 A very good evening aspirants, I would like to share with you all something. See aspirants, the most difficult part in our entire UPSC preparation is the consolidation of the preparation material. As a one-stop solution to this problem, the Shankar IAS Academy has come up with an app. Yes, you all heard it rightly. It is an app available in the Google Play Store freely. It is the Shankar IAS Academy app. See the features available in the app are very much useful for your UPSC preparation. Say for example, you can use the current of a materials available in it. You can use the Hindu news analysis videos available in it. Also the top of testimonies are available in it. Not only this, you can even make the admission to the Shankar IAS Academy through the app. So aspirants do not waste time. Just go into the Play Store, install it freely and utilize all the highlighted features available in the app. So with this good news, we are going to start our today's Hindu news analysis for the date 6th of March 2022. Displayed here are the list of news articles that I have chosen for today's discussion. See friends, today our discussion is going to be really useful for both your problems as well as mains. So kindly pay attention and utilize all the key points given in the discussion for both your problems as well as mains. See based on the economic topic that I assure you, today I have chosen the National Pension Scheme and the Atal Pension Eugenia. See kindly make use of it. This is an important in both problems as well as mains. Now without wasting much time, let's get into the discussion. Have a look at this news article. See this news article talks about concerns expressed by the World Health Organization's chief scientist over the malnutrition and growing anemia levels. Yesterday, while addressing an international conference of Nutrition Society of India, she expressed these concerns. Apart from this, she also mentioned that there is a need to educate people on well-balanced traditional diets. So this is the crux of the news article given here. Now just have a look at this UPSC Prelims question from the year 2017 and the mains question from the year 2013 GS Paper 3. From looking at both the questions, you can understand that this topic covering malnutrition and anemia is very much important for both your problems as well as mains. So in this context, let us quickly go through what is anemia, then what is malnutrition, what are all its causes, and what are all the risks and diseases that are caused by them. And we should also see some of the initiatives taken by the government of India to address these healthcare issues. Before getting into the discussion, the syllabus relevant to the news article is given here for your reference. Just go through it. First, let us start our discussion with what is anemia and its causes. See anemia is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or the hemoglobin concentration in our body is lower than the normal. As you know, hemoglobin is needed to carry oxygen and if you have too few or abnormal red blood cells or not enough hemoglobin, then there will be decreased capacity of the blood to carry oxygen to the body's tissues. So ultimately, this will result in symptoms like fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Now you may ask how much hemoglobin do a person actually need. See the optimal hemoglobin concentration needed to meet physiologic needs varies by age, sex, elevation of residents, smoking habits, and pregnancy status. See the normal hemoglobin level is measured in grams per deciliter of blood. Now let us see the normal hemoglobin level. For women it will be 12.1 to 15.1 gram per deciliter. For men it is 13.8 to 17.2 gram per deciliter and for children it is 11 to 16 gram per deciliter. See in specific for pregnant women it is 11 to 15.1 gram per deciliter. Okay. Now talking about the cause, the most common cause of anemia include nutritional deficiencies, particularly iron deficiency, though deficiency in folate, vitamin B12, and A are also important causes. See note that hemoglobinopathies and infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and parasitic infections can also cause anemia. Now talking about its treatment, see while iron deficiency anemia is the most common form and is relatively easy to treat through dietary changes. And for other forms of anemia it requires specific health interventions. Okay. Now let's see the impacts created by them. See anemia is a serious global public health problem that particularly affects young children and pregnant women. See you can see from the WHO estimate that 42% of children less than 5 years of age and 40% of pregnant women worldwide are anemic. Remember as per WHO anemia is an indicator of both poor nutrition and poor health. It is problematic on its own but it can also impact other global nutritional concerns such as stunting, fasting, low birth weight and childhood overweight and even obesity which is due to lack of energy to exercise. Not only this, if you take the school performance in children and the work productivity in adults even that is reduced due to anemia. See this can have further social and economic impacts for the individual and the family. Some of the other effects of anemia are given here in the image. Just have a look at it. Talking about the initiatives started by the government, see India has a long history of various government run problems like integrated child development schemes, national nutritional anemia control program, weekly iron and