 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankareya's Academy. As a part of our analysis today, we will discuss about the editorial on Indian Science Congress, the draft Scientific Social Responsibility Policy released by the Department of Science and Technology, National Aerospace Laboratory, Ordnance Factories Board, Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited, the Lamu Old Town in Lamu Island in Kenya. We will also see certain criteria for the selection of certain sites as World Heritage sites by UNESCO, then we will also see few important points with respect to RCEP, broad based trade and investment agreement and also generalized system of references and some other important topics as a part of our analysis of the displayed news articles. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the timestamping of the discussed articles are provided in the description box and also in the common section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. Now let us move on to the analysis of the first news article. This news article states that the military base used by United States in Kenya is attacked. In this analysis, we will be seeing about Al-Shabab, then the geographical aspects of Kenya and Somalia and we will also see about the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lamu Island which was mentioned in the news article. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference. According to reports, among the persons who were killed in the terrorist attack carried out by Al-Shabab, one or more persons belonged to the US military. This attack was carried out on a military base in Kenya's Lamu County. This military base is reportedly used by United States along with Kenyan military personnel. According to US, the reason why it uses the Kenya's military base is to help Kenya in counter-terrorism. And this recent attack is reportedly claimed by Al-Shabab which is internationally known as terrorist group operating mainly in Somalia. However, this group continues to conduct attacks both within Somalia and also in its neighbor Kenya. This Al-Shabab is an Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group. It has been trying to overthrow the Somalia's government with an objective to turn Somalia into a fundamentalist Islamic state. For our prelims preparation, let us see the geographical aspects with respect to Somalia and Kenya. Somalia and Kenya both are East African countries. Somalia is located in the Horn of Africa. This area looks like a horn. It is bordered by Ethiopia. If you see Somalia in the west, it is bordered by Ethiopia. In the northwest, it is bordered by Djibouti. In the north, there is Gulf of Aden. Don't confuse it with Gulf of Oman which comes south of Iran. In the southwest of Somalia, you can see Kenya and on the east lies the Indian ocean. See Kenya. It shares border with five countries. One is South Sudan, then Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. And know that equator passes through both Kenya and Somalia. And with respect to Kenya, there is one another important aspect which was mentioned in the news article that is with respect to the Lamo Island. This island lies close to Somalia. It has also suffered frequent attacks from Al-Shabab. From our prelims point of view, let us know brief information about the Lamo Island in Kenya. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the cultural category. And within the Lamo Archipelago, which includes many islands, two larger islands are Lamo and Manda. Lamo Island is the most popular and most developed. Lamo Island is known as one of the oldest and best preserved living settlements in the world. The important cultural aspects of this place is with respect to the buildings and the applied architecture in this region. The settlement in Lamo Island carries a long history as it represents the development of Swahili technology. Why we are saying long history? Because the settlement dates back to 12th century A.D. So in this context, let us see few points about the Swahili settlement, Swahili culture, Swahili technique or technology. See the Swahili culture is a language based culture on the eastern coast of Africa, particularly in Kenya and Tanzania. If you see the national languages of Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili is the national language of Tanzania and in Kenya this language is known as Kiswahili, so the national language of Kenya is Kiswahili. And because of the culture in the coastal region of Kenya and Tanzania, the coastal stretch to the tune of around 1800 miles in Kenya and Tanzania is also called as Swahili Coast. Now, this coastal region is important and known as the site of cultural and commercial exchanges in history. Because at least the second century, there were cultural and commercial exchanges between East Africa and the outside world. With respect to this region, prior to 6th to 8th century A.D., the earlier coastal communities they were practicing subsistence farming, hunting and trading. However, after 6th to 8th century A.D., they shifted to sea based trading economy. Around 9th century A.D., Africans, Arabs and Persians, they were living in this coastal region and they did not share a native language at that time. So they developed a lingua franca, that is they developed a common language among them that is called as Swahili or Kiswahili. This language is developed with respect to the commercial and trade opportunities and operations. And these people, they have developed a culture called as Swahili culture. This culture is characterized by the practice of Islam and the culture also has Arabic and Asian influenced art and architectural styles. And the culture and the art and architectural styles in this Swahili culture has been influenced from Arabia and Asia. One of the best preserved Swahili settlement that represents the art and architecture is the Lamu Old Town in the Lamu Island in East Africa in Kenya. If you see the specific features of this town, it was built in coral stone and mangrove timber. And it has structural forms with features such as inner courtyards, verandas, elaborately carved wooden doors and others because of the distinctive culture that is Swahili culture and the architecture of the settlements in Lamu Island to preserve such a culture, to preserve such art and architecture. The island was included in the UNESCO's World Heritage Site List in the year 2001. So how can we move from here