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Grab this opportunity to kickstart your mains exam preparation and improve your mains score. With this information, let me welcome you all to the Hindu News Analysis for the date 22nd of October 2022. The articles taken up for today's discussion are displayed here. With this, let's start our first article discussion. Take a look at this news article. It reports about the rare appearance of a great Indian bastard in Pakistan's Cholistan desert. Some environmentalists are speculating that these birds have migrated from India's desert national park which is located in the Rajasthan state to Pakistan's Cholistan desert. Have a look at this map here. It shows the location of both the Cholistan desert and the desert national park. See, this is a worrying news because it indicates two things. One is that this migration shows that the great Indian bastard habitate in India is shrinking. The next one is that the protective mechanism for the great Indian bastard in Pakistan is low, so they are susceptible to poaching there. This is about the news article. In this context, let us revise about the great Indian bastard. See, the great Indian bastard is one of the heaviest flying birds. These birds are endemic to the Indian subcontinent. They are primarily terrestrial birds. Generally, the males are taller and heavier than female birds. Also note that it is one of the rarest birds in the world. Most of the population are located in India. Very few birds are in Pakistan. In India, the largest number of around 150 is found in Thar desert in Rajasthan, which nearly accounts for 95% of the global great Indian bastard population. Few birds are also sighted in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Now, coming to the habitat of the birds. This species usually inhabitates open habitats like in short grasslands, open shrub and rain-fed agriculture fields. See, the great Indian bastard is a crucial indicator when it comes to grassland ecosystems. Now, let's see about their breeding pattern. Great Indian bastards breed in selected grasslands during the mating periods. The male display themselves to attract females. See, the males have a gular pouch. When they wish to attract females, they inflate the pouch. It helps them to produce a resonant, booming mating call to attract females. The sound of the mating call can be heard up to a distance of 500 meters. An image of the great Indian bastard with its inflated gular pouch is given below. For your reference, see how elegant the bird looks. This is all about the breeding pattern. Now, coming to the reasons for the declining number of great Indian bastards. First reason is the habitat loss. This is what the article reports also. Then comes the poaching of the birds. Yeah, great Indian bastards are susceptible to poaching. After that, there is a predation of nests by foxes and feral dogs. Then finally comes the issue of powerline collisions. See, these birds are prone to collision with powerlines. This is because of their poor frontal vision and their inability to see powerlines from a distance. Due to their larger size, it becomes difficult for them to maneuver or to shift trajectory quickly after seeing the powerlines. Many a time there is a huge impact with these lines and even if there is no electrocution, the birds die because of the impact of collision. Sometimes they die also because of electrocution. The habitats of great Indian bastards have a high density of transmission lines because of the potential for renewable energy production in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Finally, before ending our discussion, let's see a few facts about this bird. This species is known for its very slow reproductive rate. It lays only one egg for one or two years and the success rate of these eggs under ideal condition itself is around only 60% to 70%. Because of such very low reproductive rate and specific habitat requirements, the species is found to be highly vulnerable. If you can remember, in August this year, there was a news in the Hindu newspaper about Great Indian Busted. The news was about a captive breeding program in the desert national park. Since it was a rare occurrence, it was reported in the newspaper. Now finally, let's see about the conservation status. Great Indian Busted is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. In India, it is placed under the Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act 1972. And finally, it is placed in the Appendix I of Sites. This is all with respect to Great Indian Busted. Through this discussion, we have seen about the Great Indian Busted, its habitat and why the population of Great Indian Busted is not increasing. With this information, now let's move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this article. It says that Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Alagabad High Court's order that had previously dismissed a PLA seeking probe into Taj Magal's history. In this context, let's learn about Taj Magal. As we all know, Taj Magal was built by Mughal Emperor Shajagan to honor his wife, Mumtaj Magal. It is one of the seven wonders of the world. It houses the tomb of both Mumtaj Magal and Shajagan. Taj Magal is located in the banks of river Yamuna in the city of Agra. The Mausoleum architecture takes inspiration from Indian, Persian and Arabic architecture. It was built out of white Makrana marble that was sourced from the Indian state of Rajasthan. Taj Magal is located atop on an elevated square plinth that features four minarets standing at each of the four corners of the structure. The interior of the architecture is decorated with marble jelly works, calligraphy and Pietra Dura. Here, Pietra Dura is a decorative art form that involves inserting pieces of contrasting often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form ornament or pictures. And jelly or pierced screens involves creating perforated slabs of stones. This was done during those times to ensure privacy and allow for air flow. This is about the Taj Magal. But have you heard about mini-Taj of Deccan? It is none other than BB Ka Makbara. BB Ka Makbara is located in Aurangabad district in Maharashtra. See, it is the burial place of Dilra's Banu Begum, the first wife of Mughal Emperor Aurangasib. She was also known as Rabia Uddurani. In 1660, Aurangasib commissioned