 A very good evening aspirants. Today I have an announcement for you. See we are happy to bring to your attention that Shankar Ayes Academy is launching two programs to guide and help you in your UPSC prelims and main civil service examination. For prelims know a new batch in a test series is starting this month. Yes the admissions for this new pre-storming batch is open now. The test will come in two days that is on 15th October 2022. This batch will consist of 66 tests. These tests will be conducted in both online and in offline mode. The test discussion classes will also be provided hurry and registered to use the most reliable prelims test series. And don't worry for mains we are launching the mains booster 2023 under which you will be provided 14 mains oriented test in 90 days. The booster is a quick plan drafted for you to boost your main scores. It starts on October 31st and will include sectional test, half papers and civil service examination emulators. It is available in both online and offline modes for just 4500 rupees. Grab this chance to kick start your mains preparation and with this let's start our news article discussion. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we have chosen for today's discussion. See today's discussion is really helpful for both your preliminary as well as your mains preparation. Without wasting much time let's get into the news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. See this news article talks about the Tamil Nadu state government which asked the great touch and eye corporation and other civic agencies to remove the invasive species including Prosopas joliflora and it is to be removed from the banks of rivers and other water bodies. That is why this news article is in the news today and in this news article discussion let us understand some of the important points about this invasive species. Okay so what are invasive species? See invasive species which is also called introduced species is any non-native species that significantly modifies or disrupts the ecosystem it colonizes. Such species may arrive in new areas through natural migration but they are often introduced by the activities of other species. Water hyacinth is a very good example of water invasive species and the one mentioned in the news article the Prosopas joliflora. It is a shrub or small tree which is identified as invasive species in India because it absorbs all the nutrients and damages the growth of other organisms around it. Okay and also note that it has been mentioned that this Prosopas joliflora is not a very good nesting site. Okay so in simple words invasive species can be any plant or animal or pathogen or any other organism that are non-native to an ecosystem and which may cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect the human health. Okay and here in this image you can see how a species is determined whether it is invasive or not. See monitoring the growth of the invasive species is very much important because it has significant impact on the environment. Okay and now in this discussion let us learn the opposite to this invasive species which is the Keystone species. See a Keystone species is an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem. Yes I am saying this because the ecosystem would be drastically altered or cease to exist without its Keystone species and this Keystone species have low functional redundancy. This means that if the species disappear from the ecosystem no other species would be able to fill its ecological niche and consequently the ecosystem would be forced to change radically allowing new or possible invasive species to populate the habitat. If such a thing happens then ecosystem will be affected significantly am I right? And remember any organism from plants to fungi may be a Keystone species. They are not always the largest or most abundant species in an ecosystem and know that a Keystone species is often but not always a predator. Even herbivores can be a Keystone species. For example in African savannas the elephants are a Keystone species. It controls the tree population which makes the grasses thrive and sustains grazing. Okay and then take another example for this Keystone species which is the sea otter. It feeds on sea urchins that is typically a small spiny and round organism and thus the sea otter controls the sea urchins population. Now my question is what happens if sea urchins population is not controlled? See it would eat up the seaweed which is a major source of food for the ecosystem. Seaweed here refers to the macro algae like sea latures or green algae etc etc. Okay so without sea otter the entire marine ecosystem will be damaged okay and that is why we call it as Keystone species. Thus we can say that the Keystone species or animals or plants or whatever organism that have a huge influence on the food webs and the way these animals or organism influence food webs varies from habitat to habitat. Okay so that's all about this news article. See in this news article we covered about an important environmental topic which is the invasive species and Keystone species and these topics are very much useful for your preliminary examination. Okay and with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this front page article. The article says that nearly 3.15 lakh compliance and appeals are pending with 26 information commissions across India. So in this news article discussion let us understand about RTI briefly. See in Indian democracy people are the masters and they have the right to know about the working of the government. So in 1976 in the Raj Narayan versus the state of Uttar Pradesh case the Supreme Court ruled that right to information will be treated as a fundamental right under article 19 of the Indian Constitution. And to provide a missionary for exercising this fundamental right the government enacted the Right to Information Act in the year 2005. Okay so now how does the act work? See this act empowers ordinary citizens to question the government and its working. Remember all constitutional authorities agencies owned and controlled all those organizations which are substantially financed by the government comes under the purview of this act. That means even you and me can file RTI and know about the working of the institutions that comes under the purview of the RTI act. Okay remember the act also mandates public authorities of union government