 Greetings, aspirants. This is Shankar's summary for UPSC Prilams 2023. This is a new initiative brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy. This new initiative will give you an edge to clear UPSC Prilams 2023. See, we have put in a lot of effort and segregated important topics in each month's current affairs and framed prilams questions based on it. We are also going to discuss some important points regarding each and every topic. The important topics that we are going to discuss in this video is displayed here. Just go through it. Now, without any delay, let's straight away get into the video. First, let us take this question. The question says India is a member 2, which of the following multilateral export control regimes? Number 1, Australia Group. Number 2, Vazinar Arrangement. Number 3, Nuclear Suppliers Group. Number 4, Missile Technology Control Regime, MTCR. Number 5, Zangir Committee. See, in the question, five multilateral export control regimes are given. We have to find, India is a member 2, which of these groups? First of all, know that multilateral export control regimes are voluntary and non-binding arrangements of major nuclear fuel or supplier countries. They are aiming to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery and related equipment and technology. See, questions like this are very important because two previous questions have been asked in this context. One is in 2018 and the other one is in 2011. These two questions are about Australia Group and Vazinar Arrangement and NSG. This Australia Group and Vazinar Arrangement was asked in 2011 and NSG was asked in 2018. And the news also, we are frequently hearing about the multilateral export control regimes. So it is very important to know about these regimes. Firstly, let us take the Australia Group. Australia Group is an informal association which was formed in 1985. See, Australia Group aims to prevent the export of chemical and biological weapons and the materials that are used to produce these chemical and biological weapons. The Australia Group consists of 43 participating nations. All states participating in the Australia Group are parties to Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention. Now coming to India specific information, India became a member of the Australia Group in the year 2018. Now coming to Vazinar Arrangement. See, the Vazinar Arrangement was established in July 1996. It is also a voluntary export regime. See, Vazinar Arrangement aims to promote transparency and greater responsibility in the transfers of conventional arms and dual use goods and technologies. This is done through regular information exchange among its members. For your information, dual use good means software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications. See currently 42 countries are members to Vazinar Arrangement. India became a member to this arrangement in the year 2017. And one more important thing is that India assumed the chairmanship of the Vazinar Arrangement on 1st January 2023 and this is for a period of one year. So this is very important for your exam. Now coming to NSG. See, the Nuclear Suppliers Group is a group of 48 nuclear supplier countries. It seeks to promote the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. See, one of the NSG guidelines contained the non-proliferation principle which was adopted in 1994. According to this principle, a supplier country has to transfer the nuclear items only when a country is satisfied that the transfer would not contribute to proliferation of nuclear weapons. So if it is for the proliferation of nuclear weapons, then the supplier country should not transfer the nuclear items to that particular country. See, I have been saying proliferation too many times. Proliferation means rapid increase. So this Nuclear Suppliers Group works to prevent the rapid increase of nuclear weapon production. And now coming to India specific information, India is not a member of NSG. India is trying to join the NSG but it has been continuously opposed by China. This is based on the grounds that India is not a signatory to nuclear non-proliferation treaty. So as of now, India is not a member of NSG. Now coming to MTCR. See, the missile technology controlled regime is an informal political understanding among the participating countries. It seeks to limit the proliferation of missiles and missile technology. It was formed in the year 1987 by the G7 countries. G7 countries include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and United States. Know that India became a member of MTCR in the year 2016. Now finally coming to the Zanger Committee. See, Zanger Committee was formed in 1971. It was formed as a forum to establish guidelines for implementing the export control provisions of non-proliferation treaty. So this is among the nuclear supplier members of NPT. See, the Zanger Committee maintains a list of controlled nuclear related items called the trigger list. See, trigger list, it is nothing but a list of source or special fissionable materials and equipment that are designed for processing, use or production of special fissionable materials. And India, it is not a member of Zanger Committee. So these are the information about the major multilateral export control regimes. Now let's take the question again. We saw India is a member of Australia Group, Pasenar arrangement, missile technology control regime. And India is not a member to Nuclear Suppliers Group and Zanger Committee. So the correct answer to this question is option B, 1, 2 and 4 only. Now let us see this next question. This is a map based question about the Indus River system. In 2021 prelims there was a question about the Indus River system. And the recent flood in the Indus River system makes it an important area for the 2023 prelims also. Now let us take the question. With reference to Indus River system, consider the following pass. One side river is given, on the other side city on the bank is given. Indus, Karachi, Ravi, Lagur, Zilam, Jammu, Chenab, Srinagar. How many pass given above are correctly matched? Only one pair, only two pairs, only three pairs and all four pairs. These kind of questions, they are always a headache for us, right? Look at the options, how can we eliminate it? But if you know the facts, you can easily attempt these kind of questions. For that purpose only, we have taken this question today. See the correct answer for this question is option B, only two pairs. I'll tell you how. See Karachi it is located on the banks of river Indus and Lagur it is located at the banks of river Ravi. The city of Srinagar it is actually located at the banks of Zilam river and Jammu is located at the banks of river Tavi. See since we are talking about the Indus River system, let us revise some facts about it. If we move from north to south, major rivers of Indus can be arranged as follows. Firstly we have Indus and then Zilam, Chenab, Ravi, Biaz and Satellage. So this is the north-south arrangement. Of all the major rivers, only river Biaz entirely lies inside India. Zilam and Ravi pours into river Chenab, Biaz pours into river Satellage. Finally, Chenab flows into river Satellage. It is the river Satellage which finally joins the main Indus River. Another fact about Satellage river is that the Bakranangal Dam is constructed across the river Satellage. See all these major rivers that we saw now, they are left bank tributaries of river Indus. There are some lesser known left bank tributaries. They are Zanskar river and Sohan river. Now coming to the right bank tributaries, the major right bank tributaries of Indus include Siyok river, Gilgit river, Swath river, Kunar river, Kuram river, Gomal river and Kabul river. See Indus flows anti-sident drainage system. Here anti-sident drainage is a drainage pattern that is formed when the area around the river is uplifted due to tectonic activity and the river due to continuous vertical erosion forms very deep valleys and this is what is known as anti-sident drainage. Now finally let us see about the Indus River Water Treaty. This treaty is an initiative of the World Bank. The treaty is implemented by the Indus River Commission and according to the treaty, the Ravi, Biyaz and Satellage will be under Indian control and Indus, Zilem and Chenab will be under Pakistan's control and these are some facts about Indus River system. Remember this okay. Now moving on to the next question. Which of the following are the effects of excess heavy metal in water? Rapid and abnormal growth of fish larvae, Minamata disease, decreased enzyme activities in aquatic plants, cancer in humans, mutation in genes, biomagnification. When you see the question for the first instance all the statements given here seems correct but if you look into it carefully you can easily differentiate what all the statements are correct and what all the statements are Look at the first statement no it says that rapid and abnormal growth of fish larvae. See if the statement contains only abnormal growth of fish larvae then it is correct but it includes rapid and abnormal growth. See generally growth in fish larvae and juveniles are rapid but when heavy metals enter the system they inhibit the growth rate. So one of the most noticeable signs of metal toxicity in fish larvae is growth inhibition and not the rapid growth. So this statement alone is incorrect. All the other statements are correct. If you eliminate the first statement itself you can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option B, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, 1. For your information Minamata disease is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning and decreased enzyme activities in aquatic plants is a effect of metal poisoning in aquatic regions and regarding cancer in humans see it is found that arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel they are classified as group 1 carcinogens by the international agency for research on cancer. I also know that heavy metals like cadmium they can cause gene mutation. See generally the increase of pollutant concentration up the food chain is called as biomagnification. So if heavy metals are accumulated in the food chain it also causes biomagnification. So remember all these are the effects of excess heavy metal in water. Recently the Center for Science and Environment has reported that rivers of India are facing severe metal pollution. They have found that three out of every four river monitoring stations in India have observed alarming levels of heavy toxic metals such as lead, iron, nickel, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and copper. I know that iron has emerged as the most common contaminant. Remember all these facts it will be useful for your prelims examination. Now let us take this next question consider the following pairs on one side tribes is given on the other side states is given you have to find out which of the following pairs are correctly matched Raba, Assam, Hatti, Meghalaya, Kurvi Karan, Tamil Nadu, Coach Rajmangshi, Odisha, Betta, Kuruba, Karnataka. For this particular question I have picked the names of tribes which appeared recently in the news. See UPSC is frequently asking questions about tribes. So this question will be very helpful to you in answering such tribe related questions. Firstly Raba is given no? Raba is one of the most popular and indigenous tribes of Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India. In India Raba tribe is present in the states of Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal. These Raba tribes they celebrate the Baiko festival annually. Baiko is the principal deity of Raba which is associated with the crops. So first paris correct. Secondly see in September 2022 union cabinet headed by our prime minister approved the addition of four tribes to the list of scheduled tribes. They include Narikorevan, Kurvi Karan, Hatti and Benjia tribes. Know that Hatti tribes belong to Himachal Pradesh and Narikorevan and Kurvi Karan tribes are found in Tamil Nadu. Benjia tribes they belong to Chhattisgarh and some other states. See before itself Benjia tribes were listed as scheduled tribes in Jharkhand and Odisha. Now they are going to be listed as scheduled tribes in Chhattisgarh. Now initially we saw Hatti belongs to Himachal Pradesh no? So the second paris incorrect. Now coming to the third par. Already we saw Narikorevan and Kurvi Karan tribes are found in Tamil Nadu. So the third par is correct. Now coming to Coach Rajbanshi. See recently six tribal communities in Assam namely Coach Rajbanshi, Thaya Home, Chutia, Matak, Moran and T tribe. They have demanded the Assam state government to include them in the ST list of Assam and this is why the names of these tribal communities appeared in the news. So the fourth par is also incorrect because Coach Rajbanshi tribes are found in Assam and not in Odisha. Now coming to Beta Kuruba. See on last December parliament passed a bill to include Beta Kuruba along with Card Kuruba in the list of scheduled tribes in Karnataka and Beta Kuruba tribes live in the hilly regions of Karnataka and they are one of the few indigenous communities of the Neelgiris. So the fifth par is also correct. So the correct answer to this question is option B, 1, 3 and 5 only. Now let us take this next question. Which of the following are the potential applications of electric, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft? See it is shortly referred as EVTOL. The applications given in the question include air taxis, package delivery, space travel, disastrous rescue operations, agriculture, defense operations. To answer this question first of all you should know what is EVTOL. See EVTOLs are basically air taxis or flying taxis and they are powered by batteries and that is why it is called as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts. See VTOLs, they are nothing but helicopters. So what are EVTOLs then? EVTOLs are helicopters that run on batteries. That is it is an electric helicopter. These EVTOLs are typically designed to carry two to six passengers including a pilot. See it is a promising technology in urban air mobility. Some EVTOLs are used for logistics and they can carry a payload of approximately 300 kgs and also know that EVTOLs can reach a cruise altitude of 10,000 feet or 3048 meters. Apart from this it helps in finding people who are stuck in debris after accidents like landslides, fires or earthquakes. So in simple words they are used in search and rescue operations during disasters. See by using EVTOL-enabled unarmed aerial vehicles, farmers can practice smart surveillance selective pesticide dusting and they can also gather data to protect their crops from various threats. And finally EVTOLs also have multiple benefits in the military. This is because it has the flexibility to operate from anywhere and then it has the options to fly manually or automatically. They also operate with lower noise levels and most importantly we do not need runways because they can take off vertically. See these are some basic facts about EVTOLs. So from this what you can understand they are basically helicopters and they have some applications in various fields. Now look at the options, no. One of the applications is given as space travel. Can helicopters travel to space? No, right. If you eliminate this particular statement then you can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option C 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 only. Once you know what is EVTOL you can easily arrive at the correct answer using your common sense. Now let us take this next question. Consider the following pass. On one side petroleum refinery is given, on the other side state is given. Tatipaka, Andhra Pradesh, Gawati, Assam, Batinda, Punjab, Narimanam, Tamil Nadu. You have to find out the correctly matched pass. See to answer this question you must know exactly the distribution of petroleum and mineral oil in India. First of all let us see some basics. What is petroleum? See petroleum or crude oil consists of naturally occurring hydrocarbons and these hydrocarbons occur in both liquid and gaseous states and they also vary in chemical composition, color and specific gravity. This table here contains the well-defined elemental composition of petroleum. See one fact you have to know here is that petroleum fuels on burning they give only little smoke and they leave no ash so they are better than coal and since India is the third largest consumer of oil knowing this fact is very important. See here remember petroleum or crude oil is obtained from sedimentary rocks of the earth. The process of formation began in the tertiary period that is three million years ago. So most of the oil reserves in India are associated with anticlines and fault traps in the sedimentary rocks. An anticline is nothing but a structural trap formed by folding of rocks strata into an arch like shape. You can see that in this image here. This is only anticline. Now let us see the petroleum and natural gas basins in India. Upper Assam Basin, Western Bengal Basin, Western Himalayan Basin, Rajasthan, Saurashtra Kach Basin, Northern Gujarat Basin, Ganges Valley Basin, Mumbai High, Kambat Gulf and Assam are the most productive areas. Know that oil extracted from these basins are crude oil and they contain many impurities so it cannot be used directly. It needs to be refined. There are two types of refineries in India. One is field-based and the other one is market-based. Field-based refineries means refinery plants are constructed at the location where the oil is available. Market-based refinery means refinery plants are constructed at the area where the demand for the products is high. See Digboy is an example of field-based refinery and Barowni is the example for market-based refinery. See there are totally 23 refineries in India. 