 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy. Displayed are the list of news articles selected for today's analysis and their page numbers in Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram editions of the newspaper. The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping of the news articles are provided in the description box and the time stamping for the benefit of smartphone users is been provided in the comment section. Now let us move on to the first news article. This news article is about the update of IUCN Red List. The syllabus that can be linked to or related to this news analysis has been highlighted here for your reference. The news article states that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature or shortly IUCN has added more than 7000 animals, fishes and plants to its endangered red list. So first let's see what is IUCN? It was established in the year 1964. The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species that is the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It has evolved to become the world's most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animals, fungi and plant species. Now this red list of IUCN is a critical indicator of the health of the world's biodiversity. It contains the list of species and their global status. The red list is a powerful tool to inform about the conservation of biodiversity. It is also a powerful tool to accelerate or to catalyze the action that is needed for the conservation and also policy change. Such a kind of a list is extremely critical and important for the protection of natural resources which are needed for the human beings to survive. And the red list provides information about the species such as the range, population size, habitat and ecology, use and trade, threats and conservation actions with respect to various animal, fungi and plant species. This information helps to take necessary and required conservation decisions. The IUCN lists the species in the 9 categories. They are extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, data deficient, least concerned and not evaluated. We will see these 9 categories in detail in one another article discussion when another news with respect to IUCN comes. Know that the number of species that are listed in each red list category changes each time when the IUCN red list is updated. This is what the news article is about. For each red list update, the IUCN provides summaries for the numbers of species in each category by taxonomic group and also by country. So if you see the IUCN red list, currently there are more than 1,00,500 species and among this more than 28,000 species are threatened with extinction. Now this 28,000 species includes 40% of totally assessed amphibians. Now when we say amphibians, they are small vertebrates that need water or a moist environment to survive and as we know already amphibians are those animals that live part of their lives in water and part on land. The word amphi means to and bios means life. So amphibian means having two modes of existence. That's why we say amphibians part of their life in land and part of their life in water. And the 28,000 species that are threatened with extinction, it includes 34% of totally assessed conifers. Conifer is a tree that bears cones and needle-like or scale-like leaves that are evergreen found all the time. Then 33% of reef building corals are also threatened with extinction and among mammals one fourth of them are threatened with extinction and among birds 14% are threatened with extinction. This is the status in the globe. So as we saw earlier, the number of species listed in each IUCN Red List category changes over time. Now this is because of two reasons. One is non-genuine reasons and the other is genuine reasons. When we say non-genuine reasons, there are reasons such as new information is available since the last assessment. For example, more recent data are available on population sizes, more recent data are available on the threatening processes and more recent data is available on rates of decline or rates of recovery, etc. And then there might have been a taxonomic revision that is classification of the organism has been revised from one group to another. So this has made the species to be no longer being in the same concept or in same group as it was before. For example, the species may have been split into several species with each having smaller ranges, population sizes, etc. Or the species may have been merged with other species. So the range, population size, etc. are now larger than the previous. So coming to genuine reasons, they include two kinds. One is when the species have improved to a better category, that is it would have improved to least concern from endangered status. So how it can happen because there could have been removal of main threats, that is the main threats are now no longer present or the conservation measures have successfully improved the status of the species, thereby it has moved it into a lower category of threat. The conservation measures overall for all species include reintroduction, habitat protection or restoration, legal protection, harvest management for plants and other things. When we say reintroduction, we actually mean the intentional movement and release of an organism back to its indigenous range. This happens because the organism had disappeared from its indigenous range. The organism actually aims to re-establish a viable population of a particular species within its indigenous or natural range. The second kind of the genuine reasons is when the category status has worsened. The status of the species has deteriorated enough to move it into a higher category of threat. What is higher category of threat? If you compare it with vulnerable, extremely endangered is a higher category of threat. It could also include a species moving from least concern to a threatened category. The reason for this is that the main threats have not yet reduced in intensity or the main threats are still continuing or the threats have increased or new threats are developed. Now during assessment, you have to note that some species are assessed as critically endangered, endangered and in vulnerable category and these three categories are collectively referred as threatened species. We request you not to confuse this threatened with the near threatened category of IUCN. When we say threatened category, we mean critically endangered and vulnerable category. So after updation from India, we can see a total of 1081 species being listed in the threatened species category. That is these species have been assessed as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable by the recent update of IUCN Red List. Among these 1081 species, 399 are plant species and 682 are animal species. But no species of fungi or protest species are listed in the threatened category. When we say protest, we actually mean all the eukaryotic organisms that are not animals that are not plants and that are not fungi. A eukaryote or a eukaryotic organism is an organism with a complex cell structure in which the genetic