 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankara Ace Academy for the date 9th March 2020. These are the list of articles that has been chosen for today's analysis. It has been given along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Tiruvannapuram and Hyderabad editions. The link for the handwritten notes and the timestamping for the displayed articles is given in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, it is also provided in the comment section. Let's move on to our first news article analysis. This discussion is about the COD blood bank. The news article mentions that there soon to be parents or the expecting parents are falling prey to the emotional marketing tactics that is used by stem cell banking companies or the private COD blood bank companies. So, Dr. Forum has given some clarification on this issue. First, let us see about the COD blood bank and then we will discuss about the news article. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First, let us see what is COD blood? COD blood is the blood that is contained in the placental blood vessels and umbilical cord which connects an unborn baby to the mother's womb. Or in simple words, we can see COD blood is the blood from the baby that is left in the umbilical cord and the placenta after birth of the child. As you know, in this placenta is the tissue that provides nourishment to the fetus and it takes the waste away from the fetus. And the umbilical cord is a cord-like structure that contains blood vessels and it connects the fetus to the placenta. Now, this COD blood, it contains special cells called as hematopoietic stem cells or hematopoietic progenitor cells which is in short known as HPC. These hematopoietic stem cells can be used to treat some types of diseases. Now, what they do is at the birth of the child, the COD blood is collected or recovered from the umbilical cord. After the collection of COD blood, it is frozen and it can be safely stored for many years. Now, the COD blood is stored for the HPC only. It is because they are important as they are the blood-forming stem cells. The HPCs can mature into different types of blood cells in the body. We even discussed about these hematopoietic stem cells during our bone marrow discussion last week. So, you can say that HPCs are found in bone marrow, they are found in peripheral blood and they are also found in COD blood. And as we already saw, these types of stem cells are routinely used to treat patients with cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma and even other disorders of blood and immune system. Now, there is also evidence that COD blood HPCs may not require exact match as compared to HPCs from bone marrow or the bloodstream when it is donated to another person. Because the antigens in the COD blood are less mature, so it is not rejected by the receiver. And because of this, transplants involving compatible HPCs from COD blood may be less likely to cause adverse reactions because the donor cells are less likely to see the patient's cells as foreign bodies and attack them. And in turn, it is not rejected by the receiver or the patient. So, this is one of the benefit or advantage of COD blood HPCs. So, along with these, there are also other benefits of using the stem cells in COD blood to treat a disease compared to using those in the bone marrow. For instance, stem cells from COD blood can be given to more people than the stem cells from the bone marrow. More matches are possible when a COD blood transplant is used than when a bone marrow transplant is used. And then another advantage of COD blood over bone marrow is that it is harder to collect bone marrow than it is to collect the COD blood. Collecting bone marrow poses some risks and it can also be painful for the donor. And the next advantage or benefit is that COD blood can be frozen and it can be stored. It is ready for anyone who needs it. But in case of bone marrow, the bone marrow must be used soon after it is collected. Then it is also said that the stem cells in COD blood can be used to strengthen the immune system during cancer treatments. But bone marrow stem cells do not have this capability. Now, apart from these benefits or advantages, the stem cells from COD blood also have a disadvantage. It is that the COD blood does not contain many stem cells. So, units from several donors can be combined to increase the number of stem cells if a transplant is needed for an adult. So, these are some of the advantages and disadvantages of HPCs from COD blood or the stem cells from the COD blood. Now, as we saw already, the COD blood is frozen and stored. And it is kept in one of two types of banks. One is the public COD blood bank and the other is private COD blood bank. Now, in a public COD blood bank, the COD blood can be donated. And in this bank, it will be stored for potential future use by anyone who may need it in the future. Apart from this, even alternatively, the parents of the child may arrange for a COD blood to be stored in a private COD bank also. And this is for the potential use of the COD blood if it is later needed for the treatment of the child from whom it was recovered or even for its use in first-degree relatives or second-degree relatives. And with respect to India, if you see the umbilical COD blood banks or the COD blood banks, they are regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules of 1945. The umbilical COD blood banks are permitted only under license and they are monitored by the Central Drug Standards Control Organization that is CDSCO. And the COD blood banks have to comply with the drugs and cosmetics third amendment rules for the collection, processing, testing, storage, banking and release of the stored units of COD blood. So, if one wants to know about the licensed umbilical COD blood banks, they can visit the CDSCO website as it provides the list of all the licensed umbilical COD blood