 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy. These are the news articles chosen for today's discussion. They are given along with the page number of different traditions. Link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping for the discussed articles are given in the description box as well as the comment section for the benefit of the mobile viewers. Now let us start with the first article. Before discussing the articles, first let us solve some past year questions. Now look at this first question. See this question was asked in the prelims 2019. It is regarding PVTGs, particularly vulnerable tribal groups. There is a reason why I have chosen this question. See recently in our daily news analysis we have discussed about PVTGs in detail. So use this question as a revision or as a practice regarding the topic of PVTGs. Pause the video for one minute and try to solve this question. I hope aspirants have solved the question. Now let us discuss it. Consider the following statements about particularly vulnerable tribal groups, PVTGs in India. Four statements are given. First statement, PVTGs reside in 18 states and one union territory. Second statement, a stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status. Third statement, there are 92 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far. Fourth statement, Urular and Kondha Reddy tribes are included in the list of PVTGs, which of the statements given above are correct. Option A, 1, 2 and 3. Option B, 2, 3 and 4. Option C, 1, 2 and 4. Option D, 1, 3 and 4. See this question is a perfect example to demonstrate elimination technique. We have given four statements. Take the third statement. There are 92 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far. Anyone who has studied the basic information regarding PVTG will know that India has officially only 75 PVTGs, but they are given 92 PVTGs. So this statement should be incorrect. Third statement is wrong. So if we eliminate third statement from the option, option A is gone, option B is gone and option D is also gone. So the correct answer is C, 1, 2 and 4. So just by knowing some basic information regarding PVTG, we were able to answer this question correctly. That is the beauty of elimination technique. Anyways, let us assess the other statements also. The first statement, PVTGs reside in 18 states and one union territory. This statement is correct. Currently, PVTGs are in 18 states and only one union territory, which is Andaman and Nicobar islands. Second statement, A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status. This statement is also correct. And as we have already discussed, third statement is incorrect. We have only 75 PVTGs. Fourth statement, Irrular and Kondairi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs. This statement is also correct. So the answer is option C, 1, 2 and 4. Now let us take up the second question. See, the second question was also asked in Prillams 2019. It is from Politi. Under which schedule of the Constitution of India can the transfer of tribal land to private parties for mining be declared null and void? Option A, third schedule. Option B, fifth schedule. Option C, ninth schedule. Option D, twelfth schedule. See, schedules are important topic in Politi. In the past five, six years, UPSC has almost asked three to four questions from schedules. So when you are studying polity, give high priority to schedules topic. Now let us assess the options. The first option, third schedule. See, the third schedule of Indian Constitution deals with forms of oaths or affirmations. So this option is wrong. Now let us take up the C option, ninth schedule. See, ninth schedule contains the list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in codes. This option is also wrong. Now let us take the D option, twelfth schedule. Twelfth schedule of the Indian Constitution deals with powers, authority and responsibilities of municipalities. So this option is also wrong. The correct answer is option B, fifth schedule. The fifth schedule of the Constitution deals with the administration and control of schedule areas as well as schedule tribes. So the fifth schedule of the Constitution also deals with transfer of tribal lands. So the correct answer is option B, fifth schedule. Now let us move on to the third question. See, the third question which we are going to discuss was asked in prelims 2013. This question is from culture. Some Buddhist rocket caves are called chaityas while others are called vairas. What is the difference between the two? See, Buddhism is an important topic in culture. Almost every year, one question is asked from Buddhism in prelims. So this is a high priority area. When you are studying culture, give high priority to Buddhism. Now let us see the options. Option A, Vihara is a place of worship while chaitya is a dwelling place of the monks. Option B, chaitya is a place of worship while vairas the dwelling place of the monks. Option C, chaitya is a stupa at the far end of the cave while vairas are all axial to it. Option D, there is no material difference between the two. So the correct answer is option B. See, chaitya is a meeting or assembly chamber which is often used for the purpose of prayer. So, chaitya is a place of worship whereas vihara are the shelter accommodations of the monks during the rainy season. So it is the dwelling place of the monks. The correct answer is option B. Chaitya is a place of worship while vaira is the dwelling place of the monks. So we have discussed three past prelims question. Practice a lot of prelims question. It will improve your accuracy. It will boost your score. We have approximately 70-70 days for this year's prelims. Make maximum use of it. Now let us move on to the article discussion. Now let us begin the article discussion with the positive news. Now look at this sports article. See, Esther A, Mira by Chanu has won a silver in the weightlifting category of the Olympic Games. This is a great news. It has made us all feel proud to be an Indian and let us hope we win many more medals in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. In this regard, let us discuss some important facts regarding Olympics and India's participation in Olympics. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen. Interested aspirants can go through it. First, what is Olympics? Let us discuss about Olympics in brief. See, Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event which is held once in four years. They are held both in summer as well as winter. But remember, the summer and winter games are held alternatively every two years. So if summer Olympics is in 2020, then the winter Olympics will be in 2022. And the next summer Olympics will be in 2024. And next winter Olympics will be in 2026. See, each edition of the Olympics is hosted by a different host. And currently, Tokyo City of Japan is hosting the Summer Olympics of 2020. It is important to note that cities usually host Olympics. So it is called the Tokyo Olympics, Sydney Olympics, Beijing Olympics. It is not usually denoted by the country. Cities host the Olympics. So these are the basic points regarding Olympics. Now let us discuss about the important topic. India's participation in Olympics. See, India made its debut in the Olympics during the 1900 Paris Olympics. So in 1900 Paris Olympics, a sprinter named Norman Pritchard, he became the first Indian to take part in Olympics. He ran in five athletic events and won India's first ever medal. This was a silver medal. Now when you are talking about the gold medal, India won its first gold in 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. It was won by our prestigious Indian hockey's men team. But these are the victories of British India, not independent India. Our important victory came in 1948 London Olympics. It was during this Olympics, Indian hockey team won its first gold as independent India. This moment was an important watershed moment in independent India sports history. So far, Indian hockey team has won eight golds in Olympics. This is why Indian athletes are best known at the Olympics for their performance in hockey. Now look at this table. This table displays the sport and the medals won in that sport. And we can see maximum number of medals is won by hockey. So far, we have won 11 medals, eight gold, one silver and two bronze. Interested aspirants can go through this table. See, India won eight gold medals in hockey. But apart from hockey, we didn't win gold medals. We were struggling to win gold medals. This thirst for gold medal was finally satisfied by shooter Abhinav Bindra. Abhinav Bindra won gold in the men's 10 meter air rifle category at the 2008 games in Beijing. So this was India's win in gold, apart from hockey. Then when we take tennis, Leander Peirce won the bronze medal in men's single category at the 1996 games in Atlanta. Atlanta is in United States of America. So in 1996 games in Atlanta, Leander Peirce won the bronze medal. See, the last decade has proven to be the best for India. In the last decade, India has won totally eight medals in 2012 and 2016 Olympics. India's first Olympic medal in badminton was won by Saina Naval. She won a bronze in women's singles at London 2012 Olympics. Following her footsteps, PV Sindhu also won silver in the women's single category in 2016 Olympics. Have a look at this table. It displays the year and the number of medals won in that year. Interested aspirants can go through it. So we can see in 2016 and 2012, we won a total of eight medals. We are on the rise. And let us hope we will win many more medals in ongoing Tokyo Olympics. Now coming to the present times, that is 2020 Tokyo Olympics. See in this 2020 game, India has opened its account by winning silver in the weightlifting category. What is weightlifting? See weightlifting is a beautiful sport. The aim of this sport is very simple. It is to lift more weight than anyone else. The apparatus used in this sport is a barbell. A barbell is a long rod with weights attached to its ends. Barbell is represented in this figure. We can see the long rod and the weight attached to its ends. See in weight lifting competition, athletes are grouped by body weights and based on two lifting techniques. What are the two lifting techniques? They are the snatch technique and clean and jerk technique. In snatch technique, the bar is lifted from the floor to above the head in one movement. There is no interruption. On the other hand, clean and jerk technique is a two-stage action. First the bar is brought to the chest, then it is jerked over the head. So we can say it has two stages. So in a weightlifting competition, athletes compete by performing each of these lifts three times. For example, yesterday Mira Bai Chanu lifted snatch technique three times and lifted clean jerk technique three times. The highest weight from clean jerk technique and the highest weight from snatch technique is finally added. And the athlete who has the highest weight will be the winner. For example, yesterday Mira Bai lifted 87 kgs in snatch technique. She also lifted 115 kgs in clean and jerk segment. So in total she lifted 202 kgs and she came second place in the 49 kg category. 