 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindi newspaper analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy. Today's date is 1st of December 2022, displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. Here you can see that we have covered 9 news articles today. So from today onwards, you can expect us to cover a minimum of 7 news articles to a maximum of 9 news articles every day covering different parts of UPSC syllabus. So with this happy note, let us move on to the news article discussion. Now take a look at this front page article. This article says that India's growth rate dropped to 6.3%. This is due to the slowdown in the manufacturing sector. First you have to know that the GDP data in India is published by the National Statistical Office that is NSO. So basically the news article highlights various data released by the NSO regarding our country's growth rate or the GDP growth rate. So in this discussion, let us see all the data mentioned in the article and we shall also revise some of the basic concepts. So let's start with the data provided in the news article. See as we already saw India's growth rate for the July to September quarter slipped to 6.3%. This article also talks about the main reason behind the slip. The reason is high inflation and slower exports. Here you may have a question, ma'am 6.3% is a pretty decent growth rate, right? So why are we making so much fuss about it? I understand your question and I agree that 6.3% is a decent growth rate. The thing here is that in the last quarter that is in the April to June quarter, India witnessed a GDP growth of 13.5% with a GVA growth rate of 12.7%. So compared to such a high growth rate, 6.3% looks meager, right? So this is why this news became the front page news article. The article then mentions that the sectors that witnessed highest growth in GVA include hotels, transport and communication services. The GVA of these sectors increased by 14.7%. Then comes the agriculture sector. The sector performed in a fairly decent manner with GVA expanding at 4.6%. Now the cause of worry is regards to manufacturing and mining. Manufacturing contracted by 4.3% and mining contracted by 2.8%. Today the construction sector grew by 6.6% and real estate and the financial sector grew by 7.2%. So these sectors also grew at a decent rate. So overall in the first half of the 2022 to 23 financial year that is between April 2022 to September 2022, India's growth rate was around 9.7%. And our chief economic officer is happy about India's performance. So these are some of the important points mentioned in the news article. Now while discussing, I mentioned two economic terms, they are GDP and GVA. So what are these terms mean? Let us see about them now. First let us take GDP or gross domestic product. See GDP is the aggregate or the total value of goods and services which are produced within the domestic territory of a country. In other words, GDP is the market value or monetary value of all the final goods and services produced within the boundary of a nation during one year. See here all the particulars are very important. To have a better understanding, let us understand each term in GDP. Here cross signifies that no deduction has been made for the depreciation of machinery, buildings and other capital products used in production. That is it includes the total value. Then domestic means the production is by the resident institutional units of the country. So basically GDP includes all economic activities that are done inside the boundary of a country. And product refers to final goods and services. Here final means the stage of a product after which there is no known chance of value addition in it. So only final goods are added and intermediate goods are not added in the GDP calculation. Remember in GDP income generated by foreigners in a country is included but income generated by nationals of our country outside the country is not included. Further GDP of a country is derived from the different sectors of the economy like agriculture, manufacturing, mining, construction and even the service sector. So GDP is the single most important indicator to capture economic activities since changes in the size of economies are usually measured by changes in the volume of GDP. So this is about GDP. Now moving on to GVA or grass value added. Since the name suggests grass value added is used to calculate the total value added. To understand the need for GVA you must know the fault with the GDP. See in GDP we are calculating the total money value of all goods and services produced within a country's domestic boundary. And money value here indicates the final value that includes indirect tax and does not include subsidies. For example consider a car is manufactured in the economy. The price of the car is 1 lakh. This is the basic price. The government then imposes a tax of 10,000 and provides a subsidy of 2,000. So the final value or the market value of the car is 1,8,000 rupees. That is the car is sold at 1,8,000. However this 1,8,000 will be added to the GDP calculation. But after sometimes the government decides to increase the taxes and stop the subsidy. The government now imposes a tax of 20,000. So what will happen to market price? It will become 1,20,000. See in this scenario this 1,20,000 is added to the GDP calculation. So for the same car based on the government tax and subsidy the GDP value changes, right? So GDP in some cases does not truly reflect the production in the economy. This is why we introduced GVA. Here GVA at the basic price is nothing but GDP at market price minus product tax or indirect tax plus product subsidy. So one of the important advantage of GVA is that we can calculate the gross value added of a particular sector in the economy. Here you have to note that when such GVAs from all sectors are added together and then taxes are added but subsidies are reduced then we can get the GDP at market price, okay? Here just the formula is interchanged. So to find the actual production in the economy, GVA is found by adding gross domestic product at market price with product subsidy and subtracting that value with product tax. So this will even help in calculating the production in particular sector in the economy. Hope you could understand the difference between GDP and GVA. So in this news article discussion we saw in detail about GDP data in India published by National Statistical Office then we majorly saw the difference between the GDP and GVA. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this text and context article. This news article talks about the ransomware attacks in India. The article mainly focuses on whether the ransomware in India is increasing or not. So let us see them in the news article discussion. Before that the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference. You can go through it. So to begin with what is ransomware? See ransomware is a type of malicious software. It is used by cyber criminals to infect a computer system. If you ask how, see the attackers use ransomware to block the access to the stored data by encrypting the files. That is the entire system is locked. Then a ransom is demanded from the owner in exchange for the decryption key. And to make the payment the victim is asked to contact the attacker through an anonymous email address or is asked to follow instructions on an anonymous webpage. Here the payment is invariably demanded in a cryptocurrency like bitcoin. But there is also this problem. There is no guarantee that once the ransom is paid you will get access to your computer or files. Note that ransomware attacks can also be accompanied by theft of sensitive data for other evil motives. So if you ask me how serious is ransomware attacks? See these ransomwares they mainly target and attack commercial and critical infrastructure. For example, recently Ames, Delhi is facing a cyber attack and it is suspected to be a ransomware attack. The whole e-service of the hospital is now under the attack and only partial files were recovered by intelligence, fusion and strategic operations division of Delhi Police and currently all hospital services are executed manually. So this is how serious ransomware attacks are considering its seriousness. Even the Interpol's global crime trend report plays to this ransomware as the second highest threat after money laundering. So here comes the next question. Is there any agency in India to deal with cyber attacks? Yes, we do have agencies to deal with cyber attacks. Firstly, that is the Indian computer emergency response team. It was set up in 2004. It is the national nodal agency that collects, analyzes and circulates inputs on cyber attacks. Then it issues guidelines, advisories for preventive measures. Also it forecast and issues alerts. Then it takes measures to handle any significant cyber security event. It also imparts training to computer system managers. All these measures are taken by the Indian computer emergency response team to prevent the cyber attacks. Secondly, take the National Cyber Coordination Centre. It works on creating awareness about existing and potential threats. Also the National Cyber Security Coordinator coordinates with different agencies at the national level on cyber security issues. Thirdly, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre. It protects the national critical information infrastructure. Here critical information infrastructure or CII means the computer resource whose destruction shall have an impact on national security, economy, public health or safety. So an attack on these computer resources will make the entire country weak. So such resources are called as critical information infrastructure. Now moving on, finally let's see about the Cyber Swachsta Kendra. It was launched for detection of malicious software programs. See it is a botnet cleaning and malware analysis centre. It creates a cyber security space by detecting botnet infections in India. Then it also provides free tools to remove the infection. See it is set up in accordance with the National Cyber Security Policy and it is operated by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team which is in short called as CERTIN. So these are all some of the agencies in India which deals with cyber attacks. Since our country is moving towards digitalization, knowing about ransomware and the ways to prevent them is very important. It is also very important to build infrastructures which are not prone to malicious software like ransomware. So that is all you have to know about from this news article discussion. So in this news article discussion we saw in detail about ransomware and then we saw about its seriousness. We saw that Interpol's Global Crime Trend Report has placed ransomware as the second highest threat after money laundering. Then we saw some of the agencies which are dealing with cyber attacks in India. So these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. It reports that India is planning to lit up 100 centrally protected monuments for a week beginning on Thursday when it assumes G20 presidency for a year. Some of the monuments mentioned in the article are Kudip Minar, Purana Kvela, Velour Fort, Golkonda Fort, Sarnath and Dammak Stupa. As we have already seen about Kudip Minar quite a lot of time, let us use this news article as an opportunity to learn about Stupa architecture in Pralem's perspective. So what does this term Stupa mean? See Stupa refers to burial mounds prevalent in India from the Vedic period. It is a structure in which relics and ashes of the dead were kept. The tradition of erecting stupas may have been pre-Buddhist but they came to be associated with Buddhism subsequently because of the higher degree of importance given to them by the Buddhists. Since stupas contained relics regarded as sacred, the entire stupa came to be venerated as an emblem of both the Buddha and Buddhism. Remember during the period of Ashoka the art of stupas reached its climax. Many