18 of them are in the public sector, two of them in the joint venture and three of them in the private sector and they are well-spread geographically across the country. Now coming back to the question. See the correct answer for the question is option D, all four pairs. So all of the refineries are correctly matched with their states. Now this map here shows you the location of refineries in India. Go through it okay. Now look at this next question. Which among the following areas are placed under coastal regulation zone 1A according to the recent CRRZ notification 2019. Corals and coral reefs, sand dunes, biologically active mudflats, horseshoe, crab habitat, structures of archaeological importance. See before trying to solve this question let us see some background. The Ministry of Environment and Forest under the Environment Protection Act 1986 issues the coastal regulation zone notification and the ministry revises the notification from time to time. The recent revision took place in 2019. Know that UPSC has not explored this area yet. So we can expect a question from this area this year. See the 2019 notification categorizes the coastal areas into four zones. The first zone is coastal regulation zone 1, CRRZ1. These areas are environmentally most critical. The CRRZ1 is further classified into CRRZ1A and CRRZ1B. CRRZ1A includes the ecologically sensitive areas such as corals and coral reefs, sand dunes, biologically active mudflats, horseshoe, crabs, habitats and structures of archaeological importance. Now come back to the question. The correct answer to the question is option D, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. See the other areas that are included in CRRZ1A are mangroves, national parks and other protected areas, salt marshes, turtle nesting grounds, seagrass beds and nesting grounds of birds. Generally no activities are permitted here except certain ecotourism activities and construction of roads in exceptional cases for defense, strategic purpose and public utilities. This is about CRRZ1A. The other category CRRZ1B it is the intertidal zone. Here activities like land reclamation are permitted for four shore facilities like ports. This is about the first category and the second one is CRRZ2. It is the built up area and includes the developed land areas close to the shoreline. They have a specified built up ratio and have drainage and approach roads and other infrastructural facilities such as water supply, sewerage mains etc. In CRRZ2 construction activities are permitted with conditions and the third zone is CRRZ3 which are relatively undisturbed areas that is rural areas. It is further classified into CRRZ3A and CRRZ3B based on population density but the point to be noted in CRRZ3 is it also earmarks the no development zone. In a no development zone only certain activities are permissible and others are regulated. The difference between CRRZ3A and CRRZ3B is in CRRZ3A the no development zone is 50 meters landward from the high tide line and in the case of CRRZ3B the no development zone is 200 meters landwards from the high tide line and the last zone is CRRZ4. It is the water area and further classified as CRRZ4A and CRRZ4B. CRRZ4A includes the water areas from low tide line to 12 nautical miles seawards and CRRZ4B deals with the water areas of a tide induced water body and these are the important provisions of CRRZ notification 2019. Make note of all of these facts okay. Now let us take this next question. Cape Town Agreement recently seen in news is related to which of the following? Unregulated fishing, access to genetic resources, climate change related disasters, stratospheric ozone depletion. See the answer to this question is option A unregulated fishing. Now we will understand a little about IUU fishing. It has expanded us illegal unreported and unregulated fishing. See this IUU fishing is a broad term that captures a wide variety of fishing activity. Illegal fishing means the fishing conducted by national or foreign vessels in waters under the jurisdiction of state without the permission of that state that is illegal fishing. Then the unreported fishing are those which have not been reported or have been mis reported to the relevant national authority. Finally, unregulated fishing means practices that contravenes the conservation efforts and management of fisheries stock in a particular area. See IUU fishing reminds one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems. So we have two main regulations on IUU fishing. One is Cape Town Agreement and the other one is Agreement on port state measures. The Cape Town Agreement is an internationally binding instrument. It sets minimum standards on the design, construction, equipment and inspection of fishing vessels. And then there is this agreement on port state measures. It is the first binding international agreement to specifically target illegal unreported and unregulated fishing. Its objective is to prevent and eliminate IUU fishing. And it also blocks fishery products derived from IUU fishing from reaching national and international markets. So these are some facts about IUU fishing. Now with this information let us move on to the next question. With reference to e-waste or e-debris consider the following statements. According to the recent Global e-waste monitor report of the UN, India is the second largest producer of e-waste after China. Lead uranium, mercury, nickel, lithium, thorium and beryllium are some of the hazardous metals present in the e-waste. As per e-waste management rules 2022 the definition of e-waste also includes discarded solar photovoltaic panels or cells. See in this question you have to find out the incorrect statements. See I have given this question because in June 2022 data about e-waste came in the Hindu newspaper. As we all know the world is now facing multiple and serious problems due to e-waste. And because of this earlier also two questions regarding e-waste were asked in the UPSC. In 2019 a question regarding e-waste management rules was asked in UPSC. In this question they have asked about the feature of extended producer responsibility. This feature was introduced in the e-waste management and handling rules 2011. And this is a policy based approach where the responsibility is vested with the producers of e-waste for the treatment and safe disposal of e-waste. Now the other question it was asked in the year 2013. In this question UPSC asked which of these metals are released into the environment as e-waste due to improper disposal of computers or their parts. So now you know why I have given this question here. Now let us take the question again. Look at the first statement. It says India is the second largest producer of e-waste according to global e-waste monitor report of UN. This statement is incorrect. According to the recent global e-waste monitor report of UN India is the third largest producer. The first place goes to China and the second place goes to USA and the third place is only held by India. Now coming to statement 2. The hazardous metals present in the e-waste include lead, uranium, mercury, nickel, lithium, thorium and beryllium. Now look at this statement carefully. Radioactive materials are also given in this statement. Yes uranium is given thorium is also given. So this statement is incorrect. Except for uranium and thorium all the other metals are present in e-waste. See while answering questions like this you have to be very cautious. UPSC will try to confuse you by giving options like this. So be cautious and use your common sense. Now coming to the third statement. As per e-waste management rules 2022, e-waste includes discarded photovoltec, solar panels and cells. See this statement is correct. In November 2022 the Union Environment Ministry released the e-waste management rules 2022. In these rules the definitions of e-waste have been widened to include the discarded solar photovoltec modules or panels or cells. Apart from this 2022 rules have introduced recycling targets in the extended producer responsibility plan. This means that 2022 rules introduced an annual e-waste recycling target for the producers. So hereafter e-waste producers have to compulsorily achieve a recycling target. See this will help in proper recycling and safe disposal of e-waste. So the correct answer to this question is option A, 1 and 2 only. See what has the question asked? The question has asked for the incorrect statements that is why the right answer is option A. And aspirants if you want to know more about e-waste management rules 2022, watch our 28th February 2023 analysis okay. Now let us take this next question. See this three statement question is about endosulfon. Before trying to solve this question let me explain why I framed this question. See India is a fast developing country. With development comes pollution. So UPSC has constantly asked questions about various pollutants, its sources and impacts. For example in 2020 UPSC has asked about the source of benzene pollution and in 2019 there was a question about the gaseous pollutants from burning crop residue. So every year we can expect a question about pollutants or pollution. See endosulfon has been in use last year and in addition to this till now UPSC has not asked any questions about endosulfon. So we may expect a question about endosulfon this year. Now let us take the question. Consider the following statements about endosulfon. Endosulfon is a herbicide which was used in coffee plantations of karnataka and kerala. See this statement is entirely incorrect. First of all endosulfon is a pesticide not herbicide. Secondly endosulfon is used in cashew plantations of kerala and karnataka and not in coffee plantations. Now the second statement says that endosulfon can be classified as a persistent organic pollutant due to its ability to bioaccumulate in aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Now this statement is correct. See endosulfon has the ability to bioaccumulate. In addition to this it is persistent meaning it will take a long time to disintegrate. So it is grouped as a persistent organic pollutant. Now the third statement says that due to its negative impacts endosulfon is placed in annex A of stock home convention on persistent organic pollutant. See this statement is also correct. Endosulfon is placed in annex A of stock home convention. See when a chemical is placed in annex A of stock home convention on POP the parties to the convention must take measures to eliminate the production and use of that particular chemical. Note a fact here India is a party to stock home convention. In addition to this in 2011 the Supreme Court of India passed an interim order which banned the production sale and use of endosulfon in the country. So the correct answer to this question is option B 2 and 3 only. See apart from this you should also know about the impacts of endosulfon because it is also a potential area for UPSC problems question. See endosulfon exposure mainly results in neurobehavioral disorders, cognitive disorders, hydrocephalus, mental retardation, cancer, lifelong illness among children and finally it also causes abnormalities related to male reproductive system. Here hydrocephalus is a condition that increases pressure within the head and makes the head grow in abnormal size and this condition sometimes leads to brain damage and death and these are all the impacts of endosulfon. Now with this information let us take up this next question. Consider the following statements with reference to international liquid mirror telescope. See in order to answer this question you should first know about international liquid mirror telescope. It is shortly referred as ILMT. See this ILMT is the only liquid mirror telescope operational anywhere in the world. It was jointly developed by India, Belgium, Canada, Poland and Uzbekistan. The major instrumentation funding was provided by Belgium and Canada and India was responsible for the operations and upkeep of the telescope. See after the development it was established on the campus of Devastal Observatory of Aryabhata Research Institute of Observational Sciences in Ninital Uttarakhand. Now let us see how it works. Look at this image here no. Here the primary mirror is actually a rotating bath. This bath is nothing but a bowel container in which the reflective liquid is poured. Examples of the reflective liquid metals include mercury, gallium, gallium, indium, alloy or oil suffused with reflecting particles. See mercury is preferred as the reflective liquid in the primary mirror. This is because mercury has high light reflecting capacity. Now coming to its working see in this arrangement when the bath rotates it turns the mercury into a parabolic liquid mirror. Yes it is one of the properties of liquid that is when the liquid and its container are rotated at a constant speed around a vertical axis it causes the surface of the liquid to assume paraboloidal shape. This happens due to the influences of gravity and centrifugal acceleration. Here gravity pulls the liquid down and the inertia of the centrifugal force pulls it radially sideways and this principle was first realized by Isaac Newton. See this perfect paraboloid directs and concentrates light to the focal point of the telescope and a camera is put at the focal point of the paraboloid to capture the pictures. So the bath is rotated around a vertical axis and the mercury also rotates along with it and the images are captured in the camera and this is how the telescope actually works. One more important point that you have to know here is that the mercury used in the bath is covered with a thin film of transparent mylar and this mylar is kept a few centimeters above the mercury surface. See the main purpose of this mylar is to eliminate the ripples formed due to spinning and it acts as a protection from wind disturbance. Here mylar is nothing but a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate that is PET. Even last year also we had a question about PET right. So knowing about them is very important. Now let us take this international liquid mirror telescope question. Statement one says that it relies on a rotating bath of reflective liquid metal to create a curved surface which acts as a parabolic deflector. This statement is correct. The second statement says that it is stationed at the Devastal Observatory Campus of Aryabhata Research Institute of Observational Sciences. This statement is also correct. But what has the question asked? The question has asked for the incorrect statements. So the correct answer to this question is option D neither one nor two. Now let us take this next question. The provisions of right to freedom of religion includes which of the following. Number one, right to propagate religion. Number two, right to the Sikhs to wear and carry kirpan. Number three, right of the state to legislate for social reforms. And number four, right to religious bodies to secure conversion of people to their own faith. See to answer this question you have to know about article 25 in and out. So what does article 25 says? Article 25 gives us the freedom of consigns, free profession, practice and propagation of religion. See consigns means a person's moral sense of right and wrong and this only acts as a guide to one's behavior. In that line, freedom of consigns includes the inner freedom of an individual to mold his relation with God in whatever way he desires. So this right includes freedom to adopt a religion or freedom to adopt a belief of his choice. And then article 25 also includes right to profess. It means the right to declare one's religious beliefs and faith openly and freely. This right includes the freedom to change one's religion or beliefs. But it does not include right to convert another person to one's own religion. Most importantly, it does not include the right to force one's religious beliefs on another person. So no person should be forced to practice any religion against their wishes. But know that the religious conversions which are not forced, they are not prohibited. You should know the difference, okay? Thirdly, article 25 includes the right to practice. This means performance of religious worship, rituals, ceremonies and exhibition of beliefs and ideas. In that line, Sikhs are allowed to wear and carry Kirpan and it is a constitutional right. Finally, article 25 also includes right to propagate. It means transmission and dissemination of one's religious beliefs to others or exposition of the tenets of one's religion. From this, it is very clear that article 25 covers not only religious beliefs but also it covers religious practices. But like other rights, this right is also subjected to certain restrictions. It is not an absolute right. The state can impose restrictions on the religious freedom of a person by making a law. And the restrictions is to maintain public order, morality and health to regulate or prohibit any financial, economic, political or other secular activities related to religious conduct and for the social welfare and reform for all sections and departments of public work organizations of Hindus. So these are all the restrictions imposed on religious freedom of a person. Now with this information, we can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option C 1 2 3 only because article 25 does not give the right to religious bodies to secure conversion of people to one's own faith. It is not a fundamental right. Now let us take this next question. See this question is about Iran. Iran has been in the news very often. It has been in the news for the sale of kamikaze drones to Russia. And it was also in news due to the China moderated talks with Saudi Arabia. So we can expect a map based question about Iran's location. And due to this possibility of map based question on Iran, we are going to solve two questions on Iran's location. The first one is a very simple question. It is about the countries that are bordering Iran. See we might have seen Iran's map n number of times before, but I'm pretty sure that most of us would not know the answer to this question. For people who don't know the answer for this question, I'll explain how to arrive at the answer for this question through elimination technique. We know that Iran is not a land locked country. Also a few days back during our Hindu news analysis we saw that Uzbekistan and Leicentain are the only doubly landlocked countries in the world. So all the countries bordering Uzbekistan must also be landlocked. Since Iran is not landlocked, we can safely conclude that Iran does not share a land border with Uzbekistan. Now in this question, look for the option without Uzbekistan. Only option C does not have Uzbekistan in it. So the correct answer is option C. Now before taking up the next question, let us look at the Iran's map and note down all the countries that share a land border with Iran. The countries include Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and Iraq. Here note that Kuwait and Syria does not share a land border with Iran. And this is about the first question. Now moving on to the second question, here four water bodies are given and we have to arrange it from north to south. Although this question might appear a little tough, it can be solved if you know one single fact. Recently Turkey was in the news due to an earthquake right? At that time if you had gone through the map of Turkey you could easily answer this question. Of the four given lakes, one common fact among them is that they all are salt lakes. And the odd lake among the four is Lake Van as it is located in Turkey and it is in fact the largest lake in Turkey. And the rest of the lakes are here in Iran. And if you know that Lake Van is in Turkey, then you can conclude that it might be in the northest position. Of the given options, only option B has Lake Van in the northernmost position. So we can safely conclude that option B is the correct answer. Like this only you can use elimination technique even in the map-based questions also. Now with this information let us move on to the next question. See this question is about eco-sensitive zones. In June 2022 the Supreme Court directed that each protected forest such as National Park or Wildlife Sanctuary must have an eco-sensitive zone of minimum one kilometer wide. And this is why the topic of eco-sensitive zones appeared frequently in the news. Now if we look at the importance of this topic earlier in the year 2014 UPSC has asked a question regarding