 a very good evening aspirants. Today we are happy to inform you that we are starting the next pre-fit batch. This batch is called as pre-fit rapid which is conducted in both morning and evening. See the entrance test will be conducted on 20th March 2022. The entrance exam can be attempted in both online and offline. The entrance exam time will be from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm at all SIA centres that is the Shankar IAS Academy centres and for your convenience it is also available in online mode and the course duration is from 28.3 2022 to 29.5 2022. So you will be having a total number of 45 tests and this includes three mock test as well. The course fees for the pre-fit general is Rs. 2499. This amount includes GST as well and the course fees for pre-fit with scholarship based on performance in entrance exam is only just Rs. 1250. This is also inclusive of GST. For more information and registration please use the link given in the description. Now let us move on to our Hindu newspaper analysis for the date 14th of March 2022. Displayed here are the list of news article that I have chosen for today's discussion. See today whatever topic I have chosen is very much useful for both your problems as well as means. In order to make you understand that I have given the previous year questions from the UPSC regarding each and every topic okay. So aspirants kindly pay attention to each and every topic and make note of the key points in the discussion and utilize it for enriching your mains answers. Not only that it will be very much useful for attempting all your problems based question also. And as I always assure you there is an economic topic which is regarding the tax compliance and tax evasion. See this is initially covered in films perspective and it is widely covered in mains perspective also. So without wasting much time now let's get into our discussion. Look at this editorial article. This editorial is with reference to honour killing. See here the honour killing was committed to uphold the pride of the so-called dominant caste. Here the case was regarding a Dalit youth who was an engineering student and he was killed by a group of men. These group of men killed the youth because he was in love with the so-called higher caste girl. The article states that convicts in this caste murder case in Tamil Nadu is sentenced to lifelong imprisonment last week. This has brought some closure to the horrific killing of a Dalit youth in western Tamil Nadu that occurred in the year 2015. Now let me show you how relevant is this topic is for our UPSC mains. Look at these two mains questions which are from GS paper one. See one way or the other there will be a question regarding the caste system or the atrocities that is committed in the name of caste. All these are covered in the society topic in GS paper one. So in this context let's learn about honour killings and the laws in India regarding the prevention of honour killings. Before that the syllabus relevant to this news article is given here for your reference just go through it. Now let's start our discussion. First of all what is honour killing? See honour killing is defined as a killing for honour. It is a death that is awarded to the women or men by their own family members or own caste members or some others who are influenced by their family members. See the death is awarded for marrying against their wishes or having a premarital relationship or marrying within the same Gautra or marrying outside their caste. Is performing such kind of serious crime is honour for some people who breathe caste instead of air. See the main reason contributing to this heinous crime is the mentality of the people. They are not ready to accept the fact that their children can marry in accordance with their own choices. Be it in their own caste, religion or outside their caste or religion sometimes it is not just about the caste or religion. There are cases in which the family murdered their own people just because they do not want the tag of love marriage. The so-called honour killings or honour crimes are not peculiar to our country. It is an evil which haunts many other societies also. The belief that the victim has brought dishonour upon the family or the community is a root cause of such violent crimes. Such violent crimes are directed especially against women. See men also become targets of attacks by members or family of a women with whom they are perceived to have an inappropriate relation. But here mainly women are targeted in most of the cases. See many families do not prioritise the choices of their daughters. Neither they have asked their opinion regarding their marriage. See even having male friends is considered as a sin and girls are told to do everything only after marriage. It's like marriage is the only key for their freedom. Am I right? Note that presence of Kaapanchayat is also responsible for such kind of honour crime. Kaapanchayat decisions are directed against women affecting their personal choices like how to dress and whom to marry. Young girls are threatened, killed and even forced to commit suicide as under the Kaap verdicts. Note that this killing for honour is not only confined to rural areas rather it is common in the metropolitan cities like Delhi. See there are some initiatives that are taken by our government against the bodies like Kaapanchayat. For example the law commission have drafted a bill titled prohibition of unlawful assembly 2011. The bill here provides for punishment for the bodies that have ordered killing of couples that are accused of love marriage. But still the cases of honour killing are reported and note that Uttar Pradesh have the highest reported case of honour killing. See honour crimes violate our basic fundamental rights that are enumerated in the Indian constitution in Part 3. Now let me show you few of the fundamental rights which are violated by committing this honour crimes. Take Article 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Indian constitution