 Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu news analysis session by Shankarayesh academy for the date 22nd of May 2022. The list of articles we are going to discuss today are displayed here. Now let us get into the discussion. Take a look at this article. As you are aware, a new virus infection is making rounds in the news. This news is regarding that infection only. Obviously I am talking about the monkeypox virus. This infection is rapidly spreading in Europe. In May 2022 itself, 80 cases of infections have been confirmed in 11 countries so far. Just when we thought that we are done with COVID-19, another infection is circulating which is also caused by a virus. Now the researchers have released the draft genome of the virus. What is a genome? Genome is nothing but the complete set of genetic information in an organism. So through this genetic information that we got from the circulating virus, researchers have concluded that this virus belongs to the West African clad. This is about the news article. We have heard about chickenpox, smallpox. Now what is this monkeypox? Let us see few crucial information about it. As I already said, monkeypox is caused by a virus. It is called the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus is an enveloped double-standard DNA virus. It belongs to orthopox virus genus of the poxviridae family. So where this virus is commonly distributed or where this virus is endemic? See it primarily occurs in Central and West Africa, mainly it occurs in proximity to tropical rainforest. Nowadays it started appearing in urban areas as well. These two regions that is Central and West Africa present two distinct clads of monkeypox virus. So they are called the Central African or Congo Basin clad and the West African clad. Among these two, the Congo Basin clad has historically caused more severe disease and are thought to be more trans feasible. The present circulating virus in Europe belong to the Congo clad. Okay? Now coming to the infection. Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis. That is, the virus is transmitted to humans from animals. Some common animal host of this virus including a range of rodents like rope squirrels, tree squirrels, Gambian pouched rats and dormies. Other host include non-human primates like different species of monkeys. But natural reservoirs of the monkeypox has not been identified yet. You know that human monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in the democratic republic of the Congo. A major issue with monkeypox virus is that it is occasionally exported to other regions also. The first monkeypox outbreak outside of Africa happened in the United States in 2003 itself. Okay? So how the monkeypox virus is transmitted? Human can occur from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids or cutaneous reactions or mucosal relations of infected animals. So people living in or near forested areas may have indirect or low level exposure to infected animals. In addition to these, eating inadequately cooked meat and other animal products of infected animals is also a possible risk factor. But does human to human transmission occur? Yes. Human transmission occurs in case of monkeypox virus. But it is rare and not very common. Human to human transmission can result from close contact with respiratory secretions of infected persons, skin lesions of infected persons, etc. The respiratory secretions cause transmission via droplet respiratory particles. But this transmission requires prolonged face to face contact. Other than this, close contact with recently contaminated objects can also transmit the virus. So what about sexual transmission? See close physical contact is a well known risk factor for transmission as we just saw. But transmission specifically through sexual route is not yet found. We cannot say it is not possible yet. So more research is needed here. Other than these, transmission can also occur from mother to fetus. It transmits either via the placenta or through close contact during and after birth. This leads to congenital monkeypox. Now let us go through the symptoms of monkeypox. The symptoms of monkeypox are very similar to those of smallpox infection. Smallpox is also an orthopox virus and it was eradicated in the 1980s. So after smallpox, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopox virus. But comparatively, monkeypox is clinically less severe than smallpox. Overall, the incubation period, that is, the interval from infection to onset of symptoms is usually from 6 to 13 days but can range from 5 to 21 days also. For the first 5 days, the symptoms are fever, intense headache, lymphadenopathy, back pain, myaglia, myaglia is nothing but muscle aches, and intense asthenia, asthenia is nothing but lack of energy. Here lymphadenopathy means swelling of lymph nodes and it is a distinct feature of monkeypox among the other orthopox viruses. After the fever occurrence, within 1 to 3 days, skin eruptions, rash and lations start to occur. The number of lations varies from few to several thousands. But this is not it. In severe cases, skin lations can combine until large sections of skin drops off. Such severe cases occur more commonly among children. But does it lead to death? Yes, the fatality ratio for monkeypox is from 0 to 11%. Worryingly, fatality is higher among young children, but there is one relief. Actually, monkeypox is a self-limited disease. Here, self-limited disease means the infection resolves spontaneously with or without specific treatment. Same with monkeypox also. The symptoms only last for 2 to 4 