 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindi newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankaray's Academy for the day 30 March 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay, let's get into the article discussion. See this news article here, it is an editorial article and it talks about the strengthening of the natural platform BIMSTIC. See BIMSTIC is a grouping that has potential for development and cooperation in a rapidly changing Indo-Pacific region. See BIMSTIC is the short form of Bay of Bengal initiative for multi-sectoral, technical and economic cooperation. The fifth BIMSTIC summit will be hosted by Sri Lanka in virtual hybrid mode today. And note that this is the silver jubilee of BIMSTIC. So in this context, let us learn the points that are discussed by the author in bridging the BIMSTIC leaders to reinforce their commitments. And we'll also see what all should be done to reinforce the momentum of collaborations in the Bay of Bengal region for the security and development of all. But before that the syllabus relevant to the article is given here for your reference. Please go through it. See before we start our discussion, I want you to take a look at the questions here. See the first question is asked in the year 2017. The question is what are the main functions of United Nations Economic and Social Council? Explain the different functional commissions attached to it. And the second question is asked in the year 2016 and it says, increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in India and growing interference in the internal affairs of member states by Pakistan are not conducive for the future of SARC. SARC here is South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Explain with suitable examples. Now you may be confused. We have taken an article which is related to BIMSTIC. Where are we seeing questions regarding United Nations Economic and Social Council and SARC? See these are all the examples I wanted to show you because these are all organizations right? Here United Nations Economic and Social Council is a global organization and here SARC is a regional organization. See BIMSTIC is also a regional organization. So you may expect such questions in your GS paper too. And that's exactly why I gave you the questions here so that the points that we are going to discuss in this editorial will be helpful for your mains preparation and it can enrich your mains answer. So pay close attention. Now let's start our discussion. Let's see a brief note on BIMSTIC now. See BIMSTIC like I said is an abbreviation of Bay of Bengal initiative for multi sectoral technical and economic cooperation. It is a regional organization comprising 7 member states. Who are they? 5 from South Asia which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka and 2 from the South East Asia which includes Myanmar and Thailand. See we saw 5th summit of BIMSTIC is going to happen today right? So now we'll see what are all the area of interest of BIMSTIC that is going to be highlighted in this 5th summit. The first is finalization of BIMSTIC charter. See at the 4th BIMSTIC summit a task was assigned to the BIMSTIC secretariat. Note that the 4th BIMSTIC summit was held in Nepal in the year 2018. The task was to prepare a preliminary draft of the charter for BIMSTIC and this is to define a long-term vision and priorities for the cooperation of the BIMSTIC countries. So this is the first area of interest so in this 5th summit they are going to finalize the charter. The second one is BIMSTIC master plans for transport connectivity. See it is a comprehensive 10-year strategy and action plan that is from 2018 to 2028 and it is supported by Asian Development Bank ADB. See it is for improving the subregions transport linkages covering the following areas. Let's see what are those areas. The first one is roads and road transport, railways and rail transport, ports and maritime transport, inland water transport, civil aviation and airports development, multimodal and intermodal transport, trade facilitation, human resource development in the connectivity sector. See this plan for the transport connectivity is for regional cooperation and integration to accelerate the economic growth and social development. See a well-established transport network is required for yielding more benefits from a free trade area including the promotion of trade and investment. It also helps in the progress of other areas of cooperation such as tourism, people-to-people contact and cultural exchange. So these are all the significance of the transport connectivity plan. Now let's move on to the third area of interest which is BIMSTIC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. See this convention includes the provision for taking measures to locate, freeze and forefeet or confiscate any funds or finances meant for the financing of all criminal acts in the territory of either party that is the countries that are all the members of BIMSTIC. Now the fourth one is BIMSTIC Technology Transfer Facility that is the TTF. This is mainly to encourage technology transfer and exchange of experiences among the members of BIMSTIC. And the fifth area of interest is cooperation between diplomatic, academies, training institutions. And the last area of interest is the template of memorandum of association. See this is for the future establishment of BIMSTIC centres or entities which present signs of optimism. And it is also for the comeback of the Bay of Bengal as a new economic and strategic space. Having seen the current areas of interest of BIMSTIC, now let us understand the growing value of BIMSTIC through three key reasons. See the first reason is BIMSTIC has the potential to become the epicentre of Indo-Pacific region. This is because it has geographical contiguity, abundant natural and human resources, and rich historical linkages and a cultural heritage. See these are all important for promoting deeper cooperation in the Bay of Bengal region. There has been tangible progress in BIMSTIC cooperation in several