 A very good evening aspirants, I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankar Ayes Academy. Now before getting into discussion, I have an announcement for you. The announcement is regarding prelims test series. Shankar Ayes Academy is going to start pre-stroming batch 1 for UPAC's prelims. The orientation for the first test will be conducted on September 11, 2023 and the first test will be on 18 September. A total of 48 tests including C-SAT and Mach tests will be provided in the test series. The fee details are also displayed here, kindly register to the test series immediately and boost your prelim score. With this announcement, let us get into the news analysis. Today I am going to cover important news articles from the Hindu's paper dated 24th 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 prelims practice question discussions. So, try to watch the entire video. And a kind request to you all, those who haven't yet subscribed to our YouTube channel, do subscribe and hit the bell icon button so that you will get regular notifications about our current affairs videos. Now let's get into our first news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. Yesterday, Indian Air Force successfully test-fired an Astra missile from the Tejas aircraft. The test was conducted off the coast of Goa and it was monitored by DRDO, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and several other agencies. This is all about the news. Now in this discussion, let us see some points about Astra missile and Tejas aircraft from prelims point of view. Now first, let's take up Astra missile. The Astra missile is India's first beyond visual range air-to-air missile. It was indigenously developed by the DRDO. That is the defense research and development organization. Now what is this beyond visual range missile? See a beyond visual range missile is a missile that has a range of 37 kilometer or beyond. To put it simply, if a missile has 37 kilometer range or beyond, then it is termed as beyond visual range missile. Now coming back to Astra missile, the Astra missile was first tested in 2003 and it underwent several successful trials. Finally it was inducted into the Indian Air Force in 2019. And now it was successfully testified from the Tejas aircraft. Note that there are three versions of Astra missile. That is Astra Mark 1, Astra Mark 2 and Astra Mark 3. The Astra Mark 1 has a range of around 110 kilometer. Then Astra Mark 2 has a range of around 160 kilometer and it is being developed by DRDO. And finally the Astra Mark 3 version has a longer range than Mark 1 and Mark 2. And it is currently under development. Okay now with these basics let us see the specifications of Astra missile. Astra is an all-weather missile which means that it can be fired during all weather conditions. The Astra missile is powered by a solid fuel rocket motor and it has a two-stage guidance system. The first stage uses an inertial navigation system. The system guides the missile to locate the target. Then the second stage uses a radar seeker. This system helps the missile to track and engage the target. Okay see the Astra missile is designed to be launched from a variety of Indian fighter aircrafts including Sukai SU-30 Tejas and advanced medium combat aircraft. In addition to this it can also be launched from unmanned aerial vehicles that is UAVs. See Astra missiles are being considered for export to other countries. So it is expected to boost India's defense exports. Overall the Astra missile is a significant development for the Indian Air Force. This is all about Astra missile. Now let us move on to see about LCA Tejas. See LCA Tejas stands for Light Combat Aircraft Tejas. Now what is this light combat aircraft? See light combat aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft that is smaller and lighter than a traditional fighter aircraft. Light combat aircrafts are typically designed to be more affordable and easier to maintain than traditional fighter aircraft. Now coming back to Tejas. Tejas is a single engine multi-role light combat aircraft. It is developed by Aeronautical Development Agency and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. Note that it is the first indigenously developed fighter aircraft of India. The Tejas has been in service since 2015 and it has been deployed in several exercises. And note that the Tejas is currently used both in Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. Now moving on to see about the key features of Tejas. See Tejas is a fourth generation aircraft with a top speed of Mach 2.2. The range of the aircraft is 3000 kilometers. Tejas is equipped with a variety of weapons and sensors including Astra missile, Derby missile, Helena anti-tank missile and laser-gated bombs. See the Tejas is designed in a way that it can carry out air-to-air and air-to-surface attacks. And it also has air-to-air refuelling capability. See the Tejas is expected to be the backbone of Indian Air Force fighter fleet in future. And it is a major boost for India's aerospace industry. Overall the successful test firing of Astra missile is a major milestone for India's defense industry. The Astra missile will provide Indian Air Force with enhanced capability to engage enemy aircraft at long ranges. So in this discussion we saw various details about Astra missile and LCA Tejas. See this topic is very much important for your prelims 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. This news article speaks about a new findings on the spread of dengue virus. Recently the scientists found that when dengue virus is exposed to higher environmental temperatures it can become more harmful to humans. This is because the dengue virus is able to replicate more quickly at higher temperatures and this can lead to more severe symptoms. This is the crux of the article. Now in this discussion let us see some points about dengue and then about the important findings mentioned in the article. Now let us start with dengue. See dengue is a mosquito bond disease that is caused by dengue virus called genus flavivirus. The dengue is transmitted by several species of female mosquitoes but