 Good evening, aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy. Now, for today's analysis, these are the list of articles chosen for today's analysis. It has been given along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Tiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad editions. The link for the handwritten notes and the time snapping for the displayed articles is given in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, it is also given in the comments section. Let's move on to our first news article analysis. Our first discussion is based on this editorial, which is about antimicrobial resistance. So, we'll be seeing about antimicrobial resistance. Then we shall see the initiatives taken at the global and at the national level to address this antimicrobial resistance. And we'll also be seeing the suggestions that is given by the authors to effectively tackle this growing menace of antimicrobial resistance. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now, this editorial is written on the wake of World Antibiotics Awareness Week. This week is celebrated in the month of November. This awareness week is a product of the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. If you see in 2015, the 68th World Health Assembly endorsed the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. We will see about this plan later in the discussion. This global action plan called for a dedicated global campaign to raise public awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance. So, in line with this, World Antibiotic Awareness Week takes place every November. This year, it was celebrated from 18th November to 24th November. The aim of this awareness week is to increase awareness of global antibiotic resistance and to encourage best practices among the general public health workers and policy makers. It also aims to promote global education on antibiotics, how antibiotics should be used and to mitigate the growing risks of antibiotic resistance. Now, this is done to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance. But if you see for now global awareness about this antimicrobial resistance remains relatively low. So, for many times we have used the term AMR, what is it and how serious is the problem that we are celebrating a full week for its awareness. Antimicrobial resistance or in short AMR is the ability of microorganism to stop an antimicrobial from working against it. The microorganism could be bacteria, viruses and some parasites. Here, the antimicrobials that we have mentioned are the antibiotics, antivirals and antimalerials etc. These antimicrobials help to prevent and control a disease. So, if these antimicrobials do not work, then standard treatments to the diseases and infections will become ineffective. So, infections will persist or they will continue and these infections may even spread to others. So, this antimicrobial resistance is a global public health problem. And as we saw antibiotic is one such antimicrobial. It is a widely used antimicrobial and these antibiotics are used to treat the bacterial infections. There are many drivers or causes of antibiotic resistance but the most dangerous trends which are contributing to the rising antimicrobial resistance are the inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans. Then overuse or abuse of antibiotics by humans. Then antibiotic use for growth promotion and disease prevention in animals, horticulture and fisheries. Then another cause is the use of animal manure in soil. This animal manure is a cause because it contains antibiotic residues. We just now saw that antibiotic is used for growth promotion and disease prevention in animals. So, these antibiotics leaves residues which are found in the animal manure also. And this animal manure is used in soil and we use the same soil to cultivate crops. So, these antibiotic residues are transferred to the crops also and then we eat the products from those crops. So, in a way it enters human beings also. Then next cause for the rising of AMR is the inadequate treatment of effluence that contains antibiotic residues from pharmaceutical industry, healthcare facilities etc. So, all these contribute to the problem of increasing AMR. Now along with this the authors have also listed reasons for growing AMR resistance. According to the author the reason for AMR resistance is the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. This is nothing but the combination of inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and the overuse or abuse of antibiotics by the humans. Then one another reason is the irresponsible antibiotics usage for growth promotion and disease prevention in animals, horticulture and fisheries. That is in these fields also they are being inappropriately used. According to authors globally this use of antibiotics in animals is expected to increase by 67 percentage by the year 2030 from the 2010 levels. That is why we are saying antimicrobial resistance has become an important public health challenge which is recognized worldwide. Now because of the inappropriate usage of antibiotics there are many consequences. According to the authors the first consequence is that it might lead to the difficulty in undertaking any complex surgery such as organ transplantation and cardiac bypass etc. That is because after surgeries there is always a possibility of getting infection. Now this is because complex surgeries definitely involve a cut or incision in the skin. So, this can lead to a wound infection after surgery. So, if AMR is developed for antibiotics then treating these kinds of infections will become very difficult. That is why authors are saying it will be difficult to undertake complex surgeries. The next consequence is that it had led to no new discovery of antibiotics. According to the authors in the past three decades that is in the past 30 years no new antibiotics discovery has been made. The reason is that developing a new antibiotic requires high investment. Moreover according to the authors it needs an