 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayes Academy. First of all I would like to wish you all a happy new year. Today I will be covering the Hindi news edition dated 2nd of January 2023. And these are the list of articles I have taken for discussion today. At the end I also have a quiz question for you as usual. So, without wasting much time let us move on to the first news article discussion. I am going to take this text and context article for our first discussion. It talks about deep fake and then goes on to talk about daily effects associated with deep fake. This deep fake has become a new buzzword and this article has clearly given a picture about this new trend. The article itself is so simple and easy to understand even for a fresher. So, after listening to this discussion I would suggest the viewers to read the article once. Here you can see how this topic is relevant for us. I have given the syllabus here. So first let me tell you what is meant by deep fake. See these deep fakes exist in digital media. Here videos, audios and images are edited and manipulated using artificial intelligence. Such edited and manipulated video, audio and images are called as deep fakes. So basically they are hyper realistic digital falsification. They are not real but to our eyes they appear to be real. See this image here for example. How manipulative this is. If you haven't seen Mona Lisa's portrait by Da Vinci before you would easily believe this is the real portrait. So this is a deep fake. These deep fakes are created by artificial intelligence as I said already and they're used as tools to spread computational propaganda and also to spread disinformation at scale that too with greater speed. What is disinformation? It refers to knowingly spreading misinformation or false information or incorrect information. So we are sure that there are many ill effects associated with deep fakes but you should know there are also certain benefits with it. Yes, you heard me right. Deep fakes have certain benefits. They are useful in certain areas such as accessibility, education, film production, criminal forensics and artistic expressions in all these areas. Deep fakes are quite useful. Let me take an example. Take the education sector. The teachers can use deep fake in the classroom and they can make the learning more fun and interactive. How can they do this? They can bring historical characters back to life in front of the students so that the students can understand the events that happened in the past much better. Here look at this representation. Here we can see the image of Albert Einstein and these left representations show like he's speaking something. Such kinds of things can be used by teachers to make the learning more fun filled. See this is seen as a benefit because it does not harm anyone. They're just trying to make the learning more fun. On the other hand, deep fakes are widely used for exploitative purposes also. This is the reason why deep fakes are seen as dangerous. See these deep fakes can be used to damage reputation. It can be used to fabricate evidence. It can also be used to defraud the public and undermine the trust in democratic institutions. All this can be achieved with fewer resources, with scale and with speed. These deep fakes can be micro targeted to galvanize support also. Let me take an example here. Imagine a political leader is supporting unity and diversity in her talk. But those who don't like this political leader, they're using deep fake technology and in the place of her content and artificial content spreading communal hatred is inserted. Here what the deep fake tool will do is it will synchronize the fake audio with the lip movements and actions of the speaker. So even though the leader did not say anything to spread the communal hatred, this deep fake technology will make it look like so by replacing the content. So here the entire society is targeted and we all become victims of the fabricated democratic process. But is this the only case? There are so many victims to this. According to a private report, 96 percentage of deep fakes are pornographic videos and these deep fake pornography exclusively targets women. They threaten and inflict psychological harm on women. Recently in a Tamil movie called Love Today, our Tamil viewers could have seen the use of this deep fake technology, which was used by the villain to harm the protagonist. So using such deep fakes to target women reduces women to sexual objects thereby causing emotional distress. And in some cases, it also leads to financial loss and other consequences like job loss. Apart from this deep fake can also depict a person as indulging in antisocial behavior. If the deep fake can show a person indulging in sexual acts, definitely it can show that person indulging in antisocial behavior, right? So don't worry, there are cures to this. We can debunk the fake video with other technologies. But that fix may come too late to remedy the initial harm because the fake video created by deep fake would already create a first impression. Due to this only, deep fakes are used by non state actors such as insurgent groups and terrorist organizations to trigger anti state sentiments. Another major concern with deep fakes is the liar's dividend. Remember this terminology liar's dividend. It is a phenomenon where someone can get away with lying by saying that something is fake news. And if the media attempts to expose this lie, it can backfire and it only make the lies sound seem even more credible. So that means an undesirable truth is dismissed as deep fake or fake news. This is because people know deep fakes exist. So they are unable to decide whether a video or image which they saw is right or wrong. Using this a leader can reject the real video of him spreading misinformation by simply saying that it is his fake video. So what can actually be done? What is the solution? The article provides certain solution. Let us see that now. First is media literacy. See the public must be given proper media literacy because for consumers, this is the most effective tool to