 Welcome, aspirants. As you all know, yesterday UPSC announced the results for its preliminary examinations. More than 927 candidates cleared from our academy and in that 70 of them cleared in their first attempt. We congratulate everyone who have cleared the preliminary examinations. Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankara Ace Academy for the date 23rd of June 2022. These are the list of news articles we will be discussing today. Now, let's start our discussion. Look at this news article. The news article mentions that the Apollo Cancer Center will offer a blood test to detect breast cancer early. This initiative is in line with the measures taken by other countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, which already detect breast cancer through blood tests. Taking this as an opportunity, let us see a few facts about breast cancer. When we say cancer, it means that some of the body's cells have grown uncontrollably and have spread to other parts of the body. So cancer is made up of trillions of cells. In a normal circumstance, when cells grow old or become damaged, they die and new cells take their place. But when these abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply, it forms tumors. Such tumors can be cancerous or not cancerous. Cancerous ones are called malignant tumor and the non-cancerous ones are called benning tumor. The cancerous tumors spread into or invade nearby cells and can travel to distinct places in the body to form new tumors. Another fact to remember is cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body. So when it happens in the breast, we call it breast cancer. Breast cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control. It can begin in different parts of breast. See a breast is made up of three main parts. First is the lobules. Lobules are the glands that produce milk. Second is the ducts. Ducts carry the milk to the nipple. Third is the connective tissue. It surrounds and hold everything together. Most breast cancer begin in the ducts or lobules. Also, depending on which cells in the breast turn into cancer, there are different kinds of breast cancer. Also know that breast cancer can spread outside the breast also. It happens through blood vessels and lymph vessels. When we say breast cancer, we assume that it happens in women. It is true that breast cancer is common in women. But men are also prone to breast cancer. So take note of it. It is because men have smaller amount of breast tissue. The main problem with breast cancer is the symptoms vary from person to person. But there are general warning signs. Now let us look at the symptoms of breast cancer. Symptoms include new lump in the breast or underarm, thickening or swelling of parts of breast, irritation of breast skin, redness or flaky skin, nipple discharge other than breast milk including blood, any change in the shape and the size of breast and pain in any areas of the breast. But no need to worry. There are preventive measures and treatments available to treat breast cancer. Breast self-exam is one of the preventive measures because if the breast cancer is diagnosed early, it is easily curable. Survival rate is around 99% if breast cancer is detected in early stages. But in later stages, survival rate drops down to just 30%. Additionally, blood test mentioned in news can also detect breast cancer. The treatment for breast cancer includes surgery, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, biological therapy and radiation therapy. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw some of the basic facts around breast cancer. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Let us take up this editorial article for our discussion. This editorial article talks about the role of caste in economic transformation. See, India has been in a phase of jobless growth for at least two decades now, along with raising poverty and discontent in rural areas. The ongoing protest against the Agnipath program, agitation against formulaxia year before and agitation for reservation by agricultural caste, are all undoubtedly an outcome of discontent due to their jobless economic growth. See, here comes the question. Why India couldn't create growth pattern that creates jobs and inclusive development like the majority of East Asian nations have? The author says that caste, which is mostly confined to politics, could be one among the answers. Here, he says, caste is a structural factor that impedes economic transformation in India. So, this is the crux of the editorial given here. In this context, let us quickly go through some of the important points mentioned in this article. Before we get into the discussion, the syllabus relevant to this article is given here. You can go through it. Now, let's start the discussion. See, the author says that despite the fact that there is a link between economic transformation and caste in India, we usually ignore the connection. Even in contemporary literature, caste just enters as a post facto category in understanding inequalities in economic and social outcomes. But in reality, caste is central to economic transformation itself. How? See, by imposing disadvantages on some and facilitating economic mobility for others, caste creates hurdles for some people through its righteous social control and networks. Additionally, caste regulates access to political, social and economic capital as well as patents of land and capital ownership. So, here the author mentions three ways in which caste impedes the economic transformation in India. First is, ownership and land inequality related to productivity failure within farm sector. Second is, elite bias in higher education and historical neglect of mass education. And finally, caste based entry barriers and exclusive networks in the modern sector. We will see all of them one by one. Firstly, we will see about land ownership and productivity. See, India has one of the highest land inequalities in the world today. The main reason for this is firstly, unequal distribution of land perpetuated by British colonial intervention. This move legalized a traditional disparity. See, the British inscribed caste in land governance categories and procedures. The effect of this move still continues to prevail in the postcolonial land ownership patterns in India. What happened here is that during the