 Greetings, aspirants. I have an announcement for you. We are happy to bring to your attention that Shankar IIS Academy is launching the mains booster 2023, under which you will be provided 40 mains oriented tests in 90 days. The booster is quick plan drafted for you to boost your main score. It starts on October 31st and will include sectional test, off papers and civil service examination emulators. It is available in both online and offline modes for just 4,500 rupees. Grab this chance to kickstart your mains exam preparation. With this information, now let's get into the Hindu news analysis for the date 15th of October 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. You can go through it. Without any delay, now let's start our discussion. See this article here. It says that the country's first ballistic missile nuclear submarine INS Arihant carried out a successful launch of submarine launched ballistic missile. We call shortly this as SLBM. As per the article, INS Arihant is armed with K-15 SLBM with a range of 750 km. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us understand about K-15 SLBM in prillum's perspective. First of all, what is the K-15 SLBM? See K-15 SLBM is also called as Sagarika. It is also codenamed as B-05. It is an Indian submarine launched ballistic missile with a range of 750 km. It was designed for retaliatory nuclear strikes. And the crucial fact here is that it belongs to the K missile family and forms a part of India's nuclear triad. So what is this nuclear triad and K missile family? Now let us see them one by one. See nuclear triad is nothing but the platforms from which a nuclear missile is launched. These platforms include land, air and underwater. See India's triad is a mix of missiles fired from land which includes Agni-2, Agni-4 and Agni-5 missiles. Then from the air, here Sukhai, SU-30 Mark 1s, Mirage 2000s and Jaguars are capable of launching nuclear missiles. And now the 6010 INS Arihant adds a maritime strike capability. So this is only defined as the nuclear triad of India. Now coming to the K missile family. See the K family of missiles are primarily submarine launched ballistic missiles. They are indigenously developed by Defense Research and Development Organization DRDO. And they are named after Dr. A.B.J. Abdul Kalam who is a former president of India and renowned scientist. See the development of this naval platform launched missiles began in the late 1990s. And it was started as a step towards completing India's nuclear triad. Which is nothing but the capability of launching nuclear weapons from the land, sea and air based assets. See because these missiles are to be launched from submarines, they are lighter, smaller and stealthier than their land based counterparts. Example for its land based counterpart is the Agni series of missiles. See Agni missiles are medium and intercontinental range nuclear capable ballistic missiles. This is one feature of the K family missiles. As we saw already in the beginning K family are primarily submarine fired missiles to be fired from India's Arihant class nuclear powered platforms. But the land and air variants of some of its members have also been developed by the DRDO. For example, Shaurya is a land based variant of short range SLBM K-15 Sagarika. See under the SLBM family missiles of various ranges have been developed. K-15 Sagarika is one such missile. India has also developed and tested the K-4 missiles from the same family which have a range of 3500 kilometer. It is said that more members of the K family with higher ranges are also on carts. And finally note that after US, Russia, the UK, France and China, India is the sixth country in the world to have nuclear powered submarines armed with ballistic missiles. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion is about K-15 Sagarika which is a submarine launched ballistic missile. Then what is nuclear triad and finally about the K family missiles. With these learned points now let's move on to the next news article discussion. See this news article here. It says that India has ranked 107th out of 121 countries on the global hunger index. This is the essence of the article given here. In this context let us understand about global hunger index. First of all, note that the global hunger index is a peer reviewed annual report. It is jointly prepared and published by European NGOs, Concern Worldwide and Welthanger Highlife. Now let's see what is the purpose of this index. See global hunger index is nothing but a tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global regional and national levels. And it reflects multiple dimensions of hunger over time. Other than this, global hunger index is intended to raise awareness and enhance the understanding of the struggle against hunger. Then provide a way to compare levels of hunger between countries and regions. And then call attention to those areas of the world where hunger levels are highest and where the need for additional efforts is greatest. So this is about the index and its purpose. Now let's see how it is calculated. See each country's global hunger index score is calculated based on a formula that combines four indicators. These four indicators together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger. These indicators include first one, undernourishment. It means the share of population with insufficient calorie intake. Second one, child stenting. It is the share of children under age 5 who have low height for their age. It reflects chronic under nutrition. Then third one, child wasting. It is the share of children under age 5 who have low weight for their height. This reflects acute under nutrition. And finally the fourth one, child mortality. It is the share of children who die before their fifth birthday. This partly reflects the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments. See among these indicators, undernourishment indicator captures the food as a situation of the population as a whole. But the indicators specific to children reflect the nutrition status within a particularly vulnerable subset of the population. The vulnerable subset of children is given importance because if children suffer from lack of dietary energy, protein and or micronutrients then it will lead to high risk of illness, poor physical and cognitive development and death. See this table here shows that how four indicators capture the multidimensional nature of hunger. Just go through it. And the weightage of indicators and composition of global hunger index scores is given in this image here. See based on the scores, the severity level is divided into low, moderate, serious, alarming and extremely alarming. Look at the image. If the global hunger index score of a country is below 9.9, then the severity of hunger is low in that country. But if it is greater than 50, then it means that the hunger situation is extremely alarming in that country. Now coming to the news, the article said that out of the 121 associated countries, India got 107th rank. This means that India is ranked below its neighbors, that Nepal ranked 81, Pakistan ranked 99, Sri Lanka ranked 64 and Bangladesh 84. India has a global hunger index score of 29.1, so it falls in the serious category of hunger level. See India has been recording decreasing global hunger index scores over the years. In 2000, it recorded an alarming score of 38.8, which reduced to 28.2 by 2014. See this is the trend of India's global hunger index score. Even though its scores are getting better, it is still below all of its neighbors. So India has to take efforts to reduce the hunger problem in the country. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about global hunger index, its purpose, then its indicators and the weightage and about this year report. And finally about India's position in the global hunger index. With these learned points, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. See talks about the announcement of the election commission of India regarding the poll data of Himachal Pradesh State Assembly elections. The article also reports that data of elections is not yet announced for the other poll bound state, Gujarat. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let's learn about election commission of India, its powers regarding election, then about the offices on election duty and also about the model code of conduct. Before getting into discussion, the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here for your reference. You can go through it. Firstly, let's see briefly about the importance of independent elections in a democracy. See, in a country where democracy is the founding institution of governance, conducting elections becomes an absolute necessity. Elections forms the heart and soul of the democratic structure, representing the public votes and opinions. So it is the most powerful weapon resting in the hands of people, conferring them with the right to frame their opinions and voice them out by choosing a candidate matching their priorities and ideas. So this is about the necessity of elections in a democracy. Now we will see elections in India. See, India is being a democracy with more than 1.3 billion population follows prime ministerial form of government with periodic elections. Election commission of India plays the primary role in the conduct of free and fair elections in India. As you all know, part 15 of our Indian constitution deals with elections and article 3, 24 of our constitution, vested on the election commission of India, the superintendents, direction and control of the entire process of the conduct of elections to parliament and legislature of every state and also to the offices of president and vice president of India. See, the permanent constitutional body that is election commission of India originally had a chief election commissioner. Then the election commission of India became a multi-member body in the year 1989 when the president appointed two more election commissioners. The senior of the two election commissioners is appointed as the chief election commissioner. The multi-member commission makes all its decisions through majority vote. See, the chief election commissioner and other two election commissioners have a tenure of 6 years or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Here note that the chief election commissioner enjoys the same status, salary and perks as that of Supreme Court judges. See, the other two election commissioners can be removed based on the recommendations of chief election commissioner. So, if you come across a question in prelims stating all the three election commissioners having immunity like a Supreme Court judge, it is wrong. Only chief election commissioner has the immune of a supreme court judge while other two elections commissioners can be easily removed based on the recommendations of chief election commissioner. Now, moving on to see the powers and functions of election commission during election. Firstly, delimitation of electoral constituencies. See it is done by the delimitation commission after the end of each census. Here the delimitation commission will consist of serving or retired supreme court judge, the chief election commissioner and the respective state election commissioners. All secret real assistance at all levels is provided to the delimitation commission by the election commission. Now coming to the second function. See the commission prepares the electoral role for parliament as well as legislative assembly elections. The electoral role of every constituency contains the names of all the persons who have the right to vote in that constituency. Then coming to the other function, see the symbols for the political parties are allotted by the election commission of India. And finally, one of the most important functions of the election commission is to recognize political parties as national or regional political parties. See we have discussed about the conditions for the recognition of national and regional parties in our in the news analysis data 3rd October 2022. You can quickly go through it. So this is all with respect to powers and duties of election commission. Now moving on to see the different officers on electoral duty. See to ensure that elections are held in free and fair manner, the election commission appoints thousands of polling personnel to assist in the election work. These personnel are drawn among magistrates, police officers, civil servants, clerks, typists, school teachers, drivers, peons, etc. Out of these, there are three main officials who play very important role in the conduct of free and fair elections. We will see them one by one. Firstly, talking about returning officer. In every constituency, one officer is designated as returning officer by the commission in consultation with the concerned state government. See all the nomination papers are submitted to the returning officer and he or she supervises all the polling booths and votes are counted under his or her supervision. And finally, the result is also announced by him or her. In fact, the returning officer is the overall in charge of the efficient and fair conduct of elections in the concerned constituency. Secondly, coming to the presiding officer. See every constituency has a large number of polling booths. Each polling booth on an average caters to about 1000 votes. So every such booth is under the charge of an officer who is called the presiding officer. He or she