 A very good evening aspirants, happy to see you all after a week. I would like to begin with a cheerful announcement regarding UPSC civil services preliminary examination. Last week results for problems 2022 was released and we are proud to let you know that more than 927 candidates of Shankaray's academy have cleared 2022 problems. More than 70 of them have cleared their problems in the first attempt. My hearty congratulations to all these candidates. I wish you all the best efforts in mains preparation and on behalf of Shankaray's academy, I wish all of you success in mains 2022 also. With this joyful mood, let us get to today's Hindi news analysis. I have taken these articles for discussions. At the end of the article discussion, we have practice questions discussion. Today I have two quiz questions, so pay attention to all these discussions so that you can answer both the quiz questions. Let us start the first discussion for today. Now today let us start our discussion with this news article. It mentions that scientists have warned about the spread of Zika virus in India. So according to scientists, the virus has been spreading silently across India and because of this, now it is also found in those areas where there were no previous reported infections. Now this finding shows two things. One is there is local transmission in India and second, the virus has spread to newer areas in India. There is also another finding which was Zika virus is not spreading alone, rather it is spreading along with dengue and chicken gunia. Now due to these findings, scientists have called for preventive measures to tackle these spread of the virus and such preventive measures include strengthening surveillance which requires continuous and enhanced surveillance, then effective vector control measures should also be taken because Zika is a vector-borne disease. Along with this, they also called for focus on development of a safe and effective vaccine for Zika virus. So this is what is mentioned in the news article. Now from an exam perspective, let us know about Zika virus in detail. See Zika is a viral infection. It is caused by Zika virus. As I said already, it is a vector-borne disease, which means the virus is transmitted by a vector and here the vector is mosquitoes, especially the ADIS mosquito. It includes ADIS egypti mosquito. If you remember, this is the same mosquito that spreads dengue and chicken gunia also. Along with this, ADIS albopictus is also known to spread Zika virus. But note that apart from the mosquito bite, this virus is also transmitted through sexual activity with infected people. So sexual transmission is possible in case of Zika virus. Now we talk about Zika disease. Generally the diseases mild and hospitalization and deaths are uncommon. That is why the virus is not considered dangerous to anyone, but it is dangerous to pregnant women because this infection with Zika virus is also associated with complications during pregnancy, like preterm birth and miscarriage. In addition to this, Zika can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. And this leads to microcephaly. See microcephaly is a major fear around Zika infection when pregnant women are infected with Zika virus. What is this microcephaly? It is a birth defect where a baby's head is smaller than expected when compared to the babies of the same age. This is because such babies often have smaller brains and that might not have developed properly. Along with microcephaly, Zika virus may also cause gillian berry syndrome. This gillian berry syndrome is a neurological disorder that could lead to paralysis and death. Now what are the symptoms of this disease? See most people who are infected with this virus do not develop symptoms or they only have mild symptoms. And some of those symptoms include fever, rash, headache, joint pain, conjunctivitis which means red eyes and then muscle pain. These are all the most common symptoms associated with Zika disease and these symptoms can be treated with common pain in fever medications. Rest along with taking plenty of water is also suggested when the symptoms are mild. But if the symptoms worsen then people should seek medical advice. But note that as of now there is no vaccine for Zika disease and there is also no medicine to treat Zika disease. But certain preventive measures could be taken. This includes using mosquito nets then mosquito repellents then even the government can undertake large-scale mosquito control measures such as spraying of insecticides. Apart from all these that is apart from controlling the vector you can also take steps to prevent sexual transmission like using of contraceptives should be focused. If these steps are taken especially if you can safeguard yourself from a mosquito bite then you can easily save yourself from Zika virus. So these are few points that you have to know about Zika virus. So aspirants please be careful and take necessary measures to control the breeding of mosquitoes. Now let us get to the next discussion. Now our second discussion is going to be based on these three articles. This FAQ article and these two news articles. All of these articles talk about the hot topic in USA which is the ending of the constitutional right to abortion. See recently USA Supreme Court which is in short called as Quotas has ended the constitutional right to abortion. It was done by overturning a landmark judgment of 1973. This judgment is called the Roe versus Wade decision. This case law enshrined abortion as a woman's right to her body in USA but the recent verdict has overturned this verdict. So in this context today let us understand the reasons behind this decision. We'll