 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankara A. Sakadami for the date 6th of November 2023. Displayed here are the list of articles we will be going through today. Before getting into the discussion, I have two important announcements for you. Shankara A. Sakadami has started the Chakra Initiative. Under this initiative, you will be provided with 50 plus current of air session, five rapid revision session and nine tests. The link to the brochure is attached in the description. Make use of it. The second announcement is regarding the Prelims test series. The pre-storming batch three is about to start. The details regarding the test series are displayed here. I have also attached the link to the registration form in the description. Make use of the test series to boost your Prelims score. With these announcements, let us start today's discussion. Look at this article. This article talks about the Mixed Member Proportional System. This system of election is used in New Zealand election. The article talks about the advantages of this system and it also talks about the relevance of this system in Indian scenario. This is about the article given here. In our discussion today, we will see some of the points mentioned in this article briefly. Firstly, what is Mixed Member Proportional Representation System? See, it is a type of electoral system used in several countries like Germany, New Zealand and parts of United Kingdom. It is designed to balance the benefits of both proportional representation system and the first past the post electoral system. In India, we use the first past the post electoral system for general election to Lok Sabha and we also use the proportional representation system for elections to President, Vice President and Rajesh Sabha. In the Mixed Member Proportional System, voters have two votes, one vote for an individual candidate and another vote for a political party. With your first vote, you have to choose a specific person from your local constituency to represent you. This part works just like the usual elections in our country. With your second vote, you choose a political party you like. You are not picking a person this time but a party as a whole. The more votes a party gets from people all over the country, the more seats the party will get in the national legislature. As a result of the election, you have a local representative who understands your area's issues and you also have a national government that is made up of many parties. So, in a Mixed Member Proportional Representation System, the national government is composed of many parties and the number of seats for each party is proportional to the number of votes they received. This way, even the smaller parties still get a chance to be represented in the national legislature and the government reflects a variety of opinion. This system is complicated than the simple majority vote but it makes sure everyone's voices heard. Now, let us see the advantages of this system. This system is considered to be a fair and proportional system because it reduces wasted votes and provides even the smaller parties with representation in the national legislature. It also maintains a local connection between the voters and their representatives. This is the advantage. Now, what are the disadvantages? See, critics argue that this type of system can create a complex and large legislature and it may lead to more coalition government because in a Mixed Member Proportional Representation System, it is rare that a single party will win an outright majority. Due to this, mostly the government will be of coalition form and as we all know, a coalition government will be very slow in its operation. This is the major disadvantage of this system. Now, let me sum it up. See, the main aim of the Mixed Member Proportional Representation System is to provide a more accurate reflection of the voters' preference and it also maintains some elements of direct representation in the local constituencies. So, it is a mixture of both the first past the post system and the proportional representation system. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what is Mixed Member Proportional Representation System and we also saw some of its pros and cons. Now, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this editorial article. This editorial article talks about the issue of urban air pollution. The author points about a shocking data. He shows the data from the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago. It says that out of the 50 most polluted cities in the world, 39 are from India. He also points out that pollution directly affects the health of people. We can see this from the data here that the average Indian loses 5.3 years of life expectancy due to this air pollution. This is more serious for the residents of Delhi as the average Delhi 8 loses 11.9 years due to air pollution. This is about the editorial given here. So, in our discussion today, let us see about the causes of urban air pollution. We will also see the steps that can be taken to address urban air pollution. First, let us take up the causes. The first major cause is industrialization and urbanization. See, they are the major cause of urban air pollution. The areas around the industries show alarmingly poor air quality. Factories release many toxic gases due to burning of fossil fuels and use of other chemicals. It