 A very good evening friends. I welcome you all to the Hindu Newspaper Analysis brought to you by the Shankar IAS Academy. Friends, due to cyclone and associated impacts in Chennai, we could not able to publish our news analysis video for the past 3 days. But don't worry, we are planning to cover the important articles from those missed days in our upcoming videos, which is including today. With this info, let us get into today's Hindu analysis. Today, we shall cover important articles from the 4th and 7th of December. Displayed here are the news article which we are going to discuss today. So, let us get into discussion. Look at this news article. This news article from the Mandi newspaper reports about the eruption of Marapi Valkono in West Sumatra Island of Indonesia. See, in this news analysis discussion, let us understand the basics of Valkonos and its mechanism. First of all, what is a Valkono? See, Valkono is a rupture in the earth crust from where gases, ashes or molten rock material like lava escapes onto the ground. A Valkono is called an active Valkono if the materials mentioned above are being released recently or have been released in the recent past. As you all know, the layer below the solid earth crust is mantle. It has the high density than any of the crust. The mantle contains a weaker zone called an asthenosphere. It is from this sphere, the molten rock material finds their way onto the surface. The material in the upper mantle portion is called a magma. Once it starts moving towards the crust of the earth or when it reaches the surface, it is generally referred as lava. The material that reaches the ground includes lava flows, pyroclastic debris, volcanic bombs, ash and dust. It also contains gases like nitrogen compounds, sulfur and minor amount of hydrogen, chlorine or organ. Now, with these basics, let us see the classification of Valkonos. See, Valkonos are generally classified on the basis of the nature of eruption and the form developed on the surface. Major type of Valkonos are the first type is shield Valkonos. See, the shield Valkonos are the largest of all the Valkonos on the earth. For example, the Hawaiian Valkonos are the most famous shield Valkonos. These Valkonos are mostly made up of basalt, which is a type of lava that is very fluid when got erupted. For this reason, these Valkonos are not steep. They become explosive if somehow water gets onto its vent. They are characteristics by low explosivity. The upcoming lava moves in the form of a mountain and throws out the cone at the top of the vent and developing to cinder zone. Let us see the second type. The second type is composite Valkonos. These Valkonos are characteristics by the eruptions of cooler and more viscous lava than basalt. These Valkonos often result in the explosive eruptions along with lava, large quantities of pyroclastic materials and ashes find their way to the ground. These materials accumulate in the vicinity of the openings of vent, leading to the formation of layer. It makes the mountains appear as a composite Valkonos. The third type of volcano is called Kaldara. See, these are the most explosives of the earth Valkonos. They are usually so explosive that when they erupt, they tend to collapse onto themselves rather on building a tall structure. These collapsed depressions are called Kaldaras. Their explosiveness indicates that the magma chamber supplying the lava is not only huge but is also in close vicinity. The fourth type of volcano is flood basalt provinces. These Valkonos outpour highly fluid lava that force for a long distance. Some part of the world are covered by thousands of square kilometers of thick basalt lava flows. There can be series of flows with some flows attaining a thickness of more than 50 meters. Let us see an example. The Deccan Traps of India presently covering the most of the Maharashtra Plateau are a much larger flood basalt provinces. It is believed that initially the trap formations covered a much larger area than at the recent present. The final type of volcano is the mid-oceanic ridge Valkonos. These Valkonos occur in the oceanic areas. There is a system of mid-oceanic ridges more than 70,000 kilometers long that stretches through the oceanic basins. The center portion of the ridge experiences frequent eruptions. See, these are all the various types of Valkonos. Now before concluding, let us remember some of the most active Valkonos which are present in the ring of fire region. Some of the examples of active Valkonos are being displayed here. Please review it often so that when you can eliminate any, match the following questions. Let us see them one by one. They are Mount Aso Valkono in the QC provinces of Japan. Waqari or White Island in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Mount Etna in Sicily in Italy. Mount Vesuvius in Naples in Italy. Mount Stromboli in Sicily, Italy. See, I have read out some of the active Valkonos. The remaining are displayed here which you can use it for your references. See, this is all about this news discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the basics of Valkonos and in the second part, some of the recently erupted Valkonos. So with these learned points, let us conclude this discussion and let us move on to the next news article for our analysis. Look at this news article. Recently, the Silk Yara tunnel collapsed, right? This tunnel is being constructed under the Char Dam project. The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways mentioned in parliament that