Daily Current Affairs Analysis | 08th August, 2026 | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

[music] Hi, hello. Welcome to Shankar is AC Academyy's daily current affair analysis for the date 8th of August 2026. Please like, comment, share and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have the bell icon pressed for instant notification and also to engage with interesting current affairs. Let's see what are the topics for discussion today. So the first one is Agni 4 missile. So here India has tested the AGN4 missile recently in Chandipur. So we will also see what is Agnify missile and what are other different missiles related to this AGN 4, Agni 1, Agni 5. So these missiles and also we'll see the difference between ballistic cruise missiles and other aspects of missiles from film's perspective. And next topic of discussion will be the OSA hero stone. There has been a stone that has been unearthed recently which is giving lot of information about the OSala's continuity and also Oala's dynasty. So we will see what is the stone where the stone has been found and what are the information that it is giving to us today. And the third part of discussion will be on this go and scheme. So union cabinet ministers have approved for around 24,000 outlay for this scheme. So we'll see what this goen scheme how it is useful for India in the present context and what are the things that union government is doing about it and our next part of discussion which will be very interesting that is related to premier layer for SCS and STS. We all know that premier applies for OBC's that is for reservation for reservation into job or reservation in other affiliations in other organizations. So here there is an argument given by Supreme Court that consider layer for SCS and STS but the government has actually filed an affidavit saying that they are against this criminal layer for SCS and STS. So we'll see the discussion at the board sides. We'll we'll see the points at the both sides why we need creamy layer for SCSTs and why don't we need it and finally we'll give a way forward that how to move forward in this present scenario of India's social justice. The next thing is will be on film's focus. The film's focus will briefly see three topics and also a question related to this practice question related to it. So the today's topics will be very much interesting. Let's hope we are engaging throughout the video. Let's discuss the first topic for the day. So the first one is Agni4 missile. So recently uh India has tested it a4 missile. We'll discuss what the missile is about. We'll also touch upon what are the different kind of missiles that India presently has and we'll also discuss we'll also see what are the different parameters or what are the different functions of these missiles how they differ from each other. So that if anything tested in prelims there will be only few things that they'll be testing. We'll touch those topics here. So the first one is Agnipore missile. So this is Agnipore ballistic missile. We'll also see what is ballistic missiles, what is cruiser missiles. These things will be discussed in this article. So here first we will see what is Agnipore initially. So Agniffort missile is a medium-range ballastic missile. So what is ballastic missile means? A missile where it is propelled to a certain altitude. From there it is left from there the missile is left so that with due to the gravity with the base on gravity it flows it falls on a certain specific target. So it basically follows a parabolic shape because from here the starting point it is launched to a certain altitude and from there it is left. So when it lift it is targeted it is getting targeted at a certain place in such a way it is launched. So this is what the ballistic missile is about this ballistic missile. So AGI is one of the ballistic missile and it is medium range. We'll see what is medium. Medium range is approximately 4,000 kilometers from the launch pad or the from the launching point. So that is maximum maximum 4,000 km for medium range. So we will also see the range for short range and also the long range in our discussion. So it is developed by DRDO which is indigenous which is very much important here because they will be asking whether they will be indigenously developed or it is developed with the foreign collaboration. So you need to know it is indigenously developed operated for strategic process it can be operated by navy it can be operated by u air force it can also be operated by army. So the launch site so the testing site was in Chandipur and payload it can carry conventional as well as nuclear warheads. So it is very much flexible in it and propulsion is two stage. So here you need to understand two stage and three stage because there is there are five ANES one to five. So there are five AN missiles which differ in each dipper has its own functions. So a one is single staged. So what is single stage? It means the power propulled is only at one stage means the power given to the missile is only at one stage. If you see normal space rockets there will be two stage three stage rockets. The PSLV GSLVs GSLVs are three stage PSLVs are four stages. So what happens at each stage there is a propulsion after certain night there is a propulsion there's a boost after certain night there is a boost. So in this agny one that is a one there is only single stage only one boost at initial stage. In a 2 to four 2 to four it is two stage. So in two stages there is propulsion means there is boost. There is power given to the missile at two stages. Agnify it is three stages. So the power is given in three stages so that it can be used for long range. So based on this based on the propulsion uh stages you can also see it is long range short range or medium range. So two to four a two to four it is two stage. So here this is two stage and solid fueled not liquid fuel you need to understand it is solid fueled rockets all 1 to five everything is solid fueled rockets. So this is what about agnore. So we will see about a missile. So generally what is a missile how it happens? There is a rocket means there is a rocket which is propelled in different stages one stage two stage three stage and when rocket carries the warheads so rocket carrying the warhead is missile so when the rocket is moving at a different speed we can call it different MAC levels which we'll discuss what is a MAC actually so rocket carrying a warhead or actually carrying a bomb or something else it is it becomes a missile so this rocket is propelled in different stages 1 2 3 and using different fuels that is what a missile is and missile we have different missiles how the rocket is controlled whether it is ballastic whether it's cruise so these two things comes under the control of rocket so we'll also discuss those so in a missile series you see 1 2 3 4 five so you need to know what are the five series generally these all are ballastic ballasting missiles and you need to know the range the one is since it's a single stage single stage rocket So it is short range two to four if you see it will mostly be medium range and intermediate range and five will be of long range because it is three-staged rocket fuel means there are three levels of propulsion is taking place in agnify that's all you need to know from there in the significance of