 Dear aspirants, Shankar A.S academy is conducting free all India online mock test for UPSC Prelims 2020 on 20th September and 27th September. The registration link for the same is given in the description as well as in the comment section. Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar A.S academy. The list of topics chosen for today's discussion along with the page numbers is given here for your reference. So, let us start our analysis with this news article from page 1 which says, Harishinath Kaur quits cabinet in protest against two agree bills. See, we all know that government has come up with three major agree reforms which include two agree reform bills and the other amendment to Essential Commodities Act. Actually, government has already promulgated ordinances with respect to these in the month of August and we have already discussed those three agree reforms in our 27th August Hindu news analysis. So, actually what happened was in the current parliamentary session the government has replaced the ordinances with these bills and these bills were passed by Lok Sabha yesterday. So, the cabinet minister of food processing has resigned from the union cabinet in protest against these agree reforms. So, she is of opinion that these reforms are causing much harm to the farmers than the intended benefits. So, the question is why she has to resign from the cabinet? She can just say that she is not happy with the agree reforms and she can stay in the cabinet. Here the answer is there is a concept called collective responsibility. And this collective responsibility is the sole crux of parliamentary democracy. And even in our constitution article 75 talks about this collective responsibility. So, what do we mean by collective responsibility? The first point is all the council of ministers shall be collectively responsible to Lok Sabha. So, which means the government can be in power as long as it enjoys confidence in Lok Sabha. And second point is all the members of cabinet follow an integrated policy. Which means all of the ministers accept responsibility for the decisions made by the cabinet. So, while in discussion stage the individual minister can have difference of opinions with the cabinet. But once the decisions are made all the ministers have to abide by the decisions. So, even if there are differences among them they must always put up a united front in the legislature and before the country. So, once the decisions are made by the cabinet the ministers cannot speak against the cabinet in the public. So, this is called collective responsibility. As explained by Lord Salisbury, For all that passes in the cabinet each member of it who does not resign is absolutely responsible and has no right afterwards to say that he agreed in one sense to a compromise while in other he was persuaded by his colleagues. So, simply put whatever the decision made by the cabinet every minister of the government is equally responsible for the decision. Which means if they are not happy with the decision they have to resign. This is because they cannot criticize the move made by the cabinet by being a minister. This is called collective responsibility. So, what happens if a minister criticizes the government and does not resign? The prime minister can ask the president to remove that person from the council of ministers. Because of this collective responsibility the food processing minister has resigned from the cabinet. So, this is all about the discussion of this news article wherein we have talked about the concept of collective responsibility. In exam perspective know that the collective responsibility is enshrined in the constitution under article 75. Let us continue our news analysis with this lead column from editorial page. The news article states that the recent advice given to India by United Nations Secretary General is an inequitable climate proposal. The article mentions about common but differentiated responsibilities that is CBDR, UNFCCC, then Paris Agreement and also talks about carbon neutrality by 2050. In this analysis we will discuss UNFCCC, CBDR, advice of Secretary General and what India should do and also about carbon neutrality. So, this is going to be very comprehensive discussion and will help you to revise all the climate change conventions and recent developments. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. First, let us see about UNFCCC that is UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and common but differentiated responsibilities. If we understand these two we can assess the advice of Secretary General. See, in 1990 the General Assembly of UN established the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change. So, these negotiations led to a convention called UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. And as we all know the Earth Summit was happened at Rio in 1992, there this convention was open for signature. So, this convention brought the world together to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change. And also know that this convention has two sister conventions which were also agreed in Rio conference which are CBD and CCD. And in 1994 after two years this Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force. So, the parties agreed to meet annually at conference of parties to negotiate multilateral responses to climate change. So, this is the basic background how the UNFCCC came to existence. And there is one very important concept called common but differentiated responsibilities. So, as the world suggests the responsibilities are common but are different. So, we will try to understand what are those responsibilities. So, we all know that after 1940s precisely after World War II more than 120 countries in the world attained independence. And prior to this they were exploited tremendously by colonial powers like France, UK, even US up to