 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindu Newspaper Analysis brought to you by Shankarae's Academy for the date 4th of March 2022. See before starting our discussion today, I want to share something with you all. As we all know, prelims is coming nearby. It's vastly approaching us. Hardly 3 months are there. See the most difficult part in the UPSC preparation has been the consolidation of our preparation process. With the overload of information that is available in the internet, it is becoming more and more difficult by the day to go and search for the current affairs notes, to go and search for the quizzes or the question papers, to go and search for the videos for the clarification of our doubts. If you are someone who are having these kind of difficulties, your worrying time is over, I'm so excited to bring it to you. A recently launched Shankarae's Academy app, yeah you heard me right. Shankarae's Academy has launched this app and it is available in Google Play Store. What all do you want? Do you want daily current affairs notes? Do you want main topic analysis? Do you want quizzes to evaluate yourself? Or do you want prelims facts? Or do you want videos for the clarification of your doubts? Or do you want information about the admission or the test series in Shankarae's Academy? Or do you want the study materials of Shankarae's Academy? Do you want one or do you want everything? Don't worry, everything in this app and everything is just one click away. See it is a very user friendly app. If you haven't downloaded it already, go download it, check out the features of the app and I'm very glad to tell you that if you have downloaded it already, you have everything in your hands now and you have consolidated the preparation of yours. So without any worry, go start your studying process. With that happy thought, let's take a look at the articles that we are going to discuss today. See these are the articles that we are going to see today. We have the self-help groups and after that we are going to discuss about the biodiversity heritage sites and after that we are going to discuss about this fascinating topic carbon-neutral farming. And as a bonus, we have the map reading session also. So without any delay, let's get into our article discussion. Let us start our discussion with this map session. See, prelims is coming nearby and it is important to equally invest in the map-based questions also. I agree that the proportion of questions that are asked in the map-related topic is very low but then when it is a matter of one or two marks, that is when you require one or two marks to get past the cutoff line, these kind of questions or knowing these kind of questions will give you an edge. So today let's see some of the map-related topics. Firstly, let's see about the Ukraine region. We all know this region has been in use quite some time and there is a probability of asking a map based question in this region. Now let's take this Ukraine country. What we are going to see today is we are going to see the bordering countries of Ukraine. See whenever you're solving these kind of questions, what you should do is you should separate a particular region into sections. Here we are going to see the bordering countries of Ukraine. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to divide it into four sections so that it is easy for me to remember the countries in sections. I'll show you how. See here in Ukraine, in the east it is bordered by Russia, in the south it is not bordered by a country, it is bordered by a water body, that is the Black Sea and in the south west it is bordered by Moldova and Romania and in the west it is bordered by Poland, Slovakia and Hungary and in the north it is bordered by Belarus. So dividing into sections like this, it will make the studying process easy and it will help you to remember the countries in the long run. So totally how many countries are there? So seven countries are bordering Ukraine. They are Russia, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Belarus. Now let's see about the Black Sea. What are all the countries that border Black Sea? See in the east it is bordered by Russia and Georgia, in the south it is bordered by Turkey and in the west it is bordered by Bulgaria and Romania and in the north it is bordered by Ukraine. So totally six countries are bordering Black Sea. They are Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. See generally when you're studying map related topics you should not just see the map and close it and move to the next topic. No, it doesn't work that way. What you have to do is you have to take an empty map like an outline map and try locating those areas in the outline map. Wait, I'll show you an outline map. See this map here, this uncolored region, this is the Ukraine. We saw Ukraine bordering countries, right? So try locating those countries around Ukraine. Here it is Russia and here it is Moldova and here it is Romania, here it is Hungary and here it is Slovakia. This is Poland and this is Belarus. So this is like a practice. So when you start doing this you won't forget the facts. Likewise I've given the outline map of Black Sea also. This is Black Sea and this is Russia and this is Georgia, this is Turkey, this is Bulgaria, this is Romania and this is Ukraine. See Ukraine is bordered by seven countries and Black Sea is bordered by six countries, right? There is also a trick here. You can remember