material is organized into a membrane bound nucleus or nuclei. So this is the definition with respect to eukaryote and the IUCN states that wedge fishes family and giant guitar fishes family. And these are collectively known as rhino rays and these rhino rays are now the most imperiled or the most endangered marine families on earth. Note that rhino rays are not listed as endangered by IUCN. However when we say endangered it simply means they are at risk. The wedge fishes family and giant guitar fish family are called rhino rays because of their elongated snouts that is because of their elongated projecting nose and mouth. These rhino rays are closely related to sharks and they live in shallow waters that is what that not so deep particularly from the Indian Ocean and West Pacific Oceans to the East Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Their population is declining because of the increasingly intense and essentially unregulated coastal fishing. They are mostly caught accidentally with other fishes as bycatch. So bycatch is the unwanted fish and other marine creages that are trapped by commercial fishing nets during fishing for a different species. But what happens after catching the rhino rays after catching them the meat is sold locally. The fins of the rhino rays are highly valued and they are internationally traded for shark fin soup. So while there is one reason is by bycatch and there could be purposive catching of this rhino rays also. The IUCN has also noted that 7 species of primate are closer to extinction on the new list. In zoology we say primate to any mammal of the group that includes lemurs, monkeys, apes and humans. IUCN has noted that among the primates the rollover monkey has moved from endangered status to critically endangered status. This is just one step away from extinction. We have seen two categories in extinction from the wild and extinction. This rollover monkey is endemic to codewa and gana which are West African countries and it has been found that there are only few surviving individuals of rollover monkey in these West African countries and their physical nature itself has become a big problem. One of the important physical attributes with respect to rollover monkeys is that they have a large body size and it is said that this physical attribute has increased the value of their meat and skin and therefore they are preferred target for hunters and this is one main important reason why the population is being driven to low level. So ultimately the trade in both national and international levels are driving the decline of species in the oceans whether it is in freshwater or in the land. Therefore IUCN calls for immediate decisive action by governments to halt or to stop this decline. This is with respect to the analysis of this news article. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This editorial article discusses about the Ebola virus disease outbreak. The syllabus that can be related to or linked to the analysis of this editorial article has been highlighted here for your reference. Now before seeing the editorial let us have a look at the Ebola virus disease. It is caused by six species of Ebola virus that belong to a genus named as Ebola virus. This genus comes under the family of Filoviridae in the classification. The six species are Jair Ebola virus, Bundibugyo Ebola virus, Soudon Ebola virus, Thay forest Ebola virus, Reston Ebola virus and Bombali Ebola virus. According to World Health Organization the natural hosts of the Ebola virus species are the fruit bats that belong to the family of Theropodidae. When human beings come in contact with the infected animals then the Ebola virus will be introduced into human beings as well. The humans who are infected with the Ebola virus can transmit the infection to other human beings by direct contact. Usually when the skin or mucous membranes of human body are damaged then there are lot of chances for the blood or other fluids from the infected person to get leaked. So when a healthy person comes in contact with the infected person or when a healthy person touches the objects that have been contaminated by an infected person then he is also likely to get infected by Ebola virus. So this is how human to human transmission of Ebola virus happen. The WHO tells that people remain infected as long as their blood contains the Ebola virus. If you look at the incubation period, so when we say incubation period it means the time interval from infection with the virus till the onset of symptoms. Now this incubation period varies from 2 to 21 days. That means for some person this period could be 2 days, for some person it could be even 21 days. And according to WHO, a person infected with Ebola cannot spread the disease until they develop symptoms. Now this means a person gets infected with Ebola virus. During the incubation period he or she cannot spread the disease. The symptoms of this disease can occur suddenly. These include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat at the early stage. And these can be followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rashes in the body. And there are also symptoms of impaired functioning that is improper functioning of kidney and liver. In some cases we can also see internal and external bleeding. Now an example for internal bleeding could be blood from any damaged organs will pass as blood in the stools or the human excreta. And then an example for external bleeding is the blood that is coming out from the gums of teeth. So these are some of the symptoms of Ebola virus and as of now there is no proven treatment available to cure this disease caused by Ebola virus. Only supportive care is available such as rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids. These are given to infected human beings. Also giving treatment to specific symptoms found to have some improvement with the survival rate of human beings. Right now a multi-drug randomized control trial is also being carried out. This means using a combination of drugs in random doses to somehow improve the situation. Now coming to vaccines, in 2015 a vaccine called as RVSP Zebo was developed and trials were conducted in Guinea where there was an Ebola outbreak. This stands for Recomponent Vesecular Stomatitis Virus, Zaire Ebola Virus. The same vaccine is being tested now in the ongoing outbreak in the central part of Africa. When we say disease outbreak it means occurrence of cases of disease in excess or more than what would be normally expected. It can happen in a particular community or in a particular geographical area or even during a particular season and this outbreak may occur in a restricted geographical area or it may even extend to several countries. When a disease outbreak extends over to several countries and affects a huge number of populations then there are more chances that the WHO may declare it as a public health emergency of international concern. If you see WHO declares public health emergency of international concern when a disease causes a public health risk to other countries when the disease spreads internationally