 A very good evening aspirants, I welcome you all to the daily Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar A.S. Academy for the dates of 2nd and 3rd July. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Now without wasting any time, let us get into our discussion. This editorial is written based on a recent judgment of the Karnataka High Court. See recently, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued blocking orders to take down some Twitter accounts and some specific tweets. Twitter was not happy with the blocking orders of Metis. So the social media company challenged the issuance of blocking orders by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology before the Karnataka High Court. The High Court ruled in favor of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The court issued a fine of Rs. 50 lakh on Twitter for not following the blocking orders of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The authors of this editorial feel that judgment of Karnataka High Court undermines their right to free speech and expression. The author also feels that the government might use this judgment to not follow established procedure and in turn might gain unchecked power to curb freedom of speech. This is the crux of the editorial. The authors in the editorial provide various points to substantiate their opinion. So in our discussion, today we will see the points mentioned in the editorial in detail. Highlighted the syllabus. Let us start with the basics. To better understand the editorial, we must be familiar with section 69A of the IT Act 2000 and the Shreya Singhal v. Union of India case 2015. First, let us take section 69A of the IT Act 2000. The IT Act 2000 covers all intermediaries who play a role in the use of computer resources and electronic records. According to the Act, an intermediary includes telecom service providers, network service providers, internet service providers, web hosting service providers, search engines, etc. And the social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook or Meta, etc. would fall under the web hosting service providers. And as per the Act, such intermediaries have to comply with Indian authorities. Under section 69A of the IT Act, the government has the power to issue directions for blocking of any information through any computer resource for public access. Central government can direct any agency of the government or even an intermediary to block for access by the public regarding any information that is generated, transmitted, received, stored or host in any computer resources. This can only be done in case of certain grounds. Now, let us see the grounds on which the blocking order under section 69A can be issued. The content can be blocked in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of India. The content can be blocked to ensure the defense of India. The content can be blocked to ensure the security of the state. The content can be blocked in the interest of friendly relations with foreign states. Finally, content can be blocked to upholding the public order or for preventing the incitement to the commission of any cognizable offense. These are the grounds on which blocking order under section 69A can be issued. Now, we will see few points about Shreya Singhal case. Shreya Singhal, a law student, has challenged the constitutionality of section 66A, arguing that it violated the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. Section 66A allowed for the arrest of individuals for posting offensive or annoying content on land. The Supreme Court declared section 66A is unconstitutional and struck it down, stating that it violated the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the Indian constitution. The court reasoned that section 66A was too broad and vague, giving law enforcement authorities excessive power to curtail free speech. As a part of the judgment, they upheld the validity of section 69A and the blocking rule and the court felt that unlike section 66A, section 69A has some well established safeguards. The safeguards include, first and foremost, blocking can only be resorted to where the central government is satisfied that is necessary to do so. Secondly, such necessity is relatable only to some of the subjects set out in article 19 class 2. Thirdly, reasons have to be recorded in writing in such blocking order. Finally, the blocking order and the notice must be provided to the intermediary and the originator whose content was sought to be blocked. These are the safeguards that are provided under section 69A. Having seen the basics about the section 69A and Shreya Singhal judgment, let us come back to Karnataka High Court judgment. The first issue with the judgment is that Karnataka High Court did not follow judicial president laid out in the Shreya Singhal judgment. The Karnataka High Court held that the observation provided in the Shreya Singhal judgment does not mean that a notice under rule 9 should be mandatorily conveyed to the user whose content is to be blocked. The authors of the editorial feel that this observation by the High Court would seriously curtail freedom of speech and expression. If no notice is provided, it would curtail the right of the user or individual to challenge the blocking order. This is the first issue. The second issue is that justification given by the High Court for its observation that it is not mandatory to give prior notice to the user before taking down the content. The High Court to substantiate its observation gave two justifications. First one is that the users of Twitter were not downtrodden and even if no notice is provided to them, they can easily access the appropriate remedies available to them. The second one is that the High Court claimed that none of the users affected by the blocking order had approached the High Court to seek remedial action. The authors of the editorial refute both these claims of High Court. Firstly, when the people whose account are set in Twitter's block tried to access the blocking order issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to challenge them. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology used the Confidentiality class under Rule 16 to block access. The people whose account are set in Twitter's block were not able to access the blocking order issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology even through RTI Act. This blocking of access to orders of Metis seriously curtailed the right of the user or individual to challenge the blocking order. Secondly, the courts claimed that none of the users affected by the blocking order had approached the High Court to seek remedial action is also false. This was because human-rate activist and author Akkar Patel whose Twitter account had been blocked had filed an application to intervene in the case. However, his application was refused by the High Court. So, both the justification given by the High Court are false according to the authors of the editorial. This is the second issue with the High Court judgment. The third issue is that the grounds on which contents are blocked. See, the Supreme Court had clarified in Shreya's single case that blocking under Section 69A and the blocking rules must be limited to eight specifically enumerated grounds under the Article 19, Class II of the Constitution. But in the blocking order issued by the Metis, it was found that reason for blocking the content was fake news and misinformation. But know that misinformation and fake news are not grounds under which free speech can be restricted under Article 19, Class II and Section 69A. So, the Karnataka High Court allowing for the blocking of content on the grounds of misinformation and fake news is the third issue. The last issue is wholesale blocking of Twitter accounts. See, the main contention of Twitter is that Section 69A only permits the blocking of specific tweets and not the whole accounts. This is because the wholesale blocking of Twitter accounts amounts to prayer, restraint on the freedom of speech and expression. That is limiting the future speech and expression. Here the author of the editorial said that the Supreme Court judgment in the British Bush and the other versus the state of Delhi case. In this case, the Supreme Court held that pre-censorship on freedom of speech is unconstitutional. So, by allowing the blocking of an entire Twitter account instead of specific tweets, the Karnataka High Court has allowed pre-censorship which is unconstitutional. This is the last issue with the judgment. So, in essence, according to the authors of the editorial, the Karnataka High Court judgment affects the freedom of speech and also erodes the principle of natural justice. That's all regarding this topic. Now, let us move on to our next article. Look at this news article. It talks about the Tamil Nadu prohibition of online gambling and regulation of online games at 2022. Particularly, it talks about how the TN government had defended this law in front of the Madras High Court. In this discussion, we'll understand the key points from this article. See, the Tamil Nadu government enacted Tamil Nadu prohibition of online gambling and regulation of online games at 2022 recently. This law aims to address the issue of online gambling and regulate the online games within Tamil Nadu. Understand, this act anyone providing online gambling services or engaging in online games of chance can face punishment. This includes impression one for up to three years and a fine of up to 10 lakh rupees or both. Many cases were filed against this act by the online gaming companies. So now, the government of Tamil Nadu has filed a counterfeit of it. Now, we will see what are the arguments of the government. See, the All India Gaming Federation has accused that the law is ultra-wise, meaning it goes beyond the authority of the state legislature. So the Tamil Nadu government said that the law is within the legal powers granted to the state legislature by the Constitution. This is because the act was enacted in accordance with the powers granted to the state legislature under Articles 245 and 246 of the Constitution. Article 245 says that subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the legislature of a state may make laws for the whole or any part of the state. Also, the act distinguishes between the local and non-local online game providers. It clarifies that penal provisions of the law do not apply to non-local companies that implement geo-blocking in the state. The purpose of the act, as stated by the government, is to protect people within Tamil Nadu from the harms associated with the online gambling and gaming addiction. Therefore, it applies to non-local game providers whose activities are likely to lead to such harm, to exercise due diligence or implement geo-blocking measures. Secondly, this law was enacted with respect to three subjects, public order, public health, and betting and gambling. These subjects fall under state list, list two, and concurrent list three of the Shavan schedule of the Constitution. See, Article 246 says that legislature of any state has exclusive power to make laws for such state with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the list two and list three of the Shavan schedule. See, online gaming addiction is a recognized health concern. It is even recognized as a health concern by the World Health Organization. Thus, the act establishes an online gaming authority to regulate the online games and safeguard the mental health of the people. Finally, there was an argument that the 2022 act violates the fundamental right to carry on any business guaranteed under Article 19, Class 1, G of the Constitution. So the government argues that online gaming companies or their federation cannot claim themselves to be citizens of India in order to claim fundamental rights. Also to highlight the need for this law, the government mentions the scale of harm caused by the online addiction. It states that since 2020, 32 suicides related to online gaming addiction have been reported across the state. The victims included individuals from various occupations and backgrounds such as daily