 A very good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindi newspaper analysis brought to you by Shankarayesh academy. Today's date is 22nd of February 2023, displayed here are the list of news articles that we are going to discuss today. So, without much delay, let us get into the first news article discussion. Now, take a look at this news article, it talks about the special OSTRO rupee account. See, the Russian banks were pushed out of the swift global payment systems by the US and its allies. This is due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I hope you all know about Swift. Swift is a global payment system which aids the cross-national trade payments between different countries. Now, because of this oyster of Russia from the swift, there emerged an urgent need to promote alternative trade mechanisms to facilitate bilateral trade between India and Russia. You all would have already known that India started importing a huge quantity of crude oil from Russia after the start of the Ukraine war. This further increased the need for the faster adaptation of a new trade facilitation mechanism between the two countries. Now, this is where rupee ruble trade arrangement became important. To implement this rupee ruble trade mechanism, new banking frameworks had to be developed and this special OSTRO rupee account which the article reports about is one such mechanism. So, in this discussion, we will learn about what is a OSTRO account and all the other important points discussed in the article. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here for your reference. You can go through it. Firstly, let us learn about the term OSTRO. See, the word OSTRO comes from a Latin word meaning yours. A OSTRO account is a bank account maintained by a foreign bank in another country in the country's local currency. If you cannot understand, let me give you an example to understand. See, a bank named A in Russia has an account with bank Q in India and the currency in bank A's bank account in bank Q is maintained in Indian rupees. I hope here you can clearly understand that a Russian bank A is having a bank account in Indian bank Q and the currency in the Russian bank's account is maintained in Indian rupees. Now, this account maintained by bank A with bank Q is what is called as OSTRO account for bank Q. Due to the existence of a OSTRO account, transactions within the country initiated by bank A become simpler just as if it is a regular transfer of funds from one account to another. Bank Q will facilitate these transactions in home currency. This process saves a lot of hassle. Here note that account holding entity does not need to have a physical presence in another country to carry out necessary transactions. So, to sum up, a OSTRO account is a bank account maintained by a foreign bank in another country in the country's local currency. Here in this example, the bank Q in which bank A has an account will facilitate transactions in and out of the bank account. Okay, I hope now you can get an clear picture. See, in July 2022, the Reserve Bank of India introduced a new mechanism for international trade settlements in rupees aiming to promote exports and facilitate imports. This mechanism allowed the Indian banks to maintain a OSTRO account of the foreign bank. Since the US dollar is the world's most used reserve currency, most of the international trade occurs in US dollars. For example, if an Indian buyer enters into a transaction with a seller from Germany, the Indian buyer has to first convert his rupee into US dollars. On the other end, the seller will receive those dollars which is then converted into Euro. Here, both the parties involved have to incur the conversion expenses and bear the risk of foreign exchange rate fluctuations. With the help of a OSTRO account now, instead of paying and receiving US dollars, the invoice will be made in Indian rupees if the counterparty has a rupee OSTRO account. As simple as that. Now, remember this special mechanism is an integral offshoot of correspondent banking. See, correspondent banking entails a bank to facilitate wire transfer, conduct business transactions, accept deposits and gather documents on behalf of another bank. So, this is all about OSTRO account and the important benefit it gives us. Now, coming to special OSTRO rupee account, which is in short called as SRVA. See, this SRVA is an additional arrangement to the existing system that uses freely convertible currencies and works as a complementary system. Here, freely convertible currency refers to the currency which can be easily and fully converted into any major currency. Here, the restrictions for conversion of a currency into any other currency is done away with. This new framework comprises of three important components which includes invoicing, exchange rate and settlement. Now, let us see about these three components in brief. First comes the invoicing stage. See, in this stage all the invoices involving the foreign and the domestic country are converted and calculated in the local currency terms. Here in India's case, it is done in Indian rupees. Now, coming to the second stage, this stage is the determination of exchange rate. See, according to the article, exchange rate between currencies is going to be based on the market determined rate. Okay. Now, the third stage involves the settlement of the dues. Here, the importers of goods from the foreign country which has a OSTRO account with an Indian bank pays his dues towards the foreign bank in its OSTRO account. Now, coming to exporters of the good to the foreign country, in this case, the foreign bank pays the local exporter here in India through its OSTRO account which is maintained in local currency. So, this is how two-way trade facilitation is done using the special OSTRO rupee account. I hope you can