MAINS MASTER PROGRAM (MMP) 2024

ORIENTATION AND DEMO LECTURE

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-1

1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Table of Contents ..................................... 0 9) Defence ................................................ 4
2. Syllabus ................................................... 1 10) Promoting S&T Research in India ...... 4
3. PYQ Analysis ............................................ 1 11) Miscellaneous ................................... 4
1) Distribution of Questions from various 4. Some Demo Topics.................................... 6
areas in last 11 years (2013-2023) ................ 1
1) Aditya-L1 .............................................. 6
2) Space ................................................... 1
2) Xposat and X-Ray Polarimetry............... 7
3) Biotechnology and Health .................... 2
3) Gaganyaan – The Human Space Flight
4) Computer, IT & Electronics ................... 3 Program ....................................................... 9
5) Robotics ............................................... 3 4) Bird Flu Pandemic ............................... 12
6) Nanotech ............................................. 3 5) One Health Approach.......................... 13
7) Nuclear Science and Technology .......... 3 6) Reforming poultry Sector in India ....... 15
8) Intellectual Property Rights .................. 4

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2. SYLLABUS
1. Science and Technology - developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of
Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

2. Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, Nanotechnology, biotechnology and issues relating
to intellectual property rights.

3. PYQ ANALYSIS

1) DISTRIBUTION OF QUESTIONS FROM VARIOUS AREAS IN LAST 11 YEARS (2013-2023)

Topic Number of Questions

Space & Astronomy 8
Biotechnology and Health 8
Computer, IT, Electronics 5
Robotics 1
Nanotech 2
Nuclear Science and Technology 2
IPR 4
Defence 1
Promoting S&T Research 1
Miscellaneous 8
Total 40

Number of Questions

Space & Astronomy

Biotechnology and Health
20% 20%
Computer, IT, Electronics
Robotics
3%
3% Nanotech
Nuclear Science and Technology
10% 20% IPR

5% Defence
5% Promoting S&T Research
2% 12%
Miscellaneous

2) SPACE

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 1. What is the main task of India’s third moon mission which could not be achieved in its earlier mission? List
the countries that have achieved this task. Introduce the subsystems in the spacecraft launched and explain
the role of the ‘Virtual Launch Control Center’ at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center which contributed to
the successful launch from Sriharikota. [250 words, 15 marks, Mains 2023]

2. Launched on 25th Dec 2021, James Web Space Telescope has been much in the new since then. What are
its unique features which make it superior to its predecessor space telescopes. What are the key goals of
this mission? What potential benefits does it hold for the human race? [250 words, 15 marks, Mains 2022]

3. What is India’s plan to have its own space station and how will it benefit our space programme? [10 marks,
150 words, Mains 2019]
4. Why is Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) needed? How does it help in
navigation? (150 words, 10 marks, Mains 2018 [GS1])
5. India has achieved remarkable successes in unmanned space missions including the Chandrayaan and Mars
Orbiter Mission, but has not ventured into manned space mission, both in terms of technology and
logistics? Explain critically. [150 words, 10 marks, Mains 2017]

6. How does the Juno Mission of NASA help to understand the origin and evolution of the Earth? [150 words,
10 marks, Mains 2017 [GS1]]

7. Discuss India’s achievements in the field of Space Science and Technology. How the application of this
technology has helped India in its socio-economic development? [Mains 2016]

8. What do you understand by ‘Standard Positioning Systems’ and ‘Protection Positioning Systems’ in the
GPS era? Discuss the advantages India perceives from its ambitious IRNSS programme employing just seven
satellites. [Mains 2015]

3) BIOTECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH

1. The increase in life expectancy in the country has led to newer health challenges in the community. What
are those challenges and what steps need to be taken to meet them? [150 words, 10 marks, Mains 2022]

2. What is the basic principle behind vaccine development? How do vaccines work? What approaches were
adopted by the Indian vaccine manufacturers to produce COVID-19 vaccines ? [15 marks, 150 words, Mains
2022]

3. What are the research and developmental achievements in applied biotechnology? How will these
achievements help to uplift the poorer sections of society? [250 words, 15 marks, Mains 2021]

4. How can biotechnology improve the living standards of farmers [15 marks, 250 words, Mains 2019]

5. Why is there so much activity in the field of biotechnology in our country? How has this activity benefitted
the field of Biopharma? [15 marks, 250 words][Mains 2018]

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 6. Stem cell therapy is gaining popularity in India to treat a wide variety of medical conditions including
leukemia, Thalassemia, damaged cornea and several burns. Describe briefly what stem cell therapy is and
what advantages it has over other treatments? (150 words, 10 marks)[Mains 2017]

7. Can overuse and free availability of antibiotics without doctor’s prescription, be contributors to the
emergence of drug-resistant disease in India? What is the available mechanism for monitoring and control?
Critically discuss the various issues involved. [Mains 2014]

8. What do you understand by Fixed-Dose drug Combinations (FDCs)? Discuss their merits and demerits. [Mains
2013]

4) COMPUTER, IT & ELECTRONICS

1. Introduce the Concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI). How does AI help clinical diagnosis? Do you perceive any
threat to privacy of the individual in the use of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare [Answer in 150 words, 10
marks, Mains 2023]

2. The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 was jointly awarded to Akasaki, Amano, and Nakamura for the invention
of Blue LEDs in 1990s. How has this invention impacted the everyday life of human beings? (Answer in 250
words) (Mains 2021
3. Discuss the advantage and security implications of cloud hosting of servers vis-a-vis in-house machine-based
hosting for government businesses. [Mains 2015]

4. What is a digital signature? What does its authentication mean? Give various salient built-in features of a
digital signature. [Mains 2013]
5. How does 3D printing technology work? List out the advantages and disadvantages of the technology. [Mains
2013]

5) ROBOTICS

1. What are the areas of prohibitive labour that can be sustainably managed by robots? Discuss the initiatives
that can propel research in premier research institutes for substantive and gainful innovation.

6) NANOTECH

1. What do you understand by nanotechnology and how is it helping in health sector? [10 marks, 150
words, Mains 2020]

2. Why is nanotechnology one of the key technologies of the 21st century? Describe the salient features of Indian
Government’s Mission on Nanoscience and Technology and the scope of its application in the development
process of the country (2016)

7) NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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1. With growing energy needs should India keep on extending its nuclear energy program? Discuss the facts and
fears associated with nuclear energy. [Mains 2018]

2. Give an account of the growth and development of nuclear science and technology in India. What is the
advantage of fast breeder reactor programme in India? (250 words, 15 marks, Mains 2017)

8) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

i) How is Government of India protecting traditional knowledge of medicine from patenting by pharmaceutical
companies? [Mains 2019]

ii) India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) which has a database containing formatted information
on more than 2 million medicinal formulations is proving a powerful weapon in the country’s fight against
erroneous patents. Discuss the pros and cons of making this database publicly available under open-source
licensing [Mains 2015]

iii) In a globalized world, intellectual property rights assume significance and are a source of litigation. Broadly
distinguish between the terms – copyrights, patents and trade secret [Main 2014]

iv) Bring out the circumstances in 2005 which forced amendment to section 3(d) in the Indian Patent Law, 1970.
Discuss how it was utilized by Supreme Court in its judgment rejecting Novartis patent applications for
“Glivec”. Discuss briefly the pros and cons of the decision? [12.5 marks, 200 words] [Mains 2013]

9) DEFENCE

1. How is the S-400 air defence system technically superior to any other system presently available in the
world? (Answer in 150 words)[Mains 2021]

10) PROMOTING S&T RESEARCH IN INDIA

1. Scientific research in Indian universities is declining, because a career in science is not as attractive as our
business operations, engineering or administration, and the universities are becoming consumer-oriented.
Critically comment. [Mains 2014]

11) MISCELLANEOUS

1. Discuss several ways in which micro-organisms can help in meeting the current fuel shortage [10 marks,
150 words, Mains 2023]

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2. Each year a large amount of plant material, cellulose, is deposited on the surface of Planet Earth. What are
the natural processes this cellulose undergoes before yielding carbondioxide, water and other end
products? [10 marks, 150 words, Mains 2022]
3. How is science interwoven deeply in our lives? What are the striking changes in agriculture triggered off by
science-based technologies [Mains 2020]
4. Covid-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented devastation worldwide. However, technological
advancements are being availed readily to win over the crisis. Give an account of how technology was
sought to aid the management of pandemic [Mains 2020]
5. How was India benefitted from the contributions of Sir M. Visvesvaraya and Dr. M. S. Swaminathan
in the fields of water engineering and agricultural science respectively? [10 marks, 150 words,
Mains 0219]
6. Discuss the work of ‘Bose-Einstein Statistics’ done by Prof. Satyendra Nath Bose and show how it
revolutionized the field of Physics. [Mains 2018]
7. What is allelopathy? Discuss its role in major cropping systems of irrigated agriculture [Main 2016]
8. What is an FRP composite material? How are they manufactured? Discuss their application in the aviation
and automobile industries. [Mains 2013]

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 4. SOME DEMO TOPICS

1) ADITYA-L1

- Practice Question: What are the main science objectives of India’s Aditya-L1 mission. Introduce the
subsystems in the spacecraft launched. [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction: ADITYA L1 is India’s first observatory class space based solar mission. It was launched onboard
PSLV-C57 in Sep 2023 and reached L1 point 127 days later in Jan 2024.

- The major science objectives of the mission in its five years of mission life are to understand:
▫ The coronal heating and solar wind acceleration;
▫ The initiation of Coronal mass ejection (CME), flares, and near earth space weather;
▫ The coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere;
▫ The solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy

- What is the need of studying sun from space and specifically from Lagrangian point 1 (L1):
▫ Significance of studying Sun from Space: Radiations which
don’t reach earth due to earth’s magnetic field and
atmosphere can be studied.
▫ Significance of studying sun from L1: A Satellite placed in the
halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth
system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the
Sun without any occultation/ eclipses.

- What Trajectory ADITYA-L1 followed to reach Lagrangian Point-

1: Through various orbit raising manoeuvres and cruise phase, it was placed in a halo orbit around the
Lagrangian Point-1 (L1) of the Sun Earth System, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth.

- Aditya-L1 went with 7 Payloads (4 remote sensing payloads and 3 in-situ payloads)
» Remote Sensing Payload:

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 a. Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC): It can peek as close as 1.05 solar radii, a region
never imaged by any solar telescope. It can thus give us more information about coronal mass
ejection.
b. Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT): It will observe UV radiations from different zones
of the solar atmosphere. It will help us to better understand the climate variation on earth.
c. Solar Low Energy X-Ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS)
d. High Energy L1 Orbiting X-Ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS)

» In-Situ Payloads:
a. Aditya Solar Particle Experiment (ASPEX): In-situ measurements of solar particles and ions.
b. Plasma Analyzer Package for Aditya (PAPA)
c. Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers

- With the help of ASPEX, PAPA, and ATHRDM scientists can predict probable geomagnetic storms and
better understand space weather dynamics.

- Conclusion: Successfully placement of Aditya-L1 is a resounding vindication of India’s investment in space

science research, which can on the one hand spur fundamental enquiry of our cosmos and on the other
generate knowledge of strong societal relevance.

2) XPoSat AND X-RAY POLARIMETRY

▫ Why in news?
- ISRO launched the XpoSat onboard a PSLV C58 flight on 1st Jan 2024.

▫ Practice Question:
- Discuss the scientific significance of XPoSat in advancing our understanding of high energy
astrophysical phenomenon. How does it complement NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry
Explorer (IXPE). [10 marks, 150 words]

▫ More Details
- XPoSat is a specialized science mission that studies the polarization of X-Rays in space. It was
launched on board PSLV-C58 on 1st Jan 2024.

- Need of studying polarization of X-Rays: The mechanization of polarization of radiation gives

away the nature of its source, including the strength and distribution of the magnetic field and
the nature of radiation around it.

- XPoSAT has carried two scientific payloads in a low earth orbit:

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 » The Primary Payload (POLIX) (Polarimeter Instrument of X-Rays) developed by RRI,
measures the polarimetry parameters (degree and angle of polarization) in medium X-ray
range (8-30 KeV) photons of astronomic origin.
» The XSPECT (X-Ray Spectroscopy and Timing), developed by URSC, studies X-rays of energy
0.8-15 Kev and changes in the continuous emissions.

- Need/Significance: Better understanding of the universe: So far polarization studies were

done on low energy radiations in optical and radio bands. XPOSAT by studying polarization in
medium energy band (8-30 Ke) will be able to act as an excellent diagnostic tool to understand
the emission process from astronomical sources. It will be:
» Unveiling the Mysteries of Black Holes: It is one of the primary focus of XPoSat. By studying
the polarization of X-rays emitted from the regions around the black holes, scientists can
gain valuable information about geometry and strength of the magnetic field around black
holes.
» Better Understanding Neutron stars which are remnants of massive stars.
» More insights into high energy astrophysical processes like particle acceleration, magnetic
field amplification etc.
» Verifying various models of Physics with the help of Data from XpoSat.
» Future Advancements – the successful launch of XpoSat has paved the way for future more
advanced launches leading to improved study of the universe.

- International Trend in Space-Based X-Ray Polarimetry

» Internationally, space-based x-ray polarimetry is gaining importance.
§ The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission, launched in 2021, represents
NASA’s inaugural space-based endeavor, focused on scrutinizing X-Ray Polarization
across various celestial bodies.
§ Note: XPoSAT energy range of 8-30 keV for polarization measurement is
complimentary to IXPE energy range of 2-8 KeV (soft X-Ray band). Therefore, XPoSat
and IXPE spacecrafts will collectively probe different emission mechanisms and
physics for bright X-Ray sources. Their coordinated observation will provide a wide
window in the energy range of 2-30 KeV for polarimetric observations for bright X-
Ray sources.

- In Conclusion, XpoSAT is a landmark mission which is going to revolutionize our understanding

of high energy astrophysics leading to new discoveries and advancement in the boundaries of
human knowledge.

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3) GAGANYAAN – THE HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT PROGRAM

­ Example Question:
▫ Explain the significance of Gaganyaan Mission in India’s future space program, S&T
advancements, energy security, and strengthening of India’s soft power. What are the key steps
taken over the last few years to make the mission successful.
▫ Discuss the key significance of Gaganyaan Mission in India’s Space Program [10 marks, 150 words]
▫ Evaluate the safety measures and risk mitigation strategy being implemented as part of
Gaganyaan mission [10 marks, 150 words]

­ Introduction
▫ Gaganyaan project is envisaged as a technology demonstration project to showcase human
spaceflight capability by India. Under this, ISRO plans to launch a crew of 3 members in LEO for a
3-day mission and bring them back safely.

▫ Test flights (uncrewed) for the project are planned in 2024 and 2025. On success of these, the
crewed flight is scheduled.

­ Significance/ Need of HSP

▫ First step towards future space programs like having India’s own space station and sending
humans to moon and on other interplanetary mission. PM Modi has set the target of having a
space station by 2035 and landing an Indian on Moon by 2040.
▫ Resources outside earth: Manned space programs are important to get control over resources.
For e.g., the moon has enough helium-3 to power the entire globe.
» In fact, Dr K Sivan (former chair of ISRO) says that if colonies must be set up outside earth
for the human civilization, how can India, one of the oldest civilizations, be left behind and
waiting.
▫ More R&D in space – ISRO will be able to conduct micro-gravity experiment.
▫ Advances in Science and Technology: Mission will provide us opportunities to explore new
technologies including push for indigenization, capacity building, and domestic manufacturing of
new technologies.
▫ Encouragement to our scientific community: it will give self belied to our engineers, scientists
etc.
▫ Strengthen India’s Soft power: So far, only three countries USA, Russia and China have executed
Human Spaceflight at their own. A successful mission would be ISRO’s ultimate demonstration of
capability.
▫ Technological spin-offs will benefit other sectors.

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 » Space programs in the past have also resulted in hundreds of important spin-off
technologies, including some breakthrough interventions in health and medicine sector like
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), heart implants, and advanced water filtration.
» Other examples include lithium-ion batteries developed by ISRO for rockets are now finding
usage in commercial vehicles.
» Fire Resistant Chemicals that ISRO will be developing for human flights may also be useful
in petroleum industry, safeguarding workers from the fire.
▫ Improvements in Higher Education in the field of aeronautical engineering, aerospace
engineering and physics.
▫ Symbolism: Great power status – Achievements in outer space are a marker of great power
status.

­ Key components of Human Space Program (HSP)

▫ Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) – A body set up by ISRO as a coordinating
body for Gaganyaan called the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC).

▫ Development of Human rated launch vehicles for carrying crew safely to

space.
» All systems in LVM3 launch vehicles are-reconfigured to meet human
rating requirements and christened Human Rated LVM3 (HLVM3). It will
be capable of launching the orbital module to an intended LEO of 400
km.
» HLVM3 also consist of Crew Escape System (CES) powered by a set of
quick acting, high burn rate solid motors which ensure that Crew module
along with crew is taken to safe distance in case of emergency either at
launch pad or during ascent phase.

▫ Orbital Module: It is the object that LVM-3 rocket will launch and place in LEO.
It will be orbiting earth and comprises of Crew Module (CM) and Service
Module (SM). It is fit with adequate redundancy considering human safety.
» CM is the habitable space with Earth like environment in space for the crew.
It can house upto three astronauts for a week. It includes:
ú Parachutes to slow its descent to the ground once it descends from
orbit.
ú An Environment Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) to control the temperature,
breathing environment, waste disposal, fire protection etc.
ú It also include a gynoid (feminine robot) named ‘Vyomamitra’ fit with sensors to track the
effects of radiation and weightlessness, monitor capsule conditions, and sound alarms in the
event of an impending emergency, aside from being able to perform some task.

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 ú It has double walled construction consisting of pressurized metallic Inner Structure and
unpressurised External Structure with Thermal Protection System (TPS).
» SM will be used for providing necessary support to CM while in orbit. It is an unpressurized
structure containing thermal system, propulsion system, power systems, avionics systems and
deployment mechanisms. The propulsion system here will raise the orbital module’s altitude
once it separates from the rocket and later to propel it back towards the earth.

▫ Precursor Missions for demonstrating the technology preparedness levels before carrying out the
actual mission. This includes Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT), and Test Vehicle
(TV) flights.
▫ Crew Training Facility established in Bengaluru caters to Classroom training, Physical Fitness
Training, Simulator Training and Flight suit training.
» Training Modules cover academic courses, Gaganyaan Flight Systems, Micro-Gravity
familiarization through parabolic Flights, Aero-medical training, Recovery & Survival training
etc. Aero medical training, Periodical Flying Practice and Yoga are also included as part of the
training.
» Note: A shortlist of candidates was sent to Russia for advanced training.
▫ Capabilities for recovering astronauts safely.

­ Other Steps taken so far:

▫ Space Borne Assistance and Knowledge Hub for Crew Interaction (SAKHI): A multipurpose app
developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre that will help astronauts on Gaganyaan space flight
mission carry out a range of tasks such as looking up vital technical information or communicating
with one another. It will also monitor the health of astronauts, alert them about their dietary
schedule etc. It will also help them stay connected with Earth. It will keep the crew connected with
the onboard computer and ground-based stations, guaranteeing a seamless communication link.

▫ Pilots have been selected and the identities of the four astronaut-designates, all IAF test pilots,
were revealed in Feb 2024. The final crew for the mission will be chosen from among the four.
Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap and Shubhanshu Shukla – are all
Airforce pilot.

▫ In 2018, the Union Cabinet had allocated Rs 10,000 crore for the program.

­ Conclusion – Class discussion

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4) BIRD FLU PANDEMIC

- Why in news?
» H5N1 (High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)) bird flu has become widespread in wild birds
worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry sector all across the world. It has also affected
cattles across several states of USA, and for the first time, three cases of human infection in
dairy farm workers were also reported (June 2024 - TH)

- Practice Question:
» Discuss the key challenges emerging globally due to the recent rise in cases of Avian Influenza.
Suggest key measures to deal with these challenges [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction:
» Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) is caused by a type of influenza A viruses. Among various viruses, only
viruses of H5 and H7 subtype are known to cause Highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
H5N1 is the most common virus causing bird flu and its recent resurgence has presented
significant challenges to humankind.

- Key challenges:
» Public Health Risks: While the current strain is not that easily transmitted to humans, but
several recent cases in humans indicate the potential future risk.
▫ As per WHO, between 2003 and 1st April 2024, 900 human infections have been reported
across 23 countries and more than half of them were fatal.
▫ Further, there is a grave risk of sustained transmission if the virus collects a few mutations
while spreading among mammals.
» Negative Economic Impact: The loss of poultry sector globally has been in billions of dollars due
culling of birds, trade restrictions and reduced demand from customers.
» Biodiversity loss - Several species, including in the isolated Antarctica continent, are facing
challenges due to spread of bird flu. E.g. Emperor Penguin.
» Potential to spread uncontrollably - due to migratory pattern of wild birds across the world.
» Increased public health expenditure on the development of potential vaccine for cattles against
bird flu.
§ For e.g. in May 2024, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a "request for
information" from companies that have the capability to develop and produce cow
vaccines against H5N1.
§ Scientists at University of Pennsylvania have developed an mRNA vaccine which have
shown good results in pre-clinical trials.

- Level of risk to humans:

» The virus has spread from birds/animals to humans who were in close contact without right
protective gear.
- Steps already taken:
» Integrated disease surveillance Program (IDSP) under the National Centre for Disease Control,
Delhi, is supposed to keep tabs on the avian influenza in India.

- Way Forward:

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 » More investment in surveillance and early detection including rapid diagnostic tools is crucial
for swift response to bird flu outbreak.
» Preventive Measures:
§ Wearing of protective gears by people who work in close contact with livestock and
birds.
§ Antiviral Tamiflu is being prescribed as a prophylaxis to people wherever H5N1 positive
cases are found.
§ Ensuring that people are only consuming pasteurized milk and well-cooked poultry
meat and eggs.
» The concept of 'One Health' needs to be prioritized and operationalized.
§ For e.g. Kerala is implementing a project as part of World Bank aided 'Rebuild Kerala'
project in four districts - Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, and Idukki. Under this it
has established a community-based disease surveillance network, with 2.5 lakh
volunteers trained in the 'One Health' concept in these districts, who will report any
unusual events or deaths of animals/birds in the locality so that early warning and early
preventive or control measures can be taken.
» A system to broadly survey/monitor wild birds arriving in India needs to be developed. This
has to be a long program for monitoring of wild bird movement on the lines of Project Tige.
» International cooperation on vaccine development: In the post COVID-19 world, a coordinated
and focused effort towards vaccine development against bird flu for cattles and other animals
can bear fruits much faster because of advancements in biotechnology.

- Conclusion:
» The above measures can help the global community to effectively manage and mitigate
challenges posed due to the recent resurgence of Avian influenza.

5) ONE HEALTH APPROACH

- Practice Question:
» India has of late been taking significant strides to deploy concepts and strategies rooted in the
idea of 'One Health' to bolster the way it responds to health crisis. Evaluate the significance of
One Health strategy in India's fight against zoonotic diseases [10 marks, 150 words]

- Definition:
» One Health is an approach that recognizes that health of people is closely connected to the
health of animals and health of our shared environment. It is not a new concept and has been
studied since ancient times. For instance, the writings of Hippocrates (460- 367 BCE)
contemplated the relationships between public health and clean environment.

- It is crucial for:
» Controlling the outbreak of zoonotic diseases, improve food safety and security, reduce AMR
resistance, protecting global health security, protecting biodiversity and environment, and
ensuring better resource utilization by sharing expensive labs/resources.

- Understanding the interconnection between human, animal, and environment health:

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 » Human interaction with animals is increasing: Human population is expanding, and more and
more people are living in close contact with wild and domestic animals. This is leading to
increased case of zoonotic diseases. E.g. Nipah, COVID-19 etc.
» Unsustainability in animal husbandry sector harms human health. For e.g. overuse of anti-
biotics in animal husbandry is leading to development of anti-microbial resistance.
» Globalization has led to increase in movement of people, animals and animal products. This
leads to disease quickly spreading across borders and around the globe.
» Climate Change and Land use changes is leading to disruption in environmental conditions
which can provide new opportunities for diseases to pass to humans. For e.g. disease vectors
like mosquitoes now cover more geographical area due to climate change.
» Environmental pollution also exposes both humans and animals to several harmful substances
leading to negative health impact.

- How does a one Health Approach work?

» One Health approach is an effective way to fight health issues at the human-animal-
environment interface. Successful public health intervention under this approach requires
coordination, communication, and collaboration among professionals associated with human
health (doctors, nurses etc.), animal health (veterinarians), environmental health (ecologists)
and other relevant players like law enforcement agencies, policy makers, agriculture
communities, pet owners etc.

