You are clear for launch. And with that, shut down your visors, O2 on, and prepare for ignition to O2. You can copy that and, um... All right, Mr. Ruchoff here. And in this lesson, we're going to learn how this picture is related to this one. And yes, that really is me. To give you a clue, it's all about how the continents in the mountains of the world have been created. So let's start by taking a look at the Earth. Now, some people have called our world the Big Blue Marble. And if you look at a picture of the Earth from space, it does kind of look like a blue marble. But I'm going to suggest the Earth is really like a baseball. Now, we'll talk about how the Earth is like the outside of a baseball in a few moments. But how the Earth is really like a baseball is we start looking inside. See, if we take a baseball we cut in half, we see it kind of looks like this. The center of the baseball is made up of cork with a little bit of rubber around it. The outside of the baseball is a thin layer of cowl hide. But most of the baseball we see is made up of tightly wrapped cotton or wool cords that are in between that cork's center and the cowl hide outer portion. Now, if we cut the Earth open, we see much the same thing. In the middle of the Earth is the core. And it's not made of a cork of rubber, of course, instead of made up of iron. Now, the core has two parts. It has the outer core and the inner core. They're both made up of iron, but the inner core is a solid iron and the outer core is molten iron due to the intense heat it's under. Now, the reason the inner core is still solid is because the enormous amount of pressure that it is under actually prevents it from being able to melt. Then we see there's an outer layer like the cowl hide of our baseball. The Earth's outer layer is called the crust and it's made up of solid rock. This is the part we sand on and we see pretty much every day. It is also the thinnest part of the entire Earth. In relationship to the rest of the Earth, the crust is about as thick as the skin of an apple is to the rest of the apple. Now, the thickness of the crust really depends whether it's part of the land or part of the ocean floor. See, the immense weight of the oceans presses down on the oceanic crust, making it only about four to five miles thick, but it's very, very dense. The continental crust, however, doesn't have the weight of the oceans pushing down on it, so it's much less dense, but it's much thicker anywhere between about 20 to 25 miles thick. But just like a baseball is mostly those tightly wrapped cotton wool cords in the middle, the Earth is made up of a layer called the mantle. Now, like the core, the mantle has two parts. The lower mantle and the upper mantle. Together, they make up 84% of the Earth's volume. And while the core is made up of iron, the mantle is made up of solid rock. So those are the basic components of the Earth, but let me now introduce you to a guy by the name of Alfred Wegener.  Wegener was a German meteorologist who studied the polar regions of Greenland. Now, despite not being a geologist, Wegener developed a theory that is essential to understanding the Earth's continents today. See, Wegener was a curious guy and thought it was interesting that the continents almost seemed like they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Now, he's not the first one to saw this, but Wegener was the first person actually found evidence to show that they actually did, at one point, fit together. See, he found that Africa and South America both had rock formations that did match up whenever you move the continents together. They learned of discoveries of fossils of the same prehistoric animals of plants that were found on several continents, even though they were a thousand miles apart. And once again, when you move the continents together, the fossil evidence came together. This led to a history that the continents move and at one point were all one large supercott known as Pangaea. What Wegener proposed is what we now know as the theory of continental drift. And what was the reaction of the rest of the scientific community? In short, they thought he was crazy. See, part of the problem was Wegener wasn't a geologist, so all the geologists thought that he was kind of muscling in on their action. And what made matters worse is the geologist demanded that Wegener explain what made these continents move and he couldn't do it. So what happened is the geologist used this against him to be able to discredit his theory. And unfortunately, Wegener died when he was 50 years old and he never got to see his theory accepted like it is today. But Wegener's theory gained traction when a geologist named Harry Hess joined the Navy during World War II. Hess commanded the supply ship USS Cape Johnson, which was equipped with a new piece of technology, Sonar. Sonar is kind of like a radar for water using sound waves instead of radio waves. The Navy used Sonar to alert ships of enemy submarines, but Hess realized his ship Sonar could also map the floor of the oceans. What he discovered was the earth really is like the outside of a baseball. See, when you look at the baseball, the distinctive feature is the stitches that hold the seams of the baseball's outer cover together. And what Hess discovered was that the earth also has seams that divide the oceans, and more importantly, they divide the crust of the earth into plates, tectonic plates. Now, research continues through the 1960s and discovered that the ocean floor nearest these seams were much younger than the ocean floor furthest away from these seams. This gave solid evidence supporting Hess's idea that the ocean floors were spreading, and this explained Wegener's idea of continental drift. For the spreading ocean floors pushes against the rest of the continents causing them to move. So what causes the ocean floors to spread? The answer is convection. And what is convection? Well, maybe the best example of convection is a lava lamp. A lava lamp is made up of a mixture of water, wax, and a light bulb at the bottom of the lamp. The light bulb will heat up the wax with both causes the melt and then to rise to the top of the lamp. At the top of the lamp, this wax is going to cool, and it's going to begin to drop back to the bottom where it's heated up again, and the cycle continues. This is convection, and we see it not only in lava lamps, but we see it in our atmosphere, in our oceans, and even in the mantle. The portion of the upper mantle below the tectonic plates is known as the asthenosphere, and while it is solid rock, it's solid kind of hollow, silly-putty solid due to the 4,000 degree temperatures that the upper mantle is under. So this very hot rock or magma will rise up, but it's stopped by the crust, which is hard rock. This leaves the magma nowhere else to go but to spread underneath the crust, but while it does so, it begins to drag the crust because of friction along with it, breaking and