Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you're joining us from. It is an absolute pleasure to be with you here today. My name is Rameeth Al-Wasaydi, a Global Shaper alumna from the Muscatab, and also co-chair of the Davos Lab, which authored and published the Youth Recovery Plan, where we asked young people the changes they wanted to see in the future, and that was represented in 14 policy recommendations. And some of the recommendations actually talk about youth action and climate. And we are here today to highlight and discuss just that youth leadership and its role in achieving a net zero future. And I'm joined by an esteemed panel of global shapers doing phenomenal work in different parts of the world. Joining us is Karj Kavala-Asase, curator of the Global Shaper HOHUB, project lead as well for the climate challenge and operations manager for HOHUB and NODE HOHUB and Enterprise Support and Incubation HOHUB. Lucy Tong as well, joining us all the way from Beijing. She is an academic outreach officer of the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University. And finally, Park Wei-Hung, who I think is the farthest away from us, all the way from Auckland, New Zealand, working as a climate change and sustainability consultant at Ernest and Young. And outside of that work, he is a lead contributor for the Climate Justice Innovation Challenge and a regenerative project centered on Indigenous partnership and wisdom for Auckland. So it's an absolute pleasure to have you all joining us, Karj, Park and Lucy. And as is usual with panel discussions, I will be asking each of our panelists in the beginning collective questions and then dive into each one's experience in how they actually cultivated climate action in the scenario and the community that they are in. Now, the objective for today is to build awareness, obviously, on action that youth led climate solutions actually are happening on the ground, and also unite youth led organizations and our platforms. And we'll tell you all about that throughout the session. But for now, I'm sure a few of you have questions on the global shapers community and what they are. Well, we are a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change in our communities. And through having more young voices represented on the decision making table with over 10,000 shapers strong in over 147 countries. This year, we actually celebrated our 10th year anniversary since our inception. And of course, to tell us more about it is the head of the global shapers community, who is a former shaper himself and recently completed the climate reality partners leadership leadership for training. Thank you for being here with us today. I'm with the head of the global shapers community at the World Climate Forum and a former global shaper. The global shapers community is a powerful network of over 14,000 young people driving impactful change in their own communities. Over the past 10 years, these young people in over 450 hubs have worked tirelessly on thousands of projects that address socio political, economic and environmental issues. As young people have been at the forefront of the fight against climate change, global shapers have met the challenge with leadership, creativity and hard work. In the past 10 years, global shapers have volunteered over 1 million hours, mobilizing over 2 million people, raising over 500,000 US dollars, changing close to 70 harmful environmental policies, planting nearly 2 million trees and collecting 23,000 kilos of waste, averting over 200 tons of CO2 emissions, which helped us to complete over 400 climate reality project. Here are some examples. In Bangladesh, the DACA hub shapers worked with eight schools to plant over a thousand trees. With this proof of concept, the hub developed a toolkit, scaled the project with the support of other hubs around South Asia and planted over 10,000 trees. In Amsterdam and Minneapolis, along with other 50 other hubs, shapers started a global initiative to scale sustainable transformation in the fashion industry. Every year, hubs collaborate with industry experts during the fashion revolution week and work on longer term projects with lasting positive impact on the sustainability of the fashion industry. Outside of hub projects, shapers raise awareness about the climate crisis at global summits such as the COP26 in Glasgow and design innovation challenges to source climate change solutions. 700 shapers have also undergone the Climate Reality Project's Leadership Corp's training. In the face of the climate crisis, global shapers are passionate sustainability champions, encouraging every generation to make changes to secure the future of... Well, thank you so much. We're there for that amazing introduction of what the global shapers community and the actions pertaining to climate and what we have actually cultivated throughout the past 10 years. And we'll kickstart our panel discussion now with our panelists with an opening remark that I actually have and usually kind of tend to say that young people today are standing at the frontier of climate change. And obviously we focus a lot on the actions of governments, the private sector and civil society to determine what lies in store for us as young people and how well equipped we will be for what is to come. But we've also seen as part of the youth recovery plan that I was part of that over 80% of young people believe that there should be more action to accelerate the climate action. And we tend to kind of forget as well that we are one of the main key solutions to that equation. So my question to the panelists and we'll kickstart with courage. What are the principles behind the action that youth are taking today? And when answering this question, what makes us so different as the current generation? What makes us so different than the past generation when it comes to the principles that really govern the way that we actually take action today?  So of course I'm a young person and whatever that is happening today in the climate change narrative directly affects me as a young person.  And one of the things I've realized is that there's so much legislation and laws around climate change and the narrative keeps going around the laws. But there hasn't been any key action by government, governments, SEOs and civil organizations in terms of driving the actual change that we need. And when you look at the age disparity between those in power, especially in Africa where I come from, we have very old people in power who actually sometimes do not really understand what the next and the next effect of climate actions on where we are heading towards as a universe. And so they tend to rally around the decisions of legislation, laws, bylaws with zero action to back the narrative. That's why it's important that young people like myself have taken up the action that, okay, right now we need to move beyond the mere talk and narrative and rhetoric. Action before rhetoric. And that has been the change between the dynamics of where my generation is and where the generation of the leaders from where I come from are, because they seem to be disconnected and they look at this from a narrative of a longer period, small by small step actions where maybe we can do this in the next 50 years, we can draft a law today and come to discuss the law again in the next 10 years. But the actions of the climate keep affecting us in a daily basis. So it's either we take action now or we leave it to the disconnected generation who are in power right now who do not see the need to act quickly. And so I would say that that particular disconnect between legislation and action is what is driving young people like myself to take action now to be able to drive the narrative and pass and ask for change from our leaders. So what I'm hearing from you is like the sense of urgency is so important for young people. We see that this is something that's very urgent that needs to be taken action now. And for younger or the past generations, they seem that it's not as urgent enough. Lucy, in regards to that, like in terms of the principles and what, how the past generation has really, how they actually see it differently than us. How is it back in Beijing and where you're from? Hi, everyone. Hello from Beijing. So I want to start off with the fact, the fact that we are the generation that is going to witness the success or the failure of whatever, you know, the current generation is taking. And that's why it's so crucial for youth to be part of the decision making, because we're going to inherit the world that, you know, this generation is going to decide on. And so I'm originally from Inner Mongolia and I grew up in a city called Baltal. And this city is powered by a state-owned enterprise. And it's an iron and steel state-owned enterprise that was firstly founded when China was first established. And so it's got huge history and my family has witnessed the rise and the fall of the iron and steel industry. And that's why, you know, I think there is a generational difference when it comes to the understanding of climate change. So my parents' generation or my grandparents' generation did not take, you know, climate change as something that they need to do personally. They don't take personal actions like saving energy because of the motivation to save the environment. They mostly do it for, you know, saving money. But in addition to that, you know, we have a different kind of world now. So my parents' generation, they barely saw foreigners on the street of China. But in China now, I don't think you would be able to get on, you know, let's say the subway without a foreigner.  Because after all, climate change doesn't stop at borders. It affects every single one of us. And I think, lastly, personally, I think, you know, to build on courage's point, it is a very urgent challenge. But unlike COVID-19, the pandemic, this is a very, you know, it spends over a very long time. And that's why, like, I think that our generation is super crucial in, you know, having that short-term urgency, but also a long-term perspective is how our generation is going to make a difference. I totally agree with you with the point of parents, or at least my parents as well, like a lot of the reasons why, for instance, I've grown up with these principles of saving energy and not using electricity as much, conserving water was actually on a cost based on cost that was motivated by cost more than we're saving the environment. But I'm so glad as well as more and more generations of us kind of grow older and have their own kids. Learning is that you're actually saving the environment in addition to actually saving cost is passed on as well. Park, in terms of principles behind the actions, so we've heard urgency. We've heard that the world of our parents or past generations have lived is very different than the world now. There's more talk now in regards to climate action. But what do you think are other principles that really are governing how young people are taking action today? Yeah, absolutely. Some really great points from Lucy and Courage. I think it's that what happened was, and I'm reflecting on all my own personal experiences, that my parents were very much, for example, focused on ideas of personal economic prosperity. And it was more of me as opposed to the wider society. And I felt like that over generations of extraction in our current extractive economies, we've kind of now become the new generation where we go, we think that there's something wrong with that. We think that something needs to be done or we need to shift a dial from moving from a purely extractive economy to one that in a sense regenerates or in a sense provides equity or support for the people that need it the most. And climate change is just one of those really key issues we need to tackle. I thought another thing was also how connected our generation is right now. And I feel that that really allows the amplification of voices and consequently the greater mobilization of people like, for example, and I know this has been talked about so much, but let's start with Greta and now from just her holding her own individual sign and then now creating this whole wave of support and this whole wave of mobilization of youth from all over the world. And obviously I think with the internet and with social media, we also at the same time see bigger rifts and differences. For example, one of the things we're constantly battling with is the global north versus the global south perspectives, which we need to work harder to provide equity to provide that