 A very good evening aspirants. As you all know, Prelims is coming nearby. It's vastly approaching. And Shankara Ace Academy has launched free All India Prelims mock test. And these tests will be conducted across 13 centres, both online and offline modes. And if you are wondering when it will be conducted, it will be conducted on 15th May 2022, 22nd May 2022 and 29th May 2022. I'll give you the link in the description. So please make use of it. And with this information, now let us get into the daily Hindi news analysis for the date 2nd of May 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. See first of all, we are going to discuss a previous year Prelims question and then we are going to get into the article discussions. And at the end of the discussion, we are going to solve some of the Prelims questions and I'll give you a main question for your practice also and we'll wind up the session. Without any delay, let's get into the article discussion. Now we'll discuss this previous year Prelims question that was asked in the year 2019. See this question is a history-based question. To be more specific, this is a culture-based question. See when it comes to UPSC, Buddhism and Jainism area is very important. So concentrate more on that. You can expect at least one question from this area. Now let us try solving this question here. If you know what Mahayana Buddhism is and if you know what are the characteristics of Mahayana Buddhism, then it is a very easy question for you because the statements given here describe the attributes of Mahayana Buddhism. But let us say you do not know anything about Mahayana Buddhism. Then how should you approach this question? I'll tell you. See it is not very difficult. What is the first statement here? It says that Deification of Buddha is one of the features of Mahayana Buddhism. So what is Deification here? It is the process of making someone or something deity or God. So this statement is saying that Mahayana Buddhism makes Buddha as God. So the statement one may or may not be true. Now let us see the second statement. It says treading the path of Bodhisattvas. Here it means following the path of Bodhisattvas. This also may or may not be true. Let us leave this statement for now. Now let us see the third statement. It says image worship and rituals are the features of Mahayana Buddhism. See here only we have to be very careful because in this question there is a connection between statement one and statement three. Statement one says Deification of Buddha and the third statement says image worship and rituals. See only when statement one is true, three can be true. This means only when Buddha is considered as God there will be image worships and rituals. Right? If he is not considered as God then there won't be any image worship or rituals. So there are two probabilities here. In the answer both one and three should be there or both should not be there. Let us consider both the scenarios here. Firstly let us say statement one is wrong. Then statement three is also wrong and both statement one and three should not be in the answer. So search in the options whether two only is there or not. It is not there. Right? Now we'll consider the second probability which is considering statement one as the right statement. Then statement three should also be correct. Right? So now search in the answer where any option has both statement one and three. Yeah, there is. Option D has both one and three. So that is only the right answer and this is how you should approach a question and don't panic if you didn't study the topic. Try to narrow down the options. Here in this question we directly arrived at the answer. Right? Because we searched for the options where there are statement one and three. Option D had both statement one and three. So we directly arrived at the answer. But there will be instances where you will only be able to narrow it down to two options. Say you will be able to narrow it down to A, B or B, C or C, D or something like that. But then also don't worry. Take an educated and informed guess. You have 50-50 chance of getting the answer right. So we solved this question here. I've given some of the features of Mahayana Buddhism here. Just go through it and use this opportunity and revise the topic again. Look at this text in context article. See it talks about the reason, distress of the jute industry in West Bengal. See the distress is due to several reasons like greater prices of raw jute, cyclone ampen in May 2020 and the subsequent rains. Also Bangladesh provides cash subsidies for varied semi-finished and finished jute products. Hence the competitiveness emerges as a challenge for India. See the challenge lies in exploring export options to compensate for the domestic scenario. And this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us discuss about the jute crisis in detail. First of all what is the problem here? See here the problem is high procurement price of raw jute. See this is so high that it is greater than the price of the processed jute or jute products. So it simply means that the price of the raw material is greater than the finished product. To understand this we have to know the process behind this procurement. See in case of jute the mills procure raw jute from the middlemen. And what do the middlemen do? The middlemen procure jute from the farmers and after this it is bailed. See here bailing is a process by which large bundle or package is prepared for shipping, storage or sale. That is the fiber is tightly compressed into bails and secured by wires. And finally the bails are brought to the mills. Here the middlemen charge a price for all these services provided by them in addition to the MSP fixed by the government. See MSP that is the minimum support price for raw jute procurement from farmers is increased to 4750 per quintal for 2022-23 season and it was fixed by the government. See I have given figures here for the year 2021-22. You could see how the MSP is increased and note that in addition