 Good evening as friends, I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankar Iyer's Academy for the newspaper dated 6th of January 2023. Displayed here are the list of articles that I have taken up for discussion today. Go through it. There are 8 articles. Without much delay, we will get into the first article discussion. See this editorial article here, it talks about the history of Indian cable television. See, before the LPG reforms, the government basically had a monopoly over the TV broadcasting. So it is only after 1990s, the private players started entering the race. So in this phase, the cable television networks and foreign television networks started growing rapidly in India. So the government of the day decided to regulate the growing industry and it framed the Cable Television Network Act of 1995. However, from 1990 to 2000, India did not have any ground port or ground station. So in this period, the cable TV networks had to send their video cassettes containing programs to either Russia, Hong Kong or Singapore to upload their shows. So basically in this period, the cable TV networks had to send their video cassettes having their program to either Russia, Hong Kong or Singapore to uplink their shows to the geostationary satellites. Taking this into consideration, in 2000, an uplinking facility was first created in India through the VSNL or the Videsh-Sanshar-Nigam Limited. After this, what happened? Cable TV networks can send their video cassettes containing their programs to the New Delhi office of VSNL. Now they don't have to send it to Russia or Singapore. Now as an upgrade, the government allowed private players to provide uplinking services from Indian soil. So now private players are also coming into the play. Since all these developments are happening in 2000, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting notified the guidelines for uplinking from India. And again this was revised in 2011 as the guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of satellite television channels in India. This was done to adapt to the changing technology and market scenario. And again very recently the union cabinet has approved the guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of television channels in India 2022. See this guideline is mainly focusing on making India into an uplinking hub. So it took nearly 30 odd years for India to transfer from sending tapes to foreign countries for uplinking to foreign countries sending tapes to India for uplinking. Before we used to send tapes to the foreign countries for uplinking and now we are going to receive the tapes from other countries for uplinking from our Indian soil. So this is about the editorial. So in this context let us discuss about the guidelines. I have highlighted the relevant syllabus here, go through it. Now let us start by understanding what is uplinking and downlinking. See this image. When information is beamed from ground station to the satellite when it is called uplinking and when the information from the satellite is beamed back to the ground station it is called downlinking. Now here you have to note that for telecommunication purposes what satellites are used? Geostationary satellites are used. Now you know what is uplinking and downlinking. Now we will see what are the main advantages of this new guidelines. First of all the new guidelines simplified various procedures to the permission holder. Here the permission holder refers to the private players who already have the license. First change is with respect to the permission for live telecast. See earlier what was happening was that the permission holders must seek a prayer permission for live telecast of events. Now in this new guidelines this provision is done away. Now only the prior registration of the event is necessary. So this has simplified the procedure for live telecast by the TV channels. The next major change is regarding the permission for change of language or change of picture quality. See earlier if you are a person who is operating a particular channel and if you wanted to change the language or change the picture format from SD to HD then you will have to seek permission. And only if it is approved the changes can be implemented. But according to the new guidelines the licensed TV channels need not seek permission. So in essence you will have to intimate the authorities about the changes that you are about to make. Another major change is about the permission for news gathering. Before understanding that have a look at this image. This is called a digital satellite news gathering. So what is this about? This basically helps the news reporters to broadcast from the remote location outside a TV studio. This particular vehicle will have all the setups that are necessary to broadcast the news. So you don't have to come back to the studio to report the news. The new guidelines is saying that the permission for the use of digital satellite news gathering is required. But the use of other equipments like optic fiber, backpack and mobile for news gathering need no separate permission. These are the changes related to permission holders. Now the new guidelines has also simplified certain procedures to aid ease of doing business. Firstly for the grant of permission a certain time limit is specified. Now you are a person who wants to set up a new TV channel. You will seek permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the authorities will conduct a background check. Now a report will be made and it will be submitted to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. This report will be reviewed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting within 30 days. After that you will pay the necessary fee and you will get the license for the company to run the TV channel for 10 