there is no requirement for EIA for this project. See, this is about the crux of this article. In this context, let us try to solve a main question in the EIA. Okay, look at this question. Compare and contrast the draft environmental impact assessment notification 2020 with the existing EIA notification 2006. Do you think that even after years of implementation, the results of the environmental impact assessment has not been encouraging? Critically, examine. See, this question can be asked in the GS paper 3 under the subhead, Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment. Okay, now how to approach this question? There are two key directive in this question. One is compare and contrast and the other one is critically examine. See, for the first part of the question, it has the keyword compare and contrast, right? So we will have to compare the EIA notification 2006 with the draft EIA notification of 2020. We must chart out the major differences between the two, the similarities between the two. For the second part, since the keyword is critically examine, you have to mention the success and limitations of EIA in India. So this is how we are planning to approach this question. Now, let us start answering the introduction. Since the question is about EIA, you can write two or three points about the process which we are going to see now. See, environmental impact assessment EIA is a systematic process. It is designed to analyze and anticipate the potential environmental consequences of the various upcoming projects or activities. The main premise of the EIA is to assess how various projects might affect the natural environment before these projects are set in motion. Globally, the significance of EIA has gained recognition. In 1972, United Nations Conference on Human Environment, which was held in Stockholm, stressed the necessity of environmental assessment in the decision making. Additionally, agreement such as UNFCCC and CBD highlights the importance of considering the environmental impacts across the various sectors. In India, however, EIA gained significance in the late 1970s once the environmental impacts of mega projects that were constructed in 1950 started showing up. The first EIA notification in India was issued by Union Ministry of Environment on 27 January 1994. See, I have given elaborate points on this regard, but you can use some of the points that we have discussed here in the introduction part of your answer. Now, with this, we can finish the introduction and let's get into the main part of the answer. Now, coming back to the body part of the answer, as I already mentioned, we must first compare and contrast between the EIA notification 2006 and the draft notification 2020. We can do this by taking the various parameters and seeing the differentiation between the two amendments. First, let us take project classification. The 2006 EIA notification classified the projects into two. They are category A project and category B projects. The projects which are under the category A need national level appraisal. These projects are appraised by impact assessment agency and the expert appraisal committee. The category B project needs state level appraisal. The state level environmental impact assessment authority, SEIIA and state level expert appraisal committee will provide clearance to the category B projects. The 2006 notification subclass fees the B projects into B1 and B2. Know that category B2 does not require any mandatory environmental clearances unlike the category A and category B1. These were modified in the 2020 draft notification which plays various projects under the category B2. It plays industries like offshore and onshore, oil and gas, shell exploration, hydroelectric projects up to 25 megawatt, irrigation projects which are between 2000 to 10,000 hectares of command area, small and medium cement plants, acids other than the phosphoric or ammonia, sulfuric acid and MSME in dye and dye intermediaries etc which were placed under B2. So these units can operate without any environmental clearances. Now let us see the second parameter it is with regard to public hearing. See in 2006 notification 30 days were allocated for public hearing but the 2020 draft reduced it to 20 days. Now see the third thing it is called de facto clearance route. Now we have to understand what is de facto clearance route. It means the clearance for the project can be avoided even if they have started construction without securing the necessary clearances. The 2006 notification did not have such provisions. So if when someone starts a project without necessary in clearances the project could be termed illegal. But since the de facto clearance route is included in the 2020 draft, a project without necessary clearance can be regularised or allowed to apply for clearances. Now let us look at reporting for non-compliances. According to 2006 notification any non-compliances or violations can be reported by the public. But this got removed within the 2020 notification. According to the draft notification only the promoter or governmental authority or appraisal committee or regulatory authority can submit a report of non-compliances to the government. Finally let us look at the compliance mechanism. To ensure compliances the 2006 notification had a provision. According to this provision the project promoter must submit the compliances report every six months. But the 2020 draft diluted this provision and mentioned that the compliances report must be submitted early once. Guys