 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindi News Analysis by Shankara Ace Academy for the date 26th of August 2021. The list of news articles chosen for today's discussion is displayed here. So today we have two editorials and one opiate article and we have four topics from the prelims perspective and in these articles we are going to see about the benefits of soak pits. We will see about a term called as tokenization and we also see about qualified institutional buyers. So on a whole today we have three topics from mains perspectives and four from prelims perspective. So now let us move on to the first discussion for today. So our first discussion is going to be based on this snippet article from the business page which talks about an important term called as tokenization. The news is that the Reserve Bank of India has extended the scope of tokenization. So today we will see what is this tokenization and why is it necessary. See this tokenization refers to the replacement of actual card details with an alternate code. Here the card details which we are talking about is the debit card and credit card details and this alternate code is called as the token. So this token is unique for a combination of card token requester and device. See here the term token requester refers to the entity which accepts the request from the customer for tokenization of a card and this entity passes the request to the card network so as to ensure corresponding token. So remember the token issued corresponds to the combination of these three that is the combination of card token requester and device. So actually what happens in tokenization see initially the card holder initiates a request on the app provided by the token requester for tokenization. Then the token requester will forward this request to the card network and then the card network gets the consent of the card issuer and then issues a token corresponding to the combination which we just saw and most importantly note that for availing this service the customer need not pay any charges. So what if we want to convert back to actual card details. See this can also be done and this process is called as detokenization. So detokenization is when the token that is issued is converted back to the actual card details. I note that this process of tokenization and detokenization can be performed only by the authorized card network but why is it necessary why we are talking about it. See it is necessary to ensure the safety of the card transaction. Initially we saw that the card details are replaced with the token and this token is an alternate code. So in a tokenized card transaction the actual card details are not shared with the merchant during the transaction processing that means the actual card data the token and other relevant details are stored in a secure mode by the authorized card network after tokenization and it is not shared with the merchant. Apart from this the token requester also cannot store the primary account number that is the pan number or the card number or any other card detail and this also ensures the safety of card transaction. Therefore through tokenization there is protection against counterfeit protection against account misuse and other forms of frauds also. So from this you can easily conclude that the goal of tokenization is to reduce or eliminate the risk of loss of sensitive data. Apart from this there is also another goal which is to avoid expensive process of notification loss reimbursement and legal action if such sensitive data is lost. I note that as of now this tokenization is not mandatory it is just based on the discretion of the customer. If you want to do a transaction after tokenization then you can do it otherwise it is not mandatory. But there is one certain restriction this tokenization is not allowed in all scenarios or instances that is it was previously allowed only when the tokenization was through mobile phones or through tablets. But when the tokenization was through mobile phones or tablets then it can be used for all purposes and channels. For example if you want to do a contactless card transaction through mobile phone then here tokenization can be used and similarly if you want to pay through QR codes using mobile phones or tablets then also tokenization can be used. So it meant that this feature of tokenization was restricted to mobile phones or tablets only and it was not available to smart watches or other search devices. But why am I saying was here it is because currently this restriction has been relaxed which is the news today. The news mentions that the scope of tokenization has been extended to other consumer devices also. So from now on tokenization can be used through mobile phones tablets laptops desktops and wearables such as wristwatches and bands and also can be used through internet of things devices. So what are these devices it includes smart watches smart refrigerators etc. So remember to use this tokenization the next time you do a card transaction this is a much needed initiative in the payments industry. So that is all in this discussion we saw about the term tokenization and its benefits. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this editorial article which talks about net zero emissions. The author of this editorial focuses on how the net zero emission criteria is biased and why it needs a course correction. So today we will discuss the essence of this editorial and for that we will also understand some important concepts such as net zero emissions negative emission per capita emission etc. So before getting into the discussion the syllabus relevant to the discussion is given here take note of it. First let us understand what is this net zero emissions. See this term means that all man-made greenhouse gas emissions must be removed from the atmosphere through reduction measures. Let us understand in simple terms you all know that when we burn fossil fuels and all we produce greenhouse gases. But can we simply stop burning fossil fuels and eliminate greenhouse gases. The answer is no because even now a major chunk of electricity fuels etc. they come from fossil sources only and that is why being without emissions is almost impossible at this point of time. And since fossil sources are required to some extent after emissions we also try and remove the greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere and such removal can be achieved even through artificial methods like carbon capture or by planting trees. So if the amount of greenhouse gas produced is captured then the net addition of greenhouse gas to the atmosphere is actually zero and this is what is called as net zero emission. Let us take an example to understand this. We just saw that artificial methods like planting trees can be used to remove greenhouse gases. How see these plants they act as carbon sink. When we use the term carbon sink it means anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. So plants and trees they are carbon sink. So if as a country we are emitting 10 percentage of greenhouse gases for instance then by planting trees we are absorbing 10 percentage of greenhouse gases then the net addition of greenhouse gases that is released into the atmosphere is actually zero. This is the net zero emission. The amount which you have released should be absorbed through some measures. Here you should also understand the concept of negative emissions. Negative emission is when we capture more of greenhouse gas than we produce. For example if you are emitting 10 percentage of greenhouse gases and we are absorbing 12 percentage then here we are absorbing 2 percentage more. So this is called as negative emissions. But in the current scenario we can understand that the least thing which we can do is zero emissions and in the future we can aim for negative emissions and this is what it also being advocated by the climate activist Greta Thunberg. So remember these concepts. Now another concept that you need to understand before getting into the discussion is the concept of per capita emission. Now to understand this term we are going to take another example. Assume that there is a city. This city is A and this city A has 100 people and these 100 people they use electricity vehicles and all and because of this they emit some amount of greenhouse gases. Let us assume that these 100 people together they emit 1000 tons of greenhouse gases. So the total emission of the city A is 1000 tons here. But if we consider the emission per person then it will be 10 tons only because 1000 divided by 100. 100 is the number of people in that city and this value is the per capita emission. So this per capita emission is irrespective of the individual consumption where the total emission is divided by the population. But exactly you should understand that the emissions per capita is measured as the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the country as a consequence of all relevant human activities and it is divided by the population of that country. So what is India's per capita emission? According to World Bank data as of 2018 India's per capita emission is 1.8 tons. So we have understood the concept of net zero emissions negative emissions per capita emissions. Now let us understand the editorial. See we have been burning fossil fuels for a long time especially since the industrial revolution. So at that time the developed countries emitted greenhouse gases without any apprehensions about climate change. They burnt fossil fuels joyously they emitted greenhouse gases and they developed because at that time a lot of industrial and everyday activity were based on fossils. But now that period has ended and now the concern is on the climate change because when we emit greenhouse gases then global warming happens and this in turn leads to climate change. But this scenario is biased against the countries like ours. Why? Because we are still in the developing stage. So we need to ramp up our economic activity and for that we will also want to depend on fossils because as we just saw a lot of industrial and everyday activities are based on fossils only. But now the scenario is that the developed countries they have already used the fossils and they have emitted greenhouse gases and because of that climate change is already happening. But the concern about climate change has started now only and due to that the countries like ours such as the developing countries and the least developed countries we are pushed into a position to emit less. Here what do we mean is that the developed countries have already used the carbon space or the greenhouse gas space. So now we have only limited space to use if we are concerned about climate change and if we have to keep the temperature of earth stable. But even then the developed countries in the international arena they are proposing to bring down emissions based on total emissions. But this is unfair we can understand that. Why? Assume that you as a person you do not emit any greenhouse gases. But being in a city when we consider the emissions of a city then when we calculate the per capita emission then it will mean that you are also emitting some amount of greenhouse gas. So when this scenario is extrapolated to country level then as a country even if we are emitting less but then also we are forced to use or adapt measures that will help us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions such as moving on to