years. So this will fasten the process of approval or rejection and also it will help to streamline the business. Secondly this new guidelines allows the Indian teleports or Indian ground stations to uplink foreign channels. So this will take India to the path of becoming an uplinking hub. Also this will create additional employment opportunities. Then there is something for the news channels. Earlier the license for the news channels would be extended one year at a time. If you are getting a license this year it has to be renewed in the following year or the next year. But right now it is extended to 5 years. So this will smoothen the functioning of news channels. Finally the new guidelines allows the limited liability partnership companies to seek permission and establish a news channel. Earlier only a limited company was allowed to seek permission. Now here what is the difference between limited liability partnership and a limited company. See in a limited liability company the partners hold the ownership of the company and they also hold powers to manage the company. For example Mr. X is a partner in the limited liability partnership company. He can act as both owner and a manager. On the other hand if you see private limited companies the shareholder that is the owners. Do not necessarily have to have management powers. There could be separate boards which take care of the management process. Basically small businesses tend to register as limited liability partnership companies. And large businesses tend to register as private limited companies. So these four changes will aid in the ease of doing business. Now the new guidelines have also rationalized various procedures. Before there used to be two guidelines one for uplinking and other for downlinking. Now we have one composite set of guidelines and this will avoid duplication. Then the penalty clause have been rationalized in the new guidelines. Earlier common penalty was provided for all types of violation. But right now different penalties are provided for different violations. For serious violations there will be serious penalties. And if it is not so serious there will be lesser penalty. All this is fine. But there is one controversial provision in this new guidelines that is discussed very often. That is regarding the content of national interest. If you see according to the new guidelines everyday television channels must broadcast 30 minutes of content on topics of national interest and social relevance. See these are the eight themes that are given by the guidelines. So basically the channels must comply with the central government directives in publishing the content surrounding these themes. This is not applicable for foreign channels and sports channels. Other than this provision which is slightly controversial all the changes brought about by the 2022 guidelines will give a major boost to the Indian TV broadcasting industry. So in this discussion we saw about the history of Indian cable television how it evolved. We saw about uplinking and downlinking. We also saw some major changes that was brought about by the guidelines of uplinking and downlinking 2022. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. Now let's move on to the next article discussion. Look at this editorial article. It explores the India-Nepal relationships in the wake of their elections in Nepal. One of the authors of this article is a former ambassador of India to Nepal. Hence this article assumes significance. Now we will use this opportunity to understand about India-Nepal relationship and we will see some way forwards as suggested by the author. I have attached the syllabus relevant to this discussion here. Go through it. Now we all know Nepal is a close neighbour of India. So Nepal shares a border of over 1850 km. Some sources also say it is just 1751 km. Totally five Indian states share border with Nepal. They are Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. See we have such a close border and because of this friendship and cooperation between the two countries developed at varied levels. There are also people-to-people contacts, similar cultures, food habits etc. Apart from this at a higher level we also have diplomatic relations. It was initiated by the India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950. So under this treaty Nepalese citizens avails facilities and opportunities on par with Indian citizens. Which also means that there is an open border system. So the citizens of both countries cross over the border for livelihood opportunities, marriages, familial ties, so on and so forth. Now in the last few years the relation between the two countries have seen a renewed momentum. There were high level political exchanges which included the visits of Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of one country to another. There were regular meetings of bilateral mechanisms across diverse sectors of cooperation. So this was all part of India's neighbourhood first policy. We have converging interest in so many levels. India reminds Nepal's largest trade partner in 2019-20 our bilateral trade crossed 7 billion US dollars. Then in February 2021 13 Terai road packages were completed under India's assistance of nearly 400 crore rupees that was handed over to the government of Nepal. Apart from this India also supplies a total of 600 MW of power to Nepal through different transmission lines. This is to help Nepal to overcome the power shortage. This multifaceted relations led to the expansion of economic and development partnership. And this gave boost to connectivity, cooperative initiatives in water resources and hydropower sectors, defense, security etc. So this is a brief on India-Napal bilateral relations. Earlier I was talking about the Nepal election and I also told you that it