 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankara Ace Academy. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time stamping for the displayed articles is given in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comments section. Let's move on to our first article analysis. This discussion is based on parliamentary committees, particularly the ad hoc committees. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. The news article mentions that the Rajya Sabha chairman has converted an informal group of MPs into an ad hoc committee. The informal group was constituted to study the issues related to pornographic content on the internet and on the social media platforms. The group had 14 member of parliament and it was studying the issues related to pornographic content on the internet and its effect on children. Now this same group has been converted as an ad hoc committee and this ad hoc committee will submit a report within a month on the specified matter. So in this context it becomes important for us to know about the ad hoc committee. To understand that first you should know about parliamentary committees. So what is this parliamentary committee? If you consider parliament, the work done by the parliament is varied or diverse and they are complex in nature. The major functions of the parliament are the representation of citizens, then law making, then oversight of the executive and then scrutiny of the budget. Now these works are also considerable in volume that is the work is large in size amount or extent. But the time which is available for the parliament to do these works is limited. And moreover when we say oversight of the executive, it means supervising the executives. Executives consist of the president or the vice president, prime minister and the council of ministers. Now through its oversight function the parliament holds the government accountable and it ensures that policies are efficient and the policies are in line with the needs of the citizens. In addition to this we can say that parliamentary oversight is essential to prevent arbitrary and unconstitutional action by the government. So the parliament has to give close consideration to all the legislative and other matters that come up before it. Now because of lack of time parliament alone cannot do it. It alone cannot give close consideration to all the legislative and other matters that come up before it. Therefore a good amount of parliament's business is transacted in the committees of the house. These committees are known as the parliamentary committees. These parliamentary committees are an instrument of parliament which are present for the effective functioning of the parliament and it is a committee which is appointed or elected by the house or nominated by the speaker of Lok Sabha or nominated by the chairman of Rajya Sabha. And this parliamentary committee works under the direction of the speaker or the chairman and it presents its reports to the house or to the speaker or to the chairman. So from this you can say that parliamentary committees play a vital role in the parliamentary system. They are a vibrant link between the parliament, the executive and the general public. So so far based on the discussion you can say that on a whole the need for committees arises out of two factors. The first one is the need for vigilance on the part of the legislature over the actions of the executive. Here by legislature we mean the national legislature which is the parliament. Well the second factor is that the modern legislature these days is overburdened with heavy volume of work with limited time at its disposal. Now this is where the parliamentary committees come into play and these committees provides expertise on a matter which is referred to it and in a committee the matter is deliberated at length and views are expressed freely and the matter is considered in depth and in a business like manner and they are also dealt in a calm atmosphere to arrive at a conclusion. Now we saw that the committees are a vibrant link between the parliament, the executive and the general public. Now this is because in most of the committees public is directly or indirectly associated when the memorandum containing suggestions are received by the committee and these suggestions are given by the public on a particular matter and public also comes into play when on the spot studies are conducted and when oral evidence is taken. Now these all helps the committees to arrive at a conclusion regarding the particular matter. So on a whole we can say that the committees aid and assist the legislature in discharging its duties and regulating its functions effectively, expeditiously and efficiently and also through the committees parliament exercises its control and influence over the administration. It is said that the parliamentary committees have a salutary effect that is they have a healthy effect on the executive. Now here you have to note one point that the committees are not meant to weaken the administration they just prevent the misuse of power that is exercised by the executive and you should also remember that the parliamentary control in the context of the functioning of the committees may mean just an influence and it does not mean direct control. Likewise it means giving advices and it does not mean commanding them. Now we have two houses in the parliament and both the houses of parliament have a similar committee structure but they have just few exceptions also. Even the appointment of the committee its terms of office committees functions and the procedure of conducting business are also more or less similar in both the houses of parliament and the committees are regulated as per the rules which are made by the two houses under article 118 clause one of the constitution. This particular article states that each house of the parliament may make rules for regulating its procedure and the conduct of its business. So based on this only the rules were made under which the committees are regulated and these parliamentary committees draw their authority from article 105 of the constitution. Now this article is about the powers privileges and immunities of parliament and its members. Now as today's discussion is based on committee of Rajya Sabha you should note that the appointment then the term of office functions and the procedure for conducting the business of these committees are regulated under the provisions of the rules of procedure and conduct of