 Hello aspirants, welcome to the Hindi news analysis brought to you by Shankar eyes academy. In today's analysis we are going to discuss the important news articles that appeared on 18th and 19th of Hindi newspaper. So today I have chosen these news articles. If you see these first three news articles are regarding the global hunger index. So we will discuss about this index and we will discuss the editorial that is based on this index that is the opiate article and then in the second topic we are going to discuss about the unmanned aerial vehicles that are used in the army. So we are going to discuss about the Heron UAV and one of its variants and in this next editorial article we are going to discuss about Turkey and its foreign policy. Then in this next discussion we are going to discuss about one of the bilateral military exercises, it is the youth abhiyas and then in these two articles we are going to discuss about some of the important rivers in Kerala and then we will also discuss about one of the important reports on western guards, the report is Madhav Gadgil committee report on western guards and then in this last news article we are going to discuss about some of the provisions of tribunals reforms act of 2021 and then as usual we have our problems practice question. In this session we are going to discuss few previous year questions and then I do have one quiz question for you. So pay attention to the analysis and I also have two main questions for practice. So with this introduction let us move on to today's Hindi news analysis. This discussion is based on these three news articles, one of them appeared in yesterday's newspaper. Now these articles talk about the recently released global hunger index 2021 and it talks about India's performance in this index. So according to the score of India, India has performed poorly compared to some of our neighbors but as usual the Indian government is criticizing this index saying that the approach used in this index is devoid of ground truth and facts. And this open article and these two news articles have discussed these issues in the index. So in this regard, let us see first about the global hunger index, how it is calculated. Then we will see what is the issue with this and we will see the position of India. We will also see comparison with other countries also. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First what is this global hunger index? See it is a peer reviewed annual report. It comprehensively measures and tracks hunger at three levels at the global level, the regional level and also at the country levels. Now the aim of this index is to trigger action to reduce hunger around the world. So for this, it places countries at different ranks, we will see about this later. So it is an annual report, remember this. Now this report is jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welch Hunger Health. See here this Concern Worldwide is an international humanitarian organization that is dedicated exclusively to tackle poverty and suffering in the poorest countries of the world. And then this next organization, Welch Hunger Health is one of the largest private aid organizations in Germany that was established in the year 1962. And note that this global hunger index was produced for the first time in 2006 and the latest edition is this 2021 edition. This is the 16th edition of global hunger index. And as we saw it ranks countries based on the scores obtained in the global hunger index and this ranking provides a countries hunger and nutrition situation. So that means if our country is at a bad place that means we have to take more action to reduce hunger in our country. So now let us see how it is calculated. See this index has scores, we can call it as GHI scores that is global hunger index scores and these scores are based on three dimensions of hunger and these three dimensions cover four indicators as you can see in this representation. So the first dimension is inadequate food supply. Now this dimension covers the indicator of undernourishment. Now this dimension is calculated by measuring the share of population that is undernourished which means the population that is having insufficient caloric intake. So remember undernourishment is with respect to calories and that is what is said that undernourishment refers to food deprivation that is the habitual consumption of too few calories to provide the minimum dietary energy that an individual normally requires to live a healthy and productive life. So when there is too few calories intake then it is called as undernourishment according to this index. Now the second dimension is child undernourishment. Now this dimension has two indicators one is child wasting and second is child stunting and this is calculated for children under the age of five. So let us see first what is child wasting. See it measures the share of children who are wasted. Here the term wasted means having a low weight for height and this child wasting reflects acute undernourishment in children. Remember this fact this is very important and the second indicator under child undernourishment is the child stunting. Now this one measures the share of children who are stunted and here stunted means having a low height for age and this child stunting indicates chronic undernourishment. So we can say that the second dimension deals with undernourishment and remember this undernourishment goes beyond calories. It usually refers to the deficiencies in energy, protein, essential vitamins and minerals and this undernourishment is the result of inadequate intake of food in terms of either quantity or quality and this undernourishment could also be caused by poor utilization of nutrients that could have happened due to infections or other illnesses. So it results due to inadequate intake of food in terms of quantity or quality. On the other hand it could also be due to poor utilization of nutrients that could have happened due to infections or other illnesses. Now these two conditions are the resultant of underlying factors such as household, food insecurity, it could have resulted due to inadequate maternal health or child care practices or it could have been also caused due to inadequate access to health services, safe water and sanitation etc. So these factors cause these two conditions which result in undernourishment. So this is our second dimension which is child undernourishment. Now the third dimension is child mortality. Now this one measures the mortality rate of children under the age of five. Now this dimension reflects the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments. So this one not only talks about inadequate nutrition but also takes into account the unhealthy environments. Now another fact that you should remember from the perspective is that each of these dimensions has one-third weightage but we just saw child under nutrition has two indicators and these two indicators have one-sixth weightage. So the indicators do not have equal weightage. Undernourishment and under five mortality rates have one-third weightage whereas wasting and stunting have one-sixth weightage. So now the countries are given scores in each of these indicators on a hundred point scale. Now if a country scores zero then it is the best score. It means that there is no hunger in that country. On the other hand if a country scores hundred then it is the worst score. And remember based on this score countries are also classified into five categories of severity of hunger. These five