 Welcome to the Hindi News Analysis by Shankaray's Academy, displayed on the list of news articles taken for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the timestamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description and also in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. This notebook article talks about Libya, particularly during the last days of Mohmer Gaddafi's rule. The article is written by a reputed journalist and I urge all the aspirants to read this article. Now let us use this article as a means to learn about the geography, flora and fauna, people, culture and the history of modern Libya. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. First let us see about the geography of Libya. See it is the fourth largest country in the African continent. On its north, we can see Mediterranean Sea. Then to the west, we can see Tunisia and Algeria. Then to the south, we can see Niger and Chad. Then to the east, we can see Egypt, Sudan. And Libya is almost entirely covered by Libyan desert, which is a flat plateau that is part of the Sahara desert. Now the Sahara desert is the world's largest hot desert. Now because Libya is a desert, it is very dry and no permanent rivers flow through its boundaries. Water may flow beneath or below the ground and occasionally they seep above ground. Therefore, in order to access the water below the desert, Libya built a great man-made river. When we say man-made river, it is a network of underground pipelines that deliver fresh water. In this context, this great man-made river delivers fresh water to the cities of Libya. Now coming to the habitations in Libya, see most of Libya's population live in cities along the Mediterranean Sea. Now the reason is because the climate is milder in this area than the country's hot desert interior. That is why the capital Tripoli and Benghazi, which is the second largest city, these are located near the coast. Almost 25% of Libyans, they live just in these two cities. Now let's come to Libya's people and culture. See when it comes to Libya, the Berber and Arab ethnic groups, they make up about 97% of its population. The Berbers, they are considered as the earliest inhabitants of the country and are thought to have arrived in Libya very earlier at around 1200 BC. After a long period of time, Arabs, they began to settle in the country at around 700 AD and this happened after the rise in popularity of Islam. In addition, small populations of Greeks, Egyptians, Italians, they also live in this country and today most Libyans, they speak Arabic language and around 97% of the country, they follow Muslim or they are the followers of Islam. Small percentage of population are Roman Catholics or Orthodox Christians. See when it's come to the occupation of Libyan people, they're almost entirely dependent on oil and gas trade. In addition to that, a small population, they do farm near the desert Oasis when they can access water. There are also animal herders who follow the weather and who move with sheep, goats and camels and Libya is also known for its rich arts, particularly weaving, embroidery, metal engraving. These are popular arts in Libya. Now we can find other common activities which include horse racing, folk dancing and soccer. Soccer is the most popular sport in Libya. Now let's see about the flora and fauna of Libya. See as we have discussed, most of Libya is covered by desert and therefore its plants and wildlife, they reflect these arid conditions. We can find hyenas, fennec foxes, jackals, gazelles, these roam around the desert. We can also see snakes, particularly venomous adders and crates. These are found throughout the country. Some strips of land near the Libyan coast, they support native forests of pine, juniper and cypress. And this coastline is also home to several rare wildlife species. We can find loggerhead turtles, then egyptian tortoises as they nest on countries beaches. And they also share the water with many types of dolphins, particularly striped dolphin. Often, sacred falcons and marbled pole cats, they are also spotted close to the coast. And Libya has established several national parks, natural resource and protected areas. The country's largest national park is Elkoff National Park. This park is known for its sand dunes, wetlands and the hilly terrain. It is home to egyptian walls, golden eagles, red foxes, flamingos and other wildlife. Now let's come to the history of Libya. See, Libya was first settled by burburs during the late Bronze Age, that is around 1200 BC. They were followed by Phoenicians who are an ancient Mediterranean civilization. They established coastal trading posts in the 7th century BC. They are followed by Greeks who arrived in the eastern part of the country. And it is they who gave this region the name Libya. Then Romans conquered Libya and they ruled this territory. And at around 780, the Arabs took over and they introduced Islam. Then in 16th century, Ottoman Empire took over Libya and they ruled for several hundred years. See, Ottoman Empire, they ruled a large portion of Eastern Europe and the Middle East for over 600 years. Finally, the empire fell apart in 1923 and became the country of Turkey. The rule of Ottoman Empire, it lasted in Libya till Italy gained control in 1912. The Italian rule lasted just 31 years and it came to an end when French and British, they liberated Libya during World War II. And this happened in 1943. Then Libya officially gained its independence in the year 1951. From 1951 to 69, it was a constitutional monarchy under the rule of Idris I. When we say constitutional monarchy, see it is a system of government where the monarch or