 a very good evening aspirants welcome to the hindu newspaper analysis brought you by shankar ias academy for the date 28th of may 2022 displayed here are the list of news articles that i have chosen for today's discussion see as only a week has left for your upsc problems i had taken five previous year preliminary question for today's discussion and all these questions are taken from 2019 upsc problems see i'll tell you how to handle each and every question with minimum knowledge okay after this we'll have our article discussion okay now without wasting much time let's look into the first question see the first question is a three statement question whenever you get a statement type of question try applying elimination technique now when you look at this question it is talking about three different species one is asiatic line another one is double humped camel another one is one horn rhinoceros right so in this if i attend this question i very well know about asiatic line it is found only in india so that statement is absolutely correct but if i know that statement one is correct can i go ahead for elimination technique no right so now let me look at statement two or statement three when i look at these two no i know about one horn rhino so let me go and read statement three first one horn rhinoceros is naturally found in india only see whenever this extreme words like only is given try to think of whatever facts you know about that particular species or topic or whatever it is okay i very well know one horn rhinoceros is naturally found in areas of asaam such as kaziranga national park in india and also in chitwan national park of napal i have read somewhere that it is also found in napal naturally so i knew that statement three is incorrect now what can i do i can eliminate two options here option c and d can be eliminated and one more thing i said statement one is definitely correct so i can get the answer which is option a one only now here i don't even know about this double humped camel okay but i had approached this question and i had even arrived at the correct answer right so this is what i said with minimum amount of knowledge try to approach that question and you will definitely be able to arrive at the correct answer okay so the answer for this question is option a one only is the correct statement now let me tell you few facts about all these three species see don't think this is a 2019 question this might not be useful for your current preliminary examination even these three species will be in current news also so just be aware of these three species i'm going to just say you the facts which are very much relevant only for your preliminary examination okay first let us see about this bactrian camel see this bactrian camel is nothing but the double humped camel that is given in the question okay it is a large even toad angulate native to the steppes of central asia that is it will be found in pakistan afghanistan kesakistan in those areas i think it is extinct in kesakistan in india it is found in the nubra valley of ladak okay and note that the iocn status of this is critically endangered now let us see about the asiatic line see the asiatic line is found naturally in india you very well know that where it is found it is found in gear national park which is the last natural habitat of this species okay and what is the iocn status of asiatic line it is endangered okay now lastly let us see about this one horn rhino which is otherwise called as indian rhino it is found in eight locations in india what are all the locations just go through it kasiranga pabitura manas orang jaltapura gurumara doodwa kathrinagat etc okay and in four protected areas in napal what are they chitwan bardia succlapanta persa okay what is the iocn status of this one horn rhino it is vulnerable so that's all about this question these facts about all these three species is very relevant for your preliminary examination so keep so keep these facts in mind okay now let's move on to the second question now read this question in the context of which one of the following are the terms pyrolysis and plasma gasification mentioned see for this if you're tall you know either about pyrolysis or plasma gasification it is more than enough i think most of you will be knowing about pyrolysis right what is meant by pyrolysis it is a process of heating organic material at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen am i right here when i say organic material you can remember the biomass when i say biomass what are all the types of biomass that you can remember see garbage crops alcohol fuels landfill gas then would all these comes under biomass only okay so the pyrolysis is one of the technologies available to convert biomass to an intermediate liquid product then it can be refined to drop in hydrocarbon biofuels oxygenated fuel additives and petrochemical replacements this biomass pyrolysis is usually conducted at our above 500 degree centigrade providing enough heat to deconstruct the strong biopolymers since no oxygen is present combustion does not occur rather the biomass thermally decomposes into combustible gases and biochar most of these combustible gases can be condensed into a combustible liquid called a pyrolysis oil which is otherwise called as bio oil thus this pyrolysis of biomass produces three products one is liquid that is bio oil and another one is solid biochar and other one is gaseous which is sin gas okay and few aspirants may be knowing about this plasma gasification what is this plasma gasification see plasma gasification is an extreme thermal process using plasma which converts organic matter into a sin gas that is synthesis gas which is primarily made up of hydrogen and carbon monoxide okay see this plasma gasification process uses electricity to generate high temperature plasma arc which is about 3000 degrees centigrade this will be produced inside the plasma reactor which converts the waste into sin gas the produced sin gas when passed through a series of gas purification system comprising of catalytic converter redox reactor cyclone separator scrubber and condenser is ready for use in gas engines for generation of electricity the residual ash can be mixed with cement for the preparation of recycled bricks for usage in construction thus you can understand that science helps in the creation of wealth from waste so both these processes know are using the waste to create wealth that is some form of product is produced from waste now look at the question what are all the options given option A is extraction of rare earth elements no that will not be relevant here the natural gas extraction technologies no hydrogen fuel based automobiles that is also incorrect look at the last option