 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 8th of January 2020. Today we shall be seeing news articles on National Pension Scheme, Atal Pension Neoljana, then an editorial on the chief of defense staff and such other news articles which are mentioned here along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Trivandrum and Hyderabad editions. The handwritten notes in period format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. This news article speaks about the issues that are faced by two pension schemes. One is the National Pension System and the next one is the Atal Pension Neoljana. So, in this context, we will be discussing in brief about this National Pension Scheme, then about Atal Pension Neoljana, then we will discuss in brief about the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority which regulates both these schemes and finally we will see the present issues that are faced in implementing both these schemes. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. So, what is this National Pension System? Note that National Pension System was launched in the year 2004. The objective of this system was to provide retirement income to all the citizens of India. So, this scheme aim to bring in some pension reforms and also it aim to inculcate the habit of saving for retirement amongst the citizens. Initially, if you see this National Pension System was introduced for the new government recruits except the armed forces but since the year 2009, this NPS has been provided for all the citizens of the country on voluntary basis. Now, let us discuss the eligibility criteria for National Pension System. Note that National Pension System is applicable to all the citizens of India who are between the age of 18 and 65 years. This includes all the new employees of the central government services except the armed forces who joined government service on or after 1st of January 2004. Then to all those employees of the state governments, then any other government employees not manually covered under National Pension System can also voluntarily subscribe to this National Pension System. Then even private employees and non-resident Indians who have bank accounts in India and such other people can subscribe to this National Pension System. Now, let us discuss some of the silent features of this National Pension System. Note that the system is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. This National Pension System is designed on defined contribution basis. So, what is this defined contribution basis? Here the subscriber will contribute some money to his account and when he thinks that he want to exit from the system, there will not be any defined benefit. So, whatever money that has been accumulated will be depending on the contributions that he or she has made and whatever income that has been generated from such contributions. So, this is what we mean by defined contribution basis. Next, if you see all the record keeping administration and customer service functions for all the subscribers of this National Pension System are being handled by the National Securities Depository Limited. See this National Securities Depository Limited is acting as the central record keeper for this National Pension System. And also know that whoever wishes to subscribe under this National Pension System will be allotted a unique permanent retirement account number. This account number is portable, which means it can be used from any location in India. Next, if you see this permanent retirement account number will provide access to two personal accounts. One is the tier one account and the next is the tier two account. This tier one account is a non-vitrable account, which is meant for savings for retirement. So, only after a person retires, he will be able to withdraw the money from this particular tier one account. Whereas in case of tier two account, it is simply a voluntary savings facility. Here, the subscriber is free to withdraw his savings from this account whenever the subscriber wishes. So, this is the difference between tier one and tier two. So, tier one is non-vitrable and tier two is withdrawable. And if you see, we saw that this National Pension System is being implemented by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. In short, PFRDA. See this PFRDA is an autonomous body which has been set up by the Government of India in 2003 in order to develop and regulate the pension market in India. And this PFRDA oversees the implementation of the National Pension System. Also, this PFRDA is a statutory body as per the PFRDA Act of 2013. So, this is all about the National Pension System that you need to know from the exam point of view. Next, let us see Airtel Pension Eugenia. Before seeing about this scheme, we wish to tell the viewers one thing. Purposefully, we do not tell one fact which is initially under the National Pension System, even the unorganized sector was covered. That is, those workers who are not in a properly organized setup were also covered under this National Pension System. Then under this National Pension System, a scheme called Svavalamban scheme was introduced to reach out to the unorganized sector so that the unorganized sector will subscribe to this Svavalamban scheme. Now, this Airtel Pension Eugenia has replaced this Svavalamban scheme. Now, let us discuss about Airtel Pension Eugenia. See, this is also a pension scheme which mainly focuses on the unorganized sector workers like the home-based workers, street vendors, brick kiln workers, then domestic workers, etc. And this Airtel Pension Eugenia is a central sector scheme which was launched by the central government in the year 2015. This scheme was basically introduced to address the longevity risks among the workers in the unorganized sector and also to encourage those workers to voluntarily save for their retirement. Now, why this scheme is important because almost 88% of the total workforce in India is from the unorganized sector. So, if persons from unorganized sector join this scheme, they will have a guaranteed minimum pension amount. So, this is the importance of this scheme. Now, let us discuss the eligibility criteria