- Steps taken in India to promote One-Health Approach:

» Setting up of National One Health Mission was endorsed by PM's Science, Technology, and
Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) in July 2022. Under this mission, various ministries
(MoH&FW, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Ministry of Science), departments (DBT, Department
of Pharmaceuticals) and research institutions (CSIR, ICAR etc) have come together to shape the
mission.

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 ▫ The goals of the mission are to develop strategies for integrated disease surveillance,
joint outbreak response; coordinated R&D; and ensuring seamless information sharing
for better control of routine diseases as well as those of a pandemic nature.
▫ The participating departments like DBT, CSIR are focused on strong R&D for the
development of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.
▫ Under the mission, a national network of high-risk pathogen (Biosafety level or BSL 3
and BSL 4) laboratories has been created.
• These laboratories will serve to address the disease outbreak response better
regardless of human, animal and environment sectors.
▫ Augmentation of epidemiology and data analytics capability- Under this mission efforts
are being made to apply AI and ML and disease modelling to address these issues and
coordinate capacity building in epidemiology across sectors.
» Foundation stone for National Institute for One Health has been laid in Nagpur in Dec 2022. it
will anchor coordinating activities nationally and will also be the nodal agency to coordinate
international activities cross the space of one health.

- Some challenges of implementing One Health Approach in India:

» Institutional and policy fragmentation:
§ Health is a state subject in India which limits th scope for coordination, collaboration and
communication between states.
§ Similarly, Ministries like MoH&FW, MoA&FW, Ministry of Science etc. work in silos.
» Limited infrastructure - Lack of laboratory capacity, diagnostic tools hamper early detection and
response to zoonotic diseases.
» Limited Human resources - Scarcity of health workers who understand the One Health approach
also limits India's ability to achieve full potential of one Health approach.
» Fragmented Data Collection system and lack of standardized reporting also remain a challenge
in the one health approach.
» Issue with WHO's One Health Approach:
§ WHO's One Health approach may undermine state sovereignty as it may impose legal
obligation to share data on pathogens or genetic resources.

- Conclusion1: By promoting cooperation across all sectors, a One Health Approach can achieve the best
health outcomes for people, animals, and plants in a shared environment.

- Conclusion2: One Health approach will further the goal of moving closer to the clarion call of 'One Earth,
One Health' and 'Health for All'.

6) REFORMING POULTRY SECTOR IN INDIA

- Current Context: outbreak of H5N1 (already discussed in the above topics)

- Key Problems caused by Poultry Sector:

» Unsafe conditions in Industrial livestock production:
▫ Crammed chicken in wire cages, or 'battery cages', in high densities create contaminated
environment.

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 ▫ These unsanitary conditions not only have detrimental effect on the welfare of animals, but
also the health of those who consume the food derived, and on the people working at these
facilities and residing in the vicinity. (e.g. increases chances of spread of Bird flu)
» Air Quality and Waste Problem:
▫ CPCB has classified poultry units with more than 5,000 birds as a polluting industry that
require compliance and regulatory consent to establish and operate.
▫ Poultry sector creates odour, particulate matter, and other greenhouse gas emissions.
» Antibiotics are regularly given to birds as a prophylactic and as growth promoters. Several of these
antibiotics are classified as critically important and highly important by the WHO and are sold to
farmers for preventive use.
» Heavily stocked animals in unsanitary conditions -> detrimental effect on welfare of animals but
also negative impact on those who consume the food derived from these animals.
▫ Violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 – Keeping animals in
intensive confinement constitutes a crime. Further, operational activities at these industrial
facilities cause unnecessary pain and suffering to the animals because of mutilation,
starvation, thirst, overcrowding, and other ill-treatment, which is also violation of PCA.
» Other challenges: The sector also suffers from lack of access to finance, lack of skilled manpower,
market volatility, fluctuating feed prices etc.
- Way Forward:
» Recommendations of Law Commission of India in its 269th report:
▫ Non-therapeutic antibiotic given to poultry causes antibiotic resistance.
▫ More open, cleaner, and ventilated living spaces are likely to cause less need of anti-
biotics in animals.
§ This will also make their eggs and meat safer to eat.
▫ They laid guidelines as per existing laws and international best practices for animal care,
waste management etc.
§ But, when government (MoA&FW) came with Draft Rules for the egg industry in
2019, they were weak and tokenization. The rules need to follow law commission
recommendations.
» Strict regulation which adheres to Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 of the
poultry sectors.
» Developing biofertilizer facilities around poultry clusters.
» Infrastructure improvement in poultry sector:
▫ Investments in cold storage and supply chain will be crucial for ensuring quality of food
products. Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund which has been
extended upto 2025-26 should also prioritize poultry sector.
» Awareness among consumers about health impact of food from properly managed poultry
farms
» Other challenges of poultry sector can be solved by increasing access to finance and insurance,
developing training programs to enhance to skills of poultry workers, and developing
alternative feed source.

- Conclusion:
▫ The above reforms are urgently needed for poultry sector not only for the welfare of animals
but also because animal welfare is closely interlinked with public health, ecosystem health and
biodiversity conservation.

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MAINS MASTER PROGRAM (MMP) 2024
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-2

1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Table of Contents ..................................... 0 14) Space Tourism ................................. 19
2. Space ....................................................... 1 15) Space Based Internet ...................... 20
1) PSLV ..................................................... 1 16) Space Debris ................................... 22
2) GSLV MK-2 ........................................... 2 3. RObotics ................................................. 24
3) GSLV MK-II (LVM-3) .............................. 3 1) Syllabus .............................................. 24
4) Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) .... 3 2) Past Year Mains Questions (since 2013)
5) Future of India’s Launch Vehicles ......... 5 24

6) Satellite Naviation System (SATNAV 3) Other Practice Questions .................... 24

Systems) ...................................................... 6 4) Introduction........................................ 24
A) NAVIC (Navigation using Indian Constellation) 6 A) Definition: Robotics ........................................24
B) Law of Robotics ..............................................25
7) Chandrayaan 3.0 (LVM3-m4 Mission) ... 8
A) Landing was the most complicated part here:. 9 5) Applications: Robotics is being used
B) Where did Lander Land? .................................. 9 across a range of sectors such as: ............... 25
Comparing Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2 and
Chandrayaan-3 .......................................................... 9 6) Advantages ......................................... 26
D) Significance of Going to Moon: ........................... 10
Way Forward: .......................................................... 10
7) Robotics in India ................................. 26
A) Challenges which robotics sector face in India
8) India’s Own Space Station Plan ...........11 27
B) Steps that needs to be taken to promote
9) Dr Vikram Sarabhai and His robotics in the country.............................................27
COntributions (12th Aug 1919 – 30th Dec 1971)
8) Limitations of Using Robots ................ 28
13
9) Robotic Surgery .................................. 28
10) Commercialization and Privatization in
Space Sector ...............................................13 4. Nanotechnology ..................................... 29
11) Reforming SPace Sector in India ......14 1) Past Year Mains Questions (since 2013)
29
12) Regulation of Global Space Sector ...16
2) Other Practice Questions .................... 29
13) Avoiding Weaponization of Space ...17

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3) Applications ........................................31 C) Carbon Nanotubes (CNT)................................37

4) Future Potential Applications ..............32 8) Elaborating on some nanotechnology

applications ................................................ 37
5) Concerns and Limitations ....................32 Nanotechnology in Textile Sector ............................38
6) Molecular Machines / Nano Machines 33 Nanotechnology in Health Sector ............................39
Environmental Nanotechnology ..............................40
7) Example Nano-Materials .....................35
A) Schwarzite – New Form of Carbon Created ... 35 9) India and Nano-Technology ................ 41
B) Graphene ....................................................... 35

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2. SPACE

1) PSLV

­ Practice Questions:
▫ Why is Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) considering the workhorse of ISRO? Discuss the capabilities
and achievements of PSLV [15 marks, 250 words]

­ The PSLV is the third-generation satellite launch vehicle of India. It is an expandable system and was the first
Indian Launch Vehicle to be equipped with Liquid Stage.

­ Where is PSLV used?

▫ It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite into Sun synchronous
orbit, a service that was, until the advent of the PSLV, commercially available only from Russia. PSLV can
also launch small size satellites into Geostationary Transfer Orbit.

­ Capabilities: Payload to SSPO (sun synchronous polar orbit): 1,860 Kg; Payload to Sub GTO: 1,425 Kg
▫ Key features of PSLV Engines: PSLV has four stages using solid and liquid propulsion alternatively.
▫ Expansion of capabilities: Strap on Motors: PSLV uses 6 solid rocket strap-on motors to augment the
thrust provided by the first stage in its PSLV-G (1678 kg in SSPO) and PSLV-XL (1750 kg to SSPO) variants.
PSLV-DL, PSLV-QL versions use 2 and 4 straps on motors respectively. PSLV-CA (1100 kg in LEO) uses no
strap on motors.

» Key Significance and Achievements of PSLV

ú Reliability: Only 2 failures in almost 3 decades of service and 60 launches.
ú Commercial use: PSLV has launched more than 350 foreign satellites from 34 different countries so far.
ú It has played significant role in various major ISRO missions (including Chandryaan-1, MOM, IRNSS
system etc.)
ú India’s Soft Power: PSLV by providing the capability to launch satellites for foreign countries enhances
India’s soft power in the region.
ú Many learnings from the development of PSLV has helped scientists develop several non-space
applications like fire resistant tiles, better engines for missiles etc.
» Conclusion
ú Today, ISRO is playing a key role of connecting continents and people via its satellite launch business
model. From education to mobile telephony/ communications and navigation to business, the footprint
of ISRO is becoming all pervasive.

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 2) GSLV MK-2

- Practice Question: Why has GSLV-Mk-2 acquired the nickname of naughty boy. Discuss its key launches of
last one year. [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction:
» GSLV is the 4th generation launch vehicle of ISRO. It is an expandable launch system. It was primarily
developed to launch INSAT class of communication satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
It is currently being used for launching GSAT series

- Nickname: Naughty Boy: It has been given this nickname because of its rather patchy track record. So far (as
of June 2024), GSLV has had 16 launches, but 25% of them (i.e. 4/16) have been failures.
» Reason for failures: The main problem is the Cryogenic engine that powers the third and final stage –
the Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS). This engine is a reverse engineered version of Russian Technology.
Due to MTCR restrictions Russia couldn’t provide India with the technology and India had to reverse
engineer the Russian technology which had some flaws.

- Technology and Capabilities:

» It is a three-stage engine with first stage being solid, second liquid and third being cryogenic engine.
» Payload to GTO: Presently GSLV can inject 2.5 ton (GSLV Mk-2) of communication satellite into
Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and it can inject 5 tonnes of satellite in LEO.

- Recent Launches:
1) GSLV-F12/ NVS-01 Mission: Accomplished successfully in May 2023. This GSLV mission deployed NVS-
01 navigation satellite, weighing about 2232 kg, into GTO. The vehicle lifted off from the second launch
pad at SDSC-SHAR, Sriharikota and injected the satellite after about 19 minutes of flight
2) GSLV F14/ INSAT-3DS Mission: Accomplished in Feb 2024, it was the 16th mission of GSLV. It deployed
the INSAT-3DS meteorological satellite in GTO. It was a mission fully funded by ministry of earth science.

- Conclusion: Though, GSLV-MK-II has faced some challenges due to a reverse engineered cryogenic engine,
now India has developed its own indigenous cryogenic engine CE-20 which has proved very successful in all
the launches of LMV-3 so far.

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 3) GSLV MK-II (LVM-3)

- Example Questions
▫ Discuss the significance of GSLV-MK-III in India’s space program [10 marks, 150 words]

- LVM3 is a 3-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO.

▫ Capability: GSLV-Mk III can launch 4 tons class of satellites to Geosynchronous Transfer orbit (GTO) or
about 8-10 tons to LEO, which is twice the capability of GSLV Mk II.
▫ Flights so far: GSLV-MK-III D1 (GSAT-19); GSLV-MK-III D2 (GSAT-29); GSLV-MK-III-M1 (Chandraayn-2);
GSLV MK-III-M2 (OneWeb India-1); LVM3-M3 (OneWeb India-2); LVM3-M4 (Chandrayaan-3)

- Significance of GSLV MK-III for India’s Space Program

▫ Self-Reliance: The vehicle has made ISRO fully self-reliant in launching heavier communication satellites
of INSAT-4 class, which weighs between 4500 to 5000 kg.
▫ Saves Money: The mission’s success will enable India to launch four-tonne satellites on its own rocket
instead of paying huge amounts of money to foreign space agencies to execute the operation.
▫ Commercialization: Launching satellites is a huge market, and India's PSLV has already shown its mettle.
Now it's time for GSLV to show its significance.
▫ Advancement in Science and Technology: The development of GSLV-MK-III enhances India’s image as a
Space Power. The latest cryogenic engine CE-20 is another of India’s S&T achievements.
▫ Enhances India’s Soft Power: We will be able to launch heavier satellites for other countries and this
will play a big role in improving our significance at the world stage.
▫ Future ISRO Missions: ISRO in long term is also planning GSLV-MK-III to be India's first vehicle to ferry
people into space (Gaganyaan).

- Conclusion
▫ Successful launch of OneWeb India-1, OneWeb India-2, Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 on board
LVM-3 is a feather in ISRO’s cap. The rocket has the potential to change the satellite launch landscape
for India and other countries who take space services from India.

4) SMALL SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE (SSLV)

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- Practice Question: Why does India need to develop an SSLV when ISRO already has a very successful PSLV
and a very powerful GSLV [10 marks, 150 words]

­ Introduction
▫ The Indian SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle) is a small launch vehicle which will serve small
satellite launches. It is the smallest vehicle at 110-ton mass at ISRO.

- Key Features:

▫ Capability: Payload capacity of 500 Kg to 500 km planar orbit or 300 kg to SSPO. Using PSLV for these
small satellites was an overkill.
▫ It uses three solid fuel-based stages and a liquid fuel-based velocity trimming module (VTM) to place
the satellite in orbit.
▫ Major technologies developed as part of SSLV are flexible nozzle control with electro-mechanical
actuators for all stages, miniaturized avionics, and a velocity trimming module in the upper stage for
precise satellite injections.

- Need: The global demand for launch of small satellite is increasing. It is being demanded by businesses,
government agencies, universities, and various research labs.

- Advantages:

▫ Low turnaround time: It is ideal for on-demand, quick turn-around launch of small satellites. It will
take only 72 hours to assemble (unlike around 70 days needed for PSLV).
▫ Low Human Resource requirement: Only 6 people will be required to do assembly (unlike 60 people
for the PSLV).
▫ Cost Effective: The overall cost of building the SSLV will only be Rs 30 crores.
▫ More business opportunities.

- Conclusion: The successful completion of 2nd developmental flight (SSLV-D2 EOS-07) has set the foundation
for the future launches of SSLV. It is going to be an important launch vehicle in the ISRO’s pool for commercial
launches.

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5) FUTURE OF INDIA’S LAUNCH VEHICLES

- Introduction: ISRO currently has four categories of launch vehicles. This include SSLV, PSLV, GSLV-MK-II and
LVM3. But despite this, India is dependent on other countries for launch of communication satellites of 5
ton plus weight.

- To increase the capability of ISRO launchers, following are the key initiatives ISRO has planned:
» Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) is being developed in which ISRO is understood to be looking
at a cost efficient, three stage rocket, which will be a reusable vehicle with a capability of sending 10
ton of payload to GTO.
» NGLV is planned to feature Semi-Cryogenic engine in the second stage which will enhance the
capability of the overall rocket.
» It is also expected to have simple robust design which will allow bulk manufacturing and modularity
in systems, sub-systems leading to very limited turnaround time.
» ISRO Tested Hybrid Propulsion System: It uses solid HTPB and Liquid Oxidizer (LOX) as fuel and thus
gives the solid fuel stage the ability of maneuverability.

- Conclusion: While ISRO has already emerged as one of the top five space powers in the world, in the next
decade, it is aiming to consolidate its position among the top 3 countries. The above initiatives will be
positive steps in the direction.

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 6) SATELLITE NAVIATION SYSTEM (SATNAV SYSTEMS)

- Some Practice Questions:

▫ What is satellite navigation? Discuss the key economic and social uses of Satellite navigation. [10
marks, 150 words]
▫ Why did India need its own regional satellite navigation system when we already had access to GPS
services? Discuss the key features of NAVIC. [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction: A satellite navigation (SATNAV) system is a technology that allows users to determine their
precise location, velocity, and time information anywhere on or near Earth’s surface. It uses a network of
satellite in space and provide accurate positioning data.

- Methods used in SATNAV: Triangulation and Trilateration

- Applications: Navigation purposes -> helping users find their way while driving, hiking, or boating. It is
also used in aviation, surveying, geolocation-based services, precision agriculture, and even in some
outdoor recreational activities. It can be used for vehicle tracking, fleet management, precise timing etc.

- Global Positioning System (GPS) is the best-known satnav system, GPS, uses 24 active satellites (including
backups). Day and night, 365 days a year, they whiz around earth once every 12 hours on orbital plane
inclined 55 degrees to the equator. It uses the principle of Trilateration to provide the services.

A) NAVIC (NAVIGATION USING INDIAN CONSTELLATION)

- Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) (also called Navigation Using Indian Constellation
(NAVIC)), is a regional satnav system developed by ISRO. It aims to provide reliable position, navigation and
timing (PNT) services over India and its neighbourhood, upto 1500 km from its boundary. In addition it is
also capable of broadcasting messages. This can be used for broadcasting safety-of-life alerts in areas with
poor or no communication, particularly in Ocean.

- Need of IRNSS when services like GPS are easily available.

▫ The access to foreign controlled global navigation satellite systems is not guaranteed in hostile
situations, as happened to Indian military depending on American GPS during Kargil War.

- NAVIC provides two types of services:

▫ Standard Positioning Service (Open for Civilian Use)
▫ Restricted Services (Encrypted one, for authorized users (military))

- Components of IRNSS System:

▫ Space segments consists of 7 satellites, 3 satellites in GEO stationary orbit (GEO) and 4 satellites in
GEO synchronous orbit(GSO) with inclination of 29 degree to the equatorial plane.
▫ All the satellites will always be visible in the Indian region.

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FIRST OF THE 2 ND GENERATION SATELLITE – NVS-01 WAS SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED IN MAY 2023
- ISRO’s GSLV F12 (GSLV-MK-II mission)successfully places navigation satellite NVS-01 into intended orbit.

- About NVS-01:
» Heavier: It weighs 2232 kg and has been placed in geosynchronous orbit (older IRNSS satellites weighed
1,425 kg)
» Indigenous Atomic Clock: For the first time, the satellite carries an indigenous atomic clock. The space
qualified Rubidium atomic clock has been indigenously developed by Space Application Centre –
Ahmedabad.
» L1 signals for better use in wearable devices: The second generation satellites have send signals in a
third frequency, L1, besides the L5 and S frequency signals that the existing satellites provide. This will
increase operability with other satellite based navigation systems. L1 frequency is the most commonly
used in the GPS and will increase the use of NavIC in wearable devices which use low power signal
frequency chip.
» Longer Mission Life of 12 years (earlier NavIC satellites have a mission life of 10 years).

Where is NaVIC being used?

- Initial Delay in developing user receiver: A 2018 report by the CAG of India has said that even though the
cabinet cleared funding of Rs 200 crore to develop user receivers in 2006, work on the project started
only in March 2017, by which time seven launches of NavIC was already done.
- But, now, the receivers have been deployed, and NavIC is in use for projects like public safety, power grid
synchronization, real-time train information system, and fishermen’s safety. Other upcoming initiatives
(such as) common alert protocol based emergency warning, time dissemination, geodetic network,
unmanned aerial vehicles are in the process of adopting NavIC system.
- Some cell phone chipsets build by Qualcomm, MediaTek integrated NaVIC receivers in 2019. Some
example phones which are NavIC enabled include Redmi Note 9, Realme 6, the OnePlus Nord etc.

- Way Forward:
▫ Promoting the Use of IRNSS:
- NavIC chip -> affordable
- Spreading awareness -> Positional accuracy better than 20 m and timing accuracy better than 50 ns
(20);
- Make compulsory for phones marketing in India: Mobile phones haven’t been made compatible to
process its signals.
- Government apps -> start using NaVIC for various purpose.
- HEIs -> Promote use in Labs, among students etc.
▫ Fast track the plans for making NavIC global
▫ The next generation NVS series of satellites will make the NavIC more versatile and promote ease of use.

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 7) CHANDRAYAAN 3.0 (LVM3-M4 MISSION)

- Introduction: Chandrayaan -3 is the third Moon Mission of ISRO that was launched in July 2023 perched on
GSLV-MK-3 heavy lift vehicle. It is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and demonstrated end-to-end
capability in safe landing and roving in lunar surface when it landed on the south pole of Moon on 23rd Aug
2023. With this, India has become the fourth country in the world after USA, Russia and China to successfully
land on Moon.

- Components of Chandrayaan 3.0:

▫ It consisted of a Propulsion Module (PM), Lander Module (LM), and a Rover with an objective of
developing and demonstrating new technologies required for inter-planetary mission. Note: It doesn’t
have an orbiter module.

Propulsion Module (PM)

The mains function of PM is to carry the LM from launch
vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular orbit and
separate LM from PM.

This propulsion module has Spectro-Polarimetry of

Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the
spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from
the lunar orbit.

Note: Lander module separated from propulsion module

on Aug 17, 2023. Here propulsion module was still left
with 150 kg fuel. So it did something interesting, it was
able to return to orbit around earth thus doing something
which will be needed in future Chandrayaan mission.

The Lander (Vikram) had the capability to soft land at a

specified lunar site and deploy rover. It happened on 23rd
Aug 2023. It remained stationary on the surface and
carries four payloads which would record the chemical,
thermal, and seismic instruments of the moon’s surface.

Lander Payloads: Lander module has four payloads

(Chaste, RAMBHA, ILSA and LRA)

Chandra Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE):

To carry out the measurements of thermal properties of
lunar surface near polar region.
A passive Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) from
Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for NASA is accommodated for lunar laser ranging
measuring the seismicity around the landing site and
delineating the structure of the lunar crust and mantle.

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 studies. It acts as a target for lasers for very accurate
RAMBHA- LP (Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound measurements for future missions.
Hypersensitive ionosphere and atmosphere) - RAMBHA:

Rover (Pragyaan) is a 6 wheeled robotic vehicle.

Life: One lunar day (14 earth day)

Payload:
Laser Induced breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS): It will
determine the chemical and mineral composition of the
lunar surface.
Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): It will
determine the composition of elements such as
magnesium, aluminium, silicon, potassium, calcium,
titanium and iron in the lunar soil and rocks.

ú Mission objectives of Chandrayaan 3.0

§ To demonstrate safe and soft landing on Lunar Surface
§ TO demonstrate Rover roving on the moon
§ To conduct in-situ experiments.

A) LANDING WAS THE MOST COMPLICATED PART HERE:

- Landing is the most complicated part of the mission. The Lander and Rover get ejected at a speed of
around 6,000 km/hr and have to be slowed down to roughly 3 km/hr before it lands. Since moon
doesn’t have atmosphere, parachute kind of mechanism can’t be used. Here, thrusters had to be fired
in opposite direction to slow down the lander.

B) WHERE DID LANDER LAND?

i. It landed at around 70-degree S near the southern pole of the moon.
ii. Why?
a. The site was selected as there are several craters here that are permanent in shade and
cane be reservoir of frozen water which is key to the future space mission.

COMPARING CHANDRAYAAN-1, CHANDRAYAAN-2 AND CHANDRAYAAN-3

Chandrayaan-1 Chandrayaan-2 Chandrayaan-3
Year 2008 2019 2023
Rocket Used PSLV LVM-3 LVM-3
Payloads Orbiter + Impactor Module (for Orbiter + Lander (Vikram) Lander + Rover
crash landing) + Rover (Pragyan)
Successful Yes Partially Yes (Lander Yes
failed)

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 Perhaps the most important It helped in separately
discovery of Chandrayaan-1 was identifying the water and
the discovery of water and hydroxyl molecules, and
hydroxyl (OH) molecules in the mapping water features
Moon’s thin atmosphere across the moon for the
(exosphere) as well on the lunar first time.
surface.

Buried Lava Tubes: The terrain

mapping camera and
hyperspectral imager on board
Chandrayaan-1 detected an
underground lava tube, which,
scientists believe, can provide a
safe environment for human
habitation in the future. It can
protect against hazardous
radiation, small meteoric impacts,
extreme temperature and dust
storms on the surface.