is estimated that around 80 different toxins can be found in the air which are emitted by factories. This includes asbestos, dioxins, lead and chromium. Secondly, rapid urbanization leads to urban air pollution. Rapid urbanization leads to deforestation of trees for meeting the urban needs. The World Bank estimates that by 2030, around 50% of the global population will be residing in the urban areas. This unsustainable rate of urbanization will reduce the green cover in the city leading to urban air pollution. The next cause is agricultural emission. See, generally we associate cities with non-agricultural activities. But agricultural activities also contribute to urban air pollution. Agricultural activities like stubble burning and waste burning are the major reason for pollution in cities like New Delhi. It produces pollutants like ammonia and nitrous Then there is the issue of vehicular emission. Increase in disposable income and poor public transport infrastructure has led to rapid growth in the demand of private cars and bikes. Data from the article shows that India's automobile market is expected to touch almost 160 billion by 2027. According to Nithya Yoke, the number of registered vehicles in India has increased from 5.4 million in 1981 to 210 million in 2015. This in turn leads to more vehicle exhaust which in turn leads to more urban air pollution. In addition to this, geography of a city also plays an important role in urban air pollution. In India, Delhi and the Indo-Gangetic plain has the highest level of air pollution. This is primarily due to lack of dispersal by sea breeze as in the case of Chennai, Mumbai or Vishakhapatnam. The problem mainly is amplified during the winters. Because during winters, cold air does not flow easily to disperse the pollutants. Moreover, the agricultural crop residues that is burnt during this period in the states of Punjab, Haryana and western UP also deteriorates the pollution situation in cities like Delhi. See, in terms of indoor air pollution, the use of beauty products is a major culprit. Most of the cosmetics and perfume contains volatile organic compounds. These compounds cause indoor air pollution. With more urban population and increase of disposable income, the use of these beauty products is going to increase in the future which pose a greater risk of indoor urban air pollution. The last cause is the waste treatment and biomass burning. See, in India, about 80% of the municipal solid waste is still decoded in open dumping yards and landfills. This leads to emission of greenhouse gas. These dump yards also affect the water quality in nearby areas. For example, in Delhi, around 5300 tons of PM10 and 7550 tons of PM2.5 are generated every year from the burning of garbage and other municipal solid waste in the landfills. See, these are some of the causes for urban air pollution. Now, let us see some of the steps that can be taken to address urban air pollution. Firstly, there should be a comprehensive air shed management. Here, what is air shed management? See, according to the World Bank, air shed is a geographical area where local topography and metrology limit the dispersion of pollutants away from the area. To put it in simple words, air shed management or air shed means an area where pollutants get draped creating similar air quality for everyone in that area. So, the entire air shed should be identified for better management of air pollution. For example, in the United States, the Passage of Air Quality Act of 1967 saw the state of California being divided into 35 districts. This is based on similar geographic and meteorological condition. Moreover, here pollution was regulated at the state level. This resulted in effective reduction of emission by 98% from 2010 to 2019. This is about air shed management. Next, government can also charge emission fee on vehicles which are emitting more than the permissible level of pollutants. For example, take London. In London, they have created an ultra low emission zone in central London area. In the central London area, they impose hefty daily fines on cars that emit more than 75 grand per kilometer of pollutants. This system also results in effective reduction of private vehicle and increased use of public transport. Then, government can also take up afforestation in the urban areas. Expanding green cover across urban areas will reduce dust and air pollution. Take Ahmedabad's municipal corporation as an example. Here, over 20,000 trees have been planted using the Miyawaki technique in 7625 square kilometer of area. This effectively reduced the air pollution in the Ahmedabad region. Government of India is also implementing schemes called Nagarvind. Under the scheme, government plans to develop 200 urban forest across the cities in the next five years. A successful example here is the Vargy Urban Forest in Pune. Government can also take up comprehensive policy on stubble burning, odd-even vehicle policy, regular updating of BS norms, effective implementation of vehicle scrappage policy to combat urban air pollution. See, these are some of the steps that can be taken to address urban air pollution. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the causes and the steps that can be taken to address urban air pollution. Now, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now, look at this article from the yesterday's newspaper. This news article reports an attack on fishermen. Eight fishermen from Tamil Nadu were allegedly attacked by a group of unidentified persons at sea. The incident happened in the early morning last Saturday when the fishermen were fishing in the Bay of Bengal. This is not a new incident. Since August, 45 such incidents have occurred. So, the fishing community is urging the government to ensure the safety of the fishermen. This is all about the news here. So, in our discussion today, we will look at the issues faced by the fishing community. Now, first, let us look at the question. Today's main question is, what are the challenges and opportunities of the fishing sector in our country? Enumerate the steps taken by the Indian government to promote the fishing sector. See, this question can be asked in GS paper 3 and the exact syllabus under which the question comes is highlighted here for your reference. Okay, this is about the syllabus. Now, coming to the question. See, this is a pretty straightforward question. First, we have to write about the challenges faced by the fishing sector in India. Second, we have to mention the opportunities of the Indian fishing sector. And finally, we have to write about the steps taken by the Indian government to promote the fishing sector. This is how I am planning on approaching this question. Now, let's start answering. Let's start with the introduction. Since the question is about the fishing sector, we can write few facts about the Indian fishing industry. Fisheries sector plays an important role in the Indian economy. It provides livelihood to millions of people in India. India is the third largest fish producing nation in the world. India contributes over 8% of the global fish production. The blue revolution that happened between 1985 and 1990 is the main reason behind the growth of India's fish production. In the financial year 2021-22, the fish production in India stood at 16.24 million tons. Despite high production, fish consumption in India remains low. According to the World Economic Forum, the average per capita fish consumption in India is approximately 7 kilograms per annum in 2019. This is well below the global average per capita consumption of 20.5 kilograms per annum. The World Health Organization recommends a consumption of 12 kilograms of fish per annum to get adequate amount of protein. So, the Indian government is trying to increase the fish consumption through various initiatives. On one hand, these initiatives will help provide nutrition security to our population and on the other hand, it aids the fishing community by increasing the demand for fish. See, this is a model introduction for this question. See here I have mentioned many key facts. This is just to provide you an overall idea about the Indian fishing sector. You need not mention all the facts in your answer. Only two or three facts is enough for the introduction part. Now let's move on to the body of the answer. As we saw earlier in the body part, you have to write about the challenges, opportunities and the steps taken by the government in regards to the Indian fishing sector. In the first part, we will write about the challenges faced by the fishing sector in India. The first challenge is the decline in fish production. Due to climate change and overfishing, fish production in India is continuously declining. The second challenge is lack of adequate technology and infrastructure. Still, many fishermen in India are relying on old fishing vessels and gears. This also results in reduction in fish production. The third challenge is the lack of value addition. Indian fishermen lack adequate cold storage facility and fish processing facility. There is also no proper forward and backward linkages. This results in lack of value addition and a reduction in profits realized by the fishermen. This is the third challenge. The next challenge is attack by neighboring countries. As we saw in the news, there are frequent incidents of attacks happening against the Indian fishermen at the sea. These attacks threaten the life of the fishermen and discourages them from carrying out fishing activity. The next challenge is limited market options. In India, there is no proper established market link. This means there is no proper connection between the fish surplus state and the fish deficient state. This limited market option along with limited value addition reduces the profitability of the fishing community. And the final challenge is the lack of proper social security to fishing community. Indian fishermen mostly operate on a very smaller scale. They face multiple problems like lack of proper healthcare, lack of proper insurance and lack of availability of institutional credit. These social insecurities hinder the development of the fishing community in our country. See, these are all some of the main challenges faced by the Indian fishing community. This is about the first part of the answer. Now coming to the second part, here we have to write about the opportunities of the Indian fishing sector. India is home to more than 10% of world's fish and shellfish species. So, if the government takes proper steps, India will become the largest exporter of fish in future. Then in recent times, aquaculture in brackish water has flourished in India. As a result, farmed shrimp production in India has increased from 20 tons in 1970 to 7.47 lakh tons in 2020. So, if the government facilitate the