investment of 1 billion dollars and the availability of a new antibiotic takes 10 to 12 years. So, when after this much of work once that antibiotic comes into the market its indiscriminate use immediately results in resistance against that particular antibiotic. So, further that antibiotic cannot be used by people. So, all the money and the hard work that was put into developing that antibiotic goes into waste. Now, due to these reasons only new antibiotics are not developed. Then another consequence is that this has a serious impacts on economy and development. It leads to increase in health budget. It is because to curb the menace of antimicrobial resistance government needs to spend a lot. Then AMR could also lead to death because infection cannot be treated and many infections are fatal. Now in this way we lose human capital also. Then it will affect the child survival rates. So, child mortality will increase in our country. On a whole our country's mortality rate will increase and we know that health is an important component of development indices. So, it will affect our rank in these indices also. In this way the antimicrobial resistance and its increase in the society affects our economy our country's development. Then another consequence is mentioned by the O'Neill report on antimicrobial resistance. This report was prepared because of the then prime minister of United Kingdom. He commissioned the review of antimicrobial resistance in 2014. The United Kingdom prime minister asked the economist Jim O'Neill to analyze the global problem of rising drug resistance and to propose concrete actions to tackle it internationally. So, based on this analysis Jim O'Neill prepared a report that report is called as the O'Neill report on AMR. This report warned that inaction in containing AMR is likely to result in annual mortality reaching to 10 million people that is around 1 crore people are likely to die because of this antimicrobial resistance. And the report also warned that if AMR is not contained then by the year 2050 the global GDP will fall to 3.5 percentage. So, these are some of the consequences of not curbing the menace of antimicrobial resistance. So, now a question arises on whether we have taken any initiative to curb this menace. Yes, as we saw in the beginning we already have a world antibiotic awareness week. Then there are also some other initiatives at the global level and as well as at the national level. So, now let us first see about the initiatives at the global level to address the antimicrobial resistance problem. The first global measure is the inclusion of combating antimicrobial resistance in the sustainable development goals but do not confuse with SDG goals and targets. It has not been included in the goals and targets but it has been included in the declaration of SDG 2030. We know that SDG goal number three is related to health. It states ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. So, to promote physical and mental health and well-being and to extend life expectancy for all it is necessary to achieve universal health coverage and to achieve access to quality health care. Now, in this way other aspects of health are also included in the declaration under health. One of the aspects is addressing the growing antimicrobial resistance to achieve healthy lives and well-being. The next measure is the development of global action plan on AMR. This plan was developed by many stakeholders such as inter-country development agencies like WHO, FAO and World Organization for Animal Health etc. We saw during the start that the 68th World Health Assembly in May 2015 endorsed a global action plan to tackle antimicrobial resistance including antibiotic resistance. So, this action plan is nothing but the global action plan on AMR. The main goal of this plan is to ensure the responsible use of antimicrobials including antibiotics in treating diseases so that the antibiotics remain effective. In addition to this, a World Health Assembly resolution also urged member states to align the national action plan on AMR with global action plan on AMR by May 2017. So, now let us see some of the objectives of this global action plan. The first objective is to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance. The next objective is to strengthen knowledge through surveillance and research. The next objective is to reduce the incidence of infection. The next is to optimize the use of antimicrobial agents and the final objective is to develop the economic case for sustainable investment that takes account of the needs of all countries and also to increase the investment for research and innovation of new medicines, diagnostic tools, new vaccines and other interventions. So, these were the measures taken at the global level. Now, let us see some of the initiatives taken at the national level. India developed its national action plan on antimicrobial resistance 2017 to 2021 in the year 2017. According to authors, this national action plan is based on one health approach. This is an approach followed by WHO. One health approach is an approach to designing and implementing programs, policies, legislations and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes. So, it means that human health, animal health and the environment sectors have equal responsibilities and they undertake strategic actions in combating antimicrobial resistance. So, our national action plan has six objectives. The first five objectives are same as the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. The sixth objective is to strengthen India's leadership in antimicrobial resistance. The next, if you see in July this year, the Indian government also banned the manufacture, sale and use of colustin in the poultry industry. This was done as per the order of a Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The order mentioned that manufacture, then sale and distribution of colustin and its formulations for food producing animals, poultry, aquafarming and animal feed supplements are prohibited or