categories are low, moderate, serious, alarming and extremely alarming. If it is less than 9.9 then the country will be in the low severity of hunger. Then between 10 to 19.9 the country will be in moderate category, 20 to 34.9 it will be in serious category and more than 50 it will be in extremely alarming category. And according to 2021 global hunger index only one country is in the extremely alarming category. And that one country which is in the extremely alarming category is the country of Somalia. So that means according to global hunger index 2021 Somalia is the only country in the world that suffers from an extremely alarming level of hunger. And five countries are in the alarming category. These countries are Central African Republic then Chad then Democratic Republic of the Congo then Madagascar and then Yemen. So what about India? Where India stands? See if we take India's performance so far that is for the past five years from 2016 to 2020 here you can see the ranking of India. And India's ranking has been between 100 and 103 since 2017 and only in the last year India was in the 94th position out of the 107 countries. And for 2021 you should remember that there was enough data to estimate GHI scores for 116 nations out of 135 nations examined. So only 116 nations were ranked and among these nations India was ranked 101st out of 116 countries. India scored 27.5 and this score places India in the serious level in severity of hunger. So based on this score India is among the 31 countries where hunger has been identified as serious and to rub salt in the wound if you compare India's score with our neighboring countries you can see here that India's GHI score is far lower than that of some of our neighbors. For example here you can take Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, China they have performed well better than India and they have scored and also ranked better than India. And as you can see this decline in the ranks is notable particularly in the light of COVID-19. So overall the conclusion was that India has poorly performed in global hunger index 2021. But is this poor performance due to India's sorry state of hunger situation? The answer according to the Indian government is no. They claim that this ranking of India is due to the statistical anomaly that exists in global hunger index. And even at some level author of the op-ed article also agrees with this view. So now let us see some of the important issues present in this index as pointed out by the author. The first and foremost conceptually it has to be noted that the global hunger index is largely children oriented but it has higher emphasis on under nutrition rather than on hunger and it hidden forms such as micronutrient deficiencies. So this is one of the issue pointed out by the author. And secondly we can also note another issue with this index which is that we saw the scores of India from 2016 to 2020 and you would have noticed that the ranking of India changed but along with that the number of countries that were considered for ranking was also changed. You can see that sometimes it was 118 and sometimes it was 107 and that is why it is not a well informed debate to talk about ranking of India in global hunger index rather we should talk about the score of India. And thirdly author has particularly noted one anomaly in global hunger index which is the first component of this index. This first component was the calorie insufficiency or the undernourishment component. According to the author this component is problematic for many reasons and mainly because many factors contribute to lower calorie consumption other than the standard ones. Like for example reduced physical activity, better social infrastructure like road transportation, health care all these lead to lower calorie consumption according to the author. So author feels that this does not necessarily imply deficiency in calorie intake. Now we are talking about calorie intake we should remember that India is a vast and diverse country so using a uniform calorie norm to arrive at deficiency prevalence is not a good idea because such a criteria fails to recognize the huge regional imbalances that may lead to differentiated calorie requirements at the state level. We can understand this with an example we can take the example of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. First if you take Kerala we know that it is a state that has highest literacy level and it also has the best nutrition status. But if you take the calorie intake of Kerala it is not the highest among all the states in the country but still it has best nutrition status why this is due to more equitable distribution of food between income groups and within families. And another reason for this is the better access to and better utilization of health care. And same is with the case of Tamil Nadu also so that means if any criteria uses uniform calorie norm for all the states in India then a large proportion of the population in Kerala and Tamil Nadu may be classified as calorie deficient only even though their nutritional outcome is much better than other states. And this will result in the incidence of the calorie deficits in these states to be exaggerated or the prevalence of calorie deficiency in these states may be even overestimated. On the other hand if you take other states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh they have higher average calorie intakes. But if you see their calorie needs may be even higher than the calorie requirements that is set for India as a whole. This situation exists due to a high frequency of infectious diseases and a low level of mechanizations in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh etc. So that means based on the underlying uniform calorie norm as used by Global Hunger Index the prevalence of calorie deficiency in these states could be underestimated. And even previously many studies and researchers have revealed that there is always a state level mismatch between food intake and nutritional status and this mismatch could be attributed to differences in education, health, availability of safe drinking water and environmental sanitation because all these intervene between food and nutritional status. And this is one of the reasons why the nutrient intake that is lower in Kerala and Tamil Nadu did not result in any under nutrition. In this regard you should also consider this another news article that appeared in today's newspaper. This news article mentions a crucial data released by the government of India regarding undernourishment. This data is based on the Poshan tracker. According to this data out of the 7.79 crore registered children, these are the children aged between six months to six years. Among these children only 30.27 lakh are reported to be undernourished. So this comes around 3.9% only. But according to the Global Hunger Index the undernourishment status in India is around 15%. And based on this Indian government is claiming that global hunger index data is inflated. And due to this author also concludes that all of these reasons raises doubts about the appropriateness of the calorie component of this index. So these are some of the issues with this Global Hunger Index. See even though the index is wrong in these aspects, according to the author it is right in two things. First it is right regarding starting and wasting and India's position in handling these two. That is India's position in handling child or nutrition. See India has performed quite poor in