 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankaraya's Academy, displayed a list of news articles taken for today's analysis and their page numbers, different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description of the video and also in the comments section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. Now, this news article is titled as, Martian blueberries find a parallel on Earth. This article talks about the findings of hematite concretions in Gujarat, which is found to be resembling the blueberries that are found in Mars. In the context of analyzing this article, we'll be seeing about why Mars is important, the findings of Opportunity Rover in 2004, then we'll see about the Martian blueberries and also about the hematite concretions found in Gujarat. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. So to understand this article better, first we need to know about the hematite concretions in Mars, which are nicknamed as Martian blueberries. See, hematite is a heavy and relatively hard oxide mineral and it is one of the most important iron ore that has high iron content of about 70%. We can also say that they are iron oxide compounds. See, way back in 1994, NASA announced the beginning of its Mars exploration program. The program was initially called as the Mars Surveyor Program. It was aimed to explore Mars and to provide a continuous flow of scientific information and discovery about Mars to know about its formation, evolution, geology, climate and biological processes. Now let us see, while there are many planets in our solar family, what are some of the reasons for choosing Mars? See, Mars is the most accessible place in the solar system according to NASA and Mars also provides the opportunity to possibly answer the origin and evolution of life questions. And it is also believed that some day or other, Mars can be a destination for the survival of humankind. And Mars is also unique across the entire solar system because it is a terrestrial planet that has atmosphere and also climate. And the geology of Mars is also known to be very diverse and complex like Earth. In addition to this, the climate of Mars has appeared to have changed over its history similar to Earth. So these similarities of Earth that are found in Mars and other special features make it as an important focal point in the solar system for studying. Now with this information, let us see the contribution of Opportunity Rover with reference to the Martian blueberries. See, way back in 2004, two rovers, or in other words, two robotic geologists, spirit and opportunity, they landed on opposite sides of the red planet Mars. They trekked for miles across the Martian surface, conducted field geology, and also made a lot of atmospheric observations. During their mission, these rovers found evidences of ancient Martian environments that exhibited intermittent existence of wet and habitable conditions. See, the major goal of this mission was to search and characterize a wide range of rocks and soil to find clues for past water activity on Mars. And for this, the rovers were targeted to sites that looked like being affected by liquid water in the past. In fact, Opportunity Rover was landed in a place where mineral deposits suggested that Mars had a wet history. See, the data from the rovers found evidence for past wet conditions that possibly could have supported microbial life. And this helped in reconstructing an ancient past when Mars was covered in water. Note that water is believed to have disappeared from Mars about 3 billion years ago. Now with reference to microbial life and other life forms in Martian surface, the current Perseverance mission might have more answers or may give more answers for us. Now let's come to the role of Opportunity Rover and our news article. See, this Opportunity Rover sent close-up images of small spirals on the Martian surface. They were spread across 1.2 inches or close to 3 centimeters. See, these are mineral concretions that are found to be hematite rich. They were nicknamed as or they were informally called as blueberries. Now, the discovery of their presence provided evidence of a watery ancient environment in Mars. See, these Martian blueberries are tiny iron-rich spears. They were found scattered across rock surface near the rover's landing site. And they provide the earliest evidence that denote that Mars was once incredibly wet. The spectrometer in the Opportunity Rover, while studying the mineralogy of Mars, noted that Martian blueberries were made of iron oxide compounds called as hematite. So hematite suggests the presence of water in Mars. How we can conclude that the presence of hematite leads to the conclusion that there was water in Mars in the ancient past. See, according to widely accepted scientific notion, hematite concretions or hot solid mass of hematite are usually formed as a result of precipitation from aqueous fluids or liquid fluids. And they are also generally known to form in oxidizing environments. See, oxidizing environment is an atmosphere that oxidizes the immersed surface compounds. In simple words, it is an environment that causes to undergo a chemical reaction with oxygen. So there must be oxygen also. And therefore, we can infer that water might have played a crucial role in the formation of blueberries because every molecule of water contains one atom of oxygen. So therefore, the finding of Martian blueberries is of great significance because it not only shows the presence of water in Mars, but also indicates that the planet got an atmosphere with oxygen during the formation of such blueberries or compounds. This is because hematite needs oxygen to stabilize. But it was near too impossible to say if the concentration of oxygen was high enough to permit life forms. However, having said that, it is believed that it contained more oxygen