 Welcome to the Hindu news analysis by Shankar Ayes Akademi. These are the news articles chosen for today's discussion. They are given along with the page number of different traditions. Link for the handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping for the discussed articles are given in the description box as well as the comment section for the benefit of the mobile viewers. Now let us start with the first article. This FAQ article is about the recent developments related to Afghanistan. See these new developments seem to change the course of intra-Afghan negotiations on the US Taliban peace deal. So in this discussion, let us see what are these new developments, its possible implications and India's stand. The syllabus relevant for this article is displayed on the screen as friends can go through it. In February 2020, a peace deal was signed to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan. This was signed between USA and Taliban. See after the twin towers attack USA launched airstrikes against Afghanistan. USA believed Afghanistan was protecting Osama bin Laden and it has to be punished. Osama bin Laden was the head of Al Qaeda which was responsible for the 9-11 terrorist attack. See this topic was also covered on 9th and 24th March in the news analysis. Aspirants can have a look at it for better understanding. Now coming back to the article. So the war came to an end after the 2020 peace deal. See during the war, USA had approximately 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. US troops served alongside the troops from NATO allies and partners. So one of the major resolutions agreed in the deal was to withdraw these troops in a phased manner. Here you should note that the deal was a comprehensive peace agreement that is made of four parts. Under the first part, only USA is committed to withdraw from Afghanistan all the military forces of USA, its allies and coalition partners. This also includes the withdrawal of all non diplomatic civilian personnel, private security contractors, trainers, advisors and supporting service personnel from Afghanistan and they will be withdrawn within 14 months after announcement of this agreement. This period ends in 1st May 2021. That is where newspapers are mentioning may one as deadline. But the complete withdrawal of all remaining forces from Afghanistan, including the forces from the military bases will be done only if Taliban adheres and acts according to the Part 2 of this agreement. Part 2 has many conditions. The important one is Taliban should not allow any of its members to threaten the security of USA and its allies. So what happened after this deal? The previous US administration under Mr. Trump made withdrawing troops from Afghanistan a priority and gradually troops were withdrawn. Now according to USA, currently it has some 2500 troops still stationed in Afghanistan. At the same time, even after peace deal, Taliban continued its attack. But as agreed, it did not attack US troops, rather it targeted Afghan nationals. There were many targeted killing of journalists, activists, judges and other civil society figures. So in 2020, the level of violence in Afghanistan remained very high. In this backdrop, there are some recent developments at the political level. First, two important documents were leaked, which dictated the course of Afghan's future. In this, the first one was an apparent draft of new peace agreement. This agreement was from the Office of US Peace Envoy in Afghanistan. Mr. Zalmay Khalisar is the US Peace Envoy in Afghanistan who is parading the current intra-Afghan peace process. See, the draft outlined a power sharing government. According to sources, it includes guiding principles for Afghanistan's constitution and the future of Afghan state. Then it also proposed a transitional peace government of Afghanistan. This will be based on agreed terms to govern the country, including a roadmap to a durable and just settlement. After this period, the draft proposes national elections for Afghanistan. And finally, it also includes a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire and its implementation. Second, a letter from US Secretary of State, Mr. Anthony Blinken to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was leaked. This letter revealed that USA is considering the full withdrawal of forces by May 1. That means no decision has been made whether USA will stick to its plan or not. The letter also urges the Afghan government and Taliban to move urgently towards peace. For this, it has outlined certain ways which seems like an expansion of the current agreement and talks. Let us see some of the outlines. The first one is ministerial level talks led by UN to discuss a unified approach. This is to be done by bringing representatives from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran and India together with USA. The next one is a senior level meeting between Taliban and Afghan government which is to be hosted by Turkey. In addition to that, Blinken also proposed that transitional peace government followed by national elections. The next important outline is a proposal to implement a 90-day reduction in violence. This measure is intent to prevent any attacks by the Taliban, taking advantage of withdrawal of troops and making rapid territorial gains. But there was no mention about Taliban fulfillment of conditions. Now, second recent development is the response of Afghan government to this leaks. They seem to have a separate plan. See, Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh has condemned USA's bossy letter and stated that US cannot make decision for Afghan people. Even Mr