 A very good evening aspirants. We are happy to announce that over 927 aspirants cleared this year preliminary examination from Shankar IAS Academy and out of that over 70 aspirants cleared in their first attempt. With this note let's move on to our daily news analysis. Welcome to Hindu News Analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy for the date 25th of June 2022. The list of article we are going to discuss today is displayed on the screen. You can go through it. Now let's start our discussion. Let us take up this picture now. It shows farmer showing seeds of a variety of paddy. It is called the Pokali paddy. So let us know few facts about Pokali paddy or Pokali rice. See the rice produced in the fields of Pokali track is called as Pokali rice. And Pokali track comprises of parts of Thirusur, Ernakulam and Alapuda districts of Kerala. So Pokali paddy is a traditional rice variety cultivated in Kerala for 3000 years. This track is comprised of low lying waterlogged areas situated along the saline coastal belt of Kerala. Majority of Pokali land lie between the Vembanad lake and the Arabian Sea coast of Kerala state. So the track is also under the influence of tide. That means the fields are submerged with saline water during most of the time. Hence the track has high salinity. But we know that salinity hinders the growth of plants because the moisture availability to the plant is limited here. Such poor vegetative growth ultimately results in low yields of grain and straw. Then how in these tracks Pokali rice is cultivated? It is because the Pokali paddy is world famous for its salinity tolerance. This characteristic makes it special in a saline environment. So Pokali rice refers to a salt tolerant traditional rice cultivator grown in the coastal saline soils of Kerala. That is why the picture mentions as paddy in brine. Brine means salty water or sea water. Also know that this rice varieties botanical name is Oryza sativa. Originally around 25,000 hectare area was under Pokali cultivation. But now it is reduced to just 8,500 hectares. Actually the track saline soil is different from what is found elsewhere in India. This soil is bluish black in color and is stiff impervious clay which is rich in organic matter. So the soil is highly fertile with respect to major nutrients. The soil becomes saline during the ingression of salt water from the sea in summer months. But with the onset of monsoon the salinity of the soil gradually decreases and the water becomes fresh and fit for cultivation of paddy. Now after the paddy cultivation the fields are used for prawn or fish cultivation. So generally rice cultivation is done during the low saline phase from May or June to September or October and the traditional prawn cultivation is taken up during the high saline phase that sets in December or January. Actually all these factors aid in the nutrient richness of the soil that is the daily tidal inflow on the outflow of backwaters, the luxurious growth of micro flora and fauna, the natural deposit of decomposed floating aquatic weed mass and even the huge leftover biomass of rice plant after harvest. All these make the Pocali fields nutrient rich. Along with these the agro climatic conditions of the region are also supportive of Pocali cultivation. Let us see its other characteristics. See these plants are tall in stature. Their height varies depending on season, drought and flood situation in the field. Generally the height varies from 160 centimeter to 200 centimeter. They are also tolerant to soil acidity. It has red kernels. It is medium bold in shape with very good cooking quality, special taste and average protein percentage. And many value added Pocali products are produced from Pocali rice like rice flour, rice flakes, broken rice, rice bran and brown rice. It is said that Pocali rice and the value added products have special taste and cooking qualities with medicinal properties. For example Pocali rice bran is believed to be good for smoothening the problems associated with piles. Also Pocali cultivation is one of the major natural organic forming of rice prevalent in Kerala because chemical fertilizers or plant protection chemicals are not applied to the crop. We already saw the nutrient richness of soil. Along with this the fishes cultured in Pocali field act as bio control agents for weeds and pests. It is also among the oldest known crops cultivated organically in the world okay. So because of its special characteristics Pocali rice and rice products have gathered a unique position in the domestic market. And know that it has also received geographical indication tag in 2008 okay. So that is all regarding this news article. In this news article we saw about the Pocali rice and the unique characteristics of this Pocali rice. With this learn points let us move on to next news article discussion. See this editorial article it is about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which is NREGA Act and we know that it is renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that is MG NREGA in 2009. And the article says that the Ministry of Rural Development launched the National Mobile Monitoring Software which is NMMS app and this is the crux of the article. In this context let us see the important points mentioned in the article. Before that the syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference you can go through it. Firstly let us see some details about the app okay. See National Mobile Monitoring Software which is NMMS is a new application meant for improving citizen oversight and increasing transparency in MG NREGA works. And it is to be deployed by National Rural Employment Guarantee Act mates and local women at the panchayat level who are selected and trained to monitor MG NREGA worksites. See the MG NREGA mates are worksite supervisors okay. They monitor these MG NREGA worksites. And the main feature of this app is the real time photographed and geo tagged attendance of every worker and it is taken once in each half of the day okay. With this information let us see the conditions that affects the workers. See the launching of NMMS app may be useful in monitoring the attendance of workers who have fixed