 Good evening, as friends, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis session by Shankara Ace Academy for the date 30th of November 2021. These are the list of news articles we will be discussing today. So without wasting much time, let us start today's discussion. Today based on your suggestion, I will be covering one question from Static Part and one question from Current Affairs Part. This question is from 2020 GS Main's Paper 1. This question is from the Modern History Part. Let me read out the question first. Evaluate the policies of Lord Kersen and their long term implication on the national movement. The question has two parts. The first part is evaluate the policies of Lord Kersen. And the second part is long term impacts of Lord Kersen's policy on the national movement. Okay. Now let us start the answer discussion. First the introduction. In the introduction you can write facts about Lord Kersen and you can also write how his vice-royalty was a watershed moment in the Indian national struggle. We all know about the 1906 Kolkata session, right, which was presided over by Dada by Navroji. Okay. See in this session, the word Swaraj was first used and the goal of National Congress was termed as self-government. This session was a reaction to Lord Kersen's partition of Bengal and many reactionary policies. So this is why I said the vice-royalty of Lord Kersen was a watershed moment in India's struggle for independence. Now some facts about Lord Kersen. Lord Kersen succeeded Lord Elgin and served as India's vice-royalty between 1899 and 1905. He became the youngest vice-royalty of India at the young age of 39 and he was an imperialist and authoritarian by nature. Okay. To achieve his aims, at a very fast pace, he used ruthless tactics and finally during his time as vice-roy that is between 1899 to 1905 was the formative period of Indian national movement. Lord Kersen tried every method at his disposal to nip the national movement. You need not write everything in the introduction. Since this is a 10 more question, you must stick to the word limit of 150 words. So a two or three line introduction about Lord Kersen would be fine. Now moving on to the body of the answer. As I said, there are two parts to this question which we must address. The first part is evaluate the policies of Lord Kersen. Note the word evaluate here. Here evaluate is the keyword. So in the answer, you have to give your opinion and support your opinion with examples. See in this case, we all know that Kersen's policies were reactionary. So we have to mention some policies and state how the policies were reactionary. The most common mistake people do here is that instead of evaluating his policies, they will just list out his policies. Don't make that mistake. Okay. If you just list out his policies, you are not answering the question. Okay. Now let us evaluate his policies. See Kersen was convinced that western civilization was superior and the main role of British in India was to civilize Indians. He believed that Indians were inferior in character, honesty and their overall capacity. So when Kersen introduced the Kolkata Corporation Act of 1899, this act that is the Kolkata Corporation Act of 1899 reduced the number of elected officials and increased the number of nominated officials. This was done to deprive Indians of self-governance. This was his first reactionary policy. See to protest the act, 28 members from the corporation resigned. Next, the most famous and the biggest blender of Kersen was partition of Bengal. See Kersen knew Bengal was the now center of Indian nationalism. At that time, Bengal was the most prosperous and the populous state. The state had equal number of Hindus and Muslims. And the interesting thing about Bengal is that people there didn't identify themselves by their religion and there was a overall Bengali consciousness. So instead of identifying themselves as Hindus or Muslims, they claimed themselves as Bengalis. To break this, Kersen tried to create minority consciousness among Muslims and break the solidarity of Bengali society. And by this, he tried to stop the Indian nationalism which had Bengal as its base. This was the motive behind his partition. See this Bengal partition broke social solidarity and it resulted in the rise of Communalism. And Communalism resulted in creating socio-economic crisis in Bengal. All this happened according to Kersen's plans. The thing that came out as surprise was the rise of extremists in Congress and their new method of freedom struggle. So in a long term, Kersen's reactionary policy did not serve its purpose and indeed it did the opposite. So these are the reactionary policies of Kersen. So first we discussed about Kolkata Corporation Act and second we discussed about partition of Bengal. These two are the reactionary policies of Kersen. But according to me, Kersen should not be judged just by his reactionary policies. So to make the evaluation process fair, let us evaluate his other policies also. See Kersen was a pragmatist. Pragmatist meaning Kersen was very practical in his approach. His pragmatism can be seen in his foreign policy. See in case of Northwest Frontier area, he followed the policy of consolidation. He withdrew the British troops from Khyber Pass and Vazharistan. This move of his came as a relief to the tribals in that area. Actually this move of Kersen that is pulling out British troops from Khyber Pass also saved a lot of money for British government. While removing the troops from the Northwest Frontier region to ensure everlasting peace in this region, Kersen signed an agreement with the Amir of Afghanistan. Through this agreement, the British government agreed to render financial help to the Afghans. Though through this move, Kersen reduced the Afghan tension in the Northwest Frontier region and also prevented Russian expansion into Afghanistan. All the while saving money for the British government. So this shows Kersen's pragmatism as a diplomat and also to protect British interest in Persia in 1903. He personally visited the region. In 1903, the lands down declaration was signed. The declaration stated that the British would counter any other European powers attempt to establish a military presence in the Persian Gulf. Through this move, he stopped the advancement of Russia, France