49 kg category is the weight of the athlete. As we have already discussed, in weightlifting athletes are grouped by body weights. So she represented India in 49 kg category and she totally lifted 202 kgs. She came second and won silver medal. The first place was won by China. The Chinese athlete lifted 212 kgs in total. That is 10 kg more than India. So China came in the first place and India came in the second place. See this is not the first time India is winning a medal in weightlifting category. Karna Maleshwari. Almost everyone knows her name. She was the first legendary weightlifter to win a medal in women's weightlifting category. Karna Maleshwari won bronze at Sydney 2000 Olympics. This was the year when women's events were first included in the weightlifting sport and Karna Maleshwari came third and won bronze medal for our country. She is a legendary athlete. Now everyone has a question. Who was the first individual Olympic medalist from independent India? That is after 1947. It was a wrestler named K. D. Jadav. K. D. Jadav won bronze medal at 1952 Helsinki Olympics. He was the first individual Olympic medalist from independent India. See these kind of trivia are very important. See there are many athletes like Mary Combe, Saki Malik who have raised India's stature in the international arena of Olympics. We have discussed only the prominent wins. There are many athletes who have won medals in Olympics for India. So far India has won 28 medals in Olympics. Hope this trivia help you to understand India's participation in Olympics. With this we have come to the end of this discussion. In this discussion we saw about Olympics. We saw about India's participation in Olympics and we also discussed about Mira by Chanu Vin. Now let us move on to the next article. Now look at this news article. This news article is regarding a speech given by a Prime Minister. See recently at the International Buddhist Confederation, a Prime Minister highlighted the relevance of Lord Buddha's teaching in the current scenario. So in this context, let us discuss some interesting facts about Buddhism. See Buddhism is an important topic in problems. When you take the last five or six year question paper, you can see at least one question from Buddhism. So give high priority to Buddhism when you are studying culture. Now coming back to the discussion. See when we are discussing Buddhism, first we have to discuss the three jewels of Buddhism. What are the three jewels of Buddhism? The first jewel is Buddha or the teacher. The second jewel is Dharma. Dharma means teaching and the third jewel is Sangha. Sangha means community. So these are the three jewels of Buddhism. See when we are talking about teachings of Buddhism, four noble truths hold a special place. What are these four noble truth? The truth of suffering or misery. It is also called as Truth of the origin of this suffering. Samudaya. Truth of the cessation of suffering. Niroda. Truth of the path to the cessation of suffering. Magga. So these are the four noble truths of Buddhism. See don't memorize these terms. Just keep on revising it. You will recollect these terms in the exam. So keep on revising it. You will retain these terms. Don't try to blindly memorize it. So far we saw about three jewels of Buddhism and four noble truths of Buddhism. Now let us discuss about the eightfold path of Buddhism. It is also called as Middle Way. See the eightfold path are a set of principle. These principles include right understanding, right resolve, right speech, right action, right living, right efforts, right thought and right self-concentration. So these are the eightfold path of Buddhism. You can use these points as value addition in your ethics answer. When you are taking an ethical stand in your ethics answer, you can support your stand with these kind of information. You can say that Buddhism also promotes these ideology and you can give some of these principles. That is how you differentiate your answer. Now coming back to Buddhism, see Mudras form an important aspect of Buddhism. These Mudras represent different events in Buddha's life. Now look at this image for the understanding of Mudra. The first Mudra is Dharma Chakra Mudra. It means wheel of Dharma. See, we all know that Buddha attained enlightenment in Sarnath. So after the enlightenment, he gave sermon to his companions. Sermon means a religious teaching. He gave a religious teaching to his companions. This event is represented by Dharma Chakra Mudra. Now let us move on to the second Mudra, Bhoomi Sparsha or touching the earth. Bhoomi means earth. This Mudra symbolizes Buddha's enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. This Mudra is represented in this figure. We can see he is touching the earth or he is pointing to the earth and this Mudra represents the event of enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. So far we saw two Mudras. Now let us move on to Varadha Mudra. This Mudra symbolizes charity, compassion and boon granting. Boon granting means wish giving. Boon means wishes. See this Mudra is represented in this figure. As we can see from the figure, it is almost