 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi News Analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis are provided here. The ring for the handwritten notes and the time stamping for the displayed articles is provided in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comments section. Let's move on to our first article discussion. This discussion is based on Nirbhaya Fund. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. The news article mentions that the Tamil Nadu government had utilized only 6 crore of the total funds that were sanctioned or allocated to the state under Nirbhaya Fund. The funds sanctioned or allocated under the Nirbhaya Fund to the state was around 190 crore. These details were obtained as an answer to the question that was posed in the Lok Sabha on Nirbhaya Fund. The details even provide the fund utilization by other states also in which we can see some shocking data. We will see about these details later in the discussion. Now from examination point of view, let us first discuss about Nirbhaya Fund. If you would have noticed, particularly in the recent years and in the recent days, we have been seeing many news regarding the violence and abuse against women and girls, including sexual abuse. These abuse happens frequently on streets, in public transportation, and in other public places also. Now one such incident was the sexual assault of the paramedical student, which happened in New Delhi in the year 2012. So these kinds of violence and abuse restricts the right to mobility of women. It also discourages their freedom to walk freely and move in public spaces of their own choice. So in this context, the government of India had set up a dedicated fund called as Nirbhaya Fund. It was set up in the year 2013 for the implementation of initiatives which aims at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country. In other words, it can be said that the fund can be utilized for projects which are specifically designed to improve the safety and security of women. This fund is administered by the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance. Also, this fund is a non-lapsable corpus fund. This means the fund which is allocated will be spent entirely to the specific purpose. That is, it will be spent only to increase the safety and security of women. Now there is also one nodal ministry under this fund to appraise or evaluate and also to recommend the proposals and schemes that needed to be funded under the Nirbhaya Fund. That nodal ministry is the Ministry of Women and Child Development. And this ministry is also responsible to review and monitor the progress of sanctioned schemes along with the respective ministries or departments. So to get the funding under the Nirbhaya Fund, the central government ministries or departments and the state governments and unilateral administrations have to formulate a proposal. This proposal should constitute the issues related to the safety of women in different sectors within the public sphere. Moreover, the proposed projects should have these features. First, the proposals should have a direct impact on safety and security concerns of women. Then it should include the optimum use of existing infrastructure. Then there should be innovative use of technology. Then the proposed project should not be a duplication of a existing government project or programs. Then it should include the provision for real-time intervention. See for example, the real-time monitoring of CCTV footage and providing a quick response rather than just recording events for the evidence and then referring it after the incident has occurred. So this is what we mean by real-time intervention. Then the proposed project should adhere to strict privacy and confidentiality of women's identity and information etc. So these are some of the features that needed to be imbibed in the proposal. So now let us see some of the key schemes under which the states have been allocated money under the Nirbhaya Fund. One of such measures is the Emergency Response Support System or ER Assist. It was introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It aims to integrate all the emergency numbers to 112 with the state of art technology. That means using best suitable available technology, all emergency numbers will be integrated to 112. This system is an integrated computer-aided emergency response platform that responds to distress calls and it ensures speedy assistance to the distressed persons. Now the next scheme or project under the Nirbhaya Fund is the Central Victim Compensation Fund. This fund has been funded under the framework of Nirbhaya Fund to support states and union territories for their own victim compensation scheme. And this was also introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs. This compensation fund was set up with an initial corpus fund of rupees 200 crores. This fund has been framed under section 357A of Code of Criminal Procedure. So what is this section is about? This section 357 of CRPC requires every state government in coordination with the central government to prepare a scheme for providing funds for the purpose of compensation to the victims or compensation to their dependents who have suffered loss or injury as a result of a crime. And it also provides compensation to the victim who may also require rehabilitation because of the crime. So this was about the Central Victim Compensation Fund. The next scheme is the One Stop Center Scheme or in short OSC scheme. It was introduced by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. This One Stop Center under this scheme is popularly known as Saki Centers. The One Stop Center Scheme is being implemented across the country since 1st April 2015. It aims to establish centers to facilitate assistance to the women who are affected by violence. So this center provides first aid, medical aid, police assistance, legal aid and counseling support. Then next one such measure is the Mahila Police Volunteer or MPVs. This measure was introduced by Ministry of Women and Child Development. The MPVs act as a link between the police and the community and they will help the women