 A very good evening aspirants, before getting into discussion, I have an important announcement for you. This is regarding pre-storming batch 6. As you all know, pre-storming is the most reliable pull-in test series of Dubai Shankar Ice Academy. The first test in batch 6 is going to commence on tomorrow, that is on 5th March, 2023. The sixth batch would consist of 25 tests in which 23 are full tests and the remaining three are marked tests and the test will be conducted in both online and offline mode. So aspirants make use of this opportunity and score well. With this note, now let us get into the daily Hindu news analysis. Today I am going to cover important news articles from the Hindu news paper dated 4th of March 2023. Displayed here are a list of news articles that we will be discussing today. You can go through it and a kind request to you all, those who haven't yet, subscribe to our YouTube channel, to subscribe and hit the bell icon button to get regular notifications regarding our counterfeit videos. Now let's get into our first news article discussion. Now see this article here. The news is that yesterday the members of United Conservation Movement told reporters that eight tigers had died in the Bandipur Tiger Show in the previous year alone. Here United Conservation Movement is a citizens group who are engaged to protect forests. Now coming to tiger deaths, the two tiger deaths have been reported as natural deaths while the cause for remaining deaths are unknown. So the members have questioned the functioning of the Special Tiger Protection Force which was formed by the government to protect poaching of tigers in the reserves. Now this is the crux of the news article given here. Now in this context, let us learn some points about Bandipur Tiger Show from an example perspective. Now first let's take Bandipur National Park. Now that Bandipur National Park was formed in the year 1974. It includes the most of the forest areas of the then Venugopala Wildlife Park and adjoining forest areas. But in 1973 itself around 60-80 square kilometer area of the national park was brought under Project Tiger. This is because the national park was a potential tiger habitat. So this area became Bandipur Tiger Show and it is one of the first nine tiger reserves declared in the country. Then in 1994 through a notification Bandipur National Park was declared. Here more adjacent reserves for us were added to the Tiger Show and was extended to 880.02 square kilometer. Here note that around 872.24 square kilometer area was declared as the core or critical tiger habitat under wildlife production act 1972. That is why more often we hear Bandipur Tiger Show rather than the name Bandipur National Park. Okay. Now talking about the location of Bandipur Tiger Show Bandipur Tiger Show is situated in Karnataka. It is in the contiguous landscape that is spread in the two rounded districts of southern Karnataka namely the Mysore and Chamarajanagar districts. More importantly the Tiger Show is a distinctive land was located at the tri-junction area of states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Know that Bandipur Tiger Show is an important part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Show. It is also a part of western Ghats Tiger Landscape that consists of Mudumalai Tiger Show, Nagarhol Tiger Show and the Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. Additionally the southeastern portion of Bandipur Tiger Show also gets connected to the adjoining Tiger Landscape. This landscape includes Piligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Show, Malai Mahadeshwara Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and Satyamangalam Tiger Show. So it is clear that bio geographically Bandipur Tiger Show lies in one of the richest biodiversity areas of our country. Now coming to the font of Bandipur Tiger Show as I said earlier the famous resident of the reserve is Tiger and it also houses the endangered Asiatic wild elephant. There are also other endangered species in Bandipur such as Slothbeers, Gars, Indian Rock Pythons, Jackals, Muggers and Four-Hond Antelopes. Bandipur Tiger Show also shelters Sambar, Mouse Deer, Chittal, Slothbeer and the rare Flying Resort. Apart from this Bandipur Tiger Show also has over 200 species of birds. Now talking about the fauna Bandipur supports a wide range of timber trees including Teak, Rosewood, Sandalwood, Indian Laurel, Indian Kinotree, Giant Clumping Bamboo etc. This is about fauna. Now finally let's see some of the rivers that are flowing through Bandipur Tiger Show. The prominent rivers that are flowing through Bandipur Tiger Show are the Moya River and Nugul River. Apart from this the other prominent rivers such as Maveena Halla, Shikati Halla, Bidara Halla, Hebella, Kekkana Halla, Vadatti Hall, Varanchi Hall and Mukkati Hall are also flowing through Bandipur Tiger Show. That's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about Bandipur Tiger Show then we saw the location of Bandipur Tiger Show then we saw some points regarding the adjoining landscape of Bandipur Tiger Show then we moved on to see about the floor and fauna of Bandipur Tiger Show and finally we saw some points about the rivers that are flowing through Bandipur Tiger Show. See this topic is very much important for your prelims exam. So make note of each and every points that we discussed now with these key points in mind