you can mention all these points to address the first part of your answer. Now let us come to the second part. For the second part of the question first look at the positives of EAA. Firstly the EAA has led to the better informed decisions regarding the development projects by evaluating the potential environmental impacts beforehand. This helps in ensuring the sustainable development. Secondly the EAA has led to the enhanced public participation. The EAA has helped the affected communities, stakeholders and NGO to voice out their concerns and suggestions. This has promoted transparency and accountability in decision making. Then EAA has also helped in the mitigation of their environmental risks. By identifying the potential risks in the process, the EAA has helped to minimize the adverse environmental impacts such as pollution, destruction of habitat and resource depletion. Finally it has also ensured the compliances. The EAA guidelines necessitates post clearance monitoring. This ensures the adherence to the simulated conditions thereby reducing the environmental harm and ensuring ongoing compliances. These are some of the positives associated with the EAA. Now moving on to the limitations. The first limitation is the lack of awareness among the local community. See local residents living in the area which get affected by the projects lack knowledge about the EAA process and they also lack knowledge about their rights and responsibilities. This results in the limited participation in the public consultation and decision making leaving the masses uninformed about the potential environmental impacts. The second limitation is the unavailability of the EAA documents in the local languages. The EAA reports and documents are often not accessible in the local languages which effectively creating a barrier for the local community to comprehend and assess the true implications of these proposed projects. The situation can lead to misinformation and misunderstanding among the affected populations. Then there is an issue of ignorance and corruption among the officials. This has resulted in the compromised assessments or biased decision making effectively undermine the integrity of the process. Note that there are also some loop holes in the EAA regulations. Some MNCs exploit this exception and loop holes in the regulation and to bypass the assessment process. This circumvention often occurs due to vague or ambiguous provisions in the law which leads to inadequate scrutiny of the projects. Lastly there is an issue of shortage of the qualified EAA professionals. The scarcity of the adequately trained and experienced professionals contribute to the error and omission in the assessment process. The lack of skilled experts lead to the lack of comprehensive evaluation of the projects and identification of the potential environmental hazards. See these are some of the limitations associated with the EAA process. With this we have completed the second part of the question and effectively completed the main body part of the answer. Now let us go to the conclusion part of the answer. In the conclusion part you can summarize your answer. You can write that while EAA in India has contributed to the improved decision making and mitigation of the environmental impacts, several challenges still persist including weak enforcement, inadequate public participation, exceptions and conflict of interest. Addressing these limitations is crucial for enhancing the effectiveness and credibility of the EAA process which effectively ensures and promote sustainable development. In this way you can give a summarizing conclusion to your answer. See this is regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about the environmental impact assessment which is one of the important topics for our main examination. So with this learned point let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article for our analysis. Look at this news article. This article is taken from the 4th December newspaper. See recently the central government constituted the National Council for Transgendered Persons. Now following this the central government also nominated the representative to the council. This new article says that a trans person activist named Kalki Subramaniam has been nominated as the representative to the council from the southern region. Apart from this the central government also nominated 4 other persons from 4 different regions. This is the crux of the news article. In this context let us know about National Council for Transgendered Persons and a few points about the Transgendered Persons Act 2019. Let us start with the National Council for Transgendered Persons. See it is created to mainstream the transgender community's concern focusing on their livelihood issues as well as to raise the awareness about the trans community. First of all know what is the main purpose of this council to ensure that the transgender welfare boards are set up in all the states and the essential needs of the community like housing, food, healthcare and education are being met by the government. Now let us see the composition of this council. See it has a chairperson who will be the union minister for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The council member will consist of representation from the 5 states or unit territory one from north, south, east, west and northeast etc on a rotational basis. 