folic acid supplementation, then national iron plus initiative etc etc to combat anemia. See there is an important initiative called the Anemia Mukt Bharat. The Anemia Mukt Bharat focuses on reducing anemia amongst pregnant women that is from 50% in the year 2016 to 32% by the year 2022. See intensive focus will be given on interventions like providing prophyliotic IFA that is iron and folic acid supplementation, then deworming, then intensified year round social and behavioral change communication campaign that is SBCC campaign. Then it also focuses on ensuring delayed cot clamping in newborns especially this is beneficial for term and preterm infants because this increases the hemoglobin levels at birth and improves iron stores in the first several months of life. Then it focuses on anemia testing through digital methods and the point of care treatment. Lastly it focuses on mandatory provision of IFA fortified foods in government funded health programs and addressing non-neutrational causes of anemia in endemic pockets. See along with it there will be special focus on malaria, hemoglobinopathies and fluorosis also. For these interventions six institutional mechanisms will be focused and this is through intra ministerial coordination establishing national Anemia Mukt Bharat unit, then national center for excellence and advanced research on anemia control, then convergence with other ministries and strengthening supply chain and logistics and lastly the anemia Mukt Bharat dashboard and digital portal which is a one-stop show on anemia. Okay now let us see about the malnutrition among children. See what is this malnutrition? It refers to the deficiencies, excesses or imbalance in the person's intake of energy or nutrients. Remember the term malnutrition covers two broad groups of conditions. One is the under nutrition which includes stunting which is a low height for the age, then fasting which is the low weight for height, then the underweight which is the low weight for age and lastly it covers the micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies that is a lack of important vitamins and minerals. The other one is the overweight which is causing obesity and diet related non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. So here the deficiency, excesses or imbalances in the person's intake of nutrient will lead to malnutrition. Now why is this happening? See many families cannot afford or access enough nutritious foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, meat and milk whereas foods and drinks high in fat, sugar and salt are cheaper and more readily available. This further leads to a rapid rise in the number of children and adults who are overweight and obese in poor as well as rich countries. Why? Because they go in for the intake of cheaper foods than the healthy foods. So knowing all these facts remember it is quite common to find under nutrition and overweight within the same community household or even individual. It is possible to be both overweight and micronutrient deficient as well. Now coming to the government's initiative to elevate malnutrition see the government has announced the mission portion 2.0 this is to strengthen nutritional content delivery outreach and outcomes. See it actually focuses on developing practices that nurture health wellness and immunity to diseases and malnutrition. The government has also advised the states or the union territories to ensure that the quality of supplementary nutrition satisfies the criteria of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 and its regulations. Then the states and union territories have been advised to promote the use of Ayush systems like Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy then Sova, Rekpa. See this is mainly to combat malnutrition and related disorders. Okay now apart from this a program to assist the creation of portion vaticas at the Anganwadi centers has also been launched. This is to address the dietary diversity deficit by employing traditional knowledge in nutritional practices. See this is what suggested by the WHO scientist am I right? This portion vaticas know is mainly to encourage the community members to grow local food crops in their backyards and this helps them to secure with an inexpensive regular and handy supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. Am I right? So that's all about this news article discussion. So we made a very holistic coverage of two major diseases that is anemia and malnutrition. Also we saw the steps taken by the government of India to eradicate such cruel health problems. See utilize these points to enhance your mains answers. Okay now with these key points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. See this article here it says that in just six weeks after the release at least three of the critical endanger Batagur Bhaskar species have traveled hundreds of kilometers and are now in Bangladesh. See according to Shailendra Singh who is the director of Turtle Survival Alliance India the animals with transmitters had traversed hundreds of kilometers and in the case of one turtle that was in Bangladesh at present the disposal had been about 400 kilometers. See according to the article the objective of the initiative which is fitting transmitters and releasing the turtles was to ascertain the habitat breeding pattern and the movement of the species. So this is the crux of the article given here. Now just have a look at this UPSC prelims question from the year 2019. You can see that turtle is