banned in India. So, now what is this colustin? Colustin is an antibiotic and we saw that antibiotics are those drugs that are used to treat bacterial infections. Now, this colustin is used to treat infection that is caused by gram-negative bacteria and these gram-negative bacterias are multi-drug resistance. Now, this colustin antibiotic is also called as an old antibiotic because it was used since 1959. But scientists found that intake of colustin has side effects on human body. So, they limited the use of colustin and they started discovering new antibiotics which were safety humans. But if you see the bacteria started developing resistance against these newly developed antibiotics and this resistance is what we call as antimicrobial resistance. So, as a last resort, the scientists are again using colustin to treat the multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacteria. Hence, in this way, the colustin antibiotic is also called as an antibiotic of last resort. Now, the concern is that colustin is used in poultry aquafarming where they are used as animal feed supplements. Now, if we keep feeding the poultry with colustin, it will develop antimicrobial resistance and also when humans eat those animals which are fed with colustin, then humans also intake colustin and the problem here is that this colustin affects the natural bacteria that is present in the gut of the human body. So, in this way, colustin affects the entire food chain. Now, it is said that the humans are also slowly becoming resistant to this last resort antibiotic. Hence, from this we can say the initiative of government to ban colustin will contribute to global efforts to preserve and prolong the efficacy that is the effectiveness of antibiotics. So, these were the measures or initiatives taken at the national level to address the menace of antimicrobial resistance. In addition to this, authors have also given some suggestions on how India should proceed in tackling this antimicrobial resistance. First, authors mentioned that implementation of India's national action plan needs to be accelerated. Now, the problem in India is that both human health and animal health comes under the state list of schedule 7 of Indian constitution. So, the authors are telling that this adds complexity to the nationwide response to tackle antimicrobial resistance. Now, due to this, the magnitude of the problem in India still remains unknown because there is no proper data available. Then we saw that one of the objectives of the national action plan is to strengthen knowledge and evidence of antimicrobial resistance through surveillance. So, in line with this, surveillance networks have been established in human health and animal health. One such network is the Indian Network for Fishery and Animals Antimicrobial Resistance or in short INFAR. This network was developed by India in 2017 with assistance from food and agriculture organization. This network has been established to generate reliable data on the magnitude of the problem of antimicrobial resistance and then also to monitor the trends in response to the control activities of antimicrobial resistance. The coordination of the overall technical and data management operations of this network is carried out by national institute of veterinary epidemiology and disease informatics in Bengaluru. So, here the suggestion of the author is that they are asking the government to expand and sustain such surveillance networks. The next author is mentioning that there is an urgent need to augment capacity that is to increase the resources such as infrastructure and human resources for these purposes and issues. That is one is to enforce regulatory mechanisms. The next is to act on infection control practices and diagnostic support. The next is to make sure that the guidelines for therapy are available and they are used properly. Then next also for ensuring biosecurity in annual rearing practices and then finally to understand the role of environment and the engagement of communities in this regard. So, as a whole and also as a conclusion, the author suggests that international organizations must launch a global movement to contain antimicrobial resistance. So, that is all about antimicrobial resistance and about this article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next news article discussion. This article mentions that in-stakes circumvents or overcomes US sanctions and it also mentions that six European nations have joined Iran-Bata system which is nothing but in-stakes. So, in this context we will see what is Bata system then about in-stakes then the background for this in-stakes. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. So, first let us understand what is Bata system to understand this news article. Bata system is an old method of exchange. This system has been used for centuries and it was used even long before money was invented. In a Bata system, one party exchanges the goods and services with other parties for other services and goods in return. So, we can see that your money is not a medium of exchange. So, the news article mentions in-stakes as a Bata system. But to understand in-stakes, you should first understand about the Iran nuclear deal which is nothing but joint comprehensive plan of action or in short JCPOA. This deal was signed by P5 plus one countries and European Union with the Iran. We know that P5 means permanent members of UNSC which are USA, China, Russia, United Kingdom and France and here the plus one country is the Germany. So, the objective of this deal is to check the nuclear enrichment of the Iran. Iran agreed for all the limitations and in return Iran asked for lifting of economic sanctions that were imposed by United Nations, United States of America and the European Union on Iran. But however, the Iran nuclear deal failed to meet its agenda fully. This is because in May 2018, the Donald Trump administration of US has unilaterally pulled out from the deal and they announced economic sanctions on Iran. Now, the reason for this