separating the crust. Where the crust breaks open, magma will fill in and be cooled by the ocean water and become new crust. This explains why the youngest crust is always by these ocean seams. This is the process that forces all the earth's plates to be in constant motion, and is with this continental drift caused by the spreading of ocean floors that creates landforms such as mountains. We call this theory that these moving plates create landforms, plate tectonics, after the word tecton, which means carpenter in greek. Now there are three major ways that the plates of the earth move. They can move away from each other, as we see in the middle of the oceans, we call this divergence. They can move towards each other and collide, we call this convergence, and they can move alongside each other, which we call transforming plates. Now we've already seen that diverging plates are created through magma convection. The longest of these divergent boundaries is actually underneath the Atlantic Ocean, and something which we call the middle Atlantic Ridge. Now not only does the mid-Atlantic Ridge run through the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but it also runs through Iceland. So literally one part of Iceland is moving west, and one portion of Iceland is actually moving east. On land, a divergent boundary will create what is known as a rift valley, when the area between these two diverging plates drops. And the longest rift valley is the Great Rift Valley in Africa. In this picture, my wife and I are in Tanzania, and the Great Rift Valley is behind us. Now due to the plumes of magma that push up and create new crusts, volcanoes are common near rift valleys. This is why the Great Rift Valley is home to a great number of volcanoes. In fact over 60 volcanoes are in Ethiopia alone, and in Tanzania you have Mt. Kula Majaro, which is the tallest mountain in Africa. Now most landforms are created by convergent plates, and there are two major ways that these plates will come together and collide based upon what type of plates are involved. Remember how I told you that the crust under the seas is denser but thinner than the crust of the continents? This difference between oceanic continental plates changes what happens when plates collide. If you have two continental plates collide, they will fold up on each other, much like what happens if you take a towel on a table and you push the ends together. We call this convergent folding. And convergent folding has created some of the world's tallest mountains in the world, including the Himalayas in Asia that includes Mount Everest. The Himalayas were created when the Indian continental plate collided with the Asianic plate. But it's also important to understand that this process is continuing today. This means that Mount Everest is still growing just under a half inch every year due to this convergent folding. Now if you invite an Oceana plate to the party, you get what is called convergent subduction. Because Oceana plates are much denser, when they collide, it's going to force one of those plates down below the other and into the mantle. And it doesn't matter if you have two Oceana plates or an Oceana plate on the continental plate, if you have just one continental plate colliding, it's going to be convergent subduction. Now something happens when a plate is pushed back down into the mantle. Now due to friction, water and carbon being pulled in the mantle and it trains your pressure, some of this mantle is going to melt, rise to the surface, and create a volcano. This is why in areas where there are Oceana plates colliding with other plates, you're often going to find volcanoes. The Caribbean Islands, for example, is an example of such a subduction zone. But the largest subduction zone in the world is the Ring of Fire. No, no, no, not that Ring of Fire. This Ring of Fire. The Ring of Fire surrounds the entire Pacific Ocean and includes the western coast of North and South America and the eastern portions of Asia. And all there are over 400 active volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. In fact, 75% of all volcanoes are in the Ring of Fire, as is 90% of all the earthquakes. And what is an earthquake? Well, press your hands together as hard as you can. And while keeping the pressure, move one hand up and one hand down. At one point, what's going to happen is your hands are going to slip. And essentially, that is an earthquake. An earthquake is a sudden shift of the Earth's plates. The strength of earthquakes are measured by using something called the Richter scale. This is a logarithmic scale, which means that a 4 is actually going to be 10 times as powerful as a 3. Now a 4 on the Richter scale might knock a book off a bookshelf, a 6 will start to damage buildings, and 9 can completely level a city. The strongest earthquake in history happened in 1960 when a 9.6 earthquake hit Chile, which by the way, is in the Ring of Fire. Now because of the immense pressure on the crust, the Earth's crust is sometimes going to break, kind of like how concrete is going to break in the summer because of the expansion of the heat. These cracks in the crust are called faults, and this is where earthquakes occur most. Now probably the most famous fault line in the United States is the San Andreas Fault in California. It is a transformed plate where the Pacific plate is moving north, and the North American plate is moving south. Whenever these plates slip, California has an earthquake. The San Andreas Fault has become so famous it actually had its own movie. In fact, this is a poster from the movie and as I look at that poster I start wondering, do you think this actually could happen? The answer is no. See this actually shows a divergent boundary where the plates are moving away from each other and what we already said, the San Andreas Fault is a transformed boundary. So what this really means is, despite his name, you probably should not take your geology lessons from the rock. Now we know that earthquakes can be devastating on land, but if an earthquake occurs underneath the ocean, then it can create what is known as a tsunami. Now tsunamis unfortunately are common in subduction zones. They are caused by when a subducting plate begins to drag down the other plate. Now pressure is going to build up, and eventually this other plate is going to shift quickly upwards. When it does so, it's going to displace the water above the earthquake, creating a wave of energy that's going to travel as quick as a jet plane. This wave now in the middle of the ocean may only be a couple inches high, but as this wave comes closer to the shore, there is less water to displace the energy, which creates a higher and higher wave, which can be completely devastating. For example, in 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia created a tsunami that killed nearly 230,000 people in Asia and even in Africa 5,000 miles away. Then there is something called hotspots. See, the