 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy for the day 22nd of July 2019. Displayed at the list of news articles taken up for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Trivandrum editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also in the comment section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our discussion. First let us see an editorial which is about the Right to Information Amendment Bill of 2019. Recently, the Lok Sabha has passed the Right to Information Amendment Bill of 2019. Now this amendment aims to change the term of office and the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of the Chief Information Commissioner, the Information Commissioners, then the State Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioners. The amendment proposes that all these shall be as prescribed by the central government. Now this editorial is a responsive editorial to the passing of this bill at Lok Sabha. The syllabus related to the analysis of this editorial has been highlighted here for your reference. Now let us see the editorial. We know that the Right to Information Act of 2005 aims to set up a practical regime of Right to Information for the citizens in order to secure access to information under the control of public authorities so that transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority will be promoted. Now by paying just Rs. 10, you can file an RTA application under the RTA Act in order to get any information under the Act and the public authority has to reply within 30 days from the date of receiving the RTA application. This RTA Act also has first and second appeal procedures, the second appellate authority at the central level who is the Chief Information Commission which is the Central Information Commission and at the state level it is the State Information Commission. Therefore, this legislation has led to exposing the decisions and the information of the public authorities to the citizens. The authors are saying that it has become a constant challenge to the misuse of power and it has resulted in the fundamental shift that empowers a citizen's access to power and decision making. For example, if you go to a government office and ask some doubt, they may not respond to you generally. But if you pay Rs. 10 and make your application through RTA application under the Act, the government authority is bound to reply to you or else they may be given penalties under the RTA Act as per Section 19, 8C and Section 20 of the Act. Now this section is called as the cornerstone of this RTA Act of 2005. Also note that if the applicant belongs to below poverty line, then he or she need not pay Rs. 10 as fee in order to get information under the RTA Act. A simple way to file an RTA application will be to write the questions you are having and send it to the relevant public information officer of that particular public authority. We have discussed the definition of what is meant by or who is a public authority in our analysis on 20th July 2019 that is day before yesterday. So just have a look at it for further subject clarity. Now, there is no prescribed format for the RTA application so that anyone shall apply and get the information. It should just have the name and address of the applicant and the questions and fees and to whom it is addressed to. So we can tell that this Right to Information Act is also a threat to arbitraryness, privilege and corrupt governance. Now many corrupt recruitment processes of various public authorities were exposed by these RTA responses and many misappropriation and misuse of funds have been exposed by the RTA responses and what not. So this RTA is a challenge to unaccountable power that is if a decision is taken in the government you can ask why or the documents based on which such a decision has been taken and the concerned authority should be accountable by giving the document or the reason why such a decision was taken. If you see we can see around some 40 to 60 lakh users of this RTA Act who ask queries related to from ration shop to even the very appointment of information commissioners. If you want to know how the system works let us take an example now. Let us take some government university and consider that you are a student. Now if you're asking about a program where some corrupt practices happened the information may not be given to you in 30 days. But if you file a first appeal within the next 30 days from the date when you should have received the information from the public information officer then the first appellate authority who is mostly the registrar of a university may send some information about the program that you have requested. But with the limited information that you have received one cannot conclusively say that some illegal activity or misappropriation has happened in the particular program. If you have asked the spending particulars of a program they may not give it to you. Now what happens is that within 90 days from the date when you should have received information from the first appellate authority you have to file the second appeal. The second appellate authority will be the central information commission in terms of matters pertaining to the central government. And it will be the state information commission for matters pertaining to the state government. Here they will mostly order in favor of transparency and accountability. If you see in most of the orders that are given by the central information commission or the state information commission the concerned public authority has to provide or he must provide complete information to the applicant. So this will certainly expose the illegal activity. Thus we can tell that RTA is a challenge to the unaccountable power and the misuse of power. That is why the central information commission and the state information commission are very important in ensuring the access of information to the citizens. Because in most of the cases the public information officer or the first appellate authority may not give the complete information if you see. Now the authors of this editorial are saying that the information commissions at the central and the state level have been working well up to this efficiency because of the independence that is