than the present day Mars. Now let's come to the Indian part that is mentioned in the news article, which is the Kutch basin, which is found to contain Juran formation. See, Juran formation is believed to be formed between 145 and 201 million years ago. It primarily consists of sandstone and shale alternations. See, Juran is an upper Jurassic period that has primarily shale-dominated characteristics. And as we know, shale is a sedimentary rock that is composed of mainly clay-sized mineral grains. And Juran formation is supposedly the source rock of the Kutch basin. Now today's analysis will not go much deeper into Juran formation. However, we'll see the connection between the hematite concretions that were found in Juran formations of Kutch and the Martian blueberries. It is reported that these concretions in Gujarat are similar to the ones that are found in Mars. See, the team involved in investigations, they were studying about this Juran formation and based on the results which they have published in Planetary and Space Science, it is informed that hematite concretions in Gujarat is similar to the Martian blueberries. The similarity is detected both in terms of morphology as well as mineralogy. And coming to mineralogy, they both are made up of mixture of hematite and gotite. Therefore, researchers say that Kutch area and Gujarat is viewed as a potential Martian analogue locality. In other words, it is similar to the Martian location. In addition to this, a 2016 research paper concluded that the hydrous sulphate that is found at Matanumat area of Kutch resemble Martian surfacial processes. That is the processes that were undergone by the rock formations at this place resembles the surfacial processes that happened in solid Mars because of the conduct with atmosphere and hydrosphere there. In addition to this, there is another similarity which is the transition from wet and humid to dry and arid environment which is found in Mars and also imitated in the history of Kutch. It is also expected that there may be more places in Kutch that may share the geological history of the surface to near surface processes which appears to be similar to the processes that happened in ancient Mars. So the article concludes that the findings of the hematite concretions on Juran formation in the Kutch area are viewed as another data point which insists on the need to use Kutch area for further similar studies or analog studies of the Marsian surface. That is whatever findings you get from Mars you see whether that also exist in Kutch area because these similarities are found or recorded based on researchers. So a site from India has gained prominence with reference to the findings from Mars. That is the key takeaway. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This news article from Science and Technology page talks about human eye color and the roles of genes in that. So let us discuss this article in detail. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. See a person's eye color results from pigmentation of a structure that is called as the iris. Iris surrounds the small black hole in the center of the eye which is called as the pupil and iris helps in controlling how much light can enter the eye. The human eye color ranges from black, brown, blue, green and in some cases even red. And as we know eye color is primarily determined by melanin content in the iris pigment epithelium. Note that eye color is determined by variations in a person's genes. Most of the genes associated with eye color are involved in the production transport and storage of a pigment called as melanin. Eye color is directly related to the amount and quality of melanin in the front layers of the iris. For example, if you take people with brown eyes they have a large amount of melanin in the iris whereas if you take people with blue eyes they have much less melanin content within the iris pigment epithelium. So what exactly is melanin? See melanin is a complex polymer that is derived from amino acid tyrosin. It is responsible for determining the color of skin, eye and hair and it is present in the skin to varying degrees. This depends on how much a population has been exposed to the sun historically. Have a look at this image to understand melanin in epidermis which is the outer layer of skin. Some of the different types of melanin we should know which include U-melanin, pheomelanin and neuromelanin. If you take U-melanin it is found mainly in the hair and skin. It provides black and brown pigment to the hair, skin and also to eyes. When U-melanin is present only in small amounts the hair may be in pale yellow color which is also called as blonde. Now pheomelanin is also found in hair and skin. Now this type of melanin provides pink and red colors and it is the main pigment that is found among red-haired individuals. Now if you compare pheomelanin with U-melanin to said that pheomelanin is not as protective against UV radiation induced cancer as offered by U-melanin. Now coming to neuromelanin it is a form of melanin that is found in different areas of brain and loss of this melanin may result into or may cause several neurological disorders. Now come to this article which states that the ratio of U-melanin and pheomelanin within the iris and light absorption and scattering by extracellular components they give irises their color. Now know that absolute melanin quantity and U-melanin-pheomelanin ratio are higher in brown irises. However if you take blue or green irises they have very little of both these U-melanin and pheomelanin and they have within the ratio they have relatively more pheomelanin. Now let's come to the results of a recent research that is reported in this news article. See a particular region on chromosome 15 found to have playing a major role in the eye color. Now within this region there are two genes located