it by since Black Sea is below Ukraine it is one country less than Ukraine. That is Ukraine is bordered by seven countries, right? So obviously one country less means Black Sea is bordered by six countries. This is just a trick. You can come up with tricks like this to remember facts always. So that's all about this world map. Now let's see a map based question in India. See this map here. Here what we are going to do is we are going to identify the states through which tropic of cancer is passing. See this tropic of cancer lies at 23 and a half degree north. So it passes through Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram. See since they are plain facts it needs more revision to retain the information. See here it may seem that you have known everything after seeing the map but then it's not the case. Here also what you have to do is you have to take the plain outline map of India and try locating the tropic of cancer and the states. See here we have to just learn about the states through which the tropic of cancer is passing. So just draw a plain vague line. It doesn't matter whether it's accurate or not. We have to just know the information. That's all right. So just draw a plain line like this and try locating the states. See this is Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura and Mizoram. So when it comes to map-based questions always practice it to retain the facts that you learnt. We saw three areas today. One is the countries that are bordering Ukraine and the other one is the countries that are bordering the Black Sea and after that we saw the number of states through which the tropic of cancer is passing. See apart from this I want you to do something. There's nothing but go and try locate the countries that border the Red Sea. It is very simple like this. Try locate the countries that border the Red Sea and take an outline map and try practicing it. And interested aspirants you can post the answer in the comment section also. In the next map session I'll give you the answer for this task and with this we'll start the articles discussion. See this news article here it talks about the self-help groups. See the concept was launched 33 years ago in a village of Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu. It was assisted with the International Fund for Agricultural Development. See the idea of this is to improve the overall socioeconomic and political status of women. But over the years these groups have transformed from being mere extension of credit lines into tools of empowerment of women. Here credit lines mean the SHVs served as a link between the conventional banking system and those who are left out of it. So this is the cracks of the news article given here. Now in this context let us discuss what are self-help groups. Then we'll see the importance of women empowerment and finally let's see how these self-help groups help in the empowerment of women. But before that the syllabus relevant to the topic is given here for your reference please go through it. Now let's start our discussion. See villages are faced with problems related to poverty, illiteracy, lack of skills, health care etc. See these are the problems that cannot be tackled individually but it can be better solved through group efforts right. And there came a group known as self-help group who have become the vehicle of change for the poor and marginalized in the rural areas of India. Now let us see what are self-help groups. See self-help group that is SHG is a development group for the poor and marginalized. It is recognized by the government and it does not require any formal registration. Know that SHG is an informal group and registration under Societies Act, State Cooperative Act or any partnership form is not mandatory okay. Now moving on to the purpose and functions of the SHG. Like I said again and again the main and the foremost function is to build the functional capacity of the poor and marginalized in the field of employment and income generating activities. And secondly see in every meeting the SHG should be encouraged to discuss and try to find solutions to the problems faced by the members of the group. Since members of the SHG face similar problems they help each other to solve their problems. This is one another purpose. Now moving on to the third one. See SHG's promote small savings among their members. This savings they are kept with the bank and this is the common fund in the name of SHG. And know that the SHG's give small loans to its member from this common fund. Thus making savings first and credit later the motto of every SHG member. Now let us move on to see who helps to form SHG's. See a reasonably educated and helpful local person has to initially help the poor people to form the group. He or she tells them about the benefits and the advantages of forming groups. And this person is called as an animator or facilitator. Usually the animator is a person who is already known to the community. See this list here. It contains who all can be a successful animator. For example a retired school teacher or a retired government servant, a health worker or a field officer of a development agency or a department of the state government, a field officer or a staff member of a commercial bank or regional rural bank or the local cooperative bank or even a functionary of an NGO, an unemployed educated local person and finally a member or a participant in the Vikas Volunteer Wahini