 Hello all, welcome to Shankara IS Academy's YouTube channel. Before starting our discussion for today, I have an announcement regarding your prelims preparation. This is about the second batch of Prefit. Yes, Shankara IS Academy is going to launch second batch of Prefit from 16th of this month. For your convenience, we have planned to conduct these tests all across India in both online and offline mode. Two schedules are fixed, one in the morning and one in the evening. Aspirants can choose your schedule and write the tests. The registration link for this particular test is given in the description of this video. Interested aspirants can make use of this opportunity and register. Here note that the test will consist of both sectional papers and full papers. So, I request you all to join the test immediately. With this, now let's get into today's article discussion. Today's date is 12th of February 2023 and these are the articles which we are going to discuss today. Now, let's get into the first article for the day. The news article provided here states that Aaron Article Department Development Agency, which comes under the Defence Research and Development Organization, has invited Indian Defence Industry players to join the development and manufacture of the indigenous 5th generation fighter jet. This 5th generation fighter aircraft is nothing but the advanced medium combat aircraft. So, in this discussion, let us see some points about the AMCA. See, as I already said, AMCA will be a 5th generation fighter. Here, 5th generation aircrafts are those which have incorporated all the major technologies that are developed in the 21st century. The 5th generation fighter aircrafts have the following features. First one is stealth, then they have high manoeuvrability. They will also have the ability to stay in supersonic speed for a lengthy period of time. Then the fighter will also incorporate advanced avionics. Finally, these aircrafts have data fusion technology, which enables situational awareness on the battlefield. See, right now, these are all some of the features of the 5th generation fighter aircraft. Right now, there are only 4 5th generation fighter aircrafts in the world. They are Martin F-22, Martin F-35, Sukhoi Su-57 and Chengdu J-20. The first two aircrafts which I mentioned are of American origin. While Sukhoi is from Russia, Chengdu J-20 is from China. So, from this, we can see that only 3 countries in the world have 5th generation fighter aircrafts. From now on, India is also planning to build its 5th generation aircraft. If successful, India will become the 4th country to have a 5th gen aircraft fighter. Unlike India's light compact aircraft, that is Tejas, which has a single engine, AMCA will be a twin-engine stealth aircraft. It will have an internal payload capacity of up to 1500 kg and external payload capacity of up to 5,500 kg. The aircraft can also carry up to 6,500 kg of fuel internally. Here note that AMCA is designed to have a maximum speed of Mach 2.15 and it will have a range of about nearly 3,000 km. Here, range is the maximum distance an aircraft can fly with its full fuel tank capacity. These are all some of the facts regarding AMCA. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Through this discussion, we came to know about advanced medium compact aircraft. With these learned points, now let's move on to the next article discussion. Now have a look at this FAQ article. This article covers many aspects surrounding earthquakes. The article talks about why earthquakes occur, what kind of earthquake occurred in Turkey, why the recent earthquake in Turkey was so devastating. Similarities between earthquakes in Turkey and India are also discussed. And finally, the article gives the solution to reduce the destruction caused by earthquakes. All these are very important for our examination. So in our discussion today, let us see all the points discussed in this article in detail. The syllabus regarding this discussion is displayed here. You can go through it. Now let us start our discussion by looking at what causes earthquakes. The occurrence of earthquakes is explained by the elastic rebound theory. But to understand this elastic rebound theory, we need to know a little bit about plate tectonics. According to the plate tectonics theory, earth crust is made up of a number of plates. Look at this map highlighting the major plates of earth crust. These plates are constantly moving past one another. The movement of plates is caused due to convection current in the mantle, rich push force and slap pull force. Due to these three forces, the plates are constantly moving past one another and they collide with one another along the place where two plates interact, faults are generated. So what are faults? To understand faults clearly, look at this image. This is the famous San Andreas fault that is formed between the Juwan Di Fouca plate and the North American plate. In the image, you can see a cleavage in the rock structure. This cleavage is called a fault. Here, the cleavage occurs when one side of the rock has moved past one another. See, along the plate boundaries, there will be slow but constant motion. Due to this motion, in some areas, cleavage might occur in the rock structure and this is why faults are mainly found near plate boundaries. Also, note the difference between faults and fractures. Fractures are simply cracks in the crust where there is no movement, where is faults or cracks in the earth crust along which there is a movement. See, based on the movement of rocks along the fault line, the faults can be divided into three types. The first one is the normal fault. In normal faulting, two plates move away from each other causing one plate to slide down relative to the other. The second one is reverse or thrust fault. When the plates are compressed or pushed together, reverse or thrust fault occurs. This means that one plate is pushed up onto another plate. The last one is strike-slip fault. In strike-slip faulting, the two plates are moving horizontally past one another. To understand this better, imagine cars going in opposite directions on the highway. This is how strike-slip fault occurs. These are the three main types of faults. Now, why are we talking about faults in the discussion which is mainly about