banks in the country. But today's concern, if you see, it is with respect to the private COD blood banks. Several international bodies do not recommend routine private banking for future self-use in case of COD blood. The reason is because the stem cells transplant using an individual's own COD blood cannot be recommended for the genetic disorders of the individual itself. See, it is because all of these stem cells will have the same genes that cause the disease in the individual in the first place. So, the COD blood will also have these stem cells that contain the same genes only. So, it cannot be used for the same individual to treat that genetic disorder. But still, the private banking is suggested. It is suggested in cases where there is a relative or sibling with a condition or when there is a family history of malignant or genetic conditions that can be treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. But this difference is not known to many parents. So, the private COD blood banks use the misleading and luring advertisements for influencing the parents. And these advertisements often involve celebrities as their brand ambassadors who prompt the storage of COD blood as a status symbol because the celebrities are even doing the same. So, the expectant parents or the soon to be parents due to the influence of such advertisement take the option without the knowledge about possible self use or family use of the COD blood in the future. So, here the parents are emotionally burdened as well as they are economically burdened to store the child's umbilical COD blood as a form of biological insurance for future use. They think it as a biological insurance because the advertisements mislead the public into believing that the child's own umbilical COD blood can protect the child from 80 different medical conditions. But according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, this statement is not scientifically supportive. And we said it is economically burdening to the parents because these private COD blood banks charge enormous fees from the parents to preserve these cells. If you see according to this news article, the private companies offer packages between 50,000 and 1 lakh to store and preserve these cells in the right conditions. But these private COD blood banks do not say about whether it will be useful for the child itself or it can be used for the relative or a sibling with any genetic condition or a malignant condition that can be treated with the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Based on these only the Indian Council of Medical Research does not recommend commercial stem cell banking or the private COD blood banks as there is no scientific basis for preservation of the COD blood for future self use. And because of this the practice of private COD blood bank for future self use raises ethical and social concerns. So the to be parents or the expecting parents should be educated about the stem cell banking or the COD blood banking before they opt for any option regarding the storage of COD blood. They should be told that if their child has a genetic disorder then the child's own COD blood cannot be used. They should be given awareness about this and they should also be told that there is no scientific basis for preservation of COD blood for future self use. They should be told that they can privately store the COD blood if there is a relative or sibling with a condition or a family history of malignant or genetic conditions that can be treated with HSC transplantation. After providing all these informations only the private COD blood banks should approach the soon to be parents. So as we can see this issue requires more attention from the government and the government has to frame strict and stringent rules for the storage of COD bloods using private banks. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion we saw what do we mean by COD blood. We saw the advantages and disadvantages of COD blood. Then we also saw about the public and private COD blood banks. And then finally we saw why ICMR does not recommend private COD blood banks for future self use. With us we come to the end of this discussion. Moving on to the next discussion. This news article is relating to the report submitted in the Rajesh Sabha by the department related parliamentary standing committee on human resource development. This report is about the demands for grants of the department of school education and literacy. So in this discussion we will discuss about some important findings of the report and we will also see some of the recommendations of this committee. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now first know that the department of school education and literacy comes under the ministry of human resource and development. Its objective is to ensure education of equitable quality for all and also to fully harness the nation's human potential. So to achieve these objectives the department initiated programs like Samagra Siksha, Midday Meals in Schools, Adult Education and Skill Development etc. Now for the demands for grants of this department the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development has released the report. Now before discussing the findings of this report keep in mind that by the year 2030 India is said to have largest working-age population in the world. So we need a holistic education system which can make the younger generation mentally, physically and intellectually active and for that what we need is better equipped schools that is schools with adequate infrastructure like electricity, toilets, playgrounds etc. But this report has identified critical infrastructure gaps. According to this report only 56.45 percentage government schools in India have electricity but this varies across the states. Like in some states nearly 100 percentage electricity is there in schools. It is present in the