program of NABAD. So these are the people who can be a successful animator. Now let us know certain criteria for the size of SHG. Firstly the ideal size of an SHG is 10 to 20 members. See in a bigger group members cannot actively participate. Also legally it is required that an informal group should not be more than 20 people. So the size of an SHG is maintained between 10 to 20 members. And having seen a brief about the SHGs now let us see about the importance of the women empowerment and how these SHGs help in empowering women. But before seeing that we'll see what is empowerment. Well according to World Bank empowerment is a process of increasing the assets and capabilities of individuals or groups. See this is to make purpose of choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. See in simple words empowered people have freedom of choice and action. This in turn enables them to better influence the cause of their lives and decisions which affect them. Now with the understanding of the empowerment let's see about the women empowerment. See women are integral part of every economy. Hence all-round development and harmonious growth of a nation would be possible only when women are considered as equal partners in progress with men. However in most developing countries women have a low socioeconomic status. In such cases effective empowerment of women is essential to harness the women labor in the mainstream of economic development. Also note that women have been the vulnerable section of the society and they constitute a sizable segment of poverty struck population. Hence women face gender specific barriers to access education, health, employment etc. To be specific poor women are the most disadvantaged. How? See they are characterized by lack of education and access of resources both of which is required to help them work their way out of poverty and for upward economic and social mobility. Thus women's empowerment is the key to socio-economic development of the community. Hence bringing women into the mainstream of national development should be a major concern of the government. Right? Now let us see how the SHGs are important in empowering the women. See firstly in India these self-help groups were promoted by NGOs, banks and cooperatives. Here you can take the example where the NABART launched a pilot project for linking SHGs in 1992. See the NABART gives 100 percentage refinance to the banks on their lending through SHGs. Secondly take the SHG bank linkage program. See this facilitates SHGs to access credit from formal banking channels. This program has proved to be the major supplementary credit delivery system. Also it has wide acceptance by banks, NGOs and various government departments. And thirdly SHGs actively take part in social welfare programs focusing on dowry, AIDS awareness, nutrition, legal literacy, poverty elevation programs etc. Now take a look at the state-wise programs. All these work towards the socio-economic empowerment of women. Mahalir Thittam in Tamil Nadu state, Podupalakshmi Indra Kranti Padam in Andhra Pradesh, Jeevika in Bihar, Mission Shakti in Odisha, Kudumbashree in Kerala. See these programs helped to set up over thousands of community kitchens across the country. This is mainly to feed stranded workers, the poor and the vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis. Thus in addition to the economic dimension, SHGs enhanced the self-esteem of women. Take the example of an initiative by a women self-help group in Tamil Nadu. This initiative is making the plastic bitumen. What is a plastic bitumen? See bitumen is primarily used in the construction of flexible pavements. This when mixed with plastic waste it is called as plastic bitumen. It improves the water resistivity, capacity and stability of the mix. Thus it can be used as a binder material in the bitumen mix for construction of flexible pavements. Thus we can understand from this example that the SHGs has gone to the level of entrepreneurs producing innovative products. Here you have to note that the government should create more avenues to market the products of SHGs. Having seen the importance of SHGs especially the women-based self-help groups which helps in the women empowerment, now let us see a few steps. See firstly the government needs to listen to the needs of the women. In addition to that financial support should be provided and they also require institutional support to fully exploit their potential. And secondly a multi-disciplinary committee should be instituted to improve the condition of women self-help groups in India. Thirdly a mentorship program which guides the self-help groups to survive in the hard competitive market is needed. And fourthly they should be provided with the CSR support, international funding, multilateral bank support and these will help self-help groups to shape themselves into a corporate entity. That's all about the article given here. Now let's have a quick recap. What all we saw in this discussion we saw about the self-help groups. It is a development group of the poor and marginalized. It is recognized by the government and does not require any formal registration. And after that we saw the purpose and functions of the self-help groups. They are to build the functional capacity of the poor and marginalized in the field of employment and they should be encouraged to discuss and try to solve the problems faced by the members of the group. And they