also see why abortion as a right is important. Then we'll see what will be the implications of ending constitutional right to abortion. But before that this is the syllabus that is relevant to this discussion. You can take note of it. Let us start the discussion by seeing about two judgments that is related to abortion. We are going to see two US judgments only. Today most of our discussion is going to be around USA so don't get confused. See it all started with the 1973 judgment Roe versus Wade. In this judgment this Quotas that is the Supreme Court of United States ruled to recognize abortion as a constitutional right in the USA. So following this judgment there was a right to abortion in the first three months of pregnancy that is the first trimester of pregnancy. Abortion was allowed and for the second trimester and third trimester some limitations were placed for abortions. Along with this the judgment also allowed the states of USA to restrict or ban abortions if the fetus near the point where it could live outside the womb. See when the human fetus can survive outside the womb or uterus it is called as fetal viability. So the Roe versus Wade judgment provided recognition of women's right to choose to have an abortion before fetal viability and there was a ban after fetal viability. But there was also an exception to this fetal viability concept which is when the life and health of the mother was endangered then the abortion can be done even if there is fetal viability. So these were the principles put forward by the 1973 Roe versus Wade judgment of USA. Along with this there is also second judgment that came in 1992. This came in the case law Planned Parenthood versus Casey case. In this case law this court has rejected the trimester system that was present in the Roe case. But this case law retained Roe's essential holding concept. See here essential holding would mean the basic principles of Roe case law. What was the basic principle there? It was women's constitutional right to abortions until fetal viability. So the same was also reiterated in this 1992 case law. Therefore these two judgments were the basis for abortion laws in USA and this was the prevailing situation regarding the legality of abortion in USA. But this legality was changed in the recent judgment. This recent judgment came in the case law Dobbs versus Jackson women's health organization case. In this case court has said that USA's constitution makes no reference to abortion and therefore no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision. This was the standing taken by the courtes to overturn the Roe judgment. Here you should know that originally in the Roe judgment this courtes relied on the due process clause of 14th amendment of USA. This due process clause of 14th amendment protected the right to marry, the right to use contraception and the right to abortion in USA. But now in the 2022 case law courtes has noted that the due process of the 14th amendment also does not implicitly protect the right to abortion. Therefore after this judgment in USA abortion is no more a constitutional right. But what is the reason behind this ruling? As you already saw, courtes has based this judgment on the fact that its constitution that is USA's constitution does not guarantee abortion rights via another right which is the right to liberty. Here courtes is of the opinion that the constitutional right to liberty included an individual's right to privacy in choosing to have an abortion. And in the same way the right to liberty also protects other decisions concerning intimate sexual conduct such as using contraception and having marriage. So by looking into these inherent rights of liberty, these courtes came to the opinion that abortion is fundamentally different from all these because it destroys fetal life. So on one hand they are saying that their constitution does not explicitly provide for right to abortion and they also say that it is not an implicit right under their right to liberty. Another fact to be noted in this case law is that this ruling does not mean that abortion is banned throughout USA rather arguments about the legality of the abortion will now play out in state legislatures. This means now the 50 states of USA will be allowed to regulate or prohibit abortion subject to only what is known as rational basis review. See this rational basis review is a weaker standard than KC's undue burden case. This KC's case law was the 1982 case law. This undue burden test mentions that the US states were prevented from enacting restrictions that placed substantial obstacles in the path of those seeking abortion. But now the rational basis review has been brought in by the 2020 judgment. So from now on abortion bans will be presumed to be legal as long as there is a rational basis for the legislature to believe that the law serves legitimate state interests. And now it is up to the 50 states of America to allow or to ban abortion totally. This is the scenario in USA as of now. But people like us that is those who believe in sexual rights of women know that right to abortion is also an essential sexual and reproductive right. Now you may ask why this right to abortion is so important. It is because ending a pregnancy is a common decision that millions of people take. It is said that every year a quarter of pregnancies end in abortion. It is as common as that. Therefore equitable access to safe abortion services is first and foremost a human right. See this stand is not taken just like that. It is based on data. If we take the data from Gutmacker Institute which is a US based reproductive health nonprofit organization according to the data