the voices of global south continue to be upheld because they are already facing the brunt of the climate crisis. They need to their voices are really, really important, which is why it flows in from climate action to also climate justice, which is basically when we look at climate climate change as affecting everyone very differently. My experience in New Zealand will be very different to someone who was probably in Nigeria and facing the brunt of some heat waves already. And so it's elevating their voices and ensuring we create space so that their voices are heard. And I think that's a core principle. We're really connected. We need to connect even more voices. I totally agree with that. And it struck very true when you mentioned like the impacts of climate change in New Zealand is very different than in Nigeria. It's very different than where I am from. It's a desert country where there's a lot of heat and there's extreme heat as we kind of go into year after year. But what's even shocking for us now is we're seeing more prevalent cyclones happening. Something that was once every five years is now on a yearly basis. You actually tend to get two or three cyclones that hits very dramatically. Like they had an impact a lot of people in very different ways as well. Just kind of following on to that. I know that you are climate change and sustainability consultant, but also a climate justice advocate outside of your work. And you mentioned the whole. Obviously this rhetoric of global north versus global south. I hear it a lot especially in my part of the world where it's not fair that we are a global self country and we can double up the way that we want to because of climate change. But what are the opportunities there that we need to be aware of rather than using that rhetoric all the time to kind of get away from actually abiding by principles that we need to actually be. at taking for climate action. Absolutely, it's really interesting because even in New Zealand, I think like we have our own challenges and I'm just reflecting on one of our recent climate marches just before COVID. And one of the big things that was talked about was the under-representation of our indigenous people, our indigenous Māori and indigenous Pasifika. And whereas there was a certain caricature of the main people who were campaigning and that was, well, middle-class Europeans. And so it was, we see even that sort of rift of inequity playing even in our daily marches. I think that instead of running away from this, I guess like the issue that's right in front of us which is representation and actual creating of space, what we really need to do is to constantly think, can I give this space to someone who deserves it more or does this space, giving it to someone, for example, who are indigenous or person of color or black, would it amplify the impact much more than if I was speaking? And I think that that's something I've had to learn personally but it's about noticing that everything in our world is in a sense governed by power and it's about noticing your power that you have, your influence that you have and also finding ways to give space to uplift others and empower them, give them the strength because everyone has their unique voices. They don't need us to speak for them, they just need the space. And I think it's about basically, we need to understand that we have certain influence over certain spaces and if we can bring one person, two people along the journey, I think that that's a big win. And so often thinking about the influence you have, it's a big start. Definitely, power and influence and thinking about what sort of space you actually occupy and how you can elevate and amplify those voices. Now, Karaj, you mentioned a bit about power influence when it comes to governments and how they've focused a lot on legislation and laws and rhetoric rather than action but also like beyond rhetoric and slogans, let's focus on big corporations and firms. They actually have the most power and influence when it comes to cultivating a lot of climate action that actually brings about some real change around what we're doing with Climate Change Drive. Is there a plan or commitment schedule that you actually see big firms doing at the moment? Yes, I think that right after the Paris Accord in 2015, then and now in 2021, when I look at the commitment by global firms in terms of their budgetary allocations, their policy, their appointment of very specific key personalities that can help in the narrative around climate action and achieving a net zero future, I would say that there has been some amount of significant growth, even though it's not at a rate that I can appreciate but I would say that there has been a deliberate investment and commitment from some global firms towards that particular narrative. So I could mention the science-based target initiative by some of the very prominent organizations that has over 1,000-based organizations inside in over 60 countries worldwide and the investment in terms of the volume of amount put in the target to actually reduce emissions and also achieve a net zero future has increased from 2015 to 2021 in an area around 45% in terms of the amount of the journey where they want to go. I would want to also give an example from Aberdeen, which is in the UK, which is noted to be like a very huge city that was relied on so much crude and I understand there's been a new legislation to actually turn the city around to be a net zero city in the next two years. I think that some of those actions, legislation, some of those decisions by some of these companies, especially those who are signed onto the science-reset platform gives me some amount of hope that, of course, we are not experiencing the monumental growth in terms of what they need to do but they are moving steadily to achieve some amount of progress. We can only advocate that the change that we seek for happens monumentally but once that happens, we should also encourage them and also let them understand that we appreciate what they are doing and they should do more in achieving that. So just jumping on, adding on to that, what would monumental be for you? So you actually did mention the fact that it's not as optimistic or as the way that you see it fit in terms of the actions of big firms and corporations. What would monumental mean to you? Well, for me, monumental means that if we can have other heavily dependent cities, we have other cities like Aberdeen that can make a declaration and say that we know we've caused so much damage to the world and we need to do something about it. So in the next X amount of years, we want to change our focus from coal, from crude to green. So far, I've heard of all in Aberdeen. I've not heard of other heavy relied countries like Saudi Arabia and all those one that contribute in terms of the amount of pollution we have in the world. Some also feel that if I dedicate X amount of money to PR, that is enough. I think that big firms feel that if I have X amount of million dollars channel to PR firms to talk about climate reality, climate change, that's what I think I can do. But when we talk about monumental, we want to see an actual reduction of your operations process that relies on green energy, not just PR, not just the narrative, but you said, okay, I am Apple and in my headquarters, I would want to cut down X amount of usage and I want to do green, I want to do solar. I think in doing those things, that to me would contribute to monumental other than just financing road shows, PR, commitment, engagement, talk shows. That's what I want to achieve. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you being very honest or with what monumental means. And I think we're all in agreement here that we need more of an action collectively, both governments, big firms and everyone individually to kind of cultivate more of a climate change drive. You mentioned about Saudi Arabia and very interestingly just last month, a few weeks ago, both Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates who are big oil producing countries and now they're net zero commitments. And this kind of ties into my question to Lucy about developing countries and most notably China. What are they actually doing now to keep 1.5 alive behind that ambition? And what do you see basically happening? So it's really exciting times right now, given that we're in COP26. And so we see a lot of actions taken both by developing countries and developed countries in terms of raising their targets, raising their NDCs. And I want to start us off with restating that developing countries are not the ones responsible. So we have common but differentiated responsibilities. And I think China is doing a lot in this front. We've announced our 2030 carbon peaking and the 2060 carbon neutrality plans. And there are also several countries that have announced their carbon neutrality during COP26 like Kazakhstan. And it's really exciting. And just before the Chinese delegation went off to COP26 in Glasgow, China announced its action plans to achieve carbon neutrality, carbon peaking by 2030. And these are very concrete actions that ranges from green and low carbon energy transition to the energy saving in different sectors. And then to include circular economy from all walks of society and all regions of society. And so I think, and also like we achieved our NDC way before our planned deadline. And so this is really exciting. But in addition to that, we want to see more actions from developed countries like the 100 billion mitigation and adaptation fund that they promised, which has now pushed back for another three years. So yeah, I'm looking forward to more news from COP26. But this is developing countries are doing a lot given their responsibility and their capabilities. Yeah, so we talked a lot about like the macro level governments, big firms. But I just want to kind of drill deeper into a community. And how would you, as a young person in the community that you are actually occupying and the spaces that you are currently in, what would, how would you identify what a community needs the most in terms of the climate action that requires for that specific area or community? I'll start off with Park. And if Lucy and Courage have any comments on that would love to hear from you as well. Park. Yeah, I think I've been on my own journey of trying to understand this term of what a community actually needs. It's really interesting because as someone probably with a lot more access and influence, how do I actually meaningfully engage with communities that need to help most? And I think it's trying to, it's about understanding a term I often talk about is actually self-determination. Self-determination is really, it sounds like a really big term, but it's actually, the meaning is in the words. It's allowing communities to self-determine their fate, their resources that they need to self-determine what is best for their localized community. And so what happens is, for example, I'm reflecting that as a climate change consultant I have all this knowledge of all the strategies, the frameworks, the ways of thinking that I could help people with, but ultimately it's up to the communities to contextualize what is important. It's not up to, I think there's a very limited effect of, for example, a government pushing down a specific policy without even working with communities, without even hearing what is essential for them. And then that leads to a lot of implementation issues. So, kind of what's important if I would kind of like even put it in a phrase is to leave ego at the door. And that basically means don't come in with the idea that you have all the solutions and that you will solve their problems, but rather it's about having what we call deep listening, really listening to what they see as issues and listening to also what sort of solutions they've been thinking about already. And then you can use your expertise to frame it all together, yeah. Yeah, I agree on that. And it's very interesting as well, like at least for me and the work that I do in my community, most of the time, a lot of the issues that you tend to listen to, they tell you that no, it's not climate, has nothing to do with the climate or the environment, but this is what I'm suffering from. For instance, agriculture and output has been way less and so on. So I think for most, at least from my experience, communities most of the time don't even make the connection. And it also has to do with what we talked about very early on, on how the past generation have different principles than