government schools of Tamil Nadu and Punjab. But whereas if you see the states of Madhya Pradesh and Manipur in these states less than 20 percentage of schools were electrified. In addition to this the report also found that only 19.59 percentage schools have toilets for children with special needs. So this infrastructure gap worsens the plight of children who already require special care for their overall development. Then when we come to the playgrounds the report mentions that only 56.98 percentage government schools in India have playgrounds. Here also we can find difference between these states. Like in states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana more than 84 percentage of schools have playgrounds but less than 30 percentage of schools in Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir had playgrounds. We know that playgrounds are essential for the overall development of children and they are equally important like classrooms laboratories and libraries. And even if you see the right of children to free and compulsory education act of 2006 it mentions that the school building shall consist of separate toilets for boys and girls. It should have safe drinking water facility and it also should have playground etc. So this 2006 act also mentions playground as an important part of school education. Apart from these essential infrastructure the committee was concerned about the fact that only 60 percentage of schools had a boundary wall. So this means 60 percentage of schools in our country and the school premises are accessible to all the people without any restriction. So that means there is no safety to the students and the property of the school. Then the report also raised concerns about the dismal or dull rate at which the school infrastructures like classrooms, libraries and labs are being developed under the Samagar Siksha program. For example some 1021 additional classrooms had been sanctioned for government higher secondary schools for the year 2019 to 2020. But not a single additional classroom has been constructed till December 31st 2019. Then the government has also sanctioned the construction of more than 1300 laboratories for physics, chemistry and biology subjects. But only three has been completed till December 31, 2019. And same is the case for libraries and art, craft and culture rooms also. And more importantly the department had only spent 71 percentage of the revised estimates of 2019 to 2020 under the Samagar Siksha program. So this shows that even though budget has been sanctioned for the infrastructure there is delay in completion of infrastructure. Now this delay not only leads to students getting alienated from the government schools but it also leads to exceeding the cost allotted for that purpose. See first students get alienated because some important facilities like classrooms, laboratories and libraries are not available in government schools. And then delay in completion exceeds the cost because for example you can take if a project was to be completed in three months if it takes six months then the manpower had to be paid the salary for six months. So that means the cost will get exceeded like that. So in turn this will cause an additional strain on the financial resources of the country. So based on these issues and findings of the report the committee has suggested some solutions. Firstly the committee has asked the department of school education and literacy to look into factors that are impeding the infrastructure development. And it has asked the department to resolve them at the earliest to ensure that the students get the best possible facilities. Then the committee also suggested for the possibility of the construction of Boundary Wall in collaboration with MG NREGA. Then the committee has recommended for creation of other infrastructure like provision of electricity, toilets, drinking water and so on. And these can be taken up in a time-bound manner. Then the department can also consult with the ministry of new and renewable energy to look into the possibility of providing solar energy and other renewable energy sources for the schools based on their geographic locations. Now this will not only help these schools but it will also motivate the residents of the villages to adopt such non-polluting energy sources. But for all these developments what we need is more investments in school system. And according to this report there is a worrying trend with respect to investments in school system. The department of school education had proposed more than 80-2000 crore for the year 2020-21. But only 59 crores had been allotted for them. That means there is a cut of 27.52 percentage in the budget proposed by the department of school education and literacy. The report also noted that the government has made more than 27 percentage deductions in the centrally sponsored schemes in the central sector schemes like the Samagura Siksha etc. So by this we can say that rather than investing more in school system the government is cutting the budget. So based on this the report also recommends for providing additional funds to the schemes of the government that are based on education. On a whole we can say that as a country we are spending even less than 4.5 percentage of our GDP on education and this need to be improved to make our education system more effective and competitive with other countries. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion we discussed about the pathetic position of education system in our country with the help of some statistics. And we also saw some of the suggestions given by the committee to improve the school system. These points can be used in your main answer writing when there is a question regarding the school education system. With this we come to the end of this discussion. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion. This news article talks about the new paddy variety known as Sahyadri mega that is developed by researchers in Karnataka. In this discussion we will see about the new paddy variety and we will also see about hybridization. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. The news article mentions that the area that is under paddy cultivation has declined from 1.5 hectares in 1990 to around 1.05 lakh hectares now in the Shivmoga district of Karnataka. This is because the widely cultivated Jyoti variety of paddy had become vulnerable to blast diseases and other infestations which had created losses to the paddy cultivators. Now in this the blast disease is also known as the rice blast. It is a fungal disease that infects all the above-ground parts of the rice plant with leaf blast, neck rot and panicle blast as you can see in this picture and this disease causes significant loss to the farmers. Even yesterday we saw about a citrus greening disease that affects citrus plants and trees and it is caused by a bacteria but whereas this blast disease is a fungal disease. Now because of this disease and other infestations the paddy cultivators are switching over to other commercial crops like Arikanth, ginger and rubber for reducing the risk and for yielding more profits. So this has led to the decline in the area that is under paddy cultivation. So in order to prevent this the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences in the Shivmoga district of Karnataka has developed a new variety of paddy. This new variety is known as Sahyadri Mekha. It is a new red variety of paddy that is developed under the hybridization breeding method. Now see here hybridization is crossing or mating two or more compatible varieties which produces an offspring of a new variety. This hybridization happens naturally in the wild in an uncontrolled manner and the researchers or the plant breeders also do the same by mating two compatible plant varieties but in a controlled manner. So we can say hybridization is the process of combining desirable genes that are found into our more different varieties to produce a pure breeding progeny or offspring. To create hybrid offspring researchers or seed companies carry out pollination of the chosen male and female parents of the varieties under controlled conditions and these chosen male and female parents could be from the same species or from the different species also. Now through hybridization they can produce seeds that combines the desired traits of two pure parent lines. For example, assume that there is an existing plant variety and this plant variety is the recipient parent and there may be another variety which has a desired trait which the breeder wants. So that will be the donor parent. So the plant type in which the character or the trait is being transferred is known as the recipient parent and from which it is being transferred is the donor parent. So these recipient parent and the donor parent these two plants are mated or crossed and then the progeny or the offspring is created and this offspring is screened for the desired trait. Sometimes the offspring contains the desired trait and sometimes it doesn't. So what the breeders does is that they select the offspring plants that is processing the desired trait and then they cross that particular offspring with the recipient parent again. Now this process is repeated until the desired plant type having all the desired characteristics of the recipient in addition to the trait that is being transferred is finally obtained. So at the end they have the offspring which has the traits of the recipient parent and also the desired trait which was transferred from the donor parent. So that is why it is said that the hybrids are developed in the field using natural and low-tech methods. But here you have to note one point that the hybrid varieties are different from the genetically modified varieties. The genetically modified varieties are mostly created in a lab using highly complex technology like genetic engineering which involves technologies like genes splicing that is inserting a gene. In a genetically modified crop the desired gene of one variety is inserted in the another variety to get a genetically modified variety which is resistant to diseases etc. Some examples of genetically modified varieties are BT cotton, BT brinjal etc. And now our today's discussion is based on the Sahyadri mega which is an example of hybrid crop. This Sahyadri mega is a new red variety of paddy that is developed under the hybridization breeding method. It involves the cross breeding of the best of Jyoti variety of paddy with that of the Akkalu variety of paddy. So the best of these two varieties have been chosen and they have been mated or crossed. Now in this Akkalu variety of paddy is chosen because Akkalu is a native variety which is a disease resistant and protein rich paddy variety. And as we saw in the beginning the Jyoti variety of paddy was vulnerable to the blast disease and other infestations. So that is why this variety has been crossed with the disease resistant Akkalu variety. So hence the offspring which is the Sahyadri mega is also rich in protein content and according to researchers the protein content is around 12.48% in Sahyadri mega which is much higher than the other red rice varieties. Even the yield per acre is also higher when compared to other red paddy varieties in case of Sahyadri mega. And it is also found that Sahyadri mega is resistant to blast diseases and it is rich in nutrients and can be harvested after 120 days of sowing. So this Sahyadri mega is a medium term paddy that can be grown when there is a delay in the onset of monsoon. Now since the red rice is rich in fiber and protein this new paddy variety is aiming to cater the strong demand for red rice especially the demand among the health savvy consumers in urban areas. Now this Sahyadri mega paddy variety will be a part of the seed chain once it will be notified under the Indian Seeds Act of 1966. After this it can be used by other farmers also. So that is all about this discussion. In this discussion we saw about hybridization and we also saw about Sahyadri mega which is a new paddy variety. Whether we come to the end of this discussion the displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next discussion this news article mentions that the scheduled India- US military cooperation group dialogue has been cancelled. This military cooperation group or the MCG was supposed to be held in US this time but it has been cancelled due to the new coronavirus outbreak. So in this context of this news article today we will discuss about this India- US military cooperation group then we will also see about US Indo-Pacific Command and the US Special Operations Command which is mentioned in this news article. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. First let us see about the India- US military cooperation dialogue or in short MCG. The MCG is a forum to review the progress of defence cooperation between India's integrated defence staff and the US Indo-Pacific Command. The MCG dialogue reviews the progress at strategic and operational levels between the two countries defence cooperation. Now when this know that the integrated defence staff is an organization established under the Ministry of Defence in the year 2001 and this ideas is headed by the chief of integrated defence staff to the chairman COSC which is in short known as CISC. Now as the name indicates the integrated defence staff aims for the integration of defence forces. So the ideas have representation from all the three services that is Army, Navy and Air Force and it also has representation from Ministry of External Affairs, DRDO, Department of Defence and Department of Finance. Now also remember that chief of integrated defence staff and chief of defence staff are different posts in the integrated defence staff established under the Ministry of Defence. Currently Vice Admiral Hari Kumar is the chief of integrated defence staff whereas General Bipin Rawat is the chief of defence staff and General Bipin Rawat is the first officer to assume the office of CDS on 31st December 2019. Now before the appointment of CDS the CISC was responsible for coordination among the three armed forces but now the CDS is the responsible for coordination among the three armed forces and also know that the CISC's role is limited to budgeting and capability building and so on. Now coming back to the news article discussion we saw that MCG is a forum to review the progress of defence cooperation between India's integrated defence staff and US Indo-Pacific Command. So what is this US Indo-Pacific Command? To know that first we have to know about the unified combatant command of the USA. The unified combatant command or the UCC are joint commands which are established to provide effective command and control of US military forces. They are organised either on geographical basis or on a functional basis and as of August 2019 there are 11 UCC's. In this seven UCC's have regional responsibilities and four UCC's have functional responsibilities and this US Indo-Pacific Command is a UCC of US armed forces that is responsible for the Indo-Pacific region. So it is one of the seven geographical UCC's. The other six are given in this map for your reference. Now in this picture you can see that the US Indo-Pacific Command's area of responsibility is in the Indo-Pacific region. It encompasses about half earth surface stretching from the waters of the west coast of the US to the western borders of India and also from the Antarctica to the north pole. Now since India lies in this UCC region, India deals the defense cooperation with the US Indo-Pacific Command. Now initially we also saw one another command which is the United States Special Operation Command. This is one of the four functional UCC's. The other three are US Cyber Command, US Strategic Command and US Transportation Command. Now this Special Operation Command oversees the special operations capabilities of the various military branches. It coordinates their training, strategy, interoperability and their operations also. Now today's news is that India is considering a request made by US for posting liaison officers at the US Indo-Pacific Command and at the US Special Operations Command. This is to improve the defense cooperation and interoperability between India and US's defense forces. Now in this just know that liaison officers are the persons who acts as a mediator between two groups or countries. They work for mutual understanding and mutual benefits of two parties in order to avoid the collateral damage of the parties involved. So in our case, the liaison officer will act for the mutual understanding and mutual benefits of India and US's defense forces. According to the news article, after the agreement that was made in 2 plus 2 dialogue of December 2019 between USA and India, an Indian liaison officer is posted at the US Navy Central Command in Bahrain and also a US liaison officer is posted at the Indian Navy's Information Fusion Center for Indian Ocean Region at the Gurugram. So to further improve the military liaison relationships between the two armed forces, the US has requested India to post two more liaison officers at the US Indo-Pacific Command and at the US Special Operations Command and this was supposed to be discussed at the MCG Dialogue, but it has been cancelled due to the new coronavirus outbreak. So that is all about this news article. In this discussion, we saw about the MCG Dialogue and we also saw about the US Indo-Pacific Command and the US Special Operations Command. With this we come to the end of this discussion. Moving on to the next discussion, this discussion is based on this news article which mentions about a report released by the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network