 A warm welcome to the Indian News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy. These are the list of news articles that is chosen for today's discussion. They are given along with the page numbers of different editions. Also, the link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamp ink for the discussed articles are provided in the description box as well as in the comments section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. So now let us move on to the analysis of the first news article. Now look at this news article based on a recent study. It has been found that vulture populations are on a rise in the tiger reserves that are located in Tamil Nadu. So in this context, let us know about vultures. See, there are nine recorded species of vultures in India and these nine species includes the Oriental White-Bat, Long-Built, Slender-Built, Himalayan, Red-Headed, Egyptian, Bearded, Cinerous and the Eurasian Gryphon. Of the recorded species, the Oriental White-Bat, Long-Built, Red-Headed vultures and Slender-Built vultures are critically endangered whereas the Egyptian vulture is listed as endangered while the Himalayan, Bearded and Cinerous vultures are near threatened. Know that in our country, the protection status of White-Bat, Long-Built and Slender-Built vultures was recently upgraded from Scheduled 4 to Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. So in this regard, let us quickly understand the significance of this particular move. See, Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act covers endangered species that need rigorous protection and these species are endowed protection from poaching, killing, trading, etc. and a person who indulges in these activities is liable to the harshest punishment under this particular schedule. See, these species under their schedule are prohibited to be hunted throughout India except under threat to human life or in case of a disease that is beyond recovery. Whereas those species that are not endangered are included under Schedule 3 and Schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and this includes protected species with hunting prohibited but the penalty for any violation is less when compared to the first two schedules. So with this we can understand that the vultures are better protected under this Act. Note that the information on the protection status of the listed vultures is given below so aspirants can go through it. Now coming back, see earlier former environment minister in a written reply to a parliament had said that the vulture population has declined over 99% compared to the 1980s trend. See apparently in the 1980s there were around 40 million vultures in India primarily belonging to the three species which includes the whitebacked vulture, long-built vulture and slender-built vulture. And if you see as of 2017 this number has dwindled to a paltry of 19,000. So let us now try to understand the reasons for this shocking decline. See there is a medicine called dichlofenac sodium. It is a commonly prescribed medicine for pain and fever for us. This particular medicine belongs to a class of drug called non-seroidal anti-inflammatory medicines or NSAIDs in short and this particular drug is given to a cattle for postpartum pain management. So what happens is when the cattle passes away this particular drugs remains in the system of the cattle. Now our vultures, who fear on dead, they happen to eat on the cattle also. So this means that they also ingest dichlofenac. See in vultures this dichlofenac sodium drug it leads to renal failure and eventually the vultures die. So this is one of the leading threat to vultures and apart from this there are also other threats like power distribution lines. And if you remember the power lines were also threatening the population of great Indian buster which is another critically endangered species. Now apart from this dichlofenac drug and power distribution the poison bates, windmills are also threatening the population of vultures in India. Now taking cognizance of that grave situation India has taken various steps to recover the vultures from the brink of extension. So in order to conserve the remaining population of vultures in the country and also to facilitate the reintroduction of vultures into the wild from the vulture conservation breeding centers. And apart from this there were attempts made to create vultures safe zones as well. So on those lines so far eight identified vulture safe zones in the country are being made across India and in the year 2006 a national action plan on vulture conservation was set in motion as well. Now besides this restriction on the use of dichlofenac have also been made and the government has banned the veterinary use of the drug dichlofenac which is the cause of vulture mortality. And for human consumption the packaging size of the human formulation of the dichlofenac drug has also been restricted to 3 ml in July 2015 because the multi-dose vials available in 30 ml for human consumption was misused and was being given to livestock. Adding to all this the environment ministry has reconstituted the national vulture recovery committee in order to oversee and guide vulture conservation and also the recovery efforts. And apart from this the species has also been identified under the development of wildlife habitat program and for your additional information refresh that the day before yesterday we saw that even the great Indian buster was also identified under this that is identified under the development of wildlife habitat program. So with this we have come to the end of this particular news discussion with these informations in mind let us now move on to the next news article. Now let us take up this news article. See this article is regarding the Rudreshwara temple which is also known as the Ramapha temple which is situated at Palampet in the Mulugu district of Telangana. See India's nomination for this temple has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list and know that this temple was proposed by the government as its only nomination for the UNESCO World Heritage Site Tag for the year 2019 and the decision was taken at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO. So in this context let us discuss in brief about the Ramapha temple and also its significance. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted below for your reference. See we all know about the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO. This particular organization it seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world which are considered to be of outstanding value to humanity and this is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and it was adopted by the UNESCO in the year 1972. Now let us see the aims of this UNESCO's World Heritage Mission. See it encourages countries to sign the World Heritage Convention and to ensure the protection of their natural and cultural heritage and apart from this it also encourages state parties to the convention to nominate sites within their national territory for inclusion on the world heritage list. See UNESCO also provides emergency assistance for world heritage sites in immediate danger and apart from this it encourages participation of the local population in the preservation of their cultural and natural heritage. So having done with a brief understanding about UNESCO now let us move on to discuss in detail about the Kakateya Rudraeshwara Temple which is a 13th century temple that was named after its architect Ramappa. Remember it's probably the only temple in the country to be known by the name of its sculptor. You can have a look at this great engineering marvel. See the Rudraeshwara temple was constructed in the 1213 AD and it was built under the patronage of the Kakateya ruler Kakati Ganapati Deva under the authority of his chief commander Rejsharla Rudra. Now the presiding deity of this temple is Rama Lingeshwara Swami who is a form of Lord Shiva and as we said the temple is also known as the Ramappa temple which is named after the sculptor who executed the work in the temple for 40 years. See Varangal in the Deccan Plateau is the home to the very classic and brilliant Kakateya heart and the temple complexes of Kakateyas have a very distinct style technology and decoration exhibiting the influence of the Kakateyan sculptor and the Ramappa temple is a manifestation of these attributes and it often stands as a testimonial to the Kakateyan creative genius. Note that the temple stands on a six feet high star shaped platform with walls pillars and ceilings and they are adorned with intricate carvings that attest to the unique scale of the Kakateyan sculptors and the sculptural art and the decoration specific to the time and Kakateyan empire have an outstanding universal value. Know that the temple's chamber is crowned with a Shikaram and it is surrounded by the Pradakshina Pada and at the entrance of the temple we can find a Nandi Mandabam and an imposing Nandi Vigraham stands on it and apart from this another striking feature of this temple is that it is built with bricks that are so light that they can easily float on water. See the distant style of Kakateyas for the gateways to temple complexes is unique only to this region and this confirms the highly evolved proportions of aesthetics in temple and town gateways in south India and it is said that the european merchants and travelers were mesmerized by the beauty of this particular temple and they even remarked that the temple was the brightest star in the galaxy of medieval temples of the tekan. So with this we have come to the end of this news discussion now let us move on to the next part of our in the news analysis. Now look at this news article this article is regarding a recent order of the Delhi High Court on overseas citizenship of India. The High Court said that foreigners regional registration office or the FRRO cannot insist on the physical or virtual presence of both espouses for processing OCI car for one of them. So in this context let us discuss in brief about the overseas citizens of India and we will also look into the details on the persons of Indian origin. Know that the people who live abroad from India are categorized into three broad categories such as NRIs, PIOs and OCIs. Now NRIs or non-resident Indians indicate Indians who live in another country but PIOs or OCIs that is persons of Indian origin and overseas citizens of India are people who want to stay connected and to be involved with India more on a more closer basis. Now coming to the overseas citizenship of India scheme so it was introduced in the year 2005 by the government of India by amending the Citizenship Act of 1955. Now this scheme provides for registration of both the persons of Indian origin as well as the overseas citizens of India who are subjected to certain conditions. See a person of Indian origin as a person who was an Indian national or who is any of the ancestors was an Indian national and who is presently holding another country