stupas were erected during his period. Although it is a Vedic tradition stupas were popularized by the Buddhists. So if a question is asked in the Pralem's stating that stupas were of Buddhist origin, the statement is wrong. Stupas had a pre-Buddhist origin as I said already. Now here in this basic diagram you can see various parts of a stupa. Now let us see the different parts of the stupa one by one. First is the Torana. Torana refers to the ceremonial passages of entry which are located on four different sides of the stupa. You can see that here, here, here and here right? So it is on all the four different sides of the stupa. So this is where people enter and exit the stupas. Now coming to the term Pradikshina Padas. It refers to the pathways which are present circularly around the stupa. Here you can see that right? Then the term Chhatri refers to the area atop the stupa. This is where the Buddhist relics are considered to be present. Then here you can see the Anda, Anda refers to the hemispherical dome. Then here you can see Vedika, Vedika are the railings which are present all around the stupa. It is a fence like structure present around the main structure. Then the Medi refers to the circular terrace which is at an elevation from the ground level. Now coming to the final term Haramika. Haramika refers to the cubical railings which are present atop the Anda. It is known as a board of gods in Buddhist text. Now make note of all these given points. The parts of the stupa is a potential prelims question. So this we came to the end of this news article discussion. In this news article discussion we saw in detail about stupa. We saw that stupa's had a pre-Buddhist origin and we saw about various parts of a stupa. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. It talks about the YLF Trust of India's award given to an 8 member team from Chinnakanal that comes under the Mooner Forest Division of Kerala. The award was given to the state forest team because of the steps taken to mitigate man-animal conflict in the Chinnakanal region. See this was after a 60 year old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at a nearby area called Sinkukandam in March. Due to this incident only the forest department constituted the 8 member team and the news article says that the team starts its work around morning 8am and finishes by around midnight. They provide information about movements of wild elephants in the region, especially through WhatsApp groups. This message helped a lot of people to be aware of the presence of wild elephant in the area. So this is the crux of the news article given here. So in this context let us learn few facts about YLF Trust of India. See this YLF Trust of India in short called as WTI is an NGO founder in the year 1998. It was founded response to the numerous crisis confronting India's wildlife and natural habitats. Initially a 3 person team set out on a mission to save the environment which is now increased to 150 full time professionals operating from various remote parts of our country. So this is about the brief background of WTI. Now coming to the goal of WTI, the goal is to conserve nature particularly endangered species and threatened habitats. You note that WTI is primarily dedicated to the conservation of India's wildlife which it accomplishes by collaborating with local communities and governments. Conservation is done through a variety of projects ranging from species rehabilitation to the prevention of illegal wildlife trade. I have provided here the map taken from the WTI website, go through the map to find out the different types of conservation projects taken up by WTI. Currently there are around 40 conservation projects taken up by WTI. The project location varies geographically from the Pirpa Angel mountain in Kashmir to the mangrove forest of Kannur Kerala. It also ranges from Himalayan black bear forest in Arunachal to whale shark pumping areas of the Gujarat coast. As part of the conservation strategy WTI gives award to the best conservation strategies followed in India. So in that way this year WTI has selected the 8 member forest team from Kerala who helped in mitigating human-elephant conflict in the Chinnakhanal region. Since NGOs bridge the gaps in the government's programs and reach out to sections of people often left untouched by state projects, knowing about NGO and its role is very important. So that is why I chose this news article for today's discussion. If suppose there is a question in mains regarding NGO you can quote this award as an example. So in this news article discussion we saw in brief about Wildlife Trust of India WTI which is a non-governmental organization. So these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this news article it reports that 16 drones were shot down along Pakistan India border this year by the border security force. The article also says that new technology was being tested to effectively detect the drones. Other than this the article also reports that BSF has tied up with the state police for patrolling in-depth areas and to confiscate items like arms and drugs that are dropped by the drones. As per the article Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab are the two regions which are facing the many of increased rope drone transgressions into their territory. So in this context let us learn about what is an anti-drone system and we shall also know about the intelligently developed anti-drone system of DRDO. Since cross-border drone infiltration is very high nowadays knowing about an anti-drone system is very important. That is why we have chosen this news article. So first of all what is this anti-drone system? See anti-drone is a radar based system used to detect and intercept unwanted drones and unmanned aerial vehicles which is in short called UAVs. They are deployed to protect areas like airports, critical infrastructure, large public spaces like stadiums and military installations and battlefields. In India anti-drone