called as TRAFFIC. The report is titled as Assessment of Illegal Trade Related Threats to Panda in India and Selected Neighboring Range Countries. In this report, TRAFFIC has analyzed poaching and illegal trade of the red panda species from the year 2010 to 2019. So now let us see some of the findings and key points mentioned in this report. The syllabus that is relevant to this discussion is given here for your reference. Now from examination point of view, first of all know that red pandas are listed as endangered in the IUCN red list of threatened species and they are also protected under the Schedule 1 Part 1 of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 of India and they are also included in Appendix 1 of Sites. And recently on our first March in the news analysis, we saw that researchers are saying that there are two species of red pandas which are genetically different. One is Himalayan red pandas and Chinese red pandas. On that day, we saw that the red pandas are found in the forests of India, Nepal, Bhutan and the northern mountains of Myanmar and southern China. And this report has given the global distribution of this species. As per the report, the estimated global wild population of red panda stands at around 14,500 to 15,000 individuals. In India, its population in the wild is between 5,000 and 6,000 individuals. But the largest population is found in China which is around 6,000 to 7,000 individuals. And according to this report, in Nepal around 317 to 582 individuals are present. But this report does not mention about the estimate on the population in Bhutan and Myanmar. Now with respect to India, this species is reported in the states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Meghalaya. And also remember that this is the state animal of Sikkim. The population of red pandas has been decreasing as they were hunted for meat and fur and they were also illegally captured for the pet trade. Apart from this, they were also falling to the traps laid for other animals such as they get caught in the traps that are laid for musk deer and wild pigs. But according to this report, over the years the rate of poaching and illegal trade across the habitat of red panda has come down. The report mentions that there is no incidence of poaching or illegal wildlife trade in red panda that was reported from Bhutan or India. But in Nepal, some 25 incidents of poaching were reported. Now the reason for steep reduction in poaching in illegal trade in India or Bhutan is an indication of the success of the awareness campaigns that were undertaken in the habitat of red pandas. So, these kinds of campaigns should be continued so that even the poaching in the other habitats of red panda shall be curtailed. Along with this, the community-based conservation and the protection for the species at its habitat structures even across the remote areas can further reduce the incidence of poaching. In addition to this, the report also mentions that the trans-boundary law enforcement cooperation through the use of multi-government platforms like Savin is also required. In the Savin stands for South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network. It is an inter-governmental wildlife law enforcement support body of the South Asian countries. So, that is all about this discussion. The split practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now let us take one practice question. The question asks, it is the ancient and sacred spice of India known as Indian saffron, an important commercial spice crop grown in India. It is used in diversified farms as a condiment, flavoring and coloring agent. It has anti-cancer and antiviral activities and hence finds use in the drug industry and cosmetic industry. Which of the following tree or plant is being described in the above passage? A, Sarpaganta, B, Neem, C, Turmeric, D, Tulsi. Now for those who know that the Indian saffron is the turmeric, they can easily answer this question. The correct answer is option C only. Now we have taken this question based on this news article which mentions the concerns raised by the turmeric farmers of Telangana. This article mentions that because of cap on procurement of the turmeric in the state of Telangana, the state government may not procure more than 30 quintals per farmer. So, the turmeric farmers in the state of Telangana raise the problems like the possibility of losses if the state government is going to implement this rule. Now let us see some additional details with respect to turmeric. Its scientific name is Kirkuma Longa and it is a perennial herbaceous plant of the ginger family. It is herbaceous which means the plant does not have a woody system and it is a perennial plant because it can live more than two years through its rhizomes. Also know that turmeric is not root crop but it is a stem tuber crop or the rhizome crop. Rhizomes are the horizontal underground stems and the rhizomes are capable of producing both shoots and roots that means rhizomes are involved in the vegetative propagation which is one of the asexual reproduction methods in plants. Now with respect to turmeric know that it can be grown in diverse topical conditions from sea level to the 1500 meter above sea level and the suitable average temperature range is 20 to 35 degree Celsius and it requires an annual rainfall of 1500 millimeter or more and it can be cultivated under rainfed or irrigated conditions. Now though it can be grown on different types of soils but it thrives best in the well-drained sandy soils or clay loam soils and as we already saw it is the ancient and sacred spice of India which is known as Indian saffron and it is an important commercial spice crop grown in India. It is used in diversified farms as a condiment, flavoring and coloring agent and it is also used as a principal ingredient in the Indian culinary as curry powder and this turmeric has anti-cancer and