expansion of brackish water aquaculture, the export of shrimp from India will increase. This in turn will help to increase the export revenue. This is the second potential. And finally, the fishery sector will be able to provide more employment in the upcoming years. In India, the fishery sector has been recognized as the sundry sector. The fishery sector has demonstrated an outstanding double-digit annual growth rate of 11% since 2014. And it is also still growing. The government has started many initiatives to increase the processing of fish and boost value addition. This will generate employment opportunity in the fish processing sector. See, these are all some of the opportunities of the Indian fishing sector, which you can write in the second part of the answer. Now, coming to the final part, where we have to write about the steps taken by the Indian government to promote the fishing sector. The first one is the Prathamandri Matsya Sampathayojana. The scheme is implemented in all states and union territories. Through this scheme, the government aims to enhance fish production and productivity. This scheme also aims to ensure modernization of value chain, export promotion, protection of habitat, and the welfare of the fishing community. As a part of this initiative, government also plans to develop integrated modern coastal fishing villages. This is about the Prathamandri Matsya Sampathayojana. Now moving on, let us see some points about the Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund, that is FIDF. This fund was created by the central government. The fund was created to address the infrastructure requirement of the fishing sector. This fund provides concessional finance to the eligible entities, including state governments, union territories, NABAD, and all scheduled banks. These entities in turn provide cheap finance to the fishing communities that will help develop the infrastructure in the region. This is the second step. Thirdly, you can mention about the Sagar Parikrama Initiative. Through this initiative, government plans to bridge the infrastructure grab in the fishing villages by upgrading infrastructure such as fishing harbors and fish landing centres. And finally, you can mention about the Kisan Credit Card Scheme. In 2018-2019 period, the central government extended the Kisan Credit Card Facility to the fisheries and fish farmers. Under the Kisan Credit Card Facility, fisheries and fish farmers can get concessional credit to meet their working capital requirement. These are all some of the important steps taken by the Indian government to promote fishing sector, which you can use in the third part of your answer. Now, having completed the body of the answer, let us take up the conclusion part. In the conclusion part, you can suggest some measures to help the fishing sector realize its full potential. Here you can suggest measures like enhanced cold storage infrastructure, rapid transport facilities, enhanced value chain, and diversification of fish production that could be taken up by the government to realize the full potential of the fishing sector. So, that's all regarding this discussion. By discussing this question, we covered three aspects of the Indian fishing sector. We covered the challenges faced by the Indian fishing sector. Then we covered the opportunities of the Indian fishing sector. Finally, we saw the steps taken by the government to address the challenges. And that's all regarding this discussion. Now, let us conclude this and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. According to this news article, an annual census of Blackbuck and Spotted Deer was taken up at the Gindi National Park to monitor their population. Here, Blackbuck is also known as Indian Antelope and it is native to India and Nepal. And Spotted here, also known as Chittal, is a deer species native to Indian subcontinent. Both Blackbuck and Spotted Deer are listed as least concerned in the IUCN Red List. This is about the news article. So, in our discussion today, we will see a few important points about the Gindi National Park. In 1978, the small area inside the Chennai city, popularly known as Gindi Deer Park, was declared as a national park. And currently, it is one of the 106 national parks present in the country. Gindi National Park of Chennai is among the few national parks of India, which is situated inside a city area. This park provides various ecological services to Chennai and also acts as a generator of clean fresh air to the metropolitan area. Remember, Gindi National Park is one of the smallest national parks of India. Now, moving forward, let us see the flora that is found in the national park. See, the type of forest found here is the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest. Note that this type of forest is unique to the Coromandel Coast of India, Northeastern Sri Lanka and Northeastern Thailand. Inside this national park, there is also a sacred grove called the Saptakanniga grove. Only a few sacred groves remain in Chennai now and this is one of it. In addition to the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest, Skerbs and the Thon Forest are also present in the Gindi National Park. It contains more than 30 species of trees and a number of century-old gigantic banyan trees. This is about the flora present in the Gindi National Park. Moving forward, let us see some points about the fauna. Blackbug, toddy