economic sanction given by the president of USA is that he mentioned that Iran was violating the spirit of the deal and the deal is ineffective in containing Iran with respect to nuclear enrichment and then the US administration also argued that Iran was not an ally of US and it was working against US interests in the Middle East. So, based on these allegations US administration imposed ban on trade with Iran in US dollars. So, as a consequence of this move the European nations took other alternative ways to trade with Iran. One such mechanism is INSTEX. INSTEX is the acronym for instrument in support of trade exchanges. Now, here the name itself indicates it is a one form of barter system because it mentions trade exchanges. This INSTEX is a paris based instrument which was initiated in January 2019. It was initiated by United Kingdom, France and Germany This instrument was created as a special purpose vehicle to help European Union companies to do business with Iran and to facilitate non-USD transactions. So, the paris based INSTEX functions as a clearing house allowing Iran to continue to sell oil and in return allowing Iran to import other products and services in exchanges from those countries. Here a clearing house we have mentioned is nothing but an agency or an organization which collects and distributes something. Now, the actual purpose of INSTEX is to facilitate legitimate trade with Iran for any European Union member but this instrument is also open to non-European Union countries also. So, in this way if in future India decides to increase its trade relations with Iran, India can also join this INSTEX. Now, today's news is that six other European countries have joined INSTEX. The countries are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. These countries have decided to join INSTEX as new shareholders. Now, these latest developments are important because the accession of six new members will strengthen INSTEX and it demonstrates the European efforts to facilitate legitimate trade between Europe and Iran. So, these are the information which you should know with respect to this news article. With this, we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. This discussion is based on education loans. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. The news article is based on the data on a government funded surety scheme for educational loans. The data was furnished by Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Lok Sabha. This data was provided for a question on education loans in the Lok Sabha. So, what was the scheme for which the data was provided? The data was provided for the credit guarantee fund scheme for educational loans. This scheme was started in 2015. It provides guarantee for the education loan under the model education loan scheme of Indian Banks Association. The guarantee is for the education loan that is disbursed by the banks without seeking any collateral security and third party guarantee. Collateral is something that is pledged as security for repayment of a loan. So, normally this collateral is handed over when there is a default of loan. This collateral can be any valuable property but in this case of education loan it is provided without any collateral security or third party guarantee and this is applicable for a maximum loan amount that is sanctioned under scheme which is of rupees 7.5 lakhs. So, this much amount of loan can be acquired without any collateral security and even third party guarantee. So, what do we here mean by guarantee because initially we saw that it provides guarantee for the education loan. This scheme is set up by the Government of India with the purpose of guaranteeing payment against default in education loans. These education loans are the loans which are extended by the member lending institutions to the eligible borrowers. So, it is the guarantee for the credit that is given by the lending institutions. Even if you look at the name of the scheme you can see it is a credit guarantee fund scheme for education loans. So, what does this credit guarantee actually mean? Credit guarantee is the guarantee that often provides for a specific remedy to creditor if his debtor does not return his debt. So, this credit guarantee is very helpful to avoid the fear of non-payment. So, for example, just assume that one person avails this education loan under this scheme but the person is unable to repay that loan. So, in that case that amount will be paid by the Government because it has been acquired under this scheme. So, how much amount will be provided? The guarantee which is provided under this scheme is for maximum guarantee cover that is 75% age of the amount in default. So, whether the remaining 25% will not be provided it will be provided only if the lending institution obtains a certificate it has exhausted all the avenues for recovering the amount that is in no way the lending institution could get the remaining repayment of loan. So, in that case the Government will provide the remaining 25% age also. Now all the matters pertaining to the operations of this scheme is undertaken by NCGTC. NCGTC means National Credit Guarantee Trusty Company. It was set up in 2014 by Government of India. It was set up under the Companies Act of 1956. This NCGTC acts as the trustee to operate the credit guarantee funds for educational loans, skill development loans and any other that will be set up by the Government of India from time to time. So now our today's scheme is totally based on educational loans only. Normally we know that educational loan is any financial assistance by way of loan which is extended by the lending institution to the eligible borrower for higher education and the lending institution is the bank. But under this scheme educational loan means any financial assistance by way of loan that is extended by the lending institution to the eligible borrower for higher education as per the Indian Banks Association Model Educational Loan Scheme or IBA Model Educational Loan Scheme. So, what is this loan scheme? This