green energy and using fossil fuels less than less. But the argument is that if we want to become like the developed countries of today's world then we also need some space to use the fossil fuels and unfortunately it is not available. And this is unfair and this is the reason why author of this editorial recommends an alternative for measuring the responsibility of each country regarding the greenhouse gas emissions. The author has recommended to measure this based on per capita emissions. Now you may have a doubt how this will help. Now to understand this we are going to take certain data. If you look at this pie chart this graph is about total emissions of different countries around the world and as you can see India is in the third position China is in the first position followed by United States. And then if you look at this map here the dots represent the emissions level so larger the dot larger the emissions. So based on this map you can say that India is also among the top countries responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. But if you take Africa which is the least developed country it emits near to nothing according to this map. But is this the true scenario are we really emitting that much greenhouse gas emissions to a extent yes and to an extent no. Why because the scenario is different when we consider the per capita emissions of each country. As you can see in this table you can see the per capita emissions of China, United States, India and Russia. And as you can see India has the lowest per capita emissions among these developed countries. Our carbon dioxide emissions per capita is just 1.91 tons which is just 12% of what United States actually emits. So you can see that as a country we burn very little of fossil compared to USA, China or Russia for the development of one particular individual. And that is why author is suggesting to measure the responsibility of each country depending on the per capita emissions. So here it is only fair to allow us to emit more while the other developed countries shoulder more responsibility on the emission reduction front. And in this regard accepting net zero emissions by 2050 actually prevents India's urbanization and India's shift of rural population into the middle class. See this net zero emissions by 2050 is proposed by many countries. For example if you take the European Union it has a European Green Deal under which it has committed to climate neutrality by the year 2050. So based on this other countries are expecting India to set a target like this. But since we are at the developing stage such a target will affect us in many ways because our efforts to pull the people out of poverty will be hampered if we focus on emission reduction. And this is the only reason why the developed countries need to contribute more in this regard. They can have high targets and it can be even achieved without affecting their population and their economic growth. Now the substantiation for such an argument is that the adverse effects of climate change or adaptation is no longer a local concern but a global concern. So every country is anyway going to face the brunt of climate change and therefore it is important for the nations to look at the issue with a global perspective rather than a parochial attitude. And only then we can ensure a sustainable and livable planet. So these are some of the points that you can take note from this editorial article. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Okay now let us take up this news article. It mentions about the Sujalam campaign that was launched by the ministry of Jal Shakti. Here you should understand that the term Sujalam means water. So just remember ministry of Jal Shakti here Jal also means water. So Sujalam campaign is related to water. See this campaign aims to create 10 lakh soak pits in villages across the country and this will be done over the next 100 days under this campaign. Now this move has been initiated to help in the management of grey water and to prevent the clogging of water bodies. So in this regard let us first understand what are these soak pits and how important they are in the grey water management. See these soak pits are a closed rectangular or circular construction which is covered up with porous walls or perforated walls. As you can see in this image this is a soak pit which is in the shape of a well. Now this pit is directly connected to the primary treatment unit of a residential building or commercial building. So what is the function which it performs? See it lets the wastewater which is coming from the septic tank of the building to slowly soak into the underlying ground. So it helps in the process of the wastewater from the septic tank to reach the underground and in this way the soak pits have an important role to play in grey water management. See these soak pits are generally connected to a primary chamber of a residential building or commercial building and this primary treatment unit or chamber can be a septic tank it could be a biogasettler etc. So usually the water that is coming out of such a primary treatment chamber is not pure so it is the effluent water or the sewage water and this water is called as the grey water. Now the issue was that this grey water needs to be subjected to some treatment before letting it into the ground soil. See here you should understand that even though there is no intention to directly use the wastewater that is coming from the primary treatment unit still it is safe to partially treat the effluent water through a soak pit before the water is getting into the environment. So for this partial treatment most of the wastewater management system needs a soak pit and there is also another purpose