 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis for the date 5th of September 2021. These are the articles chosen for today's discussion. Let us start our first discussion by discussing about an article regarding the delimitation commission and followed by that we will be seeing an article regarding mutualism and followed by that we will be seeing an important article regarding the breakthrough infections and we will be seeing about IUCN green status and followed by that we will be seeing about ethanol policy and we will end our discussion by discussing about an important article regarding the amphi nest. So with this let us move on to the first article discussion. Now let us take up this article for our discussion. The news article mentions that Karnataka government has decided to set up a delimitation committee and this delimitation committee is set up for the Zilla and Taluk Panchayat constituencies. So in this backdrop first let us understand what is delimitation. See delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries and the boundaries are fixed for the territorial constituencies in a country that is having a legislative body. Here the territorial constituencies refers to the parliamentary constituencies, assembly constituencies then also the constituencies of Gram Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat. See if you remember in India all states have a uniform three-tier Panchayat Raj structure and at the base we have Gram Panchayat. In the intermediary level we have Mandal or Taluk Panchayat and then at the apex level we have Zilla Panchayat. So by this delimitation we fix boundaries of the constituencies but why this delimitation is done? It is done for election to the Lok Sabha, to the legislative assemblies of the state and union territories and to these Panchayat Raj institutions. So first let us understand delimitation with respect to parliamentary and assembly constituencies. See regarding these territorial constituencies the job of delimitation is assigned to a high-power body known as delimitation commission or a boundary commission and this process is carried out as per the provisions of the constitution and it includes the article 82 and article 170 of constitution. These articles provide for readjustment and the division of each state into parliamentary and assembly constituencies. Now with respect to parliamentary constituencies readjustment of the allocation of seats in the house of the people to the state is also done and readjustment of the total number of seats in legislative assembly of each state is done for assembly constituencies. So under article 82 and article 170 of constitution the delimitation commission assigns or redraw the boundary of both the parliamentary constituencies and assembly constituencies and remember these are to be readjusted after the completion of each census. See the parliament can determine which authority can readjust the constituencies and in which manner the readjustment can be done. So the determining authority lies with the parliament. So a law was enacted for this purpose. It is the delimitation act and delimitation commission is constituted under this act by the central government. So the above mention readjustment and division or the main functions of a delimitation commission that is it demarcates the boundary of the parliamentary and assembly constituencies as per provisions of the delimitation act. Note that in India this commission is a high power body whose order have the force of law. So it cannot be called in question before any court. Remember this unique fact this may be important for your preliminary examination. So you cannot call any order of the commission in question before any court and this is possible as per article 243 O, article 243 ZG and article 329 of constitution and remember the order of commission comes into force on a date that is specified by the president of India in this behalf. Also the copies of these order are laid before Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly concerned. The order of commission comes into force on a date that is specified by the president of India in this behalf. Also note that the copies of these orders are laid before Lok Sabha and the state legislative assembly concerned. But the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assembly cannot make any modification in such orders. Remember this see so far delimitation commission has been constituted four times in 1951 in 1963 in 1973 and the latest one in 2002. This latest commission was constituted under the delimitation act 2002. Next what about delimitation for Panchayat elections? Who is responsible for this? This responsibility is given to various authorities including the delimitation commission. Sometimes even the state election commission of the concerned state they also have given this authority and this is because of the decentralized nature of our constituency. But this varies from state to state. This responsibility depends on the concerned states Panchayat Raj act. For example if we take Karnataka it has the Karnataka Panchayat Raj act 1993. So the role of delimitation of constituencies of Taluk Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat was interested to the Karnataka state election commission. But now news is that an amendment has been brought to this act of Karnataka and this amendment has established a delimitation committee for delimitation of Zilla and Taluk Panchayat constituencies in the state. So because of this amendment the responsibility of delimitation which was taken by Karnataka state election commission before