 a very good evening aspirants welcome to hindu news analysis brought to you by shankara is academy today is 19th of may 2022 the list of articles we are going to discuss today is displayed on the screen you can go through it let's start our discussion with this previous year preliminary question look at the question it was asked in the year 2019 which of the following are in agastya mala biosphere reserve see agastya mala biosphere reserve and neelkiri biosphere reserve were consistently in use because of high peaks conservation efforts and discovery of new species etc so this is a factual question but if you know any of the wildlife sanctuaries are tiger reserve associated with either neelkiri biosphere reserve or agastya mala biosphere reserve you can easily eliminate the options and arrive at the correct answer see before answering this question let's see some of the basic facts about neelkiri and agastya mala biosphere reserve see agastya mala biosphere reserve is located in the western gods and it has peaks reaching 1868 meter above sea level it consists mostly of tropical forest and it is home to nearly 2500 species of higher plants including 400 endemic plants it is also a unique genetic reservoir of cultivated plants example cardamom nutmeg pepper and plantain see three wildlife sanctuaries chendurne peppera and neyar wildlife sanctuaries and the kalakard mundandurai tiger reserve are located in the site note that this biosphere reserve hosts one of the most diverse ecosystems in peninsular India and constitutes an important biogeographical hard spot within the western gods and this reserve is home to kani tribes from both Tamil Nadu and Kerala which number in totally 30,000 inhabitants thus the agastya mala biosphere reserve occupies a prominent place in the cultural heritage and the history of India in particular its prominence in the epic Ramayana has made it a famous site for Hindu pilgrimage okay now coming to the other biosphere reserve which is neelkiri biosphere reserve it was the first biosphere reserve in India established in the year 1986 it is located in the western gods and includes two of the 10 biogeographical provinces of India note that wide ranges of ecosystems and species diversity are found in this region so it is a natural choice for the premier biosphere reserve of the country and the neelkiri biosphere reserve falls under the biogeographic region of Malabar rainforest here note that the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary, Vayanan wildlife sanctuary, Pandipur national park, Nagarhoi national park, Mukurthi national park and Silent Valley national park are the protected areas present within the reserve so from this understanding we can solve this question very easily only option a has all the wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves associated with agastya mala and in other options some wildlife sanctuaries or national parks are associated with neelkiri biosphere reserve or some other reserves okay so here our correct answer is option a now let's move on to our article discussion see this news article here this news article is about ethanol blended petrol that is EBP it says that government is going to advance the date by which fuel companies have to increase the percentage of ethanol in petrol so to understand the news let us have an understanding of ethanol blended petrol as the name suggests here ethanol is mixed with petrol to know why we need to know about ethanol first see ethanol is also known as ethyl alcohol it is a clear colorless liquid with an agreeable order it is an alcohol fuel which provides high quality high octane for exceptional engine performance and reduced emissions see here high octane denotes the octane ratings which are measures of fuel stability these ratings are based on the pressure at which a fuel will be spontaneously combust that is auto ignite in a testing engine so higher the octane number the more stable will be the fuel and ethanol has one 13 octane rating so ethanol is the highest to performance fuel on the market and keeps today's high combustion engines running smoothly so how ethanol is uptight it is made from biomass that is various plant materials therefore ethanol is a type of biofuel and it represents the first generation of biofuel technology know that the most commonly used biomass to produce ethanol is starch based and sugar based feedstocks among these also sugar based feedstocks gets high importance especially sugarcane sweet sorghum and sugar beet are used internationally for ethanol production and sometimes sugar is also directly used here ethanol is made by fermentation of sugars and note that more than half of industrial ethanol is made by this process only and some of the starch based feedstocks include mice, wheat and other cereals the starch in these feedstocks is converted to sugar and then ethanol is produced so which feedstock is preferred in India for ethanol production actually it is sugarcane molasses which is a byproduct of sugarcane and damaged food grains are also used now one of the major uses of ethanol is as a fuel but ethanol alone is not used as a fuel all the times rather sometimes it is combined with other fuels yes you are right petrol is one of the major fuels with which ethanol is combined or blended particularly anhydrous ethanol which is nothing but ethanol without water is blended with petrol in varying quantities this is what we call ethanol blended petrol okay so why this is done it is due to the properties of ethanol we saw already that is the blending increases octane and since ethanol is a renewable energy source it helps in cutting down carbon monoxide and other small causing emissions so it reduces air pollution especially the ones caused by vehicles then it also leads to less usage or consumption of petroleum products which are fossil fuels that harm the