from this institute the abortion rate is 37 per thousand people in countries where there is prohibition of abortion altogether or when that country allows abortion only in instances to save a woman's life. So here the abortion rate is 37 per thousand countries. On the other hand the abortion rate is only 34 per thousand people in countries where abortion is allowed. So from this we can say that the difference is not statistically significant and even the abortion rates are more when it is prohibited. From this the inference is that regardless of whether abortion is legal or not people still require regular access to abortion services. So this is the first reason. The second reason is abortion as a right ensures safe abortion. See safe abortion is when the abortion is undertaken by a trained healthcare provider in sanitary conditions. But when the government restricts access to abortions people particularly those who cannot afford to travel or seek private care they are compelled to resort to unsafe abortions. These unsafe abortions are done by untrained professionals in unsanitary conditions. So this endangers the woman's life. You can understand the intensity of unsafe abortions with some data. According to some estimations it is known that 25 million unsafe abortions takes place every year and a vast majority of these takes place in developing countries. And as you just saw in contrast to legal abortions unsafe abortions also have fatal consequences. Even WHO notes that unsafe abortions are the third leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide and they lead to an additional five million largely preventable disabilities. So already the world is having the burden of unsafe abortions. See this unsafe abortion is the reason when these quotas ended constitutional right to abortion many tweeted that this ruling will not end abortion but it will definitely end safe abortion. Also remember that providing safe abortion is the main reason even our country that is India also allows abortion till a particular period. So second reason was unsafe abortions. Now another reason is that preventing women and girls from accessing abortion does not mean that they will stop needing one. Like I said before whether it is legal or not still people need access to abortion services. There may be many reasons behind this. There could be monetary reasons custodial reasons or it could be an unwanted pregnancy. All this could lead to needing abortions and that is why any attempt to ban or restrict abortions does not reduce the number of abortions. Rather it only forces people to seek out unsafe abortions. Another reason is as I already said abortion services are majorly needed due to unexpected pregnancies only. But in countries that have restrictions the law only allows for abortion in certain exception cases and in other cases it criminalizes abortions. See these exceptions include pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or in cases where there is severe and fatal fetal impairment or when there is risk to the life and health of the pregnant person. In all these cases only abortion is allowed in countries where there is restrictions. But the problem is only a small percentage of abortions are due to these reasons. That means majority of women and girls who are living under restrictive abortion laws might be forced to seek unsafe abortions and again their life will be at risk. Now all these means that people who are already marginalized will be disproportionately affected and this group includes women and girls on low income, their refugees and migrants, adolescents, lesbians, bisexuals, gender women and girls, transgenders or gender non-conforming individuals, minorities or indigenous women. All of these marginalized people will be affected and the people who have money and who have access they will definitely be having abortions as they used to. Now final reason as to why right to abortion is needed is because otherwise it will be criminalizing abortion and criminalizing abortion is a form of discrimination. See the committee for United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in short CDAR it has consistently stated that restrictive abortion laws constitute discrimination against women. So all these reasons is why we say abortion as a right is important. Now let us come to the implications of 2022 USA's judgment. See after this judgment USA has joined three other countries which had rolled back abortion rights. The three other countries include El Salvador, Nicaragua and Poland and one of the major implications of such a ruling is that it will be adding to the percentage of unsafe abortions. See already according to United Nations Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency and World Health Organization 45 percentage of all abortions around the world are unsafe and they are leading to maternal death. Now the recent judgment of USA will also be adding to this percentage. Another implication is that in states of USA where there were trigger bans now there will be full ban. See in USA around 13 states have trigger bans in place which means abortions are banned under more circumstances but after the overturning of rose judgment now these bans will come fully into effect and out of these 13 Missouri was the first state of USA to invoke the trigger law and ban abortion. That means the Missouri women who seek abortion now will have to travel to other states where it is made legal and this means that from now on abortion will be more expensive for them and it might not be available or affordable at all and due to this again the marginalized people will be punished. So these will be the regional implications