 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar Iyer's Academy for the date 9th of January 2023. And displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay let's get into the article discussion. Now let's start our discussion with this friend page news article. So you'll be very interested to know about this article. The news is that Joshimath, a pilgrim town in Uttarakhand, is experiencing land subsidence. See due to land subsidence, cracks have appeared in over 600 houses of Joshimath. So the Uttarakhand government has declared Joshimath town as a disaster affected and unsafe for living under the Disaster Management Act. The residents of Joshimath are blaming the Tapavan Vishnugad power project of the National Thermal Power Corporation for the irreversible damage. So yesterday the Prime Minister's offers convened a high level review of the situation in Delhi. And this review meeting was attended by state and central officials and experts in geology and disaster management. And this is the cracks of the news article given here. Now in this discussion we'll learn about what is land subsidence and then about the causes of land subsidence. Now let's start our discussion with the land subsidence. See it is defined as a gradual settling or sudden sinking of earth's surface due to removal or displacement of subsurface earth materials. Here the term subsurface refers to the area below the surface of the earth. So the materials found below the surface of the earth includes rocks, groundwater, minerals and they are only termed as the subsurface earth materials. And if these materials are displaced or removed then a gradual settling or sudden sinking of earth's surface will happen and this only leads to land subsidence. Now we'll understand land subsidence with an example. Let us take the groundwater. As we all know the rocks are closely packed below the surface of the earth and we have groundwater table below or above and what will happen if groundwater below the rocks is over exploited. This causes the weak rocks to fall in right. So if the rocks fall it leads to gradual settling or sudden sinking of earth's surface and this is what is called as land subsidence. Know that land subsidence can occur over large areas rather than in a small spot like sinkhole and this is why land subsidence is of serious concern. You can see this in the case of Joshimath town also. Because of land subsidence it had affected more than 600 houses. Also know that the land subsidence is caused due to both natural as well as anthropogenic hazards and it is irreversible. Now with this understanding we'll see the causes of land subsidence. First let us take the natural causes. See there are many natural causes now we'll understand them one by one. Firstly land subsidence is caused due to soil decomposition. See some natural soils like peat can decompose over a time and this causes ground movement. Peat is nothing but the surface organic layer of a soil that consists of partially decomposed organic matter and know that peat is derived mostly from plant material which has accumulated under conditions of water logging, oxygen deficiency, high acidity and nutrient deficiency. As peat is a partially decomposed organic matter it decomposes fully over the time and this leads to ground movement and this ground movement results in land subsidence and this is the first cause. Secondly land subsidence is caused due to shrinking and swelling of soils. See soils such as clay, silt or likely to cause land subsidence because they shrink and swell depending on their moisture content. So if there is more moisture due to heavy rainfall the clay and silt would shrink and this causes the land subsidence. And thirdly land subsidence is caused due to washing away of soils. See soils like sand and gravel are less susceptible to shrinking and growth but they are more susceptible to being washed away by water flow. So if there is more water flow then sand and gravel they are washed away and this also causes land subsidence. Fourthly land subsidence may be caused due to earthquake also. See water's earthquake it is the sudden displacement of the crust of earth. So this displacement of rocks causes land subsidence and these are all about the natural causes of land subsidence. Now moving on to the man-made causes. Firstly land subsidence is caused due to over-exploitation of groundwater. As we saw in the example itself if groundwater is over-exploited it causes the weak rocks under the surface of earth to fall and this fall causes sudden sinking of earth surface. Secondly land subsidence might also be caused due to heavy traffic. Now here you may be astonished right? How come heavy traffic causes land subsidence? See if an apartment or building is near to an area of heavy traffic then the extended vibration of traffic can cause the soil beneath the building to move and this soil movement causes land subsidence and this is how high traffic leads to land subsidence. And finally land subsidence is also caused due to construction work. See during construction work the soils are excavated for the building foundation. So the vibrations and the movement of soil during excavations will also cause land subsidence and these are all the natural and anthropogenic causes of land subsidence. Now we'll come back to the Joshimath case. It is believed that the primary reason of land subsidence in Joshimath is the National Thermal Power Corporation's TAPAWAN Vishnugad Hydropower Project. See it is believed that rampant infrastructure development without a plan is making the fragile Himalayan ecosystem even more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. See we all know climate change acts as a force multiplier right? See it means one thing will lead to many disastrous events and this is believed to be the reason of land subsidence in Joshimath and know that Joshimath has been declared as landslide subsidence zone and over 60 families living in uninhabitable houses in the sinking town have been excavated to temporary relief centers. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about land subsidence. We saw example of land subsidence and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the natural as well as anthropogenic causes of the land subsidence. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this text-in-context article. It talks about Generative AI. See the writer is Director of Product for the Bing Organization at Microsoft. So this article holds significance as it comes from a domain expert. See this is a science-based article and we will understand what is Generative AI. See Generative AI is a cutting-edge technological advancement that utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to create new forms of media such as text, audio, video and animation. Now with the advancement of machine learning it is possible to generate creative, short and long-form content, synthetic media and even deep fakes with a simple text. Now if you want to know more about deep fakes watch our January 2nd, 2023 analysis. Now let's come back to the article. Like I said it is possible to generate long and short-form content, synthetic media and even deep fakes with Generative AI. See you can give in small instruction-in-text which are also known as PROMs and the system gives you the required output. So what are you doing here? You are giving instruction-in-text which is called as PROM and the system is giving you back with the output. And how does this work? See Generative AI works by training a model using some data set and then using that model one can generate new or previously unseen content. See the Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize many industries by automating the creation of content and enabling the generation of new ideas and concepts. Now I'll give you an example. Shankara AI's Academy presents you with Hindu Daily News Analysis, right? This has some pattern of repetition. So this videos can be used as data to create and train a model. And this trained model can do the news analysis by itself using all the past videos that has been fed into it. It will analyze the news article for you by creating its own content. So what is it doing? It's bringing in automation in the content creation field and I hope you understand about how Generative AI works. See there are many cases where Generative AI are used. Firstly it can do sales, marketing and brand messaging. Nowadays the marketing messages are very personalized, right? You would have seen the Zomato notification messages on offers. They give out messages that are in local languages and the messages that you can relate with easily. And how do they offer such personalized messages? Think about it, no? It's all because of AI only. Secondly, developing codes was a difficult task earlier. Now applications like GitHub, Co-Pilot 6 and chat GPT-1 can generate code and help with developer productivity. It can suggest entire functions or snippets and even generate code in the real time. Furthermore, Generative AI can sift through numerous legal research materials and produce a pertinent specific summary. If you have written a research paper before, you would definitely know about something called as the review of literature. Here basically you have to read all of the research papers in the same subject and give a summary of it before starting your research. And this takes hours and hours, right? But now Generative AI can reduce the countless hours of human work and enable you to focus on more complex and exciting problems. So we can say Generative AI can accelerate the discovery of new research, drafting and synthesizing documents and reports. Apart from this, Generative AI can also help create complex engineering, design and architecture. You can simply tell the system that you need a big house with four windows. And while the plan is ready, you don't have to use AutoCAD or any of the complex software to sit and draw the floor plan. It will all be done by Generative AI. And finally, it can also help the health professionals with their medical diagnosis. AI can generate potential and alternative treatments personalized to patients, symptoms and medical history. See, all these applications seems very good, right? But the author says that it can also create harm and it can adversely impact the society because it can be easily misused. See, Generative AI can perpetuate biases, exclusion and discrimination. See, if the models are trained on biased or non-inclusive data, they will only generate biased outputs, discriminatory language, demeaning and degrading image and prejudiced content. So this is one concern about Generative AI. Secondly, it also rises ethical concerns about the potential for biased or inaccurate content to be generated. Now let us say, if a particular model gives you some wrong information, then who is to blame here? The developer can easily tell that it is a technical error and pause the blame on to the mission. At the end of the day, missions just do what you ask them to do, right? So this is another concern. And aspirants pause and read this quote. You will appreciate the truth in it. Now, apart from this, Generative AI systems can create content for malicious purposes such as deep fakes, disinformation and for spreading false propaganda. So these are some of the concerns listed out by the author. So as a way forward, the author suggests that we must add responsibility and accountability to developing AI technology and we should enforce ethical guidelines. We should conduct regular audits for fairness and justness. We should identify and address the biases in the technology. And at the same time, we should also protect privacy and security. And these are all the suggestions given by the author in this text and context article. And with this, we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion, we saw about what is Generative AI. We understood that with an example. We saw how it works. And after that, we moved on to see the applications of Generative AI. And after that, we saw some of the concerns of Generative AI. And finally, we ended our discussion by seeing some of the suggestions given by the author regarding Generative AI. Now, with these points in mind, let us move on to the next article discussion. Now, we'll take this editorial article for our discussion. See, census that was to be conducted two years back has been delayed due to the pandemic. And this editorial is written in this context only. Here, the author, Mr. K. Narayananuni, who belonged to the Indian Statistical Service, has argued that any further delay in conducting census exercises dangerous. He stated various disadvantages associated with the delay in census. And this is about the editorial. In this context, in our discussion today, we will see about the constitutional provision regarding census, significance of census and the negative impacts of postponing census. But before that, I have displayed the syllabus regarding this discussion here. Quickly go through it. See, before getting into the discussion, first, let us see what is the census. Census exercise involves the official survey of population to collect details like age, sex, literacy, mortality, housing, urbanization, fertility, schedule caste and schedule tribe, language, religion, migration, disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data. The data collected through the census is compiled and analyzed for various activities of the government. See, the Indian constitution does not have a provision regarding census. But the word census is mentioned in many places in the constitution. Now, let us see some places where the word census is mentioned. According to 7th schedule of the constitution, the census is mentioned in the union list. Other than this, article 82 and article 170 mentions about the use of census for the readjustment of seats in Lok Sabha and legislative assembly respectively. And article 330 provides for reservation of seats for schedule caste and schedule tribes in the House of People. And article 332 provides for the reservation of seats for SC and ST in the legislative assemblies of the state. See, both these