 Welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar IA's Academy for the date 18th of November 2019. Today, we shall be seeing some important news articles like an editorial from a former prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and then about the recent presidential elections in Sri Lanka and such other news articles which are displayed here along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Trivandrum and Hyderabad editions. The handwritten notes in PDF format and the time stamping of all the news articles taken up for today's analysis is available in the description section and also the common section for the benefit of the smartphone users. Let us now start our analysis. This discussion is based on the editorial which is about the economic slowdown in India. This editorial is authored by a former prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. He is celebrated as a thinker and as a scholar. He is also a well-known economist of our country who has been the chief economic advisor. Then he has also held the post of the governor of the Reserve Bank of India and he was also the finance minister of India in the 1990s. So from this, you can imagine how important this editorial is and its viewpoints are. So now let us discuss the editorial. Before that, the discussion can be linked to the syllabus that is given here for your reference. A former prime minister, the author of this editorial has discussed about the state of Indian economy, then the causes for it and the reasons behind it. And finally he has also given some suggestions on what should be the way forward to revive the economy of India. First the author has mentioned that the state of India's economy is deeply worrying. To substantiate this statement, he has given few facts such as nominal GDP growth, then unemployment rate, etc. First let us see the nominal GDP growth. He tells that the nominal GDP growth of India is at a 15-year low. So what is this nominal GDP? Nominal GDP is an assessment of the economic production in an economy but it includes the current prices of goods and services in its calculation. So it is not adjusted to inflation whereas if you see the real GDP is the economic output of a country with inflation taken out. So according to the author, the nominal GDP growth of India is at a 15-year low. So what does this indicate? This indicates that there is a deep slowdown in the economy. First is the unemployment rate. The author tells that the unemployment rate is at a 45-year high which is at 6.1%. We have seen this unemployment rate in many of our news article discussion and also in few of our editorial discussions. Then the author discusses about the household consumption. He tells that it is at a 4-decade low. In this the author may be referring to the data that is provided by the household consumer expenditure survey of 2017-18. On last Saturday analysis, if you see we saw about the survey and why the government is not going to release this survey. And we also saw that based on some of the draft date of the survey, some reports are saying that the consumer demand had declined in 2017-18 for the first time in the last 40 years. So maybe the author is referring to this. And this is followed by the bad loans in banks that is the non-performing assets. And we know that there is an all-time high non-performing assets. The next which the author has discussed is the growth in the electricity generation which is at a 15-year low. If you see the growth in electricity generation is only 3.57% as you can see in this graph. This data is directly related to the demand that is the demand of electricity. So from this data we can tell that there is a lack of demand. This is due to the lack of appetite or demand among the factories and commercial firms because these factories and commercial firms consume about half of India's electricity. So like this the list of highs and lows in the economy is long and distressing as per the author. Even though the statistics show a bad shape of our Indian economy, the author is stating the other causes for the bad shape of our economy. According to the author, the first cause is the distrust of citizens in institutions and their lack of confidence in the government. This has caused the prolonged slowdown of Indian economy. It is because a nation's state of economy is a function and a reflection of the state of its society. The functioning of any economy is the result of the combined set of exchanges and social interactions among the nation's people and its institutions. So the author is conveying that mutual trust and self-confidence are the bedrock or the root or the backbone of such social transactions among people. And this in turn fosters economic growth, that is it boosts the economic growth. The author is stating this because the role of social trust in the economic development is very important. So there is a social angle to the economic development. And this relationship has been well documented from the beginning till now. But now the problem is that our social fabric of trust and confidence is torn and ruptured. So according to author, the tearing of our social fabric of trust is the fountain head of our current economic malaise. Here the term fountain head means original source of something and the term malaise means restlessness or depression. In our context, it means the economic slowdown. So the author is trying to say that the tearing of our social fabric of trust is the original source of the current economic slowdown. That is why the title of this editorial is mentioned as the fountain head of India's economic malaise. So this is one cause. Along with this another cause which the author has mentioned is fear. According to the author, there is a visible ambience of fear in our society today. So what is the fear which the author is talking about? It is the fear that the industrialists have. They have a fear of harassment by the government authorities. And then they have a fear of unlawful tax harassment or unfair regulations by the government and the officials. Next, it is the fear that the bankers