D) SIGNIFICANCE OF GOING TO MOON:

▫ It underlined India’s rise as a space and technology powerhouse. It will also strengthen India’s
soft power in the global community.
▫ Since moon is the closest cosmic body to Earth, the plans to explore rest of the universe starts
with exploration of the moon. Moon can also act as a promising test bed to demonstrate
technologies required for future deep-space missions.
▫ It would further help “stimulate the advancement of technology, promote global alliances and
inspire a future generation of explorers and scientists.”
▫ Resources: Recent increase in interest in Moon is primarily due to possibility of important
minerals being found on Moon.

WAY FORWARD:
- While the current achievement of being the first country to land on the south pole of the moon is
commendation, India still needs to do a lot to compete with bigger space giants like USA, and China.
1) Look Beyond frugal engineering as it is no longer enough to make a difference to global activity
on the moon. To do more impactful moon projects, ISRO needs bigger budgets and more powerful
rockets that can arrive quicker and with heavier payloads too.

2) Encourage bigger contribution from private sectors: Globally, space programs are being
animated by commerce, and private sector is emerging as bigger player than state (E.g SpaceX)

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 3) Increased International Cooperation: Joint programs can be economical, have shorter gestation
period, and higher science outputs. Even NASA (USA) has realized that massive space program
would not be feasible by external support and hence have launched initiatives like Artemis
Accord. India also needs to raise its lunar profile through international cooperation.

4) Keep Geopolitics in Mind: Both USA and China have drastically increased their interest and
investment in Moon. USA plans to send humans again to moon in 2025 and China plans to do the
same before 2030. Given India’s tensed relations with China, India needs to embark on serious
negotiations with the USA on the possible terms of mutually beneficial Indian participation in the
Artemis Mission.
5) Getting domestic and international legal framework ready:
▫ India needs to follow up its pace policy with legislation that facilitate and regulates space business.
▫ India also needs to pay serious attention to shaping the global governance of space. The existing
international regimes like Outer Space Treaty, 1967 and the 1979 Moon treaty are under
considerable stress. Therefore, India should join hands with like-minded nations to reform the
current outerspace order.

- Conclusion: Chandrayaan-3’s success will inspire generations of scientists and engineers – and all those
who seek knowledge – to set the bar higher. For India, the moon is not the destination. It is a
springboard.

8) INDIA’S OWN SPACE STATION PLAN

▫ Example Questions
- What is India’s plan to have its own space station and how will it benefit our space program? [10
marks, 150 words] [Mains 2019]
- Discuss the key advances that India will need to achieve before developing the ability to have its
own space station. [12.5 marks, 200 words]

▫ Introduction
- A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting crew members, designed to remain in space
for an extended period of time and for other spacecrafts to dock.
- Currently, there are only two fully functional space station in the earth’s lower orbit.
ú The International Space Station: It is a partnership between NASA (USA), JAXA (Japan), CSA
(Canada), and Roscosmos (Russia). It is world’s largest international cooperative program in
science and technology.
ú The Tiangong Space Station: China is also building a space station of its own.
- India is also plans to do the same and with this in mind ISRO plans to have its own space station.
PM Modi has directed the ISRO to aim for setting up “Bhartiya Antariksha Station” by 2035.
- The proposed space station is envisaged to weigh 20 tonnes, which will be placed in LEO at a height
of 400 km and will serve as a facility where astronauts can stay for 15-20 days.

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 - India will become only the fourth country to launch a space station after US, Russia and China
which plans to launch it in 2020.

▫ Advantages/Benefits/ Significance
- Natural Progression for any space faring country after Human Space flight.
ú The Human Space flight leads to development of human rated rocket, the ability to train
crew and the capacity to sustain life and safety of the crew on orbit and return them.
- Step towards future manned expedition to other celestial bodies.
- Ability to do micro-gravity experiments.

▫ What advancements will India need to achieve to have its space, Stations?
- All the Gaganyaan requirements (Space suits, Training facilities for astronauts, Crew Escape
Module, making GSLV Human rated, developing a habitable module etc)
- Larger bigger rocket by upgrading the capabilities of GSLV-MK-III (it is right now capable of carrying
on 10 tonnes to LEO)
- Developing ability to perform space docking. ISRO has revealed its plan to carry out a space
docking experiment, Spadex.
ú Two experimental modules will be sent into space, on board a PSLV rocket, and two will be
docked with each other.
ú Complex docking technology is an essential building block process for setting up the
country’s own space station and sending humans to that station.
ú The docking process involves latching of one satellite with another with the help of on-board
cameras, and constant monitoring by the earth’s station. The complexity of the process
comes as it involves controlling the speed of the two satellites and bringing them together
so that they can dock and become a larger structure.
ú It can serve two goals: To send humans from a space shuttle to a space station and to
assemble a larger satellite in space.

▫ Conclusion

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 - Though the Space Station program is still some distance away, by initiating the steps such as
sending humans to space, conducting the SPADEX experiment etc ISRO has started making
significant moves towards this very gargantuan and challenging task.

9) DR VIKRAM SARABHAI AND HIS CONTRIBUTIONS (12 TH AUG 1919 – 30 TH DEC 1971)

▫ Vikram Sarabhai, father of Indian Space Program, was born on 12th of Aug,1919 in Ahmedabad.
▫ Key contributions
­ He was a great institution builder and established or helped to establish
a large number of institutions in diverse fields. He established Physical
Research Laboratory (PRL) in 1947. PRL was the cradle of space sciences
in India. PRL had a modest beginning at his residence, the RETREAT, with
research in cosmic rays. It was formally established at M.G. Science
Institute, Ahemedabad, on 11th Nov 1947
­ He played an important role in establishment of a number of institutions
including IIM Ahemedabad.
­ The establishment of ISRO was one of his greatest achievements. He
successfully convinced the government of the importance of space program after the Russian Sputnik
launch.
o He was the first chair of Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) which was
predecessor to ISRO (established in its current form in 1969).
o He also contributed in the setting up of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station at
Thiruvananthapuram, with its inaugural flight in 1963.
­ He was also chairperson of Atomic Energy Commission.
▫ Recognition
i) He received Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal in 1962
ii) Was awarded Padma Vibhushan (posthumously) in 1972. Earlier was awarded Padma Bhushan in
1966.
▫ Other Key Positions held:
i) President of the Physics Section, Indian Science Congress (1962)
ii) President of General Conference of the I.A.E.A, Vienna (1970)

10) COMMERCIALIZATION AND PRIVATIZATION IN SPACE SECTOR

- In June 2020, government approved the participation of private players in all sectors of space activity – earlier
they could only be vendors/suppliers.
- NSIL – Established in March 2019 to commercially utilize R&D work of ISRO Centres and other constituent
unit of DOS.

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- In-Space (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre), set up in 2020, is an independent
nodal agency under Department of Space (DoS) to boost commercialization of Indian Space Activities and
encourage private players.
- The Indian Space Policy 2023 was notified as an overarching, composite and dynamic framework to
implement the vision of unlocking India’s potential in space sector through enhanced private participation.
- Amendment in FDI Policy in Space Sector:
▫ Earlier, FDI is permitted in establishment and operation of satellites through the government approval route
only.
▫ But, through the 2024 amendment in FDI policy in space sector, FDI policy on space sector has been eased.
Now 100% FDI is allowed in space sector. The entry route for the various activities under the amended policy
are as follows:
1) Upto 74% under Automatic route: Satellites-Manufacturing & Operation, Satellite Data Products and
Ground Segment & User Segment. Beyond 74% these activities are under government route
2) Upto 49% under Automatic Route: Launch Vehicles and associated systems or subsystems, Creation
of Spaceports for launching and receiving Spacecraft. Beyond 49% these activities are under
government route.
3) Upto 100% under automatic route: Manufacturing of components and systems/ sub-systems for
satellites, ground segment and user segment.

- Positive Impact:
▫ Skyroot Aerospace (based in Hyderabad) has already launched VIKRAM series of rockets.
▫ Agnikul Cosmos, a Chennai-based start-up, is planning the commercial launch of its rocket Agnibaan in
the first quarter of 2023.

- Way Forward to further promote Private Sector:

▫ Identify and encourage more private players by enabling policy environment.
▫ Existing big players in space like Godrej & Boyce, Larsen & Toubro, and Walchandnagar Industries are
among many private sector companies that have contributed to Indian Space Program. Government
should work towards activating their full mobilization into the India Space Effort. It is these large
companies that will bring much needed scale to make India a Economic Powerhouse.
▫ International Cooperation and Investment would be crucial for growth of private sector. Even NASA is
working on Artemis mission in collaboration with a number of other space agencies.

- Conclusion:
ú Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos etc are just the beginning. More private players are needed in the
space sector to meet the growing and diverse demand of India’s Space Program.

11) REFORMING SPACE SECTOR IN INDIA

- Need of Reforms:

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 ú Low Global Space Economy Share: Global space economy is currently valued at about USD 360
Billion. India, despite being among the few space-faring nations of the world, has only 2% of the
global share.

ú Negligible contribution of private sector: In major space faring nations, over the last 2 decades
several major private players have emerged who are bringing efficiency and innovation. For e.g.
SPACEX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin in USA. However, in India the role of space sector has been
minimal, either being vendors or suppliers to the ISRO programs.

- Guiding Principles of Reform:

ú Enables and Promote Private Players – Level Playing Field, Favorable Regulatory Environment.
ú Open Up ISRO Infrastructure and Technologies – The reform also aims to make national space
infrastructure developed over the years, available for use by private industry through business-
friendly mechanism.
ú Public sector to focus on R&D – Let business entities focus on manufacturing and commercial
activities. Previously developed and already mature technologies/platforms would be transferred
to the private sector through Transfer of Technology mechanism.
ú Demand Driven Approach for Development of Space Assets: Optimize the utilization of space
assets such as satellites and launch capacity by determining accountability amongst various
stakeholders. Creation of new asset should be contingent on confirmation of demand from user
agencies/ entities.
ú Inspire Youngsters and Dreamers: Develop world class learning facilities and space museums
where youngsters can learn basics of space technology and carry out research in topics of interest.

- Implementation Strategy:
ú Opening up of Space Sector
ú Setting up of IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre)
§ It is a single window, independent, nodal agency.
§ Its main mandate is to promote and enhance the role of private industry players in the space
sector through hand holding, support, and by providing them with a level playing field.
ú Provide a stable regulatory and policy environment: The reforms have strengthened the policy
making capacity of Department of Space and an exercise has been initiated to create new business
friendly policy frameworks in areas like remote sensing, satellite communication, and launch
policies.
ú Enhancing the Role of New Space India Limited (NSIL): The reforms have authorized the public
sector NSIL to act as a public sector aggregator for both demand and supply of space assets.
ú Transfer of Technologies from Public to Private Sector: NSIL has been given the role of transferring
technologies/platforms from the public to the private sector. Platforms such as PSLV and SSLV have
been identified for transfer of technology to the private sector in the near future.

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 ú Announcements of future opportunities for private sector: The reforms have tasked ISRO with
identifying and announcing the future opportunities in selected science and exploration missions
for private sector participation

- Impact of Reforms:
▫ Private sector, industry, academia, and startups have warmly welcomed the space sector reforms
and the new IN-SPACE mechanism.
▫ More than 40 proposals from startups, MSMEs, and industries have already been received for future
consideration by IN-SPACe, illustrating the overwhelming response to the system.
▫ Increased Investment – Following these reforms, several Indian space sector startups have been able
to raise venture capital for their planned project. A new Indian Space Association has been created
to function as the advisory and advocacy group for the space industry.
▫ 6 space technology incubation centres are now operational at Agartala, Trichy, Jalandhar, Rourkela,
Nagpur, and Bhopal.
▫ In Feb 2021, NSIL conducted its first commercial launch. The launch put 19 satellites into orbit on the
PSLV C-51 launch vehicle, including 4 satellites through IN-SPACe.

12) REGULATION OF GLOBAL SPACE SECTOR

» Example Questions
▫ “Technological changes have made the global space sector full of future potentials, but limitations
of multilateral governance framework hinder it” Discuss [15 marks, 150 words]

» Introduction:
▫ Outer space has become an arena of some of the most memorable technology demonstration.
▫ Growth of Space Industry:
­ Technological changes augur well for space industry. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 sends satellite to
space at the cost of $2720 per kg. This is expected to go down to $100 per kg in next decade.
This will lead to increase in number of satellites and human tourists going to space.
­ According to Bank of America Report, today the space market is of $350 billion, and this is
expected to go to $2.7 trillion by 2050.
­ Private sector’s contribution in growth of space sector would be immense. SpaceX’s
Starlink plans more than 10,000 satellites to provide everyone everywhere access to
internet.
» Key challenges in fulfilling Global Space Potential
▫ Multilateral Governance Framework of outer space is obsolete: Space law is the product of 1960s
and 1970s.
­ The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 enshrines the idea that space should be “province of all
mankind” and “not subject to national appropriation by claims of sovereignty”. The Rescue
Agreement, Space Liability Convention, and the Space Registration Convention further

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 expanded the provisions of the outer space treaty. The Moon Treaty of 1979 was not ratified
by the major space faring nations.
­ Key Problems:
§ No Dispute Resolution Mechanism
§ No provisions related to collision or debris.
§ Insufficient guidance on interference with other’s assets
­ These gaps heighten the potential of conflict in an era of congested orbits and breakneck
technological change.
▫ Legal Frameworks are state-centric and don’t cover private sector.
­ However, the non-state entities are now in the fray for commercial space exploration and
utilization.

▫ Space Arms Race is difficult to curb.

­ Militaries rely a lot on space technologies. So, investment in technologies that can destroy or
disrupt space-based capabilities is under way.
­ Not much has been done on this front. The UNGA passed a resolution on Prevention of an Arms
Race in outer Space since 1982. But not much progress has been made since then. Further, the
current geopolitical situation doesn’t hold hope for addressing concerns of a space arms race.

» Situation in India:
▫ India has invested enormous resources in space sector through ISRO. Our future plans are also
ambitious which include sending humans to space, establishing a solar observatory, installing a
modular space station etc.
▫ India is also promoting the involvement of private players and for this an autonomous body IN-
SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre) under Department of Space for
permitting a regulating activity in private sector has been established.

» Way Forward: The Space environment that India faces requires us to grow beyond meeting technical
milestones. We need a space legislation enabling coherence across technical, legal, commercial,
diplomatic and defence goals. Our space vision also needs to address the global governance, regulatory
and arms control issues. As Space opens, our space vision needs broadening too.

13) AVOIDING WEAPONIZATION OF SPACE

- Example Questions:
» Discuss the key applications of Space technology in the Defence sector. Suggest some
measures to curtail the weaponization of space [15 marks, 250 words]

- Introduction: Space has always been a militarized domain. In recent years, military role of space
has expanded across a full spectrum of relevant activities, perhaps, most importantly in positioning,
navigation and timing (PNT) services; satellite communication; Space based intelligence, surveillance

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 and reconnaissance as well as targeting. In simple words, the modern militaries would be drastically
weakened in the absence of support from space technologies.

- It is therefore, no surprise that most major powers including China, Russia, USA and India have either
crossed or are poised to cross the rubicon to dramatically expand counter-space capability and
develop new generation of advanced anti-Satellite Capabilities. Further, China, Russia and USA also
have ground-based counterspace systems, such as uplink and downlink jamming, or as in the case
of China, laser dazzling. Moreover, there is potential of cyber-attack on satellites or ground stations
controlling them.

- This clearly shows that most of the major actors are moving towards a future where they assume
that space would be a war fighting domain. This is expected to give rise to rapid Space
Weaponization and sharpening of risk of conflict and instability. This is especially true since there
is a potential for a ‘grey zone’ action in orbit prior to a conflict.

- Outer Space Treaty 1968 and its shortcomings

» It forms the foundation of international space law and is attempt towards preventing the
weaponization of space. It says that weapon of mass destruction (e.g. Nuclear Weapons) can’t
be deployed in space.
» But, it doesn’t cover the non-nuclear space weapons. Also, the definition of non-nuclear space
weapons is becoming a major hurdle as capabilities like cyber-attack; jamming of signals to
disable space capabilities etc. are not specific to space.
» Finally, it doesn’t provide a mechanism to deal with violations and inconsistencies.

- Recent UN Efforts:
» The UN General Assembly Resolution 75/36 on responsible behaviour in space represent the
latest effort towards constraining a rush to weaponization of space. Though the resolution is
non-binding, it tries to establish norms of responsible behaviour to allow further diplomatic
progress that could make it legally more difficult to pursue space weapons. It sets a foundation
that may eventually see banning of ASATs in future. But, here also major concerns emerge as to
what constitutes ASAT capabilities. This is because Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) may be used
as ASATs. This was demonstrated by USA in Operational Blue Frost in 2008.

- Way Forward
» Updated and Enhanced Space laws: violation should quickly deliver diplomatic, economic and
political consequence for a state which is violating the norms.
» Regulatory reforms in international bodies such as COPUOUS
» Enhanced Space Domain Awareness: An elaborate internationally trusted space domain
awareness network should be created to verify parties remain compliant to international law
and there is reduced risk of grey zone actions in space.

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 - Enhanced deterrence by denial through space resilience. This resilience can be brought by augmentation
of satellites disaggregation of critical space support functions across larger numbers of small satellites,
and the ability for rapid reconstitution of space capabilities – together with an inherent defensive
retaliatory capabilities.

14) SPACE TOURISM

- Why in news?
» ISRO is planning space tourism by 2030

- E.g. Questions:
» What is Space Tourism? Enumerate some recent developments in the Space Tourism Sector. [10
marks, 150 words]

- Space Tourism
» Space Tourism is the segment of space travel which provides non-astronauts the ability to go to
space for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The idea is to make space more accessible
for anyone who can afford it.
» In the past, NASA and Russian Space Agency used to take tourists for space travel. For e.g. Dennis
Tito was the first commercial spaceflight passenger before which only astronauts used to go to
space. He went to space on Russian Soyuz TMA Launch Vehicle in April 2001. After him, between
2001-2009, few other space tourists went to space, aboard a Russian Soyuz space to ISS, brokered
by Space Adventures (an American Space Tourist company) in conjunction with Roscosmos.

- Recent tourism space flights:

» Virgin Galactic is a company which was established by British Entrepreneur Richard Branson in
2004.
▫ In July 2021, Richard Branson and five others
undertook a brief trip to the edge of the space,
taking off on a VSS unity spaceship.
» Blue Origin was established by Jeff Bezos in 2000. It’s
reusable rocket New Shepherd successfully
completed first human flight to space recently (20th
July 2021) with four private citizens onboard in Jeff
Bezos. The flight went about 107 km high.
» SpaceX’s Inspiration4 – debut of SpaceX’s tourism
business (Sep 2021)
▫ Falcon 9 rocket took a crew Dragon spacecraft
with 4 civilians (first all civilian space flight) into space. They travelled to an altitude of 575 km,

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 even higher than HST and ISS. In the orbits around the planet, they would see 15 sunsets and
sunrise every day.

- Other than these three, companies such as Virgin Atlantic, XCOR Aerospace, Armadillo Aerospace are
working on providing space tourism services to people.

- Concerns
» Climate change may be aggravated by Space Tourism.
▫ There are concerns that space vehicles in future may become some of the biggest
contribution in pollution and Climate change. It’s because rockets emit upto 100 times more
carbon dioxide per passenger than airplane.
▫ An MIT study has shown that soot released from rocket launches are far more effective at
warming the atmosphere when compared to other sources. This is because they emit gaseous
and solid chemicals directly into the upper atmosphere. Further, black carbon soot, are
almost 500 times more efficient at retaining heat.
▫ The study also showed that space tourism may undermine progress made by the Montreal
Protocol in reversing ozone depletion. This is because the pollutants from rocket fuel and
heating caused by spacecraft returning to earth, along with the debris caused by flights are
specially harmful to the ozone layer.
» Available only for highly rich people.

- Way forward
» Urgent need of environmental regulation to reduce the climatic damage space tourism industry
may cause.
» Promote Green Space Tourism: Blue Origins New Shepherd didn’t produce any pollutant and
these technologies need to be promoted in coming future for space tourism.
» Make Space Tourism more inclusive by making it affordable: As, the space industry grows, better
efficiencies and scales would be achieved, making space travel for inclusive.

- Conclusion
» The recent efforts by the private space industry to increase access to space may become early
pioneers in maritime exploration and aviation and may change the humankind forever.

15) SPACE BASED INTERNET

­ Example Questions
▫ What is Space based internet? What are its advantages over traditional fiber optics cables?
Discuss how the SpaceX plans to provide affordable and non-stop internet throughout the earth.
[15 marks, 250 words]

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­ Introduction
▫ Internet has emerged as one of the basic human needs of the 21st century. But, even today more
than 3 billion people don’t have a reliable internet connection. The concept of Space based
internet is aimed at changing this scenario.

­ Space X Plan
▫ The Starlink Network of SpaceX eventually plans to install 42,000 satellites to ensure non-stop
internet services throughout the earth at a cost-effective rate. These satellites will be connected
with their neighboring satellites using lasers.

- China’s “Guowang” (GW) constellation has also been announced which is meant to meet satellite-
based internet services.

- Other such projects: Several other companies including Amazon, OneWeb and O3B have also planned
large constellation of satellites in LEO and MEO – but these projects are very small compared to Starlink.

­ Comparing Geostationary vs LEO satellites for providing internet services [Advantages of LEO – Low
latency-> allows real time communication; Disadvantage -> need more satellites for coverage as they
cover small part of earth]

­ Significance
▫ The space-based internet services can provide reliable and uninterrupted internet services
universally to everyone on earth.
▫ Services during emergency: For e.g. During Russia Ukraine war in 2022, the Starlink played an
important role in strengthening the Ukrainian military might after the European SATCOM system
was cyber attacked.
▫ Services such as autonomous cars will be made possible and things like IOT can be integrated in
virtually every household.
▫ Universal Internet access will also ensure better e-governance and thus enhance the ease of living
for common citizens.

­ Concerns: The ambitious space-based internet services (especially Starlink of SpaceX and Guowang of
China come along with a number of downsides:
▫ Increased Space debris
▫ The SpaceX initiative thus will also increase the chances of collision of satellites. In fact, on Sep
2, 2019, only, ESA had to perform, for the first time ever, a ‘collision avoidance maneuver to
protect one of its live satellites from colliding with a mega constellation.
▫ Difficulty in Space Observation -> Light Pollution
▫ Increased crowding in LEO and signal interference in space may emerge as another problem.
­ Way forward

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 ▫ Establishing an international convention that regulates the presence of satellites in LEO is
another possible way in making LEO less congested.
▫ All stakeholders need to jointly commit to reducing and mitigating the dangers posed by debris.
▫ India needs to plan for satellite-based internet system of its own.

­ Conclusion
▫ Starlink is a very ambitious project and can solve a number of internet accessibility problems.
SpaceX has already said that it is looking into reducing the challenges/limitations to as less as
possible and it should always give these challenges a very high priority.

16) SPACE DEBRIS

ú Introduction
▫ The term “space debris” refers to defunct human made objects which are moving in orbit around
earth. It includes big and small things like discarded boosters, retired satellites, leftover bits and
pieces from spacecrafts, screwdrivers, tools, nuts, bolts, lost gloves, flecks of paints etc.

▫ There are more than 20,000 pieces of debris that are larger than 5-10 cms and can be tracked and
catalogued. There are hundreds of millions that we cannot because of their small size. They are all
dangerous as thy are moving at very high speeds.

ú How are Space Debris created?

▫ Breakup of older spacecrafts: For e.g., breakup of US’ spacecraft called USA 109 in 2015, created
100 debris pieces and 50,000 shards larger than 1 mm.
▫ Accidently left-over objects
▫ Testing of Space Weapons
§ For e.g., China’s testing of A-SAT missile in 2007 created more than 34,000 debris.
▫ Further breakup of space debris: More debris increase the chance of collision – a cascade effect
known as the Kessler Syndrome. The fear is that the space could eventually become inoperable.
▫ Mega constellations (e.g., Starlink satellite internet constellation) would launch thousands of
satellites in coming years and would make space more vulnerable to collision and debris
creation.

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ú Key Concerns Raised by Space Debris
▫ Endanger the prospects for Space Missions (Civilian, Commercial or military)
§ They are so fast moving that a fleck of paint can cause a crack in ISS.
§ Already instance of near-collision and maneuvering to avoid collisions have been noted. In
2019, European Space Agency (ESA) moved its earth observation satellite to avoid it colliding
with Starlink satellite.
▫ Sometimes crash land on earth harming life and livelihood of people
§ Recently parts of Zenit rocket debris are reported to have ended up crash-landing in Peru.

