 Good evening viewers. Clearing preliminary examination is a mammoth task for many. But why do you worry when you have Shankar IAS Academy with you? See, our pre-storming program is aimed to facilitate this process. Yes, pre-storming is the most reliable prelims test series offered by Shankar IAS Academy. Already two batches are going on successfully. Now, for those who have missed to enroll in these batches, a third chance is awaiting. Yes, pre-storming batch is starting on 9th of November. The first test in this batch will commence on 20th November. Like the other batches, it will also have 66 tests. So, go and register to enhance your prelims code with this happy note. Now, let us get into today's news article discussion for the date 2nd of November. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we have chosen for today's discussion. See, from yesterday, we had started discussing the previous year questions. Yes, daily, we will be discussing three preliminary questions to boost your preliminary preparation. So, now let us start with previous year preliminary question discussion. Now, have a look at this question. See, this question asks, what is the term intended nationally determined contribution is meaning? Here, four options are given. But if you want to know what is it, you must at least know about the Paris Agreement. Only then, you can understand about this intended nationally determined contribution which was made in the Paris Agreement. Okay, now let us see about this intended nationally determined contributions and then we will see how you can address this question. See, this intended nationally determined contribution is at the heart of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of its long-term goals. Now, what is this Paris Agreement all about? It is a multilateral agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and it was signed to reduce and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Okay, and what is the goal of this Paris Agreement? First one is to curtail the rise of global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius that is at the above pre-industrial levels within the century and also pursue efforts to limit the increase of the temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Then it has a goal of developing mechanism to help and support countries that are very vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. For example, countries like the Maldives know facing threat due to sea level race should develop mechanism which will help and support in addressing the sea level race. Then it confirms the obligation that developed countries have towards developing countries by providing them financial and technological support. Okay, then the agreement no talks about 2020-2020 targets that is carbon dioxide emissions reduction by 20% work on increasing the renewable energy market share by 20% target to increase energy efficiency by 20%. So, this is all about the Paris Agreement. Now, what does this nationally determined contribution means? See, as we already saw it means a contribution that needs to be done by each and every country to achieve the overall global goal. See, the contribution need to be reported every five years to the UNFCCC and the parties are requested to submit the next round of intended nationally determined contribution that is the new NDC or updated NDC every five years. Okay, and moreover, parties may at any time adjust their existing nationally determined contribution with a view to enhance its level of ambition. Okay, and note that the contributions are not legally binding. The goal is to make sure that all countries have access to technical expertise and financial capability to meet the climate challenges. So, from this note, we can understand that this intended nationally determined contributions are something that is related to combating climate change. Am I right? So, now look at the question. Now, what is the answer for this question? Yes, the answer is option B. This intended nationally determined contribution is a plan of action that is outlined by the countries of the world to combat climate change. And with this as an add-on information, let us briefly see about India's INDC that is intended nationally determined contribution of India. See, India now stands committed to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 45 percentage by 2030. This is from the 2005 level. Okay, and India will achieve about 50 percent cumulative electric power from non-fossil fuel based energy resources. This is by 2030. Then the updated NDC that is nationally determined contribution also represents the framework for India's transition to cleaner energy for the period 2021 to 2030. See, the updated NDC reads to put forward and further propagate a healthy and sustainable way of living based on traditions and values of conservation and moderation. Okay, see here it includes a mass movement for life. That is, lifestyle for environment as a key to combat climate change. See, India's updated NDC has been prepared after carefully considering our national circumstances and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. So, what do you know about this common but differentiated responsibility and respective capability? See, it is a principle within the UNFCCC that acknowledges the different capabilities and different responsibilities of individual countries in addressing climate change. Okay, so that's all about this question. So, if you had learned about the Paris Agreement, you would have automatically learned about the nationally determined contributions. It is nothing but the contributions that every country needs to do to achieve the overall global goal of reducing the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees centigrade. Okay, so now with this let's move on to the next question. Now have a look at this question. See, this question is regarding the payment banks. Okay, so here three statements are given regarding the payment banks and