clearly see that this trade mechanism has finally done away with the dollar-based international trade system. Here, note that all the reportings of cross-border transactions are to be done in accordance with the guidelines under the Foreign Exchange Management Act FEMMA 1999. The Indian banks which are holding OSTRO accounts of foreign banks also need to comply with FATF standards and they are allowed to open multiple special OSTRO rupee accounts for different banks from the same country. So, this is all about the special OSTRO rupee account. Now, coming to the possible effects of this special OSTRO rupee account, see, according to the economic survey, this new framework could largely reduce the net demand of US dollars for the settlement needs of current account-related trade flows, thereby reducing our dependency on foreign currency for international trade purposes. This will ultimately make our country less vulnerable to external shocks. So, these are all the possible effects of the special OSTRO rupee framework. So, with this, we came to the end of this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we first saw what is a OSTRO account, then we saw how a special OSTRO account actually works, then we saw about some of the possible effects of the special OSTRO rupee framework. So, these learnt points. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, take a look at this editorial article. The article talks about the recent budget. It talks about various aspects of the budget, but the author is worried about the young population of India. The problem the author highlights here is not something new. There has always been a dilemma as to how the limited budget of the government should be spent. Should we spend more on capital creation and encourage growth or should we limit spending and reduce fiscal deficit? Actually, we can spend more on capital expenditure, but we have to borrow a lot. The government tax revenues are not that high or if we choose to limit spending and focus on reducing the fiscal deficit, what will happen? Investments will decrease and this will obviously have an impact on growth. Also, if our fiscal deficit is not kept limited, it will have many other effects on the economy like crowding out the private sector. So, considering all this, what do you think? Post your views in the comment section now. After hearing this discussion, again review your decision and post a comment again. We will see what the majority opinion is. So, now we will straight away get into the discussion. Before that, the syllabus relevant to this news article is highlighted here. You can go through it. See, to understand this discussion better, we will first see some major points from this year's budget and how it affects different sectors. Firstly, there is a considerable increase in CAPEX this year. CAPEX is nothing but capital expenditure. The figures under this head are expected to be $3.2 trillion higher in 2023 to 2024 compared to the corresponding level in 2022 to 2023. So, now what is the capital expenditure? See, the government capital expenditure refers to the amount spent by the government in the form of investment for creation of long-term assets. An example of capital expenditure could be the money spent on building national highways etc. Now, what will be the effect of this high CAPEX or capital spending? A higher CAPEX by the government will help generate demand in the economy. Then, it will also attract private investments over a longer term. Sounds great, right? Now, another important aspect of the budget is the fiscal deficit target. The government is committed to reducing the fiscal deficit to 5.9% of GDP. Here, the fiscal deficit is the shortfall in government's receipts relative to its expenditures. Now, what does this mean? See, the government is trying to make more capital expenditure. But in order to bring down the fiscal target, the government has to spend less, right? What the government in this budget has tried to do was, they have tried to reduce the expenditure on other sectors to compensate for the increased capital spending, okay? So, which are the sectors where government has tried to decrease its expenditure? See, compared to previous year, in 2023-24, the union government's expenditure on foot subsidy will fall by 90,000 crore rupees. Vertilizer subsidy will fall by 50,000 crore rupees. And on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, MGN RECA, by 30,000 crore rupees. So, on the other hand, there is a marginal increase in the allocation to health, education, agriculture and the Angan body scheme. But unfortunately, if we take into account the effect of inflammation, this marginal rise will not make a big impact. So, these are the implications that we can draw out of these budget figures. Now, you might wonder, should the social sector suffer at the cost of increased capital expenditure? The answer to this lies partly in the question, do increased capital expenditure really assure growth or is it just a gimmick? See, in India, investment as a proportion of GDP increased steadily during the mid-2000s and peaked at 42% in 2007. At that time, it was even better than China's record. So, this high investment translated into extremely fast rates of economic progress in the country which lasted until the early 2010s. But after the 2008 financial crisis, investment as a proportion of GDP was on a steady downward slide falling to 33.8% in 2013-14 and 27.3% in 2020-21. Now, with this trend in mind, the government has increased the investment spending for reviving the Indian economy. So, we can say increased capital expenditure is a much-needed step to revive the Indian economy. But here, the author questions the need to reduce spending on social sectors. The author says that the fear of the government about the fiscal deficit is unwarranted. He