5 members of the transgender community one each from the north, south, east, west etc and representatives from the 10 central ministries and departments. Know that the tenure of the members of the community shall be 3 years. Now seeing the structure of the council now let us see the functions of this council. Firstly it advises the central government on the formulation of policies, programs, legislations and projects with respect to the transgender persons. Secondly it monitors and evaluates the impact of the policies and programs which are being designed for achieving the equality and full participation of the transgender persons. Thirdly it reviews and coordinates the activities of all the departments. Fourthly it involves in addressing the grievances of the transgender persons. See these are all some of the important functions of the NCTP or National Council for Transgender Persons. Now let us move on to some of the important futures of the Transgender Person Act 2019. See firstly it created the important council called National Council for Transgender Persons which we have discussed just now. Secondly it provided a definition of the transgender person. This act defines a transgender person as a one whose gender does not match the gender which is being assigned at birth. Thirdly the act states that the transgender persons shall have the right to self-perceived gender identity. For this a certificate of identity can be obtained from the district magistrate office and a revised certificate is to be obtained if the success changed. Fourthly the act has a provision that provides transgender persons the right to residence with their parents and immediate family members. Fifthly the act prohibits discrimination against transgender persons in various sectors like education, health care, employment etc. Lastly the act states that the offenses against the transgender persons will attract imprisonment between 6 months to 2 years See this is all about the Transgender Persons Act 2019 In this discussion we saw about the important body called National Council for Transgender Persons and in the second part we saw the various provisions of the Transgender Persons Act. So with this learned points let us conclude this discussion and let us take up the next news article for our analysis. Look at this news article. As we all know recently the ethics committee of the Lok Sabha recommended the expulsion of Trinamul Kongas MP Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha. The ethics committee gave this recommendation due to her unethical conduct and breach of privileges. This article is written here in this context only. This article here covers the role of the ethics committee and it also examines whether such expulsion is constitutional. This is about the trucks of the news article. So in our discussion today we will first see some points about the ethics committee. Then we will see the points mentioned in the article. First we shall start with the creation of the ethics committee. See in 1996 a preceding officer's conference held in Delhi created the idea of ethics panel for the two houses. The then vice president K. R. Narayanan constituted the first ethics committee for Rajya Sabha on March 4, 1997. But the ethics committee for the Lok Sabha was created later. In 2000 an ad hoc ethics committee was established in the Lok Sabha. It became a permanent committee only in 2015. Now let us see what are the objectives of this committee. See it is established for overseeing and reinforcing the ethical standards and conduct among the members of parliament. The committee will examine the cases of miscontext which are being generally referred to it. Moreover the committee examines the complaints filed against the members of the house by other members or outsiders through a member or the cases which are being referred by the speaker. The rules that are applicable to the committee of privileges will also be applicable to the ethics committee. It must be noted that the term unethical is not generally defined. It is left to the discretion of the committee to decide whether such acts ethical or not. This is about the basics of the ethics committee. Now let us see the composition of the committee. See the ethics committee in Lok Sabha consists of 15 members. The speaker appoints the members of the committee for the general term of one year. The ethics committee in Rajasabha consists of 10 members who are appointed by the chairman of the Rajasabha. Now let us see the functioning of the committee. The ethics committee does not consider complaints solely based on the media reports or matters that are being already in the court. Before looking into the complaint the committee conducts an initial inquiry. If the committee decides to proceed it provides the concerned member with an opportunity to be get hailed. After examining the complaint the committee makes recommendations to the speaker of Lok Sabha or to the chairman of Rajasabha. The speaker or chairman then subsequently plays the report provided by the committee before the house for the consideration. See this is about the operating principles of the ethics committee. Now if you look closely the work of the ethics committee overlaps with the privilege committee. This is because both the committee's handled matters which are being related to the conduct of the MPs. But know that the privilege committee in addition to overseeing the conduct of MPs is also responsible for safeguarding the freedom, authority and dignity of the parliament as a whole. Okay. Now having covered the basics of ethics committee now let us see some important points which are