a mausoleum at Aurangabad to act as Dilra's final resting place known as BB Ka Makbara. In the following years, her tomb was repaired by her son Asamsa under Aurangasib's order. It is an imitation of the Taj Magal at Agra. You would have noticed this after looking at the pictures. Due to its similar design, it is popularly known as the mini-Taj of Deccan. An inscription found on the main entrance door mentions that this mausoleum was designed and directed by Atta Ulla, who was an architect working under Aurangasib. Here, an interesting fact to notice that Atta Ulla was the son of Ustad Agmad Lagouri, the principal designer of the Taj Magal. With this, we have come to the end of this particular discussion. Through this discussion, we have briefly seen about Taj Magal and also about the mini-Taj of Deccan known as BB Ka Makbara. With this, let's move on to the next article. Have a look at this opinion article taken from the yesterday's newspaper. See, this news article is a conversation between three eminent persons who discuss various aspects of SC status in India. Now suddenly, it is in news because recently, Union government formed a three-member commission of inquiry headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice K. G. Balakrishnan. The purpose of this commission is to examine whether scheduled caste status can be accorded to the elites who have converted to religions other than Sikhism and Buddhism over the years. So, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us quickly go through some of the important points mentioned in the article. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here. You can go through it. Now, let's begin with the question, who are scheduled castes? See, scheduled castes are sub-communities within the framework of Hindu caste system. These communities have historically faced deprivation, oppression and extreme social isolation in ancient India. This was accorded to them due to their perceived low status in the caste hierarchy. If you are asking me what kind of historical oppression, I hope you all remember about the Varna system. In the context of Hinduism, Varna refers to a social class within a hierarchical caste system. It is nothing but a social stratification based on the Varna that is the caste. It has four basic categories which includes Brahmin, Shrathriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. So, here know that the Shudras are the one who are forced into work that predominantly involved sanitation, disposal of animal carcasses, cleaning of human excreta and other tasks that involved contact with unclean materials. Due to this, the Shudras were also referred to as untouchables. They were prohibited from drinking water from shared water sources, they cannot live in or use areas frequented by higher-castes and they also faced social and economic isolation. So, often they were denied rights and privileges. Later, the so-called lower-castes that is the Shudras were termed as scheduled castes. This was done for the first time through the Government of India Act 1935. The definition of the term scheduled cast was mentioned in part 14 of the act. From then, the same definition continued to be used by the Indian Government post-independence as well. I hope now you can get an idea for the question who scheduled castes are. Now, coming to the question who decides upon the communities which are scheduled castes or not. See, the answer for this question is the President decides. See, Article 341 of the Indian Constitution gives the President the power to notify which castes in the country and in specific states comes under the category of scheduled castes. The article states that the President, by issuing a public notification, can deem a specific group or community as a scheduled cast. Remember, according to the Constitution Order 1950, only marginalized Hindu communities can be deemed as scheduled castes in India. So, here you can understand that our Constitution itself provides several provisions to uplift and protect the rights of the SE communities. The notable one among them is the provision that provides reservation to the community. Now, let us have an overview about the historical background of reservations. Firstly, know that William Hunter and Jyothira Poole were the first ones who originally conceived the idea of cast-based reservation system in 1882 itself. Later, the reservation system that exists today in its true sense was introduced in 1933 when British Prime Minister Ramse McDonald presented the communal award. See, the communal award was announced after the round table conference and it extended the separate electorate to depressed classes and other minorities. That is, the award made provisions for separate electorates for Muslims, Sikhs, Indian Christians, Anglo-Indians, Europeans and the Dalits. But the communal award was rejected by Magatma Gandhi as he feared that the award would disintegrate Hindu society by creating racial divide within the community. He even went on a fast unto death against the communal award announced by the British government. After long negotiations, Gandhi and Ambedkar signed the Poonapact. It is in the Poonapact where it was decided that there would be a single Hindu electorate with certain reservations in it. Or in simple words, the Poonapact resulted in a joint electorate within an enhanced number of seats reserved for the depressed classes. Later, after independence, reservations were initially introduced for a period of 10 years and only for SCs and STs, but it kept on extending with several changes made to it. For example, in 1991, OBCs were also included in the Ambit of Reservation after the recommendations of the Mandel Commission. Here you must know about the Mandel Commission. See, in excess of the powers conferred by Article 340 of the Indian Constitution, the President of the day appointed a backward class commission in December 1978, which was under the chairmanship of BP Mandel. The commission was formed to determine the criteria for defining India's social and educationally backward classes. It was also given the duty to recommend steps to be taken for the advancement of those classes. The Mandel Commission concluded that India's population consisted of approximately 52% of OBCs. Therefore, 27% of government jobs should be reserved for them. Apart from identifying backward classes among Hindus, the