 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy, the list of topics chosen for today's discussion along with the page numbers is given here for your reference. Here is the first news article. This article from page 1 talks about ISRO's first mission in 2020, that is Earth Observationary Satellite 01, shortly EOS 01. So today's news is that ISRO has launched EOS 01 Satellite and 9 other international customer satellites yesterday. So in this context, let us understand in brief what is a satellite, what are types of satellite and finally about EOS 01. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. So firstly, what is a satellite? Say satellite is a body which orbits around another body in a space. So there are two types of satellites, natural, other is man-made. So examples of natural can be Earth, Moon, etc. We all know that Earth rotates around the sun. So Earth is a satellite of sun and similarly Moon rotates around the Earth. So Moon is a satellite of Earth. And coming to second type, a man-made satellite is a machine which is launched into space and orbits around a body in space. For example, we often hear about Hubble Telescope, International Space Station. So these are all man-made satellites. So we have learnt what is a satellite. Next question is, what is the significance of satellites? See satellites have this bird eye view, which means satellites will be at very high location. So they can have this bird's eye view over the Earth. So this bird's eye view allows them to see large areas of Earth at one time. So this ability means satellites can collect more data more quickly than instruments on the ground. And satellites also can see into space better than telescopes at Earth's surface. This is because satellites fly over the clouds, dust and molecules in the atmosphere. So if a telescope is located on the Earth, the clouds or dust or molecules can block the view of space. So the telescopes kept in outer space will have better view to look into planetary objects. And also know that there are many types of satellites which come in many shapes and sizes. But most of them have at least two parts in common. One is antenna and second is power source. So this antenna sends and receives information from and to the Earth. So if I want to change the alignment of a satellite, I can do it from the Earth by sending a signal to satellite. Similarly the data collected by satellite can be sent to Earth through this antenna. And second is power source, which can be a solar panel or a battery. Further, satellites orbit Earth at different heights, different speeds and along different paths which we call them as orbits. So the most common types of orbit are geostationary and polar. There are other types of orbits as well. For example, geotransfer orbit, low Earth orbit. In today's discussion we shall try to understand the first two types which are geostationary and polar. See this geostationary orbit is approximately 36,000 kilometers above Earth's equator and follows Earth rotation. And also know that this is the circular orbit around the Earth. So a satellite in geostationary orbit travels from west to east over the equator. It moves in the same direction the Earth is spinning. From Earth a geostationary satellite looks like it is standing still because it is always above the same location. So generally the satellites in geostationary orbit are used for telecommunication purposes, mobile signals. See most of us have seen DTH services that is direct to home services wherein we will be having an antenna which is kept above our house which receives signals from the satellites. The position and alignment of our antenna is fixed. So the signals which is being sent by the satellite should also be in the same position all the time to receive signals 24 hours. It means that with respect to your house the satellite will be in the same position at every time because the satellite and Earth rotate in the same direction and at the same axis. So this is one of the applications of geostationary orbits. And generally satellites to geostationary orbits will be launched using GSLV that is Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle which is more powerful compared to PSLV. And then polar orbiting satellites or satellites kept in polar orbits travel in north to south direction from pole to pole. As Earth spins underneath these satellites can scan the entire globe one strip at a time. So in this highly inclined orbit the satellite moves around the Earth from pole to pole taking about 99 minutes to complete an orbit. So in a 24 hour period polar orbiting satellites will view most of the Earth twice that is once in daylight and once in darkness. So with this let us discuss today's news article. It says that ISRO's work house that is PSLV has successfully launched EOS-01 and nine other international satellites. They were launched from Sriharikota which is in Andhra Pradesh. And coming to this EOS-01 it is an Earth observation satellite. So as the name suggests it is used for observing the Earth and its phenomena like agriculture, forestry, disaster management support etc. And the nine other customer satellites are from Lithuania, Luxembourg and USA which were launched under a commercial agreement with New Space India Ltd. So most of us know that New Space India Ltd is the second commercial entity of ISRO. The first one is Antrex Corporation Ltd or shortly Antrex which was set up in 1992. And coming to this second commercial entity that is NSIL it is aimed at tapping the benefits of R&D carried out by ISRO. It will also spearhead commercialization of various space products including production of launch vehicles, transfer of technologies and marketing of space products. So this is all about today's news article discussion wherein we have talked about EOS-01 and different types of satellites and what is a geostationary orbit and what is polar orbit. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us take up this news article which talks about India-Iran relations especially in the context of Chabahar rail project. So today we will discuss the significance of Chabahar about the project and recent developments measured in today's news article. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. See firstly know that Chabahar significance comes from its strategic port development that is Chabahar port. So Chabahar port is located at the mouth of Gulf of Oman in the southern province of Iran as you can see here. It is situated around the edges of straight of Hormuz and Chabahar which is Iran's only deep sea port has two main ports or terminals which is Shahid Kalantari port and Shahid Bahasti port. So this port provides direct access to Indian Ocean. Further it is only about 80 kilometers from Guadar port. So what is this Guadar port? See Guadar port is a Pakistani port which is being operated by China and it also forms an important component of China-Pakistan economic order which is called SIPIC. So when India and Iran signed an MOU to develop Chabahar port it was said that India had made a strategic MOU to counter China's influence in Guadar port. And not just that the port's primary importance also lies in the alternate access it provides to landlocked Afghanistan. See at presently Afghanistan is dependent on Pakistan for all its seaborn external trade. So this Chabahar port reduces this necessity of Afghanistan to depend on Pakistan. So now India can reach Afghanistan through Iran and even Afghanistan can also import or export through Iran instead of Pakistan. Additionally Chabahar port also has the potential to serve an important North-South link. That is India can reach Russia easily through Chabahar port and through Central Asian countries. Also the Central Asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan will also gain access to Arabian Sea through this port. Most importantly the trade from India and the Middle East can be transported northward from Chabahar into Russia and Europe through Eurasian countries. So simply put now we can develop one more route instead of going through Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea route. So all these aspects of strategically countering Guadar as well as providing alternate access to Afghanistan linking North-South also providing access for Indian exports and imports to Europe make Chabahar a very strategically important port. Now because of this strategic importance India has committed to development and expansion of this port. In 2015 India and Iran signed an MOU for the development of Chabahar port and in 2016 this MOU translated into tri-lateral agreement with Afghanistan also joining this agreement to establish international transport and transit corridor. This agreement underscores the Indian commitment to build, equip and operate the port. So India participated in the development of first phase of Shahid Behesty port with the cooperation of Iran and by 2018 Indian company has taken over the port operations of this Shahid Behesty port. So consequently India has also got other benefits like boosting India's access to proposed international North-South transport corridor. So this INSTC envisages sea, rail and road routes between Russia, Eurasia, Central Asia, Iran and India. So it links Northern country, Russia with Southern country of India. So this Chabahar route plus INSTC could boost trade worth up to 170 billion dollars from India alone and not just that it will also boost India's ties with Central Asian countries and also with Eurasian countries. So in the long run Chabahar port has the potential to benefit all the stakeholders in the region and for the same reason Chabahar-Zahedan rail project is also significant. See in addition to development of Chabahar port India also planned to build a rail link from Iran to Afghanistan which is Chabahar-Zahedan rail project. So it is over 500 kilometer long rail link between Chabahar that is port and Zahedan which is at Iran-Afghanistan border which will be then extended to Zaraans and Dalaram in Afghanistan. So for the construction of this rail project another MOU was signed between India and Iran in 2016 itself and by 2018 India conveyed its readiness to support the development of this rail link. But few months back that is in July many reports appeared in media stating that Iran has dropped India from Chabahar-Zahedan railway line project. The reason stated was delay in funding and starting the project from India's side. So it was reported that Iran had decided to proceed with construction on its own. But on the other hand Indian government had a different response. It stated that Indian company completed the site inspection and feasibility report and had been waiting for the Iranian side to appoint a nodal authority. So the delay was caused by Iran and not by India. But whatever might be the reason India is completely out of this railway line deal. Further the first phase of this project was completed in July and now Iran is going to start its second phase. And in this context we should also know that in the same time when Iran has dropped India from railway line project Iran has also started negotiating a 25 years, 400 billion dollars agreement with China for overall development, a free trade zone and other economic benefits. So it was suspected that because of its proximity towards China Iran was forced to drop India from Chabahar project. But now situation has again reversed and now Iran is hoping for India's support to continue with its Chabahar-Zahedan railway line project. So Iran requested India to help it with procuring equipment to run railway line from Chabahar to Afghan border. In this regard Iran has also conveyed a request to India since it is having difficulty in procuring equipment directly due to US imposed sanctions. Additionally Iran has also asked India to activate a 150 million dollars credit line to pay for the purchases. So in 2018 when Iran President Rouhani came to India, India offered a credit line to Iran. And now Iran is requesting India to activate this credit line so that it can purchase equipment required for the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line project. And if India provides this credit then the recently troubled India-Iran relations will smoothen and it will pave the way for future cooperation between both the countries. And as the presidential ship of US is about to change as Joe Biden is going to become next president, it is also expected that US may reduce the sanctions on Iran. So if sanctions are reduced, the relations between Iran and India will definitely improve and we can see more agreements and more cooperation between India and Iran in the future. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. Today we tried to cover almost all aspects of India-Iran in the recent years to benefit the new aspirants. So with this let us move on to next news article discussion. This news article is about the recently released National Water Awards of 2019. The news is that Tamil Nadu has got the first place in the best state category in the National Water Awards. So in this context let us have a brief understanding of these National Water Awards. You see basically we all know that water is one of the vital components of life. But in the recent decades due to rapid pace of irrigation growth that is after green revolution and then urbanization and industrialization has put enormous stress on water resources. So this has led to water scarcity in many regions of the country. So it is necessary that this scarce resource is protected by efficient and effective management of sound scientific methodology for sustainable development of mankind. So the first step was launching groundwater augmentation awards in 2007. Its objective was to encourage all stakeholders like NGOs, grand panchayats, urban local bodies, corporate sector, individuals to adopt innovative practices for groundwater augmentation. So this could be done by rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge, promoting water use efficiency, recycling and reuse of water and creating awareness through people's participation in the targeted areas. So these awards were targeted towards groundwater augmentation. But we all know that not just groundwater, even surface water is also integral part of water cycle. So a unified National Water Awards was launched in 2018. Its objective is to encourage stakeholders to adopt holistic approach towards all the water resources management in the country. And now its second edition that is National Water Awards 2019 was announced by Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation which is under Jail Shakti Ministry. The awards are given to motivate the individuals or organizations or states which are doing commendable work in the field of water resources conservation and management. Also it strives to create awareness around the people about importance of water and motivate them to adopt best water usage practices for efficient and effective water management. And in 2019 National Water Awards around 98 participants across 16 different categories were given awards. Some of the categories are best state, best district, best village, etc. So as we said before Tamil Nadu has bagged the first place in the best state category in the National Water Awards. So these awards focus on the good work and efforts made by individuals, organizations, governments across the country for the path of Jail Samrit Bharat. And these awards also provide a good opportunity to start-ups as well as leading organizations to engage and deliberate with senior policy makers on how to further accelerate the Jail Shakti Abiyan in India. See Jail Shakti Abiyan is a campaign for water conservation and water security in the country. So this is what should be learned from today's news article. We have talked about water awards and its genesis. We also talked about groundwater augmentation awards. And then we talked about 2019 National Water Awards and they are conferred by Jail Shakti Ministry. Let us move on to the next news article discussion. This news article is with reference to the Paris Agreement, why U.S. withdrew from it and what will be the new developments once Joe Biden becomes the next president. So in this context, let us have a elaborate analysis of Paris Agreement, its genesis and recent developments and what are the important points mentioned in today's news article. Before going further, the relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. So we all know that Paris Agreement is related to climate change. So what is climate change? See climate change describes a change in the average conditions such as temperature, rainfall in a region over a long period of time. For example, 20,000 years ago much of the earth was cold and covered in glaciers. But today we have a warmer climate and fewer glaciers. So climate change could refer to a particular location, for example to Chennai or to the planet as a whole. And this climate change may cause weather patterns to be less predictable. Generally in Chennai, that is Tamil Nadu, rainfall is more in northeast Monson, while rest of India gets most of the rainfall during southwest Monson. But because of climate change, there may be a situation when the rainfall during southwest Monson and northeast Monson in Chennai can become completely unpredictable. This is one of the many effects of climate change. And there are also many direct and indirect effects of climate change as well. For example, warming temperatures and changes in precipitation, that is rainfall, as well as the effects of global warming such as rising of sea levels, shrinking mountain glaciers, then weather related natural disasters like increased trot and endangered food security, health hazards, as well as changes in flower and plant blooming times. So these are some of the many effects of climate change. So from this we can understand that climate change is not good for the society as a whole. So what are the reasons for climate change? The earth's climate has been consistently and constantly changing even long before humans came into the picture. As we have told before, 20,000 years ago the earth was cold and now it is mostly warm. So this is generally called climate change. But in the current context, when we say climate change, we are referring to anthropological reasons which are nothing but man-made reasons. Man-made reasons are nothing but, for example, burning fossil fuels like natural gas, oil, coal. So burning these materials release what we call greenhouse gases into earth's atmosphere, which result in global warming and consequently climate change. And to combat this climate change, the UN created a convention called UNFCCC, that is Framework Convention on Climate Change, as back as in 1990s. And this convention is parent treaty of 1997 Kyoto Protocol, as well as the recent 2015 Paris Agreement. So the ultimate objective of all these agreements is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level which will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. And it is to be achieved in a timeframe which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development of all the biodiversity in the world. So