 Good evening and important announcement. Shankar IAS Academy is starting third pre-storming batch from Jan 8th. Pre-storming is Shankar's prelims test series program. Let us move on to today's Hindu news analysis. The list of topics chosen for today's discussion along with the page numbers is given here for your reference. Let us take up this lead article from today's editorial page which talks about the new marriage laws enacted or introduced by different states like UP, MP, etc. So author argues that these laws violate the basic structure of constitution. Author also says that these legislations are writing hate into the law. So in today's discussion, let us see the arguments put forward by author for justifying these remarks. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. See generally we have a perception that these kind of controversial questions won't appear in UPSC. But if you see in the 2019 Main's paper that in GS1, questions have been asked from these topics. For example, we had a question called, what are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism? And one more question, are we losing our local identity for the global identity? And there was even a question like this. What can France learn from India's approach to secularism? So these kind of questions have been asked in the UPSC exam. So we should be knowing at least something regarding these aspects to write few points in the exam. So the legislations being criticized by the author are UP's prohibition of unlawful conversion of religion ordinance and MP freedom of religion Bill 2020. First author is surprised that a state which endorsed intercaste marriages once upon a time is now enacting laws banning religious conversions on certain grounds. Author is talking about Uttar Pradesh year. See in 1950s when Nehru was the Prime Minister of India, former Prime Minister Charan Singh was a minister in the UP government. Then Charan Singh proposed to Prime Minister of India about enacting a law to encourage intercaste marriages. So he proposed a law which will allow individuals to become visited officers only who marry outside their caste. But the proposal was declined by Nehru saying that it affects the freedom of choice of individuals to choose their life partner. But today we can see a totally contrasting view where UP government itself enacted an ordinance that criminalizes inter-religious marriages. So author put forward few points stating why these legislations are fundamentally wrong. First reason, these laws restrict individual right to exercise the rights under our constitution. It is the individual citizen who has rights and obligations and exercises it. But the legislation treats religious communities as basic entities. So in short, we can say that constitution of India wants to uphold individual rights by giving more ground to individualism. But the new laws brought in by UP MP consider entire religion as a basic entity. So these legislations are sidelining from the constitutional morality or constitutional ideology. Second reason is that these proposed legislations openly violate the right to privacy. Why? Because these legislations are affecting the privacy of choice. If you remember, right to privacy has been declared as a fundamental right under article 21 in Putta Swami case of 2017. So these new marriage legislations are violating the fundamental rights and that to basic structure of Indian constitution. See according to Indian legal structure, marriage is a civil union depending on their freedom of choice. If government of the day is interfering into the choice of the individuals, it is nothing but breaching the freedom and dignity of the individual, which is a component of basic structure. The next reason is commonly said one, which is targeting Muslims. See author argues that under the pretext of regulating religious conversions, these legislations focus on restricting Hindu women from marrying Muslim men in the name of protecting them. So the assumptions for these legislations are limited to splitting the Hindus and Muslims creating religious disharmony. So this is why author said that hate has been written into these laws. Then author talks about the basis of these new laws is deeply patriarchal. Because these legislations are still treating the adult women as property of the head of family. Because men in the family, not just men, even women in the family or head of the family wants their daughters or sons to marry according to the wishes of parents who belong to same caste, community or religion. So generally parents will be supporting same caste, same religion marriages. And now these legislations of MP UP are paving way for it by supporting the parents. For this reason, author calls these new laws as deeply patriarchal. So these are the different criticisms put forward by the author. On one extent, the author even compares these laws with the laws brought in during Hitler's regime of Germany. In 1935, Hitler enacted a law called Nuremberg race laws, which prohibit the interracial marriage between Aryans and non-Aryans, that is Jewish people here in the name of protecting the German blood and honor. So author is saying that by not allowing inter-religious marriages, the UP and MP governments are replicating what Hitler did in Germany. Yes, this is a little extreme statement. So then author greatly criticizes the laws as they are promoting majoritarian communal biases like in case of Germany as we discussed just now. So these majoritarian communal biases are empowering the regressive social customs governing marriage. So author calls to safeguard the high principles set out by Indian constitution, that is all citizens are equal and the ideals of freedom and fraternity apply to everyone in the country. So as a conclusion, author notes that Supreme Court should take Suomoto action and strike down these laws to preserve the basic structure of Indian constitution. So this is all about the discussion of this news article wherein we had a very critical approach towards the religious conversion laws brought by UP and MP governments. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us now take up this data point which talks about bad loans. So when loan accounts, that is loan and interest, if either of it is overdue for more than 90 days, we call it as NPE. So the data point says that the ratio of gross non-performing assets in Indian banks decreased in financial year 20 and as well as financial year 21. This is despite the impact of COVID-19 and the economic downturn preceding the COVID-19. So this data point gives three reasons why there has been a decrease in NPAs. First one, banks wrote off relatively more NPAs in financial year 1920 to clean their balance sheets. As you can see in this picture, after achieving the peak in financial year 17-18, the gross NPAs have reduced for both PSBs and private banks. So as we said before, the first reason is relatively more writing off of loans. So what is this writing off of loans? See whenever a bank gives a loan, it has to set aside a certain amount of money. For example, if a bank gives loan of rupees 1 lakh, say 10 percent or 12 percent as decided by RBI, banks have to keep say 10 percent. So that is 10,000 rupees aside. So even if the borrower did not default, the banks have to set aside some amount as a buffer for potential losses. So when loans are written off, this buffer amount will be released and this buffer amount can be used by banks for further lending. For example, if 1 crore rupees is written off, say 10 percent is provisional amount, that is 10 lakhs. As this 1 crore is written off, this 10 lakhs which was set aside by the bank from its profits can be used for further lending. And second reason for the decrease of gross NPAs is some large NPA accounts got resolved through debt recovery channels. As you can see in this picture, the red line that is first one is about total recoveries. And the green one is about insolvency and bankruptcy code. Yellow one is with reference to surface act and this blue one is with reference to local adults. As you can see, the IBC that is insolvency and bankruptcy code has led to resolution of many gross NPAs. Also because of this, the NPAs have reduced in the recent years. And the third factor is, as of now it is not known what share of loan accounts which were under COVID-19 moratorium will turn into NPAs in the immediate future. As we all know, government and RBI has put a moratorium on loan payments due to COVID-19. Three to six months was given to customers to pay the interest as well as loan amount. So as of August 2020, around 41% and 34% in government banks and private banks opted for this loan moratorium. But it is still not known what share of these loan accounts which took moratorium will be turned into NPAs. So RBI has a designation mechanism called, if a loan is overdue for 30 to 60 days, such loan accounts will be classified as SMA-1 that is special mentioned accounts-1. If loan is overdue for more than 60 and less than 90 days, it is classified as SMA-2. If it is more than 90 days, it will be classified as NPA. And if the loan overdue is less than for 30 days, we call it as SMA-0. So the initial reports reflect a sharp rise in SMA-0 accounts in September 2020. So the moratorium was lifted on 31st August. So within 30 days that is by September 30, there was a sharp rise in SMA-0 accounts. So this shows the signs of stress after the lifting of moratorium. So it is expected that in the future there may be an increase in the gross NPAs due to COVID-19 related economic slowdown. So these are the takeaways from this data point. We have seen that NPAs have decreased in the recent years. One major reason for that is writing off of NPAs. Second reason is increased recoveries due to insolvency bankruptcy code as well as surface air. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us take up this news column from editorial page which talks about the form loss. Yes, we are covering form loss mostly on a daily basis because there is a very high possibility of questions appearing from this aspect in the exam. One reason is for many days, farmers are protesting near Delhi. So we are trying to give you a 360 degree analysis of the issues in our news analysis. So today the author of this article analyzes or forecasts the problems which will occur when the new form loss come into force. So let us have a brief discussion on these issues. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. First let us see the issues mentioned by the author with respect to the three form loss. The first law is farmers produce trade and commerce act of 2020. According to this act, farmers are now free to sell their produce anywhere and to anyone beyond the physical premises of APMC markets. For this reason, this act is also called as APMC bypass act. So the author is of the opinion that already existing law on MSP Mundi system is a known devil. It means we already know the problems but the new markets will be an unknown ghost. So what author is saying here is while maltractices in Mundis are known to us, we do not know what kind of problems will be formed when the new law comes into force. The main reason here is while Mundis are regulated through law, the other areas that is outside Mundis is unregulated area. So farmers will be vulnerable or they become prey to the traders as well as corporate buyers. But government is also saying that the Mundi system and MSP system will continue simultaneously or parallely with the new form loss as well. But in this case, if farmers find better prices outside the Mundis, they will go there. One more reason is in Mundis there is a levy that is 2 percent, 3 percent depending on the crop and the value of the crop. So farmers may find attractive to sell their produce outside the Mundis because there is no levy. So this can weaken Mundis system and sooner they may begin to shut down due to lack of business. This in turn will make it