 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar A.S academy for the date 14th of August 2023. Displayed here are the list of news articles that we will be going through today. And before getting into the discussion, I have an important announcement to make. The much awaited Shankar A.S academy's pre-storming problems test series is about to start. The test series will start on 11th September and the first test will be on 18th September. The details regarding the test series are displayed here. So make note of it and make use of it. Now let's get into the discussion. Now take a look at this editorial article. Recently the central government introduced three new bills in the Lok Sabha. These three new bills will replace three existing criminal laws or codes in our country. They include the Indian Penal Code 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act 1872. See the IPC is said to be replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023. Then the CRPC of 1973 will be replaced by the Bharatiya Naharik Suraksha Sanhita 2020. And the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 will be replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya 2023. See this editorial here is written in this context only. This editorial highlights the issues with these three new bills. So in our discussion today we will first understand the key highlights of the three new bills and we will look at the issues with the bill. This is the plan for discussion. Before getting into the discussion, I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion. You can go through it. Now first let us understand the background for replacing the IPC, CRPC and the Indian Evidence Act with the new legislation. See the majority of these three criminal codes were enacted by the British. After the independence also, the Indian government did not make any major changes to the criminal laws. That means till now the Indian criminal justice system is functioning as per the laws made by the British. Because of this concern, many of the stakeholders like legal experts, courts and various committees have recommended the government to bring reforms to these colonial era criminal laws. For example, the parliamentary standing committee on home affairs in its 146th report recommended the government to review the criminal justice system of the country. Apart from this, the parliamentary standing committee also highlighted the need for reforms in the criminal laws through the enactment of a comprehensive legislation instead of amendments in the existing acts. Considering these recommendations, on May 4th, 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted a committee headed by Professor Ranbir Singh. This committee was constituted to review the criminal laws in our country. See the main mandate of this committee was to recommend reforms in the criminal laws of the country in an effective and in an efficient manner. Later, the committee submitted its report to the Home Ministry and based on the recommendation of this committee, the Home Ministry enacted three new bills to replace the criminal laws. This is the background of the issue. Now let us understand the key highlights of the three new bills. First, let us take up the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanjita Bill 2023. This bill seeks to replace the Indian Penal Code. The bill aims to repel nearly 22 provisions of the IPC. The bill also proposes changes to 175 existing provisions of the IPC. Additionally, the bill introduces eight new sections to the IPC. Now first, let us understand the changes to the existing provisions of the IPC. Firstly, the punishment for all types of gang rape under IPC has been enhanced. As per the bill, the offenders who commit gang rape will now get 20 years of imprisonment or life imprisonment. Secondly, the punishment for rape of minor under the IPC will also be enhanced. As per the bill, the person who is involved in raping a minor will get a death penalty. And thirdly, for the first time, the bill introduces punishment for the offence of mob lynching. The bill states that the offence of mob lynching would be punishable with seven years of imprisonment or life imprisonment. Fourthly, the bill proposes to omit the provisions of the offence of adultery. This is in line with the Supreme Court's ruling. See, in 2018, if you can recall, the Supreme Court, in the case of Joseph Schein, the Union of India, declared that section 497 of IPC was unconstitutional. Note that section 497 of IPC dealt with adultery, where the section declared adultery as a criminal offence. But now, this section has been omitted by the new bill. And this is as per the Supreme Court ruling. This is a positive aspect of the bill. Moving forward, these are the important changes brought out to the IPC under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanjitha Bill 2023. Now moving on, let us see the new provisions that are to be included in the IPC. Firstly, the bill introduces section 1-0 time. Under this section, organized crimes like drug trafficking, smuggling, and other aspects will be dealt with. The next one is section 110. This section will deal with petty organized crimes like automobile or jewelry theft. Then section 111 will deal with offenses related to terrorist acts. Section 302 will deal with chain snatching. And finally, section 150 will deal with acts of a person that endangers sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. See, actually section 150 has been introduced to deal with sedition. Because if you can remember, section 124A of the IPC dealt with sedition. This bill removed section 124A of IPC. And it is now replacing it with another name called section 150. Although the government claims that the sedition law is removed, the sedition is indirectly dealt with the new section 150 of the bill. Okay, since we are talking about section 150 of the bill, now let us understand section 150 in detail. See, the section 150 says that any act of a person that attempts to excite armed rebellion or subversive activities or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers sovereignty or unity and integrity of India, then the person who indulges or commits such an act will be punished with imprisonment for life or with imprisonment