tackling wasting. India's wasting prevalence is one among the highest in the world. It is around 17.3%. On the other hand if you take India's performance in stunting then it is not that bad. Why because child's stunting in India declined from the 1998-2002 level to 2016-2020 level. During 1998-2002 it was around 54.2%. And in the 2016-2020 it declined to 34.7%. But on the other hand if you take child wasting it remains around 17% throughout the two decades of the 21st century. So why is this happening? Before that you should first understand stunting and child wasting and the relation between them. See as we already saw stunting is a long term chronic symptom of under nutrition. Whereas wasting is more acute short term symptom and child wasting can occur as a result of lack of dietary intake combined with sudden exposure to an infectious environment. And even in several instances it could be also witnessed that wherever wasting was associated with little time to recover then it potentially resulted in stunting. So that means wasting should have been given more importance compared to stunting because if wasting could have been controlled then stunting would have been reduced. But what happened was stunting was given a higher importance in both study and policy compared to wasting. So according to the author to have a consistent and rapid gains in child nutrition it is essential to effectively combat the instances of wasting as well. So that means the policy attention should be guided by considering variations in wasting prevalence across our country. So the index was right about stunting and wasting. Now the second one where the index was right was that the index notes India's relatively better performance in the other global hunger index component. This other component was the child mortality component. So according to studies child malnutrition and mortality are frequently linked because malnutrition plays a key role in enabling child mortality. And just now we saw that India's at a poor level in the child malnutrition component. So that means India should have also performed bad in child mortality but it is not so because India appears to be an exception in this regard. According to the global hunger index despite having greater levels of stunting India's child mortality rate is lower than that of sub-Saharan African countries. So what this means is that even though India did not achieve higher nutritional security for all children under the age of five it was still able to save many lives which directly reduced child mortality. And this happened due to the availability and accessibility of better health facilities. So the conclusion of author of the opiate article is that low ranking does not imply that India performs poorly in all areas. So due to this we should not dismiss the global hunger index just because it portrays India in a poor light particularly because it belittles Indian government. Instead author wants us to accept the index findings as warnings that paints a clear picture of India's lacking performance in some areas. So we have to identify these areas and pay attention to them and we have to modify our policy priorities and measures to perform better in those areas. So this is the conclusion of author. So in this discussion we saw about the global hunger index we saw the three dimensions and four indicators. The four indicators are child stunting, child wasting, undernourishment, under five, mortality. And then we saw certain issues with this index. We saw that it has more emphasis on under nutrition than on the hunger. And second we saw that ranking should not be considered every time rather scores of the countries especially the score of India should be considered because the ranking will differ depending on the number of countries that are taken into account. And then thirdly we saw that the component of undernourishment that is calorie insufficiency is problematic. And we saw why we took the example of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and we took the example of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. And then we also saw where the index was right. It was right regarding India's poor performance in child malnutrition that is India's poor performance with respect to child stunting and child wasting. Then we saw the index was right regarding India's better performance in the child mortality component. So these are some of the important takeaways from this discussion on global hunger index. Now let us move to the next discussion. Now our next discussion is going to be based on this news article which appeared in yesterday's newspaper. This news article talks about the unmanned aerial vehicles that are used in army. So let us first understand what are these unmanned aerial vehicles. Then we'll see about the two UAVs mentioned in the news article which are the Heron 1 UAV and Heron TP UAV. So first understand that UAVs that is unmanned aerial vehicles are nothing but what we call as drones. Sometimes they are also called as unmanned aircraft systems that is UAS. Now these UAVs are an airborne system or they are an aircraft that can operate autonomously by an onboard computer. Now this computer has pre-programmed flight plans. On the other hand they can also be operated remotely by a human operator without a pilot onboard. And that is why here the term unmanned is used. So simply we can say that UAV is an aerial vehicle with no pilot. Now these UAVs offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy like they are of great help in agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, geospatial mapping, defense, law enforcement, et cetera. But today we are going to focus on the military potential of UAVs. We will first understand that commonly in military parlance that term unmanned aircraft systems is used rather than unmanned aerial vehicles. It is because the military UAVs are not only an aerial vehicle but it has complex system that includes ground stations, satellite connectivity and sometimes it also has onboard weapons and other components. So you should understand that initially these UAVs were primarily used only for surveillance in military but now they are used in multiple high risk roles such as they are used for reconnaissance and surveillance and for this they use optical and radar devices and then they are used for electronic intelligence gathering, for communication relay, for target designation by laser which is called as laser designation. Then they are also used for directing and correcting artillery fire. They are used for search and rescue, disaster management for security as well as operations in the chemically, biologically or radiation contaminated environment. But such a function of a UAV is determined only by its payload. See the payload is directly related to the task for which the UAV is being built or being manufactured. For example, if one unmanned aerial vehicle is being manufactured to undertake surveillance then it would be carrying specialized cameras with necessary software payload. Likewise, if that UAV is to be used for an offensive attack then it will include guidance system with suitable armed missiles as its payload. So its capability depends on its payload and because of this the UAVs can conduct precision strikes even on far away targets without collateral damage. So in this manner these act as great force multipliers. So this is the basic that you need to know about unmanned aerial vehicles or unmanned aircraft systems. Now the news article mentions about the