and Turkey in the Persian Gulf region. Kersen also made many economically sound policies. See, before Kersen, there was a practice of the central government taking over the entire savings made by the provincial governments. For example, in a financial year, if the provincial government of Medras saved 1 crore rupees, this 1 crore rupees will be taken over by the central government. So this disincentivized the provincial governments to save. So Kersen abolished this practice. He supported financial decentralization. This is one of the important economically sound decision made by Kersen. Next, in case of railways, he decided to improve the railway facilities in India and he also decided to make railways profitable. Kersen in 1901 appointed a railway commission under Mr. Robertson. The commission submitted its recommendation in two years and all its recommendation were accepted by Kersen regime. See, Kersen also reduced the salt tax and he also created the department of commerce and industries to look after the entire commercial interest of India. So these are some of the good economical policies made by Kersen. See, Kersen also took various measures to improve the lives of people. When Kersen arrived in India, India was in the grip of terrible famine. Kersen provided all possible relief to the affected people. People were provided work for payment basis and the cultivators were exempted from the payment of revenue itself. Finally, by 1900, when the famine was over, Kersen appointed a commission to probe into the causes of the famine and suggest preventive measures so that future famines can be prevented. Also in 1900, Kersen passed the Punjab Land Alienation Act. See, this act restricted the transfer of lands of the peasants to the moneylenders in case of failure of payment of their debts. And in 1904, the Cooperative Credit Society Act was passed. This act tried to prevent the peasants from falling into the hands of the moneylenders. So these policies of Kersen improved the lives of the people. So this is how you have to evaluate the policies. Here, we have evaluated the policies under various subheadings like reactionary policies, pragmatic policies, economically sound policies and finally policies aimed at improving the lives of peasants. There is a slight difference between just listing out the policies and evaluating the policies. I hope through this discussion, you can understand this small difference. So we have covered the first part of the question. Before going into the second part, let me add some additional information about Kersen and his policies. Just make note of it. So he reduced the salt tax that I already mentioned. Next is that during his period, Indian University Act of 1904 was passed. And this act was aimed at bringing universities under government supervision. The third thing is, Police Commission under Andrew Fraser was commenced in 1902. And many recommendations of the Andrew Fraser Commission was implemented by Kersen administration. And the fourth thing is, Imperial Cadet Corps were set up during his regime. This move led to the indianization of the British India Army. Finally, the Ancient Monuments Act of 1904 was also passed during Kersen's vice-royalty. See, this act created the archaeology department. And this archaeology department was made responsible for repair, restoration and protection of historical monuments. So we have evaluated most of Kersen's policies and I have given additional points about policies passed during Kersen's regime. Now, moving on to the second part. In the second part of the question, we have to list the long-term implications of Kersen's policies on Indian National Movement. Here you can write about the race of nationalism. See, the Swadeshi movement in itself is a reaction to Kersen's policies. Okay, you can write about the race of extremists in the Indian National Congress. And you can write about the Surat split also. You can write about how Indian national leaders lost their trust in British government. See, once the Indian national leaders lost their trust in British government, they started asking for self-government. So this is a major shift that was brought because of Kersen's reactionary policies. And the divide and rule policy started by Kersen led to the race of communism in India. See, the formation of Muslim League in 1906 is also related to the reactionary policy of Kersen. And starting from the partition of Bengal and finally culminating in the partition of India, the seeds of communism was planted by Kersen. The elitist and racist nature of the colonial government was exposed during Kersen's regime. See, Indian freedom fighters, after this realization, started the process of Indianization. Inspired by Rabindranath Thakur's Shanti Niketan, the Bengal National College was established. Also, a number of national schools and colleges in various parts of the country were set up. See, in 1906, August, the National Council of Education was set up to organize national educational institutions. Even for technical education, the Bengal Institute of Technology was set up. The Swadeshi Movement, which was a direct result of Kersen's reactionary policy, helped in the growth of Indian industries. The Indian cottage industry was revived. And various Swadeshi industries like textiles, banks, matches and tanneries were established. All because of the elitist and racist nature of the Kersen regime. Okay, you can write all these points in the second part of the answer. That is, impacts of Kersen's policy on Indian national movement. Now, coming to the conclusion part. Here, you can write, although his policies helped the national movement to mature, the development rule policy resulted in the growing mistrust between Muslims and Hindus. Now, we have addressed the question holistically. Remember, this is a 10 marker. You need not mention all the points that I discussed here. Three are four points for the first part of the question. And three are four points in the second part of the question would suffice. Now, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next question. This question is also from the same 2020 GS Paper 1. Let me read out the question first. Is diversity and pluralism in India under threat due to globalization? Justify your answer. Here, the key word is justify your answer. You