eco-sensitive zones. And this is also the reason why I have given this question today. Now before trying to solve the question we will see some points regarding eco-sensitive zones. Eco-sensitive zones which are otherwise called as eco-fragile zones or buffer or transition zones which are notified around highly protected areas such as National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. Eco-sensitive zones are notified by Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change. They are notified under section 3 of the Environment Protection Act 1986. Note one point here despite eco-sensitive zones are notified under Environment Protection Act the Act does not mention the term eco-sensitive zones. Remember this okay. See the eco-sensitive zones are created as shock observers for the protected areas. This means that these zones would also act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to areas involving less protection. And this is about the basics of eco-sensitive zones. Now coming to the extent of eco-sensitive zones see the National Wildlife Action Plan 2002 to 2016 says that the land within 10 kilometer of the boundaries of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries is to be notified as eco-sensitive zones. The width of the eco-sensitive zones differ from one protected area to other. However as a general principle the width of the eco-sensitive zone is maintained at 10 kilometer around the protected areas. Know that if any particular place holds larger economically important sensitive corridors then the areas beyond 10 kilometer can also be notified as eco-sensitive zones. See the rules as mentioned by the National Wildlife Action Plan are not mandatory and that is exactly why recently the Supreme Court ordered the government to maintain at least 1 kilometer of eco-sensitive zones around the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. Here you have to know one thing. Supreme Court's order does not mean to alter the existing eco-sensitive zones. If the existing eco-sensitive zones are demarcated beyond 1 kilometer then that demarcation will only prevail. See the recent Supreme Court order to maintain the eco-sensitive zone around protected areas are meant to guard the protected areas and to refine the environment around them. Even if a particular area has declared as eco-sensitive zone some of the activities are permitted inside the zones. They include ongoing agriculture or horticulture practices by local communities, rainwater harvesting, organic farming and then adoption of green technology and use of renewable energy sources. Now with this background information let us approach the question. Look at statement one here. It says that eco-sensitive zones are notified by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change under the provisions of Forest Conservation Act 1980. See in this statement the first half is correct and the second half is wrong. It is notified by Ministry of Environment but it is notified under the provisions of Environment Protection Act 1986 and not the Forest Conservation Act. Now look at the second statement. Recently the Supreme Court directed the government to maintain 10 kilometers of eco-sensitive zones around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. See this statement is also incorrect because just now we saw Supreme Court ordered to maintain 1 kilometer area of eco-sensitive zone around the protected areas. Now look at the third statement. If a particular area is declared as eco-sensitive zones then the ongoing agriculture or horticulture practices by local communities are prohibited. See this statement is also incorrect because even if a particular area is declared as eco-sensitive zone, agriculture, horticulture and some other activities are still permitted inside the eco-sensitive zones. See what has the question asked? The question has asked for the incorrect statements. So the correct answer for this question is option D, 1, 2 and 3. Now let's move on to the next question. See now we are going to solve two questions. See these two questions are framed in the aspect of water bodies present in the western Asia. Now coming to the first question, this question is regarding RETSI. It asks for the countries that are bordering RETSI. Now see this map here. RETSI is bordered by four African nations on the west and two Asian countries on the east and the four African nations include Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Dijbauti and the two Asian countries include Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Now coming to the question. In the options given Oman and Ethiopia do not share border with RETSI. So the correct option here is option C, 1, 3 and 5 only. Now moving on to the next question. Here four water bodies present in the western Asian region are given and we have to arrange it from south to north. Now look at this map here. See these marked water bodies are only given in the question. If you look at the question carefully it has asked us to arrange the water bodies from south to north. While answering these type of questions we have to be very cautious with the directions. See sometimes the options will be given in a confusing manner. If we go from south to north Gulf of Aden comes first. It is followed by RETSI and it is followed by Gulf of Aqaba and finally the DETSI. So the correct answer to this question is option C, 3, 4, 1, 2. But if you do any mistake and arrange it from north to south then also we have an answer in the option. What is the north to south arrangement? DETSI, Gulf of Aqaba, RETSI and Gulf of Aden. 2, 1, 4, 3. See 2, 1, 4, 3 is also in the options right. So you have to be very careful while attempting these kind of questions. Now let us move on to this question. See this question is about Bhakti movement. It is always an important topic from Prilim's perspective. See Basavana who is an important Bhakti saint from Karnataka was in news last year due to the Lingayat issue. So this year we can expect a question in this regard and that is exactly why I have given this question here. Now before trying to solve the question, let us see some points about Lingayats. See the followers of Basavana who lived in the 12th century Karnataka were called as Virasayvas or Lingayats. As I already mentioned, Basavana is one of the important Bhakti saints from Karnataka and he also served as a minister in the court of Chalukya king. Basava spread social awareness through his poetry popularly known as Vachanas. He rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals. Basava was also a strong promoter of Ahimsa and he also condemned human and animal sacrifices. While he was serving as a minister, he introduced a public institution called Anubhava Mandapa. It is also known as Hall of Spiritual Experience. In the Anubhava Mandapa, he invited men and women from all socioeconomic backgrounds to discuss the spiritual and mundane questions of life openly. As followers of Basavana, the Lingayats also followed his important teachings. They worshipped Shiva in his manifestation as a linga. The men usually wear a small linga in a silver case on a loop strung over the left shoulder. The Lingayats challenged the idea of caste. They also did not discriminate against people from different castes. They questioned the theory of rebirth. See the Lingayats also encouraged the practice of post puberty marriage and widow remarriage which was discouraged by the Dharma Shastras. Our understanding of the 12th century Lingayat practices come from the Vachanas. See Vachanas which literally translates to sayings were composed by both men and women. Through this we can conclude that Lingayats did not discriminate based on gender. See due to their radical ideas, Lingayats gained followers among the groups which were marginalized from the Brahminical social order. Now look at this question here. In this question, assertion is given and the reason for that assertion is also given. The assertion says that Lingayats gained followers among those who were marginalized within the Brahminical social order. This assertion is correct. Reason for that is Lingayats challenged the idea of caste and pollution attributed to certain groups by Brahminas. And this is the correct reason for the assertion. So the correct answer is option A, both assertion and reason are true and reason is the correct explanation of the assertion. Now with our understanding about the Lingayats, let us solve another question. This is also in the form of assertion and reason. The assertion says that Lingayats ceremonially buried their dead instead of cremating. Reason, Lingayats believed that on death the devotee will be united with Shiva and will not return to this world. See just now we saw that Lingayats questioned the theory of rebirth. See they believed that on death the devotee will be united with Lord Shiva and he will not return to this world. And due to this belief they did not cremate the dead as mentioned in the Dharmasastra. Instead they ceremonially buried the dead. So for this question also the correct answer is option A, both assertion and reason are true and reason is the correct explanation of assertion. Now let us move on to the next question. See this question is regarding ecobricks. Here 5 statements are given. We have to find which of these are the benefits of using ecobricks. Now before answering this question we will see some points about ecobricks. See ecobricks is nothing but a plastic bottle filled with used or waste plastic. It can be used as a building block to construct houses or commercial buildings or any other viable structures. Now coming to the advantages, firstly ecobricks help in addressing the problem of plastic accumulation. As we all know plastic waste takes more time to decompose and this is why the plastic waste are accumulated everywhere. So if we convert these plastic waste into bricks it will help us to address the issue of plastic accumulation. Secondly ecobricks help in the reduction of global warming. See in some places the plastic waste are not properly managed. So they end up in landfills. Now let us say a fire is starting in a landfill. Then what will happen? It will release harmful greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide etc. They are very harmful to the environment. So converting waste plastic into ecobricks implicitly helps to reduce greenhouse gas emission. And thirdly ecobricks are water resistant. As we all know plastics are generally water resistant. This in turn helps us to make water resistant ecobricks. Therefore the buildings or structures made using ecobricks are also water resistant. Overall ecobricks benefit the environment in the short run. But note carefully in the long run ecobricks are very harmful to the environment. Know that the non-recyclable plastics are manufactured from inorganic chemicals like petroleum. So when the ecobricks are exposed to sunlight they can leech into the natural environment. This could cause immediate damage to the soil and it will even reach the water table. So the life of aquatic plants and animals will be adversely affected. So ecobricks are not safer to water table. Apart from this the exposure of ecobricks to sunlight also makes the plastic fragile and vulnerable to breakage. If they get broken then micro plastics will be released into the area. We know that micro plastics are harmful to both animal and human health. So ecobricks do not prevent the release of micro plastics. Now coming to the question. In the question the benefits are given like addressing the problem of plastic waste accumulation, safer to water table, reduction in global warming, water resistant buildings or structures, prevention of release of micro plastics. See just now we saw the benefits and the adverse effects of ecobricks. So statement one is correct, statement three is correct and statement four is correct. Two and five they are incorrect because it is dangerous to water table and it does not prevent the release of micro plastics. So the correct answer to this question is option C, 1, 3 and 4 only. Now this next question is from a static topic. To be specific it is based on the cropping seasons. Although it is a static topic without constant revision we might forget the facts. So only I have framed this question here. But before discussing the question let us quickly revise about the cropping seasons in India. Firstly let us take the cariff season. The cariff season mainly coincides with the southwest monsoon season. This season falls between June and September. During the season tropical crops are grown. In the season crops like rice, cotton, bajra, maize, jovar and tar are grown in northern India. In the case of southern India during the cariff season rice, maize, ragi, jovar and ground net are grown. If you can notice the crops grown in the cariff season require a lot of water. And this is one of the reasons why their cultivation coincides with the southwest monsoon season. Now the next season is Rabi season. The Rabi cropping season coincides with the onset of winter. This season falls between October and March. Since this cropping season coincides with the onset of winter, temperate and subtropical crops are grown in this season. See crops like wheat, gram, rapeseed, mustard and barley are grown in northern India. We know that southern India, winters are not severe as it is close to the equator. So in southern India even during Rabi season tropical crops are grown. While discussing cariff crops I mentioned that they are water consuming right? States like Tamil Nadu receive most of the rainfall during retreating monsoon season. So southern states can grow high water consuming tropical crops like paddy even during Rabi season. See the other crops grown in southern India during Rabi season include maize, ragi, jovar and groundnut. And this is about the Rabi cropping season. Finally there is this Zaid season. Zaid is a short duration summer cropping season. See Zaid cropping season starts immediately after the end of Rabi crop harvest. This season falls between April and June. In northern India during the Zaid cropping season crops like watermelons, cucumbers, vegetables and fodder crops are grown. In case of southern India where the irrigation facilities are available, rice, vegetables and fodder crops are grown. Now let us take the question which among the following crops are grown during Zaid season in the southern states? Rice, vegetables, maize, groundnut and fodder crops. See from what we discussed now it is very clear that during summer season in the southern states rice, vegetables and fodder crops are grown. So the correct answer to this question is option A, 1, 2 and 5 only. Now look at this question. See this question is about tiger reserves. See before trying to attempt the question we will understand some basics about tiger reserves. See Bengal tiger was declared as the national animal of India in April 1973 under the initiative Project Tiger. Before this that is till 1972, lion was considered as the national animal of India. So in order to conserve tigers tiger reserves are established. Presently there are 53 tiger reserves in India. The latest one that was added to this list was Guru Ghashidha's National Park of Chhattisgarh. Also know that India is home to 80% of world's tiger population. According to Tiger Census report 2018, the total count of tigers has risen to 2967 in 2018 from 2226 in the year 2014. See these are the top 10 largest tiger reserves by area. You should remember at least the order of first five tiger reserves. It will be very useful for you in your prelims. And we also need this information to solve this particular question. So to remember this easily use this mnemonic. Naughty man melts silicon absurdly. Nagarjuna Sagar, Manaz, Melgaat, Similipal and Amradabad. And now this map contains the other tiger reserves in India. You should know the location of important tiger reserves. Now let's come back to question. The question says in terms of their area arrange the following tiger reserves in the decreasing order. What is the mnemonic that we just saw? Naughty man melts silicon absurdly. So the correct order here is 14253. So the correct answer is option A. Now let us take this next question. This question is about Unified Payments Interface which is shortly known as UPI. In June 2022, Reserve Bank of India announced that it will allow the UPI users to link their rupee credit cards to the UPI. This move aimed to allow the people to use their credit card to make UPI payments. After the RBI's announcement, subsequently in September 2022, the National Payments Corporation of India has introduced a new feature to link rupee credit cards to the UPI interface. Note one fact here. As of now only rupee credit card users are allowed to link their cards with the UPI. The other credit cards such as Visa, Mastercard and so on, they are currently not allowed to link with the UPI. See initially UPI users were allowed to make payments using their bank accounts and debit cards only. But the new feature allows UPI users to make UPI payments using credit cards also. So users need not have to carry their credit cards everywhere. See because of this crucial step of the RBI only, we have framed this question. And if you want to know the importance of this topic that is the UPI, just look at these two previous questions. UPIC has asked these two questions based on UPI in 2017 and also in 2018. So the UPI topic is very important for our examination. Now before trying to solve the question, let us see some points about the Unified Payments Interface. Firstly know that UPI is an instant payment system that was launched in the year 2016. It was developed by National Payments Corporation of India. Note when crucial fact here, the UPI was developed by NPCA. But the UPI is being regulated by the RBI. Now talking about the features of UPI, UPI provides immediate money transfer through mobile devices around the clock and it also helps in accessing different bank accounts using a single mobile application. Apart from this, UPI also has single click two factor authorization. See single click is a process of transaction where payment can be done with a single tap. Only for the first transaction, we have to register with the needed credentials like credit card or debit card details and the bank account details. After the first transaction, you do not need to fill the details. We can just pay by a single click. But such a transaction needs to be secure and authentic, right? And that is why UPI has two factor authentication. This means the transaction is authenticated at two levels. The first one is mobile number or a virtual ID offered by the provider. And the second one is mobile pin called M pin. So keep this in mind, okay? In addition to this, UPI also has the quick response code or QR code feature. This helps us to make the payment by scanning the QR code. Now these are all the basic facts about UPI. Now let's come back to the question. Look at the first statement. It says UPI system follows three factor authentication scheme such as virtual ID, OTP and pin. The statement is incorrect. We just now saw that UPI has two factor authentication. One