combat disinformation and deep fakes. Secondly, meaningful regulations are needed. This has to be done by collaborative discussion with the technology industry, civil society and policymakers. They together can develop legislative solutions. This would disincentivize the creation and distribution of malicious deep fakes because such legislations can impose appropriate penalties which would deter the perpetrators. Thirdly, efforts must be taken by social media players itself because these social media platforms only aid in the fast spread of these deep fakes. Already many social media platforms are taking cognizance of this issue and many of them have some policy in place to address it. But that's not enough. We need easy to use and accessible technology solutions to detect deep fakes, to authenticate media and to amplify authoritative sources so that people themselves can know what's fake and what's real. See, this is simple. If the artificial intelligence can make deep fake, then sure it can be used to detect a deep fake. Just a proper technological advancement is needed in this regard. And finally, we all must take responsibility as the consumers of media because social media platforms does not operate by itself. We only share the videos. So now on every time you share a video or an image in social media, think and pause. Make sure that whatever you are sharing is the correct information. Through this, you can make yourself as a part of the solution. So I hope through this discussion you understood what is meant by deep fakes, how it is helpful in some places and what are the ill effects of it and what can be done to address the issue of deep fake. So this comprehensive discussion we are moving to the next news article. Let me take up this article for discussion now. It reports that India has planned to promote millets and for this India has launched the year 2023 as the international year of millets. After doing this, various union ministries, the states and even the Indian embassies have been allocated a focused month in the year of 2023 to promote millets. So don't you want to know why millets are given such importance? Let me tell you in this discussion. Before that we'll also see some basic facts regarding millets. See these millets are a group of small seeded grasses like the ones you can see in these images. They are widely grown around the world for human food and also for fodder. So some of the examples of millets include pearl millet which is also called as bajra, then finger millet which is also known by the name ragi, then there is little millet, then we have the sorghum or jawar, then the proso millet which is called as varaga in tamil etc etc. Okay. So these are all the small seeded grains. Now do you know the important millets that are grown in India? This includes jawar, bajra and ragi. If you take ragi, it is a crop of dry regions. It grows well on red soil, black, sandy, loamy and shallow black soils. So which are the states that produce ragi? It includes karnataka, tamil nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh. Okay. So whenever we talk about a crop, you should know the type of conditions under which they are grown and also the major producing states. Now let me come to jawar. It is the third most important food crop with respect to area and production in our country. It is a rain-fed crop and hence it is grown in the moist areas which hardly needs irrigation and therefore the major jawar producing states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Next comes bajra. This one grows well on sandy soils and also on shallow black soil. To the states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana, they are the major bajra producing states. Okay. So these are the basic information that you need to know about millets, especially the ones grown in India. Now let me come to the importance of these millets. See first and foremost factors, these millets are one of the most ecologically sustainable crops because they need less water for their growth. And second, the millets have very high nutritional value. For example, take raga itself. It is very rich in iron, calcium, other micronutrients and also roughage. Here roughage denotes the coarseness and the fibrous nature of the crop. So these millets have high nutritional value. Other than these nutritional benefits, millets are also known to have very low glycemic index. What is a glycemic index? It is a rating system for foods that contain carbohydrates. This index shows how quickly each food affects our blood sugar or glucose levels when that food is eaten on its own. I said millets have a low glycemic index. So that means these millets raises our blood sugar slowly and gradually instead of in quick spikes. And that is why millets are generally suggested for people with diabetes. I think you know that India is often dubbed as the diabetes capital because there are a huge number of diabetes patients in our country. And therefore the promotion of millets through this program is a much needed one. Now due to these health related benefits, millets are often referred to as super food. When any food is referred to as super food, it means it is a nutrient rich food, especially it is beneficial for health and well-being. So millets are considered as super food. Other than this, the millets are also promoted due to the fact that they have huge potential to increase farmers income and they also ensure food and nutritional security. This is because there are many unique features associated with these millets which makes them a suitable crop that is resilient to India's varied agro-climatic conditions. So its production is seen as an approach for sustainable agriculture and also for a healthy world. I think many of you know that millets have been a part of Indian diet for a long time. Many of our grandparents' regular diet included these millets. But the influence of western food habits and even some of the government initiatives like Green Revolution, they reduced the production and consumption of millets in our country. But due to the multi-dimensional benefits