and when it would potentially need a coordinated international response. So with this background in mind now let's enter the editorial. The author tells that the WHO has declared the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo as a public health emergency of international concern. DRC or Democratic Republic of Congo is a country which is located in central part of Africa. Congo officially declared the Ebola virus disease outbreak has happened in its country on 1st August 28 and it was stated that it has killed almost 1,700 people and more than 2,500 people have severely affected by the disease. We could see the reduction in the number of cases in many areas of DRC but the author tells that in a place called Beni which is a town located on the border of Congo and Uganda it has become a new hotspot where this disease outbreak has started to happen faster. This town Beni is actually inside the border of Democratic Republic of Congo. The author tells that WHO's announcement of the health emergency has come at a time when it is believed that the virus could spread to other countries. Last month it was confirmed that Ebola has spread to the neighboring country of Congo that is Uganda but at that time the WHO has not announced it as a public health emergency of international concern. This is because even though some of the infected people had traveled from Congo to Uganda there had been no local transmission or spread of Ebola virus within Uganda. So the author tells that even then WHO did not declare Ebola virus disease. But recently a person has arrived from another country to the city of Goma in Congo. This person has been affected by Ebola. After this incident WHO has declared the Ebola virus disease as a public health emergency of international concern. This is the fifth time that the World Health Organization has declared a global emergency. WHO first declared H1N1 virus disease outbreak as global emergency in April 2009. In May 2014, Polio was declared as a global emergency. In August 2014, Ebola outbreak which happened in Western Africa was declared as a global emergency. In February 2016, Zika outbreak was declared as a global emergency. So now WHO has declared the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa as the global emergency that is as a public health emergency of international concern. This declaration of global emergency is to stop the spread of the pathogen that causes the disease to other countries and also to ensure an international coordinated response. Here the pathogen is the virus. But there have been several challenges in stopping or hindering the transmission cycle of the Ebola virus and also challenges with respect to containing its spread. It is observed that the people from the affected parts in Africa are reluctant and are not willing themselves to get treated. And there is also reports that there were attacks on the health workers who try to give care to the affected people. There is also delays in detecting the cases and also isolating the infected individuals. And one another challenge is in tracing the people who have come in contact with the infected persons. Because we saw that human to human transmission of Ebola virus is possible. So earlier in 2014, Ebola virus outbreak happened in Western Africa. In 2015, the vaccine RVSV Zibo was developed and trials were conducted in Guinea. The author tells that the availability of this vaccine has greatly helped in preventing the spread of Ebola virus. This vaccine is called as RVSV Zibo GP candidate vaccine. So you can see the author mentioning in the article as candidate vaccine. The strategy used for this vaccination is called as ring vaccination strategy. Ring refers to the number of persons who have come into contact with the infected people. And it also includes those people who have come in contact with these people who have already come into contact with the infected people. So both the group of people have a high risk to get infected. So if these groups are vaccinated, it is likely that the spread of the disease can be controlled. This strategy of containing the Ebola virus disease is called as ring vaccination strategy. And it is found that this ring vaccination strategy is working effectively. Out of around 94,000 people who were at risk were vaccinated with this candidate vaccine until 25th March of 2019. And it is found that out of this 94,000 people in the ring, only 71 got infected. So it is said that this vaccine had around 97.5% efficacy, that is effectiveness or the success rate. So this is one of the reasons why tracing the people who come into contact with the infected people is very important. Then the author talks about the shortage of this candidate vaccine. Therefore, the WHO's expert group on immunization has recommended to reduce the individual dose of vaccine so as to meet the demand for the vaccines that are actually required. There is also one another thing mentioned in this editorial that G7 countries has not acted according to the promise. The author tells that G7 countries must fulfill their promise to WHO to contain the spread of Ebola disease outbreak by funding for the research and development of the vaccine. WHO has actually received only less than half of the requested money from the G7 group of countries in order to tackle this Ebola crisis. And declaration of Ebola outbreak as a global emergency or the public health emergency of international concern may probably or possibly receive the funds from G7 countries. When we say G7 countries, it means group of seven countries, which is a forum of seven countries who are developed economies. We can find France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United States, UK and Canada in this G7 forum. The leaders of these countries meet once in a year and discuss on international economic and monetary issues. So this is the analysis with respect to this editorial article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is about one of the best practices in the state of Kerala with respect to the programs for literacy. The syllabus that can be directly related to the analysis has been highlighted in green color. This news talks about Kerala's state literacy mission. The mission brought a special program called as Vyanad Literacy Equalency Program. This program has addressed the gaps in literacy among the tribal communities in the Vyanad district. In addition to this program, there was also a Samagra framework, particularly to develop effective schooling strategies. This Samagra program is called as Tribal Literacy and Continuing Education Program. Both these programs have been playing a very important role in commensurably improving the literacy rate among the marginalized people. When we say marginalized people, they are those populations who are pushed to the edge in terms of development because of various socioeconomic and historical factors. Generally, when we say marginalized people or socially disadvantaged people or vulnerable sections, we mean people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes. One of the important strategies in these programs is that the