like giving a wish, wish granting. Someone is requesting something and Buddha is giving a wish or Buddha is granting a wish. So this is Varadha Mudra. Now let us move on to Dhyanamudra. See Dhyanamudra has a lot of multiple meanings. Many have interpreted this Mudra in different ways, but many have accepted that this Mudra is the identification with the mystic fire that consumes all impurities. So remember Dhyanamudra is related to mystic fire. These are the keywords. This Mudra also represents the three jewels of Buddhism. See we have already discussed the three jewels of Buddhism. Buddha the teacher, Dharma the teaching and Sangha the community. So this Mudra represents the three jewels of Buddhism. So far we have seen about Dharma Chakra Mudra, Bhumi Persha Mudra, Varadha Mudra, Dhyanamudra. Finally let us see about Abhaya Mudra. Abhaya Mudra symbolizes protection, peace and dispelling of fear. Abhaya Mudra is represented in this field. So with this we have come to the end of this discussion. In this discussion we saw about three jewels of Buddhism, four noble truths of Buddhism, eightfold path of Buddhism and important Mudras of Buddhism. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Now look at this news article. This news article is regarding a monument called Agia Sophia. See Agia Sophia is a museum in Turkey, but recently the Turkey government has converted this museum into a mosque. So UNESCO had expressed its concern regarding this conversion. In return Turkey has called UNESCO's concern as biastic. This is the gist of this article. So in this segment we will be looking into Agia Sophia. See Agia Sophia is also called as Aya Sophia. It is a unique monument of the world. Its architecture is magnificent, its functionality is exceptional. So we can say it is one of the important monuments of the world. See Agia Sophia principally belonged to the Byzantine era. It was later improvised in Christian period and it was later improvised during Ottoman era as well. So we can say this monument is a synthesis between East and West. It is a synthesis of Christianity as well as Islam. That is the beauty of this monument. It is a confluence of culture. Look at this picture how magnificent it is. We have seen this monument many times in our Hollywood as well as Bollywood movies. Now let us discuss the origin of this monument. See Agia Sophia was initially built as a church. It was built during the reign of Constantius I or Constantius I. So it was built in the period between 324 to 337 AD and as we have already discussed it was built as a church, a Christian place of worship. See Agia Sophia was a Christian place of worship for 916 years since its construction. For almost 1000 years this monument was a church. During its initial phase of construction it was built as a Christian church with a wooden roof. This was burned down during a revolt. So this church was built for the second time again in 415 AD and during the second phase of construction many marble and colorful stones were brought to Istanbul from various ancient cities. Many mosaics were also incorporated into the architecture. These mosaics were gold glided with geometrical and floral designs. They also are the images of Jesus Christ Virgin Mary. So for nearly 916 years this monument functioned as a church. But later it was conquered by Ottoman Sultan. The name of the Ottoman Sultan is Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. He conquered Turkey and converted the church into a mosque. So next Agia Sophia served as a mosque for nearly 481 years. So for nearly 1000 years it was a church and nearly 500 years it was a mosque. So we can see the confluence of Christianity as well as Islam. See when Agia Sophia was a mosque Turkish architects made various changes to it. They included Turkish poetry. They included Turkish pottery. They included art of calligraphy. See we have studied about calligraphy in Mughal era. The Mughals were great patterns of calligraphy. So similar to Mughals the Turks also incorporated calligraphy to Agia Sophia when it functioned as a mosque. We can also see the tombs of several Ottoman sultans in Agia Sophia. The Ottoman tradition and culture were incorporated into Agia Sophia during this reign. It is also important to note that minarets were also erected in the premises during this period. When it functioned as a church there were no minarets. See minarets are a great example of Persian architecture. So it was added during the Ottoman tradition. To our idea about minarets look at this picture. You can see that pillars right pillar like structures surrounding the monument. They are called as minarets. They are an important part of Islamic architecture. Even Taj Magal has many minarets. These minarets are always attached to the mosque. They also have open balconies. They add beauty and magnificence to the premises. This is the reason why many of the mosque incorporate minarets. And when Agia Sophia functioned as a mosque and when Agia Sophia functioned as a mosque, minarets were incorporated into its architecture. See we can see it functioned as a church. It functioned as a mosque. So there was a constant debate whether it should be a church or a mosque. Many people supported Agia Sophia to be a mosque. Many people supported Agia Sophia to be a church. The debate was constantly going on. See later Turkey became a secular country. It became a secular country under Mustafa Kamal. So during his period Agia Sophia