is virtual ID or mobile number and the other one is M pin. Now the second statement says that UPI users will now be able to make UPI payments using both debit and credit cards. See this statement is correct. Recently only RBI has allowed the UPI users to link their rupee credit cards to the UPI. Now the third statement says that UPI was developed and regulated by National Payments Corporation of India. This statement is incorrect. It was developed by NPCI but it is regulated by RBI. See what has the question asked? It has asked for the incorrect statements. So the correct answer to this question is option B, 1 and 3 only. Now look at this next question. The term school as defined under right to education act 2009 include which among the following. A school established owned controlled by the appropriate government or a local authority. An aided school receiving aid to meet whole or part of its expenses from appropriate government or the local authority. An unaided school not receiving any kind of aid or grants to meet its expenses from the appropriate government. Madrasas, Vedic Pachalas and other educational institutions imparting religious education. See the correct answer to this question is option A, 1, 2 and 3 only. Right to Education Act defines school as the terms which are given in the three statements here. Take note of this okay. Now with this let us also discuss some other important provisions of the act. See RTE Act aims to provide for free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years. Some of the key features include firstly elementary education must be provided free of charge. Secondly if a child above 6 years is not admitted to school then he or she shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his or her age. The child shall also receive special training till the child completes its elementary education. Thirdly the child has the right to transfer from one school to another when there is no provision for completion of elementary education. And then there is the no detention policy. The 2009 act has the no detention policy. But know that this was modified by 2019 RTE Act amendment. The amendment provides for regular examination in classes 5th to 8th and if the child fails the amendment act grants a provision to give her or him additional opportunity to take a re-examination within two months. If the students still do not pass the exam the state government may decide to detain them. Now lastly let us see about the section 12 of RTE Act. The section 12 of RTE Act mandates that all private schools and specified category schools have to allocate 25% of their seats to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups. Note that this provision does not include minority schools. And the specified category schools include Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodya Vidyalaya, Sainik schools and other similar schools. When the private schools allocate and grant admission in 25% of their seats under the section 12 the state government will then reimburs these schools. It will be reimbursed on a monthly basis and the amount is determined based on state rules. And these are some of the important provisions of RTE Act 2009. Now let us move on to the next question. Now in this next question on one side elephant corridors are given. On the other side the states where the elephant corridors belong to are given. We have to find how many pairs are correctly matched. Now before answering this question now look at the previous question here. See this question is about Indian elephants which was asked in the year 2020. So the question we are going to discuss now is very important for your exam. Now before trying to solve the question we will see some points about Indian elephants and elephant corridors. See India is home to 50 to 60% of Asian wild elephants. Know that there are three subspecies of Asian elephants. They are Sri Lankan elephant, Sumatran elephant and Indian elephant. Now talking about the Indian elephant. Indian elephant is scientifically called LFS Maximus. The Indian elephants form group of six to seven and the groups are usually led by oldest female. The Indian elephant occurs in the central and southern western Gods, northeast India, eastern India, northern India and in some parts of southern Peninsular India. They occur in 16 of the 28 states in the country. According to the latest census conducted in the year 2017 there were more than 27,000 elephants in India. In that Karnataka had the highest number of elephants where the number stood at 6049. Karnataka is followed by Azam and thirdly Kerala. Now coming to the conservation status the Indian or Asian elephants were categorized as endangered under the IUCN Red List. Then they are also placed under Appendix 1 of Sites and Indian elephants were even added to Appendix 2 of the Convention on Migratory Species in 2020. Now coming to Elephant Corridors, the Elephant Corridors are narrow pathways between natural habitats of elephants. Elephant corridors allow elephants to move freely from one location to another without coming in contact with the humans and this reduces the risk of man-elephant conflict. Now according to the latest data there are 101 elephant corridors present across India and this is asked by the joint report from the Environment Ministry and Wildlife Trust of India. So as of now 101 elephant corridors are there. Out of the 101 identified elephant corridors six have been secured. They are given here you just go through it. One is in Kerala, two are in Karnataka, again two are in Meghalaya and one is in Uttarakhand. Based on these six secured elephant corridors only we have framed the pair based question here. Now coming to the question look at the first pair it says Tirunelli, Kudrakote, Karnataka. This pair is incorrect because this elephant corridor belongs to Kerala and not Karnataka. The second pair is correct. Siju Revak is located in Meghalaya only. The third pair is incorrect. See Kanyanpura Moyar corridor is located in Karnataka not Kerala. And the fourth pair is correct. Chilla Motichur elephant corridor is located in Uttarakhand only. So the correct answer to this question is option B only two pairs. Now let us take this next question. See I have framed this question for three reasons. Number one UPSC has not asked any question from FATF yet. Number two FATF has been in news very often. For example in 2022 a Singaporean of Indian origin Mr Rajkumar became the President of FATF. And number three India has been taking a lot of efforts to counter terror financing. For example the 2023 edition of No Money for Terror Ministerial Conference was held in New Delhi. So we can very well expect a question from this area in UPSC 2023. Now before we approach this question let me give you a brief introduction about the FATF. See FATF has expanded us Financial Action Task Force. It is the Global Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Watchdog. It was founded in the year 1989 on the initiative of G7. The FATF's secretariat is located at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Headquarters in Paris. Currently FATF has 39 members including two regional organizations the European Commission and the Gulf Cooperation Council. India is also a member of FATF. India has been a member of FATF since 2010. See FATF develops financial standards and these standards help develop a coordinated global response to prevent money laundering and terror financing. FATF also works to stop the funding for weapons of mass destruction. Now with this basic understanding let us take up the question. The first statement says that FATF develops financial standards to address the issues of money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This is correct. These are all the functions of FATF. The second statement says that a country is placed in FATF's gray list when there is a deficiency in that country's anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing and anti-proliferation efforts. See this statement is incorrect. Actually a country is placed in the black list when there is a deficiency in that country's anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing and anti-proliferation efforts. The black list is officially called high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action. Currently only three countries are placed in the black list. They are Iran, North Korea and Myanmar. Now the third statement says that Pakistan was removed from gray list and placed in the FATF's black list. See this statement is also incorrect. The first off is correct. Pakistan was recently removed from the gray list but it is not placed in the black list. So the second part of the statement is incorrect. So the correct answer to this question is option A, 1, 1, Lee. Now let me tell you some points about the gray list also. See the gray list is officially called as jurisdictions under increased monitoring. When the FATF places a country in the gray list, it means the country has committed to resolving deficiencies in counter-money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing policies. That too in an agreed upon time frame. Finally note one important point here. The terms black list and gray list are not officially mentioned in the FATF's vocabulary. Now with this information let us take the next question. Look at this question here. It says which of the following statement is correct regarding ESG investments in India? Currently there are no ESG funds in India. Business responsibility and sustainability report is made mandatory for all companies. In India this fund is regulated by the association of mutual funds in India and none of the above. See first to answer this question you should know the concept of ESG. See ESG means using environmental, social and governance factors. This framework is used to evaluate companies and countries on how advanced they are with the sustainability. So the concept is driven by the idea of environment friendly practices, ethical business practices and employee friendly record. Now with this understanding let us see what are ESG funds. ESG funds is a kind of mutual fund. While looking for investment the ESG fund short list the companies that score high on environment, social responsibility and corporate governance. Therefore we can say that the key difference between ESG funds and other funds is planet health consigns. That is ESG funds focuses on companies with environment friendly practices, ethical business practices and an employee friendly record. In India this fund is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Here you should also know about the BRSR report. This business responsibility and sustainability report is nothing but a report on the ESG requirements. It was introduced by SEBI in 2021 on a voluntary basis and it was made mandatory from 2022 to 23 for the largest thousand companies in India. So other than these top thousand companies for other companies it is voluntary. For these thousand companies only it is mandatory. Now let us take the question. See the first statement it is obviously incorrect. ESG investment is in nascent stage in India. But there are many ESG funds now. Now look at the second statement it is also incorrect. It is mandatory only for the top thousand companies by market capitalization. For the other companies it is only voluntary. Now the third statement it is also incorrect. See ESG funds are regulated by the SEBI. So the correct answer to this question is option D none of the above. Now this next statement is about drone rules 2021. The first statement says that drones that weigh between 2050 grams to 2 kg are classified as nano drones. The second statement says that no pilot license is required for small and nano drones. The third statement says that there is no restriction on drone operations by foreign owned companies registered in India. Now before solving the question first we'll see about the drones and new drone rules of 2021. Drones are basically unmanned aircraft systems. See drones work much like other modes of air transportation like helicopters and airplanes. The engine is turned on the mission starts up and the propeller rotates to enable flight. Here the pilot uses the remote control from ground to direct the flight of drone. See drones are classified according to their weight including payload. Now see this image and note their weights and it also includes the information about the classification of drones. Now with this information let us see some of the key highlights of the drone rules 2021. See the rules abolished the need for various approvals including certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permit, authorization of R&D organization and student remote pilot license. In short it reduced the approvals and restrictions involved in operating drones in India and then the new rules made it mandatory for all drones to be registered. Thirdly no flight permission will be required for up to 400 feet in green zones and up to 200 feet in the area between 8 and 12 kilometer from the airport perimeter. Now what is this green zone? The Indian airspace for drones is divided into three zones green, yellow and red. The operations under the green zone do not require permission from the DGCA while those in the yellow and red zones are strictly controlled. And fourthly no pilot license is required for micro drones used for non-commercial use nano drones and for the R&D organizations. And fifthly there is no restrictions on drone operations by foreign owned companies registered in India. And finally import of drones and drone components to be regulated by DGFT and these are some of the important highlights of drone rules in India. Now look at the question again. From this we can easily say that statement 2 and 3 are correct. So the incorrect statement in this question is only statement 1. The question has also asked for the incorrect statement so the correct answer is option A 1 1 Lee. Now look at this question here. This question is about the aspirational districts program. Now before solving the question as usual let us see some points about aspirational districts program. The government of India has launched the aspirational districts program in January 2018. This program aims to improve India's ranking under human development index. Know that the aspirational districts in India are those districts that have poor socioeconomic conditions. See these districts are aspirational in the sense that the improvement in these districts can lead to the overall improvement of human development in India. The aspirational district program aims to improve India's HDI ranking by rising the living standards of people and ensuring inclusive growth for all. To put it simply the program aims to transform some of India's most underdeveloped districts into a developed one in a fast and efficient manner. At present 112 districts are identified as aspirational districts across the country by the Nitiayog. At the government of India level aspirational districts program is supported by Nitiayog. Nitiayog works closely with the union and state ministries and various other developmental partners to fast track the program at the district level. Know that as a part of the program the districts are encouraged to develop and replicate best practices that drive the improvement across the socioeconomic themes. So we can say that the program is aimed at localizing sustainable development goals thereby leading to the progress of the nation. The program is based on 49 indicators from five identified thematic areas. The areas include health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and finally basic infrastructure. Now with this information let us take the question. Look at the first statement. It says that the aspirational district program aims to improve India's ranking under HDI by rising living standards of people. The statement is correct. It is implemented in all districts of India with the support of Nitiayog. The statement is incorrect. See this is because the aspirational districts program is implemented in only 112 districts that are identified by Nitiayog and not in all districts. So be careful of extreme statements like this okay. Now taking the third statement the focus areas of program include health, nutrition, financial inclusion, skill development. This statement is correct. We saw five thematic areas right? Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure. So the third statement is correct. So the correct answer to this question is option C 1 and 3 only. Now look at this question here. It is about the Chinook Helicopters. Now before we take up this question let me explain why I framed this question. In UPSC prelims we can expect questions about defense technologies. For example look at these questions from 2014 and 2016. One is about Agni 4 missile and the other one is about INS Astra Dharini. So these questions are not random as far as UPSC prelims is concerned importance will be mainly provided for defense technologies that are in news. Last year there was news about India negotiating the purchase of Apache and Chinook helicopters. So we have to know about these helicopters before we take up the 2023 prelims. Now you have known the importance of defense technologies. With this knowledge about the importance of defense technologies let us take the question. The first statement says that it is an advanced multi-role combat helicopter. See this statement is incorrect. Chinook is not a combat helicopter. It is the Apache which is actually a combat helicopter. Now look at this image here. You can find an image of an Apache and the Chinook Helicopters. Now the statement too says that it is manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation. See this statement is also incorrect. Chinook is manufactured by Boeing Corporation and not the Lockheed Martin. Now as far as Apache is concerned it is also manufactured by Boeing. Now the third statement says that the helicopter can be developed for medical evacuation, search and rescue, parachute drops, disaster relief and aircraft recovery. See if we know that statement one is incorrect then statement three is obviously correct right. If it is not a combat helicopter then the applications of helicopter includes these all only. See Chinook is the helicopter of choice for humanitarian disaster relief operations and admissions such as transportation of relief supplies and mass evacuation of refugees. And also know that India has already inducted Chinook into Indian Air Force and our country is in negotiations for further purchase of this aircraft. India is keen on purchasing the Chinook because it has the ability to deliver heavy payloads to high altitudes and it is suitable for operations in the high Himalayas. So what is the correct answer for this question? See the question is asked for the incorrect statements. We found that statement one and two are incorrect so the correct answer is option A one and two only. Now this next question is about the Agnipat scheme. Statement one says that it is a gender neutral short-service scheme for the Indian army to recruit young soldiers. Statement two says that one of the primary motives behind the scheme is to cut down the burden of pension bills for defense personnel. See the correct answer for this question is option B two only. We'll understand how. See we all know that the revenue expenditure of a government is comparatively high due to the government's obligation to pay pension to the armed forces in India. While this is on one hand on the other hand the government cannot limit the recruitment also. India is a prosperous country when it comes to demographic dividend. So in order to reduce the burden of pension bills for defense personnel and to reap the demographic dividend the Agnipat scheme was approved by government of India on 14th June 2022. It is a tour of duty style scheme which recruits male soldiers for Indian armed forces. Now what is this tour of duty style? It is a new recruitment model in which civilians can be recruited into three services of armed forces for four years. Here Indian armed forces comprises of three divisions Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force. It is a pan India merit based recruitment. So any male can participate in the recruitment process if their age is between 17.5 years to 21 years. As of now the scheme is not open to women and this is exactly why statement one was incorrect. But also note that the government has stated the scheme may be extended to women in the near future. So as of now the scheme is not gender neutral. Only male can participate and they are known as Agni Veers. See the recruitment standards will remind the same and the recruitment will be done twice a year through rallies. After selection the aspirants will go through training for six months and then will be deployed for three and a half years. During this period they will get a starting salary of rupees 30,000 along with additional benefits which will go up to 40,000 by the end of four year service. Importantly during this period 30 percentage of their salary will be set aside under a Seva Nidhi program and the government will also contribute an equal amount every month. Interest will also be paid for the amount contributed. At the end of the four year period each soldier will get 11.71 lakh as a lump sum amount which will be tax free and they will also get rupees 48 lakh life insurance cover for four years. In case of death the payout will be over rupees 1 crore including pay for the unserved tenure. After completing this engagement period Agni Veers will be offered an opportunity to apply for the enrolment in the permanent CAD. These applications will be considered by a centralized transparent rigorous screening system which would be based on merit and demonstrated performance during the service. So out of these applicants up to 25 percentage of Agni Veers will be selected to be enrolled in the armed forces as a regular CAD AIR and this is about the Agni Pat scheme and I hope you understand why the answer for the question is option B2ND. Now let us take this next question. Statement 1 says that 5G consumes less power and allows a device battery to last longer. Statement 2 says that while 4G works on lower bands 5G can work on three different bands. Statement 3 says that 5G can be used on 4G bands but the opposite is not valid for 4G and statement 4 says that both 4G and 5G use Volte. See the correct answer to this question is option B4ONLY. So what does this mean? This statement 4 is only incorrect. See 5G does not use Volte. Instead it uses a newer technology known as VONR. To understand this you should first know about the evolution of mobile network. 1G it refers to first generation of wireless cellular technology and they enabled communication between two supported devices using a wireless network. So there will be only voice calls. See the main difference between 1G and 2G is that the audio transmissions of 1G networks were analog while the 2G networks were entirely digital. 2G used more advanced digital technology for wireless transmission called the global system for mobile communication. 2G supported better quality voice calls and data services such as short message service and multimedia messaging service. It later received internet support by way of GPRS that is General Packet Radio Service and EDGE enhanced data GSM evolution but that alone wasn't enough for a generational shift. So the third generation mobile network introduced high-speed internet services which set the stage for smartphones and application ecosystems. See 3G enabled video calling, mobile television, online radio services, emails on phone and mobile phone apps and 4G enabled high definition voice calls, video calls and other internet services. See 4G used LTE. LTE stands for long-term evolution. During the service the internet runs at 4G speed on your smartphone. In this network you can enjoy the internet with high-speed bandwidth. However the drawback of this network is that if you are using it in your smartphone and someone calls your number then the internet connectivity stops. But this problem was solved by the Volte connectivity. See Volte stands for voice over long-term evolution. It also supports 4G networks. In this network you can enjoy high speed internet service even if you got a call during internet use. So Volte is specifically capable of managing and improving high-speed voice and data services over the 4G LTE networks. Most importantly Volte has an edge over the LTE in terms of internet speed, connectivity, battery life and call setup time etc. Now moving on to 5G. See 5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology. It is one of the fastest, most robust technologies that the world has ever seen. It uses voice over new radio shortly known as VONR. It is also known as O5G or voice over 5G. And it is a method by which voice calls can be handled over the 5G network. See conceptually both VONR and Volte work similarly as they are both IP based and they use the packet switching technique. But 5G can provide higher speed, lower latency and greater capacity than the 4G LTE networks. See remember 5G networks can coexist with 4G networks and they also can work a standalone 5G mobile networks. And some of the benefits of 5G are given here. You just go through it okay. Now let us take this next question which of the following are the benefits of Aishman Bharat digital mission. The first statement says that it creates integration within the digital health ecosystem similar to the role played by Unified Payments Interface. The second statement says that it provides a choice to individuals to access both public and private health services. The third statement says that it ensures transparency in pricing of services and accountability for the health services being rendered. See before trying to solve the question know that UPSC has already asked the prelims question in the year 2022. So it is very important for you to know about the Aishman Bharat scheme. See Aishman Bharat is a flagship scheme of India. See it was launched by the recommendation of National Health Policy 2017 to achieve the vision of universal health coverage. As a part of the Aishman Bharat, Aishman Bharat digital mission was launched in September 2021 by our Prime Minister through a video conference. It aims to provide digital health IDs for all Indian citizens. This will help hospitals, insurance firms and citizens access the health records electronically whenever required. Even old paper records will also be converted digitally for better accessibility. See the pilot project of the mission has been announced by Prime Minister on 15th August 2020. The project is being implemented in pilot phase in six states and union territories. The National Health Authority under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the implementing agency for this mission. Now let us look at the features of the mission. The first feature is health ID. It will be issued for every citizen which will work as their health account. This health account will contain details of every test, every disease, the doctors visited, the medicines taken and the diagnosis. See it is free of cost and voluntary. It just helps us in health analysis and leads to better planning, budgeting and implementation for health programs. And the second feature is health care facilities and professionals registry. See this is a comprehensive repository of all health care professionals who involve in delivering health care services across both modern and traditional systems of medicine. So health care professional must first register with the HPR to access the details of the patients. Through this repository the patients can also have easy electronic access to medical professionals. So it is like a two-way street. Now apart from this the health care facilities registry will have records of all the country's health facilities. Ultimately the scheme helps in bridging the existing gap amongst the different stakeholders of health care ecosystem through digital highways. And this is about the second feature. The third feature is Aishman Bharat digital mission sandbox. See the sandbox is actually a framework which helps us to test whether a specific technology or product is in compliance with ABDM standards or not. ABDM here is Aishman Bharat digital mission. This enables organizations looking to join the national digital health ecosystem to effectively connect with ADBM building blocks or become health information providers or users. So after knowing all the information let us take the question again. From the information what we just saw all the statements given here are correct. So the correct answer for the question is option C 1 2 and 3. Now look at this question here. This question is regarding open network for digital commerce shortly known as ONDC. Now before getting into the question let us see some points about ONDC. See ONDC is a not-for-profit organization. It was set up in 2020 by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade. See this department is functioning under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Know that ONDC was commissioned through Quality Council of India. And ONDC aims to offer an open network for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks. Currently many of the people are using Flipkart or Amazon platforms to buy the products. Here three parties are involved in the transaction right. They are the seller, buyer and the intermediate platform such as Flipkart or Amazon. By ordering through online platforms we don't know who is the seller of that particular product. Likewise the seller of the product also doesn't know who is the buyer. Therefore the sellers and buyers are not able to interact with each other directly. They can only interact through the online platforms that is the intermediaries. Here only the ONDC becomes relevant. As I said already ONDC will offer an open network for exchange of goods and services over the digital networks. Now look at this image here. The open network offered by an ONDC will allow the buyers and sellers to transact digitally regardless of what platform or application they are using. This means that the seller and buyer can interact with each other digitally without the involvement of third parties such as Flipkart or Amazon. So ONDC will enhance the local commerce across segments such as mobility, grocery, food order and delivery, hotel booking and travel. See ONDC is also referred to as UPI of e-commerce. This is because ONDC looks familiar like the UPI system for digital payments. As we all know UPI helps us to access multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application and it merges several banking features. By doing this UPI enables seamless fund routing and merchant payments. Similar to that ONDC will function for digital commerce by allowing the buyers and sellers to transact digitally. Now let's take the question. Look at the first statement here. It says that it is a not-for-profit organization set up by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. See the first part is correct. The second part is incorrect. It was set up by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade which is functioning under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has nothing to do with the ONDC. Now the second statement says that it offers open network for exchange of goods and services over digital networks that allows buyers and sellers to transact digitally. This is correct. This is only ODC. So the correct answer for this question is option B21 Lee. Now let's move on to this question. Consider the following statements regarding marine heat waves. See first we'll see about marine heat waves and then we'll solve the question. Gently heat waves are long periods of weather that are hotter than usual. They can happen both on land and in the ocean. If it happens in ocean then it is called as marine heat waves. These marine heat waves happen all around the world from Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. See marine heat waves have been recorded in surface and deep waters across all latitudes and in all types of marine ecosystems. They can persist for days, weeks or even months and they can occur at any time of the year. That is these heat waves can occur in summer and also in winter. Marine heat waves have disastrous consequences for marine animals and plants such as destruction of coral reefs, kelp forest etc. Now you should know what causes marine heat waves. See the oceans observe around 90 percentage of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases. This causes the ocean's surface temperature to rise. The air mass near the ocean surface will also get heated. This air mass will remind trapped in this region due to pressure differences. This in turn leads to stronger winds and more intense storms leading to heat waves. So this is about the basics of marine heat waves. Now let's take the question. Statement one says that marine heat waves can occur in summer and in winter. This statement is correct. Marine heat waves can occur across all latitudes. This is also correct. Marine heat waves can be recorded in deep waters. See this statement is also correct. So the correct answer for this question is option D, 1, 2 and 3. Now our next question here is about the interstate water dispute tribunal. See four pairs are given and we have to find how many pairs are correctly matched. See the first pair here is incorrectly matched. Actually the concerned states for the Mahanadi water disputes tribunal is Chattisgarh and Odisha. See Mahanadi river originates in Chattisgarh and drains into Bay of Bengal after passing through Odisha. If you are aware of this fact you can identify that this pair is incorrectly matched. And the second pair it is also incorrectly matched. Actually Vamsadara or Vansadara river it is an east flowing river that originates in Odisha and it flows through Andhra Pradesh and finally drains into Bay of Bengal. So the states concerned in the Vansadara river water dispute tribunal is Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. And the third pair it is correctly matched. See Mahadai or Mandovi river it is a west flowing river that originates in the western Ghats of Karnataka and it flows through Goa and finally drains into the Arabian Sea. Panaji the state capital of Goa is located on the banks of the river Mahadai. The fourth pair it is also correctly matched. See Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are the states that are concerned with Ravi and Bia's water tribunal. So the correct answer for this question is option B only two pairs. Now look at this next question. It is a high altitude mountain pass situated in the western Himalayas with a height of 5,334 meter. It is an international mountain pass between India, China and Nepal which of the following is the mountain pass described here? Natulla, Mana, Nitti, Lipule. See first of all we'll discuss some important mountain passes and you tell me what is the answer to this question okay. See Himalayas are home to several important passes that connect different regions in India and the neighboring countries. Now we'll see seven important passes Karakoram Pass. It is located on the border between India and China. It connects Zinjiang region of China with Ladakh region of India. The next one is Natulla Pass. It is located on the border between India and China. It connects Sikkim in India with Tibet Autonomous Region in China. Shibki La Paz located on the border between India and China. It connects Kinaur in Himachal Pradesh with the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. Cardeng La Paz located in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. It connects Leh with the Nubra valley. Rokhtang Pass. It is located in the state of Himachal Pradesh in India. It connects Kulu valley with Lahaulanspiti valleys. Zojila Pass. It is located in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in India. It connects Srinagar with Leh. And the final one is Lipule Pass. It is located on the border between India, China and Nepal. It connects Uttarakhand in India with the Tibet Autonomous Region in China and the Humla District of Nepal. Now let us take the question again. It says, this pass is situated between India, China and Nepal. So what is the correct answer? Yes, it is option D, Lipule. Now the next question here is regarding the geographical indication TAG, GI TAG. Frequently we used to hear and use that GI TAGs were given for some products, right? See this question is framed in the aspect of basic information about GI TAG. If you want to know the importance of this topic, look at these two previous questions. GI TAGs were asked in both 2015 and 2018 UPSC prelims. So it is a very important topic. Now before solving the question, we will see some points about GI TAGs. First of all, a geographical indication is a sign used to TAG the products that have a specific geographical origin and it possess qualities or reputation that are due to that origin. In simple words, in order to get a GI TAG, a product should originate in a particular given place and additionally the product should possess qualities, characteristics or reputation due to that place of origin. See the product with GI TAG conveys an assurance of quality, distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin. Know that geographical indications are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, wine and spirit drinks, handicrafts and industrial products. Note one point here, GI TAGs are accorded to both natural and man-made or manufactured products. Geographical indication is defined and covered under agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights trips of the WTO. Apart from trips, internationally, GI are also covered as a component of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Now coming to India. In India, geographical indications registration is administered by geographical indications of goods registration and protection act 1999. And know that in India, GI TAGs are issued by geographical indication registry which is based in Chennai. See the geographical indication registry is functioning under the department of industrial promotion and internal trade and at the ministry of commerce and industry. Also