 A very good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankar A.S. Academy. Today's date is 10th of September 2022. So, displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. We have a lot of new things to learn in today's discussion. So, without much delay, let's get into the first news article discussion. Now, take a look at this news article. See, this news article talks about de-warming. Now, why is it in news? It is because yesterday Tamil Nadu's Health Minister launched the National De-warming Day program. See, this particular program will be covering more than 2 crore children in age group from 1 to 19 years and more than 54 lakh women in the age group of 20 to 30. So, that is why de-warming has made news today. In this context, let us understand what is de-warming and why it is important with respect to children and women. Then, we will also see government's intervention with respect to de-warming. So, what is de-warming? See, de-warming is nothing but giving an ankle-myntic drug to a human or animal to rid them of helminthus parasites. So, what are the helminthus parasites? They include parasitic worms like roundworm, flukes and tapeworm. And, anthermintic drug means the medicine used to destroy these parasitic worms. So, what are parasites mean? See, parasites refers to an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species. Usually, we call this species as host and if that organism benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense, then we call that organism as parasite. So, here we can understand that parasites are harmful for the species which they host on. So, to sum up, just to get rid of the helminthus parasite or the parasitic worms like roundworms, flukes and tapeworms, anthermintic drugs will be given to human or animal. So, this process is called de-warming. Now, why is it important to de-warm a child or a woman? See, it is because warm infections can interfere with the health, nutrition and education of children. Worms can cause anemia and more nutrition and they will have negative effects on mental and physical development. This does not stop there. A more nutrition and anemic children will often be underweight and have stented growth. So, because of these reasons, children with heavy infections are often too sick or too tired to concentrate at school or attend school. Secondly, de-warming becomes very important because of the mode of transmission of these intestinal worms. See, mostly these intestinal worms, they get transmitted from one person to another person through soil contamination. To be specific, these intestinal worms, they transmit through contamination of soil by eggs that are passed in the feces of infected person. So, if this is the mode of transmission, then the children are the most vulnerable because children usually play in the playgrounds and they make contact unconsciously with unclean environment, right? So, here the transmission is very easy. So, if they get infected, then the children will have negative effects on mental and physical development due to anemia and malnutrition. So, that is why de-warming of children and women is very important. And remember, the transmission of the worms can be avoided by observing good sanitary practices, eating fully cooked food, then drinking clean water, etc. So, now coming to the initiatives of the Indian government to control the spread of intestinal worms. See, in India, national de-warming day is observed by annual each year. By annual means, it occurs twice in a year and this particular initiative was started in the year 2015. Note that children between the age 1 to 19 are provided with album dissolved tablet through Anganwadi centres and schools. See, this tablet is the prescribed tablet for treating intestinal worms in India, okay? So, that is all about this news-article discussion. In this news-article discussion, we saw about what is de-warming and why it is important to de-worm children and women. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news-article discussion. Now, take a look at this editorial article. See, this article talks about the recent urban flooding that is occurring in Karnataka. To be very specific, the news-article talks about urban flooding in Bengaluru. See, as the news-article is written by an eminent person who is a former secretary of Panchayat Raj in Karnataka government, the news-article gives us a lot of insights about why urban flooding is happening in the region. And he also gives some of the suggestions to mitigate the disaster. So, in this news-article discussion, we will see some of the facts about urban flooding and the possible solutions to mitigate urban flooding. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this news-article is highlighted here for your reference. Just go through it. So, what does the term urban flooding mean? See, before looking into that, know that the term flood means submergence of usually dry area by a large amount of water. So, this water might be coming from sudden excessive rainfall and overflowing river or lake, or it might come from melting of snow or an exceptionally high tide. Now, these floods have multiple effects on human society like casualties and property loss. They even might cause secondary effects like contamination of water, loss of entire harvest and the spread of water-borne diseases. They even have the capacity to cause economic hardships like loss of tourism, foot shortage, rebuilding cost, price increase, etc. So, this is the basic idea about flooding. So, what is urban flooding? See, urban flooding occurs when storm water flows into an urban area at a higher rate than it can be absorbed into the ground. So, this increased flow of water can be due to river floods, flash flooding, coastal flooding or rapid snowmills. So, those kinds of flood, we call it as urban flooding. So, now coming back to the article, see the author says that the main reason for urban flooding in Bengaluru is encroachment of water bodies. See, in the past, when Bengaluru got expanded, many village panchayats around Bengaluru were dissolved and merged subsequently into the Bruhat-Bengaluru-Mahanahara-Palike. In short, BBMP. So, what is this BBMP? It is nothing but an administrative body responsible for the administration of greater Bangalore metropolitan area. And remember, it is the fourth