which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine. To put it in simple words, if any person commits an act that endangers the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India, then such person shall be punished with imprisonment and he is also liable to pay a fine. Overall, the new bill ripples the vague sedition law under section 124A of the IPC, but it retains the sedition in the name of sovereignty or unity or integrity of India under section 150. Okay, this is all about Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill 2023. Moving forward, let us take up Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill 2023. This bill will replace the code of criminal procedure of 1973. The bill seeks to repel nine provisions of CRPC. The bill also proposes changes to 160 provisions of CRPC. In addition to this, the bill also introduces nine new provisions in the CRPC. Now, let us see some of the important provisions of the BNSS Bill. Firstly, the bill seeks to introduce a new section called section 230. This section mandates that a copy of FIR is made available to the accused and the victim at a free of cost. Section 230 further states that the FIR shall be made available within 14 days from the date of protection or appearance of the accused. This provision ensures transparency in the investigating procedure of the police. Secondly, the bill permits the filing of zero FIR from any part of the country. Now, what is this zero FIR? See, when a police station receives a complaint regarding a alleged offense committed in the jurisdiction of another police station, initially the police station that receives the complaint has to register an FIR and later it transfers this FIR to the relevant police station for further investigation. This is what is called zero FIR. See the new bill now permits filing of zero FIR from any part of the country. Thirdly, the new bill allows for the examination of accused person through electronic means like video conferencing. This will help expedite the investigation process. That is, there is no need for the accused person to be physically present near the police to conduct investigation. These are the important provisions or the important changes brought about by the Bharati Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill 2023. And finally, let us talk about Bharatiya Saxa Bill 2023. This bill, as we all know, will replace the Indian Evidence Act of 1872. The new bill proposes changes to 23 provisions of the Act. The bill also introduces one new provision to the Act. Now, let us see some of the important changes made by the bill. Firstly, the bill permits the use of electronic or digital record as an evidence. As per the bill, electronic or digital record will have legal validity or documentary evidence, so it can be used as a evidence under the new bill. Secondly, the bill expands the ambit of secondary evidence. For example, the copies made from the original evidence by mechanical processes like photocopying can also be considered as a secondary evidence. Like this, the bill expands the ambit of secondary evidence. This is all about the Bharatiya Saxa Bill 2023. See, these are the key highlights of the three new bills. Finally, before concluding this discussion, let us see the issues associated with the three new bills that is highlighted in the editorial article. Firstly, the author of the editorial states that there is no significant changes made to the existing colonial era criminal laws. The author also noted that the government has only changed the English names of the Act to mere Hindi names. This is the first concern of the author. Secondly, the author welcomed the deletion of sedition law that was provided under section 124A of the IPC. But he also highlighted that although the sedition provision is removed, it is again introduced in the new bill in a disguised form under section 150. Earlier in this discussion, we clearly saw the issue with section 150. This is the second concern raised by the author. See, these are the two main issues highlighted by the author of this editorial. See, right now, these three bills are in the Lokshoba. We just have to wait and watch whether changes are made to the bills or not in the forthcoming days. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the background about the three new bills. Then we saw the major highlights or the major provisions of the three bills. And finally, we saw two issues highlighted by the author in this editorial. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Take a look at this news article. This article is from yesterday's newspaper. This article speaks about the study that was conducted on coral reefs in Hawaii. As you all know, Hawaii is a group of volcanic islands in the central Pacific Ocean. It is located west of United States and the Hawaiian highlands are currently administered by the United States. Recently, a research paper was published in a journal called Nature. The research found that the mitigation of human impacts has reduced coral loss in Hawaii, despite there was an unprecedented marine heat wave in 2015. See, in 2015, Hawaii experienced an unprecedented marine heat wave where the temperature of the ocean near Hawaii reached 2.2 degrees Celsius higher than normal. As we all know, the corals get impacted by prolonged heat waves and this heat wave can cause coral bleaching and resulting in coral death. But despite the marine heat waves in 2015, there was a significant reduction in coral loss in Hawaii. This is because there was no frequent human impacts on the coral ecosystem in Hawaii. This is because the human impacts on coral was controlled by the government by taking necessary steps. This resulted in the containment of the urban runoff wastewater induction into the ocean and marine pollution. Apart from this, fishing restrictions were also imposed by the Hawaiian government. These activities helped to reduce the coral loss despite marine heat waves. From this point, we can observe that integrated land and sea management will help us conserve the coral reefs despite the impacts of climate change. This is all about the news article given here. Now, from the exam point of view, let us see the steps taken by the Indian government to conserve coral reefs in India. Let us start with the basics of coral, corals which are also called