the king or the queen share power with the constitutionally organized government. But in the year 1969, rebels under Mohamed Gaddafi, they overthrew this king and turned this country into an authoritarian state. And Gaddafi became country's unofficial ruler or brother leader. Therefore, from 1969 to 2011, Libya was under the authoritarian regime of Mohamed Gaddafi. See, this authoritarianism, it is characterized by high concentration of power with the central government. And the government will also be centralized government that maintains political repression and also the exclusion of potential challenges or the opposition. There will be no opposition. They will take all steps to ensure that there is no opposition. They will be politically suppressed and repressed. And such an authoritarian government, it uses the political parties and mass organizations so as to mobilize people around the goals of the regime, that is around the goals of the authoritarian regime. And what happened in last 15 years, see in 2010, pro-democratic protests, they spread across many North African and Middle Eastern countries. This protest was later known as the Arab Spring. The name Arab Spring refers to series of pro-democracy uprisings that happened in several largely Muslim countries. We saw that in Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Bahrain. The protest events in these nations, they generally began in the spring of 2011. That is why it is called as Arab Spring. The political and social impact of these popular uprisings, they are very significant even today, though it is years now after many of them have ended in their regions. So to curtail Libyan Arab Spring protests, Gaddafi took strong steps to punish the protesters. The response from the government was brutal and it caused a civil war in Libya as a retaliation against authoritarianism. Finally, Gaddafi was killed in 2011 during the civil war and after his death, a transitional council was created so as to form a unified government in Libya. But till now, Libya is in turmoil and it is struggling to have a stable government. The country even today, it strives to rebuild its government even almost a decade after the death of Gaddafi. The civil war also caused great damage to the Libyan economy as it reduced the value of Libyan currency, which is dinar and economy struggles even today. So Libya needs a strong democratic government with proper economic vision so as to liberate itself from the present The news article talks about the intervention of the West, particularly U.S. and the NATO forces, so as to protect the people of Libya. And this became very furious, particularly after the killing of U.S. Ambassador and few other staff in Benghazi near 2012. The article concludes with the note that at present, the rebel groups that the U.S. troops used till the moment of killing Gaddafi, they are now being led by Islamic terrorists. Therefore, the article concludes by saying, when you use violence to remove your enemies, we must ensure that who follows next should not be worse than the removed enemies because the U.S. and NATO forces removed Gaddafi, but the present situation is even worse because of the influence of terrorism in Libya. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this article. In this article, we discussed about Libya in detail, its geography, its flora and fauna, people and culture, mainly its history and till the death of Gaddafi and also the present situation. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. Now this news article talks about inflation. It states that inflation based on WPI accelerated last month to record 7.4 percent. This is expected to escalate. The retail prices in the near term that is the inflation based on consumer price index. So today let us understand about WPI and CPI by knowing the differences between them. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highly needed for your reference. See WPI, it measures the average change in the prices of commodities for wholesale or for bulk sale at the level of early stage of transactions. This means it accounts for changes in price at an early distribution change, which is before the retail level sale. And WPI does not cover services. It is calculated using the base year 2011-12. Now coming to CPI or the consumer price index. See it is the measure of retail inflation rate. It means it is a measure of increase in the price experienced at retail shops. This gives the actual reflection of price rise in the country. So we can define CPI as a measure of change in retail prices of goods and services that are consumed by definite population group in a given area with reference to a base year which is 2012. And know that as a tool CPI is used to measure inflation in more than 150 countries. But here we should note one thing. See the choices of consumption and purchasing power are not the same for the entire Indian population. See therefore we do not have a single CPI that can encompass all the Indian consumers. So we have CPI for industrial workers, CPI for agricultural labour, CPI for rural labour. In case of CPI for industrial workers, it measures the extent of change in retail prices of goods and services that are consumed by industrial workers. Similarly for CPI for agricultural labour, it measures extent of change in the retail prices of goods and services which are consumed by agricultural labourers. Same goes for rural labourers with respect to CPI for rural labour. So these indices of CPI that is CPI, AL, IW, they represent only specific segments of the population and therefore they do not reflect the true picture of rice change in the country as a whole. Therefore