 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar Ayur's academy for the date 21st March. These are the news articles chosen for today's discussion. They are given along with the page number of different traditions. Link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping for the discussed articles are given in the description box as well as the comment section for the benefit of the mobile viewers. Now let us start with the first article. This article talks about the latest developments in the detection of gravitational waves. So let us discuss about gravitational waves. Syllabus for reference is displayed on the screen as friends can make note of it. So what are gravitational waves? Gravitational waves are ripples in space. They are invisible. They are incredibly fast. They travel at the speed of light. They squeeze and stretch anything in their path as they pass by. We have known about gravitational waves for a long time. See, more than 100 years ago Albert Einstein predicted that something special happens when two bodies like planet, stars orbit each other. He believed that this kind of movement could cause ripples in space. These ripples would spread out like the ripples in a pond when a stone is tossed in. Einstein predicted these ripples are gravitational waves. The most powerful gravitational waves are created when objects move at very high speeds. For example, when a star explodes or when two big stars orbit each other or even when two black holes orbit each other and merge. But these types of objects that create gravitational waves are far away and sometimes these events only cause small, weak gravitational waves. They are very weak by the time they reach Earth. So it makes them hard to detect. Then how was gravitational waves detected by us? In 2015, scientists detected gravitational waves by building a very sensitive instrument called LIGO. LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory. Using this LIGO, the first gravitational waves were detected. It detected the waves, which happened when two black holes crashed into one another. It is important to know that this collision happened almost 1.3 billion years ago. But the ripples didn't make it to Earth until 2015. What is LIGO? LIGO is made up of two observatories. One is in Louisiana and another is in Washington, USA. Each observatory has two long arms. They are four kilometers in length. How does LIGO work? When a gravitational wave passes by Earth, it squeezes and stretches space. LIGO simply detects the squeezing and stretching. A passing gravitational wave causes the length of the arms of the LIGO to change slightly. When this happens, the observatory uses lasers, mirrors and extremely sensitive instruments to detect these tiny changes. Here, we must also know about LIGO. LIGO is the Indian initiative in gravitational wave observations. LIGO aims to set up advanced experimental facilities with appropriate theoretical and computational support to study gravitational waves. LIGO has been involved in constructing the Indian roadmap for gravitational wave astronomy since 2009. The current major LIGO plan is to set up LIGO India project. LIGO India is a planned advanced gravitational wave detector to be located in India. It is to be built and operated in collaboration with LIGO USA. Australia, Germany and the UK are also involved in this project. The project has received the approval from the Indian government. It is scheduled for completion in 2024. This project is built in the Ingoli district of Maharashtra. Now, let us move to the next article. Now, let us take up this news article. As the title denotes, the article talks about the findings related to the Indian monsoon. See, according to this article, recent research has shown that the present monsoon climate in Australia is similar to the monsoon that India was witnessing 25 million years ago. So, in this light, let us discuss in brief about monsoon and the important points from the article. Syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen. Aspirants can make note of it. What is monsoon? See, the word monsoon is derived from the Arabic word mausam. It literally means season. Monsoon are periodical seasonal winds that reverse their direction according to the change in season. As we all know, India has hot monsoonal climate. This climate is prevalent climate in South and Southeast Asia. Indian monsoon is the most powerful among the monsoons of the world due to its favorable geographical location at the southern edge of the Asian continent. According to the plate tectonics theory, about 300 million years ago, earth surfaces consisted of only two great land masses. They are Laurasia and Gondwana land. Gondwana land contained India, South America, Africa, and Australia. About 200 million years ago, this Gondwana land broke up and the land mass started drifting away from each other. During this process, India moved northward and occupied a portion across the equator about 50 million years ago. In course of time, it moved further northward and collided with northern Asia which gave rise to the present Himalaya mountains. During its movement, India passed through different latitudes to attain its present portion. In this course of time, India also experienced different climatic conditions which finally led to a present monsoon climate. See, this evolution of the monsoon climate in India is not fully understood. Despite decades of research, the monsoon continues to puzzle the scientist. There is always a question about the kind of climate that prevailed in India prior to the monsoons. Scientists assure that India wouldn't have experienced a monsoon type of climate while it moved over the southern higher latitudes. This is because monsoon is basically a tropical phenomenon. Scientists believe the monsoon type of climate first appeared on India when it entered the subtropical belt of the southern hemisphere. A recent research has shown that the monsoon system that we are now experiencing dates back to 25 million years. But till now, there is no proper