waste to energy technologies see as I said both are utilizing waste and from that only the new product is manufactured so option D is very much relevant when you take both the terms in common right so option D is the correct answer see as I said in the beginning if at all you know about any of these terms either if you know about pyrolysis or plasma gasification from that itself you will be able to answer this question see when I looked at this question I know about only pyrolysis so with that itself I was able to understand that it is something related to waste to energy technology so that's what I said with minimum knowledge you will be able to answer a question okay so I took this question today so that you can be aware of two processors which might be repeated in some form or the other okay now you know about pyrolysis and plasma gasification from this discussion itself right that's good now let's move on to the third question see this is such a easy question if you look at this itself anyone can answer this question but remember always read the question once or twice before confirming with your answer consider the following carbon monoxide methane ozone sulphur dioxide which of the above are released into atmosphere due to the burning of crop or biomass residue see crop residues biomass burning are cheap and easiest method to dispose the leftover crop residues am i right what are the crop residues here we try sugarcane etc after that no some residue will be left over after their harvest for land clearing and pest control we go ahead for this crop residue burning or biomass burning burning of crop residues is a common approach to eliminate waste after harvesting all over the world burning of these residues emit gases so what are all the gases here it will emit gases like sulphur dioxide oxides of nitrogen that is either it will be NO or NO2 or N2 or anything okay then carbon monoxide then carbon dioxide then black carbon organic carbon methane volatile organic compounds non methane hydrocarbons then ozone and aerosols etc etc all these gases will be released whenever a crop residue is burned see i said this question is very much easy because most of the gases that you were aware of will be released whenever you burn the crop residues or biomass burning is done okay so that's why i said when this kind of question comes it will be very much easy for you to answer with your limited knowledge about this topic see i very well know whenever the crop residues are burnt carbon monoxide methane sulphur dioxide these three will be released when you have a doubt whether ozone will be released just remember go ahead for elimination technique look at the option is there any option that consists of 1 2 4 only no right then definitely ozone is also included so go ahead for option D 1 2 3 and 4 that is all the above okay so here i had limited knowledge only i knew only carbon monoxide methane and sulphur dioxide ozone i had a doubt but i was able to approach this question and arrive at the answer right that's what i said utilize whatever knowledge that you have to approach the question okay now let me discuss with you two more questions see these two questions are much more factual questions and you will be very easily able to answer this question okay now look at this fourth question under which schedule of the constitution of india can the transfer of tribal land to private parties for mining be declared null and void see here only one term is the key what is that term tribal land something that is relevant to tribes are being spoken right which schedule you know that talks about tribes i think you'll be knowing that cadule five and six are talking something about this tribal land okay so look at this option given here third five and ninth and twelfth schedule is given you very well know five and six should be the answer here option B fifth schedule is given so that is the answer you need not know about all the schedules but you know that when you talk about tribes two schedule only you are aware one is fifth schedule another one is sixth schedule here in the options it is very easily given fifth schedule alone so you can go ahead for fifth schedule option B fifth schedule is the right answer here now what about the other schedule what are they talking about see third schedule i remember it is talking something about oath and information right so that can be eliminated then nine schedule is talking something about the acts that has to be kept away from the judicial review but it is also brought in the judicial review right and this 12th schedule is talking something about this municipalities okay so our answer here will be option B fifth schedule see this is a very very factual question if you know all the 12 schedules you'll be easily able to answer this question but here no i didn't remember all the 12 schedules i knew something that is related to drives is present in fifth and sixth schedule so with that knowledge only i approach this question and answer this question now look at this last previous year question which article of the constitution of india safeguards one's right to marry the person of one's choice see in this know i can easily eliminate two options which is option c and d look at option c which is talking about article 25 see article 25 talks about freedom of consigns and free profession practice and propagation of religion so it is talking something about religion so i very well know that article is not going to suit this question so i'll eliminate that option and i remember option d that is talking about article 29 it is something about the language script and culture of minorities so protection of those things are being spoken in that article so that also will not come there so i eliminated two options which are option c article 25 and option d article 29 i have two more options which is a article 19 and option b article 21 see in this you might have a doubt like whether article 19 is the correct answer because article 19 talks about the freedom of speech and expression assembly association movement residence and profession right so it is talking something about freedom so you will think whether option a which talks about article 19 is correct but remember article 21 talks about protection of life and personal liberty the word personal liberty if you remember you will be able to answer this question see it is a personal liberty of one to marry another person he might be or she might be of any caste or religion or whatever it may be the choice is personal right so article 21 only talks about this one's right to marry the person of one's choice and not article 19 here you might be confused with two options but you will be able to eliminate two other options with your minimum