get mentioned in this article. Here let us see the legality of the expulsion of Mrs. Mahuamitra. The constitution under article 101 listowns the ground for the vacation of seat by an MP. According to 101 an MP must vacate his office when he or she voluntarily resigns or he is disqualified or when he is absent from the house for 60 sittings. The constitution does not specifically mention expulsion for its members. The Supreme Court has also failed to provide clarity in this regard. In the Raja Rampal versus Honourable Speaker 2007 case the Supreme Court upheld the power of the parliament to expel its members for the breach of privilege by interpreting article 101 of the constitution. But it also in the Amirinder Singh versus Special Committee Punjab Vidhan Sabha case the Supreme Court held the expulsion by the state assembly as unconstitutional. So the legality of the MP is quite murky. Okay. Now let us see what about the political morality of the move. Know that the privilege committee of the house developed in the medieval Britain to protect the house of common from the authoritarian king. Even today protecting the members privilege is important but more important must be given to the democratic representation. If an MP is expelled based on the recommendation of the ethics committee the citizens of the constituency would be left without a representative till next election or by election. Therefore a more practical approach would involve starting a legal investigation. Establishing a fast track course for this case would ensure trails are conducted swiftly and within a specific time frame. If someone is proven guilty in such a trial according to RPA 1951 they should lose their position. If not found guilty they should remain in the members of the house. This will balance the privileges of the house and the democratic representation. See this is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we cover the basics about the Ethics Committee and we also cover some of the important points mentioned in this article. See these points you could use it to enrich your mains answer. This is all about this discussion so with this learned points let us conclude this discussion and let us take up the next news article for our analysis. Look at this news article. This news article talks about the Alternate Investment Funds or AIF. See the private credit funds fall under the AIF category for the purpose of regulations in India. But the issue is AIF are being used to mask the bad loans in the financial system. So the SEBI has raised its concern related to AIF regulation with the RBA. See this is the crux of the news article given here. So in our news discussion let us understand about the basics of Alternate Investment Funds or AIF. See what is AIF? See any fund created in India that serves as a privately pooled investment vehicle which gathers money from the various sophisticated Indian and foreign investors is generally referred as AIF. It means it pulls funds from the investors and invest them under different categories of investments which were specified by SEBI. Know that these investments adhere to the SEBI Alternate Investment Funds regulations 2012. Generally institutions and high network individuals invest in the AIF as it needs a high investment amount. AIF can be formed as a company, limited liability partnership, trust etc. They do not fall under any conventional investment categories like investment in stocks, bonds, cash. So it is generally a special investment category. See this is the basic of AIF. Now let us see the categories within the AIF. Generally there are three categories in AIF. Let I see them one by one. Firstly category one. Under this category the funds are invested in small and medium sized enterprises or SME, startups and new economically viable corporations with a high growth potential. The government encourages investment in these categories as they have a positive impact on the economy with regards to both high output and job creation. Some of the important funds in this category one are infrastructure fund, venture capital fund, angel fund and social venture fund. Now let us see the second category. Under this category the AIFs are invested in equity securities and debt securities. Apart from this those funds that are not covered under category one or category three will also be covered in the category two. Know that the debt funds, fund of funds and private equity funds are some of the funds which gets included in the category two. Finally let us see category three. Under this category the funds are usually engaged in many complex trading techniques like investing in listed or unlisted derivatives. These funds provide returns only for a very short period of time. Private investments in the public equity fund, hedge funds or some of the funds which get included in the category three of AIF. See these are all the various categories of the alternate investment funds. Talking about the benefits, see AIF provides a high return than any conventional investment but know that they have volatility issue also. See this is all about the basics of the alternate investment funds. So with this learned point let us move on to the next news article for our discussion. Look at this news article. The science page article from the 4th December talks about genome sequencing. Recently the UK government announced the completion of half a million whole genome sequences. This highlights the transformative potential of a population scale genomic data. Know that India also