to this MSP the mills have to pay service charge for the middlemen. Now you may have a doubt why is this price increasing and what happened to the supply? The main reason was the occurrence of cyclone ampen in May 2020 and the subsequent reason in the major jute producing states. See these events they led to lower production and yield compared to the previous years and also they led to the production of lower quality jute fiber. And why is this? See this is because of the water logging situations in large fields and they led to premature harvesting. And with this understanding now let us see the ideal condition for the jute cultivation. See jute grows well on well drained fertile soil in the flood plains. Here the soils are renewed every year and the next condition is the requirement of high temperature during the time of growth. Now you know why the cyclone ampen costed so much for the jute industry. See this map here it shows the major jute producing states in India which includes West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and Meghalaya. Note that West Bengal, Bihar and Assam alone account for almost 99% of India's total production. See in addition to the lower production and yield there were hoarding issues at all levels that is right from farmers to the traders. And what is meant by hoarding? See hoarding is the purchase and storing of large quantities of the commodity with the intent of benefiting from future price increases. So this is also another reason. And the last reason is the subsidies provided by the Bangladesh government. See Bangladesh provides cash subsidies for varied semi-finished and finished jute products. Hence the competitiveness emerges as a challenge for India. See these reasons they can be more understood once you know the global position of India in the jute production. See this image here shows you India's position in jute in the global market. As per the Food and Agricultural Organization FAO, India is the largest producer of jute followed by Bangladesh and China. However in terms of acreage and trade Bangladesh takes the lead. Bangladesh accounts for three fourth of the global jute exports when compared to India. See this is because India lags behind Bangladesh in producing superior quality jute fiber. And what is the reason for this? The reason for this low quality production is the infrastructural constraints relating to retting farm mechanization etc. And it is also due to the lack of availability of certified seeds and varieties suitable for the country's agro climate. So these are all the constraints that are in the jute industry. Now let us see some of the uses of jute. Firstly it is used for packaging purposes. See there is mandatory provision to use jute in packaging. It is mentioned in jute packaging material compulsory use in packaging commodities act 1987. It says that 100% production of food grains and 20% sugar production must be packaged in jute bags. And other than this it is used in furnishing materials, fashion accessories, floor coverings or varied applications in paper and textile industries. And now comes a question what if the jute mills are closed due to crisis? See the jute sector it provides direct employment to 3.70 lakh workers in the country and it supports the livelihood of around 40 lakh farm families. Hence the closure of mills is a direct blow to the workers. And not only this indirectly it affects the farmers whose production is used in the mills. And hence as a solution to all these problems and to increase the economic growth of the country the following measures have to be taken. Firstly application of jute area must be increased. Secondly India needs to work on quality by adopting new technologies. For this jute research organizations must work together to utilize resources for the betterment of the industry. And also government must take efforts in the R&D that is the research and development to strengthen the jute industry and this can be done by developing newer technologies and then diversifying the products and improving machinery through intensive modernization. And all these will fetch more profit. And also it has less market competition when compared to its synthetic counterpart. This is because of its eco-friendly property which has good prospects in the coming days. And that's all about this article discussion. In this discussion we saw the reasons for the crisis in West Bengal and what are those. The high procurement price of raw jute, cyclone ampen and Bangladesh providing subsidies for varied semi-finished and finished products. We saw the ideal condition for the jute production and after that we saw the major jute producing states in India and India's position in jute in the global market. And we saw some of the uses of jute and finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the measures to be taken to improve the jute industry. And with these points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Our next news article is going to be based on this image. See in this image you can see at logger heads a pair of black bucks locks This image was taken at the Talchapar Sanctuary in Rajasthan's Churu district. So let us use this as an opportunity and learn some of the important facts about the black bucks. See by its pronunciation don't think it is an insect. The black buck or the Indian antelope is a species of antelope native to India and Nepal. It was once widespread throughout the Indian subcontinent. Now only scattered herds are found in protected areas in India and Nepal. It has become extant in Pakistan and Bangladesh. So know this if a statement is given in your prelims question that it is found in Pakistan and Bangladesh it is wrong. Now coming back to the article. See they are active during the day and form groups consisting of only females, males and bachelor herds. The black buck is easily recognized and how it is recognized. They are recognized through the dark brown to black color of the upper part of the males and apart from this the most striking