can either take the position, yes, diversity and pluralism are under threat. Or no, diversity and pluralism are not under threat. The main thing you have to do is you have to justify your answer, meaning you have to support your answer using logic and examples. Here, you can use the 75% 25% approach that I mentioned in the 20th November discussion. For example, if you are more confident that yes, diversity and pluralism are under threat and you are also confident that you can support this with necessary examples, then in the body of the answer, provide 75% weightage to this and give 25% weightage to the other position just to even out your answer. This is a 15 marker, so it is advisable to address both the views. So I think I have made myself clear here. Now moving on to the introduction part. See here, in the introduction, you can write about the beauty of Indian diversity. You can write about linguistic diversity. You can write about religious diversity. You can write about racial diversity and you can even write about geographical diversity. Literally, anything about diversity in the introduction would be good. Since this is a general question, there is no restriction in the introduction. As long as your introduction is attractive and relevant to the question, it will be a very fine introduction. Now moving on to the body of the answer. See first, let us discuss some points from the perspective of yes, globalization has impacted the pluralism and diversity of India. There is no fancy words like critically analyzed or critically examined here. So you need not write whether globalization is good or bad and you need not arrive at a judgment even. You just have to write your perspective and support it with logic and examples. This is what justify your answer means. You can take examples from your daily life. You don't have to do a complicated analysis here. Just some ordinary real life examples that you have noticed will do fine. So first, let us start with the impact of globalization on linguistic diversity. See, English has become a linked language among Indians and it helps Indians communicate with the world. The penetration of internet has helped English get further inroads into India. See, according to Basha Research and Publication Center and Adivasi Academy of India, more than 220 languages in India are lost since 1961. Another 120 languages could vanish in the next 50 years. See, this is an alarming fear. Globalization, so indeed, has accelerated the rate at which languages are disappearing. So it has affected India's plurality and diversity. Now, next thing we can easily notice is the dressing pattern. We all know India is a geographically diverse country. People wear dresses that are suitable for their geographic region. But due to globalization, this is changing. We are just mimicking the West in our dressing sense. Almost everyone is wearing the uniform pattern of dressing affecting our diversity and pluralism. Next, we can note our food habits. See, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, the consumption of high-calorie nutrition-poor foods, high-in fats and sweeteners is increasing throughout the developing world. This nutrition transition that is resulting in consumption of high-calorie nutrition-poor food is resulting in obesity and diet-related chronic disease worldwide. International Food Policy Research Institute states that this nutrition transition is due to globalization in general and global food advertising and promotion in particular. See, globalization has impacted the diversity in our food and even our cropping pattern also. Various regional foods are losing the race to exotic foods due to targeted advertisements and promotion. Hence, we can safely say that globalization has indeed impacted pluralism in India. Next thing we can easily notice is the media, mainly movies and music. See, globalization and mainly OTT platform has impacted the diversity in our movies and music. Many big-budget Indian movies are just trying to mimic Hollywood, OK? Indian movies are slowly losing its deep-rooted Indian connection. Similarly, in music, due to promotion and advertisement, we are made to like Western music. This is coupled with our blatant obsession with anything foreign. Our regional and traditional music is disappearing and it is replaced by a homogenized Western music. Everything that we hear today sounds similar. There is no diversity in it. This is leading to reduction in Indian diversity and pluralism. Here you can also add various art forms of Indian culture that are slowly disappearing. You can talk about various puppetry like Kathuputli from Rajasthan, Kundai from Orissa. You can talk about Todai embroidery and other art forms that are losing to the globalization, OK? Finally, one of the most important results of globalization is urbanization. Here you can talk about various aspects like caste losing its significance, increasing secularization, increasing importance given to material wealth, and people gaining more scientific temper and becoming more rational in their approach, OK? See, all these aspects have resulted in reducing the diversity and pluralism in India. The thing is, you have to just give examples for this and stop with that. There is no need for you to say whether these changes brought by globalization is good or bad in your answers. Now, moving on to the other perspective. That is, no, globalization has not affected the pluralism and diversity in India. See, here you can use the same subheadings. Instead of giving evidence about globalization reducing pluralism, give examples about globalization aiding in conserving Indian diversity. For example, in case of linguistic diversity, you can mention the OTT platforms that provide subtitles and dubbing for various languages. You can mention about the recent success of movies like Lion King and Avengers, which promoted their dubbed version in India, which aided their success. You can say that in India, instead of globalization, what is happening is globalization coupled with localization. In case of dressing habits, our traditional attire is not used daily, but they have become a premium and special occasion attires. The value of these dresses have indeed appreciated due to globalization. And in case of food habits, you can mention about McDonald's replacing