 Good evening, aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis session by Shankares Academy, dated 16th June 2021. The list of news articles for today's discussion is given for your reference along with the page numbers in various editions of the newspaper. Now, let us move on to the article's discussion. The first article for today's discussion is Supreme Court Closest Trial Against Italian Marines. Recently, the Supreme Court directed the closure of criminal proceedings in India against two Italian Marines. They were accused of killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012. In addition, the top court also termed the rupee 10 crore compensation paid by the Republic of Italy as reasonable and adequate. Also, note that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that the accused would be tried only in Italy. Based on this, the centre filed a plea in the apex court to stop the criminal trial and other proceedings against the duo. In this context, let us discuss in brief about the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The syllabus covered under this topic discussion is given for your reference. Now, coming back to the article's discussion. See, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is an international treaty which was adopted and signed in the year 1982. This convention replaced the four Geneva Conventions of 1958. These four conventions which were replaced were concerned with the territorial sea and contiguous zones, continental shelves, high seas, fishing and conservation of living resources on the high seas. Note that India became a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in the year 1982. Now, let us know about the purpose of UN clause. See, this convention lays down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world's ocean and sees thereby establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources. Now, let us see the key features of the convention. This convention says that the coastal states can exercise sovereignty over their territorial sea. Here, the states have the right to establish its breadth up to the limit of 12 nautical miles from their territory. And also, through these waters, the foreign vessels are allowed only for innocent passage. See, the passage is innocent so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal state. Next, ships and aircrafts of all countries are allowed transit passage through straits used for international navigation. But, states bordering the strait can regulate the navigation and other aspects of passage. Note that the coastal states have sovereign right in a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. This is with respect to natural resources and certain economic activities. Along with this, they may exercise jurisdiction over marine science research and environmental protection. It is to be noted that the convention has created three institutions on international sea. They are the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea, the International Sea Bed Authority and the Commission on the Limits of Continental Shelf. Now, let us discuss in detail about the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea. See, the ITLOS is established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea. This tribunal acts as an independent judicial body to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the convention. Also know that the tribunal is composed of 21 independent members where they are elected from among persons enjoying highest reputation for fairness, integrity and of recognized competence in the field of law of sea. Note that the jurisdiction of the tribunal comprises all disputes submitted to it in accordance with the convention. But the main disputes relating to the convention are concerned with the delimitation of marine zones, navigation, conservation and management of living resources of sea, protection and preservation of marine environment and marine scientific research. This jurisdiction of the tribunal also extends to all matters specifically mentioned in any other agreements. But these agreements should confer jurisdiction on the said tribunal. Till date, 16 multilateral agreements have been concluded which confer jurisdiction on the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea. Know that the tribunal is open to state parties to the convention. But in certain cases, it is also open to entities other than state parties such as international organization and natural or legal persons. With this, we have come to the end of this topic discussion. Hence, in this discussion, we saw about the UN clause and the tribunal that comes under the convention called International Tribunal for the Law of Sea. Now, let us move to the next news article. Our next news discussion is going to be based on this open editorial article titled, Needed Full Disclosure on Electoral Bonds. As the title hints, this article deals with the electoral bonds and in addition, it critically examines the Supreme Court's suggestion on political donations. So, in this light, let us see about the court's judgment and also some important points mentioned in this article. The syllabus covered under this topic discussion is given for your reference. First, let us see about electoral bonds in order to understand the article better. See, the electoral bonds were introduced with the finance bill 2017. And on January 29, 2018, the government