guaranteed to them by the RTA Act of 2005. Now independence is ensured by giving them a fixed term of office. The chief information commissioner is equal to the chief election commissioner in terms of salaries and allowances and also based on other terms and conditions of service. In the same way the information commissioners at the central level and the state chief information commissioner are equal to the election commissioners. And the state information commissioners are equal to the chief secretary to the state government. So by status also they were given independence. But the present bill aims to regressively amend the RTA Act with respect to the term of office and also about the status of the central information commission and the state information commission. Now any amendment that empowers the right to information is progressive and any amendment that aims to reduce the powers term of office, salaries and allowances and the independence of the information commissions is regressive or we can tell it is like going backward. Now by the term going backward it means that we are going back to the traditional structures of secrecy and exclusive control of information within the public authorities. So that no citizens outside the public authority can get the access to information about the functioning of public authorities. Now if this amendment bill is passed in Rajesh Abba and gets the assent of the president then anyone can be appointed to chief information commission and they can be removed at any time from the office. If they should not be removed by the central government from their office then they have to act as per the demands or in other words the whims and fancies of the central government. Hope you now understand why the security of term of office is important for the independent functioning of the central information commission. Only if the central information commission and the state information commissions work independently the citizens will receive complete information that they have asked in their second appeal. Now this independent functioning is also a component of separation of powers. No one can interfere in the functioning. This separation of powers is important to ensure checks and balances to the government which may not give information to the citizens. Just as election commissions are regulating and monitoring elections the information commissions monitor and regulate the matters related to the access of required information for the citizens of the democracy. So both enjoy equal status in a democracy so there is no need to reduce the status of the information commissions which is proposed in the amendment to the RTA Act. Thus the information commissions are committed to deliver justice and constitutional guarantees. Now by the term constitutional guarantees we mean that whatever rights that are guaranteed to the citizens by the Indian constitution. So if the amendment bill becomes an act then the powers related to information access will be centralized and we cannot tell this as a proper democratic functioning. So this will put the democracy into a serious danger. Therefore the authors are saying that the amendment bill has to be understood as a purposefully brought architectural change to affect the power equations like from the information commissions that is from the people to the government. Then from the freedom of information to the lack of information and also from democracy to authoritarianism. So we can tell that or we can see that this will weaken the democracy and also federalism. Now how will it affect federalism? This is because the amendment provisions are saying that the central government will control the rules, terms and conditions of appointment of the members of information commissions in the states. So this takes away the states power to do so. So we can tell that this bill affects federalism because the state will not have any power in this matter. Well the bill affects the independence, democracy and federalism. The manner in which the bill is tabled and passed in Lok Sabha also shows the undemocratic actions of the central government. If you see the bill was pushed in Lok Sabha without any consultation with the citizens or public and the bill was also not examined by the Standing Committee of the Parliament. This demonstrates the desperation shown by the central government to pass the amendment bill without proper parliamentary scrutiny. The authors finally conclude that the set of moves to decrease the independence of the information commissions may amend the act but it will not stop the social movement for the better democracy by fighting for better access of information. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about a cultural festival that has friendly impacts with the environment ecology. The syllabus that is covered based on the analysis of this news article has been highlighted here for your reference. This news article highlights about a festival which is an art form in one of the famous and popular temples in the state of Kerala. That is the Vadakumnath temple which is located in Trishur city where the very famous Purim festival is celebrated in a very grand manner. Now we have discussed this Purim festival in our 14th May 2019 the Hindu news analysis and the link for this news analysis has been given in the description box for your reference. Today's news was about the Ana Yuta festival which was celebrated. Now the term Ana Yuta, Ana means elephant and Utu means feeding. So this is an annual elephant feeding festival. If you see in this festival elephants are worshiped and they will be fed by a large number of people and the elephants were welcomed with garlands and sandal paste with a venue. This year they have said that 53 elephants have participated in the festival and the food will be prepared from a special rice and it will be given to the elephants for eating. It is said that each elephant is given 5 kg of cooked rice then turmeric powder then ghee and also some other herbal medicines and also fruits and vegetables are given which includes fruits like pineapple, plantain and cucumber and even some special Ayurvedic medicines are given for digestion to the elephants. One special feature to note is that the youngest elephant