the National Statistical Office of Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, it started releasing a new series of CPI with 2012 as the base year. We have CPI for the entire urban population called a CPI urban, then CPI for the entire rural population called a CPI rural and then we have CPI combined that is rural plus urban. And this CPI combined is being used by Rousseau Bank of India, the banking regulator, as the sole inflation measure for setting inflation target and to ensure price stability. Now let us see other differences between WPA and CPI. See coming to index basket, if you take WPA it covers commodities falling under three major groups, primary articles, fuel and power, manufactured products. For manufactured products, X factory prices are tracked for agricultural commodities, agri-market price or mandi prices tracked for minerals, X mines prices are considered. Of these three groups, the manufactured products have the highest weightage of 64.2%, primary articles have a weightage of 22.6%. If you take fuel and power it has a weightage of 13.2%. So these three categories of WPA, they cover prices of products or commodities from four sectors. These products are from four sectors which are agriculture, mining, manufacturing and electricity. And of these we can see that the services sector is not covered under WPA. Under electricity, the monthly average rate of sale of power of selected generating stations from central, state and private sectors are being used as relevant price of electricity. And know that the services sector is not covered under WPA. Now coming to CPI, it measures price changes by comparing the present cost of fixed basket of goods and services with reference to the base year. And these goods and services, they can be classified into six broad categories. And of these six categories, miscellaneous include health, education, transport, recreation. So we can see that services sector is also covered. And out of all these, food and beverage has the highest weightage. And we can see that food and beverages category is one category within CPI. But NSO has been releasing another index called as consumer food price index also. This index, it measures the change in retail price of only food products with reference to the base year. And you should note that this consumer food price index, it does not cover all the items that come under food and beverage category of CPI. And out of 12 subgroups in this food and beverages group, this CFPA or the consumer food price index, it is based on only 10 subgroups. Then which two subgroups does it exclude? See, it excludes non alcoholic beverages and prepared meals, snacks, sweets, etc. That category, it excludes these two subgroups. Now let us see another important difference. See, WPA is compiled and released on monthly basis by the Office of Economic Advisor, which comes under Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. But when we talk about CPI, you should note that CPI Industrial Workers, Agricultural Laborer, Rural Laborers, these are compiled and released by Labor Bureau and Ministry of Labor, Virus, CPI Urban, CPI Rural and CPI Combined. These are released by National Statistical Office of Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation. So, these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. In this analysis, we saw what is WPA, what is CPI, what are the major differences between both of them. Now let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article reports about an advice issued by French Embassy in Pakistan. It has asked French nationals and companies to temporarily leave Pakistan. Now this comes at the backdrop of anti-France violence that has erupted in Pakistan in connection with the arrest of radical leader Saad Rizvi. Rizvi was arrested for threatening the Pakistani government with mass protests if it did not expel the French envoy. He is demanding expulsion of French diplomat in connection with the depiction of Prophet Mohammed in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. In this context, let us have a brief understanding about the geography of France. See France as we know is situated in northwestern Europe. It lies near the western end of the Great Eurasian landmass. Its mainland or the continental territory is bordered on the northeast by Belgium and Luxembourg. On the east, we can see Germany, Switzerland, Italy. On the south, it is bounded by Mediterranean Sea, Spain and Andorra. On the west, we can see Bay of Biscay. On the northwest, there is English Channel. And to the north, it faces southeast and England. Across a narrow strait, which is called a strait of Dover. In the south coast, particularly in the southeast, we can find an independent territory there called as Monaco, which is a UN member nation. And there is an island called as Island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. It is treated as an integral part of France. See the landscape in France, it is mainly composed of relatively low-lying plains, plateaus and older mountain blocks and also massives or mountain ranges. Coming to the drainage system, the major rivers, we can see Rhine River, Rhône, Seine, Lawyer and Garonne. Coming to climate, it is divided into three major climatic zones, Oceanic, Continental and Mediterranean. There are some variations we could see in the mountains and in Accutaine basin. See the climate of France is generally favorable to cultivation. The French vineyards are very famous. Most of France lies in the southern part of temperate zone. See, though the subtropical zone encompasses the southern fringe of France, most of the France lies in the southern part of