notified a scheme named Electoral Bond Scheme. The electoral bond is an interest-free banking-bearer instrument which is in nature of a promissory note. See, these bonds can be bought from select branches of State Bank of India where the citizens or corporates can use them to donate funds to any eligible political parties. Also note that they are similar to banknotes as they are payable to the bearer on demand and are free of interest. The feature of Electoral Bond is that they are made available for purchase for 10 days in the beginning of every quarter. By that, the first 10 days of January, April, July and October has been specified by the government for purchase of electoral bonds. And on addition, the period of 30 days shall be specified by the central government in the year of general elections to the House of People. On talking about its concern, there is a controversy that electoral bonds pay way for corrupting influence of anonymous corporate and foreign money. That is, before the Electoral Bond Scheme, no foreign company could donate to any political party under the Companies Act. In addition to it, if a firm has to donate to any political party, it can donate only to a maximum of 7.5 percentage of its average three-year net profit. This condition is based on the Section 182 of the Companies Act. And the SED Act also mandates that companies should disclose details of their political donations in their annual statement of accounts. But later on, the government moved an amendment in finance bill to ensure that these provisions would not be applicable to companies in case of electoral bonds. And this has enabled Indian, foreign and even the shell companies to donate political parties without having to inform anyone of their contributions. The next concern is the anonymity that is associated with the bonds, which deals to reduced public and legislative oversight. See, the purchaser can buy an electoral bond only on due fulfillment of all the KYC norms and by making payment from the bank account. But here, the payment will not carry or include even the name of the payee. This means that the donor and the party details will be available with the bank, but it will not be disclosed. In addition, it is said, the ruling party has an advantageous position. Because the ruling party via the State Bank of India has a full account of all donations being made through this electoral bonds to itself and to opposition parties. So, the concern is that since neither the purchaser of the bond nor the political party receiving the donation is required to disclose the donor's identity. Thereby, the shareholders of a corporation will remain unaware of the company's contribution. Also, the voters will have no idea of how and through whom a political party has been funded. This anonymity would also lead to an influx of black money in the political system. Now, coming to the Supreme Court's judgment. See, the Association of Democratic Reforms filed a PIL challenging the electoral bonds to be unconstitutional and having concerns of corrupting influence of anonymous corporate and foreign money. And with this, it also requested to stop the sale of electoral bonds till the validity of these bonds, which is under examination by the top court is finally decided. But however, the Supreme Court refused to stay the sale of electoral bonds and in its judgment, the Supreme Court listed down several documents and said the purchase as well as the encashment of the bonds are always reflected in the document which are accessible to the public. The Supreme Court further states that the donor information could be obtained by doing a match the following on the basis of public records of companies and the parties. And according to the author, this move of the Supreme Court is seen as impractical and plainly incorrect. This is because no ordinary person has got the adequate time and resources to navigate documents and government websites or to examine their income tax returns. Compared to this method, the Right to Information Act of 2005 enables easier access to information held by public authorities. In addition, the author further listed down three reasons to substantiate why the match the following approach suggested by the apex court is impractical and not feasible. Firstly, the full scale of registered donor entities is unknown. And even if the registered companies have filed annual financial statements, there are many chances for them not to disclose their political donations. Secondly, when you take into account the donations made by the companies and firms, there are close to 25 lakh potential donors. As per January 31, 2021, this includes 12.6 lakh active private companies. On most cases, the annual reports of all these companies are not readily accessible on the websites of Ministry of Corporate Affairs. And when you take firms, they have no regulatory mandate to submit their annual report, except for filing their annual tax returns. This is because they are regulated by acts other than Companies Act of 2013. Thirdly, let us assume that these documents are filed and available in public domain. And even in that case, we may not ensure that they have mentioned their donations to parties. And in fact, the law paves way for it. This is through the Finance Bill of 2017 that amended the section 182 of the Companies Act of 2013 in order to remove the requirements for declaring disaggregated donations to political