of this 2022 judgment. Now what will be the international implications? See mainly overturning of rose judgment will set out a bad example for the developing countries because only in recent times these developing countries have been taking women health as a primary subject and because of this over the last 25 years more than 50 countries have changed their laws to allow for greater access to abortion. So we are at a time when the countries are starting to recognize the vital role that access to safe abortion plays because it protects women's lives and health. Even recently Ireland joined this list in 2018 Ireland people voted overwhelmingly to repeal the near total constitutional ban on abortion. So they repealed the ban. So world was moving in this direction only where abortion was being made legal in many countries including the developing countries but now a country as influential as USA has started restricting the rights of women in case of abortion. Now this will raise many questions in the international intergovernmental forums and many other countries may even follow the footsteps of USA and this will be a worrying fact. So these will be the common implications of this overturning of rose judgment. Remember that access to safe abortion services is a human right under international human rights law everyone has a right to life right to health right to be free from violence discrimination and torture or cruel inhuman and degrading treatment. From this itself we can say that human rights law clearly spells out that decisions about our own body are ours alone that is what is known as bodily autonomy. So forcing someone to carry an unwanted pregnancy or forcing them to seek out for an unsafe abortion is violation of their human rights. It is a violation of the right to privacy and violation of their right to bodily autonomy and now there will be instances in USA where those who seek or resort to unsafe abortions they will be risking prosecution and punishment including imprisonment. They will be also facing cruel inhuman and degrading treatment and discrimination from the people and they will be especially excluded from vital post-abortion healthcare. So basically access to abortion is fundamentally linked to protecting and upholding the human rights of women, girls and others who can become pregnant and this is the only way that will help in achieving social and gender justice. So finally I would like to conclude our discussion with the words of Amnesty International. Everyone should be free to exercise their bodily autonomy and make their own decisions about their reproductive lives including when to have a children or even if to have children at all. So in those lines it is essential that laws relating to abortion should respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of pregnant persons and should not force women to seek out unsafe abortions. That is all regarding this discussion. See many of you may not agree with the points which we saw today. You might have a differing personal opinion but remember that our country has legalized abortions. So if in an exam there is a question where you are asked to support or prohibit abortion then I would suggest you to take the option to supporting abortion and don't forget access to abortion is a fundamental human right. So with these points in mind let us get to the next discussion. So now let us take up this news article. This article talks about the inauguration of Padma Multipurpose Bridge. So in this discussion let us see a few facts about this bridge. First of all know that this bridge is situated in Bangladesh. So it was completed by the Bangladesh government and this Padma bridge is a multi-purpose road rail bridge. See when we say road rail bridge it means that that bridge carries both a roadway and a railway. Particularly it carries a roadway and railway over a river. So similarly this Padma bridge is built across Padma river. Now this Padma river is nothing but the tributary of Ganga river in Bangladesh actually. It is the downstream part of Ganges. Another fascinating fact about this bridge is that it is the largest bridge in Bangladesh and it spans for 6.15 kilometers. It is also the second largest bridge in the Indo-Gangetic plain. Also it is the first to fix the river crossing for road traffic. So all these features makes it a special bridge and it is a dream project of Bangladesh that was fully funded by the Bangladesh government. So which regions of Bangladesh it will connect? It will be connecting Laojong in Munshi Ganges to Sharyatpur and Madharipur. So it will be linking the southwest of Bangladesh to its northern and northeast regions. Now this project is deemed as one of the most innovative and also most challenging developmental projects in Bangladesh history. It is because this bridge will be connecting at least 20 districts of Bangladesh and because of this reason it is expected that the bridge will help in faster transportation especially faster transportation of goods and commodities with India and other neighboring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. And in this manner it is said that this bridge will play an important role in improving India-Bangladesh bilateral and sub-regional links. Let us see three reasons as to why they are saying this. Firstly this bridge resolves the problem faced during the monsoon. See during monsoon season what happens is it is often very difficult to cross the Padma river and even the ferry or boat service which is over the Padma river it also faces congestion. So always there is a problem during the monsoon to cross this river but now because of this Padma bridge there will be smoother