Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nanotechnology, bio-technology.

Awareness in the field of IT and Computers:

1. Digital infrastructure in India
   • Government of India has been at the forefront of using technology in different aspects of governance, be it satellite based communication in 1980s or use of electronic messaging much before the advent of internet in the country or even the use of video conference for monitoring the implementation of Government programmes and schemes across the country.
   • National Informatics Centre, an attached office of Ministry of Electronics and IT, has been closely working with Government in provisioning state-of-the-art infrastructure in the form of nationwide network (NICNET), Data Centres, and Video Conferencing facilities to name a few. 
   • Digital India, one of the flagship programmes of the Government, has given significant push to adoption of technology and has brought a paradigm shift in the delivery of services to citizens and also the way Government engages with citizens.
   • Key components of digital infrastructure for Government
     • Pan India Network: NICNET, the Pan India communication network for exclusive use of Government has continuously evolved since 1980s in terms of its geographical expansion, state of the art technology, reliability as well as security architecture.
       • It is at the base of all Government communications right from Government to Government, Government to citizen as well as Government to business communication.
     • National Knowledge Network: It provides Multi gigabit nationwide network connected through 10G backbone and extends high speed connectivity to leading Research and Academic Institutions of the country.
     • National Cloud (MeghRaj): In order to utilize and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing. Government of India initiated a Government Cloud initiative titled “MeghRaj” in 2014. (aka GI Cloud)
       • Setting-up of a secured cloud infrastructure has reduced considerable amount of time in provisioning of digital infrastructure.
     • Geospatial Technology: Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have improved the accessibility of various e-Govemance services by offering location based access, visual gap analysis and actual onsite representation of various activities.
       • Bharat Maps is a multi-layered GIS platform / web service comprising of seamless country wide base maps, satellite images and hybrid maps aligned as per the global geo spatial standards. 
       • GIS is helping MGNREGA workers to get information about availability of work in the near locations, work site location information, real time transparent attendance and payment information. At the same time, it is benefitting the citizens by enabling geo portal for MGNREGA assets, which will enhance the concurrent social audit by citizens and facilitate feedback information on current status of work, quality validation, etc.
     • Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): Earlier, there was an inherent delay in the transfer of funds due to multiple layers of governance. With the advent of technology and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) coming up a paradigm shift has been experienced in the way benefits are transferred to the citizens.
     • Cyber Security: To address ever increasing threat of cyber-attacks in terms of their magnitude as well as their sophistication, Computer Emergency Response Team (NIC-CERT) group has been constituted with an objective of analyzing, monitoring and responding to cyber threats on critical government cyber infrastructure, like websites, emails and various services. 
2. Data Localisation:
   • Data localization is a concept that the personal data of a country’s residents should be processed and stored in that country.
     • It may restrict flow entirely or allow for conditional data sharing or data mirroring (in which only a copy has to be stored in the country)
   • There is a growing perception that data localization will aid countries asserting sovereignty in digital domain, ensure informational security of its citizens & fare better in governance (as it goes digital).
   • Need for data localization:
     • Economic development of the country:
       • Data is the new oil, an economic resource, fueling the 4th Industrial Revolution.
       • Digital data in India to increase from 40,000 PetaByte (PB) in 2010 to 2.3 million PB by 2020 – twice as fast as the global rate.
         • If India houses all this data, it will become 2nd largest investor in the data centre market and 5th largest data centre market by 2050.
         • This will give significant push to AI led economy in India.
       • India has 2nd highest FinTech adoption rate amongst major economies in the world. Data localization would give a push to domestic production of high value digital products.
       • Domains of cloud computing, data analytics etc. can become major job creators in future. 
       • There is a push among government department to use AI tools and attempt a predictive approach to policy making. With data localization, there is a scope of greater access to ‘public data’ collected by companies (e.g. traffic data collected by like Uber, street level data collected by Google Maps) for the Government.
     • Increase India’s tax revenue:
       • Extensive data collection & processing by technology companies, and unfettered control of user data has allowed them to freely monetize Indian users’ data outside the country without paying any taxes. 
       • Localization would lead to a larger presence of MNC’s in India overall, through local offices, and increase tax liability and open more jobs. 
         • Data localization is supported by domestic companies like PayTM and PhonePe as it will level the playing field, currently rendered unequal due to differences in tax liabilities of international companies and those having permanent establishment in India. E.g. Google India tax dispute over advertisement revenue under litigation in court.
     • Maintain data sovereignty & citizens’ data privacy:
       • With data stored in remote servers, the accountability of service providers (like Google, Facebook etc.) reduces as it is outside the purview of Indian regulatory authorities.
       • With data localization, regulatory oversight on end-use of data will improve and business jurisdiction related loopholes will be plugged. E.g. Facebook shared user data with Cambridge Analytica to influence voting.
     • Issue of national security: Data localization will help law enforcement agencies to get access to user data for investigation and prosecution.
     • Currently, companies are dependent on Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) to obtain data from US companies leading to delays and legal challenges in foreign jurisdictions.
     • In many countries like US, tech companies are legally barred from disclosing data to foreign law enforcement agencies.
   • Challenges associated with data localization:
     • Economic Costs:
       • Cross-border data flows have contributed $2.8 trillion to the global economy in 2014, set to increase to $11 trillion by 2025. Stringent localization norms could affect innovation & ease of doing business in India. 
       • India’s Information Technology Enabled Services (IteS) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industries (. E.g. TCS/Wipro) thrive on cross border data flows and would incur significant additional costs if data localization is strictly implemented.
         • This could be further a drag on India’s IT industry which is already under pressure due to emergent technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence. 