parties. Therefore, even if we succeed in finding the required data by matchmaking, it may not be accurate. According to the authors, based on the above grounds, the match the following suggestions by the Supreme Court proves to be failure. Since it is impossible for an average voter to examine a large number of documents and to track the potential company and firm donors. As per the author, the electoral bonds give political power to companies, wealthy individual donors, and foreign entities. And by this way, it undermines the value of universal franchise of one voter, one voter. If the company begins to influence policies through hidden donations, there are higher chance for the vote of an individual to lose its significance. And such instances will only lead to win-lose situations with the ruling party at gain and the average voter at loss. And the author concludes by suggesting that the companies and the political parties can exercise their moral leadership and voluntarily disclose the identity of recipients and donor. Because such a measure not only provides accountability and transparency, but also reduces the donor's influence over the policies in a significant manner. So, these are some of the important takeaway points from this article. With this information in mind, let us move on to the next part of the discussion. Coming to the third topic for today's discussion, the invisible tax. See, we can observe that the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic has been subsiding. So, people were in high hopes that the economy would soon start to recover, but this hope was shattered by the recent inflation numbers. And this editorial is a discussion on that. Let us discuss it. The syllabus covered under this topic discussion is given for your reference. First of all, let us see about the wholesale price index. See, the inflation based on wholesale price index has hit 13 percentage in the month of May. This has happened after almost 25 years. So, what is this wholesale price index? See, the wholesale price index is an important index necessary for calculating inflation in a country. The wholesale price index represents the price of a basket of wholesale goods. See, the wholesale price index measures the average change in price of commodities for bulk sales at the level of entry stage of transaction. That means it accounts for change in prices at an earlier distribution stage, which is before the retail level sale. Importantly, know that it does not cover services and it is calculated using the base year 2011 to 2012. Now, coming back to the article. The article mentions that the retail inflation for the month of May has touched a six month high of 6.3 percentage. What is this retail inflation? See, the consumer price index is a measure of retail inflation rate. It means it is the measure of increase in the price experienced at retail shops. This inflation gives an actual reflection of the price rise in the country. So, we can define CPI as a measure of change in retail prices of both goods and services consumed by a defined population group in a given area. The reference base year for CPI is 2011 to 2012. Coming back to the article. See, the month of May saw severe widespread lockdown restrictions in many places of our country. In spite of this lockdown, both the retail as well as the wholesale inflation saw a huge rise. This comes as a negative surprise. What were the reasons for this steep rise? Let us see. According to the editorial, high excise duty and taxes on fuel prices were a key factor in driving up both the inflation indices. See, the inflation in fuel and light categories hit 11.6 percentage in the month of May. This was the highest increase in over nine years. In addition, the pump prices for petrol raised past Rs. 100 a litre in even more parts of the country this month. Also, the diesel has crossed the century mark in Rajasthan's Srinagar district. See, the increase in the price of fuel affects the prices of commodities across various sectors. Also, during the lockdown period, the prices of commodities like pulses, eggs and edible oils saw a steep increase. This was the main reason behind the steep increase of retail inflation. Even if one were to discount food and fuel prices, core inflation has crossed the 6 percentage mark for the first time in 31 months. And it is estimated that it is around 6.6 percentage. The core inflation is the change in the cost of goods and services, but does not include those from the food and energy sector. This measure of core inflation excludes these items because prices are much more volatile in case of food and energy sector. In addition, the steep rise in inflation rate leaves less room for growth supportive policy. Growth supportive policy is essential for economic growth during the post lockdown times. But this high inflation rates have given a stumbling block. We all know that in order to create demand and increase economic growth, interest rates have to be eased. But easing the interest rates will also lead to increase in money supply and thereby increase in inflation. Also, according to the experts, inflation will remain higher than the average 5.1 percent estimated by the central bank for this year. See, we all know that the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee aims to achieve an inflation target of 4 percent through determination of policy interest rates. Since the current inflation rate is