 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankara Ace Academy. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the displayed articles is given in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comments section. Let's move on to our first article analysis. Our first news article discussion is based on this article. This news article mentions that vulture conservation groups have come up with a strategy for the conservation of vulture population in the five South Indian states. According to the news article, these states are home to six of the nine vulture species that are found in our country. So in this discussion, we will see about the vulture species in India, their significance and the reason for the decline in vulture population. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First of all, as we know, vultures are scavenging birds of prey and they have been divided into new world vultures and the old world vultures. The new world vultures include the Californian condors and Angian condors. And the old world vultures include the white-rumpered vultures and red-headed vultures, etc. Now in this, the new world vultures are found in North and South America and the old world vultures are found in Europe, Africa and Asia. So know that the vulture species are divided into new world vultures and the old world vultures. But according to the government sources, if you see, there are no vultures in Australia and Antarctica. Now with respect to the Indian scenario, if you see, nine species of vultures exist in India. And among these nine species, five belong to the genus Gyps. Now in these five species, the three gyps vultures, namely the white-rumpered vulture or the oriental white-backed vulture, then the long-billed vulture and then the slender-billed vulture, they are residents of India. And the remaining two, which are the Eurasian griffon vulture and Himalayan griffon vulture, they are largely wintering species only. Now the vultures are important because they play a vital role in the ecosystem by cleaning up the rotten carcasses that are left in the open. They scavenge on the carcasses of animals and thereby they help to keep the environment clean. In addition to this, they also scavenge on human carcasses as the Parsi community has a religious practice regarding the disposal of dead bodies. The Parsi community follows the practice of sky burial where the corpse is exposed to the rays of sun and the corpse is consumed or devoured by birds of prey such as vultures and crows. They follow the sky burials in order to cleanly and efficiently dispose of the human bodies. But the population of gyps vultures in the Indian subcontinent has crashed since 1990s onwards. The population of the three resident vultures of India, that is the white-rumpered vulture, long-billed vulture and slender-billed vulture, their populations have declined by around 97% during the last two decades and this is affecting the ecosystem. Because the removal of a major scavenger from the ecosystem will affect the equilibrium between populations of other scavenging species. In some areas the population of feral dogs which are acting as main scavenging species in the absence of vultures, it is observed that their population have been increasing. In addition to this, the removal of a major scavenger from the ecosystem will also result in increase in the putrifying and decaying carcasses. So in the absence of proper carcass disposing mechanisms, vulture declines may lead to an increase in the number of putrifying animal carcasses in the countryside. So both increases in the putrifying carcasses and changes in these scavenger populations have associated disease risks for wildlife, livestock and humans. It is because in the absence of any alternative mode of disposal of animal carcasses, the carcasses continue to be disposed of in the open. And along with this, there is an increasing number of feral dogs also. So there is an increased risk of spread of rabies and livestock-borne diseases like anthrax. In addition to this, the decline in vulture population has also affected the traditional custom of the parcies. So because of the evidence of widespread and rapid population decline, all these three vulture species are listed by IUCN as critically endangered. And as you can see in this table, all these three species have been listed in the same category in the IUCN sites, WPA and also in CMS. So that means they enjoy the same level of threat and also the same level of conservation protection. It is because the assessment by IUCN indicated that there is a high risk of global extinction of the species in the wild in the near future. Now we have been discussing that the population of vultures have been declining. So what is the reason for this? Now the reason for such decline is the veterinary use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These are the drugs that are used to help to reduce the inflammation and this often helps to relieve the pain. And among these non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or in short NSAIDs, especially the use of dichlofenac is the main cause for this drastic population decline. Dichlofenac was introduced for veterinary use in the late 1980s in the Indian subcontinent. Now the vultures are exposed to this drug through the consumption of carcasses of livestock that are treated with this drug because dichlofenac is an NSAID so it is used for a variety of painful and inflammatory conditions in the livestock also. So when the livestock is treated with this drug, some residues of this drug are left in the body of that livestock. So when that particular livestock dies, its carcass also contains that drug. So when the vultures scavenge on that carcass of livestock, they get exposed to this drug. The experiments showed that the vultures are highly susceptible to dichlofenac and they are killed by kidney failure within a short time of feeding on the carcass of an animal. So a simple veterinary dose of this drug is harmful for the vultures. Now because of this, the Government of India banned the use of dichlofenac in veterinary medicine. Along with this, Government of India also initiated Vulture Breeding Program for Ex situ conservation and also our government enhanced the in situ protection