 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the hindu news analysis by Shankara AS Academy for the date 16th of August 2023. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to go through today. And before getting into the discussion, I have an important announcement to make. The much awaited pre-storming test series is about to begin. It is going to begin from 11th September and the first test is on 18th September. The other details regarding the test series are displayed here, you can go through it. Now let's get into the discussion. Now look at this article from yesterday's newspaper. As we all know, August 14th is remembered annually as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day since 2021. This day is observed to pay homage to those who have lost their lives during partition and those who had to undergo severe hardships after being forced to relocate from their homes. So yesterday our prime minister paid tributes to the victims of partition and that is why this article is in news. So in our news article discussion today, let us quickly go through the factors that led to partition of India and the impacts of partition of India. As we all know, the partition of India in 1947 led to the birth of two independent nations, the nations being India and Pakistan. These nations were divided along the religious lines. A lot of factors led to the partition of colonial India. The first such factor was the British government's policy of divide and rule. Basically the approach under the policy is to divide Indian population into groups based on their religion and turn them against each other. The British government used the policy to keep a check on the tide of nationalism in India. But unfortunately the approach led to religious polarization between Hindus and Muslims. This in turn fueled the demand for separate nation group. This is the first and the most prominent reason that led to the partition of India. The second factor is the stubbornness of Muslim League. See the All India Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah's leadership advocated for a separate Muslim state to protect their political and cultural interest. Despite the proposals like Cabinet Mission and Vival Plan to keep an undivided India with conditions favorable to the Muslims, the Muslim League rejected them and they proposed a divided India and India being divided on religious lines. It even proclaimed 16th August 1946 as Direct Action Day in order to put forth their demand for a separate Muslim homeland. This is the second major factor. The third factor is the non-cooperation between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. See both these parties were opposite in their views. The fear of Hindu dominance in an undivided India led to a political stalemate between Congress and the Muslim League. So their separation and the acceptance of partition of country was the only request to address the deadlock. This is the third factor. The last factor is the appeasement policy followed by the British government. The government followed the appeasement policy to remove the fear of war. This policy encouraged the Muslim League to ask for the favor of separate country. So these are the four factors that led to the partition of India. Now moving forward let us see the impacts of partition. First impact is that as you all know large scale human migration took place due to the partition. This is the first major impact. The second impact is many people lost their lives, homes and dignity due to communal clashes that existed along the borders of the country. This is the second major impact. The third major impact is disruption of trade and industry. See earlier India was a united country. India and Pakistan existed together. For example, consider Bengal. In united Bengal the jute manufacturing plants were in west Bengal side and the jute producing side was in Bangladesh side. Since India was united before the trade happened smoothly. But after partition since India was divided along religious lines the jute factories in India was not able to procure raw material that is raw jute from the jute producing areas of Bangladesh. So this is how trade got disrupted due to partition. In addition to this due to partition both the countries faced severe economic challenges. This led to poor resource allocation to rehabilitate the people who were affected by partition. These are the important impacts of partition of India. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw the factors that led to the partition of India and we also saw the impacts of partition. Now with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. The news is that Uttar Khand and Himachal Pradesh is freshly affected by heavy rains and floods. Many people have died in rain related incidents due to flooding in Ganga and its tributaries. The heavy rains caused the rivers to overflow and it triggered landslides in the region. The army, air force and the NDRF are involved in the rescue operations and thousands of people have been displaced due to flooding and landslides. This is about the article given here. In this context in our discussion today let us see why there is frequent flooding in Himachal Pradesh and we shall also see the steps that can be taken to address this issue. Now let us start the discussion by knowing some basic information about floods. See typically flooding occurs