way higher than the Monetary Policy Committee's target, we cannot expect any easing of interest rates from the RBI. Hence, this leaves less room for growth supportive policy. So, what can be done now? According to the author of this editorial, the government must take some actions of its own to curb the price rise. For example, the government can cut fuel prices thereby bringing the prices of fuel and reducing the prices of various commodities. Such moves can speed up our economic recovery. See, our population is already reeling from job and income losses and higher medical costs since the pandemic's onset. But in addition to this grave situation, a persistently higher inflation is insupportable. According to the author, no welfare scheme can offset the adverse impact of high inflation on the poor. So, it is high time that the government takes some proactive steps to curb inflation. With this information in mind, let us move on to the next part of the discussion. The fourth news article for today's discussion is an acquittal with no good, but the bad and the ugly. Look at this news article. Recently, a trial court in Goa acquitted Tarun Tejpal from charge of sexual assault. See, he was a former editor of a news magazine in which the victim also worked as journalist under him. This judgment has created an uproar and raised many questions about the law. In this article, we shall see about the case in brief and in addition, we will also see some women specific legislation in that context. The syllabus covered under this topic discussion is given for your reference. See, this article has focused on the issue in hand and how criminal jurisprudence has evolved over a period of time to make it victim centric. Let us look at the evolution which is important from exam point of view. See, in the year 2002, based on the recommendation of 172nd report of Law Commission of India, major changes were made in the Evidence Act. Accordingly, the amendment prohibited the defense advocate from asking questions to the victims in a rape case about her general character that tarnished her credibility as well as her character. Another major milestone in evolution is the Supreme Court's judgment in Aparna Bhatt and others versus state of Madhya Pradesh case. See, in this case, the Supreme Court specifically said that courts should desist from expressing any stereotype opinion about women. It also includes that the conduct of survivor of sexual assault cannot be questioned just because of inconsistencies in behavior or expression. It affects women's right to fair trial. In addition, the court said that every individual behaves differently under given circumstances. Taking this into account, the judiciary must be careful not to create inflexible standards based on stereotypes. Thirdly, the disclosure of identity of victim was also banned. The Indian Penal Code was amended in 1983, where disclosure of identity of the rape survivor by anyone was made punishable under a newly added section 228 of subsection A. Further, the Supreme Court in the state of Punjab versus Ramdev Singh case held that the name of the victim should not be mentioned in the judgment in any court, where she should be described only as a victim in the judgment. All these have collectively shaped the criminal jurisprudence with respect to the crimes of rape over years. Now, in this context, let us look into some important legislations that are important concerning women's safety. First, let us take up this act, the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of the year 1956, the act which was enacted to curb the human trafficking. See, this act directly flows from article 23, subsection of 1, prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labor. See, in the year 1950, the government of India ratified a convention named International Convention for Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Persons and Exploitation of Prostitution of Others. Following that, in the year 1956, India passed an act named Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act 1956. This act was further amended and changed in the year 1986, resulting in the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, also known as PETA. Here, note that PETA only discusses trafficking in relation to prostitution, whereas other purposes of trafficking such as domestic work, child labor, organ harvesting were not included in this act. But later on in the year 2006, the Ministry of Women and Child Development proposed an amendment bill that is yet to be passed. Next, let us look into the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplaces, Prevention, Prohibition and Drill Dressel Act of 2013. See, this act has been viewed as a landmark case in many aspects. It flows directly from the Visakha Guidelines as laid down by the Banwari Devi case by the Supreme Court. In this act, it defines the sexual harassment as one or more of the following unwelcome act or behavior, such as the physical contact and advances or the demand or request for sexual favors or making sexually colored remarks or showing pornography or any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal contact of sexual nature. This act also defines workplace, where it says that workplace includes any government or private sector organizations, establishments, etc. It also covers unorganized and domestic workers, hospitals, any sports institutes, stadiums or complexes and any