if we won't take care of climate change now, many species may become extinct, the productivity of agriculture may decrease, which will have long-lasting and permanent effects. So it's better to act now than wait for later. And coming to Paris Agreement, it is a landmark environmental accord which was adopted by nearly every nation in the world. So it was adopted in 2015 to address climate change and its harmful impacts. So this agreement aims to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and this is to limit the rise in global temperature in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. So simply put, this agreement is aiming to reduce the temperature rise to only 2 degrees centigrade in this century compared to pre-industrial levels, that is pre-1800s. And also efforts will be made to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. So this agreement includes commitments from all major emitting countries to cut their climate-altering pollution and to strengthen those commitments over the time. And know that this agreement recognizes the principle of common but differential responsibility that is CBDR, which means the responsibilities to combat climate change is common to every country in the world. But the responsibilities will differ from country to country. So for example, developed countries, which are Western countries, are majorly responsible for increasing greenhouse gas emissions and consequently global warming. So developed countries take more responsibility in combating climate change compared to developing and least developed countries. So to achieve these objectives, countries submitted carbon reduction targets known as Intended National Determined Contributions, shortly INDCs prior to Paris Conference. These targets outline each country's commitments for curbing emissions by 2025 or 2030. And coming to India, India said to cut emissions intensity by 33 to 35 percent below 2005 levels and also aims to generate 40 percent of its electricity from non-fossil field sources by 2030. And because of this commitment, in the recent years, we have seen that Indian government is investing more in renewable energies like solar and wind power. And not just that, the Paris Agreement also includes a series of mandatory measures for the monitoring, verification, and public reporting of progress toward a country's emission reduction targets. The agreement also recognizes that many developing countries and small island nations, which contributed at least to climate change, that is global warming, could suffer the most from its consequences. Why? Because we have said that because of global warming, the sea levels may rise. When sea levels rise, the islands are the most threatened parts in the world, because they will be submerged easily. So in this regard, agreement includes a plan for developed countries and others in a position to do so to provide financial resources to help developing countries mitigate and increase resilience to climate change. And for this, the agreement builds on the financial commitments of 2009 Copenhagen Accord, which aimed to scale up public and private climate finance for developing nations $200 billion a year by 2020. This Copenhagen Accord also created the green climate fund for this purpose. So this is the brief background regarding climate change, its impacts, and the Paris Agreement. So next, let us see what author is trying to say in today's news article. Say previously, US was at the forefront of UNFCCC to combat climate change. Then President Obama assured that US not only recognizes its role in creating this problem called climate change, but also embraces the responsibility to do something to mitigate it. But to the shock of the world, last year, President Trump announced that US will exit from the agreement. And as one year grace period is over, this year, November 4th, that is four days back, US has formally exited from the Paris Agreement. So this comes at a time when 188 out of 197 parties to the UNFCCC have ratified this Paris Agreement. Meaning this agreement is almost universal agreement as around 188 countries ratified this. And now we all know that President Trump was defeated in the US election and Joe Biden is going to become next president of the US. Under the election campaign, Joe Biden has talked about climate change and he also promised that US will combat climate change and will also be part of climate change agreements. So author opines that US may rejoin Paris Agreement and could again become the leader of climate change treaty under the new presidential ship of Joe Biden. So this is all about today's news article discussion. We have talked about multiple aspects of climate change and what will be the new developments once Joe Biden takes the office of president in the coming days. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Here we have one more article which is related to climate change. And this article talks about glacial leak outburst. See just now we have seen what is climate change and what are the consequences of climate change. And also know that thawing of glaciers is one of the consequences of climate change. So in today's news article the author talks about a research which was conducted on the cause of 2014 Ladakh floods. See the researchers from Germany used remote sensing data to map the evolution of Gya or Gya glacial leak and they have also found out the real cause of the flood. See the 2014 Ladakh floods was thought to be caused due to spillover or overflow of a lake as a result of avalanche or landslide into the lake. It means when we drop a stone into a bucket full of water automatically the water overflows. So like this example initially researchers thought that because of a landslide fell into a lake floods came in Ladakh. But the research findings of the study revealed that the cause for the flood was not spillover or overflow but rather a tunneling drainage process. So they explained that the flooding is not due to throwing of a stone in bucket full of water but it is due to a hole under the bucket. Similarly the flooding happened due to thawing of ice cores around which moraine acted as a boundary. See thawing of ice means melting. See we know that Himalayas is full of glaciers. What is a glacier? See glacier is a huge mass of ice which moves slowly over the land. So glaciers begin forming in places where more snow piles up each