheme every beneficiary was given 5 kg free rice. And under the National Food Security Act every member or every beneficiary was provided with 5 kg of rice per month at a subsidized rate. So a family of 5 members got 25 plus 25 totally 50 kg of rice per month. So now after discontinuing the scheme now a family of 5 members are getting only 25 kg of rice as free under National Food Security Act. So what does this mean? See we know that due to the discontinuation of PMG KAY scheme its benefits are provided under the Act free of cost. You really don't have to pay any money to get the entitlements under the Act they are totally free. But you will not get the additional 25 kg which you were getting before. So now you can get only 25 kg. If you want any extra rice you have to buy it from the outside market only. That too you have to buy it at the rate of Rs 18 per kg. Which implies that there will be an additional expense of Rs 3.75 to a family's monthly budget. And this is why the author calls this announcement as an illusion. And the second major flaw with the PMG KAY's design is its lack of universal coverage. The reason for this is that the ration records have not been updated since the 2011 census. According to the estimates more than 40% of India's population is currently excluded from both the National Food Security Act and as well as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. See the most marginalised casts and communities particularly the migrants, sex workers, the homeless people and transgender people they are frequently denied the National Food Security Act ration cards in many villages and slums. Even the Supreme Court of India ordered the central government to expand the National Food Security Act's coverage in an order from August 2022. However according to population projections the ration lists are missing at least 100 million beneficiaries particularly children born in the last 10 years. See these are all the issues that we have in one hand. On the other hand the central government has even squeezed the 100 days of work guaranteed under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. We all know that this scheme is the last resort of income for the poorest of the poor. But this scheme is being systematically undermined by severe budget cuts, delayed payments and technological obstacles. For example in the state of West Bengal wage payments of Rs. 2744 was pending and it was illegally withheld for an entire year. Apart from this only 57 million households received the NREGA work in the year 2022-2023. This is very low compared to last year which includes 73 million households. And in conclusion the author of this article claims that the recent revision to the free food grind programme appears to be politically motivated in order to win over the voters. And this will only result in financial burden on the exchequer and pressure on household budgets. Now that's all for this editorial article. In this article we learnt about the benefits given under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyana Yojana and the benefits given under National Food Security Act. And after that we understood after the discontinuation of the scheme how benefits were given under National Food Security Act. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the issues regarding the discontinuation of PMG KAY scheme and the issues regarding National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Now that's all for this article discussion. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this news article. It says that recently the Ministry of Information and Technology released the draft amendments to IT intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code rules 2021 and these amendments are in relation to online gaming. See the draft amendment has a provision of KYC norms. While some companies accepted this amendment some other video game companies or of opinion that they must be regulated in a different framework. This is because the proposed amendment only covers the real money wagering platforms or real money gaming platforms. Now this is about the news article given here. In this context we'll learn about what is real money gaming platform and we'll see some of the important pointers from the amendment. First of all what is a real money gaming platform? In the real money gaming platforms the players play the game for money and they stand a chance to win more money. See the makers of real money gaming they generate revenue by charging a platform fee and getting a commission on the winning. So what does this mean? This means that they do not generate revenue through advertising. They generate revenue by charging a platform fee and getting a commission. See the real money gaming segment is divided into two categories. The first one is fantasy sports and the other one is online card games. Some examples of fantasy sports include Lotus 365, My 11 Circle and Dream 11. Some examples of online card games include Rummy Circle, A to 3 games and online poker. See the industry has grown at a great pace. In 2015 the real money gaming market in India was 200 million US dollars and by the year 2022 it rose to 2 billion US dollars. The factors that aided the growth of this industry are penetration of smartphones and the other factors include high speed and low cost internet and improved digital payment systems. See due to the rapid growth of the industry the government decided to make sure that online games are offered in conformity with Indian laws and the users are safeguarded from potential harm. And this is the reason why the amendments to IT rules 2021 were proposed. Now let us look at some important pointers from the amendments. The first one is when a new user registers for the online game the gaming intermediary should identify the user and verify his identity. For verifying the identity of the user the gaming intermediary must follow the procedure established by RBI. That is the gaming intermediary may follow the KYC norms of RBI and this is the first pointer from the amendment. Secondly the gaming intermediary must allow for voluntary verification by users using their Indian mobile number. Also when a user voluntarily verifies the gaming intermediary must ensure that such user shall be provided a visible mark of verification which shall be visible to all users of the service