 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi news analysis by Shankarayis Academy for the date 12th October 2019 These are the list of articles chosen for today's analysis It has been given along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Tiruvannanda Pram and Hyderabad editions The link for the handwritten notes and the time stamping for the displayed articles is provided in the description box And for the benefit of smartphone users the time stamping is also provided in the comment section Let's move on to our first article analysis for the day. This news article discussion is based on write to information act The syllabus relevant to the discussion of this news article is given here for your reference The news article discusses about the factors that are weakening the write to information act of 2005 So first let us discuss the act in detail. The write to information act 2005 or the RTI act is one of the most empowering Legislations for the citizens of India. It has been used extensively by people to raise questions and to keep the government Accountable, so RTI promotes transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority Also know that the chapter 2 of the act mentions the write to information from public authorities So who are public authorities? Public authorities include authority or body or institution And these public authority should be constituted by the Constitution or by a law made by the parliament or state legislature or even by Notification that is issued by the appropriate government. A public authority is also a body which is Substantially controlled or financed either directly or indirectly by the funds provided by the government Then a non-government organization that is substantially financed either directly or indirectly By the funds provided by the government is also a public authority under the purview of this act Based on the provisions of this act an individual can file an RTI by paying rupees 10 But when an applicant is belonging to below poverty line category She or he does not need to pay this amount The RTI act mandates that the public authority has to reply within 30 days from the date of receiving the RTI application If the demanded information is not received by the applicant on time Then the act has provided for two stages of appeal The first appeal may be filed to the first appellate authority Who is an officer senior in the rank to the public information officer of that organization? And the second appellate authority is the Central Information Commission at the central level and at the state level The second appellate authority is the State Information Commission So now let us compare the Central Information Commission and the State Information Commission The Central Information Commission or CIC is appointed based on section 12 of this act And SIC is appointed based on section 15 of the act The CIC entertains complaints and appeals which are pertaining to officers and public sector undertakings Which function under the central government and also under union territories Then the State Information Commission or the SIC entertains complaints and appeals that are pertaining to officers Then public sector undertakings etc. Which functions under the concerned state government Now let us discuss the organizational structure and appointment of CIC and SIC The CIC consists of a Chief Information Commissioner and not more than 10 Information Commissioners The Chief Information Commissioner and the Information Commissioners are appointed by the president On the recommendation of a committee which is consisting of the Prime Minister The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and the Union Cabinet Minister Who will be nominated by the Prime Minister Also know that the Prime Minister is the chairperson of this committee Then in the State Information Commission it consists of a Chief Information Commissioner And also not more than 10 Information Commissioners like the CIC But in the case of SIC they are appointed by the governor on the recommendation of a committee Which consists of the Chief Minister as the chairperson Then the leader of opposition in the Legislative Assembly And also a State Cabinet Minister who will be nominated by the Chief Minister So the Information Commissioners at the central level are appointed by the president At the state level they are appointed by the governor Now let us discuss the tenure The Chief Information Commissioner and other Information Commissioners at CIC Shall hold office for a term of 5 years Or they can hold the office until they attain the age of 65 years Or whichever is earlier But remember that they are not eligible for reappointment This tenure is same for State Chief Information Commissioner And the State Information Commissioners So what is the procedure for removal of the members of the commission For the CIC president can remove the members of CIC on the ground of proved misbehavior or incapacity But this can be done only after a Supreme Court inquiry on the cause for removal President can also remove the members on some other grounds also Such as if the members are adjudged and insolvent Then if they engage in any other paid employment during their term of office Or if they are unfit to continue due to informity of mind or body in the opinion of the president etc In this informity of the mind or body means the physical or mental weakness of the member And when we say adjudged and insolvent It means that the member has been declared as unable to pay debt or liabilities by a judicial procedure Then with respect to State Information Commission The governor can remove the members of the State Information Commission On the grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity But this can be done only after a Supreme Court inquiry into the set cause for removal And not the high court Then like in the case of members of Central Information Commission The governor can also remove the members of State Information Commission on other grounds also Like if they are adjudged and insolvent They engage in another paid employment during their term of office Or if they are unfit to continue due to informity of mind or body in the opinion of the president etc So what are the powers and functions of the State Information Commission and the Central Information Commission It is the duty of the CIC to