year than it melts. Soon after falling the snow begins to compress or become denser and tightly packed and as a result it transforms into ice which is called glacier. And because of its weight and also because of gravity the glacier moves slowly down the path. So different parts of glacier move at different speeds. Because of this phenomenon the glaciers are also called reverse of ice. So in Ladakh in 2014 the thawing of ice happened that is the melting of ice cores happened so ice turned into water. And this moraine acted as a boundary. See moraine is nothing but a field of dirt or rocks that have been pushed along by the glacier when the glacier moves. So when this ice is moving all the surrounding rocks will be carried forward by the glacier. So these rocks dirt will form a boundary across the glacier. So simply put they act as a dam to the lake as you can see in this picture. So when this glaciers melt the water will be drained through subsurface tunnels of moraine. And this was the reason for 2014 Ladakh floods. It's not because of spillover but it is because of drainage tunneling in subsurface of glaciers. It means the melted ice that is water have flown across the moraines through small tunnels. And because of this flow across the moraines floods happened in Ladakh. Here the research team also noted that such thawing of ice cores may accelerate in the future due to global climate change. And many a times they can have catastrophic outcomes like loss of life, property and also serious environmental damages. See we know that the population is expanding like anything and the people are encroaching almost all the areas which are needed to be left undisturbed. And this includes Himalayas too. So authors note that there is an urgent need to use multiple methods for better risk assessment and early warning. It should also include assessing the size of lake, distance between lake and the villages, the valley section, et cetera and planning should be made accordingly. Also new sophisticated technologies should be put to use to understand the stability of moraines which act as dam to the glacier lake. So what is the crux of this discussion? With the ever increasing population and change in global climate, we need better land usage and urban planning, reduced encroachment, better climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. If you see last two news articles were regarding climate change and what are the consequences of climate change? So should all be aware and be attentive to climate change phenomena as its impact is felt across all the sections of society. We have arrived at last part of today's discussion that is practice questions discussion session. With respect to Earth's orbits consider the following statements. Statement one, a geostationary orbit is approximately 36,000 kilometers above Earth's equator and follows Earth's rotation. Yes, the statement one is correct. Statement two, satellites in polar orbits can view most of the Earth twice in a 24 hour time period. Yes, the statement is also correct. But be careful, we are supposed to identify incorrect statements. So the correct answer is option D neither one nor two. Consider the following statements regarding the national water awards. Statement one, its objective is to motivate the individuals or organizations who are doing commendable work in the field of water resources, conservation and management. Yes, the statement one is correct. Statement two, it is launched by Niti Ayuk. No, this statement is incorrect because the national water awards were launched and published by Jelshakthi ministry. So statement two is incorrect. Therefore, the correct answer is option A one only. Consider the following statements. Kyoto protocol, Montreal protocol and Paris agreement aim to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. This statement is incorrect because Montreal protocol is not about greenhouse gas emissions. See, Montreal protocol is concerned with regulating the production and consumption of man-made ozone-depleting substances. So Kyoto protocol and Paris agreement are with greenhouse gas emissions. Montreal protocol is about ozone-depleting substances. Statement two, Paris agreement aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in efforts to limit the global temperature increase in this century to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Yes, the statement two is correct. Therefore, the correct answer is option B two only. Consider the following statements. Three statements are given here and we should identify the correct statements. Statement one, moraines are accumulations of dirt and rocks that have been pushed along by the glacier as it moves. Statement one is correct. We have already discussed moraines today. So you can eliminate option C. Statement two, towns are small mountain lakes formed in land excavated by glaciers. Yes, statement two is also correct. See, towns are the lakes formed in the land excavated by glaciers. So statement two is also correct. So you can eliminate option A because statement two is not there. Coming to statement three, fjords are long, deep, narrow body of water reaching inland that are created when glacier cuts a U-shaped valley. This statement is also correct. As you can see in this picture, fjords are long, deep, narrow body of water often set in a U-shaped valley with the steep walls of rock on either side. See, these fjords were created by glaciers. So when glaciers move very slowly over time, they will greatly alter the landscape where they move. So, and this fjords is one of the landscape formed by glaciers. And this process of altering the landscape by the glaciers is called glaciation. So statement three is also correct. Therefore, the correct answer is option D, all the above. Let us take up a practice means question. India has been a key stakeholder in the development of Iran's Chabahar port. Discuss the strategic importance of Chabahar port to India. This is a 10 marks question and the word limit is 150. Write the answer for this question in an A4 paper, take pictures of your answer and upload them in your Google Drive. Share the drive link of your answer in the comment section. With this, we conclude today's news analysis. If you find this session resourceful, click on the like button, show your appreciation in the comment section and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.