Hawaiian islands are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles away from a subduction zone. They are not caused by plate tectonics, they are actually caused by hotspots. Now there are about 40 hotspots around the world. These areas are where there is a plume of very hot mantle that will rise up and will actually burn a hole into the crust. Now as they do so, they're going to create a mound, and this mound eventually becomes an island such as the Hawaiian Islands. However, while the hotspot does not move, the crust above it does. So this hotspot is actually going to create many different islands or an archipelago, that is unless you're Iceland. Iceland has the distinction of not only being formed by a hotspot, it is also over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. So while Iceland does expand east and west by about two centimeters every year, it remains over this hotspot. Hotspots are not only found in the ocean, but they're also found in land. Americans Yellowstone National Park is actually over a hotspot. This was the reason for the geysers such as Old Faithful and a great deal of volcanic activity. In fact, Yellowstone is actually what is called a supervolcano, an active supervolcano. It has had huge eruptions in history that has spewed volcanic ashes far as Texas. Fortunately, scientists don't think it's going to erupt for several more hundred years. So we talked about the composition of the Earth, Wigner's Continental Drift, and how plate tectonics creates landforms. So how does this picture relate with this picture? Well, in this picture, I'm standing in Thingvalir, Iceland, which is where the Atlantic Place is actually separating. In fact, everything to my right in this picture is moving to west, and everything to my left in this picture is moving east. And as we have explained, it is plate divergence seen in this picture that creates the mountains, what which we see in this one, which is Mount Everest. Spreading oceanic plates causes the continents to move, creating landforms through plate tectonics. All right, more to learn in future lessons, but until then, keep on learning.


A very good evening aspirants, welcome to Hindu news analysis brought to you by Shankar IAS Academy. Today is 19th of January 2022. We have an announcement today Shankar IAS Academy has designed a refresher course called as CSAT+. Some aspirants though they score good marks in GS paper in preliminary exam, they find it very challenging to qualify in the civil service aptitude test paper shortly called as CSAT paper. So to help students to easily qualify for the CSAT, Shankar IAS Academy has come up with this course which starts on 27th of January 2022. The class time will be from 5.30pm to 8pm. The program is also available in online mode. The admission is open now and by joining, one will get these benefits. See the list of articles we are going to discuss today is displayed on the screen. The first topic is schools without freedom here we are going to discuss how the education should be decentralized for higher productivity among children. See here we have discussed some important points which you can use for your GS papers as well as for the essay. And the second topic is regarding smog towers here we have discussed about smog and the types of smog which is photochemical smog and sulfurous smog. This is important in prelims perspective. And the third topic is regarding the silver line project which is a semi high speed railway project in Kerala. Here we have discussed how the society is affected by the infrastructure projects. Here also we have discussed some of the key main points which you can use for your main sansas. And the fourth and fifth topic is regarding NCLAT and National Commission for Women that is NCW. See NCLAT and NCW has been constantly in news in the last couple of months. So we have intentionally taken these topics to discuss in prelims perspective. So without wasting much time let's start our discussion. Friends look at this article. This article is taken from the text and context page. It talks about the importance of freedom for schools especially government schools so that they could have some autonomy. This is the crux of this article. So let's discuss this article in detail. The syllabus relevant for this article is given here for your reference kindly go through it. See the reason for choosing this article is that the topic education has very wide scope. The points regarding this article can be used in all your GS papers as well as for your essay. Now coming back to the article. See due to the extended lockdown the learning poverty in India is expected to increase from 55 percentage to 70 percentage. Why? This is due to learning loss and more out of school children. Now we will understand this keyword. What is learning poverty means? See according to the World Bank learning poverty is defined as the percentage of 10 year old children who cannot read and understand a simple story. See if you are a 10 year old child. You should be studying in your 4th or 5th standard rate. You are reading a story and you cannot even read or understand what is said in that story which means you are suffering from learning poverty. Now let's see what are all the issues that are leading to increase of this learning poverty. See the state of children's education is dependent on many local factors. What are these factors? They are quality teachers and quality principals. In transportation facilities and health care facilities. And another most important factor is that the whole district in which the school belongs. But our structure is such that the central and state authority boards who are responsible to make a decision are not prioritizing these local factors. Note that education comes under the concurrent list which means both state and union government can make loss. But the decentralization did not touch the core aspects of education as a system. See the principals and teachers from both the government and schools and private schools are carving for autonomy. Why the autonomy is needed? Because those serving in government and schools need to strictly follow the rule book which has no provision for freedom to make decision based on these local factors. And take the case of the private schools where the principals and teachers are controlled by the school owners and managers. Thus the major issue here is the centralized decisions in the form of orders and circulars issued by the directorate and the examination board. Because they do not take into account the professional knowledge and experience of the principal and teachers who are well aware of the local factors in which the children's education system depends. Now take the situation during the covid pandemic. See India has over 6 lakh villages which are diverse. Diverse in the sense it is diverse in geography, economics, health standards and facilities. So the impact of covid-19 also has to vary right. So our way of