all these are violated by the honour crimes. You can just go through the provisions of each of these right that I have mentioned here. See these crimes for honour violates human rights, infringes the right to live with dignity as per Article 21 of the Indian constitution. It shows the lack of attributes of empathy, love, compassion, tolerance among the fellow human beings. It creates a crisis of credibility in the government missionary to control such killings. It also undermines the integrity of institutions such as Polars, Judiciary etc. See the honour killing hampers the nation's integration and solidarity. Also it hampers the peace and shows a lack of rational thinking capacity and emotional intelligence among the people. See it is not only a crime against any individual, it is also a crime against a whole society at large. Here some group of person consider them more superior and consider themselves above law. Is that what our constitution says? No, am I right? With such kind of acts the ethical values of a society such as tolerance, respect for diversity, self-determination etc. are degraded when such acts are committed. See currently in India these killings are reported under two categories. One is under section 303 or two of the Indian Penal Code or IPC which deals with murder and secondly under section 299, 301 and 304 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with culpable homicide. Also the Protection of Human Rights Act 2006 makes the provision for the protection of individual rights of human beings. Also the Schedule Caste and the Schedule Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989 aims to prevent the commission of offenses of atrocity against the members of the Scheduled Caste and the Schedule Tribes. Not only this the National Commission for Women is working hard to stop honour killings. See eliminating honour killings need multi-dimensional approach. That means on one side we should work on changing the attitudes of patriarchal men and women. On the other side the government should bring a separate law to prevent honour killings and to declare Carpanchayats as unlawful. It's high time for the Carps themselves to change and reform with the changing times else they must be disregarded. Then the Polis should be proactive. They should immediately lodge an FIR when Carpanchayat declares punishment in the name of honour. Here comes the role of an NGO. See NGO should play a proactive role in creating awareness among the people. There is a need to understand that love marriages are not a sin for society. People should understand that if we force someone to get married to a person whom he or she does not like then the person would not be able to lead a happy life. Laws are required to be stricter to tackle these killings and punish them who take laws in their own hand and take away the life of the innocent young adults. See that's all regarding this news article. See friends just go through the preamble of the Indian constitution in your own language. I say this because you will understand what really is a constitution meaning to the society. Yes it strongly mentions how we should be unified despite all the diversities that are present in the society. Everyone has their own standards and morals in their life. It is appreciable only when it's legal in the eyes of the Indian constitution. Okay thus our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization. Utilize the key points in this discussion to enhance your mains answers. With these key points in mind now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now look at this news article. This article states that a rare butterfly was recorded in the Neelgris after over a century. This butterfly is known as the spotted royal whose scientific name is Tajuria maculata. See I have chosen this topic because this is very much important for your prelims perspective. You might not believe me just look at this two prelims questions which are from the consecutive years that is 2016 and 17. See UPSC is always interested in asking about some species and today the news article mentions that this butterfly was not found for over a century and now it is rediscovered. So taking this as an opportunity let us discuss about the butterfly in prelims perspective. See butterflies are the adult flying stage of certain insects belonging to an order or group called Lepidoptera. The word Lepidoptera means scaling wings in Greek. This name perfectly suits the insects in this group because their wings are covered with thousands of tiny scales overlapping in rows. The scales which are arranged in colorful designs unique to each species are what gives the butterfly its beauty. See butterflies know are nearly worldwide in their distribution. Like all other insects butterflies have six legs and three main body parts which are head, the racks and abdomen. Also they have two antennae and an exoskeleton. Okay now let us see how this butterfly helps the environment. Firstly they help in pollination in plants. How see butterflies are attracted to bright flowers and need to feed on nectar. When they do this know their bodies collect pollen and carry it to other plants. This helps fruits, vegetables and flowers to produce new seeds. The majority of plants need pollinators like bees and butterflies to reproduce. Am I right? Yes. Hence butterfly helps in the pollination of plants. Secondly though they are low in the footwear their presence is very much important. See butterflies know are an indicator of a healthy environment. How? Butterflies are a food source for birds, spiders, lizards, mice and other animals. Even when you take the caterpillar which is a premature form of a butterfly they are also eaten by bats, birds and other animals. Thus you can say that butterflies are really good for the environment and play a role in increasing biodiversity that is the variety of plants and animals and microorganisms and their ecosystem will be enriched. See if butterfly population diminish or disappear altogether the impact