articles say that reservation must be extended in proportion to the population of SC and ST. And it is also given that the population that is to be taken into account regarding SC and ST is as per the preceding census. So, in the essence, although the constitution mentions about the use of census, it does not define census. Or it does not give any information about how to conduct the census or the periodicity of census. And this is where the Census Act 1948 comes in. See, in India, the legal backing for census is provided by Census Act 1948. The Census Act of 1948 empowers the central government to conduct the census exercise for a part of India or whole of India. But the issue with Census Act of 1948 is that it does not mention anything about the periodicity of census. It just mentions that whenever the government considers that there is a need to conduct a census, it can start the census process. So, the Union Government has total control and discretion over census operations in India. See, the author feels that this discretion of the Union Executive is the reason for the delay in the census. He feels that the periodicity of the census should be made as a part of the constitution like in the case of USA or Japan. And only then the delay in the process of census will be prevented. See, three days ago, that is, on our 6th January 2023 analysis, we covered almost everything about the census and the important provisions of Census Act of 1948. And we also covered how the census is conducted. We did not cover about the aspect of freezing of administration boundaries, which is a prerequest of census exercise. So, in this discussion today, we'll cover that, okay? See, as per Rule 8, Clause 4 of Census Rules 1990, the boundaries of the administrative units should be frozen from the date intimidated by the Census Commissioner. See, the freezing of administrative boundaries should not extend one year. See, before every census, states are required to provide information to the Registry General of India on changes in number of notified districts, villages, towns and other administrative units such as Thazels, Thalukas and Polestations since the last census. And the boundaries of the administrative units are frozen three months before the commencement of the census. And in this period, the data is compiled and shared with the Registry General of India, which begins its preparatory work for the census. See, this freezing is done to avoid confusion during census exercise. For example, if a state government changes the boundary of a district or it creates a new district while the census operation is going on, then some areas may be left or it may lead to double counting also. And this is exactly why three months prior to the census, the administrative boundaries are frozen. So, when the freezing of administrative boundaries are announced, it signals that the census activity will start in three months time. But recently, the government extended the deadline for freezing and announced July 1, 2023 would be the new deadline for freezing the administrative boundaries. Actually, since the year 2020, this is the seventh time the deadline has been extended. Earlier, the deadline for the jurisdictional changes was December 31, 2022 and before that June 30, 2022. And now it is extended till July 1, 2023. See, with the 2024 general election approaching, the author of the editorial feels that the census will be delayed further. So, in this editorial, he highlights the issues associated with delaying the census exercise. Now, let us see the points mentioned by author in this editorial. First, the issue is non-availability of population data at lower geographic levels. Here, low geographical level means village, tazel or district level. Apart from census, population data is provided by various surveys. But in these surveys, the population data is available only at the higher geographical level like state or national level. So, with this information, we cannot find regional disparity, right? So, that is why census is very important. For example, in Tamil Nadu, there is a huge disparity between Coimbatore and Dharmapuri district. Information like this cannot be derived from normal surveys. Census is the only survey that provides population data at the lower geographic level like village and district. See, apart from the population data, the census also provides information on population characteristics, housing and amenities. And using this information, the government can form policies to address the region-specific problems. And this will bring down the regional imbalance. So, due to the delay of census, this valuable population data at the lower geographic levels is not available to the government. And this is the first issue due to the delay in census. And the second issue due to delay in census is the lack of population projection for lower geographical levels. Here, population projection tracks how an area's population is evolving over time. Right now, we have population projection for the state and national level. But the population projection for the district and villages can be made only using the census exercise. See, this is needed for the government to understand various ground level realities. See, one of the important things is rural urban migration. Only by understanding the true nature of rural to urban migration, the government can provide necessary support to urban areas that are growing at a fast rate. Here, you might have a question. It is common knowledge that urban population is vastly increasing, right? So, why not provide all the urban areas with equal financial support? Why do we need to conduct a census to provide support for urban areas? See, India is a resource poor nation. So, we must optimally use our resources and allocate it only in areas where it is most needed. So, for efficient allocation of resources, we need data, right? See, I will give you a data regarding this. See, between 2001 and 11 census, the area under Bengaluru Corporation grew by 49.3 percentage. But the area under Mumbai Corporation grew only by 11.9 percentage. In the case of Kolkata, between 2001 and 2011, there was actually a decline in area. And these kind of data is made possible only by the census. So, using this data, the government will allocate more resources to Bengaluru and less resources to Kolkata. If there was no census, there would be no data. And the government would have spent equal amounts to all mega cities which is just wasteful spending, right? And like this, after the 2011 census, many changes might have taken place till now. Only after understanding the changes, the government can rationalize its spending. But due to the delay in the census exercise, the government will not be able to understand the change that various places had witnessed in the past 10 years. And this is the second issue. And the third issue is the delay in census will prevent the government from understanding the impacts of programs like Swachh Bharath Abhyan and other rural development programs. Only the census data will provide the true picture of