says this because only a small portion of India's public debt is owed to external agencies which just amounts to 4.2% of GDP in 2022. This does not pose a threat. Indian government's debt is held largely by domestic financial institutions like public sector banks. These are nothing but people's savings. So, in essence, if the government is borrowing from people and spending it on social sector, then it means that the government is actually spending on the welfare of its own people. It is in fact setting off a virtuous cycle. If the government is borrowing to build resources in the social sector, new jobs will be created. Higher incomes and higher levels of development will lead to the creation of fresh savings. Now, let me explain this using an image. See this image. If government borrows money from the savings of people and invest in sectors like health education, then it empowers people in term of education, skill and productivity. This will lead to economic growth, which means more salary to people. More salary means increased consumption. This means more demand for goods which will in turn encourage industries to increase their productive capacity. When capacity is increased, more employment opportunities are created because to produce more goods, more people are needed. This means more job for poor people. They get employed and they save money. Now, more money comes into the saving pool. This means more money available for the government to borrow. Now, the government can borrow again but more money this time and again make social sector investment and it can also pay off its debt as more people come into tax slabs. Thereby, fiscal deficit target can also be achieved. Now, considering all these, now you comment your opinion. Should we spend more on capital creation and increase growth or should we limit spending and reduce fiscal deficit? The author says that government should invest on people. See, in 2020, India accounted for 20.6% of worldwide population of 15 to 29 year olds, which means that in the coming years, one out of every five workers deployed globally could be an Indian. To read this demographic dividend, the government should focus equally on social sector spending. So, this is what is said in this news article discussion. Hope you got an insight about this year's budget and its implications. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, look at this picture given here. The birds you can see here are great flamingos. They are spotted over the Vatla wetlands which is located to the west of Ahamadabad in Gujarat. So, this is a good month to see great flamingos in such areas and they will fly away to other places when the weather gets warmer here. So, this is about the picture given here. In this context, let us learn few facts about flamingos from an exact perspective. See, flamingo is a type of wading bird. This means that a flamingo is a long-legged bird that walks in water to catch fish. So, they are large birds that are identifiable by their long necks, stick-like legs, and pink or reddish feathers. The word flamingo is said to come from the Spanish word flamenco, meaning fire. In this context, this word refers to the bright pink or orange colour of the feathers of such birds. Now, remember there are six major species of flamingos present across the world. They are greater flamingo, lesser flamingo, Chilean flamingo, Andean flamingo, James flamingo, and American flamingo. Among these flamingos, the greater flamingo is the tallest species where it grows to about 3.9 to 4.7 feet and it can weight up to 3.5 kilograms. Then the shortest species is the lesser flamingo, which grows to about 2.62 to 2.9 feet and weights up to 2.5 kilograms. Know that male flamingos of all species are larger than females. Now, talking about their habitat, see flamingos are usually water birds. So, they live in and around lagoons or lakes. And the water should tend to be saline or alkaline. Now, talking about their distribution, see American flamingos, they live in the West Indies, then in the northern part of South America and along the Galapagos Islands. Then the Chilean, Andean, and James flamingos, they live in South America and the greater and lesser flamingos, they live in Africa. Now, we will see about the species that are found in India. See the greater and lesser flamingos or the two species found in India. Both these species or resident species in India, they usually breed in the little ran of Cachin Gujarat. During the non-breeding season, the greater flamingos occur in the majority of the coastal states of India and in some inland wetlands. Whereas, the lesser flamingos have restricted distribution and are mainly confined to the western coast of the country. That is in the coast of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Now, talking about the diet of flamingos, say they eat lava, small insects, blue, green, and red algae, molasses, crustaceans, and small fish. So, their tendency to eat both vegetarian and meat makes them omnivorous. And remember, flamingos are pink in color because of the algae they consume. The algae are loaded with beta carotene, which is an organic chemical compound that contains a reddish-orange pigment. Now, coming to the conservation status of flamingos, see according to IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species, none of the species of flamingos are listed as endangered. However, the lesser flamingo, the Chilean flamingo, and the James flamingo are listed as near-threatened. Then the Andean flamingo is listed as vulnerable, and the Great flamingo and American flamingo are listed as least concerned. These are as per IUCN's Red List. So, that's all you have to know about this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we saw about flamingos. They are a type of wading bird and there are six major