understanding on the evolution of this climate. In order to find answers to such questions, fossil leaves from Deccan volcanic province, East Garoilles, Gurah mine and Makum coalfield were collected. These fossils belong to different geological ages like 65, 57, 54 and 25 million years ago respectively. Researchers use the adaptation technique to analyze these fossils. See the morphological characters like the apex, base and shape of the leaves gets altered according to the prevailing weather and climatic conditions. This is the mechanism of adaptation. Researchers applied this knowledge to the fossils and found out that the fossil leaves were adapted to an Australian type of monsoon. They were not adapted to the current Indian monsoon system. From this observation, they found out that the monsoon climate in the present Australia is similar to the monsoon that India was witnessing 25 million years ago. Further study also revealed that the fossil sites at warm climates with temperatures varying from 16.3 to 21.3 degree Celsius. In addition to that, they also found out that these fossil sites also experienced higher rainfall between 191.6 centimeter to 232 centimeter. So in conclusion, India is one of the best samples to study the biogeochanges as it has crossed from southern hemisphere to northern hemisphere. By understanding the evolution of the Indian monsoon, we can conserve the modern biodiversity hotspots and we can predict the monsoon better. Now let us move on to the next article. This article is about the views of an IIT professor on Nithya Yog's plan for development of Andaman and Nicobar islands. See, Nithya Yog had recently put forward its plan for the sustainable development of little Andaman island. So in this article, the author criticizes this plan on account of environmental concerns. Let us see about this article now. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen. Asperands can make note of it. Recently, Nithya Yog gave a plan called sustainable development of little Andaman island vision document. This plan includes building a new Greenfield coastal city. This Greenfield coastal city will be developed as a free trade zone which will compete with Singapore and Hong Kong. This project also includes a worldwide airport, a seaport and a 100 kilometer Greenfield ring highway. For this project, the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, NBWL had recently denotified the entire area of Galatia Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. It was done for the development of a new port. Here the denotification means the cancellation of the previous notification issued by the government with respect to the protection of an area. See, when it comes to Galatia Bay, it is ecologically very significant. This Bay is home to the indigenous Shampen community. The author fears that the areas proposed for the project are important foraging grounds of this Shampen community. The author also believes it violates the official Shampen policy of 2015. According to this policy, the welfare and integrity of Shampen people should be given priority when it comes to the large-scale development proposals of Great Nicaragua Islands. With the denotification, the large forest areas could be inaccessible and useless for this Shampen tribes. Since the article mentions Andaman and Nicaragua Islands, it is important to learn about it. Andaman and Nicaragua Islands are a union territory in India. It consists of two groups of islands which are situated at the southern eastern edge of Bay of Bengal. These islands are actually the peaks of a submerged mountain range. When it comes to Andaman, it comprises of more than 300 islands. North, Middle and South Andaman are collectively known as Great Andaman. They are the main Other important islands include Landfall Island, Interview Island, the Sentinel Island, Richies Archipelago and Rutlands Island. Little Andaman in the south is separated from the Nicaragua Islands by the 10-degree channel. When it comes to Nicaragua, it consists of 19 islands. Among them, the most important are Car Nicaragua in the north, Kemurta, Kachal and Nankauri in the center and Great Nicaragua About 45 km northeast of North Andaman lies Myanmar and about 160 km to the southwest of Great Nicaragua lies the Sumatra Indonesia. Now talking about the climate, Andaman and Nicaragua Islands experiences tropical climate. But this tropical climate is moderated by the sea breezes. When it comes to flora and fauna, the great majority of the islands are covered with dense tropical forests. These forests support a broad spectrum of flora and fauna. The population of Andaman and Nicaragua Islands can be divided into two groups, non-tribal population and the tribal population. The non-tribal population came to Andaman and Nicaragua when the British colonized it. When it comes to the tribal groups, they can be split into two, mainly based on their place of origin. The Andaman Islands are owned to four Negrito tribes like the Great Andamanis, Ongay, Jarawa and Sentinel. When it comes to Nicaragua Islands, they are owned to two Mongolite tribes, the Shampen and Nicobaris. Now, let us see about Galatia National Park. Galatia National Park is located on the island of Great Nicobar in the Nicobar Islands. It belongs in the Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve. The park is owned to rare and unique species of flora and fauna. Many of them are exclusively found here owing to the geographical conditions prevailing in the island. Flora of the region mostly comprises tropical and subtropical moist, broadly forest. And the fauna includes giant leatherback turtle, water monitor lizard, reticulated python, Nicobar tree shrews, wild pig, robber crab, megapod, Nicobar pigeon, palm civet, Nicobar longtail mecca, saltwater crocodile, Malayan box turtle and fruit bat, etc. This park is the prime nesting habitat of Nicobar megapod. In addition to that, India's National Marine Turtle Action Plan has listed Galatia Bay as one of the important coastal and marine biodiversity areas, and