wages, unemployed youths, businessmen and even a police constable. You can make a note of the government arguments and use them as a points to justify the legislation against the online gambling. That's all regarding this topic. Now let us move on to our next article. This news article is about the image of Milky Way Galaxy captured by the Ice Cube Newton Observatory. See, earlier we have seen the image of Milky Way Galaxy using various electromagnetic radiations or photons. This is the first time we have a neutrino-based image of the Milky Way Galaxy. Normally what happens is, when you see the night sky with your own eyes, photons are coming from every star all the way across space after traveling millions of miles to hit your eyeballs and that's where they terminate. So you know that there is a star there. Most telescopes work the same way. Only they can see faint objects than the human eye. They observe the photons emitted by the celestial objects. Ice Cube Newton Observatory does the same thing but instead of looking at photons, it looks at neutrinos. But what are neutrinos? Neutrinos are tiny particles that are all around us even though we can't see or feel them. They are one of the basic building blocks of the universe just like protons, neutrons and electrons. Neutrons are very different from the particles that we are familiar with because they have almost no mass, no electric charge and they have very high energy. They can travel nearly at the speed of the light. This means that they don't interact with other particles very often which makes them quite elusive and very difficult to detect. This is one of the reasons why neutrino are called ghost particles where our neutrinos produced. Neutrinos are produced in various natural processes such as nuclear reactions in the sun, radioactive decays and high-energy cosmic events like supernovae. They can also be created in laboratories by smashing particles together. One interesting thing about neutrinos is that they come in three types of flavor. They are electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. Now, why do scientists study these elusive neutrinos? Scientists study neutrinos to understand more about the universe including its origin, how it works, et cetera. Neutrinos are also powerful tools for studying the universe because they don't get deflected or hindered. Detecting and studying neutrinos can give insight into the processes happening inside the star, the nature of dark matter and even the early moments of the universe after the big bang. See on one hand, we know studying neutrinos has so much advantage and on the other hand, these ghost particles are elusive and very difficult to detect. So how can they be detected? That's where ice cube observatory comes in. The ice cube observatory is a large neutrino detector located in the deep ice at the south pole. The observatory is about one kilometer square wide and it is placed under the ice of thickness 2.5 kilometer in the south pole. Now, why is the observatory placed under 2.5 kilometer thick ice? Neutrinos detectors are often built underground to isolate them from cosmic rays from space and other sources of background radiation. So the 2.5 kilometer ice filters out the cosmic ray and the other background radiation. Now, how does this observatory work? When a neutrino passes through ice, there is a small chance it will collide with an atomic nucleus or an electron in the ice. This collusion produces other particles including charged particles like electrons and ones. This collusion creates a flash of light called charon collate. The ice cube observatory's detector, since the charon collate, by carefully measuring the timing and intensity of the light signals recorded, scientists can reconstruct the part and the properties of the neutrino that trigger the signals. This information helps in determining the energy, direction and the type of detected neutrino. This is about the functioning of the ice cube neutrino observatory. For constructing the neutrino image of the Milky Way Galaxy, scientists have used 10 years of data of ice cube and a new machine learning mode. And this is very significant because astronomers now have a new lens to look at various celestial bodies and make observation. That's all regarding this topic. Now, let us move on to our next article. Take a look at this news article from yesterday's newspaper. This news article speaks about Artemis Accords. As we all know, recently our Prime Minister, Mr. Modi, made an official visit to the USA. During such visits, many agreement were signed between India and the USA. One such important one was signing of Artemis Accords. See, on June 21, India signed the Artemis Accords and it became the 27th signatory. See, the Artemis Accords is a set of non-binding guidelines that underpin the Artemis program. Note that Artemis program is a US-led project that aims to place astronauts on the lunar surface. This is about the background. In this discussion, we will understand the points provided in this article. Before that, the syllabus. First, let us start with Artemis Accords. See, the Artemis Accords is nothing but comprehensive non-binding agreement created by the USA. It is a multilateral arrangement between the USA and the countries that are participating in the Artemis program. As I said earlier, Artemis program is a US-led project that aims to place astronauts on the lunar surface. The Artemis Accords provide guidelines to the Artemis program of the USA. Note that, Artemis Accords were jointly launched by the US Department of State and NASA on October 13, 2020. The Artemis Accords were established based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. The founding members of the Artemis Accords include USA, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. See, as of June 2023, 27 countries, including USA, have signed the Artemis Accords. The signatory countries are displayed here. You can pause the video and go through it. Now, talking about the objectives of the Artemis Accords, as we saw earlier, Artemis Accords is a set of non-binding guidelines