earthquakes? See, this is because earthquakes mainly occur in areas where there are fault lines. Look at this map highlighting the earthquake-prone region of the world. And recall, this map looks similar to the plate boundary map which we saw earlier. We know that faults mainly occur along the plate boundary and earthquakes occur along faults. This is why the plate boundary map and the earthquake-prone map look similar. Now, coming to the elastic boundary theory. Before an earthquake, due to the movement of the tectonic plates, there is a build-up of stress in the rocks on either side of a fault. Due to the increased stress, the rocks tend to deform. This tendency of the rocks to deform is countered by frictional force. As long as the frictional force is higher than the tendency of the rock to deform due to stress, there won't be any movement. But note that the stress keeps on building up. At some point, the stress becomes so great to overcome the frictional force. At that moment, the earth breaks. This results in an earthquake. The earthquake relieves some of the stresses that build up along the rocks. This is how earthquakes occur due to elastic rebound theory. Having understood the basics about faults and earthquakes, now let us see why the recent earthquake in Turkey was very devastating. To answer this question, we must first look at the geography of the region. Look at this image. If we can notice, Turkey sits in the Anatolian Plate. It has the African Plate in its south, Arabian Plate in the southeast, Aragon Plate in the southwest and the Eurasian Plate in the north. It also has two big faults running through the country. The faults being the north Anatolian fault that lies between Anatolian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The other fault of east Anatolian fault lies between Anatolia Plate and the Arabian Plate. The Arabian Plate is moving towards the north. This pushes the Anatolia Plate to the west. Due to the westward movement of the Anatolian Plate, a strike-slip fault occurred along the east Anatolian fault. The recent which caused the earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on February 6, 2023. In addition to this, nearly 200 aftershocks were felt after the first earthquake was recorded in the seismograph. Here the term aftershock is a smaller earthquake following the main shock of a larger earthquake. The impact of the earthquake was felt along the entire east Anatolian fault. Since 190 km of this fault lies in Turkey, the impact of the recent earthquake was quite devastating. The timing of the earthquake is also to be blamed for the huge loss of human life. The earthquake occurred early in the morning when most people were sleeping in their homes. So the earthquake caught the people of Turkey off-guard. The last and major cause for destruction is human neglect. As I already said, Turkey sits in a very active seismic zone. It also has building codes to minimize the damage if at all an earthquake occurs. But the building codes are seldom enforced. A lack of enforcement of building codes in Turkey is said to be another major factor that resulted in death and destruction. Now let us come to India. We here will try to see the similarities and dissimilarities between earthquakes in Turkey and India. See, the Indian Plate is pushing towards the Eurasian Plate. As we saw earlier, when there is a compressive force between two plates, rivers or thrust fault forms. The main cause of earthquakes in India along the Himalayan region is the rivers fault. The article here also mentions about a massive earthquake that is overdue in the Garhwal Kumaon Range. The Garhwal Kumaon Range is located in Uttarakhand. The geologists are of the opinion that due to northward movement of the Indian Plate against the Eurasian Plate, the latent pressure or stress is building up in the rock structure in the Garhwal Kumaon Range. The structure is held together by the frictional force. Once the frictional force is breached, then earthquakes might occur. Over the past 300 years, there has not been any major earthquake in this particular region. So for the past 300 years, the latent pressure in the rock system has been slowly accumulating. This massive accumulated energy might get released in the coming years in the form of an earthquake and this earthquake which will release all the accumulated energy will be quite massive. For comparison, the earthquakes which rocked Turkey and Syria earlier this week had energy of nearly 300 years of accumulated strain. Although, the geologists warn of a massive overdue earthquake in the Garhwal Kumaon Range with current technology the timing of the earthquake can be predicted. Now, coming to the preventive strategy to minimize the losses which are caused due to earthquakes. Earthquake preparedness by enforcing strict building codes in earthquake prone areas is one of the simple solutions to this problem. The country that is known for its earthquake preparedness is Japan. Another lesser known country in this particular regard which has invested heavily in earthquake preparedness is Chile. India can collaborate with these two countries and identify best practices which can be replicated inside its borders. This will help India counter the devastation caused by earthquakes. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Through this discussion, we came to know about the three types of faults and also about the earthquake which hit Turkey earlier this week. And finally, we also saw about the India specific information about earthquakes. With this, let's move on to the next article. Take a look at this news article. It talks about the significance of millets. As per the article, climate change in the future will lead to erratic rainfall and extreme weather events. This in turn will affect the production of maize, rice and wheat. See, all these crops which I mentioned are the stable food crops of India. So, to overcome the effect caused by the climate change, there is a need to grow climate resilient species to help secure our future food needs. And this is where millets arrives into the picture. Further, the author discusses the major significance associated with millets. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let's try to learn about millets. See, millets are a group of small grains which are annual warm weathered cereals belonging to the grass family called Poyasea. Know that earlier millets were referred to as coarse grains, but the nomenclature got changed into nutricerials to make people add millets to their diets. Here note that in the budget speech of 2023-24, our finance minister, Nirmala Sitaraman, termed millets as Sriana. So, all the terms millets, nutricerials and Sriana refers to the same crop. This is about a brief background of millets. Now, let's see the different types of millets. See, millets can be broadly divided into two major categories. One is the major millet and the other is the minor millets. Major millets includes sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet. Here, sorghum can also be called as jovar, pearl millet can also be called as kombu and finger millet can also be called as ragi. Now, coming to minor millets. Minor millets include foxtail millet, proso millet, kodo millet, banyard millet, little millet, brown top millet, etc. Now, coming to the less known category of millets. See, these are called as pseudo millets. They include buckwheat and amaranth. They are termed as pseudo millets because they are not part of the Poyasiya botanical family, but they have identical nutritional benefits which are similar to millets. So, they are called as pseudo millets. You would have already known about the major millets and minor millets, but this pseudo millet is new to you, so kindly make note of it. Here, note that, as I said already, Indian government has termed all the three millets as Nutri cereals. This is all about the different types of millets. Now, let us see some of the benefits associated with millets when compared with other food crops. Here, note that millets are rain fed hardy grains which have low requirements of water. They also don't require much application of fertilizers and pesticides when compared to other popular cereals. Because of this climate resilient nature, millets can grow in arid and semi arid areas. Secondly, they are highly tolerant to drought and other extreme weather events. This particular characteristics of millets can help us achieve food security even in the coming days of climate change. Thirdly, millets have huge health benefits. As you all know, they are highly nutritious, non-glutenous and non-acid forming foods. They have high fiber content. Apart from this, they also act as a probiotic feeding for microphone in our inner ecosystem. Niacin in millets can help lower cholesterol. Here, note that millets can improve our HDL levels. These are the health benefits associated with millets. Fourthly, they are good source of minerals like iron, zinc and calcium. Fifthly, millets are used for dual purpose as food as well as fodder. So, this property makes millet more efficient when compared with other crops. Finally, millet cultivation helps to reduce the carbon footprint. As you all know, rice and wheat has huge carbon footprint. Millet crops emit less carbon when compared with these two food crops. These are all some of the benefits associated with millets. Finally, before concluding, let us see some India specific information about these crops. Look at this map here. This is the millet map of India and it contains different information about states producing different types of millet. As you can see, the major millet producing states in India are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In India, a committee was formed to examine the inclusion of millet in the PDS for improving nutritional support. And this committee has recommended for inclusion of millet in PDS across the country and the same has been accepted by the central government. So, if there are questions and problems saying that millet is not included in the public distribution system of India, the statement is wrong. Millet is included in the PDS systems. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Through this discussion, we saw about millet, its various types and also about the benefits associated with millet. Finally, we also saw about the India specific information about millet. With this, let's move on to the next article. Have a look at this article taken from the FAQ page of the Hindu. The external office minister recently released details of the government's projects on border infrastructure and connectivity. The report focused on initiatives in the north and east along India's border with China. So, it basically talks about infrastructure developments on the Indian side in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Then, it also highlights the projects connecting India to friendly neighbouring states such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. In this discussion today, we will try to understand the contents of this particular article. As you all already know, India as a country is encountering an upsurge in the number of classes with its neighbour China in the recent years. Like the Chumar standoff in 2014, then followed by Doklam standoff in 2017 and very recently in 2020, we faced the Chinese threat in the form of Galwan standoff along the line of actual control. Therefore, India is now focusing on rapid development of infrastructure along northern borders with China. This particular briefing that was released by our external office minister summarises all the efforts of government of India that was taken on this line so far. First, we will see about the recent infrastructure development along the Indian borders. Know that there is an increase in the pace of road construction along the border areas. To tell you precisely, the length of roads constructed in the India-China border areas during the last 8 years was nearly 7000 km. This is approximately double the length of roads constructed in the preceding 6 years. The rationale behind this increase in the pace of road construction in the border areas is that we can easily move our troops when there is a time of need. Here note that 9 km long atal tunnel which is longest tunnel above 10,000 feet was completed in the year 2020 and made operational to public. Also, the highest motorable road over the Umlingla Pass at nearly 20,000 feet in Ladakh was also built and operationalised during this particular period. These are some of the important achievements regarding the border infrastructure