toward prelims preparation? See to be included on the World Heritage List, the sites must be of outstanding universal value and the sites must meet at least one out of ten selection criteria which were set by UNESCO. And kindly note that not the entire Lamu Island is included in the World Heritage List. It is only the Lamu Old Town in this Lamu Island which was included on the World Heritage List. It has been selected under the three out of ten selection criteria of UNESCO. So today let us see about the three important criteria for the selection as World Heritage Site List. One is that the site should exhibit an important interchange of human values over a span of time or there should be interchange of human values within a cultural area of world where we can see developments in architecture or technology or monumental arts, town planning or landscape design. Here UNESCO says that the architecture and urban structure of Lamu demonstrate cultural influences for a period of several hundred years from Europe, Arabia and India also. So by these cultural influences and utilizing the traditional Swahili techniques they were able to produce a distinct culture. The second criteria is that the site must be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, technological ensemble or landscape that illustrates significant stages in human history. Here under the significant stages in human history the growth and decline of seaports of East African coast is known and there is also interactions between Bantu, Arabs, Persians, Indians and Europeans and this interaction represents a significant cultural and economic phase in the history of this Lamu region which is known as World Heritage Site. And one another criteria is that the site has to be directly or tangibly associated with events of living traditions associated with events or living traditions with ideas, with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. Here the region is known for the living tradition with respect to Swahili culture and Islamic culture where the Lamu Old Town even now continues to be a significant center of education in Islamic and Swahili culture. So that is one of the important religious functions that is even now carried out in this region. If you see Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since 19th century and it has become a significant center for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures. So these are three important criteria out of the ten criteria set out by UNESCO to be qualified as World Heritage Site and with this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. We saw about al-Shabaab then we saw about the geographical aspects of Somalia, Kenya then we saw about the old Lamu town in the Lamu island which is a uniscope world heritage site under the cultural category. With this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. Now let us move on to next news article. This news article states that the Indian government is going to focus on renegotiating various free trade agreements and bilateral deals in the year 2020. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for a reference. First let us see with reference to Arsabh deal. We know that India has expressed strong concerns at the third Arsabh summit which was concluded on 4th November 2019 at Bangkok in Thailand. India has decided not to sign the deal till its concerns are resolved. The concerns of India with respect to the proposed Arsabh deal or the protection of Indian economy from the flooding of cheap imports of China then opening Indian service sector to the countries in Arsabh deal then issues with respect to rules of and various measures to protect Indian farmers etc. So news article mentions that the 15 countries in this Arsabh deal will complete legal reviews by June 2020. So it is expected that these nations will be signing the deal by November 2020. Now who are these 15 countries? These include 10 ASEAN members and 5 free trade agreement partners of ASEAN. They are China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand. Before the 3rd Arsabh summit we used to say that there are 16 countries, the 16th country is India. So yes India has said it will not join the proposed Arsabh deal. However India can actively engage in resolving its concerns till November 2020 so that if its concerns are addressed it can also join the deal. And if India is not joining the deal even by the time when other Arsabh partners are signing the deal India can reopen existing free trade agreements with ASEAN and also existing free trade agreements with other participating countries of Arsabh negotiations which are China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The next important trade deal which was mentioned is about the European Union, India, bilateral trade and investment agreement. It mentions that India has to restart its negotiations on this BTIA agreement. Know that in the year 2007 India and European Union began negotiations on a broad based bilateral trade and investment agreement in Brussels, Belgium. These negotiations involved various aspects such as trade in goods and services, investment, sanitary and phytosanitary measures that is the various quality and health with respect to plants and plant products that are to be involved in the trade and various other issues such as fixing tariffs, rules of origin, intellectual property rights etc. So far there were around some 15 rounds of negotiations that were held alternatively at Brussels and New Delhi but still the agreement is inconclusive. The news article mentions that there is much possibility to restart the negotiations on BTIA during the European Union India summit which is expected to be held at Brussels, Belgium in March 2020. Thirdly the news article also talks about the need for bridging the gap with United States with reference to the generalized system of preferences. We know that in addition to asking India not to purchase oil from Iran, the United States of America also withdraw India as a beneficiary in the GSP program with effect from 5th June 2019. These two announcements made by the United States in the year 2019 were seen as obstacles in the India-United States trade relations. Now coming to this generalized system of preferences program, now it is a trade preference program of the United States. It was established in the year 1976 by the Trade Act of 1974 of United States. This program eliminates duties on thousands of products