will be transmitted to the newly formed delimitation commission. So this is the news in this news article we discussed about what is delimitation, what are the functions of delimitation commission, powers of delimitation commission and delimitation for Panchayat elections. So with this points in mind let us move on to the next news discussion. Now look at this article see this article is based on the association between the plant root and the microbes. In the course of the article two important exam relevant aspects were discussed. I will filter only those for the benefit of the students. See commonly root and microbial interaction is called as rhizobium where rhizome means roots. See fungus associated with roots are called mycorrhiza and the bacteria that associate with roots are called rhizobacteria and this is an perfect example of mutualism in ecology. Let us understand this. See mutualism can be precisely defined as an interaction between individuals which is of different species and that result in positive or beneficial effects on the interacting population. So if a species interact with another species both of them get benefited in this interaction and this is called mutualism. The most common example of this is the partnership between nitrogen fixing bacteria and leguminous plant. Let us see another example cow possesses rumen bacteria that live in the digestive tract. They help the cow to digest the plants that the cow consumes. Like we saw earlier associations between tree roots and certain fungus are often mutualistic in nature. The fungi helps the plant in the absorption of essential nutrients from the root and the plants in turn provides the fungi with energy yielded carbohydrates. Apart from this the most spectacular and evolutionary fascinating example of mutualism is this. See plants need the help of animals for pollinating their flowers and dissipating their seeds. Animals obviously have to be paid fees for the services that plants expect from them. So plants offer reward in the form of pollen and nectar for pollinators and it offers juicy and nutritious fruit for seed dispersers. So this is very good example of mutualism in this both species are getting benefited. See a closely related concept is competition. Don't confuse this with that. See in a competitive association both the species lose. Have a look at this table. Plus means gain and minus means loss. So we already saw about mutualism in this both or plus which means both gain. Both the species gain through interaction. Similarly in both parasitism and predation only one species benefit. That is the parasite or the predator gets benefited with the interaction with another species. The species which was interacted will lose and this interaction is detrimental to the other species which is host and prey for the parasites and predators. The interaction where one species is benefited and the other is neither benefited nor harmed is called commensalism and in amensalism on the other hand one species is harmed whereas the other is unaffected. Importantly note that predation parasitism and commensalism share a common characteristics that is the interacting species live close together whereas the mutualism doesn't require that. Now moving on to the other aspect mentioned in the article it is heterosis. See the heterosis is also called hybrid vigor. It means the increase in characteristics such as size, growth rate, fertility and yield of a hybrid organism over those of its parents. Now understand this hybrid organism is where their parents are genetically different. They can be different species or they can be same species but different line. When they are interbreedered hybrid results. See plant and animal breeders exploit hybrids to obtain heterosis or hybrid vigor. They obtain heterosis by crossing two different species or genera that have certain desirable traits. The first generation of spring generally shows the desired characteristics of both parents in an exaggerated quantity. This is exactly heterosis. For example take a plant of species A and species B both are tall which is a desirable trait. When both are crossbreedered the first generation of spring will show their parent qualities which is much exaggerated. That is the offspring will be too much tall which is not required. So this extreme level of qualities are called as the heterosis or the hybrid vigor and this vigor may decrease if the hybrids are mated together. So in this discussion we saw what is mutualism, what is competition, what is predation and similar concepts like parasitism, commensalism and amensalism. And apart from this we also saw about heterosis which is also called as the hybrid vigor and the characteristics of hybrid vigor. So with this we came to the end of this discussion. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Now our next news discussion is going to be based on this FAQ article. As we all aware India is still not fully done with the second wave of the pandemic. In fact during the past weeks we witnessed daily infections crossing over 40,000. So this shows that the intensity of the virus has still not reduced. Know that Kerala and Maharashtra are among the states with a high rate of fascination. But despite that the rise in daily infection is found to be more in these states and this FAQ article is written in this backdrop. So this particular article basically throws light on the instances of breakthrough infections that is found to be occur among the people. So without wasting much time let's get into our discussion. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted here for your reference. In order to understand this article better first let us know about what is breakthrough infection. See breakthrough infection refers to the tendency of the virus to be able to penetrate the protective barrier of antibodies. So in simple words if a person gets affected with COVID virus 14 days after the second shot of the vaccine then it is called a breakthrough infection and this two week interval signifies the time taken by the body to produce necessary antibodies following a shot of the vaccine. So when the protection barrier made by the antibodies is break the breakthrough infection occurs. See in recent times there is an emerging concern related to the rise in such infections. But however there are still no official estimate of such cases in India. One thing to be noted about the breakthrough infection is that they are not much intense that is they are not translating into serious diseases which will require hospitalization. For example in Kerala 155 breakthrough infections were analyzed and among them 151 were mildly symptomatic and 4 were asymptomatic and they did not require hospitalization. Apart from this see among all others a portion of the health workers were found to be at greater risk of contracting such infections and this is mainly because of their prolonged and close exposure to a variety of patients. In fact a study by Delhi researchers highlighted that nearly a quarter of 600 fully vaccinated healthcare workers contracted the virus after vaccination. But however the positive side is that only less than 5% of such patients needed hospitalization and most importantly no lives were lost and this indicates that vaccines are effective in preventing severe sickness and death. See one thing you should have in mind about the breakthrough infection is that it is something that is obvious and nothing to be surprised about because vaccines are basically aimed at making your body to get normal with the disease and of course so far evidences prove that these vaccines are overwhelmingly effective. But in the clinical trials all available vaccines were reported to have the efficiency rate between 70 and 90% only or in other words only 70 to 90% of the people will or can enjoy full protection against the infection. So that means between 10 and 30% of a vaccinated population will still be vulnerable to infection in spite of them having vaccinated and remember that the instances of breakthrough infection are not something that is spotted only within India because even internationally the trend is not too different since countries like Israel and US continue to report fresh cases despite their high vaccination coverage. So to summarize even vaccinated people can get infection and that is called the breakthrough infection and we should not be very surprised about that because you should remember a fact that no vaccine can provide you 100 percentage protection and that is one of the reason for the breakthrough infection and another one of the major reason for occurrence of the breakthrough infection is the lack of precautions. To understand better see once people get vaccinated they are under the belief that they are fully protected and due to this they become less strict and they fail to follow the precautions that they were doing before getting vaccinated say like that of using mask or washed hands. So precautions like that people fail to follow these precautions and most of the time they forget the fact that the virus can still attack them and know that as per a report by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention the viral load among those with the breakthrough infection will be the same as the viral load in the unvaccinator. So this is the reason why mask is made a mandate despite significant vaccination coverage and though the breakthrough infection may not be serious among those who are vaccinated still it may cause them to be carrier of infection which eventually will lead to further spread of the disease. So to conclude breakthrough infections or infections or the tendency of the virus to be able to penetrate the protective barrier of antibodies remember even the vaccinated people can get infected and it is very important to follow the precautions even after being vaccinated even though the breakthrough infections may not be very serious as you don't have to be hospitalized and the infection is very mild and shows very slight symptoms but still you can be act as a carrier of the infection which may affect the population and further lead to spread of the disease. So these are the important points discussed in this article with this let us wind up this news article and with the learn points in mind let us move on to the next part of the news discussion. Now look at this article see recently the IUCN has assessed some 138,374 pieces and it is found that 28 percentage of this number are going to become extinct. So what are the reasons for this see according to the IUCN report habitat loss over exploitation, illegal trade and climate change or threatening the wildlife. So this is the reason why they are becoming extinct. So in this context let us briefly know about IUCN Red Listing and the newly introduced green status. See the IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world's biodiversity. Let us understand this with a very simple example take a traffic signal when it is red you have to stop and when it is yellow you have to start your engine and wait until you get a green signal to move. So this is a very simple example for a indicator. Likewise to indicate the health of the world's biodiversity this IUCN Red List is used and the