you are asked to find the correct statements. Okay, see the correct answer for the question is option B, one and three only. Now have a look with this question. It is a multiple statement type of question. So, you can opt for elimination technique. Okay, you can see here that statement two is common. Am I right? So, here if you can eliminate statement two, you can easily arrive at the answer. Now look at statement two. It says that payment banks can issue both credit cards and debit cards, but this statement is absolutely wrong. To understand why, you must know about payment bank first. See as mentioned in the question itself, payment banks are differentiated banks under commercial banks which is established to promote financial inclusion. Here differentiated banks are banks with distinct function in a niche segment. That is, they provide particular services to a small specialized section of the population. So, here know the payment banks provide small saving accounts and payments or remittance services. These services are provided to the underserved and unbanked population in the country. They include migrant labor workforce, low income households, small businesses and organized sector entities and other users. Displayed here are the features of the payment banks. Just have a look at it. So, in this itself, you can see they can issue ATM or debit cards and they cannot issue credit cards as lending is not permitted in this type of bank. Okay, and they can have own branches and they can have ATMs. Then they are permitted to undertake utility bill payments etc., on behalf of its customers and general public. Then note that they can only accept demand deposits, NRA deposit is not permitted, then maximum balance per individual customer is 2 lakh. This is actually increased in the April 2021 only. Okay, and when you ask me about the licensing, it is licensed under the section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act 1949 and it is governed by these acts. Just go through it. Okay, you might have again this type of question. Don't think that if question is asked already regarding a particular topic, it will not be repeated. No, UPSC might repeat the topic or they will cover the part which wasn't covered in the previous year questions. Okay, so now you would have understood whenever you get multiple statement type of question, you should know how to eliminate and find the answer as soon as possible. Okay, so that's all about the second question. Now, let's move on to the third question. See, this third question is about LIFI. Now, let us read the question first. With reference to LIFI recently in the news, which of the following statements are correct? There are only two statements are given, so we cannot opt for elimination technique. Okay, now let us assume that we don't know what is LIFI. Now read the first statement given. It uses light as a medium for high-speed data transmission. So now you can get a rough idea that LIFI has something to do with data transmission. Now read the second statement. It is a wireless technology and is several times faster than Wi-Fi. See, the logic behind this is they will say that LIFI is several times faster than Wi-Fi, only if it is the next version of Wi-Fi. Am I right? For example, we will compare 5G with 4G and say that 5G has several advantages over 4G. Am I right? So after reading this statement, we have come to the conclusion that LIFI is about data transmission and it is an improved version of Wi-Fi. Now again coming to the first statement, it says that LIFI uses light as a medium for high-speed data transmission. Here you have to take an educated guess. If Wi-Fi is wireless fidelity, then in the LIFI might be light. Am I right? Here we are just taking an educated guess. So the statement which says that LIFI uses light as a medium for high-speed data transmission makes sense. Am I right? So we are going to consider the statement as correct. Now coming to the second statement, it says that LIFI is a wireless technology and is several times faster than Wi-Fi. See, we already took an educated guess and now we are going to build upon that guess. See, we came to the conclusion that LIFI in the LIFI is light. So if it uses light to transfer data, then it is a wireless technology only. Am I right? And we all know light travels fast and again taking this educated guess, let us consider that the second statement is also correct. And that's all. You have already heard the answer. Here is the correct answer is option C both 1 and 2. See, this is one way of approaching the question. Now let us see some details about LIFI. See, light fidelity or LIFI technology is a wireless communication system based on the use of visible light between the violet and red range. Now if you wonder what Wi-Fi is using, then know that it uses the radio waves part of the electromagnetic spectrum. But as we saw already, LIFI uses the optical spectrum. That is the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum. LIFI uses LED lights to transmit data wirelessly. Now coming to the working of the LIFI, see the principle of LIFI is based on sending data by amplitude modulation of the light source in a well-defined and standardized way. See LEDs can be switched on and off faster than the human eyes can detect. This is because the operating speed of LEDs is less than one microsecond. This invisible on-off activity enables data transmission using binary codes. So switching the LEDs on and off can make them generate digital strings for the different combinations of ones and zeros. If the LED is on, a digital one is transmitted and if the LED is off, a digital zero is transmitted. Also these LEDs can be switched on and off very quickly which gives us an opportunity for transmitting data through LED lights. This is because there are no interfering light frequencies like that of the radio frequencies in Wi-Fi. So because of all these factors LIFI is thought to be 80 percent more efficient than Wi-Fi which means it can read