success or failure of important government programs at the village level. See, this information will help the government to make correct actions. And the fourth issue is delay in census results in underrepresentation or overrepresentation of SC or ST. See, we saw in the beginning of the discussion that census data is used to determine the number of seats to be reserved for SCs and STs in parliament, state legislatures, local bodies and other government services. See, delay in the census means that data from the 2011 census is only used till now. Like I already said, after the year 2011, a lot of population related changes might have taken place, right? So, using 2011 census data to provide reservation for SCs and STs would mean that either too many or too few seats are being reserved. And this is the fourth major issue. And the last major issue is related to the pandemic. See, since 2020, a lot of estimates have been made about the impacts of the pandemic. One of the important aspects is the death that is caused due to COVID-19. Only a census will help us understand the true picture of the impact of pandemic. Delay in the census exercise will delay the government's understanding of true picture of or the true impact of the pandemic. And these are all the issues listed out by the author in the editorial. Overall, from the issues highlighted by the author, we can understand that it is the government that is getting affected a lot due to the delay in census exercise. Now that's all for this particular article discussion. In this discussion, we saw about census. We saw the constitutional provisions of census. And after that, we saw some facts about the Census Act of 1948. And after that, we saw the freezing of boundaries of administrative units. We saw why it is done. And finally, we ended our discussion by seeing the issues associated with the delaying of census exercise. Now with these points in mind, let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this article. It says that the first session of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is to start today with the governor's address. It is in this context we are going to take up a discussion on Legislative Assembly and its functioning today. So it will be like a revision for you. See the syllabus regarding this discussion is displayed here for your reference. Quickly go through it, okay? Now let's start our discussion by understanding about the Legislative Assembly. We all know that we have a federal system of administration. We have a central government and many state governments as executive organs. Similarly, we have two kinds of legislative organs. One is parliament at the center and the other one is state legislative assemblies for the states. So it means the legislative assembly is the popularly elected chamber that is elected by the public and is the real center of power in a state. Note that article 168 of the constitution provides for a legislature in every state of the country. It is made up of members directly elected by the people of the state and also as per article 170 the legislative assembly of each state cannot have a number of members more than 500 and less than 60. So what does this mean? It means in every legislative assembly of each state there cannot be more than 500 members and at the same time there cannot be less than 60 members also. Now you may ask a question. Is this composition permanently fixed? The answer is a big no. See after each census a readjustment is to be made in the total number of seats in legislative assembly of each state and apart from this the constitution provided for the reservation of seats for the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in legislative assembly of every state on the basis of population ratios and this is about the composition of legislative assemblies for states. Now let us see the duration of every legislative assembly. So what is your idea? How long does it function like the Lok Sabha? State legislative assembly is also function for five years. The term of assembly is five years but it can be dissolved prior to five years by the governor and if there is any national emergency the parliament by law can extend the term of state legislative assembly by one year and this extension cannot continue beyond a period of six months after the emergency has ceased to operate. So it means the duration can be extended for a period of one year but if the emergency has seized to operate then the duration cannot extend beyond a period of six months. So far we saw the legislative organ of the states, its composition and its duration. Now we will see the qualifications of persons who are to become the members of the assembly. The qualifications are that the person should be a citizen of India, he should be more than 25 years of age and other qualifications as prescribed by the parliament by law. So what is this parliament law that prescribes the other qualifications? It is nothing but the representation of people act 1951. But in this discussion we are not going to discuss in detail about the representation of people act. We'll see that in some other discussion okay. Now coming back to state legislative assembly, here you should know about an important office. Yes it's the presiding officer of legislative assemblies. See there is a speaker and a deputy speaker for legislative assembly. Know that the speaker is elected by the assembly itself from amongst its members. Usually the speaker reminds in office during the life of the assembly. However he can vacate his office earlier in some cases. Now we'll see what are those cases if he ceases to become a member of the assembly then he can vacate his office earlier. If he resigns by writing to the deputy speaker or if he is removed by a resolution passed by majority of all the then members of the assembly. So in these cases he can vacate his office earlier. So after seeing these informations now you may think that a legislative assembly is just a replica of looks about the state level. However this is not true in some aspects. Now let us see what are all the differences that are there between the Lok Sabha and legislative assembly. Firstly the constitution provides for the mechanism of joint sitting of two houses of parliament to resolve a deadlock between them over the passage of a bill. However there is no mechanism of joint sitting of two houses of state legislature to resolve a deadlock between them over the passage of a bill and this is in case of ordinary bill only. So this is the major difference between legislature of the state and the legislature of the center. Secondly Lok Sabha cannot override the Rajya Sabha by passing the bill for the second term and vice versa. A joint sitting is the only way to resolve a deadlock between the two cases. However the legislative assembly can override the legislative council by passing the bill for the second term and not vice versa. See when a bill is passed by the assembly for the second time and transmitted to the legislative council there are some cases where the bill is deemed to have been passed