 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayasakarami for the date 12th of November 2021. So these are the list of news articles chosen for today's discussion. Now without wasting much time, let us get into the news article discussion. Let us take up this editorial article. See on the evening of Diwali, the government lowered excise duty on both petrol and diesel. While the duty on petrol was reduced by 5 rupees, the duty on diesel was reduced by 10 rupees. See this duty reduction is said to be dedicated to farmers for keeping the economic growth momentum up even during the Covid-19 lockdown phase. Apart from this, it is also expected that this cut would also serve as a boost to farmers throughout the upcoming Ravi season. So this editorial is written in this context and the question of whether these changes actually favour the ordinary people or not is the subject of this discussion. The syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. First, let us understand what is surcharge. See a surcharge or additional charge is essentially a tax levied on a tax. See it is calculated on payable tax and it is not calculated on income generator. So make a note of this major difference. It is calculated on payable tax. To understand this clearly, let us take an example. See if a tax is imposed at 30 percentage on an income of rupees 100, that is if your income is 100 rupees and 30 percentage of 100 rupees is imposed as a tax, the total payable tax would be rupees 30. Then a surcharge of 10 percentage calculated on 30 rupees would amount to rupees 3 and this 3 rupees is the surcharge you have to pay. So it is clear that surcharge is nothing but tax levied on a tax. So the total amount of tax that you have to pay is 33 rupees. So with this understanding, now let us understand the pricing of petrol and diesel. Now look at this table. Let us take up the figures in the table as an example. This table depicts the price of the petrol and diesel and the price of petrol and diesel is broken down and the price of each component is displayed here. If you can see in this image, the excise duty levied by centre alone constitute 34 percentage. The excise duty is further broken into basic tax and session surcharge which is levied by centre. In the second figure also you can see that in the February 2021 column the excise duty levied by the centre is 96 percentage which is 8 or 9 times higher than the basic tax. Here you can see the basic tax is just 4 percentage. The remaining 96 percentage is session surcharge. See the constitution do allow the centre to levied sis and surcharge beyond the basic taxes and duties in extraordinary situations. But as per the author levied sis and surcharge manifold higher than the basic taxes is nothing but a misuse of such provisions of the constitution. Apart from this the author also states that these additional taxes does not go to the divisible pool. As a result such a high burden of tax is an attack on the people and the federal right of the state. Now let us understand this further. See those central taxes like excise duty or levied by the centre it has only 59 percentage of the revenue from these taxes. That is in 100 percentage only 59 percentage will be given to the centre. The remaining 41 percentage of the revenue is required to be devolved to the state government as per the recommendations of the 15th finance commission. And just know that these devolved tax are untied in nature that is the state can spend them according to their own discretion. As I already said the excise duty levied on petrol and diesel consist of two broad components which is the basic excise duty or basic tax and the sis and surcharge component. Of this only the revenue generated from the tax component is devolved to the state. Revenue generated by the centre from any sis or surcharge is not devolved to the state. So apart from this currently the agricultural infrastructure and development says and road and infrastructure says or also levied on the sale of petrol and diesel in addition to the surcharges levied by the centre. Even this will not devolve to the state government and it will not contribute to the divisible pool. See the new taxes have brought in thousands of crores of rupees for the government. Even in the midst of a pandemic the centre might have collected lakhs of thousands of rupees through these taxes. But the sis and surcharges collected neither reached the needy nor did contribute to the divisible pool. If that is the case then where has this money gone and who has received the benefits of this money is the question here. Answering these questions will reveal the true nature of states and centres issue. See as per the author a hand full of corporate houses or the beneficiaries here. See the centre wave corporate loans worth rupees 8.75 lakh crores after calculating the value of public wealth to be monetized at rupees 6 lakh crores. Now at the expense of public funds depositor mostly in public sector banks a bad bank will take care of the non-performing assets created by these corporations. On the other hand public wealth is being given over to corporate houses while the depth of these businesses is being paid by the centre with public funds. See in the previous fiscal year alone almost 1 lakh crore rupees of corporate taxes were also avoided. This tax breaks offered to corporations not only affected the centre but also affected the state. It resulted in significant revenue loss for both the centre and it did not contribute any rupees to divisible pool. And as per the author to compensate this loss the government is taking advantage of people during a pandemic by imposing high possible taxes on petrol and diesel. See the revenue that would have aided individuals in the event of a pandemic or going to a collection of business companies. This is what the author tries to convey here. So with this we came to the end of this news article discussion. In this news article discussion we saw about what is the surcharge, we