speeds up to 1 GB per second and even beyond. And it also differs from fiber optic because the LIFI protocol layers are suitable for wireless communication over short distances that is up to 10 meters. So this is about the basics. From the points that we discussed now, I have given this table here. It includes the differences between Wi-Fi and LIFI so just go through it. Now let us see some advantages of LIFI. The first one is efficiency. See the energy conception can be minimized to the use of LED illumination. LEDs are already available in the home, offices and mall etc for lighting purposes. Hence the transmission of data requiring negligible additional power makes it very efficient in terms of cost as well as energy. And the second advantage is high speed. This is because of low interference, high bandwidths and high intensity output. All these factors help LIFI provide high data rates that is 1 GB per second or even beyond. And the third advantage is availability. As we saw earlier, LED lights are already available in the home, offices and malls etc etc all for the lighting purposes. So it means that wherever there is a light source there can be the internet. And the next advantage is that LIFI is cheaper. See LIFI requires only fewer components for its working and it also uses only a negligible additional power for the data transmission. So the final advantage is security. See one main advantage of LIFI is security because light cannot pass through opaque structures. So LIFI internet is available only to the users within a confined area and it cannot be intercepted and misused outside the area under operation. So now don't think that there are no disadvantages. Some of the limitations are internet cannot be accessed without a light source and this could limit the locations and situations in which LIFI could be used. Then it requires a near or perfect line of site to transmit data. This is very difficult. See opaque obstacles on pathways can affect data transmission and light waves don't penetrate through walls and so LIFI has a much shorter range than Wi-Fi okay and there is this high initial installation cost. So that's all regarding this LIFI. See if you know all these data then also you can directly answer this question but I showed you how to answer this question without any actual knowledge okay. So today we saw three previous year questions and we saw different methods of approaching each and every questions. Likewise in our everyday news analysis we are going to deal with the previous year questions. So stay tuned for boosting your preliminary preparation okay and now with this let's move on to our news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. See yesterday the Jammu and Kashmir tourism department had invited the students and local farmers to join the saffron festival which is going to be organized in Pampur region in Kashmir. See this festival is organized to highlight the process of saffron cultivation and this move by the tourism department is to attract the tourists to the Pampur region. This is the crux of the news article given here and in this context let's learn about saffron cultivation. See saffron is one of the most valuable and costliest crops. So for this reason it is also popularly known as red gold. While the wild saffron is botanically known as crocus cartritianus whereas the commercially cultivated saffron is botanically called crocus satayvas. See saffron is a species of flowering plant of the genus crocus which is in the family iridesci. Know that the commercial part of the saffron is stigma of the flower. See this image here the red colored part is stigma okay and the saffron cultivation is quite simple and easy but the higher price is due to the intense labor needed to harvest this crop. See the native names of saffron include Kesar in Hindi, Kong in Kashmiri, Jaffron in Bengali and Kunkuma in Sanskrit. Now talking about the areas where it grow Jammu in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh are the two most important saffron producing states. Saffron cultivation is believed to have been introduced in Kashmir by Central Asian immigrants around the 1st century BC and it has been associated with traditional Kashmiri cuisine and represents the rich cultural heritage of the region. See the Pampur region commonly known as saffron ball of Kashmir is the main contributor to saffron production in India. Also know that Pampur saffron heritage of Kashmir is recognized as one of the globally important agricultural heritage systems and note that globally important agricultural heritage system was an initiator of the food and agricultural organization to safeguard and support the world's agricultural heritage systems okay. Also remember the fact here the Kashmir saffron had also got GI tag that is the geographical indication tag. Now moving on to see the ideal condition for the growth of the plant. See in India know saffron is cultivated mostly during the months of June and July and at some places it was also cultivated in the months of August and September. See saffron is grown primarily in dry places with elevations ranging from 1500 to 2500 meters above sea level and it requires a 12 hours of sunlight. Now that in the summer it requires intense heat and dryness while in the winter it requires extreme cold. So the winters in areas of Madhya Pradesh and Jamun Kashmir provide the best conditions for the saffron growth. The other most important aspect of saffron growing is the soil. See it thrives on loamy, sandy and calcareous soils. What is meant by this calcareous soils? See soil that has calcium carbonate in abundance is what called as calcareous soil okay. Know that it grows best on acidic soil with pH of soil around 5.5 to 8.5 okay and the saffron requires less water than other spice crops and the irrigation is done on a weekly basis okay. So this is all about saffron cultivation. See saffron is a very important topic when you consider it for your preliminary examination. You won't