to join this scheme. Firstly, the age of the subscriber should be between 18 to 40 years. As of now, if you see under this Airtel Pension Eugenia, a guaranteed minimum pension of 1000 rupees, 2000 rupees, 3000 rupees, 4000 rupees or 5000 rupees per month will be given at the age of 60 years. Now, why this differentiated pension amount? Because these amounts will vary according to the contributions. And if you see, the contribution amount will also vary based on the age of the persons when they are joining this Airtel Pension Eugenia. Here, you need to know the minimum period of contribution by any subscriber under Airtel Pension Eugenia would be 20 years or more. So, how will they get the same amount of fixed monthly pension? For example, to get a fixed monthly pension between 1000 rupees to 5000 rupees per month, the subscriber has to contribute on a monthly basis between 42 rupees and 210 rupees if he joins at the age of 18 years. Now, for the same fixed pension levels, the contribution would range between 291 rupees and 1454 rupees if the subscriber joins at the age of 40 years. So, this is the first eligibility criteria. Now, the next eligibility criteria is that a person must have a savings bank account in any bank or in a post office. That is a post office savings account. So, this is all the eligibility criteria to join this Airtel Pension Eugenia. Know that this scheme is also administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority through National Pension System. One more thing which you need to know is that the government is also a contributor other than the beneficiary. Here the government's contribution is 50% of the total contribution by the subscriber or 1000 rupees per annum, whichever is lower. And here the contribution of the central government is available for 5 years that is from the financial year 2015-16 till this financial year which is 2019-2020. So, the government of India will contribute for these 5 years to the subscribers who have joined the scheme between 1st June 2015 to 31st March 2016. And this contribution from the government was made available to only those who were not covered by any other statutory social security schemes such as the beneficiaries under the Employees Provident Fund and the Miscellaneous Provision Act of 1952. And also those persons who are subscribing to this Airtel Pension Eugenia shall not be income tax payers. So, remember as of now the government is not contributing any percentage to those who subscribe under the scheme. It was available only for a limited period. So, this is all you need to know about this Airtel Pension Eugenia. Now, with these background information in mind, let us now discuss the news article. According to this news article, PFRDA believes that the national pension system remains a less preferred option because of the mindset of the individuals and the corporates that is the companies. Though around 7000 companies are currently registered with this PFRDA, only 10 lakh employees are covered under this national pension system. Now, this must be related to the fact that at present there are dozens of individual corporates who are employing multiple lakhs of employees in our country. But out of the 7000 registered companies, only 2 to 4 percentage of their employees are covered under this national pension system. So, this value indicates a very low coverage. At present, if you see the national pension system as a total subscriber base of around 3.25 crores and 4 lakh crore rupees has been invested under this scheme. Whereas, if you see the subscriber base of Airtel Pension Eugenia, it is just 2 crores. That is only 2 crore people have subscribed to this Airtel Pension Eugenia. So, we can see that both these schemes cover only a minuscule number of their target groups. And there is still a large section of population which can be tapped in order to increase the subscriber base like the MSMEs, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. And there are also thousands of startups which are yet to be a part of this pension market. Now, according to this news article, the main issue for not joining the pension schemes is primarily the people's mindset. Usually, in India, people don't think of retirement and old age. But on average, if we see Indians live 17 to 18 years after the retirement age. But only between the age of 45 to 50 years, people start to realize that they need to save some money for their retirement and old age. So, this news article tells that this mindset has to change and people have to start investing in pension as soon as they join the employment. And if you see this news article also mentions that PFRDA has a target to add around 5 lakh new NPS subscribers. Then also to add 75 lakh subscribers to Airtel Pension Eugenia by March 2020. So, this is the target of PFRDA. And PFRDA plans to achieve this through reaching out to the companies that are not yet part of this national pension system and also through pension awareness campaigns. So, this is all about the discussion of this news article. In this news article, we have discussed about two schemes. One is the national pension system. The next one is the Airtel Pension Eugenia. Then we saw the issues in properly implementing both these schemes. And finally, we saw how PFRDA plans to address the issues. Now, have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This editorial is with reference to the post of the chief of defense staff. In this editorial, we will see some information about this chief of defense staff. Then we will see about the criticisms that have been laid forward by the author in this editorial. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. See, we know that the former army general Mr. Bipin Rawat has been appointed as India's first chief of defense staff. Now, let us see some information about this newly created post in the defense services. See, the chief of defense staff is a four-star general. His salary and pesticides are equivalent to a service chief. Here, a service chief refers to the chiefs of the three armed forces, that is the army, navy and air force. Now, this chief of defense staff is also the head of the newly created Department of Military Affairs in the Ministry of Defense. In other words, we can say that the secretary of the Department of Military Affairs is the chief of defense staff. Now, one important role for this chief of defense staff is that he will act as the principal military advisor to the Union Minister of Defense on all tri-services matters. The chiefs of army, navy and air force will continue to advise the defense minister on matters about their respective services. However, note that the chief of defense staff will not exercise any military command over the three service chiefs. Now, why this arrangement is because it will ensure that the chief of defense staff is able to provide impartial advice to the political leadership. And if you see this chief of defense staff will also be the permanent chairman of the chiefs of staff committee. As the chairman of the chiefs of staff committee, the chief of defense staff will deal with the various chiefs. And these chiefs are represented in this image. Just have a look at it. As the permanent chief of staffs of the staff committee, the chief of defense staff will also perform few other important functions. One is that he will administer the tri-services organizations. Also note that the tri-service agencies, organizations and commands which are related to cyber and space will also be under the command of the chief of defense staff. Then if you see the chief of defense staff will be a member of defense acquisition council and defense planning committee. Here you need to know about defense acquisition council. See, it is a comprehensive structure under the chair of defense minister. This council is for the overall guidance of the defense procurement planning process. Next, you also need to know about defense planning committee. See, the defense planning committee was constituted in the year 2018. It is a permanent body which has been set up under the chairmanship of national security advisor. This committee will facilitate comprehensive and integrated planning for defense related matters. And then it will also analyze and evaluate all the inputs related to defense planning. And if you see this committee will draw a roadmap for defense manufacturing ecosystem and it will bring strategy to boost the defense exports from India to abroad. So these are some of the roles which will be played by the chief of defense staff along with the main function which we saw where he will function as the military advisor to the nuclear command authority. Now before entering to the analysis of this editorial know that the creation of this post is considered as a much needed reform in the higher defense management. Because the post of the chief of defense staff will help the armed forces to implement coordinated defense doctrines and procedures. Also if you see this post will help in fostering jointmanship among the three services in the longer run. But if you see there are few concerns with this post of the chief of defense staff which has been discussed by the author in today's editorial. If you remember we have seen about various positives of having this post of the chief of defense staff during our 25th December 2019 analysis. We request the viewers to have a look at the positives of having this post. In our today's discussion we will restrict our analysis to the critical observations that have been made by the author of this editorial. Now one point which the author has raised is with reference to the cabinet committee on security. See the cabinet committee on security is playing a very important role in the decision making of internal as well as external security of the country. And the author mentions that this committee has served its purpose in a very good manner over the years. So if you see the composition of this committee usually does representation only from the political leadership. And at present if you see the cabinet committee on security consists of the prime minister then the defense minister then the home minister then the finance minister and the minister of external affairs. Also you need to note that prime minister can specify from time to time who can be included in the cabinet committees. If you see this power is given to the prime minister as per the government of India transaction business rules 1961. So you can see that this committee contains only the political leadership that is it contains only the ministers. So the author is of the opinion that the supremacy of this political leadership that is the supremacy of the cabinet committee on security over the matters of security will weaken gradually because of this newly introduced post of the chief of defense staff. Then if you see as secretary of the department of military FS the chief of defense staff will deal with the three defense forces. So he will act like the head for the three different forces. So the author is telling that there will be an implied subordination of the three service chiefs to the chief of defense staff. Because the department of military FS will exercise control over these three services and it virtually makes the chief of defense staff as the supreme commander of the Indian armed forces. So this is the other opinion of the author. Next if you see the chief of defense staff is tasked with facilitating the restructuring of military commands then about bringing jointness in operations where these operations also include the establishment of joint commands and theater commands. So as a result the functional domain of the chief of defense staff will invariably encroach the domain of the service chiefs. And if you see there can be a lack of coordination between the service chiefs and the chief of defense staff because of this domain encroachment. So the author tells that the functional domain of the chief of defense staff will encroach the domain of the service chiefs. Next if you see in the beginning we saw the important trolls of the chief of defense staff. There we said that the chief of defense staff will act as the principal military advisor to the minister of defense on all tri-services matters. Also if you see the chiefs of army, navy and air force will advise the defense minister on matters about their respective