 A very good evening aspirants. We are happy to share that the second test batch of pre-storming 2021 program of Shankara IS Academy has started from 11 December 2020. Pre-storming 2021 program is the prelims test series conducted by Shankara IS Academy for the upcoming UPSI preliminary examination 2021. Our pre-storming program is India's first full-fledged artificial intelligence supported preliminary test series and the admissions for the same is going on now. All the required details regarding the admission process and about the pre-storming 2021 program is provided in the link that is given in the description of the video and also in the comment section. With this, let us move on to the Hindi news analysis. These are the list of news articles to sum up today's analysis. It has been provided along with the page numbers of different editions of Hindi newspaper. Let's start our discussion with this first article. This discussion is based on this news article which talks about the use of nanoparticles for drug delivery in human body. See, scientists are working on nanomycells or nanomycells for efficient and effective drug delivery of medicines, mainly targeting the cancer cells. As you know, the ideal goal for cancer therapies is destroying the cancer cells without harming healthy cells of the body. But the current chemotherapeutics, that is the chemical entities that is used to treat or cure cancers which is approved for the treatment, they are highly toxic. That is the chemotherapeutics are highly toxic. So, there is an urgent and unmet need to develop the effective drug delivery vehicles for chemotherapeutics without these side effects. And this is where the role of nanoparticles comes into play. So, in today's discussion, let us see how these nanoparticles, especially nanomycells, are being used in medicine. So, in today's discussion, let us see what are these nanomycells are and how they are being used in medicine. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First, let us see what are these nanoparticles and how they are being used in medicine. See, nanoparticles are materials with overall dimension in the nanoscale. That is, they are under 100 nanometers. And in recent years, these materials have emerged as important players in modern medicine. They have many clinical applications ranging from diagnostic tools to carriers for drug delivery and gene delivery into tumors also. There are also some instances where nanoparticles enable analysis and therapies that simply cannot be performed with conventional methods. But even nanoparticles come with their own challenges, like they have unique environmental and societal challenges particularly regarding the toxicity. So, in recent years, there has been a great research in this direction and many nanoparticles have been manufactured for drug delivery. These nanoparticles include nanoshells, nanovecicles and today's news article talks about the nanomycells. In this pic, you can see how nanoshells help in killing cancer cells. These nanoshells encase or surround the cancer cells without harming the healthy cells. Now, since they encase or surround the cancer cells, that is why they may have been named as nanoshells. Now, then next comes the nanovecicles. These nanovecicles are tiny sacks that are released by cells and these nanovecicles carry chemical messages between cells. So, these nanovecicles are natural delivery vehicles and they can be used in drug delivery for cancer treatment also. And currently, natural nanovecicles can be harvested from cells. But however, there are two problems in using nanovecicles for cancer treatment. First problem is that there isn't enough nanovecicles that can be produced in short time scales. And second problem is they do not have targeting effect. So, to overcome these problems, scientists are now working on nanomycells. These nanomycells are extremely small structures and they have been noted as an emerging platform in targeted therapy. These nanomycells are globe-like structures with hydrophilic outer shell and a hydrophobic interior. See, when we say hydrophilic outer shell, it means the outer shell can be dissolved in water and when we say it has hydrophobic interior, it means the inner shell is repellent to water. This means the inner shell does not react or dissolve in water like fats, oils, etc. Now, this dual property of nanomycells makes them a perfect carrier for delivering drug molecules because the outer part can be dissolved in body fluids without affecting the drugs inside which are in a hydrophobic layer that cannot be dissolved in the body fluids. Now, these nanomycells are less than 100 nanometer in size and they are stable at room temperature. Now, once these nanomycells are injected intravenously, they can easily escape the circulation and they can enter the solid tumors where the blood vessels are found to be leaky. Now, here you should note that these leaky blood vessels are absent in the healthy organs, that is the organs which are not affected by cancer. So, once the nanomycell enters the cancer cells, the enzymes will activate the drug and it will kill the cancer cells and this is how nanoparticles especially nanomycells can be used in cancer therapy without affecting the healthy organs. Now, like we saw before, the nanoparticles have their own challenges also like they have the challenges of ethical, social and regulatory aspects of nanomedicine to minimize its adverse impacts on environment and public health and to avoid public backlash. And at present, the most significant ethical issue relating to nanomedicine involves the risk assessment, risk management and risk communication in clinical trials. And also, in the future, nanomedicine is likely to raise questions of physical enhancement, social justice and access to healthcare. So, if these challenges are overcome, then using of nanoparticles in medicine for drug delivery will be a breakthrough in medicine. So, these are some of the points that you should know with respect to this news article. Now, let's move on to the next discussion. This news article talks about the data released by the government for the JALJEEVAN mission. The news article also talks about the achievements under this mission. So, in today's discussion, we will see what this mission is and we will also see the achievements of the government. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. So, first, let us understand about this mission. It was launched in 2019. The main objective of JALJEEVAN mission is to provide piped water supply to all rural households by the year 2024. That is, the government wants to establish her Ghar JAL. Here, her means every, Ghar means household and JAL means water. So, government wants to provide water to every household, especially piped water supply. So, in this regard, the mission aims to provide portable water of 55 litre per capita per day to every rural household through functional household tap connection. Now, to establish this tap connection, funds are required and these funds are shared between the center and the states. Now, for the Himalayan and Northeastern states, the fund is shared in the ratio 90 to 10. That is 90 will be provided by the center and 10 by the states and the ratio is 50 to 50 for other states and for the union territories, the center will provide 100 percentage funds. Now, let us see some main features of this mission. Now, based on its objective, the mission aims to create local infrastructure for rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household wastewater for reuse in agriculture. And thus, this mission is said to be based on various water conservation efforts like point recharge of groundwater, desilting of minor irrigation tanks, then use of grey water for agriculture and source sustainability. See here, you should know that grey water is commonly defined as the wastewater generated from bathroom, laundry and kitchen. So, grey water is the component of domestic wastewater which has not originated from the toilet or urinal because the water from toilet and urinal is called as black water and this grey water can be treated and it can be used for toilet cleaning, irrigation, floor washing and even for construction. And in this way only, this mission aims to use this grey water for agriculture and for source sustainability. Now, this mission will converge with other center and state government schemes to achieve its objectives of sustainable water supply management across the country. Another important aspect of this mission is that it includes intensive forestation and also renovation of traditional water bodies. This renovation is expected to provide water supply to the tap connections established in the households. See, this mission is one of the important missions of our country because as you know, India has 16% of world population and we face a crisis of depleting groundwater resources and there is also over exploitation of water resources and this has also led to deterioration of water quality. So, portable water has become a huge problem in rural India and thus the government has given major thrust to this gel given mission and the government is using the same method which it used for implementing the Swachh Bharat scheme and this shows the seriousness of the government with regard to the scheme because as you know, under the Swachh Bharat scheme, the government built 11 crore toilets and now it is trying to do the same with this gel given mission where it is constructing pipes and we are saying this based on the data released by the government. The data says that the scheme has reached 32.3 percentage coverage of tap water connections in rural India. See, as per the released data, as of August 15 2019, there were only 3.24 crore households with tap water connections but as of now, 32.3 percentage households that is 6.16 crore households have access to tap water and this shows that close to 1 lakh water connections were given daily in rural India. This is one of the major achievements of this scheme but there are also some problems with this scheme. The main issue is that out of the total 731 districts in our country, more than 250 districts and more than 1500 blocks are water stressed or they are drought prone. That means just establishing tap connections is not enough, water supply should be ensured. So, renovation of traditional water bodies is also an essential component of this mission. So, government should focus on that also along with establishing tap connections. And the second major problem is the fund crunch but as of now, this is being addressed by the government because to ensure the implementation of the scheme without any lack of funds for the financial year 2020 to 2021, a sum of rupees 23,500 crores have been allotted for the implementation of the scheme itself. Additionally, for the financial year 2020 to 2021, 50 percentage of 15th finance commission grants were given to rural local bodies that is around 30,300 crores were given to rural local bodies as tight grant by the 15th finance commission. See, when we say tight grant, it means it is a grant made with conditions attached and here the condition was that the tight grants are to be used for basic services of sanitation and maintenance