who are in distress. And Haryana is the first state to start the Mahila Police Volunteer Scheme. Now this scheme is also being implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Mizoram, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh etc. The next measure is the Universalization of Women Helpline Scheme. It was also introduced by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. This helpline is specifically for women. It has a common number across the country that will link the One Stop Centers. The number is 181. This number has been allocated to all the states and union territories for women helpline. So keep in mind that 181 is the women helpline. Share it with your women friends. So these are some of the measures and schemes under which the states have been allocated money under this Nirbhaya Fund. Now you may think why we are discussing so many measures or schemes. If in the main question you are asked to give some of the examples for the measures taken by the government to ensure the safety of women, you can mention these measures and schemes. Now from the beginning we are talking that Nirbhaya Fund is a fund set up by the Government of India. So what is the funding pattern under this Nirbhaya Fund? The funding pattern is 60 is to 40 for all the states. Then it is 90 is to 10 for the states which has difficult terrains and then it provides 100 percent funding for the union territories. That is the total amount will be provided by the center itself. Now these are the information that you should know about the Nirbhaya Fund. Now from today's news article we can see that the Tamil Nadu government has spent only six crores of the fund that was allocated to the state of Tamil Nadu under the Nirbhaya Fund. Now this amounts to only three percentage of the total fund that was allocated. So like this there are many states and union territories which have spent very less and even there are some states which did not even spend a penny. These states are the state of Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and along with this there is one union territory also which is Damanandayu. So like this there are even many states which have spent less than five percentage of the fund that was allocated under the Nirbhaya Fund. So from this what we can infer is that even if there is fund actions are not taken in time by the state governments. If proper actions and proper mechanisms are carried out at the right time then the sexual assault news which we are hearing every day can be avoided or it can be minimized. So these are the points that you should take from this news article discussion. With this we have come to the end of this discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. This discussion is about India based neutrino observatory. The discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. The news article mentions that questions were asked in the Rajya Sabha on the India based neutrino observatory project. The question was whether local people and local representatives had been consulted for this project or not. So as a reply to this question the minister of state for personal public grievances and pensions told that all statutory norms and regulations are being followed in the implementing of the INO project and even public meeting was held for this project and according to the minister the project was also endorsed by the local people. So now from exam point of view let us discuss about this India based neutrino observatory project or in short INO project. This INO project is a multi institutional effort. It is aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory to study fundamental issues in science. So the underground laboratory is for pure science research especially in neutrino physics. The underground laboratory will have a rock cover of approximately 1200 meter. The project is jointly funded by department of atomic energy and the department of science and technology under government of India. This ambitious INO project has already drawn the attention of both national and international scientists. It is because once it is completed it will be the largest basic sciences project in India. Moreover it is to be noted that the INO project has no strategic or defense applications. Its operation involves no radioactivity release or toxic emissions. So in this way it is safe for the environment also. Based on the features of this INO project it is envisaged that the underground facility will develop into a center for other studies such as studies in physics, biology, geology etc. All of these studies will make use of the special conditions that exist in the underground. So where is this observatory being constructed? The observatory or the laboratory is being constructed in Tamil Nadu. It is constructed in the Puttipuram area, Bode West Hills of Thani districts in Tamil Nadu state. This place is chosen because the steep slopes of the western guards provide ideal and stable rock conditions for the building of a safe large underground cavern or tunnel for long term use. That is why this place has been chosen. Now the primary goal of this laboratory is the study of neutrinos from various natural and laboratory sources by using an ion calorimeter detector or in short iCal detector. The iCal detector that will be installed in the INO laboratory will be the world's most massive detector. It is being developed completely, indigenously and it is said that apart from pursuing the neutrino physics goals, the laboratory itself will greatly aid the development of detector technology and its varied applications. So far the detector technology is used in the areas of medical imaging only. So now a question may arise on why rock cover is needed above the laboratory. The all round rock cover is needed because it offers a low cosmic ray background environment. So how it is offered by this rock cover? The cosmic rays and the secondary particles that are produced by these cosmic rays due to their interaction with the upper atmosphere are filtered by the rock cover above the laboratory. This is necessary for specialized experiments which are making measurements with neutrinos which interact