system are widely used by the border guarding forces to protect the border areas from illegal drone transgressions. So this basic idea now let us see the intelligently developed anti-drone system of India. See to counter hostile drone strikes the defense research and development organization that is DRDO has devised an anti-drone system. This intelligently developed technology has the ability of both detection and counter attacks. The DRDO's anti-drone system is capable of performing both soft kill and hard kill. Here the term soft kill refers to the jamming of communication channels and the electrical instruments of the drone. Hard kill refers to the laser enabled counter-measure to destroy the drone itself. Now let us see briefly about the features of DRDO's anti-drone system. See the intelligently developed anti-drone system is capable of detecting and jamming micro drones from a distance of up to 3 kilometers. Secondly it can use a laser to knock down a target from a distance of up to 1 to 2.5 kilometers depending on the laser weapon's wattage. Also know that it has a 4 kilometer radar detection range, a 2 kilometer jamming range and a 1 kilometer kill range. So these are all some of the features of the anti-drone system of DRDO. Since India has a multi-dimensional border management problem, knowing about the features of the anti-drone system is also very important, so make note of all these points. Either there might be a problem's question regarding this anti-drone system or you can mention about anti-drone system if there is a question in security part. Ok, I hope you could understand what is an anti-drone system and some of the features of newly developed anti-drone system of DRDO. So these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this OPAD article, see if you are following the news regularly you know that one or other constitutional positions is always under debate. For example the office of governor, but this OPAD article deals with another important constitutional office that is part and parcel of a democracy. Here I am talking about the office of chief election commissioner and election commissioners. See this article is very important because the author, he himself is a former chief election commissioner. He has pointed out two issues that need to be addressed while bringing in electoral reforms. So that is what we are going to see in this news article discussion. The syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference. You can go through it. So let's first begin with the first issue, the first issue pertains to how the members of election commission of India should be appointed. Here by the term members I mean both the election commissioners and the chief election commissioner. See here for the appointment of members of ECI two options are available. One the members to be selected by the executive like how it is happening now that is the members can be selected by the president, the vice president and the council of ministers with the prime minister as their head. And as where article 324 clause 2 the president appoints the chief election commissioner and election commissioners on the advice of the council of ministers. Now coming to the second option, in this option the members can be selected by a collegium like in the case of judicial appointments to the supreme court and high courts. We all know that already collegium system exists for judicial appointments. It is basically a selection panel consisting of group of senior most officials that is a group of officials each with equal rank and power of that organization or body. So these are the two options available among them as we saw already currently the members of ECI are being appointed by executives. And if a collegium is set up for the same it would be an electoral reform. Here you might have a doubt will it be possible to have a collegium for appointment of election commissioners. See according to several committee reports it is actually possible. Now before seeing these committees you might have another question why such collegium is needed. See it is needed because president appoints chief election commissioners and election commissioner based on the advice of council of ministers. But they are the ruling party right? So it is possible for a ruling party to appoint a partisan person to the commission who might favor them in the elections. So this fear is what led many committees to suggest that this procedure should be changed. And they suggested a collegium. The first committee to suggest this reform was the committee on electoral reforms of 1990. Its objective was to recommend electoral reforms and it was constituted under the then law minister Shri Dinesh Goswami. This committee is popularly known as the Dinesh Goswami committee. One of its major recommendations was about the mode of appointment of chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners. For chief election commissioner it suggested that the CEC should be appointed by president but after a consultation with the chief justice of India and the leader of the opposition. We all know that the leader of opposition or LOP is one of the key parliamentary functionaries. An option was also provided in the absence of LOP. At this scenario the consultation should be with the leader of the largest opposition group in the Lok Sabha. The above same procedure was suggested for the appointment of election commissioners but with one addition. It suggested that the consultation with chief election commissioner also. So all it recommended for statutory backing for such consultation process that is framing legislations or rules and regulations explaining the consultation process. So overall this committee recommended a collegium of CJI plus LOP for appointing chief election commissioner and for election commissioners a collegium of CJI plus LOP plus chief election commissioner. I hope the suggestions of the first committee is clear. Now coming to the second committee it was the national