Ghani also refused to consider an interim government as proposed by the letter. Rather, he is insisting transfer of power only through elections. He even called Taliban to participate in early elections and carry out a full ceasefire. So, both the Afghan government and Taliban did not agree to the proposed process. Therefore, there is fear that whatever peace is existing will also be disturbed due to this. In this regard, Afghan officials also insist that without India's involvement, no regional talks could be successful because India is a development partner and a stakeholder in Afghanistan. What do experts think? They see these documents as an effort to step up pressure on the Afghan government and Taliban to arrive at peace. Further, they know that Mr Ghani might have no choice other than to agree to this transition plan, otherwise Taliban will recover its lost ground. And based on the above, author of this FAQ has outlined two possibilities that USA may consider. One, USA could negotiate with Taliban for an extension of 2020 agreement. This might include more incentives like the release of more prisoners and the delisting of sanctioned Taliban terrorists. Second, USA will discard the 2020 agreement and will back the Afghan government to continue towards a negotiated settlement by making US troops to remain in Afghanistan to stabilize the security situation. Now, let us come to India. See, the major point to be noted from the above discussion is that both Afghan government and USA want India's involvement. In this regard, it is critical to know India's stand. So far, India's stand has been to support the Afghan-owned, Afghan-led, Afghan-controlled peace process. That is, India supports the democratically elected government of Afghanistan and has refused direct talks with Taliban. This was the scenario when Afghan government and Taliban remained on opposite side. But author predicts if this changes and if Taliban agrees for an inclusive and transitional government along with the current Afghan government, then India might actively involve in intra-Afghan peace talks. So the conclusion is Afghan political structure is important for India's strategic and security concerns because both India and Pakistan want to have an upper hand in the Afghan issue. They are trying to establish a leader of the region. Now, let us move on to the next article. Now, let us take up this news article. This article is about a survivor-led network. This network was formed by over under tuberculosis survivors from Tamil Nadu. The initiative was a first of its kind network in the state. It was also in line with the National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis, NSPT for 2017 to 2025. See, NSPT calls for affected communities to no longer be passive recipients of care. NSPT wants the survivors to become active and motivated stakeholders in the country's response to TB. In this context, let us have a brief understanding about TB. Tuberculosis or TB is caused by the bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB often affects the lungs. It is spread from person to person through the air. When people who have lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. If a person inhales even only few of these germs, the person will be affected with TB. Now, know that tuberculosis is curable and preventable. So, to cure TB, anti-TB medicines have been used for decades. They are called as first-line drugs. Here, first-line drugs means it is the first choice for treating a particular condition. The most common first-line medications are isoniazid, rifampin, ethanbutol and pyrazenamide. But it is to be noted that some of the bacteria strains become resistant to one or more of these medicines. This drug-resistant emerges when anti-TB medicines are used inappropriately, like through incorrect prescription by the health care providers and the drug is of poor quality and even when patients stop the treatment prematurely. So, this has given rise to two types of drug-resistant TB. One is the multi-drug resistant TB which is MDR TB. It is a form of TB that is caused by bacteria which do not respond to first-line drugs. So, the MDR TB is treatable and curable by using second-line drugs. They include levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, bedaquilin, telaminate, lionzolid and pretomanate. Pretomanate was recommended in the year 2019. But second-line treatment options are limited. They require extensive chemotherapy for up to two years along with these medicines. This process is expensive and toxic. See, chemotherapy is the use of any drug to treat any disease. It not only means cancer. However, in some cases, more severe drug resistance can develop. This is the second type drug-resistant TB. It is known as extensively drug-resistant TB or in short, XDR TB. It is a more serious form of MDR TB. It is caused by bacteria that do not respond to the most effective second-line anti-TB drugs. XDR TB patients can be cured. But with the current drugs available, the likelihood of success is much smaller. So, this is in short about TB. Let us move on to the next article. This news article is about the recent development made by researchers from the LHCB experiment at CERN. Here, the LHCB stands for Large Adron Collider Beauty Experiment. According to this article, there is a chance that a new physical process such as new fundamental particles or interactions may exist. See, Baryons is one of the types of elementary particles. It includes protons, neutrons, and their antiparticles, for example, antiprotons. Then, there are medium-sized mesons, leptons, and tiny particles called quarks and gluons. Until now, it is believed