very rarely with the detector material. That is how in particular iCal will detect and measure atmospheric neutrinos to study the neutrino properties. In addition to this the project also involves setting up of an inter-institutional center for high energy physics. This center will be situated at Madurai. This center is for the operation and maintenance of the underground laboratory. Then it is also for maintaining human resource development and also for carrying out detector related research and development along with its applications. So that was all about the India based neutrino observatory project. Now from the beginning till end we were saying the term neutrinos and we also saw that the initial goal of INO is to study neutrinos. So what are these neutrinos? We know that all the things in this world are made of atoms and atom has a nucleus in its center and around this nucleus electrons go around and inside this nucleus there are protons and neutrons. Now the neutrinos are tiny elementary particles like the electron but neutrinos are not part of the atom. In this an elementary particle is one which cannot be broken into further smaller pieces. And also remember that though the words neutron and neutrino almost sound similar they are entirely different particles. And these neutrinos are represented by the Greek letter nu. Some scientific discoveries in the past have found out that there are two more particles which are similar to the electrons. They are called as muon and the tau. The muon is 200 times heavier than an electron and the tau is 3500 times heavier than the electron. Each of these three particles have a neutrino partner and they are called the electron neutrino, muon neutrino and the tau neutrino. Here the electron muon and the tau all are negatively charged particles but note that all the neutrinos are charge-less that is neutrinos are neutral and they are almost massless. Now the group of these six particles is called as leptons. So we can say neutrinos are fundamental particles belonging to the lepton family. Now you may have a question where are these neutrinos produced? See these neutrinos are abundantly found in nature. The sun the stars and the atmosphere produce millions of neutrinos every second. Most of these neutrinos pass through our body and we do not even realize it. They can even pass through the earth and they can come out on the other side also. Now the reason that they can do this is because they interact very less with anything that come in their path. In simple words we can say an interaction is something that changes the property of the particle like it changes its speed direction etc. Now for example you can take the light rays from the torch. The light rays from a torch cannot penetrate a wall. It is because particles of the light interact with the wall and they get scattered before they can get to the other side of the wall. Now since the neutrinos interact very weakly they are harmless. Neutrinos can also be made artificially they are produced in radioactive decays and in nuclear reactors also. Now even though neutrinos are found in abundance due to their weakly interacting nature studying these particles in the laboratory is extremely difficult. In spite of this difficulty scientists have devised methods to detect these particles and methods to study them. Now initially neutrinos were thought to be massless particles but recent experiments suggest that they indeed have a very small mass. That is why we saw that it is almost massless not totally massless. This means they have very small mass. These recent experiments also found an important discovery about neutrinos. They discovered that neutrinos change from one type to another as they travel. For example an electron neutrino that is produced in the sun converts itself into more neutrino or a tau neutrino on its flight to the earth. Now this conversion is called as neutrino oscillation. So after discovering this property of neutrino it was found that neutrinos have mass and the neutrino oscillations not only happens in neutrinos that are produced in the sun they happen in all the neutrinos irrespective of where they are produced. Now the fact that neutrinos have mass has implications on the current understanding that we have about the universe and the understanding in sciences like nuclear physics, particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. So this makes the study of neutrinos a very interesting domain in scientific research. That is why an underground laboratory is being set up in India to do research on the neutrinos. So in this context the determination of neutrino masses and their mixing parameters is one of the most important open problems in physics today. Hence in this way the iCal detector is designed to address some of these key open problems in a unique way. Now why do we need a iCal detector? The iCal detector or the ion calorimeter detector will detect the atmospheric neutrinos and anti-neutrinos over a wide range of energies and path lengths. Since there are particles other than neutrinos that are produced in the atmosphere it would be difficult to identify and separate signals which are produced by neutrinos from the signals that are produced by other particles. Now one way to avoid the other particles from reaching the detector is to keep the detector inside a mountain. That is why the lab is being constructed inside a mountain in Thaini district of Tamil Nadu. Now we saw that neutrinos can easily pass through anything so they will reach the detector while other particles will be filtered out by the rock in the mountains. There is one another important property of this iCal detector. It is that there will be current carrying coils in this iCal detector. So the current carrying coils will produce a magnetic field and in turn it will magnetize the entire detector. So the detector will be the world's largest electromagnet also and in the beginning we saw that it will be world's most massive detector. So iCal will be world's most massive detector plus it will be world's largest electromagnet once it is installed in the INO laboratory. In this context it is even said that like how telescopes