approach to control the spread must also vary according to the diversity which is well known to the locals. See any known person of you may be studying in school. See consider in your area the impact may be very low but still he or she may not attend the school because the state or central government may have announced holiday for all. Now take this case study see a tribal panjaitan Kerala Yadamalakudi has zero covid cases until the second wave. This was because of the self-imposed lockdown vigil of local tribal communities against the entry of outsiders. And the lifestyle of the people especially consumption of locally grown produce. Now again consider the situation of all schools which are asked to stay close during the pandemic. Do you think all the schools need to be closed? Obviously not right. See the solution to this would be to give schools the autonomy to make decision depending on varying local factors. For example if village schools were given autonomy many would have found local conditions good enough to allow children to come for their meals and spend some quality time in studying. Note that not all learning has to occur in the classroom. Focusing on foundational literacy and numeracy will definitely improve educational quality. See a child in ISR her formative stages needs opportunity to observe natural phenomena and represent it in different forms and analyze it. See formative stage is a stage where they learn more quickly than any other time in their life. See the village teachers can bring great energy by encouraging children to spend time outdoors for assigned observation. For example children may be asked to observe the migration of butterflies and the children who have acquired a smartphone can share their observed recordings right. And thus stressing the children with the online classes may seem like a technological upgradation in education but it is not actually true. See many schools in India don't even possess a magnifying lens or binoculars or microscopes for study purpose and they are also technological tools right. Thus I would like to conclude my discussion with a few thought provoking points. See decision making should always involve the people who will have direct benefit of that decision. Why because only then the decision will yield benefit otherwise it will have negative impact more than the positive impact. So by giving autonomy and professional competence to teachers and principals along with their guidance of community boards of that particular district in which the school belongs we can prevent the loss of imagination and talent of our young brains that is children. As a result of such basic freedom the Indian education system can enrich the nation with great imaginative and creative citizens. So that's all regarding this article utilize the points discussed to enrich your main answers. Now let's move on to our next discussion. Friends look at this news article it provides insights into the efficacy of the smog tower installed in New Delhi. So before discussing the article let us brush up some basics about smog and its harmful effects. The syllabus relevant to this article is highlighted here for your reference kindly go through it. See basically smog is an air pollution that reduces visibility. It is a combination of various gases with water vapor and dust. A large part of these gases is produced when fuels are burnt. So initially the term smog was first used to describe a mixture of smoke and fog. And this smoke usually came from burning of coal. Therefore initially smog was common only in industrial areas. But now we can find smog predominantly in cities also. Why? This is due to other factors such as emission from motor vehicles and power stations, temperature and wind condition etc. See the picture here the right one shows India gate filled with smog around it. Here the structure of India gate is hazy that is its visibility is affected by smog. But how is smog formed? See smog forms when heat and sunlight react with the gases released and with fine particles in the air. And depending on the gases smog can be of two types. One is photochemical smog and other is sulfurous smog. See photochemical smog is produced when the gases are nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compound that is VOC. See there is a trap here it is not sulfur oxides or carbon dioxide it is nitrogen oxides. Kindly read the statement twice when asked in preliminary examination. Now coming back to the discussion this volatile organic compound are compounds that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility. But they are emitted as gases only. So volatile organic compounds are emitted from certain solids or liquids such as paints, cleaning supplies, pesticides etc. And nitrous oxides come from car exhaust, coal power plants and factory emissions. So when the sunlight reacts with this nitrous oxide and volatile organic compound in the atmosphere it results into a smog which we called as photochemical smog. The term photochemical is used here because the smog is the result of chemical action of light. Now since photochemical smog requires light this smog tends to occur more often in summer when we have the most sunlight. Therefore photochemical smog is also called as summer smog and it is also called as Los Angeles smog because in 1943 a severe photochemical smog incident happened in Los Angeles. This smog is harmful because the reaction forms airborne particles and ground level ozone and this airborne particles affect the lungs and health of the people. See the ground level ozone is also harmful because when ozone is close to the ground it can also damage lung tissue, it can cause itchy burning eyes and other diseases. Now what about sulfurous smog? See sulfurous smog is formed when the gas involved is sulfur oxide when there is a high concentration of sulfur oxides in the air in the form of sulfur dioxide it results in sulfurous smog. Additionally its other main constituent is SOOT plus it also has large quantities of fly ash, sodium chloride and calcium sulfate particles. Now the high sulfur oxides are caused by the use of sulfur bearing fossil fuels particularly the coal with high sulfur content. So this smog appears in industrial areas and because of this it is also called as industrial smog or black smog. It is called black smog because this smog contains large number of tiny aerosol particles that make it appear grey and this type of smog is associated with low temperatures and high humidity. So it appears mainly in cold climate why because in winter the wind speeds are low so it causes the smoke and fog to stagnate this leads to high smog near ground level. This characteristic is what led to the great smog of London in 1952 because the smoke from industries clubbed with winter caused sulfurous smog which led to 4000 deaths in London and due to this reason the sulfurous smog got its name as London type smog or London smog. It resulted in the deaths because