will be felt higher up and can affect the entire ecosystem. This is because butterflies are so sensitive to habitat and climate change. That is the reason no scientists are monitoring them as one way of observing the wider effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change. Okay now coming back to the article see a rare butterfly species that is spotted royal has not been recorded in the Neal Grease for over a century. It was rediscovered again in the district by the members of the Winter Blit Association. See the species known was recorded in the Neal Grease in the late 1800s and there had been no records of it since then. It was known to exist in the northeast of India and there have only been a handful of records of the species anywhere. For example a few records of the butterfly exist in Kerala and Karnataka as well. This butterfly is characterized by a white underside with numerous black spots. The spotted royal lives close to its host plant which are the native lorantha species. Regarding the threats the others said there were not many threats to the habitat where the butterfly was found now. He believes that a viable population of the butterfly inhabits the Kotagiri slopes. So that's all regarding this news article. With these takeaway points in mind let us move on to the next news article discussion. Look at this news article it is a text and context article and it is about a research project. The project is where do my tax dollars go tax-moral effects of perceived government spending. See in this project a team of four researchers studied over 2000 households in Dallas in USA and this is done to gauge how their willingness to pay property taxes change with information on how their tax money is spent by the government. See according to the author of this news article one way to encourage people to pay taxes is to make information more accessible to the citizens. Here information means details about how the government is spending the tax money. So this is the essence of the article given here. See this kind of topic is very much useful for your mains. Just have a look at this question from UPSC mains gs paper four. See only if you know certain basics you can answer this kind of situational questions. Today our discussion will definitely be helping you know some basics regarding tax payments. And then additionally let us learn how the taxpayers mindset is changing if information about how the tax money spent is made accessible to them. Before that the syllabus relevant to this news article is given here for your reference. Just go through it. First of all let us see some basics before getting into the discussion. See when it comes to tax or taxpayers or the act of paying tax you should know certain terminologies. Now what are they? Yeah you're right. One is tax compliance and the other one is tax evasion. First of all let us see what is tax compliance. See it is nothing but the rate to which taxpayers comply with the tax rules and regulations that have been enforced. Overall the tax compliance involves being aware of and observing the tax laws and requirements set forth by the government officials and other taxing authorities. Okay see a basic example here is the annual April deadline for tax return filing. See individuals who don't complete their tax return filing by this date are considered non-compliant. Am I right? So in simple words it is a degree to which a taxpayer complies with the tax rules of his country. For example by declaring income, filing a return and paying the tax due in a timely manner. Now let us see about the tax evasion. See tax evasion is the failure to pay or the deliberate underpayment of taxes. See it is an illegal activity in India. Anyone found guilty of the tax evasion phases hefty fines, prison time or both. So in simple words it means deliberately hiding and misrepresenting their income from the authorities in order to reduce their tax liability. See like I said it implies to bore the illegal non-payment as well as the illegal underpayment of taxes. Now let us come back to the today's news article. See we saw that a project was conducted right. So according to the researchers there were significant misperceptions. What does that mean? It is wrong or incorrect understanding. See there was misperception among the households. Now what are those misperceptions? See the misperceptions are about how the taxes that the households paid are being spent by the government. For instance households on average underestimated the share of the property taxes that they paid. The underestimation was as much as 13 percentage points but the property tax paid originally went towards funding public education. See such misperception existed despite the fact that there are publicly available information about how the government spends the taxes that it collected. So the researchers found that such misperception is there and with this knowledge they performed a small task. And what is the task? See the researchers informed the households during tax filing season about the actual share of property taxes that went into public education. This was done to monitor the change in their behavior while paying taxes. Okay and at the end the researchers looked into data on property tax appeals that were filed by the sample population of households. See now I said tax appeals right what does that mean? See an appeal allows a household to potentially lower the amount that it pays as taxes to the government. So if a household has applied for an appeal then it means that particular household doesn't want to pay tax or it wants to lower the amount that it pays as a tax. Okay now the result of this task that the researchers played is once households were informed that the government spent a larger share of the taxes towards funding public education there was significant change in their behavior. See the households with children enrolled in public school are less likely to appeal against property taxes. Here appeal means lowering the amount of tax that the household