 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 15th of July 2019. Displayed are the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis. The page numbers of four different editions are given here for your reference. Let us now start our analysis. First let us see the news article which is about the developments regarding the Kartarpur corridor. The syllabus for this news article is displayed here for your reference. Let us now start our discussion. We know that Kartarpur is located in Pakistan on the banks of river Ravi. This place is known for its iconic Gurudwara Darbar Sahib. If you see this Gurudwara is a place of great spiritual, uncultural attachment for the pilgrims of the Sikh religion. This is also the place where the founder of Sikh religion, who is Guru Nanak Dev Ji, had assembled the Sikh community and he also lived there for 18 years. So this Gurudwara Darbar Sahib is built at the place where Guru Nanak Dev Ji passed away and this year is very special because it is the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Therefore in November 2018, Indian Pakistan had announced that they will build corridors on their sites to allow the Sikh pilgrims to visit the Kartarpur Gurudwara without any visa. If you see this corridor will start from Derababa Nanak town in the Gurudaspur district in the state of Punjab in India to the international border between India and Pakistan. So this is from the Indian side. In the side of Pakistan, they will develop the corridor from the Kartarpur Darbar Sahib till the international border. It was mentioned in the newspapers that the meeting point of both Indian part of corridor and the Pakistani part of corridor in the international border is called as crossing point or zero point. Yesterday that is on 14th July 2019, the second round of talks was carried out between India and Pakistan on the modalities for operationalization of this particular corridor. Now the newspaper calls it a fruitful or a productive discussion between the delegations of both India and Pakistan. If you see the meeting took place at Vaga in Pakistan which is close to the border. During the discussion, Pakistan agreed to give year long visa free access for Indian pilgrims to the holy Gurudwara of Kartarpur Darbar Sahib. As of now, this visa free access is for the Indian passport holders and overseas citizens of India card holders only. When we say overseas citizen of India card holders, it means that they are persons of Indian origin and they are not Indian citizens or Indian nationals. So just know the difference, they are persons of Indian origin but they are not Indian citizens or Indian nationals. However, an overseas citizen of India card holder can become an Indian citizen according to the provisions of 5-1G of the Citizenship Act of 1955. A person who is registered as an overseas citizen of India card holder for five years and who is ordinarily a resident in India for 12 months before making an application for registration, he is eligible for the grant of Indian citizenship. So he should have been a card holder for five years and he should have been an ordinary resident of India for 12 months, that is one year, then he will become eligible to get this Indian citizenship. The Kartarpur Corridor will be functional throughout the year where 5000 pilgrims will be allowed to visit this Gurudwara Sahib every day and it is expected that Pakistan will be having a permit system for the pilgrims. If you see as a part of Corridor on Indian side, India is constructing a four-lane Dera Baba Naanak to Kartarpur Corridor highway. Recently there were reports that India is not very committed in completing the construction of this infrastructure before the celebrations which are to start in the month of November. But the government of India stated that as on 14th July 2019, around 50 percentage of the construction of this four-lane highway has been completed. So this is the progress within the Indian side if you see. It is expected that this four-lane highway on the Indian side will be completed by the end of September this year, just two months before the celebrations which are to happen in the month of November. Now the entire infrastructure including the passenger terminal, service roads will be completed by 31st October 2019. So the infrastructure from Indian side is being constructed to handle around 15,000 pilgrims every day and the celebrations will begin in a week after 31st October 2019. During the meeting, India has raised three important concerns. One is with respect to preventing Kalistan supporters from misusing this historic initiative between the two countries. The Corridor is also a historic initiative for the fraternity from the Sikh religious community if you see. When we say Kalistan supporters, we mean those who want to create an independent territory out of Punjab by cutting away the territories from India. So it is like a separatist tendency. They just want to move away to have a separate country. So there are groups who even now work to create a new independent country and these are called Kalistan groups. So they want to separate Punjab from India. India has asked Pakistan to prevent such supporters in its soil by misusing this Corridor for their agenda. Because it is found that they may use religious sentiments and they may also try to brainwash the Indian visitors who are going to visit this Gurudwara Sahil. If you see, India has witnessed a mass insurgency campaign in the state of Punjab during the late 1970s and also in the 1980s for this Kalistan. Secondly, Pakistan has proposed to build an earth filled embankment road as a part of the Corridor in its side. So India has asked not to construct an embankment road but to construct a bridge instead of this embankment road. Now we have shown you two images here for your illustration purposes. If you see this is the embankment road and this one is a