amount of knowledge that's what i said in your just able to eliminate two options you should be definitely able to answer that question and note that this article 21 will be frequently in use so even this year also there might be a question regarding article 21 and in many cases supreme court has reaffirmed its judgment and it has made several rights as a part of article 21 just go through those rights you need not memorize just be aware of whatever all rights comes under this article 21 see i remember rights like right to livelihood right to privacy then right to sleep then right to health all these know will come under article 21 always remember the key word in article 21 is protection of life and personal liberty if you understand the term life and personal liberty you can be able to approach whatever rights is given under that you will be able to clear that okay so now the answer for this question is option b article 21 so that's all for today's previous year question discussion now let's get into the news article discussion now let us take up this news article for our next discussion now look at this news article this news article says that India and the European Union were working on the first text of the free trade agreement official says that some urgency has been put to the matter due to Putin's war in Ukraine so this is the crux of the news article given here in this context let us quickly go through what is a free trade agreement and we shall also see some of the advantages of free trade agreement also in this discussion i will cover the classification of the other trade agreements also okay see this is a very important economic topic for your preliminary examination that is why i took this article and with this we'll discuss the free trade agreements and other trade agreements that are applicable in India okay before getting into the discussion the syllabus relevant to this news article is given here for a reference please go through it firstly what is a free trade agreement see a free trade agreement is a pact between two or more nations this is to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them that is under a free trade policy goods and services can be bought and sold across international borders with little or no government tariffs quotas subsidies or prohibitions to inhibit their exchange remember this as the name implies free trade agreement literally does not mean abandoning all control of imports and exports and executing completely free trade okay in modern international trade there is a few free trade agreements which results in complete free trade but still governments with free trade policies or agreements in place do not necessarily abandon all control of imports and exports eliminate all protectionist policies okay see there will be some tariffs or quotas but not everything will be there that is what dad said there will be little or no tariffs or quotas or subsidies or prohibitions that exhibit their exchange okay talking about the other types of trade agreements firstly take the preferential trade agreement in this type of agreement two or more partners give preferential right of entry to certain products this is done by reducing duties on an agreed number of tariff lines here a positive list is maintained that is list of the products on which the two partners have agreed to provide preferential access tariff may even be reduced to zero for some products even in a preferential trade agreement okay secondly that's what we saw in our today's discussion what is that free trade agreement what is a free trade agreement a free trade agreement is a pack between two or more nations to reduce barriers to imports and exports among them okay now the third one that we are going to see is the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement see this comprehensive economic cooperation agreement generally covers negotiation on trade tariff and tqr rates only here tqr rate means a tariff rate quota also called a tariff quota it is a two-tier tariff system that combines import quotas and tariffs to regulate import products the fourth trade agreement that we are going to see is the custom union see members of the custom union may agree to trade at zero duty among themselves and they maintain common tariffs against the rest of the world also okay this is the next stage right and the next trade agreement is the common market see in a common market countries also allow free trade and free movement of labor and capital among the members of the group finally we will see about the economic union see it is a common market extended through further harmonization of fiscal or monetary policies and shared execute to judicial and legislative institutions a very good example for this is the european union see remember that the trade agreements as we saw now is getting expanded from the preferential trade agreement it is getting expanded to free trade agreement and then to the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement then it expands to the custom union and then to the common market and finally the full expansion occurs in the economic union okay see understand this all these definitions of the trade agreements can itself be put as a preliminary type of question that is why i took this opportunity and discussed with you the classification of the trade agreements that are available this is a very very important economic topic and as i said a straightforward question can be put asking about the definitions of these trade agreements okay and now taking this discussion further let me add on the advantages of the free trade agreement see i am taking every discussion in an elaborate manner so that you can utilize it for both your preliminary examination and your main examination remember as prelims is fast approaching i'm giving more attention to prelims based topics but in a way i'll tell you how to utilize these points in mains answers also this is how you have to link your preliminary preparation with your mains preparation and this will only help you to clear your entire UPSC exam now coming back to the discussion now let us see the advantages of this free trade agreement see in principle free trade on the international level is no different from the trade between neighbors towns or states however it allows businesses in each country to focus on producing and selling the goods that best use their resources while other businesses import goods that are scarce or unavailable domestically this mix of local production and foreign trade allows economies to experience faster growth while better meeting the needs of its consumers understood so this is enabling the economic growth of the nations that are involved in the trade agreement secondly free trade expands the