being covered in some way or the other. Not only this question few more previous year questions had been asked based on turtles. So having understood the importance of this topic on turtle now let us make a discussion on turtles as well as tortoises in prelims perspective. Okay first of all let us see about the turtles. See turtles belong to one of the oldest reptile groups in the world. Their origin dates back to the time of dinosaurs which is nearly 200 million years back. See this makes them significantly older than snakes, crocodiles and alligators. Turtles are aquatic or terrestrial reptiles of the order Testudines. See when you take most of their body is shielded by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs. See the order not Testudines includes both extent and extinct species. Extend here means living okay. See about 300 species are alive today and some species of turtles are highly endangered and now let us see few important characteristics of turtles. See generally turtles can be herbivores, carnivores and omnivores in nature. Secondly turtles breathe air and lay their eggs on land which makes them amniots. See even though they spend most of their lives under water they still lay their eggs on land. Note that most of the sea creatures are an amniots which means they lay their eggs under water. Now the third characteristic is the shell of a turtle. See this is actually a part of its skeleton. The shell makes up a part of the turtles rib cage and spine. The shell of a turtle actually grows with its age just like a human skeleton. Okay now coming to the next characteristic turtles are cold bledded which results to an incredibly long lifespan and another reason for the long lifespan is that they have very slow metabolism and can survive without food and water for a long time. They can also survive in harsh conditions which also adds to their lifespan. Now let us see one of the interesting character of the turtle. See turtles are known for their amazing ability to return to the exact beach where they were born years later. Like many animals know turtles can navigate their way at sea by sensing the individual lines of magnetic field but they can also remember the magnetic signature of coastlines and sense tiny variations in magnetic field allowing them to guide themselves back to their home. See most of the turtle species are endangered. This is because of constant human interruptions in their natural habitat. See they are also poached by humans and are pushed into illegal pet trade. Now having seen about the turtles and its characteristics now let us move on to the next part of the discussion. See there are many types of turtles. It includes sea turtles, leatherback turtles, snapping turtles, pond turtles, soft shell turtles and of course tortoises. Oh yes the tortoises how can you forget them? Have you heard the classic statement which is not all turtles are tortoises but all tortoises are turtles. See don't worry we will decode this now. See tortoises are a type of turtle. One of the most distinct difference between turtles and tortoises is their habitat. See turtles are aquatic creatures and they spend most of their time in water whereas tortoises are land dwelling animals. This difference in habitat itself creates some physical differences between these shelled creatures. Because they live on land tortoises have elephant like legs and feet. This helps them walk across the terrain and they have strong forelegs that they use for digging. On the other hand most turtles know will have webbed feet. This helps them to swim and move in water. Now taking the next difference which is about their shells. See the shells of the tortoises are usually rounded and dome shaped whereas if you take the turtles they have flatter more streamlined shells which helps them swim more efficiently. Okay now let us see some of the turtle species in India. The freshwater turtles include Indian flap shell turtle, Indian roofed turtle, red crowned roofed turtle and the sea turtles include olive ridley, leatherback sea turtle, green sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle and the tortoises include Indian star tortoise and the asian forest tortoise. So with this we have come to the end of the discussion. See don't worry regarding the conservation I have made it as a question and in that we will discuss about the conservation. So with these key points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this news article. It is about the Samajwathi party's promise about the restoration of the old pension scheme as a pole plank in 2022. So this is the essence of the article given here. See we are not going to discuss about the article here. Instead we will learn some facts about the national pension scheme and the Atal pension eugenia. Okay first of all let us see about the national pension scheme. See the national pension scheme is a government sponsored pension scheme. It was launched in January 2004 for the government employees. Remember initially this NPS was introduced for the new government recruits but except armed forces. But from 1st May 2009 this NPS has been provided for all the citizens of the country. This is including the unorganized sector workers but on voluntary basis. Okay the scheme is open to people between the age 18 to 60 years. So this is a pension come investment scheme launched by government of India to provide old age security to the citizens of India. It brings an attractive long term saving avenue to effectively plan the retirement through safe