 Good evening and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis of Shankar IIS Academy for the date 20th July 2020. The list of the news articles along with the page numbers of five different editions is given here for your reference. We have the handwritten notes in the PDF format and timestampings of all the news articles is given in the description section and also in the comment section for the best interest of the viewers. Let us now begin our news analysis. Now we have the first news article for today's analysis. This article is about the findings made by a research team from University of Hyderabad in collaboration with National Institute of Oceanography that is NIO and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited. And they have found out a once active 300 kilometer fault line or fracture line in the offshore region of North Andhra Pradesh. And they tell that it may become active in the future. Then maximum seismic activity and threat of tsunami will be near the vicinity of Visagapatnam. So in this context, let us discuss in brief about geological fault line and types of fault line and finally about National Institute of Oceanography. The syllabus relevant for this particular topic is given here for your reference. Please go through it. So as we know that outer part of earth is relatively cold. So when it is stressed, it tends to break. And faults are nothing but these breaks across which a slip has occurred. To put it simply, a fault is a fracture or a zone of fractures between two blocks of rock. And faults allow the block to move relative to each other. And this movement may occur rapidly or it may occur slowly. So here we should know that a rapid movement may result in an earthquake. And a slower movement may result in a form of creep. Here creep means a slow movement that goes unnoticed. And know that the boundaries between technonic plates are where most of the active faultings occur. But faultings can also occur in the middle of the plates too. That is particularly in the continents. In general, faulting is restricted to the top of 10 or 15 kilometers of the earth's crust. Now talking about the length of the fault, faults may range in a length from a few millimeters to thousands of kilometers. Most of the faults produce repeated displacements over georgical time. That is, they get displaced repeatedly over a period of time. And during an earthquake, the rock on one side of the fault suddenly slips with respect to other. We have elaborately discussed about the earthquake on our 7th June news analysis. Now talking about the fault surface, it can be horizontal or vertical or at some arbitrary angle in between. The faults are classified based on the angle of the fault with respect to the surface and the direction of slip along the fault. And this angle of fault is known as dip. Now have a look at this image. You can understand the angle of fault from this, that is the dip. Now when we talk about those types of faults, see the faults which move along the direction of the dip plane are called dip slip faults. That is, dip slip faults are inclined fractures where the blocks have mostly shifted vertically. And they are classified as normal or reverse. Here reverse means thrust. And this is depending on their motion. So here in a normal fault, the block above the fault has moved downward relative to the block below. And in a reverse or thrust fault, the upper block above the fault plane moves up and over the lower block. And faults which move horizontally are known as strike slip faults. They are classified as either right lateral or left lateral. And faults which show both dip slip and strike slip motion are known as oblique slip faults. Now coming to strike slip faults, we know that they can be either right lateral or left lateral. In a right lateral strike slip fault, the displacement of the far block is to the left when viewed from either side. That is, if you were to stand on the fault and look along its length, this is a type of strike slip fault where the right block moves towards you and left block has moved away from you. And in a left lateral strike slip fault, the displacement of the far block is to the right when viewed from either side. That means the left block will be near you and the right block will be moving away from you. Now finally we will see about National Institute of Oceanography. Know that NIO has its headquarters at Dona Paula Goa. It has three regional centres, one at Kochi, another at Mumbai and Vishagapatnam. And NIO is one of the 37 constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, that is CSIR. And the CSIR NIO was established in 1966 following the International Indian Ocean Expedition. And NIO is now a multi-disciplinary Oceanographic Research Institute of International Repute. Its principal focus of research has been on observing and understanding special oceanographic characteristics of the Indian Ocean. And know that International Indian Ocean Expedition took place in 1959 to 1965. And it was sponsored by Scientific Committee on Oceanographic Research, that is SCOR, and Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, that is IOC of UNESCO. So in this discussion we saw what is geological fault line and what are the different types of geological fault lines. And we also talked about National Institute of Oceanography. The practice question for this particular topic will be discussed at the end of the news analysis. Now with this we will move on to the next news. Now we have this editorial which discusses about the possible implications of the inclusion of Australia in joining the Malabar Naval Exercises. See yesterday there was a news that India's Ministry of Defence discussed the issue of adding Australia to the Malabar Naval Exercises this year. If Australia is included, it means all the members of the Quad, that is the Quadilateral Grouping, will take part in the Malabar Exercises. But there are certain issues concerning this which the author has discussed in this editorial. So in the context of this editorial analysis, let us see about Quad and Malabar Exercises from exam perspective. And then we will discuss the editorial. And the syllabus relevant for the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference. Now first let us see about Quad. Quad is nothing but the short form of Quadilateral Security Dialogue. It is an informal grouping between four countries which include India, Australia, Japan and USA. And the first Quad meeting happened in the year 2007. But the next Quad meeting was conducted only in 2017. And know that the Quad meetings usually take place only at the level of senior officials of these four countries. But in 2017, the first ministerial level meeting of Quad happened in USA. So the ministerial