have. They fear that there will be retribution or punishment. This may be because of doubt that the loan may be defaulted and the government will blame them. So the bankers are reluctant to approve new loans. So this in turn affects the starting of new business due to the lack of availability of loans. Then it is the fear that the entrepreneurs have. If you see they are hesitant to start fresh projects because they fear that the project will fail. In year failure could be caused by ulterior or intentionally hidden motives of the officials or unlawful tax harassment or unfair regulations. This fear is among the entrepreneurs who plan for technology startups. We know that the technology startups are an important new engine for economic growth and also for the generation of jobs. But the entrepreneurs fear that they will have to live under constant surveillance and deep suspicion from the side of the government. So the most worrisome fact is that this fear is not only among the citizens, industrialists, etc. But the fear is also present among the policy makers in the government and also in other institutions because they are scared to speak the truth or engage in intellectually honest policy discussions. These policy makers, industrialists, entrepreneurs are the people who act as agents of economic growth. So there is a profound fear in addition to distrust. According to the author, when there is such a distrust, it adversely impacts, that is it negatively impacts the economic transactions in a society. And when transactions among people and institutions are negatively impacted, it leads to a slow down of economic activity and it eventually leads to stagnation. Here the term stagnation is the lack of activity or we can tell it as a lack of growth or development. Now after the distress and fear comes the helplessness. The helplessness is when the aggrieved citizens find no place to go in order to address their grievances. You may think for grievance redressal we may have institutions such as judiciary, regulatory authorities and investigative agencies which act as a support system for the aggrieved citizens. But according to the former prime minister who is the author, the public trust in these independent institutions have eroded or they have gradually destroyed. So the people are unable to seek refuge or protection against unlawful tax, harassment or unfair regulations. As a result of all of these, the entrepreneurs have lost their risk appetite. That is they are not willing to take any new risks in order to develop their business. And because of this, there is no new job creation and they are not undertaking any new project. These new projects might put them in the limelight and it might act as an agent of economic growth as per the author. But they are not taking this risk which is important for any business because without risk there is no profit. That is why the author is stating that this toxic combination of deep distressed, pervasive fear and a sense of hopelessness in our society is stifling or it is surprising the economic activity which in turn is hampering the economic growth. So far we have discussed what caused the economics load on from the author's viewpoint. The author gives reason for these causes. According to the author, the first and foremost reason is the doctrine of governance that is being followed by the present government. Here the author is noting that the present government is following malified unless proven otherwise doctrine of governance. Here the term malified means an intention to deceive. According to the author, the theory of government's policy framework is based on the suspicion that economic participants have malified intent unless they can prove otherwise. That is unless they can prove they do not have a malified intent. The government is having a suspicion that every industrialist or a banker or a policymaker or a regulator or even an entrepreneur and a citizen is having an intention to defraud the government. So this means that the government is not having trust. Hence it has led to a complete breakdown of trust in our society. And as we saw already this has halted the economic development as the bankers are unable to lend money, the industrialists are unable to invest and the policy makers are unable to act. So in this context the author is noting that a wrongful evil characterization of everyone and a good versus evil governance doctrine cannot lead to a healthy economic growth. Hence the author is giving some suggestions and way forward to revive our economy. So let us see the suggestions that has been given by the author. Firstly it is very important to repair the torn social fabric of fear and distrust. If this is done then it will stimulate trust and confidence among people. Because it is very important for the businessmen, the capital providers that is those who provide money and the workers to feel confident and exuberant or cheerful to work harder so that it will boost the economy. So for this to happen the government has to change its governance doctrine and it should begin to trust India's entrepreneurs. Secondly the author calls for twin policy actions. One is for boosting the demand through fiscal policy and the second is for reviving private investment through social policy. This can be done by simply encouraging trust and confidence in the economic participants in our society. The author concludes this editorial by saying that the above mentioned suggestions should be executed. It is because according to the author who is the former prime minister in the global economy there is a unique and opportune moment for India to capitalize or to take advantage. The moment which he is mentioning is about the slowing down of China's economy and slowing down of the Chinese export. Now this has opened up a large export opportunity for India which India can try to fill and India should aim to collect this large share of this export opportunity by encouraging a climate of confidence and economic dynamism so that many entrepreneurs will come forward to invest and this in turn will generate employment and in addition to this the government is having an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha so they can frame policies and regulation to use this opportunity. Hence according to the author this is a once in a generation economic opportunity. This opportunity if used properly will take India to the next phase of economic development and it will create new jobs for hundreds of millions of our youth and this in turn will revive our Indian economy. So this is all about the views of our former prime minister on the current economic slowdown that India is facing. So we have discussed in brief about the state of Indian economy then the causes of the slowdown in the Indian economy and the reasons behind it and also about the suggestions and what should be the way forward to revive Indian economy which the former prime minister of India has mentioned in this editorial. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. Next we shall be seeing two news articles regarding composting and the production of manure from the composting technique. So in this context we shall be discussing in brief about composting first and then about the news articles. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of both these news articles is given here for your reference. First let us see what is meant by composting. The term compost simply means decayed organic matter. The decay or the decomposition of the organic matter can happen in two ways either aerobic or anaerobic. Here aerobic decomposition happens when the organic materials decompose in the presence of oxygen and anaerobic decomposition happens when the organic materials decompose without any oxygen. So remember aerobic means with oxygen, anaerobic means without oxygen. So we can define composting as the breakdown of organic matter derived from animals and plants and they can be classified into two types aerobic composting and anaerobic composting on the same line as aerobic decomposition and anaerobic decomposition. Know that aerobic composting is the most common and the widely prevalent method. So how is this aerobic composting done? Note that first organic waste such as plant waste, agricultural residue, food waste etc which are rich in carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients are collected in a compost pile or bin. Now the important components of composting are the microorganisms such as certain species of bacteria or fungi for decomposing the organic matter. Then water is also important for keeping the compost wet and to enhance the microbial activity. Then oxygen is also important in case of aerobic composting. So these are some of the important components that are required for composting. In the process of composting the microorganisms break down the organic matter and they produce carbon dioxide, water, heat and humus and you have to note that the compost pile should be turned regularly. Turning means just to redistribute the compost contents. So this will ensure the redistribution of heat, biological activity and also the moisture content and this will further enhance the breakdown of the organic matter. Here you have to note that the aerobic composting works quickly but it requires a high amount of maintenance since the moisture and the temperature need to be monitored closely. Additionally aerobic composting needs to be turned every few days in order to allow for proper air circulation. So this is all about aerobic composting. Next let us see anaerobic composting. We saw that the term anaerobic means without oxygen. So anaerobic composting means decomposing the waste without oxygen. This anaerobic composting takes several years and it typically happens in the landfills. In anaerobic composting the organic materials are piled up and they break down naturally. So this process does not require any type of maintenance and there is no requirement for it to be turned. And also if you see this anaerobic composting produces a large amount of methane and the smell can be exceptionally pungent that is a foul smell will come. Now let us discuss some of the advantages of composting. First of all it is one of the most effective waste management strategy. It helps to reduce the waste and the landfill issue by reusing the organic matter. And as we know a good part of the municipal solid waste that is the solid waste that are collected from the city areas and from the other urban localities is the kitchen waste and also certain other yard waste such as weeds, leaves, bushes etc. So if there is a proper composting strategy then that can take care of the organic matter that we have just saw and the amount of waste that is being sent to the landfills and the mass burn incinerators can be reduced. And another advantage of this composting technique is that the humus which is produced can be used as a menu. The humus can be added to the soil and this will help to improve the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and other nutrients because this humus is rich in organic matter and other nutrients. So the overall productivity of the soil will also increase. So these are some of the advantages of composting technique. Now let us see both the news articles. First let us see the news article which has appeared in the Bengaluru edition. This news article tells that the scientists from the University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences which is located in Shivamoga, Karnataka have developed new technology that will convert the aricanate husk sheets and dry leaves into compost manure. Here you have to note that the aricanate husk and the sheets are rich in lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose. So this provides them more rigidity and stiffness. So they also display a resistance to biodegradation that is it will take a long time for them to decompose. If you see most often it takes almost near to two years for them to decompose. So because of the slow pace of degradation the farmers don't use the husk and the sheets as manure. What they do is they burn them and because of burning it will result in air pollution and also a loss of a potential source of