their beef Big Mac with Chicken Maharaja Mac in India. You can mention Indian spices being added to Italian and Chinese foods to make them more palatable to Indians. This is also an example of globalization with localization, thus ensuring diversity and pluralism in India. In case of art, you can talk about various film festivals that promote diversity in films. Here, you can cite the Kerala government's OTT platform to promote regional contents. See, OTT platform actually gave more visibility to regional content by adding subtitles. You can also mention that. You can also mention about the tribal and other handicrafts gaining more traction due to globalization. You can mention about the Vandan Yojana of Trifed, which provides value addition and marketing services to tribal products. You can also mention about Trifed adding tribals to sell their products online through government e-market place. You can also mention about Amazon's Karigarh Mela. In music, you can mention about Spotify's recent advertisement campaign where they displayed music director Ilyai Rajasar's picture with a tagline, Raja Rules in the Jumbotron Times Square, New York. You can take examples from everywhere and anywhere to support your argument. See, while urbanization has homogenized to some extent, people still are most religious in India. More people are celebrating festivals like Diwali, Eid, Christmas Pongal, et cetera. See, events like Kumbh Mela are seeing increasing crowds with each passing year. People are still following religious rituals. Like we discussed on our 20th November discussion, caste and religion, though losing their significance in a social setting in urban sphere, still deeply influence people's personal life. You can mention the same example that we discussed on the 20th November discussion here also. See, this is a society question. Since this is being a general studies paper, you can cite examples from your daily life. That is more than sufficient. So from here on, be a keen observer of your surroundings. You can mention the things you have observed from your surroundings in your main answer depending upon the question. If you have other examples, you can add and mention them in the comment section. Now coming to the conclusion part. Here you can write while globalization is happening, the process of localization is also happening in tandem. You can take a middle part in your conclusion. So I think I have covered these two questions that we discussed to today holistically. You can also write your version of the answer and post them in the comment section. Now let us conclude this discussion and take up the first article for our discussion today. Look at this article. This article is about green hydrogen and the ways in which India can integrate green hydrogen in its energy mix. If you remember, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently stated that the country's goal is to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2020 in the recently held COP26 Glasgow. See the author of this article considers that India is the only major economy on track to keep world average temperature raise below two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels as specified in the Paris Agreement. Remember in the past 10 years, India's solar capacity increased by nearly 3,000 times. This is not a small achievement. It also shows that India is on the right track. And in that line, the author of this open article has suggested the use of green hydrogen as a substitute for fossil fuels. So in this context, in this discussion, let us understand what is green, blue and gray hydrogen, how they are produced and some of the important points mentioned in the article. The syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here for your reference. As you know, hydrogen is the first element in the periodic table. It is the simplest possible atom composed of only one proton in the nucleus, which is orbited by a single electron. See, the hydrogen atom does not have a neutron in it, okay? Hydrogen is the lightest of the elements and it is the most abundant element in the universe. At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a colorless, orderless and tasteless gas. Hydrogen is very flammable and it burns with the invisible flame. It burns when it comes into contact with oxygen. See, the byproduct of this reaction between hydrogen and oxygen is water, that is H2O. So when hydrogen is used to replace fossil fuels, the byproduct is water and this byproduct, that is water, has little or no impact on the climate. So this is why the author is promoting hydrogen to replace fossil fuels, okay? Now let us see what are all the places where hydrogen is used, okay? It is used in making ammonia for fertilizers and it is also used in refining metals. Hydrogen is also used as a rocket fuel as liquid hydrogen. We know about the indigenous cryogenic engine in ISRO's launch vehicle GSLV Mark III, right? The fuel that is used in this engine is liquid hydrogen and the oxidizer used is liquid oxygen. I already said hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. So now in earth, what are all the places where we can find hydrogen? See the most common place to find hydrogen on earth is in water. Each water molecule contains two hydrogen atom. Hydrogen is also found in a wide range of compounds throughout the earth including hydrocarbons, acids and hydroxides. There is very little free hydrogen in earth's atmosphere because as I said, hydrogen is the lightest element. So if it occurs in its elemental form, it eventually escapes into space. The only free hydrogen on earth is found in deep underground mines. The naturally occurring versions of hydrogen that occasionally occurs underground is known as white hydrogen. Unfortunately, there are just a few effective methods for obtaining free hydrogen that is white hydrogen from underground. As a result, experts are now attempting to create it artificially. See, hydrogen can be made from a variety of sources including fossil fuels, nuclear power, biomass and renewable energy. This can be accomplished through a variety of methods. See, artificially hydrogen is produced using electrolysis. In this process, electric current is passed through water. Due to electrolysis, water molecules split into oxygen and positively charged