of the remaining populations of vultures. As we know, Ex situ conservation is the conservation of species outside their natural habitats and in situ conservation is the conservation of species in their natural habitats. So this conservation action by Government of India was done through the 2006 Action Plan for Vulture Conservation in India. This conservation plan or the action plan was drafted by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. But even after this ban, the pharmaceutical companies continued to produce dichlofenac in suspiciously large vials saying that it is for human use. So since it was available, it could be easily repurposed for the livestock use also. So later in 2015, the Government of India banned these large vials of dichlofenac too. This ban was challenged by two Indian pharmaceutical companies but fortunately the ban was upheld by the Madras High Court. So remember that dichlofenac is related to the decline in vulture population. But if you see according to Bird Life International, it's not just dichlofenac which is harmful for the vultures because dichlofenac is only one of over a dozen of drugs which are known as NSAIDs that are available in India. So if you see such other NSAIDs like acyclofenac, carprofen, flonixin, ketoprofen and nimesulide are toxic and they are dangerous for vultures. And the threat of these drugs is arguably far greater than dichlofenac because they are still legal. So they still pose a threat to the vultures. Now you may ask that whether all the NSAIDs are toxic and whether all are dangerous for vultures? It's not so. There is one drug which is an NSAID called as mellozicam. This drug is non-toxic to vultures. So we saw that dichlofenac has been banned in India but the other drugs which come under NSAID category are not banned. Now based on this only the news article mentions that there is a need to press the governments to restrict the availability of NSAIDs that is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the veterinary use. In addition to this the vulture conservation organizations also demanded to create a vulture safe zone in each South Indian state. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion we saw about the vulture species in India, their significance and also what is the reason for declining vulture population. With this we come to the end of this discussion. That is split practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion. This news article is about the enforcement of an order of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is with respect to firecrackers manufacturing units. The court's verdict dealt with green crackers use of barium salts in the production of firecrackers etc. So in this discussion we will discuss about these things. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now if you see earlier on October 2018 the Supreme Court gave a verdict in the case law of Arjun Gopal and others In this judgment the Supreme Court ordered that only crackers with reduced emissions and green crackers would be permitted to be manufactured and sold. In the order the Supreme Court also banned the use of barium salts in the fireworks. So what are green crackers? Green crackers are defined by the National Environment Engineering Research Institute which is a constituent laboratory of council of scientific and industrial research that is CSIR. The green crackers are also called as improved fireworks or improved firecrackers. These are crackers with reduced shell size compared to conventional crackers. In these crackers there is elimination of ash usage. Also there is reduced usage of raw materials. More importantly there may be use of additives as dust suppressants to reduce emissions. So at the end of the day these crackers should reduce emissions of particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. That is the aim. So such crackers should result into a minimum of 30% reduction in particulate matter pollution when compared to the pollution caused by conventional crackers. These are also the crackers that leads to a minimum of particulate matter reduction of 20% and rest 10% of gaseous emissions when compared to the pollution caused by conventional crackers. So what is the use of barium salts in production of firecrackers? We saw that in October 2018 the Supreme Court banned the use of barium salts in the fireworks and this was reiterated by Supreme Court when the matter came up for hearing in March 2019 also. Supreme Court banned the use of barium salts because studies have found out increase of barium values in the urine samples of various studied individuals. These studies were conducted before and after Diwali by analyzing the urine samples of individuals. See normally the firework units use barium salts to get green color for the crackers when fired. However we should note that barium salts emit poisonous gas which causes respiratory problem even when there is short term exposure. And as long term exposure it is found to have other health complications also. But despite the orders of the Supreme Court in the Diwali of 2019 several environmentalists and prudent citizens alleged that the firework units have violated the green cracker norm. They also alleged that firework units have used barium salts which is a banned ingredient. So as a result a contempt of court petition was filed in the Supreme Court. Now while hearing the petition the court asked the CBI to carry out inspection into the firework units. Now as a result of this the CBI has inspected some firework units in Sivakasi in the state of Tamil Nadu. So this is the news today. In addition to these bans the Supreme Court has also asked units to use the fire cracker formulation that is finalized by petroleum and explosive safety organization and NEERY. That is the National Environment Engineering Research Institute. So based on this NEERY has published some formulations of specific cracker types. These are cracker types such as sparkler types, Chinese crackers and flowerpot crackers etc. But if you see even in one of the formulations given by NEERY barium nitrate has been included. The NEERY formulation includes barium nitrate at a NEERY prescribed level but the formulation published is said to reduce PM reduction that is particulate matter reduction up to 30% each. So based on the present petition the development about green crackers is said to improve in the coming days without affecting the livelihood of firework production based workers. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion we saw about the definition of green crackers. We saw why barium salts in the manufacture of fireworks was banned by Supreme Court. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The respect practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion, this news article is about a report released by UN Women. The report reviews the present status of women's rights and gender equality across the world. So in this discussion we will be discussing in brief about the findings of this report. As it will be helpful for you in your main answer writing. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First of all know that UN Women is the UN organization that is dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women supports UN member states and civil society to design laws, policies, programs and services to implement certain standards for achieving gender equality. And this organization focuses on five priority areas. They are increasing women's leadership and participation. Then ending violence against women. Then engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes. Then enhancing women's economic empowerment. And then finally making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. So these are the five priority areas of UN Women. Now one of the most important development for women was the Beijing declaration that was adopted in 1995. It was adopted by the UN Fourth World Conference on Women. This declaration has adopted a set of principles to ensure gender equality and empowerment of women everywhere. And along with this declaration the Beijing platform for action was also adopted. It is an agenda for women's empowerment. This platform for action aims at removing all the obstacles to women's active participation in all spheres of public and private life. This is a full and equal share in the economic, social, cultural and political decision making. So the report that we are discussing today is a review of the achievements in gender equality after 25 years of adoption of this Beijing platform for action. And also the Beijing declaration. And whenever we discuss about gender equality it is important to discuss about the sustainable development goals related to that. And many of the SDGs are related to women's empowerment. For example, if you see the SDG number 8, it is about inclusive and sustainable development, shared prosperity and decent work for all. And then if you see SDG number 5, it is particularly dedicated to gender equality and empowering all girls and women. And then if you see goal number 16, it aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. It aims to provide access to justice for all. And it also aims to build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. So to achieve the sustainable development goals, in reality we have to focus more on empowering women and girls. And as we know, in the last 25 years the world has witnessed significant changes in political, social, economic and environmental spheres. And according to this report, these changes have brought certain welcome steps in some areas related to lives of women and girls. But there are also some reversal steps in women's rights in some areas. For example, if you see poverty, discrimination and violence are still strongly present in the lives of women and girls according to this report. And this report also mentions about the norm of underrepresentation of women in power and decision making. And the report provides few facts to prove that there are some reversal steps. Firstly, it mentions that only 25% of the seats are held by women in national parliaments. And secondly, if you see women who are aged 25 to 34 years are 25% more likely to live in extreme poverty than men globally. Then the report also mentions that women on an average do three times as much as unpaid care and domestic work as men. So this scenario poses long term consequences for the economic security of women. Then the report also mentions that the gender gap in the labour force participation among adults who are aged between 25 to 54 years has remained stagnant for the past 20 years. It has remained at 31%. And particularly when we talk about labour force participation, this report mentions that almost 39% of employed women are working in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. But still women form just 14% of the agricultural landholders. So like this there are more glaring examples which says that we need to do more to achieve real gender equality in all spheres of life. So what should be done to achieve gender equality? This report has given some solutions. First of all, the report demands economic independence for women which is crucial to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women. Then there should be legal reforms to ensure equal pay for equal work. There should be legal reforms for providing paternity leave so that the burden of taking care of the child does not only fall on women. Then there should be legal reforms to bring women to senior positions. And this report asks to focus more on the women who are working in informal sector globally. According to this report, around 74 crore women are working in informal sector. So they should be brought to the formal sector. Then women in the marginalized and excluded communities should be given special focus. Apart from this, the report also suggests to enact and enforce laws to end the gender-based violence. This will help women and girls to enjoy their lives free from violence which is essential for their development. Then we also need to support the feminist or gender equality movements across the world. Because such strong movements will help to highlight women's problems and it will help to achieve women's rights. Then another suggestion given by this report is harnessing of technology to ensure gender equality. For example, it asks for the innovations which ensures regular wage for women. Then there are needs for innovations such as sanitary napkins. And then obviously it also calls for the