British era, some cast were assigned land ownership at the expense of others by the British for its practical administrative purposes. This made an artificial distinction between proper cultivators who belong to certain caste and those laborers that is lower caste subjects who cultivated the lands. This institutionalized caste within the land revenue bureaucracy. The prescribed categories and practices ingrained caste inequality in land ownership. The impact of this has been huge because even the subsequent land reform that took place after India's independence largely excluded Dalits and the lower caste. This empowered mainly intermediate cast at the expense of others in rural India. Then came the green revolution. Even the green revolution that brought changes in the farm sector did not alter land inequality as it was mostly achieved through technological intervention. Though India has certainly seen surplus food production since then, the caste have been associated with its land patterns and benefitted from the green revolution, tightened their social control over there in rural India. The land still defines social status and pride in many parts of rural India. This is the reality till now. Secondly, while land has lost its productive capacity since 1990s, it still works as a source of inheritance, family lineage and speculative capital. This again broadened the inequality between the landed and the landless caste. Moving on, now let us take up neglect of education. See, if strong growth in productivity within the farm sector is crucial for sustained economic growth, then an educated workforce is equally necessary to move to the modern sectors. India here failed on both accounts. That is, it failed to enhance productivity in the farm sector and it also failed to create an educated workforce. According to the author, this is due to British colonialism. Since the advent of colonialism, the elite has dominated the Indian educational system. The author says that British colonialist educated small group of elites primarily from upper caste for their own administrative purposes. Attention was given to higher education for the elites only. So, inequality in access to education got translated into inequality in other economic domains including wage differentials in India. Indian elites in fact sustained their position at the top by denying education to the substantial proportion of the population till positive discrimination policies were implemented in higher education. This is highly true even in India's turn towards service sector. See, India's claim of emerging as a leader in software development and a natural inheritor of software is arguably an outcome of its historic elite bias in education. Moving on. Thirdly, let us talk about barrier to entrepreneurship. See, India did not witness such capitalism from below except in few cases. Lot of things created barriers to economic diversification like caste-based policy outcomes including India's highly unequal land reforms and lack of public provision of education and health. Caste also worked in building social networks. Caste that were already in control of trading and industrial spaces resisted the entry of other caste. Even those who had economic surplus in farm sectors could not invest in non-farm modern sectors due to barriers created by caste. Social inequalities have placed barriers for economic transition. Agrarian capital could not move into modern sectors due to these load blocks. So, to conclude the author says that this interface between caste and economy contributed to the truncated economic transformation that India is currently witnessing. In this, we must understand that caste is not merely a residual variable but it is an active agent which stifles economic transformation. That's all regarding this discussion. The points discussed in this article can be used in your main society answer. So, kindly go through the discussion once again if you have any doubt. In this, we discussed about the role of caste in truncating India's economic transformation. That's all regarding this discussion. Now, let us conclude this and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. This article mentions that an important prehistoric monument is in an abandoned shape and lacks protection. The site is in Achinada Valley in Kerala and the landmark is a dolmen. So, what is a dolmen? It is a type of megalith. Here, mega means large, lithic means stone. So, megalith means built of large stone. Generally, these megaliths are huge undressed stones. These structures often throw light on building activities and the way of life in the past. In the past, these megaliths or big stone boulders were carefully arranged by people. Mostly, they were used to mark burial sites. So, in a burial site, the megalith depicts a grave or memorial stone. Some megaliths can be seen on the surface, other megalith burials are often underground. See, the megaliths occurred first in the Neolithic Age, but they continued through Bronze Age and Iron Age. This megalithic culture has no regional bones. It could be found in Europe, Africa and even Asia. It was also popular in India and was abundant in our culture. According to NCRT, the practice of placing megaliths began around 3000 years ago. This practice was prevalent throughout the Deccan, South India, in the Northeast and Kashmir. Some important megalithic sites are Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu and Brahmahiri in Karnataka. Let us come to Dolmens now. As I said, it is a type of megalith. Dolmen is derived from two words. Dol means stable and men means stone or rock. Basically, it is a chamber tomb or a burial chamber. It is also known as Dolmonoid system. These chamber tombs are secondary burial chambers. That is, after death, when the flesh is gone, the skeleton and its remains are buried here. The chamber is in the shape of a rectangular box. As you can see in this picture, it usually consists of several large stone slabs called orthostats. These orthostats are vertically placed to support a flat stone roof. That is, if there are five stone slabs in total, then the fifth slab is used as a cape stone or a flat stone roof. The other four support the fifth one. But note that the slabs are placed only on three sides and there is an opening on one side. It is said that dolmens are built on hillocks. They are found