     • Security Concerns:
       • Isolating payment systems from global data network would reduce their operational efficiency and make transactions prone to frauds, systemic risks or a single point of failure.
         • Moreover, according to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report 2017, India is 3rd most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats (e.g. malware, spam & ransomware etc.) due to inadequate cybersecurity infrastructure.
     • Push to protectionism in global trade:
       • It hampers a globalized, competitive internet marketplace, where costs and speeds determine information flows, rather than nationalistic borders.
       • It might trigger a vicious cycle of data localization requirements by other countries 
     • Access issues will remain:
       • Law enforcement require only “access to data” for their investigation and the physical location of server is immaterial.
       • Data localization norms may not increase accessibility of data kept in encrypted form (e.g. WhatsApp)
     • Privacy concerns: There is no evidence that data localization leads to better privacy or security. Threat of state surveillance and misuse of personal data of citizens by the Government will remain.
     • Increase of conflicts: This may be perceived as a protectionist policy which may lead to other countries following suit and increased conflict over data sharing. 
     • Cloud Computing Softwares: Cloud computing softwares have taken advantage of the economies of scale and an infrastructural architecture across the world. Thus, when there is a threat (to data) presumed in one part of the world, the algorithm would move the data to another location or even in multiple locations. However, this flexibility may be hampered due to data localization.
   • Measures towards data localization
     • In 2018, a draft data protection law by BN Shrikrishna Committee also recommended that all personal data of Indians have at least one copy in India.
       • It also defined a category of data as critical personal data, which must be stored and processed only in India. 
     • A similar clause was incorporated in Government’s draft e-commerce policy, which recommended localization for “community data generated by users in India from various sources including e-commerce platforms, social media, search engines etc.”
     • Draft Digital Information Security in Healthcare Act (DISHA) seeks to empower the health regulator to localize data.
     • RBI’s data localization directive: In 2018,  RBI issued a directive advising all Payment System Operators (PSOs) to ensure that the entire data relating to payment systems is stored within databases located in India.
       • Directives are applicable to Payment System providers authorized by RBI under Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.  This includes many companies from payment gateways like MasterCard and Visa to e-wallets like PayTM.
   • Global Practices 
     • China/Russia: There are stringent data localization norms in China/Russia.
       • In China, any cross border flow of personal data requires security assessment. Additionally, “Critical Information Infrastructure Operators” need to store certain personal and business information within China. 
     • US: Electronics Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) bars US-based service providers from disclosing electronic communications to any law enforcement entity unless requirements under US law are met.
     • European Union: General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) allows cross-border movement of data, but requires destination country to have stringent cyber-security rules.
   • Way Forward 
     • Before universalizing the policy of data localization, the Government needs to provide a push to local capabilities in data storage and processing
       • Infrastructure status to data centres/server farms
       • Adequate physical infrastructure (energy, real estate and internet connectivity) for setting up such centres
     • India should put in place in a cybersecurity law to ensure protection of private data of citizens. 
     • To promote ease of access of data to law enforcement agencies, the government should seek to enter into bilateral agreements. 
       • Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act of US seeks to de-monopolize control over data from US authorities & allows tech companies to share it with foreign governments. India must upgrade its data protection regime to qualify for the benefits under CLOUD Act.
3. Super-computing in India:
   • The supercomputer is a computer with a high-level computational capacity compared to a general purpose computer.
     • Performance of a supercomputer is measured in floating point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS). 
   • It is typically used for scientific and engineering applications that must handle very large databases or do a great amount of computation (or both). 
   • Application areas: Climate Modelling, Computational Biology, Atomic Energy Simulations, National Security/ Defence Applications, Disaster Simulations and Management, Computational Material Science and Nanomaterials, Cyber Physical Systems, Big Data Analytics etc.
   • India has 4 supercomputers in the Top-500 list of the world’s top 500 supercomputers with Pratyush and Mihir being the fastest supercomputers in India.
     • Pratyush:
       • Launched in January 2018, it is the fourth fastest High Performance Computer (HPC) dedicated to climate modelling in the world. 
       • India has become the only country worldwide to have an Ensemble Prediction System (EPS), running weather models at a 12-km resolution due to Pratyush. 
     • Mihir: It has been installed at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), New Delhi.
   • Notes:
     • Currently, China dominates the list (of top-500 supercomputers) with 229 supercomputers, leading the second place (United States) by a record margin of 121.
     • Since June 2018, the American “Summit” is the world’s most powerful supercomputer, based on the LINPACK benchmarks.
     • PARAM 8000, first supercomputer of India, was built by CDAC
   • Application of Super-computing 
     • Weather Forecasting: The processing power of supercomputers help climatologists predict, not only the likelihood of rain in your neighborhood, but also the paths of hurricanes and the probability of tornado strikes. Weather prediction has reached accuracy of forecast as well as real time tracking of natural phenomenon.
     • Scientific Research: Like the weather, scientific research depends upon the number-crunching ability of supercomputers.
       • For example, Researchers at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, found the Higgs-Boson particle by analyzing the massive amounts of data generated by the Large Hadron Collider.
     • Data Mining: Some supercomputers are needed to extract information from raw data gathered from data farms on the ground or in the cloud.
       • For example, businesses can analyze data collected from their cash registers to help control inventory or spot market trends.
   • Challenges to Supercomputing in India: 
     • Limited funding: Limited investments and delayed release of funds have held India back. Even after launching NSM, only 10 per cent of its total budget has been released at the end of three years.
     • Limited Hardware development: India’s stronghold is in software development, it has to depend on imports to procure the hardware components required for building supercomputers. 
       • Cutting edge technology in hardware components is difficult to procure as supercomputing is a niche field.