mostly by aries aegypti mosquito species. The dengue is mostly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions. And note that dengue has four strains namely DEN1, DEN2, DEN3 and DEN4. And the most common strain in India is DEN2. Now moving on to see about the symptoms of dengue. The symptoms of dengue fever are similar to malaria and yellow fever. The symptoms include high fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, nausea and vomiting, etc. Now let us see about prevention and treatment. See currently there is no specific medicine to treat dengue infection. But we have two dengue vaccines to prevent dengue infection. And both of them were approved for usage. The first vaccine is dengue waxia. This vaccine is produced by the French company named Sanofi. The dengue waxia can be administered only to those people who have had dengue previously or those who live in an area where the majority of the population has previously infected. See in people who have never had the infection, the dengue waxia can increase the risk of dengue. So it is administered only to the people who have had dengue previously or those who live in an area where the majority of the population has previously infected with dengue. Then the second vaccine is Q-Denga. It is produced by a Japanese company named TakeDS. It can be administered to the people who have not had previous infection. And note that recently the National Centre for Biological Science in Bangalore have developed India's first DNA vaccine for dengue fever. And it is yet to be approved. Here DNA vaccine is a type of vaccine that uses a small piece of DNA from a pathogen to stimulate an immune response in humans. This is all about various aspects of dengue. Now with this information let us discuss the important findings mentioned in the news article. See recently the scientists conducted a research. Research says that the higher environmental temperatures shorten the time taken for the dengue virus to replicate inside mosquitoes. So this can lead to increased transmission to humans and more outbreaks of dengue. Ultimately the study suggests that climate change could increase the spread of dengue fever. As global temperatures rise dengue virus is likely to become more virulent and this could lead to an increase in the number of cases and deaths from the dengue disease. In conclusion the news article wants that if there is an extended dry season with high temperatures there might be severe outbreak of dengue. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about various aspects of dengue. Then we saw about the recent findings about the spread of dengue. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this editorial the author of the article speaks about various aspects of social security in India. He highlighted some of the steps taken by India to ensure social security. Then about the status of social security in India. And finally the steps that can be taken to strengthen social security in India. So in our discussion we will understand all these points in detail. Now before getting into discussion the syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here you can go through it. Now first let's start with the term social security. Social security refers to the social protection that the society provides to individuals and households. It includes ensuring access to healthcare and providing income security to old age people, unemployed people, sick people, maternity and so on. So basically social security ensures social protection to individuals or households. Now coming to social security in India. See in India the social security is provided to the people through variety of legislations. For this purpose the social security in India is divided into seven types. It includes health insurance and medical benefit, old age or retirement benefits, unemployment insurance, life and disability insurance, maternity and child care benefits, rural job guarantee and food security. See these social securities are covered under respective legislations or schemes. Here I will tell you some examples. See we have national health protection scheme under Ayushman Bharat. This scheme provides health insurance to the people. Then we have national pension system. This is a retirement savings and investment program. Then we have Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bhima Yojana. This scheme covers accidental death or disability. Then we have another scheme named Pradhan Mantri Matruvandana Yojana. This scheme provides maternity benefits to the pregnant woman. And we have MG Narega scheme. This scheme is a rural job guarantee scheme. Okay apart from these legislations or schemes there are many other legislations in India. All these schemes were enacted to provide social security to the people. From this we can understand that social security in India covers broader areas. Okay now with this information let us move on to see about the status of social security in India. As we saw just now India has taken many initiatives to ensure social security in India. Despite such initiatives there are still some issues. See according to the periodic labour force survey annual report 2021-22 there are around 53% of all of the salary workforce does not have any social security benefits in India. This is one findings. The report also says that only 1.9% of the poorest 20% of India's workforce has access to any benefits. This means that even salaried workforce itself does not have access to a provident fund, pension and health care and disability insurance. Now coming to unorganised sector see the government has taken many steps to provide social security measures to workers in the unorganised sector including gig workers and those in informal employment. The measure is provided under the unorganised workers social security act 2008. Despite there is legislation only 1.3% of India's active labour force like gig workers have access to any social security benefits. So from all these findings we can say that there are many people left out in the aspect of social security in India. In addition to this India's social security system also ranked poorly. According to Mercer CFS India's social security system ranks 40 out of 43 countries in 2021. This is the current status of social security system in India. Now what are the reasons for poor social security in India? According to the author the reason for this is largely due to the ignorance of social security during policy making. Even if policies are announced they were allotted minimum budget for execution and the allotted budget is utilized even in lower rate. For example let us take the National Social Security Fund. This fund was set up in 2011 to support unorganised sector workers like weavers, rickshaw pullers, bd workers and so on. See the execution of the scheme requires over rupees 22,841 crores but the initial allocation for the fund was just rupees 1000 crore. Apart from this in financial year 2017 the CAG audit on the scheme says that around 1927 crores of funds have not been utilized. So minimum budget and underutilisation of funds are majorly contributing to the poor social security in India. So what can be done to overcome these issues? See the author suggests many steps to strengthen social security in India. Now we will see them one by one. Firstly the author says that India should aspire to provide social security to all of its workforce and the social security should be physically and administratively feasible. Secondly the author advocates that the government should establish legislations for a Pan-India labour force court. This court will ensure nationwide social security coverage. Thirdly the author says that the government should give special attention to domestic workers especially female when it comes to social security. Finally the author says that the government should raise awareness about social security to ensure that more workers are aware of the available benefits. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about the steps taken by India to ensure social security then about the status of social security in India and finally the steps that can be taken to strengthen social security in India. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article as we all know there is a huge rainfall and associated floods in Himachal Pradesh. So the congress party has called on the central government to declare the Himachal Pradesh floods as natural calamity. They asked the central government to allocate rupees 10000 crore for rehabilitation and pre-building purposes. They have also requested the chairs of Lokshaba and Rajshaba to allow MPs to use their MP lads fund for aiding the flood affected regions. This is the crux of the news article. Now in this discussion let us understand MP lads scheme in detail. The members of parliament local area development scheme which is in short called as MP lads was announced by the then prime minister P. V. Narashimarao in 1993 in the parliament. And the scheme is still continuing. The MP lads is a central sector scheme which means it is fully funded by the central government. Note that the MP lads scheme comes under the control of ministry of statistics and program implementation. The ministry is responsible for the policy formulation, release of funds and prescribing monitoring mechanism for implementation of MP lads scheme. Okay now with these basics let us move on to see about the objectives of MP lads scheme. The main objective of MP lads scheme is to enable members of parliament to recommend developmental works like construction of roads, school buildings and so on in their respective constituencies. Basically the scheme aims to create durable community assets based on the local needs of MPs constituency. Now what kind of work can be carried out under the MP lads scheme? See all kind of works that are needed to meet the local community's infrastructure and developmental requirements are carried out under the MP lads scheme. Some of the works include creating durable assets of drinking water facilities, education, public health, sanitation and roads etc are carried out under the MP lads scheme. Note that MP lads works can also be implemented in the areas prone to the calamities like flood, cyclone, tsunami, earthquake, landslides and drought. Okay so these are the works that can be carried out under the MP lads scheme. Now moving on to see about the funding pattern of the scheme. See when the scheme was launched in 1993 an amount of Rs 5 lakh per MP was allotted to carry out the developmental work. But currently the annual MP lads fund is increased to Rs 5 crore per MP constituency. It is released in two equal installments. And note that two percentage of the fund is to be used for administrative expenses of the scheme. Okay now who can recommend the works? See the members of parliament in Lokshaba can recommend works for their respective constituencies. Then elected members of Rajshaba can recommend works in one or more districts in the state where they get elected. Further nominated members of Rajshaba can recommend works for implementation in one or more districts anywhere in the country. And note that when there is a calamity of severe nature in any part of the country an MP can recommend works up to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh for the affected district. Now let us see how the scheme is executed. See to execute the scheme firstly a department in the state or union territory has to be designated as the nodal department. Such nodal department has an overall responsibility of supervision monitoring and coordination of the MP lads scheme. Okay see under the MP lads scheme the government of India releases fund to the respective district authorities. After that the government informs the state nodal department about the release of funds. So basically the MP lads funds would be held by the district authorities. See when an MP recommends work the district authority implements such work through local self-governments such as panjayats or municipalities or even through government agencies. In some cases district authority also engages reputed non-governmental organizations for execution of MP lads works. And note that the district authorities have to report the status of MP lads implementation to the government of India and the state nodal department. And note one important point here the funds released to the district authority are non-lapsable that is the unspent amount will not lapse and it will be carried forward to the next fiscal year. Okay and that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw various aspects of MP lads funds. See this topic is very much important for your both problems and means. 