by both the houses in the form in which it was passed by the legislative assembly for the second time. Now let us see what are all those cases. See now the bill has been passed by the assembly to the legislative council for the second time. Now what is the legislative council is doing? It is rejecting the bill again or proposing amendments to the bill which are not acceptable to the legislative assembly or it does not pass the bill within one month. So in these cases only the bill is deemed to have been passed by both the houses okay and know that again this difference is also with respect to ordinary bill only and these are the two major differences in the way both Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly operate. Now we all know that legislative council is the upper house of the state right and know that the legislative assembly has special powers over the council in certain matters. Now we'll understand these differences in the powers between legislative council and legislative assembly. See before we saw the differences between Lok Sabha and legislative assembly now we are going to see the differences between legislative council and legislative assembly okay. This is within the state legislature. Now we'll see the differences one by one. See a money bill can be introduced only in the assembly not in the council this we all know. Secondly the council cannot amend or reject a money bill it should return the bill to the assembly within 14 days either with recommendations or without recommendations and this is the second difference. See the assembly can either accept or reject all or any of the recommendation of the council. In both cases the money bill is deemed to have been passed by both the houses and this is the power that legislative assembly has over the council and thirdly the final power to decide whether a particular bill is a money bill or not is vested with the speaker of the assembly only. So it is not vested with the chairman of the legislative council and fourthly the final power of passing an ordinary bill also lies with the assembly. At the most the council can detain or delay the bill for a period of four months three months in the first instance and one month in the second instance. In other words the council is not even a revising body like the Rajasabha it is only a dilatory chamber or an advisory body and fifthly the council can only discuss the budget but cannot vote on the demands for grants and this is the exclusive privilege of the legislative assembly. Sixthly the council cannot remove the council of ministers by passing a no confidence motion. This is because the council of ministers they are collectively responsible to the assembly only but the council can discuss and criticize the policies and activities of the government. Seventhly when an ordinary bill which has originated in the council and sent to the assembly is rejected by the assembly then it is considered that the bill is entered and it becomes dead. So what does this mean? This means that assembly has major power with regards to passage of ordinary bill. Eighthly the council does not participate in the election of president of India and representatives of state in the Rajasabha. Only the members of assembly can take part. Apart from this the council has no effective say in the ratification of a constitutional amendment bill. In this respect also the will of the assembly provides over that of the council. And finally the very existence of the council depends on the will of the assembly. We all know that the council can be abolished by the parliament on the recommendation of the assembly right. So from the above it is clear that the position of the council with respect to assembly is much weaker than the position of the Rajasabha with respect to Lok Sabha. And these are all some of the information regarding with the state legislature. I hope this discussion served as a revision for you. Take notes of all of these points that we discussed today and revise it again and again. It will be helpful for both prelims and mains okay. Now with this we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the state legislature, its composition, duration, qualification of the members of the state legislative assembly, its presiding officer and some of the differences between Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly and finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the powers that the state legislative assembly has over the state legislative council. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now this article here says that recently an unmarried woman was denied her right to abortion since her pregnancy had crossed 20 weeks. See this is despite the fact that the recent Supreme Court judgment which stated that marital status should not be a barrier for women seeking abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. And the article further says that although the Supreme Court judgment is progressive it did not make it mandatory for the government to amend the medical termination of pregnancy act in line with the judgment. So because of this reason the doctors are apprehensive to perform abortion for unmarried women whose pregnancy has crossed 20 weeks and this is about the article. In this context let us see various provisions relating to abortion rights in India. See India legalized abortion in the year 1971 by passing the medical termination of pregnancy act. Before the 1971 legislation abortion in India was guided by the Indian Penal Code. According to IPC section 312 voluntarily causing a woman with child to miscarriage is an offense attracting a jail term of up to three years or fine or both. See this has an exception clause which is if voluntarily causing a woman with child to miscarriage is in good faith where the purpose was to save the life of the pregnant woman. So to save the life of the mother if the abortion is done then it is not punishable under IPC. Note here the pregnant woman causing herself to miscarriage is also an offender under this provision and this was how abortion was dealt with before the 1971 legislation. In the year 1971 the medical termination of pregnancy act was passed. The MTP Act 1971 entitles women to have safe access to abortion services under certain specific conditions. See the act also lays down the criteria for when a pregnancy can be terminated and know that the 1971 act was amended twice and most recently it was amended in the year 2021. See the MTP Act provides for a set of conditions based on which the medical termination of pregnancy can be accessed in India. Now let us see those conditions. The first condition is that if the continuation of pregnancy will involve a risk to the life of the pregnant woman then at that time she can access the abortion services and the second condition is that if the continuation of pregnancy would involve grave injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman then at that time also she can access the abortion services. See an important thing to be noted here is that the law states that grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman might be due to pregnancy as a result of rape or pregnancy as a result of failure of contraceptives used by the pregnant woman or her partner. So the failure of contraceptives might also be stated as a reason to access medical termination of pregnancy in India and the third and final condition is that if it was found that if the child was born it would suffer from serious physical or mental abnormality then at that time abortion services can be accessed and these are the three conditions set out by the medical termination of pregnancy act. See a pregnant person cannot ask for a termination of pregnancy without fitting in any one of the conditions set out by the law not just that for accessing medical termination of pregnancy at least one of the conditions set out by the law must be satisfied. Along with this the medical opinion of the medical practitioner registered under the MTP act is also required. See the law also sets out gestational limits for accessing medical termination of pregnancy. Here the gestational limit is nothing but a point within pregnancy when a medical termination of pregnancy is permissible. Note that up to 20 weeks of gestational age is fixed as the limit and up to that medical termination of pregnancy services can be accessed. When the gestational age crosses 20 weeks but it is below 24 weeks then an opinion of two registered medical practitioners is required and this extended gestational limit is applicable to certain categories of women. The women who can access the extended limit include women who are survivors of sexual assault or rape or insist. In the cases where the pregnant woman is a minor woman in the cases when women experience a change of marital status during pregnancy that is widowhood or diverse and women with major physical disabilities women with mental disabilities and finally the extended gestational limit can be also accessed if the child is born it would be seriously handicapped and these are the categories of women who are eligible for accessing the extended limit of gestational age that is from 20 weeks to 24 weeks and also know that even after the 24 week limit pregnancy termination is allowed in some extraordinary cases. See when a medical termination of emergency is sought after 24 week limit in the case of fetal abnormalities then the decision should be taken by a medical board which would be set up in each state as per the MTP Act and this is the extraordinary case and finally know that the act also provides for an exception. The exception is that the termination of pregnancy can be done at any time to save the life of the mother by a single registered medical practitioner and this exception clause should be used only when the possibility of the pregnant woman dying is immediate. Now this is about the legal provisions regarding abortion in India. See the Supreme Court also had made some efforts to reform the abortion laws. The latest among it is the September 2022 judgment. In September 2022 a three judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to distinguish between married and unmarried women for allowing termination of pregnancy on certain exceptional grounds when the fetus is between 20 to 24 weeks. The court said that the distinction between married and unmarried women in the abortion law is artificial. The court said that such a distinction only perpetuates a stereotype that only married women can be sexually active and this judgment of the Supreme Court recognizes the right of the unmarried women and with this we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the legal provisions of medical termination of pregnancy. We saw the conditions of abortion before the year 1971 and we saw the legal provisions of abortion after the year 1971. We saw about the medical termination of pregnancy act 1971. We saw the conditions under which medical termination of pregnancy is permitted in India. We saw the category of women who can access the medical termination of pregnancy. We saw the gestational time period. We saw the extraordinary case and also we saw the exceptional case. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing the September 2022 judgment of the Supreme Court regarding the rights of the unmarried women to get abortion. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. It is a text and context article. See talks about the new changes brought forward by the University Grants Commission regarding the foreign higher educational institutions. The UGC has now allowed foreign velocities to operate within the borders of India by easing out the regulations. And this is the cracks of the news article given here. In this context let's learn about the new draft regulations released by the UGC about the foreign velocities which can operate in India. Apart from this we'll also see the national education policies stand on this and also about the benefits associated with allowing foreign educational institutions to operate in India. Now let's start our discussion by seeing some of the criteria fixed by UGC for allowing foreign velocities to operate in India. See to operate in India the foreign institution must be in the top 500 global ranking or it should be a foreign educational institute of repute in its home jurisdiction and these are the two criteria out of which at least one needs to be satisfied by the foreign institution to operate in India. Here note that the national education policy also had provisions relating to foreign institutions operating in India. But the provisions of NEP were different when compared to the newly released draft regulations by UGC. See according to NEP the top 100 universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India through a legislative framework. Here note that NEP talks about a legislative framework for allowing institutions to operate in India but the UGC it has taken a regulatory approach and other than this the UGC has relaxed the criteria by including top 500 institutions but NEP it had planned to allow only the top 100 institutions and this is all about the NEP's provisions relating to foreign velocities operating in India. Here you have to note one more additional fact. See the UGC regulations has allowed complete autonomy for the foreign educational institutions which are going to open their campus in India. So what is this complete autonomy? They are free to appoint staffs from foreign countries and they are free to decide the curriculum which is to be taught and the UGC has also said that surplus money can be easily moved out of the country by bringing in necessary changes in foreign exchange management act and this is the important fact that you have to know. Now let's move on to see the effects of allowing foreign institutions to operate in India. See by bringing in the new regulations the union government is trying to make India a global hub for the higher education and this is the first effect and secondly it creates a lot of opportunities for the students to gain experience from studying in a foreign institution and this is the second effect