level engagement of Quad makes it a dialogue of huge international importance. So this Quad grouping is seen as a regional counterweight to China and to counterbalance the rising China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Now coming to Malabar Exercises, it was started as a bilateral exercise between the navies of India and the United States in the year 1992. And Japan has joined as a permanent member in this exercise that is Malabar Exercise in 2007. So now it is a trilateral naval exercise between India, US and Japan. So Australia is not a part of Malabar exercise as of now. And Australia has been wanting to join this exercise. But India is refusing its admission because of Chinese concerns with respect to this exercise. And now the Ministry of Defence has discussed the issue of adding Australia to the Malabar exercise in this year. And it is in this context that the author has discussed in this editorial the possible implications of this move by India. See, China has been opposing for a long time against the grouping of democracies in the Indo-Pacific region. Because China sees such moves as moves that seek only to contain China's rise. And we have been seeing in the past couple of months about the recent standoff between India and China in the Ladakh region. So as a result of this, the bilateral relations between India and China are strained. So according to China, this move of India to include Australia in Malabar exercise is nothing but putting more pressure on China. And China's ruling Communist Party's news agency that is the Global Times has told that India is risking harsh consequences in this regard. And the author is also of the same opinion that India is risking harsh consequences. And he tells that if China responded through aggressive posturing in the Eastern Indian Ocean, then it could open up a new front in India-China conflict in the Eastern Indian Ocean region. And we know that there are already issues going in the line of actual control. So here the author tells that Indian decision makers should think about this strategic rationale of military court. Here why the author mentions as military court is because, addition of Australia into Malabar exercise means the members of court are now the same members in Malabar exercise as well. And they will be taking part in the naval exercise. So that is the reason why the author mentions military court at many places in this editorial. Now see India's priority through Malabar exercise is to acquire strategic capabilities in order to counter Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean. And we know that at present US and Japan are the members of this trilateral exercise. And the author tells that both of these countries are not ready to transfer strategic technologies to India. So he tells that without such benefits Indian Navy's deterrence potential cannot be improved in the Indian Ocean region. And this is even if Australia becomes a part of Malabar exercise. And one more important point which is highlighted in this editorial is, there is every possibility that a military court will be used to draw India into security dynamics of Asia Pacific region. We know that there are a lot of issues going on between US and China in this region, especially in the South China Sea. And even recently US and China have increased their naval presence in this region. And the author tells that US would expect its Indo-Pacific partners including India to assist US Navy in the South China Sea. Why? Because US and Japan believe that the South China Sea issue is more threatening compared to Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean region. So from all these points, the author tries to tell that US and Japan will make use of India for their ambitions and purposes in the Indo-Pacific region. So the author tells that Australia is the only country of the court which is genuinely ready to partner with India in securing the Indian Ocean region, especially in the Eastern Indian Ocean region. And here the author also tells that despite increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean region, China is yet to physically threaten Indian interests in the sea. And this is because Chinese warships have not challenged Indian sovereignty in India's territorial waters. And it has not disturbed the business interests of India so far. But we know that China is encircling India through its economic and military engagements in our neighboring countries. So we can see that China's move is indirectly against India. But at the same time, China makes sure that the limit does not cross the threshold for full-fledged conflict with India. But if you see, India's recent plans to include Australia in the Malabar exercise, which is a naval exercise, is a very direct move by India. So the author tells that India needs to be ready for consequences. See, as I told earlier, Australia is the only country of court which is ready to partner with India in securing Indian Ocean region, especially in the Eastern Indian Ocean region. So inclusion of Australia into the Malabar exercise is not bad. But here India should be able to take the benefits of Malabar exercise. So as per the author, India will have gains in the short term through this decision. But it would be ineffective in the long run since India is not acquiring any sort of combat or deterrence capabilities as is so earlier. So the author tells that India should take careful decisions in this regard by doing a cost-benefit exercise and by saying what kind of operational benefits would it get by this decision. So in simple terms, it should be a win-win situation for India. So this is all about the discussion for this editorial. So to summarize, we have discussed about the possible implications of inclusion of Australia in joining the Malabar naval exercises. And in this context, we also saw about Quad and Malabar exercise from an exam perspective. Now have a look at this practice question. With this we will move on to the next news article. Now this news article is with reference to the concerns regarding reformations in the United Nations. The 75th UN General Assembly is scheduled to be conducted in September 2020. And the draft declaration for this session was recently released. In this context, let us discuss briefly about the news and the three principal organs of the United Nations which are mentioned in this article. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. Now talking about the news article, it states that there is a soft approach relating to reforming the UN, particularly bringing reformations in the three principal organs. And these principal organs are UNGA that is United Nations General Assembly, then United Nations Security Council and also the United Nations Economic and Social Council. And the draft declaration on the commemoration of 75th anniversary of UNGA commits to instill a new life of discussions on the reforms in UNSC. And it also commits to revitalize the UNGA and to strengthen United Nations Economic and Security Council. So the mention of just discussions in this draft declaration is being interpreted as dilution of the progress made with reference to reforming of United Nations organs. So this is about the news. Now we will discuss about United Nations General Assembly. Know that it was established in 1945 under the Charter of United Nations. The General Assembly occupies a central position as the chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. And all the 193 member states of the United Nations are represented in the General Assembly. And therefore UN reports that United Nations General Assembly is the only UN organ with universal representation. So it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion. So multilateral discussion means discussions for full spectrum of international issues covered by the UN Charter. It also plays a significant role in the process of standard setting and the codification of international law. And each year in September the full UN membership meets in the General Assembly Hall which is located in New York. And this is for the annual General Assembly session and the general debate. And know that the decisions on important questions such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters require two-third majority of the members of General Assembly present and voting. And the decisions on other questions require simple majority. So we know that the annual session of General Assembly is conducted in United Nations headquarters. But it can also be conducted in places other than UN headquarters. And for this a decision should have been taken at a previous session or it can be conducted elsewhere at the request of a majority of members of the United Nations. So this is as per Rule 3 of the Rules of Procedure of General Assembly. So this is relevant this year because as of now United States is at the top of reference to the number of COVID-19 infections. Now the important functions of General Assembly have been given here for your reference. Please go through it. So here we can see some of the important functions of General Assembly. So it considers and approves the United Nations budget and establish the financial assessments of member states. It also elects the non-permanent members of the Security Council and members of other United Nations Council and organs. And as we have seen earlier it considers and make recommendations on general principles of cooperation for maintaining international peace and security including disarmament. So you can see the other functions of General Assembly here. Now let us discuss in brief about UN Security Council. See under the UN Charter the United Nations Security Council has primary responsibility for maintenance of international peace and security. So it has 15 members which include 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members and each member has one vote. So under the UN Charter all the member states are obligated to comply with the UNSC decisions. Know that the Security Council takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or it determines the existence of an act of aggression. And it calls upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and it also recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlements. And in some cases the Security Council can also resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security. Now talking about Economic and Social Council know that it is a principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues. It is also the principal body with respect to implementation of internationally agreed development goals. And it is the United Nations central platform for reflection, debate and innovative thinking in sustainable development. It has 54 members and the members are elected by the General Assembly for a 3 years term. So here the election is an important decision and therefore requires two-third majority of the members present and voting. With this we will come to an end of analysis of this news article. And in this analysis we discussed the India's concern with respect to the reforms in UN organs. Then we discussed about the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council and ECUSOC. And the practice question with respect to this topic will be discussed at the end of our news analysis. With this we will move on to the next news article. Now have a look at this question. This question is based on the news article which talks about the rhinos which are affected by the ongoing floods of Assam. We know that Assam is facing one of the worst floods in its history. And one of the worst heat regions in Assam is Kashi Ranga National Park and Tiger Surve which is home for more than 55% of world's one-horned rhino population. So in this context let us discuss in brief about the greater one-horned rhino. So it is also known as the Indian rhino and is one of the largest among the rhino species in the world. So know that they were once widespread across the entire northern part of the Indian subcontinent. But their population has plummeted as they were hunted for sport or killed as agricultural pests. Thus the species came very close to extinction and by start of 20th century just around 200 wild greater rhino remained. So the recovery of great one-horned rhino is among the greatest conservation success stories in Asia. The strict protection and management by Indian and Nepalese wildlife authorities brought them back from the verge of extinction. And today the population have increased to around 3500 rhinos in the north-eastern India and the Terai grasslands of Nepal. Know that the Indian rhinos are herbivorous mammals. They live in the tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas and shrublands. But they are commonly found in Nepal, Bhutan, India and Pakistan. But according to reports from Pakistan there are doubts regarding their presence in Pakistan. And in India they are found in Kashi Ranga National Park, Manas National Park and Pobitura Wildlife Century which are located in Assam. And they are also found in Dudwa National Park in Uttar Pradesh, Jaldapura Wildlife Century and Guru Mara National Park in West Bengal. And among this Kashi Ranga, Manas and Pobitura in Assam have the highest population density of Indian rhino in the world. Finally let us discuss the conservation status of Indian rhinos. Know that it is protected under the Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. And it is protected under the vulnerable category of IUCM Red List of threatened