that are imported to United States from more than 100 designated beneficiary countries. It is from this designated beneficiary list India was removed in 2019. So at that time now as a result of termination of India as a beneficiary, it was mentioned that India will be losing to the tune of around 190 million US dollars in trade annually. Note that in the year 2018 India was ranked number one as the top beneficiary of this GSP program by the United States Trade Representative. So under this GSP program India used to enjoy duty-free imports on certain goods that are exported from India till June 5 2019. So restoring the GSP benefits to India is necessary to protect Indian exporters to the United States. However the United States pharmaceutical industry is demanding trade margin rationalization for their medical products in return to restoring GSP benefits to India. So what do we mean by trade margin rationalization? We have discussed about trade margin rationalization in particular on 8 December 2019. So to know about this trade margin rationalization regime we request you to watch the analysis on 8 December 2019. The link has been given in the description for the benefit of the viewers. Then the news article also mentions about SARC cooperation that is South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Now we know that SARC is an association of eight nations India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan. With respect to SARC there is a free trade agreement called as South Asian Free Trade Agreement. The area of free trade agreement is called as South Asian Free Trade Area. So according to Observer Research Foundation which partners with Ministry of External Affairs and Organizing Raising our Dialogue. It states that free trade agreement of SARC came into enforcement in 2006 but member nations failed to implement successfully because of various issues with respect to lack of effective dispute settlement system and other concerns. So there is a need for India to engage with SARC partners to resolve all the concerns with respect to this free trade agreement as well. So these are some of the important tasks on table for India in this year in terms of trade issues with respect to RSIP, issues with respect to European Union India, bilateral trade and investment agreement, then restoring India as a benefit and GSP program of United States, then request of trade margin rationalization regime and also reactivating SARC free trade agreement and few other important matters. With this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. Now let us move on to next news article. This editorial article is about the ongoing Indian Science Congress. In this editorial the author discusses about the present status of Indian Science Congress and the author also suggests the way forward. We will be seeing one more news article item related to this editorial article. The syllabus relevant for the analysis of both articles with respect to Indian Science Congress is highlighted here for your reference. Before entering into this editorial analysis, let us see brief information with respect to Indian Science Congress. See this Congress is held every year by an association called as Indian Science Congress Association. Such an annual Congress is being held since 1914. This association is formed based on the initiatives of two British chemist Professor J. L. Simonson and Professor P. S. McMohan. They thought that scientific research in India could be stimulated if there is an annual meeting wherein research workers from various places could come and meet and exchange ideas, share their research work etc. So the first meeting of this Indian Science Congress was held in the year 1914 at Calcutta. From then Indian Science Congress is being held annually and this year we are having the 107th edition at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore. So with this background, let us see the editorial. The author tells that Indian Science Congress is one platform to know the status of development of science and technology in our country. It acted as an indicator even in the early years of Indian independence and still it continues to be so. We saw that Indian Science Congress was formed in 1914 even before the independence of our country. So during the initial period after independence every year the scientists used to gather, they used to discuss and incubate new scientific ideas which they thought would help in the development of newly born India in this Indian Science Congress. So at that time the primary purpose would be how to make science and technology to aid in the development of the country. So that is one of the reasons why Indian Science Congress is normally held in the first week of January and usually inaugurated by the Prime Minister. So why it is held in the first week of January? This is because how are we going to use science and technology to aid in the development of the nation in this particular year and also in the time to come? So let's discuss all these things in the very beginning itself so as to take forward in this year. Now let us see what the author feels about this Indian Science Congress in the past few years. The author has spoken three things. One is how the Indian Science Congress is working at the present and next the author speaks about pseudoscience and finally the author talks about what needs to be done with respect to Indian Science Congress. The author tells that during the years when postal communication served as main medium of communication the science congress met every year to exchange scientific ideas but now it has become more like a science mailer that is it has become like a grand science festival which is more of a scientific exhibition and this is because the author feels that the main purpose of the Indian Science Congress in the present context is to invite the students from schools and colleges to hear the lectures of Nobel laureates and Indian origin scientists from abroad. These Nobel laureates and scientists they will talk about their research work and their achievements in the respective fields and also about the future prospects of science. Other than this the present science congress is also plays a very important role in displaying the science projects and innovations done by school children and they also set up stalls that showcase or display or portray the scientific work that is being done in important national laboratories and