services. But here the author is of the opinion that because of the creation of this department of military affairs this reporting structure may undergo a change. Maybe the change might not be theoretical but in practice this reporting structure might change. So this is what the author tells. Also he tells that this change may not take place immediately but it would become a norm over a period of time. That is the chiefs of the three forces will be reporting to the chief of defense staff and not directly to the defense minister. Why because the author mentions that even today in theory the service chiefs have to report directly to the defense minister. But in practice all the files and decisions are routed to the defense minister through the defense secretary only. So in theory it might be one thing but in practice it might be the other. Then if you see the final concern of the author he tells that the post of the chief of defense staff will erode the civilian supremacy over the defense establishment in the ministry of defense itself. Here the author refers to two things. One is the role of the elected minister of defense and the next is the role of civil servants as secretaries in the ministry of defense. So these are some of the concerns of the author with respect to the newly created post of the chief of defense staff. Now what we have to note here is that while the post of the chief of defense staff is necessary the government must ensure adequate checks and balances for this post. So that it will ensure India will always remain a democratic polity at the same time. This post should also help in ensuring the jointness in the operations and functioning of the armed forces for the purpose of the security of India. This is all about the discussion of this editorial. In this editorial we have seen about the various functions of the newly created post of the chief of defense staff and the critical observations that has been made by the author. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about measles. It tells that measles which was once a children's disease is now affecting the adult population as well. So in the context of this news article first let us know about this measles disease. Then we will see if there is any kind of vaccination that is available for preventing measles infection in the children and then we will discuss the news article. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. First let us see measles. Measles is an infection of the respiratory system which is caused by a virus called as paramaxovirus. And if you see the human beings are the natural hosts of this virus. If you see measles is a highly contagious disease when we say highly contagious it means that the infection can spread from one person to another easily. Therefore note that the human to human transmission of measles infection is possible. The measles can be transmitted through the droplets from nose, mouth or throat of the infected persons to a healthy individual. These droplets spread the disease even when they are released in the air. It can spread by the injection of the virus into the environment by sneezing or coughing. So measles can also be called as a communicable disease. But note that measles is a vaccine preventable disease that is if you apply vaccines then the spread of this disease can be easily prevented. So the safest and effective method is to prevent by vaccination on schedule. Now let us see what kind of vaccine is in use in India. See India uses measles rubella vaccine or MR vaccine to prevent measles and rubella jointly. Two doses of this MR vaccine is being administered to the children. If you see the first dose is administered to the children once nine months of age is completed. And the second dose of this MR vaccine is administered between 16 to 24 months of the age of the children. Now if you see the first dose of measles vaccine was introduced as a part of the National Immunization Program of India in the 1990s. Then if you see from the year 2010 onwards based on the recommendation by the World Health Organization, India started to administer a second dose of MR vaccine to prevent the infection and death in 90 to 95% of the vaccinated children. So the second dose was introduced in India from 2010 onwards. Now just remember when these two doses need to be administered in order to understand this news article. We just saw measles is a highly contagious viral disease. The World Health Organization tells that measles is an important cause of death among the young children globally. Even at present measles has not been completely eliminated in India. Usually if you see measles is prevalent among the children. That's why even the vaccination is targeted for the children. But recently measles is being reported among the adults especially from the state of Kerala. So this is the news. According to this news article the number of patients who are seeking treatment for measles in the age group of 1 to 5 years is not very high. But the number of patients who are seeking treatment for measles in the age group of 19 to 40 years and those who are aged below 9 months are very high. This news article tells that in the year 2019 nearly 600 measles cases were reported in just 4 months in Kerala itself. So you can see that the prevalence of measles is among two populations. One is among the children below 9 months and then among the adults in the age group of 19 to 40 years. Now let us see the reasons why both these populations are getting infected by measles. First let us look into the reason why the infants below 9 months are getting affected by measles. See during the last 3 months of pregnancy the maternal antibodies from the mother are passed to the fetus or to the unborn baby through the placenta. These maternal antibodies are nothing but a type of natural immunity that is passed on from a mother to the child. So this natural immunity is like protective mechanism for the child. The maternal antibodies protects the infant during a sensitive time in the development of the infant's immune system. It also protects the child against infectious diseases. If you see these maternal antibodies disappear approximately over a