let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this editorial article this article is talking about the recent Supreme Court judgment on the appointment of the members of election commission. Recently Supreme Court ruled that a high powered committee will be formed to appoint the members of election commission. This committee will include Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition in Lokshapa and the Chief Justice of India. This article also discusses the implications of this move by the Supreme Court. So today we will see about the appointment of election commissioners then about Supreme Court's judgment and its implications. Now before getting into discussion the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here you can go through it. Now first let's start with the appointment of members of election commission. See if you want to know about the constitutional provisions of election commission of India then watch our yesterday's Hindu News analysis that is 3rd March 2023 analysis. Now here I am going to tell you about the appointment only. See as we all know election commission of India is a multi-member body. As of now it is a three-member body and it includes one chief election commissioner and two other election commissioners. Know that as per article 324 of the constitution the chief election commissioner and two election commissioners are appointed by the president. See there is one thing that you should know here. See in article 324 it is given that the appointment is subject to the provisions of any law made by parliament but till now no law has been enacted for this purpose. So the constitution does not lay down any specific process for the appointment of chief election commissioner and election commissioners. So till now the president makes the appointment on the advice of union council of ministers headed by the prime minister. This means both chief election commissioner and the election commissioners are appointed by the ruling party. Now according to supreme court this appointment process affects the independence of election commission. Supreme court also said that since there is no law made by the parliament on this issue the court must step in to fill the constitutional vacuum. That is exactly why the supreme court ruled that the appointment will be made by president on the recommendation of high-powered committee till a law made by the parliament. Now talking about the members of high-powered committee it includes firstly the prime minister of India secondly the leader of opposition in Lokshapa or the leader of largest opposition party in the Lokshapa in terms of numerical strength which means this is applicable in case that there is no leader of opposition. Here I have a task for you comment the condition required for someone to become the leader of opposition. Now coming back to the members of the high-powered committee finally it includes the chief justice of India. So the members include prime minister, leader of opposition in Lokshapa or the leader of largest opposition party and the chief justice of India. Supreme court came to this decision based on a reading of the debates of the Constituent Assembly. As per Supreme court all members of Constituent Assembly were clear that election must be conducted by an independent commission. But after extensive discussions our founding fathers agreed that parliament would step in and to provide norms. These norms will govern the appointment to such an important post such as the post of chief election commissioner and election commissioners. So our founding fathers did not intend the executive to exclusively call the shots in the matter of appointments to the election commission. Based on this only the Supreme court gave the judgment. Now let us see the implications of Supreme court's judgment on the appointment of chief election commissioner and election commissioners. Firstly it ensures the independence of election commission which is a constitutional body vested with the powers of superintendents, direction and control over elections. Secondly it takes away the appointment process of election commission from the exclusive domain of the executive. This is a good thing because ruling parties involvement in a body which conducts elections will not ensure free and fair elections. Thirdly it ensures proper functioning of members of election commission. If the executive appoints the members then they will appoint favorable persons to them. In turn they will show loyalty. This is not good for an independent body right? See as of now prime minister chooses a name from a database of high ranking civil servants and he advises the president to make the appointment. Now this is changed through the supreme court's judgment okay. So these are all positive implications. The editorial article also mentions some negative implications. Firstly there is a doubt that if the appointment is made by the committee will it ensure the independence of election commission? See there is no clear answer to this question. Already we have a committee like this in the appointment of CBI but it does not ensure the independence. So this is the first negative implication. Secondly chief justice of India's presence will give legitimacy to all appointments. This means that the objective of judicial scrutiny of any error in the process of appointment will not be taken because of the presence of chief justice of India in the panel. So these are all