Sun's just come out. Here we are. We're uh myself and myself. His self. Himself. Shimself. Top shelf. Top shelf. Shimself. Here we go. We're out. We're in Yorkshire. I'm out with von Diddles. The sun is blazing. It's absolutely glorious. A glorious second half of the day and we're going to go in there. It's been pissing down for the last couple of days so the water is running very fast and it's very brown but we're going to see if we can't pull out some crayfish. And here he is look. There you are. Right let's uh we haven't got wetsuits or anything either so let's just get let's get into duds and uh go and have a goose. Look at this for a get-up look. I've got belt on. I've got my ankle. I've got ankle wets on. Looks like you're going comic-con. Looks like I'm going to comic-con dressed as like me. Homeless footballer. We're both a bit homeless footballer aren't we? A little bit. We're airing that except for I'm freshly homeless. Yeah well you're more injury prone. I'm an injury prone. I'm just out on injury. Yeah long term. Yeah but you know you don't play for years. I mean my best days were barely. You didn't have any best days and they're behind you. How then mate I just wanted to interject here with a little bit of a safety warning for anyone who's thinking about trying this please air on the side of caution. I spent far too long in this cold water mate and when I got out I looked like a smurf mate.  It's very important to not take this stuff for granted because it is quite dangerous. Alright take care. See you in a bit. You're looking blue now. That was mad. Maybe stayed in a little bit too long. Body started to shut down a little bit but on the plus side got a nice little haul of American signal crayfish that we can cook up somewhere which we'll go find somewhere now to to get bushbot rives. Oh his sun's come out at the perfect time. Glorious. Right let's go find some woodland or find somewhere interesting to get a little fire going. Right so what I'm using here is just a little bit of fat wood. This is going to be good too if it's uh of late. Well I've got this fat wood stick which was one of the ones that was kindly gifted to me from the lovely people at Nordic Outdoors. Look at this look a lot of finer stuff. Going in with Tubby Tom's death dust. Tubby Tom's. Tubby Tom mate yeah. So George is just putting some salt in there. Nice bit of salt and then do you want a smell? Yeah maybe. Nice happy. Right Tubby Tom's going in. That's a lot. That's a lot of Tubby Tom's it's got it's got some mad in it as well. Carolina Reaper. It's a herphant's earth. Let's have a whirl. A whirl. Hey look at us it looks like we've.  I haven't copied off you this is this is a Berghaus one that I've had for about four years but I've just bought it out now we're locked down we look quite good mate don't we from a distance. Yeah I look like I've had a haircut for all I've really done is put my hair back. Yeah I'm rocking air band and he's rocking some sort of bungee but whatever it is used condom or something to hold his hair back and we've done these crayfish mate but we've done them in Tubby Tom's hot Carolina Reaper powder so we're going to get stuck into these and we're going to answer some patreon questions whilst we do so we're just out for the day together in our little socially distancing day out I know this doesn't look like we're socially distancing but it's a fish eye lens we're actually further away from each of them you think here we go Jake's journey decent lad I'll watch it later right good that's too hazy pot right okay question right here we go this is from Welsh Karl say hello to Welsh Karl all right Welsh Karl where you're from what's what's your name and where'd you come from look at that for a size of a tail look a lot of meat on that spicy isn't it yeah nice that's a huge claw mate that was delicious I've just finished Foxy's podcast Foxy's um audio book yeah when he says red what he really means is I've been over this with someone read it people who know me and care about me know that I don't have the attention span to read books you can't say red then oh I can because it goes in it goes in when I listen to an audio book it goes in more maybe didn't read it some people are visual like you listen to it I listen to it yeah I tell you what that spice mix has made them well nice aren't it very good yes that is a game changer it's a game changer yeah because they're not the most flavoursome of things no but they're they're decent though but they've got a nice little pepper pepper she's a lot nicer than the last time you pulled some out of there that's because I put a lot of love into them for anyone who's what anyone who's just listening to the audio version of this you won't get to see me um going freezing I nearly went hypothermic didn't I big time I did try to tell you but there's no point in trying to tell you when you're in the zone you're in the underwater world well there's one I wasn't so I can't reach him I can't reach him when he's down there I went no point in trying to get him when he comes back in yeah and it was good the gas man proud to be a new dunk junker in town consumed all your content multiple times so here's a beer on me thanks mate the least I can do do you and thistle tits have any I love everyone's little names for you thistle tits do you and thistle tits have any special camp of epic proportions planned for when lockdown is lifted will you be packing the dj hip flask for the camp it's been a while since we've seen it in action all the best lots of love yeah it's my granddad's hip flask that it was made like a little cricket bat that you got when he retired and that I've been slurping whiskey out of something tragic happened with that mate something tragic happened with it and it's upsetting I'm honest but it's no longer with us you melted it down I melted it down into catapult ammo and shot a bottle glass bottle with it it left it in woods missed as well missed it with it yeah um yeah I broke up my girlfriend and moved out of my house and uh it got lost in the move got done in I must have got taken to charity shop sir oh somebody ah some lucky punter's gonna end up with that in charity shop it's a good little find that but it breaks me out to think about it so I'll move on quickly do we have any big camps planned for the end of lockdown we've got some up planned for the end of the month my son the end of this month so maybe two weeks time yeah we've got a big thing planned uh I won't say what but it's going to be a good two night epic adventure planned for in two weeks and I know lockdown is probably over in it by then oh yeah plus we've got permission to camp in some woodlands sir we're all good we're all good look at that there's just a mountain of shells next to Joe there and that's good to see I tucked in you did tuck in mate that's good to see free food free food that was good as well right pretty protein it's very good the spice mix was the game changer yeah probably the salt worked as well yeah yeah but makes a difference doesn't it massive difference is that like to sit around a pot full of them and just crack out you know fire you can imagine just a little bit of butter and you'd be like that's great do you know I mean there's another one addition would you that would you a bit of butter in there I mean butter makes everything better doesn't it exactly to be honest with it I feel like I'm looking around I feel like you've been for a horse chestnut yeah I taught you that you little pervert I feel like I've been I've been rummaging around in Ursula's underpants you know what I mean is that a little mermaid no it's a little mermaid's his gran or whatever it is all right I wouldn't I wouldn't wrestle around it little mermaid's underpants is she too little too little Ursula it's big big unit I've no I don't think I've ever seen it I'll be honest with you he's never lived never lived what does joey d teach life skills no I teach art and design art and design art and design would you believe so we're a couple of creatives it's all about creative him creative through his work me creative through my love making and philanthropy also in my work to a lesser extent I also teach haze how to be just an all-round better person yeah so that's been that's been a long hard slog but it's worked because look at that look at that it's all these it's getting better if you're not a better person couldn't you do couldn't have got them could he could he's poor morsels we'll have to have them before end of day yeah this little day trip that we're on oh don't tell me that's the end of the questions you'll just look at you are ready to get away look at us we're like we're in a boyband or something there's some here for everyone you know like in a boyband when there's something for everyone well I can be more than one as well because I take my hair down I'm something else you know I mean I'm nearly at that stage where I can just hair down yeah but it'll look good when you do dunking junking wouldn't you be able to timid hey yeah and I get rid of these tits as well before I do that yeah um is that it odd on that was good is all right well is that enough well I don't know you've got more um I just wanted to just like just say a few people's names but I can't find them you just want to say some names yeah shout out all right Jeff Daniel Debbie McGee Pat Butcher annihilated them scene of some sort of B movie in it like close up yeah they look like some sort of alien from somewhere um but they were delicious shout out toby tom for the spice mix that is going to stay in my bushcraft kit until it's gone because it's the perfect thing just to chuck on foraged goods it got the thumbs up from from this lad didn't it it was really delicious yeah really delicious um I'll put a link to toby tom's I'm not sponsored or out but I'll put a link below because I think he's an independent dude and he didn't use any crap it's all natural gear that he puts in it and he does it all himself so shout out put his link below delicious absolutely delicious we're going to go we're going to pack all this up and then we're going to get ourselves off to find somewhere just to dunk us the junk us wash away all the smoke wash away all this let's get this two decent little thing up for you you scruffy buggers putting in some uh putting in some miles on bare feet there's part of my bare foot my barefoot training um I started wearing barefoot trainers and just walking as walking barefoot as much as I can of late for an up and coming project that I may or may not succeeding whoo let's go for a splash get it lad the boys are back in town just a couple of long head lads look at that actually look look look get it ideal it's fun and that I didn't like full dunk we've just had there so good and it's so good being in such such powerful water I know it's uh you have to keep your wits about you but there's a lot to be said for the like feeling the power of it's invigorating isn't it you take a bit of the yeah a bit of the power we are we're right hippies man okay got to enjoy these up barefoot challenge look hippies mate what are you gonna do right battery's gonna go one and done it's been a mint day we didn't manage to go full on camping but we've had this is just as good isn't it it's been lovely man it's been lovely cray fishing suns come out for us wild swimming a bit of cooking in woods not done loads of filming but it's just been just mint hanging out again and just getting back out hippie style barefoot hiking right or of wire thanks for watching say goodbye to him joseph because they do love you he said bye with his feet take care see you later folks


Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu News Analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy for the date 18th May 2019. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Thiruvannandapura Medicines are provided here. The link for the handwritten notes in the PDF format and the time-stamping for the displayed articles has been provided in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time-stamping is also provided in the comment section. Let's move on to the first article. This article has appeared on page 5 of Chennai edition only. The discussion based on this article will be relevant in prelims preparation under Indian polity and in governance and also in social development. The discussion can also be linked to main syllabus under GS paper 2 in the area government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation and also in issues relating to development and management of education. The news article discusses about the non-dispersal of required and requested funds to the state government of Tamil Nadu by Centre. The state government has requested to the central government for rupees 4000 crores for ensuring the implementation of section 12 subsection 1 clause C of Right of Education to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009. This section deals with preschool. The act in section 12 subsection 1 clause C states that every school that fall under the definition given in the act shall admit at least 25% of students in every class from weaker and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood. Note that the definition of school in RTE act of 2009 includes even an unneeded school that is not receiving any kind of aid or grants to meet its expenses from the government. Children belonging to weaker sections means children of parent or guardian whose annual income is lower than the minimum limit specified by the government. Children from disadvantaged group means those children belonging to the schedule caste, schedule tribes socially and educationally backward classes also. The definition of disadvantaged group also includes social disadvantages, cultural disadvantages, economical, geographical, linguistic and disadvantages owing to gender and other factors also. Under the RTE act the private schools are reimbursed with the expenses incurred by them in admitting 25% of free seats in a class to weaker and disadvantaged sections. 2014 to 2016 the state government has reimbursed the private schools with 97 crore. Now this money has been claimed by the state from the government for reimbursement under Servicet Shah Abhyan. But the centre has so far approved only 18 lakhs. Here one has to note that the education comes under concurrent list. Keep in mind that education comes under concurrent list. And section 7 of Right to Education Act of 2009 states that both central and state governments have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of the act. This means centre is not fulfilling its responsibility under the act and this affects the state's finances, school education system in the state and programs such as Servicet Shah Abhyan. Because if now the state government request money for infrastructure under Servicet Shah Abhyan the centre can easily say that it has given 18 lakhs. But we know that the money was claimed under the scheme to get the centre's share of reimbursed amount of private schools. Some experts working in the area of education feel that there shall be some rule or legislation to bring all schools as neighbourhood schools. Because under RTE Act for children in class 1 to 5 to get a free seat under the act a school has to be within a walking distance of 1 kilometer of the neighbourhood. And for classes 6 to 8 standard it is 3 kilometers. There are many implementation challenges in this scheme. Because many private schools say the admission for 25% free seats for weaker and disadvantaged sections is closed or they do not fall under the jurisdiction limits for applying a seat in their school. Therefore some experts suggest to announce all schools as neighbourhood schools and this has to be done based on the recommendations by the Acharya Ramamurthy committee of 1990. This committee was set up in 1990 for the review of National Policy on Education 1996. The committee has submitted report in the same year itself. According to the committee all schools whether urban or rural, government or private, aided or unaided has to become community or neighbourhood schools to achieve the common school system. This was suggested to secure equity and social justice in education. Another recommendation of this committee is every school should be made a community school. This is applicable even to the private and also government schools. Now what is this common school system? The features of the common school system are outlined in the report of Education Commission of 1964 to 1966. They are a common school system must be open to all children irrespective of social, economic or other differences and no tuition fee would be charged from the students for providing quality education. And there should be no need to send children to expensive schools outside the system. Now a question may arise that how expensive a private school can be. In a government school in Chennai the yearly fees for class 10 is around 250 rupees for one year. But in same Chennai for class 5 there are some private schools which charge around rupees 60,000 per year. The common school system has not been established all over India for a variety of reasons. One is that government schools or ordinary schools lack infrastructural facilities in comparison with private schools. Secondly the quality of education in government schools is poor because of variety of factors such as poor teaching quality. And thirdly the growth of school institutions in government sector which are meant for separate categories of students. That is the growth of school institutions such as Sainik schools and Kendra Vidyalayas. Sainik schools are established to provide special school education of a high standard with the aim of preparing boys academically and physically for entry into the National Defence Academy. And there are around 26 Sainik schools across the country and they come under Ministry of Defence. Whereas the Kendra Vidyalayas are established to cater to the educational needs of the children of transferable central government employees by providing a common program of education. One of the other reason why common school system has not gained ground in India is the constitutional provision for minorities to establish and administer their own educational institutions which is provided under Article 30 of Indian Constitution. And also lack of political will that is lack of peoples representatives in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and state legislatures to legislate and establish one common school system across the states or across the country. The article also talks about the falling admission percentage in public or government schools. One should correlate with the declining support of governments in providing or allocating funds for government school infrastructure. This indirectly aids the private schools to advertise for them saying that government schools are poor in quality in terms of infrastructure and other basic features of the school. In the news it is also told that non-discrimination and right to dignity can be ensured only in government schools. If non-discrimination or say sexual abuse happens in private schools they will not help the victim. What they immediately try to do is to save the institution from bad reputation as bad reputation will cause their business and investments in schools. But this can never happen or cannot happen in a government school as government employees will face criminal and disciplinary action against them. With this we come to the end of this discussion. For your reference we have displayed a question asked in the preliminary examination last year. Have a look at it. You will have an idea of how generally questions are framed and asked by the UPSC. This displayed practice pollings question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article discussion which is an editorial based on Indo-Pacific policy of India. This article has appeared on page 8 of Chennai, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram edition and on page 6 of Delhi edition. The discussion will be relevant in main syllabus under GS paper 2 in the areas India and its neighborhood relations. Next in bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and or affecting India's interest. Then also in effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interest. Then also in important international institutions, agencies and fora their structure and mandate. The discussion can also be linked to Indian economy under GS paper 3 also. Stepping into the main discussion the authors discuss about the Indo-Pacific policy of India. India's participation in different mechanism to ensure diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific region and also about the challenges present in implementing all these. Before getting into the article discussion let us first understand about the Indo-Pacific region. The term Indo-Pacific refers to the maritime space stretching from the Indian Ocean across East Asia to the western Pacific Ocean. Countries falling in the direct catchment of the vast Indian and Pacific Oceans can be termed as Indo-Pacific countries. In other words it is an integrated arena that combines the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and the landmasses that surround them. Here the most important point is Indo-Pacific is a multipolar region that is contributing more than half of world's GDP and population. Here ocean is the common thread that connects this vast Indo-Pacific region. The prime focus of Indo-Pacific is therefore centered around ocean where India occupies an important strategic position in the Indian Ocean. India is primarily a maritime nation having a rich and glorious history of maritime trade. We all know that. Thus greater maritime connectivity between India and her trade partners is an imperative for Indo-Pacific connectivity. In Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation between India and Southeast Asian countries is one of the important aspects of the Indian-ASEAN strategic partnership. At the ASEAN India Commomerate Summit which held at Delhi in January 2018, leaders underlined the need to provide lower logistic costs for increasing trade. Given the economic potential of Indo-Pacific region, a number of countries are investing enormous financial, technological and human capital to develop maritime economies and are striving to leverage their unique strengths. So many countries have announced initiatives and action plans to promote the blue economy or which is also called as ocean economy. Apparently as we saw earlier, Indo-Pacific has all the ingredients to generate regional trade and investment opportunities which will benefit the consumers. So our Prime Minister in his keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue which held at Singapore in June 2018 reaffirmed India's key role in maritime security and cooperation which will in turn lead to strengthening of the Indo-Pacific. So as a natural consequence to this vision, India set up an Indo-Pacific wing in its Ministry of External Affairs in April 2019. This was because the Indo-Pacific definition covers a huge geographical area as we saw earlier. So there was a need for bureaucratic realignment in the Ministry. Hence the new wing or division was created. This new division imbibes or absorbs various territorial divisions in the Ministry of External Affairs into its fold. These territorial divisions look after the policies of the countries which are part of the Indo-Pacific discussion or discourse. So in this matter, this wing provides a strategic coherence to the Prime Minister's Indo-Pacific vision by integrating the Indian Ocean Rim Association, the ASEAN region and the Quad to the Indo-Pacific vision. Here know that the Quad is short for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue which is an informal consultative mechanism comprising the United States, Australia, Japan and India. The Quad is opposed to China's continued militarization of South China Sea and attempts to control strategic waterways through the region of South China Sea. Next, the Indian Ocean Rim Association means it is a dynamic intergovernmental organization which is aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region through its 22 member states and 9 dialogue partners. India became the IORH chair for the period of 2011 to 2013 and India revitalized IORH during its chairmanship. So six priority and two focus areas were identified to promote sustained growth and balanced development in the Indian Ocean region. These include maritime safety and security, trade and investment facilitation, fisheries management, disaster risk management, tourism and cultural exchange, academic, science and technology, blue economy, women's economic empowerment, all these. Here the integration of IORA means that the attention of India will continue to be focused on the Indian Ocean region. The author says this can be a result of growing Chinese footprint in the Indian Ocean meaning the act of China to control the territories in the Indian Ocean region and increasing China's diplomacy in the region also. The authors say that the new wing of Ministry of External Affairs should work in coordination with the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Navy as they are also taking note of the developments in this region. This is because India has challenges in its immediate neighborhood so a more focused and integrated approach in the Indo-Pacific region is needed. Additionally the authors point that India's Act East policy remains the bedrock or fundamental principle of the national Indo-Pacific vision and also it is also the centrality of ASEAN which is embedded in it. Here to further understand the views of the author you first need to know about the Act East policy. The objective of Act East policy is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This will be achieved through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels so thereby providing enhanced connectivity to the states of northeastern region including Arunachal Pradesh with other countries which is in our neighborhood. Here note that the northeast of India has been a priority in our Act East policy. Now coming back to the discussion the authors add that India views the Indo-Pacific as a geographic and strategic area as the Indo-Pacific region includes 10 ASEAN countries which is connecting the two great oceans. So the inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity lie at the heart of the Indian notion of Indo-Pacific and further security in the Indian Ocean region or the Indo-Pacific region must be maintained which should be carried out through first dialogue. Here keep in mind that whenever the word dialogue is used in international relations it means the discussion between two or more groups or countries especially the discussion is directed towards exploration of a particular subject or resolution of a problem. Then common rules based order next comes the freedom of navigation then also impeded or unrestricted commerce and then also settlement of disputes in accordance with international law. Then finally more connectivity initiatives should be promoted which will bring respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity consultation, good governance, transparency, viability and sustainability in the Indo-Pacific region. Additionally ASEAN forms the cornerstone of India's Act East policy and Indo-Pacific vision and now ASEAN also is entering into deliberations to work out its Indo-Pacific policy. Until now we discussed about the Indo-Pacific significance to India. Next the author discussed why it was important to India to operationalize the Indo-Pacific policy. This is because the term Indo-Pacific has been gaining prevalence and many major regional actors were acting and articulating their regional visions for the Indo-Pacific term which includes US, Japan and Australia who were including this term Indo-Pacific in their official policy statements and more importantly the initiatives by US made it important to India to operationalize the Indo-Pacific policy. The initiatives were renaming of US-Pacific command to US-Indo-Pacific command and then the Asia reassurance initiative Act which was enacted in December 2018 which specifically calls for America's increased engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. The author states that these initiatives showcase Washington's more serious engagement with the Indo-Pacific. Next is the free and open Indo-Pacific concept which was unveiled by Japanese Prime Minister in 2016 and then Australia which also released its foreign policy white paper in 2017 which details Australia's Indo-Pacific vision that is focused around security, openness and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region. All these factors made it important to India to operationalize the Indo-Pacific policy. Next the author lists some mechanisms where India is an active participant which shows India's commitment to ensuring a stable, open, secure, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific. These mechanisms include the Indian Ocean Rim Association. Next the ASEAN-led frameworks like East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus, the ASEAN Regional Forum as well as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation or in short BIME-STEC and then the Mekong Ganga Economic Corridor. Additionally, India has also been convening the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium in which the navies of the Indian Ocean region participate. Then India has also boosted its engagement with Australia and New Zealand and has also deepened its cooperation with the Republic of Korea. Then through the Forum of India Pacific Islands Corporation, India is stepping up its interactions with the Pacific Island countries. Next India's growing partnership with Africa can be seen through the convening of mechanisms like India Africa Forum summits. Then comes India's multi-layered engagement with China as well as strategic partnership with Russia. The author states that all of these underline India's commitment to ensuring a stable, open, secure, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. We will see about these mechanisms in detail in the coming days, otherwise it will confuse you and you may not be able to grasp the discussion. It has been provided to make it easier for you to use these mechanisms in the main sansa writing. Now the author talks about the challenges that lie ahead in implementing the Indo-Pacific policy. They are how India will integrate the Quadrilateral Initiative which got revived in 2017. Then it will also be important for the new Ministry of External Affairs Division to move to a more comprehensive policy that is including all elements or aspects in the policy rather than only focusing on security and political issues. Then the priority should be given to the commerce and connectivity in particular so that India can take advantage for its regional engagement in the region. This will give a financial and strategic benefit to India if commerce and connectivity is improved in the Indo-Pacific region. Then as India has been consistently emphasizing inclusiveness in the Indo-Pacific framework, it will be challenging for India to maintain a balance between the interests of all these stakeholders. As geopolitical tensions rise between China and the US, the Ministry of External Affairs new division will have to face difficulty in implementing the policy. The authors conclude that if India's long-term political and economic interests in the region are to be preserved, it has to face these challenges and has to effectively manage India's growing diplomatic footprint in the Indo-Pacific region. With this, we come to the end of this discussion. The displayed practice questions will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article which is about the Masala Bonds. This article has appeared on page 6 of Chennai and Bangalore editions and page 4 of Tiruvannanthapuram edition. The contents analyzed in this news article will be relevant in the prelims preparation under current events of national importance and also under economic development. The news is that that Kerala becomes the first state in India to list Masala Bonds in London Stock Exchange. Kerala has listed the Masala Bonds through its statutory institution named Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board. Here in the newspaper, Kerala is mentioned as Subsovereign. Subsovereign refers to the regional government here. That is, here it is the state government of Kerala. In this context, let us see about Masala Bonds. Bonds simply refers to the debt instrument. It is created for the purpose of raising capital. Now, Masala Bonds means they are repeat denominated bonds that are issued outside India. So, Masala Bonds are debt papers sold overseas by an Indian entity and denominated in rupees. And it helps in debt financing for both the public and private sector. Now, let us see who are allowed to issue Masala Bonds. These Masala Bonds can be issued by any corporate entity registered as a company under the Companies Act of 1956 or 2013. Next, by any corporate body specially created out of a specific act of parliament, then Indian banks are also eligible to issue these repeat denominated bonds overseas. Next, real estate investment trusts, in short REITs and infrastructure investment trusts, which come under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, are also eligible to issue Masala Bonds. Now, also know that other resident entities like limited liability partnerships and partnership firms are not eligible to issue these Masala Bonds. Next, let us see the purpose of issuing these Masala Bonds. The capital accumulated by issuing these Masala Bonds can be used for all purposes except for the following ones mentioned here. Like the capital proceeds cannot be used for the real estate activities other than for development of integrated township or affordable housing projects. Also, they cannot be invested in capital market or invested in any of the equity funds domestically. The capital proceeds from capital funds cannot be used for activities prohibited under the foreign direct investment guidelines or in short FDI guidelines. Also, the capital proceeds cannot be lent to other entities or companies for any of the above objectives mentioned here. And finally, the capital proceeds from Masala Bonds cannot be used to purchase any land. Now, let us see the maturity period of these Masala Bonds. The minimum maturity period for Masala Bonds raised up to 50 million dollars is 3 years and for bonds raised above 50 million US dollars is 5 years. Note that US dollar value should be equivalent to Indian rupee. Now, also note that Masala Bond framework is different from the external commercial borrowing framework. We have dealt about external commercial borrowing in our 13th May Hindu Analysis session. The link for the analysis given below in the description section have a look at it. Now, let us see about the advantages of these Masala Bonds. Firstly, the Indian companies are shielded against the risk of currency fluctuation. If the borrowings are made in foreign currencies, then there is a greater risk of fluctuation while repaying them. But it is completely eliminated in case of Masala Bonds. Next, this Masala Bond initiative will internationalize the Indian rupee and will help in deepening of the Indian financial system. Also, the cost of borrowing with the help of Masala Bonds from abroad will be lower when compared to cost of borrowing from the domestic market. That is within India. This is because the interest rates can be lower leading to reduced borrowing costs. With this, we come to the end of this analysis. The displayed brilliance question is a previously asked question in UPSC examination in the year 2016. This has been provided for your reference and this practice brilliance question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article for the day which is about the Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary. This article has appeared on page 6 of Chennai and Thiruvandhapuram edition and page 5 of Bengaluru edition. The discussion based on this article will be relevant in brilliant preparation under the areas current events of national importance and also in Indian physical geography. The discussion is also relevant in main syllabus under the area conservation of GS paper 3. Stepping into the main discussion, the Karnataka State has got its second Chinkara Sanctuary in Bukkapatna. Almost 148 square kilometre of forest in the Bukkapatna village has been declared as Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary. This Bukkapatna village is situated in the Thumakaru district of Karnataka. The name of the sanctuary is Bukkapatna Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary. Now, this is the second Chinkara Sanctuary in the state. The first one is in the Yadahalli village of Bagalkot district. Now, the scientific estimates show that there are about 80 Chinkaras in the Bukkapatna forest area. Furthermore, these forests are unique as there are three types of antelopes which are found here, which are Four-Hond Antelope, Blackburg Antelope and Chinkara. Apart from them, 25 species of mammals including slothbeers, leopards, hyenas and wolves are also found. And 12 species of amphibians, 28 species of reptiles and 160 species of birds are also found in these forests. Now, here know that that antelope is different from a deer because deers, antlers or horns are branched. But antelope's horns are not branched. Now, in this context, let us know about the Four-Hond Antelope, Blackburg Antelope and Chinkara from the examination point of view. First, let us see about the Chinkara. It is also known as the Indian Ghazal. It is native to South Asia, in the countries of Pakistan and mostly in India. The Ghazals are very shy and nervous in nature and they do not travel very far. The Chinkaras are revered and considered sacred by the Bishnoi community of Rajasthan, which explains the large population of this animal there. It is an herbivore animal and they feed on grass, leaves and fruits. They are smaller in build compared to other species of antelope and their lifespan is also relatively shorter than other species of antelopes. And it is covered with smooth and glossy fur, which is reddish brown in color during summer. While in winter, the shade of the color becomes lighter to almost white. The reddish color helps them in camouflaging in the grassland in order to hide from predators. The Indian Ghazal is the smallest antelope found in Asia. The Indian Ghazal generally prefers to live in the grasslands, dry scrub areas, desert and semi desert, sand dunes, open woodlands and dry areas. In India, the Chinkara is found in the plains and low hills of Punjab, Rajasthan, Central India and the Deccan plateau. The Chinkara is threatened by extensive hunting for illegal meat trade. Apart from that, the agriculture and industrial expansion have also led to the habitat loss. Now this Chinkara is protected under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 of India. And it has also been listed as least concerned by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Then it is mentioned under Appendix 3 of sites for Pakistan. Note that it has been notified for Pakistan and not for India. Next let us see about the Four-Hond Antelope. The species is present only in India and Nepal with a large area of occupancy in Central India, fragmented populations in Southern India and Himalayan foothills and the Gangetic Plains and an