supervises the entire polling process in the polling booth. Now finally, let's see about the polling officers. See every presiding officer is assisted by 3 to 4 polling officers. They check the names of the voters in the electoral roll, put indelible ink on the finger of the voter and ensure that votes are secretly cast by each voter. So this is all with respect to the officers and electoral duty. Now let's see about the model code of conduct. See model code of conduct which is shortly called as MCC refers to a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for conduct of political parties and candidates during elections. Origin of model code of conduct can be traced back to the Assembly Elections of Caroline 1960 when the state administration prepared a code of conduct for political actors. Subsequently, in the Lokshapa elections of 1971, the Election Commission of India framed a model code of conduct based on the earlier framed one. See model code of conduct is a set of norms which has been evolved over the past six decades with the consensus of political parties who have consented to abide by the principles. Here note that it doesn't have any statutory backing in any law. It comes into force from the announcement of elections and remains in force till the election results are announced. Now we will see some important code of conduct that has to be followed. First one, political parties and contesting candidates should not use religious places for election campaign. Second one, campaign speeches should not be delivered in a way to create hatred among different communities belonging to different religions, castes and language etc. Third one, official machinery should not be used for election work that is the government machinery. Fourth one, no new grants can be sanctioned and no new schemes or projects can be started once the election dates are announced. And finally, one cannot misuse mass media for parties and coverage. So this is all with respect to the model code of conduct. So that's all regarding this discussion. Through this discussion, we came to know about the election commission of India, its powers regarding election, then the officers present on election duty and finally about the model code of conduct. With these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. As per the article, the Supreme Court indicated that it may consider taking up careless review of the Supreme Court judgment regarding eco-sensitive zone. So this is the crux of the news article given here in this context. Let's see in detail about eco-sensitive zones. So what is the eco-sensitive zone? See, eco-sensitive zone is defined as per the National Wildlife Action Plan 2002 to 2016 issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It says that the land within 10 kilometers of the boundaries of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries is to be notified as eco-fragile zones or eco-sensitive zones. Note that this 10 kilometer rule is implemented as a general principle. So the extent of its application can varies with location. It means that areas beyond 10 kilometer can also be notified as eco-sensitive zones by the union government. This is done when a particular area holds larger ecologically important sensitive corridors. Now let's see why they are created. See, according to the guidelines issued by the Environment Ministry in 2011, eco-sensitive zones are created as shock absorbers for the protected areas. It is created to minimize the negative impact of certain human activities on the fragile ecosystems. Furthermore, these areas are meant to act as a transition zone from areas requiring higher production to those requiring lesser production. Now you may ask, will this guidelines hinder the activities of people living near the protected areas? See, the guidelines clarify this also. It says that ecological sensitive zones are not meant to hamper the daily activities of people living in the vicinity of protected areas. But they are meant to guard the protected areas and refine the environment around them. And going a step further, the guidelines listed the activities prohibited, regulated and permitted in an eco-sensitive zone. And the chief wildlife warden can group the activities under these three categories. I have given here a list of activities that are prohibited, regulated and permitted in an eco-sensitive zone. Please go through it. Now we will see the recent Supreme Court judgment about eco-sensitive zones. On June 3, 2022, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court hear the appeal which sought to product forest lands in the Neelgris in the Tamil Nadu. In the judgment, the court said that 2011 guidelines issued by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is reasonable. And the Supreme Court directed all states to have a mandatory 1 kilometer eco-sensitive zones from the demarcated boundaries of every product of forest land, national park and wildlife sanctuary. It also stated that no new permanent structure or mining will be permitted within the ecological sensitive zones. Apart from this, the Supreme Court added that if the existing ecological sensitive zone goes beyond 1 kilometer buffer zone or if any statutory instrument prescribes a higher limit of ecological sensitive zones, then such extended boundaries shall prevail. So this is regarding the Supreme Court judgment in conducting the ecological sensitive zones. Now coming to news article regarding Kerala's review petition. See the Kerala's review petition has argued that the judgment would lead to massive displacement of people living in the vicinity of forest areas. And the judgment would also take away the rights of thousands of scheduled families and forest dwellers. See, Forest Rights Act 2006 recognized the traditional forest dwellers rights and occupation of forest land since generations. The law also provides for development rights to forest dwellers like schools, Anganwadis, fair price shops, drinking water supply, vocational training centers, etc. Kerala noted that its population density was twice that of the entire country as per the 2011 census and many human habitations are there in the areas coming within 1 kilometer of the productive areas. And because of this, protests erupted across the higher range of Kerala in response to the Supreme Court's directions. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about what is ecological sensitive zone and why they are created, then the guidelines issued by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change regarding ecological sensitive zones and finally about the issues prevailing in Kerala regarding Supreme Court judgment. With these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. It talks about the electoral bonds. See the Supreme Court has questioned the union government whether the electoral bond system reveals the source of money pumped into funding the political parties. The government responded that it is absolutely transparent since no unaccounted money can be used to fund the elections through electoral bonds. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let's learn about electoral bonds. First let's see why the electoral bonds was introduced in India. See before the introduction of electoral bonds, if a political party received a donation of less than rupees 20,000 from your donor, then it was not mandatory to reveal the source of funds. So this rule was misused by all the political parties. The political parties said that they received 90% of their political fund in the denomination of less than rupees 20,000. Due to this, large amount of black money went into electoral funding and used in the election process. So a huge amount of black money was generated and used in the election campaigning. Now coming to the electoral bonds. According to the union government, the electoral bond scheme was brought up to put check on the decades old under the table donations and to bring transparency and accountability in the system of political donations in the country. Now coming to the features of electoral bonds. See electoral bond would be a bearer instrument in the nature of a promissory note, which is also an interest-free banking instrument. Now let's see who can purchase the bond. Here note that the electoral bond may be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or it may be purchased by a body incorporated or established in India. Here the definition of person includes an individual or a company or an association of persons or a body of individuals or any agency, office or branch owned or controlled by such person. Now coming to the question where electoral bonds can be purchased. See electoral bonds can be purchased for any value in multiples of 1000, 10,000, 1 lakh, 10 lakh and 1 crore from the specified branches of the state bank of India. See the purchaser would be allowed to buy electoral bonds only on due fulfillment of the KYC norms. Also note that electoral bond will not carry the name of payee. This provision of the scheme is hardly contested as it will lead to corporate funding of the elections. Now let's see who is eligible to get donation. See electoral bonds would have a life of only 15 days during which can be used for making donation only to the political parties registered under section 29A of the Representation of People Act and the political parties which secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in the last general election to the Lokshaba or the State Legislative Assembly. See the bonds under the scheme shall be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in the months of January, April, July and October. Note that an additional period of 30 days shall be specified by the central government in the year of the general election to the Lokshaba. Now coming to the redemption of bonds, the bond shall be encached by any eligible political party only through a designated bank account with the authorized bank. So this is all regarding election bonds. In this discussion we saw about the background for the introduction of electoral bonds, then the features of electoral bonds and who is eligible to purchase electoral bonds and where it can be purchased, then who is eligible to get donations and finally when it is issued and how it can be redeemed. With these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion that is to discuss preliminary practice questions. Look at this first question. Consider the following statements. Let's take up this first statement. Arihant class is a class of Indian ship submersible ballistic missile submarines. See this statement is correct. See INS Arihant is India's first nuclear power submarine and is a class of ship submersible ballistic nuclear submarine. Note that Arihant is India's first intelligently built nuclear submarine. It was jointly developed by the Indian Navy, Baba Atomic Research Center and different research and development organization. So the first statement is correct. Now moving on to the second statement. INS Arihant is second Arihant class submarine built by India. Here the statement 2 is also correct. Here the first one to build under the Arihant class is INS Arihant and the second one is INS Arihant. So the statement 2 is also correct. Here the question asks for correct statement. So the answer for the question is option C both 1 and 2. Now moving on to the second question. Which among the following pair or pairs is our correct? Here the reports and the publishing organizations are given. We have to find the correct pairs. Here the first and second pairs are interchangeably matched. Note that World Competitiveness Index is released by Institute for Management Development and the Global Competitiveness Index is published by World Economic Forum. And the third and fourth one is correct as Global Livability Index is published by Economist Intelligence Unit and Ease of Doing Business is published by World Bank. So the answer for the question is option B only two pairs are correct. Now moving on to the third question. Which of the following activities are prohibited in the eco-sensitive zones? See during discussion I have displayed a table which shows what are the activities prohibited, regulated and permitted inside the eco-sensitive zones. So the question is based on that table only. Here the question is about prohibited activities. Now we will see the statements. Statement 1. Felling of trees. Statement 2. Use of pallet thin bags by shopkeepers. Statement 3. Use or production of any hazardous substances. Statement 4. Establishment of major hydroelectric projects. Statement 5. Commercial use of firewood. And Statement 6. Introduction of exotic species. Know that from the table we conclude that the first, second and sixth statements are regulated activities. And the third, fourth and fifth statements are alone prohibited inside the eco-sensitive zones. Here the question asks for correct statement. That means what are the activities prohibited. So the correct answer for the question is option C, 3, 4 and 5 only. And this is the question for you today. I will post this question in the community section try to answer it. Displayed here is the main question for you today. Kindly go through the question, write your answer and post it in the comment section. With this we come to the end of the video. If you like our analysis, please like, comment and share it with your friends. And don't forget to subscribe to Shankar IIS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.