 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar IA's academy for the day 12th of April 2022. Displayed here are the list of news articles that I have chosen for today's discussion. See as I assured you today also I have discussed an economic topic not only one economic topic in that itself I had covered multiple economic topics then in the rest of the four topics I had made a very clear aim of covering it in prelims perspective also I had not missed the main spot I had also made a suggestion of how you can utilize these points in your mains so please pay attention to this discussion and it is going to be very much useful for your upcoming preliminary examination because all these topics can be put as a preliminary question definitely. So without wasting much time now let's get into the news article discussion. See look at this news article it is about the remediation of landfills in Delhi. It mentions that the union ministry of housing has asked the Delhi government to release funds for the same. So in this manner let us now know about what is a landfill and the issues in it ok. See landfill is a well engineered and managed facility for the disposal of solid waste especially the municipal solid waste. The waste is disposed of on a land that is designed and constructed for that purpose ok. So it is disposed in a sanitary landfill you will see what is a sanitary landfill in the later part of this discussion itself ok. So the major advantage of the landfill is it can keep cities, towns and districts clean. Remember that disposing waste in landfills is one part of an integrated waste management system but it is the least preferred option. Just have a look at this image you will understand that landfills are the least preferred ok. So what will be the most preferred? The source reduction and reuse will be the most preferred option at any cost ok. But all the municipal solid waste is not dumped in a landfill. So what all will be dumped? Let us know the types of waste that are dumped. Firstly the non-biodegradable and inert waste is dumped. See it includes the residual solid waste that is a waste and rejects from the solid waste processing facilities which are not suitable for recycling or further processing ok. Secondly the combingled waste or you can say it as mixed waste. These waste are not found suitable for waste processing. So they are dumped in the landfills ok. Then the pre-processing rejects and the post-processing rejects from the waste processing sites are also dumped in the landfills. Then lastly the non-hazardous waste which is not being processed or recycled are all dumped in the landfills. On the other hand for bio waste or garden waste and dry recyclables landfilling is usually not done ok. Then what about other types of waste such as hazardous waste and construction and demolition waste? See a separate landfill site is present for each of these types. See a separate landfill site is present for each of these waste products ok. Overall according to the solid waste management rules 2016 only non-reactive inert and pre-treated waste may be disposed in sanitary landfills ok. And disposal of organic matter into sanitary landfill is not permitted. See these points are very much important please make a note of these two points ok. But there are many issues with the landfills mainly the landfill has no containment mission. First issue is they contaminate the environment because of the contaminants present in the waste stream. So it leads to groundwater contamination through leachate. What is this leachate means? See leachate is a contaminated liquid containing a number of dissolved and suspended materials. It also causes surface water contamination through runoff. And it doesn't stop with water contamination it goes beyond it goes to air contamination also. See air is contaminated due to gases litter dust and bad order ok. This also includes a landfill gas that is generated as a product of waste biodegradation ok. In this the principle gases produced will be methane and carbon dioxide please make a note of this also. See the second issue is this spontaneous ignition or fire. This is due to possible methane concentration. See look at this table you can understand from the table that the methane concentration is high in the landfill. So this causes spontaneous ignition or fire. There are also other problems due to rodents, pests, bird menace, then slow failure, erosion etc etc. See this is why the modern landfills are well engineered and thus have these components. Just have a look at this image. See you must have a clarification when a landfill will be called as sanitary landfill. For that it has to fulfil two features. First when it is designed on the principle of waste containment and has protective measures for the above mentioned contaminants it is called as sanitary landfill. The second one is it should be characterized by the presence of a liner system to prevent ground water contamination it can be said as sanitary landfill. Here the liner system comprises of a combination of leachate drainage and collection layers and also barrier layer. See it may comprise of a combination of barrier materials such as natural clays, amended soils and flexible geomembranes. A liner system is called competent when it has low permeability, robust and durable and it should be resistant to chemical attack, puncture and rupture. See the sanitary landfills can control contamination and environmental degradation to a large extent but it cannot be totally avoided. That is why the government's objective is to minimize the waste going to the landfills. This I mentioned at the very beginning of the discussion itself. These are the least preferred in the integrated waste management system. So that's all about this news article. So we discussed about what is a landfill and what are all