in the herd is fed first that is they are given with the food first. Now the elephants were allowed to the ground only after examination by a veterinary specialist. The elephants in must and those with unruly behavior were not allowed to take part in this festival. When we say elephants with must we refer to those male elephants that have a condition of unpredictable aggressive behavior due to the surge in their testosterone levels. Therefore only those elephants with fitness certificates and apt conduct are allowed for this festival. Now such festivals in Kerala are a special feature because it is said that many of the temples in Kerala are associated with some captive elephants. Now if you see according to the official estimates in the year 2017 India has around 27,000 elephants more than 35 percentage of these elephants are in the north eastern states. But if you see the southern region that is the southern states has the largest number of elephants when you compare to the north eastern region. If you combine both these regions together we can say that around 80 percentage of Indian elephants are located in these two regions. If you see state wise Karnataka has the maximum number of elephants in India. Then this is followed by the state of Assam and then comes Kerala. Now all these numbers and statistics are based on the 2017 official estimates which have been given by the ministry of environment forests and climate change. Now let us see about this elephant Indian elephant it is called as ancient elephant and it comes under the IUCN category of red list under the endangered category. Now it has been said that the population trend of these Asiatic elephants is decreasing. Now kindly note that during our combined analysis for 19th and 20th July we have mentioned that IUCN is established in the year 1964. Now we request you to correct the information because IUCN established the red list of threatened species in the year 1964 but IUCN as an organization was established in the year 1948. We saw that the Indian elephant is also called as Asiatic elephant and it is protected under schedule one of the wildlife protection act of 1972. Then it is also listed under appendix one of the convention on international training endangered species of flora and fauna that is nothing but the sites list. Now as a part of conservation effort to the endangered Asiatic elephant the Indian government has launched project elephant. If you see this project elephant was launched in the year 1992 as a centrally sponsored scheme. So centrally sponsored scheme means a scheme where the center and the states will share for the projects. Now this particular project was launched to protect elephants, their habitat and corridors. When we tell their habitat it means the place they live and when we tell corridors it means the place they move. Then the project was also launched to address the issues of man-animal conflict especially with respect to the elephants and then also to take appropriate measures for the welfare of the captive elephants. When we say captive elephants we mean any elephant that is in permanent or temporary captivity or confinement. It also means any elephant whose mobility is restricted for the purpose of hindering or preventing its escape from the captivity or confinement. This definition is based on section 2 subsection c of the prevention of cruelty to animals act of 1960. Now there is one more definition for what is meant by a captive animal as per the provisions of wildlife protection act of 1972 as per section 2 subsection 5 of the wildlife protection act of 1972 a captive animal means any animal that is any captured animal or kept animal or an animal that is bred in captivity and protected under schedules 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the wildlife protection act of 1972. 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 editorial is about the disadvantages of using the facial recognition systems for the purpose of law enforcement in India. The syllabus with which this editorial analysis can be linked is given here for your reference. Let us now move on to the editorial. If you see we have discussed in detail about the automated facial recognition system during our analysis on 9th July. Now we have tagged the link in the description box for your reference. If you see we have seen what is meant by AFRS that is the automated facial recognition system and the advantages of AFRS in that particular news article which we analyzed on 9th of July. In today's editorial analysis we shall be seeing the disadvantages of the automated facial recognition system. So this is how you build up the current affairs as and when the news article or the editorial comes. So you can list all the disadvantages that we are going to discuss today along with that particular news article which we analyzed on 9th of July. Now let us see the editorial. Recently the Ministry of Home Affairs has proposed the automated facial recognition system. This system will help modernize the police force and it will help the police force in identifying the criminals and also the sharing of information between the different law enforcement agencies or the police units across the country so that their working conditions will be improved. Now this automated facial recognition system will use images from sources like CCTV cameras, newspapers and also the rates. Now once these images are taken it will be easy for the police force to identify the criminals against those records that are existing in the crime and criminal tracking networks and system database nothing but the CCTNS database. Now this CCTNS database is a digital method to store the criminal records and also the sharing of criminal records between the different law enforcement agencies. The author tells that the Ministry of Home Affairs has clarified that using the images of individuals will not violate the privacy of the individuals. Now this is based on the fact that only law enforcement agencies that is the police force only will be able to access the data and that too only for the purpose of tracking the criminals. But the author tells that if we take a closer look at these facial recognition systems and the present legal framework that our country India has it