educators are among the residents of the village of the tribal groups. This is to have the knowledge of indigenous languages for the purpose of effectively communicating with the tribal populations. Know that tribal populations are also called as indigenous people. Here the word indigenous means native people living with their own customs and traditions for a longer period of time to the tune of thousands of years. They will have the resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and ancestral systems. They will have different language, culture and beliefs apart from other people in the mainstream society. This different language what we earlier called as indigenous languages. They are used to have strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources. In India, the best example for indigenous people are the people belonging to Adivasis. They are recognized by the United Nations to be one of the indigenous communities from India. The indigenous peoples will be having much in common among themselves such as lack of political representation and participation, economic marginalization and they will also have poverty, lack of access to social services and they will be also facing discrimination. The news article states that the district of Vayanad has the highest population of Scheduled Tribes among other districts in Kerala. Note that the overall literacy rate in Kerala according to 2011 census is 93.91%. If you see the literacy rate in the state according to 1951 census it was just 47.18%. Through various programs and social movements it has reached the present level of literacy rate. And you can see that the literacy rate is almost doubled between the year 1951 and 2011. And now the state has been longing for attaining 100% literacy rate as soon as possible. But it has been facing challenges with respect to the population belonging to tribal communities as they are lagging behind other communities in the state. Therefore, the state literacy mission of Kerala is aiming to achieve 100% literacy among tribal populations in Vayanad by or before the end of 2020. The Kerala state literacy mission aims to promote literacy among the illiterates, the neo-literates and those who have continued their school education and those who are also interested in lifelong education. When we say neo-literates we refer to an adult or an adolescent person who could not make use of the available educational opportunities at the right time. And these persons will be acquiring the skills of literacy or education at a later stage either by formal manner or by non-formal approaches. If you study the pattern of neo-literates it has been stated that majority of them are economically poor and they live in rural areas or in urban slums. So, we can infer that the economic situations and the geography in which they live particularly in rural areas or the slums can determine the access to literacy particularly for neo-literates. With this we come to the end of this news analysis. This news article is about the Right to Information Amendment Bill of 2019. The syllabus that can be related to or linked to this analysis has been highlighted here for your reference. Now the news article states that the opposition parties are protesting against a bill that proposes to amend the Right to Information Act of 2005. And this bill is called as the Right to Information Amendment Bill of 2019. The protests are because the amended act, if amended, will give the union government the power to set the service conditions salaries of information commissioners in its own will. Some of the leaders of the opposition parties has called the bill as Elimination of the Right to Information Bill. Let's see a brief about the Right to Information Act of 2005. Now this act was enacted to provide the right to information for citizens. This ensures the securing of access to information which is under the control of public authorities. The information mentioned here means any material in any form that may include records, documents, memos, emails, press releases, opinions, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, models, even some data material that is held in any electronic form also. It also includes the information relating to any private body that can be accessed by a public authority. So this Right to Information Act was enabled to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. The act provides for the constitution of a Central Information Commission, CIC, and State Information Commissions to ensure the transparency and accountability of the public authorities. So when we say public authority, it means any institution or authority that is established by the constitution or by laws made by legislatures that are parliament or state legislatures. It also includes authorities constituted by issuing notification or orders or anybody that is owned or controlled or substantially financed through funds provided by the government. Even non-governmental organizations that receive funds from the government are public authority according to the definition of the act. So under the act, the public authorities are required to make so-moto disclosures that is disclosing information on their own. Without any request itself, they have to publish certain information. This information will be on various aspects of the structure and functioning. It includes disclosure about their organizations, functions, structure. It includes the powers, duties of officers, employees of the organization. It also includes financial information of the organization. If such information is not available so-moto, then citizens have the right to request for the information from the authorities. The act also provides for chief information commissioner and information commissioners. Section 13 of the act mentions about the term of office and conditions of service of CIC and information commissioners. It provides that the chief information commissioner and every information commissioner shall hold office for a fixed term of 5 years or they shall hold office till they attain the age of 65 years whichever is earlier. Also, the CIC and information commissioners are not eligible for reappointment. So, the legislation RTI Act 2005 in its present form gives powers to CIC and information commissioners and stability by giving them a fixed term of 5 years and they will also function neutrally because they are not eligible for reappointment. Now, this provision is important because if they are eligible for reappointment, then there is a possibility that in order to get a better appointment, they may act according to the whims and fancies or to please some political parties. But since they are not eligible for reappointment, it is an idea that they will function neutrally. Section 13 of RTI Act states that the salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service of CIC and information commissioners shall be the same as that of chief election commissioner and election commissioners respectively. Also know that if you take section 16 of the Act, it provides terms of office and conditions of service for state chief information commissioner