the issues in a landfill and I said two important features so as to call a landfill as sanitary landfills. Note that landfills are very much important for your prelims perspective also when it comes to mains you should know what are all the issues in the landfills because whenever an issue regarding this kind of waste management comes in you will have a question like how will you manage or how will you improvise the management system especially when it comes to solid waste management or waste management system. So with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this editorial article. See this editorial article talks about the MSMEs that is micro, small and medium enterprises. As you know MSMEs are critical for achieving the overall objective of economic development. See it is a significant contributor in terms of industrial output, employment generation and also the share in the gross domestic product and export. But despite many initiatives by government since independence the sector has been facing challenges in its quest for survival and growth. In addition to this the COVID-19 pandemic further exposed the vulnerability of the MSME sector. During the pandemic the sector was among the worst hit on account of the demand and supply shocks. This was caused because of the measures taken later to curb the spread of infection. See the sector is still struggling to survive and recover from the pandemic induced shocks. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us quickly go through what is MSME and what are all the impacts faced by them during the pandemic. Also let us end this discussion with the way forward mentioned in the editorial article. See this topic is important for both your problems as well as means because the definition of MSME itself can be put as a problems question. Also know this MSME is contributing highly to the economic development. Hence this kind of topics can be very much relevant in your means because it can be a question like this. How can be the impact faced by the MSME during the pandemic addressed? So if you pay deep attention to this discussion you will be able to answer both your problems based question and means based question okay. So the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference please go through it. Now let us begin our discussion. Firstly what are MSMEs? Before knowing that let us briefly understand about the Ministry of MSME. See the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is a branch of the Government of India. It is the apex executive body for the formulation and administration of rules, regulation and laws relating to the MSME in India. So you can understand that there is a separate ministry itself for this MSME sector. Now coming back what are MSMEs? As you know MSME stands for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises introduced by the Government of India in agreement with the MSME Development Act that is Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act of 2006. As per this act MSMEs are the enterprises involved in processing, production, preservation of goods and commodities. See these enterprises are classified as Micro, Small and Medium and each classification has its own criteria to meet okay. Just have a look at this table and understand what are all the criteria that was in the past and it was recently revised. So go through both the things mainly have in mind the present classification okay. See I will just explain you how the classification is made for Micro alone so that you can easily remember for small and medium enterprises okay. See for example take the revised MSME classification for Micro for that the criteria is the investment should be less than 1 crore and the turnover should be less than 5 crore okay. So when a enterprise meets these two criteria it can be called as Micro Enterprise okay. And one more thing you have to remember from this table of classification. See before and all there was a separate criteria for manufacturing sector and service sector but in the revised definition all the criteria for MSME manufacturing sector is similar to that of the MSME service sector. Make a note of this point this is very much important okay. Also note that under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act 2006 here I mean the MSME Development Act 2006. The Government of India established the National Board for MSME. This is to examine the factors affecting promotion and development of MSME okay. See this board also reviews the existing policies and suggests recommendation to the government for the growth of the MSME sector okay. Now here you might have a doubt why such classification are made or what is the need for such classification. See MSME sector is considered the backbone of the Indian economy. This I mentioned at the very beginning of the discussion. See it is contributing highly to the gross domestic product of the country. Also note that it has contributed substantially to the socio-economic development of the nation. It generates employment opportunities and works in the development of backward and rural areas. Now you may ask how. See MSME produce and manufacture a wide variety of products for domestic as well as international markets. By doing so the MSMEs help in the promotion of growth and development of Kadi, Village and Coir industries. See this is in cooperation with the concerned ministries, state governments and stakeholders okay. This is the reason why government takes special care on this sector. Also remember the MSME registration process in India has been conceptualized to provide maximum benefits to all types of enterprises. See after registration any enterprise becomes qualified to read the benefit offered and at the MSME development act 2006. Some of the benefits from central government include easy sanction of bank