test if you see the present test which India has tested it is credible for minimum deterrence means India's credible is strengthening for minimum recurrence and it shows the reliability of India's indigenous missile operations and technology and also for strategic forces it is going to strengthen the operations. So these are common for every missiles you need to understand that is common for all missiles. You basically we are going in films perspective for this article. So missile as I said is a self-propelled airborne weapon system designed to deliver a explosive warret at specific target. So the missile can be rocket propelled or it can be jet propelled. So based on that the the speed the map everything is different. So we will see the differences what the missiles are all about. So based on the range if you see short range, medium range, intermediate range and intercontinental range that is long range. So the kilometer range if you can see 300 to,000 for short, medium up to 3,500 intermediate up to 5,500 greater than 5,500 becomes intercontinental with the long range. So examples you need to know just map it 1 to 5 if you can map it you can map other things. We'll also see bramos. Promos is long range and it also comes in intermediate range. So you need to know what are the ranges the kilometer extent you need to know because short range is within thousand kilometers that's all you need to understand. So there are differences in missile when you launch when you when you when the aircraft launch a missile means when there is a war war aircraft that is going to launch a missile it's air to air missile means you're going to target from air then you're going to target another aircraft or something like that so it's air to air but when you start it from the ground when you launch it from the ground it is surface to air when you when you launch missile from air to target a missile enemy missile or you're going to target enemy aircraft then it is surface to air so that is the difference between surface to air and air Basically launch platform as I said it is ground vehicle and here it is fighter jets size it is much larger and heavier because fighter jets cannot carry much larger than that is intuitive everyone would understand it energy management if you see it starts from zero because you're starting from zero at the ground there is no initial velocity for it but here the initial velocity is already inherited because already fighter aircraft is fighting at a certain pace so at that speed you're going to launch a missile it means there's already initial velocity for the rocket that is a Friends and radar and tracking after once a rocket is launched after once a missile is launched the radars actually is going to control you. It is going to control which target you have to actually it. So that radar control in surface to is done by groundbased radar networks. Here it is done by aircraft onboard radar which it is going to guide the missile or guide the rocket post the launch. So example if you can see is S400 that India buys it from Russia and here it is AM9X side winder. So what is difference between ballastic and cruise missiles? As I was saying first you need to know missile, what is missile? What are the ranges of missile? What is ballastic and cruiser missile? Ballistic missile as I said it is going to get launched from a place and it's going to follow a parabolic path because after going at altitude it is going to come and hit the target based on the gravity. It's going to use the gravity. So that is balancing missile. Cruising missile is nothing but a kind of cruise missile. It is going to guide it is going to get guided at every path and it is going to hit a target. So it is like you're going to cruise something and going to hit it from the launch. So it means cruise A and ballastic there should be a very much big difference. The flight path as I said it's high and arcing rocket means it's going to going to go at the top and then fall it on a target. So it will be high. Here it is low flat airplane means it is going to go within the atmosphere or maybe below the atmosphere at a flat flight. Propulsion it is rocket engine. Here it is jet engine because it is going to it is going to have a continuous flight. So you need to have continuous power because in rocket engine what happens once there are three stages in the sense you're going to push it once push it twice then push it twice at only at three points you have propulsion but in jet propulsion there is continuous propulsion continuously the motor is going to run continuously the power is generated like your vehicle but in rocket what happens you pump it at one place it goes to a certain rate then you pump it again it goes to next that's that way it functions that is the difference between rocket engine and jet engine So here in ballastic missile it is rocket engine in crus it is jet engine speed it is hypersonic hypersonic subsonic supersonic I'm going to explain next then the range is long as I said because it is going to go far and it far places here since it's a jet engine continuous fuel should be used there is restriction so the range is short to medium accuracy there is highly impact precision because the from the rock from the ballastic missile it goes on top you cannot eat a precise point you're going to target an area let's say you're going to target Chennai or you're going to target Bangalore or you're going to target Hyderabad so some specific area it can target but cruise a missile can target a specific point within the area so that is an advantage that is a give and take between these two which depends on situation the army or the security forces going to use it payload it can carry heavy payload it can carry only light payload because based on the energy because energy needed for carrying a payload is very huge So based on that this ballistic missile can carry heavy payload but air cruiser missile can carry only light payload. For ballistic missile as I said a can be given the example missiles for cruise missiles bramos bramos is a very good example for cru missiles and uh n these can also be even as missiles. So you need to know which missile is which and you need to know what is the range and also you need to just understand the concepts. So as I said this is the see this is the this parabola is the is the path of this ballistic missile and here if you can see bottom one this is cruiser missile and what is glide vehicle? Glide vehicle. What happens in a rocket? You fit a vehicle. Okay, this rocket goes to a certain height like a ballistic missile. It is ballistically thrusted. Means rocket engine is going to thrust it. Once it is thrusted, it goes to a certain age. From there the vehicle detaches and that vehicle follows a different path that is you cannot even say which path is going to follow. It can be parabolic, it can be cruiser, it can be anything. From there the radar is going to just remote control it and put it in a certain target. So this is mostly a dangerous one which is highly technological being built and this is hypersonic glide vehicle. It is going to be ballastic at the start and from there it is going to follow its different path and hit the target that is glide vehicle. As as I was saying supersonic subsonic what is it? See Mac there is something called Mac number is nothing but the ratio