use of internet as a platform to raise women's voice like the meter movement. So these are some of the suggestions given in the report to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women. Now today's news article mentions the comments by a leading women's rights activist from India who has said that UN report was disappointing as it failed to highlight the success of India. India's civil society and the governmental efforts in achieving gender equality. The activist has said that India's methodology which is the gender and equity model can effectively address the SDGs. Because this gender and equity model focuses on gender equality, financial inclusion of women, then poverty reduction and then creation of sustainable women's institutions and financing gender programs. So if this model is followed properly then our country can achieve gender equality. In addition to this, the news article also mentions a significant point which is the emancipation or liberation of women through setting up cooperatives. We know that cooperatives can become a source of sustainable funding for women members. So this would ensure economic independence for women because as we know economic independence is the most important requirement for emancipation of women. And even this was the first solution given by the report also. So let us hope that this report will be an eye-opener to all for taking necessary reforms in all these peers. And let us hope that the dream of gender equality will become real in the near future. So that is all about this discussion. We saw about a report released by UN Women which reviews the present status of women's rights, gender equality and empowerment of women across the world. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The split practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion which is based on this editorial. This editorial article is with reference to the road safety in India. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. This editorial article talks about some positives after the recent amendment to the Mota Vehicles Act of 1988. It also talks about the cold reality of road safety in India. Then it talks about the measures that are required to improve road safety and to prevent deaths because of road accidents. We know that the Mota Vehicles Amendment Act of 2019 was passed in parliament and president has given his assent in August 2019. This amendment has specifically increased the fines for some violations and it has also included a general provision of revision of fines on an annual basis. In addition to this the amendment act also deals with new features such as national road safety board, then electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety including speed cameras, closed circuit television cameras, then speed guns, body wearable cameras and some other technologies. But if you see many of the provisions of the amendment other than increasing fines have not been given effect at the national level and also at the levels of states. For example, if you see the national road safety board is yet to be constituted as per the new section 215 capital B of this act. Even some states did not adopt the amendment in total because the amendment has given the states a considerable space to make their own rules on various matters. So in this scenario the minister of road transport and highways has made few observations recently. The minister has said that because of increased fines the deaths due to accidents in Indian roads have started reducing. He also noted that there were reports that crashes have started declining notably in some states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh etc. So these were mentioned as some of the positives of this Mota Vehicles Amendment Act. But what is the cold reality in Indian roads? Here the author states that we could not see a marked decline particularly with those who have lost their lives or those who were incapacitated because of accidents. Because since the year 2015 every year around 1.5 lakh people lose their lives in India due to road accidents and this number has increased from around deaths of 80,000 persons in 2001. Also there is a culture of indifference among the states in this regard that is states are not taking the road accident seriously. As a result of this their actions are not up to the required level. In the scenario the World Bank has released a report titled as Delivering Road Safety in India Leadership Priorities and Initiatives to 2030. In this report the World Bank has signaled that rapid motorization in India and more high speed road infrastructure have raised the risk for road users. These risks have increased because of lack of certain measures in road construction, road maintenance and traffic management in our country. So based on this the author has suggested some measures to improve road safety in India. The first measure suggested by the author is moving towards a scientific road system. A scientific road system is characterized by good engineering to improve the quality of road infrastructure. It is also characterized by sound enforcement of traffic laws and regulations by trained professional and empowered machineries. And there should also be appropriate use of technologies such as use of electronic monitoring including speed cameras, speed guns, body wearable cameras etc. And such a road system should consider the needs of all road users including the vulnerable road users such as differently abled persons, pedestrians and children. But at present if you see such a system is rarely found in Indian roads where rapid motorization is taking place. After this according to the author the key drivers of change have to be the district road safety committees. These district road safety committees are established under section 215 of Motor Vehicles Act of 1988. But however here the author implies that these committees which are constituted by the state government for each state are not functioning properly or they are not functioning in a transparent and accountable manner. So here the author suggests that these committees should conduct public hearings at least once in a month, mandatory. Now here you should note one point that apart from the district road safety committees which are