development by India. Take a note of all these points. You can use it in your main sensors. Also, these passes are important from your perspective, so make a note of it. This is all about the recent infrastructure development along the border areas. Now, coming to the recent efforts of India in improving its connectivity with its friendly neighbours. See, road, rail, bridge and port connectivity projects along the Indian neighbourhood are now being planned and executed at a breakneck speed. This includes the development and modernisation of integrated checkpoints with the countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. This would ensure for smoother trade flows with these countries. The Government of India has also sanctioned funding for cross-border power transmission lines with Bangladesh and Nepal. One important project to note here is the Motihari and Amlaikunj Oil Pipeline. After completion, this pipeline would be South Asia's first cross-border petroleum product pipeline between Motihari in India and Amlaikunj in Nepal. From the image displayed here, you can see the various advantages that this pipeline would gain out of this initiative while simultaneously it being beneficial for India. It's like these projects through which India is trying to maintain good relations with our neighbours. Now, coming to another high-speed diesel pipeline project. See, this pipeline project is with our neighbour Bangladesh. This cross-border pipeline will run from Siliguri in West Bengal to Parbatipur in northern Bangladesh. See, this pipeline will ultimately reduce petrol prices and road congestion along the north-eastern part of our country. Another significant project in this line is the Kaladan Multimodal Transist Project. The Kaladan Multimodal Project connects Kolkata Port with Myanmar's Sithve Port by sea. From Sithve to Paletwa in Myanmar, the project goes on through a river called Kaladan. From Paletwa to the border of India, the project takes the road route. From Paletwa, it goes on till Aizwal in Mizoram. This is all about these projects. Now, why suddenly this report is released by our external office minister? This particular article gives the answer for this question as well. See, we are all aware of recent Adani-Hindenburg issue, right? This has resulted in the fall in stock prices of the group. The Adani group is in talks for a number of projects including Electricity Project with Bangladesh and Nepal, Port Development Projects in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, as well as other renewable energy projects in the region. So now, after the Hindenburg report, officials in our neighbouring country are closely watching the scenario. It is in this particular backdrop only, this report was published by our external office minister. This is all about this FAQ article. Through this article, we saw some of the examples of recent border infrastructure development by our government of India. We also saw some connectivity projects between India and its neighbours. If you have learned points in mind, now let's move on to the next article discussion. Now, take a look at this news article. It is about the recent controversy revolving around Google's recently introduced AI service called BARD. As per the article, the language system based on which BARD AI got developed has been in the controversy for the past few years. The engineers who have worked on Lambda, which is the language model for dialogue applications, had previously raised concerns regarding the system. But Google in reaction fired those employees for violating the company's data security policies. Now, Google had went again and launched the BARD AI based on Lambda system. And this BARD AI only as recently gotten into another controversy. This is the overall crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us understand what is this BARD AI and the features of it. If you can remember, there was another chatbot called ChatGPT, which was launched in the last part of last year. This ChatGPT got viral and became a super hit among the tech community across the world. So, as a counter to this, Google announced its own chatbot called BARD. As I already said, it is built on Lambda, which is called as Language Model for Dialogue Applications. Here, the problem is that BARD's introduction to the world didn't go as planned. Google put out a promotional tweet and video showing of BARD's capabilities. But, one of the answers it gave about the James Webb's Space Telescope was inaccurate. BARD claimed that the telescope was the first to take a picture of an exoplanet. See, this information provided by BARD was not right. The first telescope which took picture of an exoplanet was the Southern Observatory's very large telescope which is shortly known as VLT in the year 2004. This information was strongly provided by BARD. And, as per the article, the presentation about BARD by one of the senior vice president in Paris made things even worse. This is because he made an underwhelming presentation on what BARD can offer to its users. He largely restated what was already known about the conversational AI service. His presentation also lacked any groundbreaking updates that could intensify the competition between BARD AI and chat GPT. As per the article, the incorrect answer on the promotional GIF presentation in Paris resulted in sliding of share value of Google's parent company Alphabet. The stock value went down nearly 7%. This is all about this article. I chose this article because you should know why chat GPT gained prominence and BARD did not. Also, there are chances that UPSC may ask question by stating the term lambda and what it is related to. So, make a note of this term lambda. With these learned points, now let's move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this article. It says that Food Corporation of India will have another round of E-Action for procuring wheat. This is an effort to make wheat available in the open market and thereby reducing its price under the open market sales scheme. This is the crux of the news article given here. Now, in our discussion today, we are going to see about Food Corporation of India in prilom's perspective. See, Food Corporation of India was set up under the Food Corporation Act 1864. So, it is a statutory body. Some