 Good evening aspirants, welcome to daily news analysis brought to you by Shankar Iyer's Academy. Today's date is 27th January 2024. Displayed here are the list of topics we are going to see today. Now let us get into the discussion. Look at this news article. Recently the Supreme Court gave a landmark verdict in Bilki's Bono case. Know that the remission orders of love and convicts are cancelled by Supreme Court. It also asked them to go back to the prison within two weeks time. This case was regarding the Gujarat riots of 2002. So in this context the editorial discusses the ethical and legal part of remission. So let us understand the ethical issues involved in remission using our main censor writing approach. Now take a look at this main question. Discuss the concept of remission in criminal justice system highlighting its significance and challenges. And this is the syllabus regarding this topic. It comes under GS paper 4 ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions. See this question deals with ethical dilemmas. So in the first part it asks us to explain the significance of granting remission for prisoners and in the second part it demands the challenges of remission. So we can divide the answer into two parts. Now let us start with the introduction. In the introduction we can briefly explain about what is remission. Remission is a complete ending of sentence at a reduced point of time. To put it simply let us see a person yaks. If he is given life imprisonment by the court then the yaks spend 14 years in jail. After that he can ask for remission. It means he will be set free. Note that in remission the nature of sentence remains unchanged but the duration is shortened. The ethical basis of remission should be the ethics of forgiveness in the society. Moreover it was also articulated by Gandhi as hate the sin not the sinner. Now let us see the body part of the answer. In first part you should discuss about the significance in granting remission for prisoners. Firstly, remission ensures individual justice to the convicts. See individual justice mandates a fair chance to be given to rejoin the society. If the prisoner feels pity and remorse for his crime he can be given individual justice. This should be a cornerstone of any justice system as its base rests on moral development of individuals and society. Secondly, remission ensures compassion and humanity. See remission is an act of compassion by the courts or by the society. Note that many of the long term prisoners might face serious illness, old age sufferings so it is absolutely necessary to provide remissions on the ground of old age or health conditions and other compassionate reasons. Even though it is not a fundamental right of convicts this is the moral duty of the state to ensure it. Thirdly, remission prevents overcrowding in prisons. According to prison statistics in the year 2021 between 2016 and 2021 the number of convicts in the jails has increased by 9.5% whereas the number of under trial inmates has increased by 45.8%. So this shows the inhuman condition in our jails so naturally remission will reduce the issue of overcrowding in prisons. In this way it will provide the living condition for prisoners and improve the overall management of prison. Fourthly, remission will give a positive message for other prisoners. If the morally changed well behaved and reformed one is getting released it will change the attitude of other prisoners in a positive way. Finally, remission will also be economical to the state. This is because it will decrease the various costs associated with carrying of old prisoners and management of jail. With this we have completed the first part of body that is the significance of remission. Now let us see the second part of the body. Here we are going to discuss the challenges of remissions in the society. The first challenge is that it may lead to injustice to the victim. See an act of compassion towards a convict should not be insensitive to the victim of crime. The remission is even painful for the victims when the convict didn't feel remorse for their crimes or in some cases the prisoners are celebrated in the society when they are released. For example in Bilki's Bono case where the remission of convicts didn't take into account the sufferings of the victim. The second challenge is that the remission is often misused by political parties for their short term gains. This is evident in the hero worship of convicts in the society. The third challenge is the issue of discrimination based on social status. See the remission is often used by convicts from privileged backgrounds to get out of the jail. But sadly there are increasing number of under trails from marginalized communities in India. This should be balanced so that justice should not be an elite phenomenon. Fourthly there are challenges like lack of transparency in granting remission. And there is also lack of accountability with the process of remission. So this is the body part of the answer now we have come to the conclusion. We can write the conclusion in two ways. In one way we can write the way forward approach by following the guidelines given under Lakshman Naskar versus Union of India case in 2000. Let us see the guidelines provided under this case. Firstly we should ensure that the offence is an individual act of crime that does not affect the society. Secondly we should ensure that whether there is a chance of crime being repeated in the future. Thirdly ensure whether the convict has lost the potentiality to commit the crime. Fourthly we should also look into the socio-economic conditions of the convicts family before taking the decision. Now you can also give a conclusion like a general conclusion. Remission is an important relief of criminal justice system. Not only it allows for the reduction of sentence of a prisoner but also it gives a second chance for a person to live his life. But the ethical dilemmas of permission should be addressed to make it not only legal but also a moral remission. For this we should follow the principles of justice, mercy