weeks. After that, the symptoms resolve spontaneously with or without specific treatment. Then, do we have any treatment to treat it? Patients affected with monkeypox virus are offered fluids and food to maintain adequate nutritional status. This helps in alleviating the symptoms and management of complications, but not as a cure. And recently in 2022, an antiviral agent that was developed for smallpox was licensed for monkeypox. Its name is tecovirimat, but it is not widely available yet. Then, what about vaccination and its prevention of monkeypox virus possible? See, previously, vaccination against smallpox was protective against monkeypox also. It was about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. But since smallpox is eradicated, its vaccination is no longer available to the general public. And smallpox vaccination campaigns have also declined. This has led to the outbreak of monkeypox virus. According to WHO, in 2019, a separate vaccine was developed for monkeypox. So, the need of the hover is awareness and further research about monkeypox. Because, even though there is a rare human-to-human transmission, no, we have 80 confirmed cases in May itself. So, researchers worry that the virus might been spreading silently without causing symptoms. Only research can provide us with the answers. But you can follow these two sundowns to prevent getting infected. Even though, as of today, in India, infection is not yet reported. Okay? That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the basics of monkeypox. The points we discussed, like the origin of monkeypox, its causative agent, the genetic material in the causative agents, the symptoms, the mode of transmission for monkeypox are all important for the exams. Note these points down and revise it constantly. Okay? With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. See this FAQ article here. It says that Sweden and Finland have formally applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, that is NATO. See, these two countries have historically stayed out of military alliances. But they have changed their stand now and they have applied for the NATO membership. Now what recent world event pushed these two countries towards NATO? Yes, you have guessed it right. It is because of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. See the irony here. President Vladimir Putin ordered the Ukraine attack on February 24 to prevent the NATO's expansion towards the east. But now two other countries have applied to join NATO because of the invasion. This is the crux of the news article given here. In this article discussion, we will see the basis for change in foreign policy of the two countries. And also we will see whether the applications of Sweden and Ukraine will be accepted or not by NATO. Finally, we will see the current position of Russia. Before getting into the discussion, the syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here for your reference. Kindly go through it. Now let us start our discussion by seeing what changed the mind of these two countries. See, like I already said, the two Nordic countries have historically stayed out of any military alliances. Here, Nordic countries are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. The term Nordic is derived from Norden, which means the Northern Islands. So, Sweden and Finland are among the Nordic countries. And the other Nordic countries include Norway, Iceland, Denmark and its autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland and Finland's autonomous territory, Aaland. See, this is not related to the article that we are taken. But knowing this information will be useful for your plumes. Okay? Now coming back to the article. We saw that Sweden and Finland have not joined any military alliances before. Why is that? See, in case of Sweden, the last war Sweden fought was in the year 1814, which is the Swedish-Norwegian war. And six years before that, Russia had invaded the Gotland Islands in the Baltic Sea. Even though Swedes have driven the Russians out of the island, the Russians took Finland away from Sweden while retreating. And after this, the Swedish-Norwegian war happened. And after the Swedish-Norwegian war, Sweden adopted neutrality as the cornerstone of its foreign policy. This is because neutrality well suited its interest in an increasingly hostile neighborhood. And as a result, it stayed out of the two world wars and the Cold War. So this is how Sweden adopted neutral foreign policy. Now coming to Finland. See, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin invaded Finland in 1939, demanding territories in the Kerylian Isthmus. See, this Kerylian Isthmus is the strip of land between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. Lennigrad, which is now the St. Petersburg, is located in the southern end of this Isthmus. And Stalin wanted a buffer between Finland and the former Tsarist capital. Finland initially resisted, but eventually agreed to sign the Moscow Peace Treaty. According to the treaty, Finland had to cede more territories of the Isthmus. And a year later, the Finns joined with the Nazi Germans and attacked the Soviet Union. And only after the Nazis were defeated in the Second World War, peace returned in the Finland border. Due to the sufferings from the aftereffects of two wars, Finland did not want to get into any other power contest. So Finland also adopted neutrality as the centerpiece of its foreign policy. And these are the reasons why Sweden and Finland did not join any military alliances. But now, what triggered their application