inquire into complaints regarding Non-appointment of a public information officer in a public authority Then it is the duty of the CIC to inquire regarding refusal of requested information also Then also the CIC can inquire into the complaints If any given information is incomplete or misleading Then the commission has a suo motu power to look into reasonable issues We know that suo motu means the commission can look into the issue even without any complaints For example, if the commission is satisfied that the information provided was misleading Then it can take action on its own without receiving any complaints also Then it is to be noted that the Central Information Commission has the power of a civil court While inquiring into the complaints Just 2-3 days before we discussed another commission which has the power of a civil court That commission is National Commission for Scheduled Curses So remember this Then the Central Information Commission shall submit an annual report to the central government also Remember that they will not submit an annual report to the president Then with respect to the State Information Commission the functions are similar at the state level The functions are similar to the Central Information Commission But the State Information Commission shall submit an annual report to the state government and not to the governor So this means the Central Information Commission, the State Information Commission And also the National Commission for Scheduled Curses All 3 have the power of a civil court while inquiring into the complaints Now the section 20 of this act is important today Because it deals with penalties for non-compliance We have to discuss this section for better understanding of the news article According to this section the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission Can have the power to decide on appeal or complaints on public information officers This is when the public information officer or the PIO has refused to receive an application for information Or when the PIO is not furnishing information on specified time Or the PIO is providing incomplete information etc So based on these grounds if an appeal or complaint is filed to the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission They can decide on that matter Then the CIC or the SIC shall also impose a penalty of 250 rupees each day Till the refused application is received or the demanded information is furnished But also know that the amount of such penalty shall not exceed 25,000 rupees But before any such penalty is imposed on the PIO The PIO must be given a reasonable opportunity for being heard The burden of proving that the PIO acted reasonably and diligently is on the PIO himself Then the section 20 also mentions that the CIC or SIC can take disciplinary actions against the public information officer Who persistently makes the violations that we just now discussed Now with this background in mind let us discuss the news article The news article is based on a report titled Report card on the performance of information commissions in India The report was prepared by two NGOs that are working to promote transparency and accountability in the government So now let us look into the findings of the report The report is based on information from 22 State Information Commissions These commissions disposed of almost 1.17 lakh cases during January 2018 to March 2019 According to the news article among the disposed cases around 69,000 cases would have been penalized for violation of section 20 of the RTI Act But penalties were imposed on just 2,091 cases Which amounts to 3% of the cases where violations took place And we know that the State and Central Information Commissions are the courts of appeal under the RTI Act The report says that in 2018 to 2019 the Central and State Information Commissions failed to impose penalties in almost 97% of the cases Where violations regarding the provisions of the Act took place Now here by violation we mean unnecessary delay in providing information or not providing the legitimate information at all etc This means that the government officials are hardly facing any punishment for the violations with respect to the provisions of the RTI Act Then another worrying fact is that the State Information Commissions of Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura Did not impose penalties in any cases at all And among the surveyed State Commissions only 10 State Commissions invoked the power to recommend disciplinary action against those officials Who were persistently violating the provisions of the Act So this means that the inaction by the State and Central Information Commissions will weaken the provisions of the Act Because this inaction tells the public information officers that even if the law is violated by not providing legitimate information They will not be penalized So this will generate a culture of impunity among the non-compliant officers Impunity means being exempted from punishment So if there is a culture of impunity then the fundamental purpose for which the Right to Information Act was brought will be destroyed Because the Act was brought to bring in more transparency in the government departments Then the report also mentions about the rising pendency of cases in the State and Central Commissions According to the news article there were 2.18 lakh cases that were pending with commissions till March 2019 And as of October 2019 the Central Information Commission alone had over 33,000 pending cases So this high rate of pendency will further delay the resolution of new appeals So according to the news article a new appeal will take more than 1.5 years for resolution Then another big issue mentioned in the report is the vacancies in the Information Commission As we know the Central Information Commission includes a Chief Information Commissioner and not more than 10 Information Commissioners The report says that 4 out of 11 posts in the Central Information Commission are yet to be filled So this would further aggravate the issue of pending cases As we know RTI is considered one of the most successful legislations in the independent India Because it empowered the citizens with the right to ask questions to the authority So if a culture of impunity or not getting punished for violation develops And if the people are not getting legitimate information