after days of heavy or continuous rainfall. However flash floods can occur much quickly, sometimes within hours of heavy rainfall. According to the US National Weather Service, flash flood is defined as a flood that begins within 6 hours of heavy rainfall. Flash floods are often very dangerous because they can happen with little or no warning. They can also be very restrictive thereby causing widespread damage to property and the infrastructure in the region. Now having seen the definition of flood and flash floods, let us see what causes them. Flash floods can be caused by number of things. We can broadly classify the causes of flash floods into natural and anthropogenic causes. First let us take up natural causes. The natural causes include cloudburst, river and streams overflowing their banks due to heavy rains, glacial lake outflow, thunderstorm on mountain areas, hurricanes and other tropical storms. And these are the factors that causes flash floods. See apart from these, the intensity of the rainfall, the location and distribution of the rainfall, the land use and topography, the vegetation type, soil type and the soil water content, they also determine the speed of the flash floods. For example, we saw upstream thunderstorm on mountain areas causes flash floods, right? Here when thunderstorms occur upstream on mountain areas, the runoff joins the river coming downstream. So the speed will increase tremendously due to gravity. This causes more damage to the infrastructure lying near the mountain areas and it causes landslide also. So it is one example how location of rainfall influences the flash floods. Secondly, let us see about the anthropogenic causes. Anthropogenic causes include dam failure or dam break, extreme weather events influenced by climate change, destruction of wetlands and destruction of mangroves. The uncontrolled construction of hydropower projects impacting the natural course of mountain rivers is also one of the important anthropogenic causes of flash floods. See the diversion of water through tunnels and disposal of excavated material along the riverbeds during dam construction severely alter the natural flow of the river. This is mainly problematic during the periods of heavy rainfall or cloudburst. During heavy rainfall or cloudburst, the rivers are already swollen with water. With restricted flow due to the disposal of excavated material, the flow of water in the river become very rapid and this causes flooding in mountainous areas. In addition to this, various anthropogenic actions like construction of industrial areas, clearing mountains, natural forest and altering the land use pattern results in reduction in the lands water absorption capacity. This also contributes to flash floods in the mountain area during heavy rainfall. See these are the important causes of flooding mainly in the Himalayan states. Along with this, let us see some specific reasons for frequent flooding in the Himachal Pradesh. When it comes to Himachal Pradesh, flash floods are often associated with cloudburst. Here cloudburst means sudden and intense rainfall in a short period of time. In addition to this, Himachal Pradesh faces the challenge of overflowing glacial lake. Here glacial lakes are formed due to melting of glaciers. These are the two main causes that makes Himachal Pradesh very prone to flooding. As we all know in 2023, Himachal Pradesh faced heavy flooding. This is mainly due to the combined effect of southwest monsoon and western disturbance. The heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh recently is caused by the meeting of the western disturbance and the monsoon drought. Here western disturbance is the low pressure system that originates in the Mediterranean region and brings moisture to the Indian subcontinent. The monsoon drought is the low pressure zone that lies along the path of the monsoon winds. So when these two systems meet, that is when western disturbance and the monsoon drought meets, it causes intense rainfall over the regions like Himachal Pradesh. So this is the reason why in 2023, both the Himachal Pradesh and the Uttarakhand region are facing heavy rainfall. And this heavy rainfall coupled with anthropogenic causes has resulted in heavy flooding and landslide in the region. Now to avoid this, what can be done by our government and our people to reduce destruction caused by flash floods in the region? The first and foremost thing is construction of embankments. Planning and construction of embankments should be done to help divert water into open land areas in case of heavy rains. Floodplains and overflow areas should be created along rivers and streams to help overflow the excess water without causing any damages. In addition to this, flood warning and disaster management mechanism should be improved to better handle the situation. The government can also take up proper urban drainage system to avoid blockage of drain which is the main cause of urban flooding. And finally, government can take up awareness campaign to educate the public about the steps that can be taken to avoid flooding and also the steps that can be taken when flooding occurs. These are the steps that the government can take to mitigate flooding in the region. Now moving forward, let us see the steps that are actually taken by the government to mitigate the effects of flooding. The government has created the National