 a very good evening aspirants i welcome you all to the hindu daily news analysis brought to you by shankar eyes academy today i am going to cover important news articles from the hindu newspaper dated 10th of august 2023 displayed here is a list of news articles that we will be discussing today you can go through it at the end of the video we will also have problems practice question discussions so try to watch the entire video and i kind request to you all those who haven't yet subscribed our youtube channel do subscribe and hit the bell icon button so that you will get regular notifications about our current files videos now let's get into our first news article discussion now take a look at this science page article see recently the government of india made changes to the new drugs and clinical trial rules the amendment is aimed at stopping the use of animals in research mainly in drug testing so in this context only the article here is written in our discussion today we'll see how drug testing is traditionally done then the issues with traditional drug testing then the alternative drug testing methods then about the challenges with alternative drug testing methods and finally we'll see how drug testing is regulated all over the world and this is the plan for the discussion now let us start our discussion by looking at how drug testing is traditionally done see before a drug or pharmaceutical product reaches the human clinical trial phase it goes three stages the first stage is the development stage in this stage the drug is developed next comes the laboratory testing stage during this stage the researchers conduct various tests using cells tissues and sometimes computer models to assess how the potential drug candidate interacts with biological systems laboratory testing is mainly done to assess the efficacy of potential drug okay once a drug candidate shows promise in laboratory tests it moves to animal testing during the stage testing is done on two animal species often a rodent and a non-rodent in this stage in addition to testing the efficacy of the drug its safety is also evaluated once if the drug is declared safe after the animal testing stage then the drug is approved for human trials and this is how drug testing is traditionally done this methodology that we currently follow has some inherent issues associated with it now let us look at the issues with traditional drug testing the first major issue is limited human relevance in traditional drug testing the safety of the drug is mainly evaluated by testing the drugs in other animals the thing is that animals used in testing often have psychological and genetic differences from humans the animal models do not fully capture the complexity of human biology and disease processes this mismatch can result in drugs that appear safe and effective in animal studies but fail in human clinical trials and this is a major issue with traditional drug testing the next major issue is that the ethical concern of using animals for drug testing when drug testing is done on animals it may cause harm or distress to the animals this raises moral questions about use of animals in drug testing to address these issues that is mainly to address the high failure rate associated with traditional drug testing scientists all over the world have been working for some time and they have developed some alternative testing methods now let us look at the alternative testing methods available in the world the first one is the use of organoids in drug testing see organoids are small three-dimensional structures created from human cells that mimic specific organs or tissues organoids provide a more accurate representation of human physiology than animals in addition to this they can be used to study drug effects on specific tissues for example if a study needs to be conducted to address the disease of the liver a liver based organoid can be used this increases the accuracy of drug testing okay so the use of organoids is one of the alternate testing methods then the second alternative is the use of organ on a chip organ on a chip is a device lined with human cells that simulate the functions of organs or tissues they replicate physiological conditions more accurately than traditional cell cultures the organ on a chip can be used to study the effects of drugs toxins and diseases the last alternative is the use of 3d bio printing this technology involves creating complex three-dimensional structures using layer of living cells and bio-ings it enables the creation of tissues and organs that can be used for drug testing and disease modeling okay these are the alternative methods available for drug testing although the alternative methods of drug testing addresses the issues associated with traditional drug testing it has some challenges of its own now let us see the challenges in alternative testing modes the first issue is the need for interdisciplinary expertise developing alternative testing methods require expertise in various fields such as cell biology material science fluid dynamics electronics engineering pharmacology and toxicology so integrating these disciplines is a major challenge then the second challenge is resource limitations many materials and instruments required for alternative testing methods are currently imported from a handful of countries like us and japan so basically it is a suppliers market this increases the cost of these alternative methods the higher cost thereby prevents faster adoption so resource limitation is also a another challenge and lastly there is the issue of standardization since the technology is still in its nascent stage there is variability in protocols and experimental setups among different labs this can lead to inconsistent results okay see all these issues must be addressed so the pharmaceutical industry can safely transition from traditional drug testing methods to alternative drug testing methods as india is planning to move to alternative testing methods through the new drugs and clinical trial rules 2023 it must take some steps to address these challenges the first step in the direction should be establishing standardized guidelines for quality and testing this will address the issue of standardization okay and that's all regarding this discussion this discussion we saw about how drug testing is traditionally done then we saw about the issues associated with traditional drug testing then we moved on to see about alternative drug testing methods then we saw about the challenges with alternative drug testing methods and finally we saw some points about how to overcome the challenges