environment and it also improves combustion because here ethanol is used as an oxygenate additive for standard petrol oxygenate referred to oxygen containing compounds which are used as fuel components or additives okay these fuel additives are used to improve combustion see the combustion characteristics of a fuel influences the toxic effects of the resulting emissions so higher the combustion lower the emission in this manner ethanol has oxygenate additive to petrol improves the combustion along with all these there is also the advantage of combining ethanol with petrol in any concentration here the concentration is the percentage of ethanol mixed with petrol and different countries have varying norms in this regard so what about India in India we have the ethanol blended petrol program which is EBPP the EBPP program is in line with the national policy on biofuels 2018 under EBPP government has two blending targets one is 10 percentage blending of ethanol with petrol by the year 2022 see we are in 2022 and did we achieve this target actually yes as per the data from Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas India achieved 10.65 percentage ethanol blending in March 2022 and the second target is 20% blending by 2030 but today's news is this target has been advanced by five years so 20% blending is to be achieved by 2025 now instead of 2030 and this process is to start from 2023 that is from next year for this the government also approved amendments to the national policy on biofuels this move of the government has notable benefits and concerns we will see those when the amendment is notified okay so that's all regarding this news article discussion in this article discussion we saw about ethanol how it is obtained and which feedstock is preferred in India for ethanol production and finally we saw about ethanol blended petrol program with these key takeaway points let's move on to next news article discussion take a look at this article here it says that six people have lost their lives as heavy rain caused severe damages across Karnataka and there were also flooding on the national highway leading to the Kempagoda International Airport the Indian meteorological department has issued a red alert for the coastal districts and this is a brief about the news article so taking this as an opportunity and as our problems is nearing we will revise about different forms of precipitation first of all what is a precipitation see we all know that during condensation water vapor turns into water droplets this process of condensation happens in the clouds over a period of time this results in water droplets growing in size when the resistance of the air fails to hold them against the force of gravity they fall onto the earth's surface to put it simply after the condensation of water vapor the release of moisture is known as precipitation okay now there are different forms of precipitation see precipitation may take place in liquid or solid form the precipitation in the form of water is called rainfall and rain is the most common form and it occurs when the precipitation falls to the earth as water droplets it happens because of coalescence see coalescence is nothing but two or more water particles merge to form a single particle or a droplet okay the size of water droplets range from 0.1 millimeter to 9 millimeters see another variation from rain is drizzle it consists of light water precipitation where liquid water droplets are smaller than those of rain so the difference between rain and drizzle is that it differs in the size of the droplets also know that rain is widely spaced see this image here to understand this but drizzle is fairly uniform precipitation composed exclusively of fine drops very close together okay rain is widely dropped and in drizzle the fine drops are very closely together okay now the next form is the snowfall see when the temperature is lower than 0 degrees Celsius precipitation takes place in the form of fine flakes of snow and it is called snowfall here moisture is released in the form of hexagonal crystals these crystals form flakes of snow okay see rainfall and snowfall are more prevalent in occurrence there are other two forms also but they are limited in occurrence and are sporadic in both time and space it includes sleet and hail now we will see them now coming to sleet it is a frozen rain drops and refrozen melted snow water i will explain this now see during precipitation formation if the temperature are at or below the freezing point that is 0 degrees Celsius at cloud level water in the air freezes into ice crystals and these ice crystals stick together to make a snow then the snow starts to fall and if the air column is freezing cold all the way from the cloud to the ground the precipitation tastes frozen that is it simply falls as snow in normal circumstances but sometimes a temperature inversion occurs normally the temperature decreases with increasing altitude and the temperature inversion is when air temperature increases with height okay under these conditions when the falling snow reaches the layer of warm air it melts then again it hits the layer of cold air just above the earth surface and then freezes that is first it melts then it freezes okay this all happens very fast and the result is a tiny ice pellets these are called sleets okay now coming to the next form which is hail see hail is a precipitation in the form of small balls or other pieces of ice falling separately or frozen together in irregular lumps they are like ice pellets okay and they are associated with thunderstorms this type of precipitation contains snowballs of 5 millimeter or greater in diameter okay so that's all regarding this news article and this article discussion we saw about precipitation and the forms of precipitation which is nothing but rainfall snowfall sleet and hail with these key takeaway