 A very good evening aspirants. Welcome to Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 19th of February 2023. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay let's get into the article discussion. Now today we are going to start our discussion with this news article. It says that 12 cheetahs arrived in Madhya Pradesh and they arrived from South Africa. And these 12 cheetahs were released into quarantine enclosures at the Kuno National Park Madhya Pradesh. See we all know 5 months before the first batch of 8 cheetahs were brought from Namibia and this time cheetahs arrived from South Africa. See this intercontinental translocation of cheetahs is a part of union government's program to reintroduce cheetahs in India. And this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us see about cheetah translocation and its significance from Prilim's perspective. First of all we know that it's been 7 decades since cheetah became extinct in India. India's last cheetah died in Korea district of present day Chattisgarh in the year 1947 and the species were declared extinct in the year 1952. But the government has decided to reintroduce cheetahs under the action plan for introduction of cheetahs in India. Under the project cheetah the government aims to bring back India's extant large mammal which is nothing but the cheetah. As part of the project 50 cheetahs will be introduced in various national parks over 5 years in India ok. And this is about the cheetah translocation. Now this project cheetah is significant in many aspects. First of all know that cheetah happens to be the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out of India. The main reasons for the extinction are over hunting and habitat loss. And this project it is going to bring back the extant animal to India and this is the first significance. Secondly conservation of cheetah has a very special significance for the national conservation ethics and ethos. See this initiative of reintroducing cheetah is considered a boon to the ecosystem. I'll explain why it is considered as a boon. See cheetah live in open plains. Mainly they live in areas where their prey lives that is where their food lives. So their habitat include grasslands, scrubs, open forest systems and semi-arid environments. So basically areas with temperatures that tend to be hotter. Here only cheetahs live. So while saving cheetahs we are trying to protect its prey base also right. Only then they can survive in the environment. If there is no food for cheetah then cheetah will die right. So by conserving cheetah we are indirectly conserving the prey of cheetah which comprises of certain threatened species. So what does this mean? This means that conservation of cheetahs is equal to conservation of other endangered species of grasslands and open forest ecosystems. So by doing this extension of other species can be avoided and this is the second significance. And finally it is observed that among the large carnivores conflict with human is lowest for cheetahs. See cheetahs they are not threat to humans and they do not attack large livestock of humans. So human animal conflict will be less in cheetah conservation. But this is not the case when it comes to other carnivores like tiger. And these are all the significances of conservation of cheetahs. With this we have also come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the introduction of cheetahs in India, the need for it and the significance of conservation of cheetahs. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. The article says that the increasing man-made underwater noise emissions from ships and Indian waters are posing a threat to the life of marine mammals. Here underwater noise emissions is abbreviated as UNE. So in this news article discussion let us understand what is this UNE, their causes and their impacts. First of all what is UNE? See ocean is a habitat full of natural sounds. But human beings generate deafening noise underwater and these human generated intense noise in the marine environment is known as underwater noise emissions. Know that this underwater noise emissions are caused by the use of explosives, oceanographic experiments, geophysical research, underwater construction, ship traffic, intense active sonars and even air guns used for seismic service for oil and related activities. And among these causes the continuous shipping movement is identified to be a major contributor to increase in the global ocean noise level. So the movement of ships only is majorly contributing to the underwater noise emissions. Remember the measurement of the ambient noise levels in ocean was carried out by developing a hydrophone autonomous system around 13 nautical miles from the coastline. And this is how ambient noise levels and the oceans are measured. Just know this information okay. And this is about the underwater noise emissions and their causes and measurement. Now let us move on to see about the underwater noise emissions impact on marine environment. See sound is the primary source of energy for various behavioral activities of the marine mammals like mating, communal interaction, feeding and foraging. Here foraging means feeding on the food provided by the nature. Since noise can travel long distances underwater and they cover large areas they have the potential to prevent marine mammals certain behavioral activities. What are they? See these noise emissions prevents the marine mammals from hearing their prey, predators, finding their way, connecting with mates, group members or their young ones. So we can say that the increase in the noise can result in decreased species diversity in the marine mammals especially in whales and dolphins. See mammals like bottle nose dolphin, manatees, pilot whale, seal and sperm whale are largely affected due to this underwater noise emissions and this is the first impact. And the second most important impact of the UNE that is the underwater noise emission is called masking. As we all know marine species have low frequency range of less than 500 hertz as communication frequencies and the frequency of the ships overlaps with this communication frequency of mammals. Here frequency of ship means the missionary vibration levels when a ship moves okay. So this frequency of ships overlaps with the communication frequencies of mammals and this overlap is called as masking and this is the second most important impact of underwater noise emissions. Here the issue is that masking has the potential to change the migration route of marine species to shallow regions and this makes difficult for the mammals to go back to the deeper water. And because of these two major impacts underwater noise emissions are considered a threat to the life of marine mammals and ecosystem. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw what is underwater noise emission, causes of it and the two most important impacts of underwater noise emission. Now with this let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this news article here. It talks about rising dowry prices in China. Now you may think it's common in India too right? But the issue is little different here. And like India where the girls side pay dowry in China it's usually the boys side. That is the groom side only pay the bride price as a good will gesture and this particular article gives us a glimpse on bride prices that is dowry and the reason for hiking bride prices in China. Now in this discussion we shall try to understand these aspects in detail okay. But before that quickly go through the syllabus that I have given here. First of all know that the bride prices one of the traditional marriage customs in China. It is basically the cash sum a prospective groom pays to the family of the bride. And it is paid as a guarantee that he will marry her and will treat her well in the future. And the practice is legal in China. However the sums demanded in some parts of the country have risen dramatically as I told earlier. So now we will see what is the reason for this hike in prices. See many experts are saying that the prices have hiked because there is gender imbalance in China. We all know that to curb the population growth China came up with the one child policy. But unfortunately the one child policy produced many unwanted consequences. And this gender imbalance is one such consequence. Now you may think how come family planning measure results in gender imbalance. See we all know the mentality of the population right. They all prefer male child. And this only resulted in gender imbalance. See the country's overall sex ratio become very skewed toward males. That is there are roughly between 3 and 4 percentage more males than females. See as I said already this is mainly because of the preference for male children particularly in rural areas. And this case is similar in India too ok. Now why does people prefer male children. This is because sons inherit the family name and property and they are only responsible for the care of elderly parents. So when families were restricted to having only one child they obviously prefer for the male child only. Because according to them having a girl is highly undesirable. Because she is going to marry someone in the future and go to the husband's house only. If they have a male child he will stay with them and inherit the family name and property and he will take care of the parents also. And this is exactly why male children are preferred. See this preference resulted in the rise in abortions of female feeders. For example 2017 survey by Central China Normal University in 267 villages found that there were only 63 single women for 100 single men. And this is the current scenario. Now let us see what the Chinese government is doing. See now the Chinese government has released a document in the view of this trend. And this document has pledged to launch a campaign to curb the exorbitant bright prices and extravagant wedding ceremonies. See this is a nationwide effort to strengthen the construction of public cultural ethical standards in the country's rural areas. Now here you should understand what are the implications of this practice on the society. What practice we are referring here? The bright prices. The practice of paying dowry by the groom family. Now firstly we will see about the positive implications. See women in the Chinese societies were important part of agriculture. They were involved in economic activities as agricultural labours. So this bright price benefits women's parents by compensating for the loss of labour. And secondly it can spread wealth transferring it between families. And it also prevents the concentration of wealth. And thirdly it is a symbol of appreciation to the wife's parents. And somewhat partially compensates for the fact that the woman is leaving her natal family. Therefore men earn recognition and respect from the in-laws and the community by paying bright prices. And finally it promotes the women's official status as wife and as a worthy woman. And these are all the positive implications of bright prices. But the concern here is that the practice has become so commercialized and this has resulted in some negative effects. Firstly bright price makes marriage unequal because the man has to pay for the woman right. Thus if this practice is continued it would lead to inequality between men and women. And this is the first negative effect. Secondly women can become an article of property in her own home. What does this mean? This means that bright price leads to commodification of women. It will create an image that women can be bought with money. And this is the second negative effect. Thirdly the bright price may result in abuse and maltreatment of wife. That is nothing but the domestic violence against women. And fourthly it can also lead to the selling of women because the family needs wealth. Here let us assume a scenario. Say for example the bright family needs some money. So this will obviously make the parents to think about the marriage of that particular woman in the family right. Because if that woman is married to a person then the family will get wealth. So this will lead to the selling of women. And finally men may have to borrow to pay for the