 A very good evening aspirants. Welcome you to the hindi news analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 29th of September 2022. Displayed here are the stuff articles that we are going to discuss today. You can go through it. Now let's start our discussion. Have a look at this news article. This news article talks about the chief of different staff. We shortly call as CDS. This is in news because left-in general Anil Chauhan is appointed as the next CDS. Note that he had served as the chief of eastern army command. See the CDS post has been vacant since the death of the country's first CDS general Bibbin Rawat who died in a helicopter crash in December 2021. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us learn about the post of chief of different staff in detail. See the chief of different staff or CDS is in the rank of a four star general. See generally the chiefs of army staff naval staff and the air staff are four star officers. In the same way, chief of different staff is in the rank of a four star general. The chief of different staff salary and other allowances will be equivalent to the service chiefs. The CDS heads the department of military affairs or DMA. The department of military affairs was created as the fifth department within the ministry of defense and it will function as the chief of different staffs secretariat. Also the CDS is the permanent chairman of the chiefs of staff committee and he will perform certain functions like administering the tri services organizations. Then the CDS act as the principal military advisor to the union minister of defense on all tri services matters. Here you should note one point that the CDS will not exercise any military command. Also the CDS will not exercise any military command over the three services chiefs. This is to enable the CDS to provide impartial advice to the political leadership. Further, the CDS is a member of different acquisition council and the defense planning committee. See the defense acquisition council was constituted for overall guidance of the defense procurement and planning process. Then the defense planning committee was constituted as a permanent body. It has been set up under the chairmanship of national security advisor to facilitate comprehensive and integrated planning for defense matters. And this defense planning committee will draw a roadmap for defense manufacturing ecosystem and strategy to boost defense export. Apart from this, the CDS act as the military advisor to the nuclear command authority. Then the CDS is also the authority to implement the five year defense capital acquisition plan and two year roll on annual acquisition plans as a follow up of integrated capability development plan. And the CDS will also bring reforms in the functioning of three services that is army, navy and air force. This is aimed at augmenting the combat capabilities of the armed forces. And it is to be done by reducing wasteful expenditure. In addition to this, the government said the CDS would come under the ambit of right to information act 2005. Now talking about the significance of the post. Firstly, it creates a synergy between armed forces and the government. That is, it creates better cooperation between the ministry of defense and the armed services. Secondly, it creates jointmanship in operations. This is through the permanent chairmanship of chiefs of staff committee. And it is needed for the operationalization of theater command or joint command. Then the CDS act as a key functionary in the nuclear command chain. That's all regarding this discussion. This discussion we saw about the chief of defense staff in detail and some of the functions of the CDS. With these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Let's take up this news article. This news article reports about the historical places discovered by the archaeological survey of India. It includes the Buddhist caves, Tupas and Brahmi inscriptions and also Hindu temples dated back to 9th to 11th centuries. And the archaeological survey of India also discovered possibly the world's largest Varaha sculpture. This was discovered at the Bandhavgarh, Tiger show in Mathya Pradesh. This is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us discuss about Buddhism in detail. See, Buddhism is one of the major religions of the world that originated from the Indian subcontinent. And now it has spread to large parts of Southeast Asia. The origin of Buddhism is attached to the story of Siddhartha, who came to be known as Buddha. The traditions, beliefs and practices in Buddhism are attributed to Buddha. And know that it is the world's fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. And around 7% of the world's population embraces Buddhism. Now let's know about Gautam Buddha in brief. He was born at Lumini, which is in present Nepal, in 563 BC as Siddhartha Gautam. To the mother queen, Maya and father king, Suddhodana, he belongs to the Sakayan kingdom under Shatriya clan. Then after attaining Nirvana in Bodh Gaya, he gave his first sermon to his five companions. This is at the deer park in Sarnath near Varanasi. This event was called as Dharmachakra Pravarathana, meaning turning the wheel of law. Now the question is what is meant by Nirvana in Buddhism? See, according to Buddhism, Nirvana means cessation of desire. That is the end of suffering. See, Nirvana in Sanskrit means the blowing out. Thus it is understood as the extinguishment of the flame of personal desire and the quenching of fire of life. Now we will see what are all the three jewels, which is