anti-viral activities and therefore it is also used in drug industry and cosmetic industry. And know that turmeric is native of India and India is the largest producer of turmeric in the world. Apart from India if you see it is also cultivated in other countries of South Asia and Southeast Asia also and within India Telangana is the largest producer of turmeric then comes Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Now this is based only 2017 to 2018 data so these are the some basic information regarding turmeric. This news article mentions one another point that is there is no MSP by the central government for turmeric that is there is no minimum support price but however the state government of Telangana gives states minimum support price states minimum support price for turmeric. Also know that the farmers of Telangana have been demanding turmeric board of India in the Nizamawa district of Telangana. Now one another information with respect to examination that you should know is that the E-road turmeric which is a unique type of slender turmeric grown in the state of Tamil Nadu and then the Kanthumal Haldi which is a variety of turmeric that is indigenous to southern Odisha both these types of turmeric has got GI tag. Now let us discuss the other practice questions that were displayed during the news article discussions. This question is with respect to South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network. The first statement is its goal is to strengthen promote and coordinate regional cooperation for curbing illegal wildlife trade that threatens the wild flora and fauna of South Asia. Now this statement is correct because it is the objective of Savvain. This Savvain is an intergovernmental wildlife law enforcement support body of the South Asian countries. Now since this statement is correct and the question asks for the correct statements you can eliminate options C and D. Now the second statement is it is a branch of ASEAN. Now this is an incorrect statement. It is not a branch of ASEAN. It is an intergovernmental wildlife law enforcement support body of South Asian countries. It is a separate entity but remember that even ASEAN has a wild enforcement network which is known as ASEAN WEN. It was established in 2005 and it aims to address the illegal exploitation and trade in the sites listed species within the ASEAN region. And ASEAN WEN is also an integrated network among the law enforcement agencies and it involves the sites authorities, customs, police, prosecutors, specialized governmental wildlife law enforcement organizations and also other relevant national law enforcement agencies. So don't confuse both. Both are different. Now the third statement states recently China and Maldives have joined the organization as members. Now see this SAWEN was officially launched in 2011 in Bhutan. It promotes regional cooperation to combat wildlife crime in South Asia and it focuses on policy harmonization, institutional capacity strengthening through knowledge and intelligent sharing in the region. And its members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. So from this you can say that Maldives is already a member but China is not a member yet. So this statement is incorrect. So the correct answer to this question is option A1 only. Now this question is about Sahyadri Megha. The question asks recently Sahyadri Megha was in the news. What is it? First it is an initiative for the conservation of trees in western guards. Now since western guards is also known as Sahyadri don't immediately choose this option as the correct option because it is the wrong option. It is not an initiative for the conservation of trees in western guards. It is also not a communication satellite and it is also not a military cooperation between Indian Air Force and US Air Force. It is a new paddy variety, especially new red paddy variety that is developed by the hybridization reading method. So the correct answer is option C. Now this next question is a previous sir question based on traffic that is trade related analysis of fauna and flora in commerce. First statement is traffic is a bureau under United Nations environment program. Now this statement is wrong because it is the joint program of WWF that is World Wildlife Fund and IUCN and it works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. So first statement is incorrect but the second statement is correct. So the correct answer to this question is option B2 only as the question asks for the correct statements. Now let us take one main question based on GSB Patu. By 2030 India is said to have largest working-age population in the world but in order to reap the benefits we need a strong school education system. Discuss the issues plaguing India's school education system and suggest a way forward. Now in this question you can mention about the huge demographic dividend of India. So we need a strong school system for the holistic development of our country. Then you can mention about the report by the parliamentary standing committee which we discussed today as the report mentions about some issues with respect to the infrastructure like the schools like electricity, playground and other facilities like laboratories which the children need for a holistic education. And as a way forward you can suggest a time-bound infrastructure development and more funding to the central sector schemes and the centrally sponsored schemes related to education. Like that you can also mention some other suggestions. You can write the answer and post it in the comment section. We will review it and appropriate solution will be given in a reasonable time frame. With this we have come to the end of news article and question answer discussion sessions. If you like the video don't forget to like, comment and share. And do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates related to civil service examination preparation.