bright prices and this will lead them to fall into debt and impoverishment when they are young. And these are all some of the negative effects. See besides all this a growing number of Chinese women and men are choosing to avoid marriage altogether. In 2021 marriage registrations in China fell to 7.64 million which was the lowest figure on record. Unfortunately those who choose to marry also do it very later. And they choose to have smaller families only. And this is affecting the government campaigns to encourage larger families. And this also brings about an aging crisis in the country. Now that is all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw about what is bright price. The reason for the high kindy bright prices in the recent time. And the Chinese government's action regarding bright prices. And after that we moved on to see about the implications of bright prices on society. Firstly we saw about positive implications. And secondly we saw about negative implications. And finally we concluded our discussion by seeing the recent trend in the Chinese population regarding marriage. Now with these points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now have a look at this news article. See the Indian government has planned to monetize the government owned land assets across the country. So to expedite the monetization plans of the government the national land monetization corporation has now decided to open international property consultancy firms. And this is being done to devise strategies for monetization and to implement transactions of monetization. And this is what is given in this news article. Now in this discussion we will learn about the national land monetization corporation from the exam perspective. First of all for better understanding we have to know about land monetization. See the term land monetization refers to the process of turning a non-revenue generating land into an income generating land. See land monetization helps to generate revenue from the land without losing the ownership of the land. For example the barren government land can be leased to some private company for carrying out their functions. And this will provide some income to the government without losing the ownership of the land. And this is what is called as land monetization. Now we will see about the benefits of land monetization from government perspective. As I said earlier land monetization will generate additional revenue to the government. So the government can use this revenue for other social welfare schemes. This is the first benefit. Apart from this land monetization will also transform the barren land into a productive land. This means that barren land which did not create any revenue for the government is now going to get some income by the process of monetization. And this is how it becomes productive land. Now these are all the two major benefits of the land monetization. Now with this basics we will move on to see about the National Land Monetization Corporation. See the creation of NLMC was announced by the finance minister Nirmala Sita Raman in the union budget 2021-22. Then on March 9, 2022 the union cabinet approved the creation of the corporation. And know that NLMC is fully owned by the central government. It falls under the administrative jurisdiction of department of public enterprises which comes under ministry of finance. See NLMC was being set up to carry out the monetization of government and public sector assets in the country. And this is about the NLMC. Now let us move on to see about the functions of NLMC. Firstly NLMC strives to monetize the underutilized or unused land parcels of the central public sector enterprises. And apart from this it will also facilitate the monetization of assets belonging to public sector undertakings that have seized operations. Secondly NLMC advices and supports other government entities in identifying their surplus non-core assets and monetizing them in a professional and efficient manner. And this is being done to generate maximum value realization. Thirdly NLMC will act as a repository of best practices in land monetization. See this is done by providing technical advice to the government in the implementation of asset monetization programs. And finally to carry out the monetization plans the NLMC will hire professionals from private sector which is similar to other specialized government companies like the National Investment Infrastructure Fund Investment India etc. Now that is all regarding this news article here. In this discussion we saw what is land monetization, what are all the benefits of land monetization. And after that we moved on to see about the National Land Monetization Corporation, its establishment and the functions. Now with these points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now for our next discussion we are going to take this news article. It is from the FAQ page. This article is talking about the regulation of stock markets in India. Now why is this in news today? See in January the Hindenburg Research which is an investment research firm based in New York City published a report. And the report accused the Adani Group for stock market manipulation and accounting fraud. And due to the publication of this report the shares of Adani Group crashed and the investors were reported to have lost lakhs of crores. So series of petitions were filed in Supreme Court based on this issue. Therefore on February 10th the Supreme Court asked the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the government to produce the existing regulatory framework in place to protect the investors from the share market volatility. And this is why the regulation of stock markets made a news today. Now in this discussion we will learn the points provided in this news article okay. But before that quickly go through the syllabus which is relevant to the news article that is given here. Now let us start our discussion. For better understanding we will start with the basics. First of all what is a stock market? See a stock market or stock exchange is a marketplace where buyers and sellers