 A very good evening aspirants. Before getting into the news article discussion, I have an announcement for you to know. See, clearing prylums is a mammoth task for many. But why worry when you have Shankarayesh academy? See, our pre-storming program is aimed to facilitate this process. Pre-storming is the most reliable prylums to series offered by Shankarayesh academy. Already two batches are going on successfully. Now for those who have missed to enrol in these batches, a third chance is awaiting. Yes, pre-storming batch 3 is starting on November 9th. The first test in this batch will commence on 20th November. Like the other batches, it will also have 66 tests. So go and register today to enhance your prylums score. So with this announcement, now let us move on to the Hindu newspaper analysis. Today's date is 6th November 2022. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. So without much delay, let's get into the first news article discussion. Now look at this question corner article from the science and technology page. The question asked today is why do puffer fish spawn on beaches under moonlight? See, to understand the answer for this question, we have to know We have to know what is spawning and what are pheromones? See, spawning is a process of release or deposit of eggs by organisms like fish and frogs. And pheromones are hormones like chemicals. The difference between both is that, while hormones are released inside the body, the pheromones are released outside the body. The next difference is that, while hormones are chemical signals for our body's internal organs to communicate with itself, the pheromones are chemical signals used to communicate with other organisms of the same species. So now coming back to the question, why do puffer fish spawn on beaches under moonlight? See, the puffer fish normally spawn along the coast at night during springtime. After studying the genetic makeup of the puffer fish, the scientists concluded that this behavior is due to a release of a particular pheromone called PGE2. See, using this pheromone PGE2, the puffer fish communicate with each other and perform synchronized beach spawning. So, this is about the puffer fish and its spawning behavior. Now, while discussing about the behavior of the puffer fish, I mentioned that puffer fish normally spawn along the coast at night during springtime. And here, what are the springtides? See, first of all, tides are a periodic rise and fall in sea level due to the gravitational force exerted by the moon and the sun. In case of tides, it is the gravitational effect of the moon that plays an important role and the gravitational effect of the sun plays only a minor role. See, we know that our moon revolves around the earth and it takes four weeks for our moon to complete one revolution around the earth, right? So, whenever moon revolves around the earth, at two moments, the earth, sun and the moon fall in the same line. Once, when the earth is between the sun and the moon and again when the moon is between the sun and the earth. So, when the earth is between the sun and moon, we get that full moon day. Again, when the moon is between sun and earth, we get the new moon day. So, in both the cases, the gravitational pull of the sun is added to gravitational pull of the moon on earth. This will cause the oceans to bulge a bit more than usual. This is called the springtide. We know that every coastal area experiences two high tides and two low tides every day due to the rotation of the earth, right? But during springtide, as the gravitational pull of the sun and moon adds up the high tides or little higher and low tides are a little lower than average. But what happens when the sun and moon are at right angle to each other? See, when this happens, the bulge of the ocean caused by the sun partially cancels out the bulge of the ocean caused by the moon. This produces moderate tides known as neeptides. That is, during neeptides, high tides are a little lower and low tides are a little higher than average. An additional point to note here is that for every lunar month, our earth experiences two springtides and two neeptides. So, that's all you have to know about this question corner article from the Science and Tech page. So, in this news article discussion, we could able to understand why do puffer fish span on beaches under moonlight. Then we also understood the difference between the springtide and neeptide. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, let us take up this news article. This news article talks about enforcement direct rate that is ED. See, yesterday, the ED had questioned the personal assistant of Delhi's deputy chief minister. The investigation is conducted in connection with the money laundering probe in the implementation of Delhi's exercise policy 2021-22. The ED also conducted searches at five locations in and around Delhi in connection with the case. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. So, in this context, let us learn few points about the enforcement direct rate or ED and its functions. See, the enforcement direct rate or direct rate of enforcement is a law enforcement and specialized financial investigation agency. It functions under the department of revenue of the ministry of finance. The enforcement direct rate is headquartered at New Delhi and it is headed by the director of enforcement. It also has five regional officers headed at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Delhi. And each regional office is headed by special directors of enforcement. Also know that ED also has officers at zonal levels and they are headed by a joint director. So, this is the institutional setup of ED. Now, coming to their functions. See, ED is a multidisciplinary organization and it is mandated with investigation of offenses of money laundering and violations of foreign exchange laws. Now, we will see those laws and the statutory functions of ED under those laws. Firstly, the prevention of money laundry act which is in short called as PMLA. See, it is a criminal law enacted to prevent money laundering. The law provides for confiscation and attachment of property which is involved in money laundering. Here, the ED has been given the responsibility to enforce the provisions of the PMLA. The ED will conduct the investigation to trace the assets derived from money laundering and it confiscates those assets. Then, ED also ensures the prosecution of the offenders under PMLA. Secondly, the foreign exchange management act 1999 which is in short called as FEMI. See, it is a civil law enacted to consolidate and amend the laws relating to external trade and payments. This FEMI Act also promotes the orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India. Here, the ED has been given the responsibility to conduct investigation. See, the investigation is conducted on suspected contraventions of foreign exchange laws and regulations. See, under FEMI Act, ED also has the powers to adjudicate and impose penalties on those who have contravened the law. And finally, the fugitive economic offenders act 2018 which is in short called as FEMOA. See, this act was enacted to deter fugitive economic offender. Now, what does this term fugitive economic offender mean? See, if a person has left India to avoid criminal prosecution and if he or she refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution, then they are defined as fugitive economic offenders. Here, the ED is mandated to attach the properties of the fugitive economic offenders who have escaped from India. And by warranting arrest, ED provide for the confiscation of fugitive economic offenders properties to the central government. So, these are all very important points that you have to make note of with respect to enforcement direct trade. So, in this news article discussion, we saw in detail about enforcement direct trade and its functions. With these learned points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, look at this news article. It is about the warning given by UNESCO. See, this news article says that one-third of the glaciers on the UNESCO's World Heritage List are under threat. And it is found that the threat will continue despite the efforts to limit temperature increases. And this is about the news article given here. In this context, let us see the important points mentioned in the UNESCO report and also the significance of glaciers. So, now let us begin with the significance of glacier. So, why should we conserve them? See, the major reason is that glaciers cover about 10 percentage of planet's surface and they are crucial for sustaining life on earth. We will see why they are crucial. The first reason is that glacial ecosystems provide ecosystem services like sediment sinks, freshwater reservoirs and we use this freshwater for domestic use, agriculture, industry and hydropower generation. Now that glaciers are called as water towers. This is because glaciers in mountains provide low lands with essential freshwater supply. So, this is the first reason why glacial ecosystem is very important. The second reason is that glaciers serve as habitat for biodiversity. See, about 50 percentage of the global biodiversity hotspots on the planet are located in basins drained by glaciers and also know that they contain one-third of the entire terrestrial species diversity. The third reason is that glacier ice feed the great rivers of Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia and fourthly they serve as a global thermostat by regulating ozone circulation and they reduce the global temperature. See, the white ice cover cools the earth by reflecting sunlight. We call this as albedo effect. So, this means that glaciers play an important role in the global climate system itself. Now finally, glaciers carry huge cultural and spiritual significance for many indigenous people and local communities. See, they provide economic and educational benefits through the recreation and tourism. So, now these are the reasons why we should conserve glaciers and icebergs. Now, coming to the article, it said that around 18,600 glaciers have been identified in 50 world heritage sites and it is also found that world heritage glaciers lose on average some 58 billion tons of ice every year and they contribute to almost 5 percentage of global observed sea level rise and projections indicate that glaciers in one-third of world heritage sites will disappear by 2050 regardless of the applied climate scenario. So, the UNESCO report says that to stop glacier retreat, we have to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If emissions are cut to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, then glaciers in two-third of world heritage sites could be saved. So, that is all you have to know about from this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we saw in detail about the significance of glaciers and why we have to conserve them. Along with that, we saw some of the facts that are mentioned in the UNESCO report. See, you can quote these facts in your main sansa writing. That is why I am explaining you with all the data included, okay? So, these learned points. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, look at this news article. This news article talks about the use of inhaled vaccines to stop and prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in China. So, in this context, let us see about inhaled vaccines. See, the inhaled vaccines that is currently in the news is developed by a China-based company called Canxino. Few months back, the nasal vaccine was in use and we have covered nasal vaccine on our 7th September 2022 in the news paper analysis. Interested people, please go and check it out. So, now coming back, see, like the nasal vaccine, the inhaled vaccine is also a needle-free COVID-19 vaccine. That is, there is no need to inject both nasal and inhaled vaccines. But the procedure for administering the vaccine is different. The nasal vaccine is sprayed inside the nose, but in the case of inhaled vaccine, first a mist of the vaccine is created in a cup. After that, this mist is sucked in through the mouth. You can see this short clip to understand better. So, this is about the administration of the vaccine. Now, what are all the advantages of the inhaled vaccine? See, the first advantage is easy administration. For administering a needle, some medical expert is required, right? But since the inhaled vaccine is needle-free, it can be easily administered by a semi-skilled person. So, the inhaled vaccine can be easily incorporated in mass vaccination drives. Second is, painless. See, some people, especially kids, they have an aversion towards getting injections due to the pain associated with the process. But, the inhaled vaccine is totally painless. So, the inhaled vaccine may persuade people who don't like getting an injection to get vaccinated. This will increase vaccine coverage. Third advantage is effectiveness. See, COVID virus mainly enters our body through our mouth and nose. So, if there is an effective immune response in our mucus layer of nose and mouth, the COVID virus can be neutralized before it reaches our body. It is based on this principle that the inhaled vaccine climbs its effectiveness. The inhaled vaccine helps mainly to give a boost to the immune cells that are present in the mucus membranes of the nose and mouth. Due to this, the COVID virus is neutralized at the point of entry itself. So, they are more effective. Now, the fourth advantage is they are better than the nasal vaccine. See, nasal vaccine are sprayed in the nose. So, it induces immune response mainly in the nasal passage. But, the inhaled vaccine is sucked through the mouth. So, the vaccine droplets are delivered deep in the airway. Due to this, the inhaled vaccine can induce a broader immune response than nasal vaccine. So, that is all you have to know about this inhaled vaccine. I hope we have covered in detail about inhaled vaccine. Currently in India, it is not approved for usage. But, in main sansa writing, you can use these points as a way forward. So, these learned points, now let us move to the next news article discussion. Now, look at this FAQ article. It speaks about the status of remote voting for non-resident Indians. So, in this context, let us learn about some of the points given in the news article. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference. Just go through it. Firstly, let us see why this is currently in talk. See, recently the Supreme Court had disposed of a batch of petitions which are seeking remote voting for NRAs. Now, this happened because the central government had told the court that it was looking for possible ways to facilitate remote voting for NRAs. Know that by keeping the voting rights of NRA in mind, earlier the central government had introduced a bill in 2017. This bill was proposed to facilitate proxy voting by overseas electors. However, this bill was lapsed and now the central government have told the Supreme Court that it is looking for various other options. That is why remote voting for NRAs is in news. See, we know that India has the largest diaspora population with nearly 1.35 crore NRAs spread across the globe right and many of them are in the Gulf countries, the USA and the UK. But the issue here is in the 2014 parliamentary elections only 11,846 NRAs registered and in that only a faction had voted in the election. So, here what is the reason for low NRA registration on voting? See, earlier the representation of people at barred the voting right of NRAs who stayed beyond 6 months in abroad. But what the government did was in 2010 it amended the RPA Act and this enabled the eligible NRAs who had stayed abroad beyond 6 months also to vote in the election. But unfortunately they have to visit the polling booth in person to vote and exercise their voting rights. But the issue here is this step did not encourage the NRAs to participate in voting because most of them are laborers. They lack financial resources to afford the travel tickets and there are also many other constraints. So, these are all the reasons why there is low NRA registration on voting. Now, let us see what the government did so far regarding remote voting for NRAs. See, between 2013 and 2014 many persons have filed a petition in the Supreme Court. Those petitions challenged the provision of the 2010 amendment which requires NRAs to visit the polling booth for voting in person. Then, the Supreme Court directed the government to take action. So, the Election Commission of India formed a committee in 2014 as per the Supreme Court's direction. See, this committee was formed to explore the voting options for overseas electors. The committee had recommended two remote voting options that is E postal ballot and proxy voting. So, what are these proxy voting and E postal ballot? Firstly, let us see about proxy voting. See, proxy voting is a voting process