 Good evening aspirants, I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankar IA's Academy for the newspaper dated 28th of June 2023. Displayed here are the list of articles that we will take up for discussion today. Go through it. Now we will start with the first article discussion. See, this text and context article covers about the issues faced by US tech companies in India. Many US based tech companies accuse India of being protectionist when it comes to digital technology. Earlier this year, Computer and Communications Industry Association, that is CCIA, a US based grouping with members like Amazon, Google, Meta, Intel and Yahoo have highlighted 20 policy barriers to do digital trade with India. So in this context, we will discuss about the important points given in this article. But before getting into the discussion, the syllabus relevant to this article is given here for your reference. Take a note of it. Now we will begin our discussion with a basic understanding about the current status of India-US technology trade. See, US is India's largest trade partner for the financial year 2023. The bilateral trade of these countries have marked a 7.65 percentage increase which amounts to 128.55 billion US dollars. The CCIA had pointed out that in 2020 alone, US had a 27 billion US dollar trade deficit to India in digital services despite its potential. But in the recent past, India and US are striving to step up their partnership on technology through many initiatives. One such initiative is the ICET. See, ICET stands for Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology. This initiative was launched in May 2022. The focus area of this initiative includes quantum and artificial intelligence, defense innovation, space, advanced telecom technologies and semiconductors. The US had also established a strategic trade dialogue to deal with the regulatory barriers and deeper cooperation in the critical areas. Moving on, we will look at the concerns raised by the US tech companies. See, the CCIA appreciates the efforts by India and US to increase their trade through bilateral initiatives. At the same time, it also says that there is a significant imbalance and misalignment in the trade relationship of India and US. It also says that US is open and welcoming to Indian companies but that is not the case in India for American companies. The CCIA talks about the tools which are used by the Indian government to implement its protectionist industrial policy. These protectionist policies only favour the local companies and there is no level playing field. The CCIA takes the case of India's guidelines on sharing the geospatial data which gives preferential treatment to Indian companies to highlight its discriminatory policies and regulations. The CCIA note also raises a question about India's commitment to democratic values because of its greater government censorship and control over political speech. This makes it difficult for the US companies to operate in India. For example, take a look at this statement of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. He has alleged that the Indian government treated it to shut the platform and ride employees' house in the country. He also said that Twitter was asked to censor journalists who are critical of the government. But also note that Indian government had denied all these allegations. The next concern raised by the US companies is the taxation in India. Indian government had introduced equalization levy in 2016 with the aim to provide equal opportunities to local prayers. Now, what is this equalization levy? Let's try to exploit equalization levy with a simple example. Imagine you have a lemonade stand and you sell lemonade to your neighbours. You pay taxes on the money you earn from selling lemonade. Now, let's say there's a big company called Super Ads that runs an online platform where businesses can advertise their products. Super Ads is not based in your country but many businesses in your country use their platform to advertise and reach customers. The problem is that Super Ads doesn't pay taxes in your country because they don't have a physical presence there. They earn a lot of money from businesses advertising on their platform but they don't contribute to the taxes that help your country. To solve this issue, the government introduces an equalization levy. This means that Super Ads has to pay a small percentage of money they earn from businesses in your country as a tax. For example, let's say the equalization levy is set at 2%. If a local business spends 100 rupees on advertising through Super Ads, then Super Ads would have to pay rupees 2 as the equalization levy to the government. Presently, the company which does not have permanent establishment in India have to pay 6% tax for the services they receive from an Indian business firm. Moreover, in 2020, the Indian government imposed extra 2% tax on the gross revenue of non-resident e-commerce operators for the service it provides to Indian residents or the non-resident companies which have permanent establishments in India. The US companies are dealing with double taxation crisis and complicated tax framework because of this equalization levy. Also, the CCIA raises question about its constitutional validity and India's commitment to international obligations. Further, 2020 amendment was vague and it increased the scope for taxation. The next concern of CCIA is the IT rules 2021. See, the IT rules are applicable to social media intermediaries and platforms which has 5 million registered users or more. So, most of the US tech firms falls under the amped of this IT rules. CCIA accuses that