 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindi newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 24th of February 2023. Displayed here are the list of articles that we are going to discuss today. Without any delay, let's get into the article discussion. Now see this article here, it says that an early summer is expected this year. And according to Indian Agricultural Research Institute, this early summer will not affect the wheat crop this Rabi season. And this is because the terminal heat conditions will not be there till March 16, 2023. And by that time, the grain filling stage of the wheat crop would be over. And that is exactly why the early summer will not affect the wheat crop. And this is about the news article given here. Now, using this opportunity, we are going to revise about the Rabi season and the Rabi crops. See, know that every crop has its own distinct process of planting, harvesting and processing. But broadly speaking, each crop can be categorized into different cropping season. When it comes to India, there are three main cropping seasons. They are Karif season, Rabi season and Zaid season. Karif season indicates monsoon season and Rabi indicates winter season and Zaid indicates summer season. See, today in our discussion, we are going to concentrate only on Rabi season. Now, as I already said, Rabi season coincides with the winter season. So the Rabi crops are also called as winter crops. But fascinatingly, the word Rabi is derived from Arabic, which means spring. Now don't get confused here, okay? Yes, like I said, Rabi crops are called as winter crops. But they are harvested in the spring season. And that is why the term Rabi is kept for these crops. See, normally, Rabi crops are planted around October or the middle of November. This is well after the rainy season. That is, after the monsoon rains are over. So the sowing is done in winter season. But the harvesting, it is done in April or May depending on the type of crops. Now, let us see some of the examples of Rabi crops. See, Rabi crops include wheat, mustard, barley, peas, chickpea, cumin, fennel, coriander and types of gram. Know that Rabi crops do not require more water like the Karif crops. What are Karif crops? They are monsoon crops and they require more water. Normally, Rabi crops are grown with rainwater that has percolated into the ground during the monsoon season. See, during rainy season, the rainwater will get into the soil and it increases the moisture content of the soil, right? And Rabi crops use that moisture for its growth. Or otherwise, it easily grows with the help of a routine water irrigation techniques. This is used in the case where the rainwater has not percolated into the ground. So to sum it up, Rabi crops do not require more water like the Karif crops. So what does this mean? This means that heavy rain in winter season will spoil the Rabi crops. Now, this is about the Rabi season and the Rabi crops. Now before concluding our discussion, let us see about the states that produce Rabi crops in India. Know that Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, they are the few of the states and union territories that lead in the Rabi crop production. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the different cropping seasons in India. And after that, we concentrated on Rabi season. We saw what is Rabi season. We saw about Rabi crops and the conditions required to cultivate the Rabi crops. And finally, we ended our discussion by seeing the states that grow Rabi crops in India. Now with these points, let us move on to the next article discussion. Now for our next discussion, we are going to take this editorial article. See, the article is talking about the anti-defection law. Now, why is this in news today? See, presently, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a set of cases, which are popularly known as the Maharashtra political controversy cases. And these cases raised certain fundamental issues about the working of India's anti-defection law. Now, you should know why were the set of cases filed before the Supreme Court? See, the cases were filed because of the events that happened in Maharashtra last June. See, in last June, the erstwhile ruling coalition in Maharashtra, that is the Mahavikas Agadhi, lost power after an internal split of the Shivasena Party. See, Shivasena Party got split into two factions, where one faction is led by Eknaath Shinde and the other one by Udav Thakere. And after such a split, the faction which was led by Eknaath Shinde joined hands with the BJP. And he formed the new coalition government. And after this event, the disputes arose between various political parties in Maharashtra. And recently, the Election Commission of India has declared that Shinde's faction is entitled to the party name, that is the Shivasena and the party symbol. Here, the faction led by Udav Thakere, they objected to the Election Commission's order and they have approached to the Supreme Court. And they have also raised certain issues about the working of India's anti-defection law. And this is why the anti-defection law made news today. Now, using this opportunity in this discussion today, we'll learn about the anti-defection law, then about the challenges in the law and finally, we'll see some solutions to the challenges. Now, firstly, let's start with the term defection. See, in the political sense, the term defection refers to the act of changing the party alleges. That is, defection defines the person's act of changing from the political party where he got elected to a different political party. Simply, it means changing from one political party to the other. See, sometimes this political defection destabilizes the political party. So, to