virtually meet to trade. That is to buy and sell the shares or securities of publicly listed companies. See a stock market or stock exchange is otherwise known as securities market or share market or equity market. Now we will understand the functioning of stock exchange with an example. Let us assume that a person named Ramu wants to sell his 10 shares of reliance industries at 1000 rupees per share. So he will place a sell order on the stock exchange and the stock exchange will then find a buyer who wants to buy 10 shares of reliance industries at rupees 1000 per share. And finally the stocks are exchanged. Therefore we can say that the stock market or stock exchange is a virtual platform or a market where the buyers and sellers meet to trade the shares and securities. Now I hope you have a clear understanding of how the stock exchange works. Now moving on to see about the laws that govern the stock market. See the stock market in India is regulated by four key laws. They are the Companies Act 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act 1992, the Securities Contracts Regulation Act 1956 and the Depositories Act 1996. See the framing of these laws reflects the evolution and development of the stock market in India. Now if we take the SEBI Act 1992, this act empowers the Securities and Exchange Board of India to regulate the stock markets in India. Besides regulation, the Act also mandates SEBI to protect the interest of investors and to promote the development of stock market. Apart from this, SEBI was given the power to register intermediaries like stock brokers, merchant bankers and portfolio managers. And as per the SEBI Act, the Securities and Exchange Board of India has the power to regulate the functioning of intermediaries by prescribing eligibility criteria and conditions to carry on activities and periodic inspections. And finally, it has the power to impose penalties such as monetary penalties including suspending or cancelling the registration of intermediaries. So all these regulatory measures are as per the SEBI Act 1992. What all we saw? The Board, that is the SEBI Board regulates the stock markets, it mandates to protect the investors and promotes the development of stock market. It has the power to register intermediaries, regulate the functioning of intermediaries and it has the power to impose penalties to the intermediaries. Now moving on to the Securities Contracts Regulation Act 1956. See, this act empowers Securities and Exchange Board of India to recognize and deregognize the stock exchanges. And apart from this, the Act also empowers SEBI to prescribe rules and bylaws for the functioning of stock exchanges and to regulate trading, clearing and settlement on stock exchanges. And this is the regulatory measures as per the Securities Contracts Regulation Act 1956. Now let us move on to the Depositories Act 1996. See, as part of the development of securities market, the parliament has passed the Depositories Act in 1996 and SEBI was given the power to enforce this act. Subsequently, SEBI has also made regulations to enforce the provisions of Depositories Act 1996. Know that a depository means an entity that holds financial securities or stocks in a dematerialized form. Here dematerialized form means the physical certificates of securities of an investor are converted to an equal number of securities in the electronic form. To put it simply, the electronic form of physical certificates of securities are only known as dematerialized form. So, those entities that hold financial stocks in a dematerialized form are known as Depositories. Now coming back, the Depositories Act 1996 introduced and legitimized the concept of dematerialized securities being held in an electronic form. See, today almost all the listed securities are held in the dematerialized form only. Therefore, SEBI set up the infrastructure for doing dematerialization by registering Depositories and Depository participants. See, the Depository Regulations empower SEBI to regulate the functioning of Depositories and the Depository participants by prescribing eligibility conditions as well as periodic inspections. Apart from this, SEBI also has the power to impose penalties on Depositories including suspending, cancelling the registration as well as monetary penalties. And this is all about the acts and laws that are governing the stock market. Now let us move on to see about the role of SEBI in curbing the market volatility. First of all, know that market volatility is defined as the rate at which the price of security increases or decreases over a given span of time. And this is only known as market volatility. Volatility simply means not being stable. I hope you understand what is market volatility. Now coming to the role of SEBI. See, in general, SEBI does not interfere to prevent the market volatility. This is because the stock exchanges itself have some mechanisms to prevent the excessive volatility. But at the extreme situations, SEBI can direct the stock exchanges to stop trading totally or selectively. Apart from this, SEBI can also prohibit entities or persons from selling, buying or dealing in securities. Therefore, we can say that SEBI is not involved directly in curbing market volatility. Instead, it will issue some directions to carry out fair trading. Now this is about the role of SEBI in curtailing market volatility. See aspirants, do you remember that we saw four laws when it comes to regulation of stock market, right? We saw three of them before. They are SEBI Act and Securities Contracts Regulation Act and Depositories Act. We left one of them, right? Which is the Companies Act 2013. Now we will see how the Companies Act regulates the stock market. See in India, the Companies Act 2013 regulates the companies that are incorporated or registered in India. And this company act has delegated its authority to the SEBI to enforce some of its provisions. It includes regulation of rising capital for the companies and the corporate governance norms such as periodic disclosure of information, composition of companies board, oversight management and the resolution