commission to review the working of the constitution which was set up in 2000. It was under the chairmanship of justice M. N. Venkata Chalaya. It examined the constitution and recommended changes through a report in 2002. It recommended amendments to the constitution of India. It also recommended legislative measures and some executive actions. Now with respect to electoral reforms it also suggested a collegium but it suggested for a same collegium for both chief election commissioner and two election commissioners. The collegium was to consist of prime minister, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, leader of opposition in the Rajesh Sabha, the speaker of the Lok Sabha and the deputy chairman of the Rajesh Sabha. It even suggested a similar procedure to be adopted for the appointment of state election commissioners. So this committee suggested a total different collegium from the one suggested by the Dinesh Koswami committee. Another report of significance is the 255th report of the law commission. It was the report on election reforms and the committee was chaired by Justice A. P. Shah. With respect to election commission of India it suggested measures to strengthen the office of E.C.I. For this two major recommendations were made. First recommendation was to keep the appointment process of election commissioners and the chief election commissioner as consultative. It recommended that the president should consult with the three member collegium or selection committee. Such collegium should consist of the prime minister, the leader of opposition of the Lok Sabha and the chief justice of India. If there is no leader of opposition then the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha in terms of numerical strength should be consulted. It not only suggested collegium for appointment but its involvement for elevation of election commissioners as chief election commissioner. See elevations should be based on the basis of seniority but as per the suggestion this scenario will not be applicable if the three member collegium deems the election commission unfit. We will see the second recommendation of this committee while discussing the next reform. So, from the above discussion it is clear that each committee recommended a collegium and it is also clear that none of these were implemented by the government so far. Because still the chief election commissioner and election commissioners are appointed without a collegium and just with the advice of the council of ministers. So now it is up to the apex court to decide whether to take the recommendations of these committees or not. So now let us come to the second issue. It is about providing security of tenure to the election commissioners and safeguarding them from arbitrary removal. Now here you might ask why security only to election commissioners because the chief election commissioner already enjoys this privilege under article 324 class 5 of the constitution. The chief election commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by parliament. This impeachment process ensure that a ruling party cannot remove a chief election commissioner who refuses to favour it in elections. So here we can say that chief election commissioner has security of tenure and most importantly it is provided by the constitution and that is why the author calls it as a constitutional protection. But on the other hand the election commissioners can be removed by the president and there is no impeachment procedure. So they do not enjoy constitutional protection. This generates another fear that is arbitrary removal of election commissioners if they do not support the ruling party. And the author says that this fear of arbitrary removal hinders the independent functioning of election commission of India that is required for conducting free and fair elections. That is why the 255th report of the law commission also recommended that the constitution should provide equal constitutional protection to all members of the commission in matters of removability. For this it suggested amending article 324 class 5 of the constitution. This clause is the one that provides constitutional protection to CEC right. The amendment should equate the removal procedures of the two election commissioners with that of the chief election commissioner. So in this matter also it is in the hands of the Supreme Court to reconsider the recommendations of the committees and bring in electoral reforms that will strengthen the independent functioning of the election commission of India. So that's all you have to know about this news article discussion. I hope in this news article discussion we covered in detail about the appointment of members of election commission of India and why constitutional protection should be awarded to election commissioners. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this editorial article. See this article speaks about the ongoing conflict between the union government and the judiciary. So in this context let us learn about the prevailing issues between the government and the judiciary and then some possible solutions to address the issue. Before that the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference. You can go through it. See for better understanding of the issue let us have a brief idea about the Collegium system and the National Judicial Appointments Commission. Let's first start with the Collegium system. See the Collegium is a system by which the appointment and transfer of judges are done in the country. Know that the Collegium system emerged and evolved through various judgments of the Supreme Court in the famous judges case. Remember one point here the Collegium system was not enacted by an act of the parliament or not through the provision of the constitution. Remember in India we have two types of Collegiums. One is the Supreme Court Collegium and the other one is the High Court Collegium. Know that the Supreme Court Collegium is headed by the Chief Justice of