know that the registration of a geographical indication is valid for a period of 10 years only. The registration can be renewed from time to time for a further period of 10 years each. Note one important point here, the foreign products can also be given GI TAG in India. Already many foreign products were granted GI TAGs. Some of the examples include Brandy D. Zeray's Spain and Munchenair, Birac's Bayer of Germany, Irish Cream, Pravolone, Valpadana of Italy and so on. See why I mentioned these examples is that these products got GI TAG in the past to one year. So it is very important for the UPSC problems. Remember these products and the countries as well, okay? Now let us take the question. Look at the statement one. It says, GI TAGs are covered under agreement on agriculture of the World Trade Organization. This statement is incorrect. It is covered under Trips of WTO. And the second statement says that in India, GI TAGs are only given to Indian products. See just now we saw that GI TAGs are also given to foreign products. So this statement is also incorrect. Now the third statement says that the registration of a geographical indication is valid for a period of 10 years only. See this statement is correct. See it can be renewed from time to time for a further period of 10 years. But the validity is 10 years only. Now look at the question. The question has asked for the incorrect statements. So the correct answer for this question is option B 1 and 2 only. Now let us take this next question. It is based on sugar industry in India. Now look at the first statement. The state with highest sugarcane production in India is Uttar Pradesh. See this statement is correct. Uttar Pradesh has the highest area under sugarcane cultivation and it is the top state in terms of sugarcane production in our country. It is followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Bihar. The second statement says that in terms of sugarcane productivity Maharashtra tops the list. This statement is incorrect and Tamil Nadu is followed by Karnataka and then we have Maharashtra and then Punjab and Haryana. Note one fact here Madhya Pradesh has the lowest productivity. Now the third statement says that fair and remunerative price is the price which the sugar mills are legally bound to pay to farmers for the sugarcane procured from them. See this statement is correct. FRP is the minimum price at which sugarcane is to be purchased by sugar mills from the farmers. FRP is fixed by cabinet committee on economic affairs on the basis of recommendation of commission for agricultural costs and prices. And this makes the fourth statement incorrect. This is because the fourth statement says that commission of agricultural cost and prices approves the FRP for sugarcane. It is the cabinet committee on economic affairs that fixes and approves the FRP. And that FRP is based on the recommendations of commission for agricultural costs and prices. So the correct answer for this question is option A 1 and 3 only. See before moving on to the next question let us see some facts about sugarcane crop. Sugarcane is a sun loving plant that grows well in the tropical areas. Greater incident radiation favors higher sugar yields. About 7-9 hours of bright sunshine is highly useful for both active growth and ripening. This is one of the reasons why sugarcane productivity is high in Tamil Nadu. The other reason for high productivity in Tamil Nadu is the availability of irrigation facilities. Now moving on, the soil condition required for sugarcane is deep rich loamy soil An annual rainfall between 75 cm and 100 cm is favorable for sugarcane production. Irrigation is required in the regions of low rainfall. It is largely an irrigated crop in India. Depending upon the agro-climatic conditions and type of soil, the water requirement varies. The hot weather associated with dry winds and drought increases the water requirement of the crop. And these are some facts that you should know about the sugarcane cultivation for your examination. Now let us move on to the next question. Now this next question is about dolmens. On one side important dolmen sites are given, on the other side their locations are given. We have to find which of these pairs are correctly matched. Now before solving the question, let us learn about dolmens. See dolmen is a type of megalith. Mega means large and lithic means stone. Therefore megalith means a built of large stone. Generally megaliths are huge unrest stones. In the past these megaliths were carefully arranged by the people. Mostly they were used to mark the burial sites. So in a burial site, the megalith depicts a grave or memorial stone. Some megaliths can be seen on the surface. Other megalith burials are often underground. Now with this information let us see about dolmens. As I said earlier, dolmen is a type of megalith. It is derived from two words namely dol and men. Dol means stable and men means stone or rock. So basically dolmen is a chamber tomb or a burial chamber. It is also known as dolmenoid cysts. These chamber tombs are secondary burial chambers. That is after death when the flesh is gone, the skeleton and its remains are buried here. Now look at this image here. This is how a dolmen looks. The dolmen chamber is in the shape of a rectangular box. It actually consists of several large stone slabs called orthostats. These orthostats are vertically placed to support a flat stone roof. Usually there are five stone slabs in total where the four stands are placed vertically to support the fifth horizontal slab. But note that the slabs are placed only on three sides and there is an opening on one side. Now we will see some important dolmen sites in India. The Pandavara Betta and Hire Benekul are some of the important dolmen sites found in Karnataka. Marayur in Kerala and Moral Pari near Mallachandram in Tamil Nadu are some of the important dolmen sites. Apart from this, Bimbetka Rock Shelters in Madhya Pradesh and Hirapur in Maharashtra are also famous for dolmen. Finally, Dharmasagar, Etur Nagaram, Thadvi, Tattikonda are some of the important dolmen sites found in Telangana. Now let us take the question. See in this visa Mallachandram is in Tamil Nadu. Hire Benekul is in Karnataka only. Marayur is in Kerala not in Tamil Nadu and Tattikonda it is in Telangana only. So the first and third pairs are incorrectly matched and the second and fourth pairs are correctly matched. So the correct answer here is option C 2 and 4 only. Now this next question is about the chat GPT. First of all we will see about chat GPT. It is simply a chatbot technology. It basically uses artificial intelligence to communicate with users in a conversational manner. It can understand natural language and it can also provide helpful responses to enquiries. So we can say that chat GPT is a valuable tool for businesses and organizations which are seeking to improve customer service and engagement. But chat GPT may not be suitable for certain industries that require physical labour or specialized skills. Like for example agricultural activities cannot be performed by chat GPT because it involves manual work right. See chat GPT is just a chatbot. Now we'll see what are all the applications of chat GPT. See it is a powerful language model that has a lot of different applications. See one of the most popular ways is that it is used to create conversational agents that can chat with people in a natural way. Even you might have interacted with a chatbot or a virtual assistant before right. So that's one example of what chat GPT can do. Another way chat GPT can be used is to generate content. For example if you need to write a product description or a social media post you could give chat GPT a topic or a prompt and it will generate text for you. And this is one another application. See there are a lot different industries that can benefit from using chat GPT. For example in healthcare chat GPT can be used to develop virtual medical assistants that can interact with the patients and it can also provide medical advice. In the legal sector it can help lawyers analyze large amounts of legal documentation and in education it can be used to grade assignments, assist teachers and enhance the learning experiences. So basically chat GPT is a really versatile tool that can be used to perform a lot of different tasks. Now let's come back to our question. Which of the following are the potential applications of chat GPT? Instructing autonomous cars assisting firefighters during emergency personal assistant customer service and harvesting of crops. See we saw that chat GPT cannot do certain manual work. See driving cars and harvesting crops they cannot be done by chat GPT. It is only a chat board and it cannot be used in emergency services like firefighting also. So the potential applications of chat GPT are personal assistance and customer service. So the correct answer for this question is option C 3 and 4 only. Now let us move on to the next question. See every year we can expect one or two questions from programs and schemes launched by the government. For example in the 2020 problems there was a question about members of parliament local area development scheme that is the MPLAT scheme. And this question that I have given here is about a recently launched program of union government. It is about the Amrit Sarova mission. See the first statement says that the mission is aimed at developing and regenerating 75 water bodies in each district of the country. See this statement is correct. It is the main aim of the mission which is to develop and regenerate 75 water bodies in each district of the country. Now the second statement says that the water bodies chosen under this mission will have an area of maximum 1 acre. This statement is incorrect. The water bodies chosen under the mission will have a pondage area of minimum 1 acre with water holding capacity of about 10,000 cubic meters. So it is not the maximum area which is 1 acre. It is the minimum area. Now the third statement says that Ministry of Jal Shakti is the nodal agency for the mission. This statement is also incorrect. See in this mission six ministries are departments and organizations would work together to accomplish the goals. They are Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Culture, Panjayati Raj, Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo Informatics. So the correct answer for this question is option B, one only. Now before moving on to the next question we'll see two important features of the mission. The first important feature is community participation. See community participation or people's participation is one of the focal areas of the mission. See the site of Amrit Sarovars will be approved by Special Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha will also nominate Panjayat Parthinithi who will act as citizen supervisor. The Gram Sabha will also decide where the silt excavated from the water body will be disposed of. And this is about the first feature. And the second important feature is the use of geotag. See to ensure that the funds are properly utilized water bodies that are regenerated or developed under the mission are geotagged. The water bodies will be geotagged before the construction during the construction and after the completion of asset creation. So these are some of the important features of Amrit Sarovar mission. Take notes of all of these points. Okay. Now look at this question here. It says that which of the following is not a trans-boundary river. Tista, Siyang, Tons, Kusyara. See a trans-boundary river is a river that crosses at least one political border. Either a border within a nation or an international boundary. All the rivers given here except Tons is a trans-boundary river between India and Bangladesh. Here Siyang Adi Hong is another name given to river Brahmabutra by people of Arunachal Pradesh. See Tons is the longest tributary of the Yamuna river. See Bangladesh is traversed with the greatest number of trans-boundary rivers almost exclusively trans- international. A total of 58 major rivers of Bangladesh have entered the country either from India or from Myanmar. Hydrologically and politically these 58 trans-boundary rivers are very significant as they carry a lot of sediments to help land accretion in the estuarine region. But they also rise the riverbeds to cause floods. See of the major common rivers between India and Bangladesh agreement has been reached only on sharing of waters of river Ganga. Recently only India and Bangladesh concluded a treaty on river Kushyara. But still an agreement to share river Tista is not met. See I have displayed here all the 58 trans-boundary rivers here. You really don't have to memorize it all. It is enough to revise the rivers which made news. In that way you revise Tista and Kushyara alone. See UPSC has already asked questions related to Tista river in 2017. For that reason also it is important to revise about Tista river and you also revise about Kushyara river. See the Tista river originates from Pahundri glacier and it flows southward through gorges and rapids in Sikkim Himalaya. The river goes merging up with the Brahmabutra river after it bifurcates the city of Jalpai Guriyin and then it flows in Bangladesh. See the Tista river ultimately drains into Brahmabutra at Tista Mukgatan Kamarjini Bahadurabad in Bangladesh. Tista and most of its tributaries are flashy mountain rivers and they carry bolder and considerable amount of sediment. See the flow is turbulent and characterized by high velocities and this is about river Tista. Now let us see about Kushyara river. See Kushyara river is a Distributary river in Bangladesh Assam. It forms on India-Bangladesh border as a branch of Barak river when the Barak separates into Kushyara and Sarma. So the waters of Kushyara originate in the state of Nagaland in India and it picks up tributaries from Manipur, Mizoram and Assam. From its origin at the mouth of Barak also known as the Amshut bifurcation point the Kushyara flows westward forming the boundary between Assam and the Silhad district of Bangladesh. So these are all some of the important points of Kushyara river. Now let us see the question again. So what is the correct answer to this question? It is Option C Tons. Now let us take this next question. Consider the following statements with reference to environmental performance index 2022. Statement 1 says that it is an interstate ranking system based on environmental health. Statement 2 says that the 2022 EPI leverages 40 performance indicators grouped into 11 issue categories. Statement 3 says that it is jointly released by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change of India and the World Economic Forum. See the correct answer for this question is Option C 2 only. All the other statements are wrong. We will see why okay. See EPI that is the Environmental Performance Index is an international ranking system of countries based on their environmental health. So it is not an interstate ranking. See it is a vinyl index. It was first started in 2002. See it was started as Environment Sustainability Index by World Economic Forum in collaboration with Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University Center for International Earth Information Network. See it is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of state policies. The 2022 EPI provides a data driven summary of the state of sustainability around the world. So from this we know that third statement is also incorrect because it was not released by Ministry of Environment. Now let us see some other facts about EPI. See EPI ranks 180 countries on climate change performance, environmental health and ecosystem vitality using 40 performance indicators across 11 issue categories and this is why second statement is correct. See the indicators are shown in this pie chart. See these indicators provide a gorge at a national scale of how close the countries are to their established environmental policy targets. Apart from this, EPI offers a scorecard that highlights the leaders and the laggers in environmental performance and it also provides practical guidance for countries that aspire to move toward a sustainable future. Also, it provides a way to spot the problems, set targets, track the trends, understand the outcomes and identify the best policy practices. See data and fact-based analysis can also help the government officials refine their policy agendas. It also helps to facilitate communication with key stakeholders and maximize the return on environmental investments. Apart from this, EPI also offers a powerful policy tool in support of efforts to meet the targets of human sustainable development goals and to move the society toward a sustainable future. Now let us see the rankings. As you can see in this table, Denmark tops the 2022 ranking followed by the United Kingdom and Finland. With a score of 18.9, India stands at the 180th rank and it comes after Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Myanmar. See India has fallen from rank 168 and the score also has reduced from 27.6 in 2020 to 18.9. Know that India ranks close to bottom on a number of indicators including ecosystem vitality, biodiversity, biodiversity habitat index, species protection index, wetland laws, air quality, pm 2.5, heavy metals such as lead and water, waste management, climate policy inducing projected greenhouse gas emissions, etc. See India has also scored low on the rule of law, control of corruption and government effectiveness. So the Environment Ministry has issued a rebuttal saying that the indicators used in the assessment are based on unfounded assumptions. And these are all the information about the environmental performance index that you should know. Now let us take the next question. This question is about the captive non-public network. The first statement says that it offers secure ultra reliable, low latency and high throughput communication using advanced technologies. The second statement says that unlike a public network, it is closed to external communication. See the correct answer for this question is option C both 1 and 2. We will see how. See these two statements are the advantages of using a captive non-public network. Know that we already have a previous prelims question on VPN in 2011. So it is very important for us to know about the CNPN. As I already said, CNPN has expanded us captive non-public network. As the name suggests, they are non-public private 5G networks. Important point to be noted here is that these networks will not be accessible to the general public. These networks are built specifically for individual enterprises. These networks are often deployed at a single unit, for example, a factory. They can also be used in wide area setting, for instance, to monitor a mine in real time. Know that airports and ports they can also have their own private 5G cellular network to process imaging data coming from surveillance cameras to manage the facility. Several enterprises around the world are working on setting up private 5G networks as they offer reliable, fast, secure and wireless communication. See the big tech firms can use this CNPN to