the IT rules have some problematic provisions such as impractical compliance deadlines and content takedown protocols. For example, social media intermediaries have to take down a content within 24 hours from the time it received the government or court order. Then, the platforms have to appoint a local compliance officer to ensure its compliance with IT rules. The IT amendment 2022 mandates the social media intermediaries to remove the content within 72 hours for 6 categories of content when someone complains. CCIA also questions the effective functioning of 3 member grievance appellate tribunal which deals with the grievances of citizens related to social media and digital platforms. The next concern of CCIA is regarding the Data Protection Bill 2022. Data Protection Bill 2022 deals with cross-border data flows, compliance timelines and data localization. See, India has more than 759 million active internet users. So, we can say that India is a data gold mine. India is planning to become hub for data processing. Also, Indian government favours data localization. Now, what is data localization? Imagine you have a social media platform called Social Connect and it's a popular platform used by people in your country. Now, when users create accounts on Social Connect, they provide personal information like names, email addresses and even their location. Now, let's say Social Connect stores all your user data in a different country. Let's call it Dataland. Dataland has different privacy laws and regulations compared to your country. The issue here is if user data is stored in Dataland, it might be subjected to different rules and regulations and the data might not be well protected as it would be if it were stored within your own country. So, to address this concern, the government introduces data localization norms. These norms require companies like Social Connect to store the personal data of their users within the territorial boundaries of your country. In case if there is a data breach on Social Connect, then the user data is stored within your country and the local authorities can quickly investigate and take appropriate actions to safeguard the users. But this increases the operating cost for foreign companies. So, the CCIA questions the ambiguities around section 17 of the new draft. The section 17 says that cross-border flow of data will be allowed only for certain countries. The US companies ask on what basis India will decide these countries and condemns this opaque process. The CCIA suggests that India could adopt for cross-border data flow with certifications, standard contractual clauses and binding corporate rules rather than going for strict restrictions. Moving on, the next concern of CCIA lies in telecom bill. As per the draft telecom bill 2022, both the telecom service providers and the over-the-top players comes under its ambit. Here, OTT also includes messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Google Meet, etc. which uses the network infrastructure of telecom service providers in India like ATL and GEO. The CCIA feels that if the draft bill is passed in its current form, tech companies will face licensing issues, government access to companies data, infrastructure of its infrastructure and possibly monetary obligations. Some of the other policy barriers faced by US tech companies include Digital Competition Act. This act was proposed by the Parliamentary Committee on Finance to tackle the anti-competitive practices followed by big tech companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, etc. This act proposes to levite taxes for big or significant tech companies which mainly targets the US tech companies. These are the issues given in this article. Both Indian government and the US tech companies should try to resolve these issues through dialogues. So in this discussion, we saw about some of the issues faced by US tech companies in India. With the learned points in mind, now we will move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this editorial article. This editorial article is written in the context of Mr. Modi's state visit to Washington. As the title itself hints, this editorial article tries to highlight the instances where US has exempted India from imposing a sanction. You will see them one by one. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this discussion is highlighted here. You can go through it. See, we all have seen the growth of relations between India and the United States. It can be traced back to 25 years ago. For instance, in May 1998, India and Pakistan each conducted tests of nuclear explosive devices. So this triggered US to impose economic sanctions on both the countries as mandated by the Arms Export Control Act. Later, Mr. Clinton signed a waiver to the sanctions on both India and Pakistan. This is the first instance when the US exempted India from a potential economic sanction. Secondly, the India-US joint statement in 2005 resulted in a waiver under the Non-Proliferation Act, the Hentry-Hydact and the 123 Agreement with India. This led to an India-specific exemption at the Nuclear Supplier Group in 2008. Another set of exceptions for India on export controls and high technology trades and transfers under the US Export Administration Regulation and International Traffic in Arms Regulation was made during Obama's visit to Delhi in 2010. One important thing that you have to note here is all these exceptions were made despite the fact that India never joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Regime. More importantly, these exceptions were India-specific waivers. That is, it was not available to other non-NPT