Flood Risk Mitigation Project that is NFRMP. The main aim of this project is to ensure that the arrangements are in place to mobilize the resources and capabilities for relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery during flooding. Okay? Then there is the National Disaster Management Plan. This provides a framework and direction for all phases of disaster management cycle such as prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and reconstruction. The next one is the National Disaster Management Authority. This is the apex body for disaster management in India. This is under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of India. It lays down policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management and coordinates the implementation of this policy. In addition to these institutional efforts, the government is also establishing emergency control rooms and connection networks in risk areas. The government also deploys rapid response teams and relief materials in flood affected region. These are the important steps taken by the government to mitigate floods in India. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw what are the causes of flood in Himalayan states and we saw why particularly in 2023 Uttarkan and Himachal Pradesh are facing heavy flooding. Then we saw the steps that can be taken to avoid flooding and finally we saw the steps taken by the government. Now with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now take a look at this article. According to this article, the Chief Justice of India announced plans to expand the Supreme Court by constructing a new building with additional courtrooms and other facilities. He said that the third phase of e-courts will revolutionize the working of courts in India. This is about the news article. In this context let us discuss about e-courts and their importance in enhancing the judiciary. First of all, what is meant by e-courts? E-courts or ritual courts is a concept that aims to limit the physical presence of people in the court. In case of e-courts, the filing of the cases and the adjudication process takes place over the internet. Now let us see how e-courts in India was created. The e-courts project was conceptualized on the basis of the National Policy and Action Plan for the Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in the Indian Judiciary 2005 report. The report was submitted to the government by the e-committee of the Supreme Court. So based on this report only, the e-courts project was started. The e-courts project aims to transform the Indian judiciary by inducting information and communication technology. So the ultimate aim of the e-courts project is to limit the physical presence of people or advocates in the court. With this information, now let us see how this project was implemented. The e-courts project is being implemented in India in a phased manner. It is a Pan India project. The first phase was implemented during the 2011-15 period. The second phase was started in 2015 and under phase 2, various district and sub-band net courts have been computerized. The phase 3 of e-courts was started this year. It has been monitored and funded by the Department of Justice, which is functioning under the Ministry of Law and Justice. This is how the e-courts project is being implemented in India. Moving on, let us see the advantages associated with the e-courts project. Firstly, the e-courts project will bring improved accessibility by incorporating better scheduling mechanism and allowing for online digital filings. Secondly, it will bring down cost of justice. As we saw earlier, the e-courts project allows for e-filings and virtual hearings. So this will reduce the paper and travel cost. This in turn reduces the overall cost of accessing justice in India. Thirdly, the e-courts project will increase transparency by allowing live streaming of cases and providing open data. Finally, the e-courts project will help in efficient delivery of justice. See, seamless integration of the judicial system with the police, prisons and prosecution will improve the speed of information sharing and make the judicial process more efficient. These are the some of the important advantages of e-courts project. Now let us see some of the steps taken by the government to improve the functioning of the e-courts. See, recently the government of India launched the e-courts integrated mission mode project in the country. This is done for the computerization of the district and subordinate courts. In addition to this, the national judicial data grid is created as an online platform under the e-courts project. It provides information relating to judicial proceedings of all district courts. The government also provided high speed internet connectivity to all courts in India to facilitate e-courts project. These are some of the steps taken by the government to make e-courts projects a reality in India. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the basics about e-courts, how it is implemented in India, the advantages of e-courts and the steps taken by the government to implement the e-courts project. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. The article says that due to the recent amendment made to the Forest Conservation Act, the deemed forest of Odisha will lose protection. This is about the article given here. So, in this context in our discussion, we will see what are deemed forest and the issue with the recent amendment to the Forest Conservation Act. See, deemed forests are not defined under any law in India. Even the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 does not define what are deemed forest. But in 1996, through the TS Godavarman Thirumalpat case, the Supreme Court defined deemed forest. According to the Supreme Court, deemed forest is an area or a land that has features of a forest but it is not classified as forest by the central government or state government. So essentially, deemed forest are land that looks like a forest but it is not officially listed as a forest. Under this judgment, these deemed forest also started receiving the protection provided to forest under the Forest Conservation Act. As we all know, as per the Forest Conservation Act, any land that is defined as a forest cannot be converted to industrial use without asking the permission of the central or the state government. So after the Thirumalpat case, the deemed forest also started getting the protection offered to the forest under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980. But recently, as you all know, the central government made new changes to the Forest Conservation Act. And the change is that, according to the new amendment, the Forest Conservation Act only applies to two kinds of lands. The first is that the lands that are officially declared as forest under the Indian Forest Act of 1927. The next type of land is that the land that is listed as a forest in government records on or after October 25, 1980. So any land recorded as forest before this date but not officially said to be owned by the state won't be covered under this Act. Also, the Act won't cover the land that was changed from forest to non-forest use by December 12, 1996. So if a forest was legally changed to non-forest use between 1980 and 1996, the Forest Conservation Act does not offer protection to this piece of land. So as I already mentioned, due to this change brought about by the recent amendment, the deemed forest will not get future protection under the Forest Conservation Act. The issue is that almost half of Odisha's forest land has been seen as deemed forest. So due to the recent amendment to the Forest Conservation Act, half of the forest land in Odisha will lose protection. This might lead to rampant deforestation and land degradation. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what are deemed forest and we also saw what are the issues with the recent amendment to the Forest Conservation Act. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. According to this article, yesterday, the General Secretary of the ISAC Moiva faction of the NSCN said that our country has officially acknowledged the right of the Nagas to be integrated. See, integration of all Naga-inhibited areas into a single administrative unit called the Greater Nagalim has been the long-standing demand of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland or NSCNIM. Currently, this demand has been acknowledged by New Delhi. This is about the news article. In this context, let us quickly go through the Naga issue in brief. See, Nagas refers to the tribal groups belonging to the north-eastern part of our country. Initially, they were the inhabitants of the Naga Hills, which was along the north-eastern frontier of the Assam-Berma border. But now, Nagas occupy a vast area of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Myanmar. These tribes had been living in isolation for centuries and they came into contact with the rest of the world only during the British rule in India, that also mainly due to the efforts of the British missionaries. Even then, British followed a policy of least interference in the internal affairs of the Nagas. That is, British gave due regard to the continuation of the Naga tribal culture. So they allowed several setups to remain as it is like the village administration, land system, customary laws, social customs and the communal institutions. Also in 1870s, the Bengal East Frontier Regulation was promulgated. This regulation introduced the Inner Line system in the northeast. This Inner Line system prevented people from the plains from entering the Naga areas. But remember that British did intervene in the intertribal warfare and reduced their occurrence. This led to long-term peace in the region. Things started to change in the 20th century. The main turning point happened in 1919 with the formation of the Naga Club. When the Suman Commission visited the Naga Hills in 1929, the Naga Club submitted a memorandum stating that the Nagas and the Indians are separate with no common history, and hence Naga should be given independent status. After World War II, the Naga Club was renamed as Naga Hills Tribal Council. Then in 1946, the Naga Tribal Council was converted into Naga National Council by Mr. Fizzo. The Naga National Council was composed of 29 members representing different tribes. They demanded local autonomy and adequate safeguards which were supported by the Indian National Congress. So, the Constituent Assembly offered autonomy as envisaged in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution. But this offer was rejected by the Naga National Council. And in June 1947, they declared that the Naga Hills would cease to be part of India with the departure of the