is in that context that this article is being written. This election is a talk of the town because Nepal as a country has gone through a lot of developments. One of the major developments is the assimilation of Maoist into the Nepal's democratic political mainstream. So what do I mean by this? See Maoism is a form of communism developed by Mao Seton. So the Maoists believe in bringing political change through force. So what they do? They bring about insurgent military strategy. They involve in continuous revolution and through these means they try to establish a people's government. First of all, why all this happened in Nepal? See, Nepal is a country with poor governance, corruption and there was also a apathetic attitude that was expressed by the government towards the people. And all this led to continuous political instability. So the Maoists took this opportunity and they started a party which is called as the Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist. This was a radical faction which got separated from the existing Communist Party of Nepal. It was started by Pushpa Kamaldahal who is also known as Prachanda. So this party launched Gorilla Warfare that shook Nepal in 1996. They call it as the People's War. And this party promised self-rule and autonomy to various ethnic groups in Nepal. They also said that they will bring about an end to the discrimination that was existing between different groups. So this particular insurgency lasted from 1996 to 2006. As a result of this insurgency, Nepal's monarchy was overthrown and it was replaced by a democratically elected government. Finally, in 2015, Nepal's new constitution was promulgated. This is just one side of the story. Since I told you that a democratically elected government was formed in Nepal, you might have thought everything would have gone like a catwalk after that. But the political instability in Nepal still continued. From 2006 to 2017, Nepal sought 10 prime ministers. So when there is so much political instability, a country cannot develop, right? Because political instability hinders the ability of the government to address the challenges confronting the country. Later, however, a coalition government was formed where different factions came together and Mr. Prachanda was chosen as the Nepal's new prime minister. Before seeing what this development means, let us see what are the irritants in the India-Nepal relations. First, Nepal is placing so many acquisitions on India. Nepal is accusing India of blocking access to fuel, medicine and other essential supplies and they believe this led to the humanitarian crisis in Nepal. This is basically a misunderstanding and Nepal was concerned because it is a landlocked country and it has to rely on India for imports, right? Another irritant in the relation is the boundary issue. In 2019, Nepal played cartographic aggression. That is, it published a map with Indian territories as its territories. Through the map, Nepal asserted that the three disputed territories of Limpiatura, Lipulek and Kalapani are part of its territory. This further strained the relation between the two countries. And another major issue is that the Nepalist politicians are using these issues for their personal gains and they are creating anti-India sentiments in the minds of the people. Some believe that this has happened due to Chinese backing. Yes, this is another concern for India. There is growing Chinese influence in Nepal. China has increased its investments, aids and loans to Nepal. It even considers Nepal as a key partner in its Belt and Road Initiative and it wants to invest in Nepal's infrastructure. As we were talking about the Nepal elections, now we will try to understand what this means for India and what it means for China. China seems happy because a communist government has been formed in Nepal. So, China seems to think it can now easily promote its own interest. Second, because this is detrimental for India. China thinks that the current political leadership in Nepal is not pro-India. So, Indian interest must be at stake. However, the author feels that India should not be worried about this because India has been dealing with Nepal for past several decades even when there was turmoil and instability in Nepal. The author says this because the new Nepali government is adopting a policy of equi-proximity with India and China. What do I mean by this? Nepal is maintaining an equal distance with India and China. Apart from this, geographically also, Nepal is closer to India than to China. So, now it is with the Indian leadership to do the needful to establish strong ties with Nepal. The author says that India and Nepal should use soft power and mutual empathy. Soft power means attracting and persuading rather than using force on one another. So, as a part of this, India should frame policies regarding Nepal while considering the fact that Nepal is a transforming country. We can jointly work together at various levels including economic governance and human welfare. Under economic governance, we can deal with economic recovery, sub-regional and regional cooperation. Restructuring supply chain can also be brought into the picture along with enhancing energy cooperation. Such a policy could help both the countries which are reeling with the after-effects of COVID-19 pandemic, Russia-Ukraine war, etc. This would create a win-win situation for both the sides. So, in this article discussion, we saw about the issues in the relationship between India and Nepal and how Nepal election results are going to affect India and China. We also saw some ways to improve the relation between India and Nepal. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. Now, let's move on to the next article. Now, see this front-page article. It talks about the decennial census exercise that has been postponed till September. The government has informed the states that the date of freezing of administrative boundaries has been extended till June 30. But as per norm, if you see, census can be conducted only three months after freezing of the boundary limits of the administrative units such as districts, sub-districts, tassels, talukas and police stations. This is the crux of the news article given here. In this context, let us understand about census from the exam perspective and we will also see some important provisions of the Census Act 1948. Fine? Before that, I have given the syllabus relevant to this discussion here. Kindly go through it. First of all, what is census? See, census is the total process of collecting, compiling, analyzing, evaluating, publishing and disseminating the statistical data of what? Of the population and housing and their geographical location. So simply, it is a survey about population. India has a permanent legislation for this, which is the Census Act of 1948. This particular act gives the legal backing for the exercise of census by the central government for the whole or part of India. Now, what kind of information collected in the census? See, through census, authentic information on demography, economic activity, literacy and education, housing and household amenities, urbanization, fertility and mortality, scheduled costs and scheduled tribes, language, religion, migration, disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data are collected. This means that census contains data about various characteristics about a group of population. It is only because of this reason, it makes the data very valuable. It can be used as a basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade and if there are certain schemes of the government, it can be easily monitored. For example, if you take the Mandrega scheme, who are the beneficiaries and all this can be easily identified using the census data. Apart from this, it can also be used for making plans for the future. As we all know, the census is conducted for every 10 years. The first such census was conducted non-synchronously in different parts of India in the year 1872. This means that the first census was conducted in British India. Now, the coming 2021 Decadal census, which is yet to be conducted, will be the 16th in series and it will be the 8th after independence. However, it is postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, this news article tells that the census operations are being postponed till September. Now, we will move on to understand how census is taken in India. See, census operation is carried out in basically two phases. The first phase is called as the house listing and housing census. And the second phase is population enumeration. So, basically, the first phase sets a base for the population enumeration, which is the second phase. So, what happens in the first phase? All buildings, census houses and households, all these are identified and systematically listed in the schedules. With this data, we can easily analyze the condition of human settlements, amenities and assets available to the households, housing deficit and housing requirement. All these data can be used in the formulation of housing policies. Now, after this first phase, second phase, which is the population enumeration follows. And this happens with a gap of 6 to 8 months after the first phase. So, it is only in the second phase of census, each person is enumerated and their individual particulars are collected. So, the offices asks us about the details of our age, marital status, religion, schedule cast or schedule tribe, mother tongue, education level, disability, economic activity, migration, fertility and all these data. All this is fine. But who conducts census in India? The responsibility of conducting the census basically rests with the office of Registrar General and the census commissioner of India. They are functioning under the Ministry of Home Affairs. How are these offices appointed? They are appointed under the census act of 1948. But this act only provides for the appointment of census commissioner to supervise the taking of the census. This act empowers the central government to notify the date for the census to appoint the census commissioner and superintendents of the census operation in states. This act instructs every citizen to assist the offices in taking of the census. That means it is the obligation on the part of every citizen to answer the census questions truthfully. You can't give false answers or you can't simply remain without giving answers. Because these two things will attract penalty. Now, who are going to conduct the census? The act provides for appointment of census officers to take the census in a specified area. So these offices are mainly drawn from local school teachers, central state government officials and officials of the local bodies. They visit every household and conduct the census. Apart from this, this act also provides for amenities, facilities and requisitioning of premises or vehicles, power to obtain information, power to ask question, so on and so forth. Now, also know that there is something called as the census division. So this census division assists the registrar general and the census commissioner for conducting the census operation. And the directors of census operation coordinate the work of census in the respective states and union territories. So in this discussion, we covered the following aspects. What is census? What kind of information are obtained during census? And finally how census is conducted in India. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. Now let's move on to the next article discussion. See this news article here. It talks about the Asian elephants. Recently, a research paper was published in the international journal called the conservation. So this research paper says that the endangered Asian elephants has lost most of its optimal habitat in the Neelgris biosphere reserve. So this research points out that human settlements are hindering the movement of elephants and because of this they are forced to keep themselves confined to the hilly areas. This is about this news article. So in this discussion, we will understand about the Asian elephants. First of all, the scientific name of Asian elephant is LFS Maximus. And you should also know that more than half of the wild Asian elephants are found in India. And they are the largest land mammal on the Asian continent. So these Asian elephants live in a range of habitats including grasslands, scrublands, evergreen and deciduous forests. They mostly prefer low lying areas where they can move around easily. See, you would have heard this. People used to say that if an elephant is chasing you run down the hill because it is difficult for an elephant to run down the hill with its huge body weight. And that is why they usually prefer low lying areas. And they avoid steep slopes. This is one of the major characteristics about their habitat. See, another major important thing about the Asian elephant is that they are extremely sociable. They live in large groups led by the oldest female member. Yes, you guessed it right. Their community is matriarchial. Apart from this, we all know that elephants are herbivorous animals and they live close to a source of fresh water. This is because they need to drink water at least once a day. Now, note that there are three major subspecies of this Asian elephant. These includes the Sri Lankan elephant, Sumatran elephant and the Indian elephant. We will see how they differ from each other. First, the Indian elephant has the widest range and they account for the majority on the Asian continent. Then, the Sri Lankan elephant. This elephant is physically the largest of the subspecies and they are also the darkest in colour. And finally, the Sumatran elephant is the smallest of the subspecies. However, there are some studies which suggest that the Borneo islands have a separate subspecies of Asian elephants. If this Borneo elephant are considered separate subspecies then they would be the smallest of all the other elephants found in the Asian subcontinent. Now, we will see a little more about the Indian elephant. See, these elephants occur in the Central and Southern Western Cards then in Northeast India, in Eastern India, Northern India and in some parts of the Southern Peninsula India. Now, we will move on to the elephants. Firstly, these elephants are poached for ivory and other body parts which are traded for huge profit in the illegal markets. Then, as we saw in this article, there is loss of habitat, fragmentation of population. See, for example, if a road is laid down in the middle of a forest so this road is now dividing the forest into two halves. This leads to fragmentation of the population, right? The fragmented degradation that is decline in the quality of the forest itself due to deforestation, construction activities, so on and so forth. Then, there is loss of genetic viability resulting from small population size and isolation. This is happening because there could be a lot of inbreeding since the population size is very small. Apart from this, the elephants are used in hunting other terrestrial food industry. Now we will see the conservation status of Asian elephants. Firstly, they are categorized as endangered under the IUCN Red List of 300 species. Then, they are placed under Appendix 1 of sites that is the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora. They also come under Appendix 2 of CMS which is convention on migratory species. Also, they fall under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. So, in this article, we saw about Asian elephants, their habitats, the subspecies in the Asian elephants, threats faced by them and finally the conservation status of the Asian elephants. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. Now we will move on to the next article. See this article here. It says that the chief justice of India recused himself from hearing a contempt of court petition against stand up comedian, Kunal Kamra. So, the petition was filed because Mr. Kamra made comments on social media in connection with Supreme Court's decision to grant bail to the journalist, Arnab Goswami. This is about the news. We will use this opportunity to learn some points about the Chief Justice of India. See, Chief Justice of India is the head of Indian judiciary and he is also the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India. Do you know who is the current Chief Justice of India? Comment the name of Chief Justice in the comment box below. See, Chief Justice of India is called as the master of the roster. Why is he called so? Because he is vested with exclusive discretionary power to constitute Supreme Court benches and he can also allocate the cases. So, how Chief Justice of India is appointed? He is appointed by the President of India under Article 124 Clause 2 of the Constitution. The Article 124 2 says that every judge of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal. As we all know, Chief Justice of India is the Chief Judge of Supreme Court. So, the Article 124 2 implicitly provided that the Chief Justice of India is also appointed by the President. You should know one thing here. The appointment is to be done after consultation with judges of the Supreme Court. This means that the President should consult the Collegium of the Supreme Court while he is appointing the Chief Justice of India and other Supreme Court judges. Note that the Supreme Court in the second judges case of 