 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankarae's Academy. Today is day two of free mainstreaming scholarship test and question for today is announced at the end of this video. Now let's proceed to the news analysis, displayed on the list of news articles taken for today's analysis and their page numbers in different editions of the newspaper. The link for the handed in notes in the PDF format and timestamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description and also in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let's move on to the analysis of first news article. This editorial article is written by an IIS officer, a civil servant. In this editorial, he is talking about the TRP controversy that is currently going on in our country. Recently on 8th October 2020, the Mumbai police had busted a target rating points manipulation racket. Police are alleging that three television channels are involved in manipulating the TRPs. So in this context, the author has written this editorial. Here we will understand what is TRP, how it is measured. We will also see the views of the author with reference to this matter. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Now when we say TRP, it refers to the percentage of a target audience who viewed a particular event in the television and it is averaged across minutes. It is also called as rat percentage. See this metric is used by marketing and advertising agencies to evaluate the viewership of their content on television. Using this metric, they will be able to arriving at a decision like in which channel they can put a particular ad for reach and better visibility. Some reports we find television rating point, but if you go with the definition given by bark, it is the percentage of target audience who viewed a particular event in TV averaged across minutes. Now why is this number important? If you actually see from the year 2015 in the place of TRP, the term impressions are more used and these ratings they influence programs produced by channels for the viewers. Better ratings would promote a particular event or television while poor ratings will discourage a program and these indicators or metrics TRPs or beat impressions. They are the main currency for advertisers to decide in which channel they have to advertise. At present in India, these impressions are recorded by Broadcast Audience Research Council shortly called us BARC as an acronym. BARC India is a joint industry company that is founded by stakeholder bodies which represent broadcasters, advertisers and advertising and media agencies. We say this because BARC India has been promoted by Indian Broadcasting Foundation, then by Indian Society of Advertisers and then by Advertising Agencies Association of India according to the formula of 60 is to 20 is to 20. 60 corresponds to Indian Broadcasting Foundation. See this BARC was authorized by Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in July 2015 to carry out television ratings in India. Prior to BARC, this job was carried out by television audience measurement which was a joint venture. What happened in 2015 was television audience measurement lost its measurement contracts from broadcasters, advertisers and agencies. This was mainly because a particular TV channel NDTV had taken this scam or the television audience measurement to court over allegations of faulty data and this led to the setting up of Broadcast Audience Research Council or BARC. For the purpose of surveys, BARC uses barometers. These meters are installed in televisions in selected households so as to record the viewing details. They are installed at around 44,000 households across the country and for the analytical needs, BARC reports that it collects data through four processes through embedded audio watermarks, then by play out and broadcast, then through barometers and through viewership data. Here audio watermarks, these are embedded in video content prior to broadcast. These watermarks are not audible to the human ear but they can easily be deducted and decoded using dedicated hardware and software. They help BARC in arriving at a particular channel or particular program and then analyzing data how long it was being watched, who watched it, all age group etc. Now let's come to the editorial. See the Mumbai Police have said that data with respect to viewership were manipulated by some channels. This manipulation has happened at the data collection stage. Police claim that some households were bribed to keep their televisions focused on particular program or a particular channel. In this way the viewership or the ratings was skewed or manipulated in favor of those channels. Article states that in India around 80 crore individuals view television in a week and the television penetration in rural India is about 52 percent whereas in urban India it is 87 percent and 40 percent of total revenue of channels is attributable to advertising and 60 percent by distribution and subscription services. The author says that TRP system or the impressions have been rigged by the channels or manipulated by the channels. They use unscrupulous methods to achieve such ratings. One of the method is that they will give a new TV to a selected household. They will ask the particular household to run a particular program or a particular channel throughout the day whereas on their normal regular set they can watch whichever program they want to watch. The author also says that the method used by bark is flawed because barometers measure only 44,000 households in a nation where 20 crore households view television and where there are 80 crore individuals watching TV in a week. So now what does the author prescribe for making this system better? The author is saying that the barometer should be connected to the internet which is the new media of the world because people spend more time on internet than on televisions nowadays and most of the content coming in television are also now available in internet. So by doing this the measurements would be continuous and transparent instead of being discrete periodic and also tamperable. For example similar metrics are also developed within Netflix and YouTube because they know what people have watched and how long they watched it and they also do know what people may like and what they may ignore as well. So it should be connected to the internet or the new media and another prescription is to connect barometers to setup boxes for better coverage of survey. This will lead to increase in number of households participating in the survey so that there could be little manipulation or if at all there is some kind of manipulation the manipulated matter or the results would become insignificant to alter the overall outcome of the particular survey. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of the recent controversy related to TV impressions or the TRP controversy. Now let's move on to next article. This news article talks about legislative council. This context let us discuss state legislative council and its position with reference to state legislative assembly. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. See in our country we do not have a uniform organization structure at the level of state legislatures. This is because most of the states have only the state legislative assembly whereas some states have both state legislative assembly and state legislative council. Now in parliamentary parlance the state legislative council is also called as the upper house in states. It is also called as house of elders and also as a second chamber. Know that when we say state legislature as per article 168 of Indian constitution it includes the governor along with the chamber or chambers and as of now only six states have two houses. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka. When we come to the political system of a state the central position is occupied by the state legislature. In our constitution article 168 to article 212 deal with organization, composition, duration, procedures and other related aspects of the state legislature. If you take article 169 it talks about or it provides for creation or abolition of legislative councils in states. The parliament through a law can abolish a legislative council or create a legislative council. However for this purpose the legislative assembly of the concerned state has to pass a resolution and this resolution must be passed by the state legislative assembly by a special majority. Here when we say special majority we are referring to a majority of total membership of the assembly and a majority of not less than two-thirds of members of assembly present and voting and after this resolution the parliament passes the law and such a law of parliament is not to be deemed as an amendment of the constitution for the purposes of article 368 and therefore in parliament it is passed like an ordinary legislation that is with simple majority. Now let's come to the composition of legislative council which is dealt by article 171. Now we know that the members of the legislative council are indirectly elected. The maximum strength of this council is fixed at one-third of the total strength of the assembly and the minimum strength is fixed at 40. Now this is done to ensure the predominance of state legislative assembly which is the directly elected house in the state in the legislative affairs of the state. Now let's come to the manner of election to the legislative council. Now of the total number of members of a legislative council one-third is elected by the members of local bodies in the state like municipalities, district boards, etc. One-twelfth are elected by graduates of three years standing and those who are residing within the state and another one-twelfth are elected by teachers of three years standing in the state who are not lower in standard than secondary school then one-third is elected by the members of legislative assembly of the state from amongst the persons who are not members of the assembly. The remaining one-sixth is actually nominated by the governor from persons who have special knowledge or practical experience in the areas of literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service. Now let's come to the duration of state legislatures discussed in article 172. See the council is not subject to dissolution however we just saw that parliament can abolish a council if legislative assembly of the concerned state passes a resolution to that effect. One-third of its members retire on the expiration of every second year so a member continues for a term of six years and know that the retiring members are eligible for reelection and also for renomination for any number of times. Now article 197 talks about restricted powers of legislative council with reference to passing bills other than money bills. See when a bill is passed by legislative assembly and transmitted to the council, the council has four alternatives. It may pass the bill without amendments, it may pass the bill with amendments and return it to the assembly for reconsideration, it may reject the bill altogether or it can keep the bill without taking any actions. If the assembly accepts the changes suggested by the council then the bill is deemed to have been passed by both the houses. If the assembly rejects the amendments or if the council rejects the bill or if the council does not take any action for three months then the assembly may pass the bill again. Here if the council rejects the bill again or if the council passes the bill with amendments that are not acceptable to the assembly or if the council does not pass the bill within one month then the bill is deemed to have been passed by both the houses. Now this means legislative council can hold a bill for maximum of four months that is three months in first instance and one month in second instance but this idea of having a second chamber has been criticized for a long time on the ground that it is not representative of the people and also they criticize saying it delays the legislative process and it also a costly or an expensive institution and generally it acts only as a dilatory chamber or an advisory body therefore it is toothless or powerless in opposing or obstructing the lower house proceedings. To the maximum as a revising body it can delay an ordinary bill for a maximum period of four months in total and it can delay a money bill for a period of 14 days. We saw the composition of members in the legislative council which is a heterogeneous composition so based on this also a criticism has been built saying this heterogeneous composition makes the position of the council as weak and also reduces the utility of the council. Some critics have also pointed out that the council is serving as a refuge for those who are defeated in the assembly elections. So having these criticisms on one side the utility of the council has been supported by some experts on some grounds one is that it checks hasty defective careless and ill considered legislation made by the state legislative assembly which is considered to be the major utility of the upper house. This is done by means of making provision for revision and thought and the second major utility is that it facilitates representation of eminent professionals and experts who could not face direct elections. This is achieved through the governor's nomination of one sixth of the members of the council to provide representation of such eminent professionals and experts to be specific in the fields of literature, science, art, cooperative movement and social service. So these are some of the important information with reference to the analysis of this news article we saw about legislative council in detail and its position with respect to the state legislative assembly. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article talks about the recently held presidential election in Tajikistan and know that Emo Mali Rakhman whose one of Tajikistan's long-serving president was re-elected with more than 90 percent of the vote for another term of seven years. So this is the news in this context let us discuss information pertaining to Tajikistan in this analysis. The syllabus relevant for the analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Now Tajikistan which is officially called as the Republic of Tajikistan is lying in the heart of Central Asia. It is one of the five Central Asian countries bordered by Kyrgyzstan on the north, on the east you could find China, the south it is Afghanistan and the west and the northwest we could find Uzbekistan. It is a landlocked country know that Tajikistan includes a region called as Gorno-Badagistan or Mountain-Badagistan Autonomous Region. Now the capital of Tajikistan is Dushanbe. Now Tajikistan it has the smallest amount of land if you compare with the five Central Asian states but in terms of elevation it surpasses all the other Central Asian countries and it encloses more mountains in fact higher mountains than any other country in the region. The highest point is called as Kulai Ismaili Somoni which was earlier called as Communism Peak. So it was the tallest mountain in the former Soviet Union region. Recently we discussed about another peak in Central Asian region which is called as Cenkish Chokusu also called as Pickpobdi or Victory Peak. Now this is the highest peak in Kyrgyzstan of altitude of 7,439 meters. It's also the highest peak of Tianshan Mountains as well. Now coming to Kulai Ismaili Somoni its altitude is around 7,495 meters. Now let's see the history of Tajikistan in short. See Tajikistan was a Constituent Republic of Soviet Union from the year 1929 till the year 1991 when it became independent. The Tajik people they actually came under Russian Imperial rule in the 1860s and 1870s. However it is reported that Russia's hold on Central Asian region it weakened after the revolution of 1917. During this period that is after 1917 there were bands of indigenous gorillas who were called as Basmaki. They fiercely contested Bolsheviks control of this particular region. However only by 1925 the Bolsheviks were able to re-establish their full control in this area. The Bolsheviks were part of Russia's Social Democratic Workers Party which was led by Vladimir Lenin and this party was known for seizing control of the government in Russia in October 1917 and in fact immediately became the dominant political power. The origin of this group is in the year 1903. See Tajikistan was first created as an autonomous republic within Uzbekistan in the year 1924 and in 1929 the Soviet Union or the USSR it designated Tajikistan as a separate republic. So there was a shared history between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and as a result we could find ethnic Uzbeks forming a substantial minority in Tajikistan and ethnic Tajiks forming an even larger minority in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan became independent in the year 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union. After independence this area Tajikistan it experienced a civil war between political factions, regional and religious factions from the year 1992 to 1997 and know that the country holds general elections for the presidency once in every seven years and general elections for the members of parliament once in every five years but there are allegations that the electoral system is surrounded by irregularities and abuse and the reports say that the results of these elections are mostly not free and also not fair and according to sources current president of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhman he came to power in the year 1994 during the civil war. You could draw a parallel with Belarus of Europe as well in this regard. Now come to Tajikistan here it is alleged that Tajikistan is a one-party dominated country which is people's democratic party of Tajikistan of course led by the current president Emomali. Now in 2015 Rakhman declared himself as the founder of peace and national unity and the leader of this country and subsequently some constitutional amendments were ratified in a referendum and these amendments granted him or granted the president limitless terms and also lifelong immunity as well. Coming to the ethnic groups we could find the population of Tajikistan as ethnically mixed for centuries but more than four-fifths of the population that is around 80 percent they are ethnically Tajik. The Tajiks are a traditionally sedentary people they speak a form of person called Tajik. It is also the official language in the country. Now here coming to majority who constitutes majority the vast majority of Tajikistanis are Muslims and the minority Russians who are living here are predominantly Christians. Now coming to the economy see it remains the poorest in the entire format Soviet states or spear its economy continues to face major challenges like depending on remittances from its migrant labourers who are working in Russia and Kazakhstan and there is also pervasive corruption and it also sits on one of the world's highest volume illicit drug trafficking routes between Afghanistan and Russia and Eastern Europe to say more specifically between Afghan opiate production in the south and the illicit drug markets of Russia and Eastern Europe to the north. The opium trade and the destabilizing violence that is coming from Afghanistan is also reported to have further destabilized Tajikistan. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. We saw basic information about Tajikistan its composition brief political history of the country and also some of the current persisting problems of this nation. Now let's move on to next news article. This news article talks about the observations made by the Supreme Court on a petition that challenged section 28 of the prevention of cruelty to animals act of 1960. It was challenged that this section of the act it allows slaughter of animals in a manner concerned to a person's religion. It argued that halal form of slaughter is painful and amounts to cruelty therefore such a form of slaughter should be banned and in its place it also argued that on the other side Jatka which is a single fatal blow is painless. See the word halal is an arabic word which means lawful or permissible or permitted. In the halal form of slaughter animals are killed with a cut to the jugular vein carotid artery and windpipe. The animal is left till the blood drains out completely. On the other hand if you see Jatka method the animal is killed instantaneously like by a single stroke of a sword or axe to cut the head or sever the head. The Supreme Court observed that courts cannot meddle in the food habits of people. Now according to the article it's mentioned court cannot determine who can be a vegetarian or non-vegetarian those who want to eat halal meat can eat halal meat and those who want to eat jatka meat can eat jatka meat. The apex court also dismissed the petition saying that the petition was filed with mischievous intention. Now for our examination perspective let us look into section 28 of the prevention of cruelty to animals act of 1960. Now coming to this legislation in general this act intends to prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals and it was enacted for the purpose to amend the law relating to prevention of cruelty to animals. Now if you come to section 28 it deals with the manner of killing a particular animal prescribed by religion. According to the act animal refers to any living creature other than a human being section 28 mentions that nothing contained in this act shall render it an offense to kill any animal in a manner required by the religion of any community. In another words we can say that killing an animal in a manner required by the religion of any community will not be an offense whatever mentioned in this particular act. Now we will conclude this discussion with seeing section 4 of this act that provides for the establishment of animals welfare board of India. See this board it was established in 1962 as a statutory body it acts as an advisory body on animal welfare laws and it promotes animal welfare in the country. The aim is to work for the promotion of animal welfare in general and for the purpose of protecting animals from being subjected to unnecessary pain or unnecessary suffering. Consist of 28 members the term of office of members is three years. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this article. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This news article talks about the achievement of three Indian college students article states that NASA has selected an experimental satellite developed by these students and this satellite is to be launched in the sub orbital space that is the satellite would be launched in sub orbital space flight for a few minutes prior to landing in the ocean. Now this global competition is conducted by the cubes in space program in association with the United States Space Agency. The students from India were actually guided by the space kids India. Their satellite which is three centimeter in size weighing 64 gram was made of reinforced graphene polymer. The satellite has its own radio frequency communications source to transmit and receive signals from earth. It also has solar cells attached source to generate power for the satellite. They have also placed a photographic film to observe and measure cosmic radiation inside the rocket. The satellite would study the effect of reinforced graphene polymers in micro gravity conditions. It would be in sub orbital space flight for a few minutes. What is the difference between orbital flight and sub orbital flight? See the difference is the speed at which a vehicle is traveling to achieve an objective where an orbital spacecraft has to achieve orbital velocity whereas a sub orbital rocket flies at a speed below the orbital velocity. What is the importance of orbital velocity? See it is the speed at which an object travels to remain in an orbit around a planet. Therefore going by sub orbital rocket or spacecraft it does not has the power to achieve the orbit. Therefore it will fly up to a certain height that depends on its speed then come back once its engines are shut off. In other words we can say that in sub orbital launches vehicles travel high enough to reach the edge of outer space depending upon the speed they achieve but they will not achieve the orbit. An orbital spacecraft usually involves speed of approximately 25 times the speed of sound whereas in sub orbital launches the speed involves maximum speed of about two to six times the speed of sound. Coming to cubes in space see it is a group of problem solvers, change agents, designers and visionaries to bring creativity and enjoyment to learning and teaching. They help students to embrace curiosity, to develop logical and methodical thought, engage students in creative problem solving and other aspects. If you come to Space Kids India see it is an organization with a dream to create young scientists for the country. It spreads awareness among children for a borderless world. It aims to create international learning through experience for students in the field of science, technology, art and culture also. They claim to be the first in the world to have launched satellites through high school and college students. It is also an ambassador to the space camps conducted by NASA, European Space Agency and Uri Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Center of Russia. In January 2020 it was in news related to National Space Challenge 2020 wherein which gave opportunity to school students to design, explore and innovate. In making own satellites this challenge was organized by both Space Kids India and National Design and Research Forum. So these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to next part of the discussion. This editorial states that accommodative politics is often the result of expediency or convenience though it has intrinsic value. The article calls for inclusion of members from regional political groups and smaller parties particularly in the cabinet and also in the council of ministers so as to make governance more robust and inclusive at the national level. Few facts are presented here. One