pay. Okay see this is natural because these households personally benefited from the taxes allocated towards public education. On the other hand households without children enrolled in public schools were more likely to appeal against property taxes. This happened once they found out that a larger share of property taxes was allocated towards public education. So the author is saying that citizens should have access to information regarding how the tax money is spent by the government. See the conclusions of this kind of study hold lessons for country like India where there is an act to push by the government to get more citizens to pay their taxes. As of 2021 gross tax to GDP in India is around 10.2 percentage. See the tax GDP ratio is lower because of narrow tax base. What does tax base here mean? See tax base can be defined as a total amount of assets or revenue on which the government can levy a tax. This can be best understood with the help of an example. For instance in the case of income tax. The tax base here is all the income that is earned by the people of the state. Am I right? So I hope you got the meaning of what is tax base. See only 3 percentage of the country's population pay income tax. So we can understand there is large-scale tax evasion and this is where the author's suggestion comes in. See the author says that one way to encourage people to pay taxes is to make information about how tax revenues are being spent by the government and also it has to be made more accessible to the citizens. The author also recommends that the government should offer detailed information on various purposes for which the tax amount that is collected from the people is being spent. For example take whether the purpose is for health or education, roads, etc. etc. has to be made known to the people. Okay see there is already a significant share of tax evasion that happens in India. It is simply because of the fact that citizens do not feel that they receive sufficient benefits from the government for the taxes that they are paying. So an effective way to improve tax compliance could be to improve the provision of benefits and make the government more and more accountable. So that's all about this news article. See you can utilize these points whenever the question is like how can the tax compliance be improved in India. See this kind of bringing behavioral change to improve tax compliance is something a unique way and this can be used to enrich your main cancer. So with these takeaway points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Now take a look at this news article. This news article talks about the Right to Information Act. See as per the news article a student who topped his badge in the Criminology Department in the University of Madras invoked the RTA Act. This is to get a medal he was entitled for being the first rank holder. This is the crux of the news article given here. Now just have a look at this UPSC means question from 2020. You can very well understand how relevant is this topic is for the UPSC. So taking this as an opportunity let us discuss the RTA Act that's objectives and features then we'll also discuss the challenges and criticisms of this Act. So friends kindly pay attention as this is important for both your mains as well as problems. Before getting into the discussion the syllabus relevant to this news article is given here for your reference kindly go through it. Now let's start our discussion. Firstly what is this RTA Act? See the Right to Information Act is nothing but an Act of the Parliament of India. This sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens' right to information. It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act 2002. See it is an initiative taken by the then Department of Personal and Training and the Ministry of Personal Public Revences and Pension. This is done to provide a RTA portal gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the details of first appellate authorities then PIOs or the public information officers etc. That is under the provisions of the RTA Act any citizen of India may request information from a public authority which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30 days. See in case of matter involving a petitioner's life and liberty the information has to be provided within 48 hours. Okay here what do they mean by the public authority? See public authorities include bodies of self-government established under the constitution or under any law or government notification. For example these include ministries, public sector undertakings and regulators. So once RTA is filed the public authority is required to make disclosures on various aspects of their structure and functioning. This includes disclosure on their organization functions and structures then the powers and duties of its officers and employees and even the financial information. So now what if the information is not provided? See if such information is not made available citizens have the right to request for read from the authorities. This may include information in the form of documents, files or electronic records under the control of the public authority. The act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to actively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens only need minimal efforts to make formal requests for the information. This point in the act is very much valid right because if every information is provided to the public then why do we need RTA? Just think of it. So to sum up RTA is an act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities. This is done to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority. Thus the act provides for the constitution of a central information commission and state information commissions for this purpose. Now why was it brought? What is the core idea of this act? Just now we saw that it increases transparency and accountability in the working of the government. Apart from this it helps in containing corruption and make a