largest municipal corporation in India. So, what happened is, during this transition, land records were either destroyed or tampered. So, because of this fabrication of fake documents became very easy. And as a result of this, lakes and their catchment areas were soon transformed into private land and builders, they used this opportunity very wisely. They made quick money by building apartments, shopping malls and information technology parks. So, due to this unplanned urbanization and encroachment of water bodies, shrinking of water bodies took place. And the number of water bodies began to decline. For example, Bangalore had 262 lakes in the 1960s. Now, only 10 of them hold water. See, this fact is highly authentic because a leading magazine called Down to Earth published this data. So, in case of heavy rain, where do you think all these water run off? As these water don't have an area to escape, they stagnate in roads and streets causing urban floods. And the interesting fact here is, see urbanization in India is directly linked with the increase in impervious surface. Impervious surface, they do not allow the water to percolate into them. So, this reduced the speed and scale of percolation and increased surface runoff from buildings, roads and other hard surfaces. So, this factor further accelerated the intensity of urban floods, okay. Apart from this, various factors like heavy rainfall throughout the monsoon season, deforestation and soil erosion and some of the climatic factors like global warming and climate change or some of the causes of urban floods. And another important cause is the population densities in urban centers. See, you have to make note of this point. We know that many migrate to urban cities in search of jobs and economic activities. Here, the issue is not migration, but the lack of supporting infrastructure facilities is the issue. What do they mean by supporting infrastructure facilities? It is nothing but the solid waste disposal, sewage lines, storm water drains, etc. in the urban cities. See, as the population becomes denser, depending upon the capacity required, the supporting infrastructure facilities should have also altered, right? But the issue here is, they are not being developed to adopt to the increasing demand. This in turn is causing flood. So, these are some of the major causes of urban flooding in India. So, now moving on, now let us see some of the possible solutions to mitigate urban flooding one by one. First in the line is maintaining a record of all the water bodies and wetlands at city and village levels. See, if you remember on 30th August 2022, we saw about geo-referencing, right? So, what is geo-referencing? See, geo-referencing involves assigning exact geographical coordinates to a geographical object in a map or a digital image. Take for example, Pulicat Lake. So, in geo-referencing, exact geographical coordinates of Pulicat Lake will be marked in a map or a digital image. And this process is called geo-referencing. So, the process of geo-referencing involves taking a digital image. It could be an air photo, a scanned geological map or a picture of a topographic map and geographic information are added to the image. So, using geo-reference, a digital database can be created. So, what is the use of this database? See, this database can be used to prevent encroachment of wetlands. If you know exact coordinates of the lake, even if the lake becomes dry during summer seasons, you can prevent encroachment of that dry area of the lake. That way, you can save the lake itself, okay? So, this is the first suggestion or measure. Secondly, catchment areas of rivers, lakes and other water channels have to be brought under protected areas and it should be included in city development routes. And thirdly, in the case of new developments, urban water problems should be studied in broader aspects to mitigate future floods in city. Take for example, if works are undertaken for laying down metro rails, then the government should study in broader aspect to mitigate future floods in the city as well. Apart from this, flood vulnerability mapping which helps us in identifying the vulnerable areas can help us in reducing floods. And apart from this, watershed management including desilting, timely cleaning and deepening of drainage channels along the whole river basin instead of just the urban area can be done. And finally, protecting the existing green cover and removal of debris from catchment areas could help us in preventing soil erosion and flooding, okay? So, that is all about this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we saw in detail about urban flooding. We saw about what is flood, what is urban flooding. Then we saw about some of the reasons why urban flooding is currently happening and we saw some of the possible solutions to the urban flooding. So, these learnt points. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, look at this news article. The news article says that King Charles III has named William as the new Prince of Wales. King Charles also said that he will follow his mother's footsteps and uphold the constitutional principles of England. So, taking this as an opportunity, let us compare the British Parliamentary System and the Indian Parliamentary System. This will be very helpful for your main examination. So, just pay attention to the discussion. First, let us take the head of state. See, both India and Britain follow a parliamentary form of government. And remember, the head of the state in both the countries is only a nominal head. But in that too, we have a difference. See, since India follows a republican form of government, the head of the state, that is, the president is elected. Here, the president in India is elected by indirect election. But in the case of Britain, it follows constitutional monarchy. So, the position of the head of the state, either king or queen, is hereditary in nature. So, here both the countries follow a parliamentary form of government. And the head of the state in both the countries is only a nominal head. But since India follows a republican form of government, the head of the state, that is, the president is elected indirectly. But in case of Britain, it follows constitutional monarchy. Now, coming to the next difference, the president in India has a tenure which is