of your speed with respect to rat speed of sound. It's a speed of sound 330 m/s. Okay. Now here what happens when you're going to go twice is the speed of sound. It means your MAC is two. Okay. So before the sound arrives the missile goes and hits it. Let's say you're going to talk something to me. before the whatever you say whatever the talk you reach reaching it reaching out to me there is something the the the intentions or the intentions what you carry reaches before what you what the message reaches me let's say I'm going to put a rocket on some place so before the sound arrives because once sound arrives the people will be aware so that the rocket is going to hit them so before the sound is reaching that place the rocket reaches the target so that is The advantage of having high MAC there are Mac around five means five times the speed of five times the speed of sound before the sound comes and it reaches a place the five times before itself the missile is reaching the target. So that is very much advantage for the for the military forces. So that is what subsonic in the sense subsonic means mac less than one. Supersonic is mac greater than one. Hypersonic is mac more than five or equal to five. So mac less than supersonic means less than the speed of sound then subsonic and hypersonic. We will see a question related to this with reference technique for missile. Answer the following statements. It is indigenously developed ballistic missile capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear wars. That is correct. It is not crusade. It is ballistic. It is powered by two- stage solid fuel propulsion. That is correct because Agnifi is what is three stage. Agn 2 to four is two stage. It is operational range of more than 10,000 km. No, it is only medium range less than 4,000 km. So this is how you'll be tested two- stage medium ballastic crusade etc. So the answer should be D. Let's check. Yes, the answer is D. Let's move on to the next topic quickly. So our next topic which is Oala's EO stone discovery. So recently there was a stone discovered in Karnataka which is related to the Oala dynasty. It clarifies many things, many questions related to chronology and also different aspects of the OSLA's administration and also OSA society. So we will see about what is the stone where they are found and how Oella what is the contribution of Oella's briefly two three things and also what this stone depicts basically there are three things that that stone is getting the stone depicts to us we'll see what are those three things and finally how this Oisala is bridged to Vijayagra how this dynasty moved from Oisala to Vijayagra what are the things that happened briefly we will also discuss Oisala if you take it is actually present in Karnataka that taken region south north Karnataka and as well as the south Maharashtra region. So it has formed a beautiful temples. It has created beautiful temples in Vasara style because Vasara is actually the blend of Nagara style and as well as Dravida style. Nagara style the style of temples that has been built in northern India, northern part of India and also few western in the western part of India. Dravida style is actually the style of temple that has been built in the southern part of India. So this vasara style which is blend of both ravida style as well as the nakara style. So these was actually championed by oalas. We'll see a temple which they have built and also what are the features of those temple. Moving ahead. Yeah this discovery was done at Nara Gunda. Nirunda is actually in Asan district. Okay. Asan district of Karnataka. And this epigraphy dates to 1141 cc. that is 12th century. Basically Oalag from 12 10th to 12th century. They actually ruled the place from 10 to 12 century approximately. So this actually is dated to December 1141 CE. So what is the historical value of this? It resolves the chronological debates regarding the exact date of death of celebrated Oala King Vishnu Ardana. Vishnu Ardana was important king in Oisala who has built many temples like China temple is his death is actually debated. So this stone is actually solving or putting an end to those chronological debate. So it has such a significance what this stone depicts or what this stone tells to us. There are three panels the middle lower panel middle panel and upper panel. In lower panel if you see it depicts the eero engaged in battlefield defending the cattle that is go graana means the eo is going to save the save the people save the cattle. So there is something a fight or war kind of thing is depicted in the lower panel that is earthly combat. In the middle panel what is it the fallen hero hero has actually finally fallen on the ground. He has he has been defeated. So the fallen hero is being escorted to heaven is what shown in the middle panel. Suppose that in upper panel what it shows the eo is seated in anjali mudra kind of stat stature. So in the adj mudra kind of statue there is a shivalinga and also sun and moon symbolizing the glory of the hero. So basically starts from the war how he is defending the people then it goes how he how he's moved to heaven from after he's getting defeated and finally he how he is shown in the heaven or how he's glorified after his death. So Oisala's empire legacy as I said they were actually between 10 to 12th century briefly and they ruled part of Karnataka and as well few parts of Maharashtra and King Vishnuardana was actually important ruler and shifted the capital to Albedu. So in Alabedu is where you find this famous Bour Chanakkeshwara temple. So Chenneshwara temple if you see here it is like it will be like star like shaped from top. So I'm sorry it'll be star-l like shaped from if you look it from the top. So it is basically vasara style architecture as I said it is blend of ravida plus nagara. So if you can see the platform on platform where the the temple is. So platform kind of thing is seen in Nagara not in Dravida. So there is a blend in many such things in goams in also in the sanctum sanctum. So these places there are different features which has a blend of both these styles. So this Chenneshwara temple Chaeshwar temple has been given minus status of world heritage site. So it is in 2023 for three temples Belur, Alipedo and Sapur and three temples the squares recognized as world heritage site. So what is the medium on technique? It was built in soft soap stone. So you need to remember this slitch. The sit stone is actually a soft soap stone which can be used for intricate carvings because when it is soap stone you can intricately carve the eyes, the nose, the the the lips everything can be intricately carved. If you see this temple so beautifully even in within the the carvings within a finger can also be can also can be seen that it is giving lot of information from it. So such intrication can be done only with these kind of soap stones. So that was used in the temple. So few things related to Oisalaha because Oisala if you see they have taken few a few contemporary things that are from Cholas as Cholas ruled similar in the same phase almost in the same phase in in the western part of Tamil Nadu that is southwest part of Tamiladu or sorry southeast part of Tamil Nadu Dhanour. So they also formed a similar local administration that is having decentralized village governments village governance as