 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to daily news analysis brought to you by Shankarai's Academy. Today's date is 31st January 2024. Displayed here are the list of topics we are going to see today. Now without wasting any time, let us get into the discussion. Look at this news article. See yesterday, the results of snow leopard population assessment were made public in India. It was a four-year long estimation exercise to survey the number of snow leopards in India. As per the assessment, the highest number of snow leopards were found to be in Ladakh. This is followed by Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Jammu and Kashmir. So, there were totally nine states in which we can find snow leopards. Note this carefully. In India, there are estimated 718 snow leopards which accounts for 10 to 15 percentage of global population. So, this is the important points given in the article. In this context, we shall go through snow leopard and the steps taken for its conservation. First of all, snow leopards are one of the world's most elusive cats. Here elusive means they are very difficult to find. And snow leopard has a beautiful spotted coat and they use it for camouflage. See the image here. Can you spot the difference between surroundings and the cat? No, right? So, that's how camouflaged their skin will be. So, this skin is also useful for insulating them from cold. Now talking about their habitat, see snow leopards live in a high altitude mountainous region in central and southern Asia. So, usually they live in the altitudes of 3000 to 4500 meters above mean sea level. So, they habitat extends across mountainous regions of 12 countries. So, basically snow leopards are found in 12 countries. They were Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. So, these are the 12 countries which has snow leopard population. In India, the snow leopards can be found in western Himalayas, in the territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. So, they are found in western Himalayas and also in eastern Himalayas. Now talking about their conservation status, snow leopard is classified as vulnerable by IUCN. It faces threat from free-ranging dogs, human wildlife conflict and poaching. So, it becomes very important to carry out conservation efforts to conserve this elusive species of mountainous cats. Now talking about the conservation efforts taken to protect them. In India, the snow leopard is listed under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Prevention Act 1972. So, they are given highest protection in the country law. Apart from this, India has launched two conservation efforts. One is Project Snow Leopard and it promotes inclusive and participatory approach to conserve snow leopards. The second one is Secure Himalayas. It is a part of global partnership on wildlife conservation and crime prevention for sustainable development. So, it is a global wildlife program and it is funded by Global Environment Facility. So, it contributes to the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program. So, this is also a global program regarding the protection of snow leopards and it is a joint initiative of 12 snow leopard range countries that we have seen earlier. So, these are the important conservation measures taken in India and also globally to conserve snow leopards. With this, let us conclude the discussion and move to the next topic. Look at this news article, India nominates 12 forts of Marathas for UNESCO World Heritage List. Correctively, they are called Maratha Military Landscapes. It symbolizes the cultural and strategic excellence of Maratha period. So, this is the crux of the article given here. In our discussion, we shall see some of the recently added UNESCO World Heritage sites from India. We shall see this in the order of latest to earliest. See, India has 42 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Out of these 42 sites, 34 sites are cultural sites, 7 are natural sites and one is a mixed site. That is, one site is both natural and cultural site. And this one mixed site is Kanjanjanga National Park. Know that India is the sixth country in the world with the most UNESCO World Heritage site. Now, let us see the list of sites. The latest edition is Sacred Ensembles of Hoisala and Shanti Niketan. Let us see them in brief. The Sacred Ensembles of Hoisala is in the state of Karnataka. This consists of three Hoisala style temples in southern India, which dates back from 12th to 13th centuries. The temples were at Belur, Halibidu and Somanadapura. So, this is about Hoisala temples. Now, let us see about Shanti Niketan. It is in West Bengal. It is a cultural and educational center established by Ravindranath Thakur. The next site is Kakathya Rudreswara temple which is in Telangana. It was declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021. And unique feature of this temple is Vimana of the temple. It is made up of light weight, porous floating bricks which reduce the weight of roof structures. Moreover, the building has decorated beams and sculptures which illustrates the significance of Kakathya culture. The fourth site is Dolavira. It is in Gujarat and it is in Harappan city which is declared as World Heritage