or if there is rise in the pendency of the cases Then it will make the citizens to lose hope in the act And this will make the act as a dead legislation So before this happens the Central and State governments should take appropriate actions With this we have come to the end of this news article discussion The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session Moving on to the next news article discussion which is about Globe Program The syllabus linking of the topic is given here for your better understanding The news article states that the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment That is KSCST is all set to roll out a Globe Program And it aims at encouraging students to closely observe and interact with their immediate environment Now note that such kind of programs are important for the prelims examination So in this context it becomes important to know about the Globe Program Globe is the acronym for the global learning and observations to benefit the environment It is an international science and education program It provides students and the public with the opportunity to participate in the data collection And the scientific process across the globe Therefore Globe contributes meaningfully to our understanding about the earth system And also about global environment Now here you have to note one point The Globe Program is an initiative of the US government And it was announced on Earth Day in 1994 And we all know that Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd every year So in the 1994 of Earth Day this Globe Program was announced by the US government But the worldwide implementation of the Globe Program was launched in 1995 only Also know that Globe is sponsored by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration Which is nothing but NASA So NASA is sponsoring this Globe Program And internationally Globe is implemented through government-to-government agreements With each country partner which are responsible for in-country activities That is they are responsible for activities inside their own countries Then NASA has the primary responsibility for administering the government-to-government agreements Then with respect to India if you see Globe Program is promoted by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change And Kerala is one of the states which is selected for its implementation That is the news today The news article mentions that the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment Is the state level agency for the implementation of the Globe Program in Kerala But at the national level the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Has appointed another nodal agency The nodal agency for the implementation of Globe India Program is Indian Environmental Society Or in short IES This IES is a non-profit development organization It has been promoting environmental improvement initiatives In India since 1972 And this IES is active in environmental education, biodiversity conservation, information dissemination Solid-based management, eco-technology and also in heritage conservation So environmental education has been the centerpiece of all programs of this Indian Environmental Society The organization is militarily operating in different states of our country And also remember it is the nodal agency to implement the Globe Program in India at the national level With this we have come to the end of this news article discussion This displayed practice question will be discussed in the last Moving on to the next discussion which is based on this editorial This editorial is about China's model of development and the role of India and China in the global world order The author of this editorial is a former human diplomat The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this editorial is given here for your reference The author of this editorial mentions that both China and India are civilization states So what is a civilization state? It means a country that claims to represent not just a historic territory Or represents a particular language or a particular ethnic group But the country also represents a distinctive civilization in the historical past as well So the author is calling both China and India as a civilization state Then the author is also telling that both India and China are neighbors And they are also members of a future global triumvirate Here the term global triumvirate means a group of three people or a group of three who will rule the world In this context the author is mentioning that USA, China and India are the part of the future global triumvirate According to the author the western theories and ideas do not explain the actions of civilization countries like China and India It is because both China and India are addressing unique national problems Also both these countries are having new development models which is different from the rest of the models that is followed across the world The author is telling that both the development models of China and India are implicitly questioning That is indirectly questioning the western ideas and institutions And as per the author's views both China and India are wishing to have a legitimate that is a recognized space in setting global rules And also according to the author the developmental goals are almost same for both China and India But the way how both these countries approach the goals are divergent that is it is different So the author is explaining the Chinese approach towards achieving its two goals The major part of this editorial is about the Chinese approach and how the party system of China has helped China in achieving its goals So we shall first be seeing the goals then the pillars of the development of China and then the party system of China First the author has discussed two centenary goals of China To know what are these centenary goals you must know a little about China's modern history The Communist Party of China or the CPC came into being in 1921 And in the year 1949 the People's Republic of China was established And now China is a communist nation which is ruled by the Communist Party of China since 1949 To mark the 100th anniversary of these two important dates the CPC set two goals that are to be met by 2021 and 2049 respectively These two goals are called as centenary goals that is goals related to the 100th anniversary One goal is