of the soak pits because they also help in preventing water logging and they ensure hygiene in the surroundings of the houses. See we know that in villages due to lack of household drainage channels the water is from bathroom and kitchen they are let into the road or sometimes they are let into the backyard of the houses and this leads to stagnation of water which can potentially cause waterborne diseases such as malaria but this stagnation of water can be prevented by soak pits. Then another benefit of soak pit is that it helps in reviving water bodies because generally in rural areas this grey water will be directly dumped into the common water bodies which in turn pollutes the water bodies. Now since these grey water will be let into the soak pit it will not be dumped into the common water bodies and thereby the water bodies will remain unpolluted. So these are the three main benefits of constructing a soak pit and the news is that under the Sujalam campaign government is aiming to create 10 lakh soak pits in villages over the next 100 days. So we can say that this campaign contributes to the flagship program of the government which is Swach Bharat Mission. If you can remember the first phase of Swach Bharat Mission aimed to achieve an open defecation free status and this was done by constructing toilet in every rural household and also by persuading all villagers to use that toilet. Now in the second phase the mission aims to sustain and extend the sanitation gains that were gained in the first phase. So that is why the second phase has been named as open defecation free plus and this will be done by focusing more on solid and liquid waste management. Now through the construction of soak pits under Sujalam campaign the liquid waste management has been taken care of. So in this discussion we saw about the Sujalam campaign about soak pits and we also saw about grey water management. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is based on this second editorial article which is titled as income and quotas. Here the term quota is referring to the reservation in our country. So you can understand that the article basically deals with the concept and limitations of reservations in our country. So you know that Indian constitution permits for special provisions in favor of socially and educationally backward classes and constitution also provides reservation in government employment for backward classes. So in this regard the government of Haryana recently issued a notification which specified the criteria for the exclusion of creamy layer within the backward classes and the editorial is written on this context only because recently this notification has been quashed by the supreme court where the supreme court has noted that this notification is in deviation with the criteria laid down under the Indra Sohani case law regarding the creamy layer concept. So that is why our today's discussion is going to be based on this creamy layer concept and what is the criteria set by Indra Sohani case and you'll also see the notification of Haryana government and why it was quashed by the supreme court. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First let us see about the Indra Sohani case and the criteria. See as you know whenever we talk about reservation the judgment of Indra Sohani case is very important for us. This case law is also known as the Mandel commission case. It is important because under this case law supreme court laid down the concept of creamy layer. This concept plays a prominent role when it comes to reservation of backward classes. So what this term actually mean? In simple words the term creamy layer refers to the well-off among the backward classes. Here well-off would mean not only economically well-off but also socially advanced. So what is the criteria laid down in this case for determining the creamy layer? See primarily in this case law supreme court held that those persons who are from backward classes who occupy certain posts and who earn certain income they are to be categorized as creamy layer and these persons and their children will be excluded from the benefit of reservation and they will be considered under the unreserved category. So who are all under this creamy layer criteria? See those persons who are from backward classes and those who occupy posts in higher services and their children. So what are these services? It includes the high ranking constitutional functionaries and employees of certain rank in the union and state government such as the the IS officers, IPS officers and all India services officers. These officers and their children would be treated as creamy layer without any further inquiry. Why because these persons have already reached a higher level of social advancement and economic status. Apart from this those people who are having sufficient income are also to be treated outside the backward class category. So this includes the persons who are having higher agricultural holdings and who receive income from properties beyond a prescribed limit. Now in addition to this persons having identified annual income beyond a certain limit were also directed to be excluded from the benefit of reservation in this Indra Sohani case. So these are the criteria laid down by Supreme Court for determining creamy layer. Those who are fulfilling these criteria they will be called as belonging to the creamy layer of backward classes. So they will not get any reservation benefits. But as you can see here the economic criterion alone is not used to classify member of backward class as belonging to creamy layer. Rather the social status is also considered that is if the person is in a high position then that means they are socially well