associated with millets, some state governments like Karnataka, they are popularizing millets and this has helped in rekindling the value of these grains. Now on these lines, even central government has done its part. Already, the year 2018 was declared as a national year of millets by Government of India. And now India has declared the year 2023 as the international year of millets. The aim is to promote millets. Okay. See, so far I have told you the benefits of millets. So by this itself, you can start adding these millets in your regular diet. But the problem is, even though it is a super food, there is a general perception that these millets are poor persons' food. And that is why rather than saying millets, these core cereals can be rebranded as Nutri cereals, which means these are cereals rich with nutrients. This name itself will promote the brand and it will also promote their production and consumption among the people. So after listening to this discussion, why don't you yourself cook or you can ask your parents to cook a tasty meal with these millets. No, we are not going to call it as millets. We'll call it as Nutri cereals. So we can say the government is on the right track. There are many benefits associated with millets as we saw. It is ecologically sustainable. It is less water intensive. It has high nutritional value. Then its glycemic index is quite low. It is also a super food and it increases farmers income ensures food and national security. So these are the benefits associated with millets. I hope you got the points. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is going to be based on this foreign page snippet. It talks about the entry of Croatia into the Eurozone. See by entering into Eurozone, Croatia has adopted euro assets currency and it has replaced its local Kuna currency. This is what is given in this article. So to understand what is the significance of Eurozone, we first need to know about Eurozone and also about European Union. Let me start with European Union. It is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. Here supranational means having power or influence that transcends national boundaries or governments. So this European Union as a supranational union of countries came into existence by signing of the treaty called Master Treaty. It was signed by 12 countries in the year 1993. So these 12 countries are the founding members of EU. Who are they? Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. So since 1993 there were many periodic additions of new nations into the European Union and now the number of countries in EU has touched 27. In this map you can see these 27 countries. Here you should remember that United Kingdom that is a founding member of European Union left the European Union on 31st January 2020. It is said that UK is the only country to have left European Union. This is what we call as Brexit. Right? Now what about Croatia? It is a member of EU since 2013. So this is all about European Union. Now come to the Eurozone. The Euro area is commonly called as Eurozone. That is it is a currency union of 20 member states of the European Union. This means these are the states that have adopted Euro as their primary currency. So you should note that in these 20 member states Euro is the only legal tender. So when this Eurozone came into existence, it happened in 1999 when 11 member states of European Union came together and they wanted to form a geographical zone where a common currency is accepted and used. So after three years the physical Eurobank nodes and Eurocoins were introduced in these 11 Eurozone states. Along with this all their pre-Euro national coins and nodes were taken out of circulation and they were rendered invalid after a short transition period. So a three year time was given to introduce Eurobank nodes and coins. At the same time they are already existing national coins and nodes were rendered invalid. After this between 2008 to 2023 eight more countries joined the Eurozone and the last country to join Eurozone is Croatia which entered into Eurozone yesterday. So what is the difference between Eurozone and European Union? European Union is a multi-state political and economic body. On the other hand Eurozone is a geographical zone which has Euro as the common currency. Now you may think what was the need for Croatia to join Eurozone. That should be some benefits. Yes you are right. The Euro offers many benefits for individuals, businesses and the economies of the country which uses Euro. The first benefit is Euro makes it easier, cheaper and safer for businesses to buy and sell within the Euro area. It also makes it easy to trade with the rest of the world. So by this the ease of doing business for the businesses significantly improves. Another benefit is a common Euro being a currency used by many countries improves the economic stability and growth of the region. Also countries that use Euro as a currency has better integrated financial markets and more efficient financial markets to aid their national economy. Apart from all these using Euro significantly ensures the price stability for the goods also. So because of these benefits the member states of European Union they joined the Eurozone and as of now Eurozone has 20 members. European Union has 27 members. Okay with these points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Our next discussion is based on this editorial article. According to the article in this new year there will be an emergence of an Asia centric century. What is this Asia centric century or Asian century? How it will have any impacts on India? Let us see these aspects in this discussion. Here you can note down the syllabus. While discussing about Asian century we'll also see the opinions of the author. Okay so let me begin with defining Asian century. It is actually an era in which Asia or Asian countries enjoy economic dominance, political and social dominance. I think you can recall that in the 19th century the world was Europeanized. In the 20th century it was Americanized and now it is being Asianized and this is what is known as