 Good evening to all our friends and welcome to the Hindu News Analysis of Shankar IAS Academy for the date 18th December 2020. We are happy to inform you that the second test batch of pre-storming 2021 program of Shankar IAS Academy has started from 11th December 2020. It is the prelims test series for the upcoming UPSC preliminary examination 2021. Our pre-storming program is India's first full-fledged artificial intelligence supported preliminary test series. All the required details are provided in the description of this video and also in the comment section. With this let us start our news analysis for today. The relevant news articles taken up for today's discussion from five different editions of the Hindu newspaper along with their page numbers are given here for your reference. Also the handwritten notes in the video format and time stampings for all the news articles taken up for today's discussion is given in the description box and also in the comment section for the best interest of the viewers. Let us now start with our first news article. Now this news article says that India's communication satellite CMS-1 was successfully launched by PSLV C-50. Now that PSLV C-50 is the 52nd flight of PSLV and 22nd flight of PSLV in Excel configuration with six strap-on motors. In this context let us discuss in brief about PSLV and GSLV. The relevant syllabus is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. See the polar satellite launch vehicle is the third generation launch vehicle of India. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages and its first successful launch that is PSLV D2 was in October 1994. After this PSLV emerged as a reliable and versatile workhorse launch vehicle of India with 39 consecutively successful missions by June 2017. During 1994-2017 period the vehicle has launched 48 Indian satellites and 209 satellites for customers from abroad. Besides the vehicle successfully launched two spacecrafts which are Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 and Mars Orbiter spacecraft in 2013 that later traveled to Moon and Mars respectively. It is to be noted that PSLV earned its title the workhorse of ISRO through consistently delivering various satellites to the low earth orbits particularly the Indian remote sensing series of satellites. It can take up to 1750 kilograms of payloads to sun synchronous polar orbits of 600 kilometer altitude. Due to its unmatched reliability PSLV has also been used to launch various satellites into geosynchronous and geostationary orbits like the satellites from the IRNSS constellation. Now that PSLV has three variants which are PSLV-G, PSLV-CA and PSLV-XL. The PSLV is capable of placing multiple payloads into orbit thus multi payload adapters are used in the payload ferry. This allowed the feat of launching 10 satellites into different orbits in 2008. The payload ferrying is the equipment used to protect the spacecraft during the early portion of the boost phase when the aerodynamic forces from the atmosphere could affect the rocket. And see PSLV has four stages in the first stage or PS1. PSLV uses the S139 solid rocket motor. PSLV uses six solid rocket strap-on motors in order to augment the thrust which is provided by the first stage in its PSLV-G and PSLV-XL variants. However, strap-ons are not used in PSLV-CA and in the second stage or PS2 PSLV uses an earth storable liquid rocket engine. It is also known as the Vicas engine and is developed by the liquid propulsion system center of ISRO. The third stage or PS3 is a solid rocket motor that provides the upper stages high thrust after the atmospheric phase of the launch. And the fourth stage or PS4 is the upper most stage of PSLV comprising of two earth storable liquid engines. This is all about PSLV. Now let us see about geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle or GSLV. See GSLV's primary payloads are INSAT class of communication satellites that operate from geostationary orbits. So they are placed in geosynchronous transfer orbits by the GSLV. Further, GSLV's capability of placing up to 5 tons into low earth orbits broadens its scope of payloads from heavy satellites to multiple smaller satellites. See the GSLV has three stages. The first stage comprises of S139 solid booster and four liquid strap on L40 motors. The first stage or GS1 of GSLV was derived from the PSLV's PS1. The second stage or GS2 is a liquid engine. The stage was derived from PS2 of PSLV where the Vicas engine has proved its reliability. The third stage is the indigenously built cryogenic upper stage which carries 15 tons of cryogenic propellants. That is liquid hydrogen or LH2 as a fuel and liquid oxygen or LOX as oxidizer. The four liquid engine strap-ons used in GSLV are heavier derivatives of PSLV's PS2 and they use one Vicas engine each. The cryogenic upper stage employs the vital technology that enhances the payload capability to make the vehicle suitable for launching communication satellites. India is the sixth among space-faring countries to develop and test this technology. So this is all about GSLV. In this discussion we saw about Polar satellite launch vehicle and Geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle. With this let us move on to the next news. Now we have this opiate article which talks about waste to energy processes. It is written because recently the Chief Minister of Karnataka has laid the foundation stone for a 11.5 megawatt waste to energy plant near the Bidadi town of Karnataka. So this has shifted the focus to such plans. So in this discussion we will see in detail about waste to energy, the advantages and also the challenges involved in it. The syllabus relevant for this analysis is highlighted here for your reference. Please go through it. See there are different types of waste generated from our daily activities or industrial activities such as organic waste, e-waste, hazardous waste, inert waste etc. See inert waste is produced from excavation, construction, demolition and sweeping activities and it mainly comprises rubble, concrete, bricks etc. In this the organic fraction of waste can be generally further classified as non-biodegradable and biodegradable organic waste. See biodegradable waste consists of organics that can be utilized for food by naturally occurring microorganisms within a reasonable length of time. It comprises of agro residue, food processing rejections, municipal solid waste such as food waste, leaves from garden waste etc. And non-biodegradable organic waste are organics that are resistant to biological degradation or we can say that they have a very low degradation rate. This primarily includes woody plants, cardboard, cartons, containers, wrappings, discarded clothings etc. Next one there is also inorganic waste. See it is the waste composed of materials other than plant or animal matter and it includes sand, dust, glass and mini synthetics. It also includes bad quality plastics and it is usually segregated from organic waste. Sometimes the organic waste is mixed with inorganic waste due to which it is unable to be separated and this is known as mixed waste. So this is the general classification of waste. Now what is waste to energy? See the conversion of waste materials into usable heat, electricity or fuel through a variety of processes refers to waste to energy. It is also known as energy recovery from waste. See energy can be recovered from the organic fraction of the waste, both biodegradable as well as non-biodegradable. Here the energy can be recovered basically through two methods. One is thermochemical conversion. See this process entails thermal decomposition of organic matter to produce either heat energy or fuel oil or gas. Thermochemical conversion processes are useful for wastes containing high percentage of organic non-biodegradable matter and also with low moisture content. The main technological option under this category includes incineration, pyrolysis and gasification. In this incineration is the process of direct burning of waste in the presence of excess oxygen and also at high temperatures of about 800 degrees Celsius and above and this will liberate heat energy, inert gases and ash. Now gasification is the process of using high temperatures of 500 to 1800 degrees Celsius in the presence of limited amount of oxygen to decompose materials to produce synthetic gas. See the synthetic gas is the mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Now talking about pyrolysis, it uses heat to break down combustible materials in the absence of oxygen. This produces a mixture of combustible gases primarily methane, complex hydrocarbons, hydrogen and carbon monoxide and also liquids and solid residues. The purpose of pyrolysis of waste is to minimize emissions and to maximize gain. Now the second one is biochemical conversion. See this process is based on enzymatic decomposition of organic matter by microbial action and this produces methane gas or alcohol. See the biochemical conversion processes are preferred for wastes having high percentage of putrisable matter that is organic biodegradable matter and high level of moisture or water content which aids the microbial activity. The main technological option under this category is anaerobic digestion which is also referred to as biomethanation and in this technology organic materials are converted into biogas. Now talking about anaerobic digestion, it is a bacterial fermentation process that operates without free oxygen and results in a biogas containing mostly methane, carbon dioxide and other gases. See it has dual benefits, it gives biogas as well as manure as the end products. Now these are the basics. Now what are the advantages of waste to energy? First converting non-recyclable waste materials into electricity and heat generates a renewable energy source. It reduces carbon emissions by offsetting the need for energy from fossil fuel sources and it also reduces methane generation from landfills. So that means there is a net reduction in environmental pollution. Second the total quantity of waste gets reduced by nearly 60 percentage to over 90 percentage and this depends upon the waste composition and the adopted technology. The third is that the demand for land for landfilling is reduced. Then the cost for transportation of waste to far away landfills also get reduced proportionately. In addition to this there is also the advantage of refuse derived fuel or RDF for power generation. See RDF is the fuel derived from combustible waste fraction of solid waste like plastic, wood, pulp or organic waste that is inorganic waste but other than chlorinated materials. It is in the form of pellets or fluff which is produced by drying, shredding, dehydrating and compacting of solid waste. See RDF is used as a fuel for either steam or electricity generation or as an alternative fuel in industrial furnaces or boilers. Thus it is also used as fuel for waste to energy plants or the inorganic waste which is separated can be converted into RDF for use in