institutions. Well these are some of the positives associated with Indian Science Congress how it carries out its activities in the recent times the author also talks about choreographed Anui that has set in in the Indian Science Congress. Here the word Anui refers to a dullness in spirits or lack of interest and in the context of this article choreographed Anui refers to a well-planned event like project displays poster presentations which does not create or cause excitement or which does not inspire. This is because the author feels that the exhibitions are more or less the same what were displayed in the old congresses or more or less the same from similar and past science fairs or exhibitions and many laboratories are showcasing their work as posters instead of showing demonstrations or instead of showing demonstrations. As a result the author tells that there is an unmistakable decay in the science congress the way it is being carried out in the recent times that is the Indian Science Congress is slowly getting degraded in terms of quality. Next the author talks about pseudoscience. In recent years the congress has been reported in news for becoming a forum for pseudoscience and that there is no enough attention given to interesting scientific ideas or scientifically tested demonstrations. So what do we refer to pseudoscience in this article? Pseudoscience refers to beliefs, theories or practices that have been considered as scientific or that has been assumed as scientific but they may not have a scientific basis they may not have been tested or demonstrated. And when we say pseudoscience it refers to appearance of science but not genuine or not true or not having a scientific basis. The author finds that even some of the speakers who are holding distinguished positions in important and leading universities even they have resorted to mixing mythology with science and even publicized them and even tried to publicize these assertions. For example statements like Gauravas in Mahabharata they were born from stem cell technology and statements that even Vedas have discussed avionics that is Vedas have discussed electronics in aviation and even such statements were made in the Indian Science Congress. So the author tells that such pseudoscience activities have made the congress to slowly lose its public scientific image and despite the presence of ministry of science and technology ministry of earth sciences and various other stakeholders in the Indian government that works in science and technology the government hasn't seems to be bothered with how the science congress really works with respect to making statements of pseudosciences. One important fact the author mentions with respect to this year's science congress is that many prominent persons from India science fraternity they were absent in the Indian science congress this year. One of the important organization which everybody look into among youths and children is the Indian space research organization and one another organization is the department of atomic energy that deals with nuclear energy and projects of national importance we know that ISRO and department of atomic energy do not come under any ministry but come under the prime minister. So who are some of the prominent persons who were absent in this year's congress principal scientific advisor secretaries from ministries wherein science and technology is involved and chiefs of major organizations such as Indian space research organization and department of atomic energy. So the author is worried that in their absence Indian science congress is slowly losing its importance prominence and purpose. Finally the author talks what needs to be done the author tells that change is constant but the change must be a positive one or a progressive one such a way that there is inspiring new ideas or the congress coming up with new models of taking science to the public. The author tells that at present there is a rising trend in science displays at museums or exhibitions in many places. The purpose of such displays is to make science and art to make interactive displays to encourage audience so that they will engage actively. The author tells that such kind of ideas will make science more attractive to the public. So with respect to exhibition these kind of new ideas new initiatives that creates engagement of public in the Indian science congress has to be made. Finally the author concludes this editorial by telling that a rebirth is required for Indian science congress and that the congress should not be led to die or vanish. So in this editorial we saw about the present status of Indian science congress from the eyes of the author and we saw the need for new ideas in the Indian science congress to inspire the children and youth who are the future of her country. One such new idea that we need is the scientific social responsibility that we will see based on the second news article. The second news article describes the plans of the central government to introduce scientific social responsibility similar to corporate social responsibility. Yesterday which is the third day of 107th international congress the agenda was to discuss on the importance of communication and outreach programs with respect to science. Here when we say outreach it involves activities that will make unknown population to know about new scientific facts and ideas and development in science. So central government plans to introduce scientific social responsibility in the lines of corporate social responsibility. So what do we mean by corporate social responsibility? See it involves a set of activities by the companies that integrates some social and environmental activities in their business operations. They will ensure that their company spends at least 2 percent of average net profits of the company which were made during 3 immediately preceding financial years and such spending has to be carried out in every financial year. So this is what we are referring to corporate social responsibility. Here the money spent will be in areas such as education, reduction of hunger, poverty alleviation and various other social welfare activities. See in India the corporate social responsibility is a legal obligation under section 135 of Companies Act of 2013. And coming to scientific social responsibility here under this proposed responsibility researchers who are working on science projects that are funded by central government. They