Heron-1 UAV. This is also called as the Mashat-1. See this Heron is a medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial system. It is fully redundant and fully automated. And this Heron-1 is used for strategic and tactical missions. Note that this Heron UAV is manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries and this UAV is capable of operations of up to 45 hours duration. It can also take up missions ranging over 1000 kilometers from its operating base. Further it can also take up operation up to 35,000 feet. In addition to this it also has multi-mission system. It utilizes up to six diverse mission payloads that simultaneously allows complex I-STAR missions. Here I-STAR stands for intelligence surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance. So these I-STAR missions could be carried over any terrain including forests, jungles or swamps or even at sea or over urban areas. Further the Heron UAV has the capability to function in extreme weather also. It can function in cold, hot, humid, icy and in snowy climate and can also function in high altitude runways. And note that it is also capable of landing on unpaved runways. In addition to this this Heron UAV has thermal surveillance equipment and laser designator. See this laser designator is used for targeting the enemy battlefield. On the other hand the thermal surveillance equipment is used to capture high resolution images during night as this thermal surveillance helps in penetrating through clouds, rain, smoke, fog and smog. And note that due to its capability Heron UAV is in operation with Israel Air Force, Australian Air Force and Indian Army. Here you should also note that this Heron UAV has several variants like Eagle, Heron TP and Heron MK2 etc. And according to the news article Army has recently leased four Heron TP UAV. So let us see about this now. This Heron TP is a medium altitude long endurance UAV. This variant is a multi role advanced long range unmanned aerial vehicle. And this Heron TP is used for strategic missions. Now this UAV is equipped with automatic taxi takeoff and landing systems. It has satellite communication for extended range etc. Then it is also designed as a multi mission platform to perform a variety of strategic missions including the I-STAR missions. It can carry out operations up to 45,000 feet which is greater than the Heron one variant. And it also has all weather capability. Moreover, its mission endurance is about 30 hours. So due to the capability of Heron one and Heron TP these UAVs are expected to be deployed in Eastern Ladakh with Indian Army. Therefore, they will augment India's military ability to keep an eye on Chinese activities across the border. So in this discussion, we saw about the unmanned aerial vehicles for what purposes they are used. We saw about their military capability. And then we saw about Heron one UAV and Heron TP UAV and their specifications. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is going to be based on this editorial article. This article talks about the measures adopted by Turkey to emerge as a superpower in the Middle East. So on these lines, the author of this editorial throws light on the foreign policy that is followed by Turkey. And the author also lists various military and diplomatic moves adopted by Turkey in the region. And while discussing these, author also discusses about the relationship of Turkey with world superpowers like USA and Russia. So in this discussion, we are going to have a brief introduction about the geography of Turkey, its polity and its foreign policy and also its relationship with USA and Russia. And finally, we'll see what Turkey has to do to enhance its influence in the region. So the syllabus relevant to this discussion is highlighted here for your reference. This topic is quite important from GS2 perspective. So let us start our discussion with the understanding of the geography of Turkey. See, if you look at the position of Turkey, you can find that this country is occupying a unique geographic position. It is because Turkey lies partly in Asia and partly in Europe. That is, it lies in two continents. And this unique position has enabled Turkey for a long time to act as both a barrier as well as a bridge between the two continents. So what are the countries that border Turkey? It is bordered by Georgia and Armenia in its northeast. And then Azerbaijan and Iran borders Turkey in the east. And then Iraq and Syria are bordering Turkey in the southeast. And then in the northwest, as you can see, it borders Greece and Bulgaria. But here you should clearly note that it is not a landlocked country as it is surrounded by seas on two sides. On its north, we have the Black Sea. And then on its southwest and west, we have the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea. So these are the countries and seas that borders Turkey. And so remember that it's capital is Ankara, but its largest city and seaport is Istanbul. So now what about the political system in Turkey? See, it is a democratic parliamentary public system. And Turkey's polity is based on social justice and rule of law. And it also has a secular constitution and it allows multiple political parties. And note that president is the head of the state of Turkey. But the executive power is exercised by the prime minister and council of ministers. On the other hand, the legislative power is vested in the parliament of Turkey. And if you talk about judiciary, it is independent of the executive power and the legislature. So this is the brief idea that you should have about Turkey. So now let us see what geopolitical strategy is followed by Turkey to maintain dominance in the region. If you see, as of now, the presence of Turkey is traced across all of the former Ottoman realm. See, when we say Ottoman Empire, it included the regions of Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, some parts of Arabia, and even a considerable part of North African coastal strip. And of course, it also included Turkey. And now in most of these regions, there is presence of Turkey. And it is involved in multiple ways, like it is involved in diplomacy, economy, and even through military intervention. Let us take an example to understand this. If you take Iraq and Syria, the Turkish troops have penetrated deep into the regions of these two countries. Now the involvement of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria could be understood only if you understand about the Kurds. See, the Kurds are an ethnic minority who were left without a state after the First World War. And because of this, they ended up spreading across Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. So they became ethnic minorities in these countries. And they started facing repression frequently. As a result of this, a militant group emerged. This group is called as the Kurdistan Workers' Party. And the primary demand of this party was to seek a Kurdish state within Turkey. So we can understand that Turkey has issues with the Kurds. And in the present scenario, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, this militant group is calling for a greater autonomy in the country. But we saw that Kurds are also present in Iraq and Syria. And that is why the Turkish troops are carrying out strikes against the Kurds who are present in Iraq and Syria. Particularly if you take Iraq, Turkey uses its air force to regularly attack the Turkish Kurds who have been taken sanctuary in the Iraqi mountains. And Turkey also carries out targeted