is that at present for the first time in nearly 25 years all the members of union cabinet are from a single political party. The next information is that since 1984 it is only in the year 2014 that a single party has won more than half of the seats in the Lokshaba. When it mentions that alliance politics mocked as a sign of instability in decision and policy paralysis which was also felt in the years prior to 2014. However with the emergence of single parties dominance though welcomed as a new era of stability and decisiveness crucial decisions of far-reaching consequences were made with no inputs from regional political groups even including the allies of the ruling party. So in the conclusion the author states that adequate representation in the council of ministers is a necessary condition and also a starting point towards a more consultative decision making process that might guarantee more desirable outcomes. So you take these points from this editorial. Now let's move to the next part of this discussion. We have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session. See this question. Consider the following statutory bodies or authorities. National Board for Wildlife, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Central Zoo Authority, Animal Welfare Board of India. Which of the above are established under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972? You can arrive at the correct answer if you know that Animal Welfare Board of India is a statutory body that is established under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960. Other than Animal Welfare Board all the authorities given here are constituted under or established under Wildlife Protection Act 1972. So the correct answer for this question is option B one two and three only. See this is a previous year question asked in 2015 with reference to legislative council of a state. Two statements are given they're asking which of the statements are correct. First statement legislative council of a state in India can be larger in size than half of the legislative assembly of the particular state. Now the statement is incorrect because as per article 171 the total number of members in legislative council shall not exceed one third of the total number of members in legislative assembly of the particular state. First statement is incorrect. Second statement the governor of a state nominates the chairman of legislative council of that particular state. Again this statement is incorrect. If you take article 182 it state the legislative council of every state chooses two members of the council to become chairman and deputy chairman respectively. So it is not the governor who nominates the chairman of legislative council. Correct answer option D neither one or two. This question is with reference to broadcast audience research council bark. Two statements are given we have to choose correct statement. It is an autonomous body under union ministry of information and broadcasting. This statement is incorrect. It is a joint industry company founded by stakeholder bodies which represent broadcasters, advertisers and advertising and media agencies. Meaning the stakeholder body that represent broadcasters is Indian Broadcasting Foundation. Then one that represent advertisers is Indian Society of Advertisers. Then advertising and media agencies is covered by advertising agencies association of India. First statement is incorrect. Second statement it was set up to design commission supervise the television audience measurement system for India. This statement is correct. Therefore the correct answer is option B two only. See this question the national space challenge 2020 gave an opportunity to school students to design explore and innovate in making own satellites. It was conducted by the correct answer for this question is option A national design and research forum. It was conducted to mark the golden jubilee year of NDRF. The space kids India was a launch partner in this national space challenge. See this question geography map based question four countries are given they're asking which of them shares border with Caspian Sea. If you know the information that Armenia and Tajikistan are landlocked countries then you can easily arrive at the correct answer option D one and three only is correct. That is Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan they share border with Caspian Sea among the given options. You can find that Russia Iran and Turkmenistan also share border with Caspian Sea. Now let's move on to the question for the day two of main storming free main scholarship test. Now before we head to the question we would like to inform you that answers must be written within the word limit that is for today's question the question is a 10 marks question so you have to adhere the word limit of 150 words and two pages and before uploading your answer please check the answer PDF whether it is legible and containing all the pages. Now the link to access the reference material or the key for day one question is given in the description and also in the comment section. Now this is the second main question for the free main scholarship test read the question carefully and answer accordingly. The question reads democracy is not democracy if dissent is disallowed comment so it's a 10 mark question you have to write within the word limit and two pages. For writing the answer you can take the printout of the mains answer sheet link which is available in the description of the video and also in the comment section. If you do not have access to a printer you can draw the required margins as per the instructions on A4 sheets. The answer uploading portal link is also given in the description section and also in the comment section. We hope that everybody is aware of the uploading process and note that answers received other than the specified process will not be considered for evaluation. Also note that today's answer uploading portal link will be disabled at 6 p.m tomorrow so make sure that your answer is uploaded by 6 p.m tomorrow and tomorrow's question will be given along with the daily news analysis. Try to upload your answers as early as possible so as to avoid last minute delay because of busy server. We wish you all the best for day two. With this we come to the end of today's The Hindu News Analysis. If you like the video click the like button, comment, share it among your friends and those who are in need of such resources subscribe to Shankaray's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil service exam preparation.