are used to observe the sky through the visible light, the iCal will observe the sky through neutrinos. Now there are also other neutrino observatories around the world. They are Super Kamyokande neutrino observatory in Japan, Sudbury neutrino observatory in Canada, then Grantsasso lab in Italy, then Icecube neutrino observatory in the South Pole. So that is all about this news article. In this discussion we saw about the India based neutrino observatory project, then we saw what do we mean by neutrinos, how they are produced, then how the iCal detector will be used and what are the other neutrino observatories around the world. With this we come to the end of this news article discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion which is based on this editorial. This editorial is a response article with respect to the news that a seeds bill is in consideration for enactment by the parliament. The draft copy of the seeds bill has already been released on the website of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare. They have invited comments on the draft bill and the time period for giving suggestions on the bill has already come to an end by 13th November 2019. So based on this bill, the author has given his suggestions. The syllabus that can be linked to this discussion is given here for your reference. Before entering into the analysis of the editorial, let us have a brief look into some of the terms that are mentioned in the editorial. There are certain terms such as farm saved seeds and certified seeds. So what is the difference between these two? When we say farm saved seed, we are referring to the seeds that are taken by the farmers which they get from the cultivation. For example, a farmer might have purchased a certified mango seed from a seller. Using this seed she might have raised a mango tree. From the tree she will be getting mango fruit which has seed in it. Now this seed which the farmer gets through her planted crops is called as farm saved seed. Now you should note that the seed which she bought from a seller is called as the certified seed. Now this is provided as per section 9 clause 1 of the present seeds act, which is the seed act of 1966. This section states that any person who is selling or supplying any seed of any notified kind or variety may get certification for a particular seed kind or seed variety. This certification is received from a certification agency for getting certification that person has to apply to that certification agency. Such seeds which have received certification from the government for selling is called as certified seeds. Certification is given after following procedures such as genetic purity test, seed health test and some field and other inspections by certification agency which is mandated under the seeds act of 1966. Now after these two terms then another term is mentioned by the author which is seed replacement rate. So what does it mean? Seed replacement rate is the percentage of area that is sown out of the total area of crop which is planted in the season by using certified seeds or quality seeds other than the farm saved seed. Then another term is mentioned which is germ plasm. Germ plasm is a living tissue from which new plants can be grown. It can be a seed or any other plant part that can be turned into a whole plant. For example germ plasm could be seeds, a leaf, a piece of stem or pollen or even just few cells. Germ plasm is important because it contains the information about the genetic makeup of a particular species. Therefore it becomes a valuable natural resource of plant diversity. So with these terms in mind let us discuss this editorial. In the beginning of the editorial author has mentioned a statement that in 2002 India has joined the international union for the protection of new varieties of plants convention. This convention is also called as UPOV convention or UPOW convention but here the author's statement that India has joined this convention is incorrect. It is because even now India is not a member to this convention and in 2002 India has only started a process to join this convention. At present India is just an observer in this convention. Then the author has also mentioned that India signed the TRIPS agreement in 1994. So is TRIPS agreement a separate independent agreement? See TRIPS agreement is a WTO agreement. TRIPS stands for trade related aspects of intellectual property rights. So except some plurilateral or multilateral agreements all WTO agreements apply to all WTO members. Each nation when it becomes a member of WTO accept all the WTO agreements as a single package with a single signature. This process is called as single undertaking and the TRIPS agreement is a part of that single package. Now to understand this more see this TRIPS agreement is the NX1C of Marrakesh agreement. This Marrakesh agreement is the agreement that established the World Trade Organization. Now this Marrakesh agreement was signed in the Marrakesh city of Marrakeau on 15th April 1994. That is why author has mentioned that India signed the TRIPS agreement in 1994 because this TRIPS agreement is a part of the Marrakesh agreement. So why author has mentioned these two agreements in the editorial? It has been mentioned just to highlight the fact that these two conventions have led to the introduction of some form of intellectual property rights over plant varieties. So member countries of these agreements had to introduce restrictions with respect to seed usage. These were restrictions on the free use and exchange of seeds by farmers if the breeders were not remunerated. In this context what do we mean by intellectual property rights? Generally intellectual property rights is defined as the rights given to the people for the creation from their minds. These rights usually give an exclusive right to the creator over the use of his or her creations for a certain period of time. In our case this applies to seed breeder. If the seed breeder develops a seed then such a seed for every use has to be purchased from this seed breeder based on the cost that is dictated by the seed breeder. And for a particular period a farmer cannot use