promote small savings among members and they give small loans to its members from the common fund. And the motto is savings first, credit later. And after that we saw who helps to form self-help groups. We saw a reasonably educated and helpful local person may help the poor people to form groups. And we saw a list of successful animator. And after that we saw the criteria for the size of SHGs. See the ideal sizes from 10 to 20 members. And we saw that it is legally required that an informal group should not be more than 20 people. And after that we saw about the empowerment which is the process of increasing the assets and capabilities of individuals or groups. And from that we moved on to see about woman empowerment. We saw that women are integral part of the economy and they are also the vulnerable section of the society and constitute a sizeable segment of the poverty struck population. And we saw they face gender specific barriers to access education, health and employment. And access to education and resources is required to help them work their way out of poverty and for the upward economic and social mobility. And from that we moved on to see how the SHGs are important in empowering the women. We saw about the self-help groups promoted by the NGOs, banks and cooperators and the NABAD initiative and the bank linkage program. And we saw that SHGs take part in social welfare programs also. And we saw some of the statewide programs that work towards the socio-economic empowerment of women. And after that we saw an example of the women self-help group in Tamil Nadu which started an initiative of making plastic bitumen. We saw what is plastic bitumen which is binder material made up of bitumen and the plastic waste. And finally we ended our discussion by seeing some of the steps that has to be taken by the government. The first one is to listen to the needs of the women, requirement of the institutional support, requirement of a multidisciplinary committee, mentorship program and finally CSR support international funding and multilateral bank support. With this we have come to the end and with the key learned points let's move on to the next article discussion. See this news article here it talks about the Kadinamkulam lake. See the news article mentions that the Kerala State Biodiversity Board has initiated steps to include this lake in the list of biodiversity heritage sites in the state. So in this context let us discuss what is biodiversity heritage site BHS. Then we'll see the criteria for identification and declaration of biodiversity heritage site. Also we'll see who declares a place as Biodiversity Heritage Site. Okay. See Biodiversity Heritage Sites that is the BHS or well defined areas that are unique ecologically fragile ecosystems like terrestrial, coastal and inland waters and marine. See they have rich biodiversity comprising of any one or more of the following components. Firstly richness of wild as well as domesticated species or intraspecific categories. Secondly high endomism that is species that are available in that particular place. Thirdly presence of rare threatened species, keystone species, species of evolutionary significance. Fourthly presence of wild ancestors of domestic cultivated species or their varieties. Then past pre-eminence of biological components represented by fossil beds. And fifthly having significant cultural, ethical or aesthetic values. Sixthly it may be an important place for maintenance of cultural diversity. And lastly it may be with or without a long history of human association with them. So if a particular site or place has these kind of characteristics then it is categorized as Biodiversity Heritage Sites. Having seen that now let us see the criteria for identification of BHS that is the Biodiversity Heritage Site. Now let's see the first one. See the areas that contain a mosaic of natural, semi-natural and man-made habitats. This together must contain a significant diversity of life forms. This is the first criteria and secondly the areas that contain significant domesticated biodiversity component. They should be representative of agro ecosystems and there should be ongoing agricultural practices that sustain this diversity. This is the second criteria. And thirdly areas that are significant from a biodiversity point of view. That is it can be important cultural space such as sacred grooves or trees and sites or other large community conserved areas. This is the third criteria and the fourth criteria is areas including very small ones that offer refuge or corridors for threatened and endemic fauna and flora. For example community conserved areas are urban greens and wetlands. So if a site fulfills this criteria it is identified as Biodiversity Heritage Site. And fifthly all kinds of legal land uses whether government, community or private land. These can also be identified as BHS. The next criteria will be the sites that are not covered under protected area network under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 as amended. And the next one is areas that provide habitats. That is a place to live for the organisms. See it may be aquatic or terrestrial. And this site should be used for feeding and breeding of the seasonal migrants pieces. This is one of the criteria. And the next one is the areas that are maintained as preservation plots by the research wing of the forest department. This is also considered as a criteria for the identification