species of flamingos present across the world. The greater and lesser flamingos or the two species found in India, both these flamingos are resident species in India. And the important point that you have to note here is flamingos are pink in color because of the algae they consume. The algae are loaded with beta carotene, which is an organic chemical compound that contains a reddish-orange pigment. Okay, so these learn two points. Now, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, take a look at this news article. It talks about the phenomenon of El Nino and La Nina. The article also deals with the current status of weather patterns in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. So, through this discussion, we shall try to learn about the phenomenon of El Nino and La Nina. Also, we will see some of the important points discussed in the article. Now, remember there are three phases of variation of ocean temperatures in the tropical part of the Pacific Ocean. The first phase is called neutral, while the other two phases are called El Nino and La Nina. Firstly, let us see about the neutral phase of Pacific Ocean. See, in this phase, there is an accumulation of warm water in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. Now, this is due to the trade winds in the tropical region. As you all know, trade winds flow from east to west. The flow of easterly winds result in the accumulation of warmer water in the eastern Australian coast while cold water is accumulated in South America. This is what happens to sea surface temperature in Pacific Ocean during normal or neutral conditions. Now, let us want to see about El Nino. See, El Nino is a condition in which the easterly trade winds which flow from east to west in the tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean become weak. Due to this, warm water starts to accumulate in the western margins of South America. At the same time, east Australian coast comes into contact with cold water. Here, note one point, warm coastal water causes rain while cold coastal water causes drought. This El Nino condition which we saw just now, results in drought in east Australia while there is excess rain in the region of west and south America. So, this is about El Nino. The opposite of this phenomenon is El Nino. See, El Nino years trade winds are usually stronger which helps in accumulating warm sea water in eastern coast of Australia. This in turn results in cold water accumulation in western South America near the Peruvian coast. Normally, El Nino brings excess rainfall to Australia. This is because of the excess accumulation of warm water near its coast. So, this is about La Nina. Now remember, there is a complementary phenomenon to El Nino which is shortly known as ENSO. ENSO means El Nino South Oscillation. See, South Oscillation is an atmospheric condition in which high pressure is reported in Australia while low pressure is reported in South America. As I said already, this phenomenon results in drought in Australia while it causes flooding in Peruvian coast. So, we can say that El Nino and La Nina are phenomena which are linked to the sea surface temperature while El Nino South Oscillation is a phenomenon linked both to the atmosphere and sea surface temperature. So, now coming to today's article. See, before seeing about the content of the article, know that the past three years that is 2020, 21 and 22 were La Nina years. According to the article, it is said that the accumulation of warm water has reached its peak in western Pacific due to the continuous La Nina years. Due to this, there is a widespread chance that next year would be a El Nino year. And note that if there is a transition from a La Nina winter to an El Nino summer, then there will be a large monsoon deficit of up to 15%. The article further says that not only El Nino and La Nina plays an important role in determining the amount of monsoonal rains in India, Indian Ocean Dipole and other small regional weather phenomena also play a part cumulative in determining the monsoonal rainfall of our country. If you know about them, just mention that in the comment section. So, that's all regarding this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we saw in detail about El Nino, La Nina, then we saw about Enso and we saw about the predictions given in the article. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next news article discussion. Have a look at this news article. The news is that the Kerala Forest Department, along with its counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, are going to organize the first synchronized vulture survey. The survey is going to be conducted in select regions of the western guards on February 24, 25 and 26. See, every year the forest department in the state like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, they organize separate surveys at different times to count the remaining vulture population in South India, but this often result in counting duplications. So, the synchronized vulture survey in western guards will help in avoiding countering duplications. The news article further says that Vyanadu Vilev Sanjiri is the lone region where vultures thrive in Kerala. The Sanjiri harbors nearly 120 to 150 white-rumped vultures and less than 25 red-headed vultures. The occasional sightings of long billed vultures have also been reported in the Sanjiri. So, this is what is given in this news article discussion. In this context, let us learn about vultures in prelims perspective. As we all know, vultures are large birds and they live predominantly in the tropical and subtropical regions. The vultures do not hunt for food. Instead, they feed on the remains of dead animals. By doing so, they help in maintaining the clean environment. Now, coming to the vultures in India, a total of nine