only reveals or shows as that facial recognition system like this AFRS will not only create a biometric map of our faces but also it will track, classify and possibly anticipate our day-to-day activities. So from this we can see that the automated facial recognition system will create a biometric map of our faces and then it will track our entire activities of the day so it might even know where we are traveling the next day as well. So it is like violating the privacy of a individual. Next if you see the author presents a technical approach here the author tells that the system will record the entire activities then the data will be classified that is categorized and then the individual will be questioned to know where he was and then the individual will be questioned to know whether he has done the crime or not. It means that any individuals can be put under the questioning so this means that we are all treated as potential criminals when we walk past a CCTV camera. So we can see that the privacy of the individual is affected here and we cannot tell that only the criminals will be tracked using this automated facial recognition system like how the government tells. Next it is assumed that using this automated facial recognition system will introduce efficiency and speed in enforcing the law and order in India. However it is the opposite with the facts that are currently available to us. The author tells that in the month of August 2018 a facial recognition system which was used by the Delhi police as reported that the accuracy rate was only 2 percentage which means you identify a person and tell that this is person A but that accuracy that particular pictures person A is only 2 percentage. The author tells that worldwide this trend is same that is the accuracy rates of these facial recognition systems are very low even in countries like United Kingdom and also in country like United States. So we can see the efficiency levels are very low for the overall population. By this we can simply tell that the accuracy rates of these facial recognition system will be low even in the case of minorities women and children. So these are the vulnerable sections of the society. Now the author tells that in the criminal justice system these vulnerable groups or the vulnerable sections of the society are over represented. Now if this facial recognition system is introduced then there is every possibility that these vulnerable group or the vulnerable sections of the society will be subjected to false positives. It is nothing but there is every chance that they will be identified as a criminal. So the author is telling that the automated facial recognition systems will affect the vulnerable sections of the society. Next the author is telling that image recognition is an extremely difficult task that means there will be significant errors even during the normal process. Now if they are used in the consequential sectors like law enforcement then the author tells that it would be ineffective and it will give worst results. Here consequential means the result because of a certain action. Now if judgments are given that a person is innocent or criminal based on this automated facial recognition system then we can call the judgment as the result and using the automated facial recognition system as an action. So this is what we call it as consequential. The next fear that the author shares is that the data protection is not possible at all once the face recognition is in place because the entire public activities are recorded and they are analyzed person by person. So this amounts to mass surveillance that is the entire population is being under surveillance. The author tells that India is contemplating or seriously thinking to establish automated facial recognition system at a time when there is no data protection law in the country. So when the law is not available the law enforcement agencies can make use of these details from the automated facial recognition system as per their own discretion that is as per their own wish. The author is calling this as mission creep. Here you need to know the meaning of the term creep. Creep in general sense means you are moving slowly and carefully in order to avoid being heard or noticed. In our context it means the government is collecting the data without the people's knowledge only. The author tells that the personal data protection bill of 2018 is yet to come into force and even if it does the exceptions that are likely to be given to these law enforcement agencies are extremely wide and the author is telling that this is not necessary at all to give such exceptions to these law enforcement agencies. So the author tells that the notion or the perception that sophisticated technology will give greater efficiency needs to be critically analyzed. The author tells that the police departments around the world are currently learning that the technology is practically not useful as it seems in theory. If you see the police departments in London are under pressure to put a complete end to the use of these facial recognition systems after evidences of discrimination and inefficiency were reported. And then if you see in the city of San Francisco which is located in United States the city has recently implemented a complete ban on police use of facial recognition. So the author suggests that India should learn from the mistakes of these developed nations and they must come up with the alternatives instead of immediately implementing this automated facial recognition system in India because throughout the article the author has said that it is not efficient and it is not accurate. So some alternatives must be put forward by India. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. Let us move on to the next news article. In this news article Mrs. Sudha Mutti who is the chairperson of Infosys Foundation has given some insights into the budget proposal regarding the social listing of NGOs which was proposed in the 2019 general budget. So we will be seeing about the insights that have been given by Mrs. Sudha Mutti in this news article. Now the syllabus with which this news article analysis can be linked is given here for your reference. Let us now move on to the news article. The union budget 2019 has proposed to set up a social stock exchange. Now according to Mrs. Sudha Mutti she tells that setting up a social stock exchange will be good for country's social entrepreneurship and social innovation landscape. Now the term social entrepreneurship means companies that are or that will be working into social issues that is they will address the social issues and to address these social issues they will be coming up with innovative solutions. So this is what is meant by social innovation landscape. Now to address this particular section of social entrepreneurship Mrs. Sudha Mutti has said that the proposed social stock exchange will be a good initiative. Now when a company which is involved in social activities that is towards addressing the social issues is publicly listed it usually promotes reliability, accountability and transparency in that particular company. Now when we tell when a company is publicly listed it means that a company's shares will be traded on the stock market so anybody can invest in that particular share. So there will be transparency and accountability in the system or the capital with which that company will run. Now if you see India has been witnessing huge number of NGOs and other social enterprises that are coming up especially after the government made it mandatory that there should be at least 2% corporate social responsibility in the year 2014. Now 2% corporate social responsibility means at least 2% of the profits that a particular company earns has to be spent for the social activities but if you see there are no proper statistics available on who is doing what and also on the size of the fund allocations by these companies and also the actual deliveries at the ground level. Now it is said that the proposed social stock exchange will be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India and it will allow listing of the social enterprises and the voluntary organization. So when a company is listed or publicly listed it will give advantage to those particular companies who are NGOs and also the social ventures access to capital that is access to the money. Then if you see in the news article Mrs. Sudha Muthi has also proposed the idea of performance rating mechanism for the social ventures in the country. She tells that the government must assess all the social ventures and the NGOs in India on the basis of their performance and delivery of the goals and rate them. If you see reliability and transparency at the core of these NGOs nothing but the non-governmental organization so this performance rating mechanism would ensure that NGOs become reliable and transparent in the country. Ultimately this mechanism of performance rating and the access to capital through public listing that is through the social stock exchanges would empower the social innovation ecosystem in India. It will give more opportunities to the social ventures because whenever there is proper money available through a proper route then the social issues can be addressed by these social ventures. Next she also tells that political will is crucial for social activism and philanthropy. Mrs. Sudha Muthi tells that coordinated and quick decision making by the related government departments would result in quick actions and effective outcomes. So when the decision that the government departments make are very quick and also if all the government departments work in a coordinated manner it means that whatever result that we want will be quicker and it will also be effective and we can also save some amount of money when the decisions are taken quick and are implemented quickly. Now to explain this Mrs. Sudha Muthi has cited an example which is regarding the restoration of Panchakalyani lake. Now if you see this is the largest ancient lake which is located in Melakote and this is located in Mandia district of Karnataka. So here Infosys Foundation worked along with the local authorities in order to restore this Panchakalyani lake and Mrs. Sudha Muthi was impressed by the way the local authorities worked in order to give quicker permissions for restoring this particular lake. So she is telling that political will is crucial for social activism and philanthropy. Now to your knowledge let us see about NGOs. NGOs are the non-governmental organizations are the not-for-profit organizations that pursue or continue activities in order to relieve suffering and promote the interests of the poor and they also work towards protecting the environment and also towards providing basic social services and they also undertake community development. Now how these proposals that have been given by Mrs. Sudha Muthi will help. If you see accreditation of NGOs remains an very important issue. Performance-based rating will help to understand whether the NGOs have worked well in their field or they are just established just to receive the government grants and proper certification of NGOs will increase their social credibility and this will help them to function better with people support in their activities whichever they are undertaking. Next boosting the social innovation ecosystem will help the government in policy making as the NGOs would come up with new ideas. Next the foreign funded NGOs are often accused of taking anti-developmental stand in India. Certain NGOs have been accused of diverting funds for organized crimes. Now over dependence on government funds may force certain NGOs to keep silent against the government policies. So all these issues can be solved when a particular NGO is publicly listed. So they would be able to raise the capital from the market under the ages of SEBI and this will bring in transparency in the way they work. Next if you see an electronic fund-raising platform has also been proposed for social and voluntary organizations in order to raise capital debt and mutual fund. If you see the social stock exchanges already exists in countries like United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica and Kenya. So there are three takeaways from this news article. First one is the proposed social stock exchange in the union budget and the second is the proposal of performance rating mechanism by Mrs. Sudha Murthy and third is the political will which is crucial for social activism and philanthropy. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article gives insight into the under-representation of scientists from the schedule casts and the schedule tribes categories in the biotech bodies of the government. The syllabus with which this news article analysis can be linked is given here for your reference. Let us now see the news article. An RTA inquiry has revealed that there is gross under-representation of scientists from the schedule cast and the schedule tribes in the scientific institutions that are funded by the Department of Biotechnology know that the Department of Biotechnology is working under the Ministry of Science and Technology. If you see in the news article, list of scientific institutions that are funded by the Department of Biotechnology is given. It is found that several of these institutions are just meeting the government prescribed reservation criteria. Now the government prescribed reservation criteria is 15 percentage for the schedule casts and 7.5 percentage for the schedule tribes. But despite this reservation to promote better representation of weaker sections, the posts of scientists and technical great staff see very low representation from the reserved categories. Though there is a reservation for the OBCs and the schedule cast and the schedule tribes, this news article is speaking about the reservation and the representation of the schedule casts and the schedule tribes only. We have given the seat of institutions along with the table that was given in the newspaper. If you see in all these institutions that are funded by the Department of Biotechnology, the representation of people from the schedule casts and the schedule tribes as permanent staff is just 15 percentage. But if you see according to the 2011 census of India, the combined proportion of people belonging to both these schedule casts and the schedule tribes are 24.4 percentage of the total population of India. This means that there is under representation of people belonging to the schedule casts and the schedule tribes category in these scientific institutions. Now with respect to the category of scientists, not even a single scientist is from the schedule tribes in 8 out of the 9 institutions that are given in the newspaper. This means that there is a gross under representation of people who are belonging to the schedule tribes for the post of scientists. In the news article, it is mentioned about the Regional Center for Biotechnology. Now let us see in brief about this Regional Center for Biotechnology. It is said that this institute is established under the auspices of UNESCO. The word under the auspices of means with the help of or with the support of India 2006, the Government of India and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, nothing but the UNESCO signed an agreement for the establishment of this Regional Center for Biotechnology. Now based on this agreement, the center started functioning in early 2010 with the support of UNESCO. This center is focused on cooperatively working towards shared biotechnology growth in the Asia Pacific region. Now let us see some of the possible reasons why the people from the schedule casts and the schedule tribes are underrepresented and also what can be done to improve their representation in the higher institutions. Though reservation has provided opportunities for the under-privileged to complete their graduation, the number of people completing post-graduation and the PhD that is the doctorate from both these schedule casts and the schedule tribes are still less. They may be forced or influenced to take up jobs immediately after graduation due to the financial constraints. Then there are news reports of discrimination faced by these post-graduate students from their guides and also from their peer groups. At times, these students have allegedly taken extreme step of ending their life. If you see the guides are not evaluating their projects, then they address the students with their cast name and they also do not support their research. So reports like these are coming often in the news. So this must be seriously looked into and actions should be taken against the offenders. Next, awareness should be given through print and visual medias in the vernacular languages about the vacancies in different government departments and also for the tests that are conducted to fill these vacancies. So this would take the information to the local levels. Next, the benefits of reservation are enjoyed by the top layer of eligible people. Here when we say top layer of eligible people, we are talking about the top layer within this SCST category. This is because only the top layer of this eligible people are getting reservation. They continue to get into positions but others from the same group are not in the race. So we could see some differences in getting the appointment even within the people who are belonging to these scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes. Therefore, the National Commission for SC, then the National Commission for STs and also the National Commission for Minorities must take adequate measures to provide equal opportunities to all the eligible sections of the society. With this, we come to the end of the analysis of this news article. Let us move on to the practice question discussion session. The first question is, consider the following statements and they have given two statements and I have asked you to choose the correct statements. The first statement tells that the right to information is a fundamental right which is explicitly mentioned in the Indian Constitution. Know that right to information is not mentioned explicitly in the Indian Constitution. But if you see the Supreme Court has stated the fact that right to information is an implied right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. Now, this Article 21 speaks about right to life and personal liberty. So, the first statement is wrong here. Let us see the second statement. The second statement tells that better access to the information of the public authorities is a progressive measure of transparency and accountability. Now, the statement is correct. With better access to information about the functioning of the public