place visited by the employee during her course of employment. In addition to this, the act mandates an internal compliance committee to be set up in any establishments having more than 10 employees. In this case, if there is any complaint need to be registered, the complaint should be made three months from the occurrence of incident. However, the complaint committee may extend the time period as deemed necessary. In addition, note that the section 10 of the act deals with conciliation. Based on that, the internal compliance committee, a before inquiry and at the request of the aggrieved women, can take steps to settle the matter between her and the respondent through conciliation. But it is provided that no monetary settlement shall be made as a basis of conciliation. With this, there are other important laws that are enacted exclusively for women which are presented for your reference. They are the Dauri Prohibition Act of 1961, which was later amended in 1986, the Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act of the year 1986, the Commission of Sati Prevention Act of 1987, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 and finally, the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 2013. With this, we have come to the end of this topic discussion. Now, let us move to the next topic. Coming to the fifth topic for today's discussion, House Standing Committee on IT summons Twitter representatives. Now, let us take up this news article. This news article is about the Standing Committee on Information and Technology, where the committee has summoned Twitter representatives to appear before the panel. The purpose is to hear their views on the steps they have taken to prevent the misuse of social media and online news. So, in this light, let us see some important facts about the parliamentary committees. See, a parliamentary committee is a committee that is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker or Chairman. In addition, these committees assist the Parliament in discharging its duties. Also, the committees usually work under the direction of Speaker or Chairman. Also know that the committee presents its report to the House or to the Speaker or Chairman. The committee has a secretariat provided by the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. These parliamentary committees are mentioned in the constitution at different places, but it does not provide any specific provisions regarding their composition, tenure, functions, etc. Note that the parliamentary committees are broadly classified into two types. They are the Standing Committees and the Ad hoc Committees. Note that the Standing Committees are permanent committees which is constituted every year or periodically as they work on a continuous basis. Based on the nature of work performed by these committees, the Standing or Permanent Committees are classified into six categories. They are the Financial Committees, Departmental Standing Committees, Committee to Inquire, Committee to Scrutinize and Control, Committee relating to the day-to-day business of the House and Housekeeping Committees or Service Committees. Now, coming to the Ad hoc Committees. See, these committees are temporary and they cease to exist on completing the tasks assigned to them. The Ad hoc Committees are divided into two categories, namely Inquiry Committees and Advisory Committee. These Inquiry Committees are constituted from time to time either by two houses on a motion adopted by the House or by the Speaker or Chairman. The function of the Inquiry Committee is to inquire and report on specific subjects and the advisory committees include select or join committees on bills which are appointed to consider and report on particular bills. Note that the procedure to be followed by the advisory committees is laid down by the rules of procedures and directions by the Speaker or Chairman. With this broad overview about the Parliamentary Committees, let us move on to the next news article. The next news article is this. Commons sought on draft rules on compensation. Recently, the Ministry of Labor and Employment had notified the draft rule relating to Employees' Compensation. This draft rule on Employees' Compensation comes under the Code on Social Security 2020. Now, the Ministry has sought Commons from the stakeholders on the proposed draft rules within 45 days from the date of notification which is on 3rd June. In this context, let us discuss in detail about the provisions of the draft. As we know, the year 2019, the central government consolidated several central laws regulating various aspects of labor into four courts. These four courts regulate wages, industrial relations, social security and occupational safety, health and working conditions. Know that all these courts have been passed by the Parliament. Coming to the Code on Social Security 2020, it amends and consolidates the law relating to social security. See, the goal of this Code is to extend social security to employees and workers in the organized as well as unorganized sector. See, the Code has replaced nearly nine laws related to social security. This includes the Employees' Providence Fund Act 1952, Maternity Benefits Act 1961, Unorganized Workers' Social Security Act 2008 and many more. Have a look at the complete list of repealed Act given for your reference. Now, know that the Chapter 7 of the Social Security Code 2020 deals with