very close together OCA2 and HRC2. It is found that about a dozen genes were found to influence eye color most prominent were these two genes. And the researchers have now identified 50 new genes for eye color. The effects of these genes along with OCA2 and HRC2 are likely to produce a continuum of eye colors in different people. These findings collectively explain over 53% of eye color variation. Now finally let us also discuss some of the disorders that affect eye color. First one is ocular albinism. Now it is characterized by severely reduced pigmentation of the iris. It causes very light colored eyes and significant problems with vision as well. Another condition is ocular cutaneous albinism. See this affects pigmentation of skin and hair and also eyes. Affected individuals they tend to have very light colored irises, fair skin and also white or light colored hair. Both ocular albinism and ocular cutaneous albinism they result from mutation in the genes that are involved in the production and storage of melanin. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this question corner article from the Science and Tech page. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article talks about the arrest of a former caretaker president of Bolivia for her alleged role in organizing a coup. In this context let us see some important information in Primm's perspective with respect to Bolivia. See Bolivia is located in west central part of South America. In the north and in the east it is bordered by Brazil. Then in the southeast it is bordered by Paraguay. In the south it is bordered by Argentina. In the southwest and in the west it is bordered by Chile. And to the northwest it is bordered by Peru. So we can see that it is a landlocked country. See the second largest lake in South America is Lake Titicaca. And this lake is shared by Bolivia with Peru. Now coming to the capital of the nation see the constitutional capital is the historic city of Sucre and the administrative capital is La Paz. That is it is in La Paz the executive and legislative branches of the government function. And know that Bolivia became landlocked country when it lost its Pacific coast territory to Chile. And this happened in the war of the Pacific that happened between 1879 to 1884. Right now Bolivia has unrestricted maritime access through Chile but it is not a sovereign access. Now let's come to the relief features of this country. See almost one third of its territory lies in the Andes Mountains. The Amazon rainforest also extends to Bolivia. The western region of Bolivia is mountainous region. It is one of the highest inhabited areas in the world. It also constitutes an important economic and political center. And in this western region the Andes reach their greatest breadth and complexity. Now the mountain system in Bolivia it is dominated by two great parallel ranges. One is the Cordillera Ocidental that lies to the west. It contains numerous active volcanoes and uni salt flat. It has the country's highest peak which is called as Mount Sajama. It reaches an elevation of 6,542 meters. And in the east in Cordillera Oriental there is a spectacular northern section near La Paz. This section is called as Cordillera Real or also called as Royal Range. And Cordillera Oriental also has an impressive line of snow-capped peaks. And between these two ranges we could see a high plateau called as Alti Plano. This plateau extends from Southern Peru to Northern Argentina through Bolivia. Now let's come to the rivers of Bolivia. See they belong to three major systems. One is the Amazon Tributaries in the northwest, north and northeast. Then the Pilcomayo Paraguay system in the south and southeast. Then we could see an isolated inland raining system centering on Lake Titicaca and Lake Pupu. Now let's come to the climate. See though Bolivia lies completely within the trophics it possesses every gradation of temperature from the temperature of the equatorial lowlands to Arctic cold. The rainy season in this region is from December to March. However precipitation varies greatly throughout the highlands. The average temperatures in this country range between 7 to 11 degrees Celsius during the day but nights are much colder than the day. And during winter the temperature in the night fall below freezing point. Now coming to the political developments in Bolivia see the country broke away from Spanish rule in the year 1825. According to some sources, Bolivia is named after the fighter of Bolivian independence Simon Bolivar. Much of its subsequent history had a series of coups and counter coups. Even today's news article talks about the arrest of former caretaker president for her alleged role in organizing a coup in the late 2019 and in early 2020. It is said that a coup was organized in 1978 and in 1982 a democratic civilian rule was established in Bolivia. However till now the country faces difficult problems of poverty, social unrest and also illegal drug production. Now coming to illegal drug production see according to Central Intelligence Agency Bolivia is world's third largest cultivator of cocaine after Colombia and Peru. And it is also a transit country for the Peruvian and Colombian cocaine which is to be delivered to or which is designed for Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and to Europe. So these are some of the information with reference to Bolivia from prelims perspective. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. You see this news article talks about gregarious flowering of bamboo. This phenomenon was noticed inside the Wynard Wildlife Sanctuary of Kerala and in nearby Mudumalai tiger reserve and in Koodalur forest division in Tamil Nadu this year. The news states that this gregarious flowering of bamboo may pose a threat to wildlife in the Nilagiri biosphere. So today let us have a brief understanding about this phenomenon and the effects. We'll also see in brief about why not wildlife sanctuary as well. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. See bamboo is a large clade of sub-family called as bamboo zodiac and family poesiae. Now that there are more than 88 genera and around 1642 species of bamboo worldwide, among these 28 genera and more than 120 species are herbaceous bamboo. When we say herbaceous plants, these are plants which do not have woody stems by definition. I know that bamboo is widely distributed in tropical, subtropical and also in temperate regions of all continents except Europe and Antarctica. They're found to be present from lowlands to 4,000 meter above sea level. Now let's come to the concept of flowering of bamboo. See, flowering of bamboo is called as an intriguing phenomenon or a strange phenomenon or sometimes an interesting phenomenon. This is not because that bamboo produces any spectacular flowers, but because it is a unique and very rare occurrence in the plant kingdom. Know that most bamboos, they flower once every 60 to 130 years depending on the species. See, generally bamboo is a perennial flowering plant, but many bamboo species, they remain in vegetative phase for decades or even for a century. And this is followed by mass synchronous flowering and subsequent death. And in case of flowering, know that not all bamboos exhibit the same flowering characteristics or patterns. Depending on the species, a bamboo can exhibit any of the three flowering patterns. They are sporadic flowering, annual flowering and gregarious flowering. Today's news is about gregarious flowering. Now when we talk about sporadic bamboo flowering, see this takes place when bamboo flowers intermittently and not on a mass scale and such flowering does not impact the parent plant also. Now coming to annual flowering, it must be noted that there are few species of bamboo that flower on annual basis. Again, this is also having no effect on parent plant. This flowering cycle is known as annual flowering. Now let's talk about gregarious flowering. See, it is the most impressive pattern of bamboo flowering. When we say gregarious flowering, it refers that all populations of a particular species of bamboo flowers all at once are a mass flowering or group flowering. That is what is the meaning of the word gregarious here. And note that for most species of bamboo, this can happen at intervals anywhere between 60 to 130 years. And this flowering cycle is genetically pre-programmed into each species. And once a species reaches its life expectancy, the bamboo will flower and produce seeds. See, when a bamboo flowers gregariously, it expands a tremendous amount of energy into the production of flowers and seeds. The mass flowering stresses the bamboo to such an extent that it will die or will face subsequent death. So here we can understand that mass flowering of bamboos, they have a negative effect on the environment and also on the livelihoods of people, particularly for those who depend on bamboo resources. And in this process, we saw the bamboo will flower and produce seeds. There will be huge amount of seeds as we talk about mass flowering. And these huge amounts of seeds will attract large populations of rats and other rodents. And in the process, they will consume all other available food crops as well and may cause severe spread of damages and may cause severe spread of diseases in surrounding villages also. And when bamboo stems die, local people lose access to a vital building material for their homes and also for agricultural activities. For example, mass flowering of bamboo happened in 2009 in Arunachal Pradesh and subsequently rodent outbreaks were reported in the flowering area and this has caused severe damage to many crops. And thereafter, people have been paying more attention to bamboo flowering because of its scientific importance and also because of the crucial role it plays in many human communities. Now, today's news article states that in Nilagiri Biosphere, more than 25% of bamboo grooves in the Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and nearby various have bloomed since 2010 and the phenomenon is continuing. This gregarious flowering may also adversely affect migration of wild animals, particularly by elephants, wild gar and other lower herbivores because of the mass destruction of bamboo grooves that happens after the flowering. In this context, let us have a brief understanding about Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. See, it is located in Vayanad district in the state of Kerala. The sanctuary is continuous along with the protected areas of the state of Karnataka, particularly we are referring here, Nagarhole and Bandipur and also with Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu. It forms an integral part of Nilagiri Biosphere Reserve. The altitude of this sanctuary, it varies from 650 meters to 1,050 meters. The highest peak in this sanctuary is Karoti Mala whose altitude is 1,058 meters. The sanctuary experiences an average annual rainfall of 200 centimeters. Three major forest types are seen in this sanctuary. South Indian moist deciduous forest, West Coast semi-evergreen forest, then we can find teak and eucalyptus plantations. Important rivers that flow inside this sanctuary, we can say Kabini and Sherupula. Kabini is a tributary of Kaveri river. There are also few other rivers that flow through this sanctuary and these animals are found inside the Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. So these are some of the important information with reference to the analysis of this news article. In this analysis, we saw about concept of bamboo flowering, types of bamboo flowering and the very interesting phenomena called as Greek areas bamboo flowering. We also saw few information about Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This