 Good evening aspirants. Welcome back to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar IA's Academy. These are the list of news articles that we will be discussing today. They are provided along with the page numbers of the different editions. Now look at these news articles. These two news articles are related to the Fame India scheme. So the news is that recently the Centre has made some modifications for the Fame 2 scheme and this includes increasing the demand incentive for two-wheelers to Rs. 15,000 per kilowatt hour from the already existing Rs. 10,000 per kilowatt hour. And adding to this the cap for incentive for electric two-wheelers were increased to 40% of the cost of the vehicle from the already existing 20%. These important revisions were termed as a phenomenal move by the electric two-wheeler makers in India and along with other features like extremely low running cost, low maintenance and zero emission. The recent additional subsidy is expected to boost the market for e-vehicles. So in this context, let us discuss in detail about the Fame 1 and the Fame 2 schemes, its objectives, etc. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted below for your reference. Note that the term Fame stands for faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles in India. This Fame India scheme is a part of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan which is also called as NEMMP. And as we know, this National Electric Mobility Mission Plan is a national mission document which provides the vision and the roadmap with a faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country. As a part of this, the Department of Heavy Industries under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, they have launched the Fame India 1 scheme in the year 2015. And this scheme aimed to encourage progressive induction of reliable, affordable and efficient electric and hybrid vehicles. Note that Fame 1 scheme was another framework of demand incentive disbursement mechanisms. That means incentive amount was determined for each category of vehicle like mild hybrid, strong hybrid, plug-in hybrid, etc. And the Fame India 1 scheme was in effect till the emergence of Fame India 2 scheme that was launched in 2019. Now let us discuss about this Fame India 2. See, the government has approved phase 2 of Fame scheme with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crore for a period of 3 years and this period started from 1st April 2019. Out of the total budgetary support, about 86% of the fund has been allocated for demand incentive so as to create demand for electric vehicles in the country. Now let's see some objectives of the scheme. Know that Fame 2 scheme will support the electric vehicle industry with incentives which is subsidy benefits in order to promote their manufacturing and sales. And the main criterion for subsidy allocation under this Fame India 2 scheme is that the vehicles must use lithium ion batteries or any new technology batteries. And this phase, it aims to generate demand by way of supporting 7,000 electric buses, 5 lakh electric 3-wheelers, 55,000 electric 4-wheeler passenger cars including the strong hybrid and 10 lakh electric 2-wheelers. Note that in the 3-wheeler and 4-wheeler segments, incentives will be applicable mainly to vehicles that is used for public transport or those that are registered for commercial purposes. But in the 2-wheeler sector, the focus will be on private vehicles. Another main objective of Fame 2 is to establish a charging infrastructure in major cities of the country and this includes metros, other million plus cities, smart cities and cities of hilly states across the country. So the ultimate aim is to ensure the availability of at least one charging station in a grid of 3 into 3 kilometer in these mentioned areas. Apart from these, the scheme also envisages to establish charging stations on major highways which connects major city clusters. And on such highways, charging stations will be established on both the sides of the road at an interval of about 25 kilometer each. And out of the total allocation for the scheme, rupees 1000 crore has been allocated for setting up charging stations for electric vehicles. So these are some of the takeaway points from this particular article. So with these facts in mind, let's now move on to the next part of the discussion. Now let us take up this news article. This article reports about the Olive Ridley sea turtles and the Operation Olivia. So in this context, let us learn some important points about the Olive Ridley and also about the Operation Olivia. The syllabus covered by this news article has highlighted below for your reference. First let us see about the Olive Ridley sea turtles. The Olive Ridley turtle gets its name due to the greenish color of its skin and shell. These turtles are primarily found in the warmer waters of the Southern Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. And they are the smallest of the sea turtles weighing up to 100 pounds and reaching only about 2 feet in shell length. See, the Olive Ridley is mostly carnivorous. That is, they feed on such creatures like jellyfish, snails, crabs and shrimps and occasionally they also feed on algae and seaweed as well. When we are talking about its protection status, it is under the Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Also, it is under the vulnerable category of IUCN Red List and Appendix 1 of Sites. See, the Olive Ridley turtles are solitary in nature and they usually prefer open ocean. But once a year, these turtles, they come together for mass nesting and they are known for their unique mass nesting. And this mass nesting is known as Arivara. See, Arivara is a mass nesting process wherein thousands of female