movements of goods services and people thereby it will be boosting trade and connectivity in the process. This is the first reason. Second reason is that this bridge reduces the travel time from Dhaka to Kolkata. In addition to this the bridge also connects Bangladesh with India's northeastern part. And the third reason is through this mega bridge Bangladesh will also become a part of the Asian highway network. What is this Asian highway network? It is a regional transport cooperation platform which is aimed at enhancing the efficiency and development of the road infrastructure in Asia. And currently this highway network comprises over 1,45,000 kilometers of roads passing through 32 Asian countries. So in this manner the Padma bridge will be a part of Asian highway 1, Asian highway 2 and Asian highway 41 as you can see here. Particularly as you can see it will be an essential part of Asian highway 1. In addition to this this Padma railroad will also add to Trans-Asian railroad. See this Trans-Asian railway network is also like the Asian highway network but this railway network comprises approximately 125,500 kilometers of railway lines serving 28 member countries. So now being a part of this Trans-Asian railway network Padma bridge will be connecting Bangladesh with South Asian and Southeast Asian countries like India Pakistan Myanmar and China through rail connectivity also. When there is high level of connectivity then the trade will increase automatically. So in this way this bridge will be a boon for Bangladesh. So these are the few facts that you have to know about Padma multi-purpose bridge. Now let us get to the next discussion. Now let us take up this news article for discussion. It talks about the status of salt sector in our country. See according to the news article India's salt industry is facing huge challenges in meeting the demand and they are also facing other issues. So we are going to see the important facts about the salt sector of our country and we also see what are the challenges. First know that India is the third largest salt producing country in the world. The first tour China and USA. India's global annual production is about 230 million tons. Now when India attained independence in 1947 salt was being imported from the United Kingdom and Aden to meet our domestic requirements. But today India has achieved self-sufficiency in production of salt to meet our domestic requirements. Along with this India has also developed itself into a position of exporting surplus salt to foreign countries. Actually during 1947 the production of salt was only 1.9 million tons but today it has increased 10 fold. Now the main reason for this the involvement of government in salt industry before seeing that it is see the common sources of salt. These sources include sea brine, lake brine, subsoil brine and rock salt deposits. See among these sea water is an inexhaustible source of salt but salt production along the coast is limited by weather and soil conditions. Even then the major salt producing centers are marine salt works that are carried out along the coast of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Antipadesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal. Other than this inland salt works are also there. They use lake brine and subsoil brine which are found in Rajasthan and then rock salt deposits are seen in Himachal Pradesh. Now let us come to government's role in the development of salt industry. See salt is a central subject in our country. Under the constitution it appears in the union list of seven schedule. This subject includes manufacture, supply and distribution of salt by union agencies. It also includes regulation and control of manufacture, supply and distribution by other agencies. So know that the salt commissioners organization is interested with this task. This salt commissioners organization is an attached office under the ministry of commerce and industry. So these are the basic facts that you have to know about salt industry of our country. Now let us come to the challenges. The major challenge in the salt industry in India is the fluctuation in the price. It is said that at the moment a farmer earns about rupees 250 to 300 for a ton of salt and this low price is because there is no minimum support price for salt. Another challenge is lack of proper system for wages and social security. This increases the distress of salt farmers and this happens mainly because many salt processing units are small. For example, if you take Gujarat there are about 12,800 salt producing units but out of this only 119 are considered medium and large that is not even 1% of this percentage is considered medium and large and this leads to the problems of salt farmers not getting enough attention and thus it becomes last priority of the government. A reason for this is also because salt is a cheap commodity. Another reason is because salt industry is categorized as mining industry. See this problem has existed before our freedom itself. See during the British India, Britishers got salt from Monday in Himachal Pradesh by mining. Therefore they put salt production as mining at that time but now hardly 0.5 percentage of salt is produced through mining. The remaining 99.5 percentage salt is produced either from seawater or from the subsoil water and this process includes seeding, cultivation and harvest. So the farmers are demanding to change the status of salt industry as a mining industry. Why? Because the laws pertaining to mining industries are applicable to salt production which are hindering the production according to the farmers. So these are the major challenges. See as of now the demand