 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar A.S. Academy for the day 24th of July 2023. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we will be going through today. Now without wasting time let's get into the news article discussion. Look at this article, it talks about the achievements of A.A. See alpha fold is an A.A system and this system recently solved the protein folding problem which had been a long standing challenge in biology. It has provided an accurate prediction of protein structures. So it has accelerated drug discovery and it will assist us in finding potential treatments for neglected disease. The article also mentions the potential benefits of A.A. in other fields like chemistry and environmental monitoring. Finally it also talks about some potential risks as the role of A.A keeps increasing in the scientific enterprise. In this discussion let us understand about protein folding problem then we will also discuss some important points that are given in the article. To understand about the protein folding you must first get familiar with some terms like amino acid, peptide and protein. Now first let me explain these three terms. See amino acids are the basic building blocks of proteins. There are 20 different types of amino acids each with unique characteristics. When peptides are short chains formed by linking two or more amino acids with peptide bonds. Finally proteins are longer chains of peptides with specific functions in our body. To put it simply amino acids are like words. When we put two or more words together we get a phrase. This is like a peptide. When we put two or three phrases together we get a meaningful sentence which is like a protein. I think you can understand the analogy here. The sequence and the arrangement of amino acid determine the unique structure and the functions of a protein. And this is crucial for various biological processes. Now let's take a protein called hemoglobin. It is a complex structure made up of four peptide chains. We know hemoglobin carries oxygen from our lungs to the rest of our body. This is how different protein has different functions in our body. Now moving forward let us see what is protein folding. See protein folding is a physical process by which a linear polypeptide folds into a characteristic and functional three dimensional structure as you can see in this image. See this folded shape is important because it determines the proteins function in our body. This is like how a spoon shape is essential for scooping food. So like that a protein shape is vital for carrying out its specific role. Each protein has a unique and precise shape that allows it to do its job perfectly. See scientists have always wanted to predict this shape using computer models because it is hard to do it in a lab. This is what we call the classic protein folding problem. If we can solve this problem it will help us understand how proteins function and lead to better medicine and biological discoveries. Recently as we saw earlier an AI system called Alpha Fold made a big step forward in solving this puzzle and this could revolutionize scientific research. This is what the article is talking about. Now moving forward let us see other benefits of the AI systems. The AI can accelerate drug discovery process. This is because it allows for the screening of thousands of molecules or processes rapidly. AI synthesizers can read research paper and create compounds described in them. This will reduce the need for laborious manual synthesis. Then with respect to environmental monitoring there is something called UNEP's World Environment Situation Room. This AI system can analyze real-time sensor data from thousands of sources. It can then predict and understand the health of the planet from a holistic perspective including factors like CO2 concentration, glacier mass, sea level raise and biodiversity loss. Finally large language modules like chatGBT and BRAD can create excellent text, music and art. This will potentially enhance creativity and artistic expression. But that is not all we have some risk associated with AI also. See the AI agents are generating discoveries. So traditional authorship in scientific research may become meaningless. Those who own AI agents could claim ownership to their knowledge. Secondly AI has some limitations. See AI tools like chatGBT can assist in literary research. But use of AI system might result in loss of deeper analysis and insight which are essential for literary articles. Also intrinsic biases in AI may under-represent minority views and finally it might result in loss of original thoughts in the literary sphere. This is the second issue. Thirdly the raise of AI has resulted in something called the AI divide and inequality. See the increasing sophistication of AI infrastructure could lead to a significant gap between those with access to advanced AI technologies and those who cannot have the access. This will lead to concentration of wealth and in turn breed inequality in our society. Finally the AI era may transform the workplace and institution. This raises the question about how productivity and excellence will be evaluated for individuals and organization. These are some of the issues associated with AI systems. Now that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw basics about protein, we saw about amino acids, peptides and proteins. Then we saw about the protein folding problem. Finally we saw some of the benefits and issues associated with the AI system. With this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now take a look at this article. Recently a minister from Tamil Nadu Mr. Sindal Balaji was arrested by the ED. In a court case on this matter there was a central question. Do ED