proper bridge. So the problem with these embankment roads is that it may cause possible flooding of the Derababa Nanak and the adjoining areas on the Indian side. This is because the embankment will obstruct the natural flow of river and hence it may lead to flooding at certain places. Therefore India has requested Pakistan to build a bridge in the required location. Now this bridge will serve two purposes. One is there will not be any flooding because of a bridge and two the bridge will ensure smooth, acid free and all weather pilgrimage to the Holy Gurudwara Karthapur Sahib throughout the year in comparison with an embankment road with possible flooding. Thirdly, India has urged Pakistan to allow Nagar Kirtan from Delhi to Nankana Sahib which is located at Pakistan during this month and also during October and November months of this year. So they will visit as a part of celebrations to mark the birth of the first Sikh Guru. This Nagar Kirtan is a procession of the Sikh fraternity. So by chanting hymns and by singing bhajans they will be remembering their founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Devji. So this year the Indian government is requesting Pakistan to allow Nagar Kirtan to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and also in the months of October November. Now this Nagar Kirtan will be organized by Shiromani Gurudwara Parbanda committee and also by Delhi Sikh Gurudwara management committee. These two committees are the apex bodies which are involved in organizing pilgrims visits to Pakistan under the 1974 bilateral protocol. Now this bilateral protocol is called the protocol constituting an agreement between the government of India and the government of Pakistan on visit to religious shrines. Shortly if you see this is called as protocol and visit to religious shrines. Now this protocol facilitates the visits by nationals of India and Pakistan to mutually agreed list of religious shrines in each other's country. So if particular person who is practicing Sikh religion wants to visit the Sikh religious sites in India he can visit and an Indian national who wants to visit the Sikh religious sites in Pakistan he can visit under this protocol and they have to coordinate with these committees. Now the Nankana Sahib is one of the agreed shrines in Pakistan for the visits by Indians as per this protocol. So these are the developments as of now with reference to this Kartarpur Corridor. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This editorial discusses about environmental degradation and best eco-management practices. The syllabus for this editorial is displayed here for your reference. Now we can split this editorial into two parts for our understanding. In the first part the author has spoken about the damages that are caused to the natural environment because of rapid urbanization and in the second part some success stories of best eco-management policies or practices have been discussed. Now let us see the first part which is about urbanization. So urbanization is process where a particular area is transformed into a city or an urban area. Now it might have been a rural area or a semi urban area in the past but due to constant movement of population the present geographical area of that particular city gets expanded and you can see large number of people migrating towards cities for want of jobs and also for better life. Now this is what we call it as urbanization but if there is a migration is sustainable which means if it is able to be managed by that particular city then it is fine but if you see most of the cities of the developing world are growing in a very unregulated manner. Let us see some examples of urbanization related issues that I mentioned in this editorial now. First the author has mentioned the 2015 floods which happened in the city of Chennai. She has quoted the CAG report nothing but the Comptroller and Auditor General report where the CAG has said that these 2015 Chennai floods are a manmade disaster. It means that human themselves are responsible for the disaster and the poor urban design is the main reason for these 2015 floods. If you see the expansion of the cities are not planned as we already saw the author tells that in Chennai alone 30 water bodies have disappeared in the last 100 years. It means that they have been encroached by the humans where they have built the homes to live in. Next if you see most of the ground surface in the cities are heavily concretized which means they are covered with layers of concrete even you can see in many of our areas where you cannot even see the soil surface it is full of concrete. So if there is more concrete then it becomes very difficult for the rainfall to percolate or seep into the soil. So the underground will not be recharged with the rain water. Ultimately the ground water levels would get depleted or decreased and that particular city will be suffering from heavy water scarcity. Now if you see Chennai suffering from the same problem which is the water scarcity problem. So this entire cycle is an example for environmental degradation. There are many such cycles which causes damage to the environment that is to which causes environmental degradation. The author tells that it is not visible within a day. This environmental degradation is not visible within a day like the traffic congestion or the crimes that we are able to see with our eyes rather it will create a huge damage in the future without any notice. So it gets on building up slowly day by day day by day and one find it will create a huge damage without any prior signs of attack. So this is what the author tells. So we can see that urbanization is happening without any vision and if you see the main reason for urbanization is the encroachment of water bodies. Now apart from cities like Chennai the author has also mentioned some other cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad from India and also Mexico City from the country of Mexico. If you see in the city of Bengaluru the author tells that 15 lakes have lost their ecological character in less than 5 years. The lakes which are now encroached areas are used as bus stand then as stadium and the irony is that they are also used as office for pollution control board. Next in Mexico City in the country of Mexico there were a network of lakes which were built by the Aztec rulers. These rulers actually ruled before 800 to 900 years that is in the 11th and 12th centuries in Mexico. Now these network of lakes are no more present. Instead what we can see is the downtown of Mexico City. Here a downtown means it is generally the central part or the main business in the commercial area of a particular city or a town. Now when there are rains the author tells that this particular downtown area in Mexico City sinks a few meters every year. So this sinking causes huge damage to buildings in the downtown area. Similarly if you see in the state of Telangana in India the complicated network of tanks and lakes which were built by the Kakateya dynasty has also disappeared over the years. In the editorial the word byzantine is mentioned here byzantine means complicated. If you see the Kakateya dynasty ruled over the present Telangana region before 800 to 900 years so we can see that tank based irrigation has existed for a long time. The main reason this tank based irrigation is because of the geography of the present day Telangana. If you see Telangana mostly as a very rugged terrain which is an uneven terrain and it also receives only moderate rainfall. So these tank based irrigation systems have existed since historical periods in order to support the agriculture because one can store the water in these tanks and later use it when rains are not occurring. The author suggests that Chennai should follow the best practices of other cities and states. So she has mentioned some best practices in this editorial. So this is the second part of the editorial which we told will see. Firstly she has discussed the best practice of Telangana state. It is Mission Kakateya. You can remember the objective of this mission from the name of this program only. We saw that Telangana follows tank irrigation since the rule of Kakateya dynasty. And they have built a complex network of tanks and lakes and few other minor irrigation sources. So just know that tanks are artificial lakes which are built for the purpose of irrigation. This mission Kakateya was launched in the year 2015 by the state of Telangana. Here the author has mentioned a philosophical concept which is intergenerational justice. Now this intergenerational justice is nothing but an idea that the present generation has certain duties or obligations which they have to fulfill so that the future generation leads the same kind of life that our present generation is living or even a better life than our present generation. So we can tell that this Mission Kakateya is also an example for this concept of intergenerational justice. So the main aim of this mission is to give the rightful share of water to the future generations. So we are enjoying some water resources. The same water resources should be enjoyed by the future generation. So this is the main aim of this Mission Kakateya. Next the author mentions an example of the city of Hyderabad which is located in the state of Telangana. He tells that the city of Hyderabad is now moving towards a sustainable hydraulic model. Now what is this hydraulic model? Hydraulic model means mathematical model of a water system or a separate system or a storm water system. So it is basically used to analyze the entire system's hydraulic behavior that is the water flow patterns. This model is aimed at integrating the six water resources in Hyderabad. But joining all these six water resources into one. So once they are integrated, even the most underdeveloped areas of the city can have access to these water resources. So we can even call this as an equitable access to water resources. So even the underdeveloped areas will get the same water which the developed areas receive. Also if you see the groundwater levels will be restored in the city of Hyderabad so that there will not be any more water scarcity even when there is no rains. So the author is suggesting that Chennai should also try to follow this model. Next the author has mentioned the example of Mexico City. We saw that the downtown areas of Mexico City sink during rains. Since it was built on the top of the lakes, the author tells that Mexico City administration has taken a policy decision to create a new position. And this position is called as the Resilience Officer. So this officer will mainly focus on mitigating the urban flooding issues in the Mexico city. So this is one best practice. Now the author has mentioned yet another best practice which is from the Bengaluru city. The city is located in the state of Karnataka. In that particular city there is a lake called Kundalahalli Lake. It is located in the eastern suburb of Bengaluru city. If you see this particular Kundalahalli Lake was once used as a landfill. So landfill means a place where the entire city's garbage is collected. So Kundalahalli landfill was one of the landfills of Bengaluru city. And this lake was reclaimed and put back in original position by the city administration. So the city administration was able to do this by getting corporate social responsibility funds in a public-private partnership model. So government will put some money and also these corporates will put some money. So this is called as a public-private partnership model. Now what are these corporate social responsibility funds? It means that the social responsibility which a particular company has, any corporate company has. So it does some social activities and also it donates some of