that particles like electron, muon, and tahon and their antiparticles behave similarly in particle interactions. The recent developments might discover a new set of interactions. Here, we need to understand in brief about the CERN, LHC, and LHCB from Prillim's perspective. See, science and technology is a very important topic. It plays a huge role in maximizing our scope. With this in mind, let us go into the topic. The syllabus for reference is displayed on the screen. Aspirants can go through it. First, let us see the origin of CERN. In 1951, at an intergovernmental meeting of UNESCO in Paris, the first resolution concerning the establishment of a European Council for Nuclear Research was adopted. Later, an agreement was signed establishing the Provisional Council, thus the acronym CERN was born. Know that CERN's main area of research is particle physics. Because of this, the laboratory operated by CERN is often referred to as European Laboratory for Particle Physics. Today's CERN, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world's largest and most respected centers for scientific research. Now, let us see about the Large Adron Collider. See, LHC is the world's largest and the most powerful particle accelerator. Started in 2008, LHC remains the latest addition to CERN's accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27 kilometer ring of superconducting magnets with the number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. So, why it is called the Large Adron Collider? Large simply refers to its size, which is approximately 27 kilometer in circumference. Adron, because it accelerates protons or ions, which belongs to the group of particles called Adrons. Collider, because the particles form two beams traveling in opposite directions, which are made to collide at four points around the mission. So, in this accelerator, two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide. They are guided around the accelerator by a strong magnetic field maintained by superconducting electromagnets. We have to know that there are thousands of magnets of different varieties and sizes are used to direct the beam around the accelerator. Just prior to the collision, another type of magnet is used to squeeze the particles closer together to increase the chance of collision. As the particles are so tiny that the task of making them collide is very difficult. All the controls for the accelerator, its services and technical infrastructure are housed at CERN Control Center. See, the beams inside the LHC are made to collide at four locations around the accelerator. They are Atlas, CMS, Alice and LHCB. They function as particle detectors. Now, let us come to Large Adron Collider Beauty Experiment, LHCB. LHCB specializes in investigating the slight difference between matter and antimatter by studying a type of particle called beauty quark or beak quark. See, quark is one type of elementary subatomic particles that interacts by means of the strong force. Quarks are believed to be the fundamental constituents of matter. When it comes to beauty quark, a beauty quark is a quark with a charge of minus one by three and a mass approximately 10,000 times that of an electron. The above process is illustrated in this image. Have a look at it to understand about the CERN accelerator complex. Now, let us move on to the next article. This article says that India has delivered two lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the United Nation peacekeeping force. In this context, let us discuss in brief about UNPKF, COVAX and GAVI. See, UN peacekeeping helps countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace. So, during a peacekeeping mission, the UN sends its peacekeeping force along with civilian peacekeepers to aid the peace process. They also address a range of mandates set by the United Security Council and General Assembly. The three basic principles of UN peacekeeping operations are consent of the parties, impartiality and non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate. So, note that peacekeeping operations are deployed with the consent of the main parties to the conflict. Also, impartiality is crucial to maintaining the consent and cooperation of the main parties. See, UN peacekeeping operations are not an enforcement tool. However, they may use force with the authorization of the Security Council if acting in self-defense and defense of the mandate. As we know, the UN has no standing army or police of its own. So, member states are asked to contribute military and police personnel required for each operation. Note that peacekeepers wear their countries uniform and are identified as UN peacekeepers only by a UN blue helmet and a badge. Civilian staff of peace operations are international civil servants recruited and deployed by the UN secretariat. Now, I will look at the figure to know about the top 20 contributors to peacekeeping missions. See, under article 17 of the UN Charter, every member state is legally obligated to pay their respective share towards peacekeeping. The top contributors to peacekeeping operations for 2019 are United States, 27.89%. This is followed by China, 15.21%, then by Japan, 8.56%. This is followed by Germany, 6.09% and United Kingdom, 5.79%. India's contribution is just 0.16% of the peacekeeping budget. Now, coming to COVAX. COVAX is a global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers. It aims to provide countries worldwide equitable access to safe and effective vaccines. A COVAX facility is being set up for the global procurement of vaccines. This COVAX facility will equitably distribute the doses to help protect the most at risk