officials have power to seek custody that is arrest and detain a person accused of money laundering. See in this case the Madras High Court upheld the legality of arrest by the enforcement directorate and it upheld the judicial custody of the minister. In essence this court ruling has clarified the powers and roles of the enforcement directorate officials in investigating such cases. See this discussion will be a continuation of the discussion that we had on 19th July. On 19th July I had discussed about the powers of the enforcement directorate under the prevention of money laundering act so if you had not watched that please go back and watch the video to get a clear picture today. Now before getting into the discussion I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion you can go through it. First let me give you a brief about what we saw on 19th July. On 19th July we saw about money laundering. Money laundering is simply a process of making illicitly obtained money appear legitimate. Then we saw about the PMLA Act 2002. This is a legislation that seeks to address money laundering associated with white color crimes. We saw that under the prevention of money laundering act the officers of the ED have been given the power to investigate cases of money laundering. Now this is something that is important to note. To charge someone with money laundering there must be a predicate offense and this predicate offense has to be investigated and prosecuted by agencies like the CVA or the state police. For instance if someone is suspected of drug trafficking the police would investigate the drug related offense first because drug trafficking is a predicate offense. Only then money laundering charges are considered by the enforcement directorate. This is what we saw on 19th July and I hope you remember all of this. The day we also saw that the enforcement directorate officials are not police officers and we saw how they differ from one another. Now the high court also highlighted the same but the judges said that even though the enforcement directorate officials are not police officers they can seek custody of an accused for questioning. In this particular case the accused Mr. V. Sendilbalaji was remanded to judicial custody by the sessions judge. The court highlighted section 167 of the CRPC. See section 167 of CRPC deals with the issue of custody of an accused person. It basically outlines the circumstances and the conditions under which an arrested person can be remanded to judicial custody or police custody. See I will explain about what is judicial custody and police custody at the end of the discussion. For now we will continue with this. See the court explained that the section 167 of CRPC allows for judicial custody and this provision also applies to cases under prevention of money laundering act. So this is how the court justified the arrest of Mr. Sendilbalaji. Now this article here also talks about the Supreme Court's view on PMLA. See on our 19th July analysis we saw that the enforcement directorate is getting involved in policing activities. See the views of the Supreme Court has given some clarifications on the role of the enforcement directorate and why enforcement directorate has to assume some powers. We will see various rulings of the Supreme Court to understand this and please take a note of this point. See in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary was union of India case the Supreme Court upheld various provisions of the PMLA. The court mainly upheld the provisions related to arrest, attachment, search and seizure by the enforcement directorate. The court clarified that these provisions are essential to prevent money laundering effectively. Also in this case section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act came under scrutiny. This section 19 deals with the manner in which a person can be arrested in a money laundering case. The contention raised against this provision was that this section grants power of arrest without requiring a warrant. This was seen as a potential risk as ED officials could abuse the power under this section. However, the Supreme Court dismissed this contention and upheld the validity of section 19. The court pointed out that this provision has inbuilt safeguards to prevent abuse of powers. This is because under section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, ED officers are authorized to arrest an individual only if they have a reason to believe that the person has committed that offence of money laundering. Also the court said that these checks would ensure that the enforcement directorate officers can arrest only when necessary and based on credible evidence. Now, we will see another case that is the T. Chidambaram v. Directorate of Enforcement case. See in this case Mr. Chidambaram, who is a prominent political reader, sought anticipatory bail in connection with money laundering offence. We know that anticipatory bail is a legal provision that allows a person to seek bail if they expect to get arrested. The Supreme Court in its ruling denied the prayer for anticipatory bail and allowed the enforcement directorate officials to take Mr. Chidambaram into custody. The court justified this decision by highlighting the complexity of the money laundering cases. See the money laundering cases involve various stages of placement and layering offence. So to conduct a thorough and systematic investigation, the enforcement directorate should take the accused under custody. So here the court's ruling means that in money laundering cases, there may be intricate financial transaction. So granting pre-arrest bail, that is the anticipatory bail, could hinder the investigation process. So the court's granted custody to the enforcement