of Biodiversity Heritage Site. And lastly it may also be a medicinal plant conservation area okay. So these are the criteria and if any site fulfills any one of these criteria then it is identified as Biodiversity Heritage Site. Now let us see who declare a site as Biodiversity Heritage Site. See the state Biodiversity Boats may invite suggestion for the declaration of BHS. It may also consider suggestions from committees. All this happens through Biodiversity Management Committee. It may also happen through other relevant community institutions including Gramsabas, Panjayat, Urban Watts, Forest Protection Committees and Tribal Councils. Know that the state Biodiversity Boats may undertake widespread dissemination of information related to the proposed Biodiversity Heritage Site. This is done among the rural communities, NGOs, farmers, fishermen, adivasi associations, urban groups, research institutions, government agencies and other organizations. So what is informed through these communities? See the information will be regarding the provision of the Biodiversity Heritage Site. It may be done through local language newspapers, radio, holding meetings with the communities, letters to line departments, Grams, Panjayats, local bodies and others. See after collecting all the suggestions the state Biodiversity Boats consolidates them. Following this there will be public discussions and in this discussion there will be various sections of society with gender and social representation. And ones approved by the relevant Gramsabas or the urban local bodies, state Biodiversity Boats issue a preliminary notification. This is to specify the boundaries of the Biodiversity Heritage Site that is proposed. After 30 days of the draft notification of the site there will be a public hearing. Thus on the declaration of Biodiversity Heritage Site the state Biodiversity Boats may write to all the concerned government departments. And this is to announce the establishment of BHS. So that's all about the criteria for the identification of the Biodiversity Heritage Site and the declaration of Biodiversity Heritage Site. Here is a list of the Biodiversity Heritage Sites in India and it is given statewide. Please go through it and with this we have come to the end. Let's have a quick recap. What all we saw in this discussion? We saw about Biodiversity Heritage Site which are well-defined areas that are unique ecologically fragile ecosystems like terrestrial, coastal, inland waters and marine. And we saw the components of the Biodiversity Heritage Site which is they have richness of wild as well as domesticated species. They have high endomism. They have the presence of rare threatened species, keystone species, of evolutionary significance, presence of wild ancestors, cultivated species. They have significant cultural ethical aesthetic values and they are an important place for maintenance of cultural diversity and they are with or without a long history of human association with them. And after that we moved on to see the criteria for identification of BHS. That is it should contain natural semi-natural man-made habitats. It should contain significant domesticated biodiversity component and it can be an important cultural space such as sacred groups, trees or sites. It should be areas including small ones that offer refuge corridors for the threatened endemic flora and fauna. And these can be all kinds of legal land uses. And these are the sites that are not covered under the protected area network under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. And the areas that provide habitats such as aquatic terrestrial and the areas that are maintained as preservation plots are they may be medicinal plant conservation areas. These are the criteria for the identification of BHS. And after that we saw who declare BHS. See the state biodiversity boats. They invite suggestion for the declaration of biodiversity heritage site and they consider suggestions from communities such as biodiversity management communities and the boats undertake widespread dissemination of information regarding the proposed BHS. And after that public discussions will be held and after that it will be approved by the relevant Gram Sabha and urban local bodies. And after that state biodiversity board issue a preliminary notification to specify the boundaries of the site. And after 30 days of draft notification there will be a public hearing and then the site is declared as biodiversity heritage site. And finally we saw the list of the biodiversity heritage sites in India. And with that we ended our conversation. And with these key learned points let's move on to the next article discussion. See this article here it talks about the statement given by the agricultural minister Rashad in Kerala. He said that the government has been working towards making the state the first in the country to implement carbon neutral agriculture. See he also emphasized the need to boost agriculture across the state to bring down reliance on agricultural imports. And he also raised caution on the health hazards posed by toxic greens. So this is the essence of the article given here in this context. We'll learn about the carbon neutral agriculture, its significance and the practices that aid the carbon sequestration. First of all let's see what is carbon neutral agriculture. See it refers to the net zero balance of emissions and sinks all the greenhouse gases on farms