its profits for social works like the one we saw now. So this is called as corporate social responsibility. Then the author has mentioned the recently launched Kalashwaram lift irrigation scheme and mission by the state of Telangana as yet another best practice. If you see this is a multi-purpose lift irrigation scheme which is to be built on river Godavari. So if you see this project aims to divert the extra water that is flowing in the river Godavari to the dry regions of the state of Telangana. So the author is finally telling that a combination of political will and well-designed policies like the Kalashwaram project which we saw is very much sufficient to address the environmental degradation and she has also told that Chennai should try to adopt these best practices. But if you see the present policy makers are just focusing on the present problems that is they are only having a short term solution for whatever problems they encounter. Instead the author is telling that these policy makers should have a long term strategy for all the environmental related problems. Then the author tells that by the year 2050 half of India that is 50% of India's population will be living in the cities that is in urban areas. So she tells that the present water crisis in Chennai or the 2000 Chennai Kerala floods which happened or the 2018 Kerala floods which happened are all alarm bells for us and we need to focus on implementing environmental friendly solutions so that we can face the consequences of nature in a very positive way. So whatever consequences of nature that we are going to face in the future may be huge rains or heavy earthquakes. If you are resilient to that then it will be easy for us to sustain that particular consequence. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the law commission. The news tells that the law commission will be formed soon by the government. Now the syllabus for this news article is displayed here for your reference. Let us see the news article now. Before seeing the news article let us see in brief about the law commission. Law commissions are generally constituted by a government order and also the terms of reference will be given along with the term or the time period for which a particular law commission will function. If you see so far 21 law commissions have been appointed by the government since independence. In this all the 21 commissions had only a three-year term. But if you see the terms of reference they were different for different law commissions. So what is this terms of reference? Terms of reference means the list of objectives or the purpose of a particular activity that is to be carried out by a particular body. So here the government will give the terms of reference that should be carried out and delivered by the law commission. We can tell that the functions of the law commission will be based on the terms of reference which is given by the government. The main function of the law commission is to advise the government on complex legal issues. So we can tell that law commission is an advisory body to the government. Now based on the terms of reference given by the government the law commission submits reports and working papers on key issues. And based on the reference made by the government or even sewer motive that is by itself the law commission can undertake research in law and also review the existing laws in India for making reforms in that particular law or by enacting new legislation. Then the law commission shall also undertake studies and research for bringing reforms in the justice delivery systems like eliminating the delay in the procedures, then speedy disposal of cases, then reduction in the cost of litigation, etc. If you see the other functions of the law commission they include identification of laws which are no longer relevant and then it recommends for the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary laws. Then suggesting enactment of new laws that may be necessary to implement the directive principles of state policy. Then also some laws to attain the objectives that are mentioned in the preamble of the constitution. Then the next function is that if the law commission thinks to convey anything specially to the government about its views on any subject relating to law and judicial administration then it can refer it through the Department of Legal Affairs which comes under the Ministry of Law and Justice. Then if the Indian government requests the law commission for providing research to any foreign countries through the Department of Legal Affairs under the Ministry of Law and Justice then the law commission may consider that as well. So these are some of the other functions of law commission. If you see the reports that are prepared by the law commission will be considered by the Ministry of Law and Justice in consultation with the concerned administrative ministries on respective issues. Like for example if you see law commission prepares a report and recommends to the Ministry of Law and Justice on IT Act for example say the Information Technology Act then the Ministry of Law and Justice will have a brief consultation with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology nothing but the May tea. Then the Ministry of Law and Justice will pass on the recommendations to the parliament that is it will submit to the parliament from time to time. So whatever reports that are prepared by the law commission are cited in the courts then also in the academic and public discourses and actions for some recommendations that are made by the law commissions are also taken by the concerned government departments. So this is based on the government's recommendations. So if the government thinks that it needs to recommend some of the recommendations of the law commission then it will direct the government departments to implement it. We saw that so far 21 law