what the young generation actually is governed when it comes to taking climate action as well. So I think it's very important to actually make the linkage and make them understand as a community, as someone who's an outsider sometimes, who has a different lens altogether that these are issues that are connected to the actual main issue, which is climate change. Lucy, how do you identify what a community needs from your context? So I was thinking about this question for more of a local context, and that is, what is the level of understanding within China about climate change? Of course, in the corporate space as well as in the government space, there is a lot of action taken, but I think the general public still needs education and so this is what I do on a personal level as well as at work. And personally, I have this game I'm super addicted to that was issued by Alipay, which is the company that Jack Ma founded. And they have a game that teaches the general public of China about carbon credits through a gamified experience. And they do this by promoting sustainable lifestyles like taking the subway instead of taking a taxi. You get a certain energy point, which you can use to accumulate, to building an actual tree in deserted areas of China. And I'm personally super addicted to the game and I've also gotten my colleagues hooked on. And so we have a somewhat healthy competition within work that promotes healthy or sustainable actions that are taken on a daily basis. And in addition to that, in addition to gaming, I've also been promoting a lot of more sustainable lifestyles from forcing my friends to take actions on climate. That is things from eating a plant-rich diet to promoting them to take the bus with me so they can get energy points. And so yeah, that is what I think locally in China that are needed because a lot of the general public don't know much about what are sustainable actions yet. Yeah, game theory is so interesting and kind of are more consumed with technology. That would be the best way to actually kind of gamify a lot of things. So there is a lot of action when it comes to climate. I think that would definitely be a concrete step for young people to kind of venture into that field as well and kind of come up with solutions that you can gamify based on your community. That's actually awesome. Courage in regards to how you identify what your community needs, what have you personally been doing or what has your hub been doing so far? Okay, so one of the things we actually did as the hub was to put in an application for the climate reality curator call because we felt that beyond the community engagement conversations, we need to actually institute something that people can actually understand can become a source of solution number one that protects the planet number two and that also brings some amount of profit to the people. So how can we sustain their livelihood by bringing a project that also protects the planet and also continues to put the supply profit? Because beyond the whole narrative, we've been bringing some amount of conversations in the community. Example is the fact that currently we are in November in Ghana, this is not supposed to be like a rainy season, but even as a last night, we had a very huge rain. So that's all the distortions that came around by virtue of all the climatic conditions and the changes that we've experienced. So we wanted to do something that your activities, even though it might be small in a way in the community but also contribute to some of the things we are discussing in climate change narrative. So this project would be able to, if you implement this project, you understand what it means. You stop whatever you are doing that contributes to the changes in the climatic sector. And then the project now can become a source where you will use as a reference point to stop the things you are doing. That's why we're excited to be one of the select hub for the incubator project. And as I speak to you, I'm leading that particular project in terms of the community engagement, going to the field, sourcing forward the things that we are working on. And that particular project for me, I would say as one of the actionable steps we've taken to be able to implement something that they can see beyond the narrative. And I'm grateful to you guys for the support and then the funding you've given to us to implement that particular project. Amazing, amazing. We are seeing so different ways of how we can actually engage community. And my last question before we actually wrap up our panel is what are concrete actions that youth or everyone who is actually watching us right now can take to cultivate more of that climate change drive? We'll start with Lucy then talk. Awesome. Join the fight to that zero. It's really exciting. I think, first of all, I think for anyone to take action, they have to be knowledgeable. They have to know what's going on in the space. And so my first suggestion is to know what's been talked about at COP26. I've literally just received a message from the head of the Chinese delegation, Minister Xi Jinping, on his message that the negotiations are really tense at COP26 right now, but he's really motivated to take action and to fight for the common but beautiful future that we're going to inherit. And so it's really important for you to understand what's been talked about at COP26. And in addition to that, if you start wanting to take action in global shapers, we have launched a project together with climate realities project, which is called the Global Youth Climate Action Challenge. And it is available on a link. It's a six month project that if you are in the space of civic engagement, climate justice, nature, green cities and circular economy, then you can apply. And then we give you support from mentorships to different networks. And then this will be a good opportunity for you to take actual action, concrete action to tackle climate change. Absolutely agree with what Lucy said. A mentor once told me this and she was very point blank. I'm very honest. And she said that POC, the world has enough enthusiastic amateurs. And that kind of really shocked me. And I guess it's true, if we really want to fight with the generation that really has a lot more power influence and we want to be heard, it's really important that we get the right information and really upscale ourselves as much as we can. And it's not a store. It's going to be a very costly issue. There's tons of learning materials. One that I recommend is SDG Academy. SDG stands for Sustainable Development Goals. And that's a way for you to learn about what no poverty means or what is what ensuring that this life above land or life below water actually means. It's a way to embrace and understand sustainable development. And so that you have that knowledge to really understand then what COP26 is, the complexities of it. So continue to upscale yourself and don't stop learning. And another thing as well was just recounting this really good saying by an Indigenous Māori elder, Tawhimi Henare, who is from the Ngāti Hine Indigenous tribe. And what he says is that you have come too far not to go further. You have done too much not to do more. And I think this is basically for all of us to understand that we aren't alone in this fight for climate action. A lot of generations have fought for us to be so that we can be at our stage right now. So continue to fight, continue to learn, continue to do more and continue to engage because you're not alone in this struggle for climate justice or climate action. And, you know, search out and sing out and the community will be there. And I hope that you've gotten a little bit of inspiration from this panel and always share the support in any way possible. And thank you so much, Pak. Last but not least, courage. What are concrete actions adding on to what Lucy and Pak have mentioned? Okay, I think that many a time when we talk about climate conversations, people at the base look at it as something very classist. Like the conversation is up there and they are below. And it might take a longer period for us for them to have an effect on what we are discussing as climate change. So I think that we need to democratize the conversations that even people in their everyday life can have an understanding of where the world is going and what the conversations are around climate change so that it wouldn't take maybe top executives of big corporations to sit in big conference rooms to discuss and then that ends it. So let's democratize the conversation, let everybody's ordinary person on the street need to understand where the world is moving to and the actions being taken and what they can also do in their individual ways to actually contribute to the climate change narrative. I think that if you do that, it actually bridges the gap and people can now feel the impact and the effect of what is happening. If for me, that's one of the key things that I want us to implement in our local communities and our investors in our communities. That for me is actionable. Thank you so much, Courage. Well, as you can have, could see there's plenty of actions that young people can take. One final thing that I actually want to make very clear that we as young people are far more organized as a generation as a result also, I think the pandemic played a big role in that we are a far more organized generation of young voters, consumers and investors who are rallying behind not only urgent climate justice, but also urgent fiscal and social justice. And if you're wondering how we can all unite all these youth led efforts under one umbrella, well, to tell us all about it is John Dutton, the head of uplink and former head of foundations and the forum for the young global leaders, which is a sister organization of the global shapers community. Thank you for the introduction. Uplink is the open innovation platform of the World Economic Forum and has the ambition to nurture a world where anyone, anywhere, with high impact, high quality solutions is empowered to scale action for people and planet. As you've heard, this session is all about young people leading climate action and thanking young people for pushing the needle and leading by example, making sure that governments, businesses, financial institutions do more for climate action. There are a couple of ways you can get involved as a young person. Join a volunteer community. The global shapers community has 450 hubs around the world. Give them a search to see if there's a hub in your city. Otherwise, you can look into starting a new one. Sign up for uplink and support an ecopreneur revolution that can drive real change for our planet. Are you a young person leading a startup or social enterprise that's helping the planet? Submit your solution to one of our current innovation challenges.  Our climate justice initiative aims to support and uplift under-resourced communities that are most impacted by climate change through scaling bold environmental socioeconomic solutions. Our Biodiverse Cities Challenge is a call to transform cities into hubs of biodiversity and nature-positive living. And our global plastics innovation network has been set up to crowdsource diverse innovations and empower a community of high potential innovators to tackle the plastic pollution. Or perhaps your funding startups within the investment or philanthropic world. Explore our top innovators and get in touch with those currently seeking funding.  Spread the word about these challenges. Help crowdsource the review of active solutions on uplink or get in touch with the entrepreneurs to explore how you could support their needs. Thank you for joining us today and more than anything during this crucial COP26 moment stay engaged and take action to help protect the planet. It's the only one we have. And without a doubt, our generation is the one that poses an existential risk to institutions that seek to simply revert to business as usual. But also as you have heard, it represents a massive opportunity for governments and businesses who are in search of a progressive mandate. And on that note, I would like to thank you all for taking part in this very fruitful discussion. A big thank you to our lovely panelists, Lucy Pock, and Courage for highlighting the work that you do and how we can all take action in the spaces that we hold. And a big thank you as well to you, our lovely viewers and participants. You can share your reflections of what you heard and stuck with you on our social media channels or top link. Have a great morning, afternoon, and evening.