Site in 2020. It is one of the most remarkable and well preserved urban settlements. And the unique feature of this city is water management system. It has multi-layered water system, extensive use of stone in construction and burial structures. So, this is about the latest sites from India which is included in World Heritage list of UNESCO. With this, let us conclude the discussion and move to the next topic. Now, this news article talks about a petition accepted by National Company Law Tribunal. The petition was filed by Zee Entertainment against Sony for calling of a major deal. So, in this context let us understand about National Company Law Tribunal in Prelims Prospective. The National Company Law Tribunal is a quasi-judicial body and it handles some matters related to corporate law including disputes between companies and their shareholders. The NCLT was established under Company SAC 2013 and began functioning on 2016. Since it was created through an act, it is a statutory body. Now, what are the objectives of NCLT? The main objective of NCLT is to provide a forum for speedy and effective resolution of corporate disputes. Now, let us see the functions of NCLT. One of the key functions is to oversee the insolvency resolution process under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016. See, when a company is unable to pay its debts, it can be declared insolvent and placed under the supervision of NCLT. The NCLT then appoints an insolvency professional to manage the affairs of the company and initiate the process of resolution or liquidation. Here, note that NCLT deals with insolvency of only corporate persons under the code, that is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. But in case of insolvency proceedings regarding individuals and partnership firms, it will be dealt by debt recovery tribunals. So, this is the difference between debt recovery tribunals and NCLT. Secondly, NCLT plays a crucial role in facilitating mergers and acquisitions. When two or more companies wish to merge, they must seek the approval of NCLT. The tribunal examines a proposal and ensures that it is in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. So, if the merger is approved, the NCLT oversees the process of integration and ensures that the interests of all stakeholders are protected. Finally, NCLT plays an important role in resolving corporate disputes. So, these are the important functions of NCLT. The NCLT has principal bench at New Delhi. Apart from this, it also has benches at Ahmadabad, Alhabath, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gauhati, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. So, these are the major benches where NCLT is present. Now, talking about the composition of NCLT, it has a president and some other judicial and technical members. The president of this tribunal will be appointed by central government after consultation with Chief Justice of India. Note that the president of NCLT must be a judge of High Court and the members of the tribunal are appointed by central government based on the recommendation of a selection committee. So, this is the composition of NCLT. So, if anyone is agreed with the decisions of NCLT, they can make an appeal before national company law appeal a tribunal, that is NCLAT. And the decisions of NCLAT can be appealed before Supreme Court. So, anyone who is agreed with the decisions of NCLT cannot directly go to Supreme Court, but first they have to go to NCLAT. So, this is all about the discussion. Now, let us move to the next topic. Now, have a look at this news article. The International Monetary Fund has released its forecast for global economic growth. In this forecast, it has upgraded the outlook for United States and China, which are the two largest economies. IMF called it as a soft landing economic growth. So, this is the crux of the article. In our discussion, we are going to see about the basics of International Monetary Fund. See, IMF was established in 1944 to oversee the stability of the world's monetary system. It was created at the Bretton Woods UN Conference, which happened in the United States in 1944. Know that it is one of the Bretton Woods twin organizations and the other one is World Bank. The aim of IMF is to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its member nations. So, there were 190 member countries in IMF at present. IMF supports economic policies and promote financial stability and monetary cooperation between the member countries. Another thing to note here is that International Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a lending arm of World Bank. And if a country wants to join International Bank for Reconstruction Development, they have to be a member of IMF. So, this is about the basics of IMF. Now, let us see the three critical missions of IMF. The first is furthering International Monetary Cooperation. The second is encouraging the expansion of trade and economic growth. The third is discouraging policies that would harm prosperity. So, these are the three critical missions of IMF. In order to fulfill these missions, IMF member countries work collaboratively with each other and with the international bodies. Apart from this, IMF provides policy advices