address this evil, the anti-defection law was passed in the year 1985. Now, let us see about the anti-defection law in detail. See, as we already know, the tenth schedule of the constitution speaks about the anti-defection law. It was added to the constitution through the 52nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1985. See, the anti-defection law lays down the process to disqualify the members of the parliament and the members of the state legislature based on the grounds of defection. Know that the members are disqualified by the presiding officer of a legislature based on a petition received from any other member of that house. Now, this is about the basics of the anti-defection law. Now, with these basics, let us understand some of the provisions of anti-defection law. See, section 2 of the anti-defection law provides for the disqualification of members of the legislature. Remember, the term legislature includes Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Assembly and the State Legislative Council. And there are many grounds for the disqualification of these members. Now, we'll see them one by one. Firstly, let us take the elected members of the legislature who belongs to a political party. See here, there are two situations where an elected member who belongs to a political party can be disqualified. Firstly, if the member of the legislature voluntarily gives up the membership of the political party, then he or she is disqualified. This is the first situation. The second situation is that if the member oaths or abstains from voting against the direction of the whip, then he or she can be disqualified. Here, some exceptions are there. See, if the member oaths or abstains from voting in the legislature by obtaining prior permission from the political party, then the member will not be disqualified. This is the first exception. The second exception is that let us say that the member has voted or abstained from voting in the legislature. And if this is accepted by the political party within 15 days, then also the member will not be disqualified. So, we can say that a member elected on a party ticket should continue in the party by obeying the party decisions. If they do not obey it, then there is a chance that they may face the disqualification. And there are also some exceptions which we saw now. And this is about the elected members of the legislature who belong to a political party. Now, let's talk about the independent members. See, the independent members shall be disqualified if they join another political party after the election. Know that the independent members are the members who are elected without being set up as a candidate by any political party. He is independent from political parties. And because of this reason only, he will be disqualified if he joins any political party. And this is about the independent members. Now, let's move on to nominated members. See, the nominated members can be disqualified if they join any political party after the expiration of six months from the date on which he takes his seat in the house. This means that the nominated person may join any political party within six months of taking their seat in the house. If they join after six months, they will be disqualified. And this is all about the grounds of disqualification. See, there are some exceptions in the anti-defection law. Now, we'll understand these exceptions. The first exception is regarding the merger. See, if a member voluntarily gives up the membership of a party as a result of the original party being merged with another party then they will not be disqualified. Now, let us understand this with an example. Let us say that member A belongs to political party A. And this political party has decided to join or merge with the political party B. And this decision is not liked by the member A. So, he has decided to voluntarily give up the membership of political party A. And in this case, he will not be disqualified. See, just now we saw that one of the grounds of disqualification is when the member voluntarily gives up the membership of the political party. But when the merger happens, at that time if a member gives up the membership then he will not be disqualified. But there is a condition here. Know that this is applied only when two-thirds of the members of the political party have agreed to a merger. And this is about the first exception. Now, let us see the second exception. See, the second exception is that if a member voluntarily gives up the membership of a party after being elected as the presiding officer then they cannot be disqualified. See, this exception has been provided in the view of dignity and impartiality to the office of the presiding officer. And these are the two exceptions available in the case of anti-defection law. Here note that earlier there was an exception in the case of split of political party. This exception was omitted by the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003. This particular provision is that if a member voluntarily gives up the membership of a party as a result of split of group of members from their original party then they will not be disqualified. See, remember this provision was removed by 91st Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003. So, this exception is not now available. So, if a member voluntarily gives up the membership of a party as a result of a split then they will be disqualified now. Earlier they will not be disqualified but now they will be. Okay, remember this. Now, only two exceptions are there. One is when a merger happens if a member gives up the membership then he will not be disqualified and when he is elected as the presiding officer if he gives up the