other industries in place of coal. But this has a main challenge. If refuse derived fuel needs to be made then plants require fine inorganic material with less than 5 percentage of moisture and inert content. But whereas the moisture and inert content in the mixed waste generated in the city is more than 15 to 20 percent the plants struggle to make RDF from this waste and few plants in India have stopped operations for this reason. So what can be done to eliminate this problem? Thus the way forward is vigorously applying the segregation of waste at source that means stringent laws should be made and enforced so that the citizens are forced to segregate waste at source. So this is all about this editorial article. With this let us move on to the next news article. Now let us take up this editorial article. See we know that recently the fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey was released for 22 states. So off late a lot of experts have been commenting on the results of this survey and last week we saw an article which was related to a report on vaccination. Now this article is with respect to the findings of the survey on nutrition and here the authors give their analysis of the survey results and tell us why the method used in survey is not comprehensive. See the main contention of the authors is that in India we are following the anthropometry method that is only a child's age height and weight is taken into consideration while analyzing nutritional standards and a child is considered as malnourished when their standardized height for age weight for age or weight for height respectively is more than two standard deviations below the world health organization child growth standards median. However the authors are of the opinion that this is a flawed method. The authors tell us that when food related nutritional standards are taken we get better understanding of the actual scenario. Now viewing the burden of child under nutrition from a food or dietary lens will show us the real malnutrition related status of our country than based on anthropometry. See here anthropometry means the scientific study of measurements and proportions of human body. Now let us see from NFHS4 data on how diet related data can capture the reality better than anthropometry related data. See it was found that 36.3 percentage of children who experienced a dietary failure do not show anthropometric failure. The percentage of children who experience anthropometric failure only but no dietary failure was only 9.8 percentage. So we can say that anthropometric centric measures thus run the risk of excluding such children from policy discussions. So what we need is a combined method because children experiencing both dietary and anthropometric failures is at an alarming rate that is 44 percentage. So keeping this in mind now let us look at the diet related nutrition standards in our country. See across 22 states and unit territories for which the NFHS5 has released the percentage of children that is aged 6 to 23 months who do not meet the minimum dietary adequacy as defined under the infant and young child feeding practices of WHO is 83.9 percentage. So this is only a small decline of just over 2 percentage points from what was observed in NFHS4 which was released in 2015-16. Thus we see in our country 8 out of 10 children who appear to be experiencing a dietary shortfall and it is feared that during the COVID-19 induced lockdown this scenario might have worsened. In the NFHS survey we see that the percentage of children not meeting the dietary adequacy norms increased in 5 states and unit territories. Jammu and Kashmir observed the highest increase in its percentage of children not meeting the dietary adequacy over the last 3 years and it saw an increase from 76.5 percentage to 86.4 percentage and of the 17 states or unit territories that experience a decline in the number of children not meeting the dietary norms Goa tops with 11.1 percentage. Now one of the most shocking trends that we observe in this survey is that close to 75 percentage children do not receive the minimum adequate diet in our country. Already the NFHS4 survey has shown that consumption of protein rich food as well as fruits and vegetables were substantially low among majority of the children. Once the data on consumption of various food groups is released we will get a comprehensive idea on where the children are experiencing a dietary shortfall. Now next let us see about anemia. See the data on anemia is really worrying across the 22 states or unit territories. Anemia prevalence among children increased by about 8 percentage points from 51.8 percentage to 60.2 percentage. The prevalence of anemia in childhood increased in 8 of the 22 states or unit territories. We see that in the majority of states 2 out of 3 children have possible iron deficiency. Also we see that women are substantially at a far greater risk for anemia than men. Know that anemia is a result of iron and folic acid deficit and to overcome this the government had launched the potion apian and anemia mooged Bharat. See anemia mooged Bharat focuses on improving the iron and folic acid supplement and it also focuses on behavioural change and anemia related care and treatment for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children. And the NFHS result do not paint a good picture with enemy killer wealth among the children. So from the above data we see that diet and food related aspects play a major role in stagnancy of