that by the year 2021 when the Communist Party of China will celebrate its centenary China's goal is to build a moderately prosperous society in China in all respects This means that China's development must improve the lives of all its people Particularly those who are below or near the country's poverty line Then the second goal is that by the year 2049 when the country of People's Republic of China celebrates its centenary China's goal is to build a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious This is the reason why much of the reform being pushed by China in recent years aims to prevent and control major risks Aims to elevate that is remove poverty then to curb pollution and it aims to increase more structural reforms All these actions are taken forward by China so that there will be a sustained and healthy economic and social development The ultimate aim is to build China as an advanced socialist nation by the year 2049 So this is with respect to the two goals of China Now let us come back to the editorial discussion Author is noting that the Chinese leadership has learnt few lessons after the collapse of Soviet Union See the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic or the USSR split into 15 countries There are many reasons why the Soviet Union split into multiple countries and one among them is economic reason The overall economic growth of Soviet Union was low before the disintegration of Soviet Union This was due to improper policies of the USSR government So China has learnt a lesson from USSR So based on this the author is telling that China believed that prosperity of China comes with continued growth in household incomes China has also envisioned that its people must be rich before they get old So China believed in economic stability So how did China try to achieve economic stability? For this the author has discussed about four pillars or four ways of approach The first pillar is about defining China's growth China monitored its growth in terms of GDP and also in terms of per capita income Here per capita income means the average income of a person In this way China was able to develop its economy So according to the author China is now the second largest economy and it has foreign exchange reserves of over 3 trillion US dollars Then the author is comparing the income of the middle class of China with that of USA For the time period 1998 to 2008 Between this time period the income of the middle class in USA grew only 4% But the income of the middle class of China grew 70% So China made sure that its economy grew and also along with this the income of the middle class also grew The second pillar which China focused is on the infrastructure China realized that it is important to have a proper infrastructure for supporting the economic activity And also the middle class population in the cities So China built necessary infrastructure According to the author the construction accelerated from the year 2000 And in 3 years China added cement capacity that is equal to what the US actually added in 100 years And by the year 2013 the infrastructure achieved saturation levels Especially in cement, steel and electricity generation in China By then more than half of China's population had moved to the cities and also into the middle class So the standard of well-being improved quite a lot like in the fields of education, health, municipal services and public transport And according to the author the standards of well-being of Chinese is one of the best in the world Then the third pillar which the author speaks about is the sustainable environment practices of China on its path of development According to the author China's choice of development pathway used much less natural resources when compared to the western nations China's growth is carbon efficient especially when the population is taken into account And according to the author China has also ensured to address its environmental concerns And China has an emissions trading system which has been instituted to curb emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants Now also know that China launched this trading system in the year 2017 So what is an emissions trading scheme? It is an essential market based incentive system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions It involves setting a limit on total carbon emissions on the polluting companies And within the set limits the polluting companies like coal power plants can buy carbon credits from the less polluting companies This scheme grants rewards to the less polluting clean companies and it also imposes financial burden on the polluting companies So the ultimate aim of this trading scheme is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions Then in addition to these the practices of Chinese people in the fields of electricity consumption, car ownership and food waste has remained one-tenth that of the US According to the author this trend is not changing even though the incomes has risen in China This is because of the civilizational values of China and these values are very different than the western values Then the next pillar which the author has discussed is the technology pillar According to the author China has become a global technology leader Even though there was no demand for technology in the past few decades China envisioned the need for technology It believed that technology would be one of the major driving factors for growth And China has built high speed trains and nuclear plants and also at present Huawei is the global leader in 5G technology Then China has also grown in the areas of artificial intelligence and quantum computing According to the author China's national goal of global leadership in artificial intelligence and in quantum computing is serious enough to cause problems with the US We have been seeing throughout our discussion that China's model is different from the west It is mainly because of the political party system in China According to the author the communist party of China is different from the political parties in the west In China an individual has to be invited to become a member of the communist party of China Also China conducts elections at the grass root level that is at the village and township level And the party is represented in each department in all the universities in China Also the author is telling