believe me there is a national saffron mission and regarding that we will see in the question discussion okay. And with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this news article and our rules for possession of a revolver or a news because recently Somashekara Reddy MLA was convicted for unlawful possession of a revolver after expiry of license. So in this news article discussion let us understand about the concept of gun licensing in India. See getting a gun license in India comes under the Arms Act of 1959 as per the Act civilians or citizens of India who want to own a gun are allowed to purchase only NPB guns that means non prohibited bore arms. See as per the Act arms which are automatic or semi automatic in nature fall in the category of prohibited bore arms and the remaining arms which are non automatic or bold action type are covered under the category of non prohibited bore arms okay. So for what purpose a person can apply for a gun license or who can get a gun license first is for general security which includes the provision of security for banks institutions etc this can also cover the gunmen and protection squad of VVIPs and politicians. Secondly for crop protection see persons who have agricultural similar lands which need protection from non schedule pests and vermin like boars etc can apply for gun license okay. Thirdly for sports shooting those under sports shooting discipline who need guns for sports purposes can apply then comes the returning NRI. See any Indian who is returning to India and has owned a gun in his foreign residence for over two years can apply for an Indian license and bring back the gun they owned abroad okay. Finally a person worth foreign national status can apply know that any foreign national is allowed to own and bear arms for a maximum period of six months during their stay in India but they should have valid reasons okay. Remember gun license is valid for three years from the date on which it is granted and needs to be renewed before one month of the expiry okay and the license may be granted for a shorter period as well as if the person by whom the license is required desires or if the licensing authority decides okay. So what will happen if I possess a revolver even after expiry of license see continued possession of a firearm after the expiry of a license is an offence. Such persons will be convicted under section 25 clause 1B sub clause B this section provides a punishment for a term which may extend up to three years. So that's all about this news article so in this news article discussion we had seen about the gun license see being aware of such things will help you attend any type of unpredictable preliminary type of questions okay. So with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. See this article here it talks about a historically important place Mangad Dham. See yesterday a prime minister called for preparing a roadmap to develop Mangad Dham in Rajasthan as a tribal destination with a prominent identity of the global level. So in this context let's learn about the historical place Mangad Dham. See Mangad Dham is a place situated in Rajasthan Baswara district which is also near the Rajasthan-Gujarat boundary. This place is widely known for the massacre of tribal people by the British Indian army in the year 1913. Know that about 1500 built tribals and forest dwellers were killed at Mangad Dham on November 17, 1913. This is when the British Indian army opened fire on the protesters. Note that Mangad Dham is also referred as Adivasi Jalyanwala because the repression and massacre in Mangad Dham took place just six years before the infamous Jalyanwala Bagh massacre that occurred in 1919. Now you may have a question why did they protest and why were they massacred? See the bill a tribal community living across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had faced great harassment and a British rule. By the early 20th century the bills especially in Gujarat and Rajasthan mostly worked as subordinated labor. The great famine of 1899-1900 across the Deccan had vastly affected the bills particularly the tribals in princely states such as Baswara and Satrampur were mostly affected by drought. So around the end of 1913 for the betterment of their situation the tribal people of Baswara district were gathered peacefully at the religious fair in the middle of dense forest at Mangad and there they wanted to showcase their demand for the abolition of the bonded labor system and relaxation in heavy agricultural taxes imposed by the rulers of the princely states. Here you all know that the princely states are the supporters of the British so it is none other than the exploitation of the British government indirectly. Now I hope you have got your answer for the question why did they protest? Now let's see why they were brutally massacred. See the bills in the southern Rajasthan region were led by the social reformer Govind Giri who was popularly known as Govind Guru. Know that Govind Guru had served as a bonded laborer in the princely state of Santrampur and during the famine he started working with the bills and for the betterment of this community he started his movement named Bagat Movement among the bills in the year 1908. See this was a movement to propagate orthodox Hindu practices like vegetarianism and abstaining from alcohols among the bills. He also encouraged them to reject bonded labor and to fight for their rights. Then in the year 1913 Govind Guru and his followers organized a religious fair and a large sacrificial fire known as Dhuni in the place of Mangad which was situated in the middle of dense forest on the borders of Baswara and Santrampur. Around 50,000 bills have gathered for this fair and peacefully discussed their demands from the princely states over some days. Then the rumours started spreading that the bills were planning a revolt against the princely states of Baswara and Santrampur and they were with a motive of establishing an independent