areas that include security, counter terrorism, intelligence sharing, cyber security, coastal security and transport connectivity, tourism, etc. Note that this Indo-Pacific region is the place where the interest of major powers of the East and South Asia intersect. So BIMSTIC as an organisation of the Bay of Bengal has tremendous value in the Indo-Pacific region because of the reasons that we discussed now. Now moving on to the second reason. See BIMSTIC serves as a bridge between two major high growth centres of Asia which is South and Southeast Asia. See this is essential to develop a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Bay of Bengal region and this can be achieved by BIMSTIC master plan for transport connectivity. We saw this master plan for transport connectivity in the area of interest, right? So this transport connectivity plan can serve as a bridge between South and Southeast Asia. Now the third reason is BIMSTIC secretariat coordinates, monitors and facilitates the implementation of BIMSTIC activities and programs. So approval of a BIMSTIC charter during this fifth summit will further augment its visibility and stature in the international fora. So the BIMSTIC secretariat will become an establishment of global importance. So from these three reasons, we know that BIMSTIC is an organisation having growing value in the Bay of Bengal region and also in the global arena. Now let us see why BIMSTIC is significant to India in particular. See BIMSTIC as an organisation allows India to pursue three core policies which is neighborhood first, act east policy and economic development of India's North-Eastern states. See neighborhood first policy becomes relevant because it gives primary importance to the country's immediate periphery, that is the neighbouring countries. See we saw the members of BIMSTIC, right? We'll try to recall it now. Who are the members? They include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand. Take a moment and think here, who are they? They are the neighbours of India, right? Except for Thailand. So this neighborhood first policy becomes relevant here. Now the act east policy. This policy helps India to get connected with the Southeast Asia. Again, Myanmar, Thailand are countries in the Southeast Asia, right? Apart from these two countries, India is working on establishing a friendly relationship with all the other Saudi station countries. So here also BIMSTIC helps India to establish diplomatic relation with Myanmar and Thailand. And thirdly, economic development of India's North-Eastern states. See this will come true by linking the North Eastern states to the Bay of Bengal region via Bangladesh and Myanmar. So this is how the organization BIMSTIC is significant to India. Now the second significance, see it allows India to counter China's influence in countries around the Bay of Bengal region. How is China's influence increasing? Due to the spread of its Belt and Road initiative. So the BIMSTIC organization helps India to counter the China's presence in these countries. And the next one is this serves the platform for India to engage with its neighbors. This is relevant here because South Asian association for regional cooperation is becoming dysfunctional because of the differences between India and Pakistan. So BIMSTIC is the ray of hope for India for this particular reason. And that is all regarding this article discussion. Now we'll have a quick recap. We saw a brief note about BIMSTIC. We saw the members, which include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. And after that we saw the area of interest that are going to be highlighted in Fifth Summit, which is the finalization of BIMSTIC charter, BIMSTIC master plans for transport connectivity, BIMSTIC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance and Criminal Matters, BIMSTIC Technology Transfer Facility, TTEF, cooperation between diplomatic academies, diplomatic training institutions and the Memorandum of Association. And after that we saw the growing significance of BIMSTIC in the Bay of Bengal region. See it serves as the epicenter of Indo-Pacific region. It serves as the bridge between two major growth centers of Asia, which is the South and Southeast Asia and BIMSTIC secretariat gaining significance in the global arena. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing the significance of BIMSTIC to India, which is it allows India to pursue neighborhood first policy, act east policy, and it helps in the economic development of India's northeastern states. And it helps India to counter China's influence in the Bay of Bengal region countries. And it serves as a platform for India to engage with its neighbors with the SARC becoming dysfunctional. With these points in mind, let's move on to the next article discussion. Look at this news article here. The article states that the population of the Greater One Horned Rhino in the Khazaranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has increased by 200 in the four years. See the recent census was conducted from March 25th to 28th. 50 elephants, 125 enumerators and independent observers, 252 front line staff were involved in the exercise. The census estimated that 2,613 rhinos which indicates an annual increase of 50 rhinos since 2018. The last rhino census conducted in 2018 had put the number at 2,413. This reason, census is significant because it involved the use of drones for the first time. And this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us discuss about one horned rhino and prelims point of view. See the Greater One Horned Rhino or the Indian Rhino is the largest of the rhino species. It is found only in the Indian subcontinent. Once it was widespread across entire northern part of the Indian subcontinent, but now rhino's population has gone down as they were hunted for sport or killed as agricultural pests. This pushed the species very close to extinction and by the start of the 20th century where only 200 wild Greater One Horned Rhino's were remained. The recovery of the Greater One Horned Rhino is among