 Good evening aspirants welcome to the hindu news analysis by Shankar as academy for the date 3rd of October 2022 displayed here on the list of news articles we will be discussing today now let's start our discussion take a look at this article this article talks about the new initiative taken by the Tamil Nadu state forest department to prevent elephant deaths caused by speeding trains in the Madhukari forest reserve the proposed solution is based on artificial intelligence and setting up of a data bank this is the crux of the news article given here in this context let us cover the different steps taken by the government to avoid human elephant conflict first let us see briefly about the importance of elephants in the forest ecosystem see elephant is a keystone species they play an important role in maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystem in which they live when elephants eat they create gaps in the vegetation these gaps allow new plans to grow and create pathways for other small animals to use they are also one of the major ways in which trees disperse their seeds see some species rely entirely upon elephants for the seed dispersal function this is about the importance of elephants in the forest ecosystem now let us see the different steps taken by the forest department to contain human elephant conflict first is the erection of fences along the borders of elephant reserves this is done to keep the elephants from coming into contact with the human settlement some of the fences used here include beehive fences and solar electric fences the second is the conservation measure like destroying invasive species in say the elephant reserves replenishing water bodies and planting necessary fodder crops within elephant reserves see why does elephants come into human settlements they come into human settlement because there is lack of food and water inside the elephant reserves so by using this conservation method food and water is provided for the elephant within the elephant reserve itself so by this elephants entering into human settlement can be prevented thirdly infrastructure development like watch towers installation of cameras and tracking devices are provided to forest officials this is provided so that forest officials can have continuous check on the movement of elephants see finally the last major step taken is the building and maintenance of elephant coidos see elephant coidos are linear narrow natural habitat linkage that allow elephants to move between different forest habitats without being disturbed by humans see we know that elephants are migratory animals so they travel large amount of area during their life this elephant coidos acts as a pathway for the safe movement of elephant and it also avoid man-made disturbances see these are some of the steps taken by the forest department to reduce human elephant conflict see through this discussion we came to know about the importance of elephants and also the recent initiatives taken by the government to reduce the instance of elephants moving into human habitats okay that's all regarding this discussion with us let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article let us take this editorial article for our next discussion this article talks about abandonment and surrender of a child this article is authored by R.K.Widge who is a former special director general of police of Chattisgarh so this article is of utmost importance in the mains perspective in this context in our discussion today we are going to learn a lot of things we are going to learn about the major difference between abandonment and surrender of child the reasons for abandonment of a child steps taken to avoid such abandonment and the procedure for declaring a child legally free for adoption and finally let us see some points about central adoption resource agency this is the plan for today before getting into the discussion the syllabus relevant to this topic is given here for your reference we can pass the video and go through it now let us start our discussion let us start by first seeing the major difference between abandonment of a child and surrender of a child first let us take abandonment see child abandonment occurs when a parent guardian or a person in search of a child deserts a child without any regard for the child physical health safety or welfare and with the intention of wholly abandoning the child in some instances abandonment also means parent guardian or person in charge of the child fails to provide necessary care for the child living under their roof okay see abandonment typically involves physical abandonment such as leaving a child at a stranger's doorstep when no one is home or leaving a child in some public places like garbage piles dustbins in bushes near roadside or in places of religious worship okay this is known as abandonment of child now how is this different from surrendering a child see a surrendered child means a child who is surrendered by the parent or the guardian to the child welfare commission on the account of physical emotional or social factors beyond their control and the child would be declared surrendered child by the child welfare committee and also note that the child must be declared as legally free for adoption by the child welfare committee see the major difference between the abandoned and the surrendered child is that abandoned child means a child who is deserted by the parent or guardian surrendered child means a child who is surrendered by the parent or the guardian to the child welfare committee this is the main difference now let us see the reasons for abandonment of child see the most common cause for child abandonment would be unwanted pregnancies due to significant factors like rape or pregnancy in minors then the other reasons include economic hardships in the family