Employees' Compensation. It provides for employers' liability for compensation in case of fatal accidents, serious bodily injuries or occupational diseases. Coming to the recent developments, now, Centre has released the Code on Social Security's Rules 2021. This majorly deals with the Employees' Compensation where it is supposed to supersede the Employees' Compensation Rules 1924. Along with it, it also makes changes and supersedes the Employees' Compensation Rules 1935, Employees' Compensation Rules 1996, where all these are concerned with the transfer of money, venue of proceedings and other aspects of employees' compensation. See, the draft rule provides manner of applications for claims or settlements. In addition, it also mentions about the rate of interest for delayed payments of compensation, venue of proceedings and transfers of matters, etc. In addition to it, the draft rule provides for the manner of transmitting money from one competent authority to another and arrangements with other countries for the transfer of money that is paid as compensation. Now, let us discuss two important provisions of draft rules. See, the Section 77 of the Code says that the compensation for loss or damage shall be paid as soon as it falls due. But the draft rule says that the employer shall pay this amount of compensation within a period of 30 days. If not, for those unpaid days, the employer shall pay a simple interest at a rate of 12% per annum. Secondly, presently, the Section 159 of the Code provides for rules to give effect to the arrangements with other countries, especially for the transfer of money paid as compensation. But the draft says that when any sum is transmitted by any authority in India to any other authority, the cost of such transmission may be deducted from the sum that is transmitted. That is all about this news article. Now, let us move to the next topic. The last topic for today's discussion is this, brazing for a threat. See, recently an emerging form of delta variant called AY.1 is rising global concern. This editorial is a discussion on that. See, AY.1 is closely related to the delta variant AY.1 or B1 617.2.1. This has a mutation K147N which has been associated with the beta variant. See, the beta variant was first identified in South Africa. This K147N mutation found in beta variant was linked to high infectivity of coronavirus and reduced waxing potency. Now, this same mutation has been found in the AY.1 or the B.1 617.2.1 variant of delta. This has raised a global concern. See, the delta variant is reportedly the most prevalent coronavirus variant in India. This variant caused huge loss of lives during the second wave. Now, with the discovery of AY.1 or B.1 617, 2.1 has caused a severe concerns. As we previously saw, this variant has the K417N mutation. This mutation has shown resistance to the newly developed monoclonal antibody treatment drug cocktail, clasivimab and imdevimab. This drug cocktail is usually prescribed for those patients assessed with a moderate to severe disease risk. See, the K417N mutation has shown resistance to this drug cocktail. So, the medical community now fears high fatalities due to this drug resistance of AY.1 variant. Also, according to the scientists, AY.1 marks the continued evolution of the delta variant. The delta variant has already developed a mutation called D614G last year. This mutation was responsible for the high infectivity rate of coronavirus. The D614G mutation made the delta variant globally prominent due to its high infectivity nature. See, the coronavirus are marked by convergent evolution, which is a kind of evolution where some defining mutations become more common in subsequent variation. These defining mutations emerge in different strains from around the world. Also know that these mutations are beneficial to the virus. They help the virus to infect human cells more efficiently by escaping defensive antibodies. Also, the evolution is an incessant process. So, it is impossible to forecast if SARS-CoV-2 will become part of human ecosystem. To put it in simple words, it is impossible to forecast whether the coronavirus will become less contiguous. Also, it is impossible to predict the efficacy of vaccines with these new mutations. So, what can be done? See, according to the editorial, we have a powerful tool which was absent in previous global pandemics. The name of the tool is rapid genome sequencing. Rapid genome sequencing will help us to track these threatening mutations. It can also help us to improve vaccines by enabling researchers to perform quick tweaks to develop upgraded vaccines that could counter the threat from emergent variants. But the problem is that India has chosen to restrict genome sequencing studies to 10 government labs and not involve private laboratories. Because of this, it has reduced the capability and expertise of rapid genome sequencing. So, it is high time India understands the importance of rapid genome sequencing. Without proper rapid genome sequencing infrastructures, we will struggle to fight the upcoming pandemic waves. Hence, with this, we have completed the article's discussion. Now, let us move on to the prelims practice question session. First question, with reference to international tribunal for the law of C, consider the following statements. Statement one, it is an independent judicial body to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of C. Statement two, it is one