cat, civet cat, jungle cat, pangolin, hedgehog, shrew, black-napped hare are some of the animals that are found in this national park. It also has a significant population of spotted deers, jackals, a variety of snakes, over 100 species of birds and more than 60 species of butterflies. The park also has a role in both exu2 and in-su2 conservation of the wild animals. Note that the Gindi Snake Park is next to the Gindi National Park. The Gindi Snake Park gained the statutory recognition as a medium-sized zoo from the Central Zoo Authority in 1995. An additional point for you here is that the state of Tamil Nadu has five national parks. They are the Gindi National Park, Mudumalai National Park, Mukruti National Park, Indragandhi National Park that is the Animali National Park and finally the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park. Also, if you find out which state in India has the highest number of national parks, mention it in the comment section. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw a few of the important points about the Gindi National Park. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article from yesterday's newspaper. The article is about a recent study on monkeypox virus. This news article reports that the monkeypox virus is rapidly splitting into several leading ages. This is due to mutation of the monkeypox virus that results from continuous interaction of the virus with the human immune system. So, there is an urgent need for revising the public health messages about monkeypox and the governments should also scale up the outbreak management and control of the monkeypox virus. This is about the article given here. So, in our discussion today, let us see some important points about the monkeypox virus. See, monkeypox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus belongs to the genus Arthopoxyviridae. It falls under the poxyviridae family. Monkeypox disease is endemic to the Central and the Western African region. The disease is mainly concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the disease has now spread to other regions including India. Now, let us see how this virus transmits. Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease. This means that monkeypox can spread from animals to humans. The exact animal reservoir of the monkeypox virus is still unknown. However, some small mammals in the Western and the Central African region, like rope and sun squirrels, Jane-pouched rats and African doormies are thought to maintain the monkeypox virus in the environment. The monkeypox virus can enter humans through direct contact with infected animals while hunting, trapping and processing of their body parts and fluids. This is how humans get infected with the monkeypox virus. Also remember, the monkeypox virus can spread from humans to other humans also. The human-to-human transmission could happen through close contact with the individuals infected with monkeypox. It can also spread through large respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing of the infected person. It can even spread through bodily segregation, skin leations and contaminated articles of the infected individuals. This is all about the transmission of the virus. Now, let us look at the symptoms associated with the monkeypox. The monkeypox disease carries symptoms that are similar to smallpox. This is due to a genetic similarity between the smallpox and the monkeypox virus. The symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache and muscle pain. The infected person also develops rashes on the face, form, feet, mouth and eyes. In most cases, monkeypox is a self-limited disease where the symptoms resolve itself without any specific treatment. However, newborns, young children and people with compromised immune system are more likely to develop serious symptoms. Now finally, let us look at the treatment and the prevention available for monkeypox virus. See, there is no specific treatment to treat the monkeypox disease. As I said earlier, there are genetic similarities between monkeypox and the smallpox virus. So, the vaccines and the antiviral agents which are used for the eradication of the smallpox can also be used against the protection against monkeypox infection. Recently, the WHO has also said that vaccination against smallpox is approximately 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. So, the prior immunization against smallpox can prevent humans from the monkeypox infection. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw some important points about the monkeypox virus and the monkeypox disease. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article from yesterday's newspaper. See, recently a powerful earthquake with the magnitude of 6.4 in the Richter scale struck Nepal. This caused significant damage in the remote areas. As a result of this earthquake, 157 people have lost their lives in the affected region. This is about the news article given here. So, in our discussion today, we will see some points about seismic waves that is caused by earthquakes. First of all, what are seismic waves? Seismic waves are waves of energy. They travel through the earth's layers. Seismic waves are created due to a variety of reasons. They are created due to earthquakes, volcanic eruption, magma movements, landslides and large man-made explosions. Earthquakes generate two primary categories of seismic waves. They are called as body waves and surface waves. During earthquake, abundant amount of energy is released along the fault lane. This causes earthquake waves which spreads in all directions. This point where the energy is released is called the focus or the hypo-center of the earthquake. The point on the surface directly above the focus is called the epicenter. See, earlier I mentioned earthquake generates body waves and surface waves, right? Now let us see what are body waves. Body waves are generated due to the release of energy at the focus and they move in all directions traveling through the body of the earth. Here, they are called body waves because they travel through the body of earth, okay? The body waves are further classified into two. They are P waves and S waves. P waves are called primary waves which move faster and they are the first to arrive at the surface. The P waves are compression waves that are similar to sound waves. P waves can travel through gas, liquid and solid material. Moving on, let us take up S waves. S waves are also called as secondary waves. These waves arrive at the surface after some time behind the S waves. That is, the S waves are slower than the P waves. S waves are shear waves and they can travel only through solid material. This characteristics of the S waves helps us understand about the interior of the earth. Now, if we compare P waves and S waves, P waves vibrate parallel to the wave direction, leading to stretching and squeezing of the material. Whereas, S waves vibrate perpendicular to the wave direction and they create troughs and crust in the material. To be clear, the P waves are longitudinal in nature and S waves are transverse in nature. This is all about the body waves. The next one is surface waves. See the body waves interact with the surface rock and generate a new set of waves called the surface waves. These waves move along the earth's surface and travel similar to the S waves. That is, surface waves are transverse waves but has low frequency compared to S waves. Surface waves are slowest among the earthquake waves and they are recorded last on the seismograph. But they are the most damaging waves of all the waves. Surface waves are divided into Rayleigh waves and low waves. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the basics about the earthquake generated seismic waves. With this, we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now, let us take up the practice problems questions. We have four practice problems questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. Which electoral system combines individual local representation with national proportional representation, allowing voters to cast two separate votes? From our discussion, we know that the correct answer is option C, mixed member proportional representation system. Okay, now moving on to the next question. Here, three statements about Black Buck is given. We have to find how many of the statements given here are correct. Look at the first statement. It is the state animal of Rajasthan. This statement is incorrect because Black Buck is the state animal of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Okay, statement one is incorrect. Moving on to the second statement. They are considered sacred by the Bishnoy community of Rajasthan. This statement is correct. Moving on to the third statement. They can produce alarm sounds to alert their herd about dangers. This statement is also correct. The Black Buck or social animals, they live in groups and they can produce alarm sounds to alert their herd about danger. So here statement one is incorrect and statement two and three are correct. Since they are asking how many statements are correct, the correct answer here is option B, only two. Okay, moving on to the third question. Here, three statements about the P waves or primary waves is given. We have to find how many of the statements are correct. Look at the first statement. They are longitudinal waves. This statement is correct. P waves are longitudinal waves and S waves are transverse waves. And moving on to the second statement. They can travel through solid liquids and gases. This statement is also correct. P wave can travel through solids, liquids and gases. And S wave can travel only through solids. Okay, this is because S waves are shear waves. Okay, moving on to the third statement. They are the most devastating waves that cause damage on surface. This statement is incorrect. P waves are just body waves. It is the surface waves that cause most damage among all the other waves. So here statement one and two are correct and three is incorrect. Here also they are asking us to find how many of the statements are correct. So the correct answer here is option B, only two. Moving on to the last question. It is a zoonotic disease. This disease is endemic to western and central Africa. But it also spread to other region. The virus that causes this disease shares genetic similarity with smallpox virus. The infected persons of this disease develop rashes on their face, palm, feet, mouth and eyes. Which one of the following diseases is described above? It is a very easy question. From our discussion, we know that the correct answer here is option B, monkeypox. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer for this question and post it in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.