and state information commissioners and the terms of office and reappointment conditions are actually the same as the chief information commissioner at the central level and the information commissioners. So, section 16 of the Act states that the salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service of state chief information commissioner shall be same as that of election commissioner and for state information commissioners it shall be the same as that of chief secretary to the state government. So, at present if you see the salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service of chief election commissioner and election commissioner are equal to a judge of the Supreme Court. Therefore, chief information commissioner and information commissioners and the state chief information commissioner, they are all have become equivalent to the judge of a supreme court in terms of their salaries, allowances and terms and conditions of service. Now, let us see the rationale of the present government for introducing the RTI amendment bill. They are saying that the functions carried out by election commission of India and the functions carried out by state and central information commissions are totally different. Election commission is a constitutional body established by article 324 class 1 of the Indian constitution which is responsible for super intense direction and control of the preparation of the electoral roles and also for conducting elections. These elections are to the parliament and to the state legislatures and also elections to the offices of president and vice president under the constitution. They are saying on the other hand if we consider central information commission and state information commissions they are statutory bodies because these commissions are established not under the constitution but under the statute or a law that is right to information act of 2005. So, the mandate of election commission of India and the central and state information commissions are different. So, therefore to rationalize their status and service conditions the amendment bill was introduced. But we know that the central information commission or the state information commissions are establishing transparency and accountability to all the citizens of the country. So, the amendment proposes to amend the RTI act of 2005 particularly to amend the term of office, the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of CIC information commissioners and state chief information commissioner and the state information commissioners. The main thing is that the amendment proposes all these salaries, term of office, all these shall be as prescribed by the central government. This means that the bill states that the central government will notify the term of office for the CIC and information commissioners. Central government will determine the salaries allowances and terms and conditions of service for central information commissions and state information commissions. So, this is the reason the opposition parties are against the amendment. They say that it is a threat to the independence of central information commission because the chief information commissioner and information commissioners can now be removed by the central government at any time. If they do not work according to the will of the ruling party then they can be removed or their salaries and allowances can be reduced accordingly. So, they are saying this amendment will dilute the working of central information commission and state information commission which in turn will dilute the right of information of citizens. So, this is why some of the leaders of the opposition parties are calling the bill as elimination of right to information bill. So, with this, this is about the analysis of this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now, let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This article is about the gender specific protective gear for the women personal in central reserve police force. Now, the part of the syllabus that can be related to or linked to this particular analysis has been highlighted here for your reference. The news article states that the women officers in the CRPF that is the Central Reserve Police Force will soon get a specially designed body gear. In today's scenario, we find women are not only the integral part of multi sectoral services, but they are also excelling in all the spears. Therefore, security forces are also no exception to this. Serving in a force is a challenging task as it involves many challenging duties. These challenging duties prove to be even more frightening or daunting where there are no gender specific protective gears. In this context, gear means an outfit. So, there is no gender specific protective outfit for women officers. So, for this in 2016, the national conference for women in police proposed the idea of gender specific protective gears. Subsequently, this issue was given attention in Lokshaba by the then member of parliament for ministry of health and family welfare, Ms Anupriya Singh Patel. The member of parliament has discussed the problems faced by women in police and armed forces. Immediately, ministry of home affairs has begun the action and the ministry has set up a committee in CRPF for this purpose. After this, the CRPF developed the gear in close association with DIPAS that is the Defense Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences, which is a defense laboratory coming under defense research and development organization shortly DRDO. It took over two years to design such a gender specific protective gear. The scientists of DIPAS carried out a very careful study of women troopers belonging to CRPF's rapid action force. This study is to ergonomically design the body protector for women. Ergonomics is the scientific study of people and their working conditions which is especially done in order to improve the effectiveness of the work. So, the scientists studied the women troopers to design a gear that is suitable for their working conditions which will also help them to work efficiently. They have also used anthropometric data to ensure the protection of vital organs of women. Anthropometric is the scientific study of measurements and proportions of human body. So, the gear has been designed to cover all the soft parts of human body such as rib cage, back of the arm, inner calf, thigh and groin area of women personal. And another special feature of this gear is that it is anti-stab, anti-acid. When we say anti-stab gear it means the gear will protect the wearer from multiple hazards such as from knives, spikes, bullets, fragments and blunt impacts. By saying the gear is anti-acid it means that it will also protect them from acids. It is said that the protective gear will be available in all sizes and will weigh around 6 kilograms. So, if you note since independence the women personal had to wear the bulky oversized body protectors that were designed for men. But know that though the protective gear that we are discussing has been made with the material that is used in the male body protectors, this