 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Shankar IS Academy's newspaper analysis for the date 23rd August 2021. These are list of articles chosen for today's discussion. As you can see these articles are picked from various sections of the syllabus. So, let us start our discussion by discussing about an OPAT article. In this article we will be seeing about the non-communicable diseases, what are the impacts caused by the non-communicable diseases and why there was disruption in the services for the non-communicable diseases. Followed by that we will be seeing about deadly algal bloom in the Muttukade estuary. After that we will be seeing about three important images. The first image is about a temple in the Jammu and Kashmir and the second image will be about an historical monument and the third image will be about the Naha Holi National Park. Now, let us move on to the discussion. Now, let us take up this OPAT article about non-communicable diseases. This article can be split into three parts. In the first part, the author talks about the seriousness of NCD and the second part highlights the disruption in the services of these NCD and further in the third part, the author gives some solution to tackle the burden of these non-communicable diseases. See, you may think because of its characteristics it is not very important to know about non-communicable diseases but the real picture is around 71 percentage of all deaths worldwide occur due to non-communicable diseases. So, it is very important to know about non-communicable diseases and how to contain these non-communicable diseases. It may be very helpful in your mains preparation. The syllabus covered by this OPAT article is highlighted below for your reference. First, let us know about non-communicable diseases in order to understand the article better. See, the non-communicable diseases are medical conditions or diseases that are not communicated by infectious agents. These are chronic diseases of long duration and are usually slow in progression. Generally, these diseases are the result of a combination of genetic, psychological, environmental and behavioral factors. Know that cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes are the major insides and habits like physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, tobacco use and the harmful uses of alcohol are the main behavioral risk factors for insides. Now, moving on to the editorial, as we already saw around 71 percentage of all deaths worldwide occur due to non-communicable diseases and in fact, cardiovascular diseases like that of stroke, heart attack and coronary artery diseases are the top causes of global deaths. Especially among younger patients, one out of every four deaths occur due to these cardiovascular diseases. When you take India, there is a rapid progression of such diseases and also a high mortality rate and premature loss of life due to NCD is also very high. Among Indians, the age group between 30 to 69 years are highly affected. So, on that line in order to address this growing burden, the government of India under the National Health Mission initiated an integrated program which is titled as National Program for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke. And this particular program focuses on health promotion and prevention and it aims for the strengthening of infrastructure including human resources, early diagnosis, management and integration with the primary healthcare system. As you know, with the emergence of COVID, lockdowns and isolation have become a new normal and these lockdowns and reduced physical interactions led to loneliness among people and this in turn resulted in the mental health disorder like anxiety and depression. Most importantly, such situation increased the exposure of NCD risk factors. This is because during lockdowns, people are more likely to increase their conception of alcohol and tobacco and adopt an unhealthy diet. Note that COVID-19 patients with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases are in a more intense or serious state when compared to others. Likewise, among the various NCDs, diabetes persons are found to be at an exponentially high risk of severe clinical outcomes when it comes to COVID-19. Moving on to the second part, as we know with the rapid spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of NCDs were severely disturbed and not only that, even maternal healthcare services, immunization and health surveillance were also disrupted. So, according to a WHO survey, low-income countries were the most affected by this disruption. Now, let us see some reasons that have contributed for the disruption of these NCD services. See, firstly, the staffs working in the NCD sector were assigned to support patients with COVID-19 and this led to the postponement of public screening programs. Another main reason in this regard is the shortage of medicines, diagnostics and technologies. And the disruption was further enhanced when the countries moved into the stage of community transmission. Apart from this cancellation of planned treatments, decreased availability of public transport and lack of staffs are also some of the common reasons in this regard. Now, coming to the last part, see the author here has listed down some important solutions to tackle the growing NCDs. Now, let us see them one by one. First of all, India's NCD response plans should include tobacco cessation activities and rehabilitation. This is because tobacco consumption has been indisputably linked to hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Secondly, as of now, the state and national health policy makers should draw up a roadmap which gives equal weightage to patients living with NCDs along with the COVID patients and the existing network of NGOs can be utilized in this regard. Similarly, instead of broadcasting the same messages over and over again, innovative campaigns on maintaining a healthy lifestyle should be encouraged based on the screening for non-communicable diseases at the grassroots level itself. Further on that line, telemedicine can be encouraged and alternative like online platforms could be used for disseminating information. And most importantly, proper access to essential NCD medicines and basic health technologies should be made available in all primary healthcare facilities. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach that includes a strong health workforce, infrastructure, supplies and a continued access and care for the vulnerable population should be encouraged in this regard. So, in this discussion we saw about non-communicable diseases, why there was a disruption in the services for these non-communicable diseases and how can we overcome these disruption of services. With these details in mind, now let us move on to the next part of our discussion. Now, look at this news article. This is about the algal bloom in Muttukadu history. In this part of discussion, we will be knowing about algal blooms and eutrophication. The syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference. As you can see from the picture, Muttukadu is a historian landscape situated along the northern coast of Chennai. This history has been witnessing algal blooms as a consequence of eutrophication. This is what the reports based on few studies implies. Let us understand this further. See, eutrophication is the natural aging of a lake by nutrient enrichment of its water. Think of a freshly formed lake. In a young lake, the water is cold and clear and it supports little lives. With time streams straining into the lake introduces nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. These nutrients will increase the growth of aquatic organisms in the lake as the lakes fertility or the lakes nutrient increases plants and animal life multiplies. And after a period of time, the organic remains or the dead fishes and animals and the plants begin to be deposited on the lakes bottom. So, what happens next? Over the time as silt and organic debris is piled up, the lake grows shallower and warmer with that marshy plants take root in the shallows and begin to fill in the original lake basin. Eventually the lake gives way to large masses of floating plants, finally converting the lake into a land. Remember that depending on climate, size of the lake and other factors, then natural aging of a lake may span thousands of years. See, this is all normal if it naturally happens. However, sometimes pollutants from man's activities like effluents from the industries and homes can radically accelerate the aging process. This phenomenon has been called cultural or accelerated eutrophication. See, during the past century lakes in many parts of the earth have been severely eutrophied by sewage and agricultural and industrial waste. These waste have prime contaminants like nitrates and phosphates. So, they act as a plant nutrient. They over-stimulate the growth of algae. See, these algae depend on the dissolved oxygen. When the algal growth is exponential, their oxygen consumption is also exponential. So, the dissolved oxygen vital to other aquatic life like fishes and all is dissolved and the dissolved oxygen is depleted. So, fishes and other organisms might die due to lack of oxygen. At the same time, other pollutants flowing into a lake may poison whole population of fish. After the death of the fishes, the decomposing remains, further deplete the water's dissolving oxygen content. In such a fashion, a lake can literally choke to death. This is what is called as accelerated eutrophication. Remember, we just saw about exponential growth of algae. See, that is what is called as algal blooms and that is exactly what has been happened in the muttukadu history as well. See, these blooms beside causing eutrophication, it is also harmful at another level. They released something called hepatotoxin. Hepatotoxin is something that is harmful to the liver and the article mentions that the hepatotoxin released here is micro-system. Apparently, this can prove harmful to fishes, humans, birds and other aquatic organisms if it enters the food chain. So, this take us to the question of way forward. See, the solution lies in preventing wastewater discharge into the water bodies. This will prevent nutrient accumulation and thereby slowing down the eutrophication process. Besides, close monitoring of the dissolved oxygen levels, pH levels and chemical contents are important in lakes that have already witnessed discharge of industrial sewage waste. See, lakes are vital part of our ecosystem. Preserving them is a way to achieve sustainable development. So, it is very important to preserve the lakes. So, in this discussion, we saw about eutrophication and what is accelerated eutrophication and the impacts caused by the eutrophication. With these points in mind, let us move on to the next discussion. Now, let us take up this picture for our next discussion. See, it is a picture of a temple called Thakthai Sulayman. It is also called as Chaktiswara temple and this is a temple located on Sankaracharya hills overlooking the Dal lake in Srinagar. See, the temple of Chaktiswara rests on the solid rock. It consists of an octagonal stone basement which is 20 feet high. This supports a square building and the terrace surrounding the temple is reached by a stone staircase. The ceiling is supported by four octagonal columns and this is the basic architecture of the place. Now, let us look in brief about the Sankaracharya from the exam perspective. See, Sankara is also called as Adi Sankara. It is generally accepted that Sankara was born in Kaladi which is not far away from today's Kochi in 1788 AD. If we see his philosophical inclination, it was in favor of Advaita. Note that Advaita is a Sanskrit word that literally translates as not to or no second. So, Advaita is also called as non-dualism. At the heart of his philosophy of Advaita Vedanta is tattvam asi or tau art tatt. This is the famous phrase from the Chandogya Upanishad. Let us understand this. It simply perceives the self that is the atman as the absolute reality that is the Brahman or God. So, the Brahman is the soul, cause, creator and consumer of the universe that is the charismatic power that created the world is inseparable from Brahman. As you can see, he simply says everything is one, that is God. And see, Sankara is also famous for his theory of Maya. It propones that world is an illusion, all actions and emotions including sorrow or just false impressions. Besides, change according to Sankara is an illusion. That is nothing that did not exist earlier will come into existence. The change of outer form is visible to some eyes due to the operation of Maya, but truth remains the same. That is the outer arm of the Advaita principle. Besides these information, just remember that he is famous for another philosophy called the Tarek Brahma. So, with these informations, let us move on to the next discussion. Now, let us take up this image for our next discussion. See, the image depicts a historic monument called Gosha Mahal Baradari. It is a home of