of the functions of Food Corporation of India include effective price support operations for safeguarding the interests of the farmer. This means that farmers will be provided renumerative prices and the FCI will intervene in the market for price stabilization. Second major objective of FCI is to distribute food grains throughout the country for public distribution systems. This means that food grains will be available at reasonable prices particularly to vulnerable section of our society. Third major objective is to maintain satisfactory level of operational and buffer stocks of food grains to ensure national food security. These are all the three major objectives of Food Corporation of India. Apart from this, there are other functions also. We just now saw the distribution of food grains and maintaining of stocks are the functions of Food Corporation of India. So, to do this Food Corporation of India needs to do procurement and storage right? These are also functions of Food Corporation of India. Now, let us see about them. Know that FCI along with other state agencies undertake procurement of wheat and paddy under price support scheme. Course grains are procured by state government agencies for the central pool as per the direction issued by Government of India from time to time. Now, when will this procurement happen? Know that before the harvest of each RABI or CARIF season, the government announces the minimum support prices for procurement. This MSP is based on the recommendation of the commission of agricultural costs and prices. Kindly make a note of this point. It can be asked in your prelims examination. After the announcement of minimum support price by the commission of agricultural costs and prices purchase centres will be established by FCI in consultation with the state government. Here know that the number of centres and their locations are decided by the state governments. For your information, in the year 2021-2022 21,000 procurement centres for wheat procurement were operated. Know that in the procurement centres the grains are brought at a fixed support price. But don't think this is compulsory. If the farmers get prices better than the support price from other buyers, then the farmers are free to sell their produce to them. This procurement measure by FCI simply ensures that the farmers are not compelled to sell their produce below support price. That's all. Now coming to storage. As one of the functions of FCI is to hold stocks, storage of these stocks is very important. Storage is required for holding stocks to meet the requirement of public distribution system and other welfare schemes undertaken by the government. Example for this is PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Apart from this, buffer stock is also maintained for ensuring food security of the nation. So, to fulfill all these requirements, FCI as a network of strategically located storage ports including silos all over India. Additionally, FCI has also hired storage capacities from central, warehousing corporations, state warehousing corporations, state agencies and private parties also. Along with this, new good-ones are being constructed by FCI through private participation under private entrepreneur's guarantee scheme. I have given the storage capacity for central pool stocks for the last 10 years. Just go through it. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Through this discussion, we came to know about the organization called Food Corporation of India. It's three major objectives and also about the procurement and storage facilities of Food Corporation of India. With these points in mind, now let's move on to the next part for Hindu Daily News Analysis which is nothing but the problem's practice question discussion. Today, I have taken four different questions for our discussion. Two will be discussed by me and two will be quiz questions for you. Now, coming to the first question. It is a two-statement question regarding millets. Let me read out the question first. Consider the following statements. The year 2023 was declared as the International Year of Millets by the United Nations General Assembly. See, the statement is correct. The year 2023 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of the Millet. This is due to the proposal by India which wants to position itself as a global hub for millets. So, statement one is correct. Now, coming to the second statement. Millets have low glycemic index and it increases the blood sugar levels. See, first part of this statement is right. Yes, millets have the low glycemic index. But know that low glycemic index foods do not increase the blood sugar levels. So, the second part of the statement is wrong. Know that glycemic index ranks food on a scale from 0 to 100. The low end of the scale has foods that have little effect on blood sugar levels. Millets have low glycemic index. So, they will have less impact on our blood sugar levels. So, statement two is wrong. Only statement one is correct. So, the correct answer for this question is option A, one only. Now, moving on to the second question. This question is regarding food cooperation of India. It is a two-statement question and we have to find the correct answer. Now, coming to the first question. Movement of food grains by Food Corporation of India is undertaken by rails and road only. See, this statement is incorrect because movement of food grains by Food Corporation of India takes place through waterways also. This is particularly true for the islands of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadeep. To provide food grains to public distribution centers in these two islands, waterways are used by the Food Corporation of India. So, statement one is incorrect. Now, coming to the second statement. Movement of food grains by Food Corporation of India is undertaken to evacuate stocks from surplus regions and transfer it to the deficient regions. See, this statement is correct. It is self-explanatory. So, the correct answer for this question is option B, two only. Displayed here are the two quiz questions for you. Interested aspirants can post the correct answer in the comment section. The main question is displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. 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