scheme was formulated and circulated by the Indian Banks Association to all member banks including the State Bank of India. This scheme is for providing financial support to meritorious students for pursuing higher education in India and also in abroad. So, the financial support is not only for continuing education in India but it is also for continuing education in a foreign country. Now, let us see some of the salient features of this IBA Model Education Loan Scheme. Firstly, it grants loan up to 10 lakh rupees for studying in India and it grants up to rupees 20 lakh for studying abroad. It also grants the collateral free loans up to 7.5 lakh rupees under the credit guarantee fund scheme for educational loans that we just saw. So, this CGF-SEL is under the IBA Model Educational Loan Scheme. Now, in this Model Educational Loan Scheme, there is no margin for loan up to rupees 7.5 lakhs. That means bank will provide the total loan amount that is sanctioned. It is because when we say margin, it is the amount that a borrower need to pay for his own funds. Well, the balance amount of the loan will be paid by the bank. For example, suppose a borrower needs a loan of 2 lakh rupees. In this case, the bank is ready to finance 80 percentage. So, bank will provide 1 lakh 60,000 rupees loan amount, but the remaining 20 percentage that is around 40,000 rupees has to be provided by the borrower himself or herself. So, this 40,000 rupees or the 20 percent of the loan amount is called as the margin money. But under this Model Educational Loan Scheme, there is no margin for up to 7.5 lakh rupees. That is why the whole loan amount up to this 7.5 lakhs will be provided by the bank itself. Then another feature of this Model Educational Loan Scheme is that it provides for repayment period of 15 years. That is after availing loan under the scheme, you can repay within 15 years. Then another feature is that this scheme provides for one year moratorium for the repayment after completion of studies in all cases. See, normally moratorium period is a time during the loan term when the borrower is not required to make any repayment. It is like a waiting period before which repayment by way of EMIs actually begins. So, in this case of educational loans, the moratorium period is for the course period plus one year. That is if your course is for two years, then you will be given totally three years before you start repaying your loan amount. So, these are some of the salient features of this IBA Model Education Loan Scheme. So, what are the courses under which this educational loan can be availed by the students? As per this scheme, any approved courses which leads to graduate degree or postgraduate degree or a PG diploma which is conducted by colleges or universities that is recognized by the University Grants Commission and AICT, that is the All India Council for Technical Education and the colleges and universities which is recognized by the Indian Council of Medical Research etc., are eligible for education loan. Now, this model education loan scheme also provides for certain concessions on education loans such as there is one percent interest concession if interest is serviced during the study period and even if the interest is serviced during the subsequent moratorium period prior to the commencement of the repayment. That is if the course is for two years and the moratorium is for one year but if you start repaying the interest in these three years itself then you will be given one percent interest concession and that is also 0.5 percentage concession in the interest rate to the girl students also and the scheme also provides rebate and income tax to the extent of interest paid on the education loan. Now, some government sources say that a third party evaluation of the scheme was made by the IIM Bangalore. Now, based on this evaluation it was suggested that the scheme should be rationalized to serve more students from the economically weaker sections and our today's discussion revolves around this same aspect only. The news article mentions that around 70 percentage of the education loans dispersed in the country appears to be going to the upper class students. Now, this inference has been made by the newspaper based on the data available under the schemes which we just discussed. The data is available from the financial year 2016 to 17 till now. According to this data shows that around 4.1 lakh students have been benefited under the scheme but when a community breakup was done in the amount dispersed under the scheme it was found that only 23 percent of beneficiaries or only 23 percent students were from other backward classes and there were only seven percentage of students were from schedule costs and only three percentage were from schedule tribes community. So, this means that the remaining 67 percentage belong to the general category students. In addition to this the news article also mentions that more importantly the size of the amount of the loan that is sanctioned to the general category students tends to be higher than the amount that is sanctioned to the students from other categories. For example, students belonging to general category avail the 70 percentage of the total loan amount covered under the CGFCL. So, visibly we can see a huge gap here in terms of the loans dispersed to different category of students. So, from a social justice perspective we can say that this indicates that there is a problem in which the loans has been dispersed. So, what is the problem here and why it has occurred? The problem is that the under privileged sections are finding it difficult to avail the loans. So, why they are finding difficult? It is because of the main reason that is the lack of awareness. The under privileged sections of our society do not have much awareness in this regard and also the under privileged sections were not able to access banks through their social networks. This can be seen visibly in the data provided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. So, once there is awareness