was converted into a museum. It was done by Mustafa Kamal. This conversion of museum put an end to the mosque versus church debate. And Agia Sophia was opened as a museum in 1935. So first it functioned as a church, then it functioned as a mosque, and finally it functioned as a museum. But now Turkey has converted it back to mosque. This has again triggered the debate and recently UNESCO has raised concern regarding the conversion. So these are the important points regarding Agia Sophia. See this monument is a beautiful monument. It has been under the influence of Christianity. It has been under the influence of Islam. So we can see the confluence of culture. We can see both Christian as well as Islam tradition in this monument. This is also part of the historic areas of Istanbul. Istanbul is the capital of Turkey. So Agia Sophia is a part of the historic areas of Istanbul. See the historic areas of Istanbul is included in UNESCO World Heritage List. So we can say Agia Sophia is a part of World Heritage List. It has to be protected at all costs. With this we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion we saw about Agia Sophia. Its initial role as a church, its next role as a mosque, its role as a museum, and the church versus mosque debate. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Now look at this article. See recently France has made it mandatory for healthcare workers to get vaccinated. If a healthcare worker is unvaccinated in France, he or she will not receive salary and will not be allowed to work. Similar to France, Greece and Italy have also made vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers. So we can see compulsory vaccination is promoted by many countries. So in this backdrop this article has been written. In this discussion we will discuss this article. We will discuss the important pros and cons regarding compulsory vaccination and we will also discuss whether compulsory vaccination is practically possible in India. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted below for your reference. See vaccination is a most widely suggested measure to break the virus chain. We all know this. This is because vaccination reduces the chances of transmission of virus. So this is why many countries are promoting compulsory vaccination of healthcare workers. See healthcare workers are frontline workers. So they need maximum protection. They are exposed to virus on the daily basis. They can also act as asymptomatic carriers since they are frontline workers. So this is why many countries are promoting compulsory vaccination of healthcare workers. But there is another problem too. See from July 21st France has announced that it will deny unvaccinated people entry into certain public places. For example unvaccinated people will be denied entry into theaters, sports venues, festivals, cafes, bars, restaurants, shopping mall and even long distance trains. If unvaccinated people want access to these public places they should show a negative test result. Otherwise they won't be allowed entry. These are the new rules in France. These rules have created great uproar in France. It has caused a lot of protest. Many people in France believe that the country is promoting compulsory vaccination. They feel the compulsory vaccination is an infringement on their basic human rights. So let us discuss about compulsory vaccination. See compulsory vaccination never involves coercive acts. To put it in simple words compulsory vaccination does not demand people to vaccinate against their will. This is because vaccines are usually given wide exemptions on religious, social and philosophical grounds. So even in France the government is not forcing the people to get vaccinated. It is not forcing the people to get vaccinated against their will. But rather France is creating a situation where vaccination is required. Let me explain this with an example. See if a person doesn't believe in vaccine France government won't force them to get vaccinated. He or she can stay at home without getting vaccinated. But if the same person want to access public places he or she should get vaccinated or they should show a negative test result. So we can see France is nudging the citizens to get the vaccinated. It is not forcing them. The final choice is with the individual whether to get vaccinated or not. But there is another problem. France has said it won't pay salary for unvaccinated healthcare worker. This is a issue. See there's a difference between denying entry to a venue and denying a person their salary. This is because when we deny a person a salary it has the potential to impact their economic and social well-being. It can also void implications beyond the individual because many family members rely on the salary of their breadwinner. So we cannot deny salary of an individual just because he or she is unvaccinated. These measures are coercive and will put an individual at a disadvantage. See getting vaccinated is an individual choice. We cannot force a person to get vaccinated. It is against human rights. So it is better to educate the people. It is better to have strong social mobilization strategies. We can empower people. We can make them aware of benefits of vaccination. So these strategies will help us to get people vaccinated rather than having coercive measures rather than forcing them. Forcing an individual to get vaccination against their will is unethical. It can have void