directorate to enable a comprehensive and a thorough investigation. The court emphasized that the purpose of PMLA is not just to punish money laundering but also prevent money laundering effectively. The Supreme Court also explained that the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is not just about punishing money laundering, it also aims to prevent it. To achieve this, the PMLA Act empowers the ED and other authorities to arrest suspects and take appropriate action. The court emphasized that these authorities are not police officers but serve a crucial role in investigating money laundering cases. Finally, the article here also discusses about the judicial non-interference in investigation. Take Section 482 of the CRPC. It is a provision that empowers the High Court to make orders and issue directions to prevent abuse of process of any court. In essence, it allows the High Court to intervene in certain situation to ensure fairness and justice in the legal proceedings. This means that if someone tries to manipulate or misuse the legal system for wrongful purposes, the High Court can intervene to prevent such abuses. The Supreme Court here clarified that High Court should only exercise this provision to interfere into cognizable offence investigation. That too, only if it finds evidence of abuse of power by the investigating officer. The court further emphasized that it is not the function of the court to oversee the investigation process. The court cannot interfere as long as the investigation is conducted within the boundaries of law. The discretion to decide the course of investigation should be left alone with the investigation agency. In this case, the enforcement directed. The court will only intervene if there is clear violation of legal provision or misuse of power. Until then, the High Court should not interfere with the investigation process of the enforcement directed. So, through these rulings, the Supreme Court have clarified the powers and roles of the enforcement directed officials in investigating money laundering cases. These are some of the points mentioned in the article. As I said before, before concluding, let us see some points about the police and judicial custody. See, in India, when a person is arrested in connection with a criminal offense, they can be remanded to either police custody or judicial custody. This depends on the stage of the investigation and the nature of the offense. Let us understand the difference between police custody and judicial custody. See, police custody is usually granted for a limited period, mostly up to 15 days. It is an initial period during which the police can hold the accused for interrogation and further investigation. The decision to grant police custody is made by the magistrate based on an application by the police. The police need to provide sufficient reasons to justify the need for custody. It could be something like the need to gather more evidence or so on. Also, during police custody, the police can question the accused and gather evidence to build a stronger case against the accused. Also, the accused is held at the police station during the period of police custody. Now coming to judicial custody. See, the judicial custody can be granted for a longer duration. It can be beyond the initial period of police custody. The total duration can be extended up to 15 days in certain cases and if necessary beyond that also. See, after the initial period of police custody, if the police requires further detention of the accused, they must produce the accused before the magistrate. The magistrate then decides whether to grant judicial custody or not. It will be based on the facts and circumstances of the case. During judicial custody, the accused is kept in jail or in a correctional facility. But the police do not have the authority to further investigate or interrogate the accused during this time. So basically, the purpose of the judicial custody is to ensure that the accused is available for further trial and investigation by the court or investigative agency. This is about the difference between police custody and judicial custody. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the roles and functions of ED that is defined by the Supreme Court through various court cases. We also saw the difference between police custody and judicial custody. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article from yesterday's newspaper. This article says that an invasive species named Ludvika Peruviana is threatening the habitat and eating areas of elephants in Valparai. Here Valparai is a hill station in Tamil Nadu which is located close to Kerala boundary. The article further says that such invasive species are increasing the risk of human-animal conflicts in the Valparai region. This is all about the news. In our discussion today, we will learn about invasive species in general and then about the Ludvika Peruviana. First, let us start with the invasive species. An invasive species refers to an organism which is not indigenous to a particular area. If such non-native species is introduced into a new area, it can cause great economic and environmental harm to the new area. In other words, the organism which is not native and has a potential to cause greater harm to the newly introduced area is called an invasive species. An invasive species can be any kind of living organism like aphibian, plant, insect, fish, fungus or bacteria. It can even include an organism's seeds or eggs. Now coming to the question. Do all non-native species can be termed as invasive species? Actually, no. See, not all non-native species are invasive. For example, certain crops grown in India like tobacco, chilies and potatoes were introduced by Portuguese