countries like Pakistan. This highlights the crucial relationship that US tries to maintain with India. Even in the past, the United States have been using a law called the Countering America's Adversaries through Sanctions Act. That is, CARTs act to impose sanctions on countries like Russia. This means they put certain restrictions on Russia because of certain actions they took that the United States didn't agree with. However, something interesting happened. The United States sanctioned countries like Turkey and China for buying a missile system from Russia called the S-400. But when it came to India, the United States did not impose any sanctions for buying the same missile system. In fact, there was a proposal called the Khanna Amendment that was passed by the US House of Representatives. If this proposal became a law, it would completely accept India from the sanctions under CARTS Act. Recently also, during the Russian war in Ukraine, while Mr Biden ordered sanctions on German entities for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, it accepted secondary sanctions against India for its considerable oil imports or defence engagement from Russia. Now, let's talk about a law called the International Religious Freedom Act. This law is about protecting the freedom of people to practice their religion without facing discrimination at home. There is a group called the US Commission on International Religious Freedom that looks at different countries and evaluates how will they protect religious freedom. They have a list called countries of particular concern which includes countries like China, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Myanmar. These countries are seen as having significant issues related to religious freedom. Interestingly, India has been on the radar of this group and they have recommended that India should be added to the list of countries of particular concern because they seek concerns about religious freedom here. However, despite these recommendations, the US State Department which is responsible for enforcing the law has not taken any steps to impose potential consequences on India. See, all these exceptions have been made for India despite its resistance to becoming an ally of US and in spite of India's strong ties with US adversaries like Russia and Iran. India is even today a member of groupings like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization or the BRICS that pose a challenge to the US-Europe World Order. India has also granted only a few commercial contracts to US companies in nuclear power, fighter jets, weapon systems etc. Even with all such red flags, US never fails to consider India. Here, you might have a doubt, why has the US institutionalized such a broad based waiver policy for India over two and a half decades? The first reason is obviously the promise of ties with India. India being the world's most populous nation, it has always been an inclusive pluralistic democracy for most of its history as a republic with a record in non-proliferation. This unbreakable promise of India has built an unbreakable trust towards it. This is the first reason. Secondly, India draws attention as an economic market and a military buyer. Thirdly, India's location in Asia and its border disputes with Beijing. This makes India a more reliable partner than European allies in countering China. Fourthly, both Mr Biden and Mr Moody acknowledged the Indian American diaspora. They have distinguished themselves as a professional law abiding prosperous and unproblematic community. They are the biggest supporter of improved India US ties. But any exception has its own challenges. For example, the exceptions made specifically for India can be reversed at any time. Secondly, despite India's growth story, the relationship reminds largely one directional on issues like investment, hardware or technology transfer. For example, the GE HAL deal took more than 13 years to conclude after the US cleared the impedance in India's access to high technology transfers. There are big leads to be taken next in high tech co-production, clean energy transitions, semiconductor technology and artificial intelligence. The time taken to conclude the deals might vary based on case by case at an unpredictable pace. So to achieve a significant leap in the relationship, a shift is needed towards a more balanced and mutually respectful partnership. So these are some of the takeaway points that you have to remember from this news article. So in short, the growth of the relationship between India and United States have been marked by exemptions which are made by US for India in various areas such as civil nuclear cooperation, defence engagement with Russia and religious freedom exemptions. These exemptions have been granted due to several reasons but the reliance on exemptions poses challenges to the relationship as they can be reversed at any time. So we need a more balanced and mutually respectful partnership. Now with the learned points in mind, now we will move on to the next article discussion. Now look at this article from the archive session. See, 50 years ago on the same day that is on 28th June 1973, China tested its first hydrogen bomb in the atmosphere. The test was first reported by the Indian Atomic Research Centre in Bombay. Later, China also acknowledged that it conducted a successful hydrogen bomb test. This is about the news. In this discussion, we will learn about the working of hydrogen bombs. See, the hydrogen bomb which is also called as thermonuclear bomb is a type of nuclear weapon that has enormous explosive power. The explosive power is obtained from an uncontrolled