understood the pricing of petrol and diesel and we saw some of the important points mentioned in the editorial. See these are the opinions of the author. You can take these points or leave it. It is your discretion but this editorial will help you to know the other side of the coin. So now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now our discussion is going to be based on this advertisement. See this advertisement highlights our ways to innovative and customer centric initiatives. See these schemes will be launched by our Prime Minister today. So from our redstone perspective let us see about these schemes now. So to begin with first let us know about RBI retail direct scheme. See the aim of this scheme is to enhance the access of retail investors to the government securities market. Now you can get a doubt that who is a retail investor. See a retail investor who is also known as an individual investor is a non-professional investor who buys and sells securities that contain a basket of securities such as mutual funds and ETFs. That is pretty much every person who buys and sells debt equity or other investments through a broker bank real estate agent and so on or called as retail investors. So anybody can be a retail investor even you and me can be a retail investor. So what does this scheme offer? See the scheme offers the retail investors a new avenue for directly investing in securities which are issued by the Government of India and State Government. You are not going to see about this scheme for today because we have covered the scheme in detail on July 13th Hindi Maze Paper Analysis. Interested viewers can go through it. It will be very helpful for your problems and main examination. So now we are going to see about the next scheme called Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme that is RBIOS. First what ombudsman means? See it refers to an official who is appointed to investigate complaints of individuals against a company or organization or a public authority. So ombudsman is a officer or an official who is appointed to investigate complaints of individuals against whom a company or organization or a public authority. So we can say ombudsman is the grievance retrocell officer or a grievance retrocell system. Now who can have ombudsman? See major public sectors may have ombudsman. For example in banking we have the banking ombudsman who is a senior official appointed by the Reserve Bank of India. Thus banking ombudsman retresses the complaints of customers that was against the deficiency in certain banking services. These banking services includes non-payments or inordinate delay in the payment of checks etc. See these services are specified in clause 8 of the banking ombudsman scheme 2006. So any person or any customer can raise complaints on these banking services. So for banking we have the scheme. So to put it in simple words such ombudsman schemes are retrocell systems or financial matters. Similarly RBA has separate ombudsman scheme for non-banking financial companies that is NBFCs and for digital transactions as well. The names of the schemes are ombudsman scheme for NBFCs that was launched in 2018 and the ombudsman scheme for digital transactions which was launched in 2019. And now with the new scheme of RBIOS that is Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman scheme RBI is adopting a one nation one ombudsman approach and for this RBI is merging the above three of its own ombudsman scheme into one. That means from now on for all customers of RBI regulated entities such as banking, NBFCs and for other digital transactions there will be a single retrocell system. So through the scheme RBI aims to further improve the grievance retrocell mechanism for resolving customers complaints against the entity regulated by it as simple as that. Now let us see some of the features of the scheme. Important features of the scheme includes it will have one portal, one email and one address for the customers to lodge their complaints. There will be a single point of reference for customers to file their complaints and this single point of reference will be used to submit the documents, track status and provide feedbacks as well. Along with this a multi-lingual toll-free number will be provided to get all relevant information on grievance retrocell and assistance for filing complaints. So these are some of the important features of the scheme which you have to make a note of. So the overall benefits of the scheme are first the customer can file their complaint from anywhere at any time. Second it eliminates the need to identify any specific ombudsman or scheme. Third the new scheme removes the jurisdictional limitation and limited grounds for complaint. So these are some of the overall benefits of the scheme that you have to make a note of. So in this discussion we saw about two important innovative and customer centric initiative by RBI. First we saw about RBI retail direct scheme. We saw who is a retail investor. Next we saw about reserve bank integrated ombudsman scheme. We saw who is an ombudsman and what is his role and we also saw some of the features of the scheme and we saw overall benefits of the scheme as well. With this we came to the end of this news article discussion. Now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now for our next discussion let us take up this news article. See this news article mentions about the numbers of the nirgreetar and it also reports that the numbers of these species are stable and rising. See this is based on the survey conducted by the Worldwide Fund for Nature that is WWF India. So in this context let us see about this species as it is quite important from exam perspective. Now let us know some of the important points about nirgreetar first. See nirgreetar is a mountain angulate species. See angulate is the term applied to any hoofed mammal. Any mammal which are hoofed or called angulate hooves are nothing but the tip of a toe of an angulate mammal which