points let's move on to next news article discussion see this front page article here it says that yesterday supreme code invoked its extraordinary powers to do complete justice under article 142 of the constitution and it ordered the release of A.G. Perrivalan in former prime minister Raju Gandhi assassination case so this is the crux of the news article given here in this context let us understand about the case and what made the supreme code to take such an action and finally we will see the constitutional validity behind the judgment okay but before that the syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference just go through it now let's start the discussion first of all let us learn some facts about the case see A.G. Perrivalan he was accused of having bought two nine-old golden powder battery cells for Sivarasan who is the LTE man who masterminded the conspiracy which is the assassination of Raju Gandhi see the batteries were used in the bomb that killed Raju Gandhi on May 21st 1991 and Perrivalan was 19 years of age when he was arrested on June 11 1991 and after his arrest he was sentenced to death by a Dada court in 1998 and the sentence was upheld by the supreme court in 1999 then the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by supreme court on February 18 2014 so what is commute here it means changing the type of punishment given to the convicted person at the time of conviction so here in this case death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment now coming back the ongoing case in the supreme court was part of a 2015 mercy petition submitted by Perrivalan to the Tamil Nadu governor seeking release under article 161 of the constitution he moved the supreme court after receiving no response let us take a moment here and understand what is article 161 see it is about the pardoning power of the governor in certain cases if you remember correctly this pardoning power of president and governor was discussed on May 16th analysis anyways we will discuss now also but if you want to brush up your facts on pardoning power of the president then watch May 16th analysis so article 161 says that governor has the power to pardon, remit, reprive and suspend the sentences of offenses if it is in the relation with the law where the executive power of the state extends okay now coming back to the case we saw that Perrivalan did not receive any response and after this he received parole in the year 2017 and the parole order said that he had completed the sentences awarded to him for various offenses for which he had been convicted and he was now serving time in prison only under section 302 of IPC which is regarding punishment for murder see the order also said that the appropriate authority can decide on the matters of the case of the convict and owing to further delays supreme court had said in September 2018 that the governor has the right to decide on the petition within days the Tamil Nadu cabinet headed by then chief minister Adapadi K Balani Swami had recommended the release of all the seven convicts in the case but the governor had chosen to sit on the cabinet's recommendation that is the governor did not take any decision regarding the petition and because of this the governor faced strong remarks from the Metra's High Court in July 2020 the High Court also said that even though no time limit has been prescribed for the constitutional authority that is the governor to decide on such issues it is important to make timely decisions because of the faith and trust attached to the constitutional post and the High Court also reminded that if a constitutional authority fails to take a decision in a reasonable time then the court will be constrained to interfere in January 2021 the supreme court too expressed displeasure on the long delay on the part of the governor and warned that the court may be forced to take a decision see instead of taking any decision the governor's office forwarded the file to President Ramnath Govind for a decision in February 2021 and this move was questioned by the supreme court in multiple hearings see supreme court held that the advice of the state cabinet is binding on the governor in matters relating to commutation or remission of sentences under article 161 and no provision in the constitution has given the source of governance power to refer a recommendation made by a state cabinet to the president of India so the supreme court held that such action is contrary to the constitutional scheme itself and it is said that the governor's delay to decide peri-revalence pardon for more than two years has compelled the court to employ its constitutional powers under article 142 to do justice to peri-revalence now let's take a pass here and understand what is article 142 see article 142 is an extraordinary power of the supreme court and it says that the supreme court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such degree or order that is necessary for doing complete justice in case of any matter pending before it and such degree and order is enforceable throughout the territory of India okay now coming back to the case supreme court while employing its power as per article 142 directed that peri-revalence has deemed to have served the sentence and he can be set free and this judgment is made taking into account his prolonged period of incarceration his satisfactory conduct in the jail as well as during parole chronic ailments from his medical records his educational qualifications acquired during incarceration and the pendency of his petition under article 161 for two and a half years after the recommendation of state cabinet after the judgment the center argued that only president has the power to grant pardon in a case under section 302 of the IPC which is regarding murder the court dismissed the center's argument by saying that such a contention