and regulated market based return. See the scheme is regulated by the pension fund regulatory development authority and this PFRDA established the national pension system trust and this trust is the registered owner of all assets under NPS. Okay see the national pension system or NPS is based on unique permanent retirement account number which is otherwise called PRA or PRAN. Okay this is allotted to every subscriber. See in order to increase savings the government of India has made the scheme reassuring from security point of view and has offered some attractive benefits for the account holders. Okay now let us see some of those benefits. Firstly it is regulated. See NPS is regulated by PFRDA which ensures transparent norms governing the activities. NPS created trust ensures adherence to the guidelines through regular monitoring. Secondly the scheme is voluntary. See it is a voluntary scheme for all citizens of India. You can invest any amount in your NPS account and at any time. But a subscriber is required to make initial contribution which is minimum of rupees 500 for tier 1 and a minimum of rupees 1000 for a year for tier 2. This is at the time of registration. Okay if you want to know more about tier 1 and tier 2 accounts just watch our Hindu news analysis dated on January 10 2022. Okay the third benefit will be flexibility. See the subscribers have the flexibility to select or change the POP which is nothing but the point of presence. Also they can change the investment pattern and fund manager. Okay see this ensures that one can optimize returns as per their comfort with various asset. Fourthly it is economical. See the NPS is one of the lowest cost investment products available. And the fifth benefit is portability. This NPS account or the plan will remind same irrespective of change in employment city or state. Okay and finally the tax benefits. NPS offers triple tax benefits to the subscribers. And that's all about this national pension scheme or NPS. Now let us see about the Atal pension Eogena. See the Atal pension Eogena or APY is a pension scheme launched by the government of India. It is focused on the unorganized sector workers. Under the APY minimum guaranteed pension of rupees 1000 or 2000 or 3000 or 4000 or 5000 per month will start after attaining the age of 60 years. And this is depending on the contributions by the subscribers for the chosen pension amount. See the minimum age of joining APY or the Atal pension Eogena is 18 years and the maximum age is 40 years. Okay and when we take the age of exit and start of pension it would be 60 years. Therefore minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more. And the Atal pension Eogena or APY is open to all bank account holders who are not members of any statutory social security scheme. See any individual who is eligible to receive benefits under the APY will have to furnish proof of possession of other number or undergo enrollment under other authentication. See an APY subscriber will have to get the other number recorded in his or her APY pension account and also in his or her savings account where the periodic pension contribution installments are debited government contribution is to be credited. Okay see the contributions to the Atal pension Eogena is eligible for tax benefits similar to the national pension scheme and with this we have come to the end of the discussion. See these points can be utilized for enriching your mains answers which is related to the pension schemes or the old age security benefits for the citizens of India. Also if prelims questions comes under any of these schemes or Eogena you can easily arrive at the answer. Okay so with these key points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this news article here it says that Pakistan is still on the FATF's gray list for terrorism financing and note that it urged Islamabad to address the remaining flaws in its banking system as soon as possible. Here you have to note that Pakistan has been on the financial action task force gray list since June 2018 this is for failing to monitor money laundering which leads to terror financing and it has been assigned a plan of action to complete by October 2019. Since then the country continues to be on that list due to its failure to comply with the FATF mandates. So this is the story behind the news article given here in this context let us briefly understand about FATF in prelims perspective. See the financial action task force on money laundering that is FATF was founded by the G7 summit in Paris in 1989. This is in response to the growing concerns about the money laundering. See after recognizing the threat to the banking system and financial institutions the G7 heads of state or government and the president of the european commissions formed the the task force. This task force includes representatives from the G7 the european commission and the eight other countries. Now let us see the responsibility of this action task force. Firstly they need to examine money laundering techniques and trends secondly they have to review the action which had already been taken at a national or international level and lastly they have to set out the measures that still needed to be taken to combat money laundering. So to sum up FATF is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. This intergovernmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent illegal activities because they cause harm to the society. As a policy making body it aims to build the political will needed to