isolated population is also found in Gir National Park. It habitats in open dry deciduous forests. It is a solitary and shy animal. The species is identified by the presence of four horns which is present only in adult males. That is why it is named as Four-Hond Antelope. The species is small in size with a light brown coloration. They are herbivorous animals and prefer to feed on nutrient rich fruits, flowers and fresh leaves. Major threats to the species include habitat destruction, poaching and competition with livestock. These threats have resulted in the species being listed in the Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. And it is also listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. And they are also mentioned in the Appendix 3 of sites for Nepal and not for India. Now let us see about the Black Book Antelope. It is a medium-sized antelope with ringed unbranched cork screw horns that rise above the head of males in a tall V-shaped pattern. For understanding this line you have to look at this picture. Now normally females are hornless in these species. Coloration in mature males is black dorsally while females and young males are tan in color. Indian Black Book are the fastest antelope in the world. Black Book refers to grays on short to mid-length grasses but also brows on common brush species. Black Books are native to India and Pakistan where they were widely spread in plains and open woodlands, wet coastal areas, western deserts and northern mountains. Today extensive hunting and habitat destruction have restricted Black Book to only small isolated population in their former native habitat. That is in India and Pakistan. Today this species occurs mainly in India with a small population still existing in Nepal. It has been declared regionally extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Now this species is protected under Schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and it has also been listed as Least Concern by IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Now note that they are also mentioned in the Appendix 3 of sites for Nepal and Pakistan and not for India. Here you have to keep in mind one thing. That is Appendix 3 contains species that are protected in at least one country which is asked for sites parties for assistance in controlling the trade. Since India has not asked for assistance it is not listed for India. With this we come to the end of this discussion. Practice brilliant question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the last article for the day which is an editorial about trade deficit. This article has appeared on page 8 of Chennai, Bengaluru and Tiruvannapuram Editions and on page 6 of Delhi edition. The analysis of this editorial will be helpful in your prelims preparation under economic development and under mains preparation it will be relevant in GS paper 3 under Indian economy. Let us move on to the main discussion. This editorial revolves around two key terms. One is trade deficit and the other is current account deficit. This editorial states that the widening trade deficit is adding pressure to the current account deficit. In this context let us see what is meant by current account trade deficit and then also about current account deficit. All these three terms comes under India's external sector. To be precise it comes under India's balance of payment. Balance of payment mainly comprises of the current account and capital account. Let us focus on the current account now. Current account transactions are single time and one way transactions. Transaction means the receipt of money or payment of money. This receipt or payment happens only once and the transaction ends there. We saw that transaction means the receipt of money or payment of money. But when do we receive money? It is only when we can export a merchandise good. So receipt refers to exports in external sector. The export of merchandise goods has to happen from India to abroad. It simply means we produce a material here and export it to foreign nations and against this export we will receive the money. Now the exact opposite is the payments. Here payments refers to imports. The imports of merchandise goods happens from abroad to India. It simply means we don't have a particular material so we receive the material from a foreign country that produces that particular material. And to receive that material we pay the money. This refers to payments. The next term you need to know is trade balance. Trade balance or the balance of trade refers to the difference between export receipts and import payments. It simply means export minus the import. For a country's economy to be healthy the trade balance has to be positive. That is a trade surplus. Trade surplus is possible only when the exports are more than the imports. So that we receive a lot of money. But if the imports become more than the exports then it becomes trade deficit. This indicates that production is not happening in the economy and we are depending more from the foreign nations. Now under the current account you also need to know about invisibles. The invisibles record the receipts and payments of services, incomes and transfers. Here services include all the services such as travel, transportation, insurance, IT services and many more. And income includes the money generated from employment, investments, interests etc. And finally transfers refers to the grants, gifts etc. So all these three services, incomes and transfers come under the invisibles head. Here the difference in the payments and receipts of invisibles is called balance of invisibles. Now let us see the current account balance. It is the sum of trade balance and invisibles. Now if this current account balance is in positive numbers then it means we have a current account surplus. But if this current account balance is in negative numbers then it means we have a current account deficit. Here if it is surplus we can derive that the receipts are more. But with the current account deficit we can only derive that our payments are increasing. So the trade balance which involves the receipt and payments of your merchandise goods also impacts the current account balance in this way. Hence this means trade deficit leads to current account deficit. It indirectly indicates that the export should be boosted in order to narrow down the deficit. Now with these concepts in mind let us approach this editorial. This editorial states that in April 2019 there is a decrease in exports to about 0.64% when compared to the previous year. The exports of the petroleum products has the largest share in the exports. The author states that when petroleum products share is excluded the actual contraction in the exports is more than 3% in terms of US dollar value. The author has also mentioned the reasons for the decline in exports. The decline is largely due to the reduced shipments of these categories of merchandise goods such as engineering goods, gem and jewelry, leather and leather products, textile and garments and drugs and pharmaceuticals. All these major categories provide job and wages to the employees who form a major share of India's workforce. This workforce is also a factor to the increased consumption demand in India. Here consumption refers to the purchasing power of the individual. The author also states that the consumption demand is now impacted due to decreased exports. Next the author has mentioned that the imports have increased. It has increased 4.5% as compared to the previous years. The author has noted that if gold and crude oil imports are excluded then India's imports is actually very less or shrinking. Now from both these facts we can say that India is facing a trade deficit since the imports are increasing and the exports are decreasing. This trade deficit will increase the current account deficit for sure. The author has mentioned some reasons for the trade deficit. First is the ongoing US-China trade war. Next is the rising military tensions in West Asia which will impact the oil prices in the future. So the crude oil prices will increase for sure. Also the author notes that India's craze for gold is one of the reasons for the increase in imports. And finally the author has commented that the ongoing issues are a big challenge to India's trade and current account deficit. And that it should be pressing concern for the new government to address. With this we come to the end of the analysis of this editorial. The displayed problems question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the last and final session that is the practice questions discussion session. The first question is consider the following statements. First statement, the unaided schools that does not receive any kind of aid or grants to meet their expenses from the government are not included in the definition of school for the purposes of enforcement of the right of children to free and compulsory education act of 2009. Second statement is the unaided schools did not fulfill the requirements for preschool admissions under the right of children to free and which of the above statements given are correct. Here the first statement is incorrect as the unaided schools that does not receive any kind of aid or grants to meet their expenses from the government are included in the definition of schools under section 2 of the act. And the second statement is also incorrect as according to the section 12 clause 1 sub clause C of the RTE Act of 2009 even an unaided school shall admit at least 25% of students in every class of preschool from weaker and disadvantaged group in the neighborhood. Therefore, as both these statements are wrong, the correct answer to this question is neither one nor two which is option D. Next question is what are masala bonds? Four options have been given. We know from our discussion that masala bonds are rupee denominated. So, you can directly eliminate option C and D because it has stated dollar denominated which is wrong. Now under rupee denominated we have two options rupee denominated bonds issued in India. The next option is rupee denominated bonds issued outside India. If you would have paid attention to our discussion, you would know that these bonds are paid outside India. So, they should be rupee denominated bonds plus outside India. These two words are mentioned in option B only. So, correct answer is option B. Now the next question is consider the following statements with reference to the Bukkapatna Wildlife Sanctuary recently seen in news. First statement it is dedicated to the Indian Ghazal. Second statement it is situated in the state of Telangana. Which of the above statements is or are correct? Now in this question you have to first remember Bukkapatna Wildlife Sanctuary. We know that it was dedicated to Chinkara. If you would have paid attention to our analysis session, you would know that Chinkara is also known as Indian Ghazal. So, which makes option 1 or statement 1 as correct. Now the second statement states it is situated in the state of Telangana. If you would have read the newspaper today, you would have known the headline itself was Karnataka got its second Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary. So, it obviously means the Bukkapatna Wildlife Sanctuary is situated in Karnataka and not in Telangana. So, statement 2 is wrong. Which means the correct answer is option A 1 only. Next question is with reference to balance of payment which of the following constitutes or constitute the current account. First balance of trade, second balance of invisible, second the correct answer using the code given below. Now from our discussion we saw that the balance of trade and balance of invisibles come under the current account. So, both the items are correct. Hence the correct answer to this question is both 1 and 2 which is option C. Now let us see one main question based on GS paper 2. Bring out the potential of Indo-Pacific region and discuss the various policy initiatives in realizing it. For answering this question, first define what is Indo-Pacific region and what are the initiatives India has taken like the Indo-Pacific wing of Ministry of External Affairs also should be mentioned in the answer. Then also talk about the actist policy of India because it is the fundamental principle for the national Indo-Pacific vision of India. Now also mention about India felt it important to operationalize Indo-Pacific policy and under this you can mention about the US's initiative of renaming US specific command to US Indo-Pacific command etc. Then also mention the mechanisms under which India is an active participant which shows India's commitment to ensuring a stable, open, secure, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Under this you can mention about Indian Ocean Rim Association, about Beamstek and also about Indian Ocean Naval Symposium. Then finally you can also add about the challenges which will be faced by India in implementing the policy and try to add your own views based on the analysis today. Don't forget to like, comment and share. Do subscribe to the Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel for more updates on UPAC Civil Service examination preparation.