in alternative drug testing methods see this topic is very much important for your main exam so make note of each and every points that we discussed now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article according to the news article a complaint has been raised by four Rajshaba MPs to the chairman of Rajshaba they made a complaint against member of parliament from Aamadmi party Mr. Raghav Chadha the MP said that Mr. Chadha has proposed their names for a house panel without their consent this is in violation of house rules so they raised a complaint to the chairman of Rajshaba the chairman of Rajshaba has received the complaint and he forwarded it to the privileges committee to examine the complaints and this is the crux of the news article now in this context let us understand about privileges committee in Lokshaba and Rajshaba okay now first let us learn some points about privileges available to the MPs see article 105 of the Indian constitution provides certain privileges to the members of parliament privileges include special rights to the MPs then certain immunities to the MPs and some exemptions to the MPs these privileges are necessary to secure the independence of MPs while performing their works see without these privileges the houses such as Lokshaba and Rajshaba cannot maintain their authority dignity and honour and without the privileges the house also cannot protect its members from any obstacle in the discharge of their parliamentary responsibilities so privileges are necessary for the smooth functioning of the parliament see the privileges does not provided to MPs alone the constitution has also extended the privileges to the persons who are authorized to speak and to take part in the parliamentary procedures or any of its committees for example attorney general of India and union ministers who are yet to become MP can also have privileges when they speak or take part in the parliamentary procedures but remember the privileges do not extend to the president who is also an integral part of the parliament okay now coming to the types of privileges see the privileges can be classified into two broad categories such as collective and individual privileges the collective privileges refers to the privileges that are collectively enjoyed by each house of the parliament and the individual privileges refers to the privileges that are individually enjoyed by each members of parliament okay now with this brief understanding about privileges now we shall see about committee of privileges in Lokshaba and Rajshaba now first let's start with functions of the committees see the main function of committee of privileges in Lokshaba and Rajshaba are to examine every question involving breach of privilege of the house apart from this the committee also examines the breach of privilege by the members of any committee that is referred to it by the house or by the speaker the privileges committee decides whether there is a breach of privilege exists or not based on the facts of each case and after respective studies the committee provides appropriate recommendations through its report the committee also specifies the procedure that is to be followed by the house to put the recommendations of committee into action okay now talking about the composition of privileges committee see the committee in Lokshaba consists of 15 members and all of them are nominated by the speaker and the committee in Rajshaba consists of 10 members and all of them were nominated by the chairman of Rajshaba note that the speaker of Lokshaba nominates the head of the committee of privileges in Lokshaba and in the Rajshaba the committee of privileges is headed by the deputy chairperson of Rajshaba okay except the composition the functions of the committee in both Lokshaba and Rajshaba remains the same okay note this fact now finally let us understand the procedures involved when the question of privileges referred to the committee of privileges see initially a question of privileges referred to the committee by the speaker of Lokshaba or chairman of the Rajshaba after due study the committee submit its report to the speaker or chairman of the house the report is usually submitted by the chairman of the privileges committee and if there is an absence of chairman then any member of the committee can submit the report after receiving the report the speaker or chairman may pass final orders on the question of privileges the speaker and chairman can also direct respective committee to lead its report on the table of the house okay and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about the privileges available to the members of parliament and then we saw about the committee of privileges in Lokshaba and Rajshaba see this topic is very much important for your both prelims and main exam so make note of each and every points that we discussed now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this article from the text and context page it talks about various aspects of the small modular reactors in this discussion we shall see about what are small modular reactors then about the advantages and challenges associated with small modular reactors now first let us see what is small modular reactor small modular reactor which is in short called as smr is a type of nuclear reactor and it is smaller and simpler than conventional nuclear reactors here the word modular means that the components of a small modular reactor can be transported easily to a different location and it can be installed at different locations these advantages make smr a good option for countries like india as we all know india has set a goal to become net zero emission country by the year 2070 so the small modular reactors will help india to decorbonize its energy production along with addressing climate change okay now with this basic information let us see the difference between small modular reactors and conventional nuclear power plants as we all know nuclear energy is one of the clean sources of energy so nuclear power became the key solution for decorbonizing our energy sector if we take conventional nuclear power plants they have various challenges for example it takes many years to complete the construction of conventional nuclear power plants and the building cost is also very high as it involves the use of high end technologies but if we take small modular reactors the small modular reactors can be a good alternative for traditional nuclear reactors the smrs can be constructed within a shorter period of time and it can be transported easily so they have the potential to replace traditional nuclear