killings of local commanders using its lethal drones. And on the other hand, if you take Syria, Turkey has broken the borders of the territories of Syria that were under Kurdish control. And this was made possible through three military incursions, which took place since 2016. So these military incursions gave a positive result to Turkey because as of now, most of the Syrian-Turkish border have come under Turkish control. So this is how Turkey is playing its role in Iraq and Syria. Other than that, it is also playing roles in other countries of the Middle East. For example, if you take Libya, the Turkish officers are playing a prominent role by advising the Islamist faction in Libya. And these officers are supporting the Islamist faction from Syrian militia using professional soldiers. Here you should understand that Syria has always been a geostrategically important region for Turkey when it comes to the formulation of its original policy. And that is why Turkey is quite interested in Syria. So this is how Turkey is involved in Iraq and Syria. On the other hand, if you take the Turkish Navy, they have got significant presence in the East Mediterranean also. Here they are asserting their control over the gas reserves that are claimed by Greece and Cyprus. So we can understand that Turkey on one side and Greece and Cyprus are on the other side. These are rival countries. And firstly, they are fighting over the gas reserves. And secondly, Turkey is also playing its role with respect to France, which is affecting Greece and Cyprus. It is because if you take the Mediterranean region, Greece and Cyprus have been central to France's outreach to Africa. This was the scenario so far. But now the situation is being challenged by Turkey because Turkey is now having robust outreach to African countries. And it is also planning to obtain a naval presence on the Libyan coast and in the Red Sea. And due to this move of Turkey, the role of Greece and Cyprus in the region is diminishing. And thereby, they are also losing the contact of France. In addition to this, Turkey is also a military player in the South Caucasus. So when we say Caucasus region, it is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. And this region is occupied by Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. So in the South Caucasus region, Turkey is a major military player. So we can see that Turkey is actively involved in the region. And that is why it has created concerns among many regional payers. And it is also a cause of concern for contemporary superpowers also. For example, Russia and the United States have concerns over Turkey. And as we know, Turkey is also not in good relations with both United States and Russia. Let us take one example as to why it is not in good relation with the United States and Russia. First, if we take US-Turkey relations, it is quite disturbed due to the NATO, that is North Atlantic Treaty Organization. See what happened was Turkey violated its NATO member status by purchasing the Russian S-400 missile defense system in the year 2017. So as a consequence of this, Turkey was expelled by the United States from the development of America's jet fighter project. And in addition to this, US also imposed some sanctions on Turkey. Plus, United States is also backing the Syrian Kurds. And we saw that Turkey is against the Kurds. So that is why these reasons are posing an alarming sign in the US-Turkey relations. Now next, if we take Russia, actually the relationship between the leaders of these two nations, that is Russia and Turkey, is flourishing. But despite this good relation, there have been certain regular downturns also. For example, when it comes to the issues surrounding Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and also Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, Turkey and Russia are on opposite sides. And even though they are on opposite sides, both nations are somehow managing to ensure that these differences do not reach a breaking point. But we cannot say that it will never break. And that is why Turkey's ties with the superpowers like US and Russia still remains uncertain. Now apart from these major powers, Turkey also has attempted to reach out to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This is to improve relations with these countries. And in case of Libya also, according to the author, Turkey has signaled a new approach that is structured in a way to accommodate its historical rivals like Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Russia. So by doing this, Turkey is playing its role as a regional player like the Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. So based on these initiatives and these diplomatic relations that Turkey has with other countries, author has concluded that through its foreign policies, Turkey is actually trying to assert its strategic autonomy and independence of action in the region. It is trying to do what it did during the reign of Ottoman Empire. But unfortunately here, Turkey is forgetting an important fact that it is no more in the era of sultans. So according to the author, if Turkey really wants to increase its regional influence and want to be a major regional player, then it should first resolve the domestic divisions and it should overturn its economic fragility. See as of now, economically, Turkey is in a fragile state as it is facing unemployment, inflation, currency collapse, capital flight, et cetera. So author is asking Turkey to focus on its domestic issues first. So by this, what author means is maintaining domestic political and economic stature will only help Turkey to exert regional influence more than its historical legacy. So in this discussion, we saw briefly about Turkey, its geography, its policy and its foreign policy and how it is involved in different countries, what relationship it has with US and Russia, et cetera. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Now this news article mentions that Youth Abiyas 2021 is going on. See this Youth Abiyas 2021 is a military exercise and this is the 17th edition of India-US bilateral exercise. It is being conducted from 15th to 29th October, 2021. So let us see some facts about this exercise. So it is the largest running joint military training and defense cooperation endeavor between India and USA. This exercise is hosted alternatively between both the countries. The previous version of this exercise happened in February, 2021 and it was held in Bikaner, Rajasthan and now this version is conducted in Alaska of USA. Now this exercise aims at enhancing understanding and cooperation and also interoperability between the Indian Army and the US Army. And this particular exercise will focus on combined arms maneuvers in cold climatic conditions. So the primary aim of this exercise is sharing tactical-level drills and learning best practices from each other. Along with this, the exercise will also enhance the skill of both armies in counter-terror operations happening in mountainous terrain and cold climatic conditions. And this exercise is another step in the growing military cooperation between India and USA. Another important fact that is mentioned by the news article is that this is the only India-US service exercise which is continuing in the bilateral format. All other exercises have been either transformed into a trilateral exercise or a quadrilateral exercise. For example, if you take the Malabar exercise, it is a naval exercise as you know. Initially, it began as an India-US naval exercise. And