of the harmful nature of this smog. See when sulfur oxides is in high concentration it reacts with atmospheric hydroxide and they produce sulfuric acid which will precipitate as acetrate. Additionally sulfur dioxide also causes health issues like respiratory irritations. So these are the basics about the smog you should know. Now from the discussion you would have understood that Delhi gets affected by sulfurous smog because it is the result of smoke from industries and stubble burning and mainly this happens in winter. This smog affected health of the people. So Supreme Court intervened and ordered the Delhi government to take steps to mitigate it and one such step was the installation of smog tower. See the smog tower is a large scale air cleaning system or large scale air purifier So it basically filters the air of pollutants when polluted air pass through it and then it releases the clean air to the environment. See in August 2020 Delhi government installed smog towers in the city. So it has functioned for more than 5 months. Therefore it was expected that air pollution conditions would have reduced in Delhi. But the news today is that it did not happen. An air quality monitoring done by a private party has revealed that there are fluctuating levels of PM 2.5 pollutant and even near the tower air was not found to be clean. That is air was not found to be free of air pollutants in several instances. But contrastingly pollution levels were comparatively lower if one moved away from the tower. So it was concluded that air quality around smog tower has no steady improvement. Due to this experts are criticizing the smog tower installation and asking the government to invest in other measures to reduce air pollution. And that is all regarding this article. See we have seen about smog which is an air pollution that reduces visibility. And it is a mixture of smoke and fog. Then we have seen the types of smog that is photochemical smog and sulfur smog. See when sunlight reacts with nitrous oxides and volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere it results in photochemical smog. And it occurs more often in summer. Therefore photochemical smog is also called as summer smog and it is otherwise known as Los Angeles smog. Then we saw about sulfur smog when there is a high concentration of sulfur oxides in the air in the form of sulfur dioxide etc it results in sulfurous smog. And since this smog appears in industrial areas it is also called as industrial smog or black smog. And it mainly occurs in cold climate it is otherwise known as London smog. And that is all regarding this article discussion. Now we will move on to the next article. Friends look at this editorial article. This editorial talks about Kerala's Silverline project. The author of this editorial feels that this project will do more harm to the environment than the declared benefits. So in our discussion we will focus on the issues with the project and some alternatives to the project. See here the project is related to Kerala. But the issues we are going to discuss today in this article is almost happening in every part of the country. So you can use these points in the railway related questions or any infrastructure related questions in your main answer. So that's why we have chosen this article. The syllabus regarding this discussion is highlighted here for your reference just go through it. Now let's start our discussion. See first let us discuss about the Silverline project. See the Silverline project involves building a semi high speed railway corridor through Kerala. The Silverline aims to link Kerala's southern end and the state capital Tiruvananthapuram with its northern end of Kasaragadh. The railway line is proposed to be 529.45 km long covering 11 district through 11 stations. See the current travel time between Kasaragadh and Tiruvananthapuram on the existing Indian railway network is 12 hours. But once the project is completed one can travel from Kasaragadh to Tiruvananthapuram in less than 4 hours on trains travelling at 200 km per hour. And this 64000 crore project is a joint venture between Kerala government and the union ministry of railways. See the project if completed the governments claims these benefits. Firstly the route that we saw already as a railway line connecting it. But the real problem is that it has a lot of curves and bends. So the average train speed is 45 km per hour and this is a relatively low speed ride. So this is why currently it takes 12 hours to travel from Kasaragadh to Tiruvananthapuram. And if the Silverline project is implemented the travel time can be massively reduced. Secondly this project will help decongest the road. See consider many people travel by this railway line. This will ease crowding of roads and pulling private vehicles from the roads. So the air quality can be improved and the greenhouse gas emission can be reduced. There will be a substantial reduction in road accidents due to decongestion on roads. Silverline also provides last mile connectivity which will transform people's perception towards public transportation. See the Silverline project will have a lower noise impact than highway traffic. Hence noise pollution can be reduced. Thirdly the land acquisition in the case of Silverline project will be easy when compared to highway connecting northern and southern Kerala. Because highway projects consist of four lanes. And connecting Kasaragadh and Tiruvananthapuram the amount of land acquisition would be higher compared to the land acquisition required for the Silverline project. So what we can understand is that in case of highway project the land acquisition is also difficult and money also has to be spent more. Now coming to the next benefit the government claims that this project is necessary for absorbing the future growth in traffic. See the feasibility study conducted for the project estimated that nearly 80,000 people are expected to travel per day through this semi high-speed rail daily by 2025-26. This is the time the project is expected to be completed and it is also expected that around 160,000 people will travel through this semi high-speed rail network by 2052-2053. So the government feels while satisfying the future requirement for connectivity the increased ridership will also make the project financially viable. And finally if the project is completed it will produce employment opportunities. Friends any infrastructure project will provide this employment opportunity. This project will integrate airports and IT corridors and enable faster development of cities it passes through. It will also provide necessary impetus to the tourism industry of Kerala. See although government claims these benefits of the project various sections of the people are opposed to do it. So now let us see the various issues associated with the project. See as I said before these issues can be used in your mains answer relating to any infrastructure project especially