Okay. If you bump into anybody who does, we're seeking one. All right. Perfect. Am I starting in the clock? You're going to start in the clock? Aren't they sitting in ready? Ah, am I sitting in ready? Okay. Well, I mean, like, just, like, who starts the clock? Because I know, um... I can start it. Yeah, I know, yeah. I know Pat likes to just do it. Okay. It's the first time. So I guess we'll do it. All right. All right. All right, Martha, you've got your microphone on? Not yet. I'm coming at it. All right. You want to, maybe, before you do the microphone, do you want to sing the headset so that we don't... I love the way it sort of bounces up my double chin. I noticed that as I was watching last time, too. Oh, there's a headflap there. Of course you did. So does that work in terms of the microphone? Really? Like, right now? Because it's past two. Oh. Well then. Ready? Sure. Why not? Is that it? Go. Am I looking at that camera right now? Yes. Good afternoon. Welcome to Living Mosaic. My name is Martha Holden. I am a member of the Spark of Humanity Network. Living Mosaic is conceived as a conversation. Those of you who may be muted or held in the Zoom corral, the conversation will include you eventually. It's a conversation based in about the concept that there is a solution to the pain and so many aspects of our global experience. We could frame it also as a solution to the sustainability of the human enterprise on planet Earth. Or however we think about it, there is a solution here. And we at the Spark of Humanity Network have found developing the conviction that there is a solution to it. And that the way that we are seeing to suggest, to offer, make it easy to visualize and engage in, is that the solution may be seen as a living mosaic. Living and therefore evolving mosaic, of which we are each an essential part. We are each unique. We are each essential for the solution to the pain, to the difficulties, to the issues of sustainability, to emerge and become known and become realized. So this program is offered in hopes of developing a conversation around this concept so that we may discover what we need to be doing or what we might be doing in order to be guided or drawn into our niche within the mosaic, which may of course require letting go of a lot of stuff, a lot of old ideas, a lot of comfort zone. Who knows what it may involve holding on to other things, but I suspect from my personal experience that what it involves mostly is letting go and holding on to the hope, the hope that there is a solution and that by my letting go of my old ideas, my self-will, that there is in a sense to terribly anthropomorphize it, the mosaic being alive may be breathing and it may inhale me into my own unique niche. It's my unique niche.  They're much cooler than me. I'm just a pebble. So, you know, I want to be over there. I want to tag along with them. Can't I be in the niche next to them? But no, maybe not in my control. It depends how and when I'm drawn into the mosaic and to the life of the mosaic. So that's, the conversation is around that. Now last couple of weeks ago we did a pilot show. We're checking the tech here. And after I left the show, I realized that I had made a statement or done a line of discourse that I wanted to clear up before we start the general conversation here. And that was, I was talking about something about, you know, not worrying about the other person and how they are not focusing on them, focusing on letting go of what I need to let go of in order to be drawn into my niche in the mosaic.  And so I wanted to talk just a little bit before I open up the Zoom, but from my look at the monitor, there's nobody in Zoom waiting, so that makes things simpler. Although sadder, of course, that how do I, how do we, how does one who's trying to let go of everything that they need to let go of in order to be drawn into their niche in the mosaic to find it, to finally have that feeling of security and nestedness of belonging, of belonging to the whole creation, all orders of being, all dimensions of being. When we're in the process of doing that and trying to allow that process to be alive in our lives, to welcome it, to receive all as grace, as some people say, how do we deal with that person over there who we think really, you know, needs to find their way into their niche in the mosaic, or they are intruding on us. That's what we're dealing with the others in this process. And I only got to the point of my thinking of knowing that I needed to talk about this today. I didn't get to the point of thinking about what the answer was to the question I just raised. This is sort of, this is where the spark of humanity network work can come in, it does for me, and I think it does for others, whether you're aware of my spark of humanity, or if you're tired of anthropocentrism, my germ of true, that is within each created being, getting in touch with that and realizing that that other person or that other creature has that same spark or germ and connecting, not through my mind, my spark of humanity, or my germ of true, with that place and the other, and knowing that by doing that, we are, I am, you are, we are strengthening that place and the other, which makes them more available to being drawn into the mosaic, into the niche that they belong in. That process as we've discovered in doing the spark work, our website will be at the end of the program, I think, that when we do that, when we connect with that place from our place, from our place, connect to that place in another person or being that we strengthen that place in them. We strengthen that place in us too, which at times can be a little scary, I'm fine just the way I am, but we strengthen that spark, that place in them, their spark, their germ, and what that tends to do, it seems, we've noticed, working with this for a while, that that tends to erode the defenses, clarify the bafflement, because usually defenses come because we're baffled and distorted and release the distortions. So that begins the process, which supports the other person, the other being, in moving closer to their niche. And that's, that internally and without words and without our face-to-face confrontation at great distances can help them, it's what we can do to facilitate their movement into their, they're becoming the unique person, the unique being that they are to be drawn into their place in the mosaic. Because that's what we want to be doing. Ideally, we want everyone to be in their unique place in the mosaic because they are essential. But we don't want to be doing it from our trying to make it happen because then we're losing touch with our own essential, unique character, which is not, we are not in charge of the mosaic, we do not design it, we do not make it happen. So it's that process, we open them up to it on an external person-to-person level, if we happen to have any contact with them personally, just remembering and holding them in, I often think of, did any of you take biology in school? Growing something in a Petri dish, the agar, the growth medium, that you put this little bit of tissue, this little pathogen, this little whatever in this Petri dish and you put it in some nice, warm, safe place and eventually over time something grows and you find out what it truly is. It may have looked like that, but once it's been allowed to germinate and develop, you see, oh, is it hibiscus? I thought it was a pumpkin. So that general attitude of what I can do besides connecting through my spark or my germ with the spark or germ and the other, what I can do is I can, in my behavior, in my mind, in my relationships with this other person, I can practice being agar and just being something, being in an environment that helps them become who they truly are because that's the mosaic is made up of these little individual pieces, each one of us, unique who we truly are. It's not made up of who we think we should be. It's not made up of who our parents thought we would probably be. It's not, trust me, made up of who we do most comfortable with. It's made up of who we truly are, our essential, unique being, and that is essential to the mosaic. So do I see a hand? No, I don't see a hand. Nobody's zoomed. Nobody's called that I know of. I trust Jen to let me know if I'm wrong, she's waving. So I will just keep on prattling until somebody comes on board or calls in. And if you want to call in, the phone number is going to be shown on the screen any minute now. And if you want to zoom in, here's the zoom link any minute now. And meanwhile, I will just keep carrying on because, oh, and another thing, if you're watching this and you want to participate in this conversation, so it's not just a monologue, if you don't like what I'm saying or if you like it or if you have a question or if you wish I'd talk about X, Y, or Z, you may email us at Living Mosaic, all one word, LivingMosaic2024 at gmail.com and I think that email will be at the tag end of this process. So, okay, I'm going to have a little silence here to see if anything comes up for me to talk further about how we came up with this idea. That's a good question. For me, in me, it grew from, for quite a period of time, I've thought that if, there's a lot of pain in the world. There's a lot of distress. There's a lot of unfairness. And often we see it, we become aware of it and we feel the pain and we feel the distress or we see it. And we don't know what to do about it and we don't know what we can do about it. And so often for many of us, we just don't look anymore. We go and it's too painful, it's too difficult. I won't read the newspaper, I won't watch the news, I won't go out of the house. We just protect ourselves from it because we don't know what to do or we go and denial. We just don't see it, we don't recognize it. I think of those as the two majors, there are lots of words you can put on them, but there are only two of them, but they both start with D, so it makes it simple for me. So I began thinking that if, this is me, others came to the same conclusion, but different roots, that if we all had, if we all were, if we had an image or a vision that was available to all of us that we could all come together with and have enough faith in, I suppose is a word, or hope, maybe it was just hope, that we were willing to get out of our own old ideas about what the solution is. There used to be a workshop given a couple of times in the state discovering the peaceful solution. And the premise was that if you have people who are in conflict or there's a situation that's difficult and people have different ideas about what the solution is, my idea, my idea, my idea, our idea, that if everybody, if they were able to let go of their attachment to their personal idea, everybody should be doing this. Nobody should be doing that. They, they, they should be doing whatever, that, and then just be together, physically together I think works best, but we're going to, we've got this electronic medium so we're giving it a try. Just to be aware that there is a solution and allowing it to emerge in the silence, through the silence, from the silence, the way I experience it myself is that it sort of bubbles up. It sort of, maybe not bubble, it's more like mist coming up and hmm, oh, I sort of see this, oh, maybe this, and I, if there's a group of, say, five of us, I may have a little different perspective here. I suggest this, maybe it's like this and somebody said, well, it may be like that too. And that a solution would emerge. It was, the title of the workshop was