or state government to provide timely response to the citizen's request for information. Such authority should provide information within 30 days but applications requesting information regarding a citizen's life and liberty must be granted or refused within 48 hours itself. Then the act also imposes penalties if the authority is delayed in responding to the citizen in this stipulated time. So does this mean that I can access any information from any institution under the purview of RTI act? No not really. The citizen can only seek information from the government authorities that the government can disclose to the parliament. See some information that can affect the sovereignty and the integrity of India is exempted from the purview of RTI. For example information relating to internal security relations with foreign countries then intellectual property rights cabinet discussions all these know are exempted from the RTI. Because revealing such informations know may affect the sovereignty or integrity of the country. Okay and remember the information seeker is not required to give any reasons for seeking the information. So anyone can ask for information. So that's all about this news article. See in this news article we had an opportunity to discuss about the right to information act and also in this discussion we saw about the working of the act and what all is exempted from the act. Okay so these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. See yesterday while union minister of state for science and technology was interacting with the media said that geospatial technology will have a massive social and political impact. So in this news article discussion let us understand some facts about geospatial technology. First of all what is geospatial technology. It is a term used to describe a range of modern tools like the geographic information system that is GIS then remote sensing and global positioning system that is GPS. See these tools capture spatial information about objects, events and phenomena which are indexed to their geographical location on earth. Remember the location data that is the information related to objects or elements present in a geographic space or horizon may be static or dynamic. See for static location data if you ask me an example take the position of a road then for dynamic location data if you ask me an example take a moving vehicle or pedestrian. So you understood the meaning of static location data and dynamic location data am I right. So in short geospatial technology enable us to acquire data that is referenced to the earth. So what is it done for. See this data that is collected is used for analysis, modeling, simulations and visualization. Then it may be used to create intelligent maps to help identify spatial patterns in large volumes of data. While talking about this take a note of this scheme that is the Swamitva scheme the survey of villagers and mapping with improvised technology in village areas. See even the minister mentioned about this scheme while interacting. This is an initiative of the minister of Panjaitiraj and this scheme aims to provide rural people with the right to document their residential properties. What is it done for so that the rural people can use their property for economic purposes. So now our question is how the technology is used here. See under the scheme the land parcels in rural inhabited area will be surveyed using drone technology. So in that case this geospatial technology facilitates decision making based on the importance and priority of SCARS resources. Okay further talking about the relevance of this technology in India. See India has a robust ecosystem in geospatial. So the survey of India the ISRO remote sensing application centers and the national informatics centers are all using this geospatial technology. See even all ministries and departments are using this geospatial technology. You can just have a look at this image given here to know where all it is used and how all it is used. For example take the prominent national mission for clean Ganga. They are dealing with extensive spatial data and analysis for the Ganga basin. Then you can take the national of forestation program. It is also using the remote sensing and geographic information system for planning and subsequent project monitoring. Okay likewise in many places this geospatial technology is utilized. Okay so that's all regarding this news article. In this discussion we saw about an important technology which is the geospatial technology and following this note in our discussion we are going to see how this technology is enhancing inclusive growth. So continue watching the video for the next topic which is very much connecting this topic with your mains preparation. Okay with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next topic. Now have a look at this news article. See yesterday our prime minister had addressed the inaugural function of the second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress in Hyderabad. See just now we saw in the before article regarding this geospatial technology right. So this is a continuous article of that also. Okay but in this discussion we will see something else that our prime minister had mentioned in the inaugural function. Okay see he said that in India technology is acting as a tool for inclusion and not exclusion. Then he highlighted that India's steps at building infrastructure was on the backbone of this geospatial technology and he also mentioned that the country's geospatial sector is open for young and bright minds. So this is the overall essence of the news article given here. So in this context let's see about what is inclusive growth. Then the technological advancement in India in the aspect of inclusive growth. Then about the indices used in measuring inclusive growth and finally some of the issues prevalent in achieving inclusive growth. See why am I stressing on this inclusive growth because this keyword is directly present in your syllabus and also note that in 2020 mains regarding financial inclusiveness a question was asked. So this topic is important for your mains as well as prelims. Okay so before getting into the discussion the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference just go through it. Now let's start with the term inclusive growth. See according to the organization for economic cooperation and development inclusive growth