the greatest conservation success stories in Asia. Thanks to the strict protection and management from Indian and Nepalese wildlife authorities, the Greater One Horned Rhino was brought back from the extension brink. Today the population have increased to around 3,700 rhinos in the northeast in India and the Terai grasslands of Nepal. The Greater One Horned Rhino is identified by a single black horn about 8 to 25 inches long and a gray brown hide with skin folds. It gives rhinos an armor plated appearance. The species is solitary except when adult males nearing adulthood gather at the wallows or to graze. See they primarily graze with the diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves branches of shrubs and trees fruits and aquatic plants. And that's it about the characteristics of the One Horned Rhino. Now let's see the habitat. See it includes tropical, subtropical grasslands, savannas and scrub land and the preferred habitat of an Indian rhino is the alluvial footplains and areas containing tall grasslands along the foothills of Himalayas. Indian rhino serials were extensively distributed in the Gangetic Plains. Today the species is restricted to a small habitat in Indo-Nepal Terai and northern West Bengal and Assam. In India, rhinos are mainly found in Kaziranga National Park, Pobitara Wildlife Sanctuary or Rang National Park, Manas National Park in Assam, Jaldapara National Park, Gaurumara National Park in West Bengal and Dutwa Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh. Some of the threats for rhinos includes habitat loss, agricultural expansion, human settlements and more importantly poaching. See Asian rhinos mainly survive in isolated areas in small populations that are at greater risk from inbreeding, natural disasters and disease. So these are all the threats. See the most important point from Prilim's perspective is to know about the conservation status of any species. On that note we are going to see the conservation status of one-horned rhinos. See the IUCN status of one-horned rhinos is vulnerable. It is also protected under Appendix I of Sites and it is listed in Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and that is all regarding one-horned rhinos. Now let's have a quick recap. We saw about the population of rhino in the earlier times and in the present scenario. We saw that the population have increased to around 3700 rhinos in northeast India and the Terai grasslands of Nepal and we saw the physical characteristics of one-horned rhino which is identified by single black horn and a gray brown hide with skin folds. Hide means skin here and we saw that it has a diet which consists of grass, leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruits and aquatic plants. And after that we saw the habitat which includes tropical, subtropical grasslands, savannas and scrubland. And we saw some of the natural parks and wildlife sanctuaries where the Indian rhinos are present and finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the threats which include habitat loss, agricultural expansion, human settlements and poaching. And we saw that the IUCN status of one-horned rhino is vulnerable. It is protected under Appendix 1 of sites listed in Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act 1972. With these points in mind let's move on to the next article discussion. Look at this news article here. See this article is with reference to BRICS. It states that leading media groups from the five BRICS countries that is Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have started a three-month long training program for the journalists. The program was an initiative of BRICS Media Forum and the article states that this was the first international journalism training program conducted online. And in this context let us discuss about BRICS in prelims perspective. See as I said already BRICS is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Goldman Sachs, economist Jim O'Neill coined the term BRICS in the year 2001. He claimed that the four BRICS economies would come to dominate the global economy by 2050. And note here that South Africa was added to the list in the year 2010. The chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members in accordance with the acronym BRICS. So after Brazil, Russia will take the chairmanship and after that India and after that China and after that South Africa. See the BRICS countries that is the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa ranked among the world's fastest growing market economies for years. It is because of the low labour cost, favourable demographics and abandoned natural resources at a time of a global commodities boom. See the BRICS aims to deepen, broaden and intensify the relations within the grouping and among the individual countries for more sustainable, equitable and mutually beneficial development. And this approach takes into consideration each member's growth, development and poverty objectives. See it ensures that the relations are built on respective countries economic strengths and avoid competition wherever possible. So this is the aim and purpose of the BRICS. Now we'll see about the significance. See we have seen that BRICS is an important grouping bringing together the major emerging economies from the world. It comprises of 41 percentage of the world population having 24 percentage of the world GDP and over 16 percentage of the world trade. See BRICS countries have been the main engines of global economic growth over the years and over a period of time BRICS countries have come together to deliberate on important issues under the three pillars of political and security, economic and financial and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. See the cooperation among the members is predicated on three levels or tracks of interaction. They are track one, track two and track three. See track one involves formal diplomatic engagement between the national governments and track two involves engagement through government-affiliated institutions for example state-owned