British, i.e., after Indian independence. Slowly, in June 1947 itself, this led to a signing of a 9-point agreement between the Naga National Council and the then-Governor of Assam. It is called Hyderi Agreement. This agreement recognized the rights of the Nagas to develop themselves according to their freely-elected wishes, but the terms of the agreement were interpreted differently by the stakeholders. Consequently, Mr. Fizzo and the Naga leaders declared Naga independence on August 14, 1947, i.e., even before India declared its independence. That is why the issue actually appeared in the news yesterday. According to the Nagas, August 14, 2023 was the 77th Naga Independence Day. But this Naga independence was ignored by the Indian government. So, from 1948, the administration of the Naga areas began to change. Indians took over the administration and post which in the past were held by the Nagas. The Nagas declared independence again in January 1950 after their own plebiscite. The Indian government ignored this plebiscite and gave the Naga Hills a status as a part of the tribal areas of Assam. The Nagas then launched a campaign of civil disobedience and they even boycotted India's first general election that was held in 1951. So the government of India banned the Naga National Council. The Nagas formed a parallel government in 1954 called the Republican Government of Free Naga Land. It was renamed the Federal Government of Naga Land in 1956. Consequently, the government of India arrested all the Naga National Council leaders and the 16 tribal councils under the control of the Naga National Council. After long negotiations, some moderate leaders headed by Imkong Libar negotiated for the creation of the state of Naga Land within the Indian Union. Hence, the state of Naga Land came into existence in 1963. But even this failed to end the movement because majority of the Naga-inhibited areas were left outside the new state. Then in 1975, the Shilang Accord was signed in which the Naga National Council agreed to give up arms and accept the Indian constitution. But two Naga National Council members revolted against this. They were Isakchisi and Moiva. They termed the Accord as a sellout or the brittle of the Naga's arbitrary demand so they formed the National Socialist Council of Naga Land in 1980. And another leader by the name Kaplan joined the National Socialist Council of Naga Land. These names are important so try to remember them. In 1988, the National Socialist Council of Naga Land split due to leadership differences. It split into NSNIM and the NSNK. Here IM stands for Isakchimiwa and K stands for Kaplan. The ultimate demand of the NSNIM is the Greater Naga Lim or the Greater Naga Land. Which means the integration of Naga-inhibited areas in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and part of Myanmar. In 1991, the Government of India got the NSNIM to sign a ceasefire agreement. This was done to start having talks between both the stakeholders with the aim of signing a Naga peace Accord. Then in Naga's 2015, the Government of India and the NSNIM successfully concluded the Naga peace Accord. This agreement was expected to end the Naga insurgency in our country. But the agreement did not come into force because of the unrealistic demands of the NSNIM. The NSNIM wanted a separate constitution, separate flag and also integration of all contiguous Naga-inhibited areas under the Naga Lim. Because of this, the negotiations are yet to be concluded and no peace Accord has been signed between the two parties. So this is the brief about the Naga insurgency issue. I hope this discussion was helpful. With this, we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now let us take up the practice problems questions. We have three practice problems questions today. Let us see the Mumbai one. Let us take up the first question. The E-Codes project is a pan-India mission mode project under the AG's of which of the following. From our discussion, we know the correct answer here is option C, Ministry of Law and Justice. Moving on to the next question. In the context of the Naga issue, what is the significance of the Shillang Accord? The correct answer here is option A, Shillang Accord established a framework for ceasefire and negotiation between the Naga rebels and the Indian government. See from our discussion, we know that Shillang Accord was signed in 1975 between the Indian government and the Naga rebels represented by the Naga National Council. The aim of this Accord is to bring an end to the violent insurgency by establishing a ceasefire and creating a framework for negotiation between the Indian government and the Naga rebels. So once again, the correct answer here is option A. Moving on to the last question. What does the term deemed forest refer to in the context of forest conservation in India? This is also a very easy question. If you have listened to our discussion, the correct answer here is option C, forest land that conforms to the dictionary definition of forest, but is not officially notified as such. So the correct answer once again here is option C. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed here. Interested as friends can write the answer for this question and post it in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPC preparation, subscribe to Shankar Iesakadami's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.