hydrogen ion. This hydrogen ion moves towards the cathode which is negatively charged. And while reaching the cathode, the positively charged hydrogen ion receives electron from the cathode and gets converted into hydrogen molecule. Almost all artificially produced hydrogen uses this method. The only difference here is the power source used for the electrolysis process. See, based on the way hydrogen is produced, it can be divided into four types. As I already said, white hydrogen is naturally occurring version of hydrogen that can be occasionally found underground. The next is black hydrogen. See, this black hydrogen is produced from coal. Here, the gasification of coal is the method used to produce hydrogen. In simple words, in coal gasification, coal is converted into gas by adding steam, that is water and oxygen under very high pressure. The product of coal gasification is hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. See, this mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide is called syngas, okay? See, this type of hydrogen that is produced using coal gasification is the most environmentally damaging because both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide generated during this process are not recaptured and they are very polluting. The next is the gray hydrogen. See, presently gray hydrogen is the most common form of hydrogen produced artificially. This gray hydrogen is generated using natural gas. We already saw black hydrogen is produced using coal and here gray hydrogen is produced using natural gas. So, note the difference here. See, the process used here is steam reforming. In this process, methane and steam, that is water, is reacted to heat to produce carbon dioxide and hydrogen. This here is a endothermic process, meaning this chemical reaction takes place with the supply of lot of heat, okay? Also, in this process, that is the steam reforming process to produce one ton of hydrogen, six tons of carbon dioxide is released. Although, when compared to black hydrogen, this gray hydrogen is less polluting, okay? Now, moving on to the next type, that is blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen is also produced by the steam reforming process that we discussed now. The difference here is that the CO2 released during the production of gray hydrogen if captured using various carbon capture technologies and stored and not released into the atmosphere, then this method is termed as blue hydrogen. So, blue hydrogen is nothing but green hydrogen with the carbon capture process added to it. Now, we have discussed actually four types. They are white hydrogen, black hydrogen, gray hydrogen and blue hydrogen. Now, moving on to the final type, that is the green hydrogen. See, green hydrogen is also referred to as clean hydrogen. See, initially, I said hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis, right? The electricity used for electrolysis process, if provided by renewable energy, the hydrogen produced by this process is called green hydrogen. We all know renewable energy like solar cannot always generate electricity. So, the excess electricity produced by solar cannot be stored also. So, what we can do is, when there is excess production from renewable resources, it can be used for the production of green hydrogen, okay? See, currently, green hydrogen makes up only 0.1% of the total hydrogen production in the world. But this is expected to raise because the cost of production of renewable energy is reducing rapidly. Also, many experts are of the view that the production of green hydrogen is a solution for solving the storage issue that is associated with renewable sector. See, when excess renewable energy is used to produce green hydrogen, and if the produced green hydrogen is stored, this green hydrogen can be used to produce electricity using fuel cells, and this produced electricity can be used to address peak demand. And it will also solve the storage crisis associated with renewable sector. Now, we have seen the different color coding of hydrogen based on its production process. Now, coming back to the article. See, coal and oil, including imports, currently meet 75% of India's energy demand. This is expected to increase, which is not a sustainable thing. As a result, the combination between renewable energy and green energy must be harnessed to produce the reliance on fossil fuels. As per the author, green hydrogen in particular is a critical weapon in India's inventory in the fight against climate change. Since it boosts renewable energies, long-term energy storage capacities. See, this green hydrogen can be used for decarbonizing various industries like cement, steel, and refineries. This is true according to Hydrogen Council. Let me read the exact words of the Hydrogen Council here. It says, hydrogen can provide the most cost-effective decarbonization solution for nearly fifth of the final energy demand by mid-century, resulting in cumulative reduction of 80 gigatons of carbon dioxide, and is thus a crucial solution to meet 1.5-degree climate scenario. This is what the Hydrogen Council said about the role of green hydrogen in decarbonizing the economy. See, this is evident because many countries have started making regulations for effective production and use of green hydrogen. So, in that way, green hydrogen can be used as a cost-effective decarbonization solution and an alternative for fossil fuels. In case of production of green hydrogen, 70% of the cost is incurred on renewable energy generation alone. So, renewable energy plays a crucial part in the production of green hydrogen. In case of India, as I already said, in the past decade alone, solar energy production has increased 3,000 times, and the cost of solar energy has reached a low of 2 rupees per kilowatt hour. So, this gives India a unique head start in scaling up the production of green hydrogen. The author in this article also provides some suggestions for increasing the production of green hydrogen. Let us discuss some of these suggestions. See, to boost green hydrogen, government funding and long-term policies that encourage private sector investment are required. Secondly, hydrogen's cross-sectoral capabilities should be exploited according to each other's cost and ease of adoption. In the short term, there are a few sectors