cholas and there are institution of gaudas that is allied bodyguards who took sacred o to defend the nation also defend the king. So blewi is actually the called bodyguards these terms actually can be tested whenever this comes in the news. Apart from that when it doesn't comes in the news stick to the terms that are present in NCERTT and PQS the the terms that are in ancient history and medieval history is that you have to stick to NCERT terms and the terms that comes in the news plus PQ that's it no other terms extra terms are not required. So institution of gas was there local administration and also sati was actually practiced even in OSala's empire. So these things are related to O isala and how it bridged to Vijayagara because Vijayagara came after Vijayagara came in 14th century that is in 1300s. So how this how there was a bridge from Oala to Vijayagara during Vijayagara Empire there was constant invasions from Sultanit Delhi Sultanit. So like Mali Kapoor who was a military general of Alawudin Kilgi from Kilji dynasty. So from alawing kalji there there was constant pressure constant invasions through Malikapur and also from Mad Sultan from the south side there was constant pressure on so they were actually facing this problem and finally they fell after a point in time that is the leading to the fall of Vira Balala the last ruler of Oisala. Then there was institutional continuity. Oaladm setup was then was incorporated by Vijayagara Empire. They also built lot of temples and they they were known to build the large gopurams because they're known to be large goams, large mandavs in the temples. So they took it from there and finally in c in cultural wise also there was there was more a continuity. There was tans was actually improved. Telugu was improved. So these kind of things were done by Vijayagra in continuation to the OSA. So let's have a practice question related to this with reference to ancient and medieval history of South India. Consider the following statements regarding hero stones that is Vira Gulu. Vira Galu that is Vira Galu that is the hero stone. So Vira Galu were memorable stones erected exclusively to honor ruling kings who died in the major battles. The Oisella stones frequently depict three tire narrative depicting combat on earth, celestial and final union with the deity. This we saw and this is also correct. The Oella rulers were key patterns of vas style temple architecture built predominantly using soft chronic stones. So this is also correct. So if you see the first statement that is viru memorial stones erected exclusively becomes correct. Yeah, this exclusively becomes wrong. As I as I was discussing earlier, it was it was not correct because exclusively means only it shows the battle things. No, it shows three things. The battle the the king when he moves to heaven and also after glorifying him after death. So three things are depicted. So exclusively become incorrect. So answer should be B. Yeah. Now let's move on to the next topic for the day. Let's move forward and discuss the next topic for the discussion today. So that is godan scheme. So we'll briefly discuss what is goan scheme uh what what a central government has actually done for it and uh why it is important for India's con context today and we'll also have a prelims based question on this scheme. So coarin scheme you need all you need to know is first the context the context is union cabinet has approved this national secured circular bio energy scheme for outlay of around 24,000 crores. So the goen scheme is basically actually is for creating the bio gas. So it is going to help the rural economy. It is going to help the agriculture agriculture dependent economy for an extra income for or an alternate income. So this bio gas which is getting generated can be used for blending with CGS that is compressed natural gas or fire natural gas whichever is that is functioning. This actually will be reducing our import dependence on fossil fuels. So basically it is going to be an circular economy policy or circular economy related scheme. So this bio gas which is going to be generated will be done from the agricultural waste are also other important agriculture crops. So these things integrated together so that India can become art freelance in energy. So that is what is the major highlight of the scheme or the major objective of the scheme from the product context. So this scheme aims to accelerate the compressed bio gas. So once you create bio gas from the agriculture waste or from the agriculture things so you need to compress it to a certain pressure only then you can use it because without compression you cannot transmit it in the pipeline because once you compress it with high pressure it is going to get transmitted in the pipeline and finally it reaches the end consumer. So there it aims to have the compressed bio gas generation and the implementation period is for 2035 to 2036 that is 10 years from now. So it is it is aiming 10 a is having an ambition of 10 years from now. We will also see what is goen first. Goen stands for galvanizing organic bioagrow resources. Then means this biogrow resources is going to get converted into bio gas. That is what is the scheme is about. So it promotes the conversion of organic and biodegradable waste into valuable resources such as compressed biogas, organic manure and biosary. Organic manure which is byproduct of this process can be used for agriculture. So basically nothing is left out. So circular economy to the maximum extent can be used can be done in this scheme. So it comes under ministry of jal shaki. So everybody should note that since though it is an energy scheme it doesn't comes under ministry of petroleum natural gas or doesn't comes under ministry of new and renewable energy but it comes under ministry of jalshaki which is a trap which can be set for you. So it comes under ministry of jal shaky and it is centrally sponsored scheme. What is centrally sponsored? It is going to share the fund or the implementation is jointly done by both state and the central government. So it is centrally sponsored and it is also under ministry of Jal Shaki. Two important points for the scheme. Any scheme if you say you need to understand it is under which ministry whether centrally sponsored or central sector or what are the functions of the scheme and also who are the beneficiaries of the scheme. So moving ahead what are the key objectives as I said it's going to increase domestic CBG production that is compressed bio gas and reduce dependence of important fossil fuels because it is going to replace your fossil fuels and crude oil imports promote waste to wealth because organic waste biodegradable waste or the household waste can be promoted can be used for this gas generation private sector investment is promoted and also it improves the rural income. It gives an alternative income to the agriculture dependent economy, agriculture dependent people and it supports India's net zero ambitions because crude oil substitution is actually will accelerate our ambition to net zero by 2070. That is our ambition of net zero in 2070 can be accelerated through these substitution or through these energy substitution methods. What are the feed stock used? So feed stock is one which is going to create this biocast. So the biodegradable waste, the household waste and