the farm-saved seed that he gets from the cultivation. For every time the farmer cultivates the farm-saved seed should not be used rather the farmers have to purchase the seed from the seed breeder again. Now you may think what this term seed breeder actually means. It refers to a person or group of persons or any institutions which had bred or evolved or developed any seed variety. The person could also be a farmer according to the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act of 2001. Now these two agreements that is the TRIPS agreement and the UPOV convention they give priority to the rights of seed breeders. Now there are two other conventions which give priority to the rights of farmers and in these two conventions India has a party. These are convention on biological diversity and then the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Now this CBD convention or the convention on biological diversity mandates prior informed consent of farmers or nations before the use of genetic resources belonging to them and it also states that farmers to have their fair and equitable sharing of benefits that accrue because of the use of such genetic resources collected from them. So what are the genetic resources which we are talking about? The genetic resources includes all living organisms that is all plants animals and microbes which carry genetic material and that could be potentially useful to humans. These resources can be taken from the wild environment either domestically or from a domesticated or cultivated environment. They are sourced from environments in which they occur naturally or they can be sourced from human made collections such as from botanical gardens it could be sourced from gene banks seed banks and microbial culture collections. Now with respect to the CBD convention access and benefit sharing refers to two things. One is the way in which genetic resources may be accessed then how the benefits that result from the use of such genetic resources are shared between the people or countries. Here the benefits are shared between the users of genetic resources and the providers of genetic resources. If you see the other farmer friendly international instrument that is the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture this treaty was adopted in 2001. It came as a global response for three tasks. One is to promote the conservation of plant genetic resources. Second is to protect farmers rights to access the plant genetic resources. Thirdly to protect the farmer's right to have fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of plant genetic resources. Now in this context author's point is that if India is a party to certain international instruments such as agreements or conventions then India is actually committed to make its national laws compatible with these agreed international instruments. Here you should note that since India is not a member of UPOV convention India is not bound to support the breeder's rights as required under the UPOV convention. Now after this author discusses about the national level. At the national level we have three important legislations in this regard. One is the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act of 2001. Then comes the present law which is the SEED Act of 1966 and then comes the proposed bill which is the SEED Bill of 2019. Now as per the draft which is released by the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare if the SEED Bill becomes an act then it will repeal the SEED Act of 1966. Now with respect to the national legislations what author has done is he has compared the provisions under the existing Act of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act of 2001 and the provisions which are proposed under the SEED Bill of 2019. Now in this context the main argument of the author is that the proposed SEED Bill is tilted against farmers interests and it is loaded in favor of SEED companies. That is why the author describes the proposed SEED Bill as a potential SEED bed for private profits which is also the name of this editorial. On the other side we have the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act of 2001. This act retained the main spirit of TRIPS agreement that is it gave intellectual property rights as incentive for technological innovation which are made by the SEED breeders. At the same time this act also had strong provisions to protect farmers rights. It recognized three roles for the farmers one is a farmer is a cultivator then a farmer is a breeder and then the farmer is also a conserver. Here as cultivators farmers are entitled to plant back rights. A plant back right is the right to save SEED from the harvest so that that can be sown for the next cropping cycle. As breeders farmers are held equivalent to plant breeders and as conservers farmers are entitled to rewards from our national gene fund. This is mentioned in section 39 clause 1 sub clause 3 of the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act of 2001. An example for conservation in this context is the conservation of plant genetic resource. To know more about national gene fund we request the viewers to go through this image which is an excerpt from the act. Now here author implies that the proposed SEEDs bill has to be modified to have the delicate balance between breeders rights and farmers rights so that the SEEDs bill will be in line with the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act of 2001. Otherwise there will be confusions in implementation and there may be one side which is getting more priority over the other side. Then after this author tries to substantiate that the proposed SEEDs bill is not supporting farmers but it is supporting seed breeders. For this the author gives some of the problematic provisions in the proposed draft SEEDs bill. First is that the SEEDs bill insists on compulsory registration of seeds. If you see the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act this law was based on voluntary registration of seeds. Here a farmer may suffer if he chose not to register under the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act but how he will