enterprises and business councils. Now track three, this involves civil society and people-to-people engagement. See this is like a hierarchy. Track one involves governments, track two involves state-affiliated institutions and track three civil society and people-to-people engagement. And this is the significance and functioning. Now let's see some of the facts related to BRICS. See the first BRICS summit took place in the year 2009 in the Russian Federation and the sixth BRICS summit hosted by Fortaleza and Brasilia in the year 2014 produced a highly important result. The sides that is the parties they signed the agreement on new development bank and the treaty for establishment of BRICS contingent reserve arrangement. These institutions possessed a total of $200 billion. See the new development bank was established with the purpose of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging and developing countries. Now let's see the aim of the new development bank. It aims to strengthen the cooperation among the countries and it will supplement the efforts of the multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development. So overall it contributes to the collective commitments for achieving the goal of strong, sustainable and balanced growth. See the bank was established with the initial authorized capital of 100 billion US dollars and the headquarters of the bank is located in Shanghai that is in China. See the BRICS contingent reserve arrangement that is the CRA was also established with an initial size of 100 billion US dollars. This arrangement aims to have a positive precautionary effect. See it helps countries to tackle short-term liquidity pressures, promote further BRICS cooperation and it helps to strengthen the global financial safety and complement existing international arrangements. See the agreement has the provision of liquidity through currency swaps to avoid the short-term balance of payments pressures. And these are all the outcomes of important BRICS summit. See the last BRICS summit that is the 13th BRICS summit was held under India's chairmanship on September 9, 2021. It was the third time that India hosted BRICS summit after 2012 and 2016. These are all important facts that you have to remember for prelims and that is all regarding the article discussion. Now let's have a quick recap. We saw about BRICS which includes countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. You can easily remember it because the abbreviation is the first letter of the countries. We saw about the aims of BRICS which is to deepen, broaden, intensify the relations within the grouping and among the individual countries for more sustainable, equitable and mutually beneficial development. And after that we saw the significance of BRICS. See it comprises 41% of world population, 24% of world GDP, 16% share in world trade. See it deliberates on important issues such as politics, security, economic financial issues, cultural and people to exchanges. We saw that the cooperation among the members were in the form of tracks which involves track one, track two, track three, track one is engagement between the government, track two is engagement through government affiliated institutions, track three is civil society, people to people engagement. And we saw some facts about the BRICS summit and after that we saw about new development bank, its aim which is to strengthen the cooperation among countries and to contribute to the collective commitment for achieving strong sustainable balanced growth. We saw that the headquarters of the bank is in Shanghai and it was established with an authorized capital of 100 billion US dollars. And after that we saw about the contingent reserve arrangement which aims to have a positive precautionary effect from the short term liquidity pressures etc. We saw that India hosted the BRICS summit three times. The first one is in the year 2012 and the second one is in the year 2016 and the third one is in the year 2021 which is the 13th BRICS summit. And with these points in mind now let's move on to the next article discussion. Look at this final article here. See this article is with reference to heat waves. The article states that Indian Meteorological Department has issued a heat wave warning across Telangana. The warning was issued as day temperatures slowly rose up to 40 degree Celsius. So in this context we'll discuss about heat waves and its effects. See a heat wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures. Heat waves have more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season. Heat waves typically occur between March and June and in some rare cases even extend till July. The extreme temperatures and the resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people as they cause physiological stresses sometimes resulting in death. So this is what a heat wave is. It is nothing but temperature increasing abnormally during the summer season. See the Indian Meteorological Department has given the following criteria for heat waves. The first one is heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degree Celsius or more for planes and at least 30 degree Celsius or more for hilly areas. So the criteria is different for planes and hilly areas. For planes it is 40 degree Celsius or more. For hilly areas it is 30 degree Celsius or more. See the second criteria is based on the departure from normal temperature. See the heat wave is declared when departure from normal is 4.5 degree Celsius to 6.4 degree Celsius and severe heat wave is declared when departure from normal is more than 6.4 degree Celsius. See what does this departure from normal temperature mean? Let's say the average temperature of a particular region has been maintained at 32 degree Celsius for a long period. But now if the temperature has increased to 36.5 degree Celsius then it is 4.5 degree Celsius departure from normal and that is when the heat wave is declared. If the departure from normal is more than 6.4 degree Celsius it is severe heat wave. See one more criteria is also that