authorities, the government becomes more transparent and accountable. So, the second statement is correct here. Now, the question is asked for the correct statements. The correct answer is option B21B. Moving on to the next question, the question is given two statements which is regarding the project elephant and it has asked you to choose the correct statements. The first statement tells that it is a central sector scheme, but the statement is wrong. Know that project elephant is a centrally sponsored scheme. The second statement tells that one of the objectives of this project elephant is to take appropriate measures for the welfare of captive elephants. Now, this statement is correct because one of the objectives of this project elephant is to take appropriate measures for the welfare of captive elephants. This This particular project elephant was launched to protect elephants, their habitat and their corridors and also to address the issues of man-animal conflict with respect to the elephants and also to take appropriate measures for the welfare of captive elephants. So the statement 2 is correct here. The question is asked for the correct statements. So the correct answer is option B2 only. Moving on to the next question. The question is Ana Uttar is a festival celebrated in the state of and they have given 4 states. During our discussion we saw that Ana means elephant and Uttar means to feed. So basically it is an elephant feeding festival which is celebrated during Puram celebrations that happen in the state of Kerala especially in the city of Trishur in Vadakumnadan temple. So here the correct answer is option C Kerala. Moving on to the main question, the first question is discuss the implications of the proposed amendments that are made to the right to information act of 2005. Now some of the proposed amendments are there shall be no fixed term of office for the members of the central information commission and also the state information commission. Next is reducing the status of members of the information commissioners at the central level and also at the state level. Now let us see the implications. The first implication is that it will affect the already guaranteed independence that is their terms of office, then their salaries, then other terms and conditions and also their status. At present if you see the chief information commissioner is equivalent to the post of chief election commissioner and other information commissioners at the central information commission and the state chief information commissioner are equivalent to the post of other election commissioners. Information commissioners at the state information commissioner are equivalent to the chief secretary to that particular state. Now by amending this act the status of the members of this information commissioner will be downgraded. The second implication is that it would affect the federalism. Now how will it affect the federalism? This is because the amendment provisions are saying that the central government will control the rules, terms and conditions of appointment of the members of the information commissions in the states. So this takes away the states power to appoint the members of information commissioners. So we can tell that this bill will affect the federalism. The third implication is that it will affect the democracy. Now how will it affect the democracy? This is because by altering the independency in the way these information commissions work regressively it will affect the power equation that is from people to the government then it will also go from a condition where there is freedom of information to the lack of information then it will also go from a condition from a democracy to authoritarianism. So this will affect the democracy. Now the fourth implication is that the manner of passing the bill because before introducing this bill there were no citizen consultations then there was also no scrutiny of this particular bill by the parliamentary standing committee. So we can see that the central government is in the central government is in an urge to pass this particular amendment bill. The next implication is that it will lead to centralization of powers with respect to information because if the status of the members of the information commissions are downgraded and if they will be appointed as per the whims and fancies of the central government then they will also work according to the whims and fancies of the central government. So we can tell that it will lead to centralization of powers. So like this you can mention some other implications that you know regarding the proposed amendments that are made to the Right to Information Act of 2005. Moving on to the next main question the question is the union budget 2019 as proposed public listing of NGOs and other social ventures discuss the advantages it offers to the effective functioning of social ventures. Now to address the first part of the statement just mention what is meant by NGOs and what is meant by social ventures and you can discuss that the union budget of 2019 as proposed public listing of NGOs that is social stock exchange will be created and the NGOs and other social ventures will be publicly listed so you can mention what is meant by public listing. Now come to the second part of the statement it asks you to discuss the advantages it offers to the effective functioning of the social ventures. Now we saw during our discussion that it will help in bringing reliability, transparency in working, accountability, then social credibility then the NGOs and social ventures will have access to capital and how the performance rating of the NGOs will help in increasing the transparency. So you can conclude telling that these are the advantages that the NGOs and the social ventures would have when they are publicly listed in India. And you can also mention some other examples where some countries have social stock exchanges like the countries of UK, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica and Kenya which we saw during our news analysis. With this we come to the end of the analysis of today's news articles and also the practice questions discussion session. Do like, comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends, thank you.