off. So this criteria is also used here to determine the creamy layer. This was the crux of Indra Sohani case and the creamy layer concept. But what did the Haryana government do? See under its notification it prescribed a different criteria for the classification of creamy layer. See this notification was issued under its backward classes reservation and services and admission and educational institutions act of 2016. This is a state act and according to this those children who belong to a household having a gross annual income of up to three lakh rupees they shall be first considered to get the benefit of reservation in services and also during the admission in educational institutions. And after them the remaining quota was prescribed to go for those from the backward classes who earn more than three lakh rupees but up to six lakhs per annum. So this three lakh to six lakh was the another quota criteria and lastly those sections of backward classes who earn above six lakh per annum they were to be considered as creamy layer according to this notification. And the reason given by Haryana government for this is that this sub classification amongst the backward classes will ensure that people with lower income in this category will get the benefit of reservation. But as we just saw in the Indra Sahani case the economic criterion wasn't the only one that was used to determine creamy layer. The social criterion was also used but here this criterion has been rejected by the Haryana government through this notification because it only mentions the annual income of the household. It doesn't mention whether they belong to a particular post in the government sector or they have certain agricultural holdings or not. It doesn't consider all these aspects and that is why it is said that the criterion set by Haryana government for determining creamy layer is contrary to the one set by supreme court in the Indra Sahani case. But here the surprising fact is that even its own law that is the 2016 act of Haryana which we just saw under which the notification has been issued this law itself prescribes that for the purpose of determining and excluding the creamy layer within a backward class the social economic and other factors have to be taken into account. So this provision has also been totally ignored by the Haryana government and that is why supreme court has quashed this notification. And through this supreme court has reiterated that the economic criterion cannot be the sole criteria for classifying a person under the creamy layer category rather their social economic and other factors have also to be considered while determining the creamy layer concept. So this judgment has given an interesting dimension to the affirmative actions implemented in our country. So if there is a question and problems that whether economic criterion is the only one for determining creamy layer then the answer would be no. The answer should be social economic and other factors. So keep this fact in mind with this let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is going to be based on these two news articles. These two news articles they talk about NMP. Here NMP stands for National Monetization Plan. So in today's discussion it is first understand what this plan is and then we will discuss the news articles. Now to understand NMP we need to understand national infrastructure pipeline or in short NIP. See this NIP envisages an investment in infrastructure of about 111 lakh crore rupees and this amount will be raised and it will be invested over a five year period of 2020 to 25. So we can see that this is a huge investment under NIP. Now according to one of the estimations by the report of task force for NIP it says that the traditional sources of capital are expected to finance 83 to 85 percentage of the capital expenditure envisaged under NIP. So around 83 to 85 percentage of this 111 lakh crore will be through traditional sources but the remaining 15 to 17 percentage needed a way to be financed and for this purpose only now the government has rolled out the national monetization plan. See this plan is for about four years and this four year period corresponds to the remainder of NIP period. We saw that NIP is for 2020 to 2025 and now we are in 2021 so this NMP will be from 2021 to 2025 which is around four years. Now under this NMP government is expected to raise about six lakh crore rupees as capital and this will be around four to five percentage of the money that is needed for NIP. So what will the government actually do under this monetization plan? See what the government will do is it will give the revenue rights of a public sector brownfield project to a private entity that is a private entity may take the revenue from a public undertaking for a specific time and in return that private entity will give a lump sum amount to the government. Now the amount that is received from the private entity will be used by the government to fund the infrastructure projects under the national infrastructure pipeline. So here you should not confuse this concept with the concept of disinvestment because in disinvestment some part of the ownership is given away by the government but in a monetization plan the ownership is actually retained by the government but the revenue collection rights alone they are given to the private entity for a specific period and that too in return for money. And as you already saw the government is only giving away brownfield projects. So what is this brownfield? To understand this you need to know about greenfield projects. See whenever we refer to a project as greenfield it means that the investments are made for the first time in a project or it has been made for the first time in