large-sized family without lack of financial support and abandonment also occurs when either or both of the parents or drug addicts or alcoholics death of a parent or death of both the parents unstable relations between the parents see these are the main causes for child abandonment see there are some political factors that force child abandonment also the political factors include war climate change based displacement and other factors so these are all some of the major reasons for abandonment of child now let us see the steps taken by the government to avoid child abandonment in India first is government is encouraging surrendering the child instead of abandoning the child see the surrender of a child to the child welfare committee does not entail any criminal offence on the parents but if a child is abandoned by a parent or guardian then criminal offence can be initiated against them so this encourages the parents to surrender the child instead of abandoning the child okay and for this government is increasing awareness measures also okay the second step taken by the government is government is enabling medical termination of pregnancy see we already saw that one of the reason for abandoning a child is unplanned pregnancy so the government has simplified the medical termination of pregnancy in India see section 3 class 2 subclass B of medical termination of pregnancy act 1971 was amended in 2021 and the word married woman was replaced by any woman and the word husband was replaced by partner see this amendment paved the way for termination of pregnancy when it comes to single and unmarried woman okay so this will help in avoiding abandonment of children see this move of the government was reiterated recently by the Supreme Court in the X versus the principal secretary health and family welfare department and other 2022 case law in this case law the Supreme Court allowed an unmarried woman petitioner to abort her pregnancy of 24 years arising out of failed living see these are the two steps taken by the government to prevent abandonment of children in India okay now let us see the procedure for declaring a child legally free for adoption see this procedure is given in section 38 of the juvenile justice care and protection of children act 2015 now talking about the procedure see in case of orphaned and abandoned child the child welfare committee shall make efforts for tracing the parent or guardians of the child then after completion of such inquiry if it is established that child is either orphaned having no one to take care of or abandoned then the committee shall declare the child legally free for adoption provided that such declaration shall be made within a period of two months in case the child is up to the age of two years and within four months in case the child is about two years of age note that here the time period is counted from the date of production of the child okay in case of surrendered the child the parent or the guardian who surrendered the child shall be given two months of time to reconsider the addition and in such given time the committee after due inquiry shall either allow the child to be with their parents or guardians under supervision or place the child in a specialized adoption agency if he or she is below six years of age or place the child in children's home if he or she is above six years of age now after two months if the parents or guardians are not willing to reconsider the addition then the child welfare committee will declare the child legally free for adoption okay the decision to declare an orphaned abandoned or the surrendered child as legally free for adoption shall be taken by at least three members of the child welfare committee see this is about the procedure for declaring a child as legally free for adoption finally before concluding let us see few facts about the central adoption resource agency that is CARA see the central adoption resource agency is a nodal institute in India for adoption of Indian children it is a statutory body functioning under the ministry of woman and child development it is authorized to regulate and monitor inter-country and in-country adoption okay both these are dealt with by CARA okay the authority chiefly handles the adoption of orphaned surrendered and abandoned children through its recognized and associated adoption agencies note that the central adoption resource agency was founded in 1990 and it was provided with the status of statutory body under the juvenile justice act 2015 so note the difference see this nodal body is designated as the central authority to deal with inter-country adoption as per the provisions of the hog convention on inter-country adoption 1993 see the hog convention on inter-country adoption seeks to protect children and their families against risk of illegal or immature operations abroad note that India became the signatory of the convention in 2003 so that's all regarding the discussion see in this discussion we first saw what is the difference between abandoning the child and surrendering the child then we saw the steps taken by the government to avoid abandoning of children after that we saw the procedure in which the child is declared legally free for adoption and finally we saw a few facts about central adoption resource authority so that's all regarding this discussion with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article take a look at this article this article talks about the entry of TRS party into national politics in this context let us learn how the national and regional parties are recognized in India let us firstly see who recognizes political parties in India the election commission of India registers political parties for the purpose of elections and grants them recognition as national or state parties on the basis of their poll performance see there