power plants this is the main difference between conventional nuclear power plants and small modular reactors now we shall see the advantages of small modular reactors as i said just now the small modular reactors only needs less time for their construction apart from this the construction cost is also very low when compared with traditional nuclear power plants okay this is one advantage secondly the small modular reactors use passive safety factors so they are safer than traditional nuclear reactors then the third advantage is flexibility see the modules of small modular reactors can be independently transported and can be rearranged in any location this is due to the assembly flexibility of small modular reactors as the smrs can be able to deploy it in remote areas it help to improve access to electricity in rural India the fourth advantage is that the smrs can be easily adopted by the countries that are with smaller and weaker grids due to their power efficiency then the fifth advantage is the continuous operation of small modular reactors see the maintenance and refuelling of small modular reactors can be done in one module while the other modules are still in operation this helps in continuous operation of small modular reactors thereby ensuring continuous energy production the sixth advantage is that the small modular reactors need lower amount of cooling water than conventional nuclear reactors this helps us to save precious water resources then the seventh advantage is the enhanced security see the modules of small modular reactors can be partially or completely buried under the ground so there is a less chance of damage by enemy airstrikes and the final advantage is the alternative clean source of energy see the small modular reactors can be used to replace coal fire the power plants okay so they can support the production of energy from renewable energy sources apart from this the small modular reactors can also be used to produce hydrogen which can contribute to the national green hydrogen policy of the indian government okay these are the advantages associated with small modular reactors however there are some challenges associated with establishing small modular reactors in india now let us see the challenges one by one firstly there are challenges regarding safety measures see most of the high-end technologies to build small modular reactors lies in the hands of private individuals so we cannot neglect the private participation to build small modular reactors since the private sector is allowed to set up the small modular reactors we need more stringent safety requirements so the government should enact policy to bring safety requirements and it has to amend atomic energy act to allow the private sector to build small modular reactors this is one challenge then the second challenge is there is no regulatory body to oversee the small modular reactors see the responsibility of ensuring safety security and proper handling of nuclear materials and nuclear waste should stay with the indian government on to oversee all the stages of nuclear power generation the government should create a new independent regulatory body the author of the article suggests that the security measures for small modular reactors should remain under government supervision while handling of nuclear materials must remain with nuclear power corporation okay this is the second challenge the third challenge is lack of public awareness about the nuclear reactors see common people usually oppose a nuclear power project by pursuing that it will endanger their lives so the indian government should try to enhance the good perception of nuclear power among the people in india this can be achieved by effectively sharing environmental and public health information about nuclear reactors operating with international safeguards okay and the final challenge is regarding connecting small modular reactors to the grid see it is hard to the government to integrate each and every small modular reactors with national grid for power supply so the government should encourage local consumption of power rather than connecting to the single grid apart from this the government should enact policies to attract private players into setting up small modular reactors okay these are various challenges associated with setting up of small modular reactors in india see if these challenges are addressed in time the small modular reactors can become a major contributor to india's decarbonisation efforts and it will also help india to achieve a goal of net zero emission country by the year 2017 see recently the union ministry of science and technology has taken steps for development of small modular reactors it can be developed with up to 300 mehawatt capacity to fulfill the commitment to clean energy transition so we have to wait and see what is going to happen in the future and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about what are small modular reactors then about the advantages of small modular reactors then we saw about the difference between conventional nuclear power plants and small modular reactors and finally we saw some points about the challenges associated with establishing small modular reactors in india see this topic is very much important for your mains exam you can use these points while writing your mains answers this will definitely enrich your mains answer now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article the news is that the cb has arrested a bank fraud convict with the help of interpol earlier a red notice was issued against the criminal by the interpol and now he was arrested by the cbi and this is the crux of the news article given here now in this context let us learn some points about interpol and its notices now first let us see the formation of interpol first of all note that interpol stands for international criminal polish organization interpol is an intergovernmental organization and it has 195 member countries and note that india is also a member of interpol the interpol was founded in 1923 at international police congress held in vienna it was formed in response to the growing problem of international crime in the early 20th century the interpol was originally called as international criminal police commission then in 1946 its headquarters were moved to paris and it was renamed as interpol okay this is all about the formation of interpol now moving on to see about the functions of interpol see the interpol's main mission is to help police around the world to work together to fight crime the organization provides a variety of services to help its