some extent in Latin America. So, these colonial powers were the main reason for the deterioration of environment and global climate from 1750s. That is after the engine came into existence the pollution in the world has tremendously increased. So, these powers by causing significant damage to environment have become the advanced nations in the world through industrialization. So, any compensation or reparation to global environment must be mainly borne by developed and advanced countries which were mainly responsible for damaging the environment. So, after 1940s when new countries came into existence they also caused pollution or impact on climate change but only up to some extent. So, if you ask don't the developing countries have any responsibility towards climate change? Yes, all the countries in the world are commonly responsible for containing the climate change. Even the developing countries. But when it comes to attaining targets to minimize climate change the responsibilities should differ. That is how the word came common but differentiated responsibilities. This is because the new countries which are the developing countries lacked the capabilities to contribute for mitigating the climate change. So, the CBDR aims to take these differences into account when goals and benchmarks are applied to global development agendas. Simply the principle is equity and not equality. As you can see in this picture equality means giving same thing to every person but equity means giving more to whoever is in need. So, the developing countries which are less responsible for climate change must not be treated equally with developed countries in bearing the responsibility for climate change. So, what is the link between CBDR and UNFCCC? So, this link has been established based on article 3 of UNFCCC. The UNFCCC clearly talks about equity and in accordance with common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Accordingly, the developed and advanced countries should take the lead in combating climate change. So, this is all about the UNFCCC, the CBDR. Now, the controversy is the advice given by Secretary General of UN to India. So, the author says that the UNSG, the Secretary General, has advised India to give up coal immediately and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and also to source 80% of electricity from renewable energy. While this is the advice given to India, the same Secretary General did not give any search advice to USA which has announced its withdrawal from Paris Agreement. So, such an inequitable proposal to India is criticized by the author as a call to deindustrialize the country and to abandon the Indian population to a permanent low development trap. This is because as of now the renewable energy can only meet the needs of household consumption. The power and wattage provided by renewable energy cannot be used for industrial needs. So, if we follow UNSG's advice literally, this may lead to deindustrialization of India. And also the statements of Secretary General deviates heavily from CBDR, which is the guiding principle of UNFCCC. So, this is the advice given by UNSG and the counterarguments given by the author of this article. Before concluding this article discussion, let us see the important conference of parties to the UNFCCC. So, what is conference of parties? See, this is the supreme decision-making body of the convention. All states that are parties to the convention are represented at COP. So, these parties at COP review the implementation of convention and any other legal instruments adopted by conference of parties. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin of Germany in 1995. That is after the UNFCCC came into force in 1994. The COP meets in Bonn, which is in Germany and also the seat of UNFCCC's secretariat. And the 26th COP, which was scheduled this year, has been postponed to next year due to COVID-19. Some of the important COP's and their outcomes are given here for your reference. For example, in 1997 Kyoto Protocol was adopted and very importantly in COP 21, that is in 2015 Paris Agreement for Climate Change was adopted. In this agreement, the parties agreed to keep the global temperatures well below 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial times. And in COP 22, Marrakech partnership for global climate action was launched and also countries agreed to develop a rule book for implementing the Paris Agreement. And in COP 24, that is in 2018, rule book for implementation of Paris Agreement was created. This rule book will help in operationalizing the climate change regime of Paris Agreement. And COP 25 was happened last year. The prime objective of the conference was to complete the rule book to the 2015 Paris Agreement. And as we just said, the 2020 COP has been postponed to next year. And there is one more concept discussed in today's news article called carbon neutrality. So know that under the Paris Agreement, the European Union has committed to carbon neutrality by second half of 21st century. That is, it will achieve carbon neutrality by mid-21st century in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. So the carbon neutrality means having a balance between emitting carbon into atmosphere and absorbing carbon from atmosphere in carbon sinks. Simply put, if I am generating 1 ton of carbon this year and if I sequesterate or take out 1 ton of carbon from atmosphere, it means I achieved carbon neutrality. So I emitted 1 ton, I took out 1 ton, so plus 1, minus 1, which means the neutrality. In order to achieve this net zero emissions, all worldwide greenhouse gas emissions will have to be counterbalanced by carbon sequestration. So these are the different concepts discussed in today's news article. So at the conclusion, the question is, is it wise to compare the capacity of advanced economies with the countries and regions like India