     • Brain Drain: Large Multi-National Corporations (like Google) have also entered the supercomputing field. Competing with such MNCs to retain talent for developing and maintaining supercomputers proves difficult for Government.
     • Limited manufacturing capability: Actual chip design and manufacturing is difficult to achieve (due to many factors like high initial investment needed, limited availability of rare earth metals).
   • Government Initiative: National Supercomputing Mission 
     • The Mission, launched in 2015, envisages empowering our national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by installing a vast super-computing grid comprising of more than 70 high performance computing facilities.
     • Objective:
       • To make India one of the world leaders in Super-computing and to enhance India’s capability in solving grand challenge problems of national and global relevance.
       • To attain global competitiveness and ensure self-reliance in the strategic area of supercomputing technology. 
     • Salient Features:
       • The mission would be implemented jointly by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) through two organizations the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
       • 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
       • These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN), a programme under same ministry (Meity) which connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high-speed network.
       • The Mission also includes development of highly professional High Performance Computing (HPC) aware human resource. PARAM Shavak is one such machine that has been deployed to provide training.
   • Way forward 
     • India has software skills and personnel base which can be effectively leveraged to propel innovation on the software components of supercomputer technology.
     • India can focus its research on new approaches like Quantum Computing and Optical Computing. 
     • Increase in funding is also required which will promote the manufacturing within India.
4. 5G network:
   • 5G is a wireless communication technology using radio waves or radio frequency (RF) energy to transmit and receive data.
   • It is the next generation mobile networks technology after 4G LTE networks. 5G technologies will enter services gradually, beginning in 2019 and advance to a full range of services by 2024.
   • 5G connections in India are forecasted to reach 88 million by 2025, equivalent to around 7% of the total connections base in the country.
   • Advantages of 5G
     • 
     • Faster Data Speed – Currently 4G networks are capable of achieving the peak download speed of one gigabit per second.
       • With 5G the speed could be increased upto 10Gbps.
     • Ultra-low latency –
       • Latency refers to the time it takes for one device to send a packet of data to another device.
       • In 4G the latency rate is around 50 milliseconds but 5G will reduce that to about 1 millisecond.
     • A more Connected World –
       • 5G will provide the capacity and bandwidth as per the need of the user to accommodate technologies such as Internet of Things. Thus, will help to incorporate Artificial Intelligence in our lives. It can also support Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality services. 
     • As per the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Committee on Digital Economic Policy, 5G technologies rollout will help in increasing GDP, creating employment and digitizing the economy.
       • In agriculture, 5G can enable improvement in the entire value-chain, from precision farming, smart irrigation, improved soil and crop monitoring, to livestock management. 
       • In manufacturing, 5G will enable use of robotics for precision manufacturing, particularly where humans cannot perform these functions safely or accurately.
       • In the energy sector, ‘smart grids’ and ‘smart metering’ can be efficiently supported. With the rise of renewable and storage technologies, low latency communications will be critical to manage these grids.
       • In health-care, 5G can enable more effective tele-medicine delivery, tele-control of surgical robotics and wireless monitoring of vital statistics.
   • Challenges
     • Huge Investment Required: India needs a massive Rs 5 lakh crore ($70 billion) investment to bring in 5G. 
     • Expensive spectrum: Indian spectrum prices are some of the highest in the world and the allocated quantity is well below global best practices, while 40% of the spectrum is lying unsold.
     • Lack of uniform policy framework: Delays due to complex procedures across states, non-uniformity of levies along with administrative approvals have impacted telecom service providers in rolling-out Optical Fibre Cables (OFC) and telecom towers. 
     • Local Regulatory Issues: Many of the local rules and regulations are prohibiting the rapid and cost effective roll-out of small cells in city centres where 5G is initially expected to be most in demand.
     • Debt scenario in the industry: According to ICRA, the collective debt of telecommunications service providers (TSPs) stands at Rs 4.2 lakh crore. 
     • Low optical fibre penetration: India lacks a strong backhaul to transition to 5G.
       • Backhaul is a network that connects cells sites to central exchange. As of now 80% of cell sites are connected through microwave backhaul, while under 20% sites are connected through fibre.
       • 2G and 3G mobile networks relied on microwave wireless backhaul to connect cell sites with the nearest switching centre.
       • 4G LTE introduced IP-based connectivity, replacing copper- or microwave-based cell sites with optical fibre.
       • 5G deployment is based on optical fibre infrastructure.
     • High Import of Equipment’s: Imports account for a 90 per cent of India’s telecom equipment market. However due to lack of local manufacturing and R&D, Indian telecom providers have no option other than to procure and deploy 5G technologies from foreign suppliers.
     • Security: According to the Global Cyber Security Index released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), only about half of all the countries had a cybersecurity strategy or are in the process of developing one. The index, which was topped by Singapore at 0.925 saw India at 23rd position.
   • Government Initiatives:
     • BharatNet programme: Plans to link 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through optical fibre network.
     • National Digital Communications Policy 2018, envisages a digitally empowered economy and society, which essentially means that the information and communications needs of the citizens and enterprises are met with a ubiquitous, resilient and affordable digital communications infrastructure and services.
     • The Government has launched a program titled ‘Building an End-to-End 5G Test Bed’. The program envisages close collaboration between the universities and small technology companies to build broadly compliant with the 3GPP ( The 3rd Generation Partnership Project) standards.
     • Several smaller academic R&D programs around 5G themes have also been funded by DST and MEITY. 
     • Ericsson has installed the first public access 5G test bed at IIT Delhi.
     • The report of the Steering Committee of the High Level Forum laid out three priority areas in 5G:
       • Deployment – An early roll out of 5G services to maximise the value proposition of 5G as a technology.
       • Technology – To build indigenous industrial and R&D capacity, especially for the design and Intellectual Property.
       • Manufacturing – To expand the manufacturing base for 5G technologies, which includes both semiconductor fabrication and equipment assembly and testing
   • Way Forward 
     • Spectrum Policy: India’s spectrum allocation for public wireless services should be enhanced significantly. Also, the cost of spectrum relative to per capita GDP is high and should come down.
     • Create a 5G Program Office within Department of Telecommunications and an Oversight Committee
     • 5G Pilot: Policy-makers may consider encouraging 5G pilots and test beds to test 5G technologies and use cases and to stimulate market engagement.
5. Cyber Physical System:
   • CPS is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the deployment of computer-based systems that do things in the physical world. It integrates sensing, computation, control and networking into physical objects and infrastructure, connecting them to the Internet and to each other.
     • Examples of cyber physical systems are Smart Grid Networks, Smart Transportation System, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Utility Service Infrastructure for Smart Cities, etc.
   • CPS and its associated technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (Al), Internet of Things (loT), Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DP), Big Data Analytics, Robotics, Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum encryption (Quantum Key Distribution), Data Science & Predictive analytics, Cyber Security for physical infrastructure and other infrastructure plays a transformative role in almost every field of human endeavor in all sectors.
   • Advantages of CPS technologies 
     • Enhanced security capabilities: It can play role in expediting design and delivery of trustworthy, adaptable and affordable systems, operations in cyberspace and autonomous systems to augment security operations.
     • Disaster Management: CPS technologies including next generation public safety communications, sensor networks, and response robotics can dramatically increase the situational awareness of emergency responders and enable optimized response through all phases of disaster events.
     • Energy: They are essential for the creation of energy infrastructure, optimization and management of resources and facilities and allowing consumers to control and manage their energy consumption patterns like smart meters.
     • Healthcare: CPS correct-by-construction design methodologies are needed to design cost-effective, easy to-certify, and safe products.
     • Transportation: They can (potentially) eliminate accidents caused by human error, Congestion control, traffic-based grid jams.
     • Agriculture: They will play a key role in helping to increase efficiency throughout the value chain, improving environmental footprint and creating opportunities for a skilled and semi-skilled workforce.
   • Challenges in CPS
     • Privacy issues: CPS technologies that enhance privacy and enable the appropriate use of sensitive and personal information while protecting personal privacy are needed. 
     • Computational Abstractions: Physical properties such as laws of physics and chemistry, safety, resources, real time power constrained etc. must be captured by programming abstractions. 
     • Collaborations, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Addressing the R&D gaps will require close collaborations between industry, R&D systems/Academics/University and Government. 
     • Data related challenges: It allows flexible control and resource use; provides conduits for information leakage; prone to misconfigurations and deliberate attacks by outsiders and insiders. 
     • Infrastructural bottlenecks: This system requires a Sensor and mobile networks hence essential requirement to increase system autonomy in practice requires self organization of mobile and Adhoc CPS networks.
     • Human Interaction: Human interaction with CPSs often encounter a critical challenge when interpreting the human-machine behavior and designing appropriate models that consider the current situational measurements and environmental changes which are crucial in the decision-making processes, particularly in systems such as air traffic systems and military systems.
     • Technical barrier: One of the biggest problems that such integrations face is the lack of consistent language and terminology that need to exist to describe cyber-physical interactions.
     • Consistency: There are challenges in maintaining the same required level of accuracy, reliability, and performance of all system parts.
   • CPS vs  Internet of things:
     • CPS:
       • They are physical and engineered systems whose operations are monitored, coordinated, controlled and integrated by a computing and communication core. 
       • CPS engineering has a strong emphasis on the relationship between computation and the physical world. 
       • They are not necessarily connected with internet. 
       • Ex: It may be individual system which integrates the physical and cyber technology like smart electricity meters.
     • Internet of things:
       • It is the network of devices such as vehicles, and home appliances that contain electronics, software, actuators, and connectivity which allows these things to connect, interact and exchange data.
       • IoT has a strong emphasis on uniquely identifiable and internet-connected devices and embedded systems.
       • They are connected to internet.
       • The Internet of Things (IoT) forms a foundation for this cyber-physical systems revolution. 
       • Ex: Smart Home in which all appliances are connected to each other through internet like TV is connected to mobile, lights are connected to mobile etc.
   • National Mission on Interdisciplinary CyberPhysical Systems:
     • It is a comprehensive mission which would address technology development, application development, human resource development, skill enhancement, entrepreneurship and start-up development in CPS and associated technologies.
     • Implementation:
       • It aims at establishment of 15 numbers of Technology Innovation Hubs, six numbers of Application Innovation Hubs and four numbers of Technology Translation Research Parks (TTRP).
       • These Hubs & TTRPs will connect to Academics, Industry, Central Ministries and State Government in developing solutions at reputed academic, R&D and other organizations across the country in a hub and spoke model.
       • They mainly focus on four areas: Technology Development, HRD & Skill Development, Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Start-ups Ecosystem Development and International Collaborations.
     • Significance of Mission
       • It will support other missions of the government, provide industrial and economic competitiveness. 
       • It would act as an engine of growth that would benefit national initiatives in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategic cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, SMART Cities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) etc. 
       • It will bring a paradigm shift in entire skill sets requirement and job opportunities.
         • It is aimed to give impetus to advanced research in CPS, technology development and higher education in science, technology and engineering disciplines, and place India at par with other advanced countries and derive several direct and indirect benefits.