nutritional status of Indian children. So the true burden of child under nutrition thus may well be underestimated by the soul reliance on anthropometric measures. And besides a child's anthropometric status may be due to several other aspects like genetic traits. This shows that we need to focus more on food and diet. This is not only because it has an impact on child's anthropometry but also because right to food is a fundamental right under article 21 and the state is mandated to rise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people as a primary responsibility under article 47 which is nothing but one of the directive principles of state policy. Now what do the authors prescribe? The authors say that we have focused too much on anthropometric measure which do not comprehensively give the picture of malnutrition. So the authors opine that a more holistic data on what India eats is going to help in improving both the diet and food security of our nation. Also India does not have a dedicated nationally representative survey on the dietary intake and nutritional status of children and adults. So what we can do is we can combine NFHS and the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau and also the National Sample Survey. So this can comprehensively collect data regarding the diet, household expenditure and also food related expenses. So addressing the issue of malnutrition from multiple friends with special focus on the lower socioeconomic groups will lead to faster decline of the malnourishment. And this will also help us achieve the sustainable development goal two and three which are zero hunger and good health and well-being by 2030. So this is all about this news article. With this let us move on to the next news article. Now have a look at this question. It is based on this news article which talks about the Human Freedom Index 2020. See the Human Freedom Index 2020 report was recently released and this index has ranked India at 111 out of 162 countries. In this context let us discuss this index in detail. See the Human Freedom is a social concept that recognizes the identity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraints. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays an important role in human progress it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil and economic freedom. This index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interacts with one another. Know that this report is co-published by the Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute. The index gives a broad measure of human freedom understood as the absence of coercive constraint. It uses 76 distinct indicators of personal and economic freedom in several areas. This includes rule of law, security and safety, movement, religion, association, assembly and also civil society, expression and information, identity and relationships. It also covers the size of government, legal system and property rights, then access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation of credit, labour and business. Now in the 2020 index the jurisdictions that took the top places are New Zealand, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Australia and Canada etc. And out of 10 regions, the highest level of freedom are in North America which includes Canada and the United States, then Western Europe and East Asia. Now the lowest levels of freedom are in Middle East and North Africa and also Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. Now it also talks about women specific freedoms and it is measured by five indicators and the report says that women specific freedoms are the strongest in North America, Western Europe and East Asia. It also says that freedom of women are least protected in the Middle East, North Africa, then Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. And as we have said India is ranked at 111th position out of 162 countries. Now some countries which ranked below India are Russia, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and Syria. Now have a look at this figure to know where India stands in each of the indicators. Now with this information see this question. With reference to human freedom index 2020 consider the following statements. The first statement reads human freedom index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil and economic freedom. Yes this statement is correct. Now the second statement reads it is annually released by the United Nations Human Rights Council. See this statement is wrong. We have seen that it is co-published by the Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute. So with reference to this question we have to identify the correct statement or statements. Here statement one is correct and statement two is incorrect. So the correct answer is option A one only. With this let us move on to the next news article. Now have a look at this question. It is based on this news article which talks about the India-UK bilateral relation. As we know India and UK share a modern partnership bound by strong historical ties. The bilateral relation between the countries were upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2004. It was further strengthened during the tenure of the British Prime Minister David Cameron who visited India thrice in his first tenure. Even the former UK Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India in November 2016 was her first overseas bilateral visit outside the European Union after assuming office and it showcased the continuity of interactions at the highest political levels between the countries. The two countries continue to have a number of bilateral visits and interactions at the highest level. The bilateral dialogue mechanisms cover a wide spectrum of areas including political, trade, education, science and technology, defense etc. The bilateral cooperation on economic and commerce matters are guided by the institutionalized dialogues between India and UK which are joint economic and trade committee then economic and financial dialogue and the India-UK financial partnership. Further UK is among India's major trading partners. Know that as per the trade statistics of Ministry of Commerce and Industries, India's trade with UK in 2017-18 was about 14.5 billion US dollars. India's main exports to UK are the articles of apparel and clothing accessories, then power generating machinery and equipments, then petroleum products, miscellaneous manufactured articles, textile yarn, pharmaceutical products and road vehicles etc. The main imports from the UK to India are power generating machinery and equipment, then general industrial machinery and equipments, then transport equipment, beverages, electrical machinery and appliances etc. Now according to the recent government data, India-UK economic ties has a combined GDP of 5 trillion US dollars. India-UK trade has also more than doubled since the first economic and financial dialogue which happened in 2007. These bilateral investments support over a half million jobs across both countries. Further, recently the British Foreign Secretary visited India and in this visit many declarations were made with long-term goals of India-UK relationship. One of it was upgrading the 2004 India-UK strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The upgradation envisions closer military ties, cooperation in Indo-Pacific strategies and also counter terrorism and fighting climate change. Also, both countries are working on a framework of free trade agreement between the countries. Additionally, UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been invited as the chief guest at the upcoming Republic Day function. Apart from this, there are also limitations to India-UK partnership. For example, the Britain has recently expressed concerns about the farmers protests which are happening in India. For this, the government has asked Britain not to interfere in India's internal affairs. So, the author concludes that post-COVID-19 and also post-Brexit, the relationship between India and Britain is set to change. With this information, let us have a look at this question. Consider the following statements. The first statement reads, United Kingdom comprises of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. See, this statement is incorrect. It is because the United Kingdom comprises of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, not whole Ireland. Here, Great Britain includes England, Wales and Scotland. Now, the second statement reads, United Kingdom is surrounded by sea. See, this statement is also incorrect. Even though it seems like UK is surrounded by sea, it is not so, because the Northern Ireland of UK shares land border with Irish Republic or Ireland. Here, both the statements are incorrect. So, the correct answer is option C, both 1 and 2. With this, we have discussed all the relevant news articles from today's The Hindu New Paper. Now, let us move on to the Practice Questions discussion section based on today's news analysis. See, this first question. Consider the following statements. Three statements are given here. The first statement reads, Paula satellite launch vehicles can be used to launch satellites into geosynchronous and geostationary orbits. See, this statement is correct. PSLV has always been used to launch various satellites into geosynchronous and geostationary orbits, like the satellites from the IRNSS constellation. Now, the second statement reads, geosynchronous satellite launch vehicles, primary payloads are communication satellites that operate from geostationary orbits. See, this statement is also correct. The primary payloads of GSLV are inside class of communication satellites that operate from geostationary orbits. So, they are placed in geosynchronous transfer orbits by GSLV. Now, the third statement reads, the third stage of geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle is the indigenously built cryogenic upper stage using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Yes, this statement is also correct. The GSLV's third stage is the indigenously built cryogenic upper stage which carries 15 ton of cryogenic propellants and these propellants include liquid hydrogen as a fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer. So, here all the three statements are correct and we have to identify the correct statement or statements. So, the correct answer is option D123. Now, see this previous year question which was asked in blimps 2019. In the context of which one of the following are the terms pyrolysis and plasma gasification mentioned. See, the correct answer for this question is option D, waste to energy technologies. Now, we have two main questions. Please write your answers and post it in the comment section. Our feedback will be given in a reasonable time frame. Now, we have come to the end of analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the discussion of practice questions. 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