commissions have been appointed by the government since independence. The latest commission which is the 21st law commission was constituted through a government order with effect from 1st of September 2015 and it also had a three year term and this three year term ended on 31st of August, 2018. So the government has not appointed any law commission after August of 2018. Now the news article tells that the new law commission will be appointed soon and the law ministry has initiated the process of setting up this body. A proposal will be placed before the union cabinet in the next few days regarding the formation of this new law commission. Now after the term of the 21st law commission ended only once the law ministry moved a proposal to reconstitute the new law commission but the proposal could not move further and also the election process started in full swing in India. So it could not move further. Now again the law ministry has initiated to reconstitute a new law commission. Now let us see some of the important issues that were discussed by this 21st law commission. If you see the 21st law commission had submitted reports on key issues like on simultaneous polls, the simultaneous elections and also on uniform civil court. See the law commission had supported simultaneous elections but it had said that the time was not tried for an uniform civil court which means the country needs to wait for some more years to bring in this uniform civil court. Then the newspaper tells that the law commission is usually headed by a former Supreme Court judge or a former chief justice of a high court. We saw that the law commission is constituted by a government order. So we can tell that it is not a statutory body or a permanent body. It is usually formed with a term of only three years. You can also call law commission as a non-statutory body year since it is not formed by any statute or law. If you see in the year 2015, proposal was initiated to make the law commission into a permanent body either through an act of parliament or an executive order that is through the resolution of the union cabinet. This move was not considered by the prime minister's office if you see since they felt that the present system itself should continue. So if the law commission is made as a permanent body by an act or a statute of a parliament then it will be called as a statutory body and if it is made as a permanent body by an executive order then it will be called as an executive body. So just know the difference between what is meant by a statutory body and what is called as an executive body. Then even in 2010, the then United Progressive Alliance government which was headed by Manmohan Singh had prepared a draft cabinet note in order to give the statutory status to this law commission and the law ministry also initiated to bring the law commission of India Bill 2010 but both these ideas were not accepted and they were just shut. So remember that as of now law commission is not a permanent body. Also throughout a discussion we saw that law commission is an advisory body and we also saw that law commission is a non-statutory body. Now let us know about law commission that was present before independence. The first law commission was established in the year 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833 and this first law commission was established under the chairmanship of Lord McCauley and it recommended the codification of the penal code and then the criminal procedure code. So remember the first law commission that was formed before independence from exam point of view. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the orchids. The syllabus for this news article is displayed here for your reference. Let us now see the news article. The news article tells that the Botanical Survey of India has recently prepared the first comprehensive survey or census of orchids in India and this survey is titled as Orchids of India, a Pictorial Guide and even was organized on the occasion of World Environment Day that is on 5th of June. In that event the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has released a book which was titled as Orchids in India, Pictorial Guide. This book presents an updated census of around 1256 species which comes under 155 genera of Indian orchids with photographs of more than 775 species. So when we say genera in the overall hierarchy of classification this genera is in taxonomy category ranking which comes below the family and which is above the species category if you have seen this picture. So genera means a plural form of genus and it designates a group of species that are closely related and are usually exhibiting similar characteristics. In other words you can tell that a genus is a group of species that are closely related through common descent that is evolved from a common ancestor. So a group of species together form a genus and like that two or more genus together form a family. Now the news article called this updated census on orchids as the first comprehensive census of orchids in India. IUCN the International Union for Conservation of Nature says that eight percentage of all the flowering plants are orchids at the global level. This means that the remaining 92 percentage of the flowering plants are not orchids. So in what way the orchids as flowering plants are different from other flowering plants? If you see orchids belong to the family of orchidaceae and the differentiating feature of this particular orchid is that the male portion which is the stamen and the female portion which is called as pistol are fused into one structure which is called as column. So this is the main differentiating feature when you compare with the normal flowering plants and the column of orchids is called as the fused sexual organ of an orchid flower. Now the news article says that the complex structure facilitates biotic cross