6. Progress of Digital literacy programs in India:
   • As per the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Digital Literacy is defined as the ability of individuals and communities to understand and use digital technologies for meaningful actions within life situations. Any individual who can operate computer/laptop/tablet/smart phone and use other IT related tools is being considered as digitally literate.
   • Digital Literacy holds importance in areas such as using Government Schemes, Digital Payments, e-governance, Agriculture, Education, Health, Employment etc.
   • Current Status of Digital Literacy in India
     • Low Digital Literacy– Among people in the age group of 14-29 years, only 18.3% were able to operate a computer in rural areas as compared to 48.9% in urban areas.
     • Ineffective usage of digital literacy– An IIT-Delhi study found that while beneficiaries were now comfortable using social media, they were not as adept at browsing the internet for education opportunities and employment listings among others.
   • Government Initiatives
     • The Government of India launched the ‘Digital India’ campaign for transforming India into a digitally empowered society and economy.
       • One of the goals of this campaign is to empower those who are IT-illiterate so that they are competent enough to use IT and related applications for effectively participating in the democratic processes and enhancing their livelihood opportunities.
     • In this context, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology initiated the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) as a means of realising the vision of ‘Digital India’.
       • Under the mission, beneficiaries undergo a 20-hour training programme in using computers and other digital devices, browsing the Internet and sending and receiving emails.
       • The original deadline for the National Digital Literacy Mission was 18 months but it was extended to 27 months before it was scrapped in June 2016.
     • While the programme was still running, the government introduced the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan, or DISHA, in January 2015.
     • Under these two schemes, a total of 53.67 lakh beneficiaries were trained, out of which around 42% were from rural India.
     • In 2017, the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) by improving upon previous two schemes. 
       • Objectives:
         • To make six crore persons in rural areas, across States/UTs, digitally literate, reaching to around 40% of rural households by covering one member from every eligible household. 
         • Implementing Agency: The scheme is implemented by CSC eGovernance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) incorporated under the Companies Act 1956, (herein after referred to as ‘CSC-SPV’), under the overall supervision of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, with active collaboration of all the State Governments and UT Administrations.
         • Duration: The duration of the Scheme is up to 31st March, 2020. 
         • Coverage of scheme: The Scheme is applicable for rural areas of the country.
   • Issues with government schemes
     • Lack of Consolidation of Schemes– Parallel schemes creates confusion in the minds of intended beneficiaries and makes the evaluation difficult.
     • Focus on quantitative parameters instead of quality of training– There is inconsistency and variation in the findings of the independent studies with regard to data on various aspects such as usage of digital device, level of confidence etc.
       • Further, there is no component of monitoring repeat transactions by individuals trained in NDLM, DISHA and PMGDISHA schemes to ensure that there is a behavioral change in the trainees and they continue to make use of digital/IT tools even after completion of their training.
     • Unrealistic data– Under NDLM scheme, 16 out of total 36 States/UTs have achieved 100% certification of enrolled candidates. The committee found these to be unrealistic.
     • Duplication of beneficiaries– The first impact assessment study, conducted by the research and advocacy group Council for Social Development, found that two-thirds of the beneficiaries of the scheme were not eligible for it.
   • Challenges in expanding Digital Literacy in India
     • Lack of awareness about the benefits of digital literacy among the masses.
     • Lack of availability of requisite training infrastructure and resources at several places in the country – As per National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 71st Round report on social consumption relating to education, the proportion of households in the country having computers during 2014 was around 14% (only 6% in rural households and 29% in urban households possessed computer).
     • Internet connectivity issues as well as Localization/Language issues in rural areas.
     • Inadequate support from State Govt. & other stakeholders- such as by North- Eastern states.
     • Insufficient financing for scheme– Only Rs. 500 cr. released which is much less than allocated outlay.
   • Recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee
     • Need for Long-term planning and perceptible outcomes– should be the focus of government schemes, rather than having short-term parallel schemes with different names.
     • Change the criteria to increase coverage– The current restriction of covering only one person per household in the existing schemes should be removed.
     • Need for qualitative impact assessment– by focusing on qualitative parameters through continuous feedback mechanism and strengthening of monitoring mechanism to ensure that there is a positive behavioral change in successful trainees and they continue to use digital/IT tools even after completion of their training
     • Promote Digital Finance through schemes like Digital Finance for Rural India: Creating Awareness and Access through Common Service Centres (CSCs), which was closed earlier.
     • Enhanced enrolment of training partners– with proven expertise in IT domain so as to achieve the set targets. 
     • Usage of low cost, easy to use – such as feature/smart phones and associated apps, which are popular among, masses in comparison to the conventional IT hardware and allied software. The content may be user-friendly and appropriate for all ages. 
     • Focus on laggard States/UTs– The good practices in some States may be replicated in other States and also the States which are very supportive and doing very well need to be incentivized so that there is visible impact.

Awareness in the field of Space:

• Today, the value of the global space industry is estimated to be $350 billion and is likely to exceed $550 billion by 2025.
• India’s share is estimated at $7 billion (just 2% of the global market) covering broadband and Direct-toHome television (accounting for two-thirds of the share), satellite imagery and navigation. 
• India’s space programme stands out as one of the most cost-effective in the world. India has earned worldwide recognition for launching lunar probes, built satellites, ferried foreign satellites up and has even succeeded in reaching Mars.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) established in 1969 has formal co-operative arrangements in place with 33 countries and three multinational bodies.

Achievement of Indian Space Sector

• Satellite Communication:
  • The first area was of satellite communication, with INSAT and GSAT as the backbones, to address the national needs for telecommunication, broadcasting and broadband infrastructure.