many from different categories will avail loans. So, in a method of raising awareness in this regard, now we all know about this scheme and its benefits. So, let us try to share this information with the people who are in need so that everyone gets equal opportunity to avail loans and they can attend higher studies. Then as an another solution we can even say that government can run awareness program because if the government can do election campaigns by rallying on roads, then such awareness campaigns can also be carried out so that even the under privileged sections of our society will know about these kinds of schemes and their benefits. You should always take note of these kinds of topics because it will help you to write a mains answer writing and you can substantiate your points by using the data provided in this discussion. So, that is all about this news article. Moving on to the next discussion which is related to the illegal trade of mango's hair and about operation clean art to crack down this illegal trade. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. This news article revolves around the paint brushes. If you see the central manufacturing hub of paint brushes of all types and sizes is share coat. This share coat is located in Bajna district of Uttar Pradesh. Share coat was known for its salt and pepper brushes. In the early 2000s, the secret behind this salt and pepper brushes was found. It was found that the hair in these brushes it was found that it was illegally obtained from the illegal traded mango's hair. So, since 2002 every year there were seizures of mango's hair from various parts of the country where forest officials recovered both large and small quantities of brushes after receiving information from the buyers and even in 2018 a major raid was conducted by wildlife crime control bureau to disrupt the factories in share coat which was producing these paint brushes. Even an operation in the name of operation clean art was conceived by this wildlife crime control bureau. The aim of this operation clean art is to ensure that the mango's hair brush trade should be closed down across the country. It was an ambitious operation because the illegal trade cannot be stopped in one go. So, the wildlife crime control bureau used their learnings. They used advanced intelligence tools and they deployed a large network of undercover operatives who posed as buyers. As a part of this operation clean art even recently one raid was conducted in October in which huge number of brushes with the mango's hair and also raw mango's hair were seized and the people who were conducting this illegal trade were arrested and cases were registered under the wildlife protection act of 1972. According to the regional deputy director of wildlife crime control bureau there are six species of mango's which are found in India and they have mostly recovered the hair of gray mango's in the raids. So, how did the illegal traders got hold of these mango's hair these raw mango's hair were supplied by the hunting communities across the country who poached the animals to get the hair. So, from examination point of view you should know about the protection status of mango's. All species of mango's are listed in schedule 2 part 2 of wildlife protection act of 1972. Even there is a separate chapter in this act which discusses about the prohibition of trade or commerce in trophies, animal articles etc that are derived from certain animals and particularly there are even sections which defines scheduled animal and scheduled animal article. Under section 49a of this act those animals that are listed in schedule 1 or schedule 2 part 2 of the act are called as scheduled animal. So, since mango's is also listed in schedule 2 part 2 of the act it is also a scheduled animal. Then any article that is made from any scheduled animal or even any article or object in which the whole or any part of the scheduled animal is used then that article is known as scheduled animal article. So, in this way hair is a part of mango's. So, mango's hair is a scheduled article and the act prohibits the manufacture or dealing of scheduled animal articles as we saw earlier. So, what is the punishment for such illegal trade? As per section 51 subsection 1a of this act any person who is involved in illegal trade shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of 1 year to 7 years and the person shall also be imposed with a fine of Rs. 5000. So, in this way in our country protection is given to the animal mango's. Now, internationally if you see under the IUCN red list of threatened species the Indian grey mango's is classified as least concern because these mango's hair were only seized during operation clean art. In addition to these all the species of mango's in India are also listed in appendix 3 of sites that is convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora. So, this was about the protection status of mango's. Now, from examination point of view you should also know about wildlife crime control bureau. See this is a statutory body because it has been constituted as per section 38 plus Y of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It was created to complement the existing state machinery to deal with the wildlife crime which are having ramifications that is effects beyond state and national borders. Control bureau has been envisaged as a multidisciplinary statutory body that will have officials from forests, police, customs and other similar agencies. Its headquarters is situated at New Delhi. Now, let us see some of the important functions of this wildlife crime control bureau. The first function is to collect and collate intelligence that is related to organized wildlife crime activities and then also to disseminate the same information to states other enforcement agencies for immediate action so that they can apprehend the criminals. Then the next function is to coordinate the actions by various officers, state governments, other authorities in connection with the enforcement of