is meeting the supply but what will happen if demand exceeds the production? As of now in the salt industry the demand is rising at the rate of 8 percentage but the production is not at the same rate because it is only increasing at 3 percentage. So we can say that in the future there will be a deficit in the supply. That is why measures have to be taken before such a situation comes and as one of the measures the industry is demanding that there should be a nodal agency with common regulations and rules which can look into all the issues of salt industry. So these are few points that we can take note from this discussion. Now let us get to the next news article discussion. Our next discussion is based on this news article. It mentions that scientists at the defense advanced research projects agency in the United States they are working to replace sonar that harms whales. See actually they are planning to replace the sonar with ambient sounds made by aquatic creatures. So taking this opportunity let us know about sonar and we will also know how it affects the marine population. Basically sonar is a sound navigation and ranging technique. It is used for detecting and determining the distance and direction of underwater objects by acoustic means. Here acoustic refers something that is related to sound or the sense of hearing. So in simple words a sonar is a device that uses sound waves to detect objects. So in the fishing industry a sonar is used to detect fish to detect structures and even the sea floor around the vessel. Now let us see how it works in a simple manner. See the sonar detects the objects by emitting ultrasonic waves. It emits these waves into the sea and then it detects the reflected echoes from those objects. So in this manner the sonar can detect and display the distribution density and movement of a school of fish also. It can do this at an angle of 360 degree or 180 degree in all directions. You can see that in this image and because of this many countries they use a sonar system on a variety of large and medium sized fishing vessels. Even in recent times miniaturized general purpose sonars are being installed on smaller fishing boats and pleasure boats as well. Here you should know about two types of sonars. The first type is active sonars. These active sonars have transducers that emit an acoustic signal or pulse of sound into the water. So if an object is in the path of the sound pulse then that sound bounces off the object and it returns an echo to the sonar transducer. Now if this transducer is equipped with the ability to receive signals then it measures the strength of the signal. Along with this it also determines the time between the emission of the sound pulse and its reception. Through this the transducer can determine the range and orientation of the object. So this is what happens in an active sonar. Now the second type is passive sonar. Now these passive sonar systems are used primarily to detect noise from marine objects and marine animals. Here marine objects include submarines or ships and marine animals include whales. What you should note is unlike active sonar does not emit its own signal rather it only detects sound waves coming towards it. See actually this is a major advantage of passive sonar and this is the reason why military vessels use this. Because the military vessels that do not want to be found they go for this passive sonar. Along with this it is also advantages for scientific missions that concentrate on quietly listening to the ocean. But along with this you should note that passive sonar cannot measure the range of an object unless it is used in conjunction with other passive listening devices. And for triangulation of a sound source multiple passive sonar devices is needed. But now let us come to the question of how sonars affect marine population. See majorly sonars especially the active sonars lead to mass stranding of marine animals. You would have heard about whale strandings right. That is when thousands of whales worship on the beaches around the world we call this phenomenon as whale beaching or stranding. Not only whales dolphins and even other marine animals worship on beaches. And here not only the injured animals or dead animals worship even the healthy ones are driven ashore by prevailing winds. If you take whales particularly the species called beaked whales is the most common casualty of the strandings. It is because this species is highly sensitive to mid frequency active sonar. Other than beaked whales blue whales also flee away from the source of sonar. But why this happens why they are affected why they flee from that. It is because the whales and dolphins use something called as echolocation systems. This is called as biosonar. See this echolocation helps these species to locate predators and prey. So it is assumed by scientists that the active sonar transmitters confuse these animals and those sonar transmissions interfere with the basic biological functions of these species such as feeding and mating. So the sonar emitted from active sonars act as a noise pollution to these species and in case of whales it interferes with its ability to communicate and navigate and can drive them ashore because such sonars cause deafening disorientation and even frightens the whales. It is also said that high intensity sonar sounds can create a small temporary shift in the hearing threshold of some fish. So this is how sonars affect marine animals. So with these points in mind let us get to the next discussion. Now let us take up this news article. It mentions about a regional red list of birds. See the Kerala government is planning to have their own regional red