self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. The hydrogen bomb works based on the principle of nuclear fusion reaction. Now, what is this nuclear fusion reaction? Nuclear fusion is a process in which two light atomic nuclei merge to form a single heavier atomic nucleus. This merger process releases enormous energy. This is because after the merger of two nuclei, the total mass of the resulting single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei. So the leftover mass becomes energy. So this is how energy is released during the fusion process. Let me put it like this. Imagine you have two small balls and when you put them together, you end up with a bigger ball. But when you measure the mass of the bigger ball, you find that it weighs less than the combined mass of the two smaller balls. Now, the missing mass has been converted into energy. Note that fusion reaction usually takes place at extremely high temperatures. Remember this point. I'll again come back to this when we see the working of hydrogen bombs. So at least 100 million degrees of temperature is needed to carry out a nuclear fusion reaction. Now, coming to hydrogen bomb. See, mostly deuterium and tritium are used to make hydrogen bombs. Note that both deuterium and tritium are the isotopes of hydrogen. They provide ideal interacting nuclei for the fusion process. During fusion process, the atoms of deuterium and tritium combines to form a helium atom. The fusion process releases vast amount of energy and they also release neutrons. Now, how does the hydrogen bomb work? To have a better understanding about the hydrogen bombs, we need to understand nuclear fission reaction. So, nuclear fission reaction is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. Here, the atom gets separated as a result of slamming of neutrons. Nuclear fission is a process where a special type of atom called a radioactive atom is split into two smaller atoms when it is hit by a neutron. When this splitting happens, a huge amount of energy is released. In a nuclear fission reaction, when a neutron collides with a radioactive atom, it causes the atom to become unstable. So this instability makes the atom split apart into two smaller atoms. When this splitting occurs, a lot of energy is released in the form of heat and light. But that's not all. When the atom splits, it also releases additional neutrons. These released neutrons can then go on to collide with other radioactive atoms nearby it, causing them to split as well. This creates a chain reaction where one splitting atom leads to more atoms splitting, releasing even more energy. The tremendous amount of energy released during a nuclear fission reaction is what makes it useful for making atomic bombs. The released energy is so powerful that it can cause an enormous explosion. See, most of the nuclear bombs are produced using uranium-235 as a fuel. Note that hydrogen bombs are different from atomic bombs. A hydrogen bomb works based on nuclear fusion principle, whereas atomic bombs work based on nuclear fission principle. Now, coming back to the working of hydrogen bombs. The explosion of a hydrogen bomb takes place in two stages. Now, look at this image here. In the first stage, uranium-235 is used to establish a fission chain reaction. But why? We earlier saw that nuclear fusion needs extremely high temperatures. So, in order to obtain this high temperature, the nuclear fission reaction is established in the first stage. This is done by using uranium-235. This fission reaction produces extremely high temperatures that are required for the fusion reaction. See, in the hydrogen bomb chamber, initially the uranium-235 is detonated. This in turn produces explosions and create a high temperature of several million degrees. Then, the force and heat of this explosion are reflected back by a surrounding container of uranium and they are streamed towards the secondary stage. In the secondary stage, the heat generated in the primary stage supports the fusion reaction. As I said earlier, the isotopes of hydrogen such as deuterium and tritium are used as a fuel in hydrogen bombs. So, in the second stage, the deuterium and tritium that is kept on the other side of the bomb chamber will get impacted by the extreme heat produced in the primary stage. As a result, the atoms of deuterium and tritium compounds to form helium. So, this causes a huge explosion and a vast amount of energy is released into the atmosphere. This is how a hydrogen bomb works. Note that hydrogen bombs can be hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than the atomic bombs. In this discussion, we saw water-hydrogen bombs and they are working. With the learned points in mind, now we will take up the next article for our discussion. Take a look at this news article. Recently, the 22nd Law Commission recommended to retain section 124A of the IPC that deals with sedition law. The recommendation triggered a political uproar in the country. Several opposition parties alleged that retaining sedition law was an attempt to suppress dissent against the ruling party. Amidst the opposition, yesterday the chairman of law commission said that the sedition law was an important tool to safeguard the safety and integrity of India. He said that special laws such as the UAPA that is Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the National Securities Act operated in different fields and they did not cover the offence of sedition. Therefore, he said that the specific law on sedition needs to be there. So, this is the crux of the news article. Now, in this discussion, let us understand about sedition law from our exam perspective. First of