test and build applications such as machine-to-machine communications, internet of things and artificial intelligence. Companies such as Tata Consultancy Services have expressed interest earlier in building these non-public 5G networks to develop such solutions. These big tech firms claim that CNPN private would further provide an additional source of revenue for the government through the license fees and administrative cost paid for the spectrum allocated to them. See the true benefits of 5G largely apply to industrial enterprises rather than the individual uses. 5G would be crucial for enterprises to augment the efficiencies and enhance the productivity and march towards industry 4.0. And this will help India become a global manufacturing and supply chain hub. But remember TSPs which are having access service authorization, they are permitted to provide CNPN as a service to the enterprises. Here TSPs are nothing but telecommunication service providers. So these are all the basic information about CNPN. Take note of all of these points. Okay. Our next question here is based on Pokali Rice. Statement one says that this rice variety is known for its salt tolerant nature. See this statement is true and it is also known for its tolerance to soil acidity. The second statement says that it is short rice variety that is grown in Alapula, Trissur and Ernakulam districts of Kerala. See this statement is incorrect. Pokali rice variety mainly grows in the districts of Alapula, Trissur, Ernakulam. So the second half of the statement is correct. But it is not a short rice variety. It is a tall rice variety. In Malayalam Pokali translates us the one who grows above all. Pokali grass grows up to six feet in height. So the first half of the statement is incorrect. So the entire statement is incorrect. Now the third statement says that this rice variety which originated in Kerala is the oldest rice variety in Kerala. This statement is also incorrect. Here also the second part of the statement is correct. It is the oldest rice variety that is grown in Kerala. But this rice variety that is the Pokali rice variety did not originate in Kerala. It is said that Konkani speaking Kudumbi community brought this rice variety along with them when they migrated from Goa to Kerala. And also know that this rice variety is grown in Sri Lanka also. See the rice variety reached Sri Lanka via the Buddhist missionaries. So if there is a statement in prilams saying that Pokali rice is grown only in Kerala then that statement is incorrect okay. Now let's see the fourth statement. Due to its geographical specificity Pokali was conferred the geographical indications tag in the year 2008. See this statement is correct. It was given GI tag in the year 2008 only. Now the final statement says that this farming system has been recognized by food and agriculture organization of the UN as a globally important agricultural heritage system. See this statement is incorrect. Actually this statement is about the Kuttanad farming system. Kuttanad farming system is unique because in this farming system rice cultivation is done below sea level. Here note an additional fact. Two more areas in India are placed under globally important agricultural heritage systems. They are Pampur saffron heritage of Kashmir and Korapur traditional agriculture of Odisha. So totally three systems are placed globally important agricultural heritage systems. One is Kuttanad farming system and the other one is Pampur saffron heritage and the other one is Korapur traditional agriculture of Odisha. Take note of all of these points. Now the answer for this question is option B one and four only. Now let us take this next question. It is about PGII partnership for global infrastructure and investment. See first of all let us see some facts about PGII. PGII stands for partnership for global infrastructure and investment like I said already and it is a partnership that was launched by G7 countries. We all know what are G7 countries right? It includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and United States. They are group of seven largest and most advanced economies in the world. See this partnership aims to help facilitate infrastructure investment in the emerging markets. It is largely seen as a counter to China's belt and road initiative. See the partnerships designed to help sustainable development and promote economic growth in developing and middle income countries. Apart from this know that PGII operates on a set of key principles including inclusivity, diversity, accountability, transparency, environmental and social responsibility. The partnership believes that by investing in infrastructure in emerging markets they can help create opportunities for people to access the basic services like health care and education. Along with this, investing in infrastructure will help to create jobs and support the economic development also. See through this partnership the countries have announced the mobilization of 600 billion dollars by the year 2027 so that they can deliver game-changing and transparent infrastructure projects. Overall, PGII is an important initiative that has the potential to create significant positive impacts in Asia-Pacific region and beyond. See the partnership is committed to promoting sustainable development and investment in infrastructure. Don't forget about this okay. These measures will help improve people's lives and support the economic growth in emerging markets. Now with this information let us approach the question. The question says which of the following launched the partnership for global infrastructure and investment. So what is the correct answer here? Exactly. It is option D group of seven. Now let us take this next question which is about PACS. See first we'll see about PACS and then we'll try to solve the question okay. See PACS is expanded as primary agricultural credit societies. They are ground level cooperative credit institutions that provide short term, medium term agricultural loans to the farmers for various agricultural and farming activities. Not one point here. PACS are registered under cooperative societies act. Basically they are three tire cooperative credit structure headed by state cooperative banks at the state level. See credit from the state cooperative banks is transferred to the district central cooperative banks or DCCBs. And these DCCBs they operate at the district level. And these DCCBs only work with PACS which deals directly with the farmers. Now can you understand the flow of credit here? From SCBs to DCCBs and from DCCBs to PACS and these PACS only deals directly with the farmers. See PACS are involved in short term lending or what is known as crop loans and know that the interest rates charged by PACS are regulated by state governments. Since PACS are cooperative bodies individual farmers are members of PACS and office bearers are elected from within these farmers. The PACS gives loans only to its members. And also know that PACS are exempt from income tax under section 80p of the income tax act 1961. See these are some information that you should know about primary agricultural credit society. Now let's take the question. Statement 1 says that PACS are registered under Banking Regulation Act 1949. See the statement is incorrect. It is registered under Cooperative Societies Act. The second statement says that PACS are exempt from income tax in India. We just now saw that it is exempt from income tax right? So this statement is correct. The third statement says that Reserve Bank of India regulates the interest rates charged by PACS in India. See the statement is also incorrect because state governments only regulates the interest rates charged by PACS. So the correct answer for this question is option B 2 only. Now this next question here is about National Mobile Monitoring Software NMMS. The first statement says that National Mobile Monitoring Software app was launched by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. See the statement is incorrect. This National Mobile Monitoring Software app was launched by Ministry of Rural Development. The second statement says that this app is aimed at bringing more transparency and ensures proper monitoring of the MGREGA scheme. See this statement is correct. The main objective of the app is to ensure transparency and proper monitoring of the MGNREGA. Statement 3 says that digitally capturing the attendance of workers employed under MGNREGA scheme via NMMS has been made universal by the Centre from January 1, 2023. See this statement is also correct. The Centre has made it mandatory to capture the attendance of workers employed under MGNREGA using NMMS from January 1, 2023. So the correct answer for this question is option B 2 and 3 only. Now before moving to the next question we'll see some points about NMMS. The NMMS app permits taking real-time attendance of workers at MGNREGA worksites along with geotagged photographs once in each half of the day. The attendance is captured by fellow workers and local women who are selected and trained for this purpose. This increases citizen oversight of the scheme and it also enables faster processing of payments. And these two are additional points that you should know about the NMMS okay. Now let's take this next question. This question is framed in the aspect of eligibility criteria that are needed to recognize a political party as a national party and a state party. Now before answering the question let us learn the eligibility criteria. First of all let us see the eligibility criteria for national party. See there are three eligibility criteria. The first one is that political party needs to secure at least six percentage of the valid oaths pulled in any four or more states and this is at the general election to Lok Sabha or to state legislative assembly. In addition to this the political party needs to win at least four seats in Lok Sabha from one or more states and this is the first criteria. The second one is that a political party needs to win at least two percentage of seats in Lok Sabha that is 11 seats out of 543 seats in Lok Sabha. Here the member should be elected from at least three different states in the last general election and this is the second criteria. And the third criteria is that political party needs to be recognized as state party in at least four states and these are the three criteria that are needed to be fulfilled if a particular political party needs to be recognized as national party. Six percentage of valid oaths pulled in any four states plus four seats in Lok Sabha from one or more states. The second one is two percentage seats in Lok Sabha from three different states in the last general election. Finally, recognition as a state party in at least four states. Now let us see the eligibility criteria for state party. Here there are five eligibility. The first one is that political party needs to secure at least six percentage of valid votes pulled a general election to legislative assembly of the concerned state. In addition to this political party needs to win at least two seats in the legislative assembly of the concerned state. The second criteria is that a political party needs to secure at least six percentage of valid votes pulled in the state at the general election to Lok Sabha from that concerned state. In addition to this political party needs to win at least one seat in Lok Sabha from the concerned state. The third criteria is that political party needs to win at least three percentage of the total number of seats in legislative assembly of the state or at least three seats in the assembly which where is more. The fourth criteria is that political party needs to win at least one seat in Lok Sabha for every 25 seats from the concerned state that are allotted to the state at general election to Lok Sabha. And the fifth criteria is that political party needs to secure eight percentage of the total valid votes pulled in the state. And this is at general election to Lok Sabha from the state or to the legislative assembly of the state. So if a political party fulfills any one of these five criteria then that particular party will be recognized as a state party. Now let us take the question. Statement one says that if the political party is recognized as a state party in three states then it can be declared as a national party. This statement is incorrect because under the eligibility criteria for national party we saw that the political party needs to be recognized as state party in at least four states. So here it is only given as three states. So the statement is incorrect. And the second statement says that if a political party secures eight percentage of the total valid votes pulled at general election to Lok Sabha from the state then it is declared as a state party. This statement is correct. This is the fifth criteria given in the eligibility criteria of state parties. So the correct answer to this question is option B, two only. See go through all of the points that we discussed now and take notes of it okay. It will be very useful for your prelims examination. Now let us take this next question. It is about the Interstate Council in India. Now before attempting the question we will see about the Interstate Councils. See Interstate Councils in India was established under Article 263 of the Constitution. The aim is to facilitate coordination between the Union and the states. See the President of India has the power to establish this council at any time if it appears that the public interest would be served by the establishment of a Interstate Council. The President has the authority to define the nature of the duties to be performed by the council, its organization and its procedure. See Interstate Council is shortly known as ISC and this ISC is primarily tasked with enquiring into and advising upon disputes that may arise between the states. And it is also tasked with investigating and discussing subjects in which states or the center and states have common interest and they also have the task of making recommendations on any subject for the better coordination of policy and action. See the council is composed of Prime Minister as Chairman, Chief Ministers of all states, Chief Ministers of Union Territories having Legislative Assemblies, Administrators of Union Territories not having Legislative Assemblies, Governor of states under President's Rule, Six Central Cabinet Ministers nominated by Prime Minister and five Ministers of the Cabinet Rank who are permanent invitees of the council. See the council meetings were supposed to be held thrice a year and its decisions on all questions are decided by consensus. See the council has some limitations also. For instance, it is only a recommendation body that can investigate and discuss subjects in which some of the all all of the states or the center government have common interest. Also, ISC is not a permanent constitutional body for coordination between states and the central government. Rather, it can be established at any time if it appears that the public interest would be served by the establishment of such a council and President only has the power to establish this council. In conclusion, the ISC is an important forum for cooperative federalism and coordination between Union and the states. Now let us take the question. The first option given is it is a permanent constitutional body for strengthening coordination between state and central government. This statement is incorrect because it is not a permanent constitutional body. The second statement says that a recommendation body that has been empowered to investigate and discuss subjects of common interest between Union and states or among states. This seems right, no? And the third statement says that a judicial body that resolves disputes between states. No, it is not correct because it is only a recommendation body. And the final option says that an executive body that coordinates and resolves issues between Union and states. It is also incorrect because just now I said that it is only a recommendation body. It is like a council or committee, okay? So the most appropriate option here is option B only. Now let us take this next question. It is about the cryptocurrencies. See, cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies. It allows people to make payments directly to each other through an online system. See, the cryptocurrencies are secured using cryptography technology. Know that cryptography refers to a method of storing and transmitting data in a particular form so that only the person to whom the data is intended can read and process it. As I said earlier, cryptocurrencies are secured using cryptography technology. So we can say that it is much harder to counterfeit cryptocurrencies. See, mostly cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks that are distributed in the network based on blockchain technology. Here, blockchain technology is nothing but a distributed ledger that is secure, transparent and immutable. So blockchain technology can be used to create a decentralized database that is tamper proof. Note one point here. Cryptocurrencies have no legislated or intrinsic value. The worth of cryptocurrency simply depends upon the willingness of the people to pay for them in the market. This is in contrast to national currencies because national currencies are legislated as legal tender. See, cryptocurrencies are generally not issued by any central authority. This fact makes them literally immune from the government interferences. Some examples of cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, etc. Now what are all the countries that have cryptocurrencies as legal tenders? As of now, only two countries namely El Salvador and Central African Republic have made Bitcoin as a legal tender. Know that El Salvador became the first country in the world to introduce Bitcoin as legal tender in the year 2021. Then recently, in April 2022, the Central African Republic declared Bitcoin as an official currency. So Central African Republic is the second nation in the world to accept cryptocurrencies as legal tender. Now if we take India in 2017, RBI issued a circular that prohibited the banks and other regulated entities from providing services to individuals as well as businesses who are dealing with cryptocurrencies. See, this circular effectively made it illegal for Indian residents to buy or sell cryptocurrencies. However, in March 2020, Supreme Court of India overturned the RBI's ban on cryptocurrencies. Supreme Court stated that RBI's ban was disproportionate and it violated the fundamental rights of the citizens. So this decision by the Supreme Court effectively legalized the use of cryptocurrencies in India and it opened the door for wider adoption of cryptocurrencies. See, despite cryptocurrencies being legalized in India, still they are not provided with the legal tender option. See, in 2022 Union budget, Indian Finance Minister announced significant changes in the treatment of virtual assets including cryptocurrency. So for the first time, government officially classified digital assets including cryptocurrency as the virtual digital