several centuries ago. These crops are not native to India but they are not invasive. So what are all the conditions required for an organism to be classified as invasive? See, there are certain criteria to declare a particular species as invasive species. Now let us see them one by one. Firstly, a non-native species must adapt to their new area very easily. Secondly, it should be able to reproduce very quickly. And finally, this species must harm the property, the economy and the native plants and animals of the region. If these conditions are met by a particular non-native species, then it is termed as invasive species, okay? Having understood about the invasive species in general, now let us move on to the Ladviga Peruviana. Ladviga Peruviana, which is commonly called as Primrose Willow is an aquatic plant which is native to the Central and the Southern Americas. This plant is mostly distributed in Peru in South America so it got its name Peruviana. The plants live near the freshwater region and it can grow up to a height of about 12 feet. It can grow faster along the water bodies. And the flower of Ladviga Peruviana is pale yellowish in color. Experts believe that it is due to these pale yellowish flowers that Peruviana was introduced in India as a ornamental plant. Now let us see the threats caused by Ladviga Peruviana. See, if this plant is introduced in a new area, it has the potential to invade such new area and in turn threaten the already existing biodiversity. Apart from this, it also has the potential to spread to nearby areas very rapidly. Basically, Ladviga Peruviana limits the growth of grass and native plants that are present along the water bodies. In India, Ladviga is mostly spread across the habitats of elephants. So, due to the invasive nature of Ladviga, elephants and other animals including Indian bison are often left with limited food options. So, they migrate to agri lands in search of food and this escalates the human-animal conflict. And this is what is said in the news article. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw some basic points about invasive species and we also saw few facts about Ladviga Peruviana. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Take a look at this news article. This news article speaks about conservation of vultures in India. See, in 2020, eight critically endangered oriental white-backed vultures were released into the world for the first time in India. The special thing about this is that these eight vultures were captive bred and they were released from the Jattayu Conservation Breeding Centers in Pinjore, Haryana. Now, after three years, five of them have survived and two have pared and successfully nested in the Shivallik range of Himalayas. So, the wildlife enthusiasts who were working towards protecting the vultures have now become happier. Why are the vultures being bred in the conservation centers? See, in 1993, there were an estimated 40 million vultures in India. Later, the population of three vulture species such as oriental white-backed, long-billed and the slender-billed vultures have declined by over 97 percentage. The population decline was due to various factors. See, all these three species are classified as critically endangered by the IUCN. Apart from this, they are protected under the Scheduled One of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. So, to conserve this endangered vulture species, the government is running breeding centers in various parts of our country with the help of several NGOs. The vultures are bred in centers and then they are released into the wild, okay? So, this is all about the news article. In this context, let us learn about vultures from the prelims perspective. The vultures are large bird. They mostly live in the tropical and subtropical regions. The vultures provide important ecosystem services by feeding on carcasses, that is the body of the dead animals. See, vultures usually do not hunt. Instead, they feed on the remains of the dead animals. By doing so, they help to keep the environment clean and disease-free. Now, coming to vultures in India. A total of nine species of vultures are found in India. They are white-trumped vulture, Indian vulture, slender-billed vulture, red-headed vulture, bearded vulture, Egyptian vulture, scenarius vulture, griffin vulture, and Himalayan vulture. Of the total nine vulture species, three species such as the scenarius vulture, griffin vulture, and Himalayan vultures are migratory vultures, while the other are endemic to India. Now, let us see the threats faced by the vultures in India. The first and the foremost threat is due to dichlofenac poisoning. See, dichlofenac is an anti-inflammatory drug that is used as a painkiller for cattle. When vultures eat the carcasses of the cattle that were treated using dichlofenac drug, it causes kidney failure to the vultures. Due to this dichlofenac poisoning, vultures faced a catastrophic population decline during the last century. One good thing is that India banned dichlofenac in 2006 for animal use. But still, dichlofenac is used illegally in some parts of the country. So, dichlofenac poisoning is the major threat behind the declining population of the vultures. In addition to dichlofenac poisoning, land fragmentation, habitat loss due to human activities, and electrocution due to pollution with power lines are some of the other threats faced by vultures in India. Now finally, we will understand about the conservation efforts taken in India. In November 2020, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the 2020-2025 Vulture Action Plan. This action plan aims for the conservation of vultures in the country. Apart from this, this plan also strives to prevent the poisoning of the