20 Bacon's Rebellion For some time now the Indians had been an increasing terror to the white men. They had grown restless and uneasy at the constantly widening borders of the settlements. Day by day the forest was cleared, the cornfields stretched farther and farther inland, and the red man saw himself driven farther and farther from his hunting-ground. So anger arose in the red man's heart. He lurked in the forests, which girded the lonely farms, and, watching his opportunity, crept stealthily forth to slay and burn. Settler after settler was slain in cold blood, or done to death with awful tortures, and his pleasant homestead was given to the flames. Day by day the tale of horror grew, till it seemed at length that no farm along the borders of the colony was safe from destruction. Yet the governor did nothing. Helplessly the Virginians raged against his sloth and tyranny. He was a traitor to his trust, they declared, and feared to wage war on the Indians lest it should spoil his fur trade with them. But that was not so. A deadlier fear than that kept Berkeley idle. He knew how his tyranny had made the people hate him, and he feared to arm them and lead them against the Indians lest, having subdued these foes, they should turn their arms against him. But the men of Virginia were seething with discontent and ripe for rebellion. All they wanted was a leader, and soon they found one. This leader was Nathaniel Bacon, a young Englishman, who had but lately come to the colony. He was dashing and handsome, had winning ways and a persuasive tongue. He was the very man for a popular leader, and soon at his back he had an army of three hundred armed settlers, one and all at his devotion. Bacon then sent to the governor asking for a commission to go against the Indians, but Berkeley put him off with one excuse after another, until at length goaded into rebellion Bacon and his men determined to set out, commission or no commission. But they had not gone far when a messenger came spurring behind them in hot haste. He came with a proclamation from the governor denouncing them all as rebels and bidding them disperse at once on pain of forfeiting their lands and goods. Some obeyed, but the rest went on with Bacon and only returned after having routed the Indians. Their defeat was so severe that the battle is known as the Battle of Bloody Run because it was said the blood of the Indians made red the stream which flowed near the battlefield. The Indians for the time were cowed and Bacon marched slowly home with his men. Meanwhile Berkeley had gathered horses and men and had ridden out to crush this turbulent youth. But hearing suddenly that the people had risen in revolt he hastened back to Jamestown with all speed. He saw he must do something to appease the people, so he dissolved the House of Burgesses which for fourteen years had done his bidding and ordered a new election. This pacified the people somewhat, but they actually elected the rebel Bacon as one of the members of the House. Bacon was not, however, all together to escape the consequences of his bold deeds. As soon as he returned he was taken prisoner and led before the Governor. The stern old Cavalier received this rebel with cool civility. Mr. Bacon, he said, have you forgot to be a gentleman? No, may it please your honour, answered Bacon. Then, said the Governor, I will take your parole. So Bacon was set free until the House of Burgesses should meet. Meantime he was given to understand that if he made open confession of his misdeeds in having marched against the Indians without a commission he would be forgiven, receive his commission, and be allowed to fight the Indians. It was not easy to make this proud young man bend his knee, but to gain his end Bacon consented to beg forgiveness for what he deemed no offence. The Governor meant it to be a solemn occasion, one not likely to be forgotten, so when the Burgesses and Council were gathered the Governor stood up. If there be joy in the presence of the Angels over one sinner that repenteth, he said, there is joy now, for we have a penitent sinner come before us. Call Mr. Bacon. The doors were thrown wide open, and in marched Bacon, tall and proud, looking grave indeed but little like a repentant sinner. At the bar of the House he knelt on one knee, and reading from a paper written out for him, confessed his crimes, begging pardon from God, the King, and the Governor. When his clear young voice ceased the old Governor spoke. God forgive you, he said solemnly, I forgive you. Three times he repeated the words, and was silent. And all that were with him, asked one of the Council. Yea, said the Governor, and all that were with him. Thus the matter seemed ended, there was peace again, and the House could now proceed to further business. Part of that business was to settle what was to be done about the Indian War. Some of the people hoped that they might get help from friendly Indians, so the Indian Queen, Paa Monki, had been asked to come to the Assembly, and say what help she would give. Her tribe was the same as that over which the Paa Hatin had ruled so long ago, and although it was now but a shadow of its former self, she had still about a hundred and fifty braves at command, whose help the Englishmen were anxious to gain. Queen Paa Monki entered the Assembly with great dignity, and with an air of majesty walked slowly up the long room. Her walk was so graceful, her gesture so courtly, that everyone looked at her in admiration.  Her robe was made of deerskin, and covered her from shoulders to feet, the edges of it being slit into fringes six inches deep. At her right hand walked an English interpreter. At her left her son a youth of twenty. When Queen Paa Monki reached the table she stood still, looking at the members coldly and gravely, and only at their urgent request did she sit down. Beside her, as they had entered the room, stood her son and interpreter on either hand. When she was seated the Chairman asked her how many men she would send to help them against the enemy Indians. All those present were quite sure that she understood English, but she would not speak to the Chairman direct, and answered him through her interpreter, bidding him speak to her son. The young Indian chief then however also refused to reply, so again the Queen was urged to say how many men she could send. For some minutes she sat still, as if in deep thought. Then in a shrill high voice, full of passionate fervor, and trembling as if with tears, she spoke in her own tongue, and ever and anon amid the tragic torrent of the sound, the words Tata Patamoy Chepayak, Tata Patamoy Chepayak, could be heard. Few present understood her, but one of the members did, and shook his head sadly. What she says is too true to our shame, be it said, he sighed. My father was general in that battle of which she speaks. Tata Patamoy was her husband, and he led a hundred men against our enemies, and was there slain with most of his company, and from that day to this no recompense has been given to her. Therefore she upbrades us, and cries, Tata Patamoy is dead. When they heard the reason for the Indian Queen's anger, many were filled with sympathy for her. The chairman, however, was a crusty old fellow, and he was quite unmoved by the poor Queen's passion of grief and anger. Never a word did he say to comfort her distress, not a sign of sympathy did he give. He rudely brushed aside her vehement appeal, and repeated his question. What men will you give to help against the enemy Indians? With quivering nostrils and flashing eyes, the Indian Queen drew herself up scornfully. She looked at him, then turned her face away, and sat mute. Three times he repeated his question. Then in a low disdainful voice, her head still turned away, she muttered in her own language. Six. This would never do. The lumbering old chairman argued and persuaded, while the dusky Queen sat sullenly silent. At length, she uttered one word as scornfully as the last. Twelve, she said. Then, rising, she walked proudly and gravely from the hall. Thus did the blundering old fellow of a chairman, for the lack of a few kindly words, turn away the hearts of the Indians, and lose their help at a moment when it was sorely needed. The new house had many other things to discuss besides the Indian wars, and the people who had been kept out of their rights for so long, now made up for lost time. They passed laws with feverish haste. They restored manhood suffrage, did away with many class privileges, and in various ways instituted reforms. Afterwards, these laws were known as Bacon's Laws. But meanwhile Bacon was preparing a new surprise for everyone. One morning the town was agog with news. Bacon has fled! Bacon has fled! cried everyone. It was true. Bacon had grown tired of waiting for the commission which never came, so he was off to raise the country. A few days later he marched back again at the head of six hundred men. At two o'clock, one bright June day, the sounds of drum and trumpet were heard, mingled with the tramp of feet, and the clatter of horses hooves, and General Bacon, as folk began to call him now, drew up his men not an arrow's flight from the State House. The people of Jamestown rushed to the spot. Every window and balcony was crowded with eager, excited people. Men, women, and children jostled each other on the green, as Bacon, with a file of soldiers on either hand, marched to the State House. The white-haired old governor, shaking with anger, came out to meet the insolent young rebel. With trembling fingers he tore at the fine lace ruffles of his shirt, bearing his breast.  But Bacon answered peaceably enough. No, may it please your honour, he said. We will not hurt a hair of your head, nor of any other man's. We are come for a commission to save our lives from the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it before we go. But when the stern old Cavalier refused to listen to him, Bacon too lost his temper, and laying his hand on his sword swore he would kill the governor, council, assembly, and all, rather than forgo his commission. His men, too, grew impatient, and filled the air with their shouts. We will have it, we will have it, they cried, at the same time pointing their loaded guns at the windows of the State House. Minute by minute the uproar increased, till at length one of the burgesses, going to a window, waved his handkerchief. A pacific handkercher, a quaint old record calls it, and shouted, You shall have it, you shall have it. So the tumult was quieted, a commission was drawn up, making Bacon commander in chief of the army against the Indians, and a letter was written to the king praising him for what he had done against them. But the stern old governor was still unbending, and not till next day was he brow-beaten into signing both papers. The young rebel had triumphed, but Berkeley was not yet done with him, for the same ship which carried the letter of the burgesses to the king also carried a private letter from Berkeley, in which he gave his own account of the business. I have for above thirty years governed the most flourishing country the sun ever shown over, he wrote, but am now encompassed with rebellion like waters. And as soon as Bacon was safely away, and at grips once more with the Indians, the governor again proclaimed him and his followers to be rebels and traitors. Bacon had well nigh crushed the Indian foe when this news was brought to him. He was cut to the quick by the injustice. I am vexed to the heart, he said, for to think that while I am hunting Indian wolves, tigers, and foxes, which daily destroy our harmless sheep and lambs, that I, and those with me, should be pursued with a full cry, as a more savage and no less ravenous beast. So now in dangerous mood he marched back to Jamestown. Things were looking black for him, but his men were with him heart and soul. When one of them, a Scotsman named Drummond, was warned that this was rebellion, he replied recklessly, I am in over shoes, I will be in over boots. His wife was even more bold. This is dangerous work, said someone, and England will have something to say to it. Then Sarah Drummond picked up a twig, and snapping it into threw it down again. I fear the power of England no more than that broken straw, she cried. Bacon now issued a manifesto in reply to Berkeley's proclamation, declaring that he and his followers could not find in their hearts one single spot of rebellion or treason. Let truth be bold, he cried, and let all the world know the real facts of this matter. He appealed to the king against Sir William, who had levied unjust taxes, who had failed to protect the people against the Indians, who had traded unjustly with them, and done much evil to his majesty's true subjects. So far there had only been bitter words between the old governor and the young rebel, and Bacon had never drawn his sword save against the Indians. Now he turned it against the governor, and marching on Jamestown burned it to the ground, and Berkeley defeated, fled to Acomac. Everywhere Bacon seemed successful, and from Jamestown he marched northward to settle affairs there also, after his own measures. But a grim and all-conquering captain had now taken up arms against this victorious rebel, Captain Death, whom even the greatest soldier must obey. And on October 1st, 1676, Bacon laid down his sword for ever. He had been the heart and soul of the rebellion, and with his death it collapsed swiftly and completely. Bacon was now beyond the governor's wrath, but he wreaked his vengeance on those who had followed him. For long months the rebels were hunted and hounded, and when caught they were hanged without mercy. The first to suffer was Colonel Thomas Hansford. He was a brave man and a gentleman, and all he asked was that he might be shot like a soldier, and not hanged like a dog. But the wrathful governor would not listen to his appeal, and he was hanged. On the scaffold he spoke to those around, praying them to remember that he died a loyal subject of the king and a lover of his country. He has been called the first martyr to American liberty. Another young major named Cheeseman was condemned to death, but died in prison. Some say by poison. The governor, when he was brought before him, asked fiercely, What reason had you for rebellion? But before the major could reply his young wife stepped from the surrounding crowd, and threw herself upon her knees before the governor. It was my doing, she cried. I persuaded him, and but for me he would never have done it. I am guilty, not he. I pray you therefore let me be hanged, and he be pardoned. But the old cavalier's heart was filled to overflowing with a frenzy of hate. He was utterly untouched by the poor lady's brave and sad appeal, and answered her only with bitter insulting words. Drummond, too, was taken. He was indeed in overboots, and fearless to the last. The governor was overjoyed at his capture, and with mocking ceremonies swept his hat from his head, and bowing low cried exultantly. Mr. Drummond, you are very welcome. I am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia. Mr. Drummond, you shall be hanged in half an hour. What your honour pleases, calmly replied Drummond. And so he died. It seemed as if the governor's vengeance would never be satisfied, but at length the house met, and petitioned him to spill no more blood. Four, said one of the members, had we let him alone he would have hanged half the country. News of his wild doings, too, were carried home, and reached even the king's ears. The old fool, cried he, has hanged more men in that naked country than I did for the murder of my father. So Berkeley was recalled. At his going the whole colony rejoiced. Guns were fired and bonfires lit to celebrate the passing of the tyrant. Berkeley did not live long after his downfall. He had hoped that when he saw the king, and explained to him his cause, that he would again be received into favour, but his hopes were vain. The king refused to see him, and he who had given up everything, even good name and fame, in his king's cause, died broken hearted, a few months later. End of Chapter 20, read on Sunday, April 12th, 2009, in San Diego, California. This country of ours, Chapter 21. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This country of ours, by H. E. Marshall, Chapter 21. The Story of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. Bacon was driven into rebellion by evil government and tyranny, but the rising did little good. Bacon's laws were done away with, and Lord Culpeper, one of the two nobles to whom Charles II had given Virginia, came out as governor. He soon showed himself a greedy tyrant, carrying nothing for the happiness of his people, and bent only on making money for himself. Other governors followed him, many of them worthless, some never taking the trouble to come to Virginia at all. They stayed at home, accepting large sums of money and letting other people do the work. But they were not all worthless and careless, some were good, and one of the best was a Scotsman, Alexander Spotswood. He was a Lieutenant Governor, that is, the Governor in name was the Earl of Orkney, who was given the post as a reward for his great services as a soldier. But he never crossed the Atlantic to visit his noble province, instead he sent others to rule for him. They were, in fact, the real governors, although they were called Lieutenant Governors. Spotswood loved Virginia, and he did all he could to make the colony prosperous. He saw that the land was rich in minerals, and that much could be done with iron ore. So he built smelting furnaces, and altogether was so eager over it that he was called the Tubal Cane of Virginia. For Tubal Cane, you remember, was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Spotswood also planted vines, and brought over a colony of Germans, to teach the people how to grow them properly and to make wine. It was he, too, who first explored the West. Virginia up till now had lain between the sea and the blue range of mountains which cut it off from the land behind. To the English that was a land utterly unknown. All they knew was that the French were claiming it, but Governor Spotswood wanted to know more. So one August he gathered a company of friends and set forth on an exploring expedition. With servants and Indian guides they made a party of about fifty or so, and a jolly company they were. They hunted, by the way, and camped beneath the stars. There was no lack of food and drink, and it was more like a prolonged picnic than an exploring expedition. The explorers reached the blue ridge, and, climbing to the top of a pass, looked down upon the beautiful wild valley beyond, through which wound a shining river. Spotswood called the river the Euphrates, but fortunately the name did not stick, and it is still called by its beautiful Indian name of Shenandoah. Spotswood named the highest peak he saw, Mount George, in honor of the King, and his companions gave the next highest peak the name of Mount Alexander, in honor of the Governor whose Christian name was Alexander. Then they went down into the valley below, and on the banks of the river they buried a bottle, inside which they had put a paper, declaring that the whole valley belonged to George I, King by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, Ireland, and Virginia. After that the merry party turned homewards. They climbed to the top of the gap, took a last look at the fair valley of the unknown west, and then went down once more into the familiar plains of Virginia. For this expedition all the horses were shot down by the British army, and for this expedition all the horses were shot with iron, a thing very unusual in Virginia, where there were no hard or stony roads. So as a remembrance of their pleasant time together, Spotswood gave each of his companions a gold horseshoe, set with precious stones for nails. Graven upon them were the Latin words, sic juvat transcendure montes, which mean, thus it is a pleasure to cross the mountains. Later all those who took part in the expedition were called knights of the golden horseshoe. Up to about this time the people in Virginia had been altogether English. Now a change came. In France Louis XIV was persecuting the Protestants, or Huguenots, as they were called. He ordered them all to become Catholics or die, and he forbade them to leave the country, but thousands of them refused to give up their religion, and in spite of the king's commands they stole away from the country by secret ways. Many of them found a refuge in America. In the north of Ireland, which had been settled chiefly by Scotsmen, the Presbyterians were being persecuted by the Church of England. At the same time the English Parliament was hampering their trade with unfair laws. So to escape from this double persecution many Scotch-Irish fled to America. In Germany too the Protestants were being persecuted by the Catholic princes. They too fled to America. All these widely varying refugees found new homes in other colonies, as well as in Virginia, as we shall presently hear. In Virginia it was chiefly to the Shenandoah Valley that they came, that valley which Spotswood and his knights of the golden horseshoe had seen, and claimed for King George. The coming of these new people changed Virginia a good deal. After the death of King Charles, the coming of the Cavaliers had made Virginia royalist and aristocratic, so now the coming of those persecuted Protestants and Presbyterians tended to make it democratic. That is, the coming of the Cavaliers increased the number of those who believed in the government of the many by the few. The coming of the European Protestants increased the number of those who believed in the government of the people by the people. So in the house of Burgesses there were scenes of excitement, but these were no longer in Jamestown for the capital had been removed to Williamsburg. Jamestown you remember had been burned by Bacon. Lord Culpeper however rebuilt it, but a few years later it was again burned down by accident. It had never been a healthy spot, no one seemed very anxious to build it again, so it was forsaken and Williamsburg became and remained the capital for nearly a hundred years. Today all that is left of Jamestown, the first home of Englishmen in America, is the ivy-grown ruin of the Church. End of Chapter 21 and that's the end of the second part of This Country of Ours by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall. Read by Kara Schellenberg, www.kray.org in San Diego, California.