is unique for these kinds of species. And in India we have 12 mountain angulate species but nirgreetar is the only mountain angulate species in southern India. So it is a very important point to note here nirgreetar is the only mountain angulate species in the southern India while India have 12 mountain angulate species and very important point to note here is that nirgreetar is an endemic species of the western guards. Note that it is also the state animal of Tamil Nadu. Now coming to its distribution here you should note that previously it was found along the entire stretch of western guards. But now it is found only in small fragmented pockets of western guards. See according to a population estimation by WWF in 2015 nirgreetar's population has been estimated at 3122 individuals in the wild and currently its distribution is along a narrow stretch of 400 kilometres in the western guards and this stretch is between the nirgreetar in the north and kanya kumari hills in the south of the region. If you can see this stretch falls in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and that means a large part of its population have been wiped out from its historical range and even the existing population are under the severe stress due to many threats. So this is the current situation of the nirgreetar's population and according to the survey smaller population are also found in palani hills, Sri viliputur range, the mehamalai and ahastir ranges. These points are very important to note because UPSC may twist a question and ask on these kinds of facts. Now only two large populations are documented so far. One is present in the nirgreetar and other is from the annamalai hills in Kerala. Here note that Erekulam National Park in annamalai hills is home to the largest population of the nirgreetar. It has more than 700 individuals. So with this information, now let us see some of its important characteristics futures. See its preferred habitat is grasslands with steep rocky cliff shelters. So it is found in the open mountain grassland habitats of southern western cards at elevations from 1200 to 2600 meters. So they prefer grasslands with steep rocky cliffs and they are found in open mountain grassland habitats of southern western cards at an elevation from 1200 to 2600 meters. See it is the only tar adapted to a cold and with tropical environment and it is diurnal in nature that is they are active in the daytime. So now moving on what are the threats faced by this species? See the first threat is hunting. See the nirgreetars are occasionally hunter for its meat and skin and it poses a very dangerous threat to the species. Second is habitat loss. See habitat loss is happening due to the other factors such as rampant deforestation, competition with domestic livestock, hydroelectric projects in nirgreetar habitat and monoculture plantations. The issue does not stop there. The habitat loss leads to extreme habitat fragmentation which leads to population decline. So because of these threats, many conservation efforts have been taken like it is protected under schedule one part one of the Wildlife Protection Act of India that is the WPA Act of 1972 and it is also listed as endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. So in this discussion we saw about nirgreetar, we saw about its distribution, we also discussed about an evidence of population decline and we saw about the characteristic futures of the nirgreetars. Along with that we saw some of the dangerous threats faced by this species and we saw about the protection status under WPA Act and IUCN Red List. So with this idea in mind, now let us move on to the next news article. Now let us take up this news article for our next discussion. See the news article talks about India's five-fold plan on reducing the carbon intensity and it also talks about the demand of trillion dollars by India to add up to the climate change. First of all let us see about India's five-fold plan. See at the 26th conference of parties that is the COP26, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a five-fold strategy. It is termed as the panjamrita to achieve net zero emission by 2017. See the ultimate goal of this five-fold plan is to achieve net zero emission by 2017. Now you may get a doubt about what is this net zero emission. See net zero means achieving a balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and those taken out from the atmosphere. So it is nothing but striking a balance between the greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and taken out of the atmosphere. So achieving zero emission means releasing no greenhouse gas to the atmosphere that is no carbon dioxide, no methane, no nitrous oxide or other greenhouse gases or emitted into the atmosphere and very important point to note here is that achieving net zero emission means that some greenhouse gases are still released but these are countered or balanced by removing an equivalent amount of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and storing it permanently in soil, plants or materials. So achieving zero emission does not mean that completely eliminating the release of greenhouse gases it just means striking a balance between greenhouse gases put into the atmosphere and taken out of the atmosphere and in 26th conference of parties our Indian Prime Minister declared a five-fold strategy which was termed as the panjamrita to achieve net zero emission by 2017. So let us see about the five-fold path one by one. The first plan is to achieve non-fossil energy capacity by 2030. See India will get its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030 and central electricity authority projects that India's installed capacity of non-fossil energy in 2019 was 134 gigawatt and by 2030 it will be 522 gigawatt thereby achieving the target. So the first plan is to achieve the non-fossil energy capacity. Know that the central electricity authority of India advises the government on policy matters and formulates