 A very good evening aspirants, I welcome you all to the Hindu Daily News Analysis brought to you by Shankaray's Academy. Now, before getting into discussion, I have an exciting announcement for you. The announcement is regarding prelims test series. Yes, Shankaray's Academy is going to start pre-stroming batch one for UPSC prelims 2024. The orientation for the first test will be conducted on 11th September 2023 and the first test will be conducted on 18th September 2023. A total of four take tests including CSAT and mock test will be provided in this test batch. The tests for batch one will be conducted only in offline mode and the venue for the test is Ananagar Chennai. Note that the GS test will be conducted on Monday and the CSAT will be conducted on Saturday. The fees details are also displayed here, kindly registered to the test series immediately and try to boost your prelim score. Thank you. Now, with this exciting announcement, let us get into the daily Hindu News Analysis. Displayed here is a list of news articles that we will be discussing today. You can go through it. At the end of the video, we will also have prelims practice question discussions. So, try to watch the entire video and a kind request to you all, those who haven't yet, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Do subscribe and hit the bell icon button so that you will get regular notification about our current affairs videos. Now, let's get into our first news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Elephant Conclave 2023 was held in Coimbatore. In that conclave, the Tamil Nadu government mentioned that the Elephant Collider Committee of Tamil Nadu has conducted surveys all over Tamil Nadu. The committee have identified 42 Elephant Colliders. So, the Tamil Nadu government has now decided to protect the identified Elephant Colliders. And this is all about the news. In our discussion today, we will understand about Elephant Colliders and also the importance of Elephant Colliders. First of all, what are Elephant Colliders? Elephant Colliders are narrow, linear strips of land that connects two different elephant habitats. The Elephant Colliders are essential for the survival of elephants as it allows the elephant to move between two different areas in search of food and water. To say in other words, the Elephant Colliders are designated pathways or routes that allows elephants to move freely between two different areas without coming into conflict with humans. Okay, Sydney has about 100 identified elephant colliders, which covers an area of over 1.5 million hectares. The states like Orissa, Jorkent and Chatishkar have the most elephant colliders in India. Okay, now why Elephant Colliders are important? As we all know, elephant is a large agrarian animal. That is, elephants mostly feed on plants and trees and it will also help in the disposal of seeds. The average rate of adult elephant ranges to about 4 to 5 tons. Because of these facts, every day the elephant requires a large amount of fodder that comprises of various plant and tree species. That is, elephants need large areas of forest to obtain its fodder. See the elephants usually graze an area on a rotational basis. For example, if the elephant grazes on a particular area this month, it will again return to the same place for grazing after some months. The elephants will keep on moving to other places for their food. This helps to prevent overgrazing of an area and also prevents destruction of forests. As I said just now, the elephants keep on moving to other places in search of their food. Here, the elephant colliders play an important role. See the elephant colliders connects two major grazing areas of the elephants. So they can freely move to other places for grazing and the elephant colliders will also allow the elephants to get back to the same area for grazing. And this is how elephant colliders helps to conserve forests and elephant species. Now moving on to see about the threats faced by the elephant colliders. See the diversion of forest land for the infrastructure and energy requirements have slowly fragmented the elephant's natural spaces including elephant colliders. Most of the natural spaces of elephants are now surrounded by human habitation, agricultural lands, mines, roads and railways. These activities eroded elephant colliders, so the elephants can't be able to move from one habitat to another. This fuels the human-elephant conflict as the elephants move to ugly land in search of their food. Okay, this is all about the threats to the elephant colliders. Now what are the steps taken by the government to protect elephant habitats? See to prevent human-elephant conflict and to protect the elephant habitats in the financial year 1991-1992, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a centrally sponsored scheme called Project Elephant. This scheme provides financial and technical support to the wildlife management efforts by the states in protecting the population of wild elephants. Okay, so Project Elephant is one scheme. In addition to this, the government is also taking some steps to protect elephant colliders. The steps include creating awareness about the importance of elephant colliders among local communities, then compensating farmers for crop damage caused by elephants and working with the forest department to manage human-elephant conflict. See, these steps of the Indian government helps in the protection of elephant colliders to some extent. Okay, in summary, it is clear that elephant colliders are essential for the survival of elephants. In protecting these elephant colliders, we can ensure that elephants have a safe place to live and we will also be able to avoid human-elephant conflicts. Okay, and that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about what are elephant colliders, then about the importance of elephant colliders, then we saw about the threats faced by elephant colliders. And finally, we saw some points about the steps taken by the Indian government to protect elephant habitats. See, this topic is very much important for your both