impossible for farmers to choose Mundis when price outside the Mundis is not remunerative or attractive. See this can happen due to many reasons. So just before we said that the prices outside the Mundis may be attractive and now we are saying that what if prices are not remunerative. See for example, traders could reduce the prices saying that there are faults or poor quality in the produce or even they can default on the payments because the outside area is not regulated. There is no one for farmers to go to their rescue. So this is the problem with APMC bypass act. Coming to second act that is contract forming act or farmers agreement on price assurance and farm services act. In this act, the corporate buyers can exploit farmers through delayed or less remuneration and as we all know corporates are far more powerful compared to poor and uneducated farmers. So farmers cannot fight against these powerful corporates. So author opines that the problem in this contract is the agreement is being made between unequals. One side a small marginal farmer whose land will be around 1 to 2 hectares. On the other side of the agreement, there will be a very big group like Adhanese, Ambanes, whoever it is. So this small marginal farmer cannot fight with a powerful company. And third important formula that is ECA amendment act or essential commodities amendment act. This act permits unlimited hoarding of food except in special circumstances and farmers are protesting against this as this can manipulate the prices. See already farmers are not getting good prices. Middlemen are benefiting more compared to farmers and consumers. If hoarding or stockpiling of grains is allowed, the traders will store the grains in the harvest season by getting the grains at a cheaper price. But they will not release the grains into markets. Only in the lean season when supply is less, they will raise the prices and release the grains. So both consumers as well as farmers will be losing because of this amendment act. So these are the three major issues we have been discussing for a very long time. Author talks about another issue regarding different regions and crops. See we know that India is a diverse country with several agro-climatic zones and different food cultures. For this reason many proponents of the new laws are saying that farmers from outside the wheat rice belts are not protesting. Currently we are seeing farmers protest only in the Haryana Punjab UP belt which are mostly rice and wheat belts. Here we should not forget that farmers have protested against the policies in areas where they hail from. For example in eastern India in 1860s farmers revolted against indigo farming. Mappolas revolted in 1921 in Kerala or even Warli Adivasi revolt of 1945. And very recently in 1970s to 2010s Sharad Joshi led agitations for farming sector mainly in Maharashtra. So it means that farmers across the country are not homogeneous or not belonging to same kind of ideology. So farmers protest against problems only if they affect them. So other is saying that India being a diverse country there are different demands and different aspirations for farmers belonging to different areas. So if a new policy is being brought in 2020 that is new formulas why is it uniformed for all farmers all land and all crops. When we are agreeing that India is a diverse country even in agriculture why do we need a uniform law that to from central government in state list. So this needs more deliberations. So instead of going with one size fits all approach we should be going for different sizes for different areas. Then author talks about the three main solutions which were put forth by farmers. First one the prices of produce should be cost of production plus a reasonable markup price. So a reasonable profit should be there. Second fluctuations in prices should be minimal. So in this context a stabilization fund will be helpful. Third there should be little or no interface between legal or administrative officials. Farmers are complaining against the interference of sahibs and police. And next farmers are opining that even the government is aiming for crop diversification that is moving from wheat to vegetables, horticulture, other things etc. The new laws do not have any provisions to address problems faced by farmers when they go for crop diversification. So author is saying that all the concerns of farmers have been ignored in the new laws. So here what we can do is the neglected problem of stagnation and high input prices in agriculture can be addressed through a systematic approach proposed by MS Vaminathan commission or Ashok Dalwai committee etc. So author concludes that shock treatments like new form laws do not work anywhere whether it is in agriculture, industry or the economy. So the government should rework the policy to meet the demands of farmers by not threatening the food security of the country and economic security of rural areas. So these are the different issues talked by the author. First we had a brief on issues with the new formulas. Then we talked about the diversity in the country with respect to agriculture and what are the demands raised by the farmers and what can be done that is Ashok Dalwai committee or Swaminathan commission. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us take up these two news articles with reference to Central Vista redevelopment project. The news article says that Supreme Court has approved the multi-crore Central Vista redevelopment project. So in this light let us see about the Central Vista project, the Supreme Court's opinion regarding it and is there a need for intense judicial review before going further the relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. So what is this Central Vista redevelopment project? Say it is a multi-crore project that aims to modify the use of 86 acres of parliamentary space. So the new project proposes to build a new parliament that is three times bigger than existing 93 years old heritage building and the new parliamentary building is also expected to accommodate around 1200 MPs and in the current Central Vista of New Delhi houses Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House, North and South Block that is where Prime Minister works, India Gate, National Archives etc. So all these iconic buildings were constructed before 1931. See 1931 is the year when the new capital that is Delhi was inaugurated. If we look back into history that is in the coronation Darbar of 1911, King George V announced the shifting of British capital from Calcutta to Delhi. This decision of shifting capital was mainly due to two major reasons. First one is Indian Councils Act of 1909, second one the ongoing crisis caused by the Bengal Partition. So in order to fulfill this purpose the Delhi Town Planning Commission was set up. Edward Lutens and Herbert Baker were employed as the principal architects and general architectural advisors. The current parliament house building was designed by Lutens and Baker. The Rashtrapati Bhavan was designed by Edwin Lutens. The secretariat which includes both North and South Block were designed by Baker. So for this reason we also listen the name Lutens more in Delhi. The work of capital city was substantially completed by 1929 and the first resident of Weissraus house or the later Rashtrapati Bhavan was Lord Irwin. So the new imperial city which is spanning across 6000 acres was finally inaugurated in 1931 and it is today known as Lutens Delhi. And coming to today's news article that is Central Weissra redevelopment project it is a plan to construct new parliament building close to existing one. So this project was proposed by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2019 envisaging the construction of triangular parliament building common central secretariat and revamping the three kilometers long Rajpath. So the objectives of this project also include upgrading parliament space facilities consolidating rationalizing synergizing government functioning refurbishing and better equipping central vista avenue etc. So simply put government is spending money in fact lot of money on redeveloping or giving more aesthetic appearance to parliament houses secretariat etc. And the chronology of this project is given here just go through it we'll have a brief idea on what happened since 2019 to till yesterday. So as we said before it is a multi crore project there was a very high criticism saying that why India needs such a posh or very high aesthetic building when many people are still in poverty. There are even criticisms that there is a lack of transparency land clearance issues and there were even allegations like fall play on carving out the parliament project from the central vista project in an illegal manner. So because of these issues many petitions were filed in supreme court and as we said before yesterday supreme court said that there is nothing to do from supreme court in stopping the project. Judiciary also gave appropriate reasons first one court cannot order the government to desist from spending money on one project and use it for something else. Why because there is something called separation of power. Legislature executive judiciary judiciary should not interfere into functioning of government that is executive's rule. And according to supreme court right to development is a part of basic human right. So no organ of the state be it legislature or judiciary is expected to become an obstruction in the process of development as long as government is working in accordance with the constitution and legal procedures. And the second news article talks about intense judicial review into these aspects supreme court clearly said no to intense judicial review. It is of opinion that government is entitled to commit errors or achieve success in policy matters without the interference of court because public has given power to government and also it is not court's concern to inquire into priorities of elected government. Moreover and very importantly judicial review is never meant to venture into mind of government and thereby to examine validity of the decision. So as long as decision is abiding laws and constitution supreme court has nothing to say with daily functioning of the government. So court said that it cannot act as a multiplier of regulations or obstruction to the development projects which are taken up by the governments which received support from the public. So this is all about the discussion of these news articles. We had a brief discussion on central vista redevelopment project as well as what supreme court said with respect to separation of powers. Suppose if you are writing an answer for separation of powers you can use this example wherein supreme court clearly said that it has nothing to do with functioning of a government as long as the governance is within the constitution and legal procedures. So this is all about the discussion of these news articles. Let us move on to next news article discussion. Let us now take this news article which talks about the two-day Asian Waterbird Census 2020. The news is that the census has commenced in Andhra Pradesh under the support of exports from Bombay Natural History Society. The census is covering two dozen sites in Andhra Pradesh including Koringa Wildlife Sanctuary, Kolaire Lake, Krishna Sanctuary, even in other parts of India also these kind of census will be carried out. So this Asian Waterbird Census is a part of International Waterbird Census which is coordinated by Wetlands International. It also runs in parallel with other regional programs of International Waterbird Census in Africa, Europe, West Asia, Neotropics, Caribbean etc. So this Asian Waterbird Census was initiated in 1987 in the Indian subcontinent and since has grown rapidly to cover major areas of Asia from Afghanistan to Japan and from Southeast Asia to Australasia. So the census thus covers entire East Asian Australasian flyway and the large