species. It also comes under the Appendix I of Convention on International Trade in endangered species of wildlife fauna and flora that is sites. So in this discussion we saw about one-horned rhino and we also saw the locations where they are present. Now let us see this question. Consider the following national parks. We have four national parks given here. Kashi Ranga National Park, Manas National Park, Dudwa National Park and Guru Mara National Park. The greater one-horned rhinos are found in which of the above national parks. So here all the given national parks have one-horned rhino population. So the answer is option D. With this we will move on to the next news article. Now have a look at this question. This question is with reference to the news article which states that the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institutions award. And this is in the category of large ICAR Institutes. So in this discussion we will see what is CMFRI and ICAR. And we will also discuss about this award. Coming to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, it was established by the Government of India in February 1947. It was established under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. And it later joined the ICAR family in 1967. So at present this institute is a leading tropical marine fisheries research institute in the world. And its headquarters is located in Kochi which is in the state of Kerala. And when we talk about Indian Council of Agriculture Research, it is an autonomous organization under the Department of Agriculture Research and Education of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare. And talking about its history, it was established as Imperial Council of Agriculture Research on 16th July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. And it was established in pursuance of Royal Commission Report on Agriculture. And later it was renamed as ICAR and know that it is headquartered in New Delhi. So 16th July is celebrated as the foundation day of ICAR. And on this day, the Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institution Award is usually presented to the winning institutes. Know that ICAR is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing the research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sense in the entire country. And at present it has more than 100 ICAR institutes and more than 70 agricultural universities across the country. It also played a pioneering role in leading the Green Revolution and the subsequent developments in the agricultural field. And the research and development of ICAR has enabled the country to witness a visible impact on the national food and nutritional security. It has also played a major role in promoting excellence in the field of higher education in agriculture. This is because one of the mandates of ICAR is to aid, impart and coordinate agricultural education to enable quality human resource development. Now let us discuss in brief about Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institution Award. See the objective of this award is to recognize outstanding performance by the ICAR institutes, D.U.S. that is Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability Centers of ICAR and also the Central and State Agricultural Universities. A total of three awards will be provided under these three categories of institutions. The categories are shown here for your reference. Please go through it. So coming to the news, the news is that under the large institutes category for the year 2019, the award is backed by Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute. Now we will see the question with respect to this topic. The Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institution Award for 2019 was given to which of the following. We have four options here. So the correct answer is Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute that is option A. So with this, we analyzed the important news articles for today and now we will move on to the practice questions based on today's analysis. Now we have this practice question which is based on geological faults. Consider the following statements regarding geological faults which are fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rocks. We have three statements here. The first statement is, in a normal deep-sleep fault, the upper block above the fault plane moves up and over the lower block. The second statement goes, in a thrust fault, the block above the fault moves downward related to the block below. And the third statement goes, faults which move horizontally are known as strike-sleep faults. We have to identify the incorrect statements among these statements. So we know that statement one and two are incorrect. The definitions of normal deep-sleep fault and reverse or thrust faults are interchanged here. So we know that in a normal fault, the block above the fault would move downward relative to the block below. And in a reverse or thrust fault, the upper block which is above the fault plane would move up and over the lower block. So here, the first statement and the second statement are incorrect and we have the third statement which is correct. The faults which move horizontally are known as strike-sleep faults. So we have to identify the incorrect statements. So here, statement one and two are incorrect. So option A is the correct answer. Now we have this second question which is with reference to United Nations. With respect to United Nations, consider the following statements. We have two statements here. The Economic and Social Council, that is ECOSOC, is the United Nations central platform for reflection, debate and innovative thinking on sustainable development. And the second statement is the membership of ECOSOC is less than 20. So we have to identify the correct statement or statements from these given statements. So here, the first statement is correct. The Economic and Social Council is the United Nations central platform for reflection, debate and innovative thinking on sustainable development. And the second statement is incorrect. It has 54 members elected by the UNGA for a term of 3 years. And know that United Nations Security Council has 15 members where 5 members are permanent and 10 members are non-permanent. So with regard to this question, the correct answer is option A, that is one only. And finally, we have this main question. Please write your answers and post it in the comment section. And the feedbacks will be given in a reasonable timeframe. With this, we will come to an end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the discussion of practice questions. If you like this video, press the like button, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Thank you.