later, in 2015, Malabar exercise became a trilateral exercise when Japan joined this exercise. And then in the year 2020, that is last year, Australia joined the Malabar exercise. So now it has become a quadrilateral exercise. So similarly, it is expected that this youth habeas will also transform into a trilateral exercise in the future. So these are some of the points that you should remember regarding youth habeas 2021 and Malabar exercise. Now let us move to the next discussion. Now our next discussion is going to be based on this editorial and this news article because these two articles are interrelated. As you know, the southwest monsoon is in the path of retreating this month. And in its way, it is leaving several marks of destruction in several districts of many states. So many states have been affected due to flooding. And one among them is the state of Kerala. And if you take this editorial article or the talks about the current situation of Kerala and what needs to be done as per one of the famous reports regarding the western guards. And this news article reports about the formation of an export committee by the Kerala government. This export committee is said to regulate the release of water from dams across swollen rivers. So the news article is certain rivers. So in this discussion, we are going to discuss about that important recommendations by the report on western guards. And we'll also see about these rivers briefly. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First, let us start with the rivers mentioned in the news article. These rivers are Pampaa River, Manimala River, Achengoil River and Periyar River. Now the first one, Pampaa River, it is the third longest river of Kerala. The longest one is the Periyar River and the second one is the Bharathapura River. Now this Pampaa River originates at the Pulachi Malai Hill in the Pirumidu Plateau of western guards. And the famous Sabrimala Temple is located on this river bank only. And note that this river is also known as Dakshinna Bhagirathi. Now next comes the Manimala River. This river originates at the Muthuvarah Hills in the Idike district of Kerala and this river finally joins the Pampaa River in the Arapura district of Kerala. And note that this river is an important waterway of central Travancore and there are also several pilgrim centers on the banks of this river. Now next comes the Achengoil River. This is a small river which is formed from the streams that are towards the southern tip of the peninsula. And this river also joins the Pampaa River in the Arapura district. And note that the drainage basin of this river is a forest area and it is called as Achengoil. Now the next river is the Periyar River and as you already saw this is the longest river of Kerala and that is why it is also the lifeline of Kerala. It originates in Sivagiri Hills of Kerala and it flows westwards and drains into the Arabian Sea. Now this river is also one of the few perennial rivers in the region that provides drinking water for several major towns of Kerala. So these are few facts that you need to know about. Some important rivers in Kerala. So keeping this in mind, let us discuss the editorial article. You know that when it comes to India, Monson plays a very major role because it serves as an invaluable resource that sustains the lives of many thousand people. But there is also a cause of concern regarding Monson and this concern is the variation in the Monson pattern and its intensity. Now this is a concern because this difference makes it difficult to frame a comprehensive adaptation plan and this uncertain character makes the Monson a persistent threat for millions of people and therefore it also places extra pressure on the governments to reduce the risk that it poses to life and property and due to that now Kerala is also in one such turmoil. So in this editorial author has prescribed some important measures to be taken by the government during such adverse situations. And whenever we talk about managing any ecological devastation in Kerala, one important report is often mentioned and this report is the Madhav Ghatgil committee report on the Western Guards. This report was submitted by a panel that was constituted in 2010. So this panel is called as the Western Guards Ecology Expert Panel, WGEEP. Now this panel was constituted because several factors led to the disturbance of the delicate ecosystem of Western Guards. Therefore there was a need to conserve the Western Guards and also there was a need to sustainably use its natural resources. So with this objective this panel was constituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forest and this panel consisted of 14 members and this panel was chaired by Professor Madhav Ghatgil and that is why this panel is often called as the Madhav Ghatgil Commission and this report is often called as the Madhav Ghatgil Committee Report on Western Guards and the report was submitted in the year 2011. Now several recommendations have been given by this panel's report for the conservation protection and also for the rejuvenation of Western Guards. Now this particular panel report's recommendation is important in our today's discussion because it has given certain recommendations that will help to reduce the land slips that happened during monsoon. And as we know these landslips, soil erosion are major reason for the loss of life and property and since my examination is in few months let us discuss some important recommendations of this panel. Now the first recommendation suggested by this panel was shifting from large scale cultivation of single commercial crops on the steep slopes. It is because these single commercial crop cultivation contributes to a lot of soil erosion and soil runoff. So the panel suggested to shift from monoculture to mixed cropping systems. You should know that in Western Guards large extent of monoculture plantations are practiced. So these monoculture plantations of tea, coffee, cardamom is suggested to be integrated with more indigenous crops, especially food crop and edible fruiting trees. And those crops to be selected which will suit the locality, which will help to reduce soil erosion and which will also improve water holding capacity of the soil and enhance productivity and in turn will provide good economic returns. So one of the main recommendations was shifting from large scale cultivation of single commercial crops or we can say shifting from monoculture to mixed cropping system. Now secondly they also recommended to control the increasing encroachment and deforestation in the catchment areas of major rivers. Now the next recommendation is quite important. The panel suggested to designate the entire Western Guards as an ecologically sensitive area, ESA. In addition to this, it also suggested for assigning three levels of sensitivity to the region based on certain criteria, like based on the criteria of climatic features, hazard vulnerability, et cetera. And these three levels of sensitive zones to be called as ecologically sensitive zone. So what are ecologically sensitive area and ecologically sensitive zones? So ecologically sensitive areas are those areas that are ecologically and economically very important. But they are vulnerable to even mild disturbances. Therefore, there's a need to conserve them. And these ecologically sensitive areas refer to extensive tracks. But if you see ecologically sensitive zones, these are specific zones within this extended ecologically sensitive area. So ESZ is a part of