feature of black bucks is the long spiraling horns of the adult male which have ridges from the base to the tip. And remember females do not possess horns. See mature male black bucks have a black and white coloration which is very different from the reddish yellow hue of immature males and females. See here both males and females have white patches around their eyes on their inner legs, mouth, underside and on the rump. See these animals they reproduce two young ones in a year and they carry their baby for six months. See the territorial male black bucks reproduce in order to defend their territories which can be as small as 20 acres. See they mark their territory by depositing dung middens and black pre-orbital secretions on the bushes and stems. Now we will see about the diet. See the black buck they eat mainly grasses. As summer dries these it eats more pots, fruits and flowers. It eats more browse and pots, fruits and flowers they supplement their diet. See black bucks they are timid at the feed stations and they will stand back while other animals feed. See the black buck they are diurnal in nature as in they are active during the day though it becomes less active at noon. Black bucks are as fast as any antelopes and they rely on their eyesight to avoid danger. It can run at a speed of 80 kilometer per hour. They inhabit grassy plains and thin forest areas with easily available water resources. The herd size largely depends on the availability of forage and the type of habitat the black buck lives in. See large herds they have an advantage over the small ones and in what sense see it is because they can deduct danger or the threat faster. Now coming to the last and the most important part which is the conservation status. See black buck is designated as least concerned according to the IUCN red list and in India hunting of black buck is prohibited under schedule one of the wildlife protection act of 1972. And with this we have come to the end of the discussion in this we saw some of the characteristics of black buck we saw that they are native to India and Nepal. They became extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh and we saw some of the physical characteristics diet and features of black buck and finally we saw the conservation status which is least concerned according to IUCN red list and in India it is protected under schedule one of the wildlife protection act 1972. And with these points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Now take a look at this news article according to the article top functionaries of the Union Labour and Employment Ministry have informed that the ministry is working on a mechanism to process accident insurance claims by unorganized workers registered on the eShram portal. So this is the cracks of the news article given here since eShram is frequently in news we might expect a question in the preliminary examination. So let us quickly brush through some of the facts about this portal. See this portal was launched six months back on August 26 2021 and it has seen over 27 crore registrations so far. Here Shram is a Hindi word and it means Labour. So it is basically an eLabor portal to be very specific post pandemic this portal was launched with the name of creating a national database of the unorganized workers and to facilitate social security schemes for them. See this database will be seeded with the other as well. In India the workers in the unorganized sector have no social security coverage so the government must step in to provide them with the social security but for this to happen there must be a database of the unorganized workers right? Only with the proper database can the government provide a well formulated welfare scheme and this is why eShram portal was launched. The eShram portal will help build a comprehensive national database of the unorganized workers in the country. So it is the first ever national database of unorganized workers including the migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers etc. See the main objective of this portal is to improve the life and dignity of the unorganized workforce of a country. This portal contains details of name, occupation, address, educational qualification, skill types and family details etc. thereby it helps to protect and safeguard the interest of the workers and to provide social security to labour force in the unorganized sectors. It also helps to enact and implement various labour laws which regulate the terms and conditions of the service and employment of workers. Some of the other objectives are given here for your reference. Just go through it. Having seen the objectives, now let us see the registration process. See the registration is totally free and the workers do not have to pay anything. They can get themselves registered in any of the common service centres. Once a person gets registered in the eShram portal, a eShram card with a unique universal account number would be provided. Using this eShram card, workers will be able to access the benefits of the various social security schemes and it can be accessed anywhere, anytime. See getting registered with the eShram portal will come with the additional benefit of accidental insurance. If a worker is registered on the eShram portal and if that person meets with an accident, he will be eligible for 2 lakh on death or permanent disability and 1 lakh on partial disability. Now talking about the eligibility, any worker who is working in the unorganised sector and aged between 16-59 is eligible to register on the eShram portal. Example, migrant workers, gig workers, platform workers, agriculture workers, MNRE GA workers, fishermen, milk men, Asha workers, Anganwadi workers, street vendors, domestic workers, rickshaw pullers and other workers engaged in similar other occupations in the unorganised sector. And with this we have come to the end of the discussion and in this discussion we saw about the ePortal and the objectives of the portal and the registration process and the eligibility factor. So with these points in mind, now let us move on to the next article discussion. Let us take up this news article for our next discussion. According to the article, the proposal to develop a jungle safari and trekking routes in Aaravalli within Gurugram has been welcomed by wildlife and nature lovers and conservationists in the region. See the idea is warmly welcomed with the expectation that the Aaravalli's fragile ecosystem will not be disturbed once it is exposed to the commercial tourists. But still wildlife specialists believe that making Aaravalli a national park will better conserve its forest and wildlife. This is what the article says. In this backdrop, let us quickly go through some of the important facts about Aaravalli ranges. Now look at this picture here. The map shows India's physical features. In that on the left corner here you can see the Aaravalli ranges. See Aaravalli's form a part of Peninsular Plateau. The Peninsular Plateau is a table land composed of old crystalline, igneous and metamorphic rocks. It was formed due to the breaking and rifting of Gondwana land and thus making it a part of the oldest landmass. Yes you can see the drifting of Indian Plate in the image here. See Indian Plate was once a part of the Gondwana land and because of this reason the Peninsular Plateau forms the oldest landmass in India. Now talking about the Aaravalli ranges as I said already they are one of the oldest fold mountains of the world and the oldest in India. See they are aligned in the north-east and the south-west direction. They run for around 800 kilometers between Delhi and Palanpur in Gujarat. They continue up to Haridwar. See the range is prominent in Rajasthan that is they are continuous to the south of Ajmer where it rises to 900 meter but it becomes less distinct in Haryana and Delhi where they are characterized by a chain of detached and discontinuous ridges beyond Ajmer. And talking about its elevation see its general elevation is only 400 to 600 meter with few hills well above 1000 meter. At the southwest extremity the range rises to over 1000 meter. Here Mount Abu a small hilly block is separated from the main range by the valley of Banas. Here Mount Abu whose height is 1158 meter is a small hilly block and it is separated from the main range by the valley of Banas. Gurshika which is the highest peak is situated in Mount Abu and Gurshika it is 1722 meter high. See Piplikgat, Divayur and Desuri passes allow movement by roads and railways. Now let us see some of the significance of Aravalli ranges. Firstly they act as a barrier to check further spread of desertification to the east of Rajasthan and subsequently to Gangetic Plains. The Aravalli acts as the barrier for the clouds to shift eastwards to the lower Himalayas thus contributing to the climate of north India as well. Secondly they are responsible for the adequate monsoon rainfall and therefore sustaining a plethora of diverse flora fauna, rich biodiversity, livelihood and agriculture in the constituent states. Thirdly major rivers such as Luni and Sabarmadi originate from the Aravalli range and fourthly it protects the plains from the effect of worstally flowing from the central Asia region and fifthly the Aravalli even with its shrinking forest resources act as a buffer for the urban landscape to observe the pressure and shock of the increasing anthropogenic activities and pollution. And finally a greener Aravalli acts as a groundwater recharge for the region facing acute water scarcity. And with this we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion we saw the physical features of India and one of that is Aravalli ranges. We saw about Aravalli ranges, its characteristics and features and finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the significance of Aravalli ranges. Now with these points in mind now let us move on to the next part of our discussion that is the practice prelims question discussion. We have three prelims question today. One of them is a quiz question for you. Now let's start solving the questions. The first question here says that black bug sometimes seen in news is related to Chinese malware and unidentified object, a species of antelope native to India and Nepal, name of a butterfly. See it is a very easy question from our discussion we know that the correct option here is option C, a species of antelope native to India and Nepal. Now moving on to the next question see this is a quiz question for you. Consider the following unorganized sectors statement one Asha workers, Anganwadi workers, MNREGA workers, Gig workers, migrant workers which of the above sectors are eligible to register on the eShram portal. Think carefully and attempt the question and post your answer in the comment section. Now moving on to the final question consider the following pass see this question contains mountain name and the type of mountain statement one Alps, Young fold mountain, Aravillian range oldest fold mountain, Appalachians very old fold mountain which of the following pass are correct see here all the given pass are correct see there are three types of mountains fold mountains block mountains and volcanic mountains Himalayan mountains and the Alps are the young fold mountains with the rugged relief and high conical peaks. The Aravillian range in India is one of the oldest fold mountain systems in the world the range has considerably worn down due to the processes of erosion. The Appalachians in North America and the Ural mountains in Russia have rounded features and low elevation they are very old fold mountains. So here the correct option is option C 1 2 and 3 only. I have given a main question for your practice so interested aspirants write it and post it in the comment section and if you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today post that also in the comment section and with this we have come to the end if you find the video useful please like share and comment and do subscribe to Shankar Reyes Academy's YouTube channel thank you