membership he will not be disqualified. These are the only two provisions now available. Okay, now moving on to see about the challenges associated with this anti-defection law. See, the first challenge is that the anti-defection law cartels the independent decision making powers of the members of the legislature. The anti-defection law says that a member should need to vote as per the party's direction. If they vote against the direction of the political party they will be disqualified. And this cartels the liberty of the legislature. And this is the first challenge. Then the second challenge lies in the powers of the presiding officer of the house. As I said earlier, the presiding officer is the ultimate deciding authority on the questions arising out of disqualification. And these wide powers have led to many controversies. As we all know, the presiding officer of the house usually comes from the ruling party. So if a particular member of the legislature defects from the opposition party and joins the ruling party then the presiding officer may delay the disqualification proceedings in the favour of his own ruling party. This means that the presiding officer tend to favour his political party. And this also will create chaos. So wide powers given to presiding officer with regards to disqualification is also an issue. And these are the challenges associated with the anti-defection law. Now what is the solution to these problems? Firstly, the members of the legislature should be given some independent decision making powers like in the case of a presidential election. As we all know, during the presidential election the members are free to cast their votes. This means that they can also vote contrary to the party's direction and it won't account to defection. Like this, the members should be given some independent decision making powers in other cases also such as voting on constitutional amendment bill and then voting on critical legislations etc. And this is the first solution. Secondly, the powers to decide on disqualification of the members should be given to an independent body like Election Commission of India instead of giving it to the presiding officer who belongs to the ruling party. And this will help to address the partiality of the presiding officer which in turn will reduce the controversies. Now these are the two solutions which if implemented could solve the problems. And with this, we have also come to the end of this editorial article discussion. In this discussion we saw about Anti-Defection Law, its evolution, its provisions, grounds for disqualification, challenges associated with it and finally we ended our discussion by seeing solutions to these problems. Now with these points, let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this news article. It talks about a webinar addressed by our Prime Minister relating to green energy. He said that the future progress of India would be based on the development of green energy sector and the energy transmission. He further called for increasing the production of renewable energy, reducing the use of fossil fuels in the economy and finally moving towards a gas-based economy. CPM also asked for an increased participation of private in boosting the growth of renewable energy sector in the country. And this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, we are going to learn about some prelims pointers. And these prelims pointers are going to be regarding the renewable energy sector in our country. But before seeing those pointers, we'll learn about the data relating to the total energy production in our country. See the total energy production in India is about 410 gigawatt as of 31 December 2022. And out of this 410 gigawatt nearly 40 percentage comes from renewable energy. Here note that the total installed capacity of renewable energy currently in India is about 170 gigawatt. Know these data? You can use this in introduction regarding renewable energy questions in your mains. Now, we'll look at the current data relating to energy production from different renewable energy sectors in our country. As I already said, the renewable energy installed capacity is 170 gigawatt. And out of this 170 gigawatt nearly 60 gigawatt comes from the solar power alone. See solar energy is the most abundantly produced renewable energy in India. We all know what is the reason right? Because India is a tropical country. So India has a rich source of solar energy. Now next comes the wind energy. Wind energy produced in India comes nearly to about 40 gigawatt. And this is the map that shows the wind energy potential of India. Observe this map okay? And then comes the other renewable energy sectors like hydroelectric power and nuclear power. See the major hydroelectric power production sites are given in this map. You can see that the western part of Himalayas has a huge number of hydroelectric power production sites. And this is due to the fast flowing nature of rivers present here. Now with this information, let us move on to the next type of renewable energy which is the geothermal power. See geothermal power also comes under the nomenclature of renewable energy. And I have provided here the map of some of the important potential geothermal sites present in India. Just go through it okay? See I have taken this article for a discussion today because these kind of information they are very crucial for your problems as well as for your mains. As far as your mains is concerned you can quote all these information in your answer. And as far as problems is concerned they can ask the sites of the potential renewable energy source in India. So you have to be aware of all of these facts. So take note of all of the maps I have given here or just