that China's leaders led to the development of China throughout its history The first set of leaders consolidated China's territory The next group of leaders were engineers who pushed the infrastructure growth in China And the present leaders are urban administrators So China is now less dependent on the world So China is becoming a more of a high technology consumption led economy But Chinese economy also faces certain problems like the US economy One of the major issues is that the children of the urban middle class now want middle class employment Currently even though employment is present the wages are too low So China believes that the digital economy is generating middle class jobs now And also the author feels that the Belt and Road Initiative of China will help China to come out of the middle income trap So the communist party of China is ensuring its focus on the two centenary goals At the same time the party also recognizes the fact that China cannot dominate US Because of its size, population and technological advancements We see two thirds of global GDP is in Asia So the author is telling that instead of focusing on competing with US China's foreign policy focus is really the Eurasian landmass Where it is not directly competing with US Here the author mentions that China recognizes one fact The fact is that China will achieve its goal only if there is an Asian century This means that present century is going to be the century which has Asian countries dominance globally So to achieve this China needs to work with other civilization power in Asia Which is India It is because India is talking about its own model of global order According to the author the two orders that is the development models of China and India Can overlap in certain sectors and areas But if they are to work together according to the author India and China has to maintain the status quo at the border And the non-aggression pact can be signed between the countries in the future So that both the countries shall not engage in war for the disputed territories Finally the author is suggesting that discussions could begin between India and China In building the concept of Asian century So that both India and China peacefully coexist like it has been throughout the history So the author is concluding by saying that the present second informal summit Which is happening at Mamalapuram in Tamil Nadu This summit is a great opportunity for both India and China to improve its ties at the time When the western nations like USA are reevaluating their ties with China and India With this we come to the end of this news article discussion The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session This discussion is based on the indigenous research and development in the defence sector The syllabus relevant to the discussion of this news article is given here for your reference The news article talks about a statement made by the vice chief of army staff The statement was on the need for indigenous research and development in the defence sector According to the vice chief of army staff India is good in technology But we failed to update it with the times So now we are heavily dependent on the defence import from countries such as Russia, USA, Israel etc So time has come for focusing on indigenous research and development So that we can reduce the defence imports The news article mentions that the vice chief of army staff has stressed on the make process with the industry So what is this make process? In the year 2016 the ministry of defence had launched the new defence procurement procedure Or in short DPP This DPP laid the road map for procurement of defence equipment in the future The procurement policy had two wide categories One is make and the other is buy It means making the requirement equipment or buying them In this the buy category was further classified into many categories One is buy indigenously designed, developed and manufactured Or in short buy IDDM The second is buy Indian which means the product can be indigenously manufactured But the design may be foreign Then the third is buy global This means that the product can be made in other countries Like this there are some other classifications also Now similar to this the make category is also further classified into make one and make two In this the make one defence projects are government funded The government will fund 90% of the project in a phased manner And the make two program will be industry funded It envisages the participation of Indian industries in designing, developing and manufacturing defence equipment The defence procurement procedure of 2016 gives a clear preference to buy IDDM, buy Indian and make Indian Over the buy global and buy and make global categories This shows a clear shift towards indigenisation of defence sector The policy also envisages the creation of a major domestic defence industry It is to cater to the country's own needs as well as for the export purposes This effort to foster indigenous capabilities in design, development and manufacture Is in line with the government's vision of make an India initiative In this context we must discuss the foreign direct investment that is permitted in the defence sector As of now foreign investment up to 49% is permitted under the automatic route And the foreign investment which is beyond 49% and up to 100% is permitted through government approval Then by automatic route we mean that the foreign investor do not require any prior approval From the RBI or the government of India for investment But the approval is required in case of government route With the objective of boosting domestic defence production The government also formed two industrial corridors in India One was in Uttar Pradesh and one is in Tamil Nadu These dedicated corridors will help to integrate the functioning of existing ordinance factories Ordinance factories are the factories which make military weapons under the Ministry of Defence These dedicated corridors also help to integrate the vendors who are working with the defence public sector units The defence public sector units are Bharat Electronic Limited, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited etc And the other allied industries These corridors will help to increase the domestic defence production Then another measure by the government to boost innovation ecosystem