some of the negative implications. So what can be done to ensure the independence of election commission? One way is to clearly explain the appointment process in the constitution itself by amending the constitution. See as we all know constitution does not provide any qualifications for persons to be appointed as members of election commission. So the government through constitutional amendment can prescribe some age related or legal or educational or administrative qualifications. This too they can do it by discussing with high power committee created by the supreme court. Secondly the term of office of the members of election commission should be prescribed in the constitution itself. We know that now the constitution has not specified the term of office of the members. So this should be changed. Thirdly members of election commission should be deburred from any further appointment in the government. So these are all some of the measures that could be taken to ensure the independence of election commission. With this we have also come to the end of this discussion. This discussion we saw about the appointment process of the members of election commission. Then we saw about the supreme court's judgment and the appointment of members of election commission. Then we moved on to see about the implications of supreme court's judgment. And finally we saw some points regarding what are all need to be done to ensure the independence of election commission. See this topic is very much important for your both prelims and main exam. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this editorial article. This editorial is about clean technology livelihood. It talks about the potential of clean technology livelihood and distributed renewable energy technologies in the upward social mobility of rural women. It also talks about the steps that can be taken to ensure rural women micro entrepreneurs to adopt clean energy technologies. This is the outline of the editorial given here. So in our discussion today we will see what is clean technology livelihood and distributed renewable energy. Then we will see the advantages associated with clean technology livelihood. After that we will see about the challenges in the implementation of clean technology livelihood. And finally we will see about the initiatives taken by India in the arena of clean technology livelihood and what can be done to promote clean technology livelihood adoption. Okay. This is what the plan now before getting into discussion I have highlighted the syllabus regarding this discussion. You can go through it. Next let's take a look at distributed renewable energy. See distributed renewable energy is the term used when electricity is generated from renewable energy that is near the point of use instead of centralized generation sources from power plants. For example solar energy produced from rooftop solar cells is a form of distributed renewable energy. This is because here the energy is produced near the point of use. Here from this solar energy powered water pump is also an example of distributed renewable energy. Okay. This is all about distributed renewable energy. Now moving on to see about clean technology livelihood. See basically livelihood means a job or other activities that one performs to earn income. Now coming to the term clean technology livelihood see it means jobs or other activities which have clean or renewable energy at its core. For example if a person uses a solar or biomass powered cold storage or chiller to provide cold storage services to his fellow villages and earns a living out of it then it is termed as clean technology livelihood. Another example is if a person uses a solar powered sieving machine to make dresses and sell those dresses and earn some money then it is also a clean technology livelihood. In both these examples the energy used is from renewable sources. So they are classified as clean technology livelihood. Okay. Now what are the advantages of adopting a clean technology livelihood? First is the clean environment. Since clean technology livelihood mainly uses renewable energy that to distribute renewable energy its carbon footprint is very minimal. So adopting a clean technology livelihood is good for the environment. Then the second advantage is that clean technology livelihood ensures balanced regional development. In India since 1991 LPG reforms developmental activities are happening mainly in the cities whereas the rural areas are lagging behind. This is mainly because rural areas lack necessary infrastructure. This is where clean technology livelihood comes in. To adopt clean technology livelihood the infrastructure requirement is minimal. So this has the potential for job creation in rural areas and helps address the regional divide of rural and urban. Then the third advantage is clean technology livelihood is less capital intensive. So micro entrepreneurs in our country can easily adopt clean technology livelihood and they can earn a decent living. Apart from this the clean technology livelihood will help people move from job seekers to job creators. Then the last advantage is human empowerment. See a recent study by council on energy, environment and water has shown that out of the people who have adopted clean technology livelihood more than 80% of them are women. The clean technology livelihood provides income generation opportunities for women. So this will help women in