and provides for capacity development through technical assistance and training to the member countries. Now, let us see how IMF works. See, IMF provides financial assistance to its member countries as we have seen earlier. There is a non-concessional account maintained by IMF called General Resource Account, that is, GRA. All the IMF member countries are eligible to borrow from the GRA at market-based interest rates. Moreover, there is another account called Poverty Reduction and Growth, PRGT. This account is where only the low-income countries can borrow at concessional rates. So, the difference is, in general resource accounts, any country who is a member of IMF can borrow from IMF. But from PGRT account, only the low-income countries can borrow from it. Note that unlike development banks like World Bank, IMF does not lend for a specific project. Instead, IMF provides financial support to the countries which are hit by crisis. So, IMF generally support the countries that are struggling to help them restore the economic stability. So, this is how IMF works. Now, let us see about special drawing rights which is associated with this IMF. See, SDR is a Subliminary International Reserve Asset which is created by IMF to supplement the official reserves of its member countries. Basically, it is an interest-bearing international reserve asset and it was created in 1969 as we know that IMF member nations have many different national currencies. The IMF denominates its membership quota in terms of SDR. The value of SDR is determined by the basket of major world currencies. So, this basket of currencies helps make SDR a stable and widely accepted form of international money. As of now, the basket currencies for SDR are US dollar, Euro, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen and British pound. So, these are the five basket currencies which comprise SDR. The member countries can use SDR to supplement their official reserves. They can also use SDR to settle international transactions or even exchange them for other currencies. So, SDR provides a way for countries to have a reserve that is not tight to currency of single nation and also remember that the value of SDR is set daily by the IMF and the valuation basket of currencies is reviewed and adjusted for every five years. So, this is important point about SDR that is special drawing rights. So, with this, let us conclude the discussion and move to the next topic. Look at this news article. It is taken from business standard. The article reports that RBI may conduct open market operation or reduce the cash reserve ratio in order to ease liquidity conditions in the country. This is due to the fear that government must refrain from spending before elections. So, this is the crux of the article given here. In our analysis, we shall see about the two economic concepts that is open market operation and long term repo operation. First, let us take up open market operation. It means buying and selling of bonds issued by the government in the open market. It is one of the quantitative tools used by RBI to smoothen the liquidity and minimize the inflation level. Know that in open market operation, the central bank enters financial markets and either buys or sells government securities. The government securities like treasury bills, bonds or notes are sold during open market operations. The open market operation does not directly deal with the public. The RBI just sells these government securities to the commercial banks. Now, let us see how this open market operation works. When RBI wants to expand the money supply and boost the demand, the policy is called expansionary monetary policy. Here, the RBI buys securities and injects money into the banking system. As a consequence, this will increase the reserve of banks and decrease the interest rates. Moreover, this will also encourage borrowing, spending and stimulating the overall economic activity. Likewise, if there is an inflation and RBI want to control it, then it uses policies which will be contractionary policies. In this process, the RBI will sell the securities and get the money back from the banking system. So, this will reduce the reserve of banks and puts upward pressure on interest rates. As we know that higher interest rates can discourage borrowing and spending which will eventually control inflation. So, this is about open market operation. So, basically open market operation is about buying and selling of government securities by RBI to the commercial banks. Now, let us see about long-term repo operation. So, in simple terms, long-term repo operation means a tool used by RBI to ensure that commercial banks are getting resources at repo rate for a long time. As we know that repo rate is a rate at which RBI gives loans to the banks by accepting the securities. The long-term repo operation aims to ensure sufficient liquidity in the economy and the working of LTRO is very simple. Here, the RBI will buy the government securities from the banks and in turn provide money for the banks for long-term period that is for one year or three years. So, this long-term period is what the essence of long-term repo operation. We know that there is already a mechanism called liquidity adjustment