assets. So as of now, cryptocurrency is classified as virtual digital assets in India. But note one point here. Still, cryptocurrencies are not provided with legal tender in India. Now with this information about the cryptocurrencies, let us approach the question. Statement 1 says that Ecuador and Central African Republic are the two nations that have made Bitcoin a type of cryptocurrency as legal tender. See, this statement is incorrect because it is not Ecuador, it is El Salvador. The second statement says that each cryptocurrency has a defined value and the value is always permanent. See, the statement is also incorrect. It does not have a defined or intrinsic value and its value keeps on changing based on market demand. This is because the worth of cryptocurrency simply depends on the willingness of the people to pay for them in the market. The third statement says that in India, it is illegal to buy or sell cryptocurrencies. See, the statement is also incorrect. Just now we saw Supreme Court overturned the RBI's ban on the use of cryptocurrencies. So, as of now, it is not illegal in India to buy or sell cryptocurrencies. Officially, cryptocurrencies are classified as virtual digital assets in India. Look carefully what has the question asked. It has asked for the incorrect statements. So, the correct answer here is option D, 1, 2 and 3. Now, this next question here it is asking for the favorable conditions for the formation of corals. Now, before answering the question let us see some points about corals. See, corals, which are also called as coral polyps, they are marine invertebrate animals. See, coral polyps are also known as colonial organisms. This is because the individual coral polyps live and they grow while connected to each other. This means that coral polyps are dependent on one another for their survival. Know that coral's body is usually clear but the bright colors of the corals are due to various types of algae growing in the coral polyps tissue. The algae are called as zooxanthole. Know that this zooxanthole or microscopic algae that generally reside on coral and they have a symbiotic connection with the coral polyps. Zooxanthole assist corals in the development of nutrients through photosynthetic functions. In return, coral offers a safe environment for zooxanthole. Now coming to the favorable conditions for the formation of corals. Firstly, there should be presence of optimum sunlight. See, corals usually prefer to grow in shallow water. This is because zooxanthole which are present on coral polyps need optimum sunlight for photosynthesis and to aid the survival of corals. Secondly, there should be presence of clear water. Generally, corals are sensitive to pollution and sediments. This is because opaque water does not let the sunlight inside the water, right? And this affects the photosynthesis process of zooxanthole and affects the survival of corals also. So clear water is essential for corals. Thirdly, there should be presence of warm water temperature. See, corals usually require warm water conditions to survive. Corals generally live in water temperatures of 20 to 32 degree Celsius. Know that coral polyps make limestone exoskeletons with the help of ions in seawater. When the living polyps die, their skeletons are left behind. And then the leftover limestone exoskeletons turn into coral reefs. The coral reefs are mainly classified into three types. They are barrier reef, fringing reefs and atolls. Now we will see in brief about the types of reefs. Firstly, let's see about the fringing reef. It is the most common type of reef found in the world. This reef grows seaward from the shore. They form borders along the shoreline and the surrounding islands. Now let's see about the atolls. See, when a fringing reef continues to grow upward from an underwater volcanic island, an atoll is formed. Atolls are usually circular or oval in shape with an open lagoon in the center. Now let's see about the barrier reefs. See, barrier reefs are similar to that of the fringing reefs. Like fringing reefs, the barrier reefs also border a shoreline. However, instead of growing directly out from the shore, they are separated from the land by an expanse of water. This separation creates a lagoon between the reef and the shore. Now these are all some of the basic information that you should know about coral and its reefs. Now let's take the question. The first statement says that presence of more sediments in the water is favorable for the formation of corals. This is incorrect. Just now we saw presence of sediments will block the sunlight which will affect the photosynthesis process. So this statement is incorrect. Presence of optimum sunlight. This is correct. Like I said earlier, photosynthesis is needed for the survival of corals, right? And the third statement says that very cold ocean temperature. See, while discussing the conditions favorable for the formation of corals, we saw corals need warm water temperature. So the correct answer here is option B2 only. Now this next question here says that coughed recently seen in news is related to which of the following. Computerization of fund transfer, card on file tokenization, chronic obstructive, fetal typhus, carbon offset facility tranche. See the correct answer to this question is option B. Coughed means card on file tokenization. See coughed was in news last year because RBI in its guidelines mentioned that merchant sites should not store customer card information. The merchant sites have to tokenize the card information and the generated tokens can only be stored. See tokenization refers to replacement of actual card details with an alternative code. This alternate code is called as token. See this token is unique for a combination of card token requester and the device. Hence the token corresponds to combination of these three. Card token requester and device. Then what is called as card on file tokenization? It also refers to normal tokenization only. Here card on file refers to card information stored by payment gateway and merchants to process future transactions. It is the actual card details like card numbers, CVV, expiry date used for the processing of online transactions. See these details are only tokenized here and that is why the process is also referred as card on file tokenization. So what are the benefits of this coughed? The first advantage is safety. See after tokenization the actual card details will not be shared with the merchant during transaction processing. Rather only the associated token will be shared and this ensures safe online transactions. And the second benefit is ease of transitions. See after tokenization only the token needs to be shared for online transactions. There is no need to share card name, number, CVV, and expiry date and all. This ensures ease in transactions. Right? So these are all the benefits associated with tokenization. Take note of all of these points. Okay it is very important. Now let's take this next question. The question says that it is a viral disease caused by a mosquito-borne flavivirus. This disease is primarily transmitted by the bite of an infected AD's Ajutti and also through sexual contact. Which of the following is the above described disease? Malaria, Japanese encephalities, yellow fever, Zika virus. See flavivirus they are vector-borne RNA viruses that can emerge unexpectedly in human populations causing several diseases. Malaria it is a mosquito-borne disease. It is transmitted by an infective female anaphyllous mosquito. So malaria can be eliminated from the answer. Because it is transmitted by anaphyllous mosquito not AD's. And remember it is a vector-borne disease but not transmitted through sexual contact. And the next one is Japanese encephalities. It is caused by a mosquito called culex. So it is also a vector-borne disease. But this can also be eliminated because it is not transmitted through AD's mosquito. And yellow fever and Zika virus they are caused by same species of mosquito called AD's. So the competition is between yellow fever and Zika virus only here. But remember yellow fever do not transmit through sexual contact. So the answer for this question is option D Zika virus only. See like this only you have to eliminate the options and then find the correct answer. Now before moving to the next question let us see some facts about Zika virus. See Zika is a viral infection as we all know it is caused by Zika virus. As I said already it is a vector-borne disease which means the virus is transmitted by a vector. Here the vector is mosquitoes especially AD's egypt mosquito. The same mosquito spreads dengue and chicken gunia also. Make note of this point okay it is very important. It not only spreads Zika it also spreads dengue and chicken gunia. See Zika is also spread by AD's albopictus. But note that apart from the mosquito bite the virus is also transmitted through sexual activity with the infected people. Now if we talk about Zika virus generally and hospitalization and deaths are uncommon. And the virus is not considered dangerous to anyone other than pregnant women. Because infection with Zika virus is also associated with complications of pregnancy including pre-term birth and miscarriage. Plus Zika can be passed from a pregnant woman to her feet also. And it leads to microcephaly. Microcephaly is a major fear around Zika infection when pregnant women are infected. See this microcephaly is a birth defect wherein a baby's head is smaller than expected when compared to the babies of same sex and age. And such babies often have smaller brains that might not have developed properly. Zika may also cause gillian-barry syndrome. This is a neurological disorder that could lead to paralysis and death. So it is only considered dangerous to pregnant women. Now let us see about the symptoms. Know that most people who are infected with the virus do not develop symptoms or they will only have mild symptoms. Some of the most common symptoms include fever, rash, headache, joint pain, conjunctivities that is red eyes and muscle pain. According to WHO, these symptoms can be treated with common pain and fever medicines and rest and plenty of water. But if the condition worsens, then people should seek medical advice. Know that there is no vaccine or medicine for Zika. Some of the preventive measures against the infection can be used to avoid the Zika infection. They include mosquito nets, replants and taking steps to prevent the sexual transmission also. See large scale mosquito control measures such as spraying of insecticide will also help. And as far as the sexual transmission is concerned, use of contraceptives should be focused. Now these are all some information that you should know about Zika. Now let us take this next question. It is about the Patma Bridge. The first statement says that it connects the Mawa bank to the north and the Janjira area south of the Patma river. It is a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative. The main purpose of the bridge is to improve transportation to the southwestern districts and reduce the distance between Dhaka and the Port of Mongla. See the construction of Patma multi-purpose bridge was completed last year. And that is why it was in use. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hazina by paying toll tax. Here the correct answer for this question is option D 1 and 3 only because it is not a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Patma Bridge is a multi-purpose road rail bridge. It is built across Patma river. Patma river is the downstream part of Ganges after it enters Bangladesh territory. It is the largest bridge in Bangladesh with a span of 6.15 kilometers. Also it is the second largest in the Indo-Gangetic plane and it is the first fixed river crossing for road traffic. Know that this dream project had been funded entirely by government of Bangladesh. It connects the Mawa bank to the north and the Janjira area south of the Patma river. It will connect Lahuagong, Munchigang to Sharyatpur and Madharipur which will link the south west of the country to northern and eastern regions. See this project is deemed as one of the most innovative yet most challenging developmental projects in the country's history. The bridge will connect at least 20 districts of Bangladesh. Thus it is expected to help in faster transportation of goods and commodities with India and other neighboring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. Now here apart from knowing the bridge you should also know about the Ganges river system. See Ganga river system which includes several perennial rivers and non-perennial rivers is the largest river system in India. It originates in the Gangotri glacier very close to Gaomukhan Uttarakashi. It is called Bagirathi at this point. See the Ganga is the name given to the confluence of Bagirathi and Alaknanda in Devprayag. Here you should know about Panchprayag. The place where Dauli Ganga joins Alaknanda is called Vishnuprayag. River Nandakini joins river Alaknandat Nandprayag. River Pindar Ganga joins river Alaknandat Karnaprayag. River Mandakini joins Alaknandat Rudraprayag. And river Bagirathi joins river Alaknandat Devprayag. From here the river is called as River Ganga. And these five prayags are only Panchprayags. Dauli Ganga Alaknanda Vishnuprayag. Nandakini Alaknanda Nandprayag. Pindar Ganga Alaknanda Karnaprayag. Mandakini Alaknanda Rudraprayag. Bagirathi Alaknanda Devprayag. From here onwards it is Ganga. The area covered by it includes the Union territory of Delhi and the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Apart from this, Ganga river system extends across Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet and India covering almost 10,86,000 square kilometers of area. Some of the right bank tributaries include Yamuna, Saun, Punpun, Falgu or Fagu, Kiyul, Chandan, Ajoy, Damodar, Rupnarayan, Thamsa and Karamnasa. Some of the left bank tributaries of river Ganga include Ram Ganga, Gara, Gomuti, Gagara, Gandak, Burgi Gandak and Koshi. Remember, after entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges river is known as Patma. The Patma is joined by Jamuna river, the largest distributor of Brahmaputra. Further downstream, the Patma joins the Meghna river, the second largest distributor of Brahmaputra. Subsequently, they empty into Bay of Bengal. So, these are some of the facts about Patma, multi-purpose bridge and the Ganges river. Take note of all of the points, okay? Now, let us take this final question. Which of the following is or are the advantages of MNRA vaccines? Non-infectious, non-integrating in nature, highly officious, compared to other vaccines, do not require a host for growth. See, let me tell you why I have framed this question first. See, the drugs controller general of India approved India's first indigenously developed MNRA vaccine against COVID-19. It was manufactured by Genoa biopharmaceuticals and that is why it was in use. Now, we will try to understand some facts about MNRA vaccine. See, we all know that vaccines help prepare our body to fight the foreign invaders and to prevent the infection. See, all vaccines introduce a harmless piece of a particular bacteria or virus into our body and this will trigger an immune response. Most vaccines contain a weakened or dead bacteria or virus. However, scientists have developed a new type of vaccine that uses a molecule called messenger RNA rather than part of an actual bacteria or virus. See, this messenger RNA is a type of RNA that is necessary for protein protection. In cells, MNRA uses the information in genes to create a blueprint for making proteins. Once the cells finish making a protein, they quickly break down the mRNA. So, mRNA from vaccines do not enter the nucleus and they do not alter the DNA. So, in simple words, messenger RNA, mRNA vaccines teach ourselves how to make a protein that will trigger immune response inside our bodies. See, firstly, mRNA vaccines are given in the upper arm muscle. The mRNA will enter the muscle cells and restrict the cells' missionary to produce a harmless piece of spike protein. Now, let us see what is this spike protein. See, members of coronavirus family, they have sharp bums that protrude from the surface of their outer envelopes. And these bums are only known as spike proteins. You can see that in this image here. See, these spiked proteins only give the viruses their name. Under the microscope, those spikes can appear like fringe or crown or any other structure. See, even for coronavirus, the spiked protein looks like a crown. See, corona is Latin for crown. Now, you know how it got its name. And this is about these spike proteins. Now, let us see how mRNA vaccine works. See, this messenger RNA teaches our cells to make this spike protein of the virus. After the protein is made, our cells break down the mRNA and remove it. This is the first step. Next, the cells display the spike protein piece on their surface. Now, the immune system recognizes that the protein does not belong here. This triggers the immune system to produce antibodies and activate other immune cells to fight off what it thinks as an infection. And this is exactly what our body will do to fight off infection if you get sick with COVID-19. And finally, now our bodies have learned how to protect ourselves against future infection from the viruses that causes COVID-19. See, the benefits of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines is that vaccinated people gain the protection without getting sick with COVID-19. Any temporary discomfort experienced after getting the vaccine is a natural part of the process and an indication that the vaccine is working. See, mRNA vaccines are being tested for other infectious agents such as Ebola, Zika virus and influenza also. mRNA vaccine technology is also being tested as a treatment for cancer. See, cancerous cells create unique pieces of protein that are not found on healthy cells. A vaccine that produces those pieces can educate the immune system to attack those cells. See, it is found that progress has been reported with melanoma also. Theoretically, mRNA technology also could produce proteins missing in certain diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia or even diabetes. The major advantages of mRNA vaccines are they are non-infectious, non-integrating in nature and they are degraded by standard cellular mechanisms. We saw that our cells will remove the mRNA, right? So this is what is degradation by standard cellular mechanisms. Secondly, mRNA vaccines are advantageous because they are highly efficacious because of their inherent capability of being translatable into protein structure inside the cell cytoplasm. Thirdly, mRNA vaccines are fully synthetic and they do not require a host for growth that is like eggs or bacteria. Therefore, they can be quickly manufactured inexpensively to ensure their availability and accessibility for mass vaccination on a sustainable basis. So after seeing all of these advantages, you now know that the correct answer for the question is option C, 1, 2 and 3. As friends, I hope the discussion was useful for you. 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