 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindi newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar A's Academy for the date 30th of November 2022. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay, let's get into the article discussion. Now look at this news article here. It says that according to Neethi Ayog, CCUS technology would play a significant role in decarbonising the high polluting sector. Here what is CCUS? It is nothing but carbon, capture, utilisation and storage technology. See Neethi Ayog vice chairman Suman K. Berry also mentioned that there are many advantages associated with CCUS technology. So in this discussion, let us first see CCUS in detail and its types. Then we'll see the advantages for India for adopting the CCUS technology. So let us start our discussion with the technology. CCUS has three components to it. First is carbon capture. See carbon capture involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions directly from the industrial operations before it has a chance to enter the atmosphere. So before entering the atmosphere, capturing the carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, carbon capture also involves capturing the already existing carbon dioxide that is present in the atmosphere. And this is the carbon capture. And the next one is utilisation. See in this process, the captured carbon dioxide is put to good use. It involves converting the carbon dioxide into useful chemicals of commercial importance. See currently carbon dioxide is used in oil extraction, remediation of alkaline industrial wastes, carbonation of beverages, manufacture of concrete, plastic, foam, clothes and even diamonds. And this is the second step that is utilisation. And the last step is storage. See currently the demand for the utilisation of carbon dioxide is very low. So what should be done with the excess captured carbon dioxide? See if we just release the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, it defeats the whole purpose, right? So some of the carbon dioxide that is captured has to be safely stored so that it does not enter back into the atmosphere. See the most common carbon dioxide storage technology is by storing them within the rock formations over half a mile underground. And for this depleted oil or gas fields or saline formations are mostly used. See these sites are chosen because they have impermeable cap rock. And this impermeable rock structure acts as a seal to contain the carbon dioxide permanently. And this is about the CCUS technology and the steps involved in it. Now with this information let us see three types of CCUS technology. See the first one is post combustion. As the names are just here the carbon dioxide is captured after the combustion takes place. See in this method the flue gas or the exhaust gas from the cold thermal power plants, it is passed or bubbled through a liquid solvent like ammonia. If this is done then the carbon dioxide in the flue gas will be dissolved in ammonia and thus preventing carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere. So this is the first type and the second type is oxyfuel system. See when fossil fuel like coal, petroleum or natural gas is burnt the exhaust gas contains 15 percentage of carbon dioxide and the rest contains other waste gas like carbon monoxide. See at this low percentage it is not economical to capture the carbon from the exhaust gas. Here you have to note that the amount of carbon dioxide released after combustion depends on the amount of oxygen supplied during the combustion process. So what does this mean? This means that the amount of carbon dioxide in the exhaust gas increases with the increased supply of oxygen during the combustion process. So if the fossil fuels are burnt in the presence of pure oxygen then the exhaust contains entirely of carbon dioxide and some water vapor. So now the carbon dioxide in the exhaust gas can be easily captured by just condensing the water vapor in the exhaust gas and this type is called as oxyfuel system. And the third type is pre-combustion. See this type is mainly used in coal gasification plants. We all know the output of coal gasification process right? It is syngas or the synthetic gas. See syngas is made up of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. Here carbon monoxide is reacted with water to produce carbon dioxide and the carbon dioxide is captured using an absorbent like ammonia. So by using carbon capture in the production stage itself we receive pure hydrogen and methane as a result of coal gasification. Here hydrogen is 100% carbon neutral and methane has low emission potential compared to coal or petroleum. See here since the carbon capture technology is used before the combustion process it is called as pre-combustion type. So these are the three major types of carbon capture utilization storage technology. Now having seen the types let us move on to see the advantages for India CCUS technology. Firstly by adopting the technology India can decarbonize India's high pollution sectors like thermal power plants, cement, iron, steel etc. And it will also help India achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2017. We have said this target for us right? Net zero emissions. So it will be helpful in achieving that. And the next one is by adopting the CCUS technology India can become self-reliant for its energy needs. How is this possible? See we know that India is endowed with some of the richest coal fields in the world. But the thing is that power production from coal is highly polluting. So we are importing natural gas from West Asia and this is depleting our foreign exchange reserves. But say we are adopting the CCUS technology. By doing this we can produce clean fuel like hydrogen and methane by integrating coal gasification with the CCUS technology. And this will help our country to become self-sufficient in our natural gas needs. And the hydrogen that is produced in the process can also help our country build a strong hydrogen economy. And these are the two advantages mentioned in the news article. And with this we have also come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this article we saw about carbon capture utilization, storage technology, the components of it, the three types of CCUS technology, post combustion, oxyfuel system, pre combustion. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing the advantages that are mentioned in the news article. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this article here. This particular article talks about the betting that is taking place in Manipur. See the news is that gambling is done for the exotic meat of different species of fauna. And in this gambling wild boars, deer and then binturang, squirrels and even flying foxes are found to be an offer. And not only this different types of birds such as the gray-sided thrush, dragopans have also been spotted. See the blitz dragopan is the state bird of the adjoining state that is Nagaland. And this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us learn about binturang which is an arboreal mammal. So what does the term arboreal means? It means the species live in trees. And this binturang it is also known as bear cat because it looks like a cross between bear and cat. Apart from this know that this binturang is an omnivorous animal of the civet family. See civet here is the common name for various small cat-like arboreal mammals in the family Viveridae. See they are categorized by long lith body with relatively short legs. And there is this one weirdest thing about this binturang. What is that? It is the creature's smell. Yes, the smell that is coming off this creature is the scent of a buttered popcorn. Can you believe it? You have to believe it because it gives off the scent of buttered popcorn. And with this scent only it lays boundaries on branches and foliage. And this is how it marks its territory. And know that this binturang is principally nocturnal. That is it is awake and active at night and it sleeps during the day. And after this we already saw that these mammals they live in trees. So they are found most often among the trees. See they have this interesting feature called prehensile tail. What is this prehensile tail? It means the tail is capable of holding and gripping things. It helps the animal while climbing. So this is one important feature of binturang. See apart from binturang kinkaju they also have prehensile tail. Now look at this image here this is only kinkaju. Now coming back to binturang as we saw already it is an omnivorous animal. So it feeds on fruits such as figs. It also eats eggs and small animals. And this is the diet of the binturang. Now moving on to its habitat and distribution. See binturangs they live in the rainforests of southeast Asia. Just look at this map here the yellow shaded region shows the places where binturangs live. And from this map itself you can see it is also found in India. And majorly it is found in the northeast in India. Now coming to the most important part. See this binturang it is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN red list. And as far as wildlife protection act 1972 is concerned it is categorized under schedule 1. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the arboreal mammal binturang. Its characteristics habitat and distribution and its conservation status. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this editorial article. This article gives an overview about language system in India. See the author of the article speaks about constitutional provisions regarding official language of India and the issues associated with it. So in this discussion we are going to see about constitutional provisions related to official languages and about the issues related to it. But before that the syllabus relevant to the article is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. First of all why do we need language? See language is a vital part of human connection. Although all species have their own ways of communication humans are the only ones who have mastered language communication. See language allows us to share our ideas thoughts and feelings with others. And language is a way to express unique ideas and customs within different cultures and societies. So these are the reasons why we need language. Now having said that let's see the important constitutional provisions in India related to the official language. Now which part of the constitution deals with official language? Exactly. Part 17 of the constitution deals with official language. It includes articles from 343 to 351. Now we are going to see the important articles alone in this discussion and the others will cover in the coming discussions. Now here let's start with article 343. See this article deals with the official language of the union. Under article 343 clause 1 says that official language of the union is Hindi in Devanagiri script. And this article also says that the form of the numerals that are to be used in India would be the international form of Indian numerals. And the clause 2 of the article 343 says that the English language shall be continued for all the official purposes of the union. Now what was the time period given for this? See English was planned to be used for a period of 15 years from the date of commencement of the constitution. That is up to 25th of January 1965. And in clause 2 it is mentioned that during this 15 year period, the President may authorize the use of Hindi in addition to English. And apart from this, the President may also authorize the use of Devanagiri form of numerals in addition to international form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the union. And this is about clause 2. And clause 3 of the article 343 gives provisions for the continuation of English even after 15 years. That is even after 25th of January 1965. And this clause empowers the Parliament to make laws for the continuation of English. And this is about the article 343. Now the next important article when it comes to official languages, article 344. See it deals with official language commission and the committee of parliament on official language. Now let's start with clause 1 of article 344. This article empowers the President to constitute an official language commission. See the commission shall be constituted at the expiration of 5 years from the commencement of the constitution. And after that at the expiration of 10 years from the commencement. See this commission shall consist of a chairman and other such members who are representing the different languages specified in the 8th schedule. And this is what is given in the clause 1. Now here let's take a quick detour and understand what is 8th schedule. See the 8th schedule of the constitution lists the official languages of India. Now what are all the different languages mentioned in the 8th schedule? Currently there are 22 languages under 8th schedule. I have given here the list of 22 languages. Just go through it. Know that initially there were only 14 languages. But later some languages were added to the schedule through subsequent constitutional amendments. And the latest one is 92nd amendment act of 2003. And this amendment added Bodo, Dogri, Maitili and Santali to the 8th schedule. Remember one important point here. There is no fixed criteria for any language to be considered for inclusion in the 8th schedule. So remember this okay. If a statement in the prelims comes like constitution lists the criteria for the languages to be considered for the inclusion in the 8th schedule. Then that statement is incorrect. Now this is about the 8th schedule. Now coming back we saw about official language commission under article 344 clause 1. Right. It is constituted by the president. It is constituted after the expiration of fires from the commencement of the constitution. And it shall consist of chairman and members who are representing different languages in 8th schedule. Now coming to clause 2. It speaks about the task of the official language commission. See the main task of the commission is to make recommendations to the president for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the union. This is the main task. And the other task of the commission is to make recommendations about the restrictions on the use of English language for the official purposes of the union. And