the Asian century. So that means there should be some significance associated with Asia in the global arena. Right let me tell you what are these significant factors. First and foremost is Asian continent has 4.6 billion people which is equal to 60 percentage of the world's population. Therefore Asia is the largest and most populated continent. This means Asia has more human resources. Second point is Asia covers about 30 percentage of Earth's total land area. From this you can easily say Asia is a vast continent. It is home to 48 countries and it is divided into five main subregions that is Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, Southern Asia and South Eastern Asia. Each region is rich in different natural and mineral resources. For example if you take Western Asia it comprises of Gulf countries and we all know that it is rich in energy resources such as crude oil resource. The third significance of Asia is its diversity and this diversity has paved the way for collective development. The 48 countries in Asia is diverse with different economies, governmental systems, demographics, geographical landscapes, they even differ in languages. But these differences are only making the economic development possible. You may wonder how? See all these differences are complementary to each other and thereby they make the integration a powerful force for progress. Let me take an example. See generally as one country's labour force ages a country with a younger population fills the gap. For example the median age of India's population was 27 in 2015 but at the same time China's median age was 37 and Japan's was 48. So the younger population which was not present in China and Japan was filled by the younger populations of India. Apart from all these Asia also has its historic significance for economic prosperity. See from the 2nd century BC to 15th century Asia's East and West were connected through a series of trade networks which we popularly know as the Silk Road. Now the Silk Road permitted the exchange of goods and ideas like silk, tea, porcelain, spices, all these went to the West. At the same time wool, gold, silver they went to the East. And after the Second World War East Asia has been the catalyst for the continent's economic growth. During this time it underwent three main economic developmental waves. The first wave involves Japan. The second wave involves four countries which includes Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. And the third wave involves China and India. These countries started to rapidly industrialize. So after industrialization the transition from labor intensive production to more capital intensive activities happened. And growth was also driven by factors like higher savings, educational attainment levels, coupled with governmental policies etc etc. All these led to a rise in the GDP per capita in East Asia by more than 4,300%. This has brought over one billion Asians out of poverty according to some sources. So all these factors are responsible for the emergence of an Asian century. But what the author says? According to the author the stability and prosperity will be undermined by the Asian century. This is because the geopolitical and economic rise of Asia coincides with several regional and global developments. These developments include three main events like withdrawal of the US from much of Asia, then aggressive rise of China and also the Russia-Ukraine war. These three things undermines the stability that is hoped by India. Along with this in Asia, two major powers are already trying to undermine the global balance of power. Yes I'm talking about Russia and China only. They are doing this with several regional powers such as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. So author is saying Asia may be headed towards more global prominence. But instability will definitely be there which was not the hope of India. So what India actually hopes for? What it wants? India also aspires for an Asian century. But an Asian century with a unipolar world will not be meaningful according to India. So India suggests an alternative option for this unipolar world. What is the alternative? It is the multi polar world. This multi polar world will include Russia, China, Japan, India and other smaller powers, asserting themselves on the global stage. As per India, multi polarity should be based on certain principles. These principles include rule of law or peaceful coexistence, international order underpinned by international law, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, resolution of international disputes through peaceful negotiations, free and open access for all etc etc. So this is what is wanted by India. So can we say this multi polar world will be beneficial? We cannot say so because there are some negative implications in this multi polar world. If this multi polar world or multi polar Asia is functioning with principles such as new and shifting alliances, formal informal, secret, open and in-between packs, coalitions for dominance. All these principles will take away the stability of the current world order. So the stability will be in question. The other negative implication is in a multi polar world, countries supporting China or Russia will defend their actions. Currently economic sanctions are used for holding a country accountable. But if there is a multi polar world, then countries which are being held accountable will circumvent these economic sanctions with the help of the countries having same ideologies and this will pose serious challenges to the dollar based trade and western payment systems such as Swift. You can take the example of Ukraine war itself because when economic sanctions were imposed on Russia it immediately searched for alternatives like alternative trading arrangements and payment systems in Asia. So this will happen often in a multi polar world because in a multi polar world the trade will not be based on one currency. So these are some of the negative implications of a multi polar world. Now other than these negative implications according to the author India