citizenship or nationality. See as of 2015 all PIO card holders with valid PIO cards as of 9th January 2015 were advised to apply for conversion of the PIO card into OCI card and at present the Bureau of Immigration will accept this PIO cards as valid travel document till 31st December 2021 along with their valid foreign passport. Now coming to OCI see it does not confer political rights for its holders that is they have not been given any voting rights or election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly etc. Similarly OCI card holder cannot hold constitutional posts such as President, Vice President etc. Having known that let us now see as to what is the eligibility criteria for a person to register as an OCI card holder. See a person who was a citizen of India or who was eligible to become a citizen of India at the time of or any time after the commencement of the constitution is eligible for this OCI cards and next a person who belonged to a territory that became a part of India after 15th August 1947 or after India's independence is eligible and then a person who is a minor child or a child or a grandchild or even a great grandchild of such a citizen mentioned above is also eligible. Here carefully note that a person who is or had been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh is not eligible to register as an OCI card holder and apart from this know that an OCI card holder enjoys certain benefits that is they can visit India without visa for lifelong and they will have multiple entry lifelong visa for visiting India for any purpose but they require a special permission to undertake research work in India and apart from this another benefit is the extension from registration with Foreigners Regional Registration Office or the FRRO for any length of stay in India. So with these details in mind let us now move on to see what the next news article has got to tell us. Now look at this news article this article is regarding the flood warning alert in Gojavari river and with alert the state disaster response force the police and other authorities are geared up for the flood mitigation exercise. So in this context let us discuss in detail about river Gojavari and its tributaries from Prilim's perspective. See the Gojavari river is the largest river in Peninsular India and it is known as the Dakshina Ganga. See the Gojavari basin is the second largest basin after the Ganga basin and it accounts for nearly 9.50 percentage of the total geographical area of the country. You can have a look at the Gojavari river system. Know that the Gojavari rises in the Shraddharis at an altitude of 1067 meter above mean sea level near Trimbakeshwar in Maharashtra and from there it then flows across the Dekan plateau from the western to the eastern guards in a generally southeast direction and it falls into the Bay of Bengal. See at Dauleshwaram in Andhra Pradesh the river divides into two branches namely the Gautami and Vashishta and between the two branches lies the Gojavari central delta and the catchment area of the river is spread in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Satishgarh, Orissa and Karnataka. Now coming to the boundaries of the river see the western guards form a continuous watershed on the west and on the north the basin is bounded by the Satmala hills the Ajanta range and the Mahadev hills and the basin is bounded on the east by the eastern guards and the Bay of Bengal and on the south it is bound by the Balagad and the Mahadev ranges and also the Anantkiri hills. So having done with these information finally let us see the tributaries of Gojavari. See the largest tributary of Gojavari is the Pranitha with about 34.87 coverage of drainage area the Pravara, Manjeera and Manar are the right bank tributaries covering about 16 percent and the Purna, Pradheta and Indravadi and also the Saberi are the important left bank tributaries which covers nearly 59.7 percent of the total catchment area of the basin. You can have a look at the important tributaries of Gojavari from the image given So with this we have come to the end of this news discussion so these are some of the important points that we need to keep in mind when it comes to the Gojavari river. So with this let's move on to the next news article. Now with this take up this news article it is about two contentious areas in the China India standoff. Militarily speaking it is an interesting area of discussion so now let us move in to the article to understand it better. See patrolling point or PP15 in hot springs and patrolling point 17A near Goghra post are two areas of contention in Ladakh. See in May 2020 China had diverted its troops towards the line of actual control in eastern Ladakh creating a standoff with India and in that PP15 and PP17A were two of the four points where the soldiers were eyeball to eyeball. So what is this PP15 and PP17A? See along the line of actual control between India and China Indian army has been given certain locations that our troops have to control. So this means that these areas are under its control and these points are known as patrolling points or PP's and usually they are decided by this China study group. See this China study group is an Indian organ which was set up in the year 1976 when Hindra Gandhi was the prime minister. See this is the apex decision-making body on China and mostly these patrolling points are on the elation of the line of actual control and troops access these points to assert their control over the territory. See