principal food of vultures, that is the cattle carcasses, by ensuring minimum or negligible use of dichlofenac in the cattle. Okay, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw vultures from the plan's perspective. Now, let us conclude this and take up the next news article. Look at this article. This FAQ article talks about the findings of the recently released report on food insecurity called the Global Report on the Food Crisis 2023. So, in this discussion, we shall try to understand the background of this report and some of the important points mentioned in this article. Before getting into the discussion, I have highlighted here the syllabus for this discussion. You can go through it. Now, let's start the discussion. We shall start by looking at the Global Report on the Food Crisis 2023. See, GRFC 2023 was produced by the Food Security Information Network and released by the Global Network Against Food Crisis. This report is a result of a collaborative effort. 16 partners participated in this assessment. They aim to conduct a consensus-based assessment of food insecurity in certain identified countries. See, the primary objective of this report is to conduct assessment on world's worst food crisis hit countries and provide evidence on areas where external humanitarian assistance has been required. For example, the 2023 report just highlights where assistance was required in the past year, that is in 2022. Through this, the report acts as a reference point and helps to shape the policies for the upcoming year. Now, before getting into the findings of the report, you should know what is food security? See, food security is defined as a physical and economic access to all people at all times to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences. This food security will ensure happy and healthy life. Any deviation from this definition is known as food insecurity. Global food insecurity is identified by the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. FES was developed by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Now, let us see the findings of the report. Firstly, this year's report recorded the historic moment that had an impact on the assessment. For example, a pandemic and a subsequent economic crisis, a war in Ukraine, soaring prices of food and agricultural inputs. According to the GRFC 2023, in 2022 alone, between 690 million and 780 million people in the world suffered from hunger. These numbers are far higher than the pre-pandemic level in 2019. This shows that the world is far after towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 2. That is zero hunger. This is the first finding. There are a lot many hungry people currently, okay? In 2022, an estimated 2.4 billion people did not have access to adequate food, okay? This is 391 million more people than in 2019. This confirms that no progress was made on food security at the global scale since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, okay? Thirdly, the prevalence of undernourishment affected more than 9.2% of the world population in 2022. In 2019, this figure was only 7.9%. This is again far above the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, okay? But other than these three bad newses, we have some news to cheer for. Stunting has declined steadily. It declined from 204 million in 2000 to 148 million in 2022. Similarly, child wasting has declined from 54 million in 2002 to 45 million in 2022. But in terms of children who are overweight or obese, the study indicate a non-significant increase from 5.3% in 2002 to 5.6% in 2022, okay? See, the report also projects that almost 600 million people will be undernourished by 2030. This is also bad news. The report's comparison of food security among rural, peri-urban and urban population reveals that global food insecurity is lower in the urban areas. See, these are the key findings of the report, okay? Now, why is this findings important for our examination? For mains answer or in your essay answer, we have to have a catchy introduction. To have a catchy introduction, we need to display data unsubstantiated, okay? So these findings that we just saw can be used in your mains introduction or in your essay paper introduction. This will help you get good marks, okay? Now, let's move forward. See, the report also gives us information about the causes for the increasing food insecurity. Here, the first cause mentioned in the report is pandemic. Thanks to pandemic-associated lockdown, there was economic downturn and there were job losses and reduced income for many people in the world. This was the first driver for food insecurity. The second driver or the second cause is the Ukraine war, thirdly unfavorable government policies and lastly, increasing urbanization. These are the four causes of food insecurity that is mentioned in the report, okay? Now, moving forward, let us see what can be done to resolve the issues. We will see the solution one by one. Firstly, nutrition should be given importance in government policies. It should be supported by the civil society and the private sector. Secondly, to enable access to healthy diet, healthier food outlets can be supported. For example, government can promote food outlets that are based on traditional varieties of the region. This will increase access to healthier food options. Thirdly, government should provide policy incentives for shops to sell healthier food options and reduce the sale of processed food. This will help in achieving food security and also help in achieving nutrition security. The fourth suggestion is regarding street food. See, it is estimated that around 2.5 billion people worldwide consume street foods. Even though street foods are convenient and affordable, there are infrastructure and regulatory gaps in the sector. And these gaps should be closed. This will help improve nutritional safety and quality of the street food. Moving forward, government should focus on rural infrastructure like quality rural roads, warehousing, cold storage and electrification. This will help in the linkage of the farmers and the consumers. And this will also bring down food wastage and food price rise. Finally, local government should be point of focus. The local government should be given enough funding and power to frame policies. The local governments can make essential policies for making healthy diets available and affordable to all. These are some of the solutions that are mentioned in the article to address the increasing food insecurity in the world. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the global report on food crisis 2023. We saw the reason for increasing food insecurity in the world. And finally, we saw some of the solutions that can be employed to address the food insecurity. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. The article says that the Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned 700 crores for the implementation of the members of legislative assembly constituency development scheme for 2023-24. In addition to this, the Tamil Nadu government has also framed detailed guidelines for the implementation of the scheme. As a part of the scheme, every MLA in Tamil Nadu has been allocated 3 crores for carrying out development works in his or her assembly constituency. This is all about the news. So in our discussion today, we will learn some points about members of legislative assembly constituency development scheme or MLA CDS. MLA CDS is a developmental scheme. This particular scheme is fully funded by the state government. The scheme is same as that of MPLAT scheme. As we all know, under the MPLAT scheme, the central government allocates 5 crores for each MP per year for the development of his or her parliamentary constituency. Like that, the state government is providing a certain sum of money to its MLAs for the development of his or her assembly constituency. As the MLA CDS scheme is implemented by the state government, objectives and guidelines differ from state to state. But the main objective behind the scheme is to identify and implement the essential works in the assembly constituency. Basically, the MLA CDS scheme aims to bridge the infrastructure gap in the assembly constituency. Here note that the scheme is being implemented both in the rural and also in the urban areas. Now we will see some of the features of the scheme. Under the scheme, the state government does not provide money directly to the MLAs. Instead, the money gets transferred to the local authorities. See, an MLA of a particular constituency can recommend a work in his or her constituency based on the guidelines provided by the state government. And based on the recommendations of the MLA, the local authorities can carry out the work with the help of the MLA CDS funds. Here note that the district collector accords the administrative sanctions for the chosen work. Now moving forward, let us see what type of works can be carried out under the scheme. The works like construction of buildings for schools, then construction of hostels, libraries, village roads, drainage, public health care buildings, public toilets, bathrooms and other infrastructure activities can be carried out using the funds from the scheme. Apart from this, social forestry, farm forestry, gardens and parks in community areas can also be created using the MLA CDS funds. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the basics about MLA CDS scheme. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. This news article is about a new ransomware. This new internet ransomware virus called Akira is causing trouble in the cyberspace. This ransomware steals personal information, encrypts data and then demands money from its victims. The ransomware is targeting both Windows and Linux based systems. This ransomware virus is recently reported by the CERT-IN. So in this discussion, we will see about CERT-IN and we will also see few points about this virus. First let us take up CERT-IN. CERT-IN stands for Computer Emergency Response Team India. It is the national agency responsible for handling and responding to cybersecurity incidents in India. It was established under section 70B of the Information Technology Act in 2004. CERT-IN operates under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It also serves as a nodal agency for coordinating efforts to control cybersecurity threats in our country. Now we will see the important objectives of this agency. Firstly, it is responsible for monitoring and responding to cybersecurity incidents such as malware attack, data breaches and other cybersecurity threats. Secondly, it collaborates with various other organizations to mitigate vulnerabilities in software and systems. This will help reducing the future potential cyber risk, okay? See, the CERT-IN also aims to raise awareness about cybersecurity among the general public. It provides training and workshop to enhance the knowledge and skills of the cybersecurity professional. The next important function is that it helps in formulating cybersecurity policies, guidelines and practices to strengthen the overall security posture of our country. This will also help in avoiding future potential cybersecurity threats. Lastly, the agency works closely with other international organization and law enforcement agencies to combat global cybersecurity threat. So basically, we can say that the organization plays an important role in safeguarding India's digital landscape and promoting a secure cyberspace for