to join NATO? Like we saw initially, it is because of the Russia-Ukraine War. See, the war that is the Russia-Ukraine War is seen as an act of violating the sovereignty of a weaker power. That is, Ukraine in this case, in the neighborhood. And there is also a question prevailing, which is whether Russia would have started the war if Ukraine had become a NATO member. We all know Ukraine did not become a member of NATO, right? And before that itself, Russia invaded Ukraine. Now you may ask, will Russia invade Sweden and Finland? Here you have to understand one thing. Sweden and Finland did not have any border conflict with Russia, unlike Ukraine. But the countries applied for NATO membership because it would act as a deterrence against potential future attacks by Russia. They are thinking this way because Ukraine also did not have any border issues with Russia until 2014. Only in the year 2014, the conflict started. And that too because of the regime change in Kyiv. Kyiv is what? Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine. So, what may happen in the future? No one knows. So, Sweden and Finland are becoming prepared in their sides for the future prospect. Having said that, now let us see the ties that these Nordic countries have with NATO. See, as we all know, Sweden and Finland have already developed deep ties with the West. Both the countries are members of the European Union. Their ties with NATO are very close. They have held joint military deals with NATO. They have even shared intelligence and have supported NATO's military missions abroad. But they did not formally seek membership until now because both the countries, that is Sweden and Finland, did not want to upset the security status quo in Europe. Apart from this reason, they have also feared Russian retaliation. But the status quo has been altered by Russian invasion of Ukraine. And this is the right time also. See, there is no possibility of Russian military retaliation now. This is because no Russian troops are busy fighting in a prolonged war in Ukraine. And this opened the door for both Sweden and Finland to apply for NATO membership. So, let us assume that Sweden and Finland have been given membership. Then what will be the position of Russia? Before that, know this critical information. See, it all started with the reunification of Germany in the year 1990. After the reunification of Germany, Germany joined NATO. Again in the year 1999, three Eastern European countries, that is Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland became NATO members. And again in the year 2004, seven more countries, including the three Baltic nations, that is Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were taken into the alliance. Here the problem for Russia is that all three Baltic nations are sharing borders with Russia. So, Russia has consistently opposed NATO expanding towards the Russian neighborhood. So, in the year 2008, Russia responded militarily. And what happened in 2008? See, Georgia and Ukraine were offered membership in the year 2008. Note that here also both the countries are Russian neighbors and Black Sea base in countries. See, already NATO is moving closer to Russia's border. And now, with Sweden and Finland applying for NATO membership, the NATO block is coming further close to Russian borders. See, it is critical for Russia because Finland shares over 1300 km border with Russia. And Sweden's Gotland Island in the Baltic Sea is some 200 km away from Russia's Kaliningrad coast. So, the immediate response of Russia is cutting electricity exports and gas supplies to Finland. Moreover, President Putin has said that the Nordic countries joining NATO does not pose any immediate threat to Russia. But he warned against NATO moving weapons to these countries. Now, you may think that it will be a cakewalk for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. But that's not the reality. Turkey, who is a member of NATO, is opposing the membership of these two countries. Turkey's argument is that Sweden and Finland have close ties with terrorist groups. Here, Turkey is referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, that is PKK and the People's Protection Unit, that is the YPG. See, the PKK, which seeks greater autonomy for Turkey's Kurdistan minorities, have waged an armed insurgency since the mid-1980s. On the other hand, the YPG is the armed wing of Syrian Kurdistan, which controls part of the Kurdish region in Syria. Turkey faces serious allegations of human rights violation in the Kurdish region. Turkey claims that the PKK and the YPG and their associated political groups are terrorist. Turkey also says that Sweden and Finland, to a certain extent, maintain close ties with Kurdish militia, especially the YPG. And the Turkish state TV reported that Sweden and Finland refused to extradite 30 people wanted by Turkey. So the president of Turkey, Mr Erdogan, called Sweden a nesting ground for terrorist organizations. And he also said that Turkey will not support Sweden and Finland's NATO entry in the future also. See, this is the opinion of Turkey. But why is Turkey's opinion important here? This is because within NATO, decisions are taken unanimously, which means every country in the 30-member bloc holds a veto. So Turkey has a say in the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO. So what will happen if Turkey opposes the membership of Sweden and Finland? See, this will result in Sweden and Finland hanging over a hook. See, already, both the countries have given up their neutrality. And now, if Turkey opposes the membership, they