with respect to railways. Now the first issues that financial viability of the project. See when the project was proposed the estimated cost was around 64,000 crores. But recently the Nithya Yoke indicated that the actual cost of the project will be around rupees 1,26,000 crores. See we know that Kerala is one of the densely populated states in India. So obviously land acquisition will be difficult. So it would be a mammoth task to complete the project by 2025 and if the project is delayed there will be a cost overruns over and above the Nithya Yoke estimated cost of rupees 12,600 crores and this might make the project unviable. Now the second issue is that the activists claim that the government estimate on ridership is false and there is no proper data to support the government claim. See the government has said that the fare on the silver line project will be rupees 2.75 per kilometer. But this figure is based on the estimated cost of rupees 64,000 crores. See we already saw that the actual cost of the project will be well above the Nithya Yoke estimate. This means that the government will have to raise the cost to rupees 4 per kilometer in order to break even and this increased cost will make the project unaffordable for the common people. See if common people don't use this railway network it will be a massive failure and due to the high cost people will choose to travel in the already existing railway line connecting Kasaragad and Thiruvananthapuram. See already Indian Railways is planning to run all express trains at 150 kilometers per hour by 2025. So in 2025 if normal trains are available at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour why will the common people that is the middle class people travel in this semi-height speed train. It runs at average speed of 180 kilometers per hour which is just 30 kilometers over the normal train. But the issue is that the ticket rate is 10 times higher than the normal train fare. So this project might end up being a money draining vanity project. Thirdly the government claims that through the operationalization of semi-high speed trains powered by renewable energy the state can reduce the carbon dioxide emission in a year by 287,994 tons. See this claim of the government is also challenged by the critics of the project. The critics claim that by 2030 the union government aims to make India a 100% electric vehicle nation. So by 2030 if at least 50% of motor traffic is electrified it will considerably bring down carbon dioxide emission. This silver line won't have that added advantage when it materializes. And the fourth issue is the very important issue which is the displacement of people. See the land which is required for this project is around 60,000 acres, 60,000 acres in the sense 3,500 acres for the tracks and station and another 2,500 acres for the proposed 10 smart cities and other commercial complexes nearby the proposed stations. See from an RTI reply we came to know that 9,314 buildings will have to be destroyed for the project and 10,000 families will be needed to be relocated. However according to Metro Man East Rheedaran the number could go as high as 20,000. That is 20,000 families will need to be relocated. So this human displacement will have a negative social impact. And finally comes the issue of environment. See we all know that Kerala is a land defined by its water bodies. So the integrity of Kerala's natural landscape is crucial to mitigate the disasters. See after the recent floods that Kerala has been facing the lesson learnt is that any infrastructural development should provide room for rivers. Here the idea is not to obstruct rivers and give water enough space to flow so that it does not invade residential areas. That is the water should not enter our homes. See according to REIA that is Rapid Environment Impact Assessment of the total 530 kilometers of the project 80% would include embankments. See embankment is nothing but a wall or bank of earth or stone built to prevent a river flooding an area. So these embankments will naturally upstack water flow and the movement of people. Further the report adds that the project passes through 164 spots which are declared as hydrological environmental impact zones. So with climate change and global warming Kerala might face more climate related hazards in near future and this project will only amplify these hazards. Now we have done with the issues associated with the project so we will see the alternatives See the cheapest and most affordable alternative is fixing the railway infrastructure that already exist. See the main reason for slow average speed in the already existing railway infrastructure is due to numerous curves. If the Indian railways can fix the curves on existing lines then the normal train can run at enhanced speed. So this will also bring down the travel time right and if silver line is fully implemented will add to the burden of the state. This in turn would burden the citizens who have to pay for the project one way or the other for the next 35 years. So the author of this editorial claims that the two extremities of the states are already connected by road and rail. So this light rail built at an astronomical cost is not at all necessary even when it promises to save some travel time and the public money can be used to generate power supply based on green energy. It can be also used for the provision of safe drinking water and urban sieve rage and for building infrastructure for the scientific disposal of waste. See according to the author of this article investing in the above mentioned projects will solve the pressing needs that Kerala is facing today. Also investing in this project will have high social returns and contain progressive environmental degradation in Kerala. Now we have come to the end of the discussion. In this segment we saw about Kerala's silver line project, the benefits claimed by the government, the issues in the project which is highlighted by the critics and the issues includes land acquisition, displacement of people and environmental issues. We have also discussed some viable alternatives for the project. With this learning let us conclude the discussion and take up the next news article. Look at this news article. See actually Twinstar Technologies a company promoted by Vedanta group of companies Charman Anilagarwal has made a financial bid for a group of companies. The NCLAT that is the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has set aside the bid made by Twinstar Technologies and invited a fresh bid. So Twinstar Technologies has challenged the order of the NCLAT and approached the Supreme Court. This is the crux of this news article. So in this discussion let us revise about NCLAT and NCLAT. First let us take NCLAT. See NCLAT is a quasi-judicial authority and NCLAT is formed to deal with corporate disputes that are of civil nature arising under the company's act. See the central government has constituted