democracy work for the people in real sense. So this act is a big step towards making the citizens informed about these activities of the government. Most importantly this act was enacted to reinforce citizens' right to information. See all the right to information is not explicitly mentioned as a fundamental right in the constitution of India. It is protected under two articles especially under article 19 clause 1a which talks about freedom of expression and speech and under the article 21 which talks about right to life and personal liberty. Subsequently this act provides a fundamental right for any person to access information held by government bodies. Now who are all the governing bodies of this RTA Act? See the right to information in India is governed by two major bodies. Firstly by the Central Information Commission. Here the Chief Information Commissioner heads all the central departments and ministries. This is done with their own public information officers that is the jurisdiction of the commission extends over all central public authorities. Here the public information officers or the PAO's are officers designated by the public authorities in all administrative units or officers and are it to provide information to the citizens requesting for the information under the Act. Now secondly take the State Information Commission. Here the state public information officers or the SPIO's head over all the state departments and ministries and note that the SPIO office is directly under the corresponding state governor. Note that the state and central information commissions or independent bodies importantly the Central Information Commission has no jurisdiction over the State Information Commission. Now how does the Act actually work? See the Act has established a three-tier structure for enforcing the right to information guaranteed under the Act. The public authorities designate some of their officers as public information officers. The first request for information goes to the Central or the State Assistant Public Information Officers and Central or State Public Information Officer designated by these public authorities. See these officers are required to provide information to an RTA applicant within 30 days of the request. If there is no reply or if the reply is not satisfactory then the person can make an appeal. Here appeals will go to an appellate authority. Again if the reply is not satisfactory or there is no reply appeals against the order of the appellate authority goes to the State Information Commission or the Central Information Commission. Now we shall see some of the important features of this Act. Firstly under section 20 clause 2 if the State or the Central Information Officer without any reasonable cause refused to receive an application for the information or has not furnished information within the time specified or malifitely denied the request for information or if he is knowingly giving incorrect or incomplete or misleading information or if he destroys information which was the subject of the request or take if he is obstructing in any manner in furnishing the information then the State or the Central Information Commission shall impose a penalty of 250 rupees each day till the application is received or in the information is furnished okay. Secondly another most important feature of this Act is the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission shall even recommend for disciplinary action. This is against the Central Public Information Officer or the State Public Information Officer for the same mistake which I have mentioned about okay. See even though the Act was passed in the year 2005 it got reasonably amended in 2019. Many experts advise that this amendment should be struck down. Why is this so? This is because previously the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners at the Central and the State level will hold office for a term of say five years but this provision was removed and the amendments stated that the Central Government will notify the term of office for the Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners. Here the main challenge that the Information Commissioners are facing is that they are losing their independence. Am I right? Secondly in the 2005 Act it is said that the salary of the Central Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners will be equivalent to the salary paid to the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners respectively. Similarly the salary of the CIC and the ICs at the State level know will be equivalent to the salary paid to the Election Commissioners and the Chief Secretary to the State Government respective. But the amendment removes these provisions and states that the salaries and allowances and other terms and conditions of the services of the Central and State CICs and ICs will be determined by the Central Government. So here also what you can understand the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission which was an independent body is losing their independence because of this amendment. Just have a look at this table which shows what are all the changes that has been made by the RTA Amendment Bill 2019 when compared with the RTA Act 2005. That's all about this news article. So in this discussion we saw about the RTA Act its features its objectives and also we saw about the challenges and criticisms of this RTA Act. So with these key points in mind now let us move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this last news article. This news article talks about the captive elephants in the state of Kerala. See they are finding it difficult to get fully out of the two-year pandemic induced wilderness. This issue is in news because the peak festival season has begun. Even though not many casualties have been reported in connection to this around 20 instances of elephants running amok have been reported in the state. This is especially in Trishur Palakkad and Ernakulam districts in March alone. So this is the crux of