suffer. Imagine a seed variety that is developed by a breeder but it is derived from a traditional seed variety which is not registered by the farmer. In such case the breeder will get exclusive marketing rights so the farmers will not get the benefits generated from his unregistered traditional seed variety. And the benefit sharing is dealt by the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act where a farmer is not required to register compulsorily. So under one law a farmer can claim her benefit without even registering while if the SEEDs bill becomes an act then registration of seeds will become compulsory. Now the solution for this problem can be ensuring that there are no conflicting and confusing provisions in both these legislations. Then second problematic provision is that according to the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act all applications for registrations for developed or evolved or bred seeds should contain certain details. These are the details such as complete passport data of the parental lines from which the seed variety was derived. It should include the contributions made by the farmers also. This allows for an easier identification of beneficiaries and it allows for simpler benefit sharing processes. But if you observe the seeds bill it demands no such information while registering a new variety. As a result of this an important method of recording the contributions of farmers is overlooked or it is neglected. This makes it illegally easier for the private companies to claim a derived variety as their own intellectual property. Then thirdly if you see the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act it does not allow re-registration of seeds after the validity period. Whereas in the proposed seeds bill the private seed companies can re-register their seeds for an infinite number of times after the validity period. This evergreening provision in the bill ensures that many seed varieties may never enter the open domain for free use. That is farmers cannot exercise the plant back rights for such registered seeds and even for the re-registered seeds. Then fourth point is that the seeds bill gives a provision for regulation of seed prices. But the author calls this provision as a vague provision. It is because the provision states that only in case of emergency situations there will be interference from both central government and the concerned state government. These situations are such as when there is scarcity of seeds then when there is abnormal rise in prices of seeds and when there is monopolistic pricing or profiteering. Here if you see the provisions are not clear and they are general in nature. There has to be a maximum limit for prices for every seed variety. In the absence of such detailed clear provisions in the proposed law the farmers feel that the seed companies will fix seed prices as they deem fit and they will fix seed prices as per their whims and fancies to generate profit. So this will affect farmers as it will lead to sharp rise in the costs of cultivation. Now this is because in such situation the farmers will have to spend more money and they will have to spend more just to purchase the seeds from the private companies. Next the fifth point is that according to the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act if a registered seed variety fails in its promise of performance then the affected farmers can claim compensation before an authority. This authority is called as protection of plant varieties and farmers rights authority. This provision is diluted in the seeds bill. It is because as per the seeds bill the disputes on compensation have to be decided as per the consumer protection act of 1986. Here the author's concern is that the consumer courts are not farmer friendly. Also according to the seeds bill the farmers are eligible for compensation if a plant variety fails to give expected results under given conditions. Now defining the term given conditions is very difficult in agriculture. Here the given conditions are like the lab conditions. It is like the terms and conditions apply. So seed companies will always claim that given conditions were not ensured by the farmer and they will also say that is why there is no performance promised by the seed variety. And for a farmer to go against the given conditions and that too in a consumer court with evidence will be very difficult. So these are the problematic provisions that are mentioned by the author to substantiate that the bill is favorable to the seed companies and not to the farmers. Finally the author concludes the article by giving a main suggestion. Author's main opinion is that because of the nature of seeds even farmer friendly seed legislations are difficult to frame and execute. So he suggests one solution for all these problems. The suggestion is that India should have a strong government or public agricultural research systems. This is because these government systems ensure that the farmers choice are not based on the concerns of private seed companies. Now in such systems government will obviously dominate. Then if it is the government which develops new seeds or if it is the government which sells new seeds then a farmer will not fear about the costs. Because a government which has the target of doubling the farmers income by the year 2022 will not sell seeds in high prices to earn profits from poverty stricken tenant farmers sharecroppers and small and marginal farmers. That is why author concludes with the statement that the public sector should recapture its lost space. While this is the author's suggestion after this discussion you will be able to mention various points to modify the proposed seeds bill such as like at least to bring a delicate balance between the intellectual property rights and the rights of farmers. This topic is also a potential essay topic. If you see the essay question paper of 2017 mains you can find a question stating that farming has lost the ability to be a source of subsistence for majority of farmers in India. So similarly there could be an essay topic wherein relevant content can be sourced from our today's analysis of lead editorial article. So with this we come to the end of this editorial discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next news article discussion which is based on Forex reserves of India. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The news article mentions that India's Forex reserves have crossed 450 billion dollars for the first time. India's foreign exchange reserves were at 451.7 billion dollars on December 3, 2019. This is an increase of 38.8 billion dollars from the 31st March 2019 reserves. So in this context let us first discuss the different components of foreign exchange reserves and then the reasons for the increase in the forex reserves. See the forex reserves or the foreign exchange reserves consist of foreign currency assets then gold reserves then special drawing rights in IMF that is international monetary fund and then reserve tranche position in the IMF. If you look at the total composition of forex foreign currency assets constitute the largest portion. Foreign currency assets are maintained as a multi-currency portfolio which comprises of major currencies such as US dollar, euro, pound sterling, Japanese yen etc and these currencies are valued in terms of US dollars. Now let us see about the next component of forex reserves which is the special drawing rights. The special drawing rights are an artificial currency instrument which is created by the International Monetary Fund in the year 1969. IMF uses the special drawing rights or the SDRs for internal accounting purposes. The value of SDR is calculated from a weighted basket of major currencies. These currencies include the US dollar, the euro, Japanese yen, Chinese renminbi and British pound. Now in this context you should also know about the SDRI that is SDR interest rate. This SDRI provides the basis for calculating the interest rate which is charged from the member countries when they borrow from the IMF and it is the interest rate that is paid to members for their remunerated creditor positions in the IMF. Now let us see about the reserve tranche position of India in IMF. In this tranche means portion. We know that IMF is funded through its members and their quota contributions. So the reserve tranche is basically an emergency account which the IMF members can access at any time without agreeing to conditions or even paying a service fee. In other words we can say it is a portion of a member country's quota that can be withdrawn at its own discretion free of charge. Now let us see the next component. It is the gold reserves. These gold reserves are maintained by RBI. The value of these gold reserves is expressed either in US dollars or Indian rupee that is INR and you should know that India is the 11th largest country in the world with gold reserves and USA is the country with the largest amount of gold reserves worldwide. So this is the background and the components of forex reserves. Now today's news is that India's forex reserves have increased and it has crossed 450 billion dollars and this has happened for the first time. See the latest data is not publicly available on the RBI website but if you see the data which is released by RBI on 22nd November 2019 you can see that FCA's contribute the largest portion in forex then comes gold reserves then reserve position in IMF and then the STRs. Now the reason behind the increase in forex reserves is the strong inflows of the dollars in terms of net foreign direct investment and net foreign portfolio investment into the Indian economy. So what is the advantage of having more forex reserves? First is that the country can meet the import cover for over 11 months. See import cover measures the number of months of imports that can be covered with foreign exchange reserves which is available with the central bank of the country. Normally 8 to 10 months of import cover is essential for the stability of a currency. So in this way this import cover is an important indicator for the stability of the currency of a country also. The next advantage or benefit is that it gives the increased ability to absorb shocks from external sources and the volatility in the global economy. Then the excess reserves can be used for undertaking currency swaps and for extending line of credits also and an increase in forex reserves will lead to an appreciation of the value of rupee which in turn will help India to reduce the import bill. This is what we saw in the first point also the import cover is increased. Then the special drawing rights with the international monetary fund will go up because of this. Then the ratio of external debt to GDP will fall. Then it also reduces the currency risk for foreign investors. Like these there are many benefits when there is an increase in the forex reserves. So that is all about this news article. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now we have come to the last session for the day which is the practice questions discussion session. This question is based on Nirbhaya fund. Three statements are given and we have to choose the correct statement. The first statement states it aims at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country. Yes this is the main aim of this Nirbhaya fund. This is correct. The fund is administered by the ministry of women and child development. Now since the fund is related to the safety and security for women don't think this fund is administered by this ministry. Rather the fund is administered by the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance. But the ministry of women and child development also has a role in this fund. This ministry is the nodal ministry to appraise or evaluate and to recommend the proposals and schemes that has to be funded under this Nirbhaya fund. And this ministry also has the responsibility to review and monitor the progress of the sanctioned schemes along with the respective ministries or departments. So this statement is wrong. Then the next statement states the funding pattern for all the states and unit territories is 60s to 40 and 90s to 10 respectively. Now this statement is also wrong because the funding pattern for the states which has difficult terrains