ESA. And the panel suggested the entire Western Guards to be designated as ecologically sensitive area. Now, when we are talking about ecologically sensitive area, you should remember that there are criteria based on several factors for a region to be selected as ESA. And these factors are species-based factors, ecosystem-based factors, geomorphological feature-based factors, et cetera, et cetera. So for example, if you take species-based criteria, it includes endemism. And what is endemism? It refers to any species which is exclusively confined to a particular geographical area and which occurs nowhere else in the world. And we know that Western Guards harbors over 1,500 endemic species of flowering plants and it also has at least another 500 species of endemic fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. And this was one of the reasons why the panel suggested to designate entire Western Guards as ecologically sensitive area. So now, what about the ecologically sensitive zones? Now, in addition to the criteria, certain attributes are to be considered for an area to be designated as ecologically sensitive zones. And based on that, the panel suggested three levels of sensitivity, that is three ecologically sensitive zone category. The first category was ecologically sensitive zone one. These are the regions of highest sensitivity. The second one was ecologically sensitive zone two. These are the regions of high sensitivity. And the third one is the ecologically sensitive zone three. These are the regions of moderate sensitivity. And different recommendations were given sector-wise and the panel gave different recommendations for the activities that can be carried out in these different zones. For example, across the Western Guards, the panel suggested that genetically modified crops should not be allowed. And if you take land use, then he suggested that no new health stations should be allowed in any of these three zones. Then special economic zones should not be permitted in these zones. And also public lands should not be converted to private lands in these zones. And likewise, if you take ecologically sensitive zone one, here change in land use is not to be permitted from forest to non-forest uses or from agricultural to non-agricultural uses. The same was also applicable to ecologically sensitive zone two. But on the other hand, for zone three, changes from agricultural to non-agricultural land was permitted. And if you take waste treatment, no hazardous or toxic waste processing units were to be permitted in ESZ1 and ESZ2. On the other hand, recycling and waste processing units which are compliant with pollution control board regulations can be permitted in zone three. And then it was also recommended that environmental clearance should not be given to any large-scale storage dams in ESZ1 and ESZ2. And with regard to the mining sector, the panel recommended for extending control over mineral extraction and mining. Particularly, it recommended that the mines that have been extracting the ore beyond the limits should be closed. Then it also suggested that mining leases in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks to be canceled permanently. And then it also suggested to terminate the mining leases in the catchment area of dams which are used for drinking water purposes. Then it's suggested for auditing sand mining and also encouraging alternatives to river sand for construction purposes. So like this, it gave many recommendations for the whole western guards and also depending on the zone level. But the problem was these recommendations were not implemented. And the author of this editorial suggests that implementing the recommendations of Mother Great Kill Committee report will protect and conserve the western guards in such a way that it will also reduce land slips and soil erosion. And in addition to these recommendations, author also stresses on the need to prevent the extensive extractive economic activity on the mountain forest. That is, it is important to nurture the health of rivers and to keep them free from encroachments. So on a whole, there should be a general development policy and such a policy should treat nature as an asset. If these recommendations are followed, then the devastating and uncertain destructions caused by climate change and extreme weather could be mitigated. So these are some of the few points that you need to know from this discussion regarding flood control in Kerala. We saw about the four important rivers that were mentioned in the news article. We saw about Pampaa River, Manimala River, Achenguil River and Periyar River. And finally, we also saw some of the suggestions of the author. Now let us move to the next discussion. Now our next discussion is based on this news article. It reports about a statement made by the center regarding judiciary. Center has said that judiciary should not act as a super legislature. Now this comment has been made regarding the Tribunal Reforms Act and certain contentious provisions in the act. So from exam perspective, we are only going to focus on this act, its important provisions, and also the contentious ones. See, this Tribunal Reforms Act basically proposes changes to the constitutional process of a tribunal. First note that this act dissolves eight tribunals. And secondly, it confers the jurisdiction of these dissolved tribunals on high courts and civil courts. Now the main intention or the objective behind doing this is to tackle the problem of staff insufficiency and inadequate infrastructure in the tribunals. See, this problem of staff insufficiency and inadequate infrastructure contributes to the delay in dispute resolution. And this, in a way, puts financial burden on the exchequer. So to tackle this issue, eight tribunals have been dissolved by this Tribunal Reforms Act. And next, the act has also brought changes to the procedure of constitution of tribunals. See, for this purpose, mainly it has conferred the power of appointment and removal of members of tribunals upon the search-come-selection committee. This committee is headed by the Chief Justice of India or headed by a nominee who is a Supreme Court justice. In addition to this, the act also mandates for mandatory recommendation of two names to the center while recommending members. And based on the suggestion of two names, the center will take the decision within three months. In addition to this, the act has also fixed the tenure of the chairperson and members in the tribunal up to four years. Further, the act has barred the appointment of those persons to the tribunal whose age is below 50 years of age. So these provisions, which are related to the terms of services of chairperson, vice chairperson, and other members of the tribunals, are some of the most controversial provisions in this act. It is said that these provisions particularly go against the principles of separation of power, independence of judiciary. It is against rule of law. And it is also against Article 14 of the Constitution. This is said because already Supreme Court has held that security of tenure and conditions of services of the members are core components of independence of judiciary. So it is believed that independence of judiciary is sustained only when the incumbents are issued of fair and reasonable conditions of service, which includes adequate remuneration along with security of tenure. But this act has taken away the security of tenure part. So these are some of the important provisions of Tribunal Reforms Act of 