ú Key Steps being taken

▫ Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) is an international government forum,
founded in 1993, for the global coordination on the issue of man-made and natural debris in space.
§ ISRO is a member of the coordination committee along with other major Space agencies like
NASA, ROSCOSMOS, ESA, UKSA etc.
▫ ESA’s Clean Space Initiative is studying an active debris removal mission called e. deorbit, which
would target an ESA owned derelict satellite in low orbit, capture it, then safely burn it up in the
controlled atmospheric re-entry.
▫ NASA’s NanoRacks-Remove Debris: It demonstrates an approach to reducing risks presented by
space debris or “space junk”.

▫ Japan Based Astroscale: It is working to prevent space-debris collisions. It will use magnet to ‘dock’
orbiting junk circling the earth.

ú Some Concerns raised against projects for cleaning space Debris

▫ Some scholars feel that militarization of space technologies meant to clean up space debris
poses hidden challenges.
ú Way Forward
▫ We need to stop polluting: We need to ensure that the new satellites are not leading to the
problem.
▫ Remove the garbage.
▫ Develop satellites which can withstand the impact with small debris.
▫ Multilateral Regulations of mega constellation: - Set up regulations and policies for mega
constellations to ensure sustainable operations and to minimize risk of collision. This should also
include new approaches for space traffic management as the capacity for ground-based
platforms may not be sufficient to prevent collisions in case of increased number of satellites in
future.
§ Create code of conduct for both public and private sector, regarding the responsible
behaviours in outer space.
▫ Technology to deal with risk assessment, automate collision avoidance:
§ Work towards reducing the risk of cyber security by risk assessment and effective risk
mitigation policies.

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 § Use advanced tech like ML, AI etc to automate collision avoidance. E.g., ESA is
developing an automated collision avoidance system.
▫ Above recommendations should be coupled with responsible innovation which is focused on
use of technology for the benefit of international peace and security and not for weaponization.

ú Conclusion: Keeping outer space safe, secure and sustainable is a joint global responsibility. For
peaceful solutions to last, the deterrence and diplomacy, as well as public awareness, will have to be
proactively forged by the world’s space powers, leaders and thinkers.

3. ROBOTICS

1) SYLLABUS

- Awareness in the fields of Robotics

2) PAST YEAR MAINS QUESTIONS (SINCE 2013)

Q. What are the areas of prohibitive labour that can be sustainably managed by robots? Discuss the initiatives
that can propel research in premier research institutes for substantive and gainful innovation [12.5 marks, 200]
[Mains 2015]

3) OTHER PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. Robotics in India is driven by private sector unlike rest of the Asia where government has played the most
significant role in its growth. Give reasons. Discuss the initiatives that can propel robotics research in premier
research institutes for substantive and gainful innovation [15 marks, 250 words]

2. “Robots are technological marvels, they cut errors, improve production and thus enhance efficiencies. But
they are also the ultimate job stealers.” In this light discuss the economic and political consequence of
automation. [10 marks, 150 words]

4) INTRODUCTION

A) DEFINITION: ROBOTICS
Robotics is an inter-disciplinary branch of engineering that deals with the design, development, operation,
and application of robots as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information
processing.

Robotics technology deals with automated machines which can replace humans in dangerous
environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance, behavior, and/or cognition.

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 Difference between Robots and Machines (Class discussion)

B) LAW OF ROBOTICS
Isaac Asimov gave the three laws of robotics as:
▫ A robot must not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm

▫ A robot must always obey the human beings unless it is in conflict with the first law

▫ A robot must protect itself from harm unless it is in conflict with the first and/or second law.

5) APPLICATIONS: ROBOTICS IS BEING USED ACROSS A RANGE OF SECTORS SUCH AS:

▫ Warehouse Automation
▫ Automotive manufacturing
ú They add precession, tirelessness, and continuity in the manufacturing process.

▫ Search and Rescue after Disaster – Flood, building disaster, fires etc.
ú IIT Hyderabad is working on a search-and-rescue robot called SARP (Snake like articulated
platform). The engineering institute is applying several technologies in building SARP: navigation,
camera, infrared, haptic feedback (to identify survivors) and collaboration (multiple snake robots
can communicate with one another)

▫ Defence & National Security

ú Whether it is with Pakistan or China, our borders are unsafe for border forces and human lives are
getting lost whenever there is firing or illegal movement of people at LoCs.
ú Government is looking at DRDO to develop next generation of robotic soldiers.
ú Other dangerous security tasks like bomb disposal, reconnaissance etc. can be performed by
Robots.
ú For e.g., Daksha is one of India’s current military robots. It is used to locate, handle, destroy,
risky objects safely and even can climb stairs.

▫ Hazardous Industries
ú BARC is using robots to clean radioactive water tanks.

▫ Mining and Mineral Extraction

▫ Marine Engineering
ú Amogh is an autonomous underwater vehicle. It is designated to inspect and repair bridges,
pipelines, and hulls of ships at the depth of upto 15 meters. The robot has an endurance capacity of
upto 3 hours.

▫ Space
ú Robots are used for exploration when humans can't be used.

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 ú E.g., Fedor of Russia, Vyomamitra of India etc.

▫ Health Sector
ú Robots are being used in operation theatres and rehabilitation centres to augment the quality of
life.
ú Robots can also assist surgical procedures like removing gallbladders, performing hysterectomies,
and repairing knee ligaments.

▫ Agri-Robots
ú Can replace costly human labor and add precision in agriculture.

They can be used anywhere to improve productivity

6) ADVANTAGES

- Accuracy
- Untiring nature of robots
- Non-complaining

- Safety in hostile environments

- Reducing cost of production

» Industries facing global competition can’t survive without robots
» For e.g., the automobile industry can’t actually survive without use of robotics

7) ROBOTICS IN INDIA

▫ Robotics technologies are all set to change the way things are done in the industries. It is also entering into
the industrial space in India in a very fast manner.

▫ In India, robotics is being driven by private sector (unlike the rest of Asia where government has played a very
significant role in promotion of robotics)

▫ In short, it is proving to be the start-ups, local makers and foreign robotic companies that are creating the
momentum in India. They are cultivating the market and tapping opportunities.

- Institutional Framework and Government Efforts

▫ National Research Foundation, an autonomous body under the new National Education Policy (NEP)
2020, has been established to boost research across segments, including AI.
▫ Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR)
ú It is a laboratory of the DRDO, located in Bangalore, Karnataka.
ú It is mainly involved in the research and development of high-quality secure communication, command
and control, and Intelligent System.

▫ ‘Make in India’ campaign provides a crucial opportunity for the robotics sector to flourish in India.

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 ▫ A Mission on Cyber Physical Systems to support establishment of Centres of Excellence.
ú To invest in research, training and skilling in robotics, artificial intelligence, digital manufacturing,
big data analysis, quantum communication and internet of things.
ú By DST.

A) CHALLENGES WHICH ROBOTICS SECTOR FACE IN INDIA

i. High cost of adoption - Capital Intensive nature of the sector

ii. Scarcity of talent in the field - Human Resource

iii. Lack of innovation

▫ Most of the projects being developed in India already exist in public domain

iv. Faculty/ research guides

▫ Scarcity of good quality faculty to guide research in this area

v. Industry:
▫ Absence of hardware companies that can cater to the industry and the dependence on countries
like China, USA, and Europe to procure the necessary components is a major stumbling block.

vi. Lack of high paying jobs in India

▫ Lack of jobs in the field of robotics
▫ Considering India's socio-economic structure - availability of jobs in the domain becomes
an important factor for people working on a particular subject.
▫ Not many companies have high quality jobs in India in the field of robotics and this leads
to lack of enthusiasm towards the sector.

vii. SME find it difficult to see ROI before they proactively adopt Robotics
▫ This is also due to lack of examples or early adopters.

viii. Lack of support from government

▫ Rest of the Asian countries like China, Japan, Singapore etc., look to its government to define
and dictate the development and direction of industry. Indian government has completely
ignored the sector.

B) STEPS THAT NEEDS TO BE TAKEN TO PROMOTE ROBOTICS IN THE COUNTRY

- Human Resource Development
§ Promoting robotics from the school level so that more students choose robotics as career
option
§ Improving the facilities at college level
§ Promoting robotics industry -> India's socio-economic condition forces students to
participate in those industries where job opportunities are good.
§ Promoting Academy Industry collaboration

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 § Promoting International collaboration with countries which are advanced in robotics like
South Korea, Japan and USA.

- Industry
§ Providing tax holidays for the Robotics sector
§ Improving ease of doing business
§ Ensuring encouraging environments for the entrepreneurs and startups.
§ Providing opportunities to private sector in the field of defence, space etc.
§ Lack of hardware components available in the country should be seen as an opportunity
for entrepreneurs to set up businesses that can supply "Made in India" components and
hardware to the existing and upcoming companies involved in Robotics.

- International Collaboration
§ More international collaboration and student exchange program in colleges

- Attracting investment from Robotics industry in India: Under make in India program

8) LIMITATIONS OF USING ROBOTS

▫ Dislocation of Economy and job loss

- Former American president Barack Obama in his farewell Speech on 10th of Jan 2016 had
said "next wave of economic dislocations won't come from overseas. It will come from
automation that makes a lot of good middle-class jobs obsolete.
- Robots are diminishing roles for unskilled labourers. India's largely uneducated labor force
and broken education system aren't ready for the more complex jobs that workers need
when their low-skilled roles are taken over by machines.

- Meanwhile, nations employing robotics such as China, are becoming more competitive.

▫ Increasing Inequality
- While jobs at the lower levels are at risk, most gains from automation will be concentrated
to the rich rather than the poor.

▫ Increasingly deadly wars

- Most of the scientifically advanced countries will be using robots and other automated
weapons in future. This would make wars and conflicts more deadly and one sided.

▫ Robots can become a danger for humankind

- In advanced forms robots using AI and ML may take over the decision-making power and
thus can challenge the existence of humans.

9) ROBOTIC SURGERY

- Robotic surgery, or robot assisted surgery, allows doctors to perform many types of complex
procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than is possible with conventional techniques.

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 - It is usually associated with minimally invasive surgery - procedures performed through tiny incisions.
It is also sometimes used in certain traditional open surgical procedures.

- The surgeon uses controls in the console to manipulate special surgical instruments that are smaller, as
well as more flexible and maneuverable than the human hand. The robot replicates the surgeon's hand
movements, while minimizing child tremors.

- Da Vinci Surgical System

▫ It is a robotic surgical system made by the American company Intuitive Surgical. It is designed
to facilitate complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach and is controlled by surgeon
from a console.
▫ The system is commonly used for prostatectomies, and increasingly for cardiac valve repair and
gynecological surgical procedures.

- Advantages
▫ It enhances precision, flexibility and control during operation and allow doctors to better see
the site, compared with traditional system.
§ Robotic instrument has 360-degree rotation compared to the human hand which has
only 270-degree rotation.
§ 10 times magnified, high definition, 3D-image of the body's intricate anatomy using key-
hole techniques.

▫ Minimally invasive surgical operations further have following benefits

§ Fewer complications such as surgical site invasions
§ Less pain and blood loss
§ Quicker recovery
▫ Smaller, less noticeable scars.

4. NANOTECHNOLOGY

1) PAST YEAR MAINS QUESTIONS (SINCE 2013)

1. What do you understand by nanotechnology and how is it helping in health sector? (2020)

2. Why is nanotechnology one of the key technologies of the 21st century? Describe the salient features of
Indian Government’s Mission on Nanoscience and Technology and the scope of its application in the
development process of the country (2016)

2) OTHER PRACTICE QUESTIONS

a) What is Nanotechnology? Why is it called a general-purpose technology? [10 marks, 150 words]
b) “Their unique nano-features may also make them potentially hazardous for human health and
environmental safety” Discuss the key concerns associated with nanotechnology. [10 marks, 150 words]

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c) What are molecular machines? Discuss the significant role that it may play in various socio-economic sectors.
[10 marks, 150 words]
d) Discuss the key provisions of the Mission on Nanoscience and Technology [10 marks, 150 words]
e) Write a short note on key properties and applications of:
▫ Graphene
▫ Carbon Nano Tube (CNT)
▫ Nanodrums
▫ Schwarzites
f) Suggest some measures to promote nano-technology research in the country. [10 marks, 150 words]
g) “Nano Machines are going to have serious economic, social, environmental and military implications”
Elaborate. How far does Indian Government’s Mission on Nanoscience and Technology prepare India for
these implications? [15 marks, 250 words]
h) What is Nano-UREA? How is it going to solve the various problems faced by fertilizer sector in India? [10
marks, 150 words]

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­ Definition:
a) Nanotechnology is science, engineering, technology, conducted at the nanoscale which is 1 to 100
nanometers. Nanotechnology and Nanoscience involve the ability to see and to control individual atoms
and molecules. In other words, nanotechnology is the engineering of the functional system at molecular
scale.
b) Richard Feynman, the father of nanotechnology, in his 1959 talk described nanotechnology as a field
which can manipulate and control things on the scale of a nanometer. He expected that matter will have
surprising properties at Nano level and thus provide for enormous number of applications

- General Purpose Technology:

3) APPLICATIONS

- Carbon Nanotubes are used in various products ranging from paints and textiles to medical diagnostics
tools and components of future quantum computers because of remarkable properties such as very
high elastic strength alongside low mass density or very high current densities with no heat loss.

- Health
▫ Nanoparticles of silver embedded into fibers have anti-microbial action. It is used in food
packaging, clothing, disinfectants, and household appliances. Bandages are being infused with
silver nanoparticles to heal cuts faster.
▫ Gold Nanoparticles have anti-bacterial properties
▫ Nanomedicines – Diagnosis and Treatment (see details separately)
▫ Water Purification: Special Filters using nanomaterials can remove objects as tiny as viruses from
water.

- Nanotechnology in Agriculture – Better fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, feeds, better treatment for
domesticated animals.
▫ Nano-Fibre based Agriculture Inputs: For e.g., FIB-SOL provides a five-gram fiber that is soluble
in water and can be applied on field using conventional or modern irrigation practices. The
product addresses the demand for live bacteria that could rejuvenate the soil. It could also
increase the nutrient utilization efficiency, allowing plants to assimilate nutrients in a better way.
▫ Nano Urea and Nano-DAPdeveloped by IFFCO

- Environmental Applications:
▫ Iron nanoparticles can be used to effectively clean-up organic solvents that are polluting the
ground water. The nanoparticles disperse throughout the water and decompose the organic
solvents in place.
▫ Adding a little boron to Carbon while creating nanotubes produce solid, spongy, reusable blocks
that can absorb large quantities of oil spilled in water.
▫ Nanotechnology based smart windows have energy saving, easy cleaning, UV controlling and
photovoltaic properties.
▫ Renewable Energy Generation
§ New and Cheap Solar Cells use nanoparticles of Titanium oxide coated with dye molecules to
capture the energy of visible light and convert it into electricity.

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 § A novel catalytic nanosheet from of a nickel molybdenum-nitride, a thousand time cheaper
than traditional platinum, is the new model for harvesting hydrogen from water for use as
fuel.

- Electronics
▫ Graphene is used in transparent electrodes for solar cells, LCD, robust non-volatile atomic
switches, chemical and biological sensors and in spintronic devices.
▫ Semiconducting nanowires are highly versatile optoelectronic components, for a wide variety of
applications such as nano-LEDs and nano-Lasers, solar cells, and biomedical sensors.

- Structural Engineering Applications

▫ Nano-enhanced Cement contained by addition of nanoparticles like nano silica (silica fume),
nanostructured metals, CNTs and carbon nanofibers give stronger, more durable, self-healing, air
purifying, fire resistant, easy to clean quick compacting structure.
▫ Nano-enhanced Construction Ceramics such as floor and wall tiles and sanitary ware have self-
cleaning, anti-bacterial, hygienic, and scratch resistant features.
▫ Nano-enhanced paints can reduce emission of Nitrogen-di-oxide, hydrocarbons, and carbon
monoxide in the atmosphere. It can also make paint scratch proof, easy cleaning, air purifying, UV
resistant, water repellant, flame resistant, and anti-bacterial.
▫ Nanotechnology based smart windows have energy-saving, easy cleaning, UV controlling and
photovoltaic properties.
▫ Fire resistant glasses are produced by addition of fumed silica nanoparticles in glasses.
- Nanotechnology can promote different forms of insulation solutions like coatings, vacuum insulations
glazing and nanofoams.

- Nano whiskers on clothes create a cushion of air around the fabric so that liquids can’t stain them.

- Cosmetics: Nanoparticles like Zinc oxides and titanium oxides are used in sunscreen and related
products. They provide protection from UVA rays.

4) FUTURE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS

- Advancements like nano-machines will lead to development in the field of nano-medicines, more advanced
electronics circuitry, quantum computing etc.

5) CONCERNS AND LIMITATIONS

- Due to their extremely small dimensions, large surface area and high reactivity, they have the potential
ability to penetrate living cells quite readily. As a result, their unique nano-features may also make
them potentially hazardous for human health and environmental safety.

- Health

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 § Inhaling airborne nanoparticles and nanofibers may lead to a number of pulmonary diseases, e.g.,
fibrosis. Some form of carbon nanotubes could be as harmful as asbestos if inhaled in sufficient
quantities.
§ Experiments with rats have also shown impact on skin (ageing) and brain.

- Toxicity
ú Lack of investment on nanotoxicology research

- Environmental impact
ú Lack of research on potential harmful impact: Lack of study on Impact of nanomaterial on non-
human species, on ecosystem or the global environment.
ú e.g. bacteriostatic silver nanoparticles used in socks to reduce foot odor are being released in the
wash. These particles are then flushed into the wastewater stream and may destroy bacteria which
are critical component of natural ecosystem, farms, and wastewater treatment processes.

- More dangerous Weapons

▫ As a general-purpose technology, it will be dual use, meaning it will have many commercial uses and
it also will have military uses - making for more powerful weapons and tools of surveillance.
▫ A technology this powerful could easily be misused. The rapid development cycle and massive
manufacturing capability may lead to an unstable arms race between competing powers.

- Other Concerns
▫ May lead to loss of jobs in traditional farming and manufacturing sector
▫ May bring about crash in certain markets due to lowering of oil and diamonds due to possibility of
developing alternative source of energy that are more efficient and won't require use of fossil fuels.
Also, because people would be able to develop products at molecular level, diamond will lose its
significance.
▫ Atomic weapons may become more accessible and more powerful and more destructive.

6) MOLECULAR MACHINES / NANO MACHINES

1. Molecular Machine, or nano-machine, is any discrete number of molecular components that produce
quasi-mechanical movements (output) in response to specific stimuli.
2. The 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to ‘Molecular Machine’ trio for the design and
synthesis of molecular machines
ú Details about their contributions
a. Sauvage in 1983 took the first step by linking two ring shaped molecule to form a chain

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 b. Stoddart in 1991 developed a rotaxane, a dumbbell-shaped molecular structure that enabled
him to build molecular lift, a molecular muscle and a molecule-based computer chip

c. Feringa in 1999 was the first person to develop a molecular motor and in 2011 designed a four-
wheeled nano-car

3. Significance of those nano-machines

4. These tiny machines that we can't even see have enormous potential.
▫ Medicine and treatment
ú Molecular technology could lead to development of machines that are so small they could be
swallowed or implanted into human bodies with little negative effect.

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 ú They could be used to fight disease in the body, to repair damaged tissues, and even to probe
DNA structure.
ú Such precise drug deliver will minimize adverse side-effects.
▫ Smart materials able to adapt to their environment, small sensors that can be controlled remotely,
and drugs that are activated on command
▫ Efficient energy storage devices

7) EXAMPLE NANO-MATERIALS

A) SCHWARZITE – NEW FORM OF CARBON CREATED

1. Example Questions
▫ What is a Schwarzites? Discuss its future potential applications [10
marks, 150 words]

2. Introduction
▫ Schwarzites is a completely new form of carbon that has been created by
scientists recently. It is a negatively curved carbon unlike fullerenes and
graphene which have positive or zero curvature respectively.

3. Creation of Schwarzites
▫ Scientists, in Japan and South Korea, while investigating Zeolite-templated carbons (ZTCs) – crystalline
form of silicon di-oxide with carbon structure built into them – accidently created schwarzites.
▫ Later, scientists at University of California demonstrated that it was possible to create ZTC structures by
injecting a vapor containing carbon into zeolites.
▫ Once inside, the carbon assembles into a graphene-like sheet that lines the walls of the pores in the
zeolite. In doing so, the surface stretches to minimize the area. As schwarzites are topologically minimal
surfaces, they tend to acquire negative curvature. The zeolite is then dissolved to produce pure
schwarzites.

4. Potential Future Applications (details in class discussion)

▫ Super Capacitors:
▫ Storage of atoms and molecules
▫ Catalyzing Reactions

5. Conclusion: Though the applications of schwarzites remains to be seen, the scientists speculate that their
unique electronic, magnetic, and optical properties can make them useful, as super capacitors, battery
electrodes and catalysts, and with their large internal spaces ideal for gas storage and separation.

B) GRAPHENE

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▫ It is an allotrope of carbon which is a one-atom thick layer of pure
carbon. Carbon atoms are bounded together in a hexagonal
honeycomb lattice.

▫ How is it produced
§ By separating a single atom layer film from graphite.

▫ Properties: Physical
§ 2D – world’s first 2D material
§ Graphene is harder than diamond, more elastic than
rubber, tougher than steel and yet lighter than
aluminum.
• In fact, it is 200 times stronger than steel (100 times stronger than the strongest steel).
§ Thickness: 1 million times thinner than a human hair
§ Stretchable as well as transparent, flexible, and impermeable.
§ It can also act as perfect barrier – not even helium can pass through it

▫ Properties: Thermal, Electrical and Magnetic Properties

▫ Highest electronic conductivity of any material in the world.
▫ Best Heat conductivity of any material in the world
▫ Shows a large and nonlinear diamagnetism

- Applications: Graphene’s unique combination of extraordinary properties offer a fascinating material

platform for the development of next-generation technologies in many areas.
▫ Energy Harvesting and Storage: It can be used for better rechargeable batteries; superior capacitors;
newer methods of making solar cells etc. Further, proton transfer in graphene shows promise for
artificially mimicking photosynthesis.

▫ Electronics: Very high electron conductivity allows graphene to be used for low-cost printable
electronics, high performance transistors; thermal management and heat dissipation in nano-electronic
devices.
§ The optical properties of graphene can also be controlled by doping and make it well suited for
optoelectronic devices.

▫ Composites and Coatings: Its low mass and low loading requirements make graphene standout as a
reinforcing agent in composites. It can be used for making lubricants with enhanced anti-wearing
capabilities; radiation shielding and lighting strike protection; superhydrophobic coating; transparent,
flexible and conductive thin films etc.

▫ Membranes – It can improve the quality of filters used in desalination or other water purifying
instruments. Graphene oxide is used for the purpose.
§ It can also act as gas barrier for e.g. in food packaging.
§ It can be used for separation of organic solvent with water.
▫ Biomedical Technologies: Very high surface area, electron mobility etc. is paving the way for novel
biomedical technologies. Graphene bioelectronics (transistors and electrode arrays) has become a
ground-breaking field that offers existing opportunities for developing new kinds of biosensors. Key

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 applications include Thermal ablation of highly resistant cancer cells; Bioelectronics (bionics);
Electronic interface to living cells and nerve tissues; etc.
▫ Sensors: Since every atom of graphene is exposed it is an ideal material for biological, gas and chemical
sensors. It can be used for explosive detection; detecting biomarkers for parkinson’s disease; selective
gas sensing; self-healable, multifunctional electronic sensor tattoos; environment monitoring etc.
▫ Wearable technologies
▫ Light weight cars, planes etc.

- Health Risks: Extensively debated.

▫ Toxicity depends on several factors such as shape, size, purity, post-production processing steps,
oxidative state etc.

C) CARBON NANOTUBES (CNT)

- Intro
▫ Carbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical
nanostructure. These cylindrical carbon molecules have unusual
properties, which are valuable for nanotechnology, electronics,
optics and other fields of material science and technology.

- Properties
▫ Strength: One of the most tensile and elastic material discovered yet.

- Wettability
▫ Exhibits a super hydrophobic property.
▫ By applying a low voltage as low as 1.3 V, the extreme water repellants surface can be switched into
super hydrophilic.

Electrical Properties
• CNT are either metallic or semiconducting along the tubular axis.

Thermal Properties
• All nanotubes are expected to be very good thermal conductors along the tube, exhibiting a
property known as "ballistic conduction", but good insulators lateral to the tube axis.