which are already facing developmental challenges? The answer is sure no. India must unanimously reject UNSG's call and reiterate its long-standing commitment to equitable response to the challenge of global warming. So this is all about the discussion of this news article. Let us take up this op-ed column from today's newspaper. This article is a discussion between experts about the rising of Quad amidst the India-China standoff along line of actual control. One of the experts is a former ambassador to China. So in this discussion, we shall try to address, is Quad really capable of countering China? And what are the benefits India receives by being a part of Quad Grouping? Before going further, the relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. As most of us know, Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a dialogue mechanism among the four countries, India, USA, Japan and Australia. And ever since the debate of militarizing the Quad has started, Quad is discussed as a possible significant anti-China grouping. So what do we mean by militarizing the Quad? See, militarizing could mean Quad conducting military patrols in oceans. For example, USA's freedom of navigation operations in South China Sea. Or it also indicates including Australia in the Malabar exercise. See, Malabar exercise is a trilateral naval exercise between the navies of India, USA and Japan. So the only country from Quad which is not part of Malabar is Australia. And many times Australia has shown interest to be a part of Malabar. Even Japan and America are okay with adding up Australia into Malabar exercise. But India is hesitant due to concerns from China. But now India is considering adding Australia to Malabar exercise this year because of recent tensions between India and China. So if this realizes that is Australia becoming a part of Malabar, then Malabar exercise will become quadrilateral naval exercise thereby militarizing the Quad grouping. So in this sense, generally Quad is seen as an effective counter to Chinese aggression in the region of Indo-Pacific. And with respect to India especially, as said by defence minister in the parliament, China's troops have been assembled along LAC in very large numbers. Recently a five point consensus agreement has also been framed by both countries for disengagement process. But the issue is a similar agreement was framed in the month of July which has seen no progress. And also China has violated previous agreements regarding line of actual control. So this resulted in a considerable damage to trust between India and China. So for example if China says that we are bringing back all the extra troops from LAC, India is not in a position to believe China's claims. So this leads us to an important question which is whether India's presence in Quad deters China or its army from transgressing the boundary. According to authors, it will not deter China in the current situation between India and China. And also Quad has a very limited use to India in the continental challenge. So this is because India is the only country sharing land border with China in the Quad grouping. Neither Australia, America nor Japan shares land border with China. So other Quad countries can provide us only limited support whenever LAC is in the question. For example, they can bilaterally support only in matters like intelligence inputs or supplying military hardware. But with respect to other domains like physical conflict, we have to deal with China on our own. This is because the other countries won't have any locus standing in dealing with China in continental challenge. So can we conclude that Quad is of no use to India? No. Why? Because others here provide certain instances where Quad as a counter to China will work. First, it helps in deterring China in the future. Quad can even or balance the present imbalance of power in the region. And not just that, Quad will help to set the customary rules in the Indo-Pacific and also ensure that these rules are maintained. So what are these customary rules? See, generally India along with Japan, America and Australia advocates for free and open Indo-Pacific. Which means no one country can militarize or control the Indo-Pacific region. So this will help in countering China's aggression in South China Sea. And secondly, Quad can be used to enhance Indian capabilities and for internal balancing. Because currently India's relations with China have entered new territory. See, both are stronger countries and they have consistent dialogue mechanisms despite some violations. But in the recent times, China is becoming increasingly aggressive and assertive. Now and then China transgresses into India's border and establishes military ports and they will come back to normalcy. So this has become very common for China to irritate India. So this is leading to a situation where the capability gap between India and China is growing. So India needs mechanisms like Quad to bridge this gap. We saw that Quad has limited use with respect to land border issues. And regarding maritime domain, that is Indo-Pacific region especially, Quad will be of great help if it is militarized. This in turn also pursues the idea of free and open Indo-Pacific. Apart from maritime security cooperation, Quad will also provide alternatives to many domains like China's Belt and Road Initiative. We all know that India refused to join BRI. So the alternative of this BRI could be the Blue Dot Network, which is a multilateral Indo-Pacific initiative. Currently the Blue Dot Network comprises of USA, Japan and Australia. The only country from Quad which is not part of this network is India. So this network primarily aims to advance on economic guidance framework for quality infrastructure promotion in the Indo-Pacific. So it is aimed at improving standards of infrastructure investment and is generally perceived as counter-initiative