species of vultures are found in India. They are white-rumped vulture, Indian vulture, slender-billed vulture, red-headed vulture, bearded vulture, Egyptian vulture, Cenarius vulture, Gryphon vulture and Himalayan vulture. Of the nine vulture species, three vultures like Cenarius vulture, Gryphon vulture and Himalayan vulture or migratory vultures, while others are endemic to India. Now, talking about the threats faced by vultures, the first and foremost threat is due to poisoning from dichlofenac. See, dichlofenac is the anti-inflammatory drug used as a painkiller for cattle. When vultures eat the carcasses of the cattle that were treated using dichlofenac drug, it causes kidney failure to the vultures. Due to this dichlofenac poisoning, vultures face a catastrophic population decline during the 2000s. One good thing is India banned dichlofenac in 2006 for animal use. But still, dichlofenac is used illegally in some parts of the country. So, dichlofenac poisoning is the major threat behind the declining population of the vultures. Apart from this, land fragmentation, habitat loss due to human activities, and electrocution due to collision with power lines or some of the other threats faced by vultures in India. Now, finally, we will understand about the conservation efforts. See, in November 2020, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change launched a 2022-25 vulture action plan. This action plan envisages conservation of vultures in the country. Apart from this, this plan also strives to prevent the poisoning of the principal food of vulture, that is the cattle carcasses, by ensuring minimum use of dichlofenac in the cattle. So, that's all you have to remember about this news article discussion. In this news article discussion, we saw in detail about vultures, their species, types and the threats faced by them. So, with these learned points, now let us move to the next news article discussion. Now, take a look at this news article. It says that Indian Metrological Koch Manufacturers Association, in short called as IMCOM, has sought a 30-percentage anti-dumping duty on Met Koch to protect the local industry from cheap imports. They claim that India is turning out to be a dumping ground for imported Met Koch. So, in this context, let us learn few facts about coal and its distribution. First of all, what is coal? See, coal is a black or brownish black sedimentary rock that can be burned for fuel and used to generate electricity. It is composed mostly of carbon and hydrocarbon. This carbon and hydrocarbon contain energy that can be released through combustion that is burning. As of now, coal is the largest source of energy for generating electricity in the world and it is a fossil fuel. Fossil fuel are those which are formed from the remains of ancient organisms. Under high pressure and high temperature, the organic matter in the dead organisms gets slowly converted to coal. This slow process of conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonation. Now, let us see the types of coal and its distribution. See, coal is classified based on the amount of carbon content in it. First one is anthracite coal. It is the best quality coal with carbon content up to 80 to 95 percentage. They are also called carboniferous coal. In India, we have only very limited anthracite coal deposits. It is mainly found in Jammu and Kashmir region. Then the bituminous coal. See, the coal content in this coal varies from 40 to 80 percentage. It is also called as Gondwana coal. About 80 percentage of the coal deposits in India is of bituminous type and it is of non-cooking grade. Then lignite. See, lignite is a crumbly brown rock also called brown coal. Lignite coal is the lowest rank of coal. Its carbon content is about 25 to 35 percentage. It retains more moisture than other types of coal. This makes it expensive and dangerous to mine, store and transport. Lignite deposits occur in the tertiary sediments. In India, tertiary coal is mainly found in Assam, Arnachal Pradesh, Mehalaya and Nahaland, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Gujarat. The last one is peat coal. See, it is the lowest grade coal. It has a lot of moisture and impurities. So, when we burn peat, it leaves a lot of ash behind. In India, peat is found in Neelgiri hills and the Jellum valley in Jammu and Kashmir. That's all regarding this news article. In this news article, we saw about coal. Coal is a black or brownish black sedimentary rock that can be burned for fuel and used to generate electricity. It is composed mostly of carbon and hydrocarbon. Now, these can be converted into energy through combustion. We saw that coal is a fossil fuel and we saw some of the type of coal. Now, I did not mention about where bituminous coal is found. It is found in Jharkhand, Bespingol, Odusa, Chhattisgarh and Mathya Pradesh. They have bituminous coal. So, with these learnt points, let us move on to the next news article discussion. Now, look at this news article. Yesterday, the National Investigation Agency has conducted search operations in 76 locations in several states. This is to dismantle the nexus between terrorists, gangsters, drug smugglers and traffickers based in India and abroad. So, in this context, let us learn few facts about National Investigation Agency, NIA from an exam perspective. See, the NIA is the Counter-Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency in India and it is functioning under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The NIA was constituted under the National Investigation Agency Act 2008. So, we can say that NIA is the statutory body. Remember, NIA was created in the backdrop of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The NIA is the centralized agency that investigates and prosecute offenses which are affecting the sovereignty, security and