IUCN Red List of threatened species is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the world's conservative status of the plants and animal species. So they provide conservative status for both plants and animal species. If you see the IUCN list the species are categorized in nine categories. They include extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, data deficient, least concern and not evaluated. So you can see the order of these categories in this image and of these when we say a species is threatened it includes critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable species. See this is the Red List but recently the IUCN has introduced a new category called the green list. So what is the purpose of the Red List? See the Red List was created to spread awareness about the threats that wildlife faces. So wildlife has a various ranges of threats and to create an awareness and to spread an awareness about these threats the IUCN prepares this Red List. So in order to acknowledge the progress a green list has been created since 2020 and IUCN recently launched it officially. So in a sense the IUCN green status of species complements the Red List. How? The green status provides a tool for assessing the recovery of species population and it also helps in measuring their conservation success. So this is all about the Red List and Green List of IUCN and note that the species have to qualify three important categories to be in the green status. The first important category is that the species have to be fully recovered no matter whether it has been distracted by human activities or not but still if a species is fully recovered and it is present in all parts of its range then it will be put into the green status. This is the first category now coming to the second category it should be viable in all parts of the range that is it should not be threatened with extinction. So this is the second category and coming to the third category it should perform its ecological function in all parts of the range. So every species has its own ecological functions and to be in the green status it have to ensure that the species is performing its ecological functions in all parts of the range. So these are the three important categories to be qualified into the green status and even if they qualify also they contribute towards a green score that is a score range of zero to hundred percentage. So this range shows that how far a species is from its fully recovered status for example if a species is at two percentage or fifty percentage so it implies how far the species is fully recovered and what can be done to ensure its protection. So this is all about the Red List and Green Status. With these informations in mind let us move on to the next news discussion. Now we are going to discuss about this government advertisement that is displayed in the Delhi edition and it talks about the Assam ethanol production promotion policy 2021. This was announced by the Assam government and know that this policy has drawn its inspiration from the green fuel vision of India. So in the slide let us see some important facts about ethanol and also about the set policy. See ethanol is a clear colorless liquid and a renewable fuel and it has been made since ancient times by the fermentation of sugars. You would have been heard about ethanol being given much importance as a fuel for internal combustion engines. So the reason for ethanol being preferred as a fuel or its environmental and long term economic advantages which is far superior when compared to the fossil fuels. Also know that ethanol is a high performing fuel in the market and it keeps today's high compressive engines running smoothly. It even allows the engine to more completely combust the fuel thereby ultimately resulting in fuel at emission. If you remember the emission is high when the fuel is not fully combustor so by using the ethanol as fuel you can completely combust the fuel and consequently you can reduce the emission. Also it helps to prevent the winter time problems by acting as a gas line antifreeze. So these are some of the important points that you have to know about ethanol and this is the reason why ethanol is used as an alternative for the fossil fuels. Now coming to the policy see the state cabinet has approved the Assam ethanol production promotion policy 2021 and this policy is said to be valid up to 31st March 2026. So basically this policy aims to achieve the overall growth and development of ethanol manufacturing industries unit in the state. So in order to facilitate the process and to create an enabling environment for investing it provides remunerative returns to investors, farmers and all other stakeholders and the list of objectives of the set policy is given below for your reference as parents can go through it. Now talking about the eligibility see only those stand alone Greenfield ethanol producing industrial units that produce 100% fuel grade ethanol and which supplies 100% of their produced ethanol to oil manufacturing companies under the ethanol blending program of the Indian government or eligible for the benefits provided under the policy. So the industry must produce 100% fuel grade ethanol and it should also supply 100% of their produced ethanol to oil manufacturing companies under a program called ethanol blending program of Indian government. So only those industries are eligible for this scheme and as I said earlier the policy offers a huge range of incentives to those investors who are investing in the sector. So on that line power subsidy, tax related incentives, exemption of