Discovering, like it was covered up, and then it was discovered, it emerged. And from that, sort of, I think it was from that, sort of leading on from that, the idea that, well, that could be expanded. As far as it needs to be expanded. That if we give up the blaming and the they shoulds, and why did this happen, sometimes for our own peace of mind we need to have an idea about how did this situation come about and be open to seeing how it came about and understanding how perhaps our attitudes had a part in it coming about. Maybe never spoken, but there's a lot of subtle energy going on here that affects the global, the galactic scene. And so doing that, that perhaps if we could have a vision, an idea that if enough people could believe could know that there is a solution and be willing to let go of their ideas about what it had to look like and what part they needed to play in it or not play in it, that the solution could emerge. So that idea was sort of, festering is not a good word. It was germinating in me. It was in the Petrie dish for a number of years. And then, I don't know, I was out in the district of San Francisco where there are some wonderful wall murals. I think this had part to do with it. And in the murals we know all sorts of things. You know, blue glass, red glass, mirror, pebbles, shells. And I think somehow that all came together. And I realized that of course the solution is living. It's not static. Which means that as we approach and hopefully eventually find our niche within the mosaic, we also need to be living. We cannot be static. We need to be responsible. We need to be paying attention. We need to be willing to go deeper. I think the only way perhaps to get bounced out of our niche in the mosaic, the only way not to get bounced out of our niche in the mosaic as it continues to live, is by going deeper into our niche, whatever deeper is for us. And we can, if we're willing to go deeper because willingness is a key, as many of us are aware. So, and the living, the mosaic is because it's living, it's also evolving. So, next week, next year, next century, it may not look like it does now. And because we are part and essential, essential part of the mosaic, we too need to be willing not just to be living and alive, but also to be evolving. And letting go of whatever gets in the way of our evolution. Some people, famous, well-known people, write about and talk about the evolution of consciousness. They were now undergoing on this planet in humanity and beyond. So, okay, how do we become willing to evolve? Because we can't make ourselves evolve. Can't do that. My suspicion is, my sense is that I'm more likely to become willing to evolve, to change, to become whatever I'm needed to be, to be part of the solution, if I have the sense of essential safety. That's a big thing for me, and I suspect for many of us, is how do I feel safe? What do I need in order to feel safe? And my experience so far is that it seems to be getting deeper, so I think it's true. My experience is that my safety is in my niche in the mosaic. That's where I feel safe, is when I recognize myself as being where I am needed, where I belong, within the vast mosaic of being. We can limit it to the planet or we can extend it to the solar system or the galaxy or however big you want it, and multidimensional and every evolving. But the more I am able to experience myself, the more that I'm able to be, and experience myself as I am being, where I belong in the mosaic, the essential, little, tiny, minuscule part that's unique that I'm needed to be, the safer I feel. Because in a sense I am home, or maybe not just in a sense, I am home in a way that maybe home has been for many of us, but I know that for some of us, home has never felt that safe, all around safe of being right where I belong, right where I need to be, right where I'm my true self, who I really, really, really, really am, genuinely, authentically, beneath the layers of nicey-nice, beneath the layers of rebellion, beneath the layers of defiance, beneath the layers of all that stuff, beneath all those layers, where I am truly, truly, truly me, my own self, which is very strange to me, but we're all getting equated to it, hopefully. When I'm that, then I'm in my niche in the mosaic, I get into it, I'm able to be in my niche in the mosaic, or being in my niche helps me discover that deeper, then I am safe, and I feel safe, and I experience a sense of safety. Ah, this is where I belong. This is where I am doing what's needed to be done by me in this situation, right here, right now. This is where I am. This is where I truly am. This is where I truly am participating in the solution. This is where I am part of the life of this mosaic. So when I have that feeling, that security, that safety, then I am willing to evolve, this is all theoretical at this point. Let's see if it happens. But it seems, it feels right to me, that when I have that sense of belonging, that sense of home, that then I am willing, as the mosaic evolves, as it inevitably will, it must, because it's alive, that I am willing to accept and participate in the life, the evolution of the mosaic. So that's another step, isn't it, from finding our niche in the mosaic. But it's an incentive, I think, to find ourselves, to experience ourselves, to recognize ourselves as truly in life, truly in the flow of life. Sometimes I think of it as a river and it's flowing. And regardless of how bumpy the riverbed is, it's flowing and it's going where it's going. And I get to participate in it. And I get to let go of whatever rock I'm clinging to, dump or tree branch I'm clinging to, and allow myself to become part of that flow of life that is wanting to move, is doing what it can to move towards the solution. And although the flow is there and a dimension that I don't have any words for, it's like it's, here we are doing our stuff and here's the flow. And it's trying to catch us up to bring us along with it so that we're participating in this flow of life. We are moving towards the solution. We are becoming part of the solution. We're able to let go of everything.   And when we're doing that, that's what we want. And we probably, if you're me, want more of it. So we're willing to let go more because there's always more to let go of I have discovered in this life and in this journey. And I'm going to be silent for a little bit and see whether anything happens. And then, if nothing happens, there'll probably be more Martha talking. And remember, if you have comments or questions, you can email them to LivingMosaic2024 at gmail.com. Those of you who have my personal email may be tempted to email me personally. And I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that it's works a lot better if you send it to LivingMosaic because I will just be forwarding it to LivingMosaic. And then, if it needs to come back to me, it will. So, but I'm glad you're paying attention, glad you're watching, glad you're part of this. And we'll be back in a couple weeks live and in person. And right here at Orca Media. Thank you.


A warm hello in every sense of the word. The sun is out and football has a special place on this most idyllic of days. The fixture ahead of us, to which we've all been looking forward, more so very, very long, and it means so very, very much. The scene could not be more beautiful. The pitch looks terrific. The players are ready to get started, and we cannot wait for the contest that lies ahead. With a question that this is one of the most striking structures in all of sports, the Allianz Arena. This is the perfect game for all parties, not least the neutrals who've just come to enjoy it. Well, under normal circumstances, this is a massive match-up, and not totally in agreement with the view that friendlies tend to take the edge away. In my experience, if the opposition go at it full tilt, then you have to reciprocate. We'd like to see excitement and be entertained, but if it does go down the serious route, they'll still... There's the whistle, and here we go. Which player is best equipped for this game? Yeah, Bert Leno. I think his presence might make all the difference for this team. He's got lightning-fast reactions and a coolness under pressure that allows him to... Luis with the foul. He's set high, and the ball is out of play. Mesut Erzal, Stafi goes looking, and it goes. Kebios, Arsenal have pushed both fullbacks into quite advanced positions here. Yeah, that's interesting. So what are they attempting to do? Well, it's a bold attempt, in my opinion, to occupy the opposition in a way they're not expecting. Mesut Erzal, 80-close. Skill and plenty of tricks and a few goals. I suspect I've probably overstretched my level of greed here. Just joining us, we are already on the way. Which player is best equipped for this game? Mesut Erzal can add the decisive edge. Oh! What an easy... Well, you can't ask for much more than that. A difficult moment he simply had to deal with. He played it short, but who's he picking out? Arsenal really are in the ascendancy here, and they know they have to register while that's the case. And it's been taken short. Kalashinat's coming to the middle. Kalashinat, he's felled in there. Kalashinat is being told in no uncertain terms that this will be his final warning. Yeah, and he's just entered the last chance to loom. One wrong move now, and he's in trouble.


such as, for example, if you have more itemized deductions, they will be good in that they are deductions, but they're not going to reduce your adjusted gross income in the same way as the above-the-line deductions would. A lower adjusted gross income, usually being better, remembering everything flipped on its head for taxes, income is bad, deductions are good. And if we had a lower adjusted gross income, it's more likely that we would qualify for more deductions and credits due to not hitting a phase out. All right, so if we look at the below-the-line deductions, we have the standard and itemized deductions. Now, a few years ago, in an attempt to simplify the tax code, they increased the level of the standard deduction, which means more people are not going to be itemizing because the standard deduction will be greater than the itemized deduction. And that's probably good for lower income individuals, low to moderate income individuals, because usually the people who are benefiting from the itemized deductions are more well-off and have more types of deductions that will fit into that category. The major thing, the major, the deduction that will typically push people over to itemizing from a standard deduction is usually the ownership of a home. And that's because, as we will see, the interest on the mortgage of the home is possibly deductible, as well as possibly the real estate taxes on the home. Those two things, in combination with any other kind of itemized deduction, are the things that push most people over to possibly be able to itemize. It's also something that people get confused about as to whether they should purchase a home or not. It could be kind of confusing to think about the actual tax benefits that you would be receiving if you were to own a home and be able to write off the interest. And we'll talk more about when we get there. It could be beneficial, but it's not really useful to think that you should buy a home just to get a tax benefit, because it really depends on the particular situation. So we'll talk more about that later. Now, remember that the standard deduction is going to be different based on filing status, as we've seen.