built state. So the rulers asked the British for help. The British had extended the help and on 17th November 1913 the tribals who were surrounded by the British forces were the mission guns and artillery. The bills were initially asked to disperse and surrender but they refused. So the gathering was literally bombarded with bullets and artillery fire and around 1500 bills were brutally massacred. Then the reformer Govind Guru and remaining tribals were arrested. So this is the reason why they were massacred and how were they massacred. So that's all about this news article. In this news article discussion we saw about the infamous place Mangadam in Rajasthan and through this discussion we learnt about the Adivasi Jalyanwala which occurred before the infamous Jalyanwala about massacred and we learnt about why they protested and how they were massacred and why they were massacred. So these key points in mind. Now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this editorial article. See this news article talks about the fight against air pollution in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. The article says that without the better performance of the State Pollution Control Boards there is no future with clean air especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. So in today's discussion let us learn few facts about the Indo-Gangetic Plain and we shall also see what is hindering the State Pollution Control Boards from performing better. Before that the syllabus relevant to this news article is given here for your reference. Kindly go through it. Now let's begin our discussion with the Indo-Gangetic Plains. See the Indo-Gangetic Plains which are also known as the Northern Plain was formed by the interplay of the three major reverse systems that is the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra along with the Attributaries. Because of this reason the deposition of alluvium in a vast basin lying at the foothills of the Himalaya over millions of years formed this fertile plain. Remember it spreads over an area of 7,00,000 square kilometers and the plain is about 2,400 kilometers long and 240 to 320 kilometers broad. Since the region has a rich soil cover combined with adequate water supply and favorable climate it is agriculturally a productive part of India and it is a densely populated physiographic division. See when you take the Northern Plain it is broadly divided into three sections. The western part of the Northern Plain is referred to as the Punjab Plains. It is formed by the Indus and its tributaries that is the Jallamchana, Bravi, Bees and Satellites. The larger part of this plain lies in Pakistan. This section of the plain is dominated by the Dopes. See Dopes are nothing but a track of land between two rivers okay. And the next comes the Ganga Plain. The Ganga Plain no extends between Gagar and Tistar rivers and it is spread over North India in Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and partly in Jharkhand and West Bengal. And next is the East particularly in Assam lies the Brahmaputra plain. So these are the three sections or you can say these are the three divisions of the Northern Plain. Now according to the variations in relief features the Northern Plain can be divided into four regions. The first region is Babur. See what happens is the rivers after descending from the mountains deposit pebbles in a narrow belt of about 8 to 16 kilometer in width and that will lie parallel to the slopes of the Shivaliks. So this is what known as Babur. All the streams disappear in this Babur belt okay. And south of this belt the streams and rivers re-emerge and create a wet swampy and marshy region known as Therai. This was a thickly forested region full of wildlife. And next comes the Bangar. It is the largest part of the Northern Plains and is formed of the older Alluvium. It lies above the foot planes of the rivers and presents a terrace like feature. The soil in this region contains calcareous deposits locally known as Kankal okay. And the fourth region is the Kathar. This region comprises of the newer anger deposits of the flat plains. They were renewed almost every year and so are fertile thus ideal for intensive agriculture. So these are some of the important facts that you have to remember about the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Hope you understand how important these planes are and how important it is to maintain the air quality of the region. Now let us discuss the three key institutional constraints mentioned in the article under which the state pollution control boats in the Indo-Gangetic Plain function and their implications on air quality governance in India. Before that know have this basic understanding. The state pollution control board is a statutory organization that was established under the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1974. And it works under the supervision of the Central Pollution Control Board to implement the environmental laws and rules within the respective states for the protection of the environment. Later what happened means under the Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1981 this state pollution control board mandate was expanded to include air quality management also. Subsequently several new environmental regulations added to their roles and functions. But unfortunately this enhanced mandate has not been matched with increased capacity and capability in the boats. So the first constraint here is the composition of the state pollution control boats. Here you can see the composition of the board. It is comprising of a chairman and five members appointed by the state to represent the government. Then a member secretary with experience in dealing with the matters of environmental laws. Then two members appointed by the government three persons nominated by the state government. Then two members having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of matters relating to the improvement of the air