and public safety. So in this way you can give a general conclusion. So with this let us conclude the discussion and more to the next topic. Look at this news article it talks about the concerns over proposed broadcasting services regulation bill 2023. This article is about the concerns regarding the broadcasting services bill. Let us see the important concerns surrounding this bill. Firstly know that the draft bill provides a regulatory provisions for various broadcasting services under a single legislative framework. Here the broadcasting services include cable TV direct to home that is DTH, terrestrial television, internet protocol television, FM radio, all-in-the-radio and community radio. So all this comes under broadcasting services. The bill also seeks to replace the existing cable television network Act 1995 and other policy guidelines currently governing the broadcasting sector in the country. This is to modernize the existing regulatory framework. Secondly the bill extends its regulation on over the top content that is OTT content and digital news and also current affairs. These things are currently regulated through IT Act 2000. Thirdly and most importantly the bill mandates every broadcaster or broadcasting network operator to establish one or more content evaluation committee that is CEC. This committee is like an internal committee within the organization and their purpose is to certify the programs to broadcast. In other words every broadcaster or broadcasting network operator can broadcast only those programs which are certified by the CEC that is content evaluation committee. But the issue here is that as per the text of the bill the central government will prescribe the number of members in CEC, the quorum required for the committee and other details that are required to facilitate the formation of CEC. So basically this committee will formed by the prescription of central government. The members of the committee can comprise of eminent individuals representing different social group and the central government will also provide the list of programs for which CEC should not give approval. So this raises issues like content censorship, publishers autonomy and it also affects the pull model where the consumers choose the content. Fourthly the bill mandates the broadcasters for the appointment of grievance redressal officer. He will receive and hear complaints in the violation of program code and the advertisement code. If the complainant is not satisfied with the decision of grievance redressal officer then he can appeal to the broadcast advisory council within the time limit. The time limit for this provision is not mentioned in the bill, it will be formulated soon by the central government. Implementing this provision could be a concern especially for smaller or resource constrained media outlets and these stringent regulations may unintentionally reduce the creativity and diverse opinions in the media. So these are the important concerns and provisions regarding the bill. With this let us conclude the discussion and move to the next topic. Look at this news article. Recently a fire broke out in Rathol coal mine in Nahaland. In this fire six workers were killed and four were seriously injured. So this raised a concern over illegal Rathol mining which has been going rampantly in this state. So in our discussion let us see about Rathol mining. This form of mining involves digging a narrow horizontal tunnels into the ground to extract the minerals from the ground. Here the tunnels are so small it is approximately 2 meter in diameter just around 1 to 4 feet. It is so small like a Rathol. So you can understand the relevance of the name here. Since this hole is very small they cannot use large equipment so they end up using small equipments to extract the coal. Now once the coal is taken out of the pit it is dumped on nearby unmined area. From there the coal is carried to the large dumping places for its trade and transportation. So this is how the Rathol mining is done. In India Rathol mining is mainly employed to extract the coal. So this method is typically used to extract coal from regions like Mehalaya and other northeastern states. States like Odisha, Mathya Pradesh, Chattiskirk and Jharkhand also have a lot of coal reserves. But in these states the Rathol mining is not employed. In Mehalaya the Rathol mining was employed due to several reasons. The first reason is a terrain and economic viability. The coal reserves in Mehalaya are very thin so this makes a traditional opencast mining in Mehalaya less economically feasible. So the Rathol mining was considered a more viable method. This is because it is believed to be more cost effective for extracting the coal from this region. The second reason is limited control over land. See Mehalaya is a sixth scheduled state where the coal mines nationalization act of 1973 does not apply to the state. So the landowners in Mehalaya also own the minerals beneath their land. So this results in limited government control over the mining activities in this region. So these are the main reasons why Rathol mining is employed in Mehalaya. See generally many hazards are associated with the coal mining process which increases the threat to miners. There will be risk of collapsing of mine troops, inundation of soil, fires in coal mines. So these are the important risks associated with Rathol mining. With this let us conclude the discussion and move to the next topic. Look at this front page article in order to mark the 25th anniversary of Indo-French partnership. Both countries agree to adopt a roadmap to set the course for bilateral relationship up to 2047. As a part of this plan, yesterday both the countries announced defense industrial roadmap. The roadmap aims to enhance cooperation on defense protection and future collaboration in co-designing and co-developing military hardware. Other agreements over the partnerships were in space, energy, digital health, agriculture, education and establishment of joint venture for local manufacturing of civilian helicopters for which