upward social mobility. So these are all some of the major advantages of clean technology livelihood. But there are some challenges as well. Now let us see the challenges associated with clean technology livelihood. The first major change is slow adoption of clean technology livelihood. Many studies show that the clean technology livelihood and distributed renewable energy would turn in a 50 billion dollar in India in the near future. But still the adoption rate is low. This is because people in India are generally risk averse and tend to choose very safe options to make an investments. Since clean technology livelihood is at its infancy people are a little skeptical and not fully aware of its economic potential. Okay this is the first major challenge. That is the slow adoption of clean technology Then the second major challenge is the lack of standards. See we have distributed renewable energy at the core of clean technology livelihood. But in India there are no proper set of standards for distributed renewable energy technology. This leads to a lot of failure and also pushing away people from adopting distributed renewable energy technology. Okay the lack of standards is the second major challenge. Then the third major challenge is the skill mismatch. From our discussion till now we have an idea that the clean technology livelihood is mainly focused on rural and very urban areas. In these areas there is a lack of skilled labor who are trained in distributed renewable energy. So this skill mismatch is also leading to a slow adoption rate. And the last major challenge is access to finance. Although the investment required for adopting clean technology livelihood is very low the access to finance is difficult. This is due to low penetration of the formal banking system in rural areas. So access to finance is also hampering investment in distributed renewable energy and clean technology livelihood. So these are all some of the challenges associated with clean technology livelihood. To address these challenges and to unleash the full potential of clean technology livelihood our government has drafted a new policy in this regard. The draft policy is titled framework for developing and promoting decentralized renewable energy livelihood application. This draft policy framework is currently placed in the public domain and the government has welcomed the suggestions from the stakeholders regarding this policy. Since the policy is only in the draft stage let us not dive into that today. Instead we'll focus on points mentioned in the editorial. See the editorial mentioned the points about the steps that can be taken to increase the adoption of clean technology livelihood. So we'll see what those steps are. The first step is to leverage the experience of early adopters. That is people who have successfully adopted clean technology livelihood and make money can be used as ambassadors to increase the visibility of distributed renewable energy and clean technology livelihood. This would create legitimacy around clean technology livelihood and more people will adopt it. Then the second step that can be taken is to bring people closer to the technology. The clean technology livelihood and distributed renewable energy are pretty high technology. See people in the rural area feel a little alienated when they first witness the technology. So local events in rural areas can be conducted where the technology can be demonstrated in front of the people. This will make the people get comfortable with the technology. This in turn will help in the adoption of green technology. Then the third major step that can be taken is to ensure access to finance. See to increase clean technology livelihood adoption banks can provide collateral free loans and low interest loans. Therefore government need to aid the banks in this regard. Then the fourth step that can be taken is ensuring forward and backward integration. See making products using clean technology livelihood is one thing. But the products must be taken to the market to realize economic benefits. So proper forward market integration must be ensured. Also sourcing raw material is a difficult task. To address this problem, proper backward integration must be ensured. By ensuring efficient forward and backward linkages, the clean technology livelihood adoption can be increased. And finally, positive government interventions are acquired. See various government institutions are working towards promoting livelihood in rural areas. This includes state rural livelihood missions, horticulture and agricultural departments, Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises and the Ministry of Textiles. These government institutions must embrace clean technology solutions and they should promote procurement of products made from clean energy. This will create a huge market for products made from clean technology. This in turn will promote the adoption of clean technology livelihood and distributed renewable energy. So these are all some of the steps that can be taken to increase the adoption of clean technology livelihood. And that's all regarding this discussion. This discussion we saw about what is distributed renewable energy. Then we saw about clean technology livelihood. Then we moved on to see about the advantages of clean technology livelihood. Then we saw some challenges in implementing clean technology livelihood. And finally, we saw some points regarding the steps that can be taken to increase clean technology livelihood adoption. See this topic is very much potential for mains. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now look at this news article here. It says that the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Seaverage Board is preparing assets and utility maps using geospatial techniques. See preparing utility maps will be very useful for the management of daily operations. The utility maps has a wide range of applications. It will help in identifying leaks, contamination and it will also help detect illegal sewer connections in storm water drains. This is the crux of the news article given here. Now in this context, we'll try to learn about geospatial technology in detail. Now before getting into discussion, the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here. You can go through it. Now let's start with geospatial technology. See geospatial technologies is a term that describes the tools used in geographic mapping and analyzing the earth. The tools include geographic information system that is GIS, then global positioning system that is GPS and remote sensing. See these tools can capture spatial information. For example, it can capture the position of the road and the movement of vehicles. Apart from this, the tools can even map the spread of an infectious disease in your locality. Another well-known example I can give you is the mapping of villages under the Swamitva scheme. See the mapping of villages using geospatial technology will help in creating accurate land records for rural planning. Then the another recent case is where the rural development ministry has mapped over 45 lakh kilometer of rural roads. So now we have digitized information regarding water bodies, green areas, plots and other structures. Therefore it would be helpful for administrative purposes. So we can simply say that the geospatial technology facilitates decision-making and planning because it gives us a picture of the importance and priority of SCARS resources. Now I hope you understand what this geospatial technology is all about. Now moving on to see about Indian geospatial sector. See India's geospatial economy is expected to cross rupees 63,000 crore by 2025. This is a 12.8 percentage growth rate. As of now there are around 250 geospatial startups in India. In 2021 the geospatial market was dominated by defence and intelligence which made up 14.05 percentage. This is followed by urban development and utility segments. Apart from this, the other two sectors contributing significantly were transport infrastructure and buildings and campuses. So we can say that these are some important fields of application of geospatial technology. Unfortunately, most of its application has not gained much popularity among people. We just use Google Maps and that's all most of us know about geospatial technology. But we have national organizations like Survey of India, Geological Survey of India and even ISRO has come up with several GIS based pilot projects. These projects are across a range of domains like waste resource management, forestry, urban planning, etc. So this would help in demonstrating the applications of geospatial technology in India. In order to recognize the geospatial sector, in 2021 the Ministry of Science and Technology released new guidelines for the geospatial sector in India. These guidelines aims to liberalize the geospatial sector to a more competitive field. Here another important thing you should know about us the National Geospatial Policy 2022. The National Geospatial Policy aims to bring out a high resolution topographical map covering every inch of the country by 2030. This is done with the help of high accuracy digital elevation model. Know that a digital elevation model is a representation of the background surface of the earth excluding trees, buildings, and any other surface objects. Now look at this image here. This is how a digital elevation model will look like. Apart from this, the National Geospatial Policy aims to create digital twins of India's major cities and towns by 2035. See a digital twin is nothing but a virtual replica of the physical assets. See creating digital twins will help policy makers to know the infrastructure of a city and to analyze how it will function in different situations. For example, if we have a digital twin for Chennai, we can easily know where the threat will occur and how efficient is the rainy system and all. Okay, now look at this image here. This is how a digital twin of a city will look like. So these are the points regarding the growing significance of geospatial technology in India. Now we'll try to understand about the advantages and challenges that are associated with geospatial technology. Now first let's take advantages of geospatial technology in India. Firstly, geospatial technologies are contributing to many major projects in India. For example, now look at this image here. See the smart cities and the Amrut mission. They both require a centralized information system based on GIS. So that every aspect from conceptualization, planning and development to maintenance can be integrated. Secondly, the geospatial technology has a broad scope to create more employment. See private companies like Amazon or Swiggy uses this geospatial technology for conducting their delivery operations. So in a sense, we can say that geospatial technology