loans. See remember we have read about the priority sector lending no under this easy sanction of bank loans are made okay. Then they provide lower rates of interest then they can enjoy excise exemption scheme then the exemption under direct tax laws and statutory support such as reservations okay. So having a brief understanding about MSME and its importance and what are all the government provided benefits for them. Now let us focus on the impact of COVID-19 on the MSMEs. See the authors of this article made a recent study wherein a primary survey of 225 small firms located in the national capital region and Uttarkhand was made and they had absorbed so many things like the turnover of around 90% of small firms had declined in the financial year 2020 to 2021. Then so many firms were facing a 50% decline in their turnover then few were reporting a collapse of their business itself then a few more observed a decrease in the demand while around 36% faced erratic supply of from ideal. See these data's may not be useful for you but one observation that you have to make from this data will be very much useful for your mains answer. What is that observation? See the turnover of the firms has reduced also the demand has reduced then the shortage of raw materials was also at the peak. See now let me list down the reasons for the turnover reduction utilize these points for your mains answers. See first one is restriction on economic activities and mobilities. The next one is decrease in demand then the shortage of raw materials then restriction on trade then slow recovery of markets and lastly the payment delays and labor shortages were also contributing to the reduction in the MSME sector turnover. Okay, apart from this these firms faced a 25% reduction in their employment particularly in the informal workers segment that stood at around 47% So what are all the major challenges faced by firms in their revival? See first one is delayed payment issues then next one is reduced demand then they had lack of financial resources then the supply chain was disrupted then they had increased cost of production why is this increased cost of production an issue see there is shortage of raw materials then obviously the raw materials will be purchased at high cost so as a result of this only there is increased cost of production okay see always there will be some connectivity between the issues try to link them so that you can easily remember those points then you all know that there was lack of skilled workers and most importantly there were business uncertainties now government was also not silencing all this a special economic package was announced to make India independent against the tough global supply chain competition and also to help empower the laborers poor and migrants who had been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic what is that economic package named it is Atman Nirbar Bharat Tabia see all the most of the firms were aware about this initiative and at the Atman Nirbar Bharat package only half of them found it to be of any help you may ask why see there is already lack of demand and there are business uncertainties so the firms did not even want to avail the financial assistance that was provided under the Atman Nirbar Bharat package okay see here the government should have been more focused on creating a revival of demand for products and services okay see apart from all these issues faced during the pandemic there was something that saved this sector that too especially a few firms in the sector were saved what was that it was the resilience of those firms see not all firms have suffered due to the pandemic induced recession here the author says that the firms that lacked financial planning for business uncertainties in order to overcome vulnerable shocks they only suffered a lot during this pandemic except them around 10% of firms know under the study had either rise in their turnover or reported no change at all now comes the reason behind this no change or the increased turnover see the key sectors these firms operated includes human health activities manufacture of pharmaceuticals medicinal then chemical and botanical products then food and beverage service activities and manufacture of apparels then etc etc see the owners of these firms have also reported that they have tried to quickly adapt to the use of e-commerce platforms and even switch to other business activities that had demand see what was the demand during that pandemic situation production of masks sanitizers then home delivery of products etc etc so all these demands were addressed by those firms that is why they were not affected see they exploited the opportunity using their own savings to invest in the areas that offered new opportunities so the firms which had this kind of resilience did not get affected so here comes the question how should the sector plan ahead see as we all know COVID-19 is neither the first pandemic nor it is going to be the last even during the first two decades of this century the world went through some of the pandemics you can say for example SARS in 2002 to 2004 then H1N1 influenza in 2009 or the swine flu influenza in 2009 then MERS in 2012 and the Zika virus in 2015 to 16 see COVID-19 has been the worst among them that I can agree but apart from the pandemic there were also other factors such as sudden change in government policies wars and natural catastrophes such as flood drought etc etc which caused the business uncertainties and affected small businesses further the bulk of MSMEs are in the informal sector so they lack registration and the necessary financial documents to avoid such benefits that they are provided these firms are at great risk of shutting down after a large-scale disaster or economic shock therefore there is a need to develop a mechanism for MSMEs