quality. Then two persons from companies, corporations all these are composition of the state pollution control board. Here you can see that the participation of important stakeholders and those with crucial expertise in the composition of the board are very important. But 50% of the board members across the 10 state pollution control boats and pollution control committees represent potential polluters like local authorities, industries and public sector corporations. At the same time scientists, medical practitioners and academics constitute only seven percentage of the board members. What is even more worrying is that most boards do not meet the statutory requirement of having at least two board members who have knowledge of or experience in air quality management. See considering the scale and causes of air pollution in India, multi-disciplinary expertise is needed to tackle it. Am I right? And there must also be an explicit focus on health while designing air pollution policy. The lack of expertise and heavily biased representation of stakeholders on the boards can only be a hindrance to effective policy making. Secondly, even though 50% of the board members represent potential polluters, they are subjected to the state pollution control board's regulatory measures. But their overwhelming presence is raising fundamental questions around conflict of interest, which is an issue here. And then the state pollution control board's leadership that is the chairperson and the member secretary do not enjoy a long, stable and full-time tenure. For example, the shortest tenure for a person has been 18 days in Chhattisgarh and 15 days for a member secretary, which occurred in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Secondly, in many states, no persons in these two posts hold an additional charge in other government departments. If this is the case, their long-term policy planning, strategic interventions and effective execution aimed at reducing air pollution substantially are extremely difficult. Thirdly, what happens is the state pollution control boards are critically understaffed. For example, vacancy levels in technical positions are as high as 84% in Jharkhand and over 75% in Bihar and Haryana. See, imagine you are the team leader and what will you do if your team is understaffed? You will recast the priorities, am I right? That is what is happening here also. Subjects like monitoring industrial compliance, initiating enforcement actions in case of violations and standard sitting are often not prioritized. Apart from this, less staff strength also means weaker regulatory scrutiny and poor impact assessment, which is a very big problem. So, the authors of the editorial article concludes by saying that either we should improve the reality or lower our expectation. Yes, firstly, we should act towards strengthening the core of the board and then we can consider the massive mandate of the boards on environmental issues beyond air quality. And they say that without essential capacity, capability, expertise and vision in our frontline regulators, sustained and substantial gains in air quality are virtually impossible. Okay, so that's all about this news article. See, in this news article, we covered the Indo-Gangetic Plains and we saw what is its feature-based division and we saw the three different sections or divisions of it. And then we covered some of the important points mentioned in the news article regarding the weakness of these state pollution control boards, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. And we saw how because of their weakness, the air pollution level in the Indo-Gangetic Plains is increasing. Okay, so these key points in mind. Now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this text and context article. See, a significant event happened in India. A Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for the C295 Transport Aircraft Manufacturing Facility for the Indian Air Force in Gujarat. The facility is to be set up by Airbus Defence and Space and Tata Advanced Systems Limited and why it is significant event. See, this is a significant event because this is the first time the C295 aircraft will be manufactured outside of Europe. And also this is the first project in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company. So this is the crux of the news article given here and in this context let us understand about the C295MW Transporter and we'll address an important question that is, is India's civil aviation sector growing or not? Before that, the syllabus relevant to this news article is given here for your reference. Kindly go through it. Now let's get into the discussion. See, let us start by seeing about the procurement of C295MW Transporter. So what is this C295MW aircraft? First see this image here. This is how a C295MW aircraft looks like. See it was originally produced by a Spanish aircraft manufacturer but this company is now part of Airbus. Now why is India laying foundation in Gujarat for manufacturing C295MW? See in September 2021, India signed a deal with Airbus Defence and Space to procure 56 C295 aircraft and this was done to replace the Indian Air Force aging Avro 748 planes. See Avro aircrafts entered into service in the early 1960s. So now India is planning to replace them with C295 and if you want to see Avro 748, have a look at this image. Now coming to the question of why there will be a manufacturing facility in India. See under the agreement, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in flyaway conditions. This means that the final assembly will be done in Spain and it is also said that the 16 fully assembled flyaway condition aircrafts will be delivered to the Indian Air Force within four years. That is between 2023 and 2025. Then what about the remaining 40? You saw that the deal is for the procurement of 56 aircraft. Am I right? And this is where the manufacturing facility becomes relevant. So the remaining 40 will be manufactured in India by the Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Airbus. And the first made in India aircraft is expected to be rolled out of the manufacturing facility in the year 2026. And the remaining 39 will be produced by the year 2031. See you have to know another important thing. After the completion of the delivery of 56 aircraft to the Indian Air Force, Airbus defense and space will be allowed to sell the aircraft manufactured in India to civil operators. They will also be allowed to export the aircrafts to countries which are allowed by the Government of India. Now what is the significance of this? See the significance is twofold. Firstly with this procurement India will become the 35th C295 operator worldwide. And secondly the manufacturing facility will serve as a boost to the Make in India defense program. So the domestic defense manufacturing ecosystem is getting a boost. And this in turn creates more than 15,000 skilled direct and indirect jobs across the aerospace ecosystem. And it will create more than 125 suppliers who are qualified on global quality standards across India. So with this information let us see some specifications of this C295. See we will see the details point by point. As far as capacity is concerned the C295 MW is a transport aircraft with 5 to 10 ton capacity and it has a maximum speed of 480 kilometer per heart. It has a rare ramp door. Can you see the opening in the back of the aircrafts in these images? This is only rare ramp door. This door is for quick reaction and paradropping of troops and cargo. As a tactical transport aircraft the C295 can carry troops and logistical supplies. See this we have seen in many movies am I right? Armed forces personnel with parachutes will be dropped through this door only. And another important feature is the short takeoff and landing from semi-prepared surfaces. As per Airbus the C295 operates in the Brazilian jungles and the Colombian mountains in South America. Then the deserts of Algeria and Jordan in the Middle East. And then in the cold climates of Poland and Finland in Europe. And then the aircraft has also flown in military operations in Chad, Iraq and Afghanistan. Apart from this know that the aircraft can operate from short air strips just 2200 feet long. And it can fly low-level operations for tactical missions flying at a low speed of 110 knots. So that's all about this aircraft. Now coming to the question is India's civil aviation sector growing or not? See India has a much bigger footprint in civil aviation manufacturing than the defence. This is evident from the fact that both Airbus and Boeing do significant sourcing from India for their civil programs. For instance, Airbus said that every commercial aircraft manufactured by them today is partly designed and made in India. The company also said that they buy manufactured parts and engineering services worth 650 million dollars every year from more than 45 Indian suppliers. Now what is the reason for this? See India is moving ahead with the mantra of make in India and make for the globe. And also India continues to enhance its potential by becoming a major manufacturer of transport planes through various initiatives. See I will give you instances for this. See since 2007 Airbus is having a wholly domestic-owned design centre in India. And the engineers in the centre are specialised in high-tech aeronautical engineering and they work across both fixed and rotary wing Airbus aircraft programs. So what does this mean? This means that Airbus centres have the capacity to skill pilots and engineers in India. So it aids make in India and also it aids skill acquirement for Indians. So this will take the aviation manufacturing to next level. And before concluding let me tell you something. See currently India is the seventh largest civil aviation market in the world and is expected to become the third largest civil aviation market within the next 10 years. And according to International Air Transport Association India is expected to overtake China and the United States as the world's third largest air passenger market in the next 10 years that is by 2030. And according to the World Travel and Tourism Council India ranked seventh among 185 countries in terms of travel and tourism contribution to the GDP in 2020. The contribution is 4.7% and it is worth of 121.9 billion US dollars. All these are because of the steps taken by Indian government and private sector to improve the aviation sector. See for you to understand I'll give some examples of them here. See the government has allowed 100% foreign direct investment under the automatic route in scheduled air transport service, regional air transport service and domestic scheduled passenger airline. And apart from this India aims to have 220 new airports by 2025 and cargo flights for perishable food items will also be increased to 30% with 133 new flights in the coming years. And in the year 2021 Jet Set Go a private aviation company planned to make its flight operation carbon neutral by 2024 through a carbon management program. And in the same year SpiceJet announced its ambitious target. It is to fly 100 million domestic passengers on sustainable aviation fuel blend by 2030 and at the ages of World Economic Forum. Lastly as a way forward India can work on another major growing area it is nothing but the maintenance repair and overhaul. See India can emerge as the regional hub if it works in this area. The only needed thing for this is a conducive stable policy environment and the policy should serve as an important enabler. This is because only with the right policy framework a realistic roadmap can be drawn to make the country a hub for the aircraft manufacturing. So that's all about this news article. In this news article discussion we saw about this C295MW transporter and we also addressed the question whether India's civil aviation sector is growing or not. See this C295 transporter can be directly put in your preliminary type of question as well as regarding