Airbus and Tata have signed an agreement. So this is the crux of the article given here. In this context we are going to see about the bilateral defense ties between India and France. Firstly know that as of 2023 France is the second largest arms supplier to New Delhi. Nearly 30 percentage of arms required for India is imported from France. So this is as per Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report which is released in 2023. The first major defense tie is regarding Indian multi-role helicopter program. Saffron helicopter engine which belongs to France have concluded an agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. This agreement is regarding the developing of critical components for heavy lift helicopters. The second major defense tie is with respect to Scorpion Submarine Construction Program which is also called P-75 Calvary Project. Project 75 intends to build six diesel electric attack submarines which belongs to Calvary class of submarines and this is based on French origin Scorpion class. So currently submarines are being constructed by Magason Dock Ltd. Thirdly as we all know in 2016 India has agreed to buy 36 Rafale jets from France for 59,000 crore. So the Rafale would be a great aid to joint strategic vision of India-France cooperation in Indian Ocean region. Fourthly the relations are further strengthened with the robust network of military dialogues and regularly held joint exercises. So there were three joint exercises between India and France that is Varuna which is a naval exercise and Garuda it is an air force exercise and lastly Shakti which is an army exercise. So these three are joint exercises between India and France. Apart from this France was among the first country which India signed a civil nuclear deal. France also played a critical role in limiting India's isolation in non-proliferation order after 1998 nuclear test. France also supports India's bid for permanent membership of United Nations Security Council as well as the entry of India into nuclear suppliers group. So this is all regarding this discussion now let us move to the next topic. Look at this news article it shows a photograph of golden tiger that was taken from Assam's Kasi Ranga National Park. This photo was shared by former chief minister of Assam on national tourism day. The tiger appears to be gold due to special mutation where the orange color of the tiger's body gets faded. So it appears in gold in color so this is why it is called as golden tiger and this is the crux of the article. So in this context let us quickly go through about Kasi Ranga National Park for our problem 6. As we all know Kasi Ranga National Park is situated in Assam and it is spread over two districts of Assam. This national park is present between the transition zone of Indo-Malayan biological realm. The Brahmaputra river flows through this park. Also note that Mora-Diplu river forms a southern boundary of Kasi Ranga National Park. The other notable rivers in the park Diplu river and Mora-Dansri river. So there are four major rivers which is flowing through this park. Now coming to the geology Kasi Ranga National Park has flat areas of fertile alluvial soil that was formed by erosion and deposition by the Brahmaputra river. The landscape of Kasi Ranga National Park has sandbars, riverine, flood formed lakes which are called as Bills. The riverine islands which is called as Chaporis. So the Chaporis provide shelter for animals during floods. See Kasi Ranga National Park is known for Big 5. The Big 5 refers to one-horned rhinos, elephants, Bengal tigers, Asiatic water buffaloes and swamp deer. Also note that Kasi Ranga National Park has two-third of old's great one-horned rhinoceros. So the largest population of one-horned rhinoceros is present in Kasi Ranga National Park. It also possess high density of tigers and has one of the largest populations of tiger in India. Note that it was declared as tiger reserve in 2006. The national park is also very important for wetlands and bird conservation. So it is also declared as important area for migrated birds. The bird life international has declared this national park as important bird area. So because of these significance the Kasi Ranga National Park was included in World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 under natural category. So this is all about Kasi Ranga National Park. Now we have come to the prillims practice question discussion. Look at the first question. Cobbard National Park and Ganga River, this pair is incorrect. The river which flows through Cobbard National Park is Raman Ganga, Kasi Ranga National Park and Manas. This pair is also incorrect. In Kasi Ranga National Park as we have seen in the discussion Brahmabutra, Diplu, Mora Diplu, Mora Danshree are the main rivers that flows through Kasi Ranga National Park. Silent Valley National Park, Cauvery. This pair is also incorrect. Kundi Pula river flows through the Silent Valley National Park, Ratthambur National Park and Manas. This pair is correct. So the correct answer is option A, only one. Now look at the second question. It is a previous year question. Under which schedule of constitution of India can the transfer of tribal land to the private parties for mining be declared null and void? The correct answer is option B, fifth schedule. Now look at the third question. Raphael is a twin-engine multi-role fighter aircraft manufactured by Israel. These aircraft are capable of carrying out all combat missions. They can undertake interception, air defense, in-depth strikes, ground support, reconnaissance, anti-ship strikes including nuclear deterrence. So these are general points. As we know from the discussion, the first statement is incorrect. The Raphael is manufactured by France and not Israel. The other two statements are obviously correct. So the correct answer is option B, only two. With this, we have come to the end of the discussion. If you liked the video, please share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe to Shankara A.S. Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.