resulting in carbon neutral systems. See it simply means practices that aid the sinking of carbon farms such as carbon dioxide into the soil to balance the amount that has been emitted into the atmosphere. It is also called as carbon forming or soil carbon sequestration. See like I said it involves a wide range of agricultural practices with the primary goal of removing excess carbon from the atmosphere to reduce global warming. Now let us see the mechanism behind it. See plants observe atmospheric carbon dioxide to produce food right. They also convert the gas they observe into a stable solid form of carbon and store it in the soil through direct or indirect fixation. So the carbon forming practices emphasize on keeping the carbon in the ground for long periods. But there are several conventional agricultural practices such as unscientific ploughing and tractors tilling and overgrazing etc. See usage of these techniques and applying fossil fuel based agrochemicals results in the release of carbon into the atmosphere rather than capturing it. See for the carbon forming to be effective the carbon gains into the soil from the conservation or the land management practices need to exceed the carbon losses into the atmosphere. Now let us see the significance of carbon neutral forming. See carbon forming or carbon neutral forming can achieve carbon neutrality that is emission equals to the carbon sequestration that is contained in the soil. See carbon forming can help achieve carbon neutrality by storing carbon in the soil where the carbon can improve soil fertility and nutrient retention. This in turn boosts the crop productivity and aids the progress being made towards food and nutrition security globally. They also offset carbon emissions and reduce the volume of greenhouse gases that agriculture releases into the atmosphere. The next significance is that they minimize the soil erosion and nutrient runoff while also purifying surface and groundwater. See they improve crop yields as well as the native vegetation habitat and animal health. See this carbon sequestration they result in improved soil health by increasing soil fertility reducing soil salinity and boosting the microbial activity and soil biodiversity. See the other significance of the carbon forming is that it has the immense potential to reverse the climate change effects when implemented on a large scale and this forming practices they provide financial incentives to the farmers in the form of carbon credits. So these are all some of the significances of carbon neutral agriculture and with this understanding let us see the practices that aid carbon sequestration. The first practice is using the residual biomass after harvest as organic to cover the soil instead of burning it. We all know how the stubble burning in the northwestern region creates a lot of pollution in the national capital region right? So such practices will help control the emission of greenhouse gases. See organic mulching offers several benefits including regulating soil temperature, increasing soil nutrients, restricting the rate of evaporation to retain soil moisture, suppressing the weed growth, controlling the erosion and improving the overall soil health. And in addition to this like I said it will help reduce the pollution also because we are not burning the residual biomass here right? The next practice is replacing conventional tillage practices with conservation tillage that is reduced tillage or no tillage at all. See tilling loosens and aerates the soil and rises the organic content or carbon to the surface promoting the crop growth. So this is the reason behind tilling the land but when the trapped carbon is released in massive amounts it reacts with the oxygen in the atmosphere to produce carbon dioxide. So this can be reduced through this practice. The next one is cultivating cover crops during off season instead of leaving the crop lands bare. See cover crops prevent soil erosion they regulate the moisture, suppress soil diseases, pests, weed growth and they attract the pollinators. Additionally they serve as mulch and a source of organic matter that can be used for grazing or as fodder for livestock. The next practice is alternating monocultures with high diversity crop rotations and integrated farming practices. See incorporating many crops into cycles that return higher volumes of residue to the soil contribute to the higher soil organic carbon stock. We saw in the tillage point right that soil contains carbon content. So here these kind of crops they contribute to the higher soil organic carbon content. This will aid in higher productivity. See increased organic matter ensures healthy biologically active soil with fewer problems concerning crop fertility, pests or diseases. And also they enable farmers to earn an additional income. And the next practice is reintroducing livestock into crop rotation for nutrient cycling. See livestock grazing after the crop harvest promotes the conversion of high carbon residues to low carbon organic manure. See cover crops such as cereals and legumes provides for animal grazing and allows more nutrient cycling from crop to soil while also sequestering carbon into soil. This practice also mitigates challenges and expenses related to the concentrated animal feeding operations. So we saw five important practices that aid in carbon sequestration and other such practices include substituting intensive application of chemical