of the specialized agencies of United Nations. Which of the statements given above is sure or correct? The options given are option A, one only, option B, two only, option C, both one and two, option D, neither one nor two. See, from our discussion, we saw that the international tribunal for the law of C is an independent judicial body, which is established under United Nations Convention on the Law of C. Also, we saw the aim of this tribunal is to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation and application of the said convention. Also, its jurisdiction includes all disputes that are provided in any other document or that is provided in any other agreement, which specifically confers jurisdiction on the tribunal. Hence, the first statement, which says the judicial body to adjudicate disputes arising out of the interpretation of the convention is correct. Whereas, the second statement, we have to note that the tribunal does not come under the specialized agency of United Nations. Whereas, we already saw the tribunal is established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of C. Hence, the second statement is incorrect. Also, note that United Nations has 17 specialized agencies, where the list of agencies are given for your reference, aspirants can have a look at it. So, the answer for this question is option A, one only. Coming to the second question, consider the following statements. The statements given are statement one, the parliament is assisted by a number of committees in discharge of its duties. Statement two, the committee is appointed or elected by the house or nominated by the speaker or chairman. Statement three, details of the composition, tenure and functions of the committees are present in the constitution. Which of the statements given above is or are correct? The options given are option A, one only, option B, one and two only, option C, two and three only, option D, one, two and three. As we know, the functions of the parliament are varied, complex and immense. So, due to this, the parliament has neither the adequate time or necessary expertise to make a detailed scrutiny of all legislative measures. Therefore, it is assisted by a number of committees in the discharge of its duties. Hence, by this, the statement one is correct. And also, we saw that the committee is appointed or elected by the house or nominated by the speaker or chairman. And in our earlier discussion, we also saw they work under the direction of speaker or chairman. So, the second statement is also correct. Now, considering the third statement, we saw that the parliamentary committees, although they are mentioned in the constitution at different places, the constitution does not prescribe any specific provision regarding its composition, tenure or functions. So, this makes the third statement incorrect. Hence, the answer for this question is option B, one and two only. Moving to the third question, which of the following acts are superseded by the Code on Social Security, 2021, Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, 2, maternity benefit act of 1961, 3, employee's provident fund act, 1952, 4, minimum wages act, 1948. Select the correct answer using the codes given below. Option A, 2 and 3 only, option B, 1, 2 and 3 only, option C, 2, 3 and 4 only, option D, 1, 2 and 4 only. See, this is a direct factual question where in our discussion, we saw that the code on social security amends and consolidates the law relating to social security. Along with this code on social security, we also saw that there were three other codes that were enacted such as code on wages, code on industrial relations and code on occupational safety, health and working condition. The following acts that were superseded, which are given here are part of code on wages such as the Equal Remuneration Act 1976, minimum wages act 1948, which comes under the code of wages and not the code on social security. Hence, by eliminating the first and fourth act, we can conclude the answer for this question is option A, 2 and 3 only. The nine acts that were repealed by the code on social securities are given here for your reference. The aspirants can have a look at it. Along with this minimum wages act of 1948 and Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, there were other acts that were superseded by code on wages. They are payment of wages act 1936 and payment of bonus act 1965. Now, let us see the next question. K417N, seen in news, often is associated with which of the following options given are option A, supercomputer of China, option B, nano satellite launched by Japan, option C, SARS-CoV-2 mutation, option D, Trojan virus targeting digital services. In our earlier discussion, while discussing about the Delta variant, we saw about the K417N mutation that were related to the variant Ay.1. In addition to it, we saw that this mutation has shown resistance to the newly developed monoclonal antibody treatment, drug cocktail, Casary V map and Imdevi map. Hence, this mutation K417N is associated with SARS-CoV-2 mutation. The answer for this question is option C, SARS-CoV-2 mutation. These are few main questions that are given for your practice and you may write and post them in the comment section for peer review. That's it for today's discussion. If you like the video, kindly press the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankaraya's Academy for further updates. Thank you.