Application
• Current uses and application of nanotubes has mostly been limited to the use of bulk nanotubes,
which is a mass of rather unorganized fragments of nanotubes.
o Used as composite fibers in polymers to improve the mechanical, thermal and electrical
properties of the bulk product.
o Tips for atomic force microscope probes
o In tissue engineering, carbon nanotubes can act as scaffolding for bone growth.
Concerns: Toxicity, health risk not clear yet.

17) ELABORATING ON SOME NANOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS

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NANOTECHNOLOGY IN TEXTILE SECTOR

- Example Question
▫ Discuss the various applications of Nanotechnology in textile sector [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction:
▫ Nanotechnology is an amazing general-purpose technology that has proven its potential in all the
fields, and the textile sector is not an exception.

- Key Applications of Nanotechnology in textile sector

▫ How antibacterial properties are obtained: A nano-silver based suspension can be applied on the
fabric surface. Other compounds such as zinc, copper, and their oxides coupled with metal
nanoparticles can also be used as antibacterial agents. Titanium oxide (TiO2) is another strong
antimicrobial material that conducts the phenomenon known as “Photocatalysis”.
▫ The anti-microbial textiles are most essential in the medical sector, especially in the present
deadly pandemic conditions, for e.g., in curtains, bed covers, face masks, aprons used in the
hospitals and diagnostics center.
▫ It can also serve for best hygiene in sportswear, baby products, sanitary napkins, wound
healing dressings and so on.
▫ Self-cleaning garments using Titanium oxide particles save detergent, water, and electricity
simply.

▫ “Wearable sunscreen” are garments using Titanium Oxide nanoparticles which provide
protection against
▫ Thermoregulation: Clothings respond to changes in the body temperature and maintain comfort
by either heating or cooling. The Phase Change Material is incorporated into the fabric to fulfill
this function.

▫ The Polymeric micro-capsules filled with perfumes/deodorants/insect repellents can be

integrated with fabric for slow release.

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 ▫ Fabric Used in Air Filters: A thin coating of nanofibers on the fabric used in air filters for air
conditioners and automobiles’ exhaust, stops ultrafine particles thereby increasing the efficiency
of the filters.

▫ Technical Textiles are used in special applications. For e.g., fireproof and flame-retardant fabric
is required in the suit used by firefighters. The high temperature stable materials are combined
with thermally insulating and fireproof materials such as nano-porous silica aerogel for this
application. Other examples of technical textiles include functions like electro-magnetic field
shielding, electrical conducting, anti-static, camouflaging, stealth, water repellency, and so on.
The nanomaterials used in these applications are generally carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles of
metals, metal oxides, clay, semiconductors, polymers etc.

- Way Forward
▫ Nanotechnology has a great potential in the textile industry. Functional and smart textiles can
play an important role in the economy of a nation. However, there are limitations in applications
due to scientific complexity and the cost adhered to it.
▫ Therefore, a proper study is necessary to find any toxic effects of handling and wearing the nano
materials to eliminate any health risks due to short- or long-term exposure.

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN HEALTH SECTOR

▫ Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. It ranges from the medical applications of
nanomaterials and biological devices to nanoelectronics biosensors, and even possible future
applications of molecular nanotechnology such as biological machines.

▫ What difficulties nano-medicines will overcome?

▫ Problems with conventional drugs
§ Less soluble conventional medicine, which are not absorbed properly and thus don't
impact the required target
§ Even if drug molecule is soluble, body removes the drug before it has had long enough
to provide a benefit.
§ Conventional drugs could have side effects due to poor delivery at the actual site of
disease.
• For e.g. drugs targeting cancer must avoid the healthy tissues and organs or
damage can be caused.
▫ Nanomedicines therefore can play an important role in ensuring enough of the drugs enter the
body, that the drugs that enters stays in the body for long periods and is targeted specifically in
areas that need treatment.

▫ Medical Applications:
▫ Prevention of disease:
§ Nanoparticles of silver embedded into fibers have anti-microbial action. It is used in food
packaging, clothing, disinfectants, and household appliances. Bandages are being
infused with silver nanoparticles to heal cuts faster.
§ Gold Nanoparticles have anti-bacterial properties

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 § Water Purification: Special Filters using nanomaterials can remove objects as tiny as
viruses from water.

▫ Diagnostics: By studying and identifying individual molecules, it is possible to diagnose disease

in time to improve the prognosis for the patient.

▫ Improved Treatment
§ Indian Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) is developing Magnetic
Hyperthermia mediated cancer therapy - delivery and localization of magnetic material
within the targeted tumour site followed by subsequent application of an alternating
Magnetic Field (AMF), thereby generating heat at the tumour site

§ E.g: Scientist are using gold nanoparticles to target prostate cancer. Here the
nanoparticles or nano shells are made of small payers of Silica glass formed into a sphere
and wrapped in a thin layer of gold. This is made to reach the tumour site and then
harnessed to cause the tumorous tissue to pulse with extreme temperature when light
is applied through a laser specifically designed to excite the particles

§ A team of scientists from IISc Bengaluru have developed nano robots to be used in dental
procedure (like root canal therapy).

§ With more advancement in Nanomachines – complex surgical procedures would

become less intrusive and less complicated

ENVIRONMENTAL NANOTECHNOLOGY
▫ Example Questions
§ What is environmental nanotechnology? Discuss with some practical applications. [10 marks,
150 words]

▫ Introduction
§ Environmental nanotechnology refers to use of nanotech products, processes, and applications
to contribute to environment and climate protection.
§ It may contribute by cleaning the pollutants, reducing the pollutants, making our devices more
efficient and reducing cost of green technologies.

▫ Key areas where nano-material researchers are working:

i. Ensuring Potable Drinking Water – Use of Graphene based water filters are expected to increase
the accessibility of clean drinking water in coming future.

ii. Removing pollutants from water

§ Cleaning up organic chemicals polluting ground water
• Iron nanoparticles can be used to effectively clean-up organic solvents that are
polluting the ground water. The nanoparticles disperse throughout the water and
decompose the organic solvents in place.

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 § Cleaning up of oil spills
• Using photocatalytic cooper tungsten oxide nanoparticles to break down oil into
bio-degradable compounds.

iii. Generating Less pollution during manufacturing of materials

§ E.g., Use of silver nano particles as catalysts can significantly reduce the polluting by
products in the process used to manufacture propylene oxide.
• Propylene oxide is used to produce common materials such as plastics, paint,
detergents and brake fluid.

iv. Producing solar cells that generate electricity at competitive cost

§ E.g. Silicon nanowires embedded in a polymer result in low cost but high efficiency solar
cells.

v. Increasing the electricity generated by windmills

§ E.g. use of carbon nanotubes in windmill blades results in stronger and lower weight
windmill blades. This helps in more amount of electricity generated by each windmill.

vi. Reducing cost of fuel cells

§ Changing the spacing of platinum atom in fuel cells increases the catalytic ability of the
platinum. This allows the fuel cells to function with 80% less platinum, significantly
reducing the cost of the fuel cells.

▫ Conclusion: Nanotechnology is thus brimming with potential solutions to various environmental and
climate change related issues being faced by India. It’s high time that India’s Mission on Nano Science
and Technology is restructured to include R&D in the field of environment as one of its key goals

18) INDIA AND NANO-TECHNOLOGY

Mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission)

- Introduction
a. It is an umbrella program of GoI for overall development in the field of Nanotechnology.
b. It was launched in 2007 with an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore which was further extended
during the 12th five-year plan.
c. It is structured in a fashion to achieve synergy between the national research efforts of
various agencies in Nano Science and Technology and launch new programs in a concerted
fashion.
d. Department of Science and Technology is the nodal agency for the mission.

- Objectives of the Nano-Mission

a. Basic Research Promotion – funding of basic research by individual scientists or groups of
scientists and creation of centre of excellence for pursuing this research.
b. Infrastructure Development for Nano Science and Technology Research -> development of
a chain of facilities across the country.

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 c. Human Resource Development – Providing effective education and training to researchers
and professionals in diversified fields. Launching of M.Sc./M.Tech programmes, create
national and overseas post-doctoral fellowships, chairs in universities etc.
d. International Collaborations – Exploratory visits of scientists, organization of joint
workshops, conferences and joint research projects, facilitate access to sophisticated
research facilities abroad, forge academia-industry partnership.
e. Development of product and processes for national development
§ Especially in areas of national relevance like
­ Safe Drinking Water
­ Materials Development
­ Sensors Development
­ Drug Delivery

- Achievements of the Mission

a. The mission has resulted into more than 5,000 research papers and some useful products
like nano-hydrogel based eye drops, pesticide removal technology for drinking water, water
filters for arsenic and fluride removal and nano-silver based on anti-microbial textile coating.
b. India has moved from the fourth to the third position in the world in terms of scientific
publications in nanoscience and technology.

- Institute of Nanoscience and Technology (INST): It is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science
and technology, GoI.

- Way Forward:
» Funds
» Human Resource
» Infra – R&D
» Industry-Academia collaboration
» University-University Collaboration

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MAINS MASTER PROGRAM (MMP) 2024
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-3

1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Table of Contents ..................................... 0 6) Car-t Cell Therapy ............................... 12
2. Biotechnology and Health ........................ 1 7) Gene Edited Crops .............................. 13
A) Gene Edited Mustard – Less Pungent, More
1) Vaccine Development .......................... 1 useful .......................................................................14
2) mRNA Vaccines: 2023 Nobel Prize in 8) Anti-Microbial resistance .................... 15
Physiology or Medicine ................................ 4
9) Generic Medicines .............................. 18
3) Applications of Biotechnology .............. 5
A) Agriculture and Food Production ..................... 5 10) Hooch Tragedy ................................ 19
B) Health care ....................................................... 6
3. Space – CA Updates ................................ 22
C) Biotechnology and Environment...................... 6
1) CHang’e-6 Mission: China’s Lunar Probe
4) Getting into the details of the Individual
returns to earth with world’s first samples
APplications................................................. 7
A) GM crops .......................................................... 7 from the far side of the Moon (June 2024).. 22
D) Way Forward.................................................. 10

5) Gene Therapy ......................................10

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2. BIOTECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH

1) VACCINE DEVELOPMENT

- Example Questions
» Discuss the different ways in which vaccines are developed. [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction:
» A vaccine is a biological preparation that helps the body develop immunity against a particular disease.
It typically contains a weakened or inactive form of disease-causing agent (like virus, bacteria etc.) or
parts of it, which triggers an immune response without causing the disease.
▫ E.g. OPV given against Polio virus, Covishield against Corona virus

» Various Types of Vaccines:

▫ Live Attenuated virus vaccines such as the combined rubella-mumps-measles vaccines and
the yellow fever virus vaccine, induce robust and long-lived antibody and T-cell mediated
immunity.
» Note: For the development of Yellow fever vaccine, Max Theiler was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951.
» These vaccines induce effective but transient immune responses, requiring repeated
boosting.
» COVID-19 vaccine developed using this mechanism - Covaxin developed by Bharat
biotech.

▫ Viral Vector Vaccines: It uses a safe virus (not harmful) which serves as a platform to
produce target proteins to generate immune response.
» Such viral vector efficiently enter cells where the encoded antigen are produced by
the bodies protein synthesis machinery.
• The first example of a licensed viral vector vaccine was the Vesicular stomatitis
virus -based vaccine against Ebola, approved in 2019, which was soon
followed by an adenovirus based Ebola vaccine.

§ During COVID-19 various vaccines

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 • Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) used adenovirus route.
§ Covishield used in India is a version of this.
• Sputnik V Vaccine also has gone adenovirus route.

- Both the above methods (live attenuated virus or viral vector vaccine) used cell culture-
based manufacturing facilities which is resource intensive. Further they may also introduce
diseases and is safer and stable than vaccine containing whole pathogens.

- Therefore, researchers have focused upon sub-unit vaccines that circumvent the need of
large-scale cell cultures by delivering nucleic acid (DNA or mRNA) directly to vaccine
recipients, exploiting the body's own capacity to produce proteins.

- Subunit Vaccines: (Protein subunit vaccines)

» Protein subunit vaccines include only the parts of virus that best stimulate immune
system. These vaccines contain single protein components of the respective virus
and are referred as subunit vaccine.
• It includes Hepatitis B Vaccine (HBV) and Human papillomavirus (HPV)
vaccine.
» advantages:
• No risk of introducing the disease and is safer and stable than vaccine
containing whole pathogens.
• Suitable for immunocompromised individuals.
• Well established tech

» Disadvantage
• Relatively complex to manufacture (compared to other vaccines like RNA
vaccines)
• May require multiple doses.

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 » DNA and RNA subunit vaccines:

» Advantages of subunit vaccines (DNA or mRNA vaccines)

• Less Resource intensive and thus easy to manufacture
• More flexibility - Since the sequence can be easily changed to encode
different antigens.
• This also makes iterative testing of new candidate vaccines and generation of
updated vaccines rapid and efficient.

» Initially DNA vaccine was thought to be more promising but didn't translate into
success. A likely reason for it was that injected DNA must cross two barriers, the
plasma membrane and the nuclear membrane, to reach the cellular compartment
where transcription takes place (DNA conversion to mRNA).

» Another advantage of mRNA vaccine: Delivered nucleic acid can't integrate into the
host genome. This is an additional safety aspect of this method.
▫ E.g of DNA vaccine (developed for COVID-19):
▫ E.g for mRNA vaccine (developed for COVID-19): Moderna COVID-19 (mRNA-
1273) vaccine

- Conjugate Vaccine
» Basics of Conjugate Vaccines:
▫ A conjugate vaccine is a type of subunit vaccine which combines a weak
antigen with a strong antigen as a carrier so that the immune system has a
stronger response to the weak antigen.
» Soberana 02, a conjugate COVID-19 vaccine developed in Cuba, was given emergency
use authorization in Cuba and Iran.

- Key Challenges
» Availability and affordability for all
» Ensuring complete Dose: For e.g. in case of COVID-19 people have been careless about the
2nd dose of the vaccination.
» People have been careless after the first vaccine and a large number of individuals
» Vaccine Hesitancy: India has a history of hesitancy about receiving the polio vaccine due to
various rumors.
• Further, there is issues of limited health literacy, and a poor understanding of the
protection vaccines provide
» Vaccine Nationalism
§ Countries like UK and USA had pre-booked more coronavirus vaccines than their
population. This had the potential to delay the availability of vaccine in developing
and under-developed countries
» Vaccine Safety: Understanding short term and long-term impacts
§ E.g. discontinuation of ModeRNA vaccine for younger age population.

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 - Way Forward
» Proper Evaluation of vaccines on technical parameters and suitability
▫ Immunity of high degree; broad scale (against different variants); durable (at least
five years of immunity); Safe (no side effects); affordable; Programmatically suitable
(oral preference, no need of very cold storage etc.)
» Fight Vaccine Hesitancy: Transparency, Public Education & Participation:
▫ Government will need a consistent, clear-eyed communication to bolster vaccine
acceptance and community perception of the program. This will build trust and
engage and inform all stakeholders especially experts.
▫ Simultaneously, there is a need of public education and information through large-
scale State and local-level networks where people are informed, sensitized, and their
feedback taken.
▫ Decision making should be truly participative where people who are taking the
vaccine need to understand the program and be assured of vaccine's efficacy.

» Fight vaccine inequity:

▫ Free vaccination from government and paid vaccines from private sector for people
who want to "Pay and Get".
▫ Bring vaccination centres to remote areas; ensuring second dose etc.

- Prevent Vaccine Nationalism - Promote international collaboration.

▫ WHO in collaboration with other international bodies had launched a platform called
ACT (or Access to COVID-19 Tools) Accelerator Program with an objective to
accelerate the development, production and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
- Continue detailed long term study on vaccine safety and impact
- Focus on Eradication of Virus
▫ This will prevent new threats due to mutation or creation of reservoirs in animals.

2) MRNA VACCINES: 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE

- The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Kariko (Hungary) and
Drew Weissman (USA) for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled
the development of effective mRNA vaccine against COVID-19.

- Background:
» Other methods of vaccine development - Whole Virus -, protein-, and vector- based vaccines
requires large scale cell culture. It is a resource intensive process and limits the possibilities for
rapid vaccine production in response to outbreaks and pandemics. mRNA based vaccines solved
these problems.
» During the 1980s, efficient methods of producing mRNA without cell culture were introduced,
called in-vitro transcription. Ideas of using mRNA technologies for vaccine and therapeutic
purposes also took off, but roadblocks lay ahead.
▫ In vitro transcribed mRNA was considered unstable and challenging to deliver. It required
development of sophisticated carrier lipid systems to encapsulate the mRNA.
▫ This mRNA also gave rise to inflammatory reactions.

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 ▫ These problems limited the enthusiasm for developing the mRNA technology for clinical
purposes.

- Contributions of the two scientists:

▫ They found that inflammatory response was almost
abolished when base modification was included in
the mRNA. Therefore, in 2015 they published that
adjustments (modifications) to nucleosides, can keep
the mRNA under the immune system's radar.
▫ Later, they also showed that the delivery of mRNA
generated with base modification markedly
increased protein production compared to
unmodified mRNA. This effect was due to the
reduced activation of an enzyme that regulates
protein production.

- Development of Vaccines:
▫ After the above discoveries, interest in mRNA technology picked up. Vaccines for Zika and MERS-
CoV were pursued.
▫ After the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, two base-modified mRNA vaccines encoding the
SARS-CoV-2 surface protein were developed at record speed.

- The impressive flexibility and speed with which mRNA vaccines can be developed pave the way for using
the new platform also for vaccine against other infectious diseases. In the future, the technology may
also be used to deliver therapeutic proteins and treat some cancer types.

3) APPLICATIONS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

ú The applications of biotechnology include therapeutics, diagnostics, genetically modified crops for agriculture,
processed food, bioremediation, waste treatment, and energy production. This can be broadly divided in four
major industrial areas
a. Agriculture and other food items (beer, wine)
b. Health care
c. Non-food (industrial) uses of crops and other Products (e.g. biodegradable plastics, vegetable oil, biofuels)
d. Environmental uses

A) AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PRODUCTION

ALCOHOL, CURD AND OTHER FERMENTED FOOD MATERIAL

GM ANIMALS
- In 1997, the first transgenic cow - Rosie, produced human protein-enriched milk (2.4 grams per litre).

GM CROPS

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 - Make crops more tolerant to anti-biotic stresses (cold, drought, salt, heat) etc.
▫ E.g., GM Rubber developed by Rubber Research Institute of India
- Make plants Pest Tolerant.
▫ Reduces reliance on chemical pesticides.
▫ E.g. BT cotton, BT Brinjal (in Bangladesh)
- Help to reduce post-harvest losses
- Enhance the nutritional value of food, e.g., Golden Rice (Vitamin A enriched rice)
- Tailor-made plants to supply alternative resources to industries, in the form of starches, fuels, and
pharmaceuticals

B) HEALTH CARE
1) Diagnosis: Molecular Diagnosis: RT-PCR and Rapid Anti-body tests

2) Vaccines (covered separately in details with health sector): For e.g., various vaccines for COVID-19 were
developed with the help of biotechnology – mRNA vaccines, vaccines with attenuated viruses etc.

3) Medicines produced by Biotechnology

▫ E.g., Genetically engineered insulin

4) Gene Therapy – It refers to process of introduction, removal, or change in the content of an individual’s genetic
material with the goal of treating the disease and a possibility of achieving long term cure.
▫ E.g. CAR-T Cell therapy

5) Potential of controlling mosquitoe borne diseases – By introducing sterile mosquitoes (genetically formed)

6) Personal Genomics – Predictive, Precision, and stratified medicines.

7) Transgenic Animals – Rats etc. for testing of medicines, therapies etc.

C) BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

- GM algae, crops etc. can provide more biomass for biofuel
- Fighting plant and animal diseases
- Waste Treatment / Bio-Remediation
- Biodiversity Conservation
▫ E.g. -> De-extinction of species; Colossal is a new bioscience and genetics company, with the idea of
bringing many extinct species back to life. Scientists at Harvard University in the USA would insert the
Giant Woolly mammoth’s (extinct 4,000 years ago) genes responsible for tiny ears, subcutaneous fat and
hair length and Color into living elephant skin cells. Once they are successful in bringing these hybrids

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 back to life, Colossal will proceed with the ultimate goal of reviving the ancient extinct animals by
producing more such hybrids.

▫ Criticism: Immoral; revival of these species may threaten the existing ecosystem and disturb the food
chain which has evolved over the years; Rather than focusing on revival of long extinct species,
biotechnology should focus on protecting the existing ones

- Detecting Invasive Species: environmental DNA based studies to detect invasive species like African catfish.

4) GETTING INTO THE DETAILS OF THE INDIVIDUAL APPLICATIONS

A) GM CROPS
- Introduction:
▫ Crops whose DNA has been altered are known as GM crops. This genetic modification of crops
can add or remove certain characteristics from the plant and thus can bring many advantages
(already discussed)

▫ But in India, the cultivation of GM crops has been a controversial issue right from the beginning.
BT Cotton is the first and only GM crop which is being commercially cultivated in the country.
Other crops like BT Brinjal and GM Mustard have still not been approved because of various
environmental and health concerns.

▫ However, confined field trials have been allowed for 20 GM crops. These include Golden Rice
and GM Rice as well.

▫ But recent controversy surrounding BT Brinjal being grown illegally in Haryana and GM rice
complaint by a French importer shows that some of these crops may have reached farmers
illegally.

BT COTTON
▫ Specific BT Toxic gene (cry1Ac) were isolated from Bacillus thuringiensis and incorporated into several crop
plants such as cotton. This produces proteins that kill certain insects such as lepidopterans (tobacco
budworm, armyworm), beetles, etc.

▫ It has been grown in India since 2002 and over the years have given increase productivity and area under
crop cultivation. It has also led to decrease in insecticide which fought bollworms by 97%.

▫ But it has also raised concerns like increased water consumption, and emergence of pesticide resistant pests
(e.g., pink bullworm), and increased use of insecticide for controlling pests like sucking pests.

BT BRINJAL

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 - Transgenic Brinjal created by inserting a crystal protein gene (Cry1Ac) from the soil bacterium Bacillus
thuringiensis into the genome of various brinjal cultivar. It gives resistance against lepidopteron insects in
particular the Brinjal fruit and shoot border (BFSB), the most common pest which affects 30-50% of the
Brinjal crops.
- The crop also cleared the GEAC’s biosafety test in 2009. But government yielded to anti-GM activists and
declared a moratorium in 2010 on the crop.

- But some cases of illegal BT Brinjal cultivation were observed in Haryana in 2019

- Why are some groups are calling for allowing of BT Brinjal in India?
- It had cleared the GEAC’s biosafety test in 2009.
- Increased benefit for farmers: Popular all over the world. In Bangladesh studies shows zero borer
infestation which has led to cut in input pesticide use by 60%.
- When GM Crops are not officially available, farmers turn to unapproved knock offs that may not
conform to accepted biosafety standards.

- Why is BT Brinjal not allowed in India? Why is it opposed by various activists?

- There are fears that it may impact India’s plant biodiversity. India has more than 3,000 natural
varities of Brinjal and activists are worried that if BT Brinjal is allowed in India all varieties will be
contaminated.
- Further, cross pollination may lead to herbicide resistant super weeds that can further threaten
environment and biodiversity.
- Health Impact is something that needs to be studied more.
- Not so obvious benefits: A recent study from surveys of farmers indicate that 2/3rd of the farmers
who moved to BT Brinjal have had a ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’ experience.

GM MUSTARD
▫ What is GM Mustard?
§ DMH-11 (Dhara Mustard Hybrid) is a genetically modified (GM) mustard Hybrid.
§ GM mustard is the country's first genetically modified food crop.
§ It was developed by a team of scientists led by former Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental, of DU at
Center for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), Delhi University by crossing Indian
mustard cultivars with juncea lines of East European origin like 'Early Heera' and Donskaja.

▫ Claim of higher yield:

§ Claims around 30% more yield than the traditional varieties

▫ What genetic modification was achieved and what are its benefit?
§ Barnase gene and Barster gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
§ Barnase impairs pollen production
§ Barster blocks the function of Barnase
§ Hybridization becomes possible:

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 § This method was used to developed DMH-11 by crossing a popular Indian mustard
variety ‘Varuna’ (the barnese line) with an East European ‘Early Heera-2’ mutant
(barstar).