India whereas the High Court Collegium is headed by the respective Chief Justice of the High Court. But here you have to remember one thing. Even though Chief Justice of India is the head of Supreme Court Collegium he has to consult four senior most judges of Supreme Court before appointing the judges of Supreme Court. Likewise during the appointment of High Court judges also the Chief Justice of India has to consult with two senior most Supreme Court judges. Okay remember this. Now when we look into the High Court Collegium the High Court Collegium consists of two other senior most judges of that particular High Court. Remember the names recommended for appointment by the High Court Collegium will reach the government only after getting approval by the CJI and the Supreme Court Collegium. Okay so this is about the Collegium system. Now coming to the National Judicial Appointments Commission see NJAC was proposed to replace the present Collegium system of appointing judges. It was established in 2014 through the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act. Then the Parliament also passed the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act in 2014 and this act was enacted to regulate the functions of the NJAC. Now coming to the composition see it was planned to include six people in the NJAC. They are the Chief Justice of India who would also act as the chairperson, then the two senior most judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Law Minister and two eminent persons. Here the eminent persons would be selected by a committee comprising the Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister and leader of the opposition. Remember the fact here the NJAC was only short-lived because in 2015 the Supreme Court declared both the 99th Constitutional Amendment and NJAC Act as unconstitutional and void. This move once again brought back the Collegium system to appoint and transfer the judges. So this is about the Collegium system and NJAC. Now let us see about the ongoing conflict between the Union Government and the judiciary. See recently the Union Government has asked the Supreme Court Collegium to reconsider 20 files which were related to the appointment of high court judges and the government didn't state any reasons for such a move. But some sources are saying that the Union Government is having differences with the Supreme Court Collegium. Because of this difference in opinion the government sent back the files and it is also delaying the appointments recommended by the Collegium. Then the government also criticized openly about the Collegium system. The Union Government observed that there are loop holes in the Collegium system. It even noted that the people in the country are now raising voices against the Collegium system because there is no transparency and accountability in the Collegium system. Even recently the Union Law Minister in his remarks asked the Supreme Court to not to send any files to the government as if Supreme Court feels the government was holding the appointments file. There are also concerns from the government side. Now what are the Supreme Court's response to this? See the Supreme Court also responded to the Union Government's remark on the Collegium system. The Supreme Court noted that the government can express its obligation but it cannot just hold on the recommendations of Collegium without citing any reasons. The Supreme Court also noted that the government is violating the prevailing legal system of appointments of judges. I hope you all know that the recommendations reiterated by the Collegium is binding on the government after the due consideration of government's obligations. So the Supreme Court said that such delay by the government in appointing judges is violating the prevailing legal system. The court also observed that the government is not acting on the recommendation files because of the reason that the Supreme Court had not permitted the implementation of the National Judicial Appointments Commission. So this is about the ongoing conflict between the Union Government and the country's top judiciary. So what is the possible solution to address the ongoing issue? See according to the author, the government should act in accordance to the prevailing legal system. And to avoid the ongoing tussle, the government should clear the pending recommendations of the Collegium with due dispatch. In turn, the judiciary should also agree with the government's effort in bringing reforms in the Collegium system. The judiciary should also expand the range of consultations beyond the senior most judges. This will ensure representation from all the sections while appointing judges. So these are all some of the solutions that will help to address ongoing tussle between the Union Government and the judiciary. See it is the opinion of the author, you can also develop your own opinion regarding this issue. I hope this solution is a very neutral solution. Since this solution is neutral, I recommend you to highlight it in your main's answer if a question is asked regarding the tussle. So that's all about this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we saw in detail about the Collegium system and then the NJAC. Then we saw about the recent tussle and some of the solutions to the tussle. So with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now look at this news article. According to the article, the Supreme Court is hearing a series of petitions which are highlighting the numerous deaths of great Indian busters. Here the deaths of GIVs are due to power transmission lines criss-crossing there habited in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The activists and the people who have filed petitions or advocating for project great India bustered a similar conservation program like Project Tiger. So in this backdrop, yesterday the Supreme Court sought the Union Government's response about the evolving project great Indian bustered. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us learn about the great Indian bustered, its habitat, its distribution and finally about its conservation status. See, the great Indian bustered is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world. Know that the GIVs are endemic to the Indian subcontinent. GIVs are primarily terrestrial birds. This means that they are the type of birds that are generally found on the ground. This also means they are also roast and build nest on the ground or in the very low bushes. So having a brief understanding about GIVs, now let us see about their characteristics. See the male bird or taller and heavier than female birds. GIV is known for its very slow reproductive rate. That is, it lays only one egg for one or two years and the success rate of these eggs and their ideal situation is around 60% to 70% age. Because of such slow reproductive rate and specific habitat requirements, the species is found to be highly vulnerable. Now talking about its distribution, see historically the great Indian bustered was distributed throughout western India and as well as in the parts of Pakistan. GIV once had its stronghold over the Thar desert and the Rekhan Plateau but today its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small populations are also found in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka know that very few birds are also found in Pakistan. So this is about the distribution of GIV. Now we'll see about the habitat of GIV. See GIVs generally favor flat open landscapes with minimal visual obstruction and disturbance. So this species usually inhibits in open habitats like short grasslands and open scraps know that the great Indian bustered is considered as the crucial indicator species of the grassland ecosystems. So this is about their habitat. Now talking about their conservation status, see the great Indian bustered has got the highest protection status in India. It is included in schedule one of the Indian wildlife protection act 1972. Then GIV is placed under the category of critically endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Apart from this it is listed in CMS convention. Here I'm talking about the convention on conservation of migratory species. Know that it is also known as the Born Convention. And the sites that is the conservation on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora it is listed in appendix one. Sites is also known as the Washington Convention. Apart from this note this additional point the great Indian bustered has been identified as one of the species for recovery program under the integrated development of wildlife habitats. Know that the integrated development of wildlife habitats is a centrally sponsored scheme. And this scheme comes under the Ministry of Environment and Forest. See this scheme is aiming to recover the critically endangered species and their habitats. So knowing about this scheme is also very important. So in this news article discussion we saw in detail about great Indian bustered. It's habitat. It's a distribution and it's characteristics. So with these learnt points now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. This news article mentions about a report by the confederation of Indian industry. As per the report the new age technologies like metaverse web 3.0 and blockchain all will aid in increasing the overall GSTP of Tamil Nadu. So taking this as an opportunity let us learn about metaverse. See here the prefix meta means beyond and verse is short for universe. This term typically describes the concept of a future iteration of the internet. Metaverse is made up of persistent shared 3D virtual spaces that are linked into a perceived virtual universe. If you can't understand it let me simplify it. See metaverse is basically a virtual world and particularly a digital avatar based virtual world. These digital avatars or simply avatars will be the digital representatives of individuals. So such a virtual world will feature avatars, digital objects and even functioning economies. So here you can say that metaverse is a space parallel to the physical world where one leads a digital life. An alter ego and can interact with others through their alternative personalities. Now see this representation for example the chess board is not real and one of the player is not physically present there but still they can play. This is what we call metaverse. If you ask me how this is happening it is because in metaverse the virtual reality and augmented reality applications come together. Here augmented reality uses a real world setting while virtual reality is completely virtual. In this image you can see some of the features of AR and VR. Also the metaverse is conceptually in line with the web 3.0. See it is aided by blockchain technology. So metaverse is the convergence point of most media computing and communication technologies. It is a shared 3d or virtual space where users can see other people and share experiences. Interestingly such experiences can mirror the real world or it can be a totally fantasy also. Overall a virtual realm where physical augmented and virtual reality converges. Now for this parallel world to exist it has several elements in it like the digital currency, online shopping, workplace automation, social media, digital human, natural language processing, infrastructure and device independence. Here device independence refers to the property of a program or system that will run on different types of devices regardless of the operating system or native language of the device. And natural language processing is a branch of artificial intelligence which means the computer's ability to understand text and spoken words in which the same way the human beings can. Also metaverse provide wide range of applications. Because individuals entering this virtual world can interact with each other, work, transact business, learn and even play games to entertain themselves. It has application in health care, agriculture, education, tourism, environment