provides livelihood opportunities. Thirdly, with the help of geospatial technology, Indian companies can develop indigenous app like an Indian version of Google Maps. So this is a step towards Atman Ibar Bharat. And finally, the data related to large number of land holdings can be tagged and digitized with the help of geospatial technology. So it will not only help better targeting but also reduce the land dispute cases in courts. So this is all about advantages. As I said earlier, there is a massive potential for India's geospatial sector. However, there are few hurdles. Firstly, there is no awareness among the potential users, including the government. Secondly, we don't have the necessary expertise, which means the manpower is not adequately skilled to deal with geospatial technology. See, in India, we doesn't have core professionals who understand geospatial completely. So necessary expertise is also another problem. Thirdly, the unavailability of high-resolution data is also a big constraint to tap geospatial technologies. Fourthly, there is a lack of clarity on data sharing and collaboration. So this prevents any co-creation and asset maximization. And finally, geospatial technology is hindered by a high cost of adoption. In India, even though Indian companies are trying to establish a strong base, as of now global tech giants are still dominating the geospatial sector. So these are all some of the hurdles which are present in implementing geospatial technology. So as a way forward, India needs to raise awareness then to increase access to government data, then the government should provide training for professionals and to plunge investment into the geospatial sector. Now that's all regarding this discussion. We saw about what is geospatial technology. Then we saw about the Indian geospatial sector. And finally, we saw some points about advantages and challenges associated with geospatial technology. See this topic is very much important for your main exam. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this news article. This news article says that there is no adequate prey for the cheetahs that were recently transferred to Kunur National Park from the African countries. See the Rajasthan government had offered to host some animals in Mukundra Tiger reserve. But according to sources, there are political considerations that are preventing from this happening. Okay, this is the crux of the news article given here. Now in this context, let us learn few facts about Kunur National Park. See Kunur National Park lies in northwest of Mathya Pradesh, which is close to border with Rajasthan. Kunur National Park spread across 748 square kilometers. And the Kunur Park lies within the Kunur Wildlife Division. Know that Kunur was upgraded to national park status from a wildlife sanctuary in the year 2018. Now talking about the climate of Kunur National Park, the Kunur National Park mainly comes under the tropical climate. Geographically, the area falls under the Kathiavar Gir dry deciduous forest ecoregion. The forest types found in this area include the northern tropical dry deciduous forest, southern tropical dry deciduous forest, dry savanna forest and grassland, and finally tropical riverine forest. Now talking about temperature, the mean temperature in the national park is 24.7 degrees Celsius. And average rainfall is 764 millimeter. See mid-June to September are considered as the monsoon season. So almost 90% of total rainfall occurs in this period only, okay? This is about climatic conditions in the park. Now talking about the flora and fauna, see Kunur National Park is mainly dominated by kardai, salai and kair trees in the mixed forest. Okay, this is about flora. Now talking about fauna, Kunur National Park is currently home to Indian wolves, jackals, leopards, langurs, blue bull, chinkara and spotted deer. The other wildlife of Kunur National Park are chital, sambar, nilgai, wild pig, chinkara, chausinga or forehand antelope, black bug, southern plains gray langur, Indian crusted porcupine and the Indian hare. Know that in Kunur National Park, chital is the most abundant prey for carnivorous species. The carnivorous present in the Kunur National Park include leopard, sloth bear, striped hyena, gray wolf, golden jackal, Indian fox and rattles. Note an important point here, garyal is also sighted in the Kunur River which is flowing through Kunur National Park. Okay, this is about fauna. Also know that as part of the Cheetah Redroduction Program, 20 African cheetah are brought to this Kunur National Park where 8 from Namibia and 12 from South Africa. Before this, the project of reintroduction of Asiatic lines had been ongoing for a while in the park. Okay, that's all regarding the discussion. In this discussion we saw about Kunur National Park, then we saw some points about climatic conditions in the Kunur National Park and finally we saw some points regarding flora and fauna of Kunur National Park. Now with these points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now see this news article here. This news article is talking about the recently released World Bank Index on Working Women. In the index, India has scored 74.4 out of 100. There are certain reasons why India secured the score and why it did not score better. Now we will see about them in this news article discussion. Now let's start with World Bank Index on Working Women. See this index is also known as