pollination and it also makes them evolutionarily superior when compared to other plant group. Now you need to know what is meant by biotic cross pollination. It refers to the pollination by biotic agents where the pollen grains are transferred from the answer of one flower into the stigma of another flower. Then the news article talks about three categories of orchids which are epiphytic orchids, next the terrestrial orchids and then the mycoheterotrophic orchids. Here the epiphytic orchids are those plants that are growing on other plants. The article says that this category also includes those orchid plants that grow on rock boulders. So these plants are called as lithophytes. Litho means rock. Next we have the terrestrial orchid plants. These are those orchid plants which grow on land. Then the third category is mycoheterotrophic orchids. These are those orchid plants that derive the nutrients from the mycorrhizal fungi which is present in the roots of vascular plants. It is said that majority of the orchid plants that is around a 60 percentage of the orchid species in India are epiphytic plants and these epiphytic orchids are abundant up to 1,800 meter above the sea level and their presence decreases with the increase in altitude. So if the height increases, then their presence decreases. Now these terrestrial orchids are abundant in temperate region and in the alpine region. When we mean temperate region, the region between the tropic of cancer and the arctic circle in the northern hemisphere and the region between the tropic of Capricon and the Antarctic circle in the southern hemisphere is called the temperate region. The climate of the temperate region can also be seen in the tropical areas but it depends on the altitude or the height of the location and also the temperature of that particular location. If you see in your NCRT book named India Physical Environment in a particular chapter on natural vegetation, it says that the temperate vegetation can be noted in western Ghats, then in Windias and also in the Neal Grease even though they come under the tropical zones but the temperate climatic factors are noted in those higher areas where the altitude is 1,500 meters above the mean sea level. The news article says that mycoheterotrophic orchids are found in association with ectomycorrhizal fungi in the temperate regions and they are found in association with parasites in the tropical regions. Now, heterotrophic plants are those plants which cannot produce their own food but they get their nutrients from other sources. So, mycoheterotropes obtain their nutrition indirectly from other plants through the mycorrhizal fungus. Here, ectomycorrhizal fungus is one type of mycorrhizal fungus. The mycorrhizal fungus is attached to the roots of a food generating plant and this fungus will act as a bridge between the food generating or the autotrophic plant and the mycoheterotroph. So, the nutrients flow from the autotrophic plant root to the mycorrhizal fungus and from this fungus, the nutrients will go to the mycoheterotroph orchids. So, these are the different categories of orchids which we have seen. Now, according to the updated census the highest number of orchid species is recorded from Arunachal Pradesh. Then it is followed by the state of Sikkim. Then the news article also states that the northeast India ranked first in species concentration or you can tell species density if you take it region-wise. Next, the western gods have high endemism of orchids. When we mean endemism, it means the characteristic feature of certain number of species that can live only in a particular restricted range of habitat. If we say that an orchid species is endemic to western gods, then it means that the particular orchid species will not be able to live or grow in any other area other than this western gods. So, if we take the region or zone where there are more orchid species which are endemic, then western gods comes first. One-third of the endemic orchids which are found in India are found in these western gods. Next, in terms of biogeographic zones, the Himalayan zone is the richest in terms of orchid species which is followed by the northeastern zone. This is with respect to the number of species only and not with respect to the species concentration. The news article also mentions that the entire orchid family is listed for protection from illegal international trade under appendix 2 of Sites Convention. Here, Sites stands for Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Therefore, the news article says that the illegal trade of wild orchids is banned globally. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the protective measures that have been suggested by the Ministry of Shipping to conserve the Gangetic Dolphins. Now, the syllabus for this news article is mentioned here for your reference. The Ministry of Shipping has suggested several measures to mitigate or to minimize the adverse effects on Gangetic Dolphins. In Vikram Shila Gangetic Dolphins Sanctuary, if you see these measures were answered in response to the question which was asked by a member of parliament in Lok Sabha. So, the discussion was on the concerns that were raised over this Jalmar Vikas project, which is being implemented in National Waterway 1 by the Ministry of Shipping. Here, you have to note that Vikram Shila Gangetic Dolphins Sanctuary is India's only Dolphin Sanctuary and it is located in the state of Bihar. If you see, this sanctuary extends from Sulthanganj to Kahalganj on River Ganga in the state of Bihar and this sanctuary forms a part of National Waterway 1. Now, you need to know about this National Waterway 1. National Waterway 1 extends from Prayagrach that is the Urstvel Allahabad to Haldia on the Ganges Bhagirathi Hoogli River system and this is the longest waterway in India and its length is about 1,620 kilometers. Now, let us see some important