will have to undertake activities to popularize science and they have to make science more accessible to the public. Under this scientific social responsibility the center has decided to come up with a list of activities for researchers involved in science to go to colleges for delivering lectures or writing articles in a magazine or doing something beyond the usual research curriculum and center is planning to make this science outreach mandatory as well. Reports are saying that the researchers may have to include such outreach activities as part of their outcome report as well. Now one of the advantages because of such activities by scientific community is that these activities will bridge the gap between research institutes and civilians. So to implement this the union ministry of science and technology has released a draft scientific social responsibility policy in September 2019 for public consultations. Now this draft policy is likely to be finalized and released in this year since it is a government policy it comes under general studies paper 2. See this draft scientific social responsibility policy defines scientific social responsibility. Scientific social responsibility refers to ethical obligation of knowledge workers in the fields of science and technology to voluntarily contribute their knowledge and resources to the widest spectrum of stakeholders in society in a spirit of service and conscious reciprocity for the main objective of scientific social responsibility policy is to utilize or harness the voluntary potential that is hidden in the country's scientific community. What we are going to do by utilizing this voluntary potential of scientific community we are going to strengthen science and society linkages to make Indian science and technology ecosystem as a vibrant ecosystem. For this we require to bridge the gaps between science society science science society science and there is a need to bring trust partnership and responsibility of science at an accelerated pace to achieve social goals. Here when we say science society connect that is when we say bridging the gaps between science and society we are referring to facilitating inclusive and sustainable development by transferring the benefits of scientific work to meet societal needs. When we say science science connect we are referring to creating an enabling environment for the sharing of ideas and resources within the knowledge ecosystem. This knowledge ecosystem includes knowledge worker knowledge institution and knowledge economy. When we say knowledge worker we are referring to any person who participates in the knowledge economy in the areas of human science social science natural science physical science biological sciences medical sciences mathematical sciences computer sciences or data sciences and technologies associated with these sciences. When we say knowledge institution these institutions refer to national and state laboratories and national and state institutions of higher learning and research this includes research institutes universities and colleges. When we say knowledge economy it refers to an economy where growth primarily depends on useful information and the technology is based on information so the growth does not primarily depend on traditional means of production like land labor capital and resources here the output of growth will depend on the quantity of information the quality of information and the accessibility of the useful information and the technology is based on the information also has to be of high quality and also accessible. When we say society science connect this refers to collaboration between scientific community and the society to identify problems and to develop scientific and technological solutions for the emerging and existing societal needs within cultural change there will be inculcation of social responsibility among the individuals and institutions that are practicing science and there will be element of creating awareness of scientific social responsibility within society and there will be infusion of scientific temperament into the day-to-day social existence and interaction if you see article 51 capital A of Indian constitution it is the duty of every Indian citizen to develop the scientific temper so this scientific social responsibility policy envisages a practical step in infusing scientific temper among the masses in India the draft policy has also listed various activities that would be covered such as creating awareness through mass media and lectures then skill development for different sections of society and also providing scientific solutions to local problems and also providing access to science and technology infrastructure we'll see more on this policy and the various elements of this policy once this policy is finalized and released by the government so with this article analysis you try to understand the concept of scientific social responsibility its objectives how it plans to achieve its objectives with this we come to the end of analysis of this news article in the second news article we saw about what do we mean by scientific social responsibility what is the objective of scientific social responsibility policy which is a draft policy we also saw how the draft policy aims to attain the objectives of scientific social responsibility now let's move on to next news article this news article is about the ak-203 assault rifles that are to be manufactured domestically by an indoresian joint venture the syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for your reference so in the context of the analysis of this news article first let us see few information about this indoresian joint venture for the purpose of manufacturing ak-203 rifles generally when we say joint venture we are referring to a business arrangement where there is partnership of two or more parties who agree to pool their resources for the purpose of specific objectives or projects the indoresian joint venture for the manufacture of ak-203 rifles is named as indoresian rifles private limited now this is established in corva in the state of utha pradesh who are the parties in this joint venture one is the ordinance factories board on the indian side then roson boron experts and concern kalashnikov on the russian side this ordinance factories board it functions under the department of defense production in the ministry of defense it is engaged in indigenous production