of investor grievances. See these are the two provisions which were delegated to the SEBI. One is regulation of rising capital and the other one is checking for the following of corporate governance norms. Now let us see the regulation of capital rising. See in order to regulate the fundraising activities of the companies, SEBI has brought out a set of guidelines called the disclosure and investor protection guidelines. And later these guidelines were subsumed into a more comprehensive issue of capital and disclosure requirement regulations. And this is regarding the regulation of rising of capital by the companies. After this, in order to ensure that the listed companies follows the corporate governance norms, the SEBI notified the listing obligations and disclosure requirements regulations in 2015. And these are the two regulatory measures taken by SEBI regarding the fundraising activities of companies and the corporate governance norms. Now finally before concluding our discussion, we will understand about the safeguards available against the fraud in stock exchanges. See we all know fraud undermines the regulation and it also prevents the stock market from being fair and transparent. Therefore to prevent the two key forms of fraud, SEBI has notified two regulations. Here what are the two key forms of fraud? One is market manipulation and the other one is insider trading. And the two notified regulations include prohibition of fraudulent and unfair trade practices regulations in 1995 and prohibition of insider trading regulations in 1992. See this one is regarding market manipulation and this one is regarding insider trading. See these regulations prohibit fraudulent activities and they also provide for penalties. Now in this regard SEBI has been given the powers of a civil court. So SEBI has the power to summon persons, to seize documents and records, to attach bank accounts and property and to carry out investigations. And this power is with regards to the two notified regulations that we saw before. See using these powers SEBI has acted against entities and individuals like Sahara India, Vijay Malia and so on. So overall SEBI ensures protection of the interest of investors by regulating the listing and trading of securities. And it also protects the interest of investors by registering and regulating institutions handling the public funds. Here know that appeals against the orders of SEBI can be made to the Securities Appellate Tribunal. And appeals from the Securities Appellate Tribunal can be made to Supreme Court. Now these are all regarding the stock market regulations in India. With this we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion we understood what is a stock market, how does it work? We saw the regulation of stock market by four key laws in India. Companies Act, SEBI Act, Securities Contracts Regulation Act, Depositories Act. We saw the regulatory measures in each and every act. Apart from this we saw regulations for market volatility by SEBI. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing the safeguards against fraud in stock markets. Now these points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this science page article. It introduces us to a number of terms related to meteorite. Suddenly meteorite is a news because scientists have found that the meteorite that fell in Gujarat's Banaskanta district on August 17 last year was a rare specimen of an orbite. And this kind of meteorite is seen in India for the first time since 1852. So in this news article discussion let us understand the terms one by one. So first of all what are meteors? See meteors are nothing but pieces of some solid object in space that have broken off and fallen on to a planet or moon. And once they reach the surface they are called as meteorites. So far hundreds of meteorites have crashed in India but the meteorite which fell last year is a rare unique specimen of orbite. And this is only the second recorded crash of an orbite. And the last was observed in 1852 in Basti, Uttar Pradesh. The surprising fact here is that since the year 1836 orbites have crashed in at least 12 different locations around the world including 6 in United States. Here you might have a doubt. Why it's crashing is very unique and rare? It is because for one these meteorites fall rarely on Earth. Secondly even if they fall they will get fragmented into finer fractions before falling or they may get lost during atmospheric ablation. Here what is meteor or atmospheric ablation? See meteor ablation occurs when a meteor travels through the Earth's atmosphere. And during this passage the aerodynamic pressure of the surrounding atmosphere overcomes the material strength of the object. And this generates heat from the atmospheric entry and it breaks up the object causing it to lose the mass. So due to this process only we are saying that meteorites will disappear in the atmosphere itself. And this is exactly why the orbite meteorite which fell in India was a rare situation. Now coming to the question what is this orbite? See orbites are nothing but igneous rocks that form in oxygen-poor conditions. So orbites are a type of meteorite which form in oxygen-poor conditions. And know that they contain a variety of exotic minerals that are not found on Earth. For example the mineral Hadeite was first described in the Basti meteorite. And the presence of exotic minerals in orbite meteorite is one of the reasons why this meteorite is considered rare unique. Here note that as per the article some signs indicate that they could be from asteroid 3103 Eger or from the planet Mercury. But the scientists are not yet sure of their origin. As of now just know that the meteorite which fell last year comes under the category of orbite meteorite. We saw what are orbites. And additionally they are classified as monomit brisia. This is because it consists of several pyroxene bearing pieces which are held together by scaffold of rocky material. Here pyroxene are members of a mineral group defined by similar chemical compositions and crystal structures. See in simple words pyroxene are silicates consisting of single chains of silica tetrahedra. And normally these pyroxene occur in igneous and metamorphic rocks. And pyroxene such as diopside and jedite have been used as gems before. And that is all regarding this news article discussion. In this discussion we saw what are meteors and what are meteorites. We saw meteor ablation. We saw what are orbites. And what is so special about orbites. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing the classification of the orbite meteorite which is nothing but monomit brisia. Now with these points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this front page news article. This article says that the GST council has met in person after a long time. See two reports have been accepted by the council. And out of these two the significant one was setting up of the goods and services tax appellate tribunal. It is abbreviated as GSTAT. See the central goods and services tax act 2017 in section 109 mandates the constitution of goods and services tax appellate tribunal and its benches. And it's been five years since the implementation of GST. But the goods and services tax appellate tribunal has not seen the light of the day yet. So this particular decision of the council to constitute the GSTAT is very significant. Now in this discussion we will see what this tribunal is all about and we'll also see what are the other decisions of the council. See the goods and services tax appellate tribunal or shortly referred as GSTAT is to be constituted as a specialized appellate authority for resolving disputes under GST laws. The absence of the GSTAT in the states have caused a ripple effect in the GST administration. How is this? See in the case of an adverse order from the revenue authorities and grieved taxpayer has to approach the high court for rich jurisdiction for relief. But the high courts are already burdened with huge dependency of cases. So to address this the union government set up a six member group of ministers to look into the constitution of GSTAT. And the committee made some suggestions and it also proposed a structure for GSTAT. Now we'll see that but remember this is only a proposed structure and the GSTAT is yet to be constituted. Now let's see the proposed structure. The GSTAT benches are to be headed by judge of the supreme court or the chief justice of state high court. And it shall consist of one technical member from centre and one technical member from the state. And know that the technical members can be appointed without 25 years of experience as suggested by the group of ministers. And apart from this the recommendations provides that the principal bench of GSTAT shall be set up in New Delhi. And then large states will be allowed to set up a maximum of five benches. This is based on defined criteria like population of the state number of GST registered tax payers etc. Now this is about the goods and services tax appellate tribunal and the proposed structure. Now before concluding let us see some of the latest outcomes in the recently held GST council. See many decisions have been taken by the GST council in the latest meeting. See the council reduced the tax levy on a few items including liquid jaggery and pencil sharpness. And then the finance minister announced that the central will be releasing the GST compensation dues to the states. And this amount stands at Rs.33,506 crore. See the money will come from the centre's own coffers. Here coffers means treasury okay. See this is because the GST compensation CES fund does not have an adequate balance. However this amount will be recovered from the future CES collections. As of now the centre will pay the money to the states. Okay that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the goods and services tax, appellate tribunal, its establishment and the proposed structure. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the outcomes of the latest GST council meeting. Now with these points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now for our next discussion let us take this news article. This news article talks about rural tourism. So what is rural tourism? See rural tourism focuses on the visitor actively participating in rural lifestyle. See the tourist travels to a rural location and experiences the life while taking part in the daily activities of the village. And the visitor also gets a chance to imbibe the traditions and culture of the area. See rural tourism may also include an overnight stay in which the visitor also gets to know the unique lifestyle of the village at much closer quarters. So we can say that the term itself is a combination of three components. Firstly this form of tourism showcases the rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations. Secondly the local community gets benefitted both economically and socially through marketing of local products. Thirdly the first two components enables interaction between the tourists and the locals for a more enriching tourism experience. So rural tourism is multifaceted and it includes agricultural tourism, cultural tourism nature tourism adventure tourism and eco tourism. See how it is intertwined right? Now regarding this India has its own national strategy for rural tourism. The first step in this strategy is to identify cluster of 5 to 7 villages in close proximity. And this cluster should offer more tourist attractions and can also aid in marketing of local products. And after the identification of the clusters sustainable tourism will be promoted. By the word sustainable it means avoiding large scale infrastructure development and without much private sector participation. Instead efforts will be to open local resources and communities to provide a unique organic experience. See the central nodal agency rural tourism and rural home stays which is shortly referred as CNA, RT and RH is the coordinating body for this rural tourism. It has identified 6 niche experiences for tourists wanting to visit rural India. This includes agri tourism art and culture, eco tourism, wildlife tribal tourism and home stays. See more than 134 villages have been listed so far to