I'm a Martin Kalpatvik from the Smithsonian Institution and also the Biodiversity Heritage Library. And I just want to sort of take a step back from astrophysics. And it's good following my colleague Alberto because I don't know anything about astrophysics. And this map is done from Apple Maps. So it's really not an accurate representation of where we are within the Milky Way. It's just used for illustrative purposes. So I'm going to sort of take it all back down to our little planet Earth, the blue marble, and sort of talk about life on Earth in a bit and sort of how we can deal with that within an annotation context as we're all carbon-based life forms. So one of the key things as we think about annotation and description of the life on Earth and taxonomic description is a big problem that we've had for the past 250-plus years which is what's something we call the taxonomic impediment within the community. And the basic problem here is that we've collected all of this information over time. We've filed it in file cabinets, in books, and in huge specimen collections in our large natural history and botanical garden collections where we literally have hundreds of millions of specimens that have been collected over the years. The problem is none of this is linked together. The data is often locked up in analog sources. How do we share those resources? How do we share the commentary, the annotations that have occurred on all of these types of material over those years in order to better understand what we have on the planet Earth and what we're losing? So one of the ways we thought we could solve this problem about 2005 or so is we were thinking of something called the Biodiversity Heritage Library and Charles Darwin back in the mid-19th century said that really natural sciences can't be carried out without access to a large natural history collection. And what we thought we could do is for solving that taxonomic impediment to make a small dent in it with that literature portion, the published portions of the material. So in about 2005, 2006, what was then 10 natural history and botanical garden libraries came together to form the BHL, as we call it. We're now up to 15 members, the Library of Congress being our most recent member that just joined a couple weeks ago. And you can see we have a fairly wide representation from those large collections. From the start, the BHL was really an interesting social experiment because we brought together different communities. We brought together technology, library, and science. Thanks to my colleague Chris Freeland, who was then at the Missouri Botanical Garden. We really made BHL not just another digital library project, but something that really integrated technology and science right from the beginning in order to bring these types of things together. The BHL idea caught on globally. So in addition to the 15 US-UK partners, in the past few years we've added global nodes, the first in Europe, the BHL Europe, China, Billy Tech, Alexandria in Egypt, Brazil, Biodiversity Heritage Library Australia, and launching on April 15th will be the BHL Africa Consortium headed by Sanby in South Africa and Kenya, and that will launch officially on, as I said, April 15th. And here's where we are. So what we have to annotate is about 40 million pages. And again, we'd like to give a shout out to Brewster, who's not here, who's helped us from the very beginning in terms of actually digitizing that content and making it freely and openly and widely available. Also, though, we've expanded beyond just the literature. So within those 40 plus million pages are locked up in incredible illustrations that depict what those creatures and organisms look like at the time. So what we've been doing is pulling those images out of the context of the books. Right now we're putting up on Flickr, Wikimedia Commons. Right now it's a little bit of a hand process, but we have received an NEH grant to actually do an algorithmic search through the contents. And then we can push out where we're thinking is two to three million illustrations of organisms that can then, again, flow into this whole annotation stream. Right now in Flickr, we have a very active tagging community. So in addition to just regular tags, we also use the Flickr machine tag option. And so those images can then be through APIs pulled into different systems. For instance, the Encyclopedia of Life pulls in all the images that get machine tags with an organism, and then they can go within that Encyclopedia of Life platform for further context. We've also worked with Apple to sort of pull out portions of the highlights of VHL in turn and to put them into iTunes U. So again, there's a further place where people can interact with the content. Here's our portal, which humans can look at, which actually this new version, thanks to our Australian team, just launched last, earlier in March. But increasingly, a large number of our use comes from other machines. So again, systems like Tropicos at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Encyclopedia of Life, all of those types of systems and tools pull in this content. So it's not just annotation that needs to occur within our own platform in that own silo, but the annotations would need to move between the different systems where this content begins to flow around the info sphere. So a quick taxonomic lesson. Kings play chess on fine-grain sand. Alice in Wonderland has been a bit of a theme of notice in a lot of people's slides. As we know, Alice played chess in the Wonderland books, and she played with do-dos amongst other people and things. Everyone recognized Kings play chess on fine-grain sand, which is, of course, Kingdom fine-glass order. So here's our sort of basis of annotation within our BHL context in terms of finding information. And there we go. Who do we have to thank for this? We call it LDOT in the botany world, Linnaeus in the zoology world. I like to call him 345-947-30 in the bi-ass world. But to the rest of you, he's probably better known as Carl von Linnae, or Linnaeus. He is the father of the binomial taxonomic system, and he's the one that gave us the concepts of homo sapiens, the amaze, et cetera. So the two landmark volumes of where he defined this concept are species plantarum, which is for plants, 1753. So we're celebrating the 260th anniversary, and then sustainment mature where he added the rest of the animal and atyp mineral kingdoms. But there's a problem with this, because the different types of ways that names occur as people change the names over the time, it causes a problem when you start to annotate these texts. So here is the sperm whale, as described by Linnaeus in the early editions. The top name is Visitor Cadodon, and then the lower name is Visitor Macrocephalus. These, at the time, Linnaeus thought were two separate species, so he described them in two separate ways. What we found out, though, in around 1844 is that actually these are actually the same species that he described just due to the time and the tools he had at hand, the specimens that he was looking at, third or fourth hand. So actually that's one name. So one of our colleagues in Scotland, Rod Page, has actually developed a tool where we can actually trace, using the biodiversity heritage literature, the way that names have changed in usage over the time. So what you can see is actually that Cadodon has become the more, is now the accepted name and is used more commonly, where its Macrocephalus has declined over the time as people start to use the new name. So what happens is lumping and splitting. You lump old species together, you split species apart, species names, name strings, and you get all of these types of problems. And this causes a very difficult problem when you're talking about annotation in the print world. This is a book by George Gray, a list of generative species. It's actually Spencer Baird, who is the Smithsonian's second secretary and person who really created the Smithsonian as a museum, his personal copy. He was an ornithologist, and he really liked to get things right. So here we have the fully annotated copy of the Gray's book on birds, and there's a little note there that explains exactly how it's been annotated. So Baird and a guy named Strickland went through and revised everything, and there's annotations on those species everywhere on every page. And this is an entire rewrite of the book. The annotations create a brand new book on top of this that describe these various bird species. And then here's just sort of a quick little example where we can actually see this one on genus and species that have been totally renamed, changed by the person who actually described them, et cetera, et cetera. So it's basically an entire, the annotations become a brand new book. Here's another friend of ours, known to the botanists as Darwin, and again to me as 27063124, Charles Darwin. Darwin was an inveterate annotator. This is actually a holograph manuscript from the origin of species that we have at the Smithsonian. And as Darwin was working on all of his publications, he annotated his entire library. One of the projects we developed as part of the Biodiversity Heritage Library was actually to digitize Darwin's library and then working with the team at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Cambridge University to actually capture all of those annotations within our BHL context. Again, thanks to Chris Freeland and Mike Lichtenberg, our programmer at Missouri, who really brought what was originally going to be a paper-based print project and turned it into an online annotation display tool. So again, here you can see Darwin's lightly pencil note. I don't know if you can quite see there, but actually in the annotation display tool, it actually says this was written in pale pencil. So you know exactly how Darwin is doing that. And then it gives Darwin's annotation and you can sort of explore through that. And here's just another example of one of Darwin's annotations. So within this, you can recreate, sort of by going backwards, how Darwin came to the ideas and explorations that led to origin of species as well as other volumes. Another