article is about the opinion of United Nations, Human Rights Council's working group against arbitrary detentions. First, let us see the background in brief. See, during the citizenship amendment, Bill and Act protest democratic actions and the Delhi riots, a student from Jamia Miliya Islamic University was arrested by the Delhi police and it was later revealed that she was pregnant at the time of her arrest. Her arrest was considered as arbitrary detention by this working group. Therefore, this working group criticized the working of Indian government at that point of time with respect to some of the persons involved in democratic actions and protests and the case was referred to three special rapporteurs for action. It also called on the government of India to ensure a full and independent investigation of the case. Note that one key takeaway from this discussion is that see the opinion or the decision of working group against arbitrary detention is not binding on the Human Rights Council or to the party to the Human Rights Council. It is similar to our NHRC whose recommendations are not binding. It is only a recommendation body. However, the parties are asked to pay due consideration to the requests made by such working groups. In this context, let us see a few information about the Human Rights Council. As we know, it is an inter-governmental body. That is, there is no role for private players or private companies as members. Only the governments are represented there and it is a body that is within the United Nations system which is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe. It also aims to address situations of violations of human rights and make recommendations on them. See, the Council was created by UN General Assembly in 2006. It meets at the UN office at Geneva. It is made up of 47 member states of United Nations. These members are elected by UN General Assembly. The Human Rights Council, it replaced the former UN Commission on Human Rights. And as we said, the Council is made up of 47 member states. They are elected by majority of members of the General Assembly through direct and secret ballot. The General Assembly takes into account the contribution of the candidate states towards promotion and protection of human rights and also their voluntary pledges and commitments in relation to this. The Council's membership is based on equitable geographical distribution as we have shown here for your reference. The members of the Council serve for a period of three years and they are not eligible for immediate reelection after serving two consecutive terms. In other words, they can have two consecutive terms and know that currently India is a member of UN Human Rights Council and its term expires by the end of this year, 2021. Earlier, India had a consecutive term from 2011 to 2014, then from 2014 to 2017. Most probably, India will also have another consecutive term in continuation of the present term which started from January 2019. Now, let's see a few information about this working group on arbitrary detention. Simply arbitrary detention here refers to arrest of an individual without proper legal grounds. You can relate this detention also with reference to the recent arrest of environmental rights defender Disha Ravi also. This working group was established by a resolution of former Commission on Human Rights. With the passing of time, the mandate of the working group was extended and most recent extension was made in 2019 which extended its mandate for another three-year period. See, its main objective is to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty that is imposed inconsistently with the relevant international standards which are set forth in universal declaration of human rights. Other objectives are given here for your reference. Now, with respect to what can be considered as proper arrest or proper detention, I'll ask you to go through the 10 commandments that were issued by the Supreme Court in the case law of DK Basu versus state of West Bengal. It gives what are the various conditions that the police have to bear in mind or to carry out during an arrest. With this information, let us move on to next part of the discussion. We have come to the last session, Practice Questions Discussion session. See this question, consider the following statements. Located in South India, it forms an integral part of Nilagiri Biosphere Reserve. The altitude of this protected area varies from 650 meters to 1,050 meters. Whose highest peak is Karoti Mala. The major rivers that flow inside this protected area include Khabini and Cherupula. The above statements refer to which of the following protected areas. The correct answer is option C, Wyanard Wildlife Sanctuary. Consider the following statements regarding eye color and melanin. Two statements are given. They are asking which of the statements given above are correct. Statement one, eye color is primarily determined by melanin abundance within the iris pigment epithelium, which is greater in brown eyes than in blue eyes. The statement is correct. Second statement, compared to U melanin, few melanin is less protective against UV radiation induced cancer. See both these statements are correct. Therefore, the correct answer is option C, both one and two. See this map based question, consider the following which of the above border, Bolivia. See, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, among the given, they border with Bolivia. So the correct answer is option A, one, two and three. We have given practice main questions. You can write answer and post them in the comment section. With this, we come to the end of today's The Hindi News Analysis. If you like the video, click the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankarai's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation.