 Good evening aspirants. A warm welcome to the hinder news analysis by Shankar Iyer's Academy for the day 11th July 2021. These are the list of news articles that is chosen for today's discussion and they are given along with the page numbers of different editions. Also the link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time-stamping for the discussed articles are provided in the description box as well as in the comment section for the benefit of mobile phone viewers. So now let us move on to the analysis of the first news article. Now have a look at this news article. The news article reports about a statement that was made by the Supreme Court regarding the reveal of the identity of the rape victim and the Supreme Court statement is made on the backdrop of a recent event wherein a sessions court had revealed the name of the victim. So in this light the Supreme Court has took exception to this and it is emphasized the importance of privacy of the victim. So in this context we will cover about IPC and the relevant IPC provision that is section 228A in specific. The syllabus covered by this article is given below for your reference. See sexual offenses in our society is legally punished severely. However the serious issue is that even the victim is punished in the process of justice. So what happens here is that the identity of the victim is sensationalized by media and in court room and this affects the victim's privacy. And not only that the victim in an Indian setup is looked down upon has contaminated or polluted and the flaw that the victim carries affects not just the morality but also the opportunities that are open to them. So this leads to a lasting impact that extends beyond physical and psychological aspects and in a sense the victim is victimized again in the public gaze. So the victim and the family they choose to hush up the incident and no reporting of crime happens which in turn will lead the perpetrator free. See this is not only a question of justice but here the perpetrator who is free also poses the risk of repeating the crime with the same person or even with a different person. So it is in this case the section 228A of the Indian Penal Code comes into picture and it becomes important. See this section found its place in the statute book in the 1980s only and this provision expressly forbids the revealing of the identity of the concerned victim. But the issue is that this particular section has got two loopholes. One is that it doesn't define the identity of the victim that is identity can be name, place, job or anything but this particular section it fails to remark what sort of identity should not be revealed. The second loophole is that the section doesn't apply to court judgment. So this has kept the judiciary open to be insensitive in these cases. But despite the provisions various judicial processes have revealed the name of the victim as in the case that we are seeing today. See the earliest attempt to preserve the privacy of the victim was made in 1996 in the state of Punjab vices Gudmit Singh case and recently in the year 2018 in the Nipun Saxena vices the union of India and others case the Supreme Court forbids revealing the name of the victim and at present the Supreme Court in the state of Karnataka vices Putta Raja case has reiterated that rape survivor's names shouldn't be revealed and that they have to be referred to as victim only. Now besides these the Poxo law also has made some conscious efforts to keep the identity of the victims as a secret and it is section 23 of the Poxo which is applied for children. So this is all about the news but time and again we come across this IPC of the Indian Penal Code which is the bedrock of Indian jurisprudence. So as a part of our discussion today we shall also get a little more into the Indian Penal Code from preliminary point of view. See the Indian Penal Code is the official criminal code in India and it covers all aspects of criminal jurisprudence. So in order to know the origin of this particular Indian Penal Code we will have to go back in time. See when British was administratively expanding it encountered a variety of cultures each governed by different laws. So there raised a conflict of laws and it created difficulties in the administration of the country as a whole. So this led to the appointment of a law member of the council of the governor general and remember the first law member is TB Macaulay and he assumed the charge of his office in the year 1834 and also the statute of 1833 provided for the appointment of the law commission and this commission was to inquire fully into the state of laws in force and the administration of justice in the British possessions in India. So law commissions were appointed in the years 1834, 1853, 1861 and also in 1879 and the first law commission was headed by TB Macaulay. Now later the recommendations based on the first law commission headed by Macaulay formed the basis of this Indian Penal Code and the code came into force on January 1st 1860 and it is still in force in our country. Right now this IPC in its various sections defines specific crimes and it also provides punishment for them but now Indian Penal Code lately has come under heavy criticism and it is being criticized as being outdated and not being in tune with the current reality. For example, the section 309 criminalizes suicide and section 377 criminalized and punished the consensual sexual acts between consenting adults belonging to the same sex and apart from this there are also many other colonial relics that seems to be out of place. Now besides this the code was made to favor a master subordinate system through which the British governed India so it favored their narrow goal but did not keep up with the needs of the society and this is another criticism when it comes to the Indian Penal Code and if you see of these four law commissions the first and the last worked in India but the second and the third had their sittings in England and also no Indians were employed as commissioners and the law of England was used as a basis so you can imagine how distant to reality this code could be. So all this is calling for a complete overall of the Indian Penal Code. So with these ideas in our memory let us now move on to see what the next news article has got to tell us. Now let us take up this FAQ article for discussion. See this FAQ article talks about the respiratory sensational virus immunity that and also about the non pharmaceutical interventions. Overall the article is about the immunity that that is brought by the non-pharmaceutical interventions which were put in place to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. So in today's discussion we will mainly talk about the reported connection between the immunity debt and the non-pharmaceutical interventions and we will be discussing in detail about the respiratory sensational virus on some other day in a related article. So first what do we mean by this immunity debt? See there are some illnesses for which we need to be naturally immunized. Now what is natural immunization that we are referring here? To explain in simple terms say an infection occurs to a woman and as a result of this infection a body develops antibody response to that particular infection and this response fights the infection and keeps that particular pathogen in memory. So what happens is when the same person is infected by the same pathogen again sometime in the future the body will remember and recollect that particular pathogen and it also recollects this pathogen. It recollects that this pathogen is already killed or handled by its immune system. So in order to fight the infection the same antibody response is developed on time and there is no severity or there will be quick recovery. So the woman gives the immunity developed in her for a particular infection also to her child. So now the child is also protected and this is what we call as immunization by natural infection and for some of the infections medical experts say that immunization by infection is very effective rather than treatment and also when there is no vaccine available. So what will happen if such infections are prevented? See if such infections are prevented the pathogen will someday attack the human beings in future and at that time if human beings not have the antibody response then there are high chances for severe illnesses and also fatality and in such cases human beings will not have the required immunity and this is what is called as the immunity debt that is mentioned in the article. So the next question is why are we talking about this immunity debt at present? See this is because some experts say that the non-pharmaceutical interventions which were put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 is causing immunity debt for some diseases and this has been noted among some respiratory illnesses which have seasonal connection. So what are these non-pharmaceutical interventions? See these include individual distancing, use of masks and hygiene and other safety protocols other than taking drugs and as we know these were employed in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus but they have also prevented the spread of other pathogens as well and as a result the immunization by infection against the other pathogens is not happening and this has been noted in cases incidents related to the respiratory syncytial virus or the RSV particularly in New Zealand. See the disease caused by this virus has a well established influenza circulation pattern with peak incidences in the winter months but during the 2020 winter this influenza virus circulation was almost non-existent and in fact they have seen a 99.9 percent reduction compared with the previous years. So they are saying that the use of stringent lockdowns and broader controls had resulted in substantial reduction in contact between individuals and this has led to the fall in the number of respiratory syncytial virus cases in the year 2020. So the next question is why worrying about falling in cases then? See this is because the experts are saying that even though there is a fall surely at some point there will be unseasonal untimely outbreaks with an even more greater severity than usual and this will not be the case if there was regular periodical infection. See there is also no vaccine against this respiratory illness that is caused by the respiratory syncytial virus also almost all children will have or had a respiratory syncytial virus infection by their second birthday in New Zealand and if the mother was not infected already then in such case she will not be able to pass the protection to the baby and then there will be no antibody response in the baby. So immunization by infection becomes important and the challenges faced with respect to this virus was also observed in some other endemic diseases as well. So in the end the authors conclude that they must either be a drop in non-pharmaceutical interventions or there should be new and sustainable interventions that can minimize and prevent the seasonal and epidemic respiratory viral illnesses in the future and new and sustainable interventions are needed as there is a drop in immunization by natural infection. So with this we have come to the end of this news discussion. With this let us now move on to the next news article. Now our next discussion is going to be based on this article from the Science and Tech page. See previously Cassini spacecraft collected data from the giant water plumes that are adapting from the Saturn's moon Enceladus. So based on the data collected recently a study was published in the journal Nature Astronomy. So in this context let us discuss about the Enceladus and also the Cassini spacecraft from Prilim's perspective. So first let us focus on the Cassini spacecraft. See the Cassini who gains mission to Saturn is noted as being one of the most ambitious planetary exploration missions ever organized. Note that the Cassini mission was launched in the year 1997 and it is a cooperation between NASA, the European Space Agency and also the Italian Space Agency. See this Cassini who gains spacecraft is an unmanned spacecraft that was sent to the planet Saturn and also Cassini is a fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter its orbit and its design includes a Saturn orbiter and the lander called who gains landed on Titan in the year 2005. See the objective of this Cassini mission is to thoroughly study the Saturn system and it includes the study on Saturn, its ring system, the magnetosphere, the hazy moons and also the Titan. So to be specific this mission aims to determine the composition of the satellite surfaces and also the geological history of each subject around Saturn and accordingly Cassini revealed in great detail the true wonders of Saturn. So with this information in mind let us briefly know about the Enceladus. See Saturn's moon Enceladus is a small icy body object and it measures about 500 kilometer in diameter and it orbits Saturn in a nearly circular path. See the surface of the moon is almost pure water ice with trace amounts of carbon dioxide, ammonia and light hydrocarbons. Also Enceladus is geologically complex as its surface is undergone five distinct evolutionary periods and observations by the Cassini spacecraft confirmed that portions of the moon are geologically active even today. It is said so as the moon experiences extremely high heat flow and associated eruptions of water vapor and ice from plumes especially apparent in its south polar region. So due to such findings Enceladus has become a promising lead in search for words where life could exist and fortunately a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy which analyzed the data collected by Cassini spacecraft has concluded in that direction. That is the study concluded that data obtained from the Cassini spacecraft implies that there might be microbial activity in Enceladus. Thus it is said that the study holds the possibility of the evidence of microbial life on Enceladus. So these are the takeaway points from this article taken from the science and tech column. Now look at this news article. The news article mentions that the Gujarat government has given permission to conduct the Rath Yatra at the Lord Jagannath temple. So in this context let us know about the temple and also its Rath Yatra. See here we are talking about the Sri Jagannath G temple which is situated in Hamadabad of Gujarat and not about the Puri Jagannath temple. See this temple was established 460 years ago and it has been erected beside the river Sabarmati which is to the east of the temple. The main diaries of the temple are the Hindu holy trinity which includes Lord Jagannath, Lord Baldevji and Goddess Subhadraji. Now here you should know that as per Hindu religious folklore Lord Jagannath denotes Lord Krishna who is said to be one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu whereas Baldevji is the elder brother of Lord Jagannath and Subhadraji is their sister. And the idols of these diaries were installed in the temple by Sadusri Sarangdasji. See one of the notable features of the temple is that it provides the Oman service of Sadavarat. It means that they provide meals every day to 1000 to 1200 needy poor persons including saints and this service is provided irrespective of caste, creed and also religious distinction. See one of the most important events of the temple is the Radhyatra. See Radhyatra is also referred to as Radhyatra or the Radha Jatra and it translates to the chariot festival meaning any public procession in a chariot carrying a deity and this term particularly refers to and it is used in the context of the annual Radhyatra that is conducted in Odisha, Jakhand, Gujarat, West Bengal and also in other East Indian states. Now here note that even though this Radhyatra is conducted for many other diaries but mainly the term Radhyatra itself involves a public procession with a chariot carrying the idols of holy trinity and the Sudarshanachakra. See this Sudarshanachakra refers to the weapon of Lord Vishnu. So in the context of Sri Jagannath Temple, the Radhyatra was introduced in the year 1878 and this Radhyatra is conducted on the Ashadi beach every year. See this Ashadi beach refers to the new year of the Kutch community in the Rana of Kutch. See the Radhyatra starts with Pahindviti which is a symbolic ritual of cleaning the way for the chariot using a golden broom and previously this ritual was done by the king and now it is being performed by the chief minister of Gujarat. Now once the ritual is done the procession will begin and this procession will be led by 15 to 20 elephants in decorative dress and it is followed by a group of trained athletes who will be performing aerobatics in order to please Lord Jagannath and they are followed by disciples with decorative flags of the temple and then finally comes the holy trinity on chariots which are pulled by devotees. Now let us take up this news article for discussion. This article is based on a recent survey by the Botanical Survey of India and according to the survey Sikkim being the smallest state with less than 1% of India's land mass is found to be the home to around 27% of all the flowering plants that are found in India and as per the news out of more than 18,000 flowering plants that are naturally occurring in India more than 4900 of them are found in Sikkim. The main reason for this diversity is the different altitudinal ecosystems that is provided by the Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve which provides an opportunity for the herbs and the trees to grow and thrive in this ecosystem. So in this context let us discuss in detail about the Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted below for your reference. Know that Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve in Sikkim is one of the highest ecosystems in the world reaching elevations of 1220 meters above sea level and this reserve includes a range of eco lines varying from subtropic to arctic as well as natural forest in different biomes. Also this reserve supports an immensely rich diversity of forest types and also habitats and you can have a look at the map in order to understand the important protected areas in Sikkim. On moving further see the Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve is the 11th biosphere reserve from India to have a place in the UNESCO designated world network of biosphere reserves and the Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve was included in this world network of biosphere reserves back in 2018 after decided so by the man and biosphere program of UNESCO. So at present India has got 18 biosphere reserves and with the inclusion of Kanjanzonga the number of internationally designated world network of biosphere reserves became 11 with seven of them being domestic biosphere reserves. Now coming back to Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve see it is located in the state of Sikkim bordering Nepal to the west and Tibet to the northwest and as it provides vast natural forest the main economic activities in these areas are agricultural and horticultural crops, animal asbenry, fish, dairy and also poultry farming. Remember the Kanjanzonga national park is a part of this Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve and the complex of this national park or the Kanjanzonga biosphere reserve is the biggest important bird area in Sikkim which is occupying nearly 40 percent of the state and this important bird area stretches eastwards up to Sanktang in north Sikkim and the T-star river flowing south from the Solamo cold desert forms its eastern boundary for most part and know that the Ratong-Rangit valleys in the southern part of this important bird area are a trekkers paradise and here one could see flora from lowland subtropical forest to alpine meadows and also snow-capped peaks and glaciers and most importantly this important bird area has the world's third highest and India's highest peak that is Mount Kanjanzonga see this biosphere reserve is a trans-boundary biodiversity odd spot conservation area and the southern and central landscape which makes up to around 86 percent of the core area is situated in the Greater Himalayas and the northern part of the area which accounts for around 14 percent is characterized by trans-Himalian features now coming to its ecological values see there are about 22 endemic and 22 rare and threatened plants in the area note that the reserve also housed some of the newly described plant taxa from orchidaceae, lamaceae and apaceae family now besides these there are about 30 species of rhododendrons and over 42 confirmed mammal species belonging to 16 families now here it is to be noted that the core zone of the Kanjanzonga national park was designated as a world heritage site back in 2016 under the mixed category and here many of the mountains peaks lakes caves rocks two paths and hot springs function as pilgrimage sites and over 118 species of the larger number of medicinal plants that are found in the Zongu valley in North Sikkim are of ethnomedical utility so these are some of the important takeaway points from this article so with these details in our mind let us now move on to the next part of the news discussion now look at this news article it talks about a bill that was proposed by the Assam government to stop the transportation of cattle or use the state for the transit of the bovine animal and the news says that this bill has raised concerns among the neighboring states like Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland which has got a majority of christian population who consume beef so in this context let us have a brief understanding about this bill and then we will see the constitutional provisions regarding the prevention of cattle slaughter and we will also see if such laws exist in other parts of the country now moving on to the article first let us see about the bill in brief see the proposed Assam Cattle Preservation Bill of 2021 envisages imposition of complete ban on the transport of cattle outside the state and it is said to be introduced with an aim to end illegal cattle smuggling along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam and know that if the bill is passed it is going to amend the Assam Cattle Preservation Act of 1950 which regulates cattle slaughter in the state and according to the Act the slaughter of cattle over 14 years of age or those unfit for work or breeding is allowed and such cattle need to be given a fit for slaughter certificate by local veterinary officers so now let us see the constitutional provisions with respect to the prevention of cattle slaughter see we know about the director principles of the state policy of the Indian constitution and it provides that the state shall endeavor to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and it also directs the state to take the necessary steps in order to improve the breeds and prohibit the slaughter of cows, calves and other milk and drought cattle and accordingly more than 20 states have so far passed laws restricting the slaughter of cattle and buffaloes to various degrees now for example state laws such as those in Chhateshgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh they completely prohibited the slaughter of cattle but Tamil Nadu allows slaughter of cattle and buffaloes with certain restrictions and in the year 2010 Karnataka passed a law to replace the 1964 act and to completely prohibit the slaughter of bulls and bullocks however the law did not get the governor's assent and then the Karnataka prevention of slaughter and preservation of cattle ordinance of 2020 was promulgated on January 5, 2021 and here it is also to be noted that the extent of the prohibition under these state laws is also been guided by the Supreme Court judgments over time now if you see there is an issue with respect to the non-uniformity in the laws across the states see the stated intent of these legislations in these states is to ensure the protection of cows and other bovine population however the non-uniformity in the laws creates a situation of illegal transportation to the states where slaughter is allowed and note that there are also accusations from human rights groups and also from civil society that the laws are being misused and in addition to this there are challenges and the implementation of these laws since most farmers and cattle rares they find it difficult to maintain the cattle beyond their productive age so these are some of the points that are important for us in our exam perspective from this article now let us move on to the next news discussion now our next news discussion is going to be based on this FAQ article as we know the recent death of tribal activist Stan Swamy during his jail term has invited severe criticism of several government institutions and this is also raised questions about the liberty of many others who have been arrested in the Elgar Parishad case and jailed under the unlawful activities prevention act of 1967 so in this context let us discuss the history of this unlawful activities prevention act of 1967 and also on what makes this act so stringent now the syllabus covered by this FAQ article is highlighted below for your reference now come let us move on to the article see we are aware that India has witnessed several secessionist movements and demands for separate country which are against India's sovereignty and also its integrity also these secessionist tendencies in India are spotted ever since the birth of the nation in 1947 for instance during the 1950s and 1960s states such as Nagaland and Mizoram they started witnessing strong movements demanding the separation from India and in the south some groups from the Dravidian movement briefly considered the idea of a separate country and alongside this in March 1967 a peasant uprising in Naxalbari which in short we call it as a Naxal movement began to challenge the state authority so all these incidents they pushed the Indian state to take effective measures to safeguard the internal security of our country so hence for this purpose on June 17 1966 the president had promulgated the unlawful activities prevention ordinance and the objective of this ordinance is to provide for the more effective prevention of unlawful activities of individuals as well as associations so later when this ordinance was tabled in the parliament for the approval the opposition rejected the proposal and they were against the stringency in this particular unlawful activities prevention ordinance so later on after making some major changes the unlawful activities prevention act of 1967 was passed in the parliament so till now we saw about the necessity and also the history of the passage of these unlawful activities prevention act of 1967 so now let us focus on how its jurisdiction expanded over the years see according to this act any action taken by an individual or association that leads to session of a part of the territory of India questions the sovereignty of India or disrupts the integrity of India shall be termed unlawful and this provision is the base for this act and alongside this it gives powers to the central government to impose all india bands on associations which are declared unlawful under the act and know that these provisions were mentioned in the original act that was passed in the year 1967 itself but with the need for more stringent actions the act was amended several times and know that after the amendments in 2004 and 2013 the act was widened in order to cover the punishment for terrorist activities provisions to prevent the use of funds for terrorist purposes money laundering and many more and also after the amendment of this unlawful activities prevention act in the year 2013 the period of ban on organizations has been extended to five years and in addition to this the amendments were also aimed at giving effect to various anti-terrorism resolutions of the UNSE or the