are specific conditions which needs to be satisfied by a political party to get national or regional party recognition in India first let us see the conditions for a political party to get recognized as a national party if a political party satisfies any of the following conditions it can get national party recognition the first condition is that the party needs to get six percent of polled votes in at least four states in a general election or legislative assembly election and in addition to that it must also win at least four seats in Lokshaba from any state this is the first condition the second condition is that the political party should win two percent of the seats in Lokshaba election and these candidates must be elected from three different states the third condition is that the political party should be recognized as a regional party in four different states see these are all the conditions which are needed to be satisfied by a political party to get national party status now coming to the recognition of regional parties the condition for recognition of regional parties are given here if any of the conditions given here are satisfied by a political party it can be called as a regional party the first condition is that the party should secure six percent of valid votes polled in the state legislative assembly election and in addition it must also win two seats in the assembly of the state consent the second condition is that the party should secure six percent of the valid votes polled in the general election to Lokshaba from the state consent and in addition to this it must win at least one seat in the Lokshaba from the state consent the third condition is that the party should win three percent of the seats in the legislative assembly at the general election or three seats in the assembly now coming to the fourth condition the party should win one seat in the Lokshaba for every 25 seats allotted that is if there is only 25 seats allotted to the state in Lokshaba to get regional party recognition the party should win at least one seat but in case the seats allocated in Lokshaba for the state is hundred then to get regional party status the political party must secure at least four seats in Lokshaba the final condition is that the political party should secure eight percent of the total valid votes polled in the state at the general election to the Lokshaba from the state or to the legislative assembly of the state this particular condition was added in the year 2011 see these are all the conditions for the political party to get recognized as a regional party keep in mind that if any of these conditions are satisfied by a party then it can get recognized as regional party so that's all regarding this discussion see in this discussion we saw different conditions for the recognition of national or regional parties with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article have a look at this news article this news article talks about switch Bharat Mishan Gramin and the switch serve action Gramin award this is the news because yesterday the president of India presented the switch serve action Gramin award 2022 to the winners in the large states category Telangana was ranked first Haryana was placed second followed by Tamil Nadu at third among the smaller states and union territories Andaman Nikobar secured the first position followed by Dadra Nagar Haveli Damanandu at the second and Sikkimad third this is the crux of the news article given here in this context let us learn about switch Bharat Mishan and the switch serve action Gramin award see the switch Bharat Mishan was launched on 2nd October 2014 for a five year period the objective of this mission was to achieve universal sanitation coverage and also to achieve the target that India would be 100% open defecation free in five years so we can simply say that switch Bharat Mishan was aimed to achieve switch Bharat or clean India by 2019 the mission had two components which are switch Bharat urban and the switch Bharat Gramin the aim of the switch Bharat urban was to make urban India open defecation free it aimed to achieve 100% open defecation free status and 100% solid waste management in all urban local bodies it was implemented by the union ministry of housing and urban affairs the second component is switch Bharat Gramin as the name indicates this would focus on rural India the mission aimed at improving the levels of cleanliness through solid and liquid waste management activities and making villages open defecation free okay it was implemented by department of drinking water and sanitation under the ministry of Jalshakti here you have to note that under the mission all villages Kram Panchayats districts states and unitarities in India declared themselves as open defecation free on 2nd October 2019 it was on the occasion of 158th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and within five years 100 million toilets were constructed in rural India after that union government in 2020 announced the switch Bharat mission Gramin phase two and it would be implemented from 2020-21 to 2024-25 the second phase also focuses on the same objective of phase one and it ensures that no one is left behind and assures that everyone uses the toilet this is about the switch Bharat mission now moving on to the switch serve action Gramin it is a survey of cleanliness hygiene and sanitation to boost governments push for open defecation free status for villages see this survey will also assess the rural areas for their active implementation of switch Bharat mission initiative in a timely and innovative manner here the survey is carried out by an expert agency why is this survey important it is important because just by constructing toilets and educating people it is not necessary that everyone will start using toilets only by