for defence in India Is the Innovations for Defence Excellence program Or in short IDEX It was launched in the year 2018 This program is aimed at creation of an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in the defence and aerospace It will be done by engaging industries including the MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators Then research and development institutes and also academia In this program the government will support the research and development through grants and funds Now let us come back to the news article discussion The news article says that in a bid to encourage more participation of the private sector Certain simplifications were made in the make-to-program recently Now they include industry-friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criteria Then minimal documentation Then provisions for considering proposals which are suggested by industry or individuals Then local sourcing terms that is the terms for buying from domestic market etc According to the news article this would encourage the participation of more micro, small and medium enterprises That is the MSMEs And it will also encourage defence-related start-ups Then the news article also mentions that the vice chief of army staff has urged the participating industries to make products that are cheap and robust This means the industries have to focus on producing defence equipment that are cheap but efficient The news article also mentions that Indian army will set up a project facilitation team And this team will assist the industry and the start-ups that are participating under make-to category And this assistance will be during design and development stage This means that the trial infrastructure, technical inputs and other facilities which is required by the industry Will be provided by the facilitation teams With this we come to the end of this news article discussion That is the practice question will be discussed in the last session This news article discussion is based on Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference The news article talks about the herpetophonal survey that was conducted in the Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary So first let us see about the Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary This sanctuary is located in the state of Kerala It is contiguous, that is it is continuous to the protected areas of Nagarhole And Bandipur of Karnataka on the north-eastern side And it is continuous to the Mudumalai of Tamil Nadu on the south-east side Also remember that Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary is also a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve The highest peak within this sanctuary is Karottimala Karottimala has an altitude of 1158m Then some of the important rivers that originate or flow through this sanctuary include Kabini River, Cherupura, Bawali Pura, Kannaram Pura, Kurichiyath Pura, Chadalattu Pura etc This wildlife sanctuary is rich in biodiversity There are a wide variety of flora and fauna That is plants and animals are present in this wildlife sanctuary So now let us discuss the news article The news article mentions that the first phase of four-day herpetophonal survey Happened in the Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary In this herpetophona means the reptiles and amphibians that live in a particular region So the objective of this herpetophonal survey is to identify the reptile and amphibian species That are present in the Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary The survey was organized by the Forest and Wildlife Department of Kerala In association with the Kerala Forest Research Institute Malabar Natural History Society And also by one of the Zoological Society of London's program Which is evolutionary, distinct and globally endangered species program In short, edge species program The survey has recorded 54 species of reptiles 44 species of amphibians were recorded Amphibians are the cold-blooded vertebrate animal Which comprises of frogs, toads, salmanders and Sicilians Out of the 44 species of amphibians There were 42 species of frog and 2 species of Sicilians Here Sicilians are the amphibians that look like large worms or slick snakes And also the survey has found that a total of 30 out of the 44 species of the amphibians And out of the 14 of the 54 species that were recorded in the survey Were endemic to western guards Endemic means the species are native And they are restricted to that particular place That is, in this case these species are restricted to western guards Then the herpetophonal survey has also identified 9 new species of amphibians And 5 new species of reptiles in the sanctuary The 9 new amphibians are Malabar, Torrent, Toad, Indian Pond frog Kerala, Vati frog Minervaria frog Vyanar, Torrent frog Nilfamarai, Narrow-mouthed frog Vub-knight frog Rouse-intermediate golden-backed frog And rocky terrain-leaping frog Then the 5 new species of reptiles which were found in the sanctuary Include common sandbow Brown wine snake Beaked worm snake Ceylon cat snake And collared cat snake Now all these names are not that much important for example What is important for our examination Is IUCN listing, sites listing And also in which part of the schedule They are protected in the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 Now among the amphibians The conservation status for 2 amphibians is available In this the Malabar, Torrent, Toad and the Minervaria frog Are listed as endangered species under the IUCN red list of threatened species Then apart from this In the newspaper some pictures of frogs have been given Like monitor lizard, ponmoody bush frog Then small tree frog In this know that ponmoody bush frog is classified as Critically endangered in the IUCN red list of threatened species And the small tree frog is classified as Endangered under the IUCN red list Then the monitor lizard is listed under Appendix 1 of sites that is Convention on international trade in endangered species Then this monitor lizard is also protected in India under schedule 1 Part 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 So this is all about this news article The split practice question will be discussed in the last session We have come to the last session for the day That is the practice questions discussion session This first question is based on