means an economic growth that is distributed fairly across the society and creates opportunities for all. See in broad terms now this inclusive growth means equality of opportunities for all economic participants in the country. As we can say that equality in all aspects that is equality in health education food security and social protection. Then it also includes a method of growth that is environmentally sustainable then aspires for good governance and aids in the creation of a gender conscious society. Okay see some of the key elements of inclusive growth include skill development financial inclusion then technological advancement economic growth and social development. So these are all some of the elements that need to be addressed to achieve inclusive growth. See so far we would have seen many things about the financial inclusiveness or even we saw some of the inclusiveness regarding the climate change mitigation measures. Now let us see about the technological advancement in India in the aspect of inclusive growth. First of all let's have an idea about technological advancement. See technological advancement is the improvement and innovation of the utility of science. Technological advancement occurs when technologies become more precise accurate efficient or more capable and these scientific and technological advancements have made many important changes throughout the history. Remember the smartphones now we are using which is evolving day by day and it is now helping us in many ways such as to do money transactions and hearing songs watching movies browsing through the information etc etc. This is itself a technological advancement right and note that even this technological advancement like mobile phone or smartphone is creating inclusiveness. How? Now let's see the technological advancement in India as mentioned in the news article and how it is creating inclusiveness. First let's talk about the swamvitva scheme which got mentioned in the news article. See swamvitva means survey of villagers and mapping with improvised technology in village areas. Okay this scheme is a reformative step towards establishment of clear ownership of property in rural inhabited areas. How is this done? It's done by mapping of land parcels with the help of drone technology and by providing record of rights to village household owners. So what can you understand from this? So the use of this technology inclusiveness is portrayed okay and interestingly India is not only focusing domestically in the aspect of inclusive growth but also involves the neighbors in the process of inclusiveness. Take for example the South Asia satellite GSat-9 which is formerly known as SARC satellite. It is a communication and meteorology satellite operated by the ISRO for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. See this satellite is serving the needs of some of the SARC member nations such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Here you can take the India's technological advancement in the space sector which helps in facilitating connection and communication in India's neighborhood. See this is also an example for inclusiveness. Then India has given a boost in the manufacturing of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles and opened up the space sector to private entities. So the participation of the private in this is an example for inclusive growth. So we saw how the village inclusiveness is occurring then we saw in the international level how India is promoting inclusive growth then we also saw how the private sector involvement is creating inclusiveness. Now let's see about the indices that are used in measuring inclusive growth. First is the Inclusive Development Index. See it is an assessment of one of three countries economic performance that measures how countries perform on economic progress in addition to GDP okay and this index is prepared and released by the World Economic Forum. See the index has three pillars namely growth and development inclusion then intergenerational equity and sustainability. Then in the recent 2018 assessment Norway tops the chart followed by Iceland and Luxembourg in advanced economies and where is India standing? See India has been ranked 62 out of 74 emerging economies. Here India is ranked below the neighboring countries that is it is below Pakistan Sri Lanka Nepal. Evidently Pakistan has been ranked 47 Sri Lanka is standing in the 40th position then Nepal in the 22nd position. So by knowing this ranking know you would have understood why this inclusive growth is very much important for a country. See only by creating inclusive growth an economy can grow at a huge level okay. Then let me tell you one more index to measure this inclusive growth. Take the Social Progress Index. The index is published by the non-profit organ social progress imperative. See the SPI measures the well-being of a society by observing social and environmental outcomes directly rather than the economic factors. The social and environmental factors include wellness that is including health shelter and sanitation then it also includes equality inclusion sustainability and personal freedom and safety. So regarding this index know in the recent 2021 assessment Norway has topped the index followed by Finland and Denmark. Then what about India? India has been ranked 117 among the 168 countries which is much behind the BRICS nation. So these are all some of the indices that we are using in the measurement of inclusive growth. So far we have seen what is inclusive growth and how the technological advancement is creating inclusive growth. Then we also saw how the inclusive growth is measured using two indices okay. Now let me tell you what is the issue prevalent in achieving this inclusive growth. See in India know the major challenges for inclusive growth include lack of adequate employment opportunities despite India having the largest working population. Then lack of adequate education and skill development and the lack of social and physical infrastructure. All these are also the major challenges for achieving the inclusive growth okay. So we saw the issues right now we have to address the issues. So now let us talk about the possible solutions. See the central government along with the help of the state government it should formulate policies to eradicate poverty which is the foremost problem faced by India in achieving inclusive growth. See