mean as Trairatna embraced under Buddhism. First is the Buddha, who is the enlightened one. Second is Dhamma, which is the teachings of Buddha. And third one is Sangha, which is the monastic order. See, Buddha attained Mahapari Nirvana at Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. This is at the age of 80 in probably 483 BC. He is said to be contemporary for major parts of his life, Tuking, Bimbisara and for last few years to Ajashatruva of Hariyanka dynasty. Buddha is known in various Buddhist texts as Tadagatta and Sakayamuni. The predecessor of Buddha under Buddhism was Kasapa Buddha and his successor will be Maitreya. Now coming to the four major noble truths of Buddhism. See, the basic tenets of Buddhism are explained through the four major noble truths. They are first one, the truth of suffering, which is called as Dukkha. The second one, truth of the origin of suffering called as Samudaya. The third one, the truth of the cessation of suffering called Niroda. The fourth one, the truth of the path to cessation of suffering called Marga. And it is also said in Buddhism that if one gets rid of decides and needs, then one can be free and at peace. This can be attained through following the noble eight fold path. They include first one, kind, truthful and right speech. Second one, honest, peaceful and right action. Third one, to find the right livelihood, which does not harm any being. Fourth one, right effort and cultivating self-control. Fifth one, right mindfulness. Sixth one, right meditation and concentrating on the meaning of life. Seventh one, the worth of the sincere and intelligent man is through right thoughts. And finally the eighth one, avoiding superstition and cultivate right understanding. And according to Buddha, the middle path that is Madhya Marga or middle way describes the character of the noble eight fold path that leads to liberation. Also note that Buddhism rejects the authenticity of Vedas. It also rejects the concept of existence of soul. Once Buddha attained Mahapari Nirvana, that is the death of the Buddha at Kushinagar in 483 BC, there was a need to compile his teachings. Hence four Buddhist councils were held in a span of next 500 years to collate this material into Pidagas. The result was writing of three major Pidagas, that is Vinaya Pidaka, Sutta Pidaka and Abhidhama Pidaka. And the three were combined and called as Tri-Pidakas. All of these have been written in Pali language. I have displayed here the four councils along with elaborate details. Pause the video and just go to this. Here note that in the fourth council in King Kanishikha's Reen, there was a split in Buddhism. Thus two sects were born, namely Heenayana and Mahayana Buddhism. In the later periods it can be found that Heenayana school declined and two more new schools under Buddhism were born. Thus the four major schools developed so far under Buddhism are Heenayana Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism. To know more about four schools of Buddhism, kindly watch the Hindu News Analysis video dated November 21, 2021. That's all regarding this discussion. This discussion we saw about Buddhism. Then the four major noble truths of Buddhism and the eight fold paths and finally about the various schools of Buddhism. With these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Let's take up this news article. This news article talks about Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. We call shortly this as UPA UAPA. This is in news because the central government has declared popular front of India and its front organizations as an unlawful association under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The ban was made due to organizations, subversive activities that are disturbing public order and undermining the constitutional setup of the country. Also, it was found that they had close contact with global terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which is shortly known as ISIS and participated in terror activities in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us discuss about Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in detail. First of all, we will see why such a legislation is crucial to India. See, the national security is every government's foremost concern. India is one of the countries that is being most affected by terrorism. So, it focuses more on security laws. From the Indian Parliament attack 2001, Mumbai attack 2008, Uri attack 2016 to Pulwam attack 2019 and many more, India has faced a serious threat to its integrity. Also, there are a series of laws that were passed with the main objective to safeguard Indian national security and national interest. Unlawful Activities Prevention Act is also one such anti-terror legislation and the enforcement body of this act is the National Investigation Agency, which is India's central counter-terrorism agency. Having seen the need for such an act, now we will see some of the background details. The UPA was initially passed in 1967 under the Deedan Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It was an upgrade on the TADA, that is Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act and the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Due to rapid change in the technique and pattern of terrorism, the UPA is amended several times and the most recent amendment was made in 2019. Now, we shall move on to see some important provisions of the act. See, the act mainly deals with unlawful activities. Now, what does unlawful activity mean? Unlawful activity means any action taken by any organization