Good evening friends, I welcome you all to the Hindu Newspaper Analysis brought to you by the Shankara IS Academy. Today's date is 31st October 2023. Before entering our discussion, I have two important announcements to make. The first announcement is regarding the Chakra Initiative. See, Shankara IS Academy is going to start the current phase classes as Chakra Initiative. Under this initiative, we will provide over 50 plus current phase sessions and 9 total tests and 5 rapid revision sessions. So, you can make use of this opportunity and boost your preparations. See, the brochure for this initiative is given in the description column. Kindly go through it. Now, coming to the second initiative, this is regarding the much awaited preliminary S series. See, the batch 3 of the Shankara IS Academy's pre-storming is about to begin. The orientation session of this batch 3 will be conducted on 16th November and the first test is on 16th November. It includes 48 tests including mock and CSAR tests. The test will be conducted in both online and offline mode. So, go and register the pre-storming test series and boost your problem score. See, displayed here are news articles which we are going to discuss today. So, without much delay, let us get into the discussion. Have a look at this news article. According to the article, the Securities Appliate Tribunal, or SAET, set aside the order of the Security Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, regarding the two eminent businessmen, Mr. Puneet Goenka and Mr. Subash Chandra. See, the whole episode concerning Mr. Goenka, Mr. Chandra and Zee Entertainment is not relevant for our examination. But we can expect a question regarding this important organization which is governing the security market of India, that is, Security Appliate Tribunal. So, in our discussion today, let us see about SAET. We can deduce this discussion into two parts. In the first part, we shall see the basics and structures of the SAET. In the second part, we shall see about the functions of this organization. Now, let us get into the discussion. See, the Security Appliate Tribunal is a statutory body. What does it mean? It means, this body gets established by an act. So, the SAET is established under the provisions of section 15K of the Securities Exchange Board of Act 1992. See, the SAET draws its jurisdiction, powers and authority from the SEBI Act. Know that it has the same power as vested in a civil court under the code of civil procedure. Moreover, we should know that the SAET has only one bench which sits at Mumbai. Having seen these basics, let us see the composition of the Tribunal. See, the Tribunal consists of a preceding officer and two other members. The preceding officer will be appointed by the central government. In consultation with the Chief Justice of India or his nominee, let us come to the qualification of the preceding officer. The preceding officer should be a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court or a sitting or retired Chief Justice of the High Court. Know that the preceding officer can also be a sitting or retired judge of the High Court provided he or she has served seven years of service as a high court judge. Now, let us see the tenure of these officers. See, both the members and the preceding officers have a five-year tenure. However, the maximum age of the preceding officer is 68 and the member, the maximum age is 62. Know that the members are eligible for reappointment. But note that the members of the Tribunal can be only removed through an order of the central government and they should be based on the grounds of proven misbehavior or incapacity. See, this is all about the structures of this body. With these basics, now let us look into the functions of the body. The first important function is the SAT hears and disposes the appeals against the orders which are passed by the SEBI as we saw in the beginning of the discussion. The second important function is the Tribunal hears and disposes the appeal against the order passed by adjudicating authority of the Act. The third important function is since 2014, the SAT also hears and disposes the appeals against the order which are passed by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority or PFRDA and Insurance Regulatory Development Authority or IRDAI. Know this, this is under the PFRDA Act 2013. An important point is a person who is not satisfied with the order of the Tribunal can file the second appeal directly to the Supreme Court of India. But remember, they should be filed within 60 days from receiving the order of the SAT. These are all some of the functions of this Tribunal. So, this is all about the discussion. In this discussion, we saw about the basics of SAT. We saw about the composition of SAT. And finally, we saw about the functions of SAT. Revised often as it will be very important from a pranam's perspective.  Take a look at this front page article. This article talks about the Surasena dispute which you might have studied in the newspaper. Yesterday, the Supreme Court gave a ruling on this matter. It asked the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to decide upon the disqualification petition filed by Chief Minister Eknot Shinde Kamp by December 31, 2023. In this case, the disqualification petitions were filed under the 10th schedule of the Constitution, that is under the Anti-Defection Law. Not only this, in recent times there are many issues in the states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Manipur etc. See, there are various controversies emerging in the recent times about the office of Speaker and this constitutional office is under constant controversies in recent times. So, in this news and article discussion, let us understand the role of Speaker in our parliamentary democracy using our usual main question-come-interactive approach. Now, first of all, let us see the question. In the light of various controversies, critically examine the role of Speaker in parliamentary democracy. This is the question which is asked for 15 markers and you should write answer within 250 words. See, this question can be asked in the GS paper 2 under the syllabus of Parliament and State Legislatures, Structure, Functioning and Conduct of Businesses and issues arising out of this. Now, see the question, here the key word is critically examine. When the term critically examine is given, you are expected to examine both the positive and negative sides of the issue and you have to give a balanced conclusion. See, with this understanding, let us approach the question. In the introduction part, you can mention about this role of Speaker in the parliamentary democracy. Like, we can write like this, Article 93 of the Indian Constitution mentions about this role of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Know that, the Speaker of the House is not just the President Officer of the House. He acts as the Head of the Lok Sabha and its every representative. Moreover, she or he is the Guardian of Powers and Privileges of the House. Likewise, the Speaker being the Principal Spokesperson of the House, his decision is final in all parliamentary matters. In these capacities, he is vested with the vast varied and vital powers and responsibilities and usually, Speaker enjoys great honor, high dignity and supreme authority within the House. In this way, you can write the introduction. Guys, you could also give a lead to the body of the answer by writing like, recently due to the various issues, the office of Speaker is often criticized in the court, media, civil society, etc. Which we are going to discuss in our answer. Likewise, you can give a lead to your main part of the answer. Now, you can see the main body of the answer. Guys, you can split the body of the answer into two parts. Firstly, you can mention the role of Speaker. Here, you can highlight some of the positive aspects of the Speaker role. And in the second part, you can highlight some of the controversial issues and examine the negatives of the roles. This is how we are going to write the body of the answer. Now, we shall start with the first part of the body. Here, you can write like this. See, Speaker is a multifunctional authority with various roles, which includes, firstly, with respect to the order of the House. See, as per Article 95 of the Constitution, Speaker is the preceding officer of the House. In this capacity, he or she is vested with the powers to maintain order and decorum in the House. Moreover, he or she is the final interpreter of the provisions of Constitution, rule of procedures of the Lok Sabha and conduct of business of Lok Sabha under parliamentary proceedings. By doing all these things, Speaker ensures a smooth functioning of the House, thereby effective lawmaking process. Secondly, the most important role is with respect to the provisions of the bill. Know that the Speaker places central role in the lawmaking process. He or she can assign the bill to the various parliamentary committees. Speaker decides on the order in which the bills are to be considered by the House, and finally, he or she should certify the final text of the bill before they are presented to the President for his assent. The second function is, as per Article 110 of the Constitution, the Speaker decides whether a bill is a money bill or an ordinary bill, and his decision is final in this regard. Thirdly, under the representation of the people act 1951, see the Speaker decides the question of disqualification of the members of Lok Sabha, which is generally arising out of defections under the 10th schedule of the Constitution or under the Anti-Defection law. In this capacity, the Speaker playing a lead role in strengthening the democratic process, and he also ensures the stability of the government. The final important roles are, Speaker can adjoin the House or suspend the meeting in case there is an absence of quorum. Actually, the quorum is nothing but the one-tenth of the total members of the House. In doing this, he ensures the accountability of the legislatures and make the voice of people heard in the Lok Sabha. The next function, Speaker is the spokesperson of Lok Sabha. The Speaker is often called to represent the Lok Sabha and to speak behalf of it in various public or international events. Guys, you can write all these points mentioning the role of Speaker in ensuring the parliamentary democracy. In this way, you can write the first part of the body. And moving on to the second part of the body, as I already said, here you can write about the various controversial issues, like the Speaker is expected to be neutral and unbiased in discharging his or her duties. But when the Speaker is accused of using his discretion in an arbitrary or biocidal manner, this can lead to the perception of unfairness or lack of transparency in the decision-making process. To stop this, in the Kehota Holohan v Sazilu and others case 1992, the Supreme Court held that the Speaker must act impartially and without bias while deciding on the disqualification of the member. In this judgment only, the Supreme Court said that the decision of the Speaker is open to judicial review. Okay, let's move on to the second point. Secondly, the Speaker is responsible for deciding on the cases of disqualification of the members. This we have already discussed in our analysis. But the problem is, there have been many instances where the Speaker has faced criticism for handling such cases. For example, in the Karnataka MLA Disqualification case in 2019, the Supreme Court recommended the Parliament to amend the Constitution and establish a quasi-judicial authority to deal with the disqualification practices. This decision was suggested by Speaker due to the inaction of the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly. See, also in Kaisa Meghachandra case, versus the Honorable Speaker of Manipura Assembly, in 2020 case, the Supreme Court suggested to appoint an independent tribunal to substitute the office of Speaker in dealing with the disqualification cases. Okay. Thirdly, we have to see about the misuse of the discretionary powers. See, in many instances, there are cases. Thirdly, with respect to the misuse of discretionary powers, Lokshapa Speaker has the discretionary powers in the case of the declaration of a bill as a money bill. This discretionary power came under various criticism when the Adar bill was introduced in Lokshapa as a money bill. The Supreme Court under the Adar case ruled that the judiciary can exercise over the Speaker's determination in classifying the bill as a money bill. In simple words, the Speaker's assent or the Speaker's decision in the case of money bill is open to judicial review. Finally, in the Shivshena case itself, even the