Olive Ridleys, they migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles every year and come together on the same beach to lay eggs. And they lay their eggs over a period of 5 to 7 days in conical nests which are about 1.5 feet deep and they usually dig these nests with the help of their hind flippers. Remember, Olive Ridleys have nesting sites all over the world and they are usually found in tropical and subtropical beaches. And during nesting, they use their wind and the tide to help them reach the beach and the female Olive Ridleys, they lay about 100 eggs and this nesting season usually happens between June to December. See, when we are talking about India, there are three Arivara beaches that are found along the coast of Odisha and they are the Gahirmata, the mouth of Devi River and Rushikulya. Know that the Rushikulya Rukri coast is in the Ganjam district of Odisha and the Rushikulya river is one of the major rivers in the state of Odisha and it covers the entire catchment area in the districts of Kandamal and the Ganjam district of Odisha. Coming to Devi river, it is one of the principal tributaries of Mahanadi and it flows through the Jagad Singh Pooh district and the Poohi district across the Odisha state in India and it joins the Bay of Bengal. The Odisha's Gahirmata Marayan Sanctuary is known as the world's largest Rukri of sea turtles. See, Rukri is nothing but a colony of breeding animals. This Gahirmata is a mass nesting spot in the Indian Ocean region and it is the world's largest nesting beach of the olive ridley sea turtles. Note that Gahirmata was declared as a turtle sanctuary in the year 1997 by the Odisha government after considering its ecological importance and also as a part of the efforts to save the sea turtles. Remember, Gahirmata Marayan Sanctuary is one of the three parts of the Bitter Kanika National Park and the other two include the area of Bitter Kanika National Park and the Bitter Kanika Wildlife Sanctuary. Note that Bitter Kanika National Park is one of Odisha's finest biodiversity hotspots and it is famous for its mangroves, migratory birds, turtles, estuarine crocodiles as well as countless creeks. Bitter Kanika is located in the estuary of Brahmani, Baitarani, Damra and the Mahanadi river systems and it houses around 70% of the country's estuarine or saltwater crocodiles. More recently, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, a new mass nesting site has been discovered on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with more than 5,000 nests reported in a season. See, most of the olive redly hatchlings, they perish before reaching the ocean and they are preyed on by crabs, raccoons, pigs, snakes and birds among others. And adult olive redly turtles are often taken by sharks and though the olive redly is widely considered the most abundant of the marine turtles, it is still in trouble and its numbers particularly in the western Atlantic are facing a decline. Note that the eggs of the olive redlies are taken and nesting females are slaughtered for their meat and skin and apart from this fishing nets also take a large toll, frequently snagging and drowning these turtles. In addition to that, marine pollution, plastic garbage and fishing trawlers have also destroyed these turtles. Therefore, in order to protect these olive redly turtles, the Indian Coast Guard conducts an exercise called Operation Oliva. This Operation Oliva is executed along the Serene Sea Waters of Indian Coast in order to protect the endangered olive redly sea turtles during their mating season and this exercise tries to ensure the safe mid-sea journey of the breeding olive redly sea turtles. So, with this we have come to the end of this particular news discussion. So, in this discussion we saw about the olive redly turtles, the protection status, mass nesting or aribara, the nesting sites in India and the threats faced by them and we also discussed about the Operation Oliva in brief. So, having these informations in our mind, let's move on to the next news article. Now, our next news discussion is going to be based on this news article titled New Guidelines on Remdesivore Steroids. This article is written in the backdrop of the revised guidelines for the COVID treatment. See, recently the Union Health Ministry has revised its guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and under this it revised the list of drugs that can be recommended for COVID-19 care. So, in this context let us know about the changes in the treatment protocol and also about the revised guidelines. The syllabus covered by this article is given below for your reference. Firstly, before knowing about the revised guidelines, you have to know what made the government to revise it. See, there were many complications reported in recent times and one among that is a complication that was caused by the fungal infection, mucormicosis. Now that people catch mucormicosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores that is present in the environment. It also develops when the fungus entered the skin through a cut, crepe, burn or through any other type of skin trauma. See, the effects of mucormicosis is said to be more severe leading to blood or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and also the coughing of blood. Know that this infection it mainly affects the COVID-19 patients with diabetes and also those with a weakened immune system. Now here you have to know that according to an advisory issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research, it was reported that weakening of the immune system due to the use of steroids is one of the major factor that causes mucormicosis infections and hence there was a need for government intervention to contain the infection at health