fertilizers with integrated nutrient management and precision farming, integrating trees into agriculture through cropland agroforestry, protecting carbon rich soils that act as natural carbon sinks, rotating livestock periodically through pastures and a series of small paddocks and using compost to restore the soil fertility and increase the grassland carbon storage. And with this we have come to the end let's have a quick recap. What all we saw in this discussion we saw about carbon neutral agriculture which is the practices that aid in the sinking of carbon forms into the soil to balance the amount of the carbon dioxide that has been emitted. See it is also called as carbon forming or soil carbon sequestration and after that we saw about the mechanism behind it that is plant observe atmospheric carbon dioxide to produce food and they convert it into solid forms of carbon and store it in the soil through direct or indirect fixation and after that we saw the significance of carbon neutral forming which is they increase crop productivity and they ensure food nutrition security they offset the carbon emissions and reduce the volume of greenhouse gases that releases into the atmosphere they minimize soil erosion and nutrient runoff they improve the crop yield they improve the soil health and it has immense potential to reverse the climate change and they provide financial incentives to farmers in form of carbon credits. And finally we saw some practices that aid carbon sequestration which is using the residual biomass after harvest as organic to cover soil instead of burning it that is organic mulching. Reducing conventional tillage practices with conservation tillage that is reduced or no tillage cultivating cover crops during off season alternating monocultures with high diversity crop rotations and integrated forming practices reintroducing livestock into crop production for nutrient cycling substituting intensive application of fertilizers with integrated nutrient management integrating trees into agriculture protecting carbon-rich soils rotating livestock periodically and using compost to restore the soil fertility and with this we have come to the end of our discussion now let's move on to the next part of our discussion that is the practice prelims question session. Today we have three practice prelims questions as usual I have one quiz question for you and I'll solve the other two questions. Now the first question consider the following statements with reference to self-help groups statement one SHGs are informal groups but it requires registration under society's registration act of 1975. The statement is wrong. See it is not entirely wrong because the first part of it that is the SHGs are informal groups that is correct but the second part of the statement which says that it requires registration under society's registration act of 1975 is wrong because in our discussion we saw that self-help groups does not require any registration under any society's act state cooperative act or any partnership firm. So the statement one is incorrect. Moving on to the second statement SHGs should comprise a minimum of 25 members. This statement is also incorrect because we saw in our discussion that the ideal size of a self-help group is 10 to 20 members and legally it is required that an informal group should not be more than 20 people. So being an informal organization self-help group should not be more than 20 members right. So the statement two is also incorrect so the correct option here will be option D neither one nor two. Moving on to the second question consider the following statements with reference to biodiversity heritage site BHS statement one a sacred group can be declared as a biodiversity heritage site statement two a medicinal plant conservation area can be declared as a biodiversity heritage site. Try to recall our discussion yeah you're right both the statements are correct here. See we saw certain criterias for the identification of biodiversity heritage site right go through it again see if these two criterias are fulfilled then it can be identified as biodiversity heritage site. So going by that the correct option here will be option C both one and two. Now moving on to the final question aspirants this is the quiz question for you which of the following is not a carbon neutral forming practice option A alternating monocultures with high diversity crop rotations and integrated forming practices option B substituting intensive application of chemical fertilizers with integrated nutrient management and precision forming option C opting for conventional tillage that promotes crop growth option D using the residual biomass after harvest as the organic to cover the soil. See this is a very simple question go through our discussion again and find out which is not a carbon neutral forming practice. Attempt this question and post your answer in the comment section. I have a main question here for you so interested aspirants write it and post it in the comment section if you have any queries regarding the articles that we discussed today post that also in the comment section don't forget to do the task that I've given you which is seeing the bordering countries of Red Sea and also try to attempt the quiz question and with this we have come to the end if you find the video useful please like share and comment and do subscribe to Shankar Ayes Academy's YouTube channel for further updates. Thank you.