which should help rescue them from shutting down and support their revival during business uncertainties and for that the authors of the editorial such as the provisions of emergency funds for small businesses that should be made mandatory from the beginning itself see similar to the public provident fund the government can initiate what is called an uncertainty corpus fund for small businesses this fund can be used to meet the financial needs of small businesses during the business uncertainties it may be linked with the turnover of firms a firm could maintain a certain fraction of its turnover to meet the needs of this fund see according to the authors although it would be a forced saving it would still be very useful for the MSMEs during business uncertainties that are also the business uncertainties caused by the economic shocks then the government should encourage small firms by assuring them a lucrative return on the investment through this fund so when they are investing no if you are providing some return they will definitely come and invest this is what the author is coming to say here further the government may also contribute to the corpus fund as a fraction of the contribution of the MSMEs for firms up to certain limit of turnover okay secondly although budget 2022-23 seeks to lay a foundation and a blueprint to steer the economy over the next 25 years it has failed to bring in any plan or ideas that makes MSME sector resilient the proposed financial measures suggested above namely an uncertainty corpus fund for small business can help MSMEs become resilient and sustain their growth during business uncertainties caused by the economic shocks see it could enable small firms to meet their working capital requirements in particular I can say retaining their workforce then investing in new technology or new business opportunities to cope up with the uncertainties in terms of planning if you take the MSMEs can be on a par with large firms it would boost the confidence of small firms during normal business times and make them more competitive by giving them a sense of security in times of an abnormal business cycle so it would also be of great help to the government in a time of crisis as a government can focus on addressing the demand issues which is one of the biggest challenges faced by an economy during a shock so that's all regarding this news article see all these points know whatever I discussed in this discussion will be very much useful for answering your mains based questions also remember the factual information regarding the definition of MSME or what are all the issues faced by MSME these can be put as a preliminary question so that also you can answer from this discussion this is very much important for your entire preparation so do make note of each and every points under this discussion so with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next article discussion now look at this news article see this news article mentions about a comment by Moody's investor service on declining bad loans it has said that the scenario will improve profitability of banks in the current fiscal year so now let us utilize this opportunity to learn a new economic concept today that is bad loan also will address how can it be managed okay what is a bad loan see bad loan is nothing but the non performing assets that is NPAs NPAs generally that asset which is non performing that is which is not giving any return of interest or even the principal amount back so similarly in case of banks an asset becoming non-performing when it ceases to generate income for the bank is what we call it as non-performing asset am I right so that is why NPAs are considered as an important indicator to judge the performance and financial health of banks so how and when an asset is called NPA see RBA has laid down grounds based on which an asset is declared as NPA that is non-performing asset and majorly here RBA follows the 90 days overdue route here the term overdue refers to any amount that is due to the bank under any credit facility and this due amount has not been paid on or before the due date fixed by the bank okay this 90 days rule is followed by RBA for term loans bills purchased and discounted and then for securitization transaction then for derivative transactions also but in case of agricultural advances the number of crop season is taken into account to declare as non-performing asset okay see I have given the rules that has to be followed to declare an asset as a non-performing asset just go through this this can be put as a preliminary question for you okay but here you have to note that before these 90 days when there is default the lenders are mandated to recognize the developing stress in loan accounts immediately so that an account is in default before it is declared NPA therefore when there is default the lenders are required to classify such stress asserts or loan accounts as special mention accounts that is SMA so that this special mention accounts are red flags and if not addressed they will become the non-performing assets just know the difference between a special mention account and a non-performing asset okay now the special mention accounts has three sub categories depending on the overdue period as you can see here it is just named as SMA 0, SMA 1, SMA 2 and depending upon the number of days only it is getting categorized okay so in this manner two important measures of government are important that deal with this non-performing asset one is the IBC or what we call it as insolvency and bankruptcy code 2016 see according to the IBC it took the NPA resolution mechanism many steps further it streamlined the insolvency resolution process for corporates and individuals it also protected the interest of the secured as well as unsecured creditors plus this IBC promises