organic manure. Now the scientists from this University have used certain microorganisms to be specific certain kinds of fungi which have the capacity to decompose the bio waste that is rich in lignin and cellulose. By this method they were able to reduce the time period of the decomposition of this aricanate waste. Initially we saw that it takes almost near to two years for the waste to decompose. In this case it has been reduced to just 160 days approximately five, five and a half months. So what are the advantages of this technique? First of all the aricanate waste will not have to be burnt anymore. So this will bring down the air pollution because we are well aware of the role of the burning agricultural waste which leads to air pollution in Delhi. So this will reduce the air pollution. The second thing is the manure that is got from the aricanate waste is an affordable manure for the farmers and especially for those farmers who do not have animal husbandry. So this will help them to administer more manure in their fields and because of this the soil fertility will be enhanced and the dependence on the chemical fertilizers can be minimized to a larger extent. So their overall cost of cultivation will come down. So these are some of the advantages of composting the aricanate waste using this new technology. So this is all about the first news article. Now let us see the second news article. This news article is about the zero waste project of the Chennai Corporation. It tells that Chennai Corporation has started selling manure at malls and shopping complexes and it is also supplying manure on the doorstep of the residents who plays orders through WhatsApp. Now what is this zero waste project of the Chennai Corporation? See it is an alliance of Chennai's local government and the communities and the organizations and all those experts who are working to reduce the waste and improve the handling of the wastes. So as a part of this initiative micro composting centers are set up all over the city especially in most of the parks of the city and we just saw that huge amount of vegetable waste will be generated in the cities. So as a part of this initiative the vegetable waste are collected and the manure is generated through the composting technique. So this initiative aims to reduce the piling up of waste in the city because if you see Chennai itself produces near to 5000 tons of municipal solid waste every day. So this initiative is working to make Chennai free of waste. So the key to this initiative is that the waste is being processed locally in micro pockets. So you can make use of such examples in your mains answer writing as we keep repeating try to diversify your examples. So that it will give an idea to the examiner that you are aware of the recent current affairs. So to summarize this news article we have seen the technique of composting, the types of composting aerobic and anaerobic composting and two news articles related to composting which has appeared in Bengaluru and Chennai editions. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the recent presidential elections that happened in the country of Sri Lanka. The syllabus that is relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. See recently the presidential election has concluded in Sri Lanka and the new president has been elected. The new president is Gotabaya Rajapaksha. So in this context first let us understand in brief about the country of Sri Lanka from geography and polity point of view. Officially if you see Sri Lanka is called as the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Formerly it was known as Ceylon. It is an island country that is lying in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. This island is very close to Penangular India. To say in particular it is very close to the state of Tamil Nadu but it is separated by Gulf of Manar and parks straight from India. And you have to note that Sri Lanka has two capital cities. One is the administrative capital which is the city of Sri Jayavardhanapura Kote and another is the economic capital which is the city of Colombo. It is the largest city in Sri Lanka. If you see since ancient times there is close cultural interaction between Sri Lanka and India. And also Indian Sri Lanka more or less share a similar colonial history. If you see even Sri Lanka was occupied by colonial powers such as the Portuguese, Dutch and the British. So it was during this colonial period few Indians were deported from the state of Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka. And in Sri Lanka they worked as bonded laborers in the tea plantations of Kandy. Now know that Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in the year 1948. As we told previously the name of Sri Lanka was Ceylon. Then this Ceylon got changed to Sri Lanka when Sri Lanka became a republic in the year 1972. Now let us try to know about the demography of Sri Lanka. See Sri Lanka has a population of 21 million. Majority of the Sri Lankans are Sinhalese people. And if you see the other ethnic groups which are in Sri Lanka are the Sri Lankan Tamils who comprise about 12.6 percentage of the Sri Lankan population. Then there are those Indian Tamils. We told that they were deported by British during the colonial period to Sri Lanka. They comprise around 5.5 percentage of the population. Then there are Moors, Malais, Burgers of Portuguese and Dutch descent and also certain other ethnic people like Vedas. Next Sri Lanka is a multi-religious country. Though it is a multi-religious country, Buddhists constitute the majority. So around 69 percentage of the population are Buddhists in Sri Lanka. And there are also other religious groups like Hindus, Muslims and Christians. And if you see Sri Lanka's literacy rate is close to 88.5 percentage, it is one of the highest in Asia. So this is all about the demography of Sri Lanka. Now let us see about the polity of Sri Lanka. We just saw that Sinhalese are the major ethnic groups and the minorities are the Tamils. In the post independent period, tension arose between the Sinhala majority people and