which allows a registered elector to delegate his voting rights to a particular representative, where the representative here is called a proxy. Note that the proxy is selected by the registered elector. So, proxy voting helps the person to exercise his or her voting rights through his or her proxy. Now, let us see about the E postal ballot. See, E postal ballot is the facility of casting votes by an elector using an electric voting system from a place other than the venue of his election booth. For this, we will take the example of electronically transmitted posted ballot system, ETPBS. Here, the voting ballot will be transmitted through electronic means to the voters and it enables the voters to cast their vote electronically. So, now let us see the process involved in ETPBS. Firstly, the NRA voters, they needed to make an application to the returning officer of his or her constituency. Here, the application will be given in person or sent through online. Then, the returning officer will verify the details and will send the ballot electronically to the voters. Next, the voters can register their mandate on the ballot printout and send it back to the returning officer with an attester declaration. Here, the NRA voter will either send the ballot by ordinary post or drop it at an Indian embassy where the embassy will post it to the concerned authority. So, this is about the process of ETPBS. See, we have discussed elaborately about electronically transmitted posted ballot system in our Hindi newspaper analysis dated 4th November 2022. That is yesterday, you can go and watch it. Now, coming back, know that the recommendation of the committee regarding remote voting is not yet implemented by the government. Also, here you have to note another thing, both ETPBS and proxy voting are currently available only to the service voters like those who are serving in the armed forces inside and outside India and those who are serving in diplomatic missions abroad. Then subsequently, ECI consulted the political parties about the implementation of proxy voting but the majority of the political parties were against proxy voting because the party said there is no guarantee that the proxy would vote as per the actual voter's choice. Then, in 2017, the central government introduced a bill to amend the Representation of People Act to remove the condition of in-person voting for NRAs and enable them to vote through proxies. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha in 2018 but it never introduced in the Rajesh Sabha. So, the bill eventually lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha. Then, in 2020, the ECI said to the law ministry that it was technically and administratively ready to facilitate ETPBS for NRAs in the 2021 Assembly election in five states. But the external AFI's ministry said it was not viable to roll out the ETPBS plan because there were huge logistical challenges relating to identity verification of voters, absence of polling agents, the polling on embassy staff, etc. So, this plan was also dropped. So, this is about the government's actions so far in facilitating remote voting for NRAs. Now, what about the current situation? This is a question, right? See, as we discussed earlier, the government has made assurance in the Supreme Court that it is looking for possible ways to facilitate remote voting for NRAs and will bring some positive note. Also, the law ministry in last March said that the government was exploring the possibility of allowing online voting for NRAs. Then, in April, the election commission said that ETPBS for NRAs was being considered and the action would be taken to implement the remote voting option. So, we have to wait and see what is going to happen in the future. I hope this news article discussion gave you an idea about the constraints for NRAs in exercising their voting rights. So, these learnt points. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, have a look at this news article. See, this news article depicts an image of edible art. Yes, here in this image, you can see that a paddy field is turned into canvas and using the popular Japanese art form of rice paddy art or tambo art, a huge image of Jesus Christ is created. See, this is not something happening yesterday. Even few days back, a vyanad farmer created a shokha chakra using tambo art. So, what is this tambo art? How it is created and why it is gaining attention in India? That is what we are going to investigate in this news article discussion. See, in Japanese, rice field are called ta or tambo and as I already said, tambo art uses rice fields as a canvas to create huge design works by planting rice with different coloured leaves and grain heads. The idea is that the design illustration will be viewed from a high point like a viewing platform. Okay? Now, the image that you are looking at is created by Mr. Prasid Kumar Thail. He is a progressive farmer in Vayanadistic in Northern Kerala. He has used six varieties of rice seeds like Ramli, Dabarshala, Nazarbath, Ratthasali, Krishnakamout and Kalyani Violet to create a 3D image following this tambo art. So, how these gained pieces of tambo art are created? See, firstly, a design is chosen by the farmer to cultivate the rice seedlings. Remember, the artwork cannot be completed unless the rice plants are cultivated well. Nurturing the seedlings is an extremely important task. Along with the seedlings in the nursery, preparations also begin on the rice fields. Water is run into the fields, the earth is filtered and fertilizer is spread. Next, a base drawing of the design is made and a surveyor makes a design blueprint for the stakeout