business in the council of states that is Rajya Sabha and the appointment then term of office functions and procedure for conducting the business are also based on the directions which is given by the chairman of Rajya Sabha from time to time. Now based on the nature of parliamentary committees they are of two kinds one is standing committees and the second one is ad hoc committees. Now standing committees are permanent and they are regular committees the work of these committees is of continuous nature but our today's focus is on ad hoc committees. So let us see about that now. Here the word ad hoc literally means when necessary or when needed. So in the same line the ad hoc committees are appointed when a need arises which means they are appointed for a specific purpose. They are constituted from time to time to inquire into specific subjects and to report on those specific subjects. Also note that the ad hoc committees become functus official which means they cease to exist when they finish the task which was assigned to these committees and even after submitting a report based on the assigned work they cease to exist. Now these ad hoc committees are constituted by the houses or by the chairman of Rajya Sabha or by the speaker of Lok Sabha or by the presiding officers of both the houses jointly also and this is to consider and report on specific matters. Now further these ad hoc committees are generally categorized into two and first categorization is select committees or join select committees on bills. They are appointed to consider and report on a particular bill. It is appointed by the house to consider and report on bills as referred to them from time to time and they are constituted by the houses on specific motion which is moved by the minister in charge of the bill or even moved by any other member. These committees are distinguished from other ad hoc committees as they are concerned with bills. Now the procedure which is to be followed by these select committees or join select committees on bills is laid down in the rules of procedure of the houses. Now in case of Rajya Sabha they function under the directions and control of the chairman. Now one example of such a select or join committee on bills is the committee on the Lokpal and Lokayikta's bill of 2011. Then the second category of ad hoc committees is the committees which are constituted from time to time by the house based on motions that are moved and adopted or committees which are constituted from time to time by the chairman to inquire into specific subjects and to report on those specific subjects. Now the ad hoc committee which was converted from an informal group of MPs by the Rajya Sabha chairman is of this category only because it was formed to study the issues related to pornographic content on the internet and social media platforms and its effect on children. So these are the informations that you should know about parliamentary committees, then ad hoc committees and the categories of ad hoc committees. So that is all about this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Let's move on to the next news article discussion. This discussion is based on the report by Comptroller and Auditor-General of India on the Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojna. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now before discussing the report, let us first understand about Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojna. According to the government sources India is home to more than 24 crore households and out of these 24 crore households about 10 crore households are deprived of LPG that is liquefied petroleum gas as a cooking fuel. These households rely on firewood, coal, then cow dung cakes etc as a primary source of fuel for cooking. Now as a result of using these fuels for cooking smoke is released. Now the smoke from burning such fuels causes alarming household pollution and also it adversely affects the health of women and children which ultimately causes several respiratory diseases and disorders. Not only it has health effects but it also puts women and children in the drudgery or hard work of collecting firewood if they use firewood as a fuel for cooking. Now in this context to draw the women and children out of misery, our government launched a scheme in 2016. This scheme is the Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojna. It was launched under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The scheme is aimed at replacing the unclean cooking fuels with clean and more efficient liquefied petroleum gas in the most underprivileged households. And the main mantra of the scheme is Swachh Indhan Bhaitar Jeevan Mahilau Ko Mela Samman. Here Swachh Indhan means clean fuel, Bhaitar Jeevan means better life and Mahilau Ko Mela Samman means women got respect. Now let us see the salient features of this scheme. Under this scheme LPG connection is given in the name of adult women of the below poverty line family that is PPL family. Now this is given if no LPG connection already exists in the name of any family member of that particular household. Now the eligible families are identified through the social economic cost census of 2011. Then the scheme also provides a financial support of rupees 1600 for each LPG connection to the BPL households that is below poverty line households. And it also provides interest free loan to purchase stow and and to get refill by the oil marketing companies. Now here this 1600 rupees is to cover the administrative costs and the administrative costs includes the cost for cylinder, then pressure regulator, then for booklet safety hose, etc. And this will be borne by the government that is it will be provided by the government. Then the initial target under this Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna was to provide five crore LPG connections within three years from the financial year 2016 to 17. But later the target was revised to eight crore connections that is to be provided by 2020 and this was revised under extended Pradhan Mantri Ujjjwala Yojna. And according to the union minister for environment, this target has already been achieved. With respect to this, the CAG report also states that as on 31st March 2019, the oil marketing companies have issued 7.19 crore LPG connections. Now this is approximately 90 percentage of the target that is to be achieved under the extended PMUI and this was to be achieved until March 2020 only. And among these 7.19 crore