groups in all participating countries. This initiative will be guided by an allocation framework provided by WHO. GAVI is coordinating the development and implementation of COVAX facility. See, GAVI is a vaccine alliance with a mission to save lives, reduce poverty, and protect the world against the threat of epidemics. Now, let us move on to the next article. Now, look at this article. This article talks about an order passed by the Uttarakhand ICOTE. As per the ICOTE order, the devotees who are coming to Aridwar Kumbh Mela should possess a COVID-19 negative report. And this report should be not more than 72 hours old. Such an initiative is proposed in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus. See, usually 10 lakh people attend Kumbh Mela on regular days. On special days, this number may rise to 50 lakhs. But at present, the number is expected to be less due to the lack of special trains. So, in this context, let us see about Kumbh Mela in brief. Kumbh Mela or Kumbh Mela is known as the festival of the sacred picture. It is associated with the Hindu religion. See, Kumbh Mela is one of the world's largest religious cultural gathering. During this vocation, pilgrims gather to take a bath or Shaisnaan in a sacred river. This ritual bath at a predetermined time and place is the major event of the festival. Kumbh Mela is celebrated four times over a course of 12 years. The site of celebration will keep rotating between four pilgrimage centers on the four sacred rivers. The four pilgrimages are Aridwar on Ganges in Uttarakhand, Ujain on the Shipra in Madhya Pradesh, Nasik on Godavari in Maharashtra, and Pregrach or Alabad at the confluence of Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswathi river in Uttar Pradesh. In addition to that, Arda or the half Kumbh Mela is held at only two places, their Aridwar and Alabad. Whereas, Mahakumbh Mela is held once in every 144 years at Alabad. Each site celebration is based on a distinct set of astrological portions of the sun, moon and the Jupiter. The celebration occurs at the exact moment when these portions are fully occupied. This is considered to be the oldest time in Hinduism. Now let us move on to the next article. This article is about the findings recorded in Botanica Marina. See, Botanica Marina is a journal that publishes contributions from the many disciplines of marine botany. Botanica Marina recently reported the discovery of two new species of seaweeds. So, in this regard, let us discuss the important points mentioned in this article and also discuss about algae in brief. The syllabus relevant for this article is displayed on the screen. Seaweed is the name given to the species of marine algae and plants that grow in rivers, seas and oceans. They range in colors from red, green, brown and black. They also vary in size from microscopic to large underwater forest. As per this article, two new species of seaweed have been discovered by a group of marine biologists from Central University of Punjab. They are Ipnia indica and Ipnia bulata. Further, this article also mentions about Ipnia nidifica, which was for the first time found in Indian coast. See, Ipnia indica is named after India. It was discovered at Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and at Somnath Patan and Sivrajpur in Gujarat. Similarly, Ipnia bulata was discovered from Kanyakumari and Diu island of Daman and Diu. Ipnia bulata got its name from round swellings like blisters on its body. Usually, the genus Ipnia grows in the intertidal regions of the coast. See, the intertidal regions are seashows which is covered during the eye tide and exposed during the low tide. The seaweeds of genus Ipnia consist of calcareous, erect, branched red structures. There are 61 species of this type. Of the 61, 10 were reported in India. And now, with this discovery of the two new species, the total number has gone up to 63. In order to confirm this discovery, the researchers also carried out comparative studies of morphological and DNA sequence characteristics of the new specimens with the currently accepted 61 species. Now, let's move on to the important part of the discussion. See, the Ipnia genus contains an important biomolecule called caragenin. It is widely used in the food and dairy industry around the world. See, caragenin is a gelatinous substance which can be extracted by boiling these seaweeds. It can also be harvested from shallow water by dredging them with special rigs. Caragenin is also used in immersion stabilizing for body, binding and dispersion. So, caragenin is a highly valuable substance. The seaweeds belonging to the genus Ipnia consist of calcareous structures. These are nothing but structures which are mostly composed of calcium carbonate. This is because of ocean acidification. Ocean acidification is one of the consequence of climate change. This is because the excess carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere gets dissolved in the ocean waters. It causes the seawater to become more acidic. At such situations, algae like Ipnia cannot survive in acidic water. Therefore, the only sustainable option is to reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide by adopting sustainable lifestyle choices. Or in simple words, it is a result of survival of the fittest. Now, let's see in brief about algae and its uses in present world. See, algae are aquatic photosynthetic organisms. Algae have many types of life cycles. They range in various sizes from microscopic species to giant species reaching up to 60 meters in length. And algae photosynthetic pigments are different from the plants. Their cells have features that are not found among