of openification free status and also for supply of drinking water, rainwater harvesting and water recycling. So, such kind of funding has to be consistent if the government wants to achieve 100 percentage coverage of tap water connections in rural India. So, these are some of the points that you should know with respect to this news article. Now, let's move on to the next discussion. Now, this news article talks about the sudden missing of an algebra tour toys at the Madras Crocodile Bank in Tamil Nadu. This algebra tour toys is named as Master Shifu and it was brought to this Madras Crocodile Bank as part of zoo exchange program between Prague Zoo, Czech Republic and the Crocodile Bank and these tour toys were brought in exchange for seven gorillas of the Madras Crocodile Bank. Now, according to the news article, the reason for the theft of this algebra tour toys which is named as Master Shifu is because of its perceived medicinal uses and for illegal animal trade. So, in this context, let us see some facts about this algebra tour toys. So, it is also commonly known as algebra giant tour toys. Its scientific name is Geo Shalon Jajantia and it is found in Madagascar, Mauritius, Sechulis and Tanzania. This tour toys is one of the largest land tour toys and it can live up to 150 years and since it is one of the largest land tour toys, the male algebra tour toys weigh between 500 to 700 pounds that is from 230 to 320 kilograms and the females weigh around 150 kilograms. If you see about the physical features of this species, they have a dark gray to black shell which is in the shape of a dome. They have stout legs with particularly big scales as you can see here and they also have a club shaped feet with powerful claws and they also have long neck. Now, this species live both individually and also in herds and they are primarily active in early morning and in late evening and these species are primarily vegetarians but occasionally they supplement their diet with small invertebrates or decaying flesh and they obtain most of the water from the food sources. Now, initially we saw the distribution of the species but here you should note that back then they were found in most islands of the Indian Ocean but however between 17th and 19th centuries, these tour toys were frequently captured and they were stored on board the sailing ships to serve as fresh meat for the crew. So, because of this, the tortoises from most of the places became extinct except for those at the algebra et al in Seychelles. See, since this species was captured to serve as fresh meat by the year 1840, the only giant tortoises surviving in the wild were on this algebra et al only. This et al has effectively protected the population because it has an inhospitable terrain and it does not have fresh water. So, due to this, the human population did not settle there and this enables these giant tortoises to sleep safely with their heads and necks exposed because there is no fear of predators in this et al and this is one of the reasons why this algebra et al which is home to some 1,50,000 algebra giant tortoises has been declared as a natural world heritage site by UNESCO. So, just now we saw that one of the main threats is capturing it for fresh meat. Then other threats include trading in hatchlings or the young tortoises rather than the adult species. And one of the reasons for this trade could be the myth that this species has a medicinal use. Since this algebra et al is in a strategic position in the Indian Ocean and this is where these giant tortoises are mainly found, so they are at the risk from military development and they are at the risk of resource usage such as using of mangroves or fish resources by the humans and they are at the risk of natural catastrophes such as hurricanes and also they may be threatened due to tourism in the future. See at present this algebra et al is situated in a place which is not very easy to reach. So, if in future if the difficulties of water supply and transport is overcome economically, then it may pay way for tourism also and this will become a threat to this species. So, these species are threatened with all these issues but still these tortoises are saved by appeals for conservation from prominent scientists of the time including Charles Darwin and because of their already declined population, this species has been listed as vulnerable under the IUCN Red List. And since algebra et al is a world heritage site, captive breeding programs are active in conservation parks in Mauritius and Rodrigues and additionally international trade in this species is controlled by convention of international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora that is sites because this species has been listed under appendix 2 of sites. So, these are some of the important information that you should know with respect to algebra giant tortoises. Now, let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article which mentions that Isro Charmin has told that Isro was developing green propulsion technology for all of its propulsion stages under its human space flight missions. So, in this context, let us understand about this green propulsion technology. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. As you are aware, exploration of space is one of the most amazing endeavors that man has ever undertaken and a big part of that amazement is the complexity associated with it. See, this space exploration is complicated because there are so many interesting problems to solve and there are so many obstacles and the biggest problem of all is the harnessing of enough energy simply to get a spaceship off the ground and this is where rocket engines come into picture. When most people think about motors or engines, they think about rotation. For example, a gasoline engine in a car produces rotational energy to drive the wheels but know that these rocket engines are fundamentally different because rocket engines are reaction engines. The basic principle that drives a rocket engine is the famous Newtonian principle which is to every action that is an equivalent opposite reaction. So, a rocket engine throws mass in one direction and it benefits from the reaction that occurs in the opposite direction. So, based on this principle for the rocket to rush forward, something has to rush backwards and that thing is the propellant. The propellant is a material that spews out of the back of the spacecraft which gives it the thrust or a push forward and often this propellant is a kind of fuel which is burnt with an oxidizer to produce large volumes of very hot gas. These gases expand until they rush out of the back of the rocket making the thrust and as you know to propel a rocket into space huge quantity of rocket fuel is needed and although the exhaust velocity of burnt gases is high the gases themselves are very light. So, a lot of propellant is needed to overcome earth's gravity and to lift a small payload into the space and now there are different kinds of engines. There is solid fuel rocket engines. These were the first engines created by man. So, generally what is needed is something that burns very quickly but which does not explode. So, in a solid fuel rocket engine here a solid fuel and an oxidizing agent are packed in a cylindrical tube and when the fuel is lit it burns along the wall of the tube but interestingly if you see in a rocket that contains over million pounds of fuel this typical burn of the fuel lasts only about two minutes and then there is liquid propellant rocket engines. In most liquid propellant rocket engines a fuel and an oxidizer are pumped into a combustion chamber. In this an oxidizer could be gasoline or liquid oxygen. Now here the fuel burned to create a high pressure and high velocity steam of hot gases. These gases flow through a nozzle which accelerates them further and it then leaves the engine and this is why liquid propellants have a higher thrust but their use is more complicated. Here also note that the rocket engine design requires cryogenic cooling pumping mechanisms and steering arrangements and the most popular fuel used today is hydrazine. The hydrazine in its anhydrous form is colorless toxic irritant and sensitizer which damages the central nervous system and it produces symptoms as extreme as tumors and shears also. Additionally the monopropellant hydrazine is highly corrosive carcinogenic that is it causes cancer and it is not environment friendly. When we say monopropellant it means the rocket fuel is used without an additional oxidizing agent. So when the monopropellant hydrazine is used it is highly corrosive and it causes cancer and it is not environment friendly. So alternate green propellants are currently under studies. This includes ammonium dinitromide based monopropellants and hydroxyl ammonium nitride based monopropellants and some rockets even use liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer in the main stage engines. This gives the byproduct water telling that it is clean. However the production of hydrogen itself can cause significant carbon emissions and here it is to be noted that both solid and liquid launching systems have to rely on the use of solid fuel as well. See to get the rocket off the ground solid fuel boosters are burnt alongside and the solid rocket boosters are very bad for our environment. It is because they emit nasty toxic compounds and they deplete the ozone layer and thus in order to reduce the air pollution during rocket launches much research has been done to develop space propellants that are environment friendly that is which are green and research is also been done to contribute towards non-toxic propellants. These propellants are generally easier and safer to handle than the conventional ones and they are expected to bring down the cost that is associated with propellant transport and storage and also in spacecraft development and on-ground operations. So in this regard let us talk about some of the potential technologies used by ISRO for green propulsion. See all spacefaring nations have been investigating green propulsion systems to minimize environmental impact while improving overall efficiency and economy. Now ISRO has made a beginning by developing an eco-friendly solid propellant based on glycidyl azide polymer as fuel and ammonium dinitromide as oxidizer at the laboratory level and this will eliminate the emission of chlorinated exhaust products from the rocket motors. In addition to this ISRO is also carrying out various technology demonstration projects involving green propellant combinations such as hydrogen peroxide, kerosene, liquid oxygen, liquid methane, ammonium dinitromide, methanol water etc. In this regard ISRO has already begun the move towards environment friendly and green propellants with the acceptance of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen with kerosene based propulsion systems for launch vehicles and the use of electric propulsion for spacecraft and you know that the liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen combination is already being used in cryogenic upper stages of GSLV and GSLV Mark III launch vehicles. Here also know that ISRO has successfully developed ISRO scene which is a rocket grade