United Nations Security Council also the set of amendments were notified in the year 2013 in order to bring this unlawful activities prevention act in line with various requirements of the financial action task force and even recently in the year 2019 this act was amended in the parliament and by that the act empowered the government to designate individuals as terrorists so this is how the jurisdiction of this act expanded and with this information in mind let us now discuss the stringent provisions in this act say in our discussion dated 8th July 2021 we have discussed in detail and shared important informations regarding the stringent provision in this particular unlawful activities prevention act so we would like to advise the aspirants to go back and watch it for a holistic understanding of the issue while in this discussion we should learn about the provisions that are mentioned in this particular or this concerned article you see just like other laws this unlawful activities prevention act also modifies the code of criminal procedure in order to give it more power and accordingly certain changes were brought in to this code of criminal procedure to ensure that the remand order can be for 30 days and also those arrested under the act can be imprisoned up to 180 days even without filing a charge sheet and this is a area which the article mainly focuses on and alongside this the article also specifically mentions about section 43d clause 5 of the unlawful activities prevention act which is displayed below for your understanding see according to this section bail cannot be granted to a suspect if the court is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe and also a supreme court judgment on this as clarified that while considering the bail applications under the unlawful activities prevention act courts must presume that every allegation made in the first information report to be correct so in short the accused can be acquitted only if the accused proves is innocence that is the burden rests on the accused to disprove the allegations and hence the law makes it impossible for anyone to obtain the bail under the completion of the trial and this is why human rights defenders they feel that the provision is very harsh and also severe so therefore arbitrary use of this particular act can only result in systematic abuse of majoritarian authority and also disregard for the rule of law so with this we have come to the end of this discussion let us now move on to the practice question discussion now let us take up this prelims practice question about the kanjanzanga biosphere reserve statement one says that it is the latest biosphere reserve from india to be included in the unasco designated world network of biosphere reserves and statement two says that a major part of it is situated in the greater rimalayas and statement three says that the core zone of the kanjanzanga national park was designated as a world heritage site by unasco under the natural category and we need to find the correct statement so based on our discussion so we can infer that the right option is option a that is one and two only coming to the next question the religious ritual of pahind vidhi sometimes seen in news is related to which of the following there are four options given the first option is aerobatics by trained athletes second option is the chariots poured by devotees a third option is the cleaning the way for the chariots using golden broom and the fourth option is the yeoman service of providing meals every day to the needy and who are persons and the right option or the right answer here is option see that is cleaning the way for the chariots using golden broom therefore this pahind vidhi is a religious ritual which involves cleaning the way for the chariots using golden broom so the right answer is option c now coming to the next question which of the following articles of the indian constitution directs the state to take steps to prohibit the slaughter of cows and the right answer here is option b that is article 48 and coming to the last question about see this question is with reference to the kasini spacecraft and statement one says that it is a cooperation between nasa and japan hero space exploration agency and statement two says that the kasini hygen spacecraft is an unmanned spacecraft sent to the planet mars so we need to find the correct statement so in our discussion we saw that the kasini hygen's mission to satan is noted as being one of the most ambitious planetary exploration mission missions ever organized and it is an unmanned spacecraft that is sent to the planet satan and not mars so therefore statement two is incorrect and when you take the statement one see the kasini mission that was launched in the year 1997 is a cooperation between nasa the european space agency and also the italian space agency and not just a cooperation between nasa and the japan aerospace exploration agency so and this japan aerospace exploration agency has got no role in this mission so therefore statement one is also incorrect and since a question wants is to find only the right statements a correct option here is option d that is neither one nor two the list of main's questions is displayed below for your reference so the aspirants can write your answers and you can post them in the comment section below so with this we have come to the end of today's hinder news analysis by shankar eye's academy so if you like the video then don't forget to like comment and share and do subscribe to shankar eye's academy youtube channel for more updates regarding upsc civil services examination