to China's Belt and Road Initiative. So India can consider joining this network to effectively counter China's checkbook diplomacy. But not just that, Quad can also provide alternatives to cooperation in 5G, cyberspace, artificial intelligence etc. As a conclusion, we can say that Quad countries have to establish better cooperation and interoperability. So the Quad countries can consider making this informal group into a formal mechanism, establishing a proper body and secretary for that similar to that of NATO. By doing so, we can expect that Quad can work as a real countermeasure to China. So this is all about the discussion of this news article wherein we have talked about the Quad grouping and what India is going to get by joining the Quad grouping. Let us continue our discussion with this editorial. As the title indicates, this editorial speaks about the need for reforms in the UNST, that is United Nations Security Council. In this context, let us have a very brief discussion on UNST, the need for reforms, the different groups involved in UNST and why India is eligible to become a permanent member in UNST. The relevant syllabus is given here for your reference. Firstly, we will have a brief background about UNST. As we all know, Security Council is one of the main organs of UN and in fact we can call it as the most important organ or the most powerful organ in the UN as well as in the world. As per UN Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. So whenever a problem arises in any part of the world, UNST calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means. And if the countries are not listening, the UNST can impose sanctions or can even authorize the use of force to restore international peace and security. And very importantly, all the members of UN, that is United Nations, are obligated to comply with UNST decisions. Simply put, UN is a body of almost all the countries in the world and this UNST is the most powerful as its decisions are binding on every other country in the world. And also know that UNST has a presidency. So this presidency changes every month. So we are having 5 permanent members and 10 non-permanent members, so total of 15 members. So this presidency rotates among these permanent and non-permanent members in the English alphabetical order. And coming to the membership of Security Council, as we just said, it has 15 members, 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent. Out of the 10 non-permanent members, 5 members are elected every year by the General Assembly for a 2 year term. And these 10 non-permanent members are elected on the basis of geographical representation. And if you remember, just a few months back, India got elected to non-permanent seat of UNSC for 2021 and 2022. So this is a basic background about UNSC. But why do we need reforms in UNSC? Firstly, UN was formed in 1945 representing and reflecting then geopolitics. So then the countries like UK, France, US, Russia and China are considered the powerful countries and were given the permanent seats. But currently, the geopolitics have changed a lot. For example, India has raised from a colonial country to a global power. So though UNSC has been instrumental in keeping the world order, it does not reflect the present-day geopolitics. And over the last few years, the demand for reforming UN, especially the structure and membership of UNSC, is on the rise. And not just that, many times we have seen that the 5 permanent members are using veto power for their benefits rather than protecting the international peace. So whenever any issue comes up against China, immediately it invokes veto and stops the resolution from being discussed. There are many such examples with respect to Russia in the Crimean crisis, America many times in the African and the West Asian crisis. So these examples have proved that these 5 permanent members are not using the veto power for just protecting the international peace, but also for their pecuniary gains. So a group of 4 countries which are India, Japan, Germany and Brazil, which are the current regional powers, are asking for a permanent seat in the expanded UNSC. This group is called G4. But opposing these countries, there is one more group called Coffee Club. For example, India is supposed to buy Pakistan, Japan by the China, Germany by the Italy, Brazil by Argentina and Mexico. So these countries came together. Of course China is not in this group. So the other countries came together and formed Coffee Club. And now this group has reinvented themselves into a group called Uniting for Consensus with more members such as Canada and Colombia. They favor increasing the non-permanent members without expanding the permanent members of UNSC. So what they see is either you expand the non-permanent members or you expand permanent members without veto. So they don't want countries like India, Brazil, Japan and Germany getting veto power because these countries will become even more powerful if they get veto power. So we have seen which countries are asking for permanent seat and which countries are opposing for giving permanent seat. So now the question is, did any discussions happen to reform the UN and UNSC? Yes. The important development happened in 2008 when the General Assembly decided to facilitate the reform process through the intergovernmental negotiations framework. So this framework focuses on equitable representation and increasing the membership of security council. And very recently in 2015 the assembly adopted a decision to advance efforts to reform and increase the membership of security council. But the other says that US, Russia and China have dampened the serious efforts of UNSC reforms. So simply put the permanent countries do not want to share their veto power. So even though publicly they accept that India needs to be given permanent seat, in the