  • Gradually, bigger satellites have been built carrying a larger array of transponders. About 200 transponders on Indian satellites provide services linked to areas like telecommunication, telemedicine, television, disaster management etc.
  • GSAT-11, the heaviest satellite is part of ISRO’s new family of high-throughput communication satellite (HTS) fleet that will drive the country’s Internet Broadband from space to untouched areas. It is built to provide throughput data rate of 16 gbps. 
  • GSAT 29 is a multi-beam, multiband communication satellite of India which will bridge the digital divide of users including those in Jammu & Kashmir and North Eastern regions of India.
• Earth Observatory:
  • Beginning with the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) series in the 1980s, today the RISAT, Cartosat and Resourcesat series provide wide-field and multi-spectral high resolution data for land, ocean and atmospheric observations.
  • These resources cover weather forecasting, disaster management, agriculture and watershed, land resource, and forestry managements. With higher resolution and precise positioning, Geographical Information Systems’ applications today cover all aspects of rural and urban development and planning. 
  • EMISAT developed by DRDO under Project Kautilya is India’s 1st Electronic Intelligence Satellite which will increase the situational awareness of the armed forces by providing the location and information of hostile radars placed at the borders. 
• Space Observatory: 
  • Astrosat launched in 2015 is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory. It enables the simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite.
• Navigation:
  • The GPS-aided GEO augmented navigation (GAGAN), a joint project between ISRO and Airports Authority of India, augmented the GPS coverage of the region, improving the accuracy and integrity, primarily for civil aviation applications and better air traffic management over Indian airspace.
  • This was followed up with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), a system based on seven satellites in geostationary and geosynchronous orbits. In 2016, the system was renamed NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation). 
• Small Satellite:
  • Globally, 17,000 small satellites are expected to be launched between now and 2030.
  • ISRO is developing a small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) as well. It is a prime candidate, along with the proven PSLV, to be farmed out to the private sector. 
• Space exploration missions:
  • The most notable of these have been the Chandrayaan and the Mangalyaan missions, with a manned space mission, Gaganyaan, planned for its first test flight in 2021.
  • These missions are not just for technology demonstration but also for expanding the frontiers of knowledge in space. 
• Launch Vehicles:
  • None of the above missions would have been possible without mastering the launch-vehicle technology. Beginning with the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), ISRO has developed and refined the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and GSLV as its workhorse for placing satellites etc. 
• Outreach programmes:
  • Village Resource Centres: ISRO launched the idea of Village Resource Centres to work in collaboration with local panchayats and NGOs. Expanding this for rural areas is a formidable challenge but has the potential to transform rural India if properly conceived as a part of the India Stack and the Jan Dhan Yojana.
  • Young Scientist Programme: It is ISRO programme for school students which aims to inculcate and nurture space research fervor in young minds.
  • Samvad with Students: ISRO launched a student outreach programme called Samvad with Students where ISRO chairman meets the students during his outstation visits and address their queries and quench the scientific thrust. 
    •   Special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme”  YUva VIgyani KAryakram (YUVIKA).
  • ISRO-Student Collaborations: ANUSAT (Anna University Satellite), Student Satellite (STUDSAT), YOUTHSAT, SRMSAT, Jugnu etc.

Black Hole 

• The Event Horizon Telescope revealed the first ever photograph of the shadow of a black hole.
• A black hole is a region of space-time, which exhibits the property of extremely intense gravitational force, which is so strong, that nothing, not even light, can escape it. 
  • Black holes were predicted by the Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which showed that when a massive star dies, it leaves behind a small, dense remnant core.
  • If the core’s mass is more than about three times the mass of the Sun, the force of gravity overwhelms all other forces and produces a black hole.
  • In the center of a black hole is a gravitational singularity, a one-dimensional point which contains a huge mass in an infinitely small space, where density and gravity become infinite and space-time curves infinitely, and the laws of physics as we know them cease to operate.
  • Black holes cannot be directly observed because they themselves do not emit or radiate light, or any other electromagnetic waves that can be detected by instruments built by human beings. But the area just outside the boundary of the black hole (Event Horizon), which has vast amounts of gas, clouds and plasma swirling violently, emit all kinds of radiations, including even visible light. Hence, the presence of black holes can be inferred by detecting their effect on other matter nearby them.
  • Now, the Event Horizon Telescope has captured the just outside region of a black hole, located 55 million light-years from Earth, at the centre of a galaxy named Messier 87. The image shows a photon (light quantum) can orbit the black hole without falling in. This is called the ‘last photon ring’.
• Significance:
  • For centuries, the concept of black hole has only been theorized, without any actual evidence of it. This is a remarkable confirmation of more than a century of theoretical work.
  • Better understanding of the universe– This can provide a test for existing theories of the universe, and lead to a better understanding of black holes and the nature of the universe itself.
  • Enhances the understanding of gravitational force.

Space Debris

• Space debris encompasses both natural (meteoroid) and artificial (man-made) particles.
  • Meteoroids are in orbit about the sun, while most artificial debris is in orbit about the Earth. Hence, the latter is more commonly referred to as orbital debris.
• The term Kessler syndrome is associated with Space Debris, which is used to describe a self-sustaining cascading collision of space debris in LEO (Low Earth Orbit).
• Why Space Debris is a concern?
  • Obstruction to various space endeavors
    • NASA estimates that there are about 500,000 pieces of debris larger than half an inch across in low orbit, posing a potential danger to the 780-odd satellites operating in the area. 
    • Space junk travels at speeds up to 30,000 km an hour, which turns tiny pieces of orbital debris into deadly shrapnel that can damage satellites, space shuttles, space stations and spacecraft with humans aboard. 
