 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankarayase 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 comment section. Let's move on to our first article analysis. This discussion is based on these news articles which mentions about the recent decision of Tamil Nadu government to announce Kaveri delta region as a protected special agricultural zone. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu has said that a law will be made for this purpose and you should note that agriculture is a state subject under the state list in the seventh schedule of constitution. And it also includes agricultural education and research protection against pests and prevention of plant diseases. All these areas or subjects are listed in state list. So in this discussion, we will discuss about the background for this recent decision of Tamil Nadu government. And we'll also see about the Kaveri delta region. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. If you remember on 19th January 2020, we discussed the news article that news articles stated that the offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration projects are now categorized as B2 projects. Earlier, these projects were classified as category A projects along with offshore and onshore oil and gas development and production. This change has shifted the way in which prior environmental clearances were to be issued for exploration projects. Prior environmental clearance, it refers to getting clearance before any construction work or before the preparation of land by the project management authorities. And on that day, we also saw that environment impact assessment notification of 2006 classifies developmental projects into two categories. They are category A and category B. And as per the section 2 and section 4 of this 2006 notification, all category A projects require prior environmental clearance. From the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. And there is also an expert appraisal committee for this purpose in the Central Ministry. This expert appraisal committee will apprise the category A projects. Once the appraisal is done, the committee will submit its recommendations to the Ministry of Environment. Based on the recommendations of the committee, prior environmental clearance may be granted to the projects by the Union Environment Ministry. Now with respect to category B projects, these projects are the projects for which prior environmental clearance is required at the state level. This is to be obtained from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority. And also know that category B projects are further subdivided into category B1 projects and category B2 projects. And the projects that are categorized as category B2 are those projects for which environment impact assessment is not required. Also category B2 projects do not require scoping process and they are also exempted from public consultation as per section 7 of the EIA notification of 2006. Now here scoping is a process where the concerned appraisal committee will determine detailed and comprehensive terms of reference. These terms of reference are determined to address all relevant environmental concerns of the project for the preparation of an environmental impact assessment report. And scoping may also include a site visit by a subgroup of the appropriate appraisal committee. So the application for the clearance could be rejected at the stage of scoping itself. And the scoping is carried out by the Central Export Appraisal Committee for the category A projects. And for the category B1 projects, State Level Export Appraisal Committee carries out the scoping. But as we saw already, B2 projects does not require scoping. So as a result of the recent amendment made to the schedule of EIA notification 2006, the onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration projects now come under category B2 projects. This means that these projects can be given prior environmental clearances by concerned state level environment impact assessment authority without an environment impact assessment report and also without a public consultation. This recent amendment has created tensions in various regions in our country, particularly it has created tensions in the state of Tamil Nadu. This is because of the concerns that such projects could be carried out in places where agriculture is practiced and such projects will be implemented without environmental impact assessment as we just saw. And this is also one of the main reasons why the state government of Tamil Nadu has now proposed to announce certain areas in the state as a protected special agriculture zone. So this is the background of this recent decision by Tamil Nadu government. Now let us come to the discussion of the news articles. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu has stated that a law will be formulated to give the status of protected special agricultural zone to the delta region of river Kaveri in Tamil Nadu. When we say delta region of river Kaveri we are referring to the region near the mouth of river Kaveri. We know that Kaveri drains in Bay of Bengal. This delta region will have a large amount of sediment called alluvium that are carried by the river. According to the Central Water Commission Kaveri delta zone consists of total geographical land area that is equivalent to 11 percentage of the area of the state of Tamil Nadu. The delta area include the areas in districts of Nagapattinam, Tanjavur and Tiruvarur. In addition to this the delta region includes parts of the districts such as Tiruchchi, Kadalur and Pudukotai. In addition to this the state government in the proposal also included two more districts which are Aryalur and Karur. And the Kaveri delta zone has a total geographical land area of 1.4 million hectares. This region is called as delta because it is in triangular shape. As you know delta is a Greek letter that is nothing but a triangle. And here also you can observe that the Kaveri delta is almost a triangle. Now since the delta region itself is a land that is built by sediments carried by the river for a long period of time. The region is highly fertile region. Therefore the region plays a very important role in ensuring food security of the state and the nation. And as you would have heard the delta district of Tanjavur is called as the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu. It is because of the paddy related agricultural activities in the region which are a result of the sedimentation and irrigation by the river Kaveri. In addition to this the Central Water Commission has also mentioned that the Kaveri delta has complex water systems with issues of surface water, groundwater and it also has issues of coastal instability and also salinity intrusion. And that is why one of the news article calls for paying simultaneous attention to these issues while declaring the Kaveri delta region as a protected zone. So the government has been asked to focus on measures such as sustainable availability of water in the delta