 A very good evening aspirants, we are happy to announce that Shankar IAS Academy is conducting a free All India Prelims Mark Test. As you can see, the test will be conducted across 13 centres, both in online and offline mode. The test starts on 15th of May 2022. Use this wonderful opportunity and check your progress with our free All India Prelims Mark Test. The link for the registration is given in the description, kindly make use of it. Welcome to Indian News Analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy. Today is 13th of May 2022. The list of articles we are going to discuss today is displayed on the screen, you can go through it. Let's start our discussion with this previous year question. See this question was asked in the year 2019. Let me read out the question, consider the following statements. The 44th amendment to the constitution of India introduced an article placing the election of the prime minister beyond judicial review. And two, the Supreme Court of India stuck down the 99th amendment to the constitution of India as being violative of the independence of judiciary. And we have to find the correct statements here. See the 39th constitutional amendment act said that the president is not answerable to a court of law for anything done while in office and the exercise of his powers. The act also mentions that matters relating to his election should not be brought before a court of law but should be entrusted to a forum other than a court. And the same reasoning applies equally to the incumbents of the office of vice president, prime minister and speaker. So here it should be 39th constitutional amendment act instead of 44th CA. So statement one is incorrect. And regarding statement two, it is correct, it is a very easy statement. We have discussed this so many times in our daily news analysis. We know that 99th constitutional amendment act 2014 provided for national judicial appointments commission. The NJAC Act was enacted by the union government to regulate the procedure to be followed for recommending names for appointment as chief justice of India and other judges of Supreme Court and chief justices and judges of high courts and for their transfers. Here on October 15th, a constitutional bench comprising five judges declared the NJAC Act unconstitutional on the plea that it would affect the independence of judiciary. So here statement two is correct. Since statement two is correct and one is wrong, our final answer will be option B2 only. Now look at this question. See this question is directly taken from this article which I firmly believe because I don't find this much detail in any of our NCRTs. See exactly all the statements which are asked in this question is given in this article. If you find time, please go through this article. That's why it's very important to read newspaper every day. Just a casual reading of this article would have helped you to select the correct answer in that examination. See in this news article, there is huge paragraph dedicated to the titles given to Tansen alone. Now coming back to me and Tansen, he was born as Ramathanu and later came to be known as Tanna. There are many legends over and around his life. It is said that he could produce any sound. The story goes that once when the sadhus were crossing a field, they heard a lion's roar and located it to a young boy sitting on a tree. They advised his father to send him to Swami Haridas for training. However, it is believed that Tansen was born dumb and was taken to the Sufi saint Murshid Muhammad Gwaliori. On reaching Gwalior, he visited the Sufi saint and found him in the company of Swami Haridas. The saint blew air into the mouth of the child and Tanna began to peek. When the saint came to know that the child was also deaf, he blew air into his ears and he was cured. The Sufi saint then asked Swami Haridas to take him into his fold. Thus began his musical journey. As I said, this article mentions the title given to Tansen. Note that Tansen was the title given to him by Raja Vikramjit of Gwalior. Tansen was a court musician in the Darbar of Raja Ramachandra of Bandhavgarh. And when Akbar heard of his talent, he sent a foreman to the king asking for Tansen and made him one of the Navaratnas in his court. He gave him the title Mian. So, statement one is incorrect because Mian was the title given to him by Emperor Akbar. Since the question demands incorrect statement, our answer here will be option A. See, the article also mentions that Abul Fazal records in its Aini Akbari that Akbar gave rupees 2 lakh to Tansen for his first performance in the court. There he composed many Drupats on Ganesha, Shiva, Parvati and Rama. He also composed songs on his patterns. So option B and C are absolutely correct. The article further mentions that he invented the Night Raga, Darbhari Kanha, Morning Raha, Mian Ki Todi, Midday Raga, Mian Ki Saarang, Seasonal Raga, Mian Ki Malhar. So option D is also correct. Again our final answer here is option A because the question demands incorrect statement. Now let's move on to our first article discussion. Friends, see this open article, this article is again with respect to inflation. See more editorials and articles regarding inflation has been in news consistently and experts and policy makers are giving their different opinion in different perspectives. So we can definitely expect a question on inflation this year. And coming back to the article, it says that on May 4, the Reserve Bank of India decided to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.4 percentage points to 4.4 percentage. See there has been a growing demand to raise rates over the past few months. And this is because there is anxiety over retail inflation exceeding the