gender specific protective gear will ensure better mobility for the women troopers. With the help of this protective gear the women troopers will be assured of greater comfort when they are deployed in Elando duties that is land order duties. See in Elando they have to face righteous mobs and therefore this is a effort that has also paved the way for further R&D in the field of women specific body armors and vest. So, if you see the scenario around 300 women CRP of personal are posted in Srinagar to control the stone pelting incidents. Now they will be benefited from this gears and the news article states that in total around 8000 women troopers and officers who are deployed in anti-riot rapid action force will be getting their body protectors. When we say rapid action force it is a specialized force in Central Reserve Police force. The force was set up to deal with riots and riot like situations and by controlling such riots the rapid action force is instilling confidence among all sections of the society and the rapid action force is also handling internal security duty. They are also saying that after the mass production of the protective gear the gears will be available for other Central armed police forces and state police forces also. With respect to efforts taken for women in security forces India stands as a good example in the global level. We also see some idiotic degrading and objectifying steps being taken in some countries. One such incident happened in Lebanon where the male mayor has ordered the women traffic police officers to wear mini shorts for official duty to attract foreign tourists. So, when we come to Central armed police forces we may have a slight sense of doubt whether it will come under Ministry of Home Affairs or Ministry of Defense. If you do not know where they actually belong. So, we can see seven forces under Central armed police forces Assam Rifles, BSF, Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, CRPF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guards, SSB. So, all these seven Central armed police forces do not command a Ministry of Defense but they command a Ministry of Home Affairs. So, this is about the analysis of this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the final session. Now, let us move on to the analysis of next news article. This news article is about Lok Sabha passing the Protection of Human Rights Amendment Bill of 2019. The syllabus related to or linked to this news article analysis has been highlighted here for your reference. Now, the Protection of Human Rights Amendment Bill of 2019 aims to amend the Protection of Human Rights Act of 1993. We saw that Lok Sabha has passed this bill by a voice vote. When we say voice vote in the process the speaker will ask the legislators to say yes if they accept the bill and if they are against the bill they have to say no by voice. According to the voice vote the speaker decides whether the bill is accepted or negated by the House. Now, let us see some of the provisions of 1993 Act and how the bill aims to amend them. The present provision with respect to the composition of National Human Rights Commission is that the chairperson of the NHRC should be a retired Chief Justice of India. But the amendment bill provides that a former Chief Justice of India or a former Judge of the Supreme Court can be the chairperson. The 1993 Act provides for appointment of two persons with the knowledge in the field of human rights as the members of NHRC. But the amendment bill allows three such members to be appointed. At least one of them has to be a woman. The Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 provides for four ex-officio members. They are chairperson of National Commission of Minorities, National Commission of Scheduled Cards, the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes and the National Commission for Women. The amendment bill provides for including few more members who are chairpersons of National Commission for Backward Classes, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities. Now, the participation of these representatives will further strengthen the National Human Rights Commission and it will also provide an inclusive voice in the commission because we also see children several times becoming victims of human rights violations and we also see violations happening to differently abled people also. Now, let's come to the provision with respect to State Human Rights Commission. Under Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, the chairperson of a State Human Rights Commission should be a retired Chief Justice of a High Court. If you see that, it will be stated as a chairperson who has been a Chief Justice of a High Court. This statement means the chairperson of SHRC should be a retired Chief Justice of a High Court. Now, the amendment bill aims to amend this provision to say that a person who has been Chief Justice, that is a person who is a former Chief Justice of a High Court or even a former Judge of a High Court or can also become a chairperson of a State Human Rights Commission. If you come to term of office, the 1993 act states that the chairperson and members of NHRC and also SHRC will hold office for a period of five years or till the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. When we say whichever is earlier, for example, if you take a member is joining at the age of 68, he will not be given a term up to 73 years of age. He will be the member till the age of 70 years only. The amendment bill reduces the term of office from five years to three years or till the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. Also, the 1993 act allows for reappointment of members of both NHRC and SHRC for a period of five years. The amendment bill removes the five-year limit for reappointment. So, it just says they are eligible for reappointment and there is no time limit prescribed for the reappointment term. After the tenure, the chairperson or members of NHRC or SHRC are not eligible for further employment under central or state government. Now, there is a question. So, a person is appointed as a member and he is reappointed again. Now, even after the reappointment, he or she is not eligible for further employment under central government or state government. Now, there is also a provision with respect to secretary general of NHRC. Now, the 1993 act says that a secretary general of NHRC and a secretary of State Human Rights Commission, they exercise powers as delegated. The bill aims to amend this provision and allows the secretary general of NHRC and the secretary of SHRC to exercise all administrative and financial powers subject to the chairperson's control. The secretary general or the secretary will not be carrying out any judicial functions. So, this amendment bill actually restricts what powers can be delegated to secretary general or the secretary. Now, only they will be performing all administrative and financial powers only, no way they will be performing judicial functions. If this bill is passed and receives president's assent. Now, with respect to union territories, the