petition of disqualification has been filed in 2022, but still the Speaker of Assembly has not decided on the petition. This inaction of the Speaker and the inordinate delays also plaguing the success of the democracy. Guys, you can write all these points in the criticism. Finally, in the conclusion, you can end by saying that the effectiveness of the Speaker in upholding the principles of parliamentary democracy largely depends upon their commitment to the core values. These core values are impartiality, integrity, and the rule of law. See, striking a fine balance between the political affiliation and the impartial execution of duties remains a critical challenge in India's parliamentary system. So to ensure this, the impartiality of the office of Speaker is paramount in making a parliamentary democracy a grand success. In this way, you can complete the conclusion of this question. This is all about the question. See, in our analysis, we saw about the introduction, we saw about the body of the answer, in that we saw about the roles of Speaker and the various criticism involved in the office of Speaker, etc. In the conclusion part, you should always conclude by striking a fine balance between criticism and suggestions. With this learned points, let us move on to the next news article for discussion. Look at this news article. Yesterday, as you all know, there was a train accident happened in Arandar Pradesh. This accident occurred due to the collision between two passenger trains. See, the initial report saying that at least 14 people died and more than 50 injured in this horrific accident. In this context, know that in order to avoid such accidents, the indigenously developed Kavach system or train collision avoidance system has been developed in India. But sadly, this Kavach has not been installed in this stretch where this accident takes place. This is about the article. So, in this context, let us see some important points about the Kavach system for our privileged perspective. See, the Kavach system is an automatic train protection system, ATP system, which was developed in India. Now, the purpose of this system is to make the train travel safer. This indigenious system is developed by the Indian Railway through Research, Design and Standard Organization, or RDSO. Having seen the basics, let us see some important features of this system. See, the Kavach system is the state of art electronic system with the high safety standards to avoid the collision of trains. To put it simply, it is a set of electronic devices and radio frequency identification devices which are installed in three important stakeholders of railway safety. That is, they are installed in the trains or locomotives. They are installed in the signal system and they are installed in the railway tracks. Through this, they communicate with each other using high radio frequencies to control the brakes of the system if both the trains are happened to be on the same track. Meanwhile, it also alerts the drivers of the trains. No, all these will happen based on the logic which was already programmed into the system. Let us see this next important feature. Kavach continuously track the movement information of the train. So, by doing this, it is able to send out triggers when the locomotives did not adhere to the signal or the locomotives jumped the signal. No, this is the grave railway offense with respect to the safety of the train and jumping of signal often leads to the accidents like collision of trains. In railway parlance, this is technically called signal pass that danger SPLD. Now, I can give real-time example to understand this better. Let us say you are driving a toy train and you accidentally drive it too fast towards another toy train which is happened to be on the same track. See, if the kavach is installed in both the trains, it will automatically apply brakes on both trains and it will avoid the collision driven the two trains. Okay, let us come back to discussion. The third important feature of kavach is in addition to the preventing collision, the kavach system also sends emergency messages during the crucial situations. So, it helps the railway authorities to know when there is an emergency. They will take necessary steps accordingly to keep everyone safe. Let us see fourth important feature. The kavach system is also helpful during the foggy conditions when the visibility is usually low. In this situation, it will activate some hooter or a loud horn like device. This will alert the driver when this will alert the train driver when they are approaching at the level crossings. So, it will help the driver to know where there is a crossing ahead if they cannot see it clearly during the four conditions. In addition to this, the kavach system will help address the glitches and vulnerabilities related to various situations. This includes vehicles crossing close in level crossings, stray kattles or bordlers on the tracks, railway communication issues in the tunnels etc. These are some of the important features of the system. Now, let us see how this system works. See, the kavach works through a system called Traffic Collision Avoidance System or TCAS. The system uses equipment on the train and the transmission towers at stations with the radio frequency tags. This allows the two-way communication between station master and the locomotive to convey the emergency between them. The system helps the train drivers to know about the signals and permissible speeds in advance through the instrument panel inside the cabin. If a train jumps a red signal and the two trains sense up at the same track, the kavach systems take over and apply sudden brakes to avoid the collision. This is all about the working of this kavach system. Now, finally, let us talk about the areas where this kavach has been implemented. See, the kavach system is implemented in a focused manner. The first priority is to install at the high density routes where the trains often run closer to each other. The second priority is given to the highly user networks, which means the routes that are frequently used with the trains. The third priority is given to other passenger high density routes. And finally, the aim is to cover all the routes. Overall, the kavach system is an important step towards making the train travel safer. It helps to prevent the accident by stopping the trains at red signals and avoiding the collisions. See, it is being implemented on various routes to ensure the safety of passengers and reduce the chances of accidents. See, this is all about the discussion about kavach. Let us have a recap about what we saw. In this discussion, we saw about the basics of kavach system, the futures of kavach systems and we also saw about the working of this system. And finally, we saw about the implementation levels of this system. So, with this learned point, let us take up the next article for discussion. Look at this news article. The news is about the recent decision of US government to bring a regulation for artificial intelligence. The article also states that the United States will engage with a number of countries like India, EU, UK, Japan, Australia before framing such regulation. This is about the article. In this context, let us see some points about the artificial intelligence. See, in 2021, the AI market in India accounted for over $7.8 billion. In the coming days, this number is only going to increase. And moreover, AI plays a crucial role in the fourth industrial revolution. So, it is naturally this variation to have a sound knowledge about artificial intelligence. Okay, let us get into discussion. First of all, what do you mean by AI? See, AI or artificial intelligence refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines. To put it simply, artificial intelligence involves making machines think and act like humans. See, we are encountering AI everywhere in our daily activities. For example, from bots in online games to complex algorithms that helps us to monitor and predict the weather patterns. This is about the definition of AI. With this understanding, let us see the types of AI. First, we have narrow AI. Narrow AI refers to the AI systems that are trained for a narrow set of tasks. These systems are not self aware. They cannot go beyond the specific tasks other than what they are programmed for. For example, chatbots, image recognition softwares, etc. Secondly, we have general AI. General AI has the ability to understand, learn and apply knowledge across various domains. Actually, they try to mimic the human intelligence. The main difference between narrow AI and general AI is that the narrow AI is not capable of any reasoning or understanding. But general AI can understand the context behind the particular task. For example, chat GPT is the early stage general AI. Currently, lot of research is currently taking place to create a complete general AI. Next, we can also see one important thing called super intelligent AI. See, this kind of AI could potentially outperform the humans in every cognitive tasks. Actually, they might possess abilities beyond human comprehension. Now, this kind of AI is not in practice, but they are mostly portrayed in science fiction movies. For example, 2001, a space ODC movie is a good example. Here, HIL-9000 is an example of super intelligent AI. See, these are the main types of AI. But AI can also be classified into traditional AI and generative AI. Traditional AI refers to the system designed to respond to a particular set of inputs, which means these systems have the capacity to learn from the data and make decisions or prediction based on such data only. Actually, I can put it in a simple way. Imagine you are playing a computer chess game. The computer knows all the rules. It can even predict your moves and make its own strategy based on the predefined knowledge. Actually, here it's not inventing anything new, but selecting from the strategy it was programmed with. That is a traditional AI. Now, coming to generative AI, it is a form of AI that can create something new. Actually, it uses algorithms and models to generate new data based on the patterns that it has learned from the existing data. To put it simply, generative AI learn from the existing data, then uses that data to create yet distinctively new type of data. Okay, I can give you a good example so that you can understand it better. Imagine you're having a big collection of the pictures of dogs. Generative AI would analyze the pictures of dogs in a better way and learn what dog generally looks like, the characteristics of dogs like colors, shapes, textures, etc. It would identify common futures that make dog a dog. Once the AI has learned all these patterns, it can start generating new type of dog images. It does this combining different futures it has learned from the existing pictures.  The AI is essentially creating something new that resembles your dog based on what it has learned. In this way, generative AI can create new text, images, music, even videos. This is how generative AI functions. Actually, some of the examples of generative AI includes chat GPT, which can generate realistic and engaging chat conversations. D.I.L.E. Dolly, which can create realistic images from the text descriptions. Adobe Firefly can create videos from the text descriptions. See, these are all various examples of generative AI, which are in the developing stages. See, this is all about our discussion. In this discussion, we have covered about the basics of AI, the various types of AI. We saw the differences between traditional AI and generative AI. And we also saw some of the examples of generative AI. So, with these learned points, let us take up the next article for discussion. Look at this news article. The science page article talks about the synthesis of new form of carbon structure called carbon nanofluorates. Know that these particles is called blacker than black particle. See, the uniqueness of this particle, they can observe three frequencies of sunlight and convert it to heat energy with a maximum efficiency of 87%. It means there can be coated on the surfaces to heat homes and sterilize the surfaces in hospitals. Let us see who developed this particle. This particle has been developed with researchers at IIT Bombay. Currently, they have applied for patent for this particle. See, this is the crux of the news article given here. In this discussion, let us quickly go through some of the important points mentioned in the article. Firstly, let us see how they produced the carbon nanofluorates. See, the researchers heated a special form of silicon dust called dendritic fiber nanosilica in a furnace. After heating the furnace, acetylene gas was introduced into the chamber. This makes the ivory white silica