region, the protection of farmland against salinity intrusion, the construction of subsurface dikes to improve groundwater table and also modernization of canals. See in this subsurface dikes play an important role in improving groundwater table. In this image you can see one such subsurface dike that was built in 2013 in the Tiruvaru district of Tamil Nadu. The purpose of this subsurface dikes was to recharge groundwater. This dike runs 140 meters across the river Vennar and it is 5 meters in width and 14 feet in depth. This dike is made of nearly 38,000 sandbags. These sandbags are arranged in a pyramid like structure and they are covered by plastic sheet. The subsurface plastic sheet is specially prepared and it is said that it will not be damaged for 100 years at least. In addition to these measures there was one another suggestion which is constituting an independent body. This body should be constituted to consider proposals for permissible industrial projects in the delta region. There are also suggestions to establish food processing industries and value-added units for the agricultural produce in the region or in the nearby region. These are suggestions that may find expression in the special legislation that is to be passed by the state legislature of Tamil Nadu so as to declare the delta region as protected special agriculture region. The decision to declare Kaveri delta region as protected agriculture zone has also been conveyed to the union government. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu has written a detailed letter why such a decision is to be taken by the state government to protect the interest of state and the farmers. So this is about the background behind the recent decision of Tamil Nadu and also about the importance of Kaveri delta region. Now regarding this matter there is also an editorial. This editorial comments that the announcement made by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has prioritized agriculture, farmers and food security over the industries that can affect agriculture in the Kaveri delta region. Here the author implies that if exploration projects are allowed in this delta region it may affect food security of the state and also the nation. It is because the delta region produces around 33 lakh tons of food grains every year. So the author of this editorial welcomes the move by the Tamil Nadu government to create a protected zone for the delta region. But this concept of zones for agricultural areas was also proposed by the father of Indian green revolution Shri M.S. Swaminathan. The author states that such protective zones exist in the states of Kerala and Uttarakhand also. After this the editorial mentions that the state will face some challenges in succeeding in the announcement that was made. In order to set up a protected special agriculture zone the state may have to face pressure from the central government and also it may have to face retigations from various companies that have pumped in money for oil and gas exploration. First let us see why there will be pressure from the central government. We saw in the beginning that agriculture is in the state list. But if you see in the union list some important subjects related to our discussion comes under the purview of parliament. These subjects are regulation and development of oil fields and mineral oil resources, petroleum and petroleum products. Other liquids and substances declared by parliament by law to be dangerously infamable. All these subjects come under the union list. So there will be conflict between the centre and the states in this matter if one of the two did not yield it to the other. And we also know that parliament can enact laws on subjects in the state list. If such a law is necessary or expedient in the national interest. And this provision is as per article 249 of Indian constitution. Also know that if this results into a dispute between centre and the state of Tamil Nadu then the matter will fall under the original jurisdiction of the supreme court. The term original refers to the fact that only the supreme court has jurisdiction to adjudicate this dispute between centre and state. And this is as per article 131 of Indian constitution. So if one party does not yield to other then resolving the dispute will require adjudication by the supreme court. These are some of the reasons why the author states that there would be central pressure on the state of Tamil Nadu. Now let us see why the state government of Tamil Nadu has to face another challenge of litigation in courts by the companies. This is because earlier in July 2017 the state government of Tamil Nadu issued a notification. This notification was issued under the Tamil Nadu town and country planning act. This notification declared delineation of 45 villages in Kadalur and Nagapattinam districts of Tamil Nadu as petroleum chemicals and petrochemicals investment region. Or in short PCPIR. Now in this you should note that as per central water commission Nagapattinam district completely comes under the Kaveri delta. So under this 2017 notification close to 23,000 hectares of these 45 villages were declared for delineation are to be called as the petroleum chemicals and petrochemicals investment region or PCPIR. The author states that following this notification companies have pumped in investment in these declared 45 villages. That is why the author mentions that the state government will have to face litigations in the court. This is important because the chief minister who now proposed this special protection zone was also the chief minister at that time when the government of Tamil Nadu issued the notification for PCPIR region. So these are some of the challenges that the state government of Tamil Nadu may face while bringing a legislation regarding this protected special agriculture zone. So now we have to just wait and watch whether the governor will reserve the bill for the president once the bill is passed by the state legislature. With this we come to the end of analysis of the news articles that are pertaining to Kaveri delta region in Tamil Nadu. In this discussion we saw about the changes made to the schedule of environment impact assessment notification of 2006. Then we also saw about the category B2 projects. Then we saw about the region of Kaveri delta. Then we saw various suggestions that can be included in the law that is to be made by the state government. And finally we saw about the viewpoints of the author that are present in the editorial. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion. This news article is about the recently released draft national policy for treatment of rare diseases. This draft was released by the union ministry of health and family welfare. This draft is seen as a response to the directive that was given by the Madras High Court. Earlier Madras High Court had directed the centre to provide medical care to those who are suffering from the rare disorder known as lysosomal storage disorders. So in this context we will be discussing in depth about the lysosomal storage disorders and the features of the draft policy. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. You would have seen about the lysosomal storage disorders often in news. To understand this disorder first you should understand about lysosome. A lysosome is a membrane bound cell organelle that contains digestive enzymes. These lysosomes function as the primary digestive units within the cells. And these lysosomes are involved in various cell processes such as they break down excess cell parts or worn out cell parts and they may be used to destroy invading viruses and bacteria. And if a cell is damaged beyond repair then lysosomes can help the cell to self destruct. So these are some of the cell processes where lysosomes are involved. Now initially we said that lysosomes are membrane bound. It is because they have membrane around them to protect them and also the digestive enzymes from the rest of the inside of the cell. In simple terms we can say that lysosomes are the microscopic recycle bins in the cells that store breakdown and recycle the large unwanted molecules by utilizing very specific enzymes. Now this lysosomal storage disorder is associated with lysom only. This lysosomal storage disorders are a group of inherited or genetic metabolic diseases which results in an abnormal buildup of various toxic materials in the body's cells. And this lysosomal storage disorders or in short LSDs they result in enzyme deficiencies within the lysosomes of the body's cells. It means that the enzymes become deficient or defective and hence the cell is unable to digest the large unwanted molecules or toxic materials which are called as substrates. So when the cell is unable to digest the unwanted molecules or toxic materials then it results in accumulation of toxic molecules in the lysosomes which results in the dysfunction of the lysosomes. Now this lysosomal storage disorder is not a single disorder. It contains 50 different disorders altogether such as it contains the disorders or diseases such as Gaucher disease, Pompey disease, Fabri disease etc. And ultimately all these diseases result in the irreversible damage to muscles, nerves or even damage to certain organs in the body. But treatments are available for these disorders if they are caught early. But you should note that here that the signs and symptoms vary from disease to disease in this group. For example, symptoms of Fabri disease are severe burning in the hands and feet, appearance of reddish to dark blue skin, rash, a decrease in sweat production etc. But the symptoms for the Gaucher disease are different. We saw that treatments are available for these disorders if they are caught early. So let us discuss the treatment for LSD. According to some sources there are no cures for lysosomal storage diseases and whatever treatment is available it is mostly symptomatic. That is the treatment is based on the symptoms. So based on this sometimes bone marrow transplantation and enzyme replacement therapy have been successful in some cases. Then sometimes umbilical cord blood transplantation is being performed at specialized centers for number of these diseases. In addition to this substrate reduction therapy is also used. It is a method used to decrease the accumulation of toxic material and this therapy is currently being evaluated for some of these diseases. And another therapy is also used which is the chaperone therapy. It is a technique that is used to stabilize the defective enzymes that are produced by patients. And this therapy is also being examined for certain disorders in this LSD. Then in addition to these therapies the gene therapy seems to be a viable option but however it is still in the preclinical stage and much research is needed. See gene therapy is nothing but it involves replacing the patient's mutated gene with a normal copy of that gene to allow proper enzyme production in our case. So these are some of the treatments that are available or that can be used for treating LSD. But these treatments are costly. So the economically poor patients who are suffering from this rare disease they are unable to avail the treatments. Based on this condition a public interest litigation was filed in the Madras High Court and in this case only the Madras High Court directed the center to consider providing medical care to the economically poor patients who are suffering from the rare lysosomal storage disorders. In addition to this High Court also directed the center to consider this issue as an issue no less than a national emergency. So the center was asked to come up with a concrete plan within a month and the concrete plan is on the sharing of financial burden with the state governments. So the recently released draft policy on rare diseases is appeared to be a center's response to the High Court directive but you should note that in 2017 the union health ministry formulated a national policy for treatment of rare diseases. But as we know public health and hospitals is a state subject so success of that policy needed center states cooperation and this cooperation was needed on sharing medical expenses and the implementation of the policy. But due to lack of cooperation the policy was not properly implemented. So that is why the center has come up with a new draft policy on rare diseases and this 2020 policy aims to solve the problem which was faced by the 2017 policy and it aims to solve this problem by ensuring center state cooperation. So before discussing about the features of this draft policy you may be thinking what do we mean by rare diseases. See there is no universally accepted definition of rare disease but WHO defines a rare disease as often debilitating lifelong disease or disorder condition with the prevalence of one or less per thousand population. Debilitating means the disease makes the person very weak. So based on the WHO definition a rare disease is a debilitating lifelong disease or disorder that is present in one person per thousand population. But however different countries have their own definitions to suit their specific treatments in terms of their own population health care systems and resources. So in general we can say that a rare disease is a health condition of low prevalence that affects a small number of people compared with other prevalent diseases in the general population. And it is estimated that globally around 6000 to 8000 rare diseases exist and even new rare diseases are being reported in the medical literature regularly. However 80% of all rare disease patients are affected approximately by the 350 rare diseases only. So that is why it is necessary to have a policy for the treatment of rare diseases and this will be realized by our government if this draft policy becomes an actual policy. Now let us see the important features of this draft policy on rare diseases. First of all the draft policy speaks about the present challenges in treating the rare diseases. And the first and foremost problem is that we lack proper data on how many people in India are suffering from