also this agriculture waste. So what agriculture residues, stubbles, cattle dunk, municipal organic waste, sugar waste, food waste and other biodegradable biomass, it can be collected together for this gas generation. Basically the collection becomes tough. Once collection is done, the biogas plant is going to generate it 24 into 7 doesn't depend on any other other constraints are very less. So this gas generation can be then compressed for our usage. So what are the major features? Assured uptake of CBG, administered pricing mechanism for products, producers and capital subsidies for setting up CBG plants means it is encouraging the private investments and expansion of gas pipeline. Basically now we have piped natural gas. If you see many companies like torrent gas, adani, torrent gas and uh other companies like uh Indian oil they are also into this pipeline gas. So these companies are actually providing the gas pipeline for commercial as well as for consumers as us for food cooking means it is replacing LPG. So this compressed natural gas is replacing slowly replacing the LPG that is CG replacing LPG. What is CG? Compressed natural gas which is of methane mostly less carbon CH4 only one carbon. LPG is mostly propane or butane. So these are all chemical terms. Propane and butane means there are more carbon C2 C3. There are more carbons in this LPG. But in CNG it is only one carbon because it is mostly of methane CH4. So methane is CH4 which is CG. Propane butane is all LPG which has more carbon. So more pollution. Biogas is actually going to replace or going to blend with the CG so that it is going to make it more green more effective. So what are the what why what are its importance for India? The first thing is that domestic production of clean gases will is enhanced. Second thing is dependent on import LNG will be reduced because only from LNG you you're going to convert it to CNG. The liquid natural gas comes mostly from Qatar for India I'm saying for India the mostly it comes from Qatar because right now we know we know the state of almost problem. So this LNG we are dependent on Katar around 40%age of our LNG comes from Qatar. So such katar and quite so these places the LG is abundant. So LG comes from it comes as a liquid to Indian ports and from there it is converted into gas that is compressed natural gas. So this CNG then it is piped or then it is sent to different places through the pipelines and now it is going to replace it dependent on LNG when you have compressed bio gas supports blending with CBG that is CNG and PNG that is pipe natural gas that I was talking about and rural economy is actually more supported through this initiative. So circular chromic perspective as I said it is going to include all the waste. It is going to bring organic slurry organic manure as a byproduct that can also be used for agriculture again. So it is basically going nothing is going waste there. Everything is being used in the sustainable manner. So we'll have practice question here related to this with refers to national circular bio energy scheme that is go. Then consider the following statements. The first statement is it promotes the production of CBG from biodegradable organic waste such as agriculture, cattle dung, municipal organic waste and fresh food. So that is correct because all these are the organic products that can be used for that can be used to produce the bio gas. The next thing is compressed gas under the scheme can be blended with compressed natural gas and supplied through pipe natural gas. CNG basically it is coming from LNG liquid natural gas that is getting imported from the Arab states Arab countries like Qatar, UAE and quite these people give LG to us. We convert the LG to CNG that is liquid to gas and we send it through the pipe through the houses because through houses it is piped natural gas from there. The same CG only but we are sending it through the pipe. So we call it as piped natural gas at different pressure that reaches our household for cooking. Now what happens the CBG is going to blend with the CNG itself. So when you going to blend with CG no need the LG. So C CBG and CG itself will be sufficient for this fiber natural gas. So that is what this statement is about. So this statement is correct. The scheme aims to reduce India's dependent on import fossil fuels by promoting domestic bio energy production that is intuitive which is the main core uh objective of the scheme. So all statements should be correct. Let's check. Yes, all statements are correct. Let's move on to the next part of discussion. So moving ahead we will see an interesting topic for today which is uh related to creamy layer in SCST. So government has actually filed an affidavit. Union government has actually filed an affidavit in Supreme Court opposing the creamy layer for SCS and STS. So we will discuss briefly discuss about creamy layer and what is the history of creamy layer very briefly we will touch upon and we'll also see what are the arguments given by the petitioner and also argument given by the government and finally we'll have a we'll also have a way forward discussion because it is very much important for any reservation policies or anything for affirmative action related things in India. So yeah we'll understand crem layer first when was the crime layer introduced you we all know that mandal commission mundal commission was actually brought in in 1979 by moraji desi government after that after 10 years of that VP Singh in 1990 implemented the mandal commission's report what are the recommendations given by him the recommendations were he said there should be some reservation for OBC's so according to that 27%age was given for OBC reservation apart from 15%age for SC's that were already existing and uh for STS which were already existing. So this actually this report this uh reservation for OBC's created a very big backlash for the government and the Indrasani at that point in time Indraasani actually challenged this government order or challenged this policy in Supreme Court and Supreme Court finally held that this 27 reservation 27% reserve to OBC is right and also it cap total reservation for 50% that is very much important the total reservation should be 50%age set by Supreme Court and Supreme Court also told that there should be a criteria to select few people among the those 27 percentage like that there should be a ceiling it can be income ceiling it can be any ceiling there should be a ceiling which from which you have to actually based on that you have to select the people so that led to the creamy layer supreme court has just said that there should be a ceiling but the criterias were all set by union governments of that time. So this cream layer originated from there. So cream layer in the sense the people who are there on the top of that light list especially in the OBC. So those people cannot get their reservation or they cannot they are not eligible for reservation. The people who are not in the creamy layer that is non creamy layer are actually eligible for reservation. And it all started from there and it it is it is moving on from 1992 to 2026 after various judgments. We will discuss briefly what all changed in this premiere objectives and what are the criterias that also we will also discuss here. So supreme court clearly said that SCST are