part of Central Asian flyway. So what is a flyway? See flyway is the entire range of migratory bird species through which it moves on an annual basis from the breeding grounds to non-breeding areas including intermediate resting and feeding places as well. The important flyways are given here for your reference and as you can see here is the Central Asian flyway and here is East Asian Australasian flyway. Don't confuse Australasia with Australia. Say Australasia includes Australia, New Zealand, Malay Archipelago, Philippines and other islands as well. So Australasia is a geographical term defining a specific region surrounding Australia. So coming back to Asian Waterbird Census, the census is aimed at obtaining information on an annual basis of water bird populations at wetlands to monitor on an annual basis the status and condition of wetlands to encourage greater interest in water birds and wetlands among citizens. So these are the major objectives of conducting Asian Waterbird Census and as we said before the technical support for this program is being received from Bombay Natural History Society. So this Bombay Natural History Society is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research. This body was founded in 1883 that is even before Congress. So one of the world's bodies in the world and very importantly the society is partner of BirdLife International in India. So what is this BirdLife International? So it is one another non-governmental organization and a global partnership of conservation organizations which strive to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity. So in India the BirdLife International is represented through Bombay Natural History Society and talking about BirdLife International it identifies and designates certain areas as important bird and biodiversity areas. So these are the places of international significance for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity. So these are the different aspects discussed in the news article and also remember that Koringa Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Andhra Pradesh. Further the news article also talks about Indian schema. See Indian schema is a water bird species which is generally found in the coastal estuaries of western and eastern India. So these species can be sighted near Chambal river in Odisha and in Andhra Pradesh. Coming to its conservation status it is listed in endangered category of IUCN Red List. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. We had a very comprehensive discussion on what is Asian water bird census and then we talked about East Asian and Central Asian flyways and we also talked about Bombay Natural History Society and we ended with BirdLife International and Indian schema. So let us move on to next news article discussion. So this news article mentions that Prime Minister has inaugurated the Kochi Mangaluru Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline that is LNG Pipeline. So in this context let us have a brief discussion on LNG and what is National Gas Grid and what are the existing gas pipelines in the country. See as we all know natural gas is one of the cleanest fossil fields available in the world. When we say liquefied a natural gas it means natural gas in its liquid form. So coming to its users see it is used as feedstock in manufacturing of fertilizers plastics etc. It can be also used as fuel for current generation heating purpose as well as cooking in domestic households and also as transportation fuel for vehicles. So for all these users government is committed to make India a natural gas based economy and also to increase the share of natural gas in country's primary energy mix. Further India also committed to increase the share of natural gas from present 6 percent to 15 percent by 2030. So by increasing the share of natural gas on one side it reduces the import bill on the other side it also promotes climate change mitigation measures. So to achieve this target government is taking the steps like enhancing domestic gas production expeditious development of gas infrastructure including pipelines. As today's news says Prime Minister has inaugurated Kochi Mangaluru gas pipeline. Further city gas distribution networks and regasified liquefied natural gas. So regasified LNG means we are turning LNG back into gas and development of gas market by providing open access to gas infrastructure. So these are the different steps being taken by government to increase the share of natural gas in the energy mix of the country. And as said before our today's focus is on development of gas infrastructure of natural gas pipelines. See gas pipeline infrastructure is an economical and safe mode of transporting the natural gas by connecting gas sources to gas consuming markets. For example Krishna Godavari basin is known for natural gas. So from there we will connect the source to consumer areas like Mumbai, Delhi etc. So therefore an interconnected national gas grid has been envisaged by the government to ensure the adequate availability and equitable distribution of natural gas in all parts of the country. So now government is developing additional 14,000 kilometers of gas pipelines and some of these pipelines are at various states of development as shown in the figure. So by developing these gas lines these would ensure easy availability of natural gas across all regions and also potentially help to achieve uniform economic and social progress. As part of this grid only the 450 kilometers Kochi Mangaluru stretch was inaugurated by the prime minister. And coming to existing major gas pipelines in the country here is the first one Jagadishpur Haldia Bokaro Damra Pipeline Project and Marauni Gauhati Pipeline Project. So this BGPL is being implemented as an integral part of Jagadishpur Haldia project to connect northeast region with the national gas grid and there is this northeast region gas grid Indra Danush gas grid limiter which is a joint venture of five