crisis. Now let us know about the revised guidelines. See, in the new guidelines, the drugs list for the treatment of mild symptoms of infection have been rationalized and accordingly the health ministry dropped from its recommendations several drugs that were being used widely for treatment and to be more specific the ministry has removed drugs like hydroxychloroquine, fevipiravir and many more from its list of recommended drugs for treating patients with mild infection and even plasma therapy has been dropped from the list. In addition to this, the ministry has also revised its policy on remdesivir and the ministry noted that remdesivir is a reserve drug that is approved under emergency use authorization which is based only on limited scientific evidence globally and hence it stated that the drug should be given only to select moderate or severe hospitalized COVID-19 patients and with this it also restricted the supply of remdesivir where it mandated that the drug should be procured and provided only by the hospitals. So in brief the document notes that steroids are harmful and asymptomatic and mild cases of COVID-19 so therefore it points out that steroids shall be prescribed only to those patients who are hospitalized with moderately severe and critical symptoms and along with these changes to the drug list the guidelines also brought in some changes in medication. See the guidelines put off medical practitioners from prescribing unnecessary tests like CT scans and in addition it said that no medication is required for asymptomatic cases while it allowed medication to continue for other comorbid conditions and in the case of mild cases the guidelines recommended self-monitoring for fever, breathlessness, oxygen saturation or worsening of any symptoms. So till now we saw about the guidelines dealing more about the drug list and medication. Now let us see what the guidelines have suggested for the children with COVID-19. See the government has issued comprehensive guidelines for the management of COVID-19 among children under the age of 18. Once again the guidelines deters from mentioning the drug remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19. However it suggested rational use of high resolution computed tomography imaging for COVID-19 treatments. Also the guidelines often conclude that steroids are harmful in asymptomatic and mild cases of infection and hence its use for children is prevented too. Note that mask protection was not recommended for children below five years of age but children aged between six and eleven years may wear a mask but only under the supervision of parents and the consulting doctor. And in case of asymptomatic infection among children the guidelines recommend no specific medication but rather it suggests the following appropriate measures and here it advices to follow the measures like wearing a mask, following strict and hygiene, physical distension and also to have nutritious meals. And in case of mild infections the guidelines prescribed paracetamol. So these are some of the measures that were taken from the government to reduce the rate of infection as well as fatality. So with this we have come to the end of this topic discussion. Now let's move on to see what the next news article has got to tell us. Now look at this news article. This article says that a 12 feet statue of Adi Sankaracharya the exponent of Advaita Vedanta would be installed at K. R. Nath in Uttarakhand. So in this context let us discuss in detail about Adi Sankaracharya and also his philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. Know that Shankaracharya, one of the most influential philosophers of India, was born in Kerala in the 8th century and some sources says that Adi Shankara died at the age of 32 at K. Darnath in Uttarakhand but this is disputed. See Shankara was an advocate of Advaita or non-dualism. See this is a doctrine of the oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme God which is the ultimate reality. And he taught that Brahmin the only or ultimate reality was formless and without any attributes. And he considered the world around us to be an illusion or Maya. Remember Shankaracharya preached renunciation of the world and the adoption of the power of knowledge in order to understand the true nature of Brahmin and to attain salvation. And it is said that Shankaracharya challenged various eminent scholars and also the leaders of various religious sects in vigorous disputes and due to the wisdom of his teachings these men of stature accepted Shankaracharya as a Guru and they started to practice in accordance with his guidance. And this change in their lives also brought a change in the lives of their innumerable followers who came from all strata of the society. It is well known that Adi Shankaracharya established four ashrams or matts in four corners of India and then four important disciples of Shankaracharya were later on installed as archaaries of the four matts. Know that Ashta Malaka was the archaary of the Govardhana Mat in the east, Sureshwara was the archaary of Shringeri, Sharada Pidam in the south, Bhatma Pada was the archaary of the Dvaraka Mat in the west, and the Totaka was the archaary of the Jyotir Mat in the north. You can have a look at this figure in order to get a better understanding of it. Coming back, know that during Shankara's time they were innumerable sects following their own narrow philosophies as well as systems of worships and people were totally blind to the underlying common basis of the one God and it is said that Adi Shankara has synthesized these quarrelling sects by integrating the worship of all these diaries into the six sect system of worship and this brought to the fore the main God heads such as Vishnu, Siva, Shakti, Muruga, Ganesh