2021. I'll just move to the next discussion. So with this discussion, now we are moving to the next session, the practice questions discussion session. The first in this session, let us take a previous question. This question was asked in Palimps 2018. The question asks, very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people either suffered from severe famine or acute malnutrition or died due to starvation caused by war or ethnic conflicts? Now you may think this was 2018 question. So how this question is relevant now? See this question I have taken today just to make you understand on how questions are framed in problems. Here the correct answer to this question was Yemen and South Sudan Option D. And this question talks about hunger and starvation in these countries. And this was in news in 2017 to 18, especially the 2017 Global Hunger Index reiterated certain statements made by the United Nations. As you can see here, it mentioned that in early 2017, the United Nations declared that more than 20 million people were at risk of famine in four countries, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen. So using such kinds of important facts from any report, question can be framed. And you will see, expect us to remember at least such kinds of important facts. So keeping this in mind, let us take one practice question based on the Global Hunger Index 2021. So this question has been framed on 2021 index, okay? Now the first statement is Global Hunger Index is a biannual report jointly published by International Food Policy Research Institute and Concern Worldwide. Statement two, all the indicators of GHI have equal weightage. Statement three, Somalia is the only country that suffers from an extremely alarming level of hunger. Now actually, this question is quite a tough question if you ask me, because if you take the first statement, in the first half it mentions that the reports are biannual reports. So you are expected to know whether this biannual report or not, which is quite difficult to remember. And you also should know about the institutes or NGOs that jointly publishes such kinds of index or report, which is also quite difficult to remember. So even though you may know about the organizations that publish a report or index, you may be confused in this biannual aspect. And same with statement two also, you may not remember the weightage of indicators. But this question will be quite easy question if you know about statement three, it mentions. Somalia is the only country that suffers from an extremely alarming level of hunger. During today's discussion itself, we saw that there is only one country in 2021 index that has been categorized as extremely alarming and that country is Somalia. So this is an important fact from this index. So UPSC expects you to know such kinds of fact. And if you know this statement is correct, then you can easily arrive at the correct answer, which is option B, three only. So without knowing about statements one and two, you can arrive at the correct answer. There is also another way of arriving at the correct answer. So statement one is incorrect. First, because it is not a biannual report, rather it is an annual report and it's released in October each year. Whether you know this or not, you should definitely know that IFPRI is not part of Global Hunger Index as of now. So previously, three organizations together published this index, those where the International Food Policy Research Institute and then concern worldwide and the third one is Welch Hunger Health. But now only concern worldwide and Welch Hunger Health publish this Global Hunger Index IFPRI is not a part of this index. So if you know this fact, then you can eliminate options A and C and you will be left with two options. And concerning the second statement, it is also incorrect because we saw that there are three dimensions and one of the dimensions have two indicators and those two indicators have one by six weightage and the remaining two indicators have one by three weightage. So the correct answer is option B, three only. Now let us take another previous equation that was asked in 2016. As I already said, at that time, IFPRI was part of Global Hunger Index report. So this question asks, which of the following is or are the indicator or indicators used by IFPRI to compute Global Hunger Index report? Undernourishment, child-stunting, child mortality. So this is a quite easy question. So if you know the indicators, you can say that one, two, three are correct. But while marking the correct answer, you may make a mistake because normally UPSC puts all the three statements at the end, that is as option D. But in this question, if you see, one, two, and three are present in option C, not in D. So be careful before choosing the correct answer and before marking the final answer. So the correct answer to this question is option C, one, two, and three. Now this is another previous equation that was asked in problems 2014. This question is with reference to eco-sensitive zones. First statement, eco-sensitive zones are the areas that are declared under YLF Protection Act of 1972. This statement is incorrect. These zones are declared under Environment Protection Act of 1986. Now the second statement, the purpose of the declaration of eco-sensitive zones is to prohibit all kinds of human activities in those zones except agriculture. And during discussion today, we saw that not all kinds of activities are prohibited in such zones. Rather, activities prohibited are generally specific to each zone and they are notified separately. So that means both the statements in this question are incorrect and the question asks for the correct statements. So the correct answer to this question is option D neither one nor two. Now this is another problem's question that was asked in the year 2016. The question is Gadgil Committee Report and Kasthuri Rangan Committee Report sometimes seen in the news are related to constitutional reforms, Ganga Action Plan, linking of rivers, protection of western guards. Today we saw about the Gadgil Committee Report. So we know that correct answer is option D, protection of western guards. So if in the future in problems, if Kasthuri Rangan Committee Report is mentioned, then you should know that it is about western guards. Now this is a practice question. Question asks, which of the following seas border Turkey? Caspian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, Black Sea. And during discussion we saw that Turkey is bordered by Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Aegean Sea. So correct answer is option C, two, three and four only. And here you can note the location of Caspian Sea. It borders Iran, Azerbaijan, et cetera. So with that practice question, I'll just take up this quiz question. This question has been framed based on the Tribunal Reforms Act discussion of today. It is a two statement question. Read each statement carefully and I have the correct answer. If you are not able to arrive at the correct answer, then go to the discussion, listen to it again and then try to attend this question. Now these are the two main practice questions. You can write answers to these questions in the comment section. So viewers, with this we have come to the end of the Hindi news analysis for 18th and 19th October. If you like this video, don't forget to like, comment and share. And do subscribe to Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel for more updates related to civil services preparation. Thank you.