constituted under this Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 there is another district road safety committee. This district road safety committee was constituted in 2018 in each district under the chairmanship of member of Lok Sabha from the district. Here you can see the other members of this committee. Now in this regard the author has noted that the road safety committees that are chaired by members of parliament can supervise the follow up actions which are taken by the district road safety committees established under the Motor Vehicles Act. This is a crucial measure because the efficient working of these committees will rectify the present mistakes and errors in road safety structure which in turn will reduce the accidents and it will save lives. Then the next measure which is suggested by the author is that the dashboard cameras should be mandatorily placed for the enforcement of road safety parameters. The cameras should be in such a way that the video evidences should be accepted in investigation and for policy measures. On one hand this would protect rule abiding motorists from being falsely alleged and on the other hand these cameras will help in enforcement of the laws and in policy making. Then after this the author has suggested to provide quality trauma care with free treatment facility at district level so as to save the quality of lives of the people who are victims of accident. So all these qualitative steps that are suggested by the author will comprehensively address the existing lacuna in the present road construction and maintenance and also in the road safety mechanisms. So that is all about this editorial. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The respect practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now let us take this question. This question is based on eco sensitive zones. We have framed this question based on this news article which mentions that the ministry of environment forests and climate change has issued a notification on 11th March to reduce the eco sensitive zone of Banyargatta National Park and it is going to be reduced by around 1000 square kilometre. Now just know that the Banyargatta National Park is located in the state of Karnataka near the Bengaluru city. Now look at this question. The question asked which of the statements is incorrect about eco sensitive zones. The first know that the purpose behind declaring eco sensitive zone is that they will act as shock absorbers for the protected areas like the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. The eco sensitive zones will minimize the negative impacts of the activities that are being carried out on the fragile ecosystem which is surrounding the protected areas. So the eco sensitive zones will act as a transition zone from the areas of higher protection to the areas involving lesser protection. That means the statement A is correct. Now you should also know that the central government has issued guidelines in 2011 for declaration of eco sensitive zones around protected areas as per the powers derived from section 3 of Environment Protection Act of 1986. So how much area constitutes a eco sensitive zone? If you see the central government has kept the width and extent of eco sensitive zone flexible since many of the existing protected areas have already undergone tremendous development in close vicinity to their boundaries. So the type of regulations differs from one protected area to another. However as a general principle the width of an eco sensitive zone could go up to 10 km around the protected area as provided in the wildlife conservation strategy of 2002. Now here know that the width of eco sensitive zone can extend also beyond 10 km limit if they are crucial for further protection. And also within a protected area the distribution of eco sensitive zone area is not uniform. So the eco sensitive zones are of variable width and extent. So that means the statement C is also correct because the width of an eco sensitive zone is not the same for each protected area. See the activities that are carried out in the eco sensitive zones are classified into three types. They are prohibited, restricted with safeguards and permissible activities. So this means that all the activities are not of prohibitive nature. So this means statement B is incorrect because it mentions that all the activities in these zones are prohibitive nature. Now since the question asks for the incorrect statement this is the correct answer to this question. Now the last statement is correct because the proposals for eco sensitive zones are finalized by the forest departments of respective state governments and it is forwarded to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and after this it would be then processed and notified by the ministry only. So that is why this statement is correct. Now let us take another question. Now this is a map based question which asks Germany shares border with which of the following. Now we have framed this question based on this news article which mentions that there is growing right-wing terrorism in Germany. According to this news article the intelligence agency chief of Germany has said that the far right terrorism and extremism are the biggest danger faced by democracy in Germany today. A far right-wing party called AFD that is Alternate for Germany or Deutschland was founded in 2013 in Germany. Their ideology is said to be based on German nationalism, anti-Islam, anti-Semitic that is against Jews and even racism. And if you see the party has also performed fairly in the German elections. So it is now the largest opposition group in Bundestag which is the Germany's lower house of parliament. The rise of the party over the years is also associated with the rise of extremist attacks in several parts of Germany. The news article mentions that Flügel which is the most radical faction of AFD has thousands of violent members. So the German intelligence agency has placed them under surveillance in order to avoid extremist attacks in the future. So what exactly is this right-wing terrorism which is also known as far right extremism? See the Global Terrorism Index that was published by the Institute of Economics and Peace gives insights into the far right terrorism. According