member countries okay now let us see the functions one by one firstly the interpol issues red notices against important criminals around the world here the red notices are the international arrest warrants for criminals who are wanted by law enforcement bodies okay secondly the interpol maintains a database of criminals and stolen property apart from this the interpol acts as a secure information sharing platform this facilitates criminal investigation of police forces across the globe it also keeps a track on movements of criminals and those under the police radar okay and finally the interpol trains police officers in crime fighting techniques it also helps in sharing best practices between the police forces of different countries okay these are some of the important functions of interpol now let us see about the organization structure of interpol see the interpol is organized into three main bodies they are the general assembly the president and the secretary now first let's take general assembly see general assembly is the supreme governing body of interpol it is made up of representatives from each member country and they meet once a year to set the organization's policies note that india hosted 90th general assembly of interpol in 2022 then the next important organization is the president the president of interpol is elected by the general assembly and he serves for a term of four years the president is responsible for representing interpol at international events and for overseeing the work of secret rate and the final body is secret rate the secret rate takes care of day-to-day operations of interpol it is headed by secretary general who is also elected by the general assembly of interpol the secretary is responsible for carrying out the policies set by the general assembly apart from this the secretary also provides support to member countries in their fight against international crime okay this is all about the three main bodies of interpol see interpol also has a number of specialized direct rates for specific areas of crime the crimes include cyber crime terrorism drug trafficking financial crime environmental crime and human trafficking these direct rates work closely with member countries to develop strategies and share intelligence to combat these types of crimes okay now with this information let us move on to see about the working of interpol see each member country has interpol national central bureau this is to coordinate with interpol the national central bureau is the focal point for all interpol activities in the country note that the national central bureau in india is the central bureau of investigation that is the cbi okay see in order to assess and information from another country first a country's national central bureau must submit a notice to the interpol see these notices are requests for cooperation on alerts see there are five types of notices in interpol now first let us see the notices and then we will see about the working of interpol the first one is red notice as we saw earlier red notice is an international arrest warrant for a fugitive wanted by law enforcement agencies of particular country then comes blue notice see blue notice is a request for information about a person's identity then comes green notice see green notice is a warning to law enforcement about a person then there is yellow notice yellow notice is a request for helping locating a missing person then there is purple notice purple notice is a request for information about mode of operation in solving the crime okay so these are the notices available under interpol see once a notice is submitted the other country's national central bureau will review it and decide whether to cooperate or not if they decide to cooperate they will share the requested information with the country that submitted the notice and this is how notices of interpol okay also note that these notices may also be used by the inverted nation's security council under the international criminal code to locate dangerous criminals around the world okay in conclusion interpol is the largest police organization in the world which helps to catch criminals then to recover stolen property and to prevent crime the organization is committed to making the world a safer place and it has played a significant role in fighting crime for over 100 years and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion is about the formation of interpol then you saw about the functions of interpol then you moved on to see about the organizational structure of interpol and finally we saw some points about the working of interpol in that we saw there are five notices under interpol that is red notice blue notice green notice yellow notice and purple notice okay now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article yesterday eight south american countries of amazon cooperation treaty organization agreed to launch an alliance to fight deforestation in the amazon forest the summit was called new and ambitious shad agenda and it was hosted by brasil the aim of the alliance is to stop the world's biggest rainforest from reaching a point of no return since it is the first gathering of its kind in 14 years since the group was established now we shall see some points about the amazon cooperation treaty organization see amazon cooperation treaty organization which is in short called as acto is an international organization established to safeguard the amazon basin and to facilitate its sustainable development through international collaboration the amazon cooperation treaty was crafted and signed on july 3 1978 by eight south american countries called bolivia brasil columbia equadar gaina peru suriname and venizula in 1995 these eight countries formalized their commitment by founding amazon cooperation treaty organization to actively pursue the objectives set forth in the original treaty see the acto operates in four official languages the languages include dutch english portuguese and spanish see the founding members of acto are the active members of the organization now talking about the need for acto see the amazon cooperation treaty organization aims to reduce and combat deforestation climate feedback loop illegal logging indigenous land encroachment and forest fires see in climate change a feedback loop is equivalent of a viscous or vitritious cycle it is something that that accelerates or decelerates a warming trend see a positive feedback accelerates a temperature rise whereas a negative feedback decelerates temperature rise this cycle is known as climate feedback loop this loop gets disrupted due