  • Increase the cost of missions– Various space agencies have to manoeuvre their space programme in light of increasing space debris thus adding to extra economic and human resource on space programme.
  • Debris is bound to increase– Space scientists concern about the inexpensive, tiny satellites called CubeSats, which are going to add space junk around 15% in next 10 years.
• Initiatives taken towards Space Debris cleanup:
  • Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) advocates Global mitigation measures including preventing the creation of new debris, designing satellites to withstand impacts by small debris, and improving operational procedures such as using orbital regimes with less debris, and predicting and avoiding collisions.
    • However, these guidelines are only voluntary in nature and there is no international treaty on space debris currently.
  • European Space Agency– 
    • e.Deorbit mission, which would target an ESA-owned derelict satellite in low orbit, capture it, then safely burn it up in a controlled atmospheric reentry.
  • The Remove Debris Mission: (led by the Surrey Space Centre from the University of Surrey)
    • The Remove Debris satellite platform will showcase four methods for release, capture and deorbit two space debris targets, called DebriSATs:
      • Net capture: It involves a net that will be deployed at the target CubeSat.
      • Harpoon Capture: Which will be launched at a target plate made of “representative satellite panel materials”.
      • Vision-based navigation: Using cameras and LiDAR (light detection and ranging), the platform will send data about the debris back to the ground for processing.
      • De-orbiting process: As it enters Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will burn up, leaving no debris behind.
  • India
    • A team of ISRO and Physical Research Laboratory are working on setting up an observatory to track the space junk.
    • A multi- object tracking radar (MOTR) developed by the Satish Dhawan Space Centre allows ISRO to track 10 objects simultaneously. It tracks India’s space assets and space debris, for which India was solely dependent on data provide by the US space agency NASA till early 2016.
    • Mission Shakti which was launched recently was done in a low orbit of less than 300 kilometres and at a particular angle to ensure that minimal debris were disbursed above into space to avoid damage to other satellites or the International Space Station (ISS)

Awareness in the field of bio-technology:

• Biotechnology is the area of biology that uses living processes, organisms or systems to manufacture products or technology intended to improve the quality of human life.
  • It includes disciplines like:
    • molecular modelling,
    • genomic,
    • bio – informatics,
    • bio – simulation,
    • clinical information and many more.
  • It provides breakthrough products and technologies to:
    • combat debilitating and rare diseases,
    • reduce our environmental footprint,
    • feed the hungry,
    • use less and cleaner energy, and
    • have safer, cleaner and more efficient industrial manufacturing processes.
  • The various branches of Biotechnology include-
    • Blue biotechnology (marine and aquatic application),
    • green biotechnology (agriculture processes),
    • red biotechnology (medical) and
    • white biotechnology (industrial).
• Biotechnology industry in India:
  • India is among the top 12 destinations for biotechnology in the world, with approximately 2% share in the global Biotechnology industry. 
  • The biopharmaceutical sector accounts for the largest share of the biotech industry in India with a share of 55% of total revenues, followed by bio-agri with 22% market share (2018). 
  • The high demand for different biotech products has also opened up scope for the foreign companies to set up base in India.
  • India has emerged as a leading destination for clinical trials, contract research and manufacturing activities owing to the growth in the bio-services sector.
• How can Biotechnology be used to address various issues in India?
  • Food security: Biotechnology can help make crops more productive and tolerant of other stress like pest, insect etc helping to feed the next billion people.
    • Foods can also deliver enhanced nutrition, such as Golden Rice with additional vitamin A from the International Rice Research Institute. 
      • Golden rice is the collective name of rice varieties that are genetically modified to counter vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. 
      • It contains extra genes one from maize and one from bacterial origin together responsible for the production of provitamin A (betacarotene) in the rice grain. Provitamin A colors the grains yellow-orange, hence the name ‘Golden Rice’.  Once absorbed into the body, provitamin A is converted into vitamin A. Provitamin A is found in many fruits and vegetables; it is also what makes carrots orange, for example.
      • It also reduces water use by up to 30 per cent without any yield loss.
    • Making crops resistant to pest attacks (Bt Cotton and Bt Brinjal).
  • Adapting to Climate change: Biotechnology industry is helping to produce crops that are resistant to the effects of climate change, help farmers convert to no-till practices and develop solutions that decrease carbon-based fertilizers.
  • Bio-energy: There has been increase in use of bioethanol and biodiesels in India. These fuels are derived from living organisms such as plants and their by-products, microbes or animal waste. The growing energy needs of India’s rural areas have been increasingly met by biomass fuel.
  • Tackling diseases and advancement in drugs: Biotechnology offers new solution to various diseases through technologies such as stem cell therapy.
  • Livestock improvement: Biotechnological techniques such as embryo transfer technology are used to improve the productivity of livestock and also for development of affordable new generation vaccines and diagnostics against a plethora of animal diseases. 
  • Waste management: through techniques like bio-remediation.
• Challenges faced in India:
  • Low Research and development: India’s research and development expenditure is quite low at 0.67 per cent of GDP, not only compared to mature biotechnology economies such as Japan and the US (which stands at around 3 per cent) but also in comparison to emerging economies like China (which is at around 2 percent).
  • Intellectual Property Right regime: There are two main areas of contention for the industry in India’s approach to intellectual property in biotech sector: 
    • The first issue lies in Section 3(d) of the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005, which sets a higher standard for patentability than mandated by TRIPS. The industry argues that India’s stricter standards for patents discourages innovation and dampens foreign investment. 
    • The second issue is that of compulsory licensing, which gives the government power to suspend a patent in times of health emergencies. Although India has used this option only once, the industry feels that such regulations keep investors clear of Indian markets.