all, what is sedition? See, the definition of sedition is provided under section 124A of the Indian Penal Code 1860. Look at this box here. This is the exact text given in the section 124A. It goes like when any person by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representation or by any other means that attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India, then it is defined as sedition. To put simply, sedition is termed as a speech writing or behaviour that brings hatred or disaffection towards the government. So, this is about the definition of sedition. Now, let's see about the background of sedition law. See, the law of sedition was first enacted by the British government in 1870. Later on, it was added to the Indian Penal Code of 1860. Note that the sedition law was enacted mainly to deal with harsh criticisms against the colonial government. The law was mainly used to curb the free speech and fundamental rights of our freedom fighters. In pre-independence India, it was extensively used against our freedom fighters like Bal Gangadhar, Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bahat Singh, etc. After independence also, the sedition law was retained by the government. So, this is all about the background of sedition law. Now, coming to the punishment. The punishment for sedition is also provided under section 124A of the IPC. The section terms sedition as a non-bailable and cognisable offence. Here, cognisable offence is one in which the police can arrest the accused without a warrant. The police can also begin an investigation without the permission of the court. Now, coming back to the punishment. As per section 124A, the punishment for sedition ranges from imprisonment up to three years to a life term. Apart from this, a fine may also be imposed. So, now let's see about some of the issues associated with the sedition law. Firstly, the sedition law is against the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression which is provided under article 19. This is because the sedition may also be used to curb the fair criticism against the government. Secondly, the sedition law was extensively used by the colonial government against our freedom fighters to suppress the freedom movement. But in a democratic country like India, the present existence of such a law is not justified. And finally, the definition of sedition is too broad under section 124A. This means that the sedition law may be interpreted broadly according to the prevalent situations. So, it may lead to misuse of sedition law. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. In this article, we saw that the chairman of law commission said that the sedition law was an important tool to safeguard the safety and integrity of India. Then we started with the discussion of sedition law. We understood that sedition is nothing but the speech writing or behavior that brings hatred or disaffection towards the government. Then we saw the background of sedition law. We saw that it was enacted by the British government in 1870 and it was later added to the IPC in 1860. Then we also saw that it is a non-bailable and cognisable offense. Finally, we ended our conclusion by seeing some of the issues associated with the sedition law. I hope you are clear with this topic. Now we will move on to the next article discussion. Take a look at this news article. Yesterday, the Greater Chennai Police launched a mapping of crime zones using geographic information system. This new system will help the police identify critical roadside facilities like bus stands, shopping areas and parking locations from where cases of chain snatching and thefts were regularly reported. This will help the police redirect patrol vehicles to that locations. This is the crux of the article given here. In this context, let us quickly go through what is GIS and some of the key applications of GIS. See, the full form of GIS is the Geographic Information System. It is a system designed to capture, evaluate, manipulate, handle and view all forms of geographical and spatial information and data. GIS is like a digital map that stores various types of data about locations. It helps you to conduct spatial analysis and manage large data and view the data in maps or graphical form for presentation and analysis. These advantages make GIS a useful tool for visualizing spatial data or building management information system for an organization. Now let us see some of the key applications of GIS. Firstly, GIS stores information about geographical features. A GIS is a system that stores and organizes information about different characteristics of a place on earth. These characteristics can include things like roads, borders and even images from above. That is, aerial photos. GIS uses different types of representations. The information in a GIS is represented in different ways. For example, roads can be shown as lines, borders can be shown as zones or areas and aerial photos can be saved as images made of small cells called raster data. Also, GIS has a special feature called spatial indices. So it helps to identify and define areas on a map. This means that it can quickly find and measure different areas on a map. For example, it can easily determine all the roads that pass through a specific area or find all the locations within a certain distance from a point on the map. Finally, GIS combines spatial data with additional information. In a GIS, you can combine the geographical location of a thing like a hospital in a specific area with other information. This additional information is called attribute data and it includes details such as the name of the hospital, the