facts about these Gangetic River Dolphins. They are the freshwater river dolphins which are found in the countries of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. They are one of the four freshwater dolphin species found in the world. If you see the other freshwater dolphin species are found in Amazon River in South America, then Yangtze River in the country of China and then also in the Indus River. Now, these Gangetic River dolphins that are present in India are protected under Schedule I of Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Then they also come under the Endangered Category in your IUCN Red List. Your IUCN stands for International Union for Conservation of Nature. Then they are also protected from illegal international trading under Appendix I of Sites. Your Sites stands for Conventional International Trading Endangered Species. Next, let us see about Jalmark Vikas Project. This Jalmark Vikas Project is being implemented by the Inland Waterways Authority of India in National Waterway No. 1 along with the technical and financial help of World Bank. The objectives of this Jalmark Vikas Project are capacity augmentation of navigation in National Waterway 1. That is to improve the navigation and then low-cost freight carriage. So, all these will boost the economic growth and generate employment in those areas. The main criticism if you see which is related to this project is that this project could adversely affect the ecosystem and biodiversity in Ganges because they are going to augment the navigation. That is they are going to improve the commercial activities on the Ganges River. So, it would lead to affecting the ecosystem and biodiversity in the Ganges River. So, this is the main criticism on this particular project. We saw that Inland Waterways Authority of India is implementing this Jalmark Vikas Project. So, let us see something about Inland Waterways Authority of India. This Inland Waterways Authority of India was formed in the year 1986 under the Ministry of Shipping. So, as an additional information, the government through the National Waterways Act of 2016 as per the provisions of section 2-3, it has declared 106 more waterways as national waterways. So, now the total number of national waterways in India is 111. Before this act, if you see, there were only five national waterways. The Ministry of Shipping has suggested several recommendations based on the comprehensive environmental and social impact assessment study which was conducted on National Waterway No. 1. They are firstly, to restrict the speeds of vessels and limiting the blowing of sirens and horns. Here, the vessels speed would be restricted to 2.7 knots within this Vikram Shila, Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary area in order to reduce the noise generation from the propellers. When we say 1 knot, it is equal to 1 nautical mile per hour which is approximately 1.852 kilometers per hour. Next is sirens or signals should be used to push away the dolphins whenever they are spotted within this particular sanctuary. Secondly, if you see propeller guards and dolphin deflectors will be provided in fishing vessels in order to minimize the accidents. And then non-toxic paints would also be used for painting the vessels that are navigating within this sanctuary. Now, several environmental experts, members from IUCN and Wildlife Trust of India have raised their concerns with respect to these mitigation measures. Let us see one by one now. First one is there is a lack of coordination among different government agencies. For example, if you see, the forest department of the state of Bihar is responsible for the maintenance of this Vikram Shila, Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary. But they have not received any notification from the concerned department regarding the vessel movements or any other mitigation measures which are to be taken in this Vikram Shila, Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary. So, this shows the lack of coordination between the stakeholders. The second problem is about the limited understanding of the behavior and habitat of the Gangetic Dolphins. Now, one of the suggested measure was to use sirens in order to move away the dolphins once they are spotted. But if you see, they are very much difficult to spot. So, using sirens to move the dolphins away would not only disturb the dolphins but also other aquatic animals. So, this shows a lack of understanding of the behavior of the dolphins. Next, in order to develop navigation and fried carriage within this river, we need to dredge the riverbed. So, dredging means removal of sediments and debris in the riverbed in order to facilitate shipping and navigation. But experts say that this would disturb the river ecosystem and the geomorphology. That is, it would change the entire geographical characteristic of that particular river so that the biodiversity of that river would also be affected. Finally, if you see, if you environmental experts have proposed that the mitigation measures should not only be limited to this Vikram Shila, Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary but also to the entire habitat of Gangetic Dolphins. This is because the habitat of Gangetic Dolphins is not just limited to this Vikram Shila, Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary but across the entire course of river Ganges. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Now, have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the practice question discussion session. This question is about the Kartarpur Corridor and they have given two statements and they have asked you to choose the correct statements. The first statement is, the Kartarpur Corridor is a proposed corridor between India and Pakistan. And the second statement is, the pilgrims have to cross river Sutlej in order to reach the Kartarpur Darbar Sahil. Here, the first statement is correct. We saw that the Kartarpur Corridor is a proposed corridor between India and Pakistan. From the Indian side, a four-lane highway will be constructed from Dera Baba Nanak to the international border. And from the international border on the Pakistan side till Kartarpur Sahil, Pakistan will construct a road. So, the first statement is correct. And now the pilgrims have to cross river Ravi in order to reach the Kartarpur Darbar Sahil because once they cross the Pakistan border, they have to travel some way by road and then they have to cross river Ravi. And we also saw in our today's news that a bridge has been proposed to be built on river Ravi. So, the river Sutlej is the wrong answer here. So, the second statement is wrong here. And the question is asked for the correct statements. So, the correct answer is option E11D. Moving on to the next question. The question is, consider the following statements regarding law commission. And the first statement is, the law commission of India is a non-statutory body which is constituted by the government of India. This statement is correct. The law commission is constituted by a government order and it is not by any statute or any act of the parliament. So, the law commission is a non-statutory body. So, the first statement is correct here. The second statement tells that it is a permanent body. Now, this statement is wrong. We saw that 21 law commissions have been formed so far and each add a term of three years. It means that they are not permanent and they are constituted each and every time by the government once the three year period expires. So, it is not a permanent body. So, the second statement is wrong here. The question is asked for the correct statements. So, the correct answer is option A11D. Moving on to the next question. Consider the following statements and they have given two statements. The first statement is, the botanical survey of India is responsible for undertaking intensive floristic surveys and collecting accurate and detailed information on the occurrence, distribution, ecology and economic utility of flowering plants. Know that the botanical survey of India was established in the year 1890 with the objectives of exploring the plant resources of the country and identifying plant species with economic value. One of the main objectives of this botanical survey of India is to undertake intensive floristic surveys and collecting accurate and detailed information on the occurrence, distribution, ecology and economic utility of plants in the country. In our first statement, it is given as flowering plants. It is also a type of plant. So, the first statement is correct. Now, if they had given flowering plants only, then that particular statement is wrong. But it is a generalized statement given as flowering plants. So, the statement is correct. Now, if it is in the fulfillment of this responsibility, the botanical survey of India has prepared the updated senses of certain flowering plants called as orchids. So, the first statement is correct. The second statement says that botanical survey of India comes under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. During our analysis, we saw that the updated senses for orchids, which was prepared by botanical survey of India, was released by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This is because the botanical survey of India comes under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Therefore, the second statement is wrong. The question is asked for the correct statements. Here, only the first statement is correct. So, the correct answer is option A, one only. Moving on to the next question, consider the following statements with reference to Gangetic River Dolphins. The first statement is Gangetic River Dolphins or the National Aquatic Animal of India. This statement is correct. Gangetic River Dolphins were declared as the National Aquatic Animal of India in the year 2009 in order to save the river dolphins from extinction because their numbers were diminishing at a very faster rate in the recent past. So, they were declared as National Aquatic Animal. So, the first statement is correct here. Now, the second statement tells that they are the only freshwater river dolphins which are found in the world. Now, this statement is wrong because during our analysis, we saw that there are four freshwater dolphin species across the world. One was found in the River Ganges which we saw in today's news article. Then we also saw that there are some freshwater dolphins which are located or found in the Amazon River in South America, next in Yangtze River in the country of China and also in the Indus Rivers. So, the second statement is wrong here. The question is asked for the correct statements. The correct answer is option A, one only. Moving on to the next question. Now, take this as a practice question because sometimes very easy questions or easy facts can easily confuse you during the exams. Now, the question says that the famous Kartarpur Corridor has its Indians set in which of the following states and they have given four states which are Jammuan, Kashmir, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. Now, all the four states which are given in these options share the international border with Pakistan. So, easily you cannot eliminate any of the options but with a guess you can eliminate Gujarat and Rajasthan because we saw that River Ravi is flowing between the Kartarpur Saheb and Indian border. So, it has to be either Jammuan, Kashmir or Punjab. Know that from the Indian side this Kartarpur Corridor will be located in the Gurudaspur district of Punjab state. So, the correct answer here is option D, Punjab state. It is not Jammuan, Kashmir. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice question discussion session. 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