amendment bill states that the central government may confer on a state human rights commission the functions with respect to human rights that are being performed by the union territories. Now, this means according to this bill, if there is union territory of Puducherry, if the central government confers the functions to the state government state human rights commission of Tamil Nadu to carry out the functions with respect to human rights for Puducherry, the SHRC Tamil Nadu will be carrying out that function. But the functions relating to human rights in the case of Delhi will be dealt by the National Human Rights Commission only. Now, let us come to some of the issues with respect to human rights commissions. In 2016, the present NHRC chairman, former chief justice of India, Mr. Hachal Dattu called for more powers to the National Human Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commission as well. He said the organization which he is presiding is a toothless tiger. The reason is because NHRC or even the State Human Rights Commission are only advisory bodies. They are recommendation bodies. They will give recommendations, but it is up to the government, up to the state government or up to the central government to enforce them or not. That means whatever recommendation given by NHRC or SHRC are not binding on state government or central government. So, this leads to a culture of sending multiple reminders to government departments. And at times we can see NHRC or SHRC taking judicial route that is approaching courts to get its recommendations implemented by the appropriate government. And we can see wide human rights violations being reported from the state of Jammu and Kashmir. But if you have a look at the 1993 legislation that is Protection of Human Rights Act of 1993, it prescribes that the Protection of Human Rights Act is applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, but only pertaining to list one and list three in the seventh schedule of Indian constitution. It does not include list two. List two is nothing but the state list. So, any human rights violation pertaining to the matters of state list, there is no jurisdiction for Protection of Human Rights Act with respect to Jammu and Kashmir. List one deals with central list. List two, state list. List three, concurrent list. So, NHRC is having only a limited role or the Protection of Human Rights Act is having only a limited role in Jammu and Kashmir, where we can see wide reporting of human rights violations. And there is one another issue that both NHRC and state human rights commission will not inquire into the complaints that are made after a period of one year from the date of incident. So, there is a wide criticism that because of this section in Protection of Human Rights Act, a number of genuine cases are missed out at many number of times. If you see section 36 of Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, in subsection two, it states clearly that the NHRC or state human rights commission shall not inquire into any matter after the expiry of one year from the date of incident of human rights violation. There is also criticism with respect to non-filling of vacancies at the right time and also delay and also insufficient funding to the organization. These two issues actually hamper the various processes of the commission in the exercising of its function under Protection of Human Rights Act. And it is therefore becomes inefficient and at times ineffective as well. And therefore the recommendations or the suggestions are so that to make the recommendations of NHRC or SHRC to be an enforceable recommendation or that whatever suggested by NHRC or SHRC should be binding on the government. And there has to be changes has to be made so that the commission should also look into genuine complaints even if they are filed after prescribed time limit. And accordingly government should focus on filling the vacancies and also providing required and sufficient funding for the activities of NHRC at the central level and state human rights commissions at the state level. This will help in reducing the pendency of complaints and will also help to provide or deliver justice to the victims swiftly, certainly and without delay. With this we come to the end of analysis of this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now let's move on to the analysis of next news article. Now this question is with reference to Right to Information Act of 2005. They have given two statements and are asking which of the above statements are correct. The first statement right to information does not include right to inspect the work documents and records of a public authority. We know if we need any information from the government we write an application and we request the information to be given in terms of document or electronic media also. We can request them to give it in a pendrive or compact disc or even floppy disc according to Right to Information Act. But does it include the right to inspect the work or the documents or records of a public authority? Yes. Under section two subsection J if you see the definition of right to information in addition to accessing documents all these things it also includes right to inspect the work or the documents or the records of a public authority. You can physically go there and inspect all those things. So the given statement here is wrong. Second statement the Central Information Commission or State Information Commission has the power to require the public authority to compensate the complainant for any laws or other detriments suffered. Now this statement is correct according to the act under section 19 subsection 8 B of RTI Act 2005 the Commission's CIC and SIC has the power to require the public authority to compensate the petitioner. So the second statement is correct. So the correct answer here for this question is option B 2 only. We should know that RTI Act in section 4 subsection 2 tells that it shall be a constant endeavor of every public authority to take steps to provide as much information on its own to the public at regular intervals through various means of communications including internet so that the public shall have minimum resort to use right to information act to get information. But how far this is in reality we know. So with this now let's move on to next question. This question is with respect to Ebola virus now they have given two statements and are asking which of the given statements are correct. The first statement mosquitoes are the natural hosts of this virus. Now during our analysis we saw that the natural hosts of this Ebola virus are fruit bats that belonging to the family of Tarrapodi day. So here you also note that even for Nipah virus the natural hosts are fruit bats of the same family but nowhere we can see mosquitoes as the natural hosts of this Ebola virus. So the first statement is wrong and now there are fruit bats. So when the animals such as monkeys apes you know porcupines consume these died bats in wild forests they also infected with Ebola virus. When humans come into contact with this animals