  • Lack of Marketisation: Most of the early research funding, often provided by universities or the government, runs out before the marketisation phase, the funding for which is mostly provided by venture capitalists. This gap has a huge impact in commercialisation of innovative ideas. 
  • Public Awareness: Lack of public awareness of the modern tools of biotechnology and how it could improve our well-being, offer food and energy securities and help in preserving our environment.
  • Less Lucrative: The number and quality of jobs offered by this sector is presently lesser than the work force supply available. This is making students less interested in this sector. 
  • Regulatory Authority: The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill which envisions creating Regulatory body for uses of biotechnology products including genetically modified organisms is pending in the parliament.
• Government Initiatives: Indian Government seeks to create a US$ 100 billion biotech industry by 2025. It has launched various programs with a view to harness available human and unlimited biodiversity resources.
  • National Biotechnology Development Strategy 2015-2020 (NBDS)
    • DBT had earlier announced the First National Biotechnology Development strategy in 2007 which provided an insight into the enormous opportunities.
    • After this, NBDS was launched in 2015 with an aim to establish India as a world class bio manufacturing hub. 
    • It aims to achieve:
      • Making India ready to meet the challenge of achieving US$100bn by 2025.
      • Launching Four Major Missions – Healthcare, Food and Nutrition, Clean Energy and Education backed with significant investments for the creation of new biotech products.
      • Create a strong infrastructure for R&D and commercialization and empower India’s human by creating a Life Sciences and Biotechnology Education Council 
      • Creating a Technology Development and Translation network across the country with global partnership
      • To revitalize the knowledge environment at par with the growing bioeconomy, focus of biotechnology tools for inclusive development etc. 
    • The Mission will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). 
    • The mission entails an investment of over 1500 crore by Government of India for five years with 50% cost for the program coming the World Bank loan.
  • National Biopharma Mission
    • It is an Industry-Academia Collaborative Mission for accelerating discovery research to early development for biopharmaceuticals.
    • The World Bank assisted INNOVATE IN INDIA (i3) program under this mission aims to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector. 
    • The focus of the mission is to: 
      • Develop new vaccines, bio-therapeutics, diagnostics and medical devices to address the rising burden of diseases.
      • Bring isolated centers of excellence (Academia) together, enhance regional capabilities and strengthen the current bio-clusters network in terms of capacities as well as quantity and quality of output. 
      • Deliver 6-10 new products in the next five years and create several dedicated facilities for next generation skills. 
      • To develop platform technologies for product validation, link institutions to strengthen clinical trial networks, promote partial de-risking for novel products, and build capacities in emerging areas such as bioethics, bioinformatics etc.
  • Promotion of Biotechnology in North Eastern Region of India
    • In 2009-10 DBT had also set up a North Eastern Region – Biotechnology Program Management Cell (NER-BPMC) for coordinating and promoting the biotechnological activities in the NER with annual investment of 180 crores.
• Way forward 
  • Strategic Road Map: There is a need for development of a strategic roadmap for biotechnology where competitive areas and needs for industry-based R&D should be identified and future plans should be made taking into consideration the competencies and resources of the country.
  • Ecosystem of innovation.
  • Collaboration between government and biopharma industry.
  • Building human capital.
  • Funding Mechanism: Government can build a mechanism where funding can be provided for select innovative ideas based on their national importance.

GM Crops:

• According to WHO, Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination. Foods produced from or using GM organisms are referred to as GM foods.
• Indian Scenario:
  • India has commercialized only one GE crop, the Bt cotton with the Cry 1 Ac gene.
  • India is at the 4th global position in hectarage under GM crops. 
  • Bt cotton greatly contributed to a significant increase in farm income and India’s transformation from a cotton importer into an exporter.
  • The area under Bt cotton seeds is rising, official data for the 2018 – 19 kharif season reveals that 88.27 per cent of the 122.38 lakh hectares cultivation is under Bt cotton of all varieties. 
  • GM crops and products are stringently regulated for their efficacy, biosafety, environmental safety and socio-economic benefits, through mandatory rules and procedures.
• Benefits of GM Crops: 
  • Increased crop resilience: Better tolerance to harsh climatic conditons like, heat, drought salinity etc. 
    • It also prevents of loss species to endemic disease.
  • Socio- economic benefits: Improved agricultural performance (yields) with less labour input and less cost input.
    • GM crops provide an opportunity to bring an “evergreen” revolution that benefits landless, marginal and small farmers in India.
    • Reduced usage of pesticides and herbicides
  • Reduction in imports: GM crops can help provide the next great leap by helping to eliminate import of edible oil, Pulses, etc. 
  • Food security: GM crops offer a solution to further enhance the India’s food security needs. Food with more desirable traits can be produced.
• Concern with GM Varieties
  • Monopoly: Introduction of GM crop is a method by which large seed-producing companies attempt to monopolise the markets. GM seeds contain ‘terminator technology’ meaning they have been genetically modified so that resulting crops do not produce viable seeds of their own. 
  • Outcrossing: The migration of genes from GM plants into conventional crops or wild species may have an indirect effect on food safety and food security.
  • Decline in yield: There has been witnessed a decline/stagnation in yield after few years with respect to many GM crops which in turn leads to diminishing returns.
  • Concerns for human health: Gene transfer from GM foods to humans can be problematic if the transferred genetic material adversely affects human health. This would be particularly relevant if antibiotic resistance genes were to be transferred. 
    • Allergenicity: Because protein sequences are changed with the addition of new genetic material, there is concern that the engineered or modified organism could produce known or unknown allergens.
  • Resistance developed by Pathogens: There is always a concern of pathogens becoming resistant to the toxins produced by GM