a plan or it has been made for the first time in a place but at the same time when investments are made in the already existing plan or in an already existing project or when the investments are made in a project that is half completed then it is called as brownfield project. And another fact that you need to remember is that currently only assets of central government line ministries and the central public sector enterprises that are in the infrastructure sector have been included under NMP. So these are some of the details that you need to know about the national monetization pipeline or national monetization plan. So now let us come to the news article. See this one news article mentions that a political body is raising apprehensions about this monetization plan and this next news article mentions that already a private foreign entity has been cleared for investing in this NMP. So from this you should note that the investment under NMP is also open to the foreign entities. So these are some of the facts that you need to know about NMP. Now let us move on to the next discussion. Our next discussion is going to be based on this opiate article and this article is a just about the potential of MSMEs in India and the article also discusses why MSMEs should adopt the industry 4.0. So today we are going to discuss about industry 4.0 and its relevance to MSMEs. The syllabus relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. So first of all let us know what is this industry 4.0. See this industry 4.0 is also referred to as fourth industrial revolution. So if you remember we had three industrial revolutions. The first one used water and steam power to mechanize production and the second industrial revolution it used electric power to create mass production and the third industrial revolution it used electronics and information technology to automate production and this fourth industrial revolution which we are discussing now it is building on this third industrial revolution only. So what is it about? It is about building a digital revolution that is the fourth industrial revolution is building a digital revolution using the electronics and information technology. And as you saw in the beginning this fourth industrial revolution is also known as industry 4.0 or industry 4.0 and according to the opiate article this term of industry 4.0 was coined by German government in the year 2011 and this government gave this term to the current trend of automation interconnectivity and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. And why these automation interconnectivity and data exchange is necessary? It is necessary to increase productivity. So the technological terms which we often see nowadays such as additive manufacturing, internet of things, cyber physical systems, augmented reality or virtual reality, data analytics all these are the technologies associated with industry 4.0. So what is its purpose? See the purpose of every revolution is to boost the production to next level and a revolution helps in the process of transition to the new manufacturing processes. So now let us see how industry 4.0 will help to boost the production. See mainly the manufacturing industries can make data driven decisions with the help of these technologies. So in this way it will help to boost the production and especially the data which is generated during operation of the industry is also stored at low cost and since we are using technologies that have the availability of advanced algorithms this stored data can be analyzed for decision making in real time. So this industry 4.0 helps us to integrate data with the manufacturing and information technology and in this way it helps to boost the production. And when we are talking about industries MSMEs that is the micro small and medium enterprises they are assuming importance in our country but author of this opiate article feels that MSMEs are facing certain challenges in adopting these new technologies under the industry 4.0. So let us see what are these challenges. The first challenge is the lack of awareness about industry 4.0 and the lack of awareness about its benefits. See it is said that MSMEs consider these technologies as disruptive and they feel these technologies have the potential to demolish the existing system. Actually this is true in a sense because whenever a new technology takes over it is termed as disruptive technology only here we should focus on the term disruptive technology. See it refers to the innovations that significantly alters the way that consumers industries or businesses actually operate. So these disruptive technologies sweeps away the existing systems or habits and it replaces them. And how it does this it is possible because these disruptive technologies are recognizably superior to the existing ones. For example we are using GPS every day we use e-commerce online news sites we are using ride sharing apps all of these are examples of recent disruptive technology only. See here you should remember that certain technologies which we are using even for decades such as automobiles electricity service and television these were also considered disruptive technologies when they were first introduced and just because we call them disruptive doesn't mean that they do not have any benefits. And this is the issue with MSMEs because the MSMEs are not recognizing the benefits of these disruptive technologies that are present under the fourth industrial revolution and this is the opinion of the authors of this opiate article. Now other than this the second challenge that is facing MSMEs is that to adopt industry 4.0 they have to make major financial investments because they have to make investment in the right set of