quality of care it provides and the number of beds available. Also, GIS finds application in various fields such as urban planning, environmental management, transportation, emergency response, agriculture and many more. So in essence, GIS is a fusion of these different types of information that through spatial analysis allows it to be a powerful problem-solving resource. Remember, GIS not only indicates the position of features, it also offers extra feature-related information. I have mentioned them here. You can pass the video and go through it. In this discussion, we saw what is geographic information system. We also saw how the data is used by GIS and finally we saw some of the applications of GIS. With the learned points in mind, now we will move on to the next article discussion. Look at this news article. Mr. John B. Goodenough who had shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with two others in 2019 had passed away on 25th June 2023. He won Nobel Prize for developing the lithium-ion battery. The development of the lithium-ion battery had paved way for the developments in smartphone and fossil fuel free society. So in this context, let us discuss about the lithium-ion batteries. See, lithium-ion battery is an advanced battery technology. It uses lithium-ion as its key electrochemical component. Hence, they are called as lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable and they are commonly used in portable electronic devices like laptop, smartphone, iPad, etc. With this basic information about lithium-ion battery, first let us look at its construction and working. Normally, any cell consists of two electrodes and an electrolyte. The positive electrode is called as cathode and the negative electrode is called as an anode. Lightweight lithium and carbon are used as electrodes in lithium-ion cells. Most commonly, lithium cobalt oxide is used as cathode and graphite, a form of carbon, is used as its anode. In some cases, lithium manganese oxide and lithium-ion phosphates are also used as cathode materials. These electrodes are placed in the electrolyte. Lithium-ion batteries use ether as an electrolyte and note that there will be a separator which is placed in between the anode and cathode as you see in this figure. With this knowledge, let us learn about the working of lithium-ion batteries. Both anode and cathode of the lithium-ion batteries can store the lithium. The electrolyte carries positively charged lithium-ions from the anode to the cathode and vice versa through the separator. The movement of the lithium-ions creates free electrons in the anode which creates a charge at the positive current collector. The electric current then flows from the current collector to the devices like smartphones, laptops, etc. Moving on, let us see about some advantages that lithium-ion batteries have. Firstly, lithium-ion batteries are much lighter in weight when compared to other rechargeable batteries. Then, they are capable of storing a very high voltage per unit mass and unit volume. Then, it does not have memory effect which means there is no need to discharge the battery completely before charging them again. The next advantage of lithium-ion battery is that it can handle hundreds of charge and discharge cycles. This is all that I wanted to discuss regarding this news article. In this discussion, we saw about lithium-ion batteries. We saw that lithium-ion battery is an advanced battery technology and it uses lithium-ion as its key electrochemical component. Generally, lithium-ion batteries are used in portable electronic devices like laptops, smartphones, iPads, etc. Then, we also saw the construction and working of lithium-ion battery. With the learnt points in mind, now we will move on to the next article discussion. This news article says that GA tax has been awarded to 7 different products from Uttar Pradesh. The 7 products are In our discussion today, we will see a few points about each of these products. First, let us take a look at Amroha Dolak. See, Amroha Dolak is a percussion instrument. The Dolak is played using a stick or with hands. Amroha is the place of origin of this specific instrument. Amroha is a small town in the northwest Uttar Pradesh close to Muradabad. Amroha got its name from arm i.e. mango and ruha which is a variety of fish that is found in abundance here. This small town is actually the hub of manufacturing dolaks and tablas. There are numerous small scale manufacturing units that produce dolaks and other percussion instruments. They use the wood from mango and shisham trees to carve out the multiple sized and shaped hollow blocks which are later fitted with animal skins. Mostly goat skins are used to create this instrument. So, this is all about Amroha Dolak. Next, we will see about Mahoba Gaura Patar Haslip. See, Mahoba is a small district of Uttar Pradesh i.e. a part of Chitrakoot division. Mahoba town is the district headquarters. It lies in the Bundelkhand region. Mahoba is known nationwide for its exquisite Gaura stone craft. Gaura stone craft is made of radiant white coloured stone that is predominantly found in this region. It is a very unique and soft stone with the scientific name the pyroflight stone. The stone craft holds a very special place in the world of art and craft. Gaura stone has a soft texture. It is cut into several pieces which are then used for making various craft items that are used for ornamental purposes. Artisans from Mahoba are known nationwide and worldwide for their unique artwork of unmatched specimens of Gaura stone handicraft. Next is Mainpuri Tarkashi. See, Mainpuri is a district of Uttar Pradesh which is a part of Agra division. Tarkashi is a technique of inlaying brass, copper or silver wires into wood. It is unique and artistic product of this district. It is used for decorating jewelry boxes, name plagues and other similar items. Along with this, the amazing art of Tarkashi can be used in door panels, trays and lamps, sandhuk, decorative pieces, tables, floor parts, etc. Usually, Shisham wood is used for this art in Mainpuri. The process of inlaying metal into wood carvings is laborious and highly skilled work. The process involves carving the design from a piece of paper onto a hard block of wood in the form of deep and thin grooves. Then, the buyers are placed in the grooves and knocked in the position by a hammer. Then we have the sambal horn craft. The horn-bond handicraft products in sambal are immensely popular. The raw material used for making these craft items is procured from dead animals that makes this industry environmental friendly. Sambal's horn and bone products are known all over the world. In fact, the horn-bond handicrafts made here are exported to various countries. Next in line is the Bhagpat home furnishings. The handloom home furnishing industry of Bhagpat produces various items like curtains, kitchen towels, table covers and pillow cushions. These products are unique as they exclusively use cotton yarn. Bhagpat is not only known for its home furnishing products but also for the famous Battle of Bhagpat. You can do a simple Google search to know more about the Battle of Bhagpat. Moving forward, let us see about Barabanki handloom product. The Barabanki cluster falls in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh state. The Barabanki cluster was only known for lungis or gamchas earlier. The cluster now offers an exquisite range of products like scarves, stoles and shawls. They come in straight lines, geometric patterns and bolt designs. The stoles and scarves are in high demand by customers from Middle East and Europe. The last one is Kalpi handmade paper. The craft of making handmade paper from waste paper and cloth strings is prominent in Kalpi Nagar, situated on the banks of Yamuna river. This paper is used to make a variety of products such as office files, carry bags, absorption papers, visiting cards and more. So this is all regarding this discussion. In this discussion today, we saw about seven different products that were recently awarded GI TAG. With this, we have come to the end of this discussion. Now we will move on to the next part, which is practice questions. Question number one, consider the following statements regarding the lithium-ion battery. Statement number one, there is no need to discharge lithium-ion battery before charging them again. Statement two, lithium-ion batteries does not have memory effect. See from our discussion, we know that both statement one and two are correct. Now to find out if statement two explains statement one, we will apply the because trick. See, there is no need to discharge lithium-ion battery before charging them again because lithium-ion batteries does not have memory effect. Here we will also try to apply the so trick and check it once again to see if statement two explains statement one. Lithium-ion batteries does not have memory effect, so there is no need to discharge lithium-ion battery before charging them again. Here we can see that statement two explains statement one. So the answer for this question is option A, both statement one and two are correct and statement two is the correct explanation for statement one. Question number two, consider the following statements about geographic information system. Statement number one, it handles attributes data on a technical basis. Statement two, it can draw maps and other graphics with great ease and speed. Statement three, it is a slow and tedious task involving creation of GIS database. Statement four, it works only in combination with the remote sensing data. Statement five, it can analyze data for specified task and thus help decision making. How many statements given about ISR are correct? Here one, two, three and five are alone correct statements. GIS can work individually without combining it with the remote sensing. So statement four is wrong. The correct answer for this question is option C, only four. Question number three, hydrogen bomb is based on the principle of which of the following reactions. See, hydrogen bomb which is also called as thermonuclear bomb is a type of nuclear weapon that has enormous explosive power. The explosive power is obtained from an uncontrolled self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction. So the correct answer for this question is option C, uncontrolled nuclear fusion. Question number four, consider the following statements about G8 tags. Statement one, provision of G8 tag in India is covered by the geographical indications of goods registration and protection at 1999. Statement two, the tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed. Statement three, G8 tag can be provided to both natural or a manufactured product. Statement four, Darjeeling T was the first Indian product to get a G8 tag. How many of the above statements are correct? See here, all the four statements are correct. So the correct answer for this question is option D, all four. Now, this is the quiz question for the day. Read the question carefully and post the answers in the comment box below. Displayed here are the main questions for your practice. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment box below. If you have found a video to be useful, hit the like button, share it with your friends, subscribe to the channel and happy learning.