will also face some key issues if there is an Asian century. See just now I said that India is campaigning for a multi polar world where key Asian powers have a place at a high table of international politics. But at the same time India is hesitant to engage with emergent Asian century for various reasons. First is because Indian establishment has a deeply status quo is to view of the world. Christmas can be a status quo. It means keeping the way things they are right now without any change. So author is saying that India believes in a more democratic orderly and rules based world order. But at the same time it recognizes that major systematic changes will be accompanied by chaos. And this is one of the reasons why India is hesitant about Asian century. India aspires for a slow peaceful and consensual transformation of the system which is not what is happening today. Along with this India also fears about an Asian century without stable multi polarity. I said that one of the negative implications is instability right. So even if Asian century emerges with a multi polar world it will be like a passing cloud according to the author. Because soon this multi polar world will be replaced by a bipolar world that is dominated by USA and China. At this time other countries will employ bandwagoning according to the author. See bandwagoning is a strategy where the weaker states align or take sides with the stronger powers because they know that the cost of opposing a stronger power exceeds the benefits. So if this happens if the multi polar world is soon replaced by a bipolar world dominated by USA and China. We can say that it is definitely a bad deal for India. Because then at that time it will also lead to bipolar rivalry. See you know that India has its non alignment policy. So it will not take sides. Due to this it will also not support anybody. Not supporting anybody will also cause problems. USA may be far from us but what about China? It's our next door adversary. So by staying non aligned we might trigger the Chinese anger. And in a bipolar international world this will work against India. Now this bipolar world also means that India will not be acknowledged as a power neither in the global stage nor in the Asian stage. You may think why we are saying US and China. This is because of the Russia-Ukraine war. See already many countries in the world are condemning the acts of Russia. So the power play is between Russia and US only. And if the war continues to go on then we can expect that the west or the US will try to work out a relationship with China. This is because China has not fully supported Russian actions. And if USA or West works out a relationship with China then it means they are the only powers of the global politics. It also means that the west or the US has recognized China as a global power. China will definitely accept this rather than supporting Russia. So this will be a concern for India. Due to this only author says if Asian century emerges then it will definitely be a China dominated one. And when this happens this will lead to a condition of post-Indian South Asia. See India has a prominent power in South Asia as of now. But if China dominates then India's power will vanish. And through this in South Asia China will start its influence. Countries will only trade with China using Yuan. Countries will deeply involve in Belt and Road Initiative projects. Countries will become militarily close to China. Many of these things will keep happening which will work against India. And these are the reasons why India is hesitant about the Asian century. So in this discussion we saw what is an Asian century what India wants in such an Asian century. Whether unipolarity is good, multipolarity is good. At some time we also saw that it might even lead to a bipolar world and how this will affect India. All these points will help you to write a comprehensive mains answer. So with these points in mind we are moving to the next article discussion. Let me take this news article. Its title says India asks Pakistan to free prisoners. Can India do that on its own? Not only this. The news article also says that India will release Pakistani prisoners. So on what basis this is happening? It is based on the 2008 agreement on consular access. See this is an agreement signed between India and Pakistan in 2008. And these are the 7 sections or points in that agreement. As you can see the first point says both the governments that is the Pakistani government and the Indian government have to maintain a comprehensive list of nationals of other country who are under arrest detention or imprisonment. And such a list has to be exchanged on 1st January and 1st July every year. So based on this section yesterday that is on 1st January of 2023 India and Pakistan exchange the list of prisoners. Another important section that you should note is the 4th section. It says each government shall provide consular access within 3 months to nationals of one country who are under arrest, detention or imprisonment in the other country. To understand this point you should know what is meant by consular access. It refers to the ability of foreign nationals to have access to consulate or embassy officials in their own country but in the host nation. For example an Indian prisoner having access to Indian consulate or Indian embassy in Pakistan. This is what we refer to as the consular access. So as per the agreement 3 months time period is given to provide consular access and this access will be provided to the persons who are under arrest, detention or imprisonment in the other country that is Indians imprisoned in Pakistan and the Pakistanis imprisoned in India. Based on this provision Indian government yesterday has requested consular access to 30 Indian fishermen and 22 Indian civilian prisoners who are in the Pakistan's custody. Ok. Apart from consular access the agreement also provides for release and repatriate of those who have completed the sentences. This is provided under section 5. It states both governments agree to release and repatriate persons within one month of