integrity of India and friendly relations with foreign states. Then the cases involving atomic and nuclear facilities are also dealt with by the NIA. So, this is in brief about NIA. Now, talking about the jurisdiction of NIA, see the jurisdiction of NIA extends to the whole of India and it even applies to Indian citizens residing outside the country. Then the jurisdiction also extends to the persons who are in the service of the government and wherever they are posted. Apart from this jurisdiction also extends to persons on ships and aircrafts which are registered in India. Remember, the jurisdiction also covers the person who committed a scheduled offense outside India and that offense is committed against the Indian citizen or it is affecting the interest of India. So, here I have listed out the scheduled offenses in NIA Act, pause the video and just go through it. Now, let us see how does NIA take up a probe. See under section 6 of the NIA Act, the state government can refer the cases to the central government for NIA investigation. Remember, those cases are pertaining to the scheduled offenses and it is registered at any police station in the state. Then after assessing the details made by the state government, the central government can direct the NIA to take over the case and the state governments are required to extend all assistance to the NIA. Now, this is one situation. There is also another situation. See, the central government may sue Moto that is direct the NIA to take up the probe and when this is done, it is done when the central government is of the opinion that a scheduled offense has been committed and it is required to be investigated under the NIA Act. So, that is all you have to note about NIA. So, in this news article discussion, we saw in detail about national investigation agency NIA. We saw about its jurisdictions. Make note of the jurisdictions. There might be a preliminary questions. It is a bit confusing also, right? So, just make note of them. Then we saw about how NIA takes up a probe. So, with these learnt points, now let us move on to the next part of the news article discussion, which is the preliminary practice question discussion. Now, look at this first question with reference to El Nino considered the following statements. Statement one, El Nino causes heavy rainfall in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Statement two, it is generally associated with positive effects on the communities living in both sides of the Pacific Ocean. So, I have to choose the incorrect statement here. Option A, one only. Option B, two only. Option C, both one and two. And option D, neither one nor two. See, the correct answer for the question is option B, two only. Second statement is incorrect here. First statement is actually correct. It results in heavy rainfall over eastern Pacific Ocean and drought-like condition in the western Pacific Ocean. Now, statement two is incorrect because it affects the fishing grounds near Peru negatively while drought occur in Australia. So, there are only negative effects associated with the onset of El Nino. Okay. So, the correct answer for the question is option B, two only. Now, this question is about coal. Statement one, peat is the last stage of transformation from wood to coal. Statement two, peat has the lowest carbon content but higher calorific value. Statement three, since India's coal is high in ash content, coal benification should be done to reduce the ash content and improve its grade. So, here you have to choose the correct answer. Now, the correct answer for the question is option B, three only. See, peat is the first stage of transformation from wood to coal. It has low calorific value and less than 40% is carbon content. So, both statement one and two are incorrect. Now, coming to statement three, coal benification is a process by which the quality of raw coal is improved by either reducing the extraneous matter that gets extracted along with the mined coal or reducing the associated ash or both. Okay. Since India's coal is high in ash content, coal benification should be done to reduce the ash content and improve its grade. So, the correct answer for the question is option B, three only. Now, moving on, this question is about NIA. Statement one, it is functioning under Ministry of Home Affairs. We know that this statement is correct. We saw that in the discussion itself, right? Now, the second statement says its jurisdiction applies only to the persons who are residing in India. This statement is incorrect. We exclusively covered jurisdiction in our news article discussion. If you have doubt about that, just go again and read it well. Okay. So, this statement is incorrect and the correct answer for the question is option A, one only because second statement is incorrect. Now, moving on, this question is about Vulture. With reference to the Vulture Action Plan 2020-25, consider the following statements. It aims to prevent the poisoning of principal foot of vultures like cattle carcasses. This statement is actually correct. We saw that in our discussion. Second statement, it aims to establish additional conservation breeding centers for vultures in the country. Now, this statement is also correct. So, the correct answer for the question is option C, both one and two. Now, the question displayed here about Flamingos is the quiz question for you today. Just go through the question, try to answer it in the comment section. Asperance, the questions displayed here are the main practice questions for you today. Just go through the question, try to write an answer and post it in the comment section. So, with this, we came to the end of the news article discussion. If you like the video, hit like, do comment and don't forget to subscribe to Shankara AIS Academy YouTube channel. Now, thank you for listening.