technologies and for this they also need expert advice and they currently lack the financial muscle to invest in these kinds of technologies. So this is another challenge faced by MSMEs. Now the third challenge which they face is during the creation of a positive organizational culture so as to adopt the industry 4.0 technologies. Here the MSMEs have to trust the advantages of the technologies and they have to win the support of people and then only they can actually understand that these technologies are less disruptive and they are more beneficial. And the fourth challenge faced by MSMEs is the lack of framework and guidelines. See if there is certain framework and guidelines then the MSMEs can use them while adopting these industry 4.0 technologies. But since there is no framework for that it makes it difficult for them to understand these technologies and the final challenge is present in identifying the relevant tools and practices which they need for this industry 4.0 revolution. So here authors suggest that MSMEs should develop their own vision of industry 4.0 technologies and they have to choose the tools accordingly. So on a whole what is the way forward or what should the MSMEs do so that they can reap the benefits of industry 4.0. See here you should first understand that MSMEs are expected to become the backbone of India as our economy grows larger and larger. So the MSMEs should embrace industry 4.0 without any hesitation. And for this purpose the governments entrepreneurs industrial associations trade unions venture capitalists and research agencies all of these importance stakeholders should be sensitized. And this will help to speed up the task of helping the MSMEs to adopt to industry 4.0 revolution. And in this way we can say that India is actually on a right path. We already have a digital India initiative and because of this India already joined the group of top 50 countries in the global innovation index for the first time this happened in 2020. And using this as a stimulant MSMEs should start raising capitals for entering into the new phase of industry 4.0. This is particularly important in the current scenario of pandemic because most of the healthcare infrastructure in India is MSME dependent. So once these MSMEs adopt and adapt industry 4.0 technologies then they can easily overcome the manufacturing challenges which they face now. So through this we have understood the need for MSMEs to adopt and adapt to industry 4.0. In this discussion we saw what is this industry 4.0 and its relevance to MSME. Now let us move on to the next discussion. So our next discussion is going to be from this snippet article from the business page. So it is going to be an economics topic. See the news is that Kenara bank has raised around 2500 crores through the qualified institutional placement route. So today we are going to discuss about this qualified institutional placement route and we will also see another relevant term which is qualified institutional buyers. First let us see what is this qualified institutional placement or in short QIP. So this QIP is a fundraising tool for the listed companies. Just remember it is related to listed companies. We will see what is a listed company later. And this process of QIP was introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India that is SEBI and it was introduced to enable the listed companies to raise finance through the issue of securities to the qualified institutional buyers. So here the process is called as qualified institutional placement and the one who is involved in this process is called as the qualified institutional buyer. So before understanding this term qualified institutional buyer or in short QIB let us first understand what is a listed company. See it is a company whose shares are quoted on the stock exchange or we can say that it is a company listed on the stock exchange. Then what are securities? Securities are the tradable financial instruments and these instruments are used to raise capital in the private market and the public markets. And primarily there are three types of securities. The first one is the equity or equity. This equity provides ownership rights to the holders and second one is the debt. Now this is a type of security where the loans are essentially repaid with periodic payments. And the third one is the hybrids. So that means it combines the aspects of debt and equity. So it has some of the aspects of equity and some of the aspects of debt. So that means QIP is a fundraising tool for the listed companies which enables them to raise finance through the issue of securities and to whom the securities are issued it is issued to the qualified institutional buyers. So who are they? See these are the institutional investors who are generally perceived to possess expertise and the financial muscle to evaluate and invest in the capital markets. That means they have the expertise and they also have the financial strength. And particularly SEBI has defined QIB under one of its guidelines. These guidelines are called as the Securities and Exchange Board of India Disclosure and Investor Protection Guidelines of 2000. In short SEBI Disclosure and Investor Protection Guidelines of 2000. Under clause 2.2.2 B of these guidelines a qualified institutional buyer shall mean these entities. That is it includes the public financial institution as defined in section 4A of the Companies Act and it includes the scheduled commercial banks. It includes the mutual funds. It includes the foreign institutional investor who is registered with SEBI and it also includes the multilateral and bilateral development financial institutions. Then it includes venture capital funds which is registered with SEBI. Then foreign