won't be getting NATO's protection. Even if the membership is accepted, it will take time for these countries to be formally inducted into the alliance. In the case of NATO's last expansion, that is, when North Macedonia was admitted into the alliance in March 2020, the whole process took 20 months. So there is a chance for Putin to retaliate militarily against Sweden and Finland in the immediate future. We can't be sure what will happen. The only thing that is sure is there is a lot of uncertainty and a lot of instability in the present European climate, okay? That's all regarding this discussion. The point we discussed today will be useful for your main examination. But for problems, what you have to do is that in our discussion today, we saw a lot of places in Europe, right? I have also displayed the maps while discussing the places. Take it upon yourself and locate the places we discussed today in your atlas. Then slowly look the surrounding areas of these places. Note down the important geographical features. Note down the maritime border and the land borders. Note down the important rivers in this area, the origin of the rivers and the destination. See, this place has been in use for a long time. So it is highly possible that UPSC might ask a map based question from this area. So diligently spend about one hour and look at all the areas that we discussed today in your atlas. It will be very useful for your plumes examination. Okay, so with this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this article. This article discusses whether the mantle core boundary is uniform in nature. Now why is this suddenly under discussion now? See, new research led by the University of Cambridge has found an unusual pocket of rock at the boundary layer with earth's core some 3000 kilometer beneath the surface. The research reveals the complex internal variability of one of these pockets in detail. Shedding light on the landscape of earth's deep interior. Taking this as an opportunity and as our plumes is also nearing, let us revise about the internal structure of earth. See, just like an onion, earth is made up of several concentric layers with one inside another. Look at this picture here. The outermost or uppermost layer over the earth's surface is called the crust. It is the thinnest of all the layers. It is brittle in nature. Its depth is about 35 kilometer on the continental masses and only 5 kilometers on the ocean floor. So oceanic crust is thinner as compared to the continental crust. The main mineral constituent of the continental crust are silica and alumina. So continental crust is also called as CL. Here SI stands for silica and AL stands for alumina. In case of oceanic crust, it mainly consists of silica and magnesium. So it is also called as SEMA. Here SI stands for silica and MA stands for magnesium. Just beneath the crust is the mantle, which extends up to a depth of 2900 kilometer. The upper portion of the mantle is called esthanosphere. Here the word esthano means weak. It is considered to be extending up to 400 kilometer. It is the main source of magma that finds its way to the surface during volcanic eruption. It has a density higher than that of crust. Note that the crust on the uppermost part of the mantle, that is the esthanosphere, both combined are called as lithosphere. Its thickness ranges from 10 to 200 kilometers. Moving on, the innermost layer is called the core. Its radius is about 3500 kilometer. It is mainly made up of nickel and iron. So it is called as knife. Here NI stands for nickel and FE stands for ferrous. That is iron. Note that the central core has very high temperature and pressure. The outer core is in liquid state while the inner core is in solid state. Just look at this table. It is about the discontinuities of Earth's layer. Very relevant for your exam, just go through it. Just a small piece of mnemonics to help you remember the discontinuity in order. Remember the statement CM Raju Gandhi lost election. Here CM in C stands for conrad discontinuity. It is the discontinuity between the upper and the lower crust. And M in CM stands for moho discontinuity. It is the discontinuity between crust and mantle. And R in Raju stands for rapidity discontinuity. It is the discontinuity between the upper mantle and the lower mantle. And G in Gandhi stands for Göttenberg discontinuity. It is the discontinuity between mantle and core. And finally, L in last stands for Lame and Discontinuity. It is the discontinuity between outer core and inner core. Hope this mnemonics helps you remember the discontinuity in an orderly fashion. With this, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Now, let us take up this FAQ article for our next discussion. See this article talks about the Biological Diversity Amon Button Bill 2021. This bill was introduced in the parliament on December 16th last year by the Union Environment Minister and it is currently being reviewed by the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Despite this fact, the bill has gained a lot of criticism for its provisions. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us quickly go through some of the important issues with the amendment bill mentioned in this article. First, let us see what do the amendments in the bill deal with. In simple terms, the bill amends the Biological Diversity Act 2002 to simplify the compliance requirements for domestic companies. Let me explain. See, the Biological Diversity Act 2002 was framed to give effect to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992 strives for sustainable, fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge. To do this, the Act formulates a three-tier structure consisting of the National Biodiversity Authority at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards at the state level and the District Biodiversity Management Committee at the local body level. The primary responsibility of the District Biodiversity Management Committees is to document local biodiversity and the associated knowledge in the form of a People's Biodiversity Registry. But the issue here is, there is a lot of complaints by the traditional medicine practitioner, seed sector, industry and the researchers that the Act imposes a heavy compliance burden. They also say that the Act has made difficult for them to conduct collaborative research and investment and simplify patent application process. So, in order to address this issue, the Biological Diversity Amendment Bill 2021 was drafted. The text of the bill also says that it proposes to widen the scope of living access and benefit sharing with local communities and for further conservation of biological resources. And finally, the bill seeks to exempt registered Ayush medical practitioners and people assessing codified traditional knowledge among others from giving prior intimation to State Biodiversity Boards for accessing biological resources for certain purposes. So, here comes the problem. Many environmentalist organizations such as the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment, that is life, has said that the amendments were made to solely benefit the Ayush Ministry and would pay the way for biopiracy. They say that the modification will exempt Ayush manufacturing companies from needing approvals from the National Biodiversity Authority. So, the contention of the activist is that the bill will also go against one of the core provisions of the Act. According to this article, this artificial distinction created only for the Ayush practitioners has paved the way for potential abuse of law. So, this is the first shortcoming of the amendment cited by the environmental activist. Secondly, according to the article, multiple provisions of the bill were aimed at diluting the authority of the National Biodiversity Authority. Mainly, the class appointing 16 ex-officio offices of the center. See, appointing 6 ex-officio offices of the center, according to the environmental activist, will create conflict of interest. This is the second issue in the amendment. Thirdly, the provision of requiring companies to seek the approval of the National Biodiversity Authority only at the time of commercialization and not when applying for a patent is a concern. This is the third issue cited in the article. And finally, the article states that the bill also decriminalized violations such as biopiracy and made them civil offenses. And this defeats the Act's deterrent powers. And this will also go against the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992. See, these issues are not generic issues. The issues cited in the article are very specific to this bill. So, please take note of it. So, that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the issues with the Biological Diversity Amendment Bill 2021. That's all regarding this discussion. Now, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. See this article here. It says that India will see the development of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in the days to come. Union Minister for Civil Aviation said that it will be done to ensure urban air mobility. And to start with, newer aviation technologies are being adopted by the Army and the Air Force. And according to the article, the US Air Force and the Canadian Air Force were currently conducting trails around e-vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts. And this is the essence of the article given here. In this context, let us understand more about the electric vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts. Now, let us start the discussion. Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft is one of the newest innovations in the aerospace industry. Some might call electric vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts as flying cars. But they are more accurately called electric helicopters. A regular helicopter is a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Because it takes off up and down vertically rather than rolling down a runway like an airplane. And if you make it electric, then it is called as electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. As I said already, electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles are electric and they function much like drones. They have large omnidirectional fans which help the aircraft move in any direction and even takeoff vertically. Having said that, what is the basis for the development of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircrafts? While surface transport has always been path-based, air mobility can be node-based. So, with each node, it can be connected to any of the other nodes. If you take India, for example, the commute between Chhatrapati-Sivaji Terminers to Mumbai Airport or from Gurgwan to Karnat place would be reduced to just 10 minutes. So, it will save at least 2 hours every day. It is said that urban congestion costs India alone 22 billion dollars every year. So, if electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles are adopted, this loss could be mated out. Considering these facts, ride-sharing company Uber is pushing for short-trip air mobility services to start as early as 