observe it okay? You just store it in your mind. That's all is necessary. You should be able to reproduce it in your examination. And with this note we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the total energy production in India and the contribution of renewable energy to the total production and the contribution of various renewable energy sources to the renewable energy power production. Apart from this we also saw different maps regarding the sources of different renewable energy sites in India. Now with this we shall move to the next article discussion. Now for our next discussion we are going to take this text and context news article. This is about the Russia Ukraine war. See it's been one year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. But still there are signs of escalation everywhere. Recently the West has announced the supply of more advanced weapons to Ukraine. And this will obviously deepen the involvement of West in the Russia Ukraine war. In response to this Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of Russia's participation in the New START treaty and this will trigger a nuclear arms race. And this is the crux of the news article given here. So in our discussion today we are going to see about the current status of the war, Russia's position in the war, Western strategy and some important points mentioned in the article. Now first of all let us start with the current status of the Russia Ukraine war. See as per the article Russia is expected to launch a new offensive in the coming days. But right now focus to fighting is going on in some flash points along the front line. See so far Russia has annexed Donetsk, Kyrgyzstan, Luhansk, Zaporizhia. For the past seven months PMC Wagner had been fighting to take the Bakhmut. Know that PMC Wagner is a private Russian security force with close ties to the Kremlin. See it has been trying to take the Bakhmut because it is a city at the cross junction of several key arteries in the Donetsk. And apart from this Russians have opened two more fronts. One in Izhiam north west of Bakhmut in Kharkiv Oblast and the other in Uleder south of Bakhmut in Donetsk. Now coming to the Ukraine side. Ukraine is trying to hold on to its territories until more weapons and trained fighters arrive from the west. But it is said that it would take a few more weeks before the main battle tanks arrive at the battlefield. And this is the current status of the Russia-Ukraine war. Now let us move on to the question what is Russia's position now? See as of now Russia has taken substantial portions of Ukrainian territories. This consists of four territories which we already saw including Maryupol. See it is a port city which is located here. As per the article, Russia's territorial gains in Ukraine peaked in March 2022. During this time only Russia controlled around 22% of pre-2014 Ukraine. However since March 2022 Ukraine has recaptured some of its land in Kharkiv and Khazan. But still, Russia controls around 17% of Ukraine. Along with this, Mr Putin managed to secure a land bridge between the mainland Russia to the Crimea. You all know when was Crimea annexed by Russia, right? Comment if you know the answer to this. Now coming back see with the new offensive, Russia plans to mount more pressure on the Ukrainian troops. And this is exactly why Russia is also rushing more weapons to the battlefield. And this is about the Russia's position and plan in the war. Now with this information, let us see about the strategy of western countries in this Russia-Ukraine war. See the western countries approach has been two-fold. One is to punish Russia's economy through sanctions. By doing this the west are planning to weaken the war mission of Russia. Another one is providing arms to Ukraine. By doing this, they are providing means to Ukraine to counter the Russian offensive. Can you see what their strategy is? On one hand, they are weakening the Russia's offensive and on the other hand, they are helping Ukraine to counter the Russia's offensive. Now coming to the aid, see among the aid providers, US plays a major role. It is the biggest aid provider for Ukraine. US has pledged military and financial assistance worth over 70 billion dollars. And the European Union it has pledged 37 billion dollars. Apart from this, they also promised delivery of their weapon systems. This includes missile defense systems, armored vehicles, tank killers, battle tanks and precision bombs. They also promised tanks like Leopard 2 from Germany, M1 Abrams from America, Challenger 2 from British. Now comes the golden question. Did this strategy work? Well, the supply of weapons have helped Ukraine a lot. But the economic sanctions did not work on Russia. How is this? See, Russia being one of the top global producers of oil and gas, found alternative markets for its energy exports in Asia. So the western purchase was compensated by the Asian purchase. See, despite sanctions Russia raised its oil output by 2% and boosted the oil export earnings by 20% to 218 billion dollars. See, I wouldn't say that Russia wasn't affected at all. Yes, it got hit by the sanctions. But it managed to get out of it. According to Russia, Russian economy contracted by 2% in 2022. But it is expected to grow by 0.3% this year and 2.1% the next year. While comparing to this, Germany is expected to grow only 0.1% this year. And in UK it is worse. Its economy is projected to contract by 0.6% now this is about the western strategy and its impact on Russia. Now finally before concluding our discussion, let us see whether there is a possibility for a negotiated settlement or not. See, the talks began immediately after the war began. According to former Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Bennett, both