five years. But the king or the queen in Britain have no specific tenure. And finally, in the case of the Indian president, there is a provision of reappointment. But this is not applicable in the British system. Because here, the king and the queen stays in power till his or her demise. Demise means death of a person. So, we saw about head of the state. Now, we will see about head of the government. See, head of the government in both India and Britain is the prime minister. This is because both these countries follow a parliamentary form of government. See, in both countries, the prime minister is the real seat of power. The prime minister in both the cases is part of the parliament. The prime minister stays in power until the government enjoys majority support in the lower house of the parliament. Once the government headed by the prime minister loses majority support in the lower house, then the prime minister along with the council of ministers must resign. Okay? But there is one major difference between the prime minister of India and Britain. See, in India, the prime minister can be either from the upper house or lower house. For example, our current prime minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, is from the lower house. And our former prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, he was from the upper house. But in the case of Britain, the prime minister must always be from the lower house. The member of the upper house cannot become prime minister. Okay? So, so far we saw about the head of the state. Then we saw about the head of the government. Now we will see about the parliament system in both India and Britain. See, both India and Britain have a bicameral parliament, meaning there is an upper house and a lower house. The house are called Lok Sabha and Rajesh Sabha in India. And they are called House of Lords and House of Commons in Britain. Here on the side, note a small quiz. Now, find out who is the first Indian to be elected to the House of Commons and post the answer in the comment section. Okay? I will tell whether your answer is right or wrong. Now, coming back, the tenure of the lower house in both the countries is five years and in both the cases they can be dissolved before the end of their term. While the term of the lower house in India can be extended during an emergency, the tenure of lower house in Britain can be extended by the Queen. So, now coming to the upper house. See, in both the countries the upper house is a continuing chamber and in both countries the lower house has more powers than the upper house. Upper house in both houses in most cases can only delay a bill or at most ask the lower house to reconsider the bill. Okay? So, these are some of the similarities between Indian and British Parliament. Now, let us see the differences. See, the upper house that is the Rajeshaba in India is indirectly elected by elected members of state legislative assembly. But in case of the House of the Lords, which is the upper house in Britain, there is no election at all. The membership of House of Lords is mostly hereditary and some members are appointed. Okay? Next, coming to the tenure. See, the tenure of a member of Rajeshaba is 6 years. But in the case of members of the House of Lords, there is no tenure. Next, the vice president of India is the ex official chairman of Rajeshaba. But in Britain, there is no position as vice president. Okay? The chairman of the House of Lords is elected from amongst its members. And remember, India follows a federal system of government. But in Britain, there is a unitary form of government. So, in India, the upper house, that is the Rajeshaba, provides representation to the state or the federal units. So here, the members of Lok Sabha are representatives of the people. But the members of Rajeshaba are representative of the states. But this is not the case in Britain. The House of Lords in Britain is established to provide representation to the British nobility. So, due to the extra role played by the Rajeshaba, it has some special powers like the creation of all India service under Article 312 of Indian constitution and centre making laws on the state subject under Article 249 of the constitution. Okay? And finally, the British system is based on the doctrine of the sovereignty of parliament. So, in Britain, the parliament is the supreme. Since they have no written constitution, that is no judicial review. Very important point. But in India, since we have a written constitution which offers us fundamental rights, the power of the Indian parliament is limited. The presence of a written constitution also enables judicial review. So, parliament in India is not supreme. It enjoys restricted and limited powers compared to the British parliament. So, that is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw some of the similarities and differences between the Indian and British parliamentary system. To be very specific, we saw about the head of the state, head of the government and then we saw how the parliamentary system in India and Britain works. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, for our next discussion, let us take up this news article. See, this news article talks about India's ongoing disengagement at patrolling point, which is shortly known as PP-15, in Goghra heart spring region of East and Ladakh. See, this point is situated along the line of actual control, LAC. So, the Ministry of External Affairs in its statement said that disengagement at PP-15 would be completed by September 12th, which is three days before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's head of government meeting. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, we are going to learn in brief about Shanghai Cooperation Organization, its structure and objectives of ACO. So, let us begin with Shanghai Cooperation Organization. See, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is shortly known as ACO, is a Eurasian Political, Economic and Security Organization. Remember, it is also a permanent international intergovernmental organization. It was formed in 15th June 2001 in Shanghai, which is in China. And when it was formed, it had six members, which includes China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tachkistan and Uzbekistan. Here, you must note one thing. See, ACO was called as Shanghai Five in its initial stages when it was established in 1996. This Shanghai Five mainly dealt with the boundary issues between China, Russia and the newly independent five states of Central Asian region. Here, we are mentioning about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tachkistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. So, in 2001, the Shanghai Five was evolved into ACO with the inclusion of Uzbekistan. Now, currently, the ACO consists of eight full members, which includes India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tachkistan and Uzbekistan. Also, it has four observer states, which are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. So, here among the five republics of the Central Asia, only Turkmenistan has not joined the organization as a member country. Also, note that India and Pakistan became member of Shanghai Cooperation Organization on 9th June 2017 with the support of all the SEO member states. So, having this basic idea about SEO, now let's look into the structure of SEO. First is the head of state council that is HSC. See, it is the highest decision making body in the SEO. It meets once in every year to take decisions and give instructions on all important issues regarding SEO activity. In addition to this is the SEO's head of government council. See, it also meets once in a year to discuss a strategy for multilateral cooperation and to make priority directions within the organization's framework. So, this meeting helps in solving important and pressing cooperation issues in economic and other areas. Remember, this council only approves the organization's annual budget. Apart from this, the SEO also has two important permanent bodies. They are the SEO secretariat and the regional anti-terrorist structure, that is rats. See, make note of rats, it's very important for examination perspective. The SEO secretariat is based in Beijing and the rats secretariat is based in Tashkent, which is the capital of Uzbekistan. Note that SEO rats is intended to facilitate coordination and interaction between the SEO member states in the aspects of fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism. So, this is about the structure of SEO. Now, we shall see some of the main objectives of SEO. See, the first objective is to strengthen relations among the member states. Apart from this, promoting cooperation in political affairs, economics, trade, science and technology, culture and educational sphere as well as in energy, transportation, tourism and environmental protection is also an objective of SEO. Apart from this, there is a separate body called rats' right. So, its most important objective is to safeguard regional peace, security and stability. Apart from this, SEO strives to create a democratic, equitable international, political and economic order. Okay? So, these are all the objectives of the SEO. So, that's all about this news-article discussion. See, in this news-article discussion, we saw in detail about SEO, its structure and then we saw about its objective. So, with these learnt points, we came to the end of the first part of the news-article discussion. Now, let us move on to the second part of the news-article discussion, which is the preliminary practice questions. Now, look at this first question. This question is about parasitism. With reference to interaction between two organisms, consider the following statements. Statement one, in parasitism, one entity is harmed while the other entity gains. In amensalism, both the entities gain from the interaction. So, I have to find the correct answer. See, the correct answer for the question is option A1 only because the statement is rightly said, in an interaction between two organisms, if one organism gains by harming the other organism, then it is known as parasitism. We saw this in our discussion itself, right? So, this statement is actually correct. Now, moving on to the second statement. Second statement is incorrect because the given definition is for mutualism, where both the entities in an interaction gains from the interaction. It is not amensalism. The correct definition of amensalism is that while one entity loses from the interaction, the other entity neither gains nor loses anything. For example, take the case of goat trampling on grass. Grass gets affected while goat is unaffected. So, here in this interaction, it neither gains nor loses, okay? So, the correct answer for the question is option A1 only. Now, moving on, look at this question, which of the following statements is so or correct? Statement one, in India, a person who is not a member of parliament can also be appointed as a minister. Statement two, the Shalak Cabinet in India help prepare the members of opposition for future ministerial position. Statement three, the members of Lok Sabha have a fixed tenure of five years. You have to select the correct answer given here. See, the correct answer for the question is option A1 only because in India, a person who is not a member of parliament can also be appointed as a minister. But they can be elected only for a maximum period of six months. Within this six months, he must get himself elected to aid the house of the parliament, okay? Now, the second statement is incorrect because the institution of shadow cabinet does not exist in India. It exists only in British system. So, this statement is incorrect. Statement three is incorrect because the member of Lok Sabha does not have a fixed term of five years. See, according to article 82, clause two, Lok Sabha will continue for five years unless sooner dissolved. So, its term can be extended beyond five years during emergency period, okay? So, the correct answer for the question is option A1 only. Now, moving on, see, the question displayed here is the quiz question for you today. Just solve the question and post the correct answer in the comment section. You can add in the quiz in the poll as well. So, now moving on, the question displayed here is the mains practice question for you today. Just go through the question, write an answer and post that also in the comment section. So, with this, we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video, hit like, do comment and don't forget to subscribe to Shankar Iyer's Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.