Women Business and the Law 2023 Report. Know that it is the ninth report in a series of annual studies that assesses how laws affect women's economic opportunities in 190 countries. The report has eight indicators structured around women's interactions with the law as they progress through their lives and careers. They include mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets, and pension. So the entire idea behind the report is to identify barriers to women's economic participation and to encourage the reform of discriminatory laws. Apart from this, the report builds evidence of the critical relationship between legal gender equality and women's employment and entrepreneurship. The evidence is based on an examination of economic decisions made by women throughout their working lives, as well as progress made towards gender equality over the last 53 years. Know that women's business and the law 2023 report contains data as of October 1, 2022. CS score of 100 on the index means that women are on an equal standing with men on all the eight indicators that is being measured. Of the 190 economies covered in the index, only 14 economies have reached legal gender parity. That is only 14 countries have scored 100. Such countries include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Now if you take India, for India, the index used information on laws enacted in Mumbai. Why they chose Mumbai? See, Mumbai is thought to be the country's main business hub. Now coming to India's score, India scored 74.4 in World Bank Index on working women. Even though India's score is higher than the 63.7, average for the South Asian region, India is still lower than Nepal. Know that Nepal had the region's highest score of 80.6. See, India has got a perfect score in sub indicators like constraints on freedom of movement, laws affecting women's decisions to work, and constraints related to marriage. Then where India lags behind? See, India is lagging behind when it comes to laws that affect women's pay, pensions, and ability to work after having children, then constraints on women starting and running a business, then gender differences in property and inheritance. So these are all the areas India is lagging behind. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the World Bank Index on working women, which is otherwise called as Women's Business and the Law 2023 report. Then we saw about the key indicators of the index. Then we saw about the scores of some countries. And finally, we saw some India-specific information about index on working women. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this small article displayed here. I picked this article because it is talking about joint military exercise between Indian and French militaries. Now, what we are going to do is we will just understand the points provided in this article. This will be very much helpful for your prelims exam. Or you can use these points whenever a main question comes about India-France relations. Now let's see about the exercise. See, the main and joint military exercise is named as Fringex-23. It will be conducted between the Indian Army and French Army on March 7 and March 8. It is going to be conducted at the Pangode military station which is located in Thiruvanandaburam city of Kerala. Know that it is for the first time that both countries are engaging in this format with each contingent comprising a company group, okay? Now talking about the objective of the exercise, the Fringex-23 exercise is aimed at enhancing interoperability, coordination and cooperation between both Indian and French forces at the tactical level. See, the exercise will have largest contingent fielded by Thiruvanandaburam based Indian Army unit and the French 6th Light Armoured Brigade. That's all about this article. This article, we saw some points about Fringex-23 exercise. It is a main and joint military exercise and it will be conducted between the Indian Army and French Army on March 7 and March 8. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next news article discussion. Now have a look at this news article. This news article talks about the sovereign gold bond scheme 2020 to 2023. Know that the scheme will open for subscription for five days from Monday. Here, the issue price has been fixed at rupees 5,611 per gram of gold. If the investor chooses to apply online, then they will get a discount of rupees 50 per gram which is less than the nominal value. So for such investors, the issue price will be 5,561 per gram of gold. This is the crux of the news article even here. Now in this context, let us quickly go through about sovereign gold bond scheme 2020 to 2023. Know that the government introduced sovereign gold bonds scheme in November, 2014. The main objective of the scheme is to reduce the demand for physical gold and to shift a part of the imported gold every year for investment purposes into financial savings through gold bonds. So, sovereign gold bonds are provided as a substitute for physical gold to investors. Know that sovereign gold bonds are issued by RBI on behalf of the government of India on payment of the required amount in rupees and are denominated in grams of gold. Now talking about the eligibility to get sovereign gold bonds, the bonds are sold only to resident Indian entities including individuals, Hindu undivided families, trusts, universities and charitable institutions. Okay, this is about eligibility. Now