and this is to be done to differentiate real users from bots. Here bots is nothing but internet bots. And this is the second pointer which is related to voluntary verification by users using their Indian mobile number. And thirdly the gaming intermediary should appoint a grievance officer and this grievance officer should be stationed in India and also an appropriate mechanism must be devised for the receipt of compliance. Fourthly the gaming intermediary should appoint a chief compliance officer and the chief compliance officer must ensure the compliance of the gaming intermediary to the rules made by the government and this chief compliance officer should also be stationed in India. And then the gaming intermediary must also appoint a nodal contact person for 24-7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and finally the gaming intermediary should have a physical contact address in India and this physical contact address must be both published in the website and in the mobile application. Now these are all the amendments proposed to the IT rules 2021. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw about real money gaming platform, we saw examples of it and finally we ended our discussion by seeing amendments proposed to the IT rules 2021. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this news article here. This news article talks about China's population decline in 2022. Yes, China's population fell by 850,000 in the year 2022 and this is the first drop since a nationwide famine in the year 1961. So in this background let us briefly discuss some of the important points mentioned in the article. See yesterday the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said that the national population stood at 1.411 billion at the end of 2022. Now this is a worrying fact for India because if this information is true then India will overtake China as the world's most population nation in the year 2023 itself. See the number of birds in China was 9.56 million which is a 10 percentage dropped from 2021 and the number of deaths in the year 2022 was 10.41 million. Now let us see what are all the reasons for this population decline. Firstly the article says that the last population drop which happened six decades ago was a result of a devastating famine caused by Mao's failed Great Leap Forward campaign. But the current population decline reflects changing social values in China. See in China families are choosing to have fewer children and this is the reason why population decline happened in China. Secondly the government campaigns over the past decade to boost the birth rates have failed to reverse the trend. See I hope you all remember about China's one child policy right. The term one child policy refers to a population planning initiative in China which was implemented between 1980 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. So this was a population reduction measure by China and the one child policy led to the imbalance of sex ratio at birth in China and after that in 2016 two child policy was introduced. That is if both the husband and wife they were the only child of their parents then this couple will be allowed to have two children according to the two child policy. Five years after the two child policy Beijing's family planning authority for the first time allowed the couples to have a third child but still people are choosing to have fewer children and this is leading to the failure of the policy. For example a government survey carried out at the time of introduction of the two child policy found out that 70% of the respondents cited financial reasons for having fewer children and this includes costs of education, health care and housing and these are the two reasons for the population decline in China. See now the China is working to reverse the trend of population and this also has a concern. See the country will have higher aging society and its workforce will shrink. Now the country is losing a strong internal dynamic for economic development that is demographic dividend. So this is the condition of population in China. Now I have a task for you go and find out water's demographic dividend and post it in the comment section. Now that's all for this article. In this discussion we saw the data given in National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing and we saw the reasons for the population decline in China and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the issue with reversing the trend of population. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this news article. It is about an ongoing case in Supreme Court of India. A public interest litigation has been filed before the Supreme Court to declare Hindus as minorities in 8 states in India as they constitute numerical minority in these 8 states. These states and union territories include Laxodip, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arnachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. See the National Commission for Minorities is of opinion that religious and linguistic minority communities ought to be identified state wise. Some states have remained silent so far and the union has sought time for the states to respond and this is the crux of the news article given here. So in this context let us use the opportunity to quickly brush up the basics about NCM. See NCM is nothing but the National Commission for Minorities. It is set up under National Commission for Minorities Act 1992. And talking about its composition it consists of a chairperson, a vice chairperson and 5 members and all of them are from the minority communities. See a total of 7 persons are to be nominated by the central government from amongst the persons of eminence, ability and integrity and each member holds office for a period of 3 years from the date of assumption of office. And this is about the Constitution of National Commission for Minorities and its composition. Now we will see how minorities are identified in India. See the NCM Act defines a minority as a community notified as such by the central government. So initially the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians or Parsis were notified by the central government as minority communities. In the year 2014, Jains were also notified as a minority community. The government notifies certain schemes for minorities