or an individual who intends to bring session or results into separation or which disrupts or questions the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. And according to the act, if the central government is of opinion that any association is or has become an unlawful association, it may by notification in the official guest set declare such association to be unlawful. Under the act, the central government may designate any organization as a terrorist organization under such conditions such as if it commits or participates in acts of terrorism or if it prepares for terrorism or if it promotes terrorism or if it is involved in terrorism. And the amendment act 2019 additionally empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds. Then the act also empowers the officers of NIA of the rank of inspector and about to investigate cases. And the approval of director general of NIA is required for the seizure of property. And if the investigation is not completed within a stipulated time frame, a person can be detained for a period of 180 days. And such period of 180 days can be extended further. Until that period, his or her right to bail would not arise. This is mentioned under 43D of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Then the act defines terrorist acts to include acts committed within the scope of any of the treaties listed in the schedule of the act. The treaties include the convention for the suppression of terrorist bombings 1997 and the convention against taking of hostages 1979 and international convention for suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism 2005. It was also added in the list by the 2019 amendment. So these are all some of the important provisions of the act. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about unlawful activities prevention act and the important provisions in the act and the 2019 amendment. With these key points in mind, now let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion that is to discuss preliminary practice questions. Now look at this first question. Consider the following statements regarding chief of defense staff. Let's take a first statement. Chief of defense staff heads the Department of Military Affairs. Here the statement is correct. As we know from our discussion, CDS heads the Department of Military Affairs. Now coming to the second statement. CDS does not come under the Ambit of Fright Information Act. Here the statement is incorrect because CDS also come under the Ambit of Fright Information Act. Here note that only the secrecy of planning for national security will not be disclosed in the Fright Information Act. Now coming to the third statement. CDS is the chairman of Defense Planning Committee. Here this statement is also incorrect because CDS is a member of the Defense Planning Committee, but not the chairman. And note that the committee is headed by National Security Advisor. Also know that the current National Security Advisor is Ajith Doval. So here the question asks for correct statement. So the answer for the question is option A1 only. Now moving to the second question. Consider the following statements regarding Buddhism. Let's take a first statement. First Buddhist council was held under the patronage of King Ashokha. Here the statement is incorrect because first Buddhist council was held under the patronage of King Ajat Shatru. And note that King Ashokha patron at the third Buddhist council. And also kindly go through the table about four councils of Buddhism, which I have given in the discussion. This is important in the prelims perspective. So don't forget kindly go through it. Now coming to the second statement. Bhoomi Parshamudra symbolizes Buddha summoning to earth goddess during his enlightenment under the bodhi tree. The second statement is correct because Bhoomi Parshamudra means touching the earth. Thus it symbolizes Buddha summoning to earth goddess during his enlightenment under the bodhi tree. Okay. So here the question asks for incorrect statements. So the answer for the question is option A1 only. And add on I have chosen five important mudras which is very much useful for your prelims examination. We will discuss them in brief. Just listen to them carefully. First is the Dharma Chakra Mudra meaning the wheel of Dharma. It symbolizes the occasion when he preached to his companions the first sermon after his enlightenment in the deer park at Sarnath. Next is the Bhoomi Parsham or touching the earth mudra. It symbolizes Buddha summon to the earth goddess during his enlightenment under the bodhi tree. Next comes the Varadha Mudra which symbolizes charity, compassion and boon granting. And note that this is the mudra of the accomplishment of wish to devote oneself to human salvation. And comes the Dhyana Mudra which is attributed with multiple meanings. With the most important being is the identification with the mystic fire that consumes all impurities. And it is also said to represent the three jewels of Buddhism namely the Buddha himself, the good law and the Sangha. And finally the Abhiya Mudra. It symbolizes production, peace and the dispelling of fear. So these are all some of the important mudras which is very helpful to your prelims preparation. Displayed here is the question for you today. I will post this question in a community section. Try to answer it. With this we have come to the end of video. If you like our analysis, please like, comment and share it with your friends. And don't forget to subscribe to Shankara A.S. Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.