confirmation of their national status and completion of sentences. Here repatriation means returning someone to their own country. So as per the agreement if an Indian person is imprisoned in Pakistan and has completed their sentence then after confirming their national status as being an Indian citizen their release and repatriation should start within one month. Today the Indian government has called for early release and repatriation of civilian prisoners missing Indian defence personnel and even fishermen from the Pakistan custody. This includes 631 Indian fishermen and 2 Indian civilian prisoners. See here Indian government has asked for early release. This provision is provided under section 7 which says that in special cases based on compassionate and humanitarian considerations both the sites can allow early release and repatriation of persons. So these 4 sections are quite important regarding this agreement but there is an issue regarding this which is also the biggest drawback of this agreement. You can see that there is no time limit for the confirmation of national identity and because of lack of this time limit there are numerous instances in which both the countries have not confirmed the nationality of prisoners. This has even lasted for 18 months. So during this time the arrested person face tremendous agony in jails. This leads to grave violations of basic human rights. Confirming the nationality is important for release and repatriation but confirmation of this identity is totally based on consular access. That is why often in news we see that India is requesting for consular access for that person this person etc. Because without consular access how the nationality of a person can be confirmed. So you can see that release and repatriation depends on proper consular access. Along with providing consular access a definite time limit can be set by both the countries for confirming the nationality of prisoners. This will help a lot of individuals who are detained in the other country. So the consular access, release, repatriation, sharing the list of prisoners all these are based on the 2008 agreement on consular access which was signed between India and Pakistan. With these points now we are moving to the next news article discussion. Our next discussion is going to be based on this news article. This article talks about an application named Sarat 1. We will see what it is in this discussion. So we will see some basic facts about this Sarat. See it stands for search and rescue aid tool integrated. This tool has been developed by Airports Authority of India and Indian Coast Guard in collaboration with INCOISE. INCOISE means Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services. The main objective of this application is to aid these agencies in locating a missing aircraft at sea. Now let me tell you why there was a need for such an application. You all remember the Malaysian Airlines that went missing. In 2014 the flight was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and it deviated from its planned flight path. It is said that it crashed somewhere in the southern Indian ocean. This incident led to an expensive multinational search which ended with no success. So incidents like these demanded the development of an application like Sarat 1. So now let me tell you some details about Sarat which will make locating a missing aircraft possible. So usually it is impossible to determine the crash location of an aircraft which is flying over sea. This is because the crashed aircraft tends to drift away from the crash site. Now there are many factors responsible for this drifting. This includes local wind, surface ocean current, shape of the aircraft, position and time of the aircraft descent. All these factors play a role in the drifting of the aircraft from the crash site. So most often the position and time of the aircraft descent is also hard to find out and this is where Sarat 1 becomes relevant. So what it will do is using the input of the aircraft's last known midair position Sarat 1 will compute a probability map. This will use a statistical approach. This map will show where the aircraft may have descended into the sea. After this Sarat 1 will run sequential computer simulations. This will give details of the probable regions where the aircraft may be located in the sea after drifting. So if the location of descent and the drifting location is known, then such lost aircrafts can be easily identified. Like this only Sarat 1 identifies regions for search and rescue operations. So based on this, what are the significance of the application? Sarat 1 eliminates the human error in the computation of the probabilities because as I said it uses sequential computer simulations and it uses statistical approach to know the locations. Second, it also saves time for rescue operations because we know that time is a crucial factor in search and rescue operations. Above all Sarat 1 will also reduce the expenditure required because as I said in the Malaysian Airlines incident lot of money was spent to search the aircraft. But again it rendered no success. So with the help of Sarat 1 any such accidents if they happen again, it will be easy for the Air Force Authority of India, Indian Coast Guard and the Incoys to locate that aircraft easily. So basically Sarat 1 is an application to aid in locating a missing aircraft at sea. So I hope you got all the important facts related to Sarat 1. With these points in mind, now let us move on to the next discussion. Now let us have a discussion based on this data point. It provides data regarding the share of bad loans in the Indian banks. It says that the bad loans have come down which is really a good sign because when the share of bad loans in banks are high then the lending capacity of banks comes down and this affects the economy as a whole. So we will understand how this happens in a while. Before that we will quickly brush up some facts. We will start with what is a bad loan and when a loan is called as bad loan. See a loan becomes a bad loan when the repayments are not being made as originally