protection, smart cities etc. For example many countries have established virtual embassies. This includes the government of Maldives, Sweden, Estonia, Serbia etc. You would have also heard about a couple who hosted a wedding reception in metaverse. So these are some of the applications of metaverse. So in this news article discussion we saw in detail about metaverse and its applications. So these learnt points now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the preliminary practice question discussion. Now look at this first question which among the following are included in gross domestic product GDP calculation of India. Statement 1, salaries of officials in the Indian Embassy which is located in USA. Statement 2, salaries of officials in the US Embassy which is located in India. Statement 3, salaries received by foreigners working in India. Statement 4, salaries received by Indians working in UAE. So you have to select the correct code, option A1 and 2 only, option B1 and 3 only, option C2 and 3 only and option D2 and 4 only. See now before getting into the answer for this question I want to clarify two things. One is GDP includes all the economic activity that happens within the geographic area of a country. It can be calculated through three methods which are value addition method, income method and expenditure method. In the income method income earned by all the subjects within the geographic boundary is added up to arrive at the GDP value. So this understanding let us approach the question. See here statement 1 is correct. We know that Embassy is the official residence of an ambassador and country's Embassy is considered as its sovereign territory. So even though Indian Embassy is located in the USA, the premise of the Embassy is considered as a territory of India. So all economic activity happening in the Indian Embassy is accounted for in Indian GDP. Therefore salaries of officials in the Indian Embassy which is located in USA is included in India's GDP calculation. Statement 2 is the inverse of statement 1. So it is incorrect. Salaries of officials in the U.S. Embassy which is located in India is accounted for in the GDP calculation of USA and not in the GDP calculation of India. Statement 3 is correct because in the income method of GDP calculation salaries received by foreigners working within the geographic boundary of India is accounted for. Statement 4 is the inverse of statement 3 and it is incorrect. Salaries received by Indians working in UAE is accounted for in the GDP calculation of UAE and not India. Okay? So the correct answer for the question is option B1 and 3 only. Now moving on look at this question. On the left hand side stupas are given and on the right hand side states are given. Look at this first pair Kesariya stupa Bihar Second pair Barhut stupa Mathya Pradesh Third pair Amaravati stupa Andhra Pradesh and fourth pair Damik stupa Uttar Pradesh. So you have to choose which of the above pair or correctly matched. Option A1 pair only Option B2 pair only Option C3 pair only and option D all four pairs. See here Kesariya stupa is located in Bihar. Recently this stupa was in use because of the floods in the area near this stupa. This stupa got submerged. Now coming to the Barhut and Amaravati stupas both these stupas are currently not fully present and are in ruins and only parts of the stupa are preserved in museum in nearby areas. And the Damik stupa is located in Uttar Pradesh near Sarnath as part of G20 presidency taken over by India both Sanchi and Damik stupa are going to be let up by government of India. That is what we saw in our news article discussion. So the correct answer for this question is option D all four pairs. Now moving on look at this question with reference to DRDO consider the following statements. Statement 1 It functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs. See this statement is actually incorrect. It functions under Ministry of Defense. Remember DRDO is the premier research and development organization with respect to the production of defense components. It was established in the year 1958 after combining technical development establishment TDEs of the Indian Army and the directorate of technical development and production DTDP with the Defense Science Organization. Okay. So statement 1 is incorrect. Statement 2 is actually correct. Statement 2 Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. IGMDP was one of the program of ISRO. See this statement is actually correct. IGMDP was one of the flagship missile development program of ISRO. Missile which core developed under IGMDP are Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag. So here since the question asked for incorrect statement option A is alone incorrect. So the correct answer for the question is option A1 only. Now moving on look at this question about metaverse. Statement 1 Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality or combined in the metaverse. See actually this question is correct. We saw that in our discussion itself right. Now the second statement says it is a disruptive technology. Actually this statement is also correct. Here disruptive technology is an innovation that significantly alters the way that consumers, industries or businesses operate. And yes already metaverse applications have widened and many business operations have been altered. So the correct answer for this question is option C both 1 and 2. So now moving on the two questions displayed here or the Prillin's practice questions for you or it is the quiz question for you. Just go through the questions. Try to answer it in the comment section. So displayed here or the main practice questions for you today. Just go through the question. Try to write an answer and post it in the comment section. So with this we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video hit like, do comment and don't forget to subscribe to Shankara A's academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.