period of 6 to 12 months. So this is the reason the first vaccination age for measles is fixed at 9 months. Now why 9 months because there is a chance that this vaccine will become ineffective if at all it is being administered before 9 months. Because the maternal antibodies which are present in the child's body will interfere with the immune response to the vaccine and because of this interference. It will make the MR vaccine ineffective. So this is the reason why the first dose of vaccine is fixed at 9 months for the children. So how can the measles prevalence be prevented in such cases? See if at all there is any measles outbreak in any place and if the child is below 6 months then the child should get vaccinated immediately without waiting for 9 months to complete. So by doing this we can ensure that the infants below 9 months are not getting infected with this highly contagious disease. So this is one measure. The another measure can be a sufficient number of people should be vaccinated to a particular disease in this case the measles. Why because if a sufficient number of people are vaccinated then those people who are not vaccinated may get a herd immunity. So what is this herd immunity? It is like an indirect protection because by normal vaccination the spread of germ or virus which is responsible for the infection will be stopped. Now when this transmission is stopped even the unvaccinated people will be protected indirectly. So this is what is meant by herd immunity. So we have seen two measures. One is immediate vaccination for an infant below 9 months and the next measure is vaccination for a sufficient number of population in order to get a herd immunity. Now let us look into the reasons why adults are also getting this measles disease as of now. We just saw that from 2010 onwards based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization India started giving second dose of measles vaccine. Now here you need to know that one dose of this measles vaccine which is the MR vaccine will ensure an immunity coverage of 90 to 95% in the humans. So the remaining 5 to 10% age is like a risk factor that is there is a chance to acquire measles again. Now with the help of this second dose the chances will be reduced. So one reason why it affects the adults now is because of this 5 to 10% chances in those people who were only given one dose of immunization before 2010. Because during the start of the analysis of this news article we saw that the number of patients with measles in the age group of 19 to 40 years is high. So this can be one reason. Now the next reason is there are some people who deliberately choose not to be vaccinated due to various reasons like mistrust or misinformation about vaccines. Now they have higher chances of getting this measles. So this news article tells that since the universal immunization program in childhood is improving in India now this measles disease is moving to the unimmunized or unvaccinated older age group. So these are two reasons. Now there is one more reason why the measles virus is affecting the adults. Even though vaccine is applied to the population there is always some section of population which will see a decrease in the vaccine acquired immunity. Now this depends on their health conditions. For example if you see there are many persons who are immune compromised like the organ transplant recipients then those patients who are affected with the HIV. Then sometimes even pregnant women are prone and also cancer patients who are at an higher risk because they might have lost their immunity because of the treatments and because of cancer even if they had been vaccinated in the past. So this increases the risk of being affected with measles. So these are some of the reasons why measles affects the adult population as well. Now this news article tells that those adults with measles require inpatient treatment in the hospitals. And sometimes they must also be admitted to intensive care units. Also this news article has reported few cases of deaths because of the measles infection as well. So these are some of the reasons why measles is now spreading across the adult population in India. So you can see that measles is again resurfacing amongst the Indian population especially the adult population. If you remember there were also some news articles in the recent times that there was a measles outbreak which was reported in the United States and also in certain countries of Africa. So it becomes the duty of the government to properly address the rising prevalence of measles in India. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the statements made by the central government with respect to the provisions made under the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 2019. See this Constitutional Amendment Act has made some changes to Article 15 and Article 16 of Indian Constitution. So in the context of this news article we will be seeing about this 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act and the changes made by this act and also few other information as in when we analyze the news article. So let us take this opportunity to know about this 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. First let us see about the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 2019. This amendment act inserted a new clause to Articles 15 and Article 16. So we will be seeing more on this Constitutional Amendment Act. To know more about the procedure for amending the Constitution please refer to our 11th December analysis where we have discussed in detail about various procedures involved in amending the Constitution. Now first let us see the insertion with respect to Article 15. As a result of the amendment in Article 15 the state which is the government can make any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes that are mentioned in clauses 4 and 5 of Article 15. Now what are these clauses 4 and 5 of Article 15? They deal with any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, the schedule casts and the schedule tribes. So therefore when we say economically weaker sections this refers to the economically weaker sections other than socially and