list of birds and the assessment for this will be done by Kerala bird monitoring collective. This collective is led by Kerala Agricultural University and the bird counter of India. And note that this assessment will be done on the basis of IUCN guidelines. So once it gets ready Kerala will be the first state to have a region specific red list of birds. Now we know that already there is IUCN red list. So let us revise few facts regarding IUCN red list. Let us relevant for the examination. IUCN stands for International UN for Conservation of Nature. It is an organization established in 1964. Now this IUCN red list is a red list of threatened species. It is world's most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal fungus and plant species. So in this way IUCN red list is a critical indicator of the health of the world's biodiversity. So the data under red list acts as a powerful tool to inform and catalyze action for biodiversity conservation and policy change. It is also critical in protecting the natural resources which we need to survive. It provides various information like information about the range of the species, population size, habitat and ecology, its use or trade, threats associated with it. It also talks about the conservation actions taken to conserve that species. Overall IUCN red list helps to guide and inform future conservation and funding priorities. But we know that IUCN red list is known for its classification. Look at this image. These are the classifications under IUCN red list. It varies from extinct to not evaluated. Let us try to understand each of these categories. First one is extinct category. See a species or taxon is declared extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual of that species has died. At that scenario it will be called extinct. Now the second category is extinct in the wild category. Here a species is called extinct in the wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation or in captivity or it survives as a naturalized population well outside the pasture range. Then what about critically endangered? A species is under this category when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria from A to E for critically endangered and if any of these criteria is met then it is considered that the species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. So what are these criteria from A to E? See these criterias talk about the population size, geographical range etc. If you take criteria A it is about reduction in population size. See when the reduction in population size is more than or equal to 90 percentage over the last 10 years or for the three generations then it will be under the critically endangered category. But this criteria will be applicable only when the causes of reduction are clearly reversible and it is understood and it has ceased. But when the causes of reduction have not ceased or it is not understood or when it is not reversible then when there is even 80 percentage reduction in population over the last 10 years or three generations then also that species will be under critically endangered category. So this was the A criteria. Now the B criteria is with respect to the geographic range. It has two subcategories B1 and B2. B1 is with respect to the extent of occurrence when this is estimated to be less than 100 kilometer square and the estimates when indicate severely fragmented range or when it is known to exist at only a single location then also that species will be called critically endangered. This is the B1 criteria. Now under the B2 criteria they focus on the area of occupancy when this is estimated to be less than 10 kilometer square and when the location is severely fragmented or known to exist at only one location then also that species will be under critically endangered category. So this was the B criteria. Now come to the C criteria. Here when the population size estimated is fewer than 250 mature individuals and when such population has continued to decline at least 25 percentage within three years then the criteria C will be met and it will be called critically endangered. Now let us come to criteria D. Here when the population size estimated is fewer than 50 mature individuals then criteria D will be met. Then criteria E is when quantitative analysis is showing that the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 50 percentage within 10 years or three generations. So these are the A to E criteria for critically endangered and if any one of these criteria is met then that species will be called critically endangered. Now remember a similar criteria exist for endangered category and vulnerable category also here the numbers only change. So let us come to the endangered category. Here when the reduction in population is more than or equal to 70 percentage or 50 percentage this is for A criteria then for B criteria the number should be 50,000 km2 or 500 km2. Then for C criteria the mature individuals should be fewer than 2,500 and that should be a decline of at least 20 percentage within five years and for D criteria the mature individual numbers should be less than 250 and under the E criteria when the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20 percentage within 20 years or five generations then it will be categorized as endangered. Now here you can see the A to E criteria for vulnerable also you can just go through it here the numbers only change but the A to E criteria remain same the numbers only vary. Let us come to near threatened a species will be called near threatened when it has been evaluated against the criteria but does not qualify for critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable then in that scenario it will be called near threatened or when that species is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future then also it will be called near threatened. So, threatened category includes critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable. Now next category is least concern it is when the species has been evaluated against the criteria but it does not qualify for any of the above criterias that is for critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or near threatened then at that scenario we will call it as least concern. Now other than these categories there are two other categories that we do not use often they are data deficient and not evaluated in case of data deficient from the name itself we can easily assume that there is inadequate information regarding the risk of extinction of that species based on its distribution or population status and in case of not evaluated this category is given when that species has not been evaluated against the criteria at all. So, these are the classifications under IUCN Red List go through it you often see what is the category of a species when we talk about particular species right but today we discussed those categories in detail I hope you understood. So, with this news article discussion let us get to the next session we will be discussing practice questions in this session now as part of practice questions I have also taken two previous question today let us take up the first previous question this one appeared in 2017 and this question is regarding Zika virus it is a two statement question let me read the first statement in tropical regions Zika virus disease is transmitted by the same mosquito that transmits dengue this statement is correct during discussion itself we saw that Zika virus is a vector-borne disease and it is transmitted by A dis egypti mosquito and we also know that dengue is also caused by the same mosquito species so statement one is correct now let us take up the second statement sexual transmission of Zika virus disease is possible this statement is also correct we saw this during discussion itself and here in this question we have to choose the correct statements and that is why the correct answer is option C both one and two so from this question itself you could have understood that knowing crucial facts about diseases will help you to answer a problem's question easily now let us take up on practice question this one is framed based on the Padma bridge topic it is a three statement question first statement is it is partially funded by united states agency for international development us a id no this statement is incorrect because this project of Padma bridge is fully funded by government of Bangladesh now this question asks for the correct statements so you can eliminate options A and C from the remaining options itself you can easily say that statement two is correct what is statement two it will help in the development of trade and commerce of Bangladesh this is correct now let us see whether statement three is right or wrong it helps in faster transportation of goods and commodities from India Nepal and Bhutan to Bangladesh this is correct this is one of the major benefits of this multi-purpose bridge so statement three is also correct and that is why the correct answer to this question is let us take up another practice question first statement is whales and dolphins use echolocation system called biosensors this statement is correct this echolocation is used to locate predators and prey second statement passive sonars cannot measure the range of an object this statement is also correct because passive sonars does not emit its own signal so the range of object cannot be measured and here the question asks for the correct statements so the correct answer is option C both one and two now let us take up the another previous question this was asked in 2011 it is about red data books the question reads the red data books published by the international union for conservation and nature and natural resource contain lists of it simply asks what does IUCN red data is about options given are endemic plant and animal species present in the biodiversity hotspot option two threatened plant and animal species option three protected sites for conservation of nature and natural resources in various countries now from our discussion self you easily know that two should be in the answer threatened plant and animal species or else you can also assume because red data books is also known as IUCN red list of threatened species so two should be definitely in answer from that itself we can eliminate options A and D so even if you are not sure about option one it is being eliminated here now from the remaining three is also not in the IUCN red list because it does not talk about protected sites rather it talks about threatened plant and animal species so option B is the correct answer to this question so with this questions discussion let us get to the quiz questions for today I have taken two quiz questions you can answer these questions and post the answer in the comment section I'll tell you whether your answer is right or not now let me take the main practice question for today this is the practice question you can try to write answer to this question interested aspirants can also post their answer in the comment section and this brings us to the end of for hindi news analysis for the date 26th of June 2022 I hope you enjoyed today's sessions if you like this video don't forget to like comment and share and also subscribe to shankar eyes academy youtube channel for receiving regular updates thank you