temperate zone. And all of France is considered to be under the effect of oceanic influences. In winter, eastern France comes under the influence of continental high pressure system. As a result, this brings extremely cold conditions and temperature inversions over the cities. A rainfall to the region is brought mainly by westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean. Now coming to economy, France is one of the major economic powers in the world. It is also Europe's most important agricultural producer and also one of the world's leading industrial powers. Coming to culture, see France is bounded by Atlantic Ocean and by the Mediterranean Sea, the Arps Mountains and the Pyrenee Mountain Range between France and Spain border. Because of this, it has provided a geographic bridge, economic bridge and also linguistic bridge joining northern and southern Europe. And also at the international level, France has given important democratic ideals as a result of enlightenment and French revolution. These ideals we refer to republicanism, then ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity. See, these aspects have inspired the growth of reformist revolutionary movements such as freedom struggles for generations. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to the next part of the discussion. This news article talks about an allegation that is made on election commission of India that it had not considered the pandemic while announcing the legislative assembly elections. It is alleged that not considering the pandemic as a factor has led to surge of corona cases in the state of Tamil Nadu and also in few other states, mainly because we did not see any proper individual distancing norms being adhered during campaigning and other related processes. So we will take a jump from here to see some facts related to election commission of India. See, part 15 of Indian constitution deals with elections. In article 324 of the constitution, it gives power to the election commission of India as it states that the superintendents, direction and control of entire process for the conduct of elections to parliament, legislature of every state and also to offices of president and vice president shall vest with election commission of India. See, it was established on 25th January 1950 in accordance with the constitution. It is a permanent constitutional body. Originally, it had only a chief election commissioner, but currently it consists of chief election commissioner and two election commissioners who are appointed by the president and we know that out of these three commissioners right now we have two and one position is right now vacant that is the election commissioner position is vacant which will be filled as soon as possible. Actually for the first time two additional commissioners were appointed in 1989 but at that time they had a very short tenure till 1st January 1990. In 1989 they were appointed in October then in the year 1993 again in October two additional election commissioners were appointed since then the concept of multi-member commission has been in operation and the decision making power is by majority vote. Now coming to the tenure, see they have tenure of six years or up to the age of 65 years whichever is earlier they enjoy the same status salary and perks as that of supreme court judges and each election commissioner has got an equal say when it comes to the decision making of the election commission. Now let's see about its budget and expenditure. See election commission has got a separate secretariat at New Delhi. It consists of around 300 officials in a hierarchical setup. The secretariat has an independent budget and this budget is finalized directly in consultation between the election commission and the finance ministry of the union government. The finance ministry generally accepts the budget recommendations of the commission and we should note that the major expenditure on the actual conduct of elections is reflected in the budgets of concerned constituent units of the union that is they are reflected in the budgets of states and union territories that is for parliamentary elections the expenditure is borne entirely by the union government and for the elections to the state legislature the expenditure is borne entirely by the concerned state and what happens in case of simultaneous elections to the parliament and state legislature in that case the expenditure will be shared equally between the union and the state governments. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this new article. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This article is with respect to an order that was issued by Karnataka High Court recently. The order of notice was issued to the state board for wildlife questioning the legality of nominations of nine of its members. In this context let us see about the state board for wildlife. See the state board is constituted under the wildlife protection act of 1972 therefore it is a statutory body. It is the state governments that are responsible for the creation of these boards. The chairperson of the board is chief minister of the state or in case of union territories chairperson will be the administrator. The vice chairperson is the minister in charge of forest and wildlife in the state. Now you can see other members of the board here which includes three members of state legislature then three persons to represent NGOs dealing with wildlife who are to be nominated by state government then 10 persons from eminent conservationists ecologists environmentalists including at least two representatives of the schedule tribes they will be nominated