version of kerosene. This ISRO scene is an alternative to conventional hydrogen rocket fuel. So these are some of the points that is you know with respect to green propulsion technologies and green propellants. Now let's move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this FAQ column which talks about the new variant of covid-19 that was found in England. See a year after when the novel coronavirus was found in China the emergence of new strain of the covid virus that is caused by mutations is seeming to be 70 percentage more transmissible and this is not the first new strain mutations were also reported from different parts of the world including Denmark, Australia, England and South Africa. But the rapid domination of the new strain which has been named lineage B1.1.7 this has caused new fears in the world. So in this context let us understand what is mutation. A mutation is a change in a DNA sequence it can result from DNA copying mistakes made during cell division it can result due to exposure to ionizing radiation or exposure to chemicals or it can also result due to infection by viruses. See mutation is part of the life cycle of a virus once the virus latches or attaches onto a host it begins to replicate and it makes copies of itself. Now during the process of virus replication random errors arise where one or two protein molecules change and this could possibly have been induced by the immune response of infected people. Now these changes in the genomic structure of the virus can be considered mutations but here note that not all mutations are significant and only those mutations are significant that affect the virus's ability to survive or replicate. Now in the case of COVID mutations arise naturally in the SARS-CoV-2 genome as the virus replicates and circulates in the human population. Now as a result of this ongoing process many thousands of mutations have already arisen in the SARS-CoV-2 genome since the virus emerged in 2019 but most of the mutations observed in SARS-CoV-2 have no apparent effect on the virus and only a very small minority are likely to be important and they may change the virus in any appreciable way. For example if a new strain causes a change in the ability to infect people or if a new strain causes disease of different severity or if the new strain becomes insensitive to the effect of human immune response including becoming insensitive to the response generated by a vaccine then these kinds of new strains that were caused by mutation is dangerous. Now in this regard only with respect to COVID-19 World Health Organization's chief has cited a basic fact that viruses mutate over time and it is natural and it is to be expected. He has further noted that in the new strain that has been reported in UK the transmission was higher but there was no evidence that it causes more severe disease and it is also said that the existing PCR techniques for the COVID-19 will detect the new strain as well so until or unless a new strain causes any important change in the way it infects people or in the way it responds to a vaccine we need not worry about the new strains but how to protect ourselves from this new strain this FAQ mentions that also simply we have to just follow the original advice on COVID-19 hygiene we have to use a face mark we have to regularly wash hands and we have to maintain distance with others when we are in a public setting now these simple practical ways have been termed as the best ways to prevent the infection so let us follow these basic instructions and protect ourselves from this new strain. Now let's move on to the next discussion our next discussion is based on this news article which talks about the new species of wild sunrose this new species was recently discovered from the eastern guards and it was found in the Prakasham district of Andhra Pradesh so in this context let us have a brief understanding about the species and we'll also see about eastern guards first know that sunrose is known as portulaca this portulaca it is genus of the flowering plant family portulacaceae they are distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions it can be found abundant in South America Africa and Australia and they can also be found in lesser extent in temperate Europe and Asia also now this newly found species is unique according to the botanists because they have spotted interesting population of portulaca at the foothills of eastern guards with varying characteristics the new species is named as portulaca lalji it has been named as lalji to honour the contribution of lalji Singh who is an eminent botanist of the botanical survey of India associated with its Andaman and cobra centre now the species have varied characters like leaf morphology and flower which has not been reported so far in other species of portulaca and this could be described as novelty see this plant has unique features such as it has tuborous root it has no hair in its leaf axels and it has a reddish pink flower and it has prolate shaped fruits etc and these morphological features distinguish this species from other species of genus portulaca and it is said that this flower blooms for months from June to February now since apart from few localities there is no data regarding the population of this species in other states of India there is no established conservation status for the species and it is based as data deficient in the IUCN categories here just you have to remember that portulaca lalji is a flowering plant so you should be able to answer a prelims question if a simple question appears which asks portulaca lalji recently seen in