agreed between the borrower and the lender. Loans come under asset category. Now since these bad loans remain unproductive, they are called as non-performing assets. According to RBI commercial loans that are more than 90 days past the due date are called as non-performing assets and the consumer loans that are more than 180 days past due are classified as non-performing assets. Okay and after this there are three categories of NPA an asset will be called a substandard asset if the loans and advances remain non-performing for a period of 12 months. Then there are doubtful assets. These are the assets which are considered non-performing for a period of more than 12 months. Then there are loss assets. These are the ones when the banks or its auditors have identified the loss but it has not been written off. Apart from this regarding NPA you should also know what is GNPA and NNPA. GNPA stands for gross NPA. It is a proportion of gross non-performing assets in gross loans and advances. So it denotes the total of all the loan assets that have not been repaid by the borrowers within the 90 day period. Then what is NPA? It stands for net NPA. It is the proportion of net non-performing assets in net loans and advances. See the banks have to set aside or provision a part of their profit as a buffer for the potential losses which may arise from the NPAs. Now because of this factor of provisioning only I earlier said that the lending capacity of banks come down. Here you should note that net NPAs is equal to gross NPAs in its provisions. Now with these basics let us come to the data point. Here chart one and two are important for us. It shows the data on NNPAs. First one shows the cumulative count and the second graph shows fresh accretions of NPA which is nothing but the slippage ratio. See as per the graph there is a drop in NNPA. This is because there is a fall in the slippage ratio or in simple terms there is a fall in fresh creation of NPAs. Apart from this the banks have also written off loans. See a loan write-off means it sets free the money parked by the banks for the provisioning of any loan. Here you should note that when banks write-off loan it doesn't mean they can't recover it again. They can legally take measures to recover it and if any amount is recovered it can be considered as a profit in that year. So a combination of both declining slippage and increasing write-offs have brought the bad loans to the next point in many years. Apart from this the graph 5 and 6 are also important for us. As per these graphs the banks have started to give out more retail loans as compared to industrial loans because in the past the industrial loans created lot of NPAs and this is cited as one of the reasons for declining bad loans. Along with this recovery mechanisms such as insolvency and bankruptcy code have been used by the banks to successfully bring down the NPAs okay so as per the data point NPAs have come down and it has cited some reasons for the decline in NPAs. What are the reasons we saw declining slippage ratio that is a decline in fresh creation of NPAs then increasing write-offs then more retail loans as compared to industrial loans and finally using of recovery mechanisms such as insolvency and bankruptcy code. So you can use these points in your main and even it will help you in your problems if these points are mentioned in a question and the question asks you to choose which of these will result in declining NPAs okay so this is how you should interpret a data point. Along with the data you should also try to understand what that data shows with these points in mind now we are moving to the next article discussion let us take up this article now it says that north India will be affected by severe cold wave in the first and second week of 2003. The Indian meteorological department has said that this cold wave is predicted based on the assumption that northwestern events from the Himalayas will hit the plains of northwest India and it will also hit the adjoining central India during the next two days. So what effect will these cold waves have to understand that let us first look at the term cold wave according to the definition of Indian meteorological department a cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within 24 hours and this fall in temperature is distinguished by a marked cooling of the air or with the invasion of a very cold air over a large area and note that generally the northern part of India is prone to cold waves due to the transient disturbances caused by the mid latitude westerlies. Another fact to note is cold wave is one of the extreme weather events that prominently occurs during the winter seasons of India. The winter season is from November to February. So the cold wave results in a cold weather which is marked by a well defined and prolonged period of lower temperatures. There are certain precise criteria for declaring a cold wave. It is basically determined by the rate at which the temperature falls and the minimum to which it falls. See here the minimum temperature is dependent on the geographical region and the time of the year. So as per IMD, cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature of a station is 10 degree celsius or less. This applies for the planes. On the other hand for the hilly regions if the minimum temperature is 0 degree celsius or less then it will be declared a cold wave. In addition to this cold wave is also declared in hill stations depending on certain other conditions like when the negative temperature departure from normal is above 4.5 degree celsius. See when an observed temperature is warmer than the reference value we call it a positive temperature departure. On the other hand when the observed temperature is cooler than the reference value then we call it as a negative temperature departure okay. So in case of hill stations when negative temperature departure from normal is above 4.5 degree celsius then we call it as cold wave. Similarly for plane regions if the negative temperature departure is more than 4 degree celsius then it is considered to be a cold wave. Now