National Company Law Tribunal that is NCLAT under section 408 of the company's act of 2013. Note that NCLAT works on the lines of a normal court of law in our country. The NCLAT is obliged to be fair and it must act without any bias. It must decide matters in accordance with the principle of natural justice. Now what are the functions of NCLAT? Firstly the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Court 2016 recognizes NCLAT as the adjudicating authority for the purpose of insolvency resolution and liquidation for corporate persons. Kindly note here that the NCLAT deals with insolvency of only corporate persons. Then who will deal with the insolvency proceedings of individuals and partnership firms? It is carried out by Debt Recovery Tribunals. Kindly note this point for the preliminary examination. Finally the NCLAT has the authority to decide on cases pending before the board for industrial and financial reconstruction. The NCLAT also has authority to decide on cases pending under the Sick Industrial Companies Act of 1985. Finally NCLAT deals with proceedings under the company's act such as arbitrations, arrangements, compromise, reconstruction and winding up of company. Now having discussed the functions, let's see the composition of NCLAT. It consists of a president and such number of other judicial and technical members as may be prescribed. See the president of the tribunal will be appointed by the central government after the consultation with the Chief Justice of India. And the members of NCLAT are to be appointed by the central government and the recommendation of a selection committee. See the president of NCLAT should be or has been a judge of a high court for five years. These are some important points about NCLAT. Now let us see some points about NCLAT that is the National Company Appellate Tribunal. See the National Company Appellate Tribunal was constituted under the section 410 of the company's act of 2013 and it was constituted with the purpose of hearing appeals against the orders of NCLAT under the company's act. That is it functions as an appellate tribunal. Now what is this appellate tribunal? It means a special court or committee or tribunal that is formed to reconsider a decision made by another court or committee or tribunal. This basically to reconsider a decision made by other courts. It also functions as the appellate tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by NCLAT under the IBC Act of 2016. Then it is also the appellate tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India under section 202 and section 211 of IBC. Kindly note that it is also the appellate tribunal under the competition act of 2002 and this is as per the section 410 class 2 of company's act and 53A of the company's act 2002. So it hears and disputes of the appeals against the directions, decisions, orders passed by the competition commission of India. But note that if any person is not satisfied with the orders of NCLAT they can appeal to the Supreme Court within 60 days from the date of receipt of the order of NCLAT. This is why we saw in the news that Twinstar Technologies has challenged the orders of NCLAT and approached the Supreme Court. Having done with the functions of NCLAT, let us see the composition of NCLAT. It consists of a Charm and judicial and technical members having a tenure of 5 years and the Charm shall be a former or incumbent judge of Supreme Court or the Chief Justice of High Court. We saw that the tribunal also has technical members right. See here the technical members must possess special knowledge in industrial finance, industrial management, industrial reconstruction, investment and accountancy and the technical member should also have a professional experience of not less than 25 years. Here note that the Charm and judicial members are appointed after the consultation with Chief Justice of India whereas the technical members are appointed on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of CJI or her nominee, a senior judge of Supreme Court or Chief Justice of High Court and secretaries to the ministries of corporate affairs and law and justice. Now, let us conclude this discussion. In this discussion, we saw about NCLAT, NCLAT and its composition and functions. Now, let us conclude this discussion and take up the next news article. Let us look at this article. This news article talks about the discussion of national commission for women that is NCW. See the discussion is regarding the criminalization of marital rape issue. So in this context, we will discuss about the national commission for women in prelims perspective. See, NCW has been consistently in use for the last couple of months. That is why we have taken this article for today's discussion. And you can expect a question regarding NCW in your preliminary examination like questions which may ask for which of the following are constitutional or non-constitutional bodies and they may give NCW as one of the option. So now we will start our discussion. See the national commission for women was set up as a statutory body in January 1992. Statutory body in the sense it is established by a statute and the statute simply means a written law. So NCW is established by a parliamentary law and what is it law? It is the national commission for women act of 1990. So we can conclude that NCW is not a constitutional body. This is the first important takeaway and you should know why it was established right. So we will discuss the purpose of the commission. The first purpose is to review the constitutional and legal safeguards for women. And the second purpose is to recommend remedial legislative measures. And thirdly it shall facilitate redressal of grievances.  Having discussed the purpose now let us see the history of this commission in brief. See nearly two decades ago the CSWI that is the Committee on the Status of Women in India recommended for the setting up of national commission for women. The main purpose for which it was suggested to fulfill the surveillance function to facilitate redressal of grievances and to accelerate the socio-economic development of women. Also several other committees recommended the constitution of an apex body for women that is NCW. So accordingly national commission for women act 1990 was passed by the parliament which constituted a body known as NCW. Now let us see the composition of this commission. See NCW consists of a chairman and he or she is nominated by the central government. Then the commission also consists of five members and they are also nominated by the central government. And they should be amongst the persons who have experience in law or legislation, trade unionism, management of an industrial potential of women and women's voluntary organizations, economic development, health, education or social welfare. Kindly note that at least one member each shall be from amongst person belonging to the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes respectively. And NCW also consists of a member secretary who is also nominated by the central government and he shall be an expert in management field or organizational structure or social movement or an officer who is a all India civil servant or officer holding union civil post with appropriate experience. See just have a look at the some of the important function of this commission. Why because this can be easily framed as a question in your preliminary examination and this point is important here kindly read it. Now let us finally see some of the important powers given to this commission. Kindly note that the commission while investigating any matter referred to it shall have all the powers of a civil court and powers of a civil court in the sense it can try a suit. See suit is a generic term for any filing of a complaint or petition asking for legal redressal by judicial action. It also has a power of summoning or enforcing the utterance of any person from any part of India and examining him or her on oath. It can ask for the discovery and production of any document and it shall receive evidences on affidavits. Kindly note that it can request any public record or copy thereof from any court or office and the last power include the examination of witness and documents and other matter which may be prescribed and that's all regarding NCW. We learnt that NCW is a statutory body it was established by the NCW Act of 1990. We have also discussed the composition and some of the functions of the commission and we ended our discussion with powers of NCW. With this we have come to the end of our article discussion and with these key learned points we will solve some of the prelims practice question. Now look at the first question it is a previous year question asked in preliminary examination 2013. Let me read out the question. Photochemical smog is a resultant of the reaction among option A nitrogen dioxide ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate in the presence of sunlight and option B carbon monoxide oxygen and peroxyacetyl nitrate in the presence of sunlight and option C carbon monoxide carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide at low temperature and option D high concentration of nitrogen dioxide ozone and carbon monoxide in the evening. See the correct option here is option A. During our discussion we saw that presence of sunlight is important for photochemical smog. So eliminate option C and D here you are left with two options. Additionally presence of nitrous oxide is important for photochemical smog. So our correct answer is option A. See here nitrogen dioxide is the primary pollutant involved in photochemical smog. But this ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate that is PAN is a secondary pollutant. PAN is produced by reactions of nitrogen dioxide with various hydrocarbons. The main source of this hydrocarbon is the volatile organic compound and peroxyacetyl nitrate is an hazardous substance and is even more toxic to plants than the ozone. Now let's move on to the second question it is regarding NCLT. Which of the following are the functions of LCLT? Statement 1. NCLT can deregister a company if it has provided false information during incorporation. And statement 2. NCLT approval is required if a public company is converted into a private firm. And which of the following are correct? You should identify the correct statement here. See the first statement is correct. See according to section 7 of companies act NCLT can deregister a company if it has provided false information during incorporation. This is a fact. And the second statement is wrong because earlier the NCLT used to have this power. But after companies 4th amendment rules 2018 the conversion procedures of public company into a private company are now associated with regional director. Since statement 1 is correct 2 is wrong the correct answer is option A. Now look at the third question it is again regarding photochemical smog. Let me read out the question with reference to the difference between the air pollutants known as photochemical smog and industrial smog which of the following statements are correct. Statement 1. Photochemical smog develops in colder conditions whereas industrial smog develops in warmer conditions. And statement 2. Photochemical smog is known as Los Angeles smog and industrial smog is known as London smog. And statement 3. Photochemical smog involves nitrogen oxides but industrial smog involves sulfur oxides. You have to identify the correct statement here. See here the industrial smog refers to the sulfur smog. We have discussed right here statement 1 is incorrect because it should be vice versa that is photochemical smog develops in warmer conditions especially in summer whereas industrial smog develops in colder conditions with high humidity. So statement 1 is wrong you can easily eliminate two options you are left with two and regarding statement 2 and 3 we have discussed that photochemical smog is known as Los Angeles smog and industrial smog is known as London smog. And photochemical smog involves nitrogen oxide but industrial smog that is sulfur smog involves sulfur oxides both are correct so our answer is option D 2 and 3 only. Look at the last question for our today's discussion it is regarding national commission for women. Consider the following statements with reference to national commission for women. Ncw is a constitutional body under article 324. The second statement is Ncw can take sumoto notices and deprivation of women's rights. And the third statement states that Ncw can take final decision on socio-economic planning for development of women. And the fourth statement Ncw can summon any person from any part of India and examining him or her own oath which of the following statements are correct. Nc statement 1 here is incorrect because Ncw is a statutory body. It was established under national commission for women's act of 1990. See here we have already discussed in our Hindu news analysis about article 324. Article 324 establish which commission kindly post it in the comment section. So option 1 is incorrect here so you can eliminate option A and D. See the statement 2 Ncw can take sumoto notices or deprivation of women's rights. See I have told you to note this fact in its functions right this statement is correct. And regarding third statement it is incorrect because Ncw advice on socio-economic planning for development of women but they cannot make the final decision. So this statement will be incorrect. Regarding the fourth statement it is correct we saw this in our discussion under important powers of Ncw. So our final answer is option C214 only. The main questions are displayed on the screen write your answers and post it in the comment section. If you like the video hit the like button post your comments and share the video and don't forget to subscribe Shankara IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.