Central information commission The first statement states The members of the commission are appointed by the president On the recommendation of the prime minister In this the first half of the statement is correct The members of the commission are appointed by the president That is the chief information commissioner And all the information commissioners are appointed by the president But they are appointed by the president On the recommendation of a committee Which consists of prime minister The leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha And union cabinet minister Who is nominated by the prime minister And in this the prime minister is the chairperson of this committee So the members they are appointed based on the Recommendation of this committee So this statement is wrong The second statement states The commission has to submit an annual report To the president of India On the implementation of the Right to Information Act of 2005 During our discussion we saw that The commission has to submit an annual report Now remember that The commission has to submit the annual report To the central government Not the president And in case of state information commission They have to submit the annual report to the state government If you remember Recently in one of our discussions We would have discussed about the national commission For schedule cast Submits their annual report to the president So remember CIC does not submit to president SIC does not submit to president But NCC submits to president of India So this statement is wrong Here the question asks for the correct statement Here neither statement one is correct Nor statement two is correct So the final correct answer to this question is Neither one nor two Now this question is based on The global learning and observations To benefit the environment program That is the globe program Three statements are given We have to choose the correct statement The first statement states It aims to promote the teaching And learning of science Enhance environmental literacy And stewardship And promote scientific discovery Now this statement is correct From our analysis we have seen that The globe program aims to promote The teaching and learning of science And it enhances environmental literacy etc So this statement is correct The second statement states The global program is initiated by UNESCO Now this statement is wrong Because the globe program is initiated By the US government And it is sponsored by NASA So it is not initiated by UNESCO So this statement is wrong If you see the options Statement two is given in B, C and D So you can eliminate all these three So the final correct answer to this question is Option A, one only But if you see the third statement It states in India Ministry of environment forests And climate change is the nodal agency For the implementation of globe program Now this statement is wrong Because the ministry has appointed A society as a nodal agency The society is Indian environmental society This next question Is based on defence procurement Procedure 2016 First statement states It indicates a shift to indigenisation Of defence manufacturing This statement is correct Because during discussion we saw that The DPP 2016 Gives a clear preference to Buy IDDM Then buy Indian and make Indian Categories over the buy global And buy and make global categories So this shows a clear shift Towards indigenisation of defence sector The second statement states The make two program under DPP Will be funded and supported By the government Now during discussion we saw that The make category is classified into two One is make one and another Is make two and in that We saw that make one defence Projects are government funded And there will be a 90% Government funding for these projects And we also saw that the Make two program will be funded By industry So this makes this statement as a Wrong statement because it says It is funded by the government Here the question asks for the correct statement So the correct answer to this question Is option A one only Now this question is with respect To protected areas The question asks which among The following protected areas In the state of Kerala Four protected areas are given Nagarhole National Park Valley of Flowers National Park Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary Now based on today's discussion You can easily say that Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary situated in Kerala So the correct answer to this question is Option C Vayanad Wildlife Sanctuary Also know that Nagarhole National Park And the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary In the state of Karnataka And this Valley of Flowers National Park Is located in the state of Uttarakhand Now let us see one main question Based on GS paper 2 China and India need to work together For Asian Century Setting aside the differences Discuss Now this question Mentioned that China and India need to work Together for Asian Century Setting aside the differences So the keywords in this question are China India Asian Century Setting aside the differences So this question demands to explain The India-China relations And the present differences Which both the countries have And the differences which the countries Have to address so that India and China can contribute For the Asian Century Then you can explain what is Asian Century in 20 words Then you can mention a brief history About India-China relations In about 30 words India-China relations Like you can talk about the border issue Then trade related issues Then other geopolitical issues Including the current global tensions Which is affecting the bilateral relations And many other issues You can mention these issues in 60 words Then in the final part of the answer You can suggest ways to set aside The differences like Signing a non-aggression agreement Between India and China Then collaborating on certain developmental areas Then you can also suggest For inviting like-minded countries To collectively work to achieve Asian Century etc This part can be about 40 words Then finally you can conclude The answer by saying that The informal summits which is happening Between India and China Will boost the spirit of Bilateral relations between the countries With this we come to the end of today's Hindu news analysis 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