the civil aviation sector there might be a mains question also. So this topic is holistically important for both your preliminary as well as your mains examination. So with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion. See today we have four questions in which three I will be discussing and one will be a quiz question for you. Now look at the first question it is regarding the build types. See in our today's discussion of Mangad Dam we saw about that place am I right and we saw that that massacre had killed nearly 1500 build types. So let's take this as an opportunity to know about this build types. Okay now look at this question it is a two statement type of question. So we are going to go through both the statements before arriving at the answer. Now look at statement one they are found only in Rajasthan and Gujarat. See this statement is wrong because the builds are found in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan as well as in Tripura. Okay so statement one is wrong. Now look at the second statement they perform the traditional folk dance Gomar. See this statement is correct. Yes Gomar dance is a traditional folk dance from the state of Rajasthan and this Gomar dance form originates from the build tribe of Rajasthan. The performance was initially meant to worship the goddess Saraswati and the build tribe is one of the indigenous groups of India initially situated in Rajasthan but later on they spread to other regions also. Okay so now look at the question it is demanding for correct statements so your answer here will be option B two only. Now look at the second question see it is regarding the national mission on saffron. See now today's discussion we learnt about the saffron cultivation am I right but we have a mission on that I said already in the discussion itself that we will be looking at in the question discussion. So now let us learn about this mission through this question. Here three statements are given so whenever we have three statements we can try elimination option. Now first of all let's take statement 3 because it is found in two options. See the mission was initially launched in Jamun Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. See this statement is wrong because initially this mission was focused on Jamun Kashmir alone then in the year 2020 only the central government expanded it to other regions like northeast and the state of Sikkim. Okay so this statement is wrong so you can eliminate two options here which are option C and D. Now here you have two more options that is A and B but statement 2 is present in both am I right. So you already know that statement 2 is correct you have to find only whether statement 1 is right or wrong. Okay now look at first statement it was introduced in 2010 to 11 by the ministry of science and technology under the government of India. See this statement is wrong because during the year 2010 to 11 the ministry of agriculture had introduced a scheme called national mission on saffron. This is to give boost to the saffron production and to mitigate the sufferings of the saffron growers. Okay so it is not the ministry of science and technology it is the ministry of agriculture. So when you find that statement 1 is wrong you can easily arrive at the answer which is option B 2 only. Now read the second statement its objective is to increase saffron production and to extend the support for creation of irrigation facilities. Yes of course this objective is right because this mission was created to boost the saffron production and to mitigate the sufferings of the saffron growers. Okay now let us move on to the third question see certain conservation sites are given and you are asked to arrange them from north to south. See why I chose this question is today we had a news regarding the mudumalay tiger reserve. Yes the invasive species over there is spreading widely this is what given in the news. See regarding invasive species we had already seen our Hindu newspaper analysis so I didn't want to waste much of your time. Also about this mudumalay tiger reserve also we had seen. So viewers who want to see about the mudumalay tiger reserve and the invasive species go watch our Hindu newspaper analysis on that particular date. Don't worry the link for both the topics is given here just click and watch it. Now coming back to the question see if you look at this map it is more than enough to answer this question. I'll give you two seconds go through this once then try to answer this question. Now what is the answer for this question? Yes the answer is option A 2 1 3 4 that is nagerhole tiger reserve then comes the mudumalay then comes the paramikulam then comes the peria. See this type of question is famously asked in your UPSC. So whenever you get tiger reserves or any conservation sites just view it through the map then only you will get an idea where it is present. See this paramikulam peria role is very nearby so you might get confused but when you learn it through map you will never forget it. So always have in mind whenever you read the conservation sites you must have a map nearby and located place before learning it okay. So that's all for today's preliminary practice question and displayed here is your quiz question. See this is a very easy question and it is regarding our gun license discussion. If you have any doubt regarding this question go to watch our video and then come and try to answer this question. I expect you all to go through the question and post your answers in the comment section and the correct answer also will be posted in the comment section itself. An interested aspirants can attend the poll also because this quiz question is also given in your poll session. Displayed here are two main practice question go through these questions and try writing answer for these questions. It will be really helpful for your main examination and that's all for today's news article discussion. 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