connections, 3.81 crore LPG connections were issued under PMUI and 3.38 crore connections were issued under extended PMUI. In addition to this, the audit also found that the all India LPG coverage also increased from 61.90 percentage in May 2016, 4.30 percentage in April 2019. Now let us understand the eligible beneficiaries under this scheme. As we have already discussed, an adult woman who is belonging to a poor family and not having LPG connection in her household is an eligible beneficiary under this expanded scheme. And also there are seven categories who are identified under the socio-economic caste census of 2011. And these categories are also eligible. These categories are the households belonging to the persons of schedule cast and schedule tribe communities. Then beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri, Avas Yojana, Gramin are also eligible to avail the scheme. Then the beneficiaries of Antyodhya Anney Yojana are also eligible to avail benefit under the scheme. Then the forest dwellers, then people belonging to most backward classes communities. Then people belonging to tea tribes and X tea garden tribes are also eligible. Then people who are residing in river islands are also eligible to avail benefit under this scheme. Now in this context, the news article notes that almost 1.98 lakh beneficiaries of the scheme had an average annual consumption of more than 12 cylinders. Now since the beneficiaries belong to the below poverty line households, this level of consumption seems improbable or unlikely. And then there is also one another worrying fact that is around 13.96 lakh beneficiaries of the scheme consumed from three to 41 refills in a month. And the news article also mentions that at least 2.98 lakh beneficiaries have applied for more than one refill in a day. And sometimes this also went up to 14 to 20 refills in a day. So from this you can simply say that there is a high level of corruption in the system. So now we may have a doubt that where does it go wrong? Now as we have already discussed that the LPG connection is provided subject to the condition that no LPG connection exists in the name of any family member of the household. So based on this we can say that there must have been errors in the identification of the beneficiaries. And the CAG report also pointed out the laxity or lack of care in the identification of beneficiaries. And this was again proved by the findings of the CAG audit and its report. The audit found that out of the connections which were given under the scheme, thousands of connections which were issued against their AHLTINs, the names of all the family members and the beneficiaries were blank in the social economic and caste census 2011 list. Now in this AHLTIN is the acronym for Abridged Household List Temporary Identification Numbers. This is a unique number of 29 digits which was assigned to each member of the below power deline household under the social economic and caste census. So if the name against these numbers were blank, that means there were also bogus or fake connections. Then the audit also found that almost 80,000 connections were issued to the beneficiaries who are aged below 18 years. But in the beginning we saw that the LPG connection should be given to the adult woman of the below power deline family. So this means there is also a discrepancy in this case. And the audit report also mentions that almost 8.59 lakh connections that is almost 9 lakh connections were released to beneficiaries who were minor as per the SCCC 2011 data. So this means clearly the connections which were given violates the Pathanamantri Ujwala Yojana guidelines. So it can be assumed that these connections might also have been diverted from the domestic purpose to the commercial purpose. Moreover, around 1.88 lakh connections were released against the AHLTIN of males and not adult females, even though the beneficiaries were the adult woman of the BPL family. And the findings of the CAG audit also revealed a mismatch in the name of beneficiaries between the PMUI database and the SCCC 2011 data. Now this simply means that connections were given to unintended persons. And additionally it was found that the intended beneficiaries were used by LPG distributors to extend the benefits of this scheme to the unintended persons also. Now all this shows that a government scheme which envisages to improve the health status of women and children and to ease their daily lives belonging to the BPL family is being misused by certain unscrupulous elements in the society. And this is also an example of widely prevalent corruption at the grass root level in our country. So what could be the solution for these problems? Or how these discrepancies could be avoided? They can do a simple cross-checking with respect to the beneficiaries of the scheme with the socio-economic and car census list. And they can even do ground level work to ensure that the connections are used for domestic purpose only and not for commercial purposes. Then there are also other recommendations which is given by the CAG audit report such as other numbers of all adult family members of the existing as well as new beneficiaries should be entered in the system so that duplication can be removed and then appropriate input controls then data validations and mandatory fields should be deployed in the distributor's software so that they can restrict the issuance of LPG connections to in eligible beneficiaries under this scheme. Then the report also suggests for EKYC that is Electronic Know Your Customer. If this is initiated then there can be two benefits that is it will help to capture correct information and it will also help to authenticate genuineness of the beneficiaries of this scheme. So these were the solutions or recommendations to remove the discrepancies in the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. Now in this context it becomes important from the examination point of view to know about Comptroller and Auditor General of India that is in short CAG. This post is a constitutional post because our constitution provides for an independent office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. This is as per article 148 of the constitution. Now the CAG is the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department and CAG is known as the guardian of the public purse because she controls the entire financial system of the country at both the centre and the state levels and the duty of the CAG is to