making a survey and analyzing the actual implementation of the project we can assess the real world situation so switch serve action Gramin is of utmost importance see here the ranking is given based on the following key indicators and weightages see 30% weightage is given to direct observation of sanitation at public places 35% weightage is given for citizens feedback including feedback from common citizens key influencers at the village level and the citizens online using mobile app and 35% weightage is given for service level progress on sanitation related parameters so that's all regarding switch serve action Gramin okay see in this discussion we saw about switch Bharat mission under switch serve action Gramin with this let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article take a look at this text and context article this article reports about the recent multiple leakages in Nord Stream Pipeline while the European Union called it as an act of sabotage Russia called it as an act of terrorism in this context let us learn about the Nord Stream Pipeline and the economic significance of it first let us see about Nord Stream Pipeline and where it is located see Nord Stream Pipelines are a natural gas carrying large volume underwater pipeline located at the Baltic Sea area of Europe the pipeline transfers gas from Russia to Germany most of the gas goes directly to Germany while the rest travels west and southwards through onshore links to other countries and and into storage areas here note that there are two different pipelines called as the Nord Stream 1 and the Nord Stream 2 Nord Stream 1 has been operational from 2011 while Nord Stream 2 till now has not been opened for commercial operations have a look at this image it clearly shows the two different streams of pipeline the pipeline traverses across five different sections of the Baltic Sea namely Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Danish and German sections as per this article the leakages were reported in both Finnish and Swedish sections now coming to the economic importance of the pipelines see Europe requires more than 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year and of that 40% of the gas came from Russia this was before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia see this gas is used for heating homes factories and offices in the harsh long european windows and this gas is also used for power generation as well see majority of the supply of natural gas from Russia to the western Europe came through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline because it was cheaper to transport gas through pipeline rather than onshore transit routes see this shows the economic significance of the Nord Stream pipeline note that the western european countries drastically reduced the russian gas imports after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia they started buying liquified natural gas from America to account for the shortfall so this is regarding the economic importance of the pipeline so with this we have come to the end of the discussion through this discussion we came to know about the Nord Stream pipeline its location and the economic significance of it now with this let us conclude the news article discussion session and take up the practice problems questions we have four practice problems questions today let us see them on by one let us take up the first question it is a two statement question two statements regarding Asian elephants are given we have to find the correct statements let us take up the first statement it is the national heritage animal of India see this statement is correct elephant indeed is the national heritage animal of India moving on to the second statement largest population of Asian elephant lives in India this statement is also correct the largest Asian elephant population lives in India since both the statements are correct the correct answer here is option C both 1 and 2 see look at this map this map shows the distribution of Asian elephant population in the world now moving on to the second question two statements are given we have to find the incorrect statement let us take up the first statement registered and recognized political party status are provided by the election commission of India see this statement is actually correct because the ECA that is the election commission of India confers the status of registered and recognized parties to the political parties in India moving on to the second statement a political party can be recognized as a national party if it is recognized as a regional party in three or more states see this statement is actually incorrect because in our discussion we saw that a political party can be recognized as a national party if it is recognized as a regional party in four or more states so statement 2 is incorrect but here in the question they have asked for the incorrect statements so the correct answer here is option B 2 only moving on to the third question this is a map based question six countries are given we have to find which of the countries have borders with Baltic Sea look at this map the countries bordering Baltic Sea include Sweden Finland Russia Estonia Latvia Lithuania Poland Germany and Denmark so in the given countries Norway and Belarus does not have border with Baltic Sea so the correct answer here is option D 2 3 5 and 6 moving on to the last question see this is a quiz question for you interested aspirants can write the answer for this question in the comment section the main question based on today's discussion is displayed here write your answers and post it in the comment section if you like today's video like comment and share it with your friends for more updates regarding UPSC preparation subscribe to Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel thank you