venture capital investors. Then the state industrial development corporations and also the insurance companies which are registered with the IRDAI that is the insurance regulatory and development authority. They are also qualified institutional buyers. Apart from this the provident funds with minimum corpus of rupees 25 crores they are also QIBs. See when we say corpus in finance it means the total amount of money that is invested. And in a similar way pension funds having a minimum corpus of rupees 25 crores are also QIBs. So remember these entities it is important from the prelims perspective. So as a whole we can say that any of these entities falling under the categories which we just saw is considered as QIBs for the purpose of participating in a qualified institutional placement. So why are we discussing these QIBs and QIPs? It is because nowadays many companies are preferring this QIP route to raise the funds. Why is it being preferred? It is because QIP is a flexible process. It is less tedious and it can be raised within a short span of time. Other than this QIP is also cost efficient and it also has proper checks and balances. And this is why many companies are preferring QIPs as an effective mechanism to raise funds. So that means being flexible less tedious process involving short span of time then being cost efficient are some of the features of qualified institutional placement. So this is a short topic which we saw and this topic is important from prelims perspective. Remember what does it mean and remember the entities which are called as qualified institutional buyers. So with this discussion now let us move on to the next one. So viewers with this discussion we are moving to the practice questions discussion session. In this session we are going to discuss certain prelims practice questions based on the concepts and areas which we discussed during the articles discussion. So now let us take up this first question. The question is a direct question it asks which among the following refers to the replacement of sensitive data such as actual card details with an alternate code to ensure the safety of the card transaction. The options given are operation twist, net neutrality, tokenization, fast tag. See this is a question you can easily find the correct answer even if you don't know what is the correct answer because you know that operation twist is a monetary policy strategy which is used to stimulate economic growth by lowering the long-term interest rates. And second the net neutrality concept refers to the open equal internet for everyone and it's regardless of the content that is consumed. So net neutrality is also not relevant to the description given here. Now if you look at fast tag we know that it is a device that employs a particular technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid account. So here the description does not talk about toll payments and that is why option D is also incorrect so the correct answer is option C tokenization. So this tokenization concept is related to the safety of card transactions such as the debit card or credit card transactions and remember this. Now let us take up this next question it is with reference to the qualified institutional placement topic which we discussed. The question asks with reference to QIP consider the following statements. Statement one only listed companies can raise funds through QIP and statement two only qualified institutional buyers can buy securities through QIP. So generally in a problem's question when there is a statement with the term only or exclusively we assume that the statement might be incorrect. But in this question you have to be careful because both the statements are actually correct. During discussion we saw that QIP is a fundraising tool for the listed companies so the statement is correct and we also saw that this QIP process enables the listed companies to raise finance through the issue of securities to the qualified institutional buyers and that is why statement two is also correct and here the question asks for the correct statements. So the correct answer is option C both one and two. Okay now let us take up this next question it is based on the Sujalamp campaign it is a two statement question. The first statement is it aims to create more and more open defecation free plus villages by undertaking greywater management. This is a correct statement we saw this during discussion. The second statement is under this campaign one crore soaps are to be constructed in villages across the country. So this statement is incorrect because under this campaign one million soaps are to be constructed one million means 10 lakhs not one crore. So the statement is incorrect and this is to be done in the next hundred days. Now be careful while marking the correct answer because the question asks for the incorrect statements and that is why the correct answer to this question is option B two only. So viewers and aspirants with this practice question let us take up one more practice question. This question is based on the topic of national monetization plan you can write the answer to this practice question in the comment section and don't forget to listen to the discussion on this topic and then attend this question. So with this problems practice question now let us take up three main questions. These three questions are framed on the editorial discussion and the open discussion of today. Interested aspirants can write the answers to these main questions and post the links in the comment section. So viewers if you like this video don't forget to like comment and share and also subscribe to our channel for receiving more updates related to civil services preparation. Thank you.