different rare diseases. The next problem is that there is a lack of uniform definition for rare diseases in India. So the policy calls for an India specific definition for rare diseases. The next problem is the lack of awareness about the rare diseases in general public as well as among the medical professionals. And due to this lack of awareness it leads to delayed diagnosis of rare diseases. Then another challenge is that when it comes to treatment treating rare diseases very difficult because first of all treatments are not available for all existing rare diseases and even if treatment is available as we saw already in the beginning then the cost involved for the treatment of that disease is very high. So that is why it is necessary to have a regional and international collaboration for research and development in the field of rare diseases so that it will help to better understand the disease and also it will help to develop new therapies and medicines. So the first feature of this draft policy is that it identifies the challenges in treating rare diseases. Then the next important feature of the draft policy is that it categorizes the rare diseases into three groups. In this the group one consists of disorders that are amenable to one-time curative treatment such as organ transplantation. Then group two consists of diseases which require long-term or lifelong treatment but at a relatively lower cost. Then group three consists of diseases which have definitive treatments but it involves very high cost and lifelong therapy. So based on these groups the draft policy also makes certain suggestions for funding the diseases in these groups. For diseases under group one the center would give financial support of up to Rs. 15 lakh and this will be provided under the Rajstri Arogyanidhi and this Rajstri Arogyanidhi provides for financial assistance to patients who are living below poverty line and who are suffering from major life-threatening diseases. And in our case the beneficiaries for the financial assistance under this policy on rare diseases would not be limited to BPL families only but it will be extended to 40% of the population who are eligible as per the norms of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogyanidhi. So this is for the group one category. Then for the diseases which are listed in group two the state governments can consider giving financial assistance. As we know there is a resource constraint when it comes to financing rare diseases hence the draft policy also suggests that there is a need to prioritize the available resources to get maximum health gains for the community. And according to the draft policy government will also endeavor to create alternate funding mechanism by setting up a digital platform for voluntary individual donors and corporate donors. So we can conclude by saying that the draft policy is a step in the right direction but it should not be a failure like the 2017 policy. So to make this policy as a success the center and states must cooperate with each other especially in terms of funding. That is all about this news article. In this discussion we discussed about the lysosomal storage disorder and then we also discussed about the draft national policy for treatment of rare diseases. With this we come to the end of this discussion that is played practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion. This discussion is about the convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals which is nothing but the CMS convention and this discussion is based on this news article which mentions that the 13th conference of parties that is the COP of the convention is scheduled to be organized later this month in Gandhinagar city of Gujarat and in this conference of parties or COP India will be moving to include certain animals in a particular appendix of this convention. So in this context let us see in detail about this convention the appendices under this convention and finally we will see about this news article also. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. This CMS convention is an environmental treaty of the United Nations and it is under the ages of United Nations environment program and this convention is also known as the Bond convention. This convention aims to conserve terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory species throughout their range. See as per this convention range means all the areas of land or water that a migratory species inhabits and also the areas of land or water in which the migratory species stays temporarily or even which it crosses or over flies at any time on its normal migration route. So whenever we say range in this discussion we mean this range only. From this you can get the definition of migratory species also as it refers to the wild animals that move from one habitat to another during different times of the year and they move due to various factors such as food, sunlight, temperature, climate etc. The movement between habitats can sometimes exceed thousands of kilometers for some migratory birds and mammals. A migratory route can involve nesting and it also requires the availability of habitats before and after each migration. So this convention provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and also their habitats. This convention brings together the states that is the countries through which migratory animals pass and this convention lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout the migratory range. The states through which the migratory animal passes, those states are called as the range states and this convention mainly deals with the conservation status of a migratory species which means that the sum of influences acting on the migratory species that may affect its long-term distribution and abundance and this conservation status can be favorable or unfavorable. See conservation status will be taken as favorable when the population dynamics data indicate that the migratory species is maintaining itself on a long-term basis based on the ecosystems. Then when the range of migratory species is neither currently being reduced and nor it is likely to be reduced on a long-term basis, then it is also a favorable conservation status. Then when there is sufficient habitat to maintain the population of the migratory species on a long-term basis in the future, then it is also a favorable conservation status. When the distribution and abundance of the migratory species approach historic coverage and levels to the extent that potentially suitable ecosystems exist, then it is also a favorable conservation status. So if all these conditions are met, then the conservation status of the migratory species will be taken as favorable, but if any of these conditions are not met, then the conservation status will be taken as unfavorable. So the countries which are party to this convention acknowledge the importance of migratory species and their conservation and also the importance of range states. Hence the countries have agreed to pay special attention to the