as I already said what is the concept of inclusive growth involving everyone in the economic growth or financial growth or you can say in the nation's growth okay. So the government should also promote sustainable development practices by keeping in mind the future generations and also the government should ensure that the inclusive growth will help in the empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized populations. See only by including everyone in the society you will be able to achieve a holistic growth or what we can say a huge growth okay and thus we can conclude that achieving inclusive growth is equal to achieving nation's growth okay. So that's all about this news article. So in this news article we had covered exclusively about what is inclusiveness and what is inclusive growth and how technological advancement is helping in inclusive growth. Then finally we saw some of the difficulties or challenges in achieving this inclusive growth we also ended up with solutions that will help in addressing the issues. See in addition to this regarding financial inclusiveness we have already covered in several other topics that's why today I made a point to make you understand how technological advancements are creating inclusive growths. See these kinds of questions are directly put in your main questions that is why I took this opportunity to explain you about what is inclusiveness and what is inclusive growth. So with these key points in mind now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this news article. See this news article speaks about organ donation. See in Tamil Nadu the organ donations has exceeded the previous year's figures and in the year 2021 the organs were retrieved from 60 deceased donors but this year from January to October 6th itself the state has registered 115 donors. This shows the positive note for the efforts of the government. So this is the overall crux of the news article given here and in this context let's learn about an important act that was enacted to prevent the organ trafficking in the country. Yes I'm talking about the transplantation of human organs and tissues act of 1994. See this act was enacted by the parliament during 1994 and came into force on February 1995. The main purpose of this act is to regulate the removal storage and transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purposes and to prevent commercial dealings in human organs which is nothing but human trafficking. Now talking about the provisions of this act see take section two of the act. It defines brain death as an accepted form of death. The act allows the transplantation of the organs from the living donors as well as cadavers after brain death or cardiac death. Here the living donors are classified as either non-related donor or near-relative for the purpose of donation. Note that the section two clause one defines a term near-relative. It means spouse, son, daughter, father, mother, brother and sister. Okay now take section three of the act. It says that every hospital which is doing a transplant activity that is either retrieval of organ or organ transplantation must have a transplant coordinator in the hospital. Who is this transplant coordinator? See a person appointed by the hospital for coordinating all matters relating to removal or transplantation of human organs or tissues or both and for assisting the authority for removal of human organs is termed as transplant coordinator in this act. Okay also this act tempos the central government to maintain a complete registry of all donors as well as recipients of different types of organs and it didn't just stop with the donors and the recipients even the registration of hospitals that are engaged in the removal storage or transplantation of human organs or tissues or both is a must-do under this act. Okay and know that the scope of the act was further expanded by its amendment in the year 2011. So let me tell you some important provisions that was included after the amendment act. See the tissues donation has also been included along with the organs. Then the near-relative definition has been expanded to include grandchildren then grandparents also and lastly and most importantly the provision of swap donation was included. What is meant by the swap donation? See sometimes in the family there is a potential related donor who is otherwise willing but due to blood group mismatching or due to some other medical reason he or she is not fit to donate organs to that particular recipient in a family. Okay further in another family you take similar situation is existing however in these two families donor of one family may become medically fit for recipient of other family and vice versa will happen. So what we can do these two families and make a pair and make organ transplant possible for these two recipients of different families. This is what we call as swap donation. Okay so this provision of swap donation was included by the amendment that is done in the year 2011. Okay then you have to know what are all the organs that can be donated. See the act says that after natural cardiac death only a few organs or tissues can be donated like for example you can say cornea, bone, skin and blood vessels whereas if you take the brain stem death almost 37 different organs and tissues can be donated including vital organs such as kidney, heart, liver and lungs. See just now we saw brain stem death right yes it is also recognized as a legal death in India under this transplantation of human organs act. Okay now despite a facilitatory law like this organ donation from deceased person continues to be very poor. In India no there is a need to promote deceased organ donation as donation from living persons cannot take care of the organ requirements of the country. You very well know the demand is very high and supply is very low in case of organs. Also there is a risk to the living donor and proper follow-up of the donor is also required. There is also an element of commercial transaction as I already said no organ trafficking is very much prevalent in India and to ban that only this act was established and when we talk about this commercial transaction no it is associated with living organ donation a lot and you know it is a violation of law. So in such a situation of organ shortage which can exploit the poor by indulging in organ trading that is why we say the awareness of donating the