1993 ruled that the senior most judge of the Supreme Court alone be appointed to the office of the Chief Justice of India. So, what the Collegium usually does is that it recommends the senior most judge of Supreme Court to the appointment of the Chief Justice of India. Now, what are the qualifications that are needed to become the Chief Justice of India? As I said earlier, he should be the senior most judge of the Supreme Court. So, that his name will be recommended by the Collegium. Apart from this, the other qualifications are same as that to become a Supreme Court judge. That is, he should be a citizen of India. He should have been a judge of a High Court or High Courts in succession for 5 years or he should have been an advocate of a High Court or High Courts in succession for 10 years or he should be a distinguished jurist in the opinion of the President. Note one thing here the constitution has not prescribed any minimum age for appointment here. Now, coming to the 10 year of the Chief Justice of India. It is same as that of Supreme Court judges. However, he should know that the constitution has not fixed the 10 year of the judge of the Supreme Court. However, Article 124 2 says that the Supreme Court judge holds office until he or she attains the age of 65 years. So, the Chief Justice of India will also be in the office until he attains the age of 65. CJI or the Chief Justice of India can form his office by writing to the President. Then coming to the removal process. It is also same as that of Supreme Court judges. A judge of the Supreme Court can be removed from office by an order of the President. The President can issue the removal order only after an address by the Parliament has been presented before him for such removal. The removal address has to be passed in the same session of the Parliament and it must be supported by a special majority of each House of the Parliament. He can be removed on the grounds of prudent misbehaviour or incapacity. Now finally, we will see what are the functions that are being performed by the Chief Justice of India. Firstly, the Chief Justice of India is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches to deal with important matters of law. This is why I earlier told you that he is called as the master of the rooster. He carries out the functions of maintenance of rooster and then appointment of court officials. The Chief Justice of India also deals with general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court. And finally, he shall act as the President of India. Yes, President of India in the event of the offices of both the President and the Vice President being vacant. In simple terms, if the Office of President and Vice President are being vacant, then the Chief Justice of India acts as the President of India. So in this discussion we saw about the Chief Justice of India, how he is appointed, the qualifications needed to become CJA, the tenure of CJA, removal process and finally we saw what are the functions that are being performed by him. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. Now let's move on to the next article. Look at this news article. It is regarding the rate filed against the Governor of Tamil Nadu in Madras High Court. A writ of Co-Varanto was filed against the Governor saying that he is holding an Office of Profit. Now, in this case the High Court has ruled that the writ is not maintainable. This means the writ filed is not proper or not as per the provisions of the law of the land. In short, the writ has been dismissed. In this context, let us quickly revise about the Rits. See, issuing Rits comes under the writ jurisdiction of the courts. Remember, writ jurisdiction is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. In our country, both the Supreme Court and the High Courts are empowered to issue Rits for the enforcement of the fundamental rights. So, moving the Court for issuing Rits is their remedy for the violation of fundamental rights. Supreme Court enjoys this power to issue Rits under article 32 and High Court enjoys the same power under article 226 of Indian Constitution. But there are differences between the writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Courts. Especially, the writ jurisdiction of the High Court is wider than that of the Supreme Court. Why? Because the Supreme Court can issue Rits only for the enforcement of the fundamental rights. This means that it cannot issue Rits for other purposes. But High Courts can issue Rits for other purposes also. This means, when there is a leaked breach of an ordinary legal right, then also the High Court can issue Rits. Here, you should know that the remedy under article 226 is discretionary. Which means, the High Court can refuse to exercise its writ jurisdiction. Now, let me tell you briefly about the type of Rits. First is Habers-Karpus. It is filed to seek relief from the unlawful detention of a person. So, this writ is a guardian of individual liberty against arbitrary detention. Note that this writ can be issued both against public authorities and private individuals. Second is the writ of mandamus. It is a comment issued by the court to a public official asking her to perform the official duties that she has failed or refused to perform. It can be issued against public body, corporation, inferior court, tribunal or government. Third writ is the writ of prohibition. It is issued by a High Court to a Low Court or Tribunal to prevent the Lower Court or Tribunal from exceeding its jurisdiction or taking over a jurisdiction that it does not possess. Next is certiorary. It is issued either to transfer a case pending to High Court or to completely squash the order of a Lower Court or Tribunal in a case. Finally, quawarantu. It is issued by a court to incur into the legality of a climb of a