background they work against the expansion of security council. So now the question is, is India really eligible to become a permanent member in UNSC? The answer is yes. As we said at the beginning, India was elected to non-permanent membership of UNSC for the 8th time for the years 2021 and 2022. Before this, India has been a non-permanent member 7 times since its independence. And India's performance as a non-permanent member all these times has significantly strengthened India's claim to permanent membership. Not just that, the participation in peacekeeping operations is the key element of conditions required for permanent membership. Here it is very important to note that India is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. So in this context, in supporting India's bid for a permanent seat, former president of America Barack Obama cited that, India's long history as a leading contributor to UN peacekeeping mission makes India eligible to become a part of permanent membership. And not just that, India is home to around 130 crores population. So India represents a very high significance of population of the world. And not just that, India is a regional power and soon going to become a global power. So because of these new geopolitical realities, India is eligible to become a permanent member at UNSC. And India's bid for a permanent membership is backed by four permanent members of security council, France, Russia, UK and US. Not just that, as the leader of third world, India's bid to UNSC also enjoys considerable support from the developing countries. For example, when India contested for non-permanent seat, it got the support of 184 countries, which itself shows that India has very good stature across the world. So let us hope that India, the world's largest democracy, will achieve its rightful position in expanded security council. So this is all about the discussion of this news article wherein we have talked about the security council, why reforms are required in security council and why India is eligible to get a permanent seat at security council. Let us take up this news article which talks about the foundational agreements between India and the US. According to article, the US is keen to sign the last foundational agreement, which is the basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation, shortly called as BECA. And this agreement is expected to be signed in the upcoming 2 plus 2 summit. So what is this 2 plus 2 summit? So this 2 plus 2 summit is held between Indian external affairs and defence ministers and their US counterparts, who are secretary of state and secretary of defence. This dialogue is considered as highest level institutional mechanism between India and USA. Now let us have a brief look into the four foundational agreements out of which India has already signed three with US. Generally, US enters into these four foundational agreements with its defence partners. First one, general security of military information agreement. Second, the logistics exchange memorandum of agreement. Third, communications compatibility and security agreement. And the fourth one, that is the basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation. And coming to the first one, that is GSOMIA, India and US scientists agreement in 2002. This agreement enables the sharing of military intelligence between the two countries and requires each country to protect others classified information. And in the last year, India and US signed an additional add-on to this agreement which is called industrial security annex. This add-on agreement enables transfer of key high-end technology from US defence companies to India. And coming to second agreement, that is logistics exchange memorandum of agreement, that is LEMOVA. It is an Indian specific version of logistics support agreement, which the US has with many countries. This agreement was signed in 2016 and gives access to both countries to designated military facilities on either side for the purpose of refuelling and replenishment. The agreement primarily covers four areas, what to call joint exercises, training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. And coming to third agreement, it is COMCASA, communications compatibility and security agreement. This is also an Indian specific version of communications and information on security memorandum of agreement. So this agreement allows India to procure and transfer specialized equipment for encrypted communications. So this is meant to facilitate the use of high-end secured communication equipment to be installed on military platforms. This agreement will also help to receive modern, secure and net-enabled weapon systems such as precision armament, air-to-air missiles, etc. And the final one, today's point of discussion, that is basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation is yet to be signed. If this agreement is signed, it will allow both India and the US to share geospatial and satellite data such as topographical and even aeronautical data with each other. But India and the US are having differences over the issue of reciprocity, that is mutual exchange of information with respect to geospatial information. And today's article tells that negotiations are far from over and BAKAM might not be signed this time also. So in the exam point of view, know that India has signed three agreements so far with America. And the fourth agreement which is pending is called basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation. This is all about the discussion of this news article. Today, let us have a map discussion of some of the physical features of Europe. It is very important to know important physical features as map-based questions are very frequent in the glimpse examination. Even last year, we had a map-based question based on important seas and their bordering countries. And as