implications. So it is better to go for proactive measures rather than coercive measures. And when we're talking about healthcare workers they have many alternative ways to protect themselves. For example they have PPE kit. They can use mask, face shield and many other protective gears are available for them. So by using this alternative protection they can protect themselves as well as the patients. So there is no need to force the unvaccinated healthcare workers in France. See France policy of compulsory vaccination may seem like a success. This is because within two days around 2.2 million people signed up to get vaccinated. So from outside of perspective this policy of compulsory vaccination may seem like a success. But that is not the case. It has also created a lot of fear and apprehensions in the society. It has created a lot of protest in France. It can also lead to denial of access to key services and social opportunities especially to the vulnerable groups. So governments have to think before implementing the policy of compulsory vaccination. Now let us discuss this concept in Indian context. Whether compulsory vaccination is required in India. Whether it will work in India. See according to India's health ministry nearly 80% of healthcare workers and 90% of frontline workers are already vaccinated in India. So the author of this article feels that making vaccination compulsory for healthcare workers is not required since most of them are vaccinated. Also India is facing shortage of vaccines. So by making vaccination compulsory we will further aggravate the shortage of vaccines. It can also lead to fake vaccination certificate scams. Many people without getting vaccinated will get fake vaccination certificates. This will create a huge problem. So the author of the article feels that compulsory vaccination will not work in India and it is also not required in India. He feels that compulsory vaccination will only undermine the public support. It will be counterproductive and it will create new problems in our society. Many past evidences support this claim. Whenever we have made something compulsory it had become counterproductive to our society. So instead of forcing people to get vaccinated we should inform and empower people and we should also respect individuals choice. See before making any intervention compulsory we have to check whether that intervention follows few basic principles. For example if you are going to make vaccination compulsory we have to check whether the compulsory vaccination policy respects these principles. What are these principles? First the benefit of such an intervention should be scientifically supported. So this is the first principle. Second principle the vaccines should be easily available and should be accessible to every eligible citizen. This is the second principle and third principle there should be reasonable exemptions. So instead of making any intervention compulsory we should always give some exemptions. So when we take India we are currently facing vaccine shortages. Demanders outstripping are supplying. So we can see we are not adhering to these principles. What is the second principle? Vaccine should be easily available and accessible to every eligible citizen. So with the current vaccine shortage we cannot respect this principle. So compulsory vaccination is not a viable option for India. So these are the important points highlighted in this article. See in this article we discussed about compulsory vaccination policy of France, the pros and cons of such compulsory vaccination policy and finally we discussed whether compulsory vaccination will work in India. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Now let us take up this news article. See according to WHO 15% of the world's population have mental issues and when we take India 74% of senior citizens have stress and also 88% of Indians have reported anxiety. See this is a big issue. Right now India is a young country but by 2050 number of senior citizens in India will be around 20% of our population. So treating elderly issues like dementia, Alzheimer will be very challenging. This is what the article is trying to convey. So in that context let us discuss about dementia, Alzheimer, its diagnosis and treatment. The syllabus relevant to this article is displayed on the screen. Interested aspirants can go through it. First what is Alzheimer? See Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. So a person with Alzheimer slowly loses his memory and thinking skills. Eventually he will lose his ability to carry out even the simplest task. It is a very cruel disease and it is usually found in elderly patients. We have discussed about Alzheimer. Then what is dementia? See dementia is a general term for a collection of symptoms. What are these collection of symptoms? Loss of memory, loss of language, loss of problem solving abilities, loss of thinking abilities. So these collection of symptoms are generally called as dementia. Dementia is generally found in Alzheimer patients in the latest stages. Why do a person develop dementia? See we all know neural tissues are present in our brain. These neural tissues are important for thinking and memory abilities. So with time with aging, protein deposits in the neural tissue. So this deposition of protein will lead to gradual deterioration of brain functions and the person will finally develop dementia. That person will lose his memory and thinking