to this index far right refers to any political ideology that is centered on one or more of the elements such as strident nationalism that is usually racial or exclusivist, then fascism, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-immigration, chauvinism, nativism and xenophobia. Here the exclusivist nationalism is the idea that belonging to a specific ethnic group, nation or race determines a human being's value. So such groups mostly believe in an authoritarian state and they vehemently oppose ideas like democracy, parliamentary opposition and periodic elections etc. And the most ideal example of this exclusivist nationalism was the Nazi Germany under Hitler and also the fascist Italy under Mussolini. But not every group or organization with any of these characteristics can be considered far right and not every far right group is automatically violent or terroristic. However, terrorist groups with these characteristics and individuals who are sympathetic to these ideals have been classified as far right terrorism or far right terrorists in the 2019 Global Terrorism Index. There have been changes in the nature of far right terrorism over the past 50 years. Far right extremists have shifted from owing allegiance to a group to individual actions. This is evident from the fact that the proportion of unaffiliated attacks has risen from below 5% in the mid 1970s to over 70% for the period 2014 to 2018. The reason for this is self-radicalization of individuals primarily through internet and also through contact with other far right individuals or groups. And examples of such groups are anti-feminist extremists, anti-muslim extremists, neo-fascists, anti-immigrant extremists and white extremists etc. So with respect to this news article what you have to focus is about Germany and also about far right terrorism. You have to focus on this word far right terrorism because already in the main examination there are questions based on hot pursuit and surgical strikes which are armed action against the terrorist attack. So you should know definition of these terms so that you can attend those kinds of main questions. So now let us discuss this question. In this question not only countries are given but also some C's are given. So remember that to answer a map based question basic knowledge about C's around the world is also essential. Now from this map you can say that Germany shares border with North Sea and also Baltic Sea. So the final answer should contain both one and four which is present in option C so that is the correct answer to this question. Denmark also shares border with Germany along with Poland but Italy does not share border with Germany. Then other countries that share border with Germany are France, Austria, Prague etc. Now let us take another question which is a question based on the economics area of our subject. The question asks which of the following action or actions are undertaken under forex swap. Now today we have chosen this question because there is one news article which mentions that the Reserve Bank of India has taken a decision to undertake 6 month US dollar sell or buy swaps. Now these US dollar sell or buy swaps are nothing but the forex swaps. Now the background behind this move is that worldwide financial markets are facing intense selling pressures in order to avoid extreme risks due to the spread of new coronavirus infections. And the financial markets are also affected by the reduction in international crude prices due to the collapse of OPEC plus supply agreement. And there is also a decline in bond yields across advanced economies of the world. So in order to ensure that the money is safe the investors are pulling back their money from the markets. So there is volatility in the money market and because of this currencies of several emerging markets like India are experiencing pressures. And there are also mismatches in the US dollar liquidity across the world including India. So based on the review of current financial market conditions and after considering the requirement of US dollars in the market RBA has decided to undertake this 6 month US dollar sell or buy swap. Usually RBA will sell or buy the US dollar which is a foreign currency and in exchange RBA will get or give the Indian currency. And now as per the RBA announcement what will happen is the bank will buy US dollars from the RBA and simultaneously the bank will agree to sell the same amount of US dollars at the end of the swap period. So here the RBA is selling the US dollars to the bank now. The main aim of this present exercise is to provide liquidity to the foreign exchange market and also remember that the swaps will be conducted through the auction route by RBA. So if you look at this question here 4 statements are given. Buying of government securities by RBA. Selling of government securities by RBA. Buying of foreign currency by RBA. Selling of foreign currency by RBA. Now from this discussion you can say that 3 and 4 should be in the answer. But whether 1 and 2 are related to forex swap no it is not they are related to open market operations. Because open market operations is the buying or selling of government securities to control liquidity or money supply. The RBA buys the government securities to control money supply and the RBA sells government securities to control inflation. So the correct answer to this question is option C 3 and 4 only. Now let us discuss the questions that were displayed along with the news article discussions. This question is with respect to barium salts. Barium salts are found to be misused in which of the following. The use of which reported to have caused health problems. Now the first one is milk production. It is wrong because some of the common adulterants that are used in milk production are water, starch, urea, vanispathy, detergent, formalin, ammonium sulfate etc. But it does not involve barium salts. Then if you come to poultry farms you would have heard about the drug colostin which is used as the last resort antibiotic. This colostin is used to fatten the broiler chickens in less time and with less feed. And this colostin has led to the development of antimicrobial resistance in humans. So this is not the correct answer. The correct answer is option D