specifically. Here there is a methodology used by the government to identify minority concentration areas. See the minority concentration districts, minority concentration blocks and minority concentration towns have been identified on the basis of both population data and backwardness parameters of census 2001. So based on this information only, welfare schemes for minorities are targeted. But a person should be classified as a minority to reap the benefits. So now the issue is that the term minority is not properly defined anywhere. This is because every person in India can be a minority in one state or the other, right? For example, a Marathi can be a minority outside the home state of Maharashtra. He or she will not be entitled to the benefits given for minorities in other state. Because the center has not notified Marathi speaking community as a minority, right? And that is why they are not entitled to the benefits given for minorities in another state. See a petition was filed against the power of center to notify minorities. And in the TMA-PAI case, Supreme Court's 11 judge bench clearly stated that linguistic and religious minorities must be identified at the state level rather than at the national level. However, no changes were made to the status quo. So what does this mean? This means that till now minorities are identified based on linguistics and religion. And center only has the power to notify minorities in India. And now again, a public interest litigation was filed and the petitioner says that center's notification which identifies Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Chains as minorities at the national level is against the judgment of TMA-PAI Foundation case 2002. But however, no consensus among the states has achieved so far like we saw in the news article. So we have to wait and see for any updates. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion, we saw about National Commission for Minorities, its composition and finally we ended our discussion by seeing how minorities are identified in India and who has the power to notify minorities in India. 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 five questions for discussion. I will solve four of them and one of them is a question for you. Now let us proceed to this first question. Which of the following statements is or are correct? Statement one, a bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses on its prorogation. See, this is wrong because prorogation has nothing to do with the lapsing of bills. Only dissolution of Lok Sabha lapses the bills. So statement one is wrong. Statement two, a bill pending in Rajya Sabha which has not been passed by Lok Sabha lapses on dissolution of Lok Sabha. This statement is correct. See if you look at the logics then you can easily say it is correct. Bill pending in Rajya Sabha which has not been passed by Lok Sabha has nothing to do with Lok Sabha, right? So dissolution of Lok Sabha does not affect the bill. So second statement is correct. Statement three, a bill which has not been passed by two houses due to disagreement and if the President has notified the holding point sitting before the dissolution of Lok Sabha does not lapse. See this statement is also correct. Here also you can use logics. See disagreements arose since the bill was discussed properly in both the houses. Since the bill is already discussed by both the house then it will not lapse on the dissolution of Lok Sabha. So we found out that statement one is incorrect. So the correct answer to this question is option B2131 Lee. See I have given here the table consisting of position of bill and when it will lapse and when it will not lapse. Go through this or make note of it. It will be useful for your problems. Now moving on to the next question. Consider the following statements regarding assisted suicide. Statement one, assisted suicide involves deliberately ending a person's life to relieve suffering. See the statement is wrong. Assisted suicide involves deliberately assisting a person to kill themselves. It is not about relieving a person's suffering. So statement one is incorrect. Now coming to statement two. Assisted suicide is permissible in India for terminally ill patients. See we saw what is assisted suicide. So from that itself we can say that it is illegal in India. Only passive euthanasia is legal in India. So the correct answer to this question is option D neither one nor two. Now coming to the third question. Which of the following statements about information technology, intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code rules 2021 is or are correct? Statement one, social media companies with more than 50 crore registered users will be considered significant social media intermediaries. The statement is incorrect. See social media companies with more than 50 lakh registered users will be considered as significant social media intermediaries. It is not 50 crore. Now moving on to the second statement. Appeal against the decision of grievance officer should be taken up only to the grievance appellate committee. See this statement is also incorrect. Appeal against the decision of grievance officer can be taken up to the court or the grievance appellate committee. So what is the correct answer for this question? It is option D neither one nor two. Now moving on to the next question. See it is a previous question which was asked in the year 2011. The question says that India is regarded as a country with the demographic dividend. This is due to its high population in the age group below 15 years. Its high population in the age group of 15 to 64 years. Its high population in the age group above 64 years. Its high total population. What is the correct answer here? Exactly. It is because of India's high population in the age group of 15 to 64 years. So the correct answer to this question is option B. Now moving on to the final question. See aspirants this is only the quiz question for you. See this question is about national commission of minorities. Read it, think about it and write your answer in the comment section. Aspirants I have displayed here main questions for your practice. So if you are interested write your answers and post it in the comment section. And 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 Shankaray's Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.