talking about the permissible investment, see minimum permissible investment is one grams of gold which is to be paid in rupees. The maximum limit of subscription shall be four kg for individual, then four kg for Hindu undivided families and 20 kg for trusts and similar entities per fiscal year. See the bonds are available in both DMAT and paper form. The rate for the bonds is fixed on the basis of simple average of closing price for gold of 999 purity of the previous week published by the Indian Bullion and Jollies Association. So, if you are buying using DMAT account in online mode, you will get rupees 50 discount per gram from less than the nominal value. Okay, this is what we saw in press newspaper. Now coming to the tenure, the tenure of the bond is for a period of eight years and there is also exit option from fifth year onwards which is to be exercised on the interest payment dates. Apart from this, exemption from capital gain tax is also available to the sovereign gold bonds. And on maturity, the investor will get the equivalent rupee value of quantum of gold invested at the the prevailing price of gold. Now that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about sovereign gold bond scheme, then we saw about the objectives of the scheme, then we moved on to see about the eligibility criteria and investment limits and finally we saw some points regarding the tenure of sovereign gold bonds. Now with these key points in mind, let's move on to the next part of the news article discussion that is to discuss preliminary practice questions. Now look at this first question here. Here four product areas are given. We have to find which of these product areas are declared as tiger reserves. First, let's take Bandipur. See Bandipur is located in the southern state of Karnataka. Now that Bandipur is declared as both national park and a tiger reserve. So Bandipur is correct. Now coming to Bittarkannika. See Bittarkannika is located in the Kendra district of Odisha. It is a national park, but it is not specifically a tiger reserve. So Bittarkannika won't come. If you take Manas, Manas is located in Assam. Know that Manas is a national park, by life century. It is a tiger reserve and elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve. Know that Manas is also designated as UNESCO's natural world heritage site. So Manas is a tiger reserve. Now coming to Sundarband. So Sundarband is part of Sundarbands on the Ganges Delta of India and Bangladesh. Know that Sundarband is also national park, tiger reserve and a biosphere reserve. So Sundarband is a tiger reserve. Here Bittarkannika is not a tiger reserve. Only Bandipur, Manas and Sundarbands are declared as tiger reserves. So the correct answer for the question is option B, one, three and four only. Moving on, let's take up the second question. See this is a previous question which was asked in 2017 UPSC prilams. I'll read out the question first. Recently there was a proposal to translocate some of the lines from their natural habitat in Gujarat to each of the following sites. As we saw in the discussion, the project of reintroduction of Asiatic lines had been carried out in Konopalpur National Park or Konopalpur Wildlife Sanctuary. So the correct answer for the question is option B, Konopalpur Wildlife Sanctuary. Moving on, let's take up the final question. This question is regarding Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme. I'll read out the question, what is or are the purpose of government's Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Gold Monetization Scheme? Now look at this first statement to bring the ideal gold lying with Indian households into the economy. Now coming to the second statement to promote foreign direct investment in the gold and jewelry sector. And the third statement to reduce India's dependence on gold imports. See the main objectives of schemes like Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Gold Monetization Scheme are to mobilize the gold held by households and institutions in the country. This is done to put the gold into productive use. And in the long run, these schemes aims to reduce the current account deficit by reducing the contest reliance on imports of gold to meet the domestic demand. So first statement will be correct. These schemes aims to bring the ideal gold lying with Indian households into the economy. Now coming to the second statement to promote FTI in the gold and jewelry sector. See this statement is absolutely wrong because this is not the objective. Now coming to the third statement to reduce India's dependence on gold imports. Yes, these schemes in the long run aims to reduce current account deficit by reducing the imports of gold. So third statement is correct. If the question is asking for correct statement, so the correct answer for the question is option C 1 and 3 only. Displayed here is the question for you today. I'll pose this question in a community section. Try to answer it. And don't worry, the answer for the question is posted in the comment section of the question itself. You can verify it. And displayed here are the main questions for your practice. Go through the questions, write your answers, and post it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of the video. If you like our analysis, please like, comment, and share. And don't forget to subscribe to Shankarai's Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.