as well as Surya. So with this we have come to the end of the discussion. Now let us take up this news article. Recently the G7 unveiled US-led plans to counter China in infrastructure funding for poorer nations and it also launched a new accord to prevent future pandemics. See the G7 is planning to offer a values driven, high standard and transparent partnership to low and middle income countries and these partnerships promise to collectively catalyze hundreds of billions of infrastructure investment for low and middle income countries. Note that the G7's built back better world project is aimed at competing with the China's trillion dollar belt and road infrastructure initiative. As we know the belt and road infrastructure initiative has been widely criticized for saddling countries with unmanageable debt. So in this context let us learn about the G7. See the group of seven or the G7 is an informal group of seven countries and it consists of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. G7 represents around 40% of the global GDP and around 10% of the world's population and unlike other bodies such as NATO, the G7 has no legal existence, permanent secretariat or official members and also it has no binding impact on policy and on decisions and commitments made at G7 meetings. Note that the policies, decisions and commitments need to be ratified independently by governing bodies of member states. This G7 or the group of seven, it draws its roots from a meeting between the current G7 members excluding Canada that took place in 1975. At that time the global economy was in a state of recession due to the OPEC oil embargo and as the energy crisis was escalating the USA decided that it would be beneficial for the large players on the world stage to coordinate with each other on macroeconomic initiatives and after this first summit the countries agreed to meet annually and a year later Canada was invited into the group which marked the official formation of the G7 as we know it. The president of the European Commission was asked to join the meetings in 1977 and following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a subsequent toy in relations between the East and West Russia was also invited to join the group in 1998. So thereafter the group was named as the G8 or the group of eight until 2014 when Russia was expelled from its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Note that the presidency of G7 meetings is held by each of the seven countries in turn each year and the country holding the presidency is responsible for organizing and hosting the meeting. The UK holds the G7 presidency for 2021 and this year India, South Korea and Australia have been invited to attend the G7 meeting as participating guests. Remember the G7 summit provides a forum for the member countries to discuss shared values and concerns and while it initially focused on international economic policy in the 1980s the G7 extended its mandate to even include those issues related to foreign policy and security as well. So in the recent years G7 leaders have met to formulate common responses to challenges encompassing counter-terrorism, development, education, health, human rights and also climate change. So with this we have come to the end of this news discussion let's move on to the next part of the discussion. With this let us move on to the prelims practice question discussion. So now let us take up this prelims practice question. Statement one says that he propounded Advaita the doctrine of the oneness of the individual soul and the supreme god and statement two says that he was a contemporary of king Ashavardhana. So from our discussion it is clear that statement one is correct and coming to the second statement though the exact birth dates of Adi Shankara's disputed it is clear that he was a Hindu philosopher who lived in 8th century BC and king Ashavardhan's period was between 590 to 647 CE so this shows that they were not contemporary race. So therefore statement two is incorrect and since the question wants us to find the incorrect statement the right option is option B that is two only. Now look at this prelims practice question. The faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles in India was launched by which of the following ministry. So from our discussion it is clear that fame India was launched by the department of heavy industries under the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises. So therefore the right option is option C that is the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises. Now look at this prelims practice question statement one says that the group of seven or G7 is a formal group of seven countries that has legal existence permanent secretariat and official members and statement two says that Russia is currently a member of G7 and we need to find the correct statement. When you take statement one see the group of seven or G7 is an informal group of seven countries that has no legal existence no permanent secretariat and no official members. So therefore first statement is incorrect. When you take the second statement see currently Russia is not a member of G7 at present only United States Canada France Germany Italy Japan and the United Kingdom are the members. So second statement is also incorrect. Since the question wants us to identify only the right statement the correct option is option D that is neither one nor two. The list of main questions is given below for your reference you can write your answer and post them in the comment section. With this we have come to the end of today's Hindu news analysis. If you like the video then don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel for more updates regarding UPSC civil services preparation.