as coral polyps or marine invertebrate animals. Note that the corals occur with an algae called zooxanthole. Zooxanthole are microscopic algae that generally reside on corals and they have a symbiotic connection with the corals. The zooxanthole through photosynthesis provides food to the corals and the corals in return offer protection. See, normally the corals are white in color. The bright color of the corals that we observe is due to the colorful zooxanthole. During periods of heat wave or increasing sea temperature, these zooxanthole might leave the coral or they might die off. This result in a condition called as coral bleaching. This is the basics about coral reefs. Now, moving forward, let us see the steps taken by the Indian government to conserve coral reefs in India. Firstly, the Indian government included all corals that are found in Indian marine waters to the Scheduled One of Wildlife Protection Act 1972. This move accords highest protection to the corals in India. For example, if any person indulges in harvesting of corals as per the Act, the person shall be punished with imprisonment and a fine. Secondly, the Indian government enacted coastal regulation zone under the Environment Protection Act 1986. This is done to protect coral reefs. See, the coastal regulation zone 1 covers the area that are ecologically sensitive and important. It includes areas such as marine park, sanctuaries, reserve forest, wildlife habitats, mangroves, coral reefs and so on. As coral reefs are covered under CRRZ-1, the mining of coral is prohibited in India. Apart from this, the CRRZ-1 regulation puts restriction on the construction of structures such as building or resorts in such zones. So, the CRRZ regulation also helped to conserve coral reefs in India. Finally, the Indian government has declared certain marine ecosystems as marine protected areas. In such areas, the exploitation of precious marine resources like corals are prohibited by the rules. For example, the marine waters of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Gulf of Manal in Tamil Nadu are declared marine protected area. So, exploitation of corals from these areas are prohibited. This also helps in the conservation of corals in India. So, these are the some of the steps taken by the Indian government to conserve coral reefs in India. Now, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now, look at this article from yesterday's newspaper. This article talks about the effects of El Nino and El Nino Southern Oscillation, that is Enso. Again, this topic is in spotlight due to a study conducted by meteorologist last week. According to the study, the temperature of Indian Ocean has increased drastically due to anthropogenic climate change. Due to this increased temperature, the Enso will affect vast regions of India. This is about the article given here. In this context, let us quickly revise important points about El Nino and Enso. First, let us take up El Nino. See, during normal years, the eastern Pacific, which is the coast of Peru, has cold Peru current running along it. During El Nino years, the warm waters of the Central Pacific Ocean slowly drifts towards the South American coast and replaces the cold Peruvian current. Such appearance of warm water of the coast of Peru is known as El Nino. In simple words, El Nino is the extension of warm equatorial current in the Peruvian coast. El Nino has three major impacts. Let us see the moon by one. Firstly, it distorts the equatorial atmospheric circulation. Secondly, it causes irregular evaporation of seawater. And finally, it results in reduction in the amount of plankton along the coast of Peru. Due to lack of plankton, the fish production of the Peru coast takes a no-stave. These are the three main effects of El Nino. See, the frequency of El Nino is quite unpredictable. But through empirical observation, we have noticed that El Nino appears once every three to seven years. And when it appears, it brings drought, flood, and other weather extremes to different parts of the world. El Nino leads to warm weather on the Indian subcontinent in the winter season and dry and inadequate monsoon in the summer season. For example, in 1990-91, when there was a El Nino event, the onset of southeast monsoon in India was delayed. It was delayed by 5 to 12 days. This is all about El Nino. Now, let us take Enso, that is El Nino-Southern Oscillation. See, the El Nino event is also closely associated with pressure changes in the central Pacific and Australia. This change in pressure condition over Pacific is known as Southern Oscillation. The combined phenomenon of Southern Oscillation and El Nino is known as Enso. In the years when Enso is strong, large-scale variations in weather occur over the world. For example, will the arid west coast of South America receives heavy rainfall, drought occurs in Australia and sometimes in India also. On the other hand, floods occur in China. So, this phenomenon is closely monitored by weather experts to predict the long-range climate of the world. See, we all know that India is a monsoon-dependent country. Monsoon accounts for 80% of India's annual rainfall. And Indian monsoon is mainly dependent on two broad factors. One is internal factor called the monsoon trough and the other one is Enso. See, Enso has a huge impact on Indian monsoon. The El Nino-Southern Oscillation influences the trade wind and their ability to carry warm and moist air towards India during the monsoon period. So, it also has a major impact on how much rain that India would receive during the monsoon years. This is about the impact of Enso. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw brief points about El Nino and El Nino-Southern Oscillation. Now, with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. This news article talks about new scheme called PM Musa. So, in our discussion today, let us see the important points about this scheme in detail. First, let us see the background. The Rashtriya Uchatar Siksha Abhyan, that is RUSA was a centrally sponsored scheme and this scheme aimed to fund state and unilaterally education institutions. The vision of this scheme was to attain higher levels of access, equity, and excellence in the state higher education system. The first phase of the RUSA scheme was launched in 2013 and the second phase was launched in 2018. Now, in the light of the national education policy 2020, RUSA scheme has been relaunched as Pratamantri Uchatar Siksha Abhyan, that is PM Musa. PM Musa was launched this year and it has been re-resigned for rationalization and higher impact. The scheme basically aims to work with over 300 higher education institutions including the state universities and their affiliated colleges. The main aim of this scheme to raise the quality of education provided in these institutions. Additionally, the scheme focuses on improving graduate employability through funding for promotion of market link recourses, industry connections, student internships and etc. Now, let us see the important objectives of the scheme. First is creating new economic institutions. Second one is expanding and upgrading the existing academic institutions and finally to develop institutions that are self-reliant in terms of quality, education and greater inclination towards research and development. These are the three main objectives of the PM Musa scheme. Some of the major difference between the earlier version and the current version PM Musa is given here for your reference. You can pause the video and go through it. Now, let us see how the institutions and the districts are selected for funding under this scheme. It is a three-step process. In the first step, the states and the unitary sign an MOU with the Union Education Ministry. Under this MOU, the state commit themselves to implement the national education policy 2020. In the second stage, the state government will shortlist universities, colleges and districts. In this, the states mainly give focus to aspirational districts or the backward districts and note that 50% of the districts that are chosen by the state governments have to be aspirational or backward districts. And in the third stage, the Union Ministry will evaluate the proposals and approve the projects that is proposed by the state governments. This is how the districts and the educational institutions are selected by the government under the PM Musa scheme. Although this scheme has major positives like giving necessary impetus to the state higher education institutions, the major issue with the scheme is that the funding under the scheme is based on norms and outcome. See the outcome from social infrastructure like higher education institutions are realized only in the long term. So funneling funds based on the outcome would be counter productive. This is the important issue associated with the scheme. So that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw the important provisions of the PM Musa scheme and we also saw the issue with the scheme. Now with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now take a look at this editorial article. It talks about the issues with the new appointment procedure for chief election commissioner and the other election commissioners. See, we have already covered these topics on the 11th August Daily News Analysis. This article here gives a fleeting reference about Dinesh Goswami committee and the Justice Thakunde committee. So in our discussion, let us try to restrict ourselves to the recommendations proposed by these two committees. First, you have to note that these two committees were formed to give recommendations to reform the election process in India. Now let us see some of the recommendations of these two committees. First, let us take up Justice Thakunde committee. The first important recommendation is that it recommended the election commission should be a three-member body. Then it mentioned that the minimum age of voting should be 18 years. Thirdly, it said that the TV and the radio should be placed under the control of autonomous statutory corporation. Finally, it mentioned that the voters council should be formed to keep the election free and fair. These are some of the important recommendations of Justice Thakunde committee. Moving on, let us see some recommendations of the Dinesh Goswami committee. Firstly, the committee recommended that no candidate should be allowed to contest in elections from more than two constituencies. It also mentioned that the age of the candidates for assembly seats should be reduced to 21 and for council to 25. Secondly, the committee recommended to allow proxy voting. Here, military and paramilitary personnel and diplomats who are placed outside India should be allowed to vote in election via proxy voting. Thirdly, the committee mentioned that the electronic voting machine should be used in elections to prevent tampering and manipulating of votes. Then, the committee placed a six-month time limit for holding by elections. Finally, the committee mentioned measures should be taken to check on advertisements on newspapers to make the election process more conducive. These are the recommendations of the Dinesh Goswami committee. See, these committees that is the Dinesh Goswami committee and the Thakunde committee were formed in 1990 and 1975 respectively. So, most of the recommendations of these committees are already implemented. But you have to make note of this recommendation because you can use this in your main answer. So, that's all regarding this discussion. With this, we have come to the end of the news article discussion session. Now, let us take up the practice prelims questions. We have two practice prelims questions today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. Here, three statements are given. We have to find how many of the statements given here are the steps taken by the government to conserve coral reefs in India. From our discussion, we know that all three statements given here are correct. So, the correct answer here is option C. Moving on to the last question, which one of the following is not an objective of Rashtriya Uchatar Siksha Biyan? The correct answer is option A to improve overall quality of private educational institutions. This is not an objective of RUSA. The rest of the statements given here are the objectives of RUSA. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer for this question and post it in the comment section. If you like today's discussion, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPC preparation, subscribe to Shankara IS Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.