the news article given here. In this context now let us quickly go through what are meant by captive animals and we shall also see some of the difficulties faced by these animals when they are kept in captive. Okay firstly what are captive animals? Animals that are held by humans and prevented from escaping are said to be in captivity. The term is usually applied to wild animals that are held in confinement but note that it may also be used generally to describe the keeping of domesticated animals such as livestock or pets. See this may include for example animals in farms, private homes, zoos and laboratories. Animal captivity may be categorized according to the particular motives, objectives and conditions of the confinement. Now let us talk about the challenges faced by these animals when they are in captive. See captive animals especially those not domesticated sometimes develop abnormal behaviors. One type of abnormal behavior is stereotypical behaviors that is doing repetitive and apparently purposeless motor behaviors. Examples of stereotypical behaviors include pacing, self-injury, root-traising and excessive self-groming. These behaviors know are associated with stress and lack of stimulation. What does this stimulation here mean? See many who keep animals in captivity attempt to prevent or decrease stereotypical behavior by introducing stimuli. It is nothing but a process known as environmental enrichment but still some animals have this abnormal behavior. Now especially talking about the captive elephants know at many of these festival locations the captive elephants being paraded had become agitated. This is mainly due to three reasons. First reason is the soaring temperature. They obviously have an effect on the animals am I right? The second reason is the two-year pandemic induced wilderness. See firstly the elephant should get rid of this wilderness. Secondly the elephant should be introduced to the sounds and furry of the festival venues in a gradual manner. This is because they have been in an inactive mode for two years. And thirdly know the demand for elephants has been increasing year after year. So this is putting a pressure on the existing jumbos. Having seen all this it takes us to the question of way forward. Firstly elephant conservation and cat center must be built in order to take care of these captive elephants. Secondly the captive populations know provide the opportunity for more in-depth study. See this is not practical in the wild. Here the in-depth study of the captive elephants helps in managing them properly. And lastly the captive breeding programs can also provide individuals for translocation. What does translocation mean? See translocation is nothing but a deliberate and mediated movement of the wild individuals or populations from one part of the range to another. Why is this done? See it is a commonly used tool in conservation especially for establishing, re-establishing and augmenting population of managed species. Okay so that's all about this news article. So in this discussion we covered what is a captive animal and what are all the difficulties faced by them. Then we particularly went on to the captive elephants and we also ended up with a way forward. So utilize these points to enrich your mains answer when it is regarding some conservation of animals or especially when it is based on conservation of elephants. Okay so with these key points in mind now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion which is the prelims practice question discussion. Now look at this first prelims practice question with reference to India's biodiversity chocolate bordered flitter common immigrant striped tiger plain tigers common grass yellow spotted royal or belonging to option a moths option b tigers option c reptiles and option d butterflies. See the answer for this question is option d butterflies. See all these species know that I have mentioned in this question have been in use in the past one year. If at all you don't know any of these species also today in our discussion itself we covered about this spotted royal. Do you remember? See like this UPSC also can give any one of the species and ask what is this species. Okay in this question itself when you see the word tiger you might get confused and go in for tigers. So that is why I have given this. Just be aware of the species that are in use. You need not get into the depth just be aware of it. Okay now look at the second question. The question here says the right to information is a fundamental right under which of the following. So they are given an option article 19, article 18, article 14 and article 22. Have you all guessed the answer? Yes you're right. The answer is option a article 19. See remember we saw in our discussion that right to information is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. But it is guaranteed as a right to speech and expression under article 19. So your answer here is option a article 19. Okay now displayed here is a quiz question for you. See don't worry this is not a new question. It is a previous here question that I had displayed in my elephants discussion. Okay today we saw about the captive elephants right. In that I have given this as a reference question. See also I have given this as a quiz question because in our discussion today we covered what is the significance of the butterfly species to the environment. Am I right? So aspirants go through the question and post your answers in the comment section. As this is a UPSC preliminary question I will post the answer by today night itself. Okay displayed here are the mains practice questions. See all these questions are very much important for your mains and you can expect in one way or the other something related to this topic. So kindly go through the question and write your answers and post it in the comment section. If you like this video do like share and comment and don't forget to subscribe to the Shankar IA's Academy's YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.