sites had exchanged several drafts about a potential peace plan in March 2022. But the US and the UK they are opposing to Ukraine reaching any agreement with Russia. And this is a major problem here. See in July 2022, Turkey brokered a deal on taking out the Russian and Ukrainian food grains through the Black Sea. And Russia and Ukraine they have some arrangements regarding the prisoner exchange agreements. And apart from these two, talks between the two sites are non-existent. See to work out a peace plan two complex issues need to be addressed first. One is Ukraine's territorial sovereignty and the other one is Russia's security concerns. Ukraine has the fear that Russia will annex or invade Ukraine and Russia is concerned about NATO's expansion towards the east. So as per the article, these two complex issues should be addressed first and then only peace plan can be worked out. And if this is not done, peace plan or any agreement will not work. See as of now the war is entering into its second year and we have to wait and see what is going to happen. Now that's all regarding this news article. In this discussion we saw about the current status of Russia-Ukraine war, Russia's position, its plan, its strategy and its impact on Russia and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the possibility of a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine. Now with these points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now let's see this news article. It says that the usage of QR codes for outpatient registration in hospitals across India has seen an increase. See Aishman Bharat Digital Mission introduced these can and share service for faster outpatient department registrations in October 2022. Since the introduction nearly 350 hospitals across the country have adopted the new QR code based registration system and as per the health ministry adoption of the new registration system by hospitals has reduced the time spent by people waiting up in queues in registration counters. And this is the crux of the news article given here. So in this context we are going to learn about Aishman Bharat Digital Mission. See Aishman Bharat Digital Mission was launched by Prime Minister in the year 2021 and the mission tries to connect the digital health systems of hospitals across the country with each other. So the mission is about connecting the hospitals via digital systems and this will be done through generating a unique 14 digit number for each and every individual who registers with the Aishman Bharat Digital Portal. See all the medical details of the patients will be stored in this portal which can be retrieved by using the unique number and thus with the implementation of Aishman Bharat Digital Mission old medical records will not get lost since every record will be stored digitally. Note that the Aishman Bharat Digital Mission aims to integrate all the available digital health infrastructure across the country. That is it tries to bridge the existing gap between different stakeholders of healthcare ecosystem and this is done by bringing them all under a single portal which is known as Aishman Bharat Digital Portal and this is the aim and objective of the Aishman Bharat Digital Mission. Now know that the mission was initially implemented through a pilot process across the 6 Union Territories. They include Anamana, Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Aayu, Ladakh, Lakshadeep and Puducherry. But now the mission is being implemented throughout the country. Now this is about the basic facts about Aishman Bharat Digital Mission. Now before ending our discussion let us see some benefits of Aishman Bharat Digital Mission. Firstly it allows for easy retrieval of information whenever it is required. See just now we saw all the healthcare details of a patient is stored digitally right? So it is very easy to find that information whenever it is required. So through this provision the necessity to physically carry the healthcare certificates are done away with. So this is the first benefit. You don't have to carry your physical healthcare certificates everywhere. You just need a computer or smartphone with internet to get your healthcare details. Secondly policy makers and program managers across India will have better access to data and this in turn will enable more informed decision making by the government. Thirdly patients requiring remote healthcare services like teleconsultations are easily connected towards the practitioners through Aishman Bharat Digital Mission and these are some of the benefits associated with the mission. Now with this we have come to the end of this particular article discussion. See in this discussion we saw about Aishman Bharat Digital Mission its objective and its aim its implementation and finally we ended our discussion by seeing the benefits of the mission. Now with this let's move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this news article it reports that Greater Chennai Corporation is planning to earn from the trading of carbon credits from the international markets. Here note that Greater Chennai Corporation is now identifying projects like bio mining sewage treatment urban forest solid waste management etc. to gain from the carbon markets. This plan to earn from the carbon market was formulated after the success of indoor corporation in this particular initiative and this is what is given in this news article. In this context let's learn about carbon market in detail. See carbon market can be defined as a market in which carbon credits are traded. In some of the western countries to limit the emission of carbon into the atmosphere industries in these countries are asked to limit their carbon