like refineries, fertilizers, and natural gas where green hydrogen can be easily integrated, should be mandated to use hydrogen to save costs. In the medium term, new steel and cement plants and transportation sector can be nudged towards the adoption of green hydrogen. For this, central and state government can provide incentives also. And finally, in the long term, green hydrogens should be mandated for shipping, aircraft, and energy storage industries also. If this three-step procedure is implemented, then India can become carbon neutral by 2017 by leveraging this green hydrogen technology. And also note here that mandating alone is not enough. Enforcing time-bound, mid, and long-term regulation would encourage the private sector to invest more in green hydrogen. So, these are some of the suggestions for adopting and integrating green hydrogen in our economy. Now, let us see where India stands in terms of hydrogen production. See, India currently produces 6 million tons of gray hydrogen per year, accounting for about 8.5 percentage of global production. India should replace this with green hydrogen. It should aim to produce 4 to 6 million tons of green hydrogen per annum by the end of the decade and export at least 2 million tons per annum. See, currently more than 30 nations have hydrogen road maps in place. And according to Hydrogen Council, governments throughout the world have pledged more than 70 billion dollars in public financing for establishing a hydrogen economy. With its abundant and cheap solar energy, India has a upper hand to tap into these investments and lead global efforts in transitioning to a green hydrogen economy. So, now to recap, in this segment, we discussed about hydrogen, various types of production of hydrogen and their associated color codes. India's position in terms of hydrogen technology, suggestions mentioned by the author to integrate green hydrogen in our economy and the steps that governments should take to aid this transition. So, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next article. Look at this article. This article is about space sector. So, in this discussion, let us see the space sector of India as a whole, its emergence and its evolution. The syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here for your reference. The space research activities were initiated in our country during the early 1960s when applications using satellites were in an experimental stage even in the United States. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of Indian space program, recognized the benefits of space technologies for India. To spearhead the space research activities, Indian National Committee for Space Research, that is INCOSPR, was set up in 1962 under the Department of Atomic Energy. Subsequently, Indian space research organization was established in August 1969 in place of INCOSPR. The government of India constituted the Space Commission and established Department of Space in June 1972 for people who are interested to know more about the evolution of ISRO. There is an interesting podcast called Mission ISRO with Harsha Bogle in Spotify. If you have free time, just listen to that podcast. I found it very interesting. Okay, now coming back. See, Indian space program has three distinct elements, such as satellites for communication and remote sensing, the space transportation system that includes launch vehicles and various application programs. Many experiments and developments had been carried out since the genesis of this organization. But the major space infrastructure were created under two broad classes during the 1990s. One for the communication, broadcasting and meteorology through a multi-purpose Indian national satellite system and the other for Indian remote sensing satellite system. See, the development and operationalization of polar satellite launch vehicle and development of geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle were significant achievements during this phase. That is the 1990s. Note that India's space program stands out as one of the most cost-effective in the world. India has earned the worldwide recognition for launching lunar probes, building satellites, ferrying foreign satellites up and even succeeded in reaching Mars. Till December 2019, a total of 319 foreign satellites from 33 countries have been successfully launched by ISRO. See, these are some important facts about ISRO. Now coming back to the Arctic. According to the author, the space economy is a $440 billion global sector with India having less than 2% share of this sector. This is despite the fact that India is a leading space-faring country with end-to-end capabilities to make satellites, develop augmented launch vehicles and deploy interplanetary missions. So in order to enhance the diffusion of space technology and boost space economy within the country, Department of Space decides to encourage the participation of private companies in space activities. In India, many non-government private entities have started engaging in space activities for commercial gains. Many startups and industries have started making launch vehicles and satellites and are eager to provide space-based services. Participation of non-governmental private entities, including academic institutions, startups and industries, in end-to-end space activities is expected to expand the space economy of India. So in this regard, the following reforms are proposed to encourage space activities in the country. The main thing you have to note here is the change in approach from supply-based model to demand-based model. Another important thing to note here is the new space India limited. See, this new space India limited will act as an aggregator and act as a link between ISRO and the private sector. Also, steps are being taken to permit non-governmental private entities to carry out space activities. This is done through the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center, that is in space. See, in order to encourage participation of non-governmental private entities, a suitable mechanism will be worked out for promotion, hand-holding and sharing of technology and expertise. See, space activities require extensive infrastructure and facilities for carrying out research and development, integration and testing, space