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. Yesterday the Kerala government has launched the distribution of O'Vonam food kits to Antiovthaya Anneyo generation card holders and several other welfare institutions in the state. This is all about the news. Now in this discussion let us see some points about Antiovthaya Anneyo Juna. The Antiovthaya Anneyo Juna which is in short known as AAY was launched in December 2000. The scheme was enacted to make targeted public distribution system have more focused and targeted one towards the hungry people in our country. See under the scheme one crore of poorest of the poor families from amongst the members of below poverty line have been identified. After identification they are currently provided with food grains at a highly subsidized rate of rupees 2 per kg for wheat and rupees 3 per kg for rice. And note that the states and union territories were required to bear the distribution cost including margin to dealers and retailers as well as the transportation cost. This ensures that the entire food subsidy was passed on to the consumers under the AAY scheme. The AAY ration card holders can procure up to 20 kilograms of rice or 15 kilograms of wheat using their AAY ration card. And note that the identification of AAY families and issuing of distinctive ration cards is the responsibility of the state government. And the village councils finalize the list of AAY families in the village. See in the financial year 2003-2004 the AAY scheme was expanded by adding below poverty line households headed by widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support. With this increase another 1.5 crore families were covered under the Antio de Añozina. So currently the Antio de Añozina scheme covers nearly 2.5 crore poorest of the poorest households. Overall the Antio de Añozina scheme provides food grains to the poorest of the poor at a subsidized rate by providing affordable food grains. The Antio de Añozina scheme contributes to improved nutrition and overall well-being. And that's all regarding this discussion and this discussion we saw about Antio de Añozina in detail. Now with these points in mind let us move on to the next part of the video that is to discuss preliminary practice questions. Today we are having three questions. I will solve two of them and one will be quiz question for you. Now look at the first question. This question is regarding MP Lads scheme that is the members of parliament local area development scheme. Here four statements are given we have to find how many of the statements are correct. Look at the first statement MP Lads funds must be used to create durable assets like physical infrastructure for health education etc. See this statement is correct the MP Lads funds must be used to create durable physical assets. So statement one is correct. Now come to the second statement a specified portion of each MPs fund must benefit SC or ST populations. See this statement is correct. The MPs should recommend at least 15 percentage of MP Lads fund for the benefit of SC population and 7.5 percentage of funds for the benefit of ST population. So second statement is correct. Now coming to the third statement MP Lads funds are sanctioned on yearly basis and unused funds cannot be carried forward to the next year. See this statement is incorrect. This is because the MP Lads funds released to the district authority by the government of India are non-lapsable. That is the funds left with the district authority can be carried forward for the utilization in the subsequent years. So third statement is incorrect. Now coming to the fourth statement the district authority must inspect at least 10 percentage of all works implementation every year. See this statement is correct. The district authority would be responsible for overall coordination and supervision of the works under the MP Lads scheme. So the district authority should inspect at least 10 percentage of works under MP Lads scheme every year. So fourth statement is correct. Here only three statements are correct. So the correct answer for the question is option C only three. Moving on let's take up the second question. This question is regarding Dengu. Here three statements are given we have to find how many of the statements are correct. Look at the first statement Dengu is a mosquito-borne parasitic infection. See this statement is incorrect because Dengu is caused by virus and not by parasites. So statement one is incorrect. Now coming to the second statement a person can be infected with more than one stereotype of Dengu virus. See this statement is correct. A person can be infected with more than one stereotype of Dengu virus. Here stereotype means group of viruses. So second statement is correct. Now coming to the third statement a person who has been infected with one stereotype of Dengu virus is immune to all other groups. See this statement is incorrect because a person who has been infected with one stereotype of Dengu virus is not immune to all other stereotypes. So, third statement is incorrect. Here only second statement is correct. So, the correct answer is option A only one. This is a quiz question for you today. I will post this quiz question in the community section. Try to answer it and the answer for the quiz question will be posted in the comment section of the quiz question itself. You can verify the answers. Displayed here is the main question for your practice. Go through the question, write your answer and post it in the comment section. With this, we have come to the end of the video. We found our video to be useful. Do like, comment and share it with your friends. And don't forget to subscribe Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.