abilities and dementia is generally found in the latest stages of Alzheimer patients. See Alzheimer is a cruel disease. It affects quality of life. It generally increases the medical bills many times. It also imposes a great stain on the next generation. This is because elderly patients with Alzheimer they will be incapable to perform even simple functions. So younger generation should take care of them. This will affect the functioning of the younger generation. It will also increase the cost of medical expenses. So it is important that we diagnose Alzheimer in the early stages itself. How can a disease be diagnosed in early stages? This question rises in our mind. See diseases are usually diagnosed in early stages through a concept called biomarkers. This is the key one biomarker. What are these biomarkers? See biomarkers are biological parameters which indicates a underlying medical condition. For example imagine a person with diabetes. The biomarker for diabetes is insulin level. So when we measure the insulin level we know whether that person has diabetes. So in the case of diabetes insulin level acts as biomarker. Another example let us take anemia. In anemia we can diagnose anemia with emoglobin. So emoglobin acts as biomarker for anemia. Another example is emoglobulin. Emoglobulin acts as a biomarker for serological study. See in serological study we assess whether a person has been exposed to COVID. So by measuring the emoglobulin level in that person we can assess whether that person has been exposed to COVID. So in serological study immunoglobulin acts as a biomarker. So with this biomarker we can diagnose the disease in the early stages. It plays a crucial role in medical field. So the author of the article feels that we should diagnose dementia and Alzheimer using some biomarker. This will help in the early diagnosis of this disease. It will also help us to slow down the progress of the disease. But the biomarker for Alzheimer is not well developed. The treatment of the disease is also not well researched. So this is a huge problem. Then what is the way forward? See according to the author of this article our traditional medicines and plant sources might have answers for Alzheimer's. To understand this solution first we should understand about a study. This study was done by an institute called Wiesmann Institute. This institute is located in Israel. See according to this study a compound called Betocytosterol or BSS. This compound reduces anxiety and it can be used in treatment of Alzheimer. The beauty of this compound is it is naturally found in many of our plant sources. This compound BSS is also found in many of our traditional Indian medicine. So the author of the article feels that by exploring our traditional Indian medicine we can find the cure for this cruel disease. This will help us to reduce the burden of Alzheimer disease on the old age population. So this is the way forward. So you can use this point as a solution in your main's answer. Traditional medicines and the compound called BSS. See India has a rich history of traditional medicine. India has to fully explore this traditional medicine so that we can better diagnose diseases and we can better treat the problems. State government, central government and private players should come together to achieve this goal. This will be highly beneficial to our health sector. So these are the important points stressed in this article. With this we have come to the end of the discussion. In this discussion we saw about Alzheimer disease, we saw about dementia, we saw about biomarkers and we also discussed about traditional medicine and a compound called BSS. BSS stands for Betocytosterol. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Practice problems question. First question, consider the following statements with reference to India's performance in the Olympics. First statement, India's one gold medal only in hockey. Second statement, India won maximum number of medals so far in the 2012 London Olympics, which are the statements given above are correct. A, one only, B, two only, see both one and two, D, neither one nor two. See first statement is incorrect. India's one gold in hockey, as well as India's one gold in shooting. As you can see in the table, India has won eight gold medals in hockey and India has won one gold medal in shooting. So first statement is incorrect. Moving on to the second statement. Second statement is correct. See so far India has won maximum number of medals in 2012 London Olympics. The number of medals is six. So this statement is correct. And let us hope we'll cross this number in 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The correct answer is option B, two only. Only the second statement is correct. Now let us move on to the second question. Consider the following prayers. Mudra, symbol. First mudra, dharma chakra mudra, first sermon. Second boomi parshah, mystic fire, three varadha mudra, enlightenment. Which of the given prayers are correctly matched? See the correct answer is option A, one only. Only dharma chakra mudra is correctly matched. Dharma chakra mudra symbolizes first sermon. Whereas boomi parshah mudra symbolizes enlightenment, not mystic fire. Similarly varadha mudra symbolizes charity, compassion and boon grating, not enlightenment. So the second and third prayer are incorrectly matched. Only the first prayer is correctly matched. So the answer is option A, one only.