in many regions, but they are mainly confined to Western Europe and Northern Africa. In this discussion, we saw about dolmens and megaliths. Now, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now, for our last discussion today, let us take up this news article. The news article says that the scientists have recorded four species of corals for the first time from Indian waters. These new records of four species of Azosanthalic corals were found from waters of Andaman and Nicobar islands. So, in this context, let us quickly go through corals and its types. See, corals are skeletons of tiny marine animals called polyps. They flourish in shallow, mud-free and warm waters. When the living polyps die, their skeletons are left behind. Now, other polyps grow on top of the hardened skeletons. They grow higher and higher, so forming the coral islands. They also secrete calcium carbonate. This coral secretion and the skeletons form the corals and they deposit to form the reefs. The coral reefs are mainly of three kinds, namely barrier reef, fringing reef and atolls. The image of the types of reefs are given here for your friends. You can go through it. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is a good example of the first kind of coral reef, that is the barrier reef. Atolls are circular or harsh-shaped coral reefs. Talking of the type of corals, they include stony corals, black corals, tawny corals, honey corals and blue corals. The corals, which is mentioned in today's newspaper, is Azosanthalic corals. See, as the name itself suggests, the Azosanthalic corals are a group of corals that do not contain Azosanthalic and they derive their nourishment not from the sun but from capturing different forms of plankton. Here, Azosanthalic are nothing but unicellular golden-brown algae that live either in the water column as plankton or symbiotically inside the tissue of other organism. You can see them in the image given here. Azosanthalic corals are deep sea representatives with majority of species reporting between 200 meters and 1000 meters and their occurrence are also reported from shallow coastal waters unlike Azosanthalic corals that are restricted to shallow waters. In India, corals are present in areas of Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshwati Pylons and Malwan. You can see these places in the map given here. See, ecologically, corals are important because they are the counterpart of tropical rainforest in terms of species diversity and biological productivity in the ocean. Coral reef enables the formation of associated ecosystems which allow the formation of essential habitats, fisheries and livelihoods. In addition, coral reefs are climatologically important because they provide an accurate long-term record of the climate change and help in extending our knowledge of seasonal climate variability in many remote tropical oceans. But they also face certain threats. The threats can be grouped into two types. First is natural. The natural threats include temperature variation, sediment deposition, salinity change and pH change. And the anthropogenic threats include mining, bottom fishing, tourism and pollution. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw some important factors about corals. We saw about the types of corals and the types of coral reefs. We also saw about the threats faced by corals. With this, let us conclude the news article discussion and take up the practice problems questions. We have three practice problems questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. Which of the following statements is correct with reference to cancer? First statement, cancers are malignant tumors where body cells are grown uncontrollably. This statement is correct. Statement two, cancers are always solid tumors and can travel to distinct places in the body to form new tumors. See, this statement is incorrect because cancers are not always solid tumors. For example, leukemia or blood cancer is a type of cancer that does not form solid tumors. So, statement B or option B is incorrect. Moving on to the third option. Best cancer is curable and can occur in both men and women. See, this we saw in the discussion itself. Best cancer then detected early is 90% curable and it can occur in both men and women. So, option A and option C are correct. So, the correct answer here is option D, both A and C. Moving on to the second question. Which of the following are megalithic monuments? Kerrins, cysts, dolmens and minhurs. We have to find the correct code from the code given here. See, here all the four things that is kerrins, cysts, dolmens and minhurs are megalithic monuments. These are the different types of megaliths. Kerrins is like a burrow but made up of stones. Cyste is shaped like a coffin and it was used in the prehistoric times to store dead bodies and minhurs means single long stones placed uprights and dolmens we saw in the discussion itself. So, the correct answer here is option D, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Moving on, looking at the last question, it is a two statement question we have to find the correct statements. Let us take up the first statement. Zuzanthole corals tend to be colonial and have small highly integrated corallites. See, this statement is correct. This we saw in the discussion itself. Actually, Zuzanthole corals contains Zuzanthole which is a unicellular golden brown algae that lives either in water columns or splanctons or symbiotically inside the tissue of other organisms. They tend to be colonial and have small highly integrated corallites and they are restricted to shallow waters. So, statement one is correct. Moving on to the second statement, Zuzanthole corals tend to have solitary growth forms and larger polyps. This statement is also correct. This also we saw in the discussion itself. Zuzanthole corals does not contain a Zuzanthole. They tend to have solitary growth forms and have larger polyps. They are deep sea representatives of corals. So, here both the statements are correct. So, the correct answer here is option C, both 1 and 2. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed here. Write your answers and post them in the comment section. If you find today's discussion useful, you can like the video, share it with your friends and comment on it. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.