the Ebola virus will be transmitted into humans. From humans through direct contact Ebola virus will also get transmitted into other human beings. So come to the second statement it says human to human transmission of the virus is possible. Now this statement is correct. So also when the skin or mucus membranes of a particular human being is damaged then there are many chances for the blood or any other fluids in the infected body to leak when the other person comes into contact with these fluids or if the other person has a direct contact with the person who is infected then the virus can be transmitted from one human being to another. So the second statement is correct. So first statement is wrong second statement is correct. So the correct answer is option B 2 only. This question is with reference to defense institute of physiology and allied sciences which among the following statements are correct. Three statements are given. First statement it is a defense laboratory under defense research and development organization or the statement is correct. The second statement states its principal purpose is identification of high altitude physiology nutrition and biochemistry of humans in severe stress environment. Now this statement is correct and it is one of the main purpose with which the pass is established and it also provides ergonomic assessment of work stations and how man and machine interface. The third statement it was constituted at the time of formation of DRDO. Now note that DRDO was formed in the year 1958. Some 10 major institutions and laboratories were set up at the time of formation of DRDO and defense institute of physiology and allied sciences is not one of them. However it was formed after a gap of four years in 1962 under DRDO. So the third statement is incorrect here. So the correct answer for this question is option B 1 and 2 only. Now this question is based on the analysis with respect to amendment to RTI act. Again they have given two statements and are asking which of the both statements are correct. The first statement the salaries and allowances of chief election commissioner are equal to a judge of the supreme court. Now if you take the election commission act of 1991 there you can find section three. It states the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall be paid a salary which is equal to the salary of a judge of the supreme court. So this statement is correct. So the second statement the salaries and allowances of the chief information commissioner are equal to a judge of the supreme court. Now come to RTI act of 2005 take section 13 subsection 5. It says the salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of service of chief information commissioner shall be the same as that of chief election commissioner. So what does that mean? We already know chief election commissioners salaries and allowances are equal to judge of the supreme court. So we can also say salaries and allowances of chief information commissioner are equal to the judge of the supreme court. So this is the present case statement two is correct. But if the amendment bill that proposed by the present government is passed and receives the assent of the president then the second statement will become wrong. Let's see what happens in the future. So the correct answer for this question is option C both one and two. So this is the main question that can come under GS paper two. National Human Rights Commission in India is doing a commendable job of protecting the inalienable rights of people. Despite all its commendable work it is called as a toothless tiger. Discuss on the problems associated with NHRC and the suggestions to make it more efficient. So NHRC is established under protection of human rights act of 1993 and it has been playing a very important role in protecting and promoting human rights and preventing human rights violations in our country. And the statement given as toothless tiger is the statement of the present chairperson of National Human Rights Commission who said that the organization that he is presiding is a toothless tiger. Now this statement he has told because it is still a recommendatory body or it is just an advisory body or its orders are not binding on central government or state government. So this is one of very important problem that has always been talked about in reports. So a suggestion we can say that its orders has to be made binding at least in certain circumstances. And one another thing is that it has limited mandate with respect to Jammu and Kashmir the state of Jammu and Kashmir but we can see more number of human rights violations being reported in our various newspapers and in social media. The reason is because of the applicability and extent as given in the protection of human rights act it states the law is applicable only for centralist and concurrent list with respect to Jammu and Kashmir while it is not the case for other states. So this mandate has to be expanded similar to other states in Jammu and Kashmir. Now we saw in a particular section in protection of human rights act that the commission will not inquire into complaints if they are made more than one year after the date of occurrence. And this is one of the reason why many number of genuine cases are being missed out. So a suggestion we can say here this can be expanded so as to address the genuine victimization and to provide effective grievance redressal. And we also find non-filling of vacancies or there is delay in filling required vacancies in terms of 4 persons or members in national human rights commission. And also we find insufficient funding. These things affect the working of the organization and various function it has to carry. It has some 12, 13, 14 functions in protection of human rights act. So funding and proper filling of timely filling of vacancies is very important to make it to function in an efficient and effective manner. So it is also stated that the National Human Rights Commission also has a limited scope with respect to the cases pertaining to armed forces and military personnel. Here also some correction required with respect to the functioning of NHRC expanding its scope with respect to armed forces, police forces and other military personnel also. And one another criticism with respect to NHRC is that from the human rights workers in the ground level or those who work in the field of human rights they say that the representation of members particularly the experts are not actually those who have worked on the ground for human rights. So therefore the representation has to be more inclusive with the members who have actually carried out huge work for defending human rights or for working for human rights for the promotion and protection of human rights in the National Human Rights Commission. So these are some of the points you can highlight for this question. With this we come to the end of this session of question-answer discussion. If you like the video press the like button, comment, share and subscribe to Shankaray's Academy YouTube channel for more updates and content on civil services preparation.