by the state government. Then you can find secretary to the state government and department of tribal welfare managing director of state tourism development corporation. They are also its members. One representative will be from the armed forces who will be nominated by the central government then we can find representatives from zoological survey of india and botanical survey of india. Now coming to the powers see the state wildlife board it has the primary task to manage the conservation and protection of wildlife at the state level. It has the power of reviewing all wildlife related matters and also has the power to approve projects inside core forest areas. It is after its approval the project will be submitted to the national board for wildlife and also to the union minister of environment and forests. Now some of the other functions of the board are listed here for your reference you can find that it shall advise in relation to measures required to be taken for harmonizing the needs for the tribes and other forest dwellers with the protection and conservation of wildlife. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article in this analysis we discussed about state board for wildlife its composition and its functions. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session see this question with reference to election commission of india three statements are given they're asking which of the above given statements are correct first statement it is a permanent constitutional body vested with the super indents direction and control over elections to the parliament state legislature and offices of the president and vice president of india this statement is correct so we can eliminate options c and d because they don't say first statement is correct now we have to find out whether the second statement is correct to arrive at the correct answer it states it is insulated from executive interference in the performance of its functions see this statement is correct therefore the correct answer for this question is option b 1 and 2 only how can we say this statement see there is no executive interference in the performance of the functions of election commission of india because it is the commission not the government that decides the elections schedule for the conduct of elections whether it can be general elections or by elections this is the case again it is the commission not the executive that decides on the location of polling stations assignment of voters to the polling stations location of counting centers etc so there is no executive interference in this process now come to the third statement the election results declared by the commission cannot be challenged in the high court and the supreme court of india see this statement is incorrect because they can be challenged in high court and supreme court by appropriate petitions see once the actual process of elections has started normally the judiciary does not intervene in the actual conduct of the polls but once the polls are completed and once results are declared the commission cannot review any result on its own this can only be reviewed through the process of election petition now this petition can be filed before high court in case of elections to parliament and state legislatures and in case of elections for the offices of the president and vice president such petitions can be filed only before the supreme court therefore this given third statement is incorrect so correct answer option be one and two only now see this question with reference to wpa and cpi two statements are given they're asking which of the most statements are correct manufactured products has the highest weightage in wholesale price index whereas fuel and light have the highest weightage in consumer price index see this statement is incorrect because while manufactured products has the highest weightage in wpa in cpi it is not fuel and light but foods and beverages have the highest weightage to the tune of around 45.86 percent in cpi combined so first statement becomes incorrect second statement service sector is included in wpa whereas it is not included in cpa see this statement should be other way around service sector is included in cpi whereas it is not included in wpa so here neither of the statements are correct so correct answer is option d neither one nor two this question is with reference to state board for wildlife two statements are given which of the most statements are correct the minister in charge of forest and wildlife in the state is the chairperson of the board this statement is incorrect because the chairperson of the board is the chief minister of the state and in case of union territories it is the administrator it is the vice chairperson who is the minister in charge of forests and wildlife in the state second statement the board shall advise in the formulation of policies for protection and conservation of wildlife and certain specified plants at the level of states this statement is correct therefore the correct answer is option b two only consider the following germany mediterranean c romania straight of dover english channel which of the above borders france see the correct answer is option c one two four and five only romania lies close to ukraine and it does not have border with france so the correct answer is option c see this mains question in gs paper one you can write the answer and post it in the comment section with this we come to the end of today's the hindu news analysis if you like the video click the like button comment share and subscribe to shankarae's academy youtube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation