 Good evening viewers and aspirants. Today by 7.30 p.m. we will be having a session for prelims orientation on physical geography. This session will be handled by our faculty for geography Mr. Gautam sir. In the session he will talk about the various topics and sub topics to be covered for physical geography, the required book materials and he will also detail about the manner in which preparation has to be focused in relation to various concepts in physical geography and most importantly he will highlight the importance of how and why questions in geography. The session will also serve as orientation session for test three of pre-storming prelims test series of Shankar Aya's academy and interested students may take the test after the orientation session followed by relevant preparation. With this let us move on to the Hindu news analysis for the day 10th February 2021. The list of news articles along with the page number of different editions is given below for your reference. Let us now move on to the first news article. As we know a glacial outburst has killed several people in Uttarakhand and more than 150 people are missing at the state-run NTPC's Kapoor and Vishnogad hydropower project site. So in this context let us discuss whether hydropower projects are advisable in ecologically fragile regions. The syllabus relevant for this news article is highlighted below for your reference. Know that hydropower is for long been a subject of controversy in Uttarakhand. The state of Uttarakhand lies in the ecologically fragile and earthquake prone Himalayan region. But the state has unleashed rapid development. Much of it is driven by hundreds of hydropower projects. The local people have filed petitions in the courts accusing the hydropower projects of resorting to environmentally unsound practices. These issues came to the limelight with Kedarnath flash flood disaster which took place in the year 2013. And this disaster was the result of a sudden intense and untimely cloud burst combined with a glacial dam breach. And this was a forerunner of the tragedies that researchers at want would assail the region. Coming to the ongoing events, see the Rishi Ganga hydropower project which is located on the river Rishi Ganga and at the Povan-Vishnagarth hydropower project which is located on the river Dawli Ganga where damaged by the flash floods. And the author says that these dams are not victims of disasters rather they exacerbate or worsen disasters. So the misery of the people caused by these events shall not be treated as natural disasters. The author says that in Uttarakhand explosives are used for illegal mining in the name of dam construction and also for the construction of other infrastructure projects like roads etc. And this infrastructure development is coupled with heavy deforestation and on the contrary the concept of afforestation often remains unfollowed. Following the Kedarnath flash flood which killed almost more than 4000 people, the Union Environment Ministry constituted an expert body known as the CHOPRA Committee. And this CHOPRA Committee was constituted with the aim to assess whether dams exacerbated or worsened the 2013 floods and its report clearly highlights how dams exacerbated the 2013 disasters. The main reason was the raised riverbeds due to the dumping of infrastructure waste at the dam construction sites. This raised riverbeds prevented the rivers from containing the sudden increased flow from floodwaters. So when the floodwaters damage a barrage the destructive capacity of the water that flows downstream of the barrage is huge. Thus there is immense damage both in terms of human lives as well as infrastructural damage in the downstream areas. The author says that the CHOPRA Committee even suggested to cancel 23 out of the 24 proposed dam projects due to their potential damage. And even the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had acknowledged adverse impacts of the dams in the 2013 floods but we have not learnt anything. See these issues are worsened by the impact of climate change on Himalayan glaciers. As you know due to climate change Himalayan glaciers have started to recede and disintegrate. And also due to increasing temperature they will melt more which result in an increased number and volume of glacial lakes and this increases the unpredictability of events such as floods. And also there is a threat of earthquakes in Uttarakhand as Uttarakhand lies in seismic zone 4 of severe intensity and the seismic zone 5 which is of very severe intensity. And despite all these the Uttarakhand government plans on continuing to build dams as a source of revenue and as per the author the state plans to construct up to 450 hydropower projects of 27,039 megawatts installed capacity. So it is time for the authorities to realize that flouting these concerns for revenue generation would result in other disasters in the coming years. This editorial article focuses on the technology platforms and services that are owned by the government. Authors who are experts in the tech field analyze the issues with these government owned technology platforms and they try to offer a solution to these issues. So let us see these aspects now. The syllabus for this news article is given below for your reference. The reason for us to talk about government technology platforms is that in our country governments that is both central and state governments have got a monopoly in providing public services. And as of now private sector has got a minimal role in public services. See the app or application based public services that are offered by the government is a typical example in this regard. Let us take for example the ROK Sedu app which is a mobile app launched by the union government. This ROK Sedu app is a digital contact tracing tool and it provides a platform to disseminate information regarding COVID-19. Similarly many apps were developed and they were released by different state governments and union territory administration that specifically addresses COVID-19. So in this discussion we are going to review these apps of government in order to review the tech platforms of government. According to authors at least 35 mobile apps have been developed to address COVID-19 by different governments and since we cannot individually assess these apps in a discussion we are going to take the review provided by the authors. So first let us see the features provided by these apps. Here you should remember the features listed below are not common for all the apps because certain apps provide certain features. So some of the features of these app includes see mostly many of these app provide general information on COVID-19 and some apps provide information on COVID-19 hospitals and some allow the tracking of nearby COVID-19 cases and some apps have got quarantine tracking feature that is they track people under home quarantine. Such app helps us in providing information on who is breaking COVID-19 home quarantine and roaming outside and next it also provide information on isolation bed but here you should note that only a very few of these app provide information on isolation beds. Some apps also provide additional services like they facilitate the home delivery of essential items like groceries and medicines etc. So now what are the common issues with these apps? See the first and foremost issue is that these apps does not have any standardization of information and also they lack a coordinated development approach because as we just saw every app has got some certain features only so these app lack consistency in many aspects like inconsistency in features offered in the functionalities provided and also in frequency of information updates. Secondly the issue is that these apps were only helpful to those who are digitally empowered. Now here the term digitally empowered or digital empowerment means to be adapted to information on digital technologies digitally and to make the maximum use of the potentials of technologies with reference to psychological, legal, economic and technical competencies and it includes all these that are listed below. So based on the above can we say that all Indian citizens are digitally empowered? The answer is no because according to authors as of October 2020 more than 40% of mobile phone subscribers in India they lacked access to internet services and this 40% includes all those mobiles that have no internet and the percentage further increases to more than 50% when we include those who do not possess a mobile phone. So many couldn't use the apps and it led to digital exclusion especially exclusion from crucial and readily available information. Now next comes the issue of privacy. See there is an inconsistency in data privacy provided by these apps because the privacy protection keeps varying depending on the information or permissions required by the apps. That is the apps require or request a wide range of information which includes a personal data or personal information of the mobile phone user. Say for example majority of apps they require access to location services and some even require access to contact information and user accounts on the device. Here the issue is not only requiring access to personal info but also not providing enough privacy protection because according to authors the app may not meet the two commonly accepted principles of data privacy which includes the principle of necessity and the principle of proportionality. See necessity refers to whether the data access required by the apps is really necessary for the mobile application to achieve its goal or cannot function without it also. Similarly proportionality means whether the collection of data is proportionate to the extent to which an individual's right to privacy is being infringed by the app. These principles of privacy could have been satisfied if the apps were proactively designed to collect minimal data and also incorporate it with end to end data security like the ones offered by private apps like WhatsApp. So what is the solution to all these issues? See the solution is based on the need which is an open and interoperable interface. This open and interoperable interface is provided by the application program interface or API based microservices architecture. So now we will see about this API or application based interface. See this API it enables companies to open up their applications data and functionality to external third party developers or other stakeholders and it allows services and products to communicate with each other and leverage each other's data and functionality through a documented interface or in simple words APIs they simplify software development and innovation by enabling applications to exchange data and functionality easily and in a more secure manner. And when using APIs, microservices architectural approaches use sometimes. See this microservices architecture is an alternative architectural style that divides an application into smaller and independent components. See in this a single application is composed of many loosely coupled and independently deployable smaller services. So this allows the applying of the application as a collection of separate services which makes it easier to test maintain and scale. So now let's see why authors are suggesting API based microservices architecture. See it's because we have state level digital apps and also we have central governments app. These API based microservices architecture can integrate or they can host the state digital applications with a central governments application. Now for this integration along with API based microservices architecture we need a federated database structure with an appropriate governance framework. Simply know that federated database is a system in which several databases appear to function as a single entity. So the several databases on different states can function as a single entity under central governments app. Say for example integrating ROK sedu with state mobile apps which can offer the standard services of these apps that is contact tracing and real-time information from ROK sedu and state specific information on hospital beds and grocery shops etc. See this integration will have many benefits mainly the benefit of privacy. See if integrated these apps will provide a decentralized flow of information so it reduces significant risk of data leaks and also security breaches which is present in centralized database. With this information now let's just move on to the next news article. This data point highlights the persisting issue of manual scavenging in India. So in this context that is discussed in brief about the important points highlighted in the data point and about the legislations regarding manual scavenging etc. See manual scavenging refers to the practice of manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling in any manner the human excreta from dry laterals and silvers and it often involves using the most basic of tools like buckets, brooms and baskets. The practice of manual scavenging is linked to India's caste system where so-called lower castes are expected to perform this job. See the manual scavengers are among the poorest and the most disadvantaged communities in India and in 2013 the landmark prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and the Rehabilitation Act of 2013 was enacted and this act it seeks to reinforce the ban by prohibiting manual scavenging in all forms and it ensures the rehabilitation of manual scavengers to be identified through a mandatory survey. And under section 7 of the act no person, local authority or any agency shall engage or employ either directly or indirectly any person for the saddest cleaning of a sewer or a septic tank and under section 19 whoever contravenes the provisions of section 7 shall for the first contravention be punishable with imprisonment for a two-year term and for any subsequent contravention they will be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years accompanied with a fine or penalty. Despite progress manual scavenging it persists in India and according to the Indian census of 2011 there are more than 2.6 million dry laterals in the country and 73% of these are located in rural areas and 27% are found in urban areas. Also states like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, the former state of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, UP and West Bengal account for more than 72% of the insanitary laterals in India. Coming to this data point it says that manual scavenging as claimed the lives of more than 340 workers in the last five years and as of January 2020 most of the manual scavengers and associated deaths were reported in UP. The worrying fact is that compared to the five-year period between 2011 to 2015 there is a 28% increase in persons dying while cleaning severs in the period 2016 to 2020 and in 2014 the Supreme Court directed states and union territories to identify all the families of all persons who have died in sewerage work like indulging in manholes or septic tanks since the year 1993 and it directed to award compensation of rupees 10 lakhs for each such death to the family members depending on them. But the data point shows that in almost one out of three sewer cleaning related deaths the victims family is not being compensated and from 1993 to 2020 for Maharashtra alone this figure is as high as 93.75%. With this we have come to the end of this data point and let us move on to the next news article. See this article from editorial page which talks about the change in Indian diplomacy and whether it is good for India's global reputation. Firstly, author starts with saying that the target audiences of Indian diplomacy's public articulation and responses are changing radically and he is talking about the government response to Rihanna's tweet. So as you know Ms Rihanna who is a popular pop star has come in support of India's farm protest and along with her Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg also supported farm protest. But mystically Greta shared a toolkit containing various steps on how to create a global campaign for farm protest and malign India and after this there was a huge public opposition to the role of foreigners in India's internal affairs. All this happened last week in the social media site of Twitter. In response to all these tweets from global media celebrities the Ministry of External Affairs released a statement asking the foreign celebrities to understand the issue completely and then to act responsibly. So in this context the author opined that the direction of Indian diplomacy's external publicity is no longer confined to other governments or international organizations, external and domestic, political and business allies etc. and it now extends to international celebrities. It also aims to forcefully convey to foreign audiences that India's unwillingness to accept perceived or real interference in the country's domestic affairs. The author explains that this development is part of the government's impatience with the norms of old-fashioned diplomacy which generally involves government to government discussions and this new diplomacy can also be understood in emphasizing a personal rapport with global leaders and as said by the external affairs minister the need to take risks to advance Indian positions and interest. But here the author says that these new and assertive norms have demonstrated a negative outlook or as unimportant for international liberal opinion and further Mr. Jai Sankar tweeted that motivational campaigns targeting India will never succeed and we have the self-confidence today to hold our own and that this India will push back. Now talking about this, the author opines that there is little doubt that calisthenic groups in western countries would have sensed an opportunity in farmer's agitation in the Punjab and there should also be no doubt that the Pakistan would be looking for opportunities to create trouble in India. But we should clearly recognize the patriotism of Indian Sikhs and their contribution to the nation which are beyond question. So it is not surprising at all that if there are motivated campaigns against India underway on these issues. Mr. Jai Sankar's assertion that the current India is self-confident to hold its own is true but author outlines that right from independence India displayed the self-assurance in tackling global affairs related to India. In this context the author reminds us the way the current government handled criticism from liberal sections abroad with reference to the administrative systems taken in Jammu and Kashmir and the CAA Act. India refused to engage international liberal critics one because of the security concerns in Kashmir and also of the fact that CAA has got nothing to do with minorities in India. In this occasion will the severe response to Ms. Rihanna's tweet do any good to India's international standing and will such response deter foreign critics in supporting manipulated campaigns. It is also a question whether the government's response further energized global support for farmers' protest. So should India be silent on such international efforts to malign India the answer is a clear no. Instead India should press the government's concerns especially Canada, UK to act against Kalistani elements and the fact is that these countries Canada have shown very less regard for Indian concerns like Kalistani and it is unlikely that they will act now. The author opines that it is not the Rihanna like celebrities who will post the real challenge in the coming months to the government but it is a liberal opinion in democratic western societies and it will have far more response with the new US President Joe Biden and even very recently top US Congress members asked India to ensure that norms of democracy are maintained and peaceful protest and demonstrations are allowed. The government will be now more conscious of engaging international liberal opinion rather than merely dismissing it and this does not imply that India is coming under pressure on matters of critical importance to Indian interest but it does mean taking recourse to traditional diplomacy even if it is unappealing to certain sections of India. So with this let us move on to the next news article. Now let us take up this news article which talks about the central government's plans to issue a clarification on the FDI policy for the e-commerce sector. So this government plans comes in the wake of investigations into the operations of some foreign players following complaints from consumers about malpractices. So in this regard the government clarified that e-commerce sectors are supposed to provide and rational platform and this platform should not become a part of the trading transaction and neither should it be funding it or having algorithms that give preference to one or the other and moreover they should neither be promoting their own products but they should provide all data required to make a rational choice and this choice should be the free choice of the consumers. So in this context let us have a brief understanding about FDI or foreign direct investment. See as per definitions FDI is an investment from a party in one country into a business or corporation in another country with the intention of establishing a lasting interest. Here you should note this word lasting interest because this term differentiates FDI from FBI which is also called as foreign portfolio investments where the investors will passively hold securities from a foreign country. Through FDI the foreign investors can invest directly in India either on their own or through joint ventures and this is allowed in virtually all the sectors except in a very small list of activities where foreign investment is prohibited and know that FDIs can be made through two routes one is through automatic route and the next one is through government approval route. The foreign direct investment in the majority of sectors is done under the automatic route that is it is allowed without any requirement of seeking regulatory approval prior to such investment. Now when you take the government approval route it means there are certain activities that are not covered under the automatic route which require prior government approvals for FDIs. So some sectors or activities that require government approval includes mining and mineral separation of titanium bearing minerals and ores, full product, retail trading, defense, print media, publishing of newspaper and periodicals which deals with news and current affairs, ad transport service that is scheduled and regional ad transport service then comes telecom services etc. So based on these routes FDIs are divided into three categories. In the first category comes sectors in which 100% FDI is permitted under automatic route and in the second category comes sectors in which FDI is permitted up to 100% under government route and in category three sectors where FDI is permitted up to a certain limit under both government and automatic routes are included. Now know that FDI has got certain advantages as well as disadvantages. Talking about the advantages it includes economic stimulation, development of human capital, increase in employment, access to management expertise, skills and technology etc. Talking about the disadvantages it includes displacement of local businesses, profit repatriation etc. Say for example the entry of large firms like Walmart may lead to the displacement of local businesses. Similarly when you take the concept of profit repatriation the primary concern is that the firms will not reinvest profits back into the host country. This leads to large amount of capital outflows from the host country. Now let us move on to the next news article. Now let us take up this news article which talks about the recent glacial lake outburst which happened in Uttarakhand. For the past two days we have been elaborately covering this issue and now today's article says that the death toll in the disaster rose to 32 and more than 197 people including the trapped laborers are still missing. So in this light let us discuss the geographical aspects of the hill state of Uttarakhand. Now that Uttarakhand was formed in 2000 as the 27th state of India when it was carved out of northern UP and it is located at the foothills of the Himalayan mountain ranges and has got international boundaries with China, Tibet in the north and Nepal in the east. So on its northwest lies the Himachal Pradesh while on the south is UP and on the west lies Haryana. Talking about its geography know that the state is rich in natural resources especially water and forest with many glaciers, rivers, dense forest and snow clad mountain peaks. Some of the highest mountains in the world are found in Uttarakhand and most notably these include the Nanda Devi which is the second highest peak in India, then it is Kamed and Bhattinath. Know that Uttarakhand can be divided into several physiographic zones. The northern zone popularly known as Imadri contains segments of the Zaskar and the great Himalayan ranges and most of the major peaks are located in the zone. Coming to the south of the great Himalayas to the south of the great Himalayas is a zone which contains the lesser Himalayas or popularly known as Imachal and this zone has got two linear ranges which includes the Musuri and Naktiva. To the south of the Imachal is a stretch of the Shivallik range and the entire area containing the Himadri Imachal and the Shivalliks is known as the Kumahun Himalayas and the southern edge of the Shivallik range merges with a narrow bed of gravel and aloevium known as the Babir which interfaces to the southeast with the Mashi Terai known as the Terai. You should also note that Dehradan in the south of the Shivalliks are found flat float depressions known as known locally as dunes such as the Dehradun and also know that the state has famous passes like the Thagala Pass, Manapas, Nithipas and Lipulik Pass among others and you should also remember that Dehradun is the capital of Uttarakhand and the town lies in the Dun Valley. Now let us take up this news article which talks about the center's refusal to disclose the minutes of the Lokpal selection committee's meetings. So in this regard the center's decision has now been appalled by the Central Information Commission. So in this context let us have a brief understanding about Lokpal and Lokyukta. See the Lokpal is established under the Lokpal and Lokyukta's Act of 2013. The main function of Lokpal is to inquire and investigate into allegations of corruption against public functionaries who are falling within the ambit of this act. The Lokpal consists of a chairperson and members who shall be not more than 8 in number. Out of the total members 50% of the members shall be judicial members and the remaining 50% is non-judicial members. Know that the chairpersons and the judicial members are appointed by the President on the recommendations of a selection committee and the selection committee consists of Prime Minister as a chairperson and a Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a Judge of a Supreme Court nominated by him and one eminent jurist as members. The Lokpal has got the jurisdiction to inquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries who are or who have been in the office including the Prime Minister, the Minister in the Union Government, MPs and officials of the Union Government under Group A, B, C and D. And also the functionaries of any boat, corporation, society, trust or autonomous body either established by an act of parliament or only or partly funded by union or state government are also covered under the ambit of Lokpal. See this Lokpal also covers any society or trust or body that receives foreign contribution above 10 lakh. Now know that Lokyuktas are responsible to the states and the structure of Lokyuktas is not uniform or it is not the same in all states. See some states have created only Lokyukta and some states created both Lokyuktas and UPAL Lokyuktas whereas some have designated officials as Lokpal. The members of Lokyuktas are appointed by the Governor of the state in consultation with the Chief Justice of the State High Court and the Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly. Similarly, there is no uniformity regarding the jurisdiction of Lokyuktas in all states. I know that and will the Lokyukta will present to the Governor of the state a consolidated report on its performance and the Governor places this report along with an explanatory memorandum before the state legislature. Now here it is to be noted that the recommendations made by the Lokyukta are only advisory and it is not binding on the state government. Now let us move on to the prelims practice questions. Look at this prelims practice questions which says consider the following statements. The first statement is Indian Penal Code or IPC provides punishment for the sexual assault offends irrespective of gender and age of the victim whereas it is specific to girl children under the protection of child from sexual offences or POKSO Act. And statement 2 says IPC provides higher punishment for the offence of sexual assault as compared to POKSO Act. So we should find the correct statement. So when you look at statement 1 the statement is incorrect because punishment for sexual assault under IPC is covered in section 354 which is about outraging the modesty of women. So it is specific to women but not specific to any age. On the other hand POKSO is gender neutral that is applicable to both boy and girl children. So therefore the clause with respect to sexual offence is also gender neutral but it is specific to children only. So therefore statement 1 is wrong or incorrect. Coming to statement 2 the statement is also incorrect because POKSO provided higher punishment of 3 to 5 years of imprisonment plus fine but IPC provides 1 to 5 years of imprisonment which means that the jail term could be just one year also under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code. Since the question asks us to identify the correct statement the right option is option D which says none of these. Let us take up this prelims practice question dealing with FDI. It says consider the following statements with reference to foreign direct investments statement 1 by investing through FDI the investor passively hold securities from a foreign country without lasting interest and in statement 2 in India FDIs for activities like publishing of newspaper and periodicals dealing with news and current affairs and food product retail training require prior government approval which of the above statements is or are correct. So you should find the correct statement. When you look at statement 1 it says that by investing through FDI the investor passively hold securities from a foreign country without lasting interest. Now here you should note the term without lasting interest. As seen earlier in the discussion the term lasting interest plays a major role when it comes to differentiating FDI from FDI because FDI is an investment from a party in one country into a business or corporation in another country with the intention of establishing a lasting interest whereas FDI or foreign portfolio investments the investors will passively hold securities from a foreign country. So therefore statement 1 is incorrect. Coming to statement 2 as seen earlier in the discussion there are certain sectors or activities that requires government approval and one among them is print media which includes publishing of newspaper and periodicals which deals with news and current affairs. So therefore this statement is correct. Since the question asks us to identify the right statement the right option is option B that is 2 only. Let us take up this prelims practice question related to Uttarakhand. All the three ranges of Himalayas namely Himadri, Himachal and Shivallik ranges pass through the state of Uttarakhand. Statement 2 is famous passes in the state includes the Tagla, Lipulek and Difu Pass. So you should find the correct statement. So when you take the statement 1 as seen in the discussion the three ranges of Himalayas which includes Himadri, Himachal and Shivallik range pass through the state of Uttarakhand. So therefore the statement 1 is right. Coming to statement 2 it says that the passes like Tagla, Lipulek and Difu Pass are located in the Uttarakhand is false because see Tagla and Lipulek are located in Uttarakhand but the Difu Pass is not located in Uttarakhand but rather it is located in Arunachal Pradesh. So therefore statement 2 is wrong and since the question asks for the correct statement the right option is option A that is 1 only. Now let us take up this question with reference to Lokpal and Lokyuktas. The question states consider the following statements with reference to Lokpal and Lokyuktas. So statement 1 says that they are constitutional bodies and statement 2 says that the chair persons and members of Lokpal and Lokyuktas are appointed by the President of India. Now you have to identify the correct statement. So when you look at statement 1 it says that they are constitutional body but what we saw in discussion is that they are statutory bodies and not constitutional bodies and these bodies that is both Lokpal and Lokyuk. They were established under the Lokpal and Lokyuktas Act of 2013. So similarly when you take statement 2 it says that the chair persons and members of Lokpal and Lokyuktas are appointed by the President of India. See this statement is also incorrect because the chair persons are the judicial members of the Lokpal are appointed by the President on the recommendations of a selection committee. And when you take in the case of Lokyuktas the structure it is not the same in all states. So as seen in the discussion some states have created only Lokyuktas and some states created both Lokyukta and Lupa Lokyukta whereas some have designated officials as Lokpal. And also the members of Lokyuktas are appointed by the Governor of the state in consultation with the Chief Justice of the State High Court and the Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly. So since this question asks us to identify the incorrect statement the right option is option C that is both 1 and 2. The list of main practice questions is given here. You can write your answers and post it in the comment box below. With this we have come to the end of this news analysis. If you like the video don't forget to like, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar Iyer's Academy YouTube channel for more updates regarding UPSC civil services preparation.