2023. It is bringing together a set of companies as a part of its Uber Elevate Programme that aims to decongest top cities by offering affordable aerial transportation options. The Uber Elevate Programme is launched in 2016 and it has developed into a partnership of experienced aircraft manufacturers, real estate and technology companies and government agencies like NASA. The aim is to create aircraft infrastructure and standard of procedure for urban air mobility. And the main plan is to fly electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft on distances of around 100 km and at speeds between 150 to 200 miles per hour and at a cruising altitude of 1000 to 2000 feet on a single charge. Now, let us see some of the challenges that are involved with electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. See, there is a challenge around battery which should be able to sustain a charge for 100 km. And then there is a challenge of cost. See, in a price sensitive market like India, if Uber Air starts functioning in the next decade or so, the prices might still be unaffordable for the masses to use the service. See, these are some of the challenges associated with electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. That's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw what is electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, how they function and the advantages and the challenges associated with these aircrafts. With this, let us conclude the news analysis discussion and take up the practice problems questions. We have four practice problems questions for discussion today. Let us see them one by one. Let us take up the first question. See, this question is in reference to monkeypox. Four statements are given. We have to find the correct statement. Let us take up the first statement. It is a viral zoonosis and human to human transmission is not possible. See, this statement is incorrect because in our discussion itself, we saw that human to human transmission in case of monkeypox is definitely possible. Now, let us take up the second statement. It is endemic to Asia and occasionally exported to other regions like Europe and Africa. See, this also we saw in our discussion. Monkeypox is not endemic to Asia. Rather, it is endemic to Central and West Africa. So, statement B is also incorrect. Now, let us take up statement D. The natural reservoir for monkeypox virus is different species of monkey. See, this statement is also incorrect because in our discussion, we saw that monkeys are host of the virus. But the natural reservoir for monkeypox is not at no. Now, let us take up statement C. The symptoms and treatments of monkeypox are similar to that of smallpox. See, this statement is correct. This point also we saw in our discussion. So, the correct answer here is option C. Now, let us take up the second question. It is a two statement question. Two statements regarding the discontinuity we saw in our discussion is given here. We have to find the correct statements. Let us take up the first statement. Conrad discontinuity is the border between crust and mantle. Let us take up the second statement. Repetitive discontinuity is the border between mantle and core. See, here both the statements are wrong. You can see from this table that Conrad discontinuity separates upper and lower crust Since both the given statements are wrong, the correct answer here is option D, neither one nor two. Now, let us take up the third question. This is also a two statement question. Two statements in relation to Biological Diversity Act 2002 is given. We have to find the correct statement. Let us take up the first statement. It was enacted for the conservation of biological diversity and fair and equitable sharing of the monetary benefits from the commercial use of biological resources and traditional knowledge. Now, let us take up the second statement. It was framed to give effect to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. See, here both the statements are correct. Just adding some additional information about United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity here. See, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity is often informally known as Biodiversity Convention. It is a multilateral treaty. The Convention has three main goals. The goals are conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of the components of the biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from genetic resources. The objective of the Convention is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development. These are some points about United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity 1992. So, as we saw, both the statements are correct here. So, the correct answer here is option C, both 1 and 2. Now, let us take up the last question for our discussion. EVTOL, often seen in news, is related to which of the following. Option A, New Technology in Aerospace. Option B, Automatic Missile Firing System. Option C, Satellite Electronic Remote Sensing System. And Option D, None of the Bow. See, this is a very easy question. In our discussion, we saw that EVTOL, that is Electronic Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft, is a new technology in aerospace. So, the correct answer here is option A. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answers and post it in the comment section. If you have found today's discussion useful, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding UPSC preparation, subscribe to Shankarayesh Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.