this is about clause 2. Now talking about clause 3. It says that the official language commission while making recommendations should give due regard to the industrial, cultural, scientific advancement of India and the just claims and interest of persons belonging to the non-Hindi speaking areas in regard to public service. And this is about clause 3. Now moving on to clause 4. See it speaks about the committee of parliament on official language. The clause says that a 30 member committee shall be constituted. See out of the 30 members, 20 members should be from Lok Sabha and 10 members should be from Rajya Sabha. And the members of the committee are elected by the members of the respective houses. And they are elected in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. And this is about clause 4. Now coming to clause 5. It speaks about the duty of the committee of parliament on official language. See the clause says that the committee has the duty to examine the recommendations of the official language commission. As we saw just before, the official language commission was constituted under article 344 clause 1. So the committee of the parliament has to examine the recommendations of the commission. And the committee also need to report their opinion to the president. And this is about clause 5. Now coming to clause 6. It says that the president may consider the report of the committee and she may issue directions in accordance with the whole or any part of the report. And this is about article 344. Now coming to the next important article, article 345. See article 345 of the constitution deals with official language or languages of a state. So far we saw about union. Now we are going to see about state. See article 345 empowers the state legislature to adopt any one or more languages to use in the state. And it also empowers the state legislature to adopt Hindi or any other language as the language for official purposes of the concerned state. This is about article 345. Now finally let's see about article 348. See it deals with language to be used in Supreme Court in high courts and for the acts and bills. See article 348 says that in Supreme Court and in every high court the proceedings shall be in English language. And apart from this all the authoritative texts they shall be in English language. See here the authoritative texts include bills, amendments, laws, acts made by the parliament or the legislature of the state. And the word text also includes ordinances promulgated by president or governor and then the orders, rules, regulations, by laws etc. Now apart from this article 348 also says that the governor with the prior consent of the president may authorize Hindi or any other language for the official purposes of the state and in the proceedings of the high court. But this provision shall not apply to the judgments, orders or decree passed or made by such high court. Here one important thing is that when the legislatures of the state use languages other than English for bills, acts or ordinances by governor then in that case the translated version that is the English version of the text published in the official guess it shall be deemed as the authoritative text. Now these are all the important constitutional provisions regarding official language. Now with this information let us see the issues associated with the language that is mentioned in the editorial article by the author. See as we just saw under article 343 clause 3 the parliament enacted the official languages act and this happened in the year 1963. Try to remember what is article 343 and what is clause 3. Okay, it will be like a revision for you. Now we saw that parliament has enacted official languages act in 1963. See this act provides for the continued use of English even after the 15 year time period given in the constitution. And English is used here in addition to Hindi. See the text of the act did not satisfy some states and they thought that in future the union government will impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states. So protests were erupted in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala etc. And this was one main issue from the past that the author quotes in this editorial. See recently in the October month the parliamentary committee on official language which was headed by Home Minister submitted its report to the president. See this is the 11th report on official language by the committee. And note that this report is not yet available to the public domain but while announcing the completion of the 11th report, Home Minister highlighted some of the committee's recommendations. Now we will see some of them. Firstly the recommendation is that Hindi should replace English as the official language of examinations for the recruitment to the government posts. And then it also says that Hindi should be the only medium of instruction in Kendriya Vidyalayas, Indian Institute of Technologies, Indian Institutes of Management and Central Universities. And finally the report says that it should be constitutionally binding on the state governments to propagate Hindi. And this report also created issue because some states they did not agree with the recommendations. And this is one another issue mentioned by the author in the editorial. And after this the author says that the language chapter in the constitution only mentions about the official language. See the official language is definitive and limits itself to the languages of the union. So the author is saying that the language chapter does not mention about a national language of India. And this is one another issue. And finally as we saw in article 344, clause 3, while submitting report to the president the official language commission should have due regard to the industrial, cultural, scientific advancement of India and the interest of persons belonging to non-Hindi speaking areas with respect to public services. So this should be kept in mind by the president and the author is of view that union government should not impose language over the states. So while concluding the author is saying that the constitutional clause should be followed in India regarding languages. And while doing that the spirit of cooperative federalism should not be ignored. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this article discussion we saw about the need for language. We saw important constitutional provisions regarding official language. We saw article 343, 344, 345. We saw 8th schedule. We saw article 348. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the issues mentioned by the author in the editorial article. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this article here. This article says that RBA that is the Reserve Bank of India announced that the first pilot for the retail version of the digital rupee is going to be introduced on December 1, 2022. And this is about the news article given here. So in this discussion we are going to see what is going to be done by the RBA and how it is going to issue the digital currency. See the pilot version announced by RBA is going to cover selected locations in closed user group which comprises of participating customers and merchants. And know that this digital rupee is going to be in the form of a digital token that represents the legal tender. And the RBA also said that the digital currency is going to be issued in the same denominations that the paper currency and coins have. So these are the basic information about the digital currency. Now how it is going to be issued? RBA said that it would be distributed through intermediaries. Here intermediaries means banks. So users will be able to transact with digital currency through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks. And these digital currency can be stored on mobile phones or devices. And this is how the digital currency is going to be issued. Now what about the transactions of digital currency? See transactions can be both person to person and person to merchant. Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations. And this is how we can transact the digital currency. Now you may all have doubt. We all are used to transacting with physical cash right? Now you may think how this digital currency will work? You don't have to have any doubts at all. This digital currency offers features of physical cash. It offers trust. It offers safety. And it also offers settlement finality. So it is exactly like physical cash but in the digital form. And like the physical cash it will not earn any interest. And like physical cash it can be converted to deposits with banks. So these are the significances of digital currency. Now coming to the intermediaries. That is the banks. See eight banks have been identified for phase wise participation in this pilot. The first phase will begin with four banks. And the four banks include State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank. And four more banks which include Bank of Baroda, Unit Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahendra Bank. These banks will join this pilot program subsequently. So the first phase is going to start with four banks. And four other banks will follow them eventually. And know that the pilot version is going to cover four cities initially. And the four cities include Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneshwar. And later it is going to extend to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Gawati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla. Now these are the information related to intermediaries and the cities where this pilot program is going to be commenced. And with this we have come to the end of this particular discussion. In this discussion we saw about the digital currency, distribution mechanism, transaction, significance and the intermediaries and the places where the pilot program is going to be commenced. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now for our next discussion we are going to see this data point that focuses on management of solid waste. Yeah you heard me right, waste. See we often just imagine the waste generated from the household. But it is only one type of many different solid waste that are generated every day across cities, villages and states. Now in this regard the data point has analysed a report titled NVStats India 2022. See this report focuses on the disposal of wastes that are generated. Therefore to understand the data we need basic understanding of the types of wastes, its sources and disposal mechanism. Now let us begin with the basics. But before that the syllabus 11 to the article is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Now do you know what is solid waste? We can find the definition for this in the solid waste management rules 2016. And as per the rules solid waste means the waste that is given in the table. It consists of solid or semi-solid domestic waste, sanitary waste, commercial waste, institutional waste, catering and market waste, horticulture waste, biomedical waste, e-waste, battery waste etc. See all these are categorized as solid waste. See we know that solid waste results from various sources. Therefore it is majorly classified as industrial waste, municipal waste, biomedical waste and e-waste. See industrial solid waste is also called as hazardous waste. See the major generators of industrial solid waste include thermal power plants, iron and steel mills, pulp and paper industries. Now for example take the thermal power plants. They produce coal ash and it is well known fact that fly ash which is nothing but the coal ash it causes air and water pollution. Like this I can keep on listing different types of waste generated in different industries. For your information I have given here this table. Just go through it. This table contains the list of different solid wastes resulting from different industries. But the fact to note here is that management of industrial solid waste is not the responsibility of local bodies. So whose responsibility is to manage the waste? See the industries generating the solid waste have to manage the waste by themselves. They are required to seek authorizations from the respective state pollution control boards. So it is the industries that are required to collect and dispose their waste. And more importantly it should be disposed at specific disposal sites. But the issue here is that there are no specific disposal sites for disposing industrial solid waste. So then what do the industries do? They dispose the waste in nearby water bodies or land which causes water and air pollution. And this is about the industrial solid waste. And the next one is municipal waste. See these are generated mainly from residential and commercial complexes. It consists of household waste, construction waste and demolition debris which is also called as inert waste. Then sanitation residue and waste from streets. These are called as municipal waste. See for the municipal solid waste the integrated solid waste management principle is applied. See it is nothing but a waste management hierarchy. First it aims to minimize waste generation at the source and reuse of products such as reuse of carry bags and packaging jars etc. And the next in line is waste recycling. And after that there is composting. Since municipal solid waste has a significant amount of organic waste it can be converted to compost. So this is also done. And the next is waste to energy. That is energy is recovered from the waste. It is done through production of heat, electricity or fuel etc. And the final one in this hierarchy is the waste disposal. This step aims to dispose the inert waste in landfills which are constricted as per the solid waste management rules 2016. Now this is about the municipal waste. Now finally coming to biomedical waste. It is also known as hospital waste. Now how it is generated? It is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or even animals. During medical research activities or during production of testing of biological waste is generated. See here biologicals is nothing but vaccines, immune modulators, products derived from human blood and plasma etc. So while doing research activities with these waste will be generated right? And other wastes include sharps, soiled waste, disposables, anatomical waste, cultures, discarded medicines, chemical wastes etc. See these are