indigenous testing logistics research development and marketing of defense hardware and equipment in our country they will be working in the area of land sea and air systems their primary objective is to ensure self-reliance in equipping the armed forces of india with state of the art battlefield equipment because of the objectives and because of the role it plays with respect to indian defense or equipping the indian armed forces this ordinance factories board is called as the force behind the armed forces now in this indoresian rifles private limited the ordinance factories board it owns equity of 50.5 percent then the remaining 49.5 percent is owned by the russian side this joint venture is formed consequent or to give action to the intergovernmental agreement that was signed between india and russia in february 2019 and note that the chief executive officer of this indoresian rifles private limited is a major general of indian army now let us come to the news article the news article states that indian army is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding for the procurement of more than 7.5 lakh ak 203 assault rifles which are to be manufactured locally by this india russia joint venture with this the army is looking to replace the insas rifles which are currently in use now when we say insas we are referring to indian small arms system now this insas rifle is a light machine gun that is developed by ordinance factories board of india it was inducted to the service in 1994 and modernization of weapons is essential for our efficient working of security forces and also to improve capabilities better than the prospective enemies are better than the opposition so this is one of the reason why army is likely to induct more than 7.5 lakh ak 203 assault rifles so it is expected that the memorandum of understanding will be signed in a month wherein there might be agreement that around 1 lakh rifles will be made in russia and the remaining rifles will be made in india so these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article in the analysis we saw about the indoresian rifles private limited ordinance factories board then we also saw the insas system we also saw the in the course of the analysis of news article now let's move on to next news article this news article is with reference to saras mark 2 aircraft developed by national aerospace laboratory the syllabus relevant for the analysis of this news article is highlighted here for a reference in the context of the analysis first let's see few information with respect to national aerospace laboratory see this lab was established in 1959 as a constituent laboratory of council of scientific and industrial research now the csir comes under ministry of science and technology and according to government sources the csir national aerospace laboratory is the only government aerospace rnd laboratory in the civilian sector in the country this laboratory is a high technology oriented institution that focuses on advanced disciplines in aerospace its mandate is to develop aerospace technologies with strong science content and to design and build small medium-sized civil aircraft and to support all national aerospace programs now let's come to saras aircraft the saras mark 2 is a upgraded version of this aircraft coming to saras it is called as india's first indigenous light transport aircraft the design and development of this aircraft has been done by national aerospace laboratory the project began in 2004 then it was cancelled because of an accident during the test flight in 2009 later it was revived and national aerospace laboratory completed its first successful test flight in the year 2018 now coming to mark 2 version now this is an upgraded version of saras this upgraded version has considerable weight reduction or drag reduction and it has some unique features like high cruise speed lower fuel consumption short landing distance and short takeoff distance low cabin noise and others now this national aerospace laboratory is proposing to get the saras mark 2 version to be certified initially for military purposes and later or subsequently for civil purposes it is proposed that this upgraded version will be 20 to 25 percent cheaper than any imported aircraft in the same category once it receives the certification for the development for military purposes the hindustan aeronautics limited is to be designated as production agency for the military version of saras and civil version of saras is expected to be given to some selected private industries and it is proposed that india requires some 120 to 160 aircrafts in this saras genre both for civilian and military purposes in the next 10 years now let's come to the news article the news article mentions that the national aerospace laboratory has told the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology that center should buy at least 50 to 60 saras mark 2 aircrafts why they have suggested this is because to make the protection of saras mark 2 aircrafts a commercially viable phenomena and it is also mentioned that reports are also saying that saras mark 2 aircraft will be ideal for commuter connectivity under the uddan scheme now uddan is the abbreviation or acronym for uday deshka arm nagrik now it means let the common man fly this scheme was launched in 2017 it is a flagship scheme of union government the purpose is to enable air operations on unserved and underserved routes to promote balanced regional growth by ensuring affordable connectivity and to make flying affordable for masses that is why it is mentioned that it should be made affordable to the level that even a common man should fly so the program aims to revive unused and underused airstrips in the country particularly in the remote areas they are saying that the saras mark 2 would suit this purpose as it has the capacity to operate in semi-prepared airstrips in addition the aircraft can suit for various other applications for aerial survey or aerial search vip transport also for disaster management border patrol coast guard ambulance and other community services it is expected that if the government gives a commitment for procurement it would be a hope for the industries that are involved in manufacturing of technology and manufacturing of aircrafts to set up manufacturing infrastructure with respect to development of aircrafts and the commitment will also encourage various micro small and medium enterprises and