uphold the constitution of India and also to uphold the laws of the parliament in the field of financial administration. Now let us discuss the appointment and term of office of the CAG. As per the constitution, CAG is appointed by the President of India and the CAG holds office for a period of six years or up to the age of 65 years, whichever of these is earlier and the CAG can also resign anytime from her office by addressing the resignation letter to the President and the CAG can also be removed by the President on the same grounds and in the same manner like a judge of Supreme Court. So this means that the CAG can be removed by the President on the basis of a resolution which is passed by both the houses of the parliament by special majority. Here by special majority, we mean a majority of the total membership of that house and by a majority of not less than two thirds of the members of that house who are present and voting and the grounds on which the CAG can be removed is when there is a proved misbehavior or when there is a incapacity, then the CAG can be removed from her position. Now since the CAG can be removed on the same grounds and in the same manner like a judge of Supreme Court, this provides a security of tenure to the CAG. Now since there is a security of tenure, it ensures independence to the CAG while performing her duties. So what are these duties? The duties are provided under Article 149 of the Constitution. So what are these duties? As per Article 149 of the Constitution, the parliament is authorized to prescribe the duties and powers of the CAG in relation to the accounts of the union and accounts of the states or accounts of any other authority or body. So based on this, the important duties of CAG are auditing the accounts which is related to all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India or Consolidated Fund of State or Consolidated Fund of each union territory having a legislative assembly. Then also auditing all expenditure from the Contingency Fund of India and then auditing all expenditure from the public accounts of India as well as the Contingency Fund of each state and the public account of each state. Then other functions include auditing all trading, then manufacturing, then profit and loss accounts, then balance sheets and other subsidiary accounts that is kept by any department of the central government and state governments. And CAG also audits the receipts and expenditure of the center and the receipts and expenditure of each state to satisfy herself that the rules and procedures in that behalf are designed to secure an effective check on the assessment, then collection and proper allocation of revenue. And the CAG can also audit the accounts of any other authority when requested by the president or the governor of a state. So all these duties show that the role of CAG is to uphold the constitution of India and the laws of the parliament in the field of financial administration. Hence the accountability of the executive to the parliament in the sphere of financial administration is secured through audit reports of the CAG like in the case of the audit report of Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana, which we discussed in today's discussion. So that is all about this news article discussion. The split practice question will be discussed in the last. Let's move on to the next discussion. This discussion is based on IBM graph weather forecast system. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now see most of the locations around the world have not had access to timely and reliable weather information. Now this is due to lack of a specialized weather equipment and models that update infrequently. That is they update approximately every 6 to 12 hours and also because they operate at a resolution that is too wide to capture any weather phenomena. So this IBM graph weather forecast system is going to overcome these shortcomings. Now in this IBM stands for International Business Machines Corporation and graph stands for Global High Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting System. Now here IBM is an American multinational information technology company. It's headquartered at New York and USA. Now this IBM graph is a high precision rapidly updating global weather model. This graph system updates on an hourly basis and it will generate forecasts at a 3 kilometer resolution to provide a clear picture of the weather activity around the globe. Now let us see some of the key features of this IBM graph. First key feature is that it will provide improved global mapping of the atmosphere. Now this IBM graph is partnered with the National Center for Atmospheric Research which is a world-class research center of US in Earth Sciences. So the partnership is going to improve its latest generation global weather model by using state-of-the-art science to forecast the atmosphere at a truly global scale. Then the next feature is that it has better data and observations. Now this IBM graph has the capability to incorporate the previously untapped data source from the airplane sensors and from the pressure sensor readings from the smartphone users. That is it is going to tap mobile users data but this will be done with the consent of the users only. Now by using this previously untapped data source, IBM graph tries to overcome the lack of specialized weather equipment in many parts of the world. Then the next feature is that this IBM graph will use the same technology that of a powerful supercomputer. It is because it will enable IBM graph to handle the increased resolution and it will help to increase the frequency of updates. Now the new IBM graph system runs on an IBM Power 9 based supercomputer which is optimized for graphics processing units. Now this processing unit is more known for its use in gaming applications. So based on these features it is said that if this IBM graph becomes operationalized then it will improve the resolution of the forecasts from the existing 10 kilometer to 12 kilometer to 3 kilometer to 4 kilometer and even the frequency of updates will also be improved because there will be updates every hour instead of the existing 6 to 12 hours. Now let us see where will this IBM graph be used. Now this IBM graph helps to democratize weather forecasts so that people then businesses and even governments virtually anywhere can make better decisions. It is because IBM graph is going to empower companies then airlines, broadcasters and farmers as it has high resolution and it has a better frequency in updates and based on the latest report IBM graph forecasts are 30 percent more accurate than those forecasts which are generated by 12 kilometer resolution models. Even our Indian Meteorological Department uses the 12 kilometer resolution model to generate forecasts. So once if this IBM graph is operationalized then the airlines can effectively maintain their air traffic services and then farmers can also be prepared for dramatic shifts in weather and broadcasters could keep their audiences more informed and engaged about the latest updates. So these are the information that you should know about IBM graph that is global high resolution atmospheric forecasting of international business machines corporation. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion that a split practice question will be discussed in the last session. This discussion is based on the bill which is passed by the Rajya Sabha to amend the Constitution Schedule Tribes order of 1950. The syllabus that is relevant for this discussion is given here for your reference. Now the purpose of the bill which was passed in Rajya Sabha was to amend the Constitution Schedule Tribes order of 1950. This amendment is to modify the list of Schedule Tribes in the state of Karnataka. So what is the constitutional definition for the term Schedule Tribes? See in our Constitution there is one article that gives definition for around 30 terms. This article is article 366 and the clause 25 of this article defines Schedule Tribes. It states that Schedule Tribes are the tribes or tribal communities or they are the parts of tribes or tribal communities or they are the groups within the tribes or tribal communities who are deemed as Schedule Tribes under article 342. So simply we can say that if a tribe or tribal community is deemed to be a Schedule Tribe under article 342 Indian Constitution then such a tribe or tribal community is called as Schedule Tribe. So now what does this article 342 say? It states that President may issue a public notification to specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of these tribes or tribal communities or groups within these tribes or tribal communities as deemed to be Schedule Tribes in relation to a particular state or union territory. Now the President may issue such a notification after consultation with the Governor. Now here after consultation with the Governor means after consultation with the state government. Now it is because we know that as per article 163 of Indian Constitution the Governor will act based on the aid and advice of the Chief Minister and her Council of Ministers. So that is why after consultation with Governor means after consultation with the State Government. Now here you should note one point that the public notification which will be issued by the President for a particular state or union territory will be the first list of Schedule Tribes for the concerned state or union territory. Now we will have a question that who will be including or excluding the names of tribal communities in the first list that is notified by the President. Now the answer to this question is provided in the Clause 2 of article 342. It states that Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Schedule Tribes specified in a notification issued under Clause 1 of article 342. So this means only the first list of a specified Schedule Tribes for a State or Union territory will be published by the President but any subsequent modification in this first list will only be done by the Parliament. Now so far we have discussed about how a tribe or tribal community is specified as Scheduled Tribe under article 342. Now you should note that the procedure is exactly similar for specifying any castes or races or tribes or parts of these castes, races or tribes or groups within these castes, races or tribes as Scheduled Castes. Now this is as per article 341 of Indian Constitution. So this is the constitutional procedure. Now before carrying out this constitutional procedure there is a modality that is followed by the central government in this matter that is first there will be a proposal from the state government to include or exclude a particular tribe's name. This proposal has to be agreed by two agencies of the government of India. The first agency is the JISTRA General of India and the second one is if the modification is with respect to Scheduled Castes then the National Commission for Scheduled Castes comes into play but if the proposed modification is with respect to Scheduled Tribes then the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes comes into play. Now today's news is that the Parliament has decided to amend the Constitution Scheduled Tribes order of 1950 to include three tribal communities in the Constitution order of 1950. The names of these three tribes are Parivara, Talavara and the Siddhi community. Here two tribes Parivara and Talavara who are residing in all the districts of the state of Karnataka will be deemed to be a Scheduled Tribes in Karnataka. Whereas the third community that is the Siddhi community is already included in the Constitution Scheduled Tribes order of 1950. Now this Siddhi tribal community is the community which is residing in the Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka and they were included by an amendment act of Parliament in 2003. Now this year the proposed amendment is to extend the range of districts for this Siddhi communities. Now if the bill is passed by both the houses of Parliament and if the president gives assent then the Siddhi community in two more districts of Karnataka will be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in the state of Karnataka. These two districts are Darwad and Belagavi districts. Now you should also note that the Siddhi tribe in the state of Gujarat has been already declared as particularly vulnerable tribal group by the union home ministry. So are there any particularly vulnerable tribal groups in the state of Karnataka? Yes, there are two communities. They are the tribal communities of Genu Kuruba and Koraga. Now in this the Koraga community is also listed as particularly vulnerable tribal group in the state of Kerala. So these are the information that you should know with respect to the proposed amendment to the Constitution Scheduled Tribes order of 1950. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. This discussion is based on this editorial article which is with respect to the recently launched Jal Shakti Abhyan. The author of this article is one of the directors in one of the main officers of Central Water Commission. So the points and comments made by this author assume significance with respect to this scheme. Now the syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. Let us get into the discussion. In this editorial the author has given constructive criticism of the Jal Shakti Abhyan. So first let us discuss about this Jal Shakti Abhyan. This scheme was launched as a formal response to the massive water crisis that was felt across India in the 2019 summer. And this Abhyan or scheme was a time bound mission mode water conservation campaign. This campaign was to be carried out in two phases. We know that both the phases are already over. It is because the phase one started from 1st July to 15th September 2019 and this phase was for all states and union territories. And then the second phase or phase 2 of Jal Shakti Abhyan started from 1st October 2019 to 30th November 2019. Now this second phase was for states and union territories that received the retreating monsoon. Retreating monsoon refers to the northeast monsoon. So the states and union territories which were covered under the second phase were the state of Andhra Pradesh, then Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and then the union territory of Puducherry. And this scheme was to be implemented across the 255 districts that were having critical and over exploited groundwater levels. This water conservation campaign was not intended to be a funding program and it did not create any new intervention on its own. And the author even mentions that it only aimed to make water conservation as a people's movement through ongoing schemes like MG Narega and other government programs. And under the scheme there were five main intervention areas and then five special intervention areas. And these intervention areas have been given here through this image for your reference. According to the author the aim and intent of this Jalshakti Abhyan is noble or genuine. But the assumptions are superficial or facile or twisted. For example the scheme assumes that common people in rural areas are ignorant and they are prone to waste water. Therefore the program asks the poor people and farmers in the rural areas to save water. But in reality people in the rural areas receive just 55 litres a day under per capita water allocation. For persons living in urban areas this number varies somewhere between 135 to 150 litres. So this is more than double the water allocation which is provided in the rural area. And we also know that the people in rural areas are the ones who first face any water crisis. In addition to this there is also one more problem that is there is a criticism that the sewage generated from the towns and cities are polluting the village water sources such as tanks, ponds and wells. Now in this scenario we can say that the assumption of this Abhyan is not based on the contrasting reality. And we can clearly see that the government can save millions of litres of water if the government just decides to allocate the same per capita water allocation of rural areas to the people living in urban areas. That is why the author mentions that the Jalshakti Abhyans move to ask rural people or rural populations to save water is based on assumptions that are far away from reality. Then after this author talks about the basis on which the scheme was implemented. This Jalshakti Abhyan was planned based on the political and administrative boundary of the districts and it was to be carried out under the overall supervision of a bureaucrat. So based on this author states that this basis is contrary to the principle of water management. It is because according to the principles of water management water planning should be based on hydrological units. For example it should be based on river basins and there is also an advantage with political and administrative boundaries of districts in terms of water planning. The advantage is that these boundaries mostly do not coincide with the hydrological boundaries or aquifer boundaries. So what actually happened is one district is divided into many basins and as a result of this there were multiple units for which multiple policies were adopted at the ground level. Now do they have data for each of this newly divided basin is another question. And as we have discussed in the beginning we know that this is a short-term scheme and generation of required data that took quickly for such divisions is not feasible and it requires time, coordination and cooperation with neighboring district administration and technical authorities. Therefore the planning which is based on administrative boundaries has led to the criticism that this scheme lacks scientific planning. Then if you talk about the overall supervision the criticism is that if the supervision was given to a technical authority who is associated with water resources then that would have been much better arrangement than the supervision provided by a burdened bureaucrat. Here the bureaucrat could be an IAS officer who usually will be a head of more than 100 committees in a district and she or he will be under huge burden. So it makes it difficult for them to supervise such projects of technical nature and that too in a short span of time. In addition to this author also mentions that such water conservation campaigns should have a strong involvement of autonomous and knowledge intensive river basin organizations. If you see one of the main intervention areas of the scheme it is to mobilize scientists and IITs at the national level so that they can support the Jalshakti Abhyan team. Now the author's criticism shows that this intervention area was not implemented at the required level in this water conservation campaign. If they would have been present then there would have been proper implementation. Now as a result of the absence of knowledge intensive river basin organizations in many areas groundwater recharge happened at the cost of surface water and the surface water recharge happened at the cost of groundwater. Then after the implementation of the scheme author talks about the way in which the program was evaluated. The evaluated data is provided in the Jalshakti Abhyan portal or the JSA portal. In this context author has given an example based on the data provided by the portal. The portal claims that there is around one crore ongoing