free mansions of Hyderabad and it is one of the most imposing palaces built by the Kudap Shahi Sultan. It served as a guest house of the Kudap Shahi state and stands as one of the most splendid civic monument of the glorious period. And it is still in existence in Hyderabad. So, in this backdrop, let us know about the Kudap Shahi Sultan. See, Muhammad Kuali Kudap Shah is the founder of the city of Hyderabad. In 1589, Muhammad Kuali Kudap Shah founded the city of Hyderabad, which is south of Musi river and eight kilometers away from the Golkonda fort. See, he built a bridge over the river to connect the fort to the city and this bridge is now called as Purana Paul. See, let us first know about the history of the Hyderabad city to understand about the Kudap Shahi dynasty. See, after the end of Chalukya dynasty, the Kakathya dynasty took over the area ruling from Varangal, which is 180 kilometers from Hyderabad. Around 1328, Muhammad bin Thuklak invaded the Kakathyas from Delhi, which resulted in the Bahamini Sultanate. Under the control of Bahamini Sultan, there was peace for a number of years and during 1580, Kuali Kudapul Malik declared independence from Bahaminis. As we already saw, this Kuali Kudapul Malik is the founder of Kuali Kudap Shah dynasty and he built the Hyderabad city. See, under his rule, the dynasty operated from a fort built by the Kakathya called Golkonda. See, the region prospered under the Kudap Shahi dynasty and it became popular as hub of diamond and pearl trading. Apart from this, the dynasty has a glorious part for their architecture also. Some of the examples of Kudap Shahi, Indo-Islamic architecture or the Golkonda fort, tomes of Kudap Shahis, Char Minar and the Char Kaman. The dynasty came to an end when the Aurangzeb, the Mohul Emperor of Delhi invaded the dynasty. So, the Kudap Shahi was defeated by Aurangzeb and the dynasty came to an end. So, with these informations, let us move on to the next segment of the discussion. Now, let us take up these images for our next discussion. These images are taken from the Naha Holi National Park during a jungle safari ride. Here, we can see a pack of wild dogs and a pair of spotted deer. So, in this backdrop, let us know about the Naha Holi National Park from the preliminary perspective. Let us start our discussion by knowing about the history of the origin of Naha Holi as the national park. The origin of the reserve as a protected area is dated back to the regime of the Udaya dynasty. Know that the Udaya dynasty were the former rulers of the Kingdom of Mysore. Initially, Naha Holi was an exclusive hunting reserve of the kings and by 1955, it was set up as a wildlife sanctuary by Kurg state. It was upgraded to a national park in 1988 and by 1999, it was declared as a tiger reserve. By declaring it as a tiger reserve, it was brought under the fold of the project tiger and by this upgradeation, the Naha Holi National Park became the 37th tiger reserve of India. This national park is a part of the Nilgiri biosphere reserve as well. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. So, this is very unique fact about Naha Holi National Park that it serves as a national park, a tiger reserve and it is a part of Nilgiri biosphere reserve and it is also a world heritage site. See, the Naha Holi National Park is situated in the Mysore and Kodahu districts of the Karnataka state. The Naha Holi river flows in the center of the park and it joins the Kabini river. Note that the Kabini river is the tributary of river Kaveri. Naha Holi National Park is located northwest of the Bandipu National Park and the Kabini reservoir separates these two national parks. Geographically, forests of Naha Holi are primarily deciduous. It has excellent moist deciduous forest including high quality teakbeering areas. See, deciduous forests are nothing but it is a variety of forest which is dominated by trees that lose their leaves each year during the beginning of dry season. The wild animals present in the park includes tiger, panther, wild dog, elephant, bison, spotted deer, barking deer, sloth, deer, wild boar and varieties of reptiles and birds. See, the Naha Holi National Park is inhibited by the Genu Kuruba tribe. In Kannada language, Genu means honey and Kuruba means shepherd. The Genu Kuruba tribe demonstrate a strong emotional attachment to the forest as their mother deity. Therefore, dress, worship, house, medicine, furniture, etc. are all linked with the forest. So, with these information, we came to the end of the discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the origin of Naha Holi as a national park, its location, its geography and its major flora and fauna. With these information, let us move on to the next segment. Now, let us see some of the prelims practice questions. The first question is about Advaita. The question wants us to find the correct statement given below. The first statement states that Shankaracharya was a proponent of Advaita and the second statement states that it is also called as dualism. The third statement states that it believes that everything is one. Which of the statements given above is or are correct? So, from our discussion, it is clear that statement one is correct because Shankaracharya was a proponent of Advaita and the third statement is also correct because we saw in the discussion that it believes that everything is one. But the second statement is wrong because it is also called as non-dualism. It is not called as dualism but it is called as non-dualism. So, the correct answer for the question is option B, 1 and 3 only. The second question is about the Naha Holi national park and it is a two statement question. The first statement states that Naha Holi national park has a sizable amount of Irulas and the second statement states that it is a part of Neelgiri biosphere reserve. Which of the following statement given above is or are correct? So, from our discussion, we know that Genu, Kuruba tribes or the inhabitants of Naha Holi national park not the Irulas. So, actually Irulas are a particularly vulnerable tribal group in North and Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They have expert understanding about snakes due to which recently some members of the tribe were called to Florida to deal with the python problem there. So, the correct answer for the question is option B, 2 only. The main questions are displayed here. Please write answer and post it on the comment section. With this, we came to the end of the discussion. 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