educationally backward classes of citizens other than the persons belonging to schedule casts and the schedule tribes. So this is the reason why the news article mentions that the reservation for the EWS category was brought for the welfare of the poor who are not covered under the reservation policy for the schedule cast and the schedule tribes and the socially and educationally backward classes. So it indirectly means the economically weaker sections under the general category. Now let us see the clause 6b of Article 15 which was added by the Constitutional Amendment Act. It states that the state can make any special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of citizens. Here the special provisions are related to the admission to educational institutions. These educational institutions include private educational institutions, then aided and unaided educational institutions. Here the reservation would be in addition to the existing reservations. However, there is a maximum limit that is such reservation for the EWS category shall not exceed 10 percentage of the total seats in each admission. So we can see that clause 6a of Article 15 is general in nature whereas clause 6b of Article 15 is quite specific with respect to admission in educational institutions. Here in the educational institutions there is one exemption that is this reservation is not applicable to the minority educational institutions which are referred in clause 1 of Article 30. Now let us see the insertions that were made in Article 16. It inserted a new clause to this article. Here the provisions are with respect to the reservation for appointments or posts. As per the inserted clause the state that is the government can make any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favor of any economically weaker sections of citizens. And such reservations shall be in addition to the existing reservations and subject to a maximum of 10 percentage of the posts in each recruitment. So these were the changes that were made to Articles 15 and 16 and these changes came into effect with the Ascent of the Indian President to this 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act on 12th January 2019. Now after the President's Ascent there were several petitions filed in the Supreme Court both for and against the changes made to the Constitution. Now this news article is one such petition where which is regarding a complaint that the reservation for EWS category was not being implemented in states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In this news article you can see the reply made by the central government to this complaint in the Supreme Court. Here the reply of the central government is with respect to the recruitments by the state government and admissions to the state government educational institutions. The central government has stated that for reservation for this EWS category pertaining to the jobs and admissions of state government it is up to the state government whether to provide such a reservation or not. That is for the state educational institutions and the state government jobs the state government can decide to provide reservation for EWS category or it may not give such reservations. And in addition to this statement the central government has also reportedly said that the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment which comes under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has no role in deciding the reservation policy of any state government. So these are the two points that you need to take from this news article. To know about this news article we saw about the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act. As you can see this news article discusses about the reply given by the central government in a petition. Still the Supreme Court has not come with any decision regarding this petition. So this is an evolving news article. We will see more on this issue as and when the news appears. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about a recent success made by a group of scientists in sequencing the genome of Indian cobra which is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. First let us see in brief about genome sequencing and then we will see why this study is important. Now coming to genome sequencing. Before knowing genome sequencing let us first understand the basics of genome sequencing. See a gene is the basic physical and functional unit of heredity. The genes of an organism is made up of DNAs that is deoxyribonucleic acids. So the complete set of genes forms the genome of an organism. So this process of genome sequencing is nothing but figuring out the order of the DNA nucleotides or bases in the genome. That is the order of adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine which makes up the DNA. See the primary purpose of genome sequencing is to obtain information of medical value for future healthcare. So this is the basics of genome sequencing. Now let us come to the news article. This news article tells that a group of scientists including some scientists from India have mapped the genome of Indian cobra. Now why this is important is because with the help of genome sequencing the chemical constituents or those toxic genes of the venom of snakes can be identified. By identifying the scientists will be able to develop new antivenom therapies so that whenever there is a snake bite immediately it can be cured with the help of antivenom therapies. So this is why genome sequencing of Indian cobras is important. Now according to this news article the research study has found that 19 toxic genes are expressed exclusively in the venom gland of Indian cobra. So targeting these 19 specific toxins using synthetic human antibodies will lead to an effective creation of antivenom which will be helpful in treating the bites of Indian cobras. Now why because snake bite is an important but unaddressed issue in the world. Because if you see every year approximately 5 million people that is 50 lakh people are bitten by venomous snakes worldwide. And because of this it leads to 4 lakh cases of amputations that is removal of legs and hands and more than 1 lakh dits. So