exception. So they are not included in this criminal discussion. They are actually having a separate reservation that affirmative action for them based on article 15 clause 4 16 clause 4. we have SCST exception. So Supreme Court here said that the socially and educationally backward. So the socially and educationally backward people are actually the OBC's who are actually facing lot of discriminations. So for them there should be this 27%age of deservation but not to the premier layer of OBC's. So we will see what is the constitutional debate regarding this. So we saw that in Indrasani case the Supreme Court said reservation should be there for OBC's and it also capped the overall reservation for 50%age. Above 50%age there should be no reservation. So total reservation is 50%age. What does the con what does constitution say? According to article 154 and 164 constitution basis constitutional basis for STSC OBC restoration is clearly mentioned. It is it is it has said that they should be applicant for socially and educationally backward classes social and education. It is not income. We have to note it. Constitution nowhere mentions about income or economically backward classes. It is after that EWS that is economically weaker section there was a clause added for economically backward classes or people who are economically weak. So it has mandated that there should be affirmative action for those people and substantial equality should be provided. What is substantial equality? Equality is just applying the rules common to all. But substantial equality is you're considering the historic background other things other parameters which people cannot which people which hinder people to avail the equality. So substantial equality should be maintained and also better targeting should be there layer bars direct benefits to the truly disadvantaged. See whenever there is a light people who are there like for example the people who are holding lot of lands or the big farmers and OBC they'll be getting the benefits but those people should not be included was the was the constitutional debate and dignity versus means. So here SCST scorers rest on historic exclusion not just poverty. See dignity is historical exclusion historical discrimination means which is today which is based on poverty which is based on economical criteria. So this dignity is for SCST people for means is for specifically OBC people that is in the argument of creamy layer. So dignity and means should be also taken together and dignity should be given more priority over means that has been stressed by Supreme Court in various arguments in various judgments. We will see quickly over that. There's one more thing who decides OBC. Initially supreme uh union government was was giving criteria to decide the OBC criminal and noncriminal. They said the parental income should be less than 8 lakh. It is income not parental income. Specifically it does not mention about parent or student or something. It is income. The income should be less than 8 lakh. Next land holding. There is a constraint on your land holdings. There is a constraint on whether the your parent is and government employee. So these three three conditions are given by union government earlier but later what happened after one or constitutional amendment that is 105 constitutional amendment what happened is the state government can also form their own OBCNCL criterias. So that was the biggest constitutional amendment. So that they are given leverage to state governments to form their own criterias because see the income the land holdings and also other things varies from state to state. So state government has been given the leverage to have OBC list but not the SCST list. SCST list is still given by the union government and the parl that is a parliament and after that presidential order decides SCST list but for OBC even state government can also form form their respective OBC list for them for them for their own purpose of recruitment and other activities so the history of judicial time for premier if you see Indraasani so this is the first place where it has originated the cream layer concept has originated so here 27%age for OBC is given 50%age overall cap for reservation is given and premier concept has been in included for OBC's. So people who are in non-cre only can avail this 27%age of reservation in OBC criteria. Next in 2006 what happened in Nagaraj case that is in Nagaraj case Supreme Court has said that for promotions also this is for recruitment. Okay, this reservation is given for recruitment initially but Supreme Court told that for promotion from group B to group A or for any promotion in an organization for their pro for the promotion also the reservation should be maintained that only for SCST not for OBC. So in Nagaraj's case it sell that SCST should have this promotions reservation but not the OBC and it also gave three criteria on what basis you have to find uh see you have to reserve the seats. First criteria is that the backwardness of the class how how much backward they are. Second criteria is that historical uh it can be administrative efficiency saying that administrative efficiency should not be compromised by reservation. That is article 335 clearly mentions that administrative efficiency should not be blocked or should not be hindered by these reservation policies. And third was how much of these people are already represented. So quickly three points in Nagaraj the Nagaraj in the in the Nagaraj case what Supreme Court said for promotions also you need to reserve for HCS not for OBC and it has given three criteria. The first criteria is the backwardness of that group what how much they are backward and second one is administrative efficiency which is not should be injured according to article 335 and third one is how much of the people who are already been placed in that organization let's say if in a particular community you're going to reserve some seats you have to check how many of them are already present in the organization of that community and based on that you have to reserve so these are three conditions are given in Nagaras case but in 2018 what happened in jarnell case jell Sing case you just need to know to quote it somewhere that's it you no need to go deeply in jar Singh case what what Supreme Court told that those three criters whatever I said the administrative efficiency backwardness and also how much of people were already represented these things are not required because already when the when the people are included in this SCST the list SCST list it means that already they are coming under these three things they are already backward they already not represented so it means you no need to check again so you no need to give empirical data again to prove it and give and then give reservation. So it has struck down the three case three things that Nagaraj case has told. So now what happens now you no need to prove that a community is backward. A community has less representation. A community in the administrative those things need not to be proved. The reservation already stands as it for the specific community if it is already included in the list. So in the Darvin Singh case that was a landmark testment. We will briefly discuss this Darendra Singh case. Based on this only the Supreme Court uh the center has given an affidavit