and completed water conservation structures and there are 76 lakh recharge structures and the website also says that one billion saplings have been planted and that around 60 lakh people participated in the awareness campaigns. So based on the data provided author is mentioning that the data does not speak anything about the water levels that was present before the implementation of the scheme. Now the pre-JSA water levels are needed to compare the incremental output of the scheme and the displayed data in the JSA portal does not show the monthly water levels and the impact of monsoon on the water levels across the 255 water stress districts with critical and over exploited groundwater levels. Then it also does not mention anything about the quality of the water conservation and recharge structures and there is no mention regarding the maintenance and sustainability of these recharge structures also. And some of the data which is provided in the portal also raises several queries that remains unanswered. This raises the questions on the quality of data that is published on the portal. One can easily say that the program had a huge impact but we have to think that whether this is the actual impact of the program or it is the impact of the summer monsoon. Now it is because the central groundwater board carried out a study in 2016 and this study showed that water levels always increase in the post monsoon period. So in this context author is noting that to determine the actual impact of such a program long-term monitoring of water level data is required and according to the author there is also no parameter to measure the outcome of such mission mode campaign like Jal Shakti Abhyan. Now in this way author mentions that there are serious lapses in the planning implementation and the evaluation of this program. Now such lapses in 2019 shows that we have not learned many lessons from our water planning implementation and evaluation failures of the past. Now why author is worried about such planning implementation or evaluation is that because this program because of such lapses may not help us in handling the upcoming 2020 summer water crisis. So here what the government can do is that at least now the government has to learn from the mistakes or errors that were done in 2019 so that it makes required course correction in all stages when the government launches such a scheme again to deal with water crisis. So when course correction is made there will be a real impact on handling the water crisis in the future. Then finally author concludes this editorial article by mentioning few other issues that require attention. These issues are such as lack of proper engineering supervision of water conservation and recharge structures. Then another issue is the involvement of multiple departments with less coordination or no coordination and then limited funding under MG NREGA and other schemes for water conservation and recharge structures is also another issue. Then one another important issue is that agriculture consumes 80% of fresh water in a country. So efforts and supporting systems have to be made to convince farmers from not growing water intensive crops such as paddy, sugarcane and banana. So these issues have to be resolved or needed actions should be taken if we want schemes like Jalshakti Abhyan to have real impact on the water crisis. So with this we come to the end of this editorial analysis. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Let's move on to the next discussion. This news article discussion is based on the Central Sanskrit University's Bill of 2019. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. Now this bill that is the Central Sanskrit University's Bill of 2019 was passed in Lok Sabha yesterday. Now this bill seeks to establish and incorporate universities for the teaching and research in Sanskrit and also to develop inclusive Sanskrit promotional activities. One of the most important provisions of the bill is that it will elevate the status of three existing universities. These universities are the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan at New Delhi, then the Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapit at New Delhi and then the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapit at Tirupati. Now these universities will be elevated to the status of Central universities. Now the objectives of these universities will be to disseminate and advance the knowledge by providing instructional and research facilities to the promotion of Sanskrit language and it is also believed that this will enhance the status of these universities and it will also give a boost to post graduate doctoral and post doctoral education and research in Sanskrit. Now during the debate in the Lok Sabha regarding this bill the Human Resource Development Minister has stated that Sanskrit is not just a language but it contains the essence of our nation culture and tradition. Now this means that Sanskrit represents Indian culture and it does not represent a particular culture of any religion or caste. Now this statement is important because recently we have been seeing protests by students in the Banaras Hindu University for appointing a Muslim teacher to teach Sanskrit. Now the statement made by the minister reassures that Sanskrit can be taught learned by anyone because it is not confined to any particular social group. So based on this the minister also noted that the teacher will continue to teach Sanskrit in the Banaras Hindu University. Further the minister also added that the Ministry of Human Resource Development will work towards promoting all the classical languages and they will start with the promotion of the language Tamil. So in this context let us discuss in brief about the classical languages in India. Actually there is no single definition for classical languages but there are criteria based on which a language is declared as classical language. Now the criteria which is adopted by the centre to determine the eligibility of a language for granting classical language status is that there should be a high antiquity of the early texts or recorded history of that particular language over a period of 1500 to 2000 years and then the language should have a body of ancient literature or texts which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers and then the literary tradition of that language should be original and it should not be borrowed from another speech community and then finally