is 90s to 10 not 60s to 40. So for all the states sentence is wrong in this and also the funding for unit territories is 100% by the central government not in the ratio of 90s to 10. So this statement is wrong. Here the question asks for the correct statement. So the correct answer to this question is option A1 only. Now the next question is based on India based neutrino observatory project. In this question also three statements are given. We have to choose the correct statement. A world-class underground laboratory is being built under the project to study fundamental issues in science for strategic and defense applications. Yes definitely an underground laboratory is being built to study the fundamental issues in science but it is not for strategic or defense applications. This underground laboratory is for pure science research especially the research in neutrino physics and this project has no strategic or defense applications. So based on this we can say this statement is wrong. The second statement states it is jointly funded by department of atomic energy and the department of science and technology. Yes this statement is correct. Then the third statement states and indigenously developed ion calorimeter detector will be installed in the INO laboratory which will be the world's most massive detector. This ion calorimeter detector is nothing but the ICAL detector which will be installed in this laboratory. Yes this part is correct and whether it will be the world's most massive detector once it is installed. Yes it will be the world's most massive detector. Along with that this detector will also be the world's largest electromagnet because the current carrying coils in this detector will produce magnetic field which in turn will magnetize the entire detector and this also becomes world's largest electromagnet also. So this statement is also correct. Here the question asks for the correct statement. Here statement 2 and 3 are correct. So the final correct answer to this question is option D, 2 and 3. Now look at this next question. In this few components are given such as foreign currency assets, gold reserves, SDRs, reserve transposition. Which of the given above components constitute forex? Now always remember that forex reserves or foreign exchange reserves consist of foreign currency assets, then gold reserves, then special drawing rights in IMF and then reserve transposition in the IMF. Here SDR is nothing but the special drawing rights. So all the four are components of forex reserves. So here the correct answer is option D, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Now let us see one main question based on GS paper 2. The violence against women and abuse of women restricts their right to mobility. In the light of the above statement discuss the schemes and measures introduced by the government under the Nirbhaya fund for ensuring safety and security of the women. Now you can say some four or five lines based on this first line like what is the condition of our country with respect to violence against women and abuse of women. Then you have to discuss about the schemes and measures. You can mention about the emergency response support system which was introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Then you can discuss about the central victim compensation fund which was also introduced by Ministry of Home Affairs. Then you can talk about the one stop center scheme which was introduced by Ministry of Women and Child Development. Then you can also talk about Mahila Polis volunteer or the MPVs which was also introduced by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Then you can also talk about the universalization of women helpline scheme which was again introduced by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. So like this you can also mention the measures or schemes which are particularly taken in your own state to enrich the answer. Let us see one more main question based on GS paper 2. A delicate balance between the intellectual property rights and farmers rights is necessary to safeguard the future of farmers. Discuss the various concerns raised with reference to the recently proposed seeds bill. In this question first you have to justify the given statement that while it is necessary to recognize the IPR rights of seed breeders these rights cannot be enjoyed at the cost of misery of farmers. So a delicate balance for both rights is necessary and also you can mention the TRIPS agreement in which India is a signatory and TRIPS agreement is an IPR friendly agreement and you can mention two other farmer friendly agreements or international instruments such as convention on biological diversity and the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. So based on these agreements and treaties India has to take delicate balance between the rights of seed breeders and the rights of farmers. Then you can discuss the various concerns raised with reference to the recently proposed seeds bill. In this you can mention about the compulsory registration of seeds and how this provision is differing from the protection of plant varieties and farmers rights act of 2001. Then you can talk about the regulation of seed prices under the seeds bill which is quite a vague provision or a general provision and it does not provide any upper limit or maximum limit for prices of every seed variety. Then you can also mention about the compensation that will be provided if the registered seed variety fails to fulfill the promise of performance. Now according to the seeds bill the disputes have to be decided as per the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 whereas according to the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act there is a separate authority for this compensation. The authority is named as Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Authority. So like this there will be many contradictions between these two acts if the seeds will becomes an act. So like this you can also mention your own viewpoint based on today's discussion. With this we have come to the end of our today's sessions. 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