both time-bound and optimal recovery for creditors so this IBC has been the most significant reform concerning the NPA resolution in the year 2019 to 2020 45.5% of the amount was recovered under IBC this is not worthy okay now the second way of approaching this NPA is bad bank see a bad bank is a corporate entity that alienates assets that are not liquid and risky assets and this will be held by banks and financial institutions or a group of banks okay it is created to help banks clean their balance sheets by transferring their bad looms okay this transfer helps banks to focus on their core business of taking deposits and lending money see in India National Assert Reconstruction Company Limited that is NARCL is established as a bad bank so it is set up to acquire just a loan assets of about rupees two lakh crore in faces okay so that's all about this news article I hope you would have understood what is a bad loan and what are all the rules to declare an asset as a non-performing asset or a bad loan also in this discussion itself I had made clear about the term special mention accounts then we saw the sub-categorization of these special mention accounts also we saw about the two important measures taken by the government to address this non-performing asset one is the insolvency and bankruptcy code and the other one is the bad bank see this will be very much helpful for your preliminary questions so kindly make note of these points and with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article see this news article reports that the telecom regulatory authority of India that is tri has recommended slashing the base price for airwaves this is by up to 40 percent across all spectrum bands including 5g airwaves see we are not going to get deep into this issue but today let us use this as an opportunity to learn some of the facts about tri this will be very useful for your upcoming preliminary examination see the entry of private servers in telecommunication providers brought with it the inevitable need for independent regulation this is exactly why the telecommunication regulatory authority of india that is tri was established with effect from 20th february 1997 this was established by an act of parliament called the tri act 1997 see the main function of this body is to regulate telecom services including fixation or revision of tariffs for telecom services see these functions were earlier dealt by the central government the head office of the telecom regulatory authority of india that is tri is located at new delhi talking about the members the tri consists of a chairperson two whole time members and two part time members all of which are appointed by the government of india when you talk about the tenure of the members the chairperson and other members shall hold their office for a term of three years or till the age of 65 years whichever is earlier okay now when you talk about the mission of tri see its mission is to create a nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable india to play a leading role in emerging global information society and when you take its main objective it is to provide a fair and transparent policy environment see this promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition so in perseverance of above objective only tri has issued from time to time a large number of regulations orders and directives this is to deal with issues coming before it and provided the required direction to the evolution of indian telecom market from a government owned monopoly to a multi operator and multi service open competitive market see the directions orders and regulations issued cover a wide range of subject including tariff interconnection and quality of service as well as governance of the authority remember the tri act was amended by an ordinance which came into effect from 24 january 2000 this amendment established a telecommunications dispute settlement and appellate tribunal this is established to take over the adjudicatory and disputes function from tri see this dispute settlement and appellate tribunal of tri was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and the licensee that is between two or more service providers and between a service provider and a group of consumers and also to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction decision or order of tri so that's all about this news article see regarding tri you can very well expect a preliminary question because you very well know that telecommunications sector is always in recent news and regarding this regulatory authority you might have a preliminary question so these key points in my now let's move on to the next news article discussion now look at this news article see this news article is about the findings of the round one of the state energy and climate index this is released recently so in this context let us see about this index first then the findings in the later part of the discussion this is very much important for your prelims perspective also i'll say how to utilize these points in your minds okay see the seci is the index that aims to track the efforts made by states and union territories in the climate and energy sector note that it is first such index and a much needed one since india is a resource rich country so it is released by nithya yoke and the index is envisaged as a stepping stone in highlighting the role and performance of the state in the energy sector see it assesses and identifies the scope for improving the performance of the energy sector also it helps the states to efficiently manage their energy resources in this way the index is expected to help the country to become atma nithbar in the energy sector so now let us see the three objectives of this index first is ranking the states based on their efforts towards improving energy access