the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. So this resulted in a bloody civil war in Sri Lanka. This civil war started in the 1980s and it ended only in the year 2009. And you have to note that the president of Sri Lanka during that particular period when the civil war ended was Mahinda Rajabaksha. So he was the president of Sri Lanka from the year 2005 to 2015. And also if you see during the post civil war period that is after the civil war ended, the government under Rajabaksha became so close to China or we can tell it became a pro-Chinese government. So it was more dependent on China especially for its investment to rebuild Sri Lanka after the civil war. In this context, try to know that Sri Lanka has a semi-presidential system of government, which means there is a mixture of presidential system and a parliamentary system. Like any other democracy, the Sri Lankan government also has three branches, the executive, legislative, and the judiciary. The president of Sri Lanka is the head of the state, he is also the commander in chief of the armed forces, then he is also the head of the government. So the executive head is the president in Sri Lanka. Unlike India where the prime minister is the executive head. So just try to know that Sri Lanka has a semi-presidential form of government. Now let us see in brief about the foreign policy of Mahinda Rajabaksha when he was the president of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015. We just saw that after the civil war Mahinda Rajabaksha became more of pro-China, he was dependent on China for investment to rebuild his country. And also if you see in the year 2014, India had certain apprehensions when a Chinese navy's submarine and the warship Changsindhaw arrived in Colombo on a five-day visit. But despite India's apprehensions, the warship was received by Sri Lanka. And also you have to note that under Rajabaksha's regime, China invested heavily in Sri Lanka. For example, the Haman Tota port. So just try to understand that the Rajabaksha are viewed as Chinese friendly and this is a major concern for India when it comes to India's foreign policy. Now let us look into the news article. Recently the presidential elections of Sri Lanka got over. Now let us analyze this election result in brief with the help of this picture. We saw that Gautabaya Rajabaksha was elected as the president. If you see was the different secretary of Sri Lanka during the last phase of the civil war of Sri Lanka. So Gautabaya Rajabaksha is quite unpopular among the minorities that is the Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka for his role during the civil war. And as per the news article and as per this picture, if you see Gautabaya Rajabaksha was defeated in all of the northern provinces five districts and also in the three districts in the eastern province where Sajid Premadasa won. Now we can see in this picture all these districts which are orange in color have been won by Sajid Premadasa and all these districts in blue have been won by Gautabaya Rajabaksha. In all these districts, Sinhalese is the majority population and in all these districts where Sajid Premadasa won, the Tamils and the Muslims are the majority population. So we can clearly see from this picture that the election result is polarized in ethnic, linguistic and religious lines. And now Gautabaya Rajabaksha was considered to be a pro-Chinese as won the presidential elections. He recently said that his foreign policy would be neutral. That is indirectly we can infer that he means to tell that his foreign policy will not be pro-Chinese and also if you see during a visit to India, the former president of Sri Lanka Mahindra Rajabaksha has also mentioned that it was time to move on from the misunderstandings of the past. So India can maybe try to hope that the neighborhood relations with Sri Lanka shall continue to be normal. But we need to wait and watch how Sri Lanka's foreign policy will unfold. Meanwhile, in one of the news article, a former diplomat in the Indian High Commission in Colombo has given some comments on what should be India's next move. We just saw that there is a polarized mandate in Sri Lanka, that is the elections have been more or less polar based on religious ethnicity lines. So the diplomat is telling this is where India can actually help the new president elect. Considering the cultural ties, India must help Gautabaya to resolve the tensions in the north and east regions. Because as you can see in this picture, when it comes to development, the north and the north eastern parts which are occupied by the minorities are the least developed areas. So the diplomat is suggesting that India can also go for more development projects in these areas, in tie up with the new government that is to be formed in Sri Lanka. So this will be a win-win situation for India and Sri Lanka. To summarize today, we have seen about the geography, the demography and the polity of Sri Lanka in brief and about the recent presidential elections where Gautabaya Rajabaksha has won. There would be many more news articles and editorials on the neighborhood relations of India with Sri Lanka, which will appear in the upcoming days. So we shall be seeing more on Sri Lanka and more on the neighborhood relations in the days to come. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the next news article. This news article is about the illegal trade of certain endangered species in the city of Hyderabad. See they have mentioned certain animals like slow loris, then Indian star tortoise and then soft shell turtle. Out of these three animals we do not know which is the exact species of soft shell turtle which they have mentioned. So let us restrict our discussion today to slow loris and Indian star tortoise. So we shall be seeing the protection status of both these animals. First, let us see the protection status under IUCN, Red List of Threatened Species that is the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Both these animals are classified as vulnerable under the IUCN Red List. Next, let us see their categorization under convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora that is sites which is regarding the trade of the animals. If you see slow loris is categorized under appendix one and Indian star tortoise is categorized under appendix two. So what is appendix one and appendix two? Appendix one includes all those species which are threatened with extinction and which are affected by trade or which may be affected by trade. So there is a strict regulation for the trade in the specimens of these species. Whereas if you see the appendix two it includes all those species which are not threatened with extinction as of now but they may be threatened with extinction in the future. So their trade needs to be regulated at present. So these are those species which come under appendix two. So here slow loris comes under appendix one which means it is a species which is threatened with extinction as per sites and Indian star tortoise comes under appendix two which means it is likely to be threatened with extinction in the future. Next, let us see the protection status of both these animals in India as per the YLF protection act of 1972. Slow loris is listed under schedule one part one of this YLF protection act of 1972. So what is the schedule one? It means all those animals which are listed in schedule one have absolute protection and the penalties are high for any of the violations that involve with the animals that are listed under the schedule one. Next, if you see the Indian star tortoise is categorized under schedule four of the YLF protection act of 1972 it is also protected under the schedule and if you see in terms of penalties they are less when compared to the penalties for those animals that are listed under schedule one. So whenever you are studying about certain important animals or birds or amphibians just try to know their protection status under IUC and Red List of Threatened Species then their protection status under sites and their protection status under WPA that is the YLF protection act of 1972. Now let us move on to the next news article. Next, let us see two small news articles which is relevant from physical geography in your prelims exam point of view. First let us see about Dudwa National Park. See this Dudwa National Park is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located in two districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh in Kherian Lakhimpur district and this national park is located in India-Napal border and if you see this national park was declared as a tiger reserve in the year 1987-88. So this is all you need to know about from this news article know the location in which state it is located and if that particular national park is a tiger reserve or not. Next, let us see this news article. This news article mentions about the river Netravati. So let us see about this river from geography point of view. See this is one of the west flowing rivers of India. If you see some of the other major west flowing rivers of India are the rivers of Narmada, Tapti, then Sabarmati, Mahi, Montovie that is Vadi which is flowing through Goa and also Pampa which is flowing in the state of Kerala and also the river of Bharathapura which is flowing in the state of Kerala. So these are some of the major west flowing rivers in India. Now let us see this Netravati river. It originates in Chikmaguru district in the state of Karnataka from the Bangra Balige valley which is located in Kudremuk Hills and if you see the city of Mangalur or Mangaluru is located at the mouth of this river where it joins the Arabian Sea. So whenever you are trying to study about rivers try to know the major cities which are located near the mouth of this river or along the course of this river and try to know if that particular river is a west flowing river or an east flowing river. So this is all you need to know more from this news article. Now have a look at the practice question. Let us move on to the practice questions discussion session. Now look at this question. Consider the following statements regarding composting. They have given three statements and they have asked you to choose the correct statements. Now look at the first statement. It tells that composting can be both aerobic and anaerobic. This statement is correct. It can be either aerobic or anaerobic. Aerobic means in the presence of oxygen and anaerobic means in the absence of oxygen. Now see the second statement. It tells that anaerobic composting takes comparatively lesser time than aerobic composting. This statement is wrong because in aerobic composting the organic materials decompose quickly but it requires high amount of maintenance whereas in anaerobic composting it takes several years to decompose and it typically happens only in the landfills because the organic materials are piled up and they break down naturally in a natural process. And this type of composting process does not require any type of maintenance. So it is anaerobic composting which takes more time when compared to aerobic composting. So the second statement goes wrong. Now look at the third statement. It tells that carbon dioxide and heat are the byproducts of composting. Know that in the process of composting the microorganisms break down the organic matter and this produces carbon dioxide, water, heat and humus. Now if you read the statement it tells that carbon dioxide and heat are the byproducts of composting. Know where it is mentioned they are the only byproducts of composting. Maybe if that superlative term only is mentioned then the statement is likely to go wrong. So the first and the third statements are correct here. The correct answer here is option C one and three only because the question is asked you to select the correct statements. Now look at the next question. The question is consider the following countries. The countries are Ecuador, Gabon, Maldives, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Somalia and they have asked through which of these countries does the equator pass. Now look at this picture. You can see that equator passes through these countries Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil in the South American continent. Then in African continent equator passes through the countries of Gabon, Satom and Princip, then the Republic of Congo, then Democratic Republic of Congo, then through Uganda, Somalia and Kenya and in Asian continent if you see it passes through the countries of Maldives and Indonesia and equator also passes through the Kiribati Islands. Now if you look here in this question you can find that equator does not pass through the country of Sri Lanka and also know that equator does not passes through India as well but it passes through Maldives. So here the correct answer is option D one, two, three, four and six only. Now look at this question. The question is consider the following pairs with their respective IUCN status. They have given three animals and IUCN status for those animals and we have to choose the correct pairs. Now look at the first pair slowloris vulnerable. This pair is correct. It is listed under the vulnerable category in the IUCN red list of threatened species. See this slowloris is a nocturnal animal. Nocturnal means which is awake in the night and which sleeps in the day or we can tell that the animal which is active in the night time. See these slowloris are in serious danger of extinction. The biggest threat to their survival is the illegal trade in wildlife. They are traded illegally. If you see today's news is that a person was arrested because of the illegal trade of slowloris. The reason is because these slowloris are being kept as pets in the households and therefore it pushes these animals closer to extinction. So this is the reason why slowloris is being listed in a vulnerable category under the IUCN red list of threatened species. So the first pair is correct. Now look at the second pair Indian star tortoise Endanger. This pair is wrong. Know that Indian star tortoise is also listed under the vulnerable category of the IUCN red list of threatened species. If you see these Indian star tortoises are generally found in the dry areas and in the scrub forests in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. And here you have to note that the Indian star tortoises are poached to cater to illegal life pet trade and they are also being poached for food and also for the medicines market. So the second pair is wrong. Now look at the third pair. It is given as national heritage animal of India Endanger. So what is this national heritage animal of India? You have to know that elephant is the national heritage animal of India and elephant is listed under the endangered category in the IUCN red list of threatened species. So the third pair is correct. Now the main challenges which the Indian elephants face is the human-animal conflicts. Often we can see news that elephants die because of rail accidents especially in the north eastern areas and in Kerala and sometimes because of the road accidents and also sometimes the elephants intrude into the agricultural areas and also sometimes into the plantation areas in the hill regions for food. So these are some of the challenges which the elephants face and they are listed under endangered category in the IUCN red list of threatened species. So here the first and the third pair are correct. The correct answer is option A 1 and 3. Since the question asks you to select the correctly matched pairs. Now look at the next question. The question is considered the following statements. They have given two statements which is regarding Netravati river and you need to select the correct answer. Now look at the first statement. It tells that Netravati river is the only west flowing river in the state of Karnataka. Now whenever the superlative only comes always reread the statement. Even if you can mind map the state of Karnataka one can easily tell that Netravati river is not the only west flowing river because there are many rivers streams and rivulets which flow westwards. Some of the major west flowing rivers in the state of Karnataka are Kali Nadi, then river Sharavati and also river Netravati. And here note that joke false is located on river Sharavati. So the first statement goes wrong here. Now look at the second statement. It tells that Mangalore port is located in the mouth of the Netravati river. Yes, this statement is correct. The city of Mangalore and the Mangalore port is located in the mouth of Netravati river. Also note that Karvar port which is located in the northern part of Karnataka is located on the mouth of Kali Nadi river. So here the second statement is correct. Now this question asks you to choose the correct statements. The correct answer is option B2 only since only the second statement is correct. Next let us see a mains question. Look at the question. The question is India is facing dual challenges of declining GDP growth and rising unemployment rate. Discuss the causes for slowdown in the Indian economy and suggest suitable measures for the sustainable growth in India. Now you can split this question into three parts. One is the first statement which is a quotation India is facing dual challenges like the declining GDP growth and rising unemployment rate. Try to give facts on GDP growth rate and on the unemployment rate. In the second part of the question you have to discuss the causes for slowdown in Indian economy and in the final part you have to suggest suitable measures for sustainable growth in India. Since this question asks you to write an answer for 250 words try to give 30 to 40 words for introduction then 80 to 100 words for the other two parts causes for slowdown and for suggesting suitable measures and finally 40 to 50 words for the conclusion. Please post your answers in the comment section and our team shall review in the next 5 to 7 working days. With this we come to the end of the analysis of all the news articles taken up for today's discussion and also the practice questions discussion session. If you like the video press the like button, comment and share the video and do subscribe to Shankar IA's Academy YouTube channel for latest videos and updates. Stay focused and motivated friends. Thank you.