saying that they oppose the creamy layer for SCSTs. So what is the government's argument here? Why government opposes the creamy layer for SCSTs? Government says that any change must follow holistic review and empirical study because without any study without any commission put in place how can you say that I I'm going to give a crimiteria for SCS test because we don't know what is going to happen. So that holistic review needs to be done that is a government stand and next thing is core aim of that reservation is that it should promote social equality and correct the past injustice. So when you're going to promote social equality and correct the past injustice you cannot put it under cream layer because cream layer is more a economic criteria. So you cannot put it under this saying that these people are under this cream this this much of income so they should not be given the uh reservation. Let's say an SC who's earning more than 10 8 lakh let's say the criteria is 8 lakh if he's more earning more than 8 lakh but still he's an SC but there are social stigma against him since he's an SC or since he's from particular cast. So in that case the premium layer actually fails in the social justice. So government saying that such things should not be included in reservation of SCSTs and it has also said that there is supplement focus goal is empowerment and upliftment of marginal community but not that you need to you need to just put it for different people. The point is you need to uplift everybody. The point is you need to uplift the whole community as well. But here you are actually separating within the community you are separating and you're trying to say that based on economy you're going to differentiate people. No, you have to holistically bring up the old community of SC and ST. So that is the argument of government. So we'll also see why cream layer for SCST is required. Government opposes but there are arguments saying that it is needed. Why it is needed? The first thing is it ensures equitable distribution of preservation and benefits like it prioritizes the most socioeconomically disadvantage within people. Let's say uh for example uh there are there are places where the certificates of SCSTs are misused like in a case in Tamil Nadu if you say Kandar there was a case related to Kandar tribe. So kondarity people or the people who falsely claim that they are kandarity scheduled tribe have got lot of certificates on them saying that we are scheduled tribe we need we we are come come under this category and they got very they they got placed in very much very good employment jobs in Tamil Nad as well as in the central government. So this tribe who actually falsely claimed as ponority tribe then came into uh supreme court's supreme court's view said that Supreme Court finally said this is false. So these people are falsely claiming that they are scheduled drive these people are not actually the people who are needed who are actually need to be benefited from reservation. So in that cases the reservation actually not reaches the right people. So the so to reach the rise people you need to classify in a holistic or also in a more contemporary way in a contemporary way if you you need to classify then you need an economic criteria because today's contemporary is based on economy so there needs to be equitable distribution which for which team layer is required and prevents repeated capture of reservation benefits as I said the people of SCST who already got into services or already got many benefits due to reservation their children their grandchildren are getting their the status again because they already ahead of other SCEs in the race. So when they're already ahead in the other SC in the race, they need they need less they need to be given less affirmative action compared to the people who are behind it. So you cannot have the equality there without equity. So that that needs to be matched. So that is why we need discrim and enhances the efficiency and legitimacy of affirmative action because in affirmative action what it means is you are going to bring the downtrodd and you're going to bring the marginalized to a level of other people or to the level of common ground. But when the common ground itself is varying for people within the same community then it means that you need to have better efficient way of doing it. For that we need premiier layer. Then aligns the research and policy with principle of substantial equality. As I said substantial equality consider historical things, historical benefits, historical discrimination, what what not. So for substantial equality, you need to balance historical discrimination with present soioeconomic realities. So present soio economic realities is more of economical power, economical status that should be managed with this historical discrimination. So for these things we need premiier for SCST because let's say people like in kandarity tribe or people similar to like who already got fake benefits or who already got benefits they are the people who are getting benefits again and again but not the people who are who are marginalized who are excluded. So to bring back the excluded of the SCSTs the the Supreme Court has said that you need to subcategorize the SCST. So that is what the judgment is about. This Davinder Singh judgment which is in 2024 Supreme Court argued that there need to be subcategorization of the cast mean subcategorization of SCS. When you subcategorize you know which SC is getting which ST is getting more benefits which SC or ST is getting less benefits. So subcategorization is required already. Karnataka, Telangana have already started subcategorizing SCSTs based on that they're going to give the benefits accordingly and Gawi who was then uh Supreme Court judge in the in these seven judge Bench said that must find a criminal for SCST because he understands that the the contemporary socioeconomic needs are actually pushing or actually uh required are actually making deliberate for having this three layer in SCST and differential criteria the SCST criteria may differ from the OBC criteria that's all set by supreme court you no need to have same eight lakh criteria you no need to have same landholding criteria don't need to have present other criterias like parental occupation or parental salary so you can have different criteria but you need to have a premier criteria so next thing is state power so ruling sanction the states to continue subcategorization of SC that was actually given with this argument so automat Karnataka and Telangan other states have started to subcategorize SCSTs and center actually remained silent here because center is not willing to sub the union government is not coming forward to subcategorize SCST. It may be due to political reasons or it may be due to other reasons. They are not willing to come forward for which they have filed an argument for which they filed a today saying that they oppose this premium layer in SCST. So this is whole argument of SCST. So what all you need to know is you need to know what is the history of uh premiier or history of reservation briefly. Constitutional mandates or constitutional provisions related to reservation. You need to know difference between equality and equity. The substantial equality is a key term which you can use. Few cases the cases of