let me come to the main question of what are the impacts of these cold waves. See it affects all walks of life. Impact of cold wave on human beings is much severe as it can lead to death or injury. There is an increase in mortality rates when the populations are exposed to cold wave. Other than humans, livestock are also affected because cold wave also causes death and injury to livestock. See during cold wave the animals require a higher intake of nutrition. But if this cold wave is accompanied by heavy and persistent snow then grazing animals will be unable to graze. Therefore they require more fodder which is to be provided indoors. If there is inadequate food and if they are also exposed to low temperatures the animals may die because of hypothermia or starvation. So while life experiences challenges during winter for both winter and food. The same also applies to humans because colder temperatures also cause hypothermia in humans. Thirdly cold waves also bring an unexpected freeze and frost during the rabbi cropping season. Such cold freeze and frost affects the crops, horticultural plantations and other agricultural light services. Because these waves impede the vegetative growth of seedlings which in turn results in crop failure. And thus it also affects the livelihood of the people. And finally if we talk about the urban setting here cold wave may affect the infrastructure. For example to handle the cold wave specific plumbing is required in colder regions. If not the pipes will burst. And similarly with regard to transportation certain measures need to be taken. For example in case of cars antifreeze needs to be added. See antifreeze is any substance that lowers the freezing point of water thereby protecting a system from the ill effects of ice formation. So like these measures need to be taken for the proper functioning of vehicles. In this discussion we saw about cold waves and what conditions are called as cold waves. In the plains if the temperature is 10 degrees Celsius or less it will be called a cold wave. Or if the negative temperature departure is more than 4 degrees Celsius it will be considered a cold wave. Now for the hilly regions if the temperature is 4.5 degrees Celsius or less it will be a cold wave. On the other hand similarly if the negative temperature departure from normal is above 4.5 degrees Celsius then also it will be declared a cold wave in hilly regions. So finally with this news article discussion we are moving on to the next session which is practice questions discussion session. Look at this first question which of the country given below is land logged Croatia, Chile, Ethiopia Eritrea. See all the 4 countries given here were recently in news. We saw about Croatia in today's discussion. Now in this map you can easily see that Croatia is not a land logged country. Now come to Chile. It was recently in news due to the violence which erupted after its former president was jailed. And in this map you can see that Chile is also not a land logged country. Now the remaining countries Ethiopia and Eritrea both these countries were involved in conflict due to the fallout problem of Tigre region of Ethiopia. Here you can see the map Eritrea has a coastline whereas Ethiopia is land logged. So the correct answer to this question is option C Ethiopia. Now let me take the second question. Consider the following statements with respect to non-performing assets. Statement 1 Loans fall under liability category of a bank. See for a bank a deposit is a liability on its balance sheet. But loans are assets. This is because the bank has to pay interest to depositors. Therefore it is the liability of the bank. On the other hand a loan earns interest which is an income and therefore this makes a loan as an asset. So statement 1 is incorrect. Statement 2 deposits fall under asset category of a bank. Just now I said it is a liability. So statement 2 is also incorrect. Now statement 3 the loan right of takes away the bank's right of recovery from the borrower through illegal means. See this is incorrect because in our discussion itself I said that the loan right of does not take away the bank's right of recovery. And here be careful the question asks you to choose the incorrect statements. All these three are incorrect. So the correct answer is option D. 1 2 and 3. I will come to this next question with reference to millets consider the following statements. Millets are a type of cereal. Yes right see you know that grains are classified into cereals pulses and oil seeds. And these millets come under the category of cereals. So first statement is correct. Second statement they have a short growing season. This is also correct because many millets are cultivated within 90 days of their sowing. Now completely third statement the United Nations General Assembly declared 2025 as the international year of millets. This statement is incorrect because it should be 2023. See remember that the proposal to declare 2023 as the international year of millets was put forward by India. And it was finally declared by the United Nations General Assembly in its 75th session which was held in 2021. And FAO that is Food and Agriculture Organization is the lead agency for celebrating this year in collaboration with other stakeholders. Now in India only the Indian government has launched this year okay. Otherwise it is declared by the UNGA. Here the question asks you to choose the correct statements so the correct answer is option C 1 and 2 only. So this was the last freelance question for today. And now it is time for quiz question. It is based on Sarat 1. Read this question carefully and interested aspirants can try to answer to this question in the comment section. Along with this I also have two main questions for you. Here also interested aspirants can write answer to these questions and post them in the comment section. That is all for today. If you like this video don't forget to like, comment and share. And also subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel for receiving regular updates regarding civil services preparation. Thank you.