note that this is an important exercise because the boundary between India and China is not yet officially demarcated. Now coming back PP15 and PP17A are two of the 65 patrolling points in Ladakh along the line of actual control and this PP15 is located in an area known as the hot springs whereas PP17A is located near an area called the Goghra post. So what are these two areas? Please look at the map in order to understand this better. See both of these are close to the Chang Chenmo river in the line of actual control in the eastern Ladakh and this hot spring is just north of the Chang Chenmo river and this Goghra post lies to the east of the point where the river takes a hairpin vent and the area is north of the Karukoram range of mountains which lies north of the Pangong Solik and southeast of Galwan valley. So you may wonder why are these regions important. See hot springs and Goghra post are close to the boundary between two of the most historically disturbed provinces of China. Note that both PP15 and PP17A are in an area where India and China largely agree on the alignment of the LAC which comes southeast from Galwan valley turns down at Gongala and moves towards Anpas before reaching the north bank of Pangong and China has got a major post of the People's Liberation Army a few kilometers east of Gongala where Indian post lies southwest of it. But the history notes that hot springs was an important post even during the 1962 conflict and in October 1962 there was a company strength at the Galwan post while three other posts namely hot springs, Nala junction and patrol base had strength of a platoon. See odd spring also served as the company headquarter and was shelled by the Chinese on October 21st and the Chinese troops had wanted to get behind hot spring but were resisted at the Nala junctions and this is the reason why these are important areas of military intentions. So having done with the article discussion for today let us now move on to the next segment of our Indo news analysis that is the prelims practice question discussion now look at this question with reference to the Rudaleshwara temple or Ramapa temple in Telangana consider the following statements statement one says that it was built by Sri Krishna Devaraya of the Vijayanagara empire statement two says that it is inscribed on UNESCO's world heritage list and statement three says that it is known as the brightest star in the galaxy of medieval temples of the Deccan and we need to find only the correct answer see when you look at the three options itself we can find that statement one is incorrect because it was built under the patronage of the Kakatya ruler Kakati Ganapati Deva and not by Sri Krishna Devaraya of the Vijayanagara empire so this means that the first statement is incorrect and based on our discussion we can infer that statement two and statement three are right so since we need to find only the right statements the correct answer here is option D that is two and three only now look at this prelims practice question which of the above is that are the benefits enjoyed by an overseas citizen of India card holder see first of all the benefits enjoyed by an overseas citizen of India are multi-purpose multiple entry lifelong visa for visiting India and then exemption from registration with local police authority for any length of stay in India and then is a parity with the NRIs in respect of economic financial and educational fields except in matters relating to the acquisition of agricultural and plantation properties so when viewed in this context we can find that statement one and two that are given here are correct but and statement three is incorrect now see this statement three is incorrect because as we saw OCI are treated in parity with NRIs only in respect to matters related to economic financial and educational fields and not in matters relating to the acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties and since the question wants us to find only the right statement the right answer here is option A that is one and two only now let us take up this question on vultures which of the following are critically endangered species of vultures in India and they have given five species here so as we saw in the discussion there are nine recorded species of vultures in India and among these nine species the oriental white bat long-built red-headed vultures and slender-built vultures are critically endangered so when viewed in this context we can infer that option D is the right answer because emalian vulture is listed as near threatened and not as critically endangered so therefore the right answer here is option D that is one two three and five now look at this question consider the following rivers which of the above are the tributaries of river godavari so based on our discussion we can easily infer that the right option here is option C that is two three and four only now the first option that is seonath is incorrect because it is a tributary of mahar nadi and not a tributary of godavari so the right answer is option C that is two three and four only now let's take this question pp15 and pp17a recently seen in news is associated with which of the following the right answer here is option C that is patrol points at lac so with this we have come to the end of today's indoor news analysis if you like the video then don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to shankar eyes academy youtube channel for more updates regarding upse civil services preparation