based on this. The area is then surveyed according to the coordinates written on the design blueprint and the field is staked out with the stakes joining together by ropes. Then, the farmer decides the variety of seedlings to be planted in each section. Next, the rice fields are finally planted. So, this is how the huge edible art is created. Now, since rice is the stable food of Japanese people, after the rice plants are harvested, the rice is milled into polished rice and later on it will be given out to those who participated in the event and it is used as a treat for lunch at that event. Okay? So, this is how the popular Japanese art form of rice paddy art is created. Now, coming back, see, this huge image was drawn by artist E.D. Raji with the assistance of only 8 umat workers. The young farmer spent 15,000 rupees to complete the paddy art work and since Tambo art are created with great attention paid to details, it is creating large tourist centers and the young farmer is expecting at least 10,000 visitors to his farm this year. On the other hand, the farmer's gene bank has also collected as many as 300 varieties of rice seeds from across the country of which 100 varieties have been cultivated this season on his 10 acres using organic methods. Now, seeing this, many other farmers in the district are also following his path in creating small images in their paddy fields as well. So, this is all you have to know about this news article. It is a kind of creative cultivation, right? So, knowing something new is also important. So, in this news article discussion, we saw in detail about the popular Japanese art form of rice paddy art or the Tambo art. So, these learned 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. This question is a previous year question which is asked in 2017. Let me read out the question for you. See, understand the question well so that you can answer the question correctly. The question says, at one of the places in India, if you stand on the seashore and watch the sea, you will find that the seawater resides from the shoreline a few kilometers and come back to the shore twice a day and you can actually walk on the seafloor when the water resides. This unique phenomenon is seen at option A, Bhavnagar, option B, Bhimuni Patnam, option C, Chandipur and option D, Naha Patnam. See, the correct answer for the question is option C, Chandipur. See, Chandipur is located in Odisha. It is also called as the hide-and-seek beach because during low tide, seawater in the Chandipur beach retreat inside the sea from 1 kilometer to 5 kilometer and it again comes back to the shore slowly during high tide. This happens twice every day and the famous Abdul Kalam Island where the integrated this range is located 70 kilometers south of Chandipur beach. So, the correct answer for this question is option C. Now, moving on, this question is regarding mRNA vaccine. Look at this first statement, in case of mRNA vaccine, our body is tricked into producing viral protein. This viral protein initiates immune response. Whether this statement is correct? See, this statement is actually correct. Unlike classical vaccine that use weakened or dead microbes to initiate immune response, the mRNA vaccine tricks our body into producing viral protein that generate immune response. So, this statement is actually correct. Now, look at the second statement, mRNA vaccine or completely synthetic and inexpensive to produce. See, this statement is also correct. They are inexpensive to produce compared to classical vaccine. Hence, they can be employed in mass vaccination drives. Now, look at this third statement, mRNA is considered safe than normal vaccines as they do not contain weaker or dead disease causing organism. Statement three is also correct, mRNA is safer than classical vaccine. Now, look at this statement four, mRNA vaccines effectiveness is lower when compared to classical vaccine. See, this statement is actually incorrect. They are more effective than classical vaccines. This is because mRNA vaccine help produce viral protein that generate immune response. So, here the correct answer for the question is option A, 1, 2 and 3 only because fourth statement is incorrect. Now, moving on, this question is about enforcement direct rate. Statement one, it says that it is a specialized financial investigation agency functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs. This statement is actually wrong, it comes under Department of Revenue of Ministry of Finance. So, this statement is incorrect. Now, look at the second statement, it is responsible for enforcing the provisions of prevention of money laundering act 2002. See, this we saw in our discussion itself, this statement is actually correct. It is a multi-disciplinary organization mandated with the task of enforcing the provisions of PMLA and FEMI. Now, the third statement states that it is headquartered at Mumbai. See, this statement is wrong. We saw that in the discussion itself, it is headquartered at New Delhi. It has a regional office in Mumbai, but not the head office. So, here the question asked for incorrect statement, the correct answer for the question is option C, 1 and 3 only because statement two is correct. Now, moving on, this question about glacier is a quiz question for you today. Just try to solve the question and post the correct answer in the comment section. So, the question displayed here is the mains practice question for you today. Just go through the question, write an answer and post it in the comment section. 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 AS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.