Indrasani, Nagaraj, Jarnell Singh and this Davindra Singh. These four cases briefly you need to know. And finally you need to have some arguments for and against for premier SCST preservation. Way forward can be this can be your conclusion in your answer saying that there need to be empirical study give a set a commission to study like mandal commission judicial clarity a large b should clarify the SCST criminal layer because now supreme court has just entered that you have a criminal layer they ined the legislator executive to have a creamier criteria but they're not even set and right said that you need to have this primary layer so there needs a clarity there center stand should be strong then a clarified stand on subcategorization of SCSTs and better data that is needed and consultation should be wide because it should involve states in all other unitaries to make it a better inclusive policy. So what is the practice question here? So examine whether the cream principle evolved for OBC reservation should be extended to SC's and SDS discusses constitutional implications. Yeah, this is what the question is about. You can uh briefly discuss briefly put the points whatever we add here. So the first one is you need to understand you need to say briefly the history of prem layer evolved for OBC. Then you need to add the points say that what are the implications for having layer in SES and STS. So that's all for the discussion of the topic. Let's move on to the next topic. Going on let's discuss the films focused topics. There are three brief topics that we are going to discuss. So we will see what are those topics. The first one could be the one nation and one fertilizer initiative. So this one if you see the union government is actually bringing one nation one fertilizer or one nation one election these kind of things where they're going to bring everyone in parity because when there is different things that going on parallelly and you have to synchronize things you have to bring it one you have to make it one. So in that context for this car session that is carif 2026 car tariff season carif 2026 that starts basically in June that is when southwest mon reaches India. So this in this car season there is these fertilizers like ura dap it is going to be branded and is going to be sold under one name called barat. So it can be bat ura barat dap bar bat mop kind of things. So it is under the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers. This is the nal ministry which is going to implement it. So all you need to know is it is implemented under PMBBJP scheme. The scheme you need to know? It is implemented by which ministry and what is that tagline that is barat. So it is going to come under barat mop barat UAE ura bat dap kind of things. So this is what is it it is going to actually help the farmers because it is it is going to provide adequate fertilizer availability at all time and throughout India and timely supply is going to be happening because when it is going to be branded at one name there's no confusion lack of confusion will be there and reduced import dependence for when such schemes are brought in and also ease of access for farmers because there there no need to confuse which one to use what what different brands they need to use for fertilizers. The second uh topic will be on this India's first and a innovation city Ariakam. Recently Tamil Nadu has put up his budget. So the new government that is TK government has actually put up its budget where they have given different things for the different innovative things in the budget including the first the Awakam. So Awakam it is it's India's first AI that is artificial intelligence and innovation city. So it is going to include what all things it is going to include an AI university specific AI university and skill development center and multi-dommain innovation incubators to support deep tech and AI startups. So it is going to pull in lot of GCC's related to AI. So these things are going to happening these things will be happening in this area and also modern self-contained residential and mixed use spaces integrated within the district that is state-of- technology and these things will be brought together and this city will be created. They have not said in which place this city is going to come. It can come in Chennai or maybe other places but they have said that by 2031 so they going to bring this city into functioning. So the third topic for the day will be on this dalad wildlife century. Whenever this wildlife sensory whenever there's national park all you need to know is at which state it is present. Any river any important river that flows through it. What is the important species that is getting protected in that wildlife sanctuary or national park. When you know these three things automatically you can pull automatically you can face all the traps that are set by UPSC or any exams. So in this wildlife sensory why it is in use because first time snow leopard is found inside this wildlife sensory. So this wildlife sensory is present in Imasal Pradesh that is Kangra district and the snow leopard if you see this it is called as ghost of mountains and you whenever there's a species again you need to know its IUCN status you need to know its wildlife protection act status that that which schedule it is put under so these two things definitely you need to know so for snow leopard so I vulnerable WPA status it is put under schedule one so it is highly protected according to wildlife protection act so these two things you need to know for with respect to snow leopard and for this wildlife sensory it is present in Imatal Pradesh the flora if you see in this wildlife sensory it is mostly dominated by cedar pine and spruce and fa if you see the snow leopard is coexisted with common Indian leopard Asiatic black bear and Himalayan brown beer. So these three briefly you need to know what are the species that are getting protected in the wildlife sanctuary. So if you can see the snow leopard it actually mostly camouflled camouflages in the sense it the background or the place which is which is it is present it's going to sync with the background. So it mostly camouflages naturally with the Himalayan mountain is called the ghost of the mountains that is and it is present at high altitudes that is 3,000 to 5,000 muscles. It is it is in vulnerable categories. We'll briefly see a question related to stall effort. It is commonly known as the ghost of mountains. Yeah, that is correct. That is the first statement that is correct. It is primarily found in the high altitude rocky and snowy habitat generally between 3,000 to 5,000 mters. Exactly correct. The altitude which it status is very high that is its habitat. That is correct. Its conservation status under red list is endangered. This is where you get trapped. Endangered critically endangered vulnerable these things where you get trapped. So it is vulnerable not endangered. So you need to be clear on those things. So answer A will be correct because of statement three is incorrect. Let's check. Yes, answer A is correct. Thank you for watching. Please like, comment, share and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have the bell icon pressed for instant notification and for better current affairs engagement. See you again in the next interesting session. >> [music]