commission also has identified backward classes among non-Hindus. Here non-Hindus are Muslims and Christians. It also generated an All India Other Backward Classes list of around 3,743 casts. But later in the Indraswani case of 1992, the Supreme Court, while upholding the 27% quota for the backward classes, struck down the government notification reserving 10% of the government jobs for the economically backward classes among the higher-cats. The Supreme Court in the same case also upheld the principle that combined reservation beneficiaries should not extend 50% of India's population. The concept of creamy layer also gained popularity through this judgment. That is, the judgment made sure that the reservation for backward classes should be confined to initial appointments only and not extend to promotions. Recently, the Constitutional Amendment Act of 2019 provided 10% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the economically backward in the unreserved category. The Act amended Article 15 and 16 of the Indian Constitution by adding classes empowering the government to provide reservation on the basis of economic backwardness. Remember, this 10% economic reservation is over and above the 50% reservation cap which was introduced by the court during the Indraswani judgment. So, this is all about the historical background of reservations in India. I hope that you have an idea about the reservations now. Now, let's understand about the Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians and whether they should be given schedule cast status or not. To answer this question, one among the eminent person who has given his opinion in the article said that all groups which are discriminated on the basis of their identity should be provided protection by law against such discrimination. In that way, he says that if Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims are found to be discriminated, then they should be provided with reservation. Now, coming to the arguments which are against granting schedule cast status for other religion people. There must be an empirical study be carried out to understand the present condition of previous untouchables who have converted to Christianity and Islam. Without this empirical study, no AC status should be granted to the Christian and Muslim Dalits is the argument put forward. Another argument is that Abrahamic religions doesn't have any social stratification within them unlike the Hindu and this AC status is specifically suited for individuals who are within the Hindu fold. These are the two arguments put forward by some people who are against granting AC status for Christians and Muslims. With this, we have come to the end of our discussion. Through this discussion, we learned about the schedule cast and also about the constitutionally granted reservation for them. With these learned points, now let's move on to the next article. Take a look at this news article. It reports that India successfully test-fired indigenously developed new generation medium-range ballistic missile called Agni Prime from the Odisha coast. So, in this news article discussion, let us understand the difference between cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. And we shall also see some of the facts about the new generation medium-range ballistic missile called Agni Prime. See, first of all, a missile is a rocket-propiled weapon that is designed to deliver an explosive warrant with great accuracy at high speed. Missiles range from small weapons which are effectively only up to a few hundred feet to large strategic weapons that has got ranges of several thousand miles. Based on their type, missiles are generally classified into cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. See, a cruise missile is an unmanned self-propiled guided vehicle that sustains its flight through aerodynamic lift. They generally fly within the Earth's atmosphere and they make use of the jet engine technology. Since they have their own engine, their path can be altered even after their launch. Famous example of a cruise missile is BrahMos. In contrast, a ballistic missile is one that has a ballistic trajectory over most parts of its flight irrespective of whether or not it is a weapon delivery vehicle. See, ballistic trajectory means that the missile will move on a path under the influence of gravity. They carry huge payloads and can be launched from both ship and land-based facilities. Examples of ballistic missiles are Prithvi-1, 2, Danush and Agni. Here, you must know the Agni series. See, Agni's class of missiles are the backbone of India's nuclear launch capability. It also includes the Prithvi short-range ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, etc. Agni missiles are long-range nuclear weapon capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile. Know that the first missile of the series, Agni-1, was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program and tested in 1989. Its range was around 1000 km and it was developed by the famous Defense Research Development Organization. After its success, Agni missile program was separated from the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program upon realizing its strategic importance. Currently, there are five Agni series of missiles. The maximum range of Agni series of missiles is that of Agni-5. It has a range of around 5000 km. With this humongous range, India can even target Beijing, the capital city of China. The details of all the missiles belonging to the Agni family are given here. So, kindly pause the video and go through the details. Now, we shall see few important facts about Agni Prime. See, the Agni Prime, also known as Agni-P, is a medium-range ballistic missile developed by the DRDO. It is developed as a successor for the Agni-1 and Agni-2 missiles. Agni-P is a two-stage, canisterized solid propellant ballistic missile with dual redundant navigation and guidance system. It has a range between 1000 and 2000 km. Here, canister is nothing but the cylindrical container which holds the missile. The missile comes with new composites, propulsion systems and innovative guidance and control mechanisms besides the latest navigation systems. And now, it became the sixth missile in the Agni series of ballistic missile family. This is all with respect to the Agni-P missile. Through this discussion, we came to