the classical language and the literature should be distinct from the modern language and literature and there may be also a discontinuity between the classical language and later forms or its offshoots. So these are the criteria based on which a language is given the status of classical language. Now at present we have six languages that have been given the status of classical languages. These are Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia. Now in the recent years there have been a raising demand for granting of classical status to the Marathi language also. Now this demand is under the consideration of Ministry of Culture. In this what you should have to note is that the first language that was accorded with the status of classical language is Tamil. Tamil was declared as classical language in 2004 and you should also note that out of these six classical languages five of them are regional languages except for Sanskrit which is not specific to any region. So that is all you should know about this news article and about the classical languages of our country. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now we have come to the last session for the day which is the practice questions discussion session. This question is based on Comptroller and Orator General of India. The first statement states it is a constitutional position mentioned under article 148. The statement is correct because the article 148 of Indian Constitution provides for a Comptroller and Orator General of India who is appointed by the President. Now the second statement states CAG can be removed from office by the Council headed by Prime Minister on the grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity. Now this statement is wrong because the CAG can be removed by the President but here the mentioned grounds are correct only so this statement is wrong and also remember that CAG can be removed by President on the same grounds and the same manner as a judge of Supreme Court. Now the third statement states CAG can audit the accounts of any authority based on the request by the President or Governor. Now this statement is also correct. It is one of the duties of Comptroller and Orator General of India. So here the question asks for the correct statement so the final correct answer to this question is option D1 and 3 only. Now this question is based on IBM graph. Three statements are given and we have to choose the correct statements. First statement states it is a high precision rapidly updating global weather model. Yes this statement is correct. The graph updates on an hourly basis and it provides forecasts at a 3 kilometer resolution to provide a clearer picture of weather activity around the globe. Now the second statement states it is partnered with Indian Meteorological Department which uses the state of the art science to forecast the atmosphere at a truly global scale. This statement is wrong because IBM graph is partnered with the National Center for Atmospheric Research. It is a world-class research center of USA in earth sciences. Now the third statement states it empowers companies airlines broadcasters and farmers because of its high resolution and frequency in updates. Now this statement is also correct because it helps to democratize weather forecasts so that people businesses and governments virtually anywhere can make better decisions. Now here the question asks for the correct statement so the correct answer to this question is option C1 and 3. Now this question is based on article 342 of Indian Constitution. First statement states first list of schedule casts in relation to a state or union territory is to be issued by notified order of the president. Now here remember that article 342 is with respect to schedule tribes and not schedule casts but if you see both these statements are with respect to schedule cast so here you can directly eliminate both the options so the correct answer to this question is neither 1 nor 2. If the question would have been with reference to article 341 then the correct answer would have been both 1 and 2. Now this next question is based on classical languages of India. Five classical languages are given and the question asks with reference to the languages mentioned above in terms of granting the classical language status which one of the following is the correct ascending order. Ascending order means we have to arrange from the first to the last that is the language which got the classical language status first in this list and the language which got the classical language status in the last in the provided list. So five languages are given Odia, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit and Tamil. Now to answer this question you should know when the classical language status was given to these languages. If you cannot remember the correct order or the year in which they were granted the status just try to remember that Tamil was the first language which was given the classical language status so five should be in the first of the list and Odia is the last language so far which has been given classical language status so it should be in the last. Here the question asks for the ascending order that is why the option which has five in first and one in last is the correct answer. If the question would have asked for descending order then the option which has one in first and five in last would have been the correct answer. Here so the correct answer is five four three two one so just remember that Tamil got the classical language status in 2004 Sanskrit got in 2005 and Canada got in 2008 and Telugu also got in 2008 then Malayalam got in 2013 then Odia got in 2014. Now let us see one main question based on GS paper 2 implementation of Jalshakti Abhiyan suffered in terms of certain vital factors identified these factors and suggest measures for the effective implementation in future. Try to give some two or three lines about this Jalshakti Abhiyan then mention the factors which is asked by the question which we discussed during the editorial discussion and also you can mention the same measures which is mentioned in the editorial discussion or you can also add your own measures you can write the answer and post your answer in the comment section and after posting the answer your answer will be reviewed within 10 working days. With this we have come to the end of our analysis sessions 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 on civil service examination preparation.