problems and means. So make note of each and every points that we discussed. Now with these points in mind, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article as we all know, recently there was a military coup in Niger. See, there is a recent development in this story. The day before yesterday, ECO was, which is an West African regional block as ordered deployment of troops to restore constitutional order in Niger. See, ECO was would deploy 5000 troops, mainly from countries like Nigeria, Benin and Ivory Coast. And this is all about the news article. Now in this context, let us see important points about ECO was. First of all, know that ECO was is the short form for economic community of West African states. This regional group was established in 1975 through the Lagos Treaty. The headquarters of ECO was is situated in Abuja, which is in Nigeria. See, the ECO was was formed with various objectives. Now let us see the objectives of ECO was one by one. Firstly, ECO was aims to economically integrate the member states by establishing a common market, then creating joint production capabilities, then coordination in national economic policies, then liberalization of trade, adoption of common external tariff and enabling free movement of persons, goods, services and capital. So through these actions, the ECO was aims to create a single, large trading block through economic cooperation. This is the first objective. Then the second objective is that ECO was aims to promote the ideal of collective self-sufficiency for its member states. Thirdly, the ECO was aims to ensure economic stability in the region thereby raising the living standards of the people. And finally, the large aim of ECO was is to create a borderless region. And this borderless region would be governed in accordance with the principles of democracy, the rule of law and good governance. These are the objectives of ECO was. Now why does ECO was aims to achieve political integration through economic integration? This is because the member countries of ECO was have a combined GDP of 734 billion US dollars. The member countries are also will endowed with natural resources. So by integrating the member countries economically and politically, the natural resources can be exploited efficiently and the full potential of the region can be unleashed. This in turn will help to increase the living standards of the people in the region, okay? See, the ECO was is planning on achieving these aims by following a set of fundamental principles. Now we look at the fundamental principles of ECO was one by one. The first principle is that ensuring equality and interdependence among member states. Then the second principle is that securing collective self-reliance. Then the third principle is that making sure there is interstate cooperation between member states. Then the fourth principle is that giving guarantee there is no aggression between member states. And the final principle is that making certain that all disputes are peacefully resolved between the countries, okay? These are the foundational principles of ECO was. With these principles, the ECO was is planning to achieve a variety of aims, okay? Now coming to the member states, see the ECO was has 15 member states. And they are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cotedi, Iori, the Gambia, Ghana, Gaena, Gaena Abizav, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo. But note that following the coups in recent years in Mali, Gaena and Burkina Faso, ECO was suspended the three members and refused to recognize their new governments, okay? Now finally before concluding our discussion, let us see the role played by ECO was in the West African region. Although the main aim of ECO was is economic integration and cooperation, ECO was has also attempted to quell military conflicts in the region. Since 1990, ECO was has been maintaining a regional peacekeeping force called the economic community of West African states monitoring group. The main aim of the monitoring group is to maintain peace and order in the region by deploying troops. For example, the troops were deployed in Liberia in 1990 during a deadly civil war, okay? See now, ECO was is planning to intervene militarily in Niger to ensure peace, okay? And that's all regarding this discussion and this discussion we saw about the economic community of West African states that is ECO was, then we saw about the objectives of ECO was, then we moved on to see about the principles of ECO was, then we saw about the member countries of ECO was and finally we saw the role played by ECO was in the West African region. Okay? See this topic is very much important for your problems exam. So make note of each and every points that we discussed and with these points in mind, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now take a look at this editorial article. This editorial article is written by former Rajasabha MP, Mr. Subramanya Swami. Through this editorial, Mr. Swami highlights the present status of Indian economy, then about the issues with Indian economy and finally the steps that can be taken to address the issues and to put India on a faster growth path. And this is the essence of the editorial. Now in this context, in our discussion today, we will see all the points mentioned by Mr. Swami in this editorial. Now before getting into discussion, the syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here. You can go through it. Now let us start our discussion by looking at the status of Indian economy. Recently, the National Statistical Office released the GDP growth rate figures for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2022-23 in that the GDP at constant prices in quarter four of 2022-23 is estimated at Rs.43.62 lakh crore. Now if you look at the quarter four of 2021-22, the GDP at constant prices stood at Rs.41.12 lakh crore. So if we compare the quarter four of both fiscal years, there is a growth of about 6.1% in GDP at constant prices in 2022-23. Although the figures seem optimistic, if we dig deeper, the figures appear gloomy. See in the year 