news is what now talking about eastern guards just here remember that they are discontinuous range of mountains along the India's eastern coast it is spread across five states namely Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and eastern guards consists of dry deciduous moist deciduous and semi evergreen regions it is home to around 3000 flowering plant species it has 400 bird species and many animal species including tigers and elephants most importantly eastern guards and the western guards meet at the Neil Geary hills in the Tamil Nadu remember this also with this we come to the end of this discussion now let's move on to the next discussion now we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session let us take this previous question which appeared in 2017 problems the question asks in India if a species of tortoise is declared protected under schedule one of the wildlife protection act of 1972 what does it imply optional it enjoys the same level of protection as the tiger option b if it no longer exists in the wild a few individuals are under captive protection and now it is impossible to prevent its extinction option c it is endemic to a particular region in India option d both b and c stated above are correct in this context now the correct answer is option a because tiger is also an animal which is included in schedule one of wpa see the hunting of any wild animal specified in schedule one to schedule four of the act is totally prohibited with some exceptions like the chief wildlife warden can permit hunting in certain cases or can issue permit for hunting for some special purposes like for education scientific research and scientific management etc especially the wild animals specified in schedule one and part two of schedule two has been given a higher status of protection and they have been classified as scheduled animals and the trade or commerce in such scheduled animals have been totally prohibited under the act so schedule one species enjoy a high level of protection under the act now this next question is based on gel g1 mission first statement is the coverage of the scheme has crossed 40 percentage of its target now the statement is incorrect because as per today's news article the coverage has just crossed 30 percentage and it is below 35 percentage which is 32.3 percentage now the second statement is telangana has achieved 100 percentage coverage under the scheme now this statement is also incorrect because goa is the state which has achieved 100 percentage coverage not telangana and here the question asks for the correct statements since both these statements are incorrect the correct answer to this question is option d neither one nor two now this next question asks which of the statements given below regarding nanoparticles is incorrect option a nanoparticles greatly reduce the power consumption while decreasing the weight and thickness of the electronic screens option b nanoparticles or materials are used in chemotherapy drug delivery option c the size of nanoparticles range from 1 to 1000 nanometers option d nano shells nano micelles are the applications of nanoparticles in medicines now here the incorrect statement about nanoparticles is option c because nanoparticles are under 100 nanometers they do not go up to 1000 nanometers and all the other three statements are correct about nanoparticles so the correct answer to this question is option c now this next question is based on hydrazine first statement is it is a colorless volatile alkali liquid with powerful reducing properties now this first statement is correct the second statement is it is used as an alternative clean fuel in rocket propulsion system now this statement is incorrect because during discussion also we saw that hydrazine is not environmental friendly and here the question asks for the correct statement so the correct answer is option a one only now this next question is based on eastern guards first statement is they are continuous range of mountains along eastern coast of india now this statement is incorrect because eastern guards are not continuous and compared to eastern guards western guards are more continuous second statement is they are spread across five indian states this statement is correct they are spread across odisha karnataka telangana andhra desh and tamiladu third statement is it meets western guards at the animali hills which spans the border of kerala and tamiladu now the statement is incorrect because eastern guards meets western guards at the nilgiri hills and here the question asks for the incorrect statements so the correct answer to this question is option b one and three only now this next question is a two statement question first statement is mutation is the change in dna sequence of an organism this statement is correct second statement in sarco v2 mutations do not occur as it is a retro virus now this statement is incorrect because we saw that in sarco v2 also mutations are occurring and here the question asks for the correct statements so the correct answer is option a one only now let's take two main questions this question is based on gs paper three the question asks you to discuss about green propulsion technology now this next question is based on gs paper two it is about gel g1 mission you can write the answer and post it in the comment section with this we come to the end of today's in the news analysis and practice questions discussion session if you like the video don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to shankar ias academy youtube channel for more updates related to civil service examination preparation