would render article 161 as dead letter and it will create an extraordinary situation whereby pardons granted by governors in murder cases for the past 17 years as invalid so that's all regarding this news article discussion and this discussion we saw about the case the constitutional validity of it and some articles related to it and finally the supreme court judgment with these key takeaway points let's move on to next news article discussion see this news article here this news article states that Delhi lieutenant governor Mr. Anil Baijal tendered his resignation and he cited personal reasons and his advanced age as the reason for his resignation okay this is about the news article in this context let's discuss some facts about lieutenant governor see before getting into the discussion just note that only five union territories which are Andaman and Nicaragua islands Delhi, Jamun Kashmir, Ladakh and Puducherry have lieutenant governors and in case of Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Dhadra Nagarhaveli and Damanandhyu there is no lieutenant governor instead they have administrators appointed by the president also note that only Delhi, Puducherry, Jamun Kashmir have legislative assemblies and an additional point to note here is that while all the union territories have representations in Lok Sabha only Puducherry, Delhi and Jamun Kashmir have representatives in both Lok Sabha and Rajasabha okay that is see again I'm telling only Puducherry, Delhi and Jamun Kashmir have representatives in Rajasabha other union territories don't have representation in Rajasabha okay see we know that the governor is the head of the state appointed by the president and lieutenant governor is the head of the union territory like we saw earlier in India the post of lieutenant governor is present only in the union territories of Andaman and Nicaragua islands Delhi, Jamun Kashmir, Ladakh and Puducherry in other union territories administrators are appointed see the powers and functions of a governor and a lieutenant governor are more or less same the lieutenant governor like the governor acts as a titular head of the union territory but the powers of the lieutenant governor are wider than that of a governor this is because a governor of a state has to act solely on the aid and advice of the council of ministers whereas the lieutenant governor does not need the approval of council of ministers on every matter see in case of Delhi the government exercises no power in the domain of land law and police and the lieutenant governor has some complete discretion to decide upon any of these matters so that's all regarding this news article with all these key learned points let's move on to next part of a news article discussion which is nothing but preliminary practice questions discussion look at the first question it is regarding the ethanol consider the following statements maximum of 10 percentage ethanol blending is allowed with petrol and ethanol is the first generation of biofuel that is produced only with sugar-based feedstocks and we have to find the incorrect statement here see here statement one is incorrect because India itself has a target to achieve 20% blending by 2025 now so more than 10% can be blended you would have heard about E85 which is also called flex fuel E85 is a term that refers to high-level ethanol gasoline or ethanol petrol blends it contains 51 to 83% ethanol depending on geography and season and this is used in Europe majorly in France and Sweden also used in USA okay now statement two it is also incorrect because we have discussed that starch-based feedstocks are also used so our correct answer here will be option C both 1 and 2 because the question demands incorrect statement now look at the next question it is regarding article 239 AA 69th amendment to the constitution of India inserted article 239 AA and article 239 AA creates a legislative assembly for Delhi which can make laws on all subjects under state list and concurrent list and we have to find the correct statements here see here statement one is correct it is a fact that 69th amendment to the constitution of India inserted article 239 AA and in addition to article 239 AA this amendment also inserted article 239 AB okay so first statement is correct and regarding the second statement it is incorrect see this article creates a legislative assembly for Delhi which can make laws on subjects under the state list and concurrent list but there is an exception that is the legislative assembly of Delhi cannot make laws on matters like public order police and land so here since it is given all subjects and it is an extreme statement statement two is incorrect also note that article 239 AA declared that the union territory of Delhi is to be administered by the left-hand governor who works on aid and advice of elected legislative assembly however the aid and advice clause applies only to matters on which elected assembly has powers under the state and concurrent list but with the exception of public order police and land okay further article 239 AA also notes that left-hand governor has to either act on the aid and advice of council of minister or he is bound to implement the decision taken by the president on a reference being made by him so you can see the left-hand governor of Delhi has dual control one by the president another by the council of minister of Delhi this is the reason for the constant tussle in Delhi okay so here statement one is correct and statement two is incorrect so our correct answer will be option a one only look at this question this is with respect to precipitation this is a very easy question take this as a quiz find the answer and post it in the comment section the main question is displayed here write your answer and post it in the comment section if you like the 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