powder to turn into black color. What does it symbolize? It symbolizes that there is a sign that carbon had been deposited on the DNFs powder. Then, the black DNFs powder is collected and treated with strong chemicals. In this process, it will dissolve the DNFs away, leaving the carbon particles behind. Further treatment removes the silica particles leaving behind spherical nanostructure composed of carbon cones. See, these spherical nanostructures composed of carbon cones are called carbon nanofluorates. This is all about the basics of these carbon nanofluorates. Let us see the properties of it. Remember, the high efficiency of the carbon nanofluorates come from these properties. The first properties is that the nanofluorates observe three frequencies of sunlight, which I have told in the introduction. They are infrared, visible light and ultraviolet rays. See, more than half of the energy of sunlight arrives to earth in the form of infrared radiation, so the nanofluorates can observe much more energy from the sun. When we compare it with the other materials, which are generally used for solar thermal conversion, like PV materials, photovoltaic materials, which is often used in the solar panels, the PV materials observe only visible and UV light of the spectrum, whereas the CNF observes three frequencies of sunlight, thus providing higher efficiency. Let us see the other properties, which are responsible for the high light to heat conversion efficiency of CNF. Know that these are mainly due to the shape of the material. See, when the light falls on the material, the carbon cones ensure that very little is reflected back. Instead, more light is reflected internally. Moreover, a material that is capable of converting sunlight into heat often runs the risk of losing the heat to the surroundings. This is the general law of thermodynamics. But the unique design of the CNF does not allow the heat waves to travel long distances. This lowers the amount of heat which is dissipated to the surroundings. So, in essence, carbon nanofluorates efficiently observe sunlight and convert it into remarkable degree of heat. For example, one square meter coating of CNF can vaporize five liters of water in just a hour, showing that at least it is five times better than the commercial solar stills. Now, talking about their application, as I have already told in the discussion that they can be used for heating homes in regions of low temperatures, sterilizing the surfaces of hospitals, even they can be used in commercial solar stills for water evaporation. That is all about the applications of CNF. In this news article discussion, we saw about the basics of CNFs who developed that the process by which the CNF is created, we also saw about the properties of CNF and finally, we saw about the applications of carbon nanofluorates. So, with this learned points, let us move on to the next article for discussion. Look at this news article. This article is taken from the text and context page of the Hindu. This article is talking about the floods in India. Recently, a study was conducted by World Bank on floods in India and the results of the study got published in the journal Nature. The study says that the urban areas of India have been facing floods more and more often. This is destroying several thousands of life and livelihoods in urban India. The study also highlighted that since 1985, human settlements in the flood prone areas of India have more than doubled. The study also found that the middle income countries like India have more urban settlements in the flood prone zone than both low and high income countries. By highlighting this World Bank study, the experts are saying that unsustainable urbanization is the main reasons for flood in urban areas of India, such as some of the measures like scientific mapping of the flood prone area, flood resilient housing and sustainable planning etc. See, this is the crux of the article. Here, why I have discussed in detail means you can take this point and write it in your answer by just quoting the study of the World Bank. This will enrich the credibility of your answer. Let's back to discussion. In this discussion, let us understand some points about flood. Then we shall also see about flood prone zones of India. And finally, we can see about steps taken by India to mitigate the floods. Let's start with the floods. Flood is simply defined as the overflow of large amount of water over dry lands. Some of the main causes of flood include heavy rainfall, rapid melting of snow, coastal storms, overflow of rivers, dam failures etc. The flood can cause various negative effects to the environment. They include loss of human life, damage to the property, infrastructure, crop destruction and livelihood loss, displacement of houses and other economic impacts. Now, what does the term urban flooding mean? Since this is the new challenge of India, in the wake of rapid differentiation, we have to see the definition of urban flooding. Urban flooding is defined as the overflow of water in more densely populated or developed areas. As we know, in urban areas, the properties are closely packed. So, the excess water during rainfall does not find the drainage to drain. This in turn causes the flood in urban areas. This is all about urban flooding. Now, let us see the flood prone zones of India. In India, the main reason for the flood is the overflow of river during excessive rains. Apart from this, glacial lake outburst in lakes, dam failures are also other causes of floods. Now, look at the map here. This map highlights the flood prone zones of India. See here, the states falling within the flood prone zones are West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat etc. The flood prone zones are closely related to the basin on which they are situated. States like UP, Bihar, West Bengal are falling within the Ganga basin. So, during monsoon, these states are prone to flooding. Similarly, Assam experiences of flooding due to the overflow of Brahmabutra. States like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan are receiving floods due to the rivers from rivers Sattlaj and Ravi. Gujarat experiences flood due to the over flooding of Narmada, Sabarmathi and Tappi river. Similarly, Odisha faces floods due to the overflow of Mahanedi river. And moreover, Andhra faces floods from both Godavari and Krishna. Finally, Kerala experiences flood due to heavy rainfall in the wake of southwest monsoons. See, we have discussed elaborately about the major flood prone zones of India. Now finally, let us see the steps taken by Indian government to mitigate the flood. The first important step is setting up of Central Water Commission. The government of India has set up CWC in 1945. It has primarily set up to achieve the various goals like flood control, management of flood and conservation and utilization of water resources. See, the CWC performs various activities like planning, investigation, management, designing of water resources across the country. These steps help in addressing the floods throughout the country. See, the second important step is the constitution of Brahmabutra Board. See, the government of India had set up Brahmabutra Board in 1982 under Brahmabutra Board Act 1980. Under Brahmabutra Board Act 1980. See, now it is functioning under the ministry of Jalshakti. The jurisdiction of Brahmabutra covers all North Indian states that fall under Brahmabutra and Barak basin. See, the Brahmabutra Board carries various functions to mitigate floods in this region. Thirdly, the government constituted Ganga Flood Control Commission in 1972. This commission is involved in the preparation of comprehensive plan for controlling floods in the Ganga basin. It also monitors various flood management schemes in the Ganga basin states. And the final important step is the setting up of National Disaster Management Authority or NDMA. See, the government of India has constituted MDMA in 2005 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister of India. See, the NDMA is continuously working in the prevention and mitigation of disasters including flood disasters. It is also undertaking a holistic, coordinated and prompt response to any disaster in India which also includes floods. Apart from this, the government of India also undertook several structural measures to mitigate floods. These measures include construction of dams in the flood prone areas, channelization of rivers, improvement of river channels and drainages, diversion of floodwaters, etc. These measures also help to mitigate the flood across India. This is all about the discussion on floods, distribution of flood prone zones in India and the steps taken by the government. That's all about the news discussion. With this, let us move on to the next part of our discussion that is to discuss the preliminary practice questions. Today, we are having four questions which are relevant to our preliminary examination. Let us solve them one by one. See the first question. The securities appellate tribunal does not hear and dispose the appeals against the orders which are passed by which of the following authority? That means the question is asking that out of the four organizations whose order can't be appealed in Sad. Let us see the options. Securities and Exchange Board of India, Option B IRDAI, Third Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India and Fourth PFRDA. See, from our discussion, you can easily understand that the appeals from Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India does not fall into this equation. So, the correct option is Option C. See the second question. How many of the following statements about the Kavach system is correct? See the first statement. It was announced in the budget 2022-23. Second statement, it is an automatic train protection system. Third one, it is an indigenous system developed by Indian Railway through research, design and standards organization. See, all of the three statements regarding the Kavach system which are given here are correct. So, the correct option is Option C. See the third question. How many of the following pairs are correctly matched? On the left side, you are given generative AIs. On the right side, you are given the applications of fit. The first one is regarding Google bot. The application is Content Generation. It is correct. See the second one, Aiva. The application is regarding Video Generation. This is wrong. See the third one, Synthesia. The application here given is regarding the music generation. See from our discussion, we saw that Synthesia is a video generation AI. So, this is also wrong. See the fourth statement. It is Co-Pilot. The application is Code Generation. This is correct. See, first and fourth pair are correctly matched. So, the correct option is Option B. See the final question of the day. The question is Carbon Nano Fluorates, something seen in the news is usually refers to. See the four options. The keyword is here is Fluorates, which means something related to flowers right. So, by the common sensical knowledge, we can easily decipher that the option B, the nanoscale structures resembling the flowers which are made up of carbon is the correct answer. So, here the correct option is Option B. See, the main question based on today's discussion is listed here. Interested aspirants can write the answer and post it in the comment section. If you like today's video, like, comment and share it with your friends. For more updates regarding the UPC preparation, subscribe to Shankar IIS Academy. Thank you for listening to this video. Thank you.


The neighborhood financial infusion centers, NFICs, were officially learned by the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria and then on March 1st, 2024, in Kauru, Nassarawa State. This initiative was introduced as the central bank of Nigeria's deadline for linking the National Identification Number NIN and Bank Verification Number BVN Approach in banks urging their customers to comply. Nassarawa State became the first in the country to commence the NFIC registration and data capture and exercise. Dharindal, Nansh Fasasi Sharafa Dean Atondah, the National President of Amban, emphasized the lack of bank branches in over 300 local governments in Nigeria, which hamper its access to BVN and NIN linkage. The NFIC aims to address this issue by providing services such as NIN and BVN registration, NIN card registration, ATM card services, and government disbursements to financially excluded communities. In our discussion today, we will explore Amban's role in advancing the federal government's financial infusion agenda and the upcoming unveiling of the Agents' joint tax force. Welcome to Business Insight and Clost TV Africa, I am Justin Akadoni.