emission. If their limits are exceeded then the companies have to get carbon credits from the carbon market. See a carbon credit is a kind of tradable permit which equals 1 ton of carbon dioxide removed reduced or sequestered from the atmosphere. Normally carbon credits are given to certain organizations which are involved in the sequestration of carbon. Other than these organizations business corporations which don't use up their quota of carbon emission end up with carbon credits. See these carbon credits are then transferred to other companies or corporations who are in need of them. This is because they increased their emission limit and that is exactly why these carbon credits are bought by them and this is how a carbon trading mechanism works. Since the carbon trading mechanism involves disincentivizing the usage of fossil fuels it will lead to the industries adopting more cleaner energy. And this is how carbon markets help in moving towards a clean energy based fuel. See there are two types of carbon markets they are voluntary markets and compliance markets. See voluntary markets are those in which emitters buy carbon credits to offset their emission of one ton of carbon dioxide or equivalent of greenhouse gases. In a voluntary market a corporation looking to compensate for its greenhouse gas emissions purchases the carbon credits from an entity which is engaged in projects that reduce, remove, capture or avoid the emissions. For instance in the aviation sector airlines may purchase carbon credits from other corporations or businesses which involves in reduction or removal or capture of greenhouse gas emissions. And this is all about the voluntary market. Now coming to the compliance market see compliance markets are set by the policies at national regional or international level. See these markets are officially regulated that is they are regulated by the government and this is the difference between voluntary market and compliance market. See in both markets carbon trading is going to happen but the only difference is that voluntary markets are not regulated but compliance markets are regulated by the government. See today compliance markets mostly operate under a principle called cap and trade. See this is very popular in European Union. Under the European Union's emissions trading system which was launched in the year 2005 member countries set a limit or a cap for emissions in different sectors such as power, oil manufacturing, agriculture and even waste management and as I already said if they exceed these limits set by the authorities they have to buy the carbon credits and this is all about the compliance market. Now with this we have come to the end of this discussion. In this discussion we understood what is carbon market and we also saw what is carbon credit and how it is traded in a carbon market and finally we ended our discussion by seeing two types of carbon markets which includes voluntary markets and compliance markets. Now with these points let us move on to the next article discussion. Now take a look at this final article here. See the news is that yesterday our finance minister reached for a global framework to regulate cryptocurrencies. She insisted this during bilateral meetings with her counterparts from US and Japan ahead of the G20 meeting. In this meeting our finance minister discussed issues relating to crypto assets and then about strengthening the multilateral development banks and global debt vulnerabilities. And this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context let's learn about the cryptocurrencies and about the India's stand on cryptocurrencies. First of all let's start with cryptocurrencies. See cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies. It allows people to make payments directly through an online system. See cryptocurrencies are secured using cryptography technology. Here cryptography is nothing but a method of storing and transmitting data in a particular form. This is done to protect the cryptocurrencies. So that only the person to whom the data is intended can read and process the particular data. So this is the significance of cryptography technology. Since cryptocurrencies use this technology we can say that it is much harder to counterfeit the cryptocurrencies. Apart from this also know that cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks that are distributed based on blockchain technology. Here blockchain technology is nothing but a distributed ledger that is secure, transparent and immutable. Here immutable is nothing but which cannot be changed. See you don't have to go into the technical terms and all. You just know that cryptocurrency it is a virtual currency which is used for payments through online system and it uses cryptography and blockchain technology. Apart from this know that a defining feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are generally not issued by any central authority and this makes them immune from the government interference. Now this is all about the basics of cryptocurrencies. Now let us see some of the examples of cryptocurrencies. Some of the examples include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin etc. Now with this information let us move on to see what are all the countries that have cryptocurrencies as legal tender. See as of now two countries namely El Salvador and Central African Republic have made Bitcoin as a legal tender. El Salvador became the first country in the world to introduce Bitcoin as legal tender in the year 2021. Then in last April the Central African Republic declared Bitcoin as an official currency. So it is the second nation in the world to accept cryptocurrency as legal tender. Now this is all the information that you