implement national legislative and regulatory reforms in this area. Okay see more than 200 countries and jurisdictions committed to implementing them. So FATF is there they are putting rules and regulations but what if the countries don't comply. So to identify the non-compliant countries FATF has maintained the FATF blacklist or the call for action countries and also it has FATF gray list or the other monitored jurisdiction since 2000. Now what is this blacklist and gray list? Let us see now. The FATF blacklist is the agency's official list of non-cooperative countries or territories. See the organization considers these to be non-cooperative in the global battle against money laundering and terrorism financing. Okay now coming to the FATF gray list it is the agency's official list of countries and jurisdictions that are identified as having strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. See understand the difference between the two here the blacklisted countries are non-cooperative unlike the blacklisted ones the gray list countries actively work with the FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes. Okay see when the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring it means the country has committed to resolving swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed time frames. Also it is subject to increased monitoring. Okay remember these countries are mandated to periodically report on the progress made in addressing the identified strategic deficiencies. Meanwhile the FATF closely monitors the implementation of their agreed upon action plans and in a timely and cost-effective manner. Okay so that's all about this article I hope you would have understood what is FATF blacklist and gray list and what is the responsibility of this financial action task force. So with these three points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this article here it is a science-based article and it talks about the discovery of black hole closest to earth at a distance of thousand light years. See it was discovered by european southern observatory in the year 2020 but now a belgium-based group is saying that it is not a black hole and they are saying that it is a vampire which is a two-star system in a rare short-lived stage. So this is the crux of the news article given here. See we are not going to go deep into the issue here because the exam demands us to know general science. Now before getting into the discussion look at this preliminary question from 2019 this is about the black holes that we are going to discuss today. By looking at this question you can very well understand that this kind of science topic like black hole is very important for preliminary examination. So using this as an opportunity let us study some facts about black hole. First of all what is this black hole? What will be your first guess after hearing the name? This is some kind of hole or did you think about empty space? See don't get confused with the name. A black hole is a great amount of matter packed into a very small area. I'll draw an even more clear picture for you. Think of a star ten times more massive than the sun which is squeezed into a sphere approximately the diameter of a new-rock city. The result of this is a gravitational field so strong that nothing not even light can escape. So black holes are volumes of space where gravity is extreme enough to prevent the escape of even the fastest moving particles. Okay now let me tell you another fascinating fact because no light can escape black holes are invisible however space telescopes with special instruments can help find black holes. They can observe the behavior of material and stars that are very close to black holes. And now how does a black hole form? It's generally accepted that stars with the mass at least three times greater than that of our sun can undergo extreme gravitational collapse. This happens once they fuel depletes. See with so much mass in a confined volume the collective force of gravity overcomes a rule that usually keeps the building blocks of atoms from occupying the same space. Now all this density creates a black hole. Now the golden question that everyone thinks whenever we hear about any astronomical object is could a black hole destroy earth? See black holes do not wander around the universe randomly swallowing worlds. They follow the laws of gravity just like other objects in space. The orbit of a black hole would have to be very close to the solar system if it want to affect the earth. See this is not likely occurring. So don't worry we are safe on earth. And if a black hole with the same mass as the sun where to replace the sun earth would not fall in. See the black hole know with the same mass as the sun would keep the same gravity as the sun. So the planets would still orbit the black hole as they orbit the sun now. Now let us see some of the findings about the black hole. See Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of black holes in the year 1916 with his general theory of relativity. The term black hole was coined many years later in 1967 by American astronomer John Wheeler. After decades of black holes being known only as theoretical objects the first physical black hole ever discovered was spotted in the year 1971. Then in the year 2019 the event horizon telescope collaboration released the first image ever recorded of a black hole. See the event horizon telescope saw the black hole in the center of a galaxy M87 while the telescope was examining the event horizon. The