important marine turtle habitats in the country. It comes under Coastal Regulation Zone 1 which offers maximum protection. Finally, let us see about Shampen tribes. Shampen tribes are an ancient semi-nomadic tribe living in the small scattered settlement of Great Nicobar Islands. They are living in the areas of Galatia, Alexandria, Dagmar and Jubilee river basins and the sea coast. Know that they follow primitive conditions of living. The Shampen are sharply dwindling in number so there is urgent need to save this population from extinction. Now let us move on to the next article. The United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin is on a three-day visit to India. This visit is an important outrage by the new US administration. In this context, let us discuss Indo-US defense ties. A syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen. Aspirants can make note of it. In today's geopolitical scenario, various issues have shaped the Indo-US defense ties. Most influential among them has been China and the Indo-Pacific region. India and US have also signed various defense deals. For example, Lemoa, Bekka, Comcaza are some of the defense deals signed by India and the US. These agreements are called the foundational agreements as they form the basis of defense ties between the US and other countries. These agreements are four in number. Let us go over them one by one. The first and the less popular one is Jismoa. It was signed by India in 2002. C. Jismoa Agreement prescribes security standards and protocols for safeguarding information shared by the US with India. This was followed by Lemoa. Lemoa means Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement. It is a tweaked version of Logistic Supply Agreement that the US makes with other defense partners like Japan and Australia. Lemoa gives access to designated defense facilities for fuel and replenishment. This agreement covers four principal areas. Four principal areas are port calls, bilateral military exercises, training, humanitarian and disaster relief. India signed Lemoa in 2016. Next comes Comcaza. Comcaza means Communication Capability and Security Agreement. It is an India-specific version of Jismoa. Jismoa is Communication Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement. It allows India to use USA's Encrypted Communication Systems. By doing so, it improves the interoperability of forces. It also increases the coordination between both the US and Indian forces. India signed Comcaza in 2018. Next is Beka. Beka is a basic exchange and cooperation agreement. Beka will help India get real-time access to American geospatial intelligence. So, this will enhance the accuracy of automated systems and weapons like missiles and arm rooms. Through the sharing of information on maps and satellite images, it will help India access topographical and aeronautical data. Besides, it will also aid in navigation and targeting by providing access to high-quality GPS. As you can see, there has been a progressive increase in the defense engagement of India with the US. Besides these, other agreements like Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, DTTI, 2015 framework for the US-India defense relationship, joint strategic vision for the Asia Pacific, and Indian Ocean region approved rewarding in US-India defense ties. Ties between India and US seem rosy at the first glance, but the challenges in furthering the relationship remains. Now, let us see about the challenges. Firstly, India is struggling to maintain a neutral posture with respect to Russia. India plans of buying S-400 Triumph missiles from Russia. S-400 Triumph is an air defense anti-aircraft missile system developed by Russia. It has been praised as one of the most advanced air defense systems of the world. India is in talks with Russia to buy S-400 for two major reasons. One is efficiency and effectiveness, the other is cost factor. Obviously, USA does not like the India's plan of purchase. Even in the recent high-level visit, this point was raised by the US defense secretary. Also, any purchase of weapons from Russia is susceptible to sanctions under Katzah. Katzah means countering America's adversaries through sanctions act. Katzah was primarily enacted to push Russian influence. See, this act intent to sanctions those countries that have a significant difference or intelligence dealing with Russia. Previously, North Korea and Iran have been subject to sanctions under this act. More relevantly, Turkey was subject to this act for the purchase of S-400. So, India carries the risk of being subject to this act. What can be done to avoid such sanctions? See, there is an exception clause in Katzah. By using diplomatic engagement, we can invoke the exception clause in this Katzah. India should also convince the US that India was on talks with Russia regarding S-400 even before Katzah was enacted in 2017. In addition to that, we can also use other areas of Indo-US engagement like Quad to gain an exemption from Katzah sanctions. Now, let us move to the next article. This article is about NASA's inside spacecraft mission to Mars. Inside spacecraft mission has made an estimate of the size of the Martian core. See, the Mars core is about half the size of Earth's core. It roughly measures between 1008-10 and 1008-60 kilometers. The Martian core might have lighter elements like oxygen in addition to iron and sulfur. First, let us see about Mars in brief. As we know, Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is a dusty, cold-desert planet with a very thin atmosphere. Mars is a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes. One day on Mars takes a little over 24 hours. Mars makes a complete orbit around the Sun in 687 Earth days. Mars has a thin atmosphere made of carbon dioxide, argon, nitrogen, and a small amount of oxygen and water vapor. Most importantly, Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos. Mars has no rings. As we already know, Mars is also known as the Red Planet. It is because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize causing the soil and atmosphere to look red. So far, several missions have visited Mars. First, let us see about the Inside mission. Inside stands for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigation, GeoAC and E-Transport. Inside mission is a Mars lander designed to give the Red Planet its first thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago. It is also the outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the inner space of Mars including its crust, mantle, and core. The lander uses cutting-edge instruments to delve deep beneath the Martian surface and understand the process that formed the terrestrial planets. Know that Inside mission is a part of NASA's Discovery program. Discovery program, which began in 1992, invites scientists and engineers to assemble a team to design exciting, focused planetary science missions that would deepen what we know about the solar system and our place in it. Now, speaking of other Martian mission, MOM, India's Mars Orbiter Mission or Mangalyaan, was the country's first mission to the Red Planet. The mission aims to test key technologies for interplanetary exploration and to use its science instruments to study the Martian surface and atmosphere from orbit. The mission has safely arrived in Martian orbit in 2014. Another important mission to Mars is China's Tianwen-1. Tianwen-1 recently arrived in the Martian orbit. The scientific objectives of the mission are to study Martian topography and geology, characterize the soil, and its water ice content. Now, let us move on to the next article. Now, this news article from Page 1 talks about the Ministry of Home Affairs, transferring a case to the National Investigation Agency from the Maharashtra Police. So, in this context, let us have a brief understanding about the National Investigation Agency. The NIA is the Central Counterterrorism Law Enforcement Agency in the country. It was created in 2008 as a result of Mumbai terror attack. NIA investigates and prosecutes offenses which affects the sovereignty, security, and integrity of India. It was constituted under the National Investigation Agency NIA Act 2008 under the Ministry of Home Affairs. NIA Act extends to the whole of India, to citizens of India, outside India, to person in the service of the government wherever they may be, to person on ships and aircrafts registered in India wherever they may be. NIA Agency is headquartered in New Delhi and has eight regional officers across India. The main objective of the NIA is to execute in-depth professional investigation of schedule offenses using the latest scientific methods of investigation. Cases involving atomic nuclear facilities, smuggling, high quality counterfeit Indian currency are also dealt by NIA. The list of schedule offenses are given here for your reference. State may also request the center to hand over the investigation of a case to the NIA if there is a reasonable ground to suggest the commission of a schedule offense under the NIA Act in the said crime. Also, center has the authority to issue directions to NIA to so motto take over the investigation of a case. Central government is also authorized to constitute special courts for trial of the schedule offenses. Note that an appeal on any judgment, sentence, or order of the special court shall go to the I court. In 2019, an amendment was made to the 2008 NIA Act. The amendment aims to enhance the jurisdiction of the NIA to investigate schedule offenses committed outside India, targeting India, as well as Indian assets abroad. This amendment will enable the NIA to additionally investigate offenses related to human trafficking, counterfeit currency, manufacture or sale of prohibited arms, cyber terrorism, and offenses under explosive substances Act 1908. It also provides for constituting special courts for the trial of schedule offenses human trafficking and cyber terrorism. Now let us come to the practice questions. Consider the following types, Anga, Jarava, Sentinel, Shamp and Angami, which of the above are inhabitants of Andaman and Nicobar islands. See option 1234 belong to Andaman and Nicobar islands, whereas Angami are a major Naga ethnic group native to the state of Naga land in northeast India. So the answer is B1234. Now let us go to the next question. Which of the following agreements is slasher related to the Indo-US relationship? Lemoa, JCPOA, Comcast, Beka. Lemoa, Comcast, Beka are the major defense agreements signed between India and the US. JCPOA joint comprehensive plan of action is an agreement related to Iran. So the answer is C134. Now let us come to the third question. Which of the following events could cause a gravitational wave? As we have already discussed in the article, all these three events could cause a gravitational wave. So the answer is D1213. The fourth question is an important one, it appeared in previous prelims question paper 2014. Which one of the following pairs of islands is separated from each other by the 10 degree channel? The answer is A, Andaman and Nicobar. The fifth question. Consider the following statements, the Mangalya launched by Isru is also called the mass orbit remission. This statement is correct. The second statement, the Mangalya launched by Isru made India the second country to have a spacecraft orbit the mass after USA. This statement is wrong. India was the fourth country to have a spacecraft orbit the mass before India, US, Russia and Europe have launched mass mission successfully. Now let us come to the third statement, the Mangalya launched by Isru made India the only country to be successful in making its spacecraft orbit the mass in its very first atom. This statement is right. So the answer is C1 and 3. List of mains practice questions are displayed here. You can write your answer and post in the comment section below. With this, we have come to the end of Hindu news analysis. If you like this video, don't forget to click, like, share and comment. Subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy channel for more UPSC updates. Thank you.