that end up in the Artemis program. See, the Artemis Accords aims to bring together the nations that share a common mission for civil space exploration. Basically, the Accords serves as a framework for cooperation and collaboration in civil space exploration. The main purpose of the Artemis Accords is to establish a common mission through a practical set of principles, guidelines, and best practices to enhance the governance of civil exploration and the use of outer space. See, there are some important principles set out by the Artemis Accords. They include peaceful exploration of space, full transparency in space activity, including public release of scientific data, interoperability of the systems to enhance safety and sustainability, emergency assistance to personnel in distress, preserving the outer space heritage, extracting and utilizing space resources in compliance with the outer space treaty, and the safe disposal of orbital debris in space. See, these principles will apply to civil space activities conducted by the space agencies of each signatory of the Artemis Accords. These activities may take place on the moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids, or even in the Lagrangian points for Earth-Moon system. The signatories of the Accord would have to implement the principles through their own activities by taking appropriate measures such as mission planning and contractual mechanism. This is all about the principles of Artemis Accords. Now, we will look at the importance of Artemis Accords. To have a better understanding, we have to know a little bit about the Artemis program. See, under the Artemis program, the USA is going to carry out various activities. Firstly, USA plans to create a base on the lunar surface. Secondly, USA aims to build multiple spacecraft to carry humans and cargo. And finally, the USA strives to establish an orbiting space station and a constellation of satellites to help with navigation and communication. These are all the activities that are going to be carried out as a part of Artemis program. Note that first Artemis crewed mission to the moon surface is going to happen, likely in 2026. See, this Artemis program resembles a Chinese-Russian plan for lunar exploration. In 2021, China and Russia have agreed to build an international lunar research station on the moon surface. But now Russia is facing economic sanctions due to its conflict with Ukraine. So, China has taken the lead on the project. The China has outlined several similar plans for permanent base and lunar satellite constellation like USA's Artemis program. So, there is a competition between the USA and China. Therefore, to show up its power, the USA is now in the process of building multinational collaborations in the exploration of space. That is why the USA has established the Artemis Accords. The Artemis Accords will bring prestige and technological benefits to USA and also to the other participating nations of the Artemis program. Now, coming to the India-specific information. See, the Artemis Accords were drafted in 2020 itself. But why India signed the Artemis Accords? After such long years, signing the Artemis Accords will enable India to extract and utilize space resources in compliance with the outer space treaty. But the problem here is that India is not having that much financial and technological resources to carry out exploration and extraction activities in moon. The alternative solution to this problem is that, allowing private players in the space exploration. This is because some of the private players will be financially and technologically able to carry out space explorations. Now, what is the case with India? See, in the recent past only, India has opened up its space sector to private players where the new space policy of India allows private players to mine any space resources. So, because of this reason only, India took three long years to sign the Artemis Accord. Apart from this, there was also a problem with India's diplomatic practice. Previously, Indian diplomats were concerned about the Accords are an informal set of norms rather than a legally binding instrument. India has historically preferred the legally binding instrument. This is because India believes that legally binding laws foster better compliance than norms. But now, India has accepted a set of US-led norms because of the potentiality. In addition to this, the ties between India and the US have been on an upswing. So, this paved the way to sign an Artemis Accord after three long years. Now, what India should do to better utilize the Artemis program? Signing the Artemis Accord alone has no financial implications for India. So, if India wants to be a major player in the Artemis program, ISRO will need a significant hike in its annual budget. Apart from this, India should overcome problems like domestic resistance to collaboration with other space agencies. In addition to this, India should also enable its private sector to work with other Artemis member and it has to develop suitable legislation to encourage space activities. That's all regarding this topic. Now, let us move on to our next article. Take a look at this front-page article from yesterday's newspaper. As the title itself means, this news article talks about the delay in the implementation of water mission that is gel-given mission by 2024. So, in this news article discussion, let us revise about the gel-given mission, reasons for the delay in implementation and what can be done to resolve the issue. But before that, syllabus relevant to this article is given here for your reference. Please take a note of it. First, let us brush up the basics about the gel-given mission. See, the government of India has restructured and subsumed the ongoing national rural drinking water program into gel-given mission. This is done to provide functional household tap connection to every rural household. That is, Hargar Nalse Gel by 2024. From this itself, we can easily found out the vision of the program. So, the mission is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India. Now, coming to the works done under the mission, the works or schemes carried out under the mission include, firstly, in village, water supply infrastructure for tap connection to every household. Second work is reliable drinking water source development and augmentation of existing sources. Thirdly, transfer of water. It is a multi-village scheme. Water is transferred to villages where quantity and quality issues are there in the local water sources. Fourthly, technological intervention for treatment to make the water outputable. This is done where the water quality is an issue, but quantity is sufficient. Fifthly, retrofitting of the completed and ongoing piped water supply schemes to provide functional household tap connections and raise the service level. Sixthly, gray water management. Seventhly, capacity building of various stakeholders and support activities to facilitate the implementation. With this information, let us know about the service delivery. See the goal of Jaljeevan Mission is to provide functional household tap connection to every household with service level at the rate of 55 liters per capita per day. So far, we saw the features of the mission. Now, we shall see the institutional mechanism at different level. See at national level, there is national Jaljeevan Mission. At state level, there is state water and sanitation mission. At district level, there is district water and sanitation mission. At panchayat level, there are Pani, Samithi, village water and sanitation committee user groups. This mission was launched in 2019. At that time, only 16% of the rural households in India had access to tap water. Due to delay in the implementation of the scheme, the news article reports that only three out of four rural households can have drinking water tap connections by 2024. That is only 75% of the village homes will have taps delivering drinking water by April 2024. What is making us worried is that the work has not even began in 5% of the homes. This is all about the mission. Now, let us quickly go through the challenges in reaching the 2024 target. See, the first reason is the happening of unexpected incidents and external shocks that we are not prepared for. For example, the pandemic and even the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war have delayed the progress in the mission. The project only picked up feed in several states in 2022. Secondly, will the pandemic led to delays? The Ukraine war resulted in the major shortages of steel and cement, which is essential for the manufacture and connection of metal pipes. This led to major price revisions and considerable time was lost in renegotiating the contracts and improving supply. Thirdly, there was also a huge problem in many states of not finding enough skilled manpower to make tank systems and water connections of an acceptable quality. So, shortage of manpower is an issue. Fourthly, there are state-specific issues. For example, in West Bengal and Kerala, there are problems with water contamination. And in Rajasthan, actual availability of water itself a challenge. So, ensuring adequate water quality is an issue. Fifthly, the scale of exercise itself a challenge. See, in every village that already has access to some source of water, it takes an average of eight months to connect all households. And this is if they are extremely efficient. Then think about the villages with low or no source of water connectivity. Sixthly, there is a gap between the reported and very feed connections. See, there is a system of certification if the district and block level report a villages fully connected. The grand panchayat in the village should call a quorum and upload a video attesting that the village is fully connected. Of the nearly 168,000 villages that are reported as Hargar Gel where all households have tap water, only 58,357 villages have been certified so far. So, this remains a challenge. Finally, there remains a political reluctance among the state governments that did not use centers fund to be certified as a Hargar Gel village. This also creates an illusion that program is not being properly implemented. Some of the way forwards include fostering convergence and collaboration among different schemes and sectors, ensuring timely release and utilization of funds. Then ensuring community participation and ownership in all stages of water supply systems. Then addressing the social and environmental issues through participatory and planning implementation. Then by establishing robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for tracking progress and outcomes, this issue can be overcome. Finally, learning from best practices and innovations from within and outside the countries can help in implementing this program as quickly we can. So, that's all regarding this topic. Now, let us move on to our next article. Look at this news article. It says that white-trumped culture population in the Sigur Platu remains critically endangered despite conservation efforts. A recent study reveals that population has stagnated with little sign of recovery. The use of harmful drugs in cattle possesses a significant threat. Also, anthropogenic pressures like cattle grazing and poorly designed check dams have further depleted their habitats. So, the article says that species-specific conservation measures are needed to prevent the extinction of white-trumped vulture in the region. In this context, let us learn about the white-trumped vulture from our example perspective. See, the white-trumped vulture is a medium-sized vulture species that is native to the Indian subcontinent. It is commonly found in the country such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Southern Vietnam. It used to be present in Southern China and Malaysia. But unfortunately, it is now extinct in those regions. Now, we will talk about its habitat. White-trumped vultures typically inhabit temperate areas including plains and occasionally hilly regions. They are often found near human settlements such as cities, towns, villages and even slaughterhouses. These vulture prefer open area with scattered trees. This is because they can easily spot and access carcasses which form their primary food source. In terms of physical appearance, adult white-trumped vultures are dark in color with blackish plumage. They have white necroph and a white patch of feathers on the lower back and upper tail. This feature only gives them their name. The undersides of the wings are dark slate to brownish, but white underwing covers are highly visible during the flight. Juveniles have a browner coloration and they do not have white plumage found in adults. Talking about the reproduction, the breeding season for white-trumped vultures occurs from October to March. They engage in monogamous mating, meaning they remain faithful to their partner and continue to breed exclusively with each other. Typically, only one egg is laid in each clutch and both parents participate in incubation which lasts around 45 to 52 days. Talking about their behavior, white-trumped vultures are social birds and live in flocks. They are diurnal. That is active during the day. Their flight speed ranges from 50 to 55 miles per hour but they can reach speeds up to 90 miles per hour. Also, they can soar up to 9000 feet. These vultures play an important role in the ecosystem as scavengers. They help to clean up carcasses thereby they prevent the spread of diseases. However, they face numerous threats including disease, pesticides, environmental contamination, reduced food availability, habitat loss, hunting and collisions with the aircraft. In India, the decline in vulture population had negative consequences. As the carcasses remain uneaten by vultures, this led to rise in feral dog populations. This results in the transmission of diseases like rabies to humans. Finally, know that white-trumped vultures are listed as critically endangered under the IUCN Red List. That's all regarding this topic. Now, let us move on to our next article. Look at this news article here. Recently, the Office of Register General of India issued an order. The order stated that the date of freezing of boundaries for the purpose of census has been extended. Know that during a census operation, the states and unit territories are not supposed to change the boundaries of districts, towns, villages and tassels. The government will specify the date of freezing of boundaries and the census can only begin three months after the boundaries have been frozen. See the census exercise that was to be conducted in 2021 was postponed initially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, it was postponed indefinitely without specifying any reason. Because of this, recently, the deadline to freeze the administrative boundaries has been extended till December 31st. The officials said that the next census will be held after the new government comes to power in 2024. This is because the workforce and the workplace have to be deployed for general election duty. See, it would take around one year to conduct the census. If the election dates are announced, the model code of conduct will be in place. So it would be very hard to conduct the census before the general elections. The officials also said that the next census will be the first digital census which gives citizens the opportunity to self-enumerate. This is about the news. Now, in this discussion, let us understand some points about the census. A population census, which is commonly called census, refers to the process of collecting, compiling, analyzing and disseminating demographic, economic and social data. The census is usually conducted at a specific time and it covers all the persons in the country. Basically, the census provides the basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade. This helps the government to monitor the ongoing government schemes and it enables the government to plan better policies for the future. In India, the census is generally conducted once in every 10 years. The recent one was 2011 census. But 2011 census was the 15th national census of the country since 1881 and the 7th census after the independence. Note that census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act 1948. Also note that the population census is a union subject under Article 246 of the Indian Constitution. Now, why is the census important? See, the census provides detailed information on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanization, fertility and modality, scheduled cast and scheduled trips and so on. Since the census provides various data of Indian population, the census is vital to the administrative functions and the planning of welfare schemes in the country. Apart from this, census data are also critical as they are used as a frame to highlight other sample surveys that are representative of the whole population. In addition to this, the census is also utilized by the international agencies to project the world's population. That's all regarding this topic. Now, let us move on to our next article. Look at this news article. It says that the BJP in Karnataka is facing an undue delay in selecting the leader of opposition, Father Assembly. The decision is likely to be made on the day when the legislature session begins. The party's lack of cohesiveness and infighting have contributed to the delay as per the article. In this context, let us learn about the post of leader of opposition. See, the leader of opposition holds a significant role in the Indian parliamentary system. Note that the qualifications and provisions regarding the leader of opposition are outlined in the salary and allowances of the leader of opposition in parliament act 1977. It is a statutory position. Now, how does someone becomes a leader of opposition party? First, with respect to numerical strength of the opposition party, the party should be the largest among the opposition parties in Lok Sabha and it must have a minimum strength equal to one-tenth of the total number of members of the House. See, if you have Lok Sabha with the total strength of 545 members, this is the current number of seats in the Lok Sabha. To be recognized as the leader of