firework units because firework units use barium salts to get green colour for the crackers when they are fired. But these barium salts which are present in fireworks are poisonous gas and they cause respiratory problems even when there is short term exposure. And when there is long term exposure they are found to have other health complications also. And the Supreme Court has banned the use of barium salts in the manufacturing of firecrackers. So the correct answer is option D. Now in this question three statements are given. The central government can prohibit the import or manufacture sale or distribution of any drug or cosmetic that is likely to involve any risk for human beings or animals. This statement is correct because in 1982 the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940 was amended to empower the central government to prohibit the manufacture and import of drugs under the section 26A and 10A. In this the section 10A is with respect to the power of central government to prohibit the import of drugs and cosmetics in public interest. And the section 26A is with respect to the power of central government to prohibit manufacture of drugs and cosmetics in public interest. So this statement is correct. Now the second statement is the central government cannot prohibit the import or manufacture sale or distribution of any drug or cosmetic that does not have the therapeutic value claimed. Now this is incorrect because the central government can ban such drugs or cosmetics. Because under these same sections the central government can ban if the drugs or the cosmetics have some harmful effects or if the therapeutic justification is considered inadequate in the light of the current available medical evidence. Then it can be prohibited after it is examined by the expert committee under the Drugs Technical Advisory Board. This board is a statutory board under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. And similarly the drug for animal use are examined by the Directorate General of Health Services which is under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. And they are examined by this directorate in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture. So this statement is incorrect and here the question asks for the incorrect statement. So our final answer should contain statement 2. So you can eliminate option A and B. Now the third statement is the drug dichlofenac is banned in India. Now after today's discussion you think this statement is correct but it is not it is incorrect. Because first in 2006 under these sections the central government banned dichlofenac for veterinary use. And then in 2015 the central government banned the use of large vials of dichlofenac or multi vials of dichlofenac. Because they could be easily repurposed for livestock use. But even still today the use of this drug as a single dose injection for humans is not prohibited. Under the notification given by central government the production of dichlofenac is restricted to the human formulation of injectable dichlofenac to single unit dose pack only. Because before large multi dose vials of 30 ml were available which were facilitating the illegal veterinary use also. But now this has been reduced to 3 ml vials which are smaller and illegal veterinary use of this drug will be difficult. Because several small vials would have to be combined to get the right dose to treat the livestock. Now the drug dichlofenac is very relevant with respect to the decline in populations of vulture. Because when the vultures scavenge over the carcasses of livestock that are treated with dichlofenac the vultures die because of kidney failure. Now since this drug led to a rapid decline in population of vultures it was banned in India for veterinary use. And also large vials of this drug is also banned in India. But single unit dose pack of 3 ml is still available and it is not prohibited. So that is why this statement is incorrect. Here the question asks for the incorrect statement. So the correct answer is option D 2 and 3. Now let us take one main question. How far the recent amendment to the Muta Vehicles Act 1988 will be effective in transforming Indian road transport system into a scientific one? Why? Now for answering this question you have to use various new measures that were brought in the recent amendment made in 2019. You can mention the provisions such as functions of national road safety board that is proposed in the amendment act. Then you have to mention the provisions related to electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety including speed cameras etc. Then you can say that how far the provisions in amendment will help India to achieve the characteristic features of scientific road system. Because the scientific road system should consider the needs of vulnerable road users who are differently abled persons, pedestrians and children. And they should have some good engineering to improve the quality of road infrastructure etc. Now let us take another main based on GS paper one. The Beijing platform for action was adopted in 1995 for women's empowerment. Though the world has become more accommodative to women over the last 25 years, a lot need to be changed to achieve gender equality. Elaborate. Now first for answering this question, you can mention about the Beijing declaration that was adopted by the UN woman at the fourth world conference on women. Its objective is to ensure gender equality and empowerment of women and this platform for action is an agenda for women's empowerment. Then you can mention about the present status of gender equality and empowerment of women. Like you can mention the points given by the report that we discussed today. Like you can mention that only 25% of the seats are held by women in national parliaments etc. Then as a way forward you can suggest enforcing laws to end gender based violence. Then you can also suggest the supporting of feminist movements across the world. Then harnessing technology to ensure gender equality etc. And as a conclusion you can mention that cooperation among all the stakeholders is important to make the world equitable for all. With this we have come to the end of our analysis sessions. 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