plans for the development of electricity systems. It is a statutory organization and this CEA reports that India will get its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030. Now the second plan is to achieve energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030. See India will meet 50 percentage of its energy requirement from renewable energy by 2030 and according to the CEA renewable energy capacity by 2021 is 12 percentage and to meet 50 percentage of energy requirements installed capacity should be increased to 700 gigawatts. So this is the second fold path or the second target that is India have to meet 50 percentage of its energy requirement from renewable energy by 2030. Now moving on to the third important plan. See India will reduce the total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tons from now onwards till 2030. An important point to note here is that India's CO2 emission in 2021 is 2.88 gigatons and the Center for Science and Environment projects that India's emission in 2030 as 4.48 gigatons and according to this target India will cut its carbon emission by 1 billion tons and the emission in 2030 will be 3.48 gigatons. Now moving on to the fourth path see by 2030 India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45 percentage and according to the CSE India has achieved 25 percentage of emission intensity reduction between 2005 to 2016 and is on the path to achieve more than 40 percentage by 2030. So the fourth plan is to reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45 percentage by 2030. Now moving on to the fifth plan. So by doing all the four whole plans which I mentioned earlier India plans to achieve the target of net zero by the year 2070. Now let us see why India demanded for 1 trillion dollar to adapt and mitigate the challenges. See this demand is justified because it is the third highest polluter in 2019. See India has a huge need to grow economy and to meet the energy needs of millions of people. So to strike a balance between the two India demanded for this 1 trillion dollar and it is justified because India cannot let anyone down. So in this discussion we saw about India's five-fold plan to achieve net zero emission by 2070. We saw what is net zero and we briefly discussed about the five-fold plan. So with these informations in mind now let us move on to the next segment of the news article discussion. Now let us see some of the problems practice questions. See now look at this first question. This question is about ombudsman scheme. Recently RBA launched an innovative and customer centric scheme reserve bank integrated ombudsman scheme which of the following statement have been merged under this scheme. Statement one banking ombudsman scheme 2006. Statement two ombudsman scheme for non-banking financial companies 2018 and statement three ombudsman scheme for digital transactions 2019. Select the correct answer from the codes given below. Option A one and two only option B two and three only option C one and three only and option D one two and three. See in our discussion itself we saw that all the three schemes will be integrated and the main purpose of this new scheme is to adopt a one nation one ombudsman approach. Here the RBI is merging all the three of its own ombudsman scheme into one. That means from now on for all customers of RBI regulated entities such as banks, NBFCs there will be a single red result system. So even if you don't know the name of the scheme if you can understand this concept you can easily arrive at the answer. So the correct answer for the question is option D one two and three. Now going on to the next question this question is about Neil Greene Tar. Other than poaching what are the possible reasons for the decline in the population of Neil Greene Tar? First statement monoculture plantation. Second statement competition with domestic livestock. Third statement hydroelectric projects. Fourth statement use of synthetic fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals in crop fields. Select the correct answer from the quotes given below. Option A one and four only. Option B one two and three only. Option C two three and four only and option D one two three and four only. See in our discussion we saw that hunting is the major threat faced by this species followed by that we saw that habitat loss due to rampant deforestation, competition with domestic livestock hydroelectric projects and monoculture plantations or poaching threats to the species. Apart from that extreme habitat fragmentation have also caused threat to the species. So the answer should not have statement four. If you eliminate statement four you can directly arrive at the answer that is one two and three only. So the correct option for the question is option B one two and three only. Now moving on to the next question. See this question is about the COP26. Consider the following statements. First statement India declared five-fold statement termed as Panchamitra in Glasgow Climate Conference of UNFCC. Second statement India has committed to net zero emission by the year 2050. You have to choose the correct option using the codes given below. Option A one only, option B two only, option C both one and two and option D neither one nor two. See statement one is correct because at the 26 conference of parties of UNFCC which held at Glasgow our Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a five-fold strategy termed as the Panchamitra. We saw about the five points in our discussion. So the first statement is correct. Now moving on to the next statement we saw that India has committed to achieve net zero emission by the year 2070. It is not 2050. So the second statement is incorrect. So the correct answer for the question is option A one only. With this main questions are displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment section. With us we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video, like, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.