the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Then another function is to develop infrastructure and capacity building for scientific and professional investigation into wildlife crimes and also to assist the state governments to ensure success in prosecutions related to wildlife crimes. The next function is to advise the government of India on issues relating to wildlife crimes which are having national and international ramifications and to suggest changes that are required in relevant policy and laws. So, we can say that wildlife crime control bureau acts as an intelligence agency and also as a coordinating agency. So, that is all about this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now, we have come to the last session that is the practice questions discussion session. If you look at this first question, it is based on instex. Four statements are given and we have to choose the incorrect statement. We know that instex stands for instrument in support of trade exchanges and it was initiated by France, UK and Germany together. It is an alternative mechanism to trade with Iran. First statement states it functions as a clearing house allowing Iran to continue to sell oil and import other products or services in exchange from the participating countries. Yes, this statement is correct. This is the main purpose of instex. Second statement states the instex instrument is an example for modern form of old barter system. Yes, this statement is also correct because if you see the first statement, it also says products or services in exchange from the participating countries which is nothing but the barter system. Then the third statement states instex is a Tehran based special purpose vehicle which allows non-USD transactions. Yes, it is a special purpose vehicle which allows non-USD transactions but whether it is based on Tehran, no, it is based in Paris. So, this statement is wrong. So, the answer to this question is option C and also remember that this mechanism also allows European nations and non-European nations to participate in this instrument. Now, this next question is based on operation clean art. See, this operation is with respect to the art of painting. So, from this you can directly eliminate option D because it talks about stolen artifacts from India. Other three options are related to painting only but this operation clean art was conceived by Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. So, you can say that in some way this operation has to be related to wildlife. So, from this you can easily mark the correct answer which is option GOS. It states it is an operation to ensure the closing down of illegal mongoose hairbrush trade across India because these hairbrush which is made from mongoose hair is used for painting purposes. Now, this next question is based on Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The first statement states animals listed under Schedule 2 part 2 are classified as scheduled animals as per provisions of this Act. Actually, according to section 49A of this Act, the animals listed in Schedule 1 and also the animals listed in part 2 of Schedule 2 are classified as scheduled animals. So, this means this statement is correct. Now, the second statement states, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has been created as per the provisions of this Act. See, this Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is a statutory body because it was constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. It was constituted as per Section 38 clause Y. So, this means this statement is also correct. Here the question asks for the correct statement. So, both these statements are correct. So, the final correct answer is option C. Now, let us see one main question based on GS Paper 3. Antimicrobial resistance is a slow motion tsunami. It is a global crisis that must be managed with the utmost urgency. In this context, define what is meant by antimicrobial resistance. What are the reasons for the growing menace of antimicrobial resistance worldwide? Discuss some of the initiatives taken by India to address this issue. Now, the first statement is just given here to distract you so that you will spend more time on justifying the statement. The actual question is from here to here. So, you have to first define what does this word means. It is the ability of a microorganism to stop an antimicrobial from working against it. Then you have to provide the reasons for this growing menace of AMR. For reasons, you can state that it is rising due to inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans, then overuse or abuse of antibiotics by human, then using of antibiotics for growth promotion and disease prevention in animals, horticulture and fisheries, then use of animal manure in soil, then inadequate treatment of effluence that contains antibiotic residues from pharmaceutical industry, healthcare facilities, etc. So, like this, you can mention some other reasons also from your own viewpoint. Now, next the question asks that discuss some of the initiatives taken by India to address this issue. The first initiative that you should mention is about the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2017 to 2021. You can mention the objectives of this National Action Plan and you can even give importance to one of its objectives, surveillance. Under this, you can say that already India has an Indian network for fishery and animals antimicrobial resistance and this network generates reliable data on magnitude of the problem of AMR. Then you can mention the next initiative of the government such as banning of colistin because humans were slowly developing resistance against this antibiotic colistin. Then for conclusion, you can say that AMR has many consequences such as many complex surgeries become difficult to undertake because of it, then it had led to no new antibiotics discovery, then it impacts economy and development. So, that is why this statement was made by WHO that it is a slow-motion tsunami and it is a global crisis.