other allied service sector as well as they will make spare parts or parts for these aircrafts so this can also be seen as a extension of governments make in india scheme as it intends as which intends to boost the domestic manufacturing industry so these are some of the information with reference to the analysis of this news article we saw about national aerospace laboratory of council of scientific and industrial research then we saw about the saras project then we saw about mark 2 which is an upgraded version of saras aircraft then we saw about the news article then we saw few information with respect to the udan scheme we have come to the last session the practice questions discussion session the first question which of the following statements best define scientific social responsibility social accountability of a business entity for the welfare of the nation now we can relate this statement somehow to corporate social responsibility so it will not come under scientific social responsibility c option c it states that responsibility and accountability of the scientific community for the economic development of the nation this can be coming under scientific economic responsibility which is not presently being formulated or discussed by the government and also in the scientific community now come to the last option ethical obligation of the private scientific companies to be accountable to the government this is not the correct option for this question come to option b ethical obligation of the scientific community towards the society for the social development of the nation this is the correct answer for this question and it is the best definition among the given options for the scientific social responsibility now this definition is based on the draft scientific social responsibility policy recently released by the ministry of science and technology this question is with reference to ordinance factories board they have given two statements and are asking which of the other statements are correct first statement its objective is to ensure self-reliance in equipping the armed forces with state of the art battlefield equipment the first statement is correct it is one of the objectives of ordinance factories board come to the second statement it functions under ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises now this statement is incorrect because ordinance factories board comes under department of defense production which comes under ministry of defense so therefore the correct answer for this question is option a one only now this question is with reference to national aerospace laboratory they have given two statements asking which of the other statements are correct first statement it is the only government aerospace r&d laboratory in india's civilian sector the statement is correct so you can eliminate option b option d come to the second statement it comes under ministry of science and technology which is correct because national aerospace laboratory is a constituent laboratory of council of scientific and industrial research which comes under ministry of science and technology so the correct answer for this question is option c both one and two now this question is with reference to UNESCO world heritage sites they have given two statements and are asking which of the other statements are correct lamo old town in kenya was included into the world heritage sites list as a natural heritage site now the statement is incorrect because lamo old town in the lamo island in kenya was included as a cultural world heritage site because of the cultural significance associated with this lamo old town it is predominantly known for the swahili culture swahili technology and the swahili language the second statement kanzan zonga national park is the only site which was included as a mixed heritage site in the world now the statement is incorrect it is the only site in india to be included as a mixed heritage site in the world there are more than 15 sites that are designated as mixed world heritage sites so the second statement is incorrect this kanzan zonga national park is in the state of sikkim so the correct answer for this question is we can see both the statements are incorrect therefore the correct answer for this question is option d both are incorrect now this question is a previously asked prelims question in the year 2017 broad based trade and investment agreement is sometimes seen in the news in the context of negotiations held between india and european union gulf cooperation council organization for economic cooperation and development shanghai cooperation organization the correct answer for this question is european union now the negotiations between india and european union with respect to this bilateral trade and investment agreement began in the year 2007 in brussels belgium since then 15 rounds of negotiations have been held alternately in new delhi and brussels the negotiations though started in 2007 has been still inconclusive because of various issues with respect to goods and services you know investment quality of products that have to be exported and imported and the rules of origin ipr rights etc so the correct answer for this question is option a european union now this is a practice mains question the question is with respect to a policy of the government so it may come under government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation in gs2 at the same time we should know that the question can also be related in gs paper 3 under science and technology so while preparing we should know what are the areas that are directly linked to a particular topic at the same time we should also know what are the areas in the syllabus that can be related to a particular topic so this question scientific community always has the ethical obligation of giving back to the less endowed stakeholders of science technology and innovation as well as the society at large in the context of above statement what do you mean by scientific social responsibility do you think that government must enforce scientific social responsibility for the social development of the country for this question you may post your answers in the comment section after taking a picture of the hand written answers and uploading it into your drive and in the sharing settings you can set it like anyone with the link can view and copy that link and post 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