and thirdly see there is a tendency among Indian students to move abroad for higher educations and due to this there is a loss to India's foreign exchange reserves. See it is estimated that 5 billion dollars were lost in foreign exchange due to students going abroad in financial year 2021 to 2022. See the students moving abroad mostly stay back in the country where they studied for the rest of their lives and this ultimately affects the Indian economy as a whole because these students are some of the brightest minds of our country. So the third effect is loss of foreign exchange reserves and the fourth effect is brain drain. So by bringing this change UGC tries to arrest this trend of Indians moving abroad for higher studies. See like I always say everything has its own advantages and disadvantages right and this regulatory approach also has some concerns. Now we'll see what is that concern. According to some experts this approach will not lead to any substantial effect on Indian students moving abroad. Those experts are saying that Indians generally move abroad with an idea to live in the foreign country. So even if foreign institutions open campus in India students will still opt to go to foreign country only and this is the opinion of the experts. Now we don't know what is going to happen we have to wait and watch how many foreign institutions in the top 500 global ranking are willing to open their campuses in India and even if they open we don't know what effect will it bring to arresting the trend of Indians moving abroad. Now that's all for this discussion. In this discussion we saw about the draft regulations released by the UGC about foreign institutions opening campus in India. We saw the criteria fixed by UGC. We saw the provisions in NEP that is the national education policy regarding foreign institutions operating in India and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the effects of allowing foreign institutions in India. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now let us move on to this news article the news is that the Supreme Court has put a stay on Allahabad High Court's direction. In December last year the Allahabad High Court directed the UP government to immediately notify local body polls in the open category without reserving seats for other backward classes. That is nothing but the OBC. Now the ASC has put a stay on this direction and this is the crux of the news article given here. Now in this context let's learn about the urban local body elections. First of all let us understand briefly about the urban local government. The term urban local government indicates the governance of an urban area by the people through their elected representatives. In India the urban local government is generally called as municipality. Now what about their jurisdiction? The jurisdiction of a municipality is limited to a specific urban area which is demarcated for this purpose by the state government. And know that the system of urban government was constituted through the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act 1992. See the 74th amendment provides for the Constitution of three types of municipalities in every state. They are an agar panjayat for transitional area. That is an area which is in transition from rural area to an urban area. Secondly there is a municipal council for smaller urban area. And finally there is a municipal corporation for a larger urban area. Know that each municipality has various members and it is headed by a chairperson. And this is about the three types of municipalities in every state. Now coming to the elections of the members and the chairpersons. See the 74th amendment says that all members of a municipality shall be elected directly by the people of municipal area. This means that the members of all the three types of municipalities such as nagar panjayat, municipal council and municipal corporation should be elected directly by the people. For the purpose of elections each municipal area shall be divided into territorial constituencies and this territorial constituencies is called as wards. Now let's see about the election of chairpersons. As per 74th constitutional amendment act the manner of elections of chairpersons to all three types of municipalities is vested with the respective states. So states only decide the manner of election of chairpersons. The state legislature by law provides the manner of election of chairpersons. See in some states the chairpersons are elected directly by the people but in some states they are elected indirectly by the members of the municipalities and this is about the election of members and chairpersons of municipalities. Now moving on to the reservation of seats during elections. See the 74th amendment provides for reservation of seats for schedule casts and schedule tribes in every municipality. The reservation is based on the proportion of SC and ST population to the total population in the municipal area and know that the amendment further provides reservation for the women. It says that women should be provided reservation of not less than one third of the total number of seats. This means that one third of the total number of seats in a municipality should be reserved for women. Here one third of the seats also include the number of seats reserved for women belonging to SCs and STs. And apart from this the 74th amendment act empowers the state legislature to provide reservation to the officers of chairpersons in the municipalities for SCs, STs and women. So the reservation is not just for the members. It is for the officers of chairpersons also. See as per the amendment the state government may also make any provision for the reservation of seats in any municipality or the office of chairperson in the favor of backward classes. And this is all about the reservation of seats for SCs, STs, women and backward class. Now finally before concluding our discussion we'll understand about the duration of urban local body. See the 74th amendment act provides a five-year term for every municipality. This means that once an election is conducted to the municipality then it will function for five years. However it can be dissolved before the completion of its term. See the act also says that the fresh elections to constitute a municipality shall be completed before the expiry of its duration of five years. Then in the case of dissolution the elections shall be completed before the expiry of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution. Now that's all regarding the duration of urban local body. With this we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion we saw about urban local government, the types of municipalities, elections of members and chairpersons, reservation of seats for SCs, STs, women and backward class and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the duration of urban local body. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this beautiful picture here. These are the flocks of migratory pintail ducks. Yesterday it was spotted in a water body which is present in Mayong village near Gawati in Assam. Now why am I telling you this? Because now in this discussion we are going to see about the migratory pintail ducks and also in general we are going to understand about the significance of migratory birds. First of all let us see about pintail ducks. See the pintail duck which is commonly called as northern pintail is a dabbling duck. Why is it called as dabbling duck? Because while coming to the water body the northern pintail immerses partially in water and they move gently around the water. The scientific name of northern pintail is Annas Acuta. Know that the northern pintail is distributed in northern Asia, Indian subcontinent, Africa, Europe and America. Does this mean they are native to all these regions? No. See the breeding populations of pintail ducks occur in North America and North Asia and during winter they migrate to Africa, South America and South and East Asia which is including the Indian subcontinent and that is exactly why pintail ducks are now spotted in India. Now what about their habitat? The northern pintail ducks inhabit wetlands, agricultural fields, flooded grasslands, lakesites, sheltered estuaries, marshes and lagoons. And note one fact here, northern pintail ducks are categorized as least concern under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and this is all about the pintail ducks. Now let us move on to see about the significance of migratory birds. See the migratory birds play an essential and indispensable role in the ecosystems where they reside and travel. We will understand their roles one by one. Firstly, the migratory birds are acting as pest control agents. See what they do is, they eat up the insects and other small organisms that can harm the environment and the crops. So by doing this, they act as pest control agents. Secondly, migratory birds help in the dispersal of seeds. Migratory birds while traveling, they disperse the seeds in different ecosystems, right? And this leads to maintenance of biodiversity along their roots. And thirdly, some migratory duck species have the capability to transport fish eggs in their guts and they take it to new water bodies. And this help to maintain the population of fish species. And fourthly, it has a fertilizing role. See the droppings of birds are rich in nitrogen and they act as organic fertilizers. And apart from this, the hatched eggshells of the migratory birds can add calcium and other minerals to the land. And this is one another significance of the migratory birds. And finally, the prevalence of migratory birds in a particular area will help us to analyze the state of environment of such an area. And this also promotes tourism in that particular area. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion, we saw about pin-tailed ducks, its habitat and the reason for migration. And we moved on to see about the significance of migratory birds. Now with these points in mind, let us move on to the next part of the discussion that is the practice prelims question discussion. See today we have five questions for our discussion. I will solve four of them and one of them is a quiz question for you. Now let us solve this first question which of the following are potential applications of artificial intelligence. Statement one, phase recognition to identify missing person. Statement two, grid load management. Statement three, translating text and speech in real time. Statement four, provide customer support. Now which of the following are the applications of artificial intelligence? See from reading the above statements we can easily say that all these are the applications of AI. So the correct answer to this question is option D, all the above. Now moving on to the next question. See this question is a previous prelims question which was asked in the year 2019. The question says like which of the following statements is or are correct regarding the maternity benefit amendment act 2017. Statement one, pregnant women are entitled for three months pre-delivery and three months post-delivery paid leave. See this statement is wrong because maternity benefit act 2017 provides for 26 weeks paid maternity leave for women employees. It does not provide for three months pre-delivery and three months post-delivery paid leave. Now coming to statement two, enterprises with creches must allow the mother minimum six creche visits daily. See this statement is also wrong. The maternity benefit act provides that enterprises with creches must allow the mother minimum four visits daily. See if we find out that first statement and second statement are incorrect then we can easily arrive at the correct answer. But then also we will see about the third statement. Women with two children get reduced entitlements. See this statement is correct. For example, women who are expecting a child after already having two children the duration of paid maternity leave shall be only 12 weeks. So the correct answer to this question is option C three one leave. Now moving on to the third question with reference to the local body elections to the panjayat consider the following statements. Statement one the election to the local bodies are conducted by election commission of India. See this statement is incorrect because we know that election to the local bodies are conducted by the respective state election commissions. Now coming to statement two the chairman of panjayats at the intermediate and district levels shall be elected directly by the people. See this statement is also incorrect. All the members of the panjayat at the village intermediate and district levels shall be directly elected by the people. The chairman of the panjayats at the intermediate and district levels shall be elected indirectly by and from amongst the elected members. However, the chairperson of panjayat at the village level shall be elected in such a manner as the state legislature determines. So the correct answer to this question is option D neither one nor two. Now moving on to the next question which of the following are migratory birds that comes or travels through India from various other regions of the world. Amur falcon, Jordan's causer, greater flamingo, great white pelican, yellow-throated bull bull, northern pintail duck, bar-headed goose. See if you find out that yellow throated bull bull is an endemic species to India then you can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option B one, two, four, six and seven only. Now moving on to the next question see aspirants this is only the quiz question. Read the question carefully, pause the video, think for a moment and post your answer in the comment section. Aspirants I have given here mains practice questions. So if you are interested write your answer and post it in the comment section. And if you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today, post that also in the comment section. And with this we have come to the end. If you find the video useful like, share and comment and do subscribe to Shankaray's Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.