facility. This will allow the banks to avail liquidity in case of requirement, but the main difference between the long-term repo operation and liquidity adjustment facility is that the liquidity adjustment facility is usually provided for limited period that is for seven days or 14 days. But the long-term repo operation is providing the money for long-term that is one year or three years. Also note that a new liquidity adjustment facility called marginal standing facility that is MSF is created by RBI in 2011. Under MSF, RBI offers money to bank at a rate higher than repo rate. So, this is also a short-term operation. The long-term repo operation will be conducted on eCuber platform of RBI. The eCuber is a core banking solution of RBI which gives a high degree of access to commercial banks and other institutions to their current account with the RBI. So, this is all about the discussion. Now, let us move to the next topic. Now, look at this article. It talks about the issues with electric vehicles. As per the article, the hybrid vehicles are emitting lesser carbon when compared to fully electric vehicles. So, in this context, let us understand the challenges in adopting electric vehicles in India. See the first challenge is respect to subsidies. The faster adoption of electric vehicles require an elaborate system of incentives and subsidies. For example, Norway's EV policy has lot of subsidies and reduces tax on electric vehicles. So, if India also provides subsidies like this, it will predominantly insub in the hands of middle and upper middle classes. In other words, the concern is that the financial incentives to promote the adoption of electric vehicles might not effectively reach broader segment of population. As a result, it may increase the existing social and economic inequalities. The second challenge is respect to charging network. See, in India, there exists a vehicle mix which is dominated by two-wheelers and three-wheelers. Both the cars and these small vehicles have different charging requirements. So, building charging infrastructure for electric vehicles by accommodating all these needs is an issue. The third challenge is with respect to the electricity source. See, in many countries, the electricity for EVs is generated from renovables. For example, Norway has 99% of hydroelectric power. But in India, the grid is still fed largely by the coal-fired thermal pants. This raises a concern related to environmental pollution and emission. The final challenge is respect to India's import dependency on global lithium value chain. See, the demand of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles is projected to grow by 30% in 2030. So, this means more than 50 tons of lithium is required to manufacture EV batteries alone. So, India must entirely depend on imports for producing lithium batteries for electric vehicles. So, considering all these facts, the article suggests we have to embrace hybrid vehicles for next 5 to 10 years before going to full electrification. Such vehicles are more practical and medium-term solution for countries' decarbonization efforts. It will also reduce pollution and will accommodate the country's needs. Here the hybrid vehicles means the vehicles which are powered by internal combustion engine and one or more electronic motors. So, they can run on both diesel or on electric charge. So, this is the hybrid vehicles and the article is suggesting India to use hybrid vehicles before fully adopting the electric vehicles. So, this is all about the discussion. Now, we have come to the problem's practice question discussion. Look at the first question, rapid financing instrument and rapid credit facility are related to the provisions of lending by which one of the following. It is a previous year question. The answer is B, International Monetary Fund. Now, look at the second question. Consider the following about long-term repo operation. It enables a central bank to provide short-term credit to the banks. It is conducted on E-Cuber platform of RBI. The interest rate is provided at repo rate. The total limit of long-term repo operation is decided by RBI. See, the first statement is incorrect because it provides long-term credit to the bank and the other three statements are correct. So, the correct answer is option C, only three. Which one of the following pairs of world heritage site is correctly matched? Ramapha Temple. It is not in Karnataka. It is in Telangana. Dholavira. It is in Gujarat. Architecture of Leek or Beesar. Yes, it is in Chandigarh. Champanar Pavgat. It is in Gujarat. It is not in Maharashtra. So, the correct answer is option C. Now, look at the fourth question. It is about snow leopard. India's first snow leopard conservation center will come up in Uttarkhand. Yes, this statement is correct. Global snow leopard and ecosystem production program is an intergovernmental alliance of all 12 snow leopard range countries. Yes, this statement is also correct. We have seen this in discussion. So, the correct answer is option A. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. If you like the video, please share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe to Shankarai's Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.