2019-20, the GDP at constant prices was estimated to be Rs.38.04 lakh crore. Compared to 2019-20 in quarter four GDP of 2022-23, there was a meager growth of only 14.5%. That is, for the past three years, the Indian economy had been growing at less than 5% annual growth rate. This is a worrying trend for India as India is planning to become Rs.5 trillion GDP by 2024. See it was in 2019 our Prime Minister announced his dream of making India a $5 trillion economy. In 2019, India's GDP was around Rs.2.84 trillion USD. So to turn India into a $5 trillion economy in five years, that is in 2024, India's annual GDP growth rate must have been 15%. But as we saw just now, the annual GDP growth rate of India is less than 5%. So we can safely say that India will not become a $5 trillion economy next financial year, that is in 2024. See not just from 2019, since 2015-16, although the Indian economy has been growing, the GDP growth rate has experienced a consistent annual decline. This decline has brought the growth rate down to a level that was earlier markedly referred to as the Hindu rate of growth. See the Hindu rate of growth is a term coined by economists to describe sluggish pace of around 3.5% in GDP growth. See India witnessed such a low level of GDP growth rate during the period between 1950 and 1977. See this period is known for state socialism. This comparison raises questions about the effectiveness of the policy measures introduced in recent years, that is in the past 10 years. Now why is the Indian economy struggles and what are the issues with the current economic policy that has put the Indian economy in such a bad spot? Firstly, there is no policy coherence. According to the author, the present government lacks structured economic policies and coherent implementation strategies. This lack of clarity leads to uncertainty and hinders investors' confidence. So this is the main reason for declining economic growth in India. Secondly, the author says that the present government has a trend of setting overly ambitious targets. The author mainly criticizes the government's ambitious targets such as $5 trillion economy by 2024. See unrealistic targets without a clear roadmap for achieving them is leading to eroding credibility of our country. So these are the two issues highlighted by the author in the editorial. Then the other issues to the Indian economy include structural bottlenecks like inadequate infrastructure, complex regulations and bureaucratic hurdles. Then the next issue is lack of availability of credit due to high non-performing assets and associated liquidity challenges in the banking sector. Then there is the issue of skill mismatch, which is resulting in not being able to utilize the current demographic advantage that India is possessing. Lastly, recent government policies like demontation and the hasty implementation of GST have also severely strained India's MSME sector. These are some of the issues that the Indian economy is presently facing. In addition to highlighting the issues, the author also provides some solutions to address the issues. In this, the author first says that the present government should look for solutions from India's economic history. See, during the 10 years of Prime Ministers P.V. Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, that is spanning 1991-1996 and 2004-2014, the Indian economy experienced notable growth. Over these 15 years, the GDP growth rates ranged from 6 to 8% annually despite some fluctuations. The achievements of this period was mainly due to government policies that aimed to reduce state intervention and at the same time incentivizing investments. These efforts led to a higher and faster growth of the Indian economy. So taking lessons from the past, India today can also reform the economy. Then to encourage economic activity, the author suggests the abolition of income tax and scrapping of GST. This will result in increased investment. How? When there is no income tax on GST, people's disposable income will increase. Due to increased disposable income, people will spend more and the demand in the economy will also increase. See, by looking at the increased demand, the investor will start investing to meet the demand. This will increase employment opportunities in the country. So increased investment and employment will help increase India's GDP growth rate. Next, the author also suggests measures to increase the purchasing power of India's middle class. To increase the purchasing power, the author proposes three solutions. Firstly, to take up extensive public works and to provide employment. Secondly, to increase the interest rate provided to fixed deposits to 9% and thirdly, to set a maximum interest rate of 6% on loans given to the MSME sector. All these will help increase the purchasing power of middle class. And this will also help to increase domestic demand. Then the author feels that the government must take steps to increase transparency and accountability. Ensuring transparency and accountability in policy implementation is essential for public trust. In addition to this, clear communication about economic policies, targets and progress can help to build credibility. This will result in an increase in investor confidence thereby bridging the savings investment gap. Then the author suggests formation of strong democratic institutions to stop the monopolistic tendencies that is happening in India. Finally, the author suggests that India must take lessons from Russia. See, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia started deregulating its economy. Russia deregulated its economy rapidly without safety nets to the poor. This resulted in increasing economic inequality. It is due to such poor economic decisions, Russia is again back under dictatorship. So, India must not make this same mistake. See, India must deregulate the economy and sell the loss-making PSUs. But at the same time, India must take steps to increase employment opportunities. Then to adopt affirmative action policies and to extend social security to the poor. Only this will create a level playing field in India and it will reduce income inequality. And this will also help India smoothly shift from state socialism to democratic capitalism. By following these suggestions, the author feels that India's economy can again start its growth path and realize its full potential. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the current status of Indian economy. Then about the issues faced by Indian economy. And finally, we saw some points about the steps that can be taken to speed up GDP growth rate in India. Now with these points in mind, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this article. The news is that Kannataka government is trying to get lithium from South American countries to make electric vehicles and energy storage devices. This move is aimed at improving electric vehicle sector in Kannataka. Apart from this, the move will also give push to the renewable energy targets set by the Kannataka government. And this is all about the news. Now in this context, let us see some points about lithium, its distribution in the world and in India, and then about the applications of lithium. Now first, let us start with basics about lithium. See, lithium is an element with the atomic symbol Li and the atomic number 3. Lithium belongs to alkali metal group. Note that alkali metals include other elements like hydrogen, sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium and francium. See, lithium is currently extracted from two main sources. They were hard rock mines and salt flats. Here salt flats refers to the dried lakes. Now with this basic information, we will see about the lithium reserves in the world. See the three South American countries such as Chile, Argentina and Bolivia together called as lithium triangle. This is because these three countries are having 60% of global lithium reserves. As we saw in the news, the Kannataka is going to import lithium from these three South American countries. In addition to these three South American countries, Australia, China, US are also having large lithium reserves and were leading producers of lithium. This is all about the distribution of lithium reserves in the world. Now let us see about the lithium distribution in India. India has found about 5.9 million tons of lithium reserves in the Riyasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. And this is the 7th largest deposit of lithium and it constitutes 5.7% of all the lithium reserves in the world. Also note that huge amounts of lithium deposits were also found in Mandia district which is present in southern Kannataka. So these are the two important regions in India that has lithium reserves. Apart from these two areas, the deposits of lithium are also present in Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and in some north-eastern states. Now we will move on to see about the applications of lithium. See lithium is used for variety of purposes. Now let us see the uses one by one. Firstly, lithium is used in manufacturing of batteries for cell phones, laptops and electric and hybrid vehicles. Secondly, lithium is added to glasses and ceramics for strength and resistance to temperature change. Thirdly, lithium is used in heat resistant greases and lubricants. Fourthly, lithium is alloyed with aluminum and copper to save weight in aircraft components. Fifthly, lithium is used in certain psychiatric medications and in dental ceramics. Sixthly, lithium is used as a means of storing hydrogen for use as a fuel. And finally, the lithium isotope namely 6 Li was once used in the production of tritium for nuclear weapons. This is all about the applications of lithium. See because of these widespread usage of lithium, the lithium is commonly called as white gold. See currently India is fully import dependent when it comes to lithium. The demand for lithium is also expected to grow rapidly in the upcoming years. This is because the world is moving towards a cleaner energy future. Also, India is set to achieve net zero emissions by 2017. So the lithium will play a major role in electric vehicle industry in India and it will also help India to achieve net zero emissions targets by 2017. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about lithium, then about the distribution of lithium in the world and in India. And finally we saw some points about the applications of lithium. Now with these points in mind, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Take a look at this news article. The news is that the national green tribunal in the eastern zone has told the Odisha government to stop illegal construction near Tampara lake. See this Tampara lake is important Ramsar site. And it is one of the biggest freshwater lakes in Odisha. So the national green tribunal has ordered the Odisha government to protect this lake. This is the crux of the news article given here. Now in this context, let us learn about national green tribunal from example's perspective. The national green tribunal was established in 2010 as per the National Green Tribunal Act 2010. As it was established under the Parliamentary Act, it is a statutory body. The national green tribunal is a specialized judicial body equipped with expertise solely for the purpose of adjudicating environmental cases in our country. What is the need for such a tribunal and Supreme Court and High Courts are there? As we all know, most environmental cases in our country involves multidisciplinary issues. So the issues will be better addressed if we have a specialized forum. And considering this reason and also based on the recommendations of law commission and the obligations in the international laws, the national green tribunal was established by the central government. The national green tribunal is tasked with providing effective and expeditious remedy in cases relating to environmental protection, conservation of forests and other natural resources. Additionally, national green tribunal is also tasked with the enforcement of any legal right relating to environment. And note that the national green tribunal is mandated to make the disposal of applications or appeals