energy consumption energy efficiency and safeguarding environment second is helping drive the agenda of affordable accessible efficient and clean energy transition at the state level the third objective is encouraging healthy competition among the states on different dimensions of energy and climate okay now how the index is calculated see it is based on indicators and parameters this index has 27 key performance indicators this covers nearly six parameters so you cannot remember the 27 key performance indicators but you should remember the six parameters okay the first parameter is discombs performance that is performance of power distribution companies that is what called as discombs okay second one is the access affordability and reliability of energy third is clean energy initiatives fourth is energy efficiency fifth is environment stability and the last one is new initiatives so these are all the six parameters under which this index is calculated among these performance of discombs have been assigned the highest weightage that is 40 percentage because the scams are the important link in the entire energy value chain just have a look at this image to know what is the weightage given to each and every parameter okay from this itself you can understand that the discombs performance is given high weightage am i right now since each state or union territory is different like other nithya yokes indices this index also classifies states as larger states smaller states and union territories see this helps in better comparison apart from this depending on the composite score earned also the states are categorized they are categorized as front runners achievers and aspirants okay now let us see the findings which is very much important for your prelims see the index also provides a country level analysis the overall score for india is 40.6 you can also see that all india average score for all parameters here and note that more than half of the states scored higher than all india scored this is very much appreciable okay now what about the state level performance let us see who are all the front runners among the largest states if you take it includes gujarat, kerala, panjab, hariana, uttarkhand and maharashtra then when you take the highest score it was achieved by gujarat which is 50.1 next when you take the small states goa and tripura are front runners then among the union territories the front runners are damanandu and dadaran nagarheveli then chandigarh, delhi and puducherry also are the top front runners see delhi has performed well on the parameter of energy efficiency plus in the parameter of discom's performance this four uts have scored above all india average this is very much appreciable okay now come to the bottom performers that is the aspirants among larger states it includes madhya pradesh, rajasthan, jharkhand and chattiskar see chattiskar scored the lowest score of 31.7 and chattiskar has not performed well in clean energy initiatives energy efficiency environmental sustainability and the new initiatives then among the small states are nachal pradesh is the aspirant with the lowest score of 27 but according to the index analysis all the small states are performing average in the parameters of environmental sustainability and access affordability and reliability and when you take jnk that is jamon kashmir andamana nikobar and nakshadeep they fall in the category of aspirants among the union territories okay that's all about this news article so from this a preliminary question can be asked like multiple statement questions wherein these findings can be used to frame these statements see if you just know these important data from these indices it is very much enough to untend your question because you can opt for elimination technique okay then when you take the mains perspective whenever a question comes like how to improvise the performance of the states in the energy sector or when a question comes like how to improvise the performance of the energy sector in general you can utilize these points because these are some of the government initiatives am i right see you can utilize the data from this discussion that we saw now know these states are performing well then these states are performing well especially in particular parameter this is all you can say as a way forward and you can suggest few more measures to improvise this performance in the energy sector this is how you can utilize a preliminary based discussion in your mains based answers okay see when you add this kind of government data in your answer or it will really enrich your answer because it means you're analyzing the current perspective of the sector so this kind of government data is a proof of your analysis okay so these key points in mind now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion now look at this first question it is regarding our landfill discussion see the question goes like this sanitary landfill site is not permitted in which of the following areas five areas are given see before answering this question let me show you the criteria for identifying the suitable land for sanitary landfill sites after looking at that you can easily answer this question okay now have you gone through the criteria now come back to the question see in this you might think the answer is option D but the answer is not option D the answer is option C see now let me tell you why the answer is option C see you might think in all these areas we cannot permit a sanitary landfill site but when you take the third one that is the near ponds you can set up a sanitary landfill site 200 meter away from that pond okay so you can easily understand by just using the word near UPSC made to confuse you if it is given ponds then you might think but since it is given as near ponds as it is permitted the nearness