▫ Arguments for and against approval of GM mustard

» For
§ Higher Production: GM Cotton which has been used for over a decade has not resulted into
any harmful affect. Country's cotton production has gone up by 2 and a half time since 2002
when GM cotton was first introduced.
§ Reducing Import Dependency: India annually imports 3 million tonnes of Soybean oil
(entirely GM) and another 0.4 million tonnes of rapeseed oil (partially GM). No NGO till date
has blocked a single consignment of imported GM oil or even corn entering any port.
§ Saving Forex: Will save a lot of foreign exchange and Balance of trade would improve.
§ Keeping India Scientifically relevant: Approval was necessary for India to be scientifically
relevant and to have better seeds to address threats from climate change.
» Against
§ The main contention is that the GM mustard incorporates three alien genes - barnase,
barstar, and bar - rendering it inherently unsafe for human and animal health.
• But these genes have already been deployed in Canola, and we import it freely.
§ Mustard is a food crop unlike cotton, so both should not be compared
• But cotton seed also yield oil and oilcake.
§ All health effects not properly known yet
§ Environmental damages should be studied properly first.
• GM Cotton has led to higher requirement of water and pesticides not only increasing
the cost but also harming the environment
§ Yield claims have been challenged by many organizations

» GEAC Approval (Oct 2022)

§ In Oct 2022, GEAC approved environmental release of two varieties of genetically
engineered mustard, so that it can be used for developing new parental lines and hybrids
under the supervision of ICAR. The environmental release of DMH-11 will allow for its seed
production and testing as per existing ICAR guidelines and other extant rules/ regulations
prior to commercial release. The field demonstration studies on the effect of GE mustard
on honeybees and other pollinators was also allowed to be conducted.

GM RUBBER – DEVELOPED BY KERALA BASED - RUBBER RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF INDIA

- Rubber Research Institute of India have developed a plant tailored for the climatic conditions in the
Northeast.

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 - Rubber board research farm at Sarutari on the outskirts of Guwhati now sports world’s first GM rubber
plant, tailored for climatic condition in the north-east.

- Genetic Modification: The GM rubber has additional copies of the gene MnSOD, or manganese-
containing superoxide dismutase, inserted in the plant, which is expected to tide over the severe cold
conditions during winter – a major factor affecting the growth of young rubber plants in the region

INCREASING THE NUTRIENT CONTENT – GOLDEN RICE

ú Golden rice (developed by IRRI) is variety of rice produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesize beta-
carotene. Beta-carotene is a nutrient similar to what is found in orange-colored fruits and vegetables and is
converted into Vitamin-A as needed by the body.
ú Thus, golden rice can help south and south-east Asian countries, where two-thirds or more of daily calorific
intake is obtained from rice. Research has indicated that the golden rice can provide upto 50% of the daily
requirement of an adult for vitamin A.

D) WAY FORWARD
- Detailed scientific analysis of GM Mustard, GM Brinjal, HTBt Cotton: Considering the advantages of GM
crops, it is crucial that government through GEAC goes through detailed scientific analysis of both GM
Mustard and GM Brinjal once again. We need more rigorous and sensitive studies than those conducted so
far. This should be done on priority in a fast track manner.

- Study international Examples understand the impact of crops like BT Brinjal before reaching any conclusion.

- Strengthen Regulatory Framework: There should be steps taken to ensure that illegal/accidental uses of GM
Mustard/Brinjal/Rice/HBt Cotton doesn’t take place.
- For this there has to be steps taken on multiple front – from farmers’ education/awareness to action against
vendors supplying the illegal GM Seeds. This would require a thorough probe and an efficient regulatory
mechanism in future.

- Finally, there should be steps taken to enhance the labelling infrastructure so that GM food items can be
properly labelled, and citizens can practice their right to choose by accepting or rejecting such food crops.

5) GENE THERAPY

» Example Questions
ú Gene therapy is gaining popularity in developed countries to treat various types of rare genetic
disorders. Describe briefly what gene therapy is and what advantages it has over other treatments? How
are National Guidelines for Gene Therapy Product development and Clinical Trials, 2019 going to
contribute to the gene therapy development in the country. [250 words, 15 marks]

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» Introduction
- If a person is born with a hereditary disease, can a corrective
therapy be taken for such disease? Gene therapy is an attempt to
do this.

- Gene therapy refers to the process of introduction, removal or

change in the content of an individual’s genetic material with the
goal of treating the disease and a possibility of achieving long
term cure.
- Gene Therapy Products (GTPs) include the mechanisms to
deliver nucleic acid components by various means for therapeutic
benefit to patients. They include entities that are used for things like gene augmentation, gene editing,
gene silencing, synthetic or chimeric gene augmentation etc.

» Advantages of promoting gene therapy

ú Permanent treatment for genetic diseases: the therapeutic approach earns the advantage of being long
lasting, sometimes permanent result.
ú High burden of rare genetic diseases in India: Around 7 core of India’s population suffers from rare genetic
diseases. Gene therapy can prove to be a turning point in treatment of such genetic diseases.
ú Worldwide market of upto $250 billion by 2025; continuous scope of medical tourism.
ú In USA and Europe, the approval of several gene therapy products in USA and EU have paved the way for
development of therapies for a variety of previously untreatable disorders. The guidelines should help in
development and fast tracking of approval of such GTPs in India too.

» Concerns/Limitations
- Promotion of development of gene therapy also brings along with it unique technical risks and ethical
challenges.
- Technical Challenges
ú The gene therapy may be associated with unwanted immune system reactions. For e.g. when
vectors (viruses) are attacked by the immune system of the body.
ú Current gene therapy mechanisms can sometimes target the wrong cells.
ú The delivery viruses may mutate and become harmful.

- Ethical Challenges
ú For e.g. creation of GM babies using germline gene editing by a Chinese scientist attracted global
criticism and fuelled debate on ethical concerns regarding applications of gene therapy
technologies.
ú Playing god debate

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- Conclusion:
ú Gene therapy will create more choices for patients who currently live in challenging, or with incurable
diseases. The 2019 guidelines for gene therapy in India is the first step towards development of GTP in
the country. India needs to increase investment in the sector, R&D support avenues, and education and
awareness amongst the clinical community to make India a leading player in gene therapy.

6) CAR-T CELL THERAPY

» Practice Questions:
- Explain the mechanisms of CAR-T Cell therapy? Discuss the key advantages of NexCAR19 over other
foreign CAR-T cell therapies [15 marks, 250 words]

» Background: How Cancer has been treated before CAR T-Cell Therapy:
- Surgery (removing the cancer cells)
- Radiotherapy (delivering ionizing radiation to the tumour)
- Systematic Therapy (administering medicines that act on tumour)
ú The earliest form of systematic therapy was chemotherapy. It preferentially acts on cancer
cells because of the latter’s rapid, unregulated growth and poor healing mechanisms. These
drugs have modest response rate and significant side effects as they effect numerous cell
types in the body.
ú The next stage in its evolution was targeted agents a.k.a. immunotherapy: The drugs bind to
specific target on the cancer or in the immune cells that help the tumour grow or spread. This
method often has less side effects as the impact on non-tumour cells is limited. However, it is
effective only against tumours that express these targets.

» CAR-T Cell Therapy has emerged as a new development in this front.

- It is a revolutionary therapy that modifies immune cells, specifically T-Cells, by turning them into
potent cancer fighters known as CAR-T Cells.
- How it works?
ú In CAR T-cell therapy, the patient’s blood is drawn to harvest T-cells – immune cells that
play a major role in destroying tumour cells.
ú Researchers modify these cells in the laboratory so that they express specific proteins on
their surface, known as chimeric antigen receptors (CAR): they have an affinity for proteins
on the surface of tumour cells. This modification in the cellular structure allows CAR T-cells
to effectively bind to the tumour and destroy it.
ú These modified cells are then infused back into the patient’s blood stream after conditioning
them to multiply more effectively.
ú The cells are even more specific than targeted agents and directly activate the patient’s
immune system against cancer, making the treatment more clinically effective. This is why
they are called ‘living drugs.
- Advantages of CAR-T Cell therapy over other Cancer fighting methods:

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 ú It is very accurate and only targets cancer cells.
ú It makes the treatment easier with onetime therapy (unlike several sessions of
chemotherapy)
ú It can also fight non-responsive cancer patients.
ú It is designed to cure and provide lifelong benefits.

» CAR T-Cell Therapy in India:

- The first major clinical trial showing they were effective was published almost a decade ago. The
first indigenously developed therapy in India was successfully performed only in 2021.

» In Oct 2023, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) granted market authorization
for NexCAR19, India’s first indigenously developed CAR-T cell therapy, to ImmunoAct, a company
incubated by IIT Bombay. This paves the way for commercial launch of this therapy in India.
- It is designed to target cancer cells that carry the CD19 protein. This protein acts like a flag on cancer
cells, which allows CAR-T cells to recognize and attach themselves to the cancer cells and start
process of elimination.
- Who can get the NexCAR19 therapy?
ú The therapy is for people with B-Cell lymphomas who didn’t respond to standard treatments
like chemotherapy, leading to relapse or reoccurrence of the cancer.

- Significance:
ú India is one of the first developing country to have its own Car-T therapy. Even some
developed nations don’t have their own CAR-T therapies and they import from USA or
Europe.
ú This reduces the cost of treatment to about 1/10th of the cost abroad and has the potential
of boosting medical tourism in India. It costs around Rs 3.3 crores abroad while in India it will
cost somewhere between 30-40 lakh rupee.
ú Lab and animal studies have shown that NexCAR19 lead to significantly lower drug-related
toxicities. For e.g., it causes minimal damage to neurons and the central nervous system, a
condition known as neurotoxicity. The therapy also leads to minimal Cytokine Storm
Syndrome (CRS), which is characterized by inflammation and hyperinflammation in the body
due to the death of a significant number of tumour cells, as CAR-T cells are designed to target
and eliminate cancer cells.

7) GENE EDITED CROPS

- Gene-Edited crops are trans-gene free and contain no foreign genes. Gene editing tools are used to generate
changes to native genetic material to yield beneficial outcomes.

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 ú Regulatory framework for gene editing are nascent and generally less prohibitive relative to GMOs.
Legislations regarding gene editing is emerging globally and trending towards allowing gene-edited
products to pass from research to production with relative ease, compared to GMOs.
ú Gene Editing Tools can be used to produce GMOs. In this case, novel configurations of genetic material
can be precisely inserted into the genomes of organisms by using gene editing machinery.
- Gene-Modified Crops contains foreign genes. They leverage the genetics of other organisms to improve
desired traits. (e.g. BT-Cotton, DMH-11, Golden Rice)

A) GENE EDITED MUSTARD – LESS PUNGENT, MORE USEFUL

- Understanding the Problem:

ú Mustard/Rapeseed is one of the most significant oilseed grown in India. But, mustard seeds have
very high levels of glucosinolates, a group of sulphur and nitrogen-containing compounds
contributing to the characteristic pungency of their oil and meal. This limits the acceptance of
mustard oil by many users specially those who are used to less strong odour and flavour. The
problem is even more in case of meal (the residual cake after extraction of oil from the seeds).
Rapeseed meal is unpalatable to poultry and pigs, while having to be mixed with fodder grass
and water for giving to cattle and buffaloes. Moreover, high glucosinolates are also known to
cause goitre (swelling of neck) and internal organ abnormalities in livestocks.

- Efforts to improve the quality of Mustard and the problem:

ú Scientists have bred low glucosinolates variety of mustard, but large scale cultivation couldn’t
take place. This is because reducing glucosinolates increases the vulnerability of crops to pests
and diseases.
ú So, what is needed is to reduce the glucosinolates level in seeds, without lowering the levels in
rest of the plant.

- The Gene Editing Breakthrough:

ú Glucosinolates are synthesized in the leaves and pod walls of mustard plants. They are
transported and accumulated in seeds through the action of glucosinolates transporter or GTR
genes. There are 12 such genes under two distinct classes of GTR1 and GTR2 with six copies each.
ú Scientists edited 10 out of 12 GTR genes in ‘Varuna’, a high yielding variety of Indian mustard.
They used CRISPR/Cas9 tool for this. This editing made changes in the encoded proteins which
were responsible for transport of the glucosinolates to the seeds.

ú Result:
▫ GTR Edited Low-seed high-leaf glucosinolate: Seeds of GE Varuna mustard variety has
glucosinolates content well below the 30 ppm canola quality. Other parts of the plant,
especially the leaves and pod walls enclosing the seeds, has significantly higher
glucosinolate accumulation.

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 ▫ Resistance against pest is intact: The edited variety continues to display defence against
virulent fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and the insect pest Spodoptera litura.
- GE crops are subjected to less stringent “environmental release” regulation in India.
ú For GM Crops, clearance has to come from Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee and
MoEF&CC (final nod). But, for GE crops requirement is less stringent.
ú In March 2022, an office memorandum from the MoEF&CC exempted GE Plants “free of
exogenous introduced DNA” from the requirement of GEAC approval for open field trials leading
to commercial release. Such clearance is now necessary only at the level of Institutional Bio-
Safety Committee (IBSC), comprising scientists from the institutions engaged in the GE Crop
development and from the DBT.
- This work will increase the acceptability of mustard oil both within country and in the export market.

Conclusion:
GM Hybrid Mustard (DMH-11) and the new GE low-seed and high-leaf glucosinolate lines are major
plant breeding advancements – from Indian scientists. It can go some way towards bringing down the
dependence on imported vegetable oil.

8) ANTI-MICROBIAL RESISTANCE

- Example Questions:
» Antimicrobial resistance is a multi-driven problem and only a multi-pronged approach can be
helpful in tackling the scourge. Elaborate [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction:
» Antibiotic resistance occurs when the microbe has developed immunity against the antibiotic
that was used to kill those microbes. In this situation, the bacteria become "resistant" and
continue to multiply in the presence of therapeutic levels of antibiotic.

- Why do bacteria become resistant to antibiotic

» Natural Phenomena: Evolution - Selective pressure for the survival of resistant strains of
bacteria.
» Human Action: Current higher levels of antibiotic resistant bacteria are attributed to the
overuse and abuse of antibiotics.

- Why Anti-biotic resistance is more prevalent in India: Key Factors

» India is the largest consumer of anti-microbials globally and the use of last resort anti-
microbials like cephalosporins is soaring.
▫ Easy availability and overuse of anti-biotics is the most important factor: Over the
Counter Availability; Irrational Use; over-prescription by doctors

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 - For e.g. Children often receive multiple courses of antibiotic every year since the viral
infections are recurrent. This makes them more vulnerable to anti-microbial
resistance.
» Poor Health Sector -> improper treatment -> Development of anti-biotic resistance
▫ Further, exposure to subtherapeutic levels of anti-microbials or non-adherence to
prescribed medications has also been cited as a driver of AMR
▫ E.g.: in case of TB
▫ =
» Increasing and completely unregulated use of antibiotic in Agriculture, live stocks and Poultry
sector.
▫ For instance, Colistin is extensively used in veterinary practices as a growth promoter.
This leads to generation of colistin-resistant bacteria in poultry and freshwater fish.
» Poor Sanitation conditions -> More diseases -> More use of medicines -> More AMR
development
» Unchecked discharge of effluents by the pharmaceutical industries

- Impact of increasing anti-microbial resistance

▫ Damage to Public Health:
» In 2019, drug-resistant superbugs killed about 1.27 million people globally - a toll more
than HIV/AIDs or malaria - and according to the UN estimates, the number could reach
10 million by 2050.
» Demands complicated treatment pattern, with longer stay in hospitals -> increase in
cost of treatment.
» Stronger antibiotics which are used after the first line of drugs fail generally have toxic
side effects
» Resistance also emerging for second line of drugs (e.g. XDR-TB emerging)
» Without functional anti-microbials to treat bacterial and fungal infections, even the most
common surgical procedures, as well as cancer chemotherapy, will become fraught with
the risk of untreatable infections.
» All this is compounded by the fact that no new class of anti-biotics have made it to the
market in the last three decades, largely on account of inadequate incentives for their
development and production.
▫ Economic damages due to AMR can be equivalent to what 2008-09 economic shocks resulted
into: UN Report
▫ Environmental Damages
» Extensive amount of anti-biotics led to development of AMR in some micro-organisms.
It impacts the microbial biodiversity and thus the environmental balance needed.

- Steps that government has taken and Steps that we further need to take
▫ National Policy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance, 2011
▫ Guidelines for appropriate antibiotic usage which have revised Schedule H drugs to make over-
the-counter availability of certain antibiotics nearly impossible
▫ Programs such as Red Line Campaign
▫ Sanitation campaigns such as Swatch Bharat Mission etc.
▫ National Surveillance system for AMR (April 2017)

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 ▫ National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (April 2017): Focused on enhancing
awareness, strengthening surveillance, improving rational use, promoting research and
supporting neighboring countries

- What more could be done

▫ Strengthen healthcare services -> early detection, high quality medicines, complete treatment,
infection prevention in health care facilities and farm.
▫ Proper Implementation of National AMR resistance action plan should get high priority, towards
tackling drug resistance.
» Efficient utilization -> Following WHO's 'Access, Watch and Reserve' strategy.
» Strict implementation of various drugs control regulation and increasing the fine for
over-the-counter sale of drugs.
» Import and Export policies of food and feed should strictly regulate the anti-biotic use.
▫ Proper regulation of livestock sector to reduce the use of anti-biotics there.
» Improve biosecurity and ensure that harmful pathogenic organisms are not present at
the farm.
» Promote vaccination over drugs
» Developing and Using Alternatives
§ Botanical products with anti-microbial properties: Extracts from turmeric,
ginger, pepper and garlic are effective anti-microbial and can be added to the
feed to control bacteria.
§ Use of Probiotics and Prebiotics
§ Using Seaweed extracts for improvement of immunity and additional
physiological performance among aquaculture animals.
§ Using enzymes instead of antibiotics as growth enhancers. For e.g. enzymes like
proteases, amylases, cellulase, esterase, lipase etc. are intended to enhance the
availability of nutrients and help nutrient absorption in the digestive system.
§ Phage therapy (i.e. using Bacteriophages in aquaculture)
§ Irradiation of food crops
» DAHD should develop standard treatment guidelines to reduce misuse of anti-biotics.
» Bring a law to regulate manufacturing and sale of poultry feed laced with anti-biotics.

▫ Regulating pharmaceutical industry effluents -> strengthening BWM rules and improving its
strict implementation.
▫ Tackling AMR in Environment
» Come up with a technical guidance to contain AMR from waste and environment.
» Shift to safer manufacturing practices for pharma to ensure reduced wastage and
discharge in environment.
▫ More Research in the field of Anti-biotic resistance and coming up with safe mechanism to treat
these AMR diseases
» A multi-sectoral $1 billion AMR Action Fund was launched in 2020 to support the
development of new anti-biotics. Similar steps to allocate more resources for AMR
research would be required.
▫ International Collaboration should increase.
» All UN member states should phase out the use of anti-microbial on the WHO's highest
priority list as growth promotion agents.

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 » Trade of anti-biotics must be regularized for therapeutic purpose only with strict
legalized medical prescription and supervision.
▫ Increased focus on awareness generation among common people against the need of excessive
use of anti-biotics.

- Conclusion
§ The world can't contain anti-microbial resistance unless stakeholders from all sectors such as
human and animal health, environment, crops, food and drug come forward to act. One-Health
action is must to slow down AMR chronic.

9) GENERIC MEDICINES

- Example Questions
» "Generic medicines can play a key role in making India's health sector affordable". Discuss.
[15 marks, 200 words]

- What is a generic drug?

» Generic drug is a low-cost version of pharmaceutical drug that is equivalent to a brand-
name product in dosage, strength, route of administration, quality, performance and
intended use.
» They usually enter market after patent protection of the original drug expires.

- Note: Broadly Medicines can be of three types:

» Branded: These are still on patent
» Branded Generic: Off Patent and Generic, but nonetheless produced by a reputed company,
with a brand.
» Generic: Off Patent, and unbranded.

- Government's attempt in promoting generic drugs

» National Medical Council (NMC) had directed all doctors to prescribe generic names and
not branded names
▫ But this order was withdrawn after protest from Indian Medical Association.
» Making it mandatory for all chemists to display generic medicines prominently
» Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP) was launched by Department of
Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers, Government of India as a direct
market intervention scheme in 2008.
▫ As of Aug 2023, 9,500 Jan Aushadhi Kendras are functional across the country.
▫ The government has also launched a mobile application 'Janaushadhi Sugam' that
provides information to public about location of Kendras, help them search the
Janaushadhi medicines, and compare the MRP of Generic vs Branded medicines.
- Advantages
» Affordable healthcare: Generic medicines are cheaper due to low marketing cost and no
commission to doctors.
» Breaks the doctor-pharma nexus: The existing nexus leads to prescription of only the brand
of companies

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 ▫ Reduce unnecessary prescription: This is resorted to by doctor if pharma companies
are paying them
» Promotes domestic pharma companies: India is a world leader in generic drug
manufacturing.
» Difficult for quacks to function as non-qualified people may find it difficult to know generic
names

- Limitations
1. Quality concerns
▫ Concerns about lack of uniformity in the quality of generic versions.
▫ Studies have shown that many generic versions don't work.
▫ Doctors trust and prefer well-established brands.
2. Erode doctor-patient relationship
▫ As by prescribing generic drugs, doctor refuse to take responsibility for clinical
outcomes.
3. Low profit margins for retailers: Retails pharmacists, in turn, have little incentive in stocking
and selling low price generic medicines since they have lower profit margins.
4. Shortage: Though, there are more than 9,000 Jan Aushadhi Kendras, the reach of traditional
medical stores is very high and they primarily deal in non-generic versions.
5. Difficult for common person to understand, especially the multiple salt names in a FDC.
6. May discourage big pharma companies to launch their new medicines in India

- Way forward
» Improved Quality through improved regulation of pharma sector.
▫ Human Resource issues like shortage of drug quality inspectors has to be tackled in a
fast-track manner.
» Increasing Production and Availability: Increasing the penetration of Jan Aushadhi Kendras.
» Allow pharmacist to substitute for alternative: Laws for enabling substitution of generic
and branded equivalents by pharmacists need to be introduced.
» Prohibit Branding for out of patent drugs
» Increased awareness on generics needed among consumers, pharmacists
» Short names for generic FDCs (officially approved trade names) will also ensure that doctors
don't write out the generic names of their multiple constituents.
» Improving government health facilities would contribute to more coverage of government
hospitals in overall health coverage and government hospitals can promote generic better.

- Conclusion
» Overall, generic prescribing is a good move in the right direction and will have several
positive ramifications for healthcare in India. However, like everything, successful
implementation would require a series of enabling steps at different levels from production
to prescription and from Quantity to Quality.

10) HOOCH TRAGEDY

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- Practice Questions:
» What is Hooch tragedy? Discuss the key factors responsible for persistence of illicit liquor
production and consumption in India [10 marks, 150 words]

- Introduction:
» (Current Affairs) More than 60 people died in Kallakurichi hooch tragedy in Tamil Nadu in June
2024. Earlier in 2023, the state of TN saw death of 20 people and in March 2024, around 20
people had died due to Hooch in Sangrur Punjab.
» (Definition) Hooch tragedy refers to the deaths and disabilities caused by consumption of
poisonous spurious liquor.

- Why does spurious liquor become poisonous?

» Excess Methanol can be toxic as methanol metabolizes into formic acid.
» Improper preparation also leads to increase in concentration of methanol:
§ The fermented mixture which is distilled also contain methanol. During distillation, both
ethanol and methanol are concentrated. Thus, if done incorrectly, distillation can lead to
an end product which has high concentration of toxic methanol.
» Excess methanol is toxic as it metabolizes into formic acid.

- Why is methanol used instead of alcohol?

» Easier availability: In industry it is used as antifreeze, solvent, fuel and ethanol denaturant.
» Taste and Appearance: Very similar to alcohol.

- Why do people go for this kind of drink

» Socio-economic factors:
▫ Poverty and Unemployment: Low cost of illicit liquor becomes attractive for poor.
▫ High taxes and regulations create a demand for cheaper alternative.
▫ Lack of awareness and education about the harmful impacts
▫ Easier availability: As it may get produced in the near locality. Further, in states where
prohibition is in force, illegality manufactured alcohol become very attractive.
▫ Stronger Impact: The alcohol content in illicit liquor tends to be very high.

» Legal administrative issues:

▫ Poor Law and Order situation due to Police-Criminal Nexus results into limited
conviction.
▫ Lack of resources with authorities make it difficult to effectively monitor and prevent
illegal production.

- Treatment:
▫ Intravenously administer Fomepizole and ethanol. However, fomepizole can be expensive and
unavailable in many parts of India. In such scenarios, doctors administer a mixture of ethanol
and water (1:1 ratio). Ethanol inhibits methanol's conversion into toxins and help in flushing out
of the body either naturally or through dialysis.