Indians, okay? With this information in mind, let us see few points about the new ransomware called Akira. See the CERT-IN warned about the ransomware to the internet users as we saw earlier. This ransomware steals vital personal information and then encrypts data and trades to extort money from people. Here, what is a ransomware? Ransomware in simple term means a type of malicious software designed to lock a user out of their computer system until a ransom is paid to the attacker. As we already saw, this is targeting both Windows and Linux based systems. And this ransomware is still active in the cyberspace. See, this ransomware first steals the information from the victims and it then encrypts the data in the system and conducts double extortion to force the victims into paying the ransom. In case the victim does not pay, the attackers will release the victim's data on the dark web. Akira also deletes the volume files in the targeted device. So, as I already mentioned, this ransomware uses double extortion to receive ransom from the targeted victims, okay? And CERT right now is working to prevent this ransomware from attacking more users. So, that is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw some points about CERTIN and about the new ransomware named Akira. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. According to this news article, India's G20 Sherpa informed the media about our prime minister's proposal to make African Union a permanent member of the G20. He also informed that this proposal has received a positive response from the members of the grouping. This is why African Union is in news today. So, in this news article discussion, we shall see some important points about the African Union. See, the African Union is a continental body consisting of 55 member states. And these member states make up the countries of the African continent. It was officially launched in 2002 and it was the successor of the erstwhile organization of African Unity. See, the original focus of the organization of African Unity was decolonization and abolition of apartheid. But after 2002, when African Union was established, the focus shifted. Currently, the focus is towards increased cooperation and integration of African states to drive Africa's growth, that is economic development, okay? Here you have to know that the African Union was launched in July 2002 in Durban and the headquarters of the African Union is in Adi Sababa, which is located in Ethiopia, okay? Moving forward, let us see about the organizational structure. See, the work of the African Union is implemented through various organs. The organs include assembly of heads of states and governments, the executive council, the permanent representatives committee, specialized technical committee and the peace and security council and finally the African Union Commission. The AU structure also promotes participation of the African citizens and civil society through a pan-African parliament and the Economic, Social and Cultural Council. The African Union also comprises organs that handle judicial and legal matters as well as human rights issue. This is about the organizational structure. See, the African Union is working towards the establishment of continental financial institutions. The institution include African Central Bank, African Investment Bank and the African Monetary Fund. The regional economic committees and the African Peer EU mechanism are also key bodies that constitute the structure of the African Union. Here I have displayed the important objectives of the African Union. You can pause the video and go through it. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw a few important points about the African Union. With this, we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now let us take up the practice problems questions. We have four practice problems questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. Which of the following best describes the process of protein folding? See here, the correct answer is option C. Protein folding is the process by which linear chains of amino acid forms a three-dimensional structure determining its function. This we saw in the discussion itself. So once again, the correct answer here is option C. Moving on to the second question. The name Ladviga Peruviana sometimes appeared in the news. For which of the following? The correct answer here is option A. It is an invasive aquatic plant that threatens the habitat and foraging areas of elephants in parts of India. This also we saw in the discussion itself. So the correct answer once again here is option A. Moving on to the third question. Two statements about the Vulture Action Plan 2020 that 25 is given. We have to find the correct statements. Look at the first statement. It aims to conserve the vultures by preventing the poisoning of cattle carcasses, which is the principle food of vultures. The statement is correct. Moving on to the second statement. It aims to establish additional conservation breeding centers for vultures in the country. This statement is also correct. Since both the statements are correct, the correct answer here is option C. Both one and two. Moving on to the last question. This question is based on our MLA CDS discussion. Actually, the question is about MPLATs, but the discussion that we had for MLA CDS will help in answering this question. So this is a quiz question for you today. Aspirants can post the answer for this question in the comment section. The main questions based on today's discussion are displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answers for these questions and post them in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. 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