 Well, the Hindu news analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy, these are the news articles chosen for today's discussion. They are given along with the page number of different traditions. Link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping for the discussed articles are given in the description box as well as the comment section for the benefit of the mobile viewers. Now, let us start with the first article. See, this discussion is about oxygen, but not in the context of Corona pandemic. This discussion is about oxygen in the context of space. See, the oxygen has been extracted for the first time in the planet Mars. This was done by the Perseverance rover. See, the Perseverance rover is a part of NASA Mars 2020 mission. This rover is stationed at the jesero skater of Mars. See, the Perseverance rover reached the Martian surface in February. From that time, the Perseverance rover has earned a lot of achievements. For example, even last week, it flew a helicopter in the Martian surface. The name of the helicopter is Ingenuity. Now, the Perseverance rover has extracted oxygen from the Martian surface. This was possible due to a device called Moxi. Moxi was able to produce oxygen from the thin Martian atmosphere for the first time. As we know on Mars, carbon dioxide makes up 96% of the gas in the planet's atmosphere. Oxygen is only 0.13% compared to 21% in Earth's atmosphere. So, from the thin atmosphere, Moxi has extracted oxygen. Moxi stands for Mars Oxygen in-situ resource utilization experiment. It is on both the Perseverance rover to Mars. It is a small six-wheeled robot. Similar to a tree on Earth, Moxi inhales carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen. See, the Moxi collects carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere, then electrochemically splits the carbon dioxide molecule into oxygen and carbon monoxide. The oxygen is then analyzed for purity before being vented back out to the atmosphere. The oxygen generated along with the carbon monoxide and other exhaust products are vented back out to Martian atmosphere. This pictographic representation of Moxi working source from NASA. Interested aspirants can go through it. Now, let us see why oxygen is important in space. See, oxygen is important in space at two levels. One, it is important source of life. Two, it is an important component of combustion. Then a question arises, why not take oxygen from Earth instead of extracting oxygen from Martian atmosphere? See, space travel is an expensive affair. The lighter we travel, the more fuel efficient we can be. So, by making oxygen in the space, we can help astronauts travel light in the future and thereby cut down the expenses. Extracting oxygen from space can also make space travel safer and can develop a sustainable alternative for the astronauts. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. In this article, we discussed about Moxi and its working. Now, let us move on to the next article. This news article mentions that scientists have discovered a new black hole and it has been nicknamed as Unicorn because of its rare nature. First, let us see what is a black hole? A black hole is an astronomical object. It is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. See, the black hole happens when a star is dying. Since no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Only space telescopes with special tools can help find us black holes. See, the black holes are classified based on size and mass. The first kind is the smallest ones. See, according to the scientists, the smallest black holes are small as just one atom. They are very tiny but have the mass of a large mountain. Scientists believe that the smallest black holes formed when the universe began. Another kind of black hole is called the stellar black hole. The stellar black hole mass can be up to 20 times more than the mass of the sun. These stellar black holes are made when the center of a very big star falls in upon itself or when a star collapses. See, there are many, many stellar mass black holes in Earth's galaxy. So far, we have seen two kinds of black holes. Now, let us see the third kind. The third kind of black holes are the largest black holes. They are called supermassive black holes. These black holes are masses that are more than one million suns together. Scientists also have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. Even our galaxy, that is the Milky Way galaxy, has a supermassive black hole at its center. It is called Sagittarius A. Sagittarius A has a mass equal to four million suns. In addition to all these three categories, the astronomers also suspect there are different kinds of black holes called intermediate mass black holes. These intermediate mass black holes weigh under solar masses to more than 10,000 solar masses. With this background information, let us see about the Unicorn black hole mentioned in the news. See, the Unicorn black hole is said to be the smallest known black hole so far in the Milky Way galaxy. It resides in the constellation Monoceros of the Milky Way galaxy. It is suspected to be a stellar black hole and it is a black hole closest to our solar system. It lies a mere thousand five hundred light years away from us. The Unicorn black hole is roughly three times the mass of a sun, which is three solar masses. So it is super light weighted black hole. So far, very few such super light weighted black holes are known to us, because they are incredibly hard to find. Now, another interesting discovery is that Unicorn has a companion. This companion is a luminous red giant star that orbits with the black hole as you can see here. It is named V723MON. Mon. See, this star is bloated and is nearing the end of its life. It is said that our sun will also swell up as the red giant like this in about five billion years. Another important fact is that the strong gravity of Unicorn alters the shape of this star. It is due to a phenomenon known as tidal distortion. The tidal distortion makes the star elongator rather than spherical as you can see in this image. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. In this article, we discussed about the black holes, types of black holes and the newly discovered Unicorn black holes. See, this news article talks about a study which found that groundwater depletion may reduce winter cropping intensity in our country. So, in today's discussion, we will see the findings of the study and what are the causes for groundwater depletion. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen as prints can go through it. First, let us see the sources for groundwater. See the sources for groundwater include the rainwater and water from other sources such as rivers and ponds. All these water infiltrate or seep through the soil and fill the empty spaces and cracks that are present deep below the ground. This water recharges the groundwater. Another important source of groundwater is the aquifiers. See, the aquifiers are the places where the groundwater is stored naturally between the layers of hard rock. This water from the aquifiers can be pumped out through tube wells or ant pumps. The groundwater can be everlasting if it gets properly replenished. But this is not the scenario in India. In India, the groundwater is getting depleted year after year. There are various reasons behind this. As you can see, one of the most common factors affecting the water table is the agricultural activities. So, let us discuss about the agricultural factor. As we know, traditionally India is an agrarian economy. So, in India, irrigation is needed because of the unpredictability of monsoon and variability in rainfall. Also, the winter and summer season are also more or less dry in most parts of India. So, large tracts of the country are deficient in rainfall and they are drought prone. For example, northwestern India and Deccan Plateau receive deficient in rainfall and they are more prone to droughts. Hence, it is difficult to practice agriculture without assured irrigation during dry seasons. Also, India uses water intensive crops like rice, sugarcane and jute. So, this makes irrigation necessary. But irrigation systems such as canals are there only in few places. It is because canal irrigation is possible in areas that are extensive like plains and are drained by perennial rivers. For example, canals are more prevalent in northern plains and coastal plains. Even the canal system may suffer from lack of water due to aractic rainfall. Therefore, in most of the areas in India, farmers have to use groundwater for irrigation. This has led to increase or overuse of groundwater due to population pressure on agriculture. This has finally resulted in depletion of groundwater table or water table. Currently in India, agriculture accounts for most groundwater utilization. The agriculture almost uses 92% of groundwater in India. This level of groundwater utilization is relatively high in the river basins. For example, northwestern region and parts of south India. The states of Punjab, Aryana, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have used high degree of groundwater. So, based on this basic information, let us see the findings of the research study. See the research study studied three main irrigation types namely dug wells, tube wells and canals in winter cropped areas. According to the study, due to severe groundwater depletion, the cropping intensity in the winter season may decrease by 20% by the year 2025. Cropping intensity is nothing but the amount of land planted with crops. It is one of the important indices for assessing the efficiency of agricultural sector. The level of cropping intensity varies with the behavior of the monsoon and availability of irrigation water. See, according to the study, 13% of the villages farming winter crops are located in critically water depleted regions. So, in future, if access to all groundwater irrigation is lost, then these villages may lose 68% of their cropped area. Most of these critically water depleted regions are in Northwest India and Central India. The study also found that switching to canal irrigation from groundwater irrigation has limited adaptation potential at the national scale. Because even if we switch to canal irrigation in groundwater depleted areas, the cropping intensity may still decline by 7% nationally. Now, let us see the reasons for this depletion. See, according to the experts, the intensive agriculture is the main reason for groundwater depletion. For example, policies such as the Green Revolution brought intensive agriculture to India. The Green Revolution used eye-yielding variety seeds for increasing production, especially for wheat and rice. The use of HYV seeds required using fertilizers, pesticides and regular supply of water. See, the Green Revolution was a great success and it resulted in surplus production. For example, the states of Punjab, Ariana and western Nirtar Pradesh heavily benefited from the Green Revolution. But the states also used large portions of their groundwater for irrigation. So, this has resulted in groundwater depletion in these states. In simpler terms, the unsustainable groundwater use for irrigation resulted in groundwater scarcity. So, to overcome the issues of groundwater depletion and reduction in cropping intensity, there are some suggestions given by this study. Let us see about them. The first important suggestion is water-saving technologies. See, water-saving technologies could be adopted like sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation. These are categories of micro-irrigation. See, micro-irrigation is the slow application of continuous drips, tiny streams of mini-hs sprays of water above or below the soil surface. It is effective in saving water and increase water use efficiency as compared to conventional surface irrigation method. The second important suggestion given by the study is the use of less water-intensive crops. This will help in effective use of limited groundwater resources. Third important suggestion given by the study is framing policies for enhancing irrigation infrastructure. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the sources of groundwater, reasons for groundwater depression, and solution to overcome it. Now, let us move on to the next article. Look at these articles. These articles are related to International Space Station. Let us discuss about it. See, space technology is an important part of problems as well as means. If you look at the past problems question papers, a lot of questions come from space area. So, it is important to study about International Space Station. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen, as friends can go through it. See, the ISS is an international partnership of space agencies. The space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada are the reason behind the ISS formation. These space agencies provide and operate the elements of ISS. See, the ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken. The building of the ISS has been long and continuous. The ISS has been assembled section by section over several years. It was not done in a single day. The first segment of the ISS was launched on November 20, 1998. It was launched by a Russian rocket named Zarya. Zarya means Sunrise. Similarly, the first human expedition to the station was launched in a Soyuz TM-31 rocket. It was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. So far, 240 individuals from 19 countries are visited the ISS. The most visits are from the US, followed by Russia. See, the assembling of the ISS has been a complex undertaking in itself. It took over 10 years and over 30 missions to bring it to the present form of the ISS. Installation of different parts of the ISS took place in 40 different occasions from 1998 to 2020. Now, let us see some of the interesting facts about the ISS. See, the ISS is travelling through space at a speed of 28,000 km. It is about 402 km above the surface of Earth. The crew in the ISS sees 16 sunrises in 24 hours. To put it in other words, a person at a given point in Earth can see the ISS passing by every 90 minutes in the sky. The ISS has six bedding areas, two toilets and one gym. It spans over the size of an American football field and it weighs as much as 1090 cows. So it is a huge mission. When we are talking about missions, the ISS till date has seen about 64 missions. With the entry of private players to ferry humans to space, this is the first time about two private ships are docked side by side in space. SpaceX calls these capsules as dragons. These capsules are reusable. That is, with re-entry into the atmosphere, they do not burn out completely. Another interesting fact about ISS is, the crew size as of today has swollen to 11 astronauts or 11 people. Previously, it was 6. Now, the capacity has increased. The ISS number of humans in space is 13. It took place in 2009. So far, we saw some of the important facts about ISS. Now, let us see why ISS is important. What does ISS do? See, ISS conducts a lot of experiments. For example, a lot of physics experiments are conducted in ISS. The ISS also studies the behavior of muscle fibers in space. See, such a study can help re-app the return days of space on Earth. It also conducts various physics experiments like growth of crystal particles, analysis of free-floating soccer balls, analysis of Janus particles, studying gecko in space and other areas. See, the geckos are small, lizard-like creatures. The geckos stick to all based on some biological mechanism. Studying these mechanisms in space, and by understanding whether if astronauts can stick to ISS and disengage in a similar manner, is the objective of ISS. But recently, there are some ethical questions raised when it comes to ISS. For example, billions of dollars are spent on these machines. But right now, Earth itself is facing a lot of challenges from diseases to climate change to anger to poverty. So, people have started questioning the billions of dollars spent on these space experiments instead of the current issues presently on Earth. Another important reason why ISS wasn't used is because Russia is pulling out of ISS. See, before the ISS, there was this space station called Mir. It was launched by USSR. The space station Mir has now become a legend of its own. It is now reflecting Russia's past space glories and a future as a leader in space. The Russian space station Mir endured 15 years in orbit. It has outlasted the Soviet Union that launched Mir into space. The Mir has hosted a lot of crew members and international visitors. It raised a first crop of wheat to be grown from seed to seed in outer space. Mir sold as a symbol of Russia's past space glories and a potential future as a leader On those lines, Russia's contribution in the ISS is also remarkable. See, until recently, Russia had the monopoly of transporting or ferrying humans to ISS. But under the Trump administration, in order to cut down the cost of ferrying, the administration outsourced the ferrying to the private players. This is how SpaceX came into this picture. The reusable Dragon capsule was a new concept that was utilized by the SpaceX to deliver astronauts to ISS. This was introduced to cut costs for the US, but this has affected Russia because it has reduced the revenue of their space agency. So, Russia has declared that it will go solo on a space station by 2030 and it will start pulling out of ISS by 2025. This exit of Russia is seen as an end of an era of rare west Russian cooperation and perhaps the beginning of revival of Russian glory in the realm of space. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. In this article, we discussed about International Space Station, the important facts about International Space Station, the purpose of International Space Station and recent Russia's exit from ISS. Now, let us move on to the next article. Now, let us see about this FAQ article. This FAQ article talks about the reforms that are proposed in the National Pension Scheme. So, in this context, let us see about NPS, the proposed reforms, and also some relevant points from this article. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen as prints can go through it. So, what is NPS? See, NPS is a government sponsored pension scheme. It was launched in January 2004 for government employees. But later in 2009, the scheme was made open to all sections. So, now currently the scheme includes public, private, as well as unorganized sector. So, any Indian citizen between 18 to 65 years can now join NPS, provided the person complies with the KYC norms. Know your customer norms. NPS scheme is regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, PFRDA, which comes under the Ministry of Finance. Currently, NPS has got 5.78 lakh crore of savings and 4.24 crore accounts under multiple savings schemes. See, among the 4.24 crore accounts, almost 3 crore accounts are under the part of Attle Pension Eugenia. Attle Pension Eugenia is a government-backed scheme for unorganized sector. The other accounts include voluntary savings from private sector employees as well as self-employed individuals. Now, let us see about the reforms proposed to this NPS scheme. See the NPS scheme allows subscribers to contribute regularly in a pension account during their working life. And on retirement, the subscribers can withdraw part of their total amount invested and use the remaining amount to buy an annuity. See, annuity is a kind of insurance product that pays a fixed income and can be used as a part of retirement planning. But now, the PFRDA is planning for two major reforms in this annuity plan. The first reform is with reference to the annuity purchase stipulations. See, currently, the NPS members can withdraw only 60% of their accumulated savings at the time of retirement. And with the remaining 40% of their amount, it is mandatory for them to buy an annuity product which guarantees a fixed monthly income till their demise. Now, the PFRDA is planning to drop this 40% annuity purchase stipulation. The main reason for such a move is the fall in interest rate and the poor returns offered by the annuity products. Since the annuities are taxable and on detecting the tax and factoring in the inflation, the annuities yield are negative in number. So, due to such reasons, the PFRDA has proposed to give its members a choice to retain 40% of their corpus with the NPS fund managers even after retirement. This allows them to get better returns. And to those members over 15 years, the savings will be paid in form of a systematic withdrawal plans offered by the mutual funds. However, these reforms need to be passed in the parliament to come into effect. The next reform is with respect to the exemption from the mandatory annuitization. See, at present, the members who are accumulating up to 2 lakh rupees in their NPS account during the time of retirement are exempted from the mandatory annuitization because their annuity component will not yield a considerable income. But the newly proposed norm revises this exemption from 2 lakh rupees to 5 lakh rupees. So, this means that those members who accumulate up to 5 lakh rupees in their NPS account at the time of retirement can withdraw the full amount. Apart from these major reforms, age restrictions to join the NPS are also being eased from 65 years to 70 years. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. In this article, we learnt about the NPS scheme and the major changes that were proposed to it. Now, let us move on to the next part of the discussion. Now, let us move on to practice-prilim's questions. The first question. Moxie, that is frequently seen in news, refers to which of the following? Option A, it is a highly automated ventilator used to combat the pandemic. Option B, a robot that can extract oxygen from the atmosphere of mass. Option C, a satellite that is planned as a launch alongside Aditya. Option D, none of the above. See, as we discussed in the article, the answer is Option B. Moxie is a robot that can extract oxygen from the atmosphere of mass. See, Moxie is a small six-field robot. It is a part of the Perseverance Rover. That is a part of NASA's Mars mission 2020. The Moxie is capable of extracting oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. Now, let us move on to the second question. With reference to black holes, consider the following statements. First statement. It is an astronomical object having strong gravity. Second statement. All black holes were formed when the universe began. Third statement. Sagittarius A is a supermassive black hole at the center of Milky Way Galaxy. Which of the statements given above are correct? Option A, one only. Option B, two and three only. Option C, one and three only. Option D, one, two and three. See, the statement one is correct. Black hole is an astronomical object that has strong gravity. See, black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls it so much that even light cannot get out. We discussed this concept in the article. Now, let us move on to the second statement. All black holes were formed when the universe began. This statement is correct. See, not all black holes were formed when the universe began. The smallest black holes are believed to be formed when the universe began. But stellar black holes are formed when a star collapses. So, this statement is incorrect. Third statement. Sagittarius A is a supermassive black hole at the center of Milky Way Galaxy. As discussed in the article, we know this statement is correct. So, the correct answer is option C, one and three only. Main practice questions displayed here. You can write your answer and post in the comment section below. With this, we have come to the end of the Hindu news analysis. If you like this video, don't forget to click, like, share and comment. Subscribe to Shankar Aiyaz Academy channel for more UPSC updates. Thank you.