know about the difference between the two types of missile system, namely ballistic and cruise missiles. Also, we learned about the Agni missile family. These learned points now let us move on to the next article. Take a look at this Ground Zero report. This article talks about the Indian coffee industry and the issues affecting it. The issues include increasing cost of production, higher cost of credit, low productivity, less availability of skilled labour, climate change, competition from Brazil and Vietnam in global market, high-depth burden, exploitation by traders, highly volatile price and finally, climate change associated issues like rise of new pest and diseases. The article also gives some suggestions to address these issues. First is to increase alternative source of revenues by employing intercropping and promoting green tourism. Next is, promoting India's coffee brand identity in the global coffee market. Finally, value addition to fetch premium price for the coffee seeds in India must be done. This is all about the article. In this context, let us see some points about coffee cultivation in India. First, a little bit of history. It is said that coffee was introduced in India during 1680 by the legendary holy saint, Baba Bhutan. The place where he planted the coffee seeds is now called as Baba Bhutan Giri Hills which is located in the southern district of Karnataka. The commercial plantations of coffee were started by the British entrepreneurs during the 18th century. Since then, the Indian coffee industry has made rapid strides and earned a distinct identity in the global coffee market. See, India's current share of the global coffee market is around 5% and it also ranks 8th after Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Colombia, Honduras, Ethiopia and Peru. Now, let us see the climatic condition required for growing coffee. See, coffee is a tropical plantation crop. It can tolerate temperatures ranging from 15 degree to 28 degree Celsius. It grows well in regions that receive around 150 to 250 centimeter of rainfall distributed over a period of 100 days. This period must be followed by a continuous dry period of similar duration. This dry weather is necessary for the time of ripening of the berries. Coffee requires well-drained loamy soil for cultivation. Hence, hill slopes are more suitable for the growth of this crop. This is the main distinct feature of the Indian coffee. While coffee in Brazil and Vietnam is grown on a flat surface, in India it is grown on slopes. Also note that Indian coffee is grown in the shades. Nearly 50 different types of shade trees are found in the Indian coffee plantations. Shade trees prevent soil erosion on a sloping terrain and also protect the coffee plant from seasonal fluctuations in temperature and play host to diverse flora and fauna. Now, moving on to the distribution of coffee cultivation in India. The plantations in the south are the cradle of Indian coffee. Traditionally, coffee in India is grown in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where Karnataka alone produces two-thirds of India's coffee. Now, the coffee cultivation is moving to new areas. Farmers in eastern Ghats and the north-eastern states are developing coffee plantations. The Araku Valley, Arabica coffee from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha recently got a G8 tag. Finally, what are the types of coffee that are grown in India? See, there are three varieties of coffee grown globally. They are Arabica, Robusta and Liberica. India mostly grows superior quality coffee, which is nothing but Arabica and Robusta. This is all regarding coffee industry in India. Through this discussion, we came to know about the conditions required for coffee growth and also about the coffee industry in India. With this, we have come to the end of our today's discussion. Now, moving on to see the prelims practice question. Today, I have taken two prelims question for discussion. Now, coming to the first question, let me read out the question, which among the following mogul rulers is associated with the peacock throne? The correct answer for this question is option C, Sajagan. We will see a few facts about peacock throne. C, it was first commissioned by Sajagan and it was constructed during its reign. The worth of the throne is calculated to be about two times the price of construction of Taj Magal. Large amounts of solid gold, precious stones and pearls were used, creating a masterful piece of mogul workmanship that was unsurpassed before or after its creation. It was seen as an opulent indulgence that could only be seen by a small number of courtiers, aristocrats and visiting dignitaries. During the reign of Mogmud Shah, the Mogul Empire was in decline. At that time, Nadir Shah of Iran invaded the Mogul capital city of Delhi. During the invasion, Nadir Shah returned to Persia with the peacock throne. Later, in 1747, Nadir Shah was assassinated by his own bodyguards. The peacock throne was dismantled by the looter and was sold off. Now, moving on to the second question. This is a previous year prelims question, so kindly pay attention. Let me read out the question. With reference to India's desert national park, which of the following statements are correct? Statement 1. It is spread over two districts. This statement is correct because desert national park spreads over districts of Jaisalmer and Barmer in Rajasthan. So, statement 1 is correct. Now, coming to the second statement. There is no human habitation inside the park. This statement is incorrect because there is a human habitation present inside the borders of the park. So, statement 2 is incorrect. Now, coming to the third statement. It is one of the natural habitats of the great Indian buster. About this statement, we have seen briefly in the news discussion itself. And the newspaper article also reports about this. So, this statement is correct. So, the correct option for this question is option C 1 and 3 only. Two prelims quiz question are displayed here. Interested aspirants can post the correct answer in the comment section. The main practice question is displayed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of our discussion. If you have liked our video, please hit the like button, do comment and share it with your friends. For further watching videos like this, please subscribe to Shankarai's academy. Thank you.