central bank's tolerance limit of 6 percentage. And in this article experts discuss whether the RBI delayed the rate hike. This is the crux of the article. And in this context we will discuss the points mentioned in the article that are important for the examination. But before that the syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference, just go through it. Now let's start the discussion. Let's start with inflation. See inflation is the general rise in the price level of goods and services. It reduces the value of currency. And you have to know about inflation targeting. It revolves around adjusting monetary policy to achieve a specific annual rate of inflation. The principle of inflation targeting is based on the belief that long term economic growth is best achieved by maintaining price stability. And price stability is achieved by controlling the inflation. See the amendment to the RBI Act 1934 which is effective from June 2016 made way for a flexible inflation targeting framework in India. It defines the primary objective of monetary policy to be maintaining price stability together with the objective of growth. To operationalize this command government of India notified a medium term inflation target of 4 percentage with a band of plus or minus 2 percentage. That is inflation should be in the range of 2 percentage to 6 percentage. And the inflation target is fixed in terms of all India CPI combined issued by the central statistical office. So in this Upad article we saw that retail inflation breached 6 percentage and RBI has increased the interest rates. See before anything let's see the connection between interest rate and inflation. See in a fast growing economy incomes go up quickly and more and more people have the money to buy the existing bunch of goods. As more and more money chases the existing set of goods price of such goods increases. In other words inflation happens and to control this inflation a country central bank typically nudges up the interest rate in the economy. By doing so it incentivizes people to spend less and save more because savings becomes more profitable as interest rates goes up. As more and more people choose to save money is sucked out of the market and inflation rate moderates. Now coming back to the article keeping this in mind only RBI has increased the interest rates. But there has been questions why RBI has not increased the interest rates before itself. Why it has to wait till it reaches the tolerance limit of 6 percentage? For that the expert said that it has been a tight rope walk between growth and inflation. It is because the world is going through an abnormal period that started with the onset of COVID-19 followed by the Russian-Ukrain conflict. Since March 2020 central banks globally did everything they could to support growth. But the supply shocks across the globe due to COVID started to feed inflationary pressures. See as per the article RBI have the cushion up to 6 percentage of inflation. For abnormal conditions such as what we are experiencing in the last 2 years. As inflation has threatened to remain consistently above this 6 percentage as per mandate it was imperative that the RBI's focus shift from growth to inflation. And according to the article February was the right time to take actions against the rising inflation. Another expert says that economics cannot have a perfect model like when inflation goes above 6 percentage you cannot immediately hike interest rates. This is because the 2 to 6 percentage range is just an indicator. RBI might have waited to see if the war would stop or if oil prices would come down drastically. See if the practice of monetary policy is as simple as creating a model an algorithm could do a better job than a central banker right. So according to this expert this is a good time to raise interest rates with this information let us see is the interest rate hike actually a great way of controlling inflation. See actually depends if the inflation is largely because of problems with the supply chain then the problem with the supply chain only has to be addressed. And also note that the interest rates in the market are determined by the market forces and not by the fiat that is the government. So what else should RBI do to control inflation? See as per the article an interest rate hike is a necessary but not a sufficient condition. The necessary condition has to come through managing the liquidity. Increasing the cash reserve ratio is one way to manage liquidity. A combination of available liquidity in the system alongside a benchmark rate sends a more comprehensive signal to the market on forthcoming financial conditions which will help moderate demand. See we are already witnessing cold shortages this will definitely impact the power tariff and there is also increase in the price of crude and food items because of war. And the inflation forecast is in the band of 6.1 to 6.3 percentage. So there will be a growth. See we all know that between inflation and growth RBI would most certainly lean towards inflation because inflation is like a very inequitable tax on the less privileged. Now what can government do to make the situation better? See the government can lower the excise duty on fuel. It will help alleviate price pressures from headline fuel cost. Also the center will have to optimize between revenue expenditure and capital expenditure. Note that the government has done exceedingly well through some of its policy initiatives during the COVID-19 years by adding significant thrust to domestic manufacturing in the form of production linked instant use for 15 sectors. And this is to be appreciated. But when it comes to supply challenges only the government has to take the measure because the