land conservation fees, employment cost subsidy, skill development subsidy, capital subsidy and interest subvention incentive or some of the incentives that are provided under this scheme and know that the industries and commercial department of the government of Assam will be the nodal department for the implementation of this policy in the state. So with this we have come to the end of this discussion. In this discussion we saw why ethanol is used as a fuel and some of the significance of ethanol and a policy called Assam ethanol production promotion policy 2021 and we saw what are the objectives of this policy and who are eligible to avail this policy. So with this information on mind now let us move on to the next discussion. Now let us take up this article for our next discussion. See the climate changes around the corner and many reports predict that the consequences of climate change would be that extremes of climate that is any natural phenomenon may occur in an extreme form. On those lines Kerala flat came as no surprise and it took a heavy toll on life and property. So there are various steps being taken to mitigate the effects of climate change but there are also efforts being taken to adopt to the new normal. See adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social or economic systems in response to actual or extended climate stimuli and their effects or impacts that is when there is an climatic stimuli you determine to adjust to that ecologically socially or in economic systems and it depends on the effects or impacts caused by the climatic stimuli and adaptation helps individuals communities organization and natural systems to deal with the impacts of climate change. Now look at this picture the figure shows graphically the adaptation cycle under the united nation climate change regime. See there is no one size fits all solution for adaptation and adaptation can range from building flood defenses setting up early warning systems for cyclones and switching to drought resistance crop to redesigning communication systems, business opportunities and government policies. And in India we have also started the adaptation process. We have set up the national adaptation fund for climate change under NABAD. The national action plan on climate change also has components for adaptation. Now in that line a couple of citizens in Kerala have come up with the concept of amphienist. See this is the country's first working example of an amphibious pavillion structure. Now what is this amphibian pavillion structure? So we know the characteristics of an amphibian right? So amphibians are animals that can live both on land and in water. So these pavillion structures modeled by youngsters in Kerala also have the same characteristics that is the pavillion structure can sustain in water as well as on land. So that is why it is called as amphibious pavillion structure and how does it works? See these buildings typically use buoyant air filled concrete foundations. So the unique feature of this foundation is that it will move up and down with the flood water. So as the water level rises the house got it on steel or concrete post can rise up to two meters and when the water is residing it settle back to its original placement. So this is how it works and remember the very most important advantage of this structure is that it also offers double the space of conventional homes and helps us to ensure the cost viability and remember the amphibian pavillion structure is not the first of the kind. This type of buildings were existing worldwide and it is used in areas where there is a frequent flood. For example the floating houses of Netherland proves that these structures can be used even when the water level is rising. So in this article we saw what is the amphibian pavillion structure, how does it works and the very important advantage of the amphibious pavillion structure. With this we came to the end of news article discussion. Now let us see some of the prelims practice questions. Now let us take up this question. This question is about delimitation commission. It is a three statement question and the first statement states that it demarcates the boundary of only the parliamentary constituencies. The second statement states that the chief election commissioner is its chairperson and the third statement states that its members includes the members of parliament and members of legislative assembly. Which of the statement given above is or correct? See the first statement is an extreme statement and in the discussion we saw that the delimitation committee demarcates the boundary of not only the parliamentary constituencies but also for the assembly constituencies. Additionally know that it also carries out delimitation of gram, zilla and taluk constituencies. If the state panchayat raj act stipulates so. So if the state makes an amendment to the state panchayat raj act the delimitation committee may demarcate boundaries for zilla, gram and taluk constituencies also. So the first statement is incorrect. Now coming to the second statement if we see the composition of the commission it consists of three main members the chairperson and two ex-officio members. The chairperson is appointed by the central government and the chairperson should be an existing or former judge of the supreme court. One ex-officio member is the chief election commissioner or an election commissioner nominated by chief election commissioner and the second ex-officio member is the state election commissioner of concerned state. So the second statement is also incorrect because the chief election