person to a public office. Hence, it prevents illegal usurpation of public office by a person. That's all regarding this article. Now we will move on to the next article. See this news article. It mentions that all India rubber industries association has requested the government to ease the restrictions placed on rubber imports. In India, if you see, the demand for rubber is higher than the domestic production. So, therefore, India imports rubber to meet its domestic demands. But presently, due to Russia-Ukraine war, the price of rubber in international markets have increased. This has affected the Indian rubber industry as a whole. The All India Rubber Industry Association has asked the government to increase rubber production in India on one hand and it has also asked the government to reduce the import duty on the imported rubber. This is about the news article. In this context, let us quickly go through about the Indian rubber industry. See, natural rubber is actually a polymer of isoprene. So, basically, if you see, natural rubber is a very large molecule which is formed by repeating units of isoprene. You may be surprised to know this. See, this particular rubber latex comes from a variety of trees. Of these, Hevia briscelliensis is the most important kind. So, rubber latex is not something unique to the rubber plantation that we see today. Hevia briscelliensis is a native of the Amazon basin and it was introduced from there to different countries in the tropical belts of Asia and Africa. This happened during the late 19th century. See, I told you it came from Amazon basin. So, it is an equatorial crop. But, under special circumstances, it can be grown in tropical and subtropical areas as well. So, that is why it was brought to India and other countries. Rubber requires moist and humid climate with rainfall of more than 200 centimetres. It grows well when the distribution of rainfall is uniformly high all over the year. A temperature of 25 degree Celsius is optimal for the growth of rubber plantations. The tree is pretty sturdy and can withstand the temperature ranging between 20 to 35 degree Celsius. This is in spite of the fact that it basically is an equatorial tree. But, if the temperature falls below 20 degree Celsius it is detrimental to the tree. Now, we will see what is the requirement of the soil. The rubber trees grows well in the deep and well-drained soil. They can also grow in acidic soil as well. Rubber has many commercial uses. It is an important industrial raw material. It is only because of this reason it is grown as a plantation crop. See, plantations are a type of commercial farming where a single crop like tea, coffee or rubber are grown with the help of huge labour and capital. Now, we will see about the rubber production in India. According to NCRT, in India rubber is grown mainly in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Garo Hills of Mehalaya. So, these are the traditional areas. But, currently rubber plantations have been established in other areas also. These are called the non-traditional areas. These areas include Goa, Maharashtra's Kongan region, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Tirupura. Because of the increasing rubber plantation, there is threat to biodiversity. Because rubber plantation leads to monoculture, which is basically a practice of growing a single crop over a large area. And there was even an article in Down to Earth magazine two days ago about the rubber plantation affecting the monkey population in Tirupura. Now, commercial cultivation of natural rubber was introduced in India by British. In 1873 itself, the British were experimenting with commercial cultivation at the botanical gardens of Calcutta. But, the first commercial natural rubber plantation in India was established at Tatekardu, Kerala in 1902. Even today, Kerala accounts for the majority of rubber production in India. It accounts for something around 75% of rubber production in India. It is followed by Tirupura, Karnataka, Assam and Tamil Nadu. Now, who oversees this? It is the rubber board which plays an important role in the development of rubber industry in India. The rubber board evolved from the erstwhile, Indian rubber board which was established under the Rubber Production and Marketing Act of 1947. In 1954, the rubber production and marketing act was passed which renamed the Indian rubber board to rubber board. This is all regarding this article. Now, we will move on to the next article discussion. Look at this news article. The news further says that the coverage of food crops in Tamil Nadu is marginally lower than last year. So, this is about the news article. Now, in this discussion, we will cover two famous cash crops of India. First, we will see cotton and followed by that we will see jute. First, let's take cotton. Cotton is one of the most important fibre and cash crops of India. It plays a very dominant role in the industrial and agricultural economy of our country. It provides livelihood for nearly 6 million farmers and nearly 40 to 50 million people are employed in cotton trading and India has 10 major cotton growing states. They are Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Now, what are the climate and soil requirements for growing cotton? Cotton is grown in tropical and subtropical conditions. It needs a minimum of 15 degree Celsius so that better germination of seeds can take place. During the vegetative growth they need around 21 to 27 degree Celsius. But here you should know that cotton can tolerate temperature even to the extent of 43 degree Celsius. But something below 21 degree Celsius is detrimental to the crop. They have something called as the fruiting period. So in this period warm days and cool nights with large diurnal variations are conducive because they result in good