launch, satellite operation and control, as well as rolling out of space-based services. These are capital intensive and takes time to establish. But the fact is that these facilities are already established and are functional under ISRO. So a mechanism is to be established for sharing of capital intensive department of space-owned technologies and facilities to the non-governmental private entities. Also, a national-level space agency is necessary to promote hand-hold, permit and monitor the non-governmental private entities, okay? Towards this, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center is being established as an independent nodal agency under Department of Space for allowing space activities and usage of Department of Space-owned facilities by non-governmental private entities. So far, we have discussed about the means to improve space economy and the reforms proposed in that regard. Now, let us see the bottlenecks prevailing in the implementation of these reforms. See, it is mentioned in the article that according to a report from a news portal, the main hindrance is absence of a framework to provide transparency and clarity in laws regarding space. To address this, the laws need to be broken down into multiple sections. These multiple sections should address a specific part of the value chain. And most importantly, it should be in accordance with Outer Space Treaty 1967. See, the Outer Space Treaty 1967 is nothing but an UN resolution. This treaty provides the basic framework on International Space Law. This treaty bans the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in outer space. It prohibits military activities on celestial bodies and it details the legally binding rules governing the peaceful exploration and use of space. Okay, this is some points relating to the Outer Space Treaty 1967. Another crucial aspect of the space law is insurance and compensation for harm and loss. There need to be a clarity regarding this, particularly about who and which entity undertakes the liability in case of an unlikely accident. See, in several western countries with an evolved private space industry, there is a cap on liability and the financial damages that needs to be paid. We can note that mature space agencies such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration, that is NASA of the United States, China's China National Space Administration, that is CNSA and the Russia's Roscosmos, seek support from private players such as Boeing, SpaceX and Blue Origin. They seek support for complex operation beyond manufacturing support alone, such as sending crews and supplies to the International Space Station. See, these companies have revolutionized the space sector by reducing cost and the turnaround time with innovation and advanced technologies. For such purposes, NASA and the Chinese Space Authority award part of their annual budget to private players. So India can also allot a percentage of its annual budget to incentivize private players. Okay, we can learn from them. Next is to create value, Indian space private companies needs to generate their intellectual property for an independent product. For this to materialize, ISRO should not be their sole customer. For this, we have to open our gates to the global market. See, with India taking steps to build a space ecosystem, it can also become a space startup hub for the world, with ISRO being a guiding body, okay? Already startups such as Agnicole Cosmos, Skyroot Technology, Drew of Space and Pixel have established firm grounds for homegrown technology. So to further spur growth of the non-governmental private entities in the space sector, ISRO needs to turn into an enabler from being a supporter. To increase India's share from 2% in the global space economy, India must follow the given steps. The first is India has to encourage the participation of private sector. The next is ISRO should shift from supply-based to demand-based model. The next thing is new space India limited should act as a link between ISRO and the private sector. The next is ISRO in space, that is Indian Space Promotion and Authorization Center should provide hand-holding services to private sector and help them in the effective utilization of the Department of Space Properties by private sector. Then in the legal sphere, huge legislation can be compartmentalized to address the specificity of the space sector. Then in terms of insurance, a cap must be placed on the liability. India, while allocating funds for ISRO in the budget, India should also allocate certain amount of funds for the private sector in the budget process itself. And India should open its market to the global space sector. And finally, ISRO must evolve itself from being a supporter to become a enabler. So this is the crux of the article that we discussed today. Now let us conclude this discussion and take up the next article. Look at this article. This particular news article is about an initiative by a group of people in Kerala. The novel initiative is the brainchild of Sunrise, a group of morning walkers. The menace posed by the African snail, which is an invasive species, came to their notice. Ever since they have been trying to get rid of them with saline solutions and sanitizers. The invasive African snails are crop-pest and they also pose health hazard. In order to get rid of these snails, which inhibit the private property, the group started this initiative of buying a snail for rupees one. With this initiative in the article as a background, let us understand invasive species. See, invasive species or alien species is a species introduced outside its natural distribution. If this species become problematic, it is termed as invasive alien species. Now we will see what makes it an invasive species. An invasive species can be any kind of living organism, an amphibian, a plant, insect, fish, fungus, bacteria or even an organism's egg or seed can be an invasive and it can even cause harm. They can harm the environment, the economy or even human health. Species that grow and reproduce quickly and spread aggressively with potential to cause harm are labeled as invasive. See, the invasive species are primarily spread by human activities often unintentionally. People and the goods we use travel around the world very quickly and they often carry uninvited