RBI can only use tools such as CRR, SLR, repo rate etc. But tackling supply side issues is outside its domain. The government has a duty to ensure that the growth momentum does not falter. The government will have to continue to spend till the private sector starts investing. Because of the huge demand shock, private sector investments have taken a backseat. As the economy gradually returns to normal, the private sector will start investing in new capacities. The biggest enabler for new investments to happen is the government's investment in infrastructure. When you have good roads, poor capacity, good railway capacity and good telecommunications, people will start investing and generate demand in faces. Okay, so that's all regarding this open article discussion. In this discussion, we have seen the connection between interest rates and inflation. That is in a fast growing economy. Incomes go up quickly and more and more people have the money to buy the existing bunch of goods. As more and more money changes the existing set of goods, price of such goods increase, that is inflation happens. Then we have seen why RBI has not increased the interest rates before itself. The first reason stated is that it has been a tightrope walk between growth and inflation for RBI. Because central banks globally did everything in their capacity to support growth. Another expert said that economics cannot have a perfect model. But an RBI might have waited to see if the war would stop or if oil price would come down dramatically. And finally we have seen what can the government do to make the situation better. The government can lower the excess studio and fuel. Also the government will have to optimize between revenue expenditure and capital expenditure. And finally we have seen the government will have to continue to spend till the private sector starts investing. With these learned points, let's move on to next news article discussion. Friends, see this article here. The news article mentions that the event horizon telescope has revealed the first image of a black hole called Sagittarius A star. So what is a black hole? See a black hole is an astronomical object. It is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying. Since no light can get out, people cannot see black holes. They are invisible. Only space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. Just know that based on its size and mass, these black holes are of different kinds. There are three major kinds. The smallest black holes, the stellar black holes and the supermassive black holes. Apart from this, astronomers also suspect an in-between class or kind of a black hole called intermediate mass black holes. But here our focus is on the third type which is supermassive black holes. Because the black hole mentioned in the news is a supermassive one. These are the largest black holes. Massive in the sense that these black holes have masses that are more than one million suns together. Scientists think supermassive black holes were made at the same time as that of the galaxy they are in. Scientists also have found proof that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center. So even our galaxy that is Earth's galaxy which is called the Milky Way galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center. It is called a Sagittarius A. Know that Sagittarius A has a mass equal to about 4 million suns. It is located in the middle of the Milky Way galaxy. But the news mentions as Sagittarius A are in short such A star. Why? We will discuss this now. See initially about 50 years ago astronomers identified an area within the constellation of Sagittarius. This area was the strongest region of radio emission. Therefore they concluded this place as the likely center of the Milky Way. So this region was given the name Sagittarius A. Then as science and technology improved astronomers were able to pinpoint a more exact location of the suspected location of the supermassive black hole through a variety of techniques. This resulted in an improved location of the black hole in the question. And this location that is the improved location was then named as Sagittarius A star to separate it from the larger region of Sagittarius A. See this image here the bigger circle is the Sagittarius A and the smaller one is the Sagittarius A star okay. So now the Sagittarius A star is the one that has a mass equal to about 4 million suns. It is more than 26,000 light years away from earth that is it is 152 quadrillion miles away. Also Sagittarius A star is our closest supermassive black hole. And now the news is that the event horizon telescope has captured the first image of this Sagittarius A star. In the image we cannot see the black hole itself because it is completely dark. But there is a glowing gas around it which is revealed in the image. So we can see a dark central region which is called a shadow. This region is surrounded by a bright ring like structure. So that's all regarding this news article. In this news article we have seen about a black hole which is an astronomical object and it is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. And this can happen when a star is dying okay. Then we have seen about Sagittarius A which is a supermassive black hole at the center of Earth's galaxy which is called Milky Way Galaxy. And as science and technology improved astronomers were able to pinpoint a more exact location of the suspected location of supermassive black hole through variety of techniques. This resulted in an improved location of a black hole and this improved area location was named Sagittarius A star to separate it from the larger region of Sagittarius A. With these key learnt points now let us move on to next news article discussion. See this article it says that election commission announced polls to 57 Rajasabha seats including those of retiring union ministers Nirmala Sita Raman, Piyush Goyal and Mukta Rabasnakvi on June 10. According to the election commission schedule nominations for the polls would be open from May 24 to 31. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context let us learn about elections to Rajasabha. First of all let us see about the strength of Rajasabha. Article 80 of the constitution lays down the maximum strength of Rajasabha which is 250. Out of 250 12 members are nominated by the president and 238 are representatives of states and of 3 union territories. Note that the present strength of Rajasabha however is 245 out of which 233 are representatives of the states and union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammuankashmir and 12 are nominated by the president. The members nominated by the president are persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as literature, science, arts and social service. See note that there are 8 members elected from the union territories that is 3 from Delhi, 1 from Puducherry and 4 from Jammuankashmir. Please note this fact only 3 union territories have representation in Rajasabha and other union territories are not represented in Rajasabha. And also note that the fourth schedule to the constitution provides for allocation of seats to the states and union territories in Rajasabha. The allocation of seats is made on the basis of the population of each state. Consequent on the reorganization of states and formation of new states, the number of elected seats in the Rajasabha allocated to the states and union territories has changed from time to time since 1952. Now let's see the electoral college. See the representatives of the states and the union territories in the Rajasabha are elected by the method of indirect election. The representatives of each state and 3 union territories are elected by the elected members of legislative assembly of that state and union territories. The election is conducted in accordance with the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote. See we all know that Rajasabha is a permanent house and is not subject to dissolution. However, one third members of Rajasabha retire every second year. And a member who is elected for a full term serves for a period of 6 years. That is the term of the members is 6 years. And also note that the election held to fill a vacancy arising other than the expiration of one's term of office is called by election. A member elected in a by election remains a member for a remainder of the term of the member who had resigned or died or disqualified to be the member of the house. Okay so that's all about the election of members to Rajasabha. Every point we have discussed in this article is very important. Just revise it. With these key learned points let's move on to next news article discussion. Look at this news article. This news article talks about the striped hyena. See this species is undergoing a steady decline. This created a fear that the species may go locally extant. Hence urgent measures are to be taken to conserve the population. See a survey of the species is yet to be conducted in the Sigur Plateau and the Moyar valley by the forest department. Also experts suggested translocation of hyenas to other suitable habitats. See translocation is nothing but the deliberate movement of organisms from one site for release in another site. Translocation could help the species starve of the risk of being wiped out from the region. This is the crux of the news article. So in this context let us learn about the striped hyenas in Prilim's perspective. See the scientific name of Indian striped hyena is hyena hyena. It is a mammal of the carnivora order and hyena family. They hoop, rumble, low and laugh when they are excited or on sensing danger. Hyenas are like wild dogs and are top predators that compete with other species. Striped hyenas usually live alone and difficult to spot. This is due to their shyness, nocturnal nature and habitats which include rocky outcroppings, dense scrublands and wetlands. When we talk about the location, they are found in India, Central Asia, North and East Africa and West Asia. Now we will see about the physical features of striped hyenas. See striped hyenas port a dog-like appearance with a long black muzzle and large pointed ears which provide excellent hearing. Their gold and brownish gray fur is lined with black stripes that stretches from neck to tail. This camouflage them in the tall grass and a bushy mane. And like spotted hyenas, their front legs are longer than their back legs. This helps them save energy while traveling long distances in search of food. See, when you take the spotted hyenas, it is one of the Africa's top predators. But the striped hyenas are mostly scavengers feasting on the carcasses of large animals. They have exceptionally strong jaws to chew up bones, hands and hooves and has a digestive system that can kill bacteria in carrion. See, when we talk about its food habits, as I said, they are predominantly scavengers. Its diet consisting mainly carrion and human refuse. It feeds on the carcass of large and medium sized mammals such as zebras, wildebeest and impales, etc. And they even eat the bone from the carcasses if the meat has been picked up. Note that it sublimates its diet with fruits, insects and occasionally by killing small animals like rodents, hare, reptiles and birds. So by eating the carcass, these species are performing a great role in completing the food chain. And talking about the social behavior, it is said to be a solitary animal roaming alone. But recent researchers show that