diversity and lowers the prices of goods available in the nation this is by better exploiting its homegrown resources knowledge and specialized skills so in simple terms free trade is an opportunity to open another part of the world to the domestic producers apart from this it helps in boosting investments in the country and not only this it allows job creation relieves the barriers that impede the flow of goods and services then they help in improving the rules affecting such issues as intellectual property e-commerce and government procurement see finally at importantly this free trade agreement helps in boosting foreign direct investments okay so in a way you can understand this free trade agreement is more advantageous okay see having understood the definitions of the trade agreements itself you can say which is more advantageous and which is not more advantageous and what are all the disadvantages in each and every trade agreements that is why i discussed the definition first for you okay if at all they ask the advantages of the other trade agreements also with a mere definition itself you will be able to write the points or approach your preliminary type of question okay so with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article this news article talks about infant mortality rate day before yesterday the sample registration system that is srs bulletin for 2020 was released and according to the report karnataka's infant mortality rate fell by two points from 21 into 2019 to 19 in 2020 so in this background let us see about infant mortality rate in the prelims perspective also we will see about the total fertility rate and the maternal mortality rate see i have taken all these because these are very much useful for your preliminary point of view okay before seeing about the imr let's see about this srs that is sample registration system see the sample registration system provides reliable annual estimates of the infant mortality rate birth rate death rate and other fertility and mortality indicators at the national and subnational levels it is a large-scale demographic survey conducted every year by the office of the registrar general india in all the states our union territories so currently srs for 2020 has been released in 2020 the birth rate of the country has been estimated at 19.5 whereas the death rate has been estimated at 6 the estimate of infant mortality rate for the year 2020 is 28 infant deaths per thousand light births so what is this imr or infant mortality rate see the infant mortality rate is simply the likelihood of a child born in a certain year or a period dying before reaching the age of one so remember imr is a probability of death derived from a life table and expressed as rate per thousand life births it is not just the rate in which the number of death is divided by the number of population at risk during a certain period of time so according to the report there is a probability for 28 infant deaths per thousand life births so to put it in simple words infant mortality is the death of an infant before his or her first birthday the infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths for every thousand live births okay now let me tell a few fact which is relevant for you for prelims according to the report madhya pradesh has the highest mortality rate with 43 infant deaths per thousand live births and kerala has the lowest mortality rate with six infant deaths per thousand live births okay now as i said there are still more two other terms that you have to know about which is the maternal mortality rate and the total fertility rate see the maternal mortality ratio is defined as the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per one lakh live births during the same time period it depicts the risk of maternal death relative to the number of live births and essentially captures the risk of death in a single pregnancy or a single live birth see as per the sample registration system for the last three years the maternal mortality ratio of india has reduced from 122 per one lakh live births in srs 2015 to 17 to 113 per thousand live births in srs 2016 to 18 and in the 2017 to 19 report it was 103 understood so this maternal mortality ratio in india is getting declined it is a very good news okay and here you have to note that india has a sustainable development target wherein we have to bring the maternal mortality rate to 70 per one lakh live births by 2030 okay remember we have a long way to go to reach this target now coming to the next term which is the total fertility rate see tfr or the total fertility rate in simple term refers to the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her lifetime note that if she were subject to the prevailing rate of age specific fertility in the population it is taken into account in the tfr see tfr of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement level fertility that is tfr lower than 2.1 children per woman indicates that a generation is not producing enough children to replace itself this eventually will lead to an outright reduction in the population okay so by knowing that total fertility rate itself i have explained you the replacement level fertility also okay now coming to the important fact according to the national family health survey 5 br is having the highest total fertility rate which is 3 and the lowest is for sikkim which has 1.1 total fertility rate okay so that's all about this news article see it might seem like a more factual discussion but note that the definitions may be a straightforward preliminary question and along with that if at all it is a statement type of question these factual data's may be added that's why you discussed only the relevant points which are very much needed for your preliminary point of view okay so with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion now look at this article here it says that nuclear power corporation of india limited is launching an initiative in the villagers surrounding the kudangulam nuclear power project in order to assist the unemployed youth a similar initiative was launched by npci in 16 village panchayats near the tharapur atomic power station that is thaps through its advanced knowledge and rural technology implementation program that is akruti program and according to the article bob atomic research center that is bark is devising new user friendly and cost effective technologies in the fields of nuclear science radioisotopes industry health and agriculture and these technologies are being taught to the younger generation and the unemployed youth to make them entrepreneurs so this is the crux of the news article given here in this context let us learn more about this akruti program see being aware of