you can see a huge population in the world is affected by the bites of venomous snakes. And if you see in particular with respect to India 46,000 people die every year and around 1.4 lakh people are disabled every year because of the bites of big 4 venomous snakes in India. So what are these big 4 venomous snakes? They are the Indian cobra, then common crate, then russells viper and finally the saw scale viper. Now very recently only the world health organization has started to address this issue of snake bite. If you see snake bite envenoming has been categorized as a neglected tropical disease by the world health organization in 2017. Here the world health organization has said that snake bite envenoming is a potentially life threatening disease because of the injection of a mixture of different toxins that is venom following the bite of a venomous snake. And if you see there are also some species of venomous snakes which spray the venom into the eyes of the enemies as a defense measure. So venom can be transmitted from snakes to other species through bite or through spraying. So you can see that only recently the world health organization has started to address this snake bite issue. So this research is of importance because it will help the scientists to properly create specific antivenom therapies in order to save people from the bite of Indian cobra. Now let us discuss some of the concerns that have been raised by a certain section of scientists. They believe that developing a new antivenom for Indian cobra only cannot solve the problem of snake bites in India. We know that India is known for huge diversity of snakes and also there are a lot of varieties of snake bites. Now the news is that antivenom therapies are being developed only for Indian cobra which is just one species. But the scientists are telling that similar such antivenom therapies must be developed for various other commonly occurring venomous snake species in India. For instance if you see this news article it tells that the Big 4 snakes are not found in the North Eastern India. But North Eastern India is also a region which reports a significant number of snake bites. So we can see that there is a need to develop antivenom therapy for other species of venomous snakes as well. So this is all about the news article. Now that we have seen the Big 4 venomous snakes let us try to see the protection status in India as per the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Let us see under which schedule are they protected. If you see Indian cobra it is protected under schedule 2 part 2 whereas common crate is protected under schedule 4. Russell's viper is also protected similar to Indian cobra under schedule 2 part 2. The next venomous snake is saw-scaled viper. This saw-scaled viper belongs to the family viperidae and all those species under viperidae family are protected under schedule 4 of this Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. So we can tell that saw-scaled viper is also protected under schedule 4. So this is the protection status of these Big 4 venomous snakes in India. So to summarize this news article we have seen in brief about what is meant by genome sequencing. How genome sequencing of Indian cobra will be helpful for the scientific community to treat the snake bite cases. And finally we saw the need to develop antivenom therapies for the other commonly occurring venomous snakes in India. Now let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. Look at the first question. This question is regarding national pension system. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct answer. Look at the first statement. It tells that the permanent retirement account number provided under the scheme ensures access to a non-vitrable account only. Now if you see this permanent retirement account number will provide access to two personal accounts. One is a tier one account which is a non-vitrable account which is meant for savings for retirement and the tier two account which is basically a voluntary savings facility. Where the subscriber is free to withdraw savings from this account whenever the subscriber wishes. So we can see that the permanent retirement account number ensures access to two accounts. It is not just to the non-vitrable account only. So this statement goes wrong. Now look at the next statement. It tells that it is being implemented by the pension fund regulatory and development authority. Yes this statement is correct. The national pension system is being implemented by PFRDA. Now we need to choose the correct statements. The correct answer is option B2 only since the second statement is correct. Now look at the next question which is about atel pension eugenia. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct answer. Now look at the first statement. It tells that the scheme is applicable to all citizens of India between the age of 18 to 65 years. This statement is wrong because to subscribe to this atel pension eugenia the age should be between 18 to 40 years. It is not 18 to 65 years. This 18 to 65 years is actually the age criteria for national pension system not for atel pension eugenia. So this statement goes wrong. Look at the next statement. It tells that atel pension eugenia is being implemented by the same body which implements national pension system. Yes this statement is correct. Both national pension system and atel pension eugenia are being implemented by PFRDA which is the pension fund regulatory and development authority. You need to choose the correct statements. The correct answer to this question is option B2 only since the second statement is only correct. Now look at the next question. The question is regarding the chief of defense staff. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the first statement. It tells that only the former service chiefs of Indian army is eligible for the post of chief of defense staff. This statement is incorrect because as of now there is no clear policy of eligibility for the post within the service chiefs. So the understanding is that usually the government will appoint any one of the former service chiefs from the three armed forces which are army, navy and the air force. Now look at the next statement. It tells that one of the former army chiefs has been appointed as the first chief of defense staff of India. Yes this statement is correct. Mr. Bipin Rawat who recently completed his tenure as the army chief has been appointed as the first chief of defense staff of India. Here you need to choose the correct statements. The correct answer is option B2 only. Now look at the next question. The question is regarding the department of military affairs. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct statements. The first statement. It tells that the chief of the defense staff is the head of the department. Yes this statement is correct. A new department of military affairs has been created along with the post of the and the chief of defense staff will be the head of this department of military affairs which comes under the Ministry of Defense. Now look at the next statement. It tells that one of the mandates of the department of military affairs is to promote the use of indigenous equipment by the armed forces. Yes this statement is also correct. This department will focus on promoting the jointness and procurement training and staffing for the services through joint planning and integration of their requirements. Also this department will facilitate the restructuring of military commands for optimal utilization of resources by bringing about jointness and operations then also through the establishment of joint commands or theater commands. Along with this it will also promote the use of indigenous equipment by the armed forces. So the second statement is also correct. Now the correct answer to this question is option C both 1 and 2 since you need to choose the correct statements. Look at the next question. Two statements have been given and you need to choose the correct answer. Look at the first statement. It tells that the defense acquisition council is chaired by the national security advisor. See this defense acquisition council is chaired by the union minister for defense. This defense acquisition council is a comprehensive structure under the chair of the union minister for defense. This council is for the overall guidance of the defense procurement planning process. So the first statement goes wrong. Now look at the next statement. It tells that the defense planning committee is chaired by the national security advisor. Yes this statement is correct. The defense planning committee was constituted in the year 2018 as a permanent body. It has been set up under the chairmanship of national security advisor. See this department will facilitate comprehensive and integrated planning for defense matters wherein it analyzes and evaluates the inputs that are related to defense planning. And also if you see this defense planning committee will draw a roadmap for defense manufacturing ecosystem and it will also bring strategy to boost defense exports from India to other nations. Now you need to choose the correct answer for this question. The correct answer is option B 2 only since the second statement is correct and the first statement is incorrect. Now look at this question. The question is which of the following statements about the measles virus is not correct. Look at the first option. It tells that humans are the natural hosts of this virus. Yes this statement is correct. Humans are the natural hosts of measles virus. Now look at the second option. It tells that measles usually affects children but can affect adolescents and adults as well. Yes it is possible. Measles virus can affect the adolescents and adults in case if they are not vaccinated and in case if they are improperly vaccinated subjected to the health conditions of the individual. So option B is also correct. Now look at the third option which tells that sexual transmission of measles virus is not possible. See usually measles is transmitted by droplets from nose, mouth or throat. As of now there are no sources to prove that measles is being sexually transmitted. So this option is also correct. Now look at the next option. It tells that some of those infected with measles do not show the symptoms for many years. Here you need to know that measles is an acute and highly infectious disease. Here the term acute means a particular disease will come only for a short time. So even in case of measles if you see the symptoms remain only for a shorter period. So measles is an acute infection. So this statement goes wrong. So the correct answer to this question is option D. Some of those infected with measles do not show the symptoms for many years. Now look at the next question. Again it is a two statement question and you need to choose the correct answer. Now look at the first statement, the Constitution 103rd Amendment Act of 2019 as amended part 3 of Indian Constitution. Now what is this part 3? Part 3 discusses about the fundamental rights that I mentioned in the Indian Constitution. If you see this 103rd amendment made to Indian Constitution as amended articles 15 and 16 which is a part of this part 3 of Indian Constitution. So this statement is correct. Now look at the next statement. It tells that this amendment allows the state to make provisions for the reservation for persons belonging to the schedule tribes. Now this statement is wrong. See this amendment was made to the Constitution to provide reservation for those poor people who are economically backward. Which is nothing but the EWS category, economically weaker section category. So it includes all those persons who are not covered under the reservation policy for the schedule casts and the schedule tribes and the socially and educationally backward classes. In other words we can tell that this amendment aims to provide reservation for those economically backward people who come under the general category. So it is not regarding the reservation for persons belonging to the schedule tribes. So this statement goes wrong. The correct answer to this question is option A. One only since only the first statement is correct. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. If you like the video press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.