it is based on actual maximum temperature. See a heat wave is declared when actual maximum temperature is equal to or greater than 45 degree Celsius and severe heat wave is declared when actual maximum temperature is equal to or more than 47 degree Celsius. And the important thing to note here is that to declare a heat wave the above criteria should be at least in two stations in a meteorological subdivision for at least two consecutive days and the heat wave will be declared on the second day. See higher daily peak temperatures and more intense heat waves are becoming increasingly frequent. And what do you think is the reason here? Exactly it is because of the climate change. India too is feeling the impact of climate change in terms of increased instances of heat waves and heat waves are becoming more intense with each passing year and have a devastating impact on human health thereby increasing the number of heat wave casualties. Casualties means death. We saw a brief note about heat waves and with this basic understanding now we'll see some of the health impacts of heat waves. See the health impacts typically involve dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Now we'll briefly see what these signs and symptoms are. The first sign is heat cramp. Here swelling, fainting will be generally accompanied by fever below 39 degree Celsius that is one or two degree Fahrenheit. The next one is heat exhaustion. It includes fatigue, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and sweating. And then comes the heat stroke. See here the body temperature rises to 40 degree Celsius that is one or four degree Fahrenheit or more. And this comes along with the delirium seizures or coma. This is the potential fatal condition and that is all regarding the article here. We'll have a quick recap. We saw what is a heat wave. It is the period of abnormally high temperature during summer season between March and June. And we saw the criteria given by the Indian Meteorological Department for declaring heat wave. Heat wave is considered if maximum temperature reaches at least 40 degree Celsius or more for planes at least 30 degree Celsius or more for hilly regions. And heat wave is declared when departure from normal temperature is 4.5 degree Celsius to 6.4 degree Celsius. Severe heat wave is declared when departure from normal is more than 6.4 degree Celsius. And based on actual maximum temperature, heat wave is declared when the actual maximum temperature is more than or equal to 45 degree Celsius and it is equal to or more than 47 degree Celsius in the case of severe heat wave. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing the health impacts which includes heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stoke. With these points in mind now let us move on to the next part of our discussion that is the practice prelims question discussion. We have three questions today. One of them is a quiz question for you. Now let's proceed with the questions. The first question is consider the following statements with reference to Indian rhinoceros. Statement one it is found only in two states in India. Is this statement correct? We saw in our discussion that rhinos are found in many national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, right? Some of them are Kasi Ranga, Pobitara, Orang, Manas in Azam, Jaldapara, Garumara in West Bengal and Dootba in Uttar Pradesh. So the first statement is incorrect. Moving on to the second statement. One horned rhinos are listed as endangered in the IUC and red list and it is yet to be listed under appendix one of sites. See the statement is also incorrect. We saw in our discussion that the IUC and status of one horned rhinos is vulnerable and it is already protected under appendix one of sites. For your additional information it is listed in schedule one of wildlife protection act 1972. So the correct option here will be option D neither one nor two. Moving on to the second question. The term contingent reserve arrangement in the context of the affairs of a group of countries is associated with option A ASEAN, option B SEO that is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, option C BRICS, option D SARC. Okay I'll wait a minute for you to figure the answer. Exactly it is BRICS. We saw in our discussion right see the contingent reserve arrangement was established with the initial size of 100 billion US dollars. This arrangement aims to have a positive precautionary effect. It helps the countries to tackle short-term liquidity pressures and its 10th and the global financial safety net. See the arrangement has the provision of liquidity through currency swaps to prevent the short-term balance of payments pressures. So this contingent reserve arrangement is associated with BRICS which is Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. So the correct option here is option C. Now moving on to the last question see aspirants this is the quiz question for you so listen carefully which of the following statements with reference to heat waves is or are incorrect you have to find the incorrect statements here. Option A heat waves typically occur between March and June and in some rare cases even extend till July. Option B heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of station reaches at least 30 degree Celsius or more for planes and at least 40 degree Celsius or more for hilly regions. Option C heat waves are exclusive to western parts of India and option D both B and C. See this is a very easy question try to recall our discussion and try to attempt this question and finally post your answer in the comment section. I've given a main question for your practice so interested aspirants write it and post it in the comment section if you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today post that also in the comment section and don't forget to attend the quiz question and with this we have come to the end if you find the video useful like share and comment and do subscribe to Shankar Ayesh Academy's YouTube channel for further updates thank you