example is from a project we did at the Smithsonian called the Bialogist Centrale Americana, which is now part of the BHL project. And one of the things we did was an experiment was how all the types of concepts within a taxonomic description you could pull out that would need annotations. We didn't call annotations in 2004 when we started this, but it was sort of an explosion of the text. So in any taxonomic description, you can really micro-citate practically every character that becomes suitable for annotation as the specimens move around, as they're re-described, as they're lumped and split and geographically redetermined. So again, one small step in this taxonomic impediment solution is this creation of a digital library of this element. Another example, though, is that whole element of the specimens and the other stuff. So again, here's a specimen from the U.S. Exploring Expedition. This was the founding collection of the Smithsonian. This is a botanical specimen. That botanical specimen is then published in a book. It's illustrated in that book. I did get this circle of the specimen book and illustration. Chris Freel and I were talking last night, and he wanted to also point out that it's very important all of the types of annotations that occur on the specimens themselves. So here's an example from the Missouri Botanical Garden from a mid-19th century Engelman Exploration Expedition. You can see on the plant specimen there's a whole bunch of stuff which we can pull up closer. And all of these labels on this botanical specimen are annotations that have occurred over the years to re-describe the species and clarify where and what it actually is. So what we have now is sort of this element of places where we can annotate, but how do we actually do it? So one of the reasons for me coming to this meeting is actually to learn the types of tools that we might implement on these platforms in order to bring some of these things together. So we can take something, for instance, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, integrate it within the EOL, the Psychopathy of Life tool, and then even better, take it back into Wikipedia where people can do other types of things within Wikipedia to work on that species and then bring that all together. And the key thing there, I think, is the annotation element because that's what we really need is for the citizen science component, the citizen taxonomist to help bring all of these things together in different ways. That's the Biodiversity Heritage Library's wish list on annotation. Thank you.


When it comes to AA batteries, let me tell you this much, you're splitting hairs. It doesn't have to be too complicated. Hey there, njrew22.com here with a general interest vlog. This is about electronics. This is about AA batteries today. And originally I was going to do a whole big test. I did time-lapse of four different brands of batteries. I did some middle-of-the-road AA battery alkalines, I forget which brand ever ready, I don't know, Panasonic maybe. And then I did some low-end nickel metal hydride and some high-end or advertised high-end nickel metal hydride. And then I tried something new, which I was really excited about, which was rechargeable lithium-ion AA batteries. Which I did, I kind of went into it a little bit blindly. I ended up getting, I thought these batteries were going to be super long-lasting, just as long-lasting as my best nickel metal hydride, as well as the good thing about a lithium-ion battery is that it keeps the same voltage, 1.5 volts through the entire length of the charge and then it just cuts off. Because alkalines and NIMH batteries tend to, the voltage goes down over time. But I bought these lithium-ion rechargeable batteries for pretty cheap on Amazon, but I realized that they were only 800 milliamps, which means they conked out sooner than any of the other batteries. They probably conked out sooner than heavy-duty batteries like alkaline, whatever, whatever they are. I wanted to break this down real quick here.  There's a million reviews about batteries, brands, Sanyo, Eneloop, Fujitsu. And then there's Tennergy, and there's Duracell, and Energizer, all these, and we're speaking specifically of nickel metal hydride batteries right now. And there's, you go on Amazon now, there's 100 new Chinese brands that have these odd names. Dlyful, and Bonnai, and the soul. It seems like they have a monkey-throwed darts at an alphabet, and that's how they spell their names. It's retarded. But you've got to be aware of one thing. Don't believe the advertised current. On nickel metal hydride batteries, it's milliamp hours, MAH. The higher the number, supposedly the longer the battery will last at its optimal voltage. You want to stay above 1.25 volts or so, 1.3 volts. They start out at about 1.45 volts and go down from there, whereas alkalines start out at like 1.6 volts and they go down. But they tend to progress or recharge, discharge faster at a more steeper slope, whereas nickel metal hydride tends to have a smoother discharge rate, slower. But whatever you do, you can't get hung up on the numbers advertised, because they never, ever, ever. They're usually 20 to 30 or 40% lower than advertised, like a 28 milliamp battery, which is considered high capacity, often don't even go above 2,000. And for a long time, let me just say this, Sanyo made a product called Eneloop, which was bought by Panasonic, and they were the king of the hill for a long time. They were close to their advertised capacity and they worked well and they didn't fail a lot. And they were made in Japan. That was the key. Japan was the key for these rechargeable batteries. They were much higher quality than the ones made in China. But since then, Panasonic, they had some weird arrangement where they sold the factory and they, whatever, they're made in China now and they're not good. Eneloop batteries now are considered not bad per se, but not like they used to be. There's two brands now that you can buy, which are Fujitsu at 1,900 milliamps, which gets about that. From what I've read, they're rated at what they say. And there's another one called PowerMax, I believe. And those are two batteries made in the same, the old Eneloop factory in Japan. And they get Mishmash ratings too. But here's another thing. You can't get hung up on the brand because you never know what batch of batteries or whether the material is no good. And whether you buy the brand in 2017, they may change by 2018. They're constantly changing their supply stream and manufacturing facilities. It's not like they're the same battery made from the same stuff every single time. So if you liked Eneloop's in the past, that's a perfect example. They're not the same anymore. Same thing with any other brand. Sometimes you get good brands, like Duracell, they've changed their factory. It's constantly shifting, so you can't get hung up on the brand. Just assume that every brand is going to mix their supply up at some given point in time and you're going to get something bad. And here's another thing to worry about or concern yourself about when it comes to the batteries. You buy 20 batteries. You should always assume that one or two are probably going to be bad. Their quality control in general stinks or they're going to stop charging after five or 10 or 20 charges. So just build that in. Also stop worrying about how many charges they claim. Some say 300 charges, some say 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,500 charges. You can use the battery every single day for like eight years before you get to 2100 charges. So I expect them to last maybe 200, 300 charges max before they just don't either hold the amount or they just fail or hold the right amount of charge. So if you get 200 to 300 charges, any battery will end up averaging out costing less than one cent per use. That's a lot less than $2 when you buy an alkaline. So your cost savings at that point is profound. It's amazing. Anything after that is slicing like decimal points of pennies. So don't worry about it. Expect to get 200 charges max out of your batteries and stop worrying about what they say on the battery itself. So that's basically it. And as far as these lithium ion batteries, I'm kind of excited about it because each battery has its applications. If you have some sort of, I mean I don't really ever recommend buying alkaline unless you're using them for like some camera equipment. And in that case, if you, if longevity and reliability, you should buy the disposable lithium ion batteries. They're very expensive. You can actually get them pretty cheap when you buy them in bulk. If you know you're going to use them regularly, I would just buy lithium ion disposable batteries. And as far as the lithium ion rechargeables, that they're new to the market. So they're going to be expensive. They're going to be in the neighborhood of up to, I think I wrote it down here, $6 to $10 a battery. And if you can get the higher capacity ones, it would take you a lot longer to get your money back on those. But still, if you can get a thousand charges out of them last year and they fit your needs, they might, they might work. But you've got to be careful. I mean, I'm not sure, you're never going to get the length of time that you can out of a really high end nickel metal hydride battery. But again, your camera or your high draw device might require them. So I wouldn't worry about the brand. Just pick a brand, buy, and if you can get them on sale sometimes, I'll buy any brand. I'll buy Tennergy. I just bought some Bonai batteries because I got them really cheap. I think I got 2600 amp batteries for, I think, $23. So that's a little more than a dollar a battery. And that's fine. The less out of pocket you spend, sometimes the better. It stings less because especially if you spend $40 or $50 on a Loop Pro and one of them goes bad or it doesn't last as long as they say, I don't know. It's complicated. Don't split hairs. Just buy, if anything, just buy the brand name Duracell or Energize. They'll work fine for a good enough time to be a good return on investment. So that's it. Hit the like and the subscribe, and I'll see you next video.