opposition, your party must have a minimum strength which is equal to one-tenth of the total number of members, that is one-tenth of the 545. One-tenth of 545 is approximately 55. So, the opposition party must have at least 55 seats. This numerical requirement ensures that the party has a substantial presence in the parliament to effectively represent the opposition. The same 10% rule applies to state legislative assemblies as well. Besides this, the speaker of Lok Sabha plays a crucial role in recognizing the leader of opposition. If a party fulfills the numerical strength criteria then the speaker has the discretion to officially recognize the leader of the party as the leader of opposition in the House. Now, let us see the roles and functions of the leader of opposition. Firstly, the leader of opposition serves as the primary representative of the opposition parties. They voice the concerns, opinion and perspectives of the opposition during the debates, discussion and legislative processes. Secondly, the leader of opposition plays a critical role in holding the government accountable for its actions, policies and decisions. They scrutinize the government actions, highlight the shortcomings and propose alternative approaches to ensure the checks and balances in the functioning of the government. Thirdly, the leader of opposition guides and coordinates the activities of the opposition parties in Lok Sabha. They work towards maintaining unity among the opposition parties. Fourthly, the leader of opposition actively participates in various parliamentary committees. These committees are responsible for examining legislation, scrutinizing government policies and conducting inquiries. So, he or she influences decision-making processes and contribute to shaping policies. Fifthly, he or she offers constructive criticism. They suggest alternative approaches, point out potential flaws and strive to ensure that the government's actions are in the best interest of the nation. Finally, the leader of opposition plays a vital role in providing checks and balances to the ruling party. They critically analyze the government's decision and policies and help to ensure the healthy functioning of the democracy and protect the interest of the citizen. With this, let us move on to our next part of discussion that is the film's practice question discussion. Today, we'll be having five questions. I'll sell four of them and one question will be a quiz question. Now, let us take up our first question. This particular question was asked by UPSC in 2008 in prelims. Three statements are given and we have to find the correct ones. The first statement says that, in the first Lok Sabha, the single largest party in the opposition was the Swatantra Party. This statement is not correct. In the first Lok Sabha, the single largest party in the opposition was the Communist Party of India, which won 16 seats. The second statement says that, in Lok Sabha, leader of opposition was recognized for the first time in 1969. This statement is correct. The recognition of the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha was officially introduced for the first time in 1969. The third statement says that, in the Lok Sabha, if a party does not have a minimum of 75 members, its leader cannot be recognized as the leader of opposition party. Statement three is not correct. The leader of the largest opposition party, having not less than one-tenth of the total strength of the house is recognized as the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha. There is no specific requirement of a minimum of 75 members. So here the correct answer is option B, two only. Now let us move on to our next question. In this particular question, four events are given and we have to find which among them are sources of neutrino. From our discussion, we know that neutrons are produced from all of these four sources. So the correct answer here is option D, all four. With this, let us move on to our next question. In this question, four statements are given and we have to find the correct ones. The first statement says that, competitive games of skill are business activities protected under Article 19, Class I, G of the Constitution. This statement is correct. Supreme Court in 1957, in Chamerbaghwala cases, said that competitive games of skills are business activities protected under Article 19, Class G of the Constitution. So this statement is correct. Statement two says that, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is the nodal ministry for regulating the online gaming. This particular statement is incorrect because it is not the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, but Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Third statement says that, online gaming is a state subject. This statement is correct. And the fourth statement says that, currently online gaming attracts 18% of GST. This statement is incorrect. Recently, the government raised the GST on online gaming to 28%. So here, the correct answer is option B, only two. With this, let us move on to our next question. In this question, four species are given and we have to find which among them are migratory species. Know that, from the four given species, only olive ridley turtles and humpback whales are migratory species. White term vulture and great hornbill are not migratory species. So the correct answer here is option B, only two. This is your quiz question for the day. Think well and post the correct answer in the comment section. To check whether your answer is right, go to our community tab and look at the first pinned comment. These are the main practice questions for the day. The interested aspirants can write the answer and post them on the comment section as well. With this, we have come to end of our discussion. You can share your thoughts in our comment section. If you found this video useful, hit the like button and share it with fellow aspirants. And don't forget to subscribe Shankarayas Academy's YouTube channel for more UPC related content. Thanks for listening patiently. Have a nice day.