conservation status of migratory species which is unfavorable. Also necessary steps to conserve such species and their habitat will be taken by the member countries who are party to this convention. So for this purpose in this convention there are two appendices. One is appendix 1 and the second one is appendix 2. In this appendix 1 list the migratory species which are endangered. According to this convention endangered means the migratory species is in danger of extinction throughout all of its range or throughout a significant portion of its range. And appendix 2 lists migratory species which have an unfavorable conservation status and which require international agreements for their conservation and management. And as for this convention a migratory species may be listed both in appendix 1 and appendix 2 if such circumstances exist. But today we will focus on appendix 1 only because in this COP which is going to happen in Gujarat India is going to move to include certain animals in the appendix 1. We will see about those animals later in the discussion. Let us first see about this appendix 1. As we already saw this appendix 1 lists the migratory species which are endangered. And parties that are range states of a migratory species which are listed in appendix 1 they have to undertake actions to conserve and restore those habitats of these species which are in danger of extinction. So if India is a party to this convention then India has to conserve and restore those habitats of the particular species which are in the danger of extinction. And the parties also has to prevent the adverse effects of activities or obstacles that seriously impede or prevent the migration of the species. And such parties shall also remove and also compensate for or minimize the mentioned activities or obstacles. Then the parties shall also prevent reduce or control the factors that are endangering or that are likely to endanger the species. Here controlling includes strictly controlling the introduction of exotic species or controlling or eliminating the already introduced exotic species. In addition to this the parties that are range states of the migratory species listed in appendix 1 those parties have to prohibit the taking of animals belonging to such species. But there are also exceptions to this prohibition under the convention. When the animals are taken for scientific purposes or when they are taken for purpose of enhancing a propagation or for their survival or when they are taken to accommodate the needs of traditional subsistence users of such species or whenever there are some extraordinary circumstances then such activities are not prohibited under the convention. So for this purpose the convention encourages the range states to conclude global or regional agreements. And in this respect CMS acts as a framework convention. So these are the important details that you should know with respect to this convention and about the appendix 1. And also remember that as of November 2019 this convention has 130 parties and India is also a party to this convention since 1983. And every 3 year the conference of parties of this convention reviews and assesses the conservation status of migratory species. It also reviews the progress that is made towards the conservation of migratory species. Especially the progress in the conservation of species that are listed in appendices 1 and 2. And then after that the conference of parties decides on the amendment of the appendices. So the latest conference of parties is the COP13. It will be held from 17th to 22nd February at Gandhinagar in India. So India has been designated as the President of COP for the next 3 years. Now in the COP13 India is going to move to include the Asian elephant and the great Indian bastard in the appendix 1. So if these 2 species are included in appendix 1 then it would persuade the countries that are neighboring India to direct more resources and attention towards protecting these species. So this was the new studio. Now from examination point of view it is also important to know some other facts related to this species. Let us see them now. Let us first discuss about Asian elephant. The current wild distribution of Asian elephant is in 13 countries across south and southeast Asia. The range countries of Asian elephants are India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. As per the project elephant census which was carried out in 2017 India has approximately 30,000 elephants. So conserving this species is very important for India. That is why this species that is the Asian elephants are protected under the schedule 1 part 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. And this species is also listed under endangered category of the IUCN red list and more importantly under the sites convention. That is the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora. This species is listed in appendix 1. And now India is going to move to include this species in appendix 1 of CMS also. Now such conservation measures have an important benefit and that important benefit is the improvement of living conditions of communities who are living in the backward areas or in the border areas where normally the human elephant conflicts occur. If this species is included in appendix 1 of CMS then because of its migratory nature the border areas can be well guarded and the people in those border areas could be displaced or they could be reformed about the movement of this species. So this will reduce the human elephant conflicts or the human animal conflict. The next species is the great Indian bastard. The current distribution of this species is restricted to the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. And this species is also occasionally cited in Pakistan also. So you can see that the distribution of this species is restricted to India and Pakistan only. And hence this species is protected under schedule 1 part 3 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. And in the IUCN red list this species is listed as critically endangered and it is also listed in appendix 1 of Sites Convention. Now if this species is also included in appendix 1 of CMS then the conservation of this species will strengthen and it will have many benefits also because the conservation of great Indian bastard in arid region will also benefit other species that are living in the arid region and it will also conserve the native desert flora. So these are the information that you should know from examination point of view about these two species. In this discussion we saw in detail about the convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild elements. We saw about the appendices under this convention and we also saw about some important facts related to Asian elephant and great Indian bastard. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The displayed practice discussion will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion. This discussion is based on this news article which talks about the training for Gaganyan mission. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. As we know a prime minister during his Independence Day address in 2018 announced that India's first Indian human space flight mission will be launched by Indian Space Research Organization by the year 2022. This will be the first human mission of India that is indigenously developed by ISRO. So the success of this program will make India the fourth nation in the world to launch a human space flight mission. So far only USA, Russia and China have launched such kind of missions and this mission aims to send a three-member crew to space for a period of five to seven days. It was said that the crew will be selected by Indian Air Force and ISRO jointly and after the selection the candidates will undergo training for two to three years. This was told last year. Now the time has come for the training period because this news article mentions that four Indian pilots have been chosen as candidate astronauts for Gaganyan mission. These candidates will be given 12 month training at the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow, Russia. This training is based on the contract between GLAB Cosmos JSE which is a part of the state space corporation Cosmos of Russia and the human space flight center of ISRO. Now the candidates who are selected for this mission are fighter pilots from the Indian Air Force and this 12 month training program includes comprehensive and biomedical training of the Indian candidates and this training will be combined with regular physical practices. In addition to this the selected candidate astronauts will also study in detail about the systems of Soyuz manned spaceship. This Soyuz means the Russian spacecraft. Soyuz in Russian means Union and this is also referred to as Soyuz program. This Soyuz program is the longest operational human spacecraft program in the history of space exploration. The first crewed flight into the space in this Soyuz spacecraft happened in April 1967. So you can see that this program was conceived by the then Soviet Union at the start of the 60s even today this Soyuz spacecraft are used but they are used with important modifications and currently the Soyuz are the only spacecraft that is available to transport crews to and from the International Space Station and these Soyuz spacecrafts or vehicles are launched by Russian rockets of the same name which is Soyuz rocket. This Soyuz rocket already had more than 1600 successful launches in total and the launches include satellites and also manned spacecrafts. But know that neither the Soyuz rockets nor the Soyuz vehicles are reusable. Now let us see some technical details about this Soyuz spacecraft. This spacecraft weighs 7 tons and it measures 7.2 meter in length and 2.7 meters in diameter. So you can imagine the actual size of this spacecraft and this Soyuz vehicle can carry up to 3 astronauts and this Soyuz spacecraft is made up of 3 modules the service module, the orbital module and the reentry module. In this the orbital module which is the tip of the spacecraft carries the equipment that is necessary to dock with the International Space Station the next is the service module it is at the lower part of the spacecraft. It transports things such as telecommunications and altitude control equipment etc. Then the last module is the descent module or the reentry module which is in the middle of the spacecraft. This is where the astronauts travel and it is the only section that reenters the atmosphere. Now this spacecraft along with some important equipments also brings food and water to the space station. So NASA calls this Soyuz spacecraft as a lifeboat and at least one Soyuz is always attached to the space station. So if there were any emergency on the space station the crew would use the Soyuz to leave the space station and they will return to Earth. So that is why this Soyuz spacecraft is very important and that is why the selected candidates for Gaganyan mission will study in detail about the systems of Soyuz manned spaceship. Now along with this the selected candidates will also be trained in short term weightlessness mode which is necessary for a space mission and they will be trained about a special aircraft. Then along with this the Indian pilots or the candidates will also be trained to act correctly or to take appropriate actions in case of abnormal landing of the manned spaceship, descent module in various climate and geographic zones. And most part of the training which we are talking about will take place at the GCTC facilities only. And according to this news article at the end of the training modules in Russia and as well as in India one or two of the four candidates will be finally named to circle the Earth in the first crewed Gaganyan mission or the manned mission. But initially we saw that under this mission India aims to send a three member crew to space. So let us wait and see how many members are selected for this mission. So in this discussion we saw about the training that will be given to the selected candidates for the Gaganyan mission and we also saw some important details about the Soyuz manned spaceship. With this we come to the end of this discussion. Moving on to the next discussion. This news article is about the Supreme Court verdict on the constitutionality of Section 18A of the POA Act. That is the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989. The syllabus that is relevant for this discussion is given here for your reference. In this discussion we should first know what was originally mentioned in Section 18 of the Principal Act. Then we have to see how the Supreme Court judgment has diluted Section 18 of the Act. Then we will see what was the amendment made by the Parliament to the POA Act in 2018. And finally we will conclude by seeing what was the reason judgment of Supreme Court in this regard. First if you see Section 18 of the Prevention of Atrocities against the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes Act of 1989. It deals with arrest of any person who was accused to have committed an offense under the Act. This section mentions that the Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure should not apply to the arrest of any accused person who is accused to have committed an offense under this Act. So now we have to see what is the Section 438 of CRPC. This section of CRPC deals with direction for grant of bail to person apprehending arrest. This is nothing but the anticipatory bail. That is if a person has reason to believe that he or she may be arrested on accusation of having committed a non-bailable offense, then the person can approach a court of session or high court for the grant of anticipatory bail. Simply we can say that a person anticipates that he may be arrested. So the person applies to the high court or the session's court to be released on bail in the event of such arrest. If court grants bail to this person who anticipates an arrest, then the person shall be released on bail in the event of such arrest. The court will grant bail after various parameters that