should know about the cryptocurrency. Now before concluding our discussion we will understand some points about India's stand on cryptocurrencies. See India's stand on cryptocurrencies have evolved from time to time. In the year 2013 RBI has issued a statement about the potential risks associated with the use of cryptocurrencies. See this was done to warn the users, holders and traders of cryptocurrencies. Then in the year 2017 RBI issued a circular prohibiting banks and other regulated entities from providing services to individuals or businesses dealing in cryptocurrencies. See this particular circular effectively made it illegal for Indian residents to buy or sell cryptocurrencies. However in March 2020 the Supreme Court of India overturned the RBI's ban on cryptocurrencies. The Supreme Court stated that RBI's ban was disproportionate and it violated the fundamental rights of the citizens. So this decision by the Supreme Court effectively legalized the use of cryptocurrencies in India and it also opened the door for their wider adoption. And after the Supreme Court judgment Indian government has considered a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. Therefore in 2022 the Ministry of Finance released a report proposing the creation of a digital rupee that is a state backed cryptocurrency. Apart from this the report also proposed a framework for regulating private cryptocurrencies. Further it recommended the establishment of a digital currency regulatory authority to oversee the use of cryptocurrencies in India. Then in 2022 Union budget Indian Finance Minister announced significant changes to the treatment of virtual assets including cryptocurrency. For the first time the government officially classified digital assets including cryptocurrency as virtual digital assets. This announcement is a significant step by the government in providing clarity to the investors and entrepreneurs dealing with digital assets in India. Now that's all for this article discussion. In this discussion we saw about the basics of cryptocurrencies and India's stand on cryptocurrencies. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next part of the discussion that is the practice prelims question discussion. Here we have five prelims questions. I'll solve four of them and one of them is a quiz question for you. Now let us take this first question which among the following are car if crops. From our discussion we know car if crops means monsoon crops. Now let us see the list rice, maize, watermelon musk melon, groundnut. See here two of them is incorrect. I think you already found out what they are. Yes watermelon and musk melon are zaid crops. So apart from these two the other three are car if crops. So the correct answer to this question is option C 1, 2 and 5 only. Now moving on to the next question with reference to renewable energy in India consider the following statements. Statement one, solar energy protection in India is higher than wind energy. See this statement is correct and this we saw in our discussion itself. We saw solar energy protection contribution among the renewable energy contribution is the highest. Statement two, India has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emission target by the year 2050. See this statement is incorrect. We all know the target has been said to achieve by the year 2017. Here it is given as 2050. So this statement is incorrect. So the correct answer to this question is option A, 1, 1 only. Now moving on to the third question see this question is a previous question asked in the year 2022. With reference to Ayushman Bharat digital mission consider the following statements. Private and public hospitals must adopted. The statement is incorrect. See it is not obligatory for the private and public hospitals to implement the Ayushman Bharat digital missions. Hospitals including public and private ones can voluntarily implement this mission. So statement one is incorrect. Statement two as it aims to achieve universal health coverage, every citizen of India should be part of it ultimately. This statement is also incorrect. See it is not obligatory for the citizens to be a part of Ayushman Bharat digital mission. Now moving on to the third statement it has seamless portability across the country. Now this statement is correct. Since all the information is stored in online it has seamless portability across the country. So the correct answer to this question is option B, 3 only. Now moving on to the fourth question regarding carbon credits which one of the following statements is not correct. Option A, carbon credit system was ratified in conjunction with Kyoto protocol. Option B carbon credits are awarded to countries or groups that have reduced greenhouse gases below their emission quota. Option C, the goal of carbon credit is to limit the increase of carbon dioxide emission and option D. Carbon credits are traded at a price fixed from time to time by the UNEP. See the incorrect statement in these options is option D. All the other statements are correct. So the correct answer is option D. Now moving on to the final question. See aspirants this is only the quiz question for you. We have seen a lot about cryptocurrencies in our discussion itself. So read the question carefully think about it for a minute and post your answer in the comment section. Aspirants I have given here the mains practice questions. So if you are interested write it and post your answer in the comment section. And if you have any queries related to the articles that we discussed today, post that also in the comment section. With this we have come to the end. If you find the video useful, like, share and comment and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.