has a program for its own population called Indigen. It has provided an early view of more than a thousand genomes from the cosmopolitan areas. Moreover it is helping in developing drugs for the various treatable genetic diseases. This is the crux of the news article which was given. In this context let us quickly go through what is genome sequencing. Firstly let us understand what is mean by genome. See genome is the sum of all genetic material or complete set of DRC ribonucleic acid or DNA in an individual. So the DNA is the unit which forming genome. Remember DNA is a long coiled double helix molecule that contains genetic instructions. The short sections of the DNA that contains the code for a specific protein is known as gene. These proteins are mainly responsible for all our physical characteristics and biological functions. These genes present on the chromosomes are found inside the nucleus of a living cell. So we can say that the genome of an individual consist of 23 pair of chromosome located in the cell's nucleus as well as small chromosomes in the cell's mitochondria. A genome contains all the information needed for an individual to develop and function. See this is all about the basics of genome. Now let us see what is genome sequencing. Genome sequencing is nothing but figuring out the order of the DNA nucleotide or bases in the genome. As you all know that DNA is made up of four building blocks called nucleotides. These four nucleotides are adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine. These nucleotides attach to each other that is A get attached to T, likewise G get attached to C. They get attached to each other to form chemical bonds called base pairs. These base pairs only connect two DNA strands. So the genome sequencing is nothing but figuring out the order of A, C, G, T that is making up an organ's DNA. It's a laboratory method and simply a very long strings of letter in a mysterious languages. Know that genome sequencing help in understanding human diversity at the genetic level. It also helps to find out how we are affected by certain genetic diseases. That's all about this discussion. We saw about the basics of genome sequencing. This is all about the discussion. Now let us move on to the next part of our analysis. Let us to discuss the preliminary practice question. Today I'm having four questions. Let us solve them one by one. See the first question. Which of the following tectonic plate boundaries is primarily responsible for the formation of ring of fire? See we know from our plate tectonics theory that the ring of fire is the subduction of the tectonic plates at the convergent boundaries which is around the Pacific plate. Know that the subduction occurs when one tectonic plate is forced beneath the other leads to intense geological activity like volcanic eruptions and earthquake. So going with this logic the correct option is option A convergent boundaries. Let us see the second question. See this is the previous question which is asked in 2014. See the question which one of the following is the largest committee of the parliament. See out of the four options which are given we know that the committee on estimate or estimate committee is the largest committee of the parliament. Why because it has a total membership of 30 members and moreover know that all are from the Lok Sabha that is Rajesh Sabha has no representation in this committee. So the correct option is option B committee on estimates. See the third question. Which one of the following are the advantages of alternate investment funds or AIF. First statement. The performance is not dependent on the highs and lows of the stock market. See this is correct. See the second statement. It could potentially bring significant tax advantage to the investors. See this is also correct. See the third one. It aids in the diversification of the market strategies and investment forms. See this is also correct. See the fourth statement. The investor obtains direct ownership in this format. See all these four statements are correct. So the correct option is option C. See the final question of the day. With reference to agriculture in India. How can the technique of genome sequencing which is often seen in the news can be used in the immediate future. See for this kind of application based question we should focus on elimination. That is if we could say that the given option or application is not possible with the view of this technology we can eliminate that option. Likewise only we can approach this question. So keeping in mind this logic let us see the options. See genome sequencing can be used to identify the genetic markers for the disease resistance and draw tolerance in various crop plants. See we cannot refute this statement or we cannot refute this application of the genome sequencing technique. So this statement is correct. See the second one. It helps in reducing the time required to develop the new varieties of crop plants. So we can obviously say that this is also an application of this technology. See the third one. Can be used to decipher the post pathogen relationship in the crops. See this is also correct. See all the three applications could come in the genome sequencing technology. So the correct option is option D. See the main question based on today's analysis is displayed here. Interstellar sprints can write and post in our comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPC preparation, subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy. Thank you.