within six months of filing. Now coming to the composition of national green tribunal, see the national green tribunal is headed by the chairperson. Apart from this, the tribunal also consists of at least 10 but not more than 20 judicial members. In addition to this, the tribunal also consists of at least 10 but not more than 20 export members. So the national green tribunal consists of both judicial and export members. Now let us see about the jurisdiction of the tribunal. According to the national green tribunal act 2010, if a person is seeking relief for environmental damage involving subjects that are mentioned in the schedule one of the national green tribunal act, then he or she may approach the national green tribunal. See the laws covered in schedule one of the national green tribunal act are the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1974, then the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution SIS Act 1977, then the Forest Conservation Act 1980, the Air Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1981, the Environment Protection Act 1986, then the Public Liability Insurance Act 1991 and the Biological Diversity Act 2002. So if a person is seeking relief for environmental damage under these acts, then he may approach the national green tribunal. Note that the national green tribunal has jurisdiction over all civil cases involving a substantial cushion relating to environment. Additionally, if any person is aggrieved by in order or direction of the appellate authorities under the legislation in schedule one, then that aggrieved person can also challenge the orders before the national green tribunal. Now before concluding our discussion, let us see the places of sitting of national green tribunal and its composition. See the tribunal has its presence in five zones namely North, Central, East, South and West zones. The principal bench is situated in North zone which is headquartered in Delhi. Then the Central zone is situated in Bhopal, then East zone in Kolkata, then South zone in Chennai and West zone in Pune. And that's all regarding this discussion. In this discussion we saw about national green tribunal, then about the need for national green tribunal, then we saw about the composition of national green tribunal, then we saw about jurisdiction of national green tribunal and finally we saw some points about the zones where the national green tribunal is present. Now with these points in mind, let us move on to the next part of the video that is to discuss preliminary practice questions. Look at the first question. This is a pair based question. On one side, LFN corridors are given and on the other side, the states where the LFN corridors belong to are given. We have to find how many of the pairs are correctly matched. Look at the fourth pair, Tirunelli corridor, Kerala. See this state means correct. The Tirunelli LFN corridor is located in Kerala. Now coming to the second pair, Kaninpura-Moyar corridor, Karnataka. See this pair is also correct. Kaninpura-Moyar corridor belongs to Karnataka. Now coming to the third pair, Reevak corridor, Odisha. See this pair is incorrect because Reevak corridor is located in Meghalaya and not in Odisha. Now coming to the fourth pair, Chilla corridor, Jharkhand. See this pair is also incorrect because Chilla corridor is located in Uttarakhand and not in Jharkhand. Here only fourth and second pair are correctly matched. So the correct answer for the question is option B only two. Moving on, let us take up the second question. Look at the question here. This question is regarding national green tribunal. Here four statements are given. We have to find how many of the statements are correct. Look at the fourth statement. The NGT was established under Environment Protection Act 1980. See this statement is incorrect. As we saw in the discussion, the National Green Tribunal was established under National Green Tribunal Act 2010 and not under Environment Protection Act 1980. So four statement is incorrect. Now coming to the second statement, the National Green Tribunal has original jurisdiction to hear environment related cases. See this statement is correct. The National Green Tribunal was established solely for the purpose to hear environment related cases. So second statement is correct. Now coming to the third statement, the NGT has power to award compensation for environmental damage. See this statement is correct. The NGT is empowered to award compensation to the concerned person for environmental damage. So third statement is correct. Now coming to the fourth statement, the NGT can only hear cases that are referred to it by the central government. See this statement is incorrect because the NGT can hear cases that are filed by individuals, NGOs or government agencies. And it is not necessary that the cases are to be referred by the central government. So fourth statement is incorrect. Here first and fourth statement is incorrect. Only second and third statements are correct. So the correct answer for the question is option B, only two. Now moving on, let's take up the final question. Here six West African countries are given. You have to find how many of these countries are landlocked. Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia. Now look at this map here. Of these six countries, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso are landlocked in West Africa. The rest three countries are open to the sea. So the correct answer for the question is option A, only three. This is a quiz question for you today. I will pose this quiz question in a community section. Try to answer it and the answer for the question will be posted in the common section of the question itself. You can verify the answers and displayed here is a main question for your practice. Go through the question, write your answer and post it in the comment section. With this we have come to the end of the video. We found our video to be useful. Do like, comment and share it with your friends. And don't forget to subscribe to Shankara's Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.