work timings. But in most states NREGA wages are calculated based on the amount of work done each day and they do not have to commit to fixed hours. And this flexibility is one of the reasons for the demand of work under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. So marking attendance on the app mandates that the workers are at the work site the entire day and this will cause difficulty to the workers okay. And one more thing is that the app will disproportionately affect women workers. See women already have the traditional burden of household chores and care work. But here the app mandates attendance for an entire day. So this will affect the proportion of women workers under this act. See apart from this challenge the other challenge lies in the implementation of NMMS app. See as we all know a stable network is a must for real time monitoring. But unfortunately that is not the case in much of rural India. This will lead to workers not being able to mark their attendance and consequently they will lose a day of wages. And workers in Kerala and Jharkhand and differently able to workers from Tamil Nadu are already facing problems in uploading their attendance on the app due to network problems. And the next concern is that the app will adversely impact the NREGA mates. See the role of a mate is to empower local women to manage attendance and work measurement in their panchayat. But now to be a mate one needs to have a smartphone. This new condition disqualifies thousands of women who do not own smartphones from becoming mates. And smartphone owning men will be given preference as mates. Another challenge is that many selected mates reported that they had not been given proper training in using the app. This could lead to errors in recording workers attendance that ultimately will result in delayed or non-payments. See the app had been launched on a pilot basis last year with states using it voluntarily. Officials and activists confirmed that the implementation errors that we discussed so far had been evident throughout the pilot process. However there is no information available publicly about the errors found and measures taken to understand. And despite the persistent errors the Ministry of Rural Development on May 13 released a circular announcing that NMMS app would be now mandatory for all MG NREGA worksite employing more than 20 workers. It leaves with no option for manual attendance other than in exceptional circumstances. Now coming to the next concern. See beyond the problems in the implementation the intended purpose of the application and its effectiveness remain unclear. Additionally the app claims to increase citizen oversight by bringing more transparency and ensuring proper monitoring of the schemes. And it also ensures faster processing of payments. However it appears to be doing exactly the opposite. With no physical attendance records workers have no proof of their attendance and work done. And again this will lead to the loss of wages. And this is a clear erosion of the transparency and citizen oversight that the app claims to improve. Apart from this corruption has been a rising problem in National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. See funds are being taken off by faking attendance records. So the focus on real time geotag attendance could be one way of addressing this corruption. But here also the Ministry of Rural Development has not provided much clarity on the magnitude of the corruption and the manner in which the NMMS app addresses it. So what can be done now? See instead of focusing on the app or introducing other complex technological reforms the author of the editorial is saying that the social audits must be strengthened. See social audits are citizen centric institutions where the citizens of the panchayat have a direct role and has a say in how engineering of functions in their panchayat. And the author is saying that an application meant to improve citizen oversight and transparency should be implemented with consultation and discussion with the workers, functionaries and the government field officials. Okay so that is all regarding this editorial article. In this editorial article we discussed about the national mobile monitoring software which is to be used in National Rural Employment Guarantee Act works. Then we discussed how this app will affect the workers and we also saw some of the concerns regarding the app. And we ended our discussion by saying that social audits must be strengthened rather than focusing on applications or introducing other complex technological reforms. Okay with this learn points let us move on to next news article discussion. Now look at this news article. This news article mentions that RBI has extended the deadline for card on file tokenization. It has been extended till September 30. To understand what this means you should know what is tokenization. See tokenization refers to replacement of actual card details with an alternate code. This alternate code is called the token. See this token will be unique for a combination of card, token, requester and the device. Okay here token requester is the entity which accepts request from the customer for tokenization of a card. And this entity passes the request to the card network so as to issue a corresponding token. Okay so a token corresponds to the combination of these three that is card, the token requester and the device. Okay so what happens is the card holder initiates a request on the app provided by the token requester for the tokenization. Then the token requester will forward the request to the card network. Then the card network gets the consent of the card issuer and then issues a token corresponding to the combination as we saw. And for availing this service the customer need not pay any charges. It is free. Additionally when this same token is converted back to actual card details it is known as de-tokenization. Know that tokenization and de-tokenization can be performed only by the authorized card network. This is about the tokenization. Then what is card on file tokenization? See it also refers to normal tokenization only. Here this card on file refers to card information stored by payment