provide a set of unique experiences to tourists. For example, Tamil Nadu's Kolukumalai is the highest tea plantation in the world. Kerala's Devalokam is a yoga center on the banks of a river. Naga land's Konyak tea retreat takes visitors on a trip through tribal culture. Telangana's Pochampalli village showcases its traditional weaving techniques and Himachal Pradesh's Prakpur village plungers visitors into Kangra heritage architecture. So depending on the experience tourists can sample the local cuisine and see how the crops are grown and they can participate in textile weaving, they can witness folk art being practiced and they can also go on nature trails all the while living within the community. So it is like a wholesome package. Now let us see some of the benefits of this rural tourism. Firstly, rural tourism helps in revitalizing the local art and the crafts. Secondly, it prevents the viable traditional occupations from being displaced. And thirdly, it helps in redeveloping rural areas and regenerating the rural life. And finally, it aids in creating jobs and new business opportunities. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw about what is rural tourism, the three components of it and India's national strategy for rural tourism. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the benefits of rural tourism. 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 six questions for discussion. I'll solve five of them and one of them is a quiz question for you. Now let us take this first question which of the following are recommended for holding and conservation breeding of cheetah in India in controlled wild conditions. Statement one, Naura Dehi wildlife sanctuary Madhya Pradesh. Statement two, Mukundara Tiger reserve Rajasthan. And statement three, Kuno national park Madhya Pradesh. See the correct answer to this question is option D one, two and three. You all have heard about Kuno national park but know that a survey has been conducted and amongst the ten surveyed sites of the central Indian states Kuno palpur national park in Madhya Pradesh has been rated the highest. And this is because of its adequate and adequate prey base. And accordingly, Kuno national park was chosen as the most appropriate site for the re-introduction of cheetah in India. But know that there are other sites which are recommended for holding and conservation breeding of cheetah in India in wild conditions. They include Naura Dehi wildlife sanctuary Madhya Pradesh Gandhi Sahar wildlife sanctuary and Bains Rohrgaard wildlife sanctuary complex Madhya Pradesh Sahagar bulge in Jaisalmer Rajasthan Mukundara tiger reserve Rajasthan. So remember these five places okay. It will be very useful for your problems. Now let us move on to the second question which of the following can be the better way of preventing underwater noise emission. Statement one development of green ports. Statement two, lowering of the speed of ships to less than five knots up to port limits. Statement three, rerouting of shipping lanes away from foraging regions of marine species. Here all the three statements are correct. See in today's news article itself they are given. Now moving on to the third question with reference to the national land monetization corporation consider the following statements. Statement one it functions under the jurisdiction of the department of land resources in the ministry of rural development. See this statement is incorrect. In our discussion itself we saw it falls under the administrative jurisdiction of department of public enterprises under the ministry of finance. Statement two it is tasked with the function to carry out the monetization of government and public sector assets in the country and this is correct. NLMC was set up for carrying out the monetization of assets of the government only. So the correct answer to this question is option B2 only. Now moving on to the fourth question consider the following statements with reference to medias. Statement one medias are fragments of stars. See this statement is incorrect. Medias are usually fragments of comets. As they enter the earth's atmosphere at high speed they burn up creating a spectacular shower. Now coming to statement two the German it's media shower are unique because they do not originate from a comet but from an asteroid. Yes we saw medias are usually fragments of comets but this German it's are unique because unlike most media showers they do not originate from a comet they originate from an asteroid. Now look at the question carefully the question has asked for the incorrect statements. So the correct answer to this question is option A one only. Now moving on to the fifth question consider the following statements. Statement one there is an 18 percentage GST on funeral burial crematorium or mortuary services. Statement two services by an employee to the employer in the course of his employment does not attract GST. Statement three there is no GST on liquor in India. See the correct answer to this question is option B two one three only. I'll tell you why. See there are some activities that are not covered as supply under GST. They are classified under schedule three of the GST act as neither goods nor services. Know that funeral services and service by employee to the employer come under this schedule. So based on that statement one is wrong and statement two is right. We all know that there is no GST on alcohol but the state government continue to levy, vat and excise duty on liquors. So the correct answer is again option B two one three only. Now moving on to the sixth question see aspirants this is only the quiz question for you. Read the question carefully think about it for a minute and post your answer in the comment section. Aspirants I have given here the practice questions. So interested people write it and post your answer in the comment section. If you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today post that also in the comment section. With this we have come to the end. If you find the video useful like, share and comment and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.