in the form of disposable syringes, swabs, bandages, body fluids, human excreta etc. So you can understand that this waste is highly infectious and it can be a serious threat to human health. And that is why it is also referred as infectious waste. We saw initially right industrial solid waste is also called as hazardous waste. Now this biomedical waste is also called as infectious waste. So therefore this biomedical waste needs to be managed in a scientific and discriminate manner. And for this purpose only the government has notified the biomedical waste handling and management rules in the year 1998. And after two decades the government notified a modified version of these rules which is known as biomedical waste management rules 2016. So the rules basically streamline that is combine or align the process of hospital waste segregation that is separation, collection, treatment and disposal. So it also provides for biomedical waste treatment and disposal facility. Now such a facility treats and disposes the biomedical waste. Now this is about the biomedical waste. See for your information I have given here the different types of biomedical waste and its treatment and disposal option. Pause the video and just go through it. You have to be aware that these are the different types of waste and these are all the methods that are used in the treatment and disposal of biomedical waste. Now coming to the fourth category e-waste. It is nothing but electronic waste. It comprises of old and end-of-life electrical and electronic appliances such as TVs, refrigerators, computers etc. So the waste that is obtained from these electrical and electronic appliances is called as electronic waste. See e-waste is of particular concern to India because we not only generate it ourselves we also import e-waste. So that's why it is a concern to India. See for e-waste handling we follow the principle of extended producer responsibility. Under the EPR producers have to collect the targeted quantity of e-waste for dismantling and recycling. See this collection should be done only through authorized dismantlers and recyclers and they in turn carry out the dismantling and recycling as per the guidelines published by Central Pollution Control Board. Now here you may have a doubt. See even the inert waste or even waste from household can also be toxic right? Then how it is handled? See the municipal solid waste containing toxic components are called as special wastes or special waste including domestic hazardous waste. See it is called as special because it requires special handling and special disposal. So therefore plastic waste, biomedical waste, slaughterhouse waste, e-waste, waste tires and battery waste they are all called as special waste only. So this is like a sub-category okay? Now I hope you got a comprehensive understanding of solid waste. Now let us come to the data point. See the report NVStats India 2022 has been published by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation. It provides environment statistics. See the objective is to provide information about the environment, its changes over the time and across locations and also the main factors that influence the environment. In this way the report highlights the challenge of disposing solid waste without harming the environment and the report provides statewide data. See in this discussion we are not going to cover statewide data but what we are going to do is we are going to see some worrying data that is mentioned in the report. The report says that in Delhi we don't know what happens to around 89% of hazardous waste. See this shows the lack of implementation of rules and regulations in the national capital and there is this another set of data which is sourced from Sustainable Development Goal Index of Nithya Yoke. It shows that 68% of the municipal solid waste generated is processed across India. On the other hand 87% of biomedical waste is also treated. The data also shows that 17 states and 5 union territories have already achieved 100% biomedical waste treatment. And more importantly the data also says that only 45% of hazardous waste generated is recycled or utilized. So you can see the data here right? 68% of municipal solid waste is processed. 87% of biomedical waste is treated. Even some states achieved 100% of biomedical waste treatment. But when it comes to hazardous waste only 45% is treated. So comparing this data and the data from NVSTARTS India 2022 we can conclude that the management of hazardous waste had to be given more attention now. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw the basics about solid waste. We saw the different types of solid waste it includes industrial solid waste, municipal solid waste, biomedical waste and electronic waste. We saw the sources of it and we also saw the disposable mechanisms followed in each and every waste. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing the report NVSTARTS India 2022 and the data from SDG index of Niti Ayog. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this editorial article here. It talks about the development of an intranasal vaccine against COVID-19 virus. See three months ago Bharat Biotech's intranasal COVID-19 vaccine was granted emergency use approval and it is for the primary vaccination of adults. And now it is given as a heterologous booster for adults over 18 years. And this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let us discuss about the intranasal vaccine in detail. First of all what is meant by intranasal vaccine? As the name suggests the vaccine dose is given through nose. See normally vaccines are given orally like the polio vaccine or it is injected via the arm like the covaxin or covid shield. But in this approach the vaccine is either injected through a specific nasal spray or through aerosol delivery and this is only intranasal vaccine. The example for the intranasal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is BBV154. See it is a novel adenovirus-vectard vaccine for COVID-19. And this vaccine stimulates a broad immune response. See what happens here is that when a dose of vaccine is administered a neutralizing antibody is produced. See this neutralizing antibody is an antibody that is responsible for defending the cells from pathogens. And these neutralizing antibodies are produced naturally by the body as a part of its immune response. So what is the duty of vaccine here? The duty of the vaccine is to trigger the production of these neutralizing antibodies. See these antibodies will be produced at the time of infection also. But it's like a trial you know before getting infected. If the vaccine triggers the production of neutralizing antibody then when you get infected it will be easy for the immune system to defend the cells from the pathogens. And this is the concept behind vaccination and intranasal vaccination in particular. See immune responses in this intranasal vaccines are at the site of infection that is in the nasal mucosa. See this area that is the area in the nose is very crucial because there only infection and transmission of COVID-19 happens. So it is very essential to block both the infection and the transmission of COVID-19 in