gateway and merchants to process future transactions. It is nothing but the actual card data or details like card numbers, CVV and expiry date used for processing online transactions. These details are only tokenized right. That is why the process is also referred as card on file tokenization. Now the deadline for implementing this has been extended by RBI. Hence with effect from 1st of November 2022 merchants will not be allowed to store your card number, CVV and expiry date for processing online transactions. And also know that any existing details that were saved by merchants will also be deleted. That means if you want to carry out any online payment you have to tokenize each of your debit and credit card details at your preferred website or apps very soon. If you do not tokenize your card then you would have to manually enter your full card details for making every transaction. This also means that tokenization is not mandatory for customers. But if you want a smooth hassle-free online transaction then you should tokenize rather than entering card details every time. But why tokenization is necessary? See it is necessary to ensure the safety of the card transaction. After tokenization the actual card details are not shared with the merchant during transaction processing. Rather only the associated token is shared. So this ensures protection against counterfeit, account misuse and other forms of frauds. Hence the goal of tokenization is to reduce or eliminate the risk of loss of sensitive data and to avoid the expensive process of notification, loss, reimbursement and legal action. So that's all regarding this discussion. This discussion we saw about tokenization and card unfile tokenization and why it is necessary. With these learnt points let's move on to next news article discussion. Now take a look at this article. It is about the indigenously developed vertical launch short-range surface-to-air missile. Very long name, right? As per the article it was successfully flight tested by DRDO and the Navy from a warship at integrated test range which is at Chandipur of the coast of Odisha. And this is the essence of the article given here. In this context let us understand more about this vertical launch short-range surface-to-air missile from prelims perspective. See this VLSRSAM has been designed and developed jointly by three facilities of the DRDO for deployment of Indian naval warships. The missile has the capacity of neutralizing various aerial threats at close ranges including sea skimming targets. Now coming to the design this missile has been designed to strike at the high speed airborne targets at the range of 40 to 50 kilometer and at an altitude of around 15 kilometer. Two key features of the VLSRSAM are cruciform wings and thrust vectoring. See the cruciform wings are nothing but four small wings arranged like a cross on four side and give the projective a stable aerodynamic posture. And the thrust vectoring is an ability to change the direction of the thrust from its engine which controls the angular velocity and the attitude of the missile. See this missile is a canisterized system. What does it mean? It means that it is stored and operated from specifically designed compartments. In the canister the inside environment is controlled thus making it transport and storage easier and improving the shelf life of weapons. And finally the key DRDO facilities that contributed to the development of the system are defense research and development lab and research center emerit both from Hyderabad and research and development establishment based in Pune. This news article discussion we saw about vertical launch short range surface to air missile its significance and its design. With these learnt points let us move on to next part of our news article discussion which is preliminary practice question discussion. Now look at the first question let me read out the question consider the following statements. Tokenization refers to replacement of actual card details with an alternate code. Statement 2 tokenization is mandatory for customers. Statement 3 de-tokenization is not allowed by RBI. And here we have to find the correct statement. See the first statement is correct. This is the actual definition of tokenization and this we saw in our discussion itself. And regarding the second statement it is absolutely incorrect. As of now it is not mandatory. Even if you do not tokenize your card you can do online payments but you have to enter full card details manually for making transactions okay. The third statement it is also incorrect. See de-tokenization is allowed. And conversion of the token back to actual card details is known as de-tokenization okay. So statement 1 is correct and statement 2 and 3 are incorrect. So our correct answer here will be option B 1 only. Moving on look at this question consider the following statements regarding vertical launch short range surface to air missile. Statement 1 it has the capability of neutralizing various aerial threats at close ranges including sea skimming targets. Statement 2 the missile is developed by Russia. And here we have to find the incorrect statement. See the first statement is correct. This is the purpose of the missile right. And regarding the second statement it is incorrect because this vertical launch short range surface to air missile has been designed and developed jointly by three facilities of DRDO for deployment in Indian naval warships okay. Since the question demands incorrect statement our answer here will be option B 2 only. This is our third question. Let me read out the question which of the following are features of Pokali paddy cultivation. Statement 1 salinity tolerance of the paddy. Statement 2 nutrient rich soil due to the daily tidal inflow and outflow of back waters. Statement 3 traditional prawn cultivation during the high saline phase. And here we have to find the correct statement. See this question is a quiz question for you find the answer and post it in the comment section. The main question based on today's discussion is displayed on the screen you can write the answer and post it in the comment section. 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