species with them. They can carry aquatic organism in their ballast water while smaller boats can carry them on their propellers. Insects can get into wood, shipping pellets and crates that are shipped around the world. Some ornamental plants can escape into the wild and become invasive. The invasive species are a problem because of the impacts they create on the ecosystem, biodiversity, human health and in some cases, economy also. Invasive species causes harm to wildlife in many ways. When a new and aggressive species is introduced in an ecosystem, it cannot have or it may not have any natural predators to control them. It can breed and spread quickly taking over an area. Native wildlife may not have evolved differences against that invader or they may not be able to compete with the species that has no predators. The direct threats of invasive species include preying on native species, outcompeting native species for food or other resources causing or carrying diseases and preventing native species from reproducing or killing a native species, young ones. There are indirect threats to invasive species as well. Invasive species can change the food web in an ecosystem by destroying or replacing native food sources. The invasive species may provide little to no food value for the wildlife. Invasive species can also alter the abundance or diversity of species that are important habitat for native wildlife. Aggressive plant species can quickly replace a diverse ecosystem with the monoculture. Additionally, some invasive species are capable of changing the conditions in an ecosystem such as changing soil chemistry or the intensity of wildfires also. The economic and social impacts of invasive species include both direct effects of a species on property value, agricultural productivity, public utility operation, native fisheries, tourism and outdoor recreation also. Invasive species can negatively impact human health by infecting humans with new diseases serving as vectors for existing diseases or causing wounds through bite stings, allergens or other toxins also. Some commonly found invasive species are given in this image. Just go through it. They can ask this in a film's exam, okay? So just give a read about all the invasive species mentioned here. See the Zoological Survey of India has constituted a separate cell for comprehensive study of the impact of the invasion of alien invasive species on the fauna and accordingly suggest remedial measures. The measure is very crucial because India is one of the mega diverse countries in the world representing four of the global biodiversity hotspots. So it is important to safeguard the diversity of Indian ecosystem. So in this discussion, we discussed about invasive species. What are the problems caused by invasive species? And we also saw some invasive species that might appear in the film's questions. Okay, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the last article for today's discussion. Look at this article. This article talks about a data from National Family Health Survey 5. Specifically, it talks about contraception. See, contraception is birth control. The interesting finding highlighted by this article is that only 10% of Indian men use condoms, okay? Also, the use of female sterilization has increased from National Family Health Survey 4 to National Family Health Survey 5. Currently, 37.9% of Indian women undergo female sterilization. See, this article discusses some points about why the use of condoms is low among Indian men. The interesting thing is that the use of condoms is low, not because of awareness. Actually, according to a survey, 82% of men are aware of the advantages of use of condoms. They are aware that the use of condoms reduces the risk of sexually transmitted disease. But the problem is that they believe condoms should be used only for reducing the risk of sexually transmitted disease and not among married couples. The next reason for low use of condoms among Indian men is that Indian society has a patriarchal mindset. See, men believe that family planning is a responsibility of women. So, they don't use condoms, but instantly they force their wife to undergo female sterilization. The third point is that there is a misconception that use of condoms reduces pleasure during sex. So, these are the three main reasons cited in this article for the low use of condoms among Indian men. Also, we can see about male sterilization process. See, use of male sterilization process in India is only 0.3%. This is very low because compared to female sterilization process, male sterilization process is very simple and easy to use. The use of male sterilization process is very low because men consider that this process reduces their virility. These are some important data from this article. See, the reason I discussed this article is that you can use the data mentioned in this article in your main censor. Mainly, you can use these data in main censors relating to patriarchy, women empowerment, Indian society, and various other questions. So, just go through this article again in your free time and note down the important data and try to use these data in your main censor. Okay? Now, let us conclude this discussion. Now, we have come to the end of the newspaper analysis session. Now, let us take up the practice problems questions. Okay? We have only one question today. It is regarding invasive species. Let me read out the question. Which of the following are invasive species in India? There are four species given. We must find which of the following are invasive species. The species are longhorn, crazy ants, common water hyacinth, prosopis, julephlora, lantana, camera. Actually, in that, the first species, that is longhorn, crazy ants is not an invasive species. Actually, in India, the invasive species is yellow crazy ants. So, except the first one, the rest of the things, that is common water hyacinth, prosopis, julephlora, and lantana, camera are invasive species in India. So, the correct answer is option B, 2, 3, and 4. The main questions based on today's discussion is here. Write the answers and post it in the comment section. So, if you like today's discussion, like, comment, and share it with your friends. And if you like this initiative, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.