image maps the sudden laws of photons. It also opened up a whole new area of research in the black holes. And now that astronomers know what a black hole looks like. Now in the year 2020 the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Roger Penrose for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity. So that's all about this news article. As I said this topic is important in prelims perspective. So with these key points in mind now let us move on to the next part of our discussion which is the prelims practice question discussion. Now look at this first question. It is about the national pension scheme. It is a two statement question so I have to go through both the statements before arriving at the answer. See the first statement is incorrect because we saw in a discussion that the national pension scheme is a government sponsored pension scheme and it was launched in January 2004 for government employees. Initially it was introduced for the new government recruits except armed forces but from 1st May 2009 NPS has been provided for all the citizens of the country including the unorganized sectors on voluntary basis. So here the first statement which says the eligible persons for the NPS are the members of the unorganized sector only is incorrect. Okay now look at the second statement see it is saying that it is open to people between age 18 to 40 years. It is also incorrect because this statement is a feature of the hotel pension eugenia. Then what is the age limit for the national pension scheme? Yes you're right it is 18 to 60 years. So your answer here will be option D neither one nor two are correct statements okay. Now moving on to the second question operation save kurma is related to which of the following species. Option A tiger B pangolin C turtles and tortoises D elephants. See the answer for this question is option C turtles and tortoises. Now we'll see about this operation save kurma. See considering the commercial exploitation of the turtles and tortoises as well as the extent of involvement of the illegal wildlife traders in the illegal trade of life specimens the wildlife crime control bureau envisaged a species specific operation which is named as operation save kurma. This is mainly to focus on the major states involved in the poaching transportation and illegal trade of live turtles and tortoises. See adding to this as I said in my discussion now let us see the conservation efforts in India regarding the turtles okay. Firstly let us see the laws see there are eight laws which are providing for the conservation of turtles which are the wildlife protection act ratification of the sites then ratification of bond convention then environmental protection act then the biological diversity act wildlife protection amendment act of 2002 then the coastal regulations or notification lastly the state fisheries policies and laws all these laws of India are protecting the turtles okay. Now what are all the other conservation efforts firstly take the turtle survival alliance India. See it is dedicated towards conserving non-marine chelonians, crocodilians and cetaceans. See they function as a field program of the wildlife conservation society India through five field based projects this is across the country mainly in the Ganges and Brahmapudra river system okay and we'll see one more conservation effort see the wildlife protection society of India launched operation Kachappa this was in September 1998 the main objective is to reduce turtle mortality and try to safeguard the future of the species by concentrating on three main activities what are they firstly to improve patrolling of non-fishing zones and the protection of nesting sites secondly to support legal action on turtle conservation and fishing law violations and lastly it is to build public support and awareness of sea turtle conservation issues see that's all about the conservation efforts taken for turtle in India now let us move on to the third question it is regarding the black holes see this is also a two statement question so I have to go through both statements to arrive at the answers the first statement is wrong because we saw in a discussion that black holes are not empty region instead they are a great amount of matter packed into a very small area now look at the second statement it is correct because black holes are volumes of space where gravity is extreme and this is enough to prevent the escape of even the fastest moving particles okay now look at the question here it is demanding for correct statement so your answer here will be option B two only is the correct statement okay now look at the last question see this is framed based on our FATF that is financial action task force discussion we saw in a discussion that G7 has helped in launching the financial action task force now coming on to the question which of the following countries are members of G7 here the answer will be option B USA Canada Japan now let us see what are all the seven countries which are the members of G7 they are USA UK Canada Japan Germany France and Italy today I have a quiz question for you please go through the question and post your answers in the common section I will post the correct answer within 24 hours okay now displayed here is a mains practice question for you please go through the question and write your answers and post it in the common section if you like this video do like share and comment and don't forget to subscribe to the Shankar IS Academy's YouTube channel thank you for listening