here means 200 meter away okay in all other areas sanitary landfill site is not permitted so your answer here will be option C one two four and five only because we are eliminating option A B and D when you know near ponds areas are permitted for establishing sanitary landfill site okay now look at this second question it is a question that is framed regarding our bad loans discussion okay see consider the following statements with reference to the non-performing assets two statements are given so whenever you have two statements you have to go through both the statements before answering the question look at the first statement an assert is classified as loss assert if it has remained NPA that is non-performing assert for more than 12 months the statement one is incorrect now let me tell you why see once an assert is declared NPA it is further classified it is classified as substandard assert if it remained NPA for a period of less than or equal to 12 months and it is classified as doubtful assert if it has remained NPA for more than 12 months so statement one should mention it as doubtful asserts that is why the statement is incorrect okay then what do you mean by loss assert see a loss assert is the one where the loss has been identified by the bank or internal or external auditors or by the corporation department or by the reserve bank of india's inspection but the amount has not been returned off wholly or partly here okay in other words such an assert is considered uncollectable and of such little value that it's continuous as a bankable assert is not warranted although there may be some salvage or recovery value okay so i'd explain clearly about what is a loss assert here okay then coming on to the second statement see when an assert does not disclose any problems and which does not carry more than normal risk attached to the business it is classified as standard assert so such an assert should not be a non-performing assert so now read the statement standard assert should not be an NPA this statement is absolutely correct since the question is demanding for correct statements your answer here will be option b 2 only is the correct statement now look at the third question it is regarding our Troy discussion it is also a two statement question so we are going to go through both the statements before answering this question see the first statement is correct yes it is a statutory body set up by the government of india and a section three of the telecom regulatory authority of india act 1997 now look at the second statement it is also correct see even though Troy can make recommendations the recommendations made by the Troy are not binding on the central government however the central government has to mandatorily ask for recommendations from Troy with respect to need and timing of new service provider and terms and conditions of the license to be granted to the service provider so you'd have understood why it is not binding okay since the question is demanding for correct statements your answer here will be option c both one and two are correct now look at this last question see it is framed so as to make you aware of the different indexes okay now pairs are given on one side indices are given and on the other side it is released by whom it is so you have to find which of these pairs is or are correctly matched so the correct answer for this is option c three only is the correct pair now let us see a brief of all these indices okay first let us take the world energy trilema index see since 2010 the world energy council has been preparing the world energy trilema index this index annually measures the energy system performances of 127 countries across the various dimensions and note that India is ranked 75th in the world energy trilema index that is i'm saying in the index that was released in the year 2021 this is the reason first paris marked wrong okay now coming on to the next index that is the world energy transition index see it is one of the initiatives taken by the world economic forum this is to track the global energy transition the index disseminates information on the nation's energy systems and promotes the adoption of policies decisions and collaboration to secure affordable sustainable and inclusive energy systems in the future see this energy transition index 2021 says that it is a continuation of the energy architecture performance index that was published by the world economic forum from the year 2013 to 2017 now coming on to the score of India it was 52.8 in the energy transition index 2021 and it secured the 87th position among the 115 countries this is the reason this paris also marked in this question okay now coming on to the last index which is the climate change performance index see the german along with the new climate institute and climate action network international publishes the climate change performance index this analyzes and compares the climate protection performance of 63 countries and the european union also see the index evaluates emission levels and promotes transparency in international climate politics this index measures the country's progress towards the nationally determined contributions that is NDCs and the 2030 targets okay and India has retained its 10th position in this index that was released in the year 2022 this is for the second time India is in this position okay so that's all about this preliminary practice question discussion displayed here is a mains practice question please go through the question and write your answers and post it in the comment section see this is an important topic for both your prelims and mains so kindly go through the question and write your answers okay if you like this video do like share and comment and do subscribe to the Shankar IAS Academy's YouTube channel thank you for listening