is mentioned in Section 438 of CRPC such as nature and gravity of the accusation, antecedence of the applicant, whether the applicant may flee or may escape from justice etc. So after weighing all these parameters, then only the session's court or the high court will grant anticipatory bail. Here you should note one point that there are certain offenses for which anticipatory bail cannot be sought before the court. For example, if a person is accused for the offense of rape under Section 376 of IPC, then this person cannot go to court for getting the grant of anticipatory bail. Now let us come to the Section 18 of POA Act. Now this section stated that nothing in Section 438 of CRPC shall apply for the offenses committed under this act. This means anticipatory bail is not available for a person who is accused for committing an offense under POA Act of 1989. This means if a person is accused under offenses mentioned in POA Act, then the person will be compulsorily arrested by the enforcement authority who is actually the police. The person who anticipates arrest cannot go to high court or session's court to seek anticipatory bail for the apprehending arrest. So this provision was seen as an effective provision against those persons who commit offenses against persons belonging to schedule cuts or schedule tribes because the accused cannot get anticipatory bail. So what happened in March, 2018? In March, 2018, the Supreme Court delivered a judgment in one of the cases. The judgment was called as the case law of Dr. Subash Karsinath Mahajan versus the state of Maharashtra. In this judgment, Supreme Court observed that the POA Act was abused to file false complaints against the members of communities other than the schedule cuts and schedule tribes. So in the end, the court ordered that there is no absolute bar against grant of anticipatory bail. This means that there is no bar for the court of law to grant anticipatory bail and this is to be given effect in cases under POA Act if Prime of AC reveals no commission of an offense. Also, this is to be given effect in cases under POA Act where on judicial scrutiny, the complaint is found to be with a malified intention in the Prime of AC. Here judicial scrutiny may refer to the court's scrutiny when an application is made for the grant of anticipatory bail and Prime of AC is the term that refers to the decision arrived by the police authority at the first view of the materials that is available before the authority. In this case law, the Supreme Court also added that a preliminary inquiry may be conducted by the concerned DSP. This preliminary inquiry is to find out whether the allegations make out a case under the atrocities act and also to know whether the allegations are not frivolous or motivated. That is, the DSP has to check whether the allegations are false or personally motivated or whether they are genuine. The Supreme Court has added these measures to avoid false implication of an innocent. But we know that there are still places in our country where atrocities are committed against the persons belonging to schedule cuts and schedule tribes. In these places, the protection for the accused that is guaranteed by the Supreme Court could be misused. So a widespread social movement and democratic action took place after the verdict of the Supreme Court. The social movements demanded a stay in the Supreme Court order. Meanwhile, they also demanded the Parliament to protect the persons belonging to schedule cuts and schedule tribes. That is, they demanded that the protection against the arrest should not be available to the accused persons. So to nullify the verdict of the Supreme Court, the Parliament in 2018 made an amendment to the Principal Act of 1989. That is the POA Act of 1989. The amendment act inserted section 18A to the POA Act. This section stated that regardless of any judgment or order or direction of any court, the provisions of section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shall not apply to a case under the POA Act. This amendment also added that preliminary inquiry shall not be required for registration of a first information report against any accused person. Also, the investigating officer shall not require approval for the arrest of any person who is alleged to have committed an offense under this POA Act. So on 17 August 2018, this amendment act came into force. Afterwards, there were several petitions filed in the Supreme Court to declare this section 18A of the Act as arbitrary and unconstitutional. And one such case was filed by Prathviraj Chauhan for his petition the Supreme Court has delivered the judgment yesterday. That is on 10 February 2020. Therefore, this case law is called as Prathviraj Chauhan versus Union of India and others. In this case law, the Supreme Court has stated that provisions of section 438 CRPC shall not apply to the cases under Act of 1989. In addition to this, the judgment also stated that section 18 and section 18A clause 1 will not apply if Prima Facie or first appearance of the material with the police reveals that the complaint does not make out a case under the provisions of POA Act. That is, if the Prima Facie reveals that an arrest is not warranted then section 18 and 18A clause 1 shall not apply. In such case, the Supreme Court noted that the court has inherent power to direct a pre-arrest bail or anticipatory bail. Therefore, as of now, while the Supreme Court has upheld the validity of section 18A, there is still room for doubt. This is because the term, the court that has inherent power to direct pre-arrest bail was not clarified in the judgment. The doubt is whether it is the court of session or whether this inherent power is with the High Court or the Supreme Court or all the courts is not made clear. Even if you see the online section of the same news article that appeared in the printed newspaper, there is modification. So, clarification in this matter is expected soon. To say more strong point, we need more time to understand the verdict. We will clarify about this verdict in the coming days. With this, we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the last discussion for the day, which is based on this news article, this news article mentions that a new museum will be published by the Archaeological Survey of India at the Kilarai Pitura. The aim of the exhibition is to inform and educate the public about the capital city's art history that is connecting with its political and social history. So, in this context, we will discuss about some important facts about this Kilarai Pitura. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. As you would have heard, Delhi had been a thriving city for several centuries and Delhi is known as city of cities. And it is always argued that the cities of Delhi were in reality less or more than seven, but the accepted number is seven only. And these are the cities whose remains are extent, that is which is still existing. So, historians speak of the seven cities of Delhi. But according to the government sources, between 1100 AD and 1947 AD, there have been eight cities of Delhi. It included the oldest city near the site of Kuthabinar, which is the Kilarai Pitura, then Siri, Tuklagabad, Jhappana, Firuzaabad, then the city around Purana Killa, then Shajahanaabad, then New Delhi. And our today's discussion is with respect to Kilarai Pitura. And this city was the first city of Delhi which dates back to 11th century. And this Kilarai Pitura city was created by Prithviraj Chauhan. See Prithviraj Chauhan was also known as Rai Pitura. Therefore, Kilarai Pitura means fort for Rai Pitura or fort in the memory of Rai Pitura. Prithviraj Chauhan's ancestors captured Delhi from the Tomer Rajputs and the Tomer Rajputs have been credited with the founding of Delhi. And you should note that Anangpal, who was a Tomer ruler possibly created the first known regular defence work in Delhi, which is called as Lal Kot. Then Lal Kot was took over by Prithviraj and it was extended by Prithviraj Chauhan with fortification for a city called as Kilarai Pitura. And during the era of Tomer and Chauhan's magnificent temples were built in Delhi. It is believed that 27 Hindu temple complexes existed at the site of Kuvathul Islam mosque and the Kuthupinar. And as we know Kuthupinar is one of the UNESCO World Heritage site. If you see still the remains of Kilarai Pitura can be seen in the present Saqeet, Mehrolli, Kishangard and Vasankunj areas of Delhi. If you look at the news article it mentions that the Archaeological Survey of India is planning a museum or interpretation centre which will celebrate the rise and fall of cities of Delhi. And the basic theme of this museum will be cities of Delhi only. And the proposed plan includes a curated exhibition in a refurbished building of Kilarai Pitura and it would include paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, maps, posters, books and installations. And it is expected that a virtual reality lab may be included in this museum. So these are the information that you should know with respect to this news article. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The split practice question will be discussed in the next session which is the practice questions discussion. The next question is with respect to the lysosomal storage disorders. The question asks, this term which has been recently seen in news refers to which among the following. The first statement is a mental disorder caused by the use of psychedelic drugs. This statement is wrong because psychedelics are also called as hallucinogens. They are a class of psychoactive substances that produce changes in perception, mood and cognitive processes. And the psychedelic which is in short known as LSD, it stands for the surgical acid diethylamide. The next statement is a temporary syndrome suffered by astronauts in space. No, it is not a syndrome suffered by astronauts. So this statement is also wrong. The third statement is a disease caused by the prolonged exposure to radioactive substances. Yes, it is a type of disease but it is not caused by prolonged exposure to radioactive substances. So this statement is also wrong. That means the last statement is the correct answer to this question which mentions a group of genetic metabolic diseases which results in abnormal buildup of various toxic materials in the body cells. This is the correct answer because of the buildup of toxic materials. It results in enzyme deficiencies within the lysosomes of the body cell. And it means that the enzymes become deficient or defective and hence it is unable to digest the large unwanted molecules or toxic materials. So it results in an accumulation of the toxic molecules in the lysosomes which results in the dysfunction of the lysosome. Now this question is based on Unesco World Heritage Site. Agra Fort, Kuthabinar and its monuments Kilarai, Pithora, Red Fort complex Fatehpur, Sikri among these which among the sites is not a Unesco World Cultural Heritage Site. At present there are 30 cultural world heritage sites and there are 7 natural world heritage sites and there is one mixed category world heritage sites. So in total in India we have 38 Unesco World Heritage sites. And among these Agra Fort, Kuthabinar and its monuments are definitely Unesco World Heritage sites under the cultural category. So that should not be in the final answer. So you can eliminate option A and D. From the remaining options you can know that 3 that is Kilarai, Pithora is not a world heritage site because it is present in both the options. We have to just know whether 5th option is a world heritage site or not. Fatehpur, Sikri is a cultural world heritage site. So the correct answer to this question is option B3 only. Now this next question is based on shale gas resources. The question asks in which of the following regions of India are shale gas resources found? First one Cambay basin, second Kaviri basin, third Krishna Godavari basin. The correct answer to this question is option D 1, 2 and 3 because in all these 3 basins shale gas resources are found. Now based on the geoscientific data that was collected during the exploration of conventional oil and gas, assessments have been made regarding the likely potential of shale gas resources in the Indian sedimentary basins. And it is said that shale gas and shale oil is present in Cambay basin, Damodar basin, Kaviri basin, Ganga valley and also in Assam and Madhya Pradesh. Now this question is based on CMS and IUCN and we have to say which of these statements are incorrect. The first statement is CMS is an agreement between countries under the Aegis of IUCN. Now see this statement is incorrect because CMS is an agreement between countries under the Aegis of United Nations Environment Programme that is UNEP and CMS and IUCN both are different. IUCN was founded in 1948 as the world's first global environmental organization and this CMS is an environmental treaty of the United Nations under the Aegis of UNEP. And this convention is also known as Bond Convention and this convention aims to conserve terrestrial, aquatic and avian migratory species throughout the range. So this statement is wrong. Now the second statement states India is a non-party to CMS. Now this statement is also wrong because India is party to CMS and even in February 2020 India is hosting the 13th conference of parties of this CMS convention and India is the president of the COP of the CMS for the next three years. So this statement is also wrong. Now if you know that first statement and second statements are both are incorrect then you can arrive at the answer which is option D, 1, 2 and 3. The third statement is wrong because it states the IUCN Red List Index is used by CMS to monitor progress towards achieving the IG targets. Now the IUCN Red List Index is used by the convention on biodiversity that is the CBD to monitor the progress towards achieving the IG targets. It is not CMS and IG targets are related to biodiversity and it is not related to migratory species. So this statement is also wrong. 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.