oil and gas central public sector enterprises. And there is also this Kochi Kuttanad Bangalore Mangalore Pipeline Project which was inaugurated yesterday and there is one more Enor Thirvaluvar Bangalore Nagapatinam Madurai Tutikorin Natural Gas Pipeline Project. So these are some of the important gas pipeline projects either constructed or under construction currently. So this is all about the discussion of this news article have a brief idea on what is liquefied natural gas, what are its uses and what government is doing to improve the share of liquefied natural gas in the country. Let us take up this prelims question. This question is framed based on these two news articles. Before going through the question let us have a brief discussion on what these news articles are going to say. So the news article says that according to global economic prospects report released by World Bank the global economic output is projected to grow at four percent in 2021 by assuming that a widespread rollout of covid-19 vaccine will be carried out this year. But even then the projection is found to be five percent lower when compared to pre-pandemic levels. With respect to India after an expected contraction of around nine percent in current fiscal year that is 2020-2021 India is expected to grow at 5.4 percent in the coming year and 5.2 percent in the next year that is 2022-23. So why this contraction happened in India? See India's contraction in the current year is mainly because of sharp decline in household spending and private investment and also due to severe loss in informal sector due to lockdowns and covid-19. So India's growth with its persistent improvement in its economic indicators is showing a v-shaped recovery that is sharp fall and sharp rise and is therefore believed to be successfully going against the covid-19 waves. See in many of the countries because of second waves and reimposing of lockdowns economic indicators have been suffering severely. But in India even against the covid-19 the economy is in a booming phase. So what is the primary reason for this booming economic growth? The answer is agricultural sector. It has grown at 3.4 percent in first two quarters of current fiscal year. So because of good agricultural growth there is a rise in rural income which is also caused by factors like rise in MSP accompanied by high procurement from the government, accelerated wages, employment generation etc. So this rise in rural income has also been reflected in the improved sales of vehicles, tractors and a rebound in the registration of vehicles for the first time after March 2020. So thereby it is also indicating a momentum gain in the manufacturing and services sector. So coming back to the question consider the following pairs. Three reports are given here and their publishing agencies are also given here. We have to find out whether the given pairs are correctly matched or not. If you see the second one that is global economic prospects as we said before it is released by World Bank and not IMF. So second pair is incorrect. So two should not be in the answers therefore we can arrive at the answer that is option C 1 and 3 only. See this global economic prospects is a World Bank's flagship report which examines global economic developments and prospects with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies. It is a biennial report meaning it will be issued twice a year that is Jan and June. And also note that ease of doing business, world development report, human capital index are also published by the World Bank Group. And coming to global innovation index yes it is published by INSEAD along with Cornell University and World Intellectual Property Organization that is VEPO. And coming to third one global competitive index yes it is released by World Economic Forum. So the correct answer is option C 1 and 3 only. Let us now take a practice questions discussion session. See this question with reference to bird life international which of the following statements are correct. It is a global partnership of conservation organizations statement two. The concept of biodiversity hotspots originated from this organization statement three. It identifies the sites known as important bird and biodiversity areas. If you see the statement two is incorrect because the concept of biodiversity hotspots was propounded by Norman Mayors. So statement two is incorrect therefore the correct answer is option C 1 and 3 only. So statements 1 and 3 are correct. Next consider the following statements. Statement one. India is committed to increase the share of natural gas to 50 percent by 2030. This statement is incorrect from the face of statement itself we can see 50 percent is a very ambitious target. It is from 6 percent at present to 15 percent by 2030. Statement two. Barowni-Gahati pipeline project is being implemented to connect northeast region with national gas grid. Yes the statement is correct. So statement one is incorrect and statement two is correct. So the correct answer is option B 2 only. Next see this question. Central Vista project often seen in news is related to option A new parliament complex. Option B express ways connecting all the metro cities in the country. Option C development of freight corridors connecting central India with major cities. Option D developing basic communities in neighboring countries as part of neighborhood first policy. As we all know the correct answer is option A new parliament complex which is said to be constructed in the new daily and is expected to be complete by 2022 that is 75th year of independence. Let us take up one main question based on today's news analysis. Recent state legislations regarding conversion of religion are against the ethos of Indian constitution. Comment. With this we conclude today's news analysis. If you find this session resourceful click on the like button show your appreciation in the comment section and do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.