- Way Forward:
» Make authorities accountable:

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 ▫ The findings of the Mehta Commission in Gujarat, formed in the aftermath of the 2009
Ahemedabad disaster indicated an extraordinarily low percentage of bootlegger
convictions and the police's inability to monitor their illicit operations despite having
pertinent information.
▫ Stringent policies to check the sale of illicit liquor
» More regulation of methanol to prevent its easy availability for illegal liquor manufacturers.
» Encourage community reporting: If government can develop a mechanism to anonymously
report the manufacture and sale of Hooch.
» Developing a balanced policy to drinking alcohol: Which is based on health science,
government's finances and people's right to choose.
» Awareness Generation: To ensure that vulnerable section is aware of the harmful impacts of
liquor in general and spurious liquor in particular.

- Conclusion:
» The war against illicit liquor needs to be fought on multiple fronts and by all stakeholders -
Government, NGOs and the community.

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3. SPACE – CA UPDATES

1) CHANG’E-6 MISSION: CHINA’S LUNAR PROBE RETURNS TO EARTH WITH WORLD’S FIRST
SAMPLES FROM THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON (JUNE 2024)

- Example Question:
▫ Discuss the significance of sample return missions from the lunar far side, with specific reference to
China’s Chang’e-6 [10 marks, 150 words]
- Introduction:
▫ Chang’ e-6 is a lunar mission by China which landed on the far side of the moon and became the
first mission globally to bring back rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon.
» The sample has been collected from one of the oldest and largest lunar craters – South Pole
Aitken (SPA) basin.
- What can the lunar samples brought by Chang’e-6 reveal?
▫ Understanding geographic differences on the moon’s two side. The far side of the moon is
geologically different from the near side. It has thicker crust, more craters, and fewer planes where
lava once flowed.
▫ Understanding Moon’s history and origin: The collisions that created the SPA basin may have
excavated enough material from the Moon’s lower crust and upper mantle, which would give
insight into the Moon’s history, and possibly its origins.
▫ Understanding the resources on Moon which can be extracted or used in future lunar programs.
1) For e.g. soil could be used to make bricks to build future lunar research bases through 3D
printing.
2) Similarly, potential presence of ice at the moon’s pole can be used to extract hydrogen
which can be used in rocket propellant.
3) Far side is expected to be rich in Helium-3 which can become a future source of nuclear
energy.
- Other significance of this sample return mission:
▫ First samples from far side – In past, USA, Russia, and China have brought samples only from near
side. This is thus an important technological feat.
▫ More detailed analysis of samples using advanced heavy instruments on earth.
▫ Storage of samples in future and more detailed analysis when technology advances.
- Other significance of Chang’e-6 for China:
▫ Reflects broader space ambitions and geopolitical aspirations of China.
▫ Enhances international cooperation: The mission carried payloads from ESA, France, Italy, Pak etc.
- India’s plan of Sample Return Mission: India is working on Chandryaan-4, and it will be a sample return
mission.

Conclusion: The resources on the moon have contributed to a new race to moon. Both USA and China
plan to put astronauts on moon before the end of this decade. The success of Chang’e-6 is seen as an
important step towards achieving this goal by China.

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MAINS MASTER PROGRAM (MMP) 2024
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-4

1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Table of Contents ..................................... 0 2) 6G ....................................................... 14
A) Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA) ..............................14
2. Nuclear Science and Technology .............. 1 B) Bharat 6G MisSion ..........................................15
1) Nuclear Fusion ..................................... 1 3) Web Browsers .................................... 15
2) Recent Progress towards harnessing A) Request and Response ...................................15
B) Deconstructing The Response .............................15
Nuclear Fusion Energy ................................. 2 C) Rendering ............................................................16
3) India’s Three-Phase Nuclear Power D) Managing Data ....................................................16
E) Security ................................................................16
Program....................................................... 3
4) Web 3.0 .............................................. 17
4) Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages
(CLND) Act, 2010 .......................................... 4 5) Blockchain Technology........................ 18
5) Nuclear Energy and Energy Security ..... 5 6) National Strategy on Blockchain ......... 19
6) Use of Nuclear Radiation tECHNOLOGY 7) Supercomputers ................................. 20
FOR PROVIDING BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE.... 6
8) Supercomputing in India ..................... 21
7) Important Scientists and their
9) Quantum Computers .......................... 22
Contributions: Homi Jehangir Bhabha .........10
10) Internet of Things (IoT).................... 24
8) Radiocarbon Dating .............................10
11) Big Data .......................................... 25
3. Computer, IT and ELectronics ..................12
12) Note: .................................................... 26
1) 5G .......................................................12

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 2. NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1) NUCLEAR FUSION

- Practice Questions:
» What is Nuclear Fusion Energy? What are its advantages of Nuclear Fission energy? [10 marks, 150
words]

- Introduction:
» In a nuclear fusion reaction, two or more nuclei fuse together to from one heavier nucleus. In the
process some mass is lost which gets converted into energy as per Einstein’s Mass Energy Equivalence
(E = mc2). This is known as nuclear fusion energy. For e.g:

» It is the source of energy in all the stars. But, so far, humankind has not been able to harness this
reaction for civilian energy production. It is because fusion reaction requires very high temperature
and pressure.

- Still, scientists all across the world are working to develop technologies to harness fusion energy for
electricity production. This is because it has several advantages over nuclear fission energy reaction:
1) Raw material (hydrogen atom) is easily available in the universe unlike Uranium needed for fission.
2) Efficiency: Hydrogen fusion reaction is one of the most efficient energy production methods in the
universe. It produces four times more energy than a standard Uranium based fission reaction.
3) Safety: Fusion energy reactions are inherently safer as they can’t undergo uncontrolled chain
reactions which may be the case with fusion.
4) Environment Friendly: The fusion reaction is clean and green route to produce energy and doesn’t
involve any remnant waste products. Whereas Fission reaction produces a lot of radioactive waste
whose disposal remains a challenge.
5) Long term energy security: As raw material can be obtained easily (by electrolysis of water), this
energy type can ensure energy security for every nation of the world.

- Therefore, scientists across the world are working to make controlled fusion reactions successful.
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) are working on the Magnetic confinement
method and USA’s National Ignition facility is working on the Inertial Confinement Method.

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2) RECENT PROGRESS TOWARDS HARNESSING NUCLEAR FUSION ENERGY

Practice Question: “Use of fusion process for generating electricity at a commercial scale is decades away, but
the latest experiment by US scientists is still a big deal. Elaborate. How is their method different from the one
being used by ITER? [15 marks, 250 words]

Ans:

So far, no country in the world has been able to develop functional thermonuclear energy reactor. It is because
the following conditions must be fulfilled for reactions to take place:

1) Very high temperature (around 15 million degree C)

2) Sufficient Plasma particle density (to increase the likelihood that collision occurs)
3) Sufficient confinement time (to hold the plasma, which has the propensity to expand, within a defined
volume)

But, in recent years the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of USA have conducted experiments which achieved fusion
ignition and they were able to achieve a gain of 2 when compared to the energy of income laser. They used an
Inertial Confinement method.

- In NIF’s set up, high power lasers fire pulses at a 2 mm wide capsule inside a 1-cm long cylinder called
hohlraum, in less than 10 billionth of a second. This capsule holds (Deterium-Tritium). A short window is
created where nuclei can fuse.

This is the first time a gain of nearly 2 has been achieved on an fusion energy experiment on earth. It is being
considered the most impressive feat of the 21st century and is an engineering marvel beyond belief.

This is despite the fact that use of fusion process for generating electricity at commercial scale may still be
decades away. A gain of more than 100 will be required and NIF’s experiment to powerplant transition is till not
well understood.

Differences between NIF and ITER methods:

National Ignition Facility International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

(ITER)
Inertial Confinement Method (ICF) Magnetic Confinement method (MCF)
Device called Hohlraum is used to achieve high Device called Tokomak is used.
temperature
Laser provide energy and thus achieve the high Powerful electric current and magnetic field is used
temperature and pressure to form plasma and achieve very high temperature
and pressure
Done in a lab in USA ITER is an international experiment and around 35
countries are participating in it.

Conclusion: Both ITER and NIF are working with the same goal – developing a fusion energy reactor. The NIF
breakthrough is a giant leap forward, demonstrating the potential of fusion to revolutionize the energy landscape
and contribute to a more sustainable future.

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3) INDIA’S THREE-PHASE NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAM

- The three-stage nuclear power production program of India had been conceived by the ‘father of Indian
Nuclear Power Program’ Dr Homi J Bhabha, with the ultimate objective of utilizing the country’s vast reserves
of thorium-232.

1. The first stage comprises setting up of Heavy Water Reactors/Pressurized Heavy Water
Reactors (PHWRs) and associated fuel cycle facilities.

2. The second stage envisages setting up of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) backed by reprocessing
plants and plutonium-based fuels fabrication plants. Plutonium is produced by irradiation of U-
238.

3. The third stage is based on the thorium-232 -> Uranium 233 Cycle, Uranium-233 is obtained by
irradiation of Thorium.

- Progress of the 3 Stages

ú The first stage of Nuclear Power Programme is
already in commercial domain. The Nuclear
Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), a public
sector undertaking of DAE, is responsible for the
design, construction, and operation of nuclear
reactors. The company presently operates 23
reactors with a capacity of 7.7 GW. The total
operational capacity is expected to go to 22.4
GW by 2031

ú The Second Stage of Nuclear power generation

programme is geared towards setting up the

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 Fast Breeder Reactors. These reactors produce more fuel than they consume. The fast breeder
program is in technology demonstration stage.

§ Features of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)

- Fuel: Plutonium Uranium Oxide (PuO2 and UO2)
- Coolant: Liquid Sodium
- Liquid Sodium additional safety requirements
▫ Since sodium explodes if it comes in contact with water and burns when in contacts
with air, additional safety requirements are needed to isolate the coolant from the
environment.
▫ Sodium also absorbs neutron to form Radioactive Na24 isotope.

- Advantages of FBR:
▫ They can ensure upto 60 times as much energy from the original Uranium compared
with normal reactors.
▫ Reduction in radioactive waste.
▫ Safety -> closed fuel cycle would ensure safety
▫ Energy security for India -> India plans third phase of its nuclear energy program on
the success of FBR

ú The Third Stage: of the Nuclear Power Programme is in technology development stage.
- The ongoing development of 300 MWe Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) at BARC aims
at developing expertise for thorium utilization and demonstrating advanced safety concepts.
- Thorium-based systems such as AHWR can be set up on commercial scale only after a large
capacity based on fast breeder reactors, is built up.

- Why Thorium based reactors are important for us

i. Abundance: India has the world’s third largest reserve of thorium.
ii. Less Enrichment requirement: Thorium mining produces a single pure isotope, whereas
the mixture of natural uranium isotope must be enriched to function.
iii. Superior Nuclear Properties: Superior physical and nuclear properties
iv. Better Nuclear weapon resistant: Better resistance to nuclear weapon proliferation
§ Weapon grade fissionable material (U-233) is harder to retrieve safely from a
thorium reactor. It contains U-232, a strong source of gamma radiation that
makes it difficult to work with. Further, its daughter product, thallium-208, is
equally difficult to handle and easy to detect.
v. Reduced plutonium and actinide production
vi. They have miniscule long lived radioactive waste.

4) CIVIL LIABILITY FOR NUCLEAR DAMAGES (CLND) ACT, 2010

­ The act which contains a speedy compensation mechanism for victims of nuclear accident.
­ This act has been deemed responsible for Nuclear energy deadlock within the country. The two most
contentious have been Section 17(b) and Section (46)

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 ­ Section 17(b) : It contains provisions on recourse liability on suppliers. This allows a liable operator to
recover compensation from a supplier in case the accident was caused by provisions of sub-standard
services or defective or faulty equipment.
­ Section 46: Potentially unlimited liability under this section. Section 46 provides that nothing would
prevent proceedings other than those which can be brought under the act, to be brought against the
operator. This is not uncommon as it allows criminal liability to be pursued where applicable.

5) NUCLEAR ENERGY AND ENERGY SECURITY

- Introduction:
ú Energy security means consistent availability of sufficient energy in various forms at affordable prices.
When a country moves ahead on the path of development, it is necessary to utilize every energy
resource available in the country.

ú Currently, nuclear energy makes up about 3% of India’s energy sources

- Advantages of Nuclear Energy:

a) Least carbon footprint (lesser than renewable energy): The threat of climate change and environmental
pollution are likely to constraint the use of fossil fuels
b) Cost of nuclear power: The cost of nuclear power plants is pretty competitive to other fossil versions
c) Quantity of waste generated is also very less
d) Potential of self sufficiency India has huge reserves of thorium which if properly utilized will reduce the
dependency of India on foreign country
e) Depleting fossil fuels and import dependency: India is currently drawing around 63% of its total energy
from thermal sources. A significant part of this is imported.
f) Limitations of Renewable Energy
- Renewable energy are subject to vagaries of weather; they are land intensive; dependence on
import technology; energy storage handicaps;
- Renewable energy is inevitable and nuclear option should be retained as insurance.
- Limitations
a) Safety concerns in light of recent disasters
b) Nuclear waste disposal is a big concern
• India still doesn't have a credible waste disposal policy.
c) Potential of developing nuclear weapons
d) Security concerns
• Nuclear power plants can be favorite targets for terrorist organizations. If this happens it may cause
irreversible damage to people living in the region and the ecosystem.
e) India is dependent on other countries both for raw material and technology
• Our future potentially depends on third stage of nuclear program.
f) Ecological concerns
• Nuclear plants are generally set near the coast as it requires a lot of water.
• It is going to put pressure on coastline as India's western coastline is home to fragile ecology of
western Ghats.
g) Long gestation period

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 •Till now only more than 20 plants are operational. There are long gestation periods which increases
the cost of plants significantly.
h) More safeguards -> more costly
• Post Fukushima disaster, the cost of per unit energy has gone up. This has led to concerns regarding
the cost viability of nuclear power plants.

- Way Forward
§ As we know that India's total energy demand is expected to cross 800 GW by 2032, it is very important to
utilize all possible options available and nuclear energy is one of the most important of those options.
§ We need to develop a fledging domestic nuclear industry which will reduce our dependence as well as help
us in reducing the gestation period of the plants.
§ In light of the limitation’s association with nuclear energy, stress should be laid on cautious development,
safety precautions in operation and disposal of wastes. But development of nuclear energy can't be
stonewalled in the light of such concerns.

6) USE OF NUCLEAR RADIATION TECHNOLOGY FOR PROVIDING BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE

1) Introduction

- Even before the use in nuclear bombs and nuclear energy, radiations were used in therapeutic and
palliative for cancer cure in the early part of the 20th century.

- In the subsequent decades, nuclear fission made possible the harnessing of nuclear energy for
electricity production.

- However, the peaceful uses of the atom have developed several other large-scale applications in
agriculture, medicines and industrial sectors.

2) Important fields in which radiation technology is being used

1. Health: Care to Cure

- Healthcare has grown into one of the most important peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

- Nuclear Medicine - Diagnosis

▫ Nuclear medicine is a medical speciality that uses trace amounts of radioactive substances
(called radio - pharmaceuticals) in the diagnosis and treatment of wide range of diseases
and conditions in a safe and painless way.
▫ Radio pharmaceuticals can be administered by injection, inhalation, or orally and
selectively localized and retained at sites of diseases. And thus, allow an image to be
obtained of the loci using gamma scintigraphy or to deliver cytotoxic dose of radiation to
specific disease sites without adversely affecting the surrounding normal tissues.
▫ They help in identification of abnormalities in organ function even in early stages of a
disease.

- Radiation Therapy

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 ▫ A treatment that involve use of high-energy radiation either by using special machines or
from radioactive substance. The aim is to impart specific amount of radiation at tumors or
parts of the body to destroy the malignant cells.

1. External Beam Radiation Therapy / teletherapy

§ Radiation is delivered by using a machine outside the body.

§ A machine, either a 60Co-teletherapy unit or linear accelerator is used

§ It can be used to treat Breast Cancer, Bowel Cancer, Head and Neck Cancer and
Lung Cancer.
§ Bhabatron is a teletherapy machine developed by BARC and has been installed
in 50 cancer hospitals.

• It is cheaper than any imported telecobalt machine.

2. Internal Radiation Therapy or brachytherapy

§ Radioactive material is placed in the body near cancer cells.

§ It makes it possible to treat a cancer with a larger dose of radiation that can’t
be given with external beam radiation therapy.
§ Tiny titanium encapsulated Iodine-125 seeds have been developed by BARC and
have provided an avenue to treat eye cancer.

2. Food Security (1. Nuclear Agriculture 2. Food Preservation 3. Assessing the Quality of Food Products)

• Use of ionizing radiation based technologies provide safe hygienic and economically viable
solutions to address issue of agricultural productivity

1. Nuclear Agriculture

- Ionizing radiation is being used by BARC to induce mutation in plant breeding, and
around 50 varieties of different crops have been released to Indian farmers for
commercial cultivation in the country.
▫ e.g. groundnuts, mungbean, blackgram, pigeon pea, cowpea, mustard etc.

- Advantages

▫ Higher yield
▫ Earliness

▫ Large seed size

▫ Resistance to biotic and abiotic stress

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 2. Food Preservation - Produce and Preserve

§ Almost 30% of the food produced in India is lost due to spoilage because of pest attack,
contamination and moulds infestation. These are encountered both during harvesting as
well as post-harvest handling storage of the edible and cash crops.
§ Limitation of using pesticides

• Health hazards

• Disturbance to ecology

• Development of resistance in pest

§ Radiation Processing can provide a viable, effective, and eco-friendly alternative to
chemical fumigants and microbial decontamination, as the latter affect human health
and environment adversely.
§ There is an utmost need to adopt and integrate the irradiated foods into the country's
supply chains and promote the widespread use of this technology to ensure food safety
and security.

§ Advantages of using radiation processing

• Disinfestation of insects, pests in cereals, pulses and grain.

• Microbial decontamination (hygienization) of dry species etc. for

preservation/shelf life extension by applying pre-determined radiation doses.

• Increasing the exportability of Indian food produce.

• Elimination of parasites and pathogens of public health importance in food

• Delay in ripening and senescence in fruits and vegetables

• Inhibition of sprouting in tubers, bulbs and rhizomes

§ Radiation in no ways make production radioactive.

• Radiation therapy has been approved by WHO, IAEA, WTO, FSSAI etc.
Thus, as of Aug 2021, 26 Radiation Therapy plants are operational in the country.

3. Portable X-Ray imaging system can be very useful in grain

value chains where the time needed to assess the economic
value of grain by threshing or milling is a significant barrier.
ú For e.g., a team comprised of scientists from the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-
Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad and the Fraunhofer
Development Center for X-Ray Technology (EZRT) in

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 Erlangen, Germany have for the first time used x-Ray radiography to determine key
market-related traits of peanuts while still inside the hull. (Sep 2022)

• X-Ray Radiography has the potential to be the right technology for in-field evaluation of
farmers’ produce which the International Committee for Food Value and Safety calls for.

3. Energy Security - Nuclear is Clean and Green – already discussion

4. Societal Application

1. Sludge Hygenisation - from waste to wealth -> reduces spread of disease; protects
environment; increased manufacture of manure etc.

5. Hydrogel - Healing the wound

§ The process was developed by BARC scientists and technologically has been transferred for
commercial purpose.
§ Hydrogel is a thin transparent sheet of gel and is an excellent medical tool particularly useful
for burn and injury dressings.
§ Production

§ It is prepared by cross linking molecules of hydrophilic polymers like PVA either

chemically or by Gamma/Electron beam irradiation.
§ A 3D network of gel like structure is formed which holds large quantities of water.
Gamma Irradiation achieves gel formation and sterilization in one step.

6. Water Resources

1. Isotope Hydrology techniques

§ Isotope hydrology techniques enable accurate tracing of measurement of the extent of

new and renewable underground water resources at various locations.
§ The data obtained is used towards resource planning and sustainable management of
water resources.

2. Measuring contaminants in water

§ BARC has developed low cost and user-friendly kits for measurement of contaminants in
water.

7. Industrial Applications

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 1. Radiation Sterilization of Medical Products

2. Radiography

§ Radioisotopes which emit gamma rays are more portable than x-ray machines, and may
give higher-energy radiation, which can be used to check welds of new gas and oil
pipeline systems, with the radioactive source being placed inside the pipe and the film
outside the weld.
§ Radiography can also be used to gauge the thickness and density of materials or locate
components that are not visible to other means.

7) IMPORTANT SCIENTISTS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS: HOMI JEHANGIR BHABHA

- He is an Indian born nuclear physicist who made important contributions to quantum theory and cosmic
radiations.

- For his contributions in Nuclear Science and Technology in India, he is also known as the “Father of India’s
Nuclear Science Program”.
▫ He returned to India from England in 1939 to join Indian Institute of Science, where he founded the
Cosmic Ray Research Unit.
▫ He understood the importance of atomic energy and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Nehru for
promotion of the field. He established a Nuclear Research Centre in Trombay in 1954 which later
came to be known as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
▫ With the help of J.R.D. Tata, he played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Tata Institute
of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
▫ He headed India’s nuclear program till his death in 1966.
For his contributions, he was awarded Adams Prize (in 1942) and Padma Bhushan (1954). He was also
nominated for Nobel Prize for Physics in 1951 and 1953-56.

8) RADIOCARBON DATING

- Radiocarbon dating is a method by which age of an object is determined using radiocarbon, a name for the
isotope Carbon-14.
- How does radiocarbon dating work?
• When an organism is alive, it constantly exchanges carbon with its surrounding by breathing,
consuming food, defecating, shedding skin etc. Through these activities, carbon-14 is both lost and
replenished in the body, so its concentration in the body is nearly constant and in equilibrium with
its surrounding.
• When the living organism dies, the C-14 is not replenished and it begins to reduce due to radioactive
decay.
• Radiocarbon dating dates an object by measuring amount of C-14 left, which scientists can use to
calculate how long ago the body expired.

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- Note: Since carbon-14 decays with a half-life of around 5,730 years, its presence can be used to date
samples that are around 60 millennia old (i.e. 60,000 years old). Beyond that, the concentration of carbon-
14 in the sample would have declined by more than 99%.

- Tools of Radiocarbon dating:

- Geiger Counter was used in 1940s when radiocarbon dating began. It consists of a Geiger-Muller
tube connected to some electronics that interpret and display signals.
- Today, more sophisticated devices are used. For e.g., one of the most sensitive dating setups uses
accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), which can work with organic samples as little as 50 mg.
- Impact of Radio-carbon dating on science and technology:
• It was the first objective dating method to give numerical date to organic matter. Its impact
on the field of archaeology and geology have come to be known as “radiocarbon
revolution”.

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 3. COMPUTER, IT AND ELECTRONICS

1) 5G

­ 5G refers to the fifth generation of cellular wireless communication technologies.

- Key features of 5G technology are:

- Higher speed; Lower latency; Greater network stability.
- Device Intelligence: Unlike 4G, 5G has the capability to differentiate between fixed and mobile
devices. It uses cognitive radio techniques to identify each device and offer the most appropriate
delivery channel. This will allow a much more customized internet connection – according to
device capability and local reception environment.
- Other technical features of 5G
ú 5G will use higher frequencies of wireless spectrum (~ 30 GHz to 300 GHz) range when
compared to 4G which uses frequencies below 6 GHz.
§ Higher Frequency -> Huge quantity of data; Shorter Wavelength -> smaller antenna
sizes.
ú These frequencies are highly directional and thus can be used right next to other wireless
signals without causing interference.
ú Building on the multiplexing technology of its predecessor, 5G ushers in a new standard
called 5G New Radio (NR), which uses the best capabilities of LTE. 5G NR will enable
increased energy savings for connected devices and enhance connectivity.
ú Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections for wireless sensors
ú Spectral efficiency significantly enhanced compared to 4G
ú Improved Coverage
ú Enhanced signal efficiency

­ The Ultra-fast speed of 5G indeed holds the promise of revolutionary changes in various sectors:
▫ Upgraded Mobile Services
▫ Economic Benefits
» According to A.J. Paulraj Committee report, the overall impact of 5G on Indian economy
can be upto $1 trillion by 2035. It will help business especially those that operate outside
the reach of broadband networks or suffer from slow fixed line services.
» 5G would shape Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0
▫ Fast Rural connectivity: Cost of putting up mobile data will be lower than fiber optics cable,
5G will help rural areas get faster connectivity. It will have huge positive impact on health,
education, and other services in rural areas.
» Further, with IOT precision agriculture becomes more effective.
▫ Better Health services: Telemedicine will be possible; Remote surgeries more effective due to
lower latency.
▫ Ed-tech sector will be able to reach more people and provide education in nooks and corners
of the country.
▫ Better disaster management: -> Faster image transfers by drones – Faster Processing.