to deforestation see deforestation can even disrupt the amazon's role as a carbon sink potentially turning it into a carbon source and exorbitant climate change so to address all these issues the amazon cooperation treaty organization was created now moving on to see about the acto's conservation and development initiatives see the project gef amazonas which is funded by the global environment facility is taken care by acto this program aims to secure agreement on a renewable and integrated water supply for sustainable development then the second main initiative is acto biodiversity program this program focuses on maintaining a harmonious biological equilibrium to prevent fragmentation of amazonian ecosystems apart from this the acto also played a pivotal role in formulating manas declaration in 2004 the declaration coordinated the development of the vast rainforest area covering approximately 2.9 million square miles okay and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about the formation of amazon cooperation treaty organization then we saw about the initiatives that are taken under amazon cooperation treaty organization now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion take a look at this news article according to the article china is currently facing deflation due to decline in consumer price index and the producer price index the news article says that china should remove all its direct policy stimulus to reverse the situation and this is the crux of the news article given here now in this context let us see what is deflation and then about its effect on economy now let's start our discussion see actually inflation is the rate at which the prices for goods and services increase in contrast to this deflation refers to the decline in the price of goods and services deflation generally occurs when the rate of inflation falls below zero percentage deflation will take place naturally when the money supply of economy is limited see deflation in an economy indicates deteriorating conditions now talking about the causes of deflation see deflation can be caused by multiple factors first is the structural changes in capital markets see when different companies selling similar goods or services there would be a competition so there is a tendency to lower prices to have an edge over the competition and this causes deflation secondly increased productivity can cause deflation see innovation and technology enable increased production efficiency which leads to lower prices of goods and services some innovations affect the productivity of certain industries and impact the entire economy thirdly decrease in the supply of currency can also cause deflation see decrease in the supply of currency will decrease the price of goods and services to make them affordable to the people okay so these are some of the causes for deflation now talking about the effects of deflation see deflation can have various impacts on an economy firstly reduction in business revenues if an economy faces deflation businesses must drastically reduce the prices for their products or services to stay profitable as reduction in prices takes place revenue begins to drop secondly deflation can lead to lower the wages and layoffs when revenues begin to drop businesses need to find means to reduce their expenses to meet objectives one way is by reducing wages and cutting jobs this adversely affects the economy as consumers would now have to spend less thirdly since the value of depth rises in an deflationary economy it becomes more difficult for current borrowers to pay off their loans okay and finally during a period of deflation the value of stock held by investors and manufacturers is eroded and this causes losses for those parties okay and that's all regarding this discussion in this discussion we saw about what is deflation then about the causes of deflation and finally we saw some points about the impact of deflation on an economy now with these points in mind let us move on to the next part of the video that is to discuss preliminary practice questions look at the first question here five sources are given we have to find how many of these five sources are sources of privileges for members of parliament and state legislature first one constitutional provisions second one various laws made by parliament third one rules of both houses of parliament fourth one parliamentary conventions fifth one judicial interpretations see at present the privileges for members of parliament and state legislature are based on these five sources so the correct answer is option c all five moving on let's take up the second question this question is regarding deflation here four options are given we have to find which of these factors can contribute to deflation option a high consumer demand and spending option b increase in the money supply by the central bank option c increase in the production of goods and services due to technological innovation option d expansionary monetary policy here the correct answer is option c increase in production of goods and services due to technological innovation c increase in production leads to decrease in demand and ultimately causes price of the goods to fall so it contributes to deflation the rest three options contribute to inflation or not deflation so the correct answer once here is option c moving on let's take up the final question this question is regarding the amazon cooperation treaty organization i'll read out the question the amazon cooperation treaty organization is a regional organization aimed at promoting cooperation and sustainable development in amazon basin which of the following countries is not a member of acto option a brazil option b peru option c columbia option d argentina the correct answer for the question is option d argentina see the members of amazon cooperation treaty organization include brazil peru columbia equadar bolivia gaina suriname and veninjula argentina is not a member of acto so once again the correct answer is option d argentina this is a quiz question for you today i will post this quiz question in a community section try to answer it the answer for the quiz question will be posted in the common section of the quiz question itself you can verify the answers and displayed here are the main questions for your practice go through the questions write your answers and post it in the comment section with this we have come to the end of the video if you found our video to be useful do like comment and share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe to shankarai's academy youtube channel thank you for listening