they form small groups of up to seven animals in areas with abundant food or water. Then coming to its conservation status, the IUCN has categorized it as near threatened species on a global scale. Now coming to the reason for decline, it started declining in the Sigurd Plateau in 1980s and 90s because people reared cattle in pints. After the carnivores preyed on their cattle, the farmers would poison whatever remained of the carcasses of cattle. When the hyenas again preyed on this poison carcasses, it would eventually die. It also caused death of vultures. The reason for decline does not just end with these, there are so many reasons like habitat loss, etc. See lack of monitoring is being one of the major reason for population decline. So that is all regarding this news article. In this news article, we talked about thrived hyena, its physical features, habitat and food habits. Then we have seen that the IUCN has categorized it as near threatened species on a global scale. Then we have seen about the reasons for decline of thrived hyenas. With these learning, let us move on to next news article discussion. Look at this news article here. It talks about a twin satellite mission of ISRO. This is to study impact of space weather on upper atmosphere. In this context, let us briefly look at this twin satellite mission in prelims perspective. See the Indian Space Research Organization plans to build an identical pair of satellites. This twin aeronomy mission conceptualized by ISRO is Disha H and L mission. Disha here means disturbed and quiet time ionosphere thermosphere system at high altitudes. This will be launched in the lower earth orbit that is about 500 kilometers above earth. To be specific, among the two satellites, Disha H will be at high inclination orbit that is it will be at an inclination greater than 85 degrees. Then when you talk about Disha L, it will be at low inclination orbit that is it will be at an inclination of about 25 degrees. Note that these satellites will simultaneously orbit the earth at an altitude of approximately 400 kilometers. See all these are done to study the earth upper atmosphere. Just look at this image to observe the upper atmosphere. See the purpose of the mission is to study the physics and chemistry of this upper atmosphere. Now comes a question. What is the reason for studying upper atmosphere? See the upper atmosphere or high atmosphere is the first location to suffer the sun's fury before it percolates further doubt. Am I right? Hence capturing the magnetic latitudinal and longitudinal effects becomes crucial because these effects play a major role in the manifestation of phase weather events and its effects on earth's upper atmosphere. See the space weather is governed by the eruptive phenomena from the sun. This phenomena affects the ionosphere thermosphere system severely. Also the perturbation percolates to the lower altitudes depending on the intensity of the solar events. As I said these Disha satellites will study space weather and solar terrestrial interactions. This will help provide advanced warnings based on space weather happenings. So preventive actions can be taken quickly. So that is all regarding this news article. In this news article we have seen about Disha satellites. These two satellites will carry identical payloads. Disha H will be placed at a higher inclination from the earth equator while Disha L will remain at a lower inclination. Okay see that data generated by the proposed ISRO's solar mission that is Aditha L1 and by Disha satellites would help to understand the sun earth linkages. With all these key learned points let's move on to next part of our news article discussion which is nothing but preliminary practice questions discussion. Look at the first question it is related to election of members to Rajasabha. Consider the following statements about election of members to Rajasabha. Statement one a person to be qualified for the membership of the Rajasabha must not be less than 30 years of age. Statement two the presiding officer of the Rajasabha is elected from among its members and we have to find the incorrect statements here. See here statement one is correct. This statement is about the qualification of members for election to Rajasabha. They include he must be citizen of India and he must make and subscribe oath before some person authorized by election commission and he must not be less than 30 years of age and he must possess such qualifications as prescribed by any law made by the parliament. Okay so here statement one is correct and regarding statement two it is incorrect because the vice president of India is the ex-officio chairperson of Rajasabha and Rajasabha chooses deputy chairman from among its members. So here statement one is correct and statement two is incorrect and the question demands incorrect statement so our answer will be option B2 only. And look at this question. This question is regarding Haina which among the species is or are listed under least concern in IUCN red list. Statement one spotted Haina. Statement two striped Haina. Statement three brown Haina. See here the correct answer will be option A1 only because the spotted Haina is listed as least concern in IUCN red list. Other two Hainas that is striped Haina and brown Haina are listed as near threatened. Okay so our answer will be option A1 only. See today you have two quiz questions one is related to the black hole and the other question is related to Disha satellites. You can easily answer the question from our discussion itself so find the answer and post it in the comment section. The main question is displayed here write your answer and post it in the comment section. 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