fibre development. Cotton can be grown in a variety of soils. In North India it grows in well drained and deep alluvial soil. Then in the Central India it grows in black clayey soils. And in Southern India it grows in black mixed black and red soils. So this is about cotton. Now we will move on to jute. See, jute is an important natural fibre and cash crop that is grown in India next to cotton. It is also called as the golden fibre. Why is it used basically? It is used for making gunny bags, mats, ropes, carpets and other artefacts. Which are the states that are majorly producing jute? West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. However the Indian jute industry mainly depends on the state of West Bengal because it has the highest number of jute mills. Now coming to the climatic and soil conditions, see jute requires a hot and humid climate. Their tolerance temperature range is 15 degree Celsius to 35 degree Celsius. Know that constant drain or waterlog conditions are harmful to jute cultivation. Particularly during the seedling stage it is not at all conducive to have waterlogged conditions. Then alternate sunshine and rainy days are most helpful to the jute growth. Jute can be raised on many kinds of soil. That is from clayey soil to sandy loam. However particularly if you see loamy alluvial soil is best suited for jute cultivation. But laterite and gravel soils are not suitable for this crop. The new grey alluvial soil which are receiving silt from the annual floods are the best for jute cultivation. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. Now we will move on to the next part of our discussion which is practice questions. There are 5 questions. 4 will be discussed by me and 1 will be the quiz question for the day. Question number 1. With reference to the Chief Justice of India consider the following statements. Statement 1. The constitution of India provides for fixed tenure to the Chief Justice of India. Statement 2. The Chief Justice of India can be removed from her office or her office by the President of India based on the removal address by the parliament. Which of the statements given above are correct? Here Statement 1 is incorrect. The constitution has not fixed the tenure for the Chief Justice of India. However we saw in the discussion article 124 2 of the constitution says that the Judge of the Supreme Court holds office until he or she attains the age of 65 years. So as the senior most judge of the Supreme Court the Chief Justice of India would be in office till 65 years of age. Here statement 2 is also correct. The CJA can be removed from his or her office by the President of India based on the removal address passed by the parliament. Here the question is asking for the correct statement. So the correct answer for this question is option B 2 only. Question number 2. Consider the following statements regarding natural rubber. Statement 1. He via Breslensis which is the major source of natural rubber is native to Amazon basin. Statement 2. Bresl is the world's largest natural rubber producer. Statement 3. Currently synthetic rubber is replacing the natural rubber because synthetic rubber offers higher stretch ratio, higher resilience and is extremely waterproof. Which of the above statements is RR correct? Here statement 1 is correct. We saw that natural rubber is native to Amazon basin. Now statement 2 is incorrect. Although this rubber plant is native to Amazon basin Thailand is currently the largest producer of natural rubber. Finally statement 3 is also incorrect. Actually natural rubber offers higher stretch ratio, higher resilience and is extremely waterproof than the synthetic rubber. But the major disadvantage associated with natural rubber is that it does not perform well when exposed to chemical and petroleum derivatives. So the correct answer here is option B 1 only. Question number 3. Which of the following statements is RR correct with reference to RIT jurisdiction of both the Supreme Court and High Courts. Statement 1. Both can issue RITs for the enforcement of the fundamental rights. Statement 2. Both can issue RITs for enforcing an ordinary legal right. Statement number 3. Both can issue the RITs of certiorae and quawarantoo. Statement number 4. Both can refuse to exercise their RIT jurisdiction. See here. Statement 1 is correct. Enforcing the fundamental rights is one of the main purpose behind issuing RITs. Statement 2 is incorrect. Supreme Court can issue RITs only for enforcement of fundamental rights. But High Courts can do so for enforcing even ordinary legal right. Statement 3 is also correct because both Supreme Court and High Court can issue the RITs of certiorae and quawarantoo. Now Statement 4 is incorrect. See a remedy under article 32 is itself a fundamental right. And hence Supreme Court cannot refuse to exercise its RIT jurisdiction. On the other hand a remedy under article 226 is discretionary. Therefore a High Court may refuse to exercise its RIT jurisdiction. This is mainly because the Supreme Court is the defender and guarantor of fundamental rights. So the correct answer here is option A, 1 and 3 only. Question number 4. This is a previous question from Prillams 2020. The crop is subtropical in nature. A hard frost is injurious to it. It recures at least 210 frost free days and 5200 cm of rainfall for its growth. A light well drained soil capable of retaining moisture is ideally suited for the cultivation of the crop. Which one of the following is that crop? Here answer is A, cotton. Now this is the quiz question for the day. Read this question carefully. Write down the answers in the comment box below. These are the main questions for your practice. Interested candidates can write the answer and post it in the comment box below. 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