the nasal mucosa. And this is the significance of intranasal vaccine because we are administering vaccine in the nasal area right. So it effectively blocks both the infection and transmission of COVID-19. Now just have a look at this image. It shows how the intranasal vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 is manufactured and administered. Now with these information let us move on to see some of the advantages of intranasal vaccination approach. Firstly as we already saw it prevents the infection at the point of entry that is in the respiratory tract. And the second advantage is that they are very easy to administer. See it is non-invasive and needle free. So it does not require trained healthcare workers and all. And the third advantage is that they are most beneficial for special populations. See special population in the sense it is most beneficial for administering children, elderly patients, HIV infected patients, multi-morbid patients. See these people they have problem with needles right. So it is beneficial for administering vaccines for these populations. See we know that everything have both advantages and concerns right. So one of the major concern of the SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine is that the efficacy of the vaccine is not known. See if the efficacy or efficiency is known only then it can be used as primary vaccination at all time right. So now efficacy is not known. That is a major concern. And after that SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine does not have the virus spike protein with new mutations. And this is the second concern. So only after proper study its efficiency to prevent infection and severe disease and death can be known. Now that's all about this intranasal vaccination regarding the SARS-CoV-2. Do you remember the word heterologous boosting we saw while discussing the news article right. We'll see what it is. See if a person is injected with a different vaccine primarily that is they get two doses of one vaccine and then they are getting vaccinated with an entirely separate vaccine this is called as heterologous boosting. And we saw in the news article that this SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine is used as a heterologous booster so far. This means that participants who were immunized earlier with two doses of either co-vaccine or COVID shield will be given this SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine. So first they are getting two doses of co-vaccine or COVID shield. And then only they are getting this SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine. So this SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine is serving us a heterologous booster. I hope you understand. And as we saw earlier the concern is we don't know anything about the efficiency. So if we want to move this intranasal vaccine to primary vaccination then the efficiency has to be known. And that is the major concern with this SARS-CoV-2 intranasal vaccine. Now with this we have come to the end of this particular discussion. In this discussion we saw about intranasal vaccine, its administration, significance, advantages and concerns. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now have a look at this news article here. This news article talks about MG Narega activities. See the news is that Union Rural Development Ministry has served notice to the Telangana government. The notice is to return the 151.9 crore rupees spent under the MG Narega scheme. See the amount is asked to return because it was spent on construction of platforms for drying fish and grains. See these activities they are not permitted under the scheme. And this is the crux of the news article given here. So in this discussion we'll concentrate on the activities that are not permitted under the MG Narega scheme. See we all know the expansion of MG Narega right. It is MG National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or Act. And it is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the right to work. As we all know it provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in every financial year. See this employment opportunity is for adult members of any rural household who are willing to do public work. See the work must be related to unskilled manual work at a statutory minimum wage. Now this is about the MG Narega scheme. To know more about the scheme watch the 28th November 2022 in the news analysis. Now today let us see what are all the activities that are not permitted under this MG Narega scheme. Firstly works like boulder, pebble or shrub removal and then silt application they are not permissible as standalone activities under MG Narega scheme. But when they are a part of any watershed management project then it is permissible. Secondly normal agricultural operations such as land preparation, ploughing, sowing, weed removal, turning the soil, watering, harvesting, pruning they are all not permissible under MG Narega scheme. And then agri activity for food grain crops, vegetables, floriculture etc. They are also not permitted under this Act. And also note that the material cost for the seeds, fertilizers, pesticides are not covered under MG Narega. Apart from this know that if the removal of weeds and watering is done only for the forestry plantations and horticulture then they are permissible. You cannot say these activities also comes under agriculture activities right? If it is done only for the forestry plantations and horticulture then they are permissible. But the condition here is it should be limited for a duration of 2 to 3 years only. So what does this mean? This means that these activities are permitted only till the plantation grows. And then note that the MG Narega funds they cannot be used for land acquisition. See suppose a land is being donated for MG Narega works. It should be ensured that the donation is entirely voluntary and it should not be under due pressure. Now lastly regarding the activities of construction of wells. See bore wells and tube wells construction are not permitted under MG Narega scheme. See digging of private wells in semi-critical or critical or overexploited areas is also not permissible. See in these semi-critical critical and overexploited areas only group wells will be allowed. And what is this group wells? See group well is nothing but a group of farmer agrees to share water from a well. And this well is called as group well. And each group will comprise at least three farmers. So in semi-critical critical and overexploited areas only group wells will be allowed. So there digging of private wells will not be permissible. Now that's all about the activities that are not permitted under the MG Narega scheme. And with this we have also come to the end of this particular discussion. In this discussion we saw a brief about MG Narega scheme. And after that we moved on to see the activities that are not permitted under MG Narega scheme. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now for our next discussion we are going to take this text and context article. See this article is about the entry of women in Masjid. See this issue is in news because last week the Jama Masjid in Delhi prohibited the entry of single women or women in groups inside the mosque premises. And the Masjid administration said that the ban on women entry is due to the fact that some women fail to respect the sanctity of the place of worship and some are even making videos on the premises of the Masjid. And this reason caused huge backlash. Later after the intervention of Lieutenant Governor of Delhi the ban was lifted. And this is why the issue of entry of women into Masjids is again in news. See this text and context article also talks about the legal issues in these type of bans and then about the provision in the Islamic law regarding this issue and some previous cases where bans like this have been in place. So in this discussion we will see all these points in detail. Now before getting into the discussion I have highlighted here the syllabus relevant for this discussion so please go through it. Now first of all let us see some previous instances where issues like this happened. See back in 2011 a similar kind of issue aroused in Mumbai. In Mumbai's famous Haji Ali Dargah a grill was put up on the premises and women were prohibited entry beyond this grill. First women approached the Masjid administration to resolve the issue but their issue was not addressed. So later women organized a campaign and approached the Bombay High Court. See the Bombay High Court in the year 2016 finally lifted the ban on entry of women into the Masjid. And the Bombay High Court while giving its judgement mentioned that various provisions of constitution says that there is complete equality between men and women. So now let us see some important provisions in the constitution that ensures women entry in mosques. The first article is article 14. We all know what is article 14 right? It ensures equality before law. As we all know this right to equality before law is extended to all persons whether citizens or foreens, statutory corporations, companies, registered societies or any other type of legal person. So in the eyes of law both men and women are equal. So treating someone unfairly just because of their gender is against equality. So this is the first provision of the constitution that ensures equality between men and women. The second one is article 15. See article 15 exclusively states that no citizen shall be discriminated on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Here notice the word sex. So discrimination based only on the ground of sex is violative of article 15. So we cannot discriminate against women. And this is the second provision that ensures equality. And the next one is article 17. See article 17 abolishes untouchability and it forbids the practice of untouchability in any form. See not allowing women to enter the masjid based on their gender is a form of untouchability right? So banning entry of women is against article 17 also. And this is the third provision. The fourth one is article 21. Article 21 ensures the right to life and personal liberty. Here the right to life does not just include mere existence. Then what does it include? It includes the right to live with dignity. See practicing one's religion of choice is an important component of having a dignified life right? You should have a choice to follow whatever religion you want. That comes under right to life and personal liberty. So preventing entry of women into masjid also violates article 21. Now coming to the religion specific provision of the constitution. See article 25. It ensures freedom of consigns, profession, practice and propagation of one's religion of choice. See visiting masjid of one's choice is covered under the right to freedom of profession of a religion. So women's right to enter the masjid is also covered under article 25 of the constitution. See these are fundamental rights and these are all the important provisions of the constitution that ensures equality between men and women. See these are the rights that are guaranteed under constitution. But our constitution also aspires to be a better society. So the directive principles of state policy encourages the state to secure a uniform civil code for all citizens. See uniform civil code is nothing but a uniform law for everyone. So it ensures elimination of discrepancy that is followed in personal laws that are currently enforced in the country. And this is what is the aspiration of the Indian constitution. So the ban on Muslim women entry to mask is also against DPSP and for your information the article number for the uniform civil code is article 44. See you don't have to remember each and every article number but just remember the important ones okay. See like I said the provisions that we saw just now are the important provisions of the constitution that guarantees equality between men and women and in turn it guarantees entry of women in masjid of their choice. See the supreme court has also reiterated this in many instances. Through the Sabarimala judgment supreme court has lifted the ban of women into a place of worship. See in this judgment the court mentioned that religion cannot be used as a cover to deny rights of worship to women and it is also against human dignity. See these are the legal provisions. Now having seen the legal provisions and the constitutional provisions regarding the entry of women in the masjids. Now let us move on to see what Quran has to say in this regard. See Quran at no place prohibits women from going to mask for prayers. Wherever the Quran talks of establishing prayer it talks in general neutral terms. See before daily prayer a prayer invitation call or azan is pronounced. An azan basically means a general invitation to both men and women for prayers. See even in the holiest of the places for the Muslims that is Haram Sharif in Mecca and Masjid-e-Nabawi in Medina there is a separate hall for men and women to perform their prayers. In West Asia and also in countries like US, Canada women are not prohibited entry into masjids to perform their prayers. So what does this mean? It means that the restriction on women is mainly a phenomenon in Indian subcontinent and its neighbouring countries. Now this is what is given in the news article. And with this we have also come to the end of this particular discussion. In this discussion we saw about the previous instances where the ban on entry of women into masjid arose and after that we saw important provisions of the constitution that ensures women entry in the masjids and we saw the legal provisions also. And finally we moved on to see the provisions that are mentioned in the Quran and the Indian scenario that is explained in the article. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next article discussion. Now this is the final article for today's discussion. The news is that recently National Highway Authority of India has begun its work on widening the Mamallapuram Mukayur stretch of east coast road in Tamil Nadu. And it is going to be a four lane road and this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let's learn about National Highway Authority of India, its composition and its functions. See the National Highway Authority of India was set up in the year 1995. See it is a statutory body and it was constituted under the National Highway Authority of India at 1988. Note that the National Highway Authority of India is functioning under the administrative control of ministry of road transport and highways. And its headquarters is located in New Delhi. Now this is about the basics of National Highway Authority of India. See it is also shortly referred as NHAI. Now talking about its composition the NHAI consists of a full-time chairman and it should not contain more than five full-time members. See note that both the chairman and the full-time members they are appointed by central government and then the NHAI also consists of four part-time members. See the part-time members include secretary of road transport and highways, secretary of expenditure, secretary of planning and director general of road development. So they are the part-time members and this is about the composition. Now let us see some important functions of NHAI. Firstly, NHAI is responsible for the development, maintenance, management of national highways. And this task is entrusted to NHAI by the government of India. And secondly, NHAI advises the central government on matters relating to highways in India. And thirdly, they regulate and control the applying of vehicles on the highways and this is done for the proper management of highways. We all know there will be wear and tear, right? So if they regulate the vehicles on highways then there will be proper management of highways. Fourthly, NHAI provides consultancy and construction services in India and also in abroad, not this point, okay? And fifthly, they provide facilities and amenities for the users of the highways for the smooth flow of traffic. And finally, NHAI establishes and maintains hotels, motels, restaurants and restrooms near the highways for the users of highways. So these are all the main functions of National Highways Authority of India. And with this, we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the National Highways Authority of India, its composition and important functions. Now with these points in mind, let us move on to the next part of the discussion that is the Practice Problems Question Discussion. Today we have six questions for discussion. I'll solve five of them and one of them is a quiz question for you. Now let us take this first question for a discussion. Which of the following adds carbon dioxide to the carbon cycle on planet Earth? Volcanic action, respiration, photosynthesis, decay of organic matter. See, after reading the options given, we know that photosynthesis releases oxygen into the atmosphere. It does not add carbon dioxide. So we know that statement three is incorrect. So from this we can eliminate option A and option D. See, we know that respiration adds carbon dioxide and decay of organic matter also adds carbon dioxide. And adding to that, volcanic action also adds carbon dioxide. So the correct answer to this question is option C, 1, 2 and 4 only. Now coming to the second question, consider the following pass. See, one side species is given, on the other side IUCN status is given. Clouded leopard vulnerable, great Indian bustered, endangered, fishing cat vulnerable. So which of the following pass are correctly matched? See, here the answer is only two pass. Because, see the IUCN status of great Indian busters critically endangered. So this statement is only incorrect. One and three is correct. So the correct answer to this question is option B, only two pass. Now coming to the third question, consider the following statements. All biomedical wastes are incinerated. See, this statement is incorrect. See, here it is given us all biomedical waste are incinerated. See, such extreme statements are always wrong. And know that incineration is just one of the options to dispose the biomedical waste. Other options include plasma pyrolysis, deep burial or even recycling. So statement one is incorrect. Coming to statement two, waste to energy is possible with municipal solid waste. This is correct. This we saw in the discussion itself. Now coming to third statement, plastic waste is accepted as fuel in cement kilns. See, this is correct. See, with respect to plastics, first preference is recycling. But plastics cannot be recycled indefinitely, right? Each recycling cycle reduces the strength and utility of the plastic. So energy recovery from plastics shall be considered when recycling is no longer possible. And here only plastic waste is accepted as fuel in cement kilns. See, the question has asked us for the incorrect statements. So what did we find out? We found out that statement one is incorrect but statement two and three are correct. So the correct answer to this question is option A, one only. Now let us solve this next question. In the context of vaccines manufactured to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic, consider the following statements. See, this is a previous question that is asked in the year 2022. Statement one, the Serum Institute of India produced COVID-19 vaccine named COVID shield using mRNA platform. See, this statement is incorrect because COVID shield used a weekend version of common cold virus or the adenovirus that is found in chimpanzees. But mRNA vaccines, it uses a molecule called messenger RNA. So this statement is incorrect. If we find out that statement one is incorrect, we can easily arrive at the correct answer which is option B, two and three only. Second and third statements are correct. Sputnik 5 vaccine is manufactured using vector based platform and co-vaccine is an inactivated pathogen based vaccine. Now moving on to the next question. Which of the following activities are permitted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act? Statement one, construction of Anganwadi centers. Statement two, reclamation of community waterlogged land. Statement three, repair and maintenance of Boulder Chekdam for community. See, the answer to this question is option D, all the above. See, according to MG Narega, the works have been divided into 10 broad categories. It include watershed, irrigation and flood management works, agricultural and livestock related works, fisheries and works in coastal areas and the rural drinking water and sanitation related works. So these are the broad classification and works that comes under this classification is permitted under MG Narega scheme. So the correct answer to this question is option D, all the above. Go and read the other works that are permitted under MG Narega. It will be useful for you in your prelims. Now coming to the final question, with reference to National Highways Authority of India, consider the following statement. See, this is only the quiz question for you. Take a moment, think about it and post your answer in the comment section. Displayed here are the main questions regarding today's discussion. So interested people, write it and post your answer in the comment section. And if you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today, post that also in the comment section. And with this we have come to the end. If you like the video, like, share and comment and do subscribe to Shankaray's Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.