you can see here, here is Norway GNC beside Norway. And if you come down, we have North Sea between UK and mainland Europe. On south of UK, we can see English Channel and straight off Dover connects this English Channel and North Sea. And if you further come down, there is very important straight called straight off Gibraltar. On the north side, you can find Iberian Peninsula, which is nothing but the countries of Portugal and Spain. And if you move our attention to the north again, here we have Baltic Sea, a very important sea here. And then you come to the right near Russia and Ukraine. And bottom of Azo, we have Crimea, which was recently occupied by Russia. And if you come down from Azo Sea, you can find Black Sea. And if you further come down, you can see Sea of Marmara or Marmara Sea. And there is Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey. On south of it, there is this big Mediterranean Sea, which forms a divide between Europe and Africa. And if you see, there is a sea called Adriatic Sea between Italy and Croatia, Bosnia. And south of Italy, we have Tyrian Sea. And on the southeast of Italy, you can find Ionian Sea. See the straight of Kirch connects Azo Sea with Black Sea. And the Bosphorus Strait connects Black Sea with Marmara Sea. And this Strait also separates Asian part of Turkey with European part of Turkey. And there is one more Strait called Dardanelli Strait, which connects Sea of Marmara with Aegean Sea. So, here comes Kirch Strait, here Bosphorus Strait and here Dardanelli Strait. We have also discussed about straight off Gibraltar as well as straight off Dover. So, these are the important physical landforms of European continent. There is a question for you. There is a summit called Three Seas Initiative Summit. This summit is a forum which brings 12 European Union members. So, the question is, which are the Three Seas of Europe are part of this Three Seas Initiative? Find out and post your answers in the comment section. This question is framed based on these news articles. Supreme Court is bound to obtain the consent of the attorney general for India in writing to initiate Suomoto content of court proceedings for criminal contempt. This statement is incorrect because for Suomoto content of court proceedings, the attorney general's consent is not required. Suomoto means Supreme Court itself initiating content of court proceedings. But whenever a complaint to initiate contempt proceedings is given by other than attorney general, then the consent of attorney general of India is required to initiate contempt of court proceedings for criminal contempt. So, simply put, when contempt of court proceedings are raised by Supreme Court itself, then permission is not required. Or when contempt of court proceedings are initiated by attorney general itself, then the question of written consent is not raised. But whenever complaint to initiate contempt proceedings is given by any other person, the written consent of attorney general for India is required to start criminal contempt proceedings. So, statement one is incorrect. Statement two, as per the Indian Constitution, only Supreme Court has the power to punish for contempt of itself. This statement is also incorrect because not just Supreme Court, even high courts have the power to punish for contempt of itself under article 215 of Indian Constitution. Therefore, correct answer is option D, neither one nor two. Let us move on to practice questions discussion session. Consider the following agreements. So, the four agreements which we have discussed today are given here. Which of the foundational agreements given above are signed between India and the U.S.? As we all know, agreement four, that is basic exchange and cooperation agreement for geospatial cooperation is not yet signed. So, if we eliminate option four, we can arrive at the answer, that is option C, one, two, one, three only. This is a previous year question appeared in prelims 2015. Which of the following statements regarding green climate fund is or are correct? Statement one, it is intended to assist the developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. Yes, statement one is correct. See, know that this climate fund is the world's largest dedicated fund helping developing countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their ability to respond to climate change. Statement two, it is founded under the ages of UNEP, OECD, Asian Development Bank and World Bank. Know this statement is incorrect because it was set up by UNFCCC in the year 2010. So, the correct answer is option A, one only. Next, which of the following statements is or are correct with reference to Malabar exercise? Statement one, it is a naval exercise between the navies of quad group. This statement is incorrect because Australia is not a part of Malabar exercise but a member of quad grouping. So, statement one is incorrect. Statement two, for the first time it was hosted by Japan in 2019. Yes, this statement is correct. Japan hosted the Malabar exercise for the first time in 2019. So, the correct answer is option B, two only. Next question, the group of four and uniting for consensus, often seen in news, are related to. As we all know, the correct answer is option C, key groups seeking reforms in permanent and non-permanent membership of UNSC. And here is one main question based on today's discussion on quad. Do you agree with the view that the quad is an effective countermeasure to China's aggression and assertiveness in the region? Give reasons in support of your answer. This is a 10 marks question and the world limit is 150. Write the answers and post your answers in the comment section. With this, we conclude today's news analysis. If you find this session resourceful, click on the like button, show your appreciation in the comment section and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.