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 ▫ Driverless cars – large number of sensors in these cars will generate massive amount of data
that will need to be communicated to other vehicles.
» Internet of Things (IoT): 5G is considered backbone of IoT due to its high data rate,
reduced end-to-end latency and improved coverage.
▫ Better Energy management -> A smart network identifies the grid connectivity issues and
takes appropriate action in real time by analyzing the data that originates from the two-way
communication infrastructure.
▫ Better Law and Order Services -> 5G adoption would ensure the best performance of police
devices such as body cams, facial recognition technology, automatic number-plate
recognition, drones and CCTVs.
▫ Other potential uses
» Download time for a high-definition full-length movie will be seconds, not minutes
» It will allow simultaneous language translation between people attending
teleconference.

­ Concerns which 5G may create:

▫ 5G and Cyber Threat Landscape: Deploying 5G when we have a shaky cyber security foundation
is like erecting a structure on soft sand.
» Previous networks were hardware based. So, India could practice cyber hygiene. But 5G is
a software-defined digital routing. This makes it susceptible to cyber threats such as botnet
attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) overloads.
» Further, 5G network will bring about a wider proliferation of IoT-enabled devices. This
magnifies the threat canvas, as these devices will offer new malware and botnet distribution
vectors.
ú Geopolitical issues: Emerging threats from China and Countering it: China has taken a lead in
the development of 5G, and Chinese telecom companies are aggressively penetrating new
markets by commercializing the technology and offering it at cheaper rates than their
competitors. This has raised concerns that China may be strategically pushing these companies
to capture global markets and therefore, may be establishing an eavesdropping network.
ú Criminal elements will also have all the benefits like faster and real time coordination.
ú Privacy Concerns: Unlike 4G, networks running on 5G have a much smaller area of coverage. This
can allow precise location tracking of mobile phone or internet users inside and outside,
potentially impacting their privacy.
ú Other general issues: Poor infrastructure in India; Only two major players left – Airtel and Jio –
Reduced competition etc.

- Way Forward:
» Focus on cyber security:
▫ Updated latest technology.
▫ Organizations connecting to 5G network must be cognizant of the evolving threat landscape
and adopt security protocols accordingly.
▫ A critical component of resilience will be awareness of end-users. Their cyber hygiene – their
understanding of safe practices in cyber space – can help them better tackle the threats and
protect themselves.
» International collaboration with like-minded countries to deal with China’s rise in 5G technology.

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 » Fight new age 5G Crimes:
▫ First, the police need to be trained so that they recognize new 5G enabled crimes.
▫ Second, training programs focused on 5G based crimes must be developed. This includes
identifying potential scenarios for new types of crimes and their prevention.
▫ Third, government and telecom companies may think of setting up a 5G crime monitoring
task force to monitor and identify new crimes and develop counter measures.
▫ Fourth, bring changes in laws/rules/ regulations to prevent these kinds of crimes.
» Provide effective regulatory framework to allow fast track growth of 5G technology which will
play a crucial role in economic growth of the country.

­ Conclusion: To sum up, 5G offers new opportunities for digitalization and development, but the
technology and network are not secure by design. Therefore, India must have a cyber resilience plan
in place.

2) 6G

- Successor of 5G
- Frequency Bands – 95 GHz to 3 THz
» It seeks to use Tera Hz band frequency which is still unutilized. Tera Hz band fall between infrared and
microwaves. Though the waves have very small wavelength, there is a huge amount of free spectrum
which would allow us very fast data rates.
- Data rate – Upto 1 TBPS (100 times faster than 5G)
- Latency < 1 milli seconds
- Application and Advantages (Similar points as 5G)
- 6G also envisions to enable new applications such as holographic communication, brain-computer
interface, quantum internet, and artificial intelligence.
- Challenges for India:
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» Low R&D investments

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» Terahertz communication are blocked easily by barriers and signal also attenuates easily
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A) BHARAT 6G ALLIANCE (B6GA)

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- Why in news?
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» DoT launches Bharat 6G Alliance to drive innovation and collaboration in Next-Generation Wireless
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Technology (July 2023)

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- Details about B6GA:

» It is a collaborative platform consisting of public and private companies, academia, research institutions
and standards development organization. It will forge coalition and synergies with other 6G Global
Alliances, fostering international collaboration and knowledge network.

» The primary objective of the B6GA is to facilitate market access for Indian telecom technology products
and services, enabling the country to emerge as a global leader in 6G technology.

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 » It aims to bring together Indian startups, companies, and the manufacturing ecosystem to establish
consortia that drive the design, development and deployment of 6G technologies in India.

» It also focuses upon accelerating standard related patent creation within the country and actively
contributing to international standardization organizations such as 3GPP and ITU.

B) BHARAT 6G MISSION

- Aim of 6G service rollout by 2030.

- India has also launched a development test bed.
- More about the Vision document
» Prepared by the Technology Innovation Group on 6G (TIG) which was set up by Department of
Telecommunication in 2021.
» Mission divided into two phases:
ú Phase 1 (2023-2025): Ideation phase – understand various potentials and risks; test proof the
concept
ú Phase 2 (2025-2030): Delivering the potential technology solution
» Constitution of an apex body to oversee the mission and approve the budget of the mission

- Significance of the document:

» Assuming leadership in setting the 6G standards
» Not delaying adoption (as has happened in previous generations)
» Ensuring latest technology coming to India in the fastest way possible.

3) WEB BROWSERS

- Definition:
ú A web browser is software that allows you to find and view websites on the Internet. They translate code
into the dynamic webpage that forms the backbone of our online experience.

- How do Browsers work?

Modern web browsers have multiple core components, each of which is a complex technology in itself.

A) REQUEST AND RESPONSE

- When you enter a website’s address the browser sends a request to a server, asking for the
contents of the specific web browser you’re interested in.
- The server then formulates a response containing the information (or data) required to construct
the web pages. This response embarks on its journey back to your browser, carrying the digital
blueprint for the page you requested.

B) DECONSTRUCTING THE RESPONSE

- The response from the server is an amalgam of various files. Typically, these files have information
encoded in three languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Each set of information plays a pivotal
role in shaping the final presentation of the web page.

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 C) RENDERING
- With HTML, CSS and JavaScript in hand, a browser begins the process of rendering. This involves
deciphering the HTML to understand the structural arrangement, applying CSS for stylistic finesse,
and executive JS to infuse interactivity.

D) MANAGING DATA
- Browsers serve as adept custodians for your digital footprint, so they also implement instruments
like cookies and cache to enhance your online experience.

E) SECURITY

- Web browsers use an array of security measures to protect your data as they fly between your
computer to various servers, via the internet, and even when they’re stored on your computer. They
do this by using encryption protocols, such as HTTPS, to create secure tunnels for data exchange
shielding the information from prying eyes.

- Browsers also use warning systems to alert you about potentially malicious websites, preventing
inadvertent exposure to threats.

Future of Internet Browsers:

- As technology hurtles forward, web browsers evolve in tandem. They are embracing new technologies like
Web Assembly, a format that enables near-native performance within the browser environment.
o Note: WebAssembly is a type of code that can run on modern webbrowsers – it is low-level
assembly-like language with a compact binary format that runs with near native performance and
provides languages such C/C++ with a compilation target so that they can run on web. It is also
designed to run along JavaScript, allowing both to work together.

- Support for VR and AR experience is also on the horizon, promising immersive online interactions.

- Privacy features are being bolstered, providing users a greater control over their digital footprint.

Conclusion:
Web browsers are the unsung heroes of our digital endeavors, translating code into the dynamic web pages
that from the backbone of our online experiences.

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4) WEB 3.0

Background: Understanding Web 1.0 and Web 2.0

- Web 1.0 is the world wide web or the internet that was invented in 1989. It became popular in 1993. The
internet in the Web 1.0 was mostly static web pages. Here most of the users visited websites and read and
interacted with the static material available there. It was a closed environment and users themselves
couldn’t create post content and reviews.

- Web 2.0 started in some form by late 1990s. By 2004, most of the features of web 2.0 was available for
implementation. Here websites were more dynamic where users could create content, post comment,
write reviews etc. They could also upload photos and videos. Primarily, a social media kind of interaction
is the differentiating trait of Web 2.0.

Concerns of Web 2.0:

» Most of the data on internet is owned and controlled by a few behemoth companies. It has created issues
related to data privacy, data security and abuse of such data. It has kind of disappointed experts that the
original purpose of internet has been distorted.

Web 3.0
Web3 or Web 3.0 is a term used to describe the next phase of the internet.
- It runs on the decentralized technology of blockchain and would be different from web 1.0 and web 2.0.
Here, users have ownership stakes in platforms (unlike now where tech behemoths control everything).
Here users will control their own data.

significance of web 3.0:

- Prevents monopoly over data.
- Promotes data privacy.
- Increase competition in fields like search engine businesses as control over content now restricted to just
a few companies would end.
- New technology will give India an opportunity to innovate and develop.

Future of Web 3.0: Will it take off?

- It is still in its formative stage and only the future would tell if this would be accepted by wider internet
users or not. Tech honchos like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey don’t see a future for Web3.

Conclusion: Web3 may or may not become dominant mode of internet, but it has definitely raised some
relevant questions.

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5) BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Introduction
▫ Blockchain is an incorruptible, decentralized, digital ledger of transactions that can be programmed
to record not just financial transactions but virtually anything of value. It was first used in the design
and development of Bitcoin – Cryptocurrency in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Data/Transactions stored in the blocks are secured against tempering using cryptographic hash algorithm
and are validated and verified through consensus (consensus protocol) across nodes of blockchain
network.
­ Positives/Advantages
▫ Security -> Built in robustness -> no single point of failure i.e. no centralized points of
vulnerability that hackers can exploit.
▫ Trust -> Increased Transparency and incorruptibility
▫ Reduces the role of intermediary.
▫ Speeds up the process.
▫ Lowers transaction cost
▫ Applications in various sectors

­ Applications (Current and Future Potential)

▫ Economy and Finance offers the strongest use cases for the technology.
§ Financial transactions are typically granted by third party and block chain could be used to
automate the process, reducing overall costs, by cutting out the middleman with
autonomous smart contract acting as trusted intermediaries between parties on the
network.
§ Faster, Cheaper settlements could save billions of dollars from transaction costs while
improving transparency.
§ Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and pensions may one day be stored on blockchains as many
financial organizations explore the technology.
▫ Automotive: Consumers could use the blockchain application to manage the fractional ownership
in autonomous cars.
▫ Public Ledger Information: Many governments are looking to adopt this technology to store
information about the citizens and census. A decentralized platform to safely store data regarding,
birth, death crime etc. can contribute to effectively curbing fraudulent activities.
▫ Healthcare: Patients encrypted information could be shared with multiple providers without the
risk of privacy breaches.
▫ Smart Contracts: Every agreement, every process, every task, and every payment would have a
digital record and signature that could be identified, validated, stored, and shared. Intermediaries
like lawyers, brokers, bankers might not be necessary.
▫ Secure File storage
§ Distributing data throughout the network protects files from getting hacked or lost.
▫ Supply chain auditing
▫ Anti-Money laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC)
§ AML and KYC practices have a strong potential for being adapted to blockchain.
▫ Changing the nature of ownership of assets and managing titles
§ Blockchains will make all kinds of record keeping more efficient. Property titles are a case in
point. They tend to be susceptible to fraud, as well as costly and labour intensive.

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6) NATIONAL STRATEGY ON BLOCKCHAIN

- Introduction: MEITY released national strategy on blockchain for its adoption in government systems,
especially e-governance services in Dec 2021.

- Key highlights
- The National Strategy on Blockchain provides insights on the government’s strategies and offers
recommendations for creating digital platforms.
- It quotes Gartner report and lays out the potential of the use of blockchain, which is expected to reach
business value of $176 billion by 2025 and $1.3 trillion by 2030.

- Vision and Objective:

ú Create Trusted digital platforms through shared blockchain infrastructure
ú Promote R&D, HR, entrepreneurship, innovation etc. in Blockchain sector.
ú Promote India as a hub of blockchain based technologies and make India a global leader in the
sector.
ú Ensure state of art, high quality digital service delivery to citizens and businesses.

- It has identified 44 key areas where blockchains can be applied, including transfer of land and
property, managing digital certificates, pharmaceutical supply chain, e-notary services, e-voting, smart
grid management and electronic health record management.

- It has taken into consideration the blockchain-based platforms operated by governments in China,
Brazil, the UAE, and Europe.

- The ministry has also recommended the formation of a National Blockchain Framework (NBF) that can
be utilized in areas such as health, agri, education, and finance.
ú It will have three types of participants:
i. Confident user of the technology (application developers),
ii. Provider or operator of technology (infrastructure and services, Blockchain as a service)
iii. Complete technology stack builder (IP creator)
- A dedicated team would be identified to hand-hold the implementers at various central/state
government applications.

- It says that “geographically distributed national-level shared infrastructure” is needed to “enable

citizen services at large scale and enable cross domain application development”.
- The strategy seeks to “create a trusted digital platform through shared blockchain infrastructure” and
promote “R&D, innovation, technology and application development” around the technology.
- Five key areas of weakness in the technology – Scalability, Security, interoperability, data localization,
and disposal of records.

Key challenges to such widespread adoptions are – Adoption of technology, Regulatory compliance,
identification of suitable use cases, finding the right data format, and awareness and skill set.

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7) SUPERCOMPUTERS

- Example Questions: What is a Supercomputer? Discuss the key targets of India's National Super
Computing Mission [150 worlds, 10 marks]

- Intro
ú A supercomputer is a computer with a high-level computational capacity compared to a
general-purpose computer or Supercomputer is a computer with great speed and memory.
They are usually thousands of time faster than ordinary personal computers made at that time.

ú As per the 62nd edition of TOP500 released in Nov 2023, following are the most powerful
supercomputers currently:
» USA’s Frontier is the most powerful supercomputer in the world reaching 1194 petaflops
(1.194 Exaflops)
» USA’s Aurora system is at 2nd spot with a capacity of 585.34 PFlop/s.
­ Note: Aurora is currently being commissioned and will reportedly exceed Frontier with a
peak performance of 2 EFLops/s when finished.
» Eagle (installed in the Microsoft Azure Cloud in the USA), is at 3rd Spot. This is the highest rank
a cloud system has ever achieved. It has the capacity of 561.2 PFlop/s.
» Fugaku (of Japan) is now ranked 4th (it was ranked second till July 2023 and ranked one till
Nov 2021). It’s capacity is that of 441.02 PFlop/s.
» LUMI (of European Union, Finland) is ranked 5th with a capacity of 379.70 PFlops.

ú Uses: Super computers are generally used for scientific and engineering applications that must
handle very large databases or do a great amount of computation (or both). Some of the key
areas where supercomputers contribute are:
» Weather forecasting
» Climate research (E.g. Pratyush at IITM, Pune)
» Code-breaking
» Genetic analysis
» Oil and gas exploration – Seismic processing in the oil industry: Supercomputers help to
detect and accelerate deeper geological insights.
» Molecular modelling
» Other jobs that need many calculations including engineering, product design, complex
supply chain optimization (actually any kind of optimization), Bitcoin mining etc.

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 8) SUPERCOMPUTING IN INDIA

- In India, Indigenous development of Supercomputers began in 1980s. India’s first Supercomputer was
Param 8,000 which was created in 1991.

- Currently, as per the 62nd edition of TOP500 released in Nov 2023, the most powerful supercomputer in
India is AIRAWAT – PSAI which is ranked 75 with a total capacity of 13.17 Petaflops. Thus in terms of
supercomputing power India is way behind the world leaders.

- National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)

▫ A visionary program, launched in 2015, to enable India to leapfrog to the league of world class
computing power nations.
▫ The mission is jointly steered by DST and MEITy.
▫ Implemented by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC); Indian Institute of Science
(IISc), Bangalore.
▫ Super Computing Grid: The mission envisages empowering our national academic and R&D institutions
spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high
performance computing facilities.
▫ Human Resource: The mission also includes development of highly professional High-Performance
Computing (HPC) aware human resource for meeting challenges of manpower scarcity in the sector.

- Conclusion and Way Forward:

ú Supercomputers are now using exa-scale systems which may reach its speed barrier soon. The
scientists are already working on new mechanisms like quantum computing, optical computing etc.
India should ensure more research in this field to ensure that future supercomputing doesn’t remain a
concern for it and it is able to walk along the advanced economies of the world in terms of computing
power.

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9) QUANTUM COMPUTERS

» Background: Classical computers have enabled the information revolution that we are part of today.
But these classical computers can’t do a number of things including Optimization, Simulation of large
molecules, factoring of large numbers etc. But Quantum computing may help us solve the above
problems someday.

» Quantum computers are based on the principle of quantum theory. They gain enormous processing
power due to the ability of quantum computer to perform task using all possible permutations
simultaneously.

» Quantum Computers use qubit (Quantum bit). These qubits can take values 0 or 1 or any of the
infinite superpositions between 0 and 1. When Qubits are in superposition, it has some probability
of being in state 0 and some probability of being in state 1.
» Qubits are usually made of things like electrons, photons or even a nucleus.

ú Quantum Supremacy: It refers to quantum computers being able to solve a problem that a classical
computer cannot. The term was coined by theoretical physicist John Preskill of the Caltech in 2012.
» Google recently used a 53 Qubit processor (Sycamore) to generate a sequence of millions of
numbers, that conform to an algorithm generated by google. A classical supercomputer checked
some of these values and they were correct.
» Google’s Quantum computer claimed ‘Supremacy’ because it reportedly did the task in 200
seconds that would have apparently taken a supercomputer 10,000 years to complete.

ú Some Problems faced by Quantum Computing Sector: While the above concept sounds promising,
but there are still tremendous obstacles to be overcome.
» Interference: During the computation phase of a quantum calculation, the slightest
disturbance in the quantum system (a stray photon or a wave of EM radiation) causes the
quantum computation to collapse, a process known as Quantum Decoherence.
» Error Corrections: Because truly isolating the quantum system has proven so difficult, error
correction systems for quantum computing have been developed.
» Output observance: Observing the final output also risks corrupting the data.

ú The breakthroughs in the last 20 year including the quantum supremacy achieved by Google have
increased the chances of developing practical quantum computing mechanisms. However, it is not clear
whether the practical application is less than a decade away or a hundred years into the future.

ú Examples of Quantum Computers: While the idea governing quantum computers have been around
since the 1990s, the actual machines have been around since 2011, most notably built by Canadian
company D-Wave systems.

» The recent Google’s 53 qubit Quantum computer is called Sycamore. Google is also spending
billions and targets to build its own working quantum computer by 2029.

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 » IBM plans to have a 1,000-qubit quantum computer. For now, IBM allows the use of its machines
by those research organization, institutions etc which are part of its quantum network.
» Microsoft also offers companies access to quantum technologies via its Azure Quantum Platform.

ú Applications: The potential that this technology offers are attracting tremendous interest from both
the governments and the private sector.
» Military Applications include breaking of advanced encryption using brute force searches.
» Advanced Cryptography: Quantum uncertainties could be used to create private keys for
encrypting messages to be sent from one place to another.
» Climate Change and Weather Forecasting
» Faster Data analysis in industrial science applications will enable faster solution to business
problems in the era of big data.
» Improved Optimization for complex problems like NP-hard problems. This may lead to faster
optimization of very large-scale problems involving complex network structures, computational
biological science, and physical sciences.
» Transform Healthcare and Medicine: Drug Development and Discovery
» Other civilian applications include DNA Modelling and complex material science analysis.
» Improved Machine Learning Outcomes by enabling more efficient optimization of these
algorithms so that ML capabilities become more efficient, accurate and fast.
» Teleporting the information from one location to another without physically transmitting the
information. Entangling of quantum particles allow us to achieve this.

ú India and Quantum Computing:

» There are no quantum computers in India yet.
» Cabinet Approves Rs 6003 Crore National Quantum Mission (April 2023)
» In Aug 2021, India launched QSim to aid Quantum Computing research in India.

ú Way Forward:
» Well-funded Research Centres of Excellence – in the leading technological institutions. A long-term
program by DST could possibly be introduced whereby strategic infrastructure and manpower training
projects can be funded in the established technology engineering situations. This would need to cover
both hardware and software to further develop a homegrown technology industry.
» Clear and Sustained Policy and Governance: Since quantum computers will deal with new levels of
data and computing, it’s important to create legal framework surrounding data management, data
sharing, data privacy, information assurance, algorithmic governance, and transparency needs to
evolve.
» Manpower Skilling is an important component of employability of the future workforce of India, and
this may require policy interventions since most private organizations focus on exploiting immediate
skill availability and project needs by compromising future skilling needs.
» International Collaboration: International funding agencies could develop joint project funding
schemes whereby collaborations can be fostered to enable faster development in the space.
» Encouraging Startups focus on quantum computers: Through, government support via organizations
like technology development boards, where grants can be given to startup ventures.

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ú Conclusion: Quantum computing domain needs greater focus in the country through strategic
investment in research, development, and training mechanisms. This may enable improved capability
for leveraging and exploiting this domain for the benefit of citizens and the nation going forward.

10) INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

- Introduction
ú IoT is a network of physical objects embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for
connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems via the internet.
ú A thing on the internet of Things, can be a person with a heart monitor implant, a farm animal with
a biochip transponder, an automobile with a built-in-sensors to alert the driver when tire pressure is
low - or any other natural or manmade object that can be assigned an IP address and provided with
the ability to transfer data over a network.

ú This is achieved by sensors and finally fabricated micro-controllers.

- Advantages
ú Reduce waste, loss, and cost -> by early detection of problems and taking corrective steps
ú We would know what things needed replacing, repairing, or recalling and whether they were fresh
or past their best. This helps in increasing the reliability of a device.

- Applications
▫ Health Care Sector: IoT can improve the reliability and performance of the life-critical system. For
e.g., the IOT based devices can be used in combination with cardiac monitor to raise an alarm to the
doctors in case of abnormality.
▫ Agriculture Sector: IoT can be used to gather live pedological data that can be used by scientists to
improve the yield of the land. It can also help in implementing precision agriculture.
▫ Transportation Sector:
» Early detection of wear and tear (preventing accidents)
» Self-Driving Cars – will need IOT for real time decisions
» Traffic Management – real time traffic data -> better traffic management.
▫ Energy Management
» Managing temperature in a Nuclear Power Plant (using sensors and IoT)
» Real time efficiency analysis of Solar Power panels.
▫ Research and Development:
» E.g. – Recent development of wireless communication system for satellites by NASA through
which Satellites can communicate with each other.
▫ Safety and Security
» Real time tracking of criminals – using tagging and IoT.

- Some Limitations of IoT

a. High Initial cost of set up -> Since IoT is based on expensive sensors
b. Increased cyber security concerns -> with increased number of devices connected to internet
Compatibility issues -> due to lack of the international standardization on IoT devices.

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 11) BIG DATA

- Intro
» Big Data is a collection of data that is huge in volume (petabytes and exabytes of data) yet growing
exponentially with time. It is a data with so large size and complexity that none of the traditional data
management tools can store or process it efficiently. Big Data can be structured, semi-structured and
Unstructured. But they generally have potential to be mined for information.

» Examples of Big Data:

o BSE which generates Gigabytes of data per day
o Social media – Around 500+ terabytes of new data get ingested into the database of social media
site Facebook every day.
o Data from search engines (like Google, Bing etc.) and Online portals like Amazon.

- Challenges include capture, analysis, data curation, search, sharing, storage, transfer, visualization,
querying, updating, and information privacy.

- Big data is characterized by 3 Vs – Volume, Velocity and Variety.

- Advantages – Accuracy, Better Correlation

- Key areas where it can be used

» Internet
» Finance
» Urban Informatics
» Business informatics
» Meteorology
» Genomics and healthcare
Find new cures, optimize treatment, and even predict diseases before any physical symptoms appear
» Complex physical simulations
» Environment research
» Improve the performance of Individuals
ú (At sports, at home or work), where data from wearable sensors in equipment and wearable
devices can be combined with video analytics to get insights that traditionally where impossible
to achieve)

» Security Agencies
ú To prevent cyber attack
ú Detect credit card frauds
ú Foil terrorism
ú Even predict criminal activity

» Improve our homes, cities, and countries

ú Optimizing heating and lighting in our homes

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 ú Optimizing traffic flow in our cities
ú Optimizing Energy Grid across the country

- Relation between cloud computing and big data

» Cloud computing is very important in BIG data analytics due to its application sharing and cost-
effective properties

12) NOTE:

We will cover more topics of S&T in coming classes, but in next class we want to start with EB&CC. We
will continue doing some S&T topics including AI, ChatGPT, IPR, Physics, Chemistry related update in the
from of Current Affairs Updates

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