such kind of programs and schemes will be very much helpful for attempting your preliminary questions okay not only that you can utilize these points or these schemes or programs to enhance your mains answer you can quote these as examples in your mains answers okay now let us start our discussion as we saw earlier akruti is an acronym for advanced knowledge and rural technology implementation program see department of atomic energy that is dae in the year 2007 has launched dae societal initiative for utilization of non-power applications and spin-off technologies it is to be used in the areas of water agriculture food processing and agri-land improvement this is to be done through urban and rural waste management okay within this framework the structured program called akruti has been formulated by bark and why is this program formulated see in a country of the vast size such as india technology innovations and adaptations has to be evolved in a greater mission and since such technology has to fit with varied local conditions it is needed to be applied quickly to enhance the quality of life of larger population and also considering the wealth of technology and innovative capability generated in bark and dae units this program is launched okay see initially it was implemented through technically oriented NGOs for techno economic growth of the rural sector it is implemented as one of the many schemes experimented for large-scale deployment of bark technologies and this deployment of technologies is the fourth key driver of major programs of department of atomic energy note that it is also the vision of dae for social outreach and awareness okay and the mission of the program is to empower villagers with science and technology based eco-friendly work plan for sustainable techno economic growth of rural sector okay see the aims to create structured and scalable network of technology nodes in rural areas so that this will provide easy access to modern technologies to all villagers in their own villages having said that now let us see some more facts about this program see through the akruti program technology centers called akruti node is set up in a village this is done under the guidance of barb through technically oriented NGOs working in that village akruti node will park number of bark developed technologies for use by villagers these technologies are demonstrated and taken to different villagers around the akruti node via working centers established in different villagers around akruti okay these working centers are called kruti kendra that is krutik here krutik stands for knowledge and rural technology implementation kendra okay see krutik works with villagers and farmers groups and deploys these technologies in their own villagers and in the fields these groups are known as force meaning farmers organized group for rural creative entrepreneurship each member of force group is made familiar with technologies of akruti through krutik akruti and krutiks will be managed by technology oriented villagers and NGOs operating in that village see this akruti and krutiks will function coherently and will create large number of force groups and this will be created in different villages which will benefit from the use of the technologies in akruti node some of them will play a role of successful entrepreneurs the present existing self-help groups created by various nationalized banks or farmers producer organizations can play an important role to create a band of rural entrepreneurs this way the self-help groups will become force for this program and provide livelihood security for villagers okay and finally now let us see the significance of this see this program will enable to take the fruits of technology to grass root level that is to every villager in the remote corner and it will provide inclusive growth to the rural sector thereby the helps in tapping the hidden innovative capability of large rural population so that's all about this news article see each and every point in this discussion can be utilized in your main's answer directly because this program talks about rural development through innovative technological deployment also this can be put as a direct preliminary question okay so with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion today we have only one question for discussion and another question is a quiz question for you okay now let us look at the first question which of the following statements are correct about the akruti program so it is a two statement question you are going to go through both the statement before answering the question okay now look at the first statement it says that it was formulated by ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare see this statement is wrong because akruti program was formulated by bark and see the department of atomic energy in the year 2007 has launched the dae societal initiative for utilization of non-power applications and spin-off technologies in the area of water agriculture food processing and agri-land through urban and rural waste management see this is all we saw in the discussion itself right and note that within this framework only the structured program called akruti has been formulated by bark that is babatomic research center okay so the first statement is wrong now look at the second statement this statement is correct see this is also we saw in our discussion itself in akruti program technologies are demonstrated and taken to different nodes via working centers and these working centers are called kruti kendra which works with villagers and farmers groups and deploys these technologies in their own villages and in the fields so this statement is correct now read the full question the question is demanding for correct statements so your answer here will be option b 2 only now look at this question this question is a quiz question for you see remember we discussed about the infant mortality rate maternal mortality rate and then we discussed about the total fertility rate right based on this only this question is framed see read the question carefully and then answer the question analyze based on the definition that I said for you okay with this you can easily answer this question I gave this as a quiz question so that you will be able to analyze and you will be able to realize how questions will be asked based on the concepts okay don't worry the answer for this question will be put up within 24 hours of my discussion okay that displayed here is a main question for you see go through the question and write your answers and post it in the comment section if you like this video do like share and comment and don't forget to subscribe to the Shankar IAS Academy's YouTube channel thank you for listening