commissioner is an ex-officio member he's not the chairperson the chairperson is appointed by the central government note that and coming to the third statement this statement is correct because apart from chairperson and two ex-officio members the commission also has 10 associate members five of them or MPs to be specific the members of Lok Sabha representing the state and remaining five are MLAs particularly the members of legislative assembly of that state. So the correct answer for the question is option C 3 1 Lee. See I already said delimitation commission is a very important topic and we already had a question in 2012 prelims about delimitation commission. The question is with reference to the delimitation commission consider the following statements. First statement is the orders of the delimitation commission cannot be challenged in a court of law. The second statement is that when the orders of the delimitation commission are laid before the Lok Sabha or state legislative assembly they cannot affect any modifications in the order which of the statement given above is or or correct. See we saw both the statements during our discussion and as per article 243 O article 243 ZG and article 329 of constitution the orders of the commission have the force of law and it cannot be called in question before any court. This is also provided by the delimitation act 2002 under section 10 2 so statement 1 is correct. Now coming to statement 2 this statement is also correct because Lok Sabha or state legislative assembly cannot make any modification in the orders passed by the delimitation commission. So the correct answer for this question is option C both 1 and 2. Now moving on to the next question this question is about heterosis which of the following statement accurately describes the term heterosis. Option A heterosis is where the hybrid offspring displays diminished parental characters. Option B heterosis is where the hybrid offspring displays elevated parental characters. Option C heterosis is where the hybrid offspring is sterile. Option D none of the above. So from our discussion itself we know option A is wrong because heterosis is where the hybrid offspring displays elevated parental character. So the correct option for this question is option B heterosis is where the hybrid offspring displays elevated parental character. Now moving on to the next question this question is about the green status and dread list of IUCN. So the question is with reference to green status and dread list given by IUCN consider the following statements. The first statement is the green status is to evaluate the threats to the plant species. The second statement is the red list is to evaluate the conservation status of animal only. The third statement is the green status was introduced to recognize the conservation efforts which of the statements given above is or correct. See statement one is wrong because the green status was introduced to acknowledge the conservation efforts of any species. So statement one is incorrect. It does not evaluate the threat to the plant species. Now coming to statement two this statement is also wrong because the red list has both plant and animal species. It does not evaluate the conservation status of animals only. So the second statement is wrong. Now moving on to the third statement. See third statement is correct because we saw in the discussion that the green status was introduced to recognize the conservation efforts. So the correct answer for this question is option D3 only. Now moving on to the next question. This question is about ethanol and the question is consider the following statement about ethanol as a fuel. The first statement is it allows the engine to completely combust the fuel and will result in fewer emissions. The second statement is it keeps the fuel system clean for optimal performance because it does not leave gummy deposits which of the statements given above is or correct. See we saw this in the discussion itself both the statements are correct because ethanol is a clear colorless liquid with an agreeable order and from ancient time it was obtained by fermentation of sugars. So because of its property and the presence of high oxygen content the ethanol molecules actually help in allowing the engine to more completely combust the fuel and hence it will help us to reduce the emission. Apart from this, the ethanol blended fuel keeps the fuel system clean and it gives us a optimal performance and it has some tendency to not leave any gummy deposits. So both the statements are correct. The correct answer for the question is option C both 1 and 2. Now moving on to the next question. This question is about amphi nest. The question is amphi nest recently seen in news refers to option A turtle homes built for Oliver at least option B nesting areas for migratory birds option C adaptation house architecture option D none of the above. We know that amphi nest or climate adaptation house architecture and this is built for reducing the impact of flooding. The important characteristic of this house architecture is to float when the water is rising and stays still in the ground when the water resides. So amphi nest is one such model and it is an climate adaptation house architecture. So the correct answer for the question is option C climate adaptation house architecture with this we came to the end of the discussion. The main question are displayed here. Please write answer and post it in the comment section with this we came to the end of the discussion. If you like the video like comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.