plants and animals. They are the oxygen producers of aquatic ecosystem. They also form the food base for almost all aquatic life. In addition to that, algae are economically important as they are a source of crude oil. And they are also source of food for humans. They are also used in number of pharmaceutical and industrial products. So algae is highly valuable source in the present world. With this information, let us move on to the next article. This article is about one of the Saturn's moon called Enceladas. First, let us see about Enceladas. It is one of Saturn's moon. See, according to NASA, Saturn has 82 moons. Among these 82, only 53 moons are confirmed unnamed. Some of these moons are larger than the planet Mercury and some of them are as small as a sports arena. As we all know, the largest moon of Saturn is Titan. Now, coming to Enceladas, it is an icy ocean moon. It is small and only 500 kilometers in diameter. It has the whitest, most reflective surface in the solar system. So it reflects so much sunlight. Because of this, its surface temperature is extremely cold. It is about minus 201 degrees Celsius. Enceladas is about 680 times less in mass than Earth's moon. Its portion is between the orbits of two other Saturn's moons, namely Mimas and Tethys. Further, Enceladas is an active moon. It hides a ocean of liquid salty water beneath its crust. Also, it sprays its ocean out into space at about 800 miles per hour. These sprays include icy particles from that ocean that are liaised with water and simple organic chemicals. These are sprayed so far that a spacecraft can sample it. From these samples only, scientists have determined that Enceladas has most of the chemical ingredients that is needed for life. And it also likely has hydrothermal vents that spews out hot mineral-rich water into its ocean. So this records as the first signs of hydrothermal activity beyond Earth. Enceladas also creates a ring of its own as it orbits the Saturn. This ring is created as Enceladas spray icy particles which spreads out into space around its orbit. These discoveries were made by NASA's and ESA's Cassini Eugen's mission. See, Saturn has also been explored by NASA's mission, namely Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, and also by Pioneer 11. Now coming back to the article, according to this article, beneath its frozen surface, Enceladas has ocean currents similar to those on the Earth. And the ocean is heated at the ocean core interface and it loses the heat to the floating ice shelf above. This has indicated a vertical convection. Now let us move on to practice question. The first question, consider the following statements with reference to tuberculosis. The first statement, it is an airborne disease. The second statement, MDR-TB is caused by viral strains which do not respond to first line of trucks. Which of the above given statements are correct? As we have discussed in the article, the first statement is correct. TB is an airborne disease. When it comes to the second statement, MDR-TB is caused by bacterial strains, not viral strains. So the second statement is wrong. So the answer is A1 only. Moving to the second question, consider the following statements about Coomela. The first statement, it is celebrated based on a distinct set of astrological positions of the Sun, Moon and Jupiter. Second statement, it is an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. Which of the above given statements are correct? As we have discussed in the article, the first statement is correct. Coomela is celebrated based on a distinct set of astrological positions of the Sun, Moon and Jupiter. When it comes to the second statement, it is also correct. In the year 2017, the occasion of Coomela was included to the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. So the answer is C, both 1 and 2. Moving on to the third question, the large Adron Collider, LHC, is the world's largest and the most powerful particle accelerator. It is operated by the A, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, B, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, C, Roscosmos, D, European Organization for Nuclear Research. The answer is option D, the large Adron Collider is operated by European Organization for Nuclear Research. Coming to the fourth question, currently, which of the following countries contributes the largest number of troops to the UN peacekeeping mission? Option A, India. Option B, China. Option C, United States of America. Option D, Bangladesh. The answer is option D, Bangladesh. As of January 2021, India stands at fifth portion. China stands at ninth portion in terms of troop contribution. The US is not even in the top 20. Bangladesh tops the list with 6,711 personnel, including 317 females. Now let us come to the fifth question. Consider the following pairs of planets and their largest moons. Ghanimid, Jupiter, Triton, Saturn, Titan, Neptune, Titania, Uranus. Which of the above pairs are correctly matched? See, pair one is correct. Ghanimid is not only the largest moon of Jupiter, but also the largest moon in the solar system. Pair two and pair three are incorrect. It should be interchange. Triton is the largest of Neptune satellites, whereas Titan is Saturn's largest moon. Pair four is correct. Titania is Uranus' largest moon. So the answer is C, one and four only. Main practice questions are displayed here. You can write your answer and post in the comment section below. With this, we have come to the end of the Hindu news analysis. If you like this video, don't forget to click, like, share, and comment. Subscribe to Shankar Iyer's Academy channel for more UPSC updates. Thank you.