organs of a deceased person must be created. So that's all regarding this news article so in this news article we had seen about an important topic for a mains examination as well as your preliminary examination. Because regarding this provisions and all preliminary questions can be asked and why this act is enabled and how it is helping to address the organ trafficking and how it has to be taken forward in the future all those will be asked as your mains question. So to address this question holistically this discussion will be very much helpful. So with 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. See today we have four questions in which three I'll be discussing and one will be a quiz question for you okay. Now let's look into the first question here two statements are given so we are going to go through both these statements. See before knowing the answer for this question you must first of all know about central information commission it was established by the central government in the year 2005 under the RTI act of 2005. It is a high-powered independent body that looks into the compliance made to it and decide the appeals at the central level. So it entertains compliance and appeals pertaining to officers financial institutions then public sector undertakings etc etc which are under the central government and the union territories and its counterpart in the state level is the state information commission okay. Now look into the first statement the chief information commissioner and information commissioner are not eligible for reappointment. See this statement is correct both are not eligible for reappointments okay. Now coming to the second statement on reasonable grounds the central information commission can order inquiry into any matter. So it is talking about the sewer motor power am I right. So this statement is also correct. Yes the commission has sewer motor power and it can order inquiry into any matter if there are reasonable grounds okay. So what is the answer for this question the question is demanding for correct statements so your answer here will be option C both 1 and 2 and to know more about the RTI act I have clearly explained in the discussion itself okay. Now moving on to the second question see this question is regarding the national organ and tissue transplant organization here three statements are given so let me start with the first statement. Yes first statement is correct this organization was established by the transplantation of human organs and tissues amendment act of 2011 and note that regarding this amendment and regarding this act only we had clearly seen in today's discussion okay. Now looking to the second statement it functions under the ministry of home affairs no this statement is incorrect because it is functioning under the ministry of health and family welfare okay. So if you know statement 2 is incorrect you can eliminate all the options and arrive at the right answer which is option C 1 and 3 only but though you know the answer check with the statement 3 also okay. So what is it saying it regulates the organ donation and transplantation activity in India. Yes only for this purpose this organization was established so just by looking at the statement itself you can easily know that statement 2 is incorrect and 1 and 3 only is correct. See I had taken this question so that we can cover the organ transplantation topic in a holistic manner okay. Now moving on to the third question which of the following correctly explain a umbrella species here four definitions are given and the correct definition is an option A. See let me tell you in a brief way about this umbrella species. See it is a large animal or other organism on which many other species depend remember they are very similar to keystone species but umbrella species are usually migratory and need a large habitat. Protecting umbrella species automatically protects a host of other species for example you can take tiger here okay. So option A which says a species whose conservation is expected to confer protection to a large number of naturally co-occurring species is what defined as umbrella species okay. Now what about option B what is it defining a plant or animal that is very sensitive to environmental changes in its ecosystem yes it is nothing but the indicator species example takes almonds they are indicator species for wetland ecosystems then take lichens they are indicator of air pollution especially sulfur dioxide. So what we can understand see these species are a measure of the environmental condition that exist in a given locale okay that is why we say them as indicator species they are indicating what is the environmental condition there or what is the change that is occurring to the environment okay. Now what about option C a plant or animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions it is nothing but a keystone species definition okay regarding this keystone species I had elaborately discussed in the discussion itself. So let me move on to option D organisms that create modify and maintain habitats what is it talking about ecosystem engineers what is meant by ecosystem engineers see these are organisms that are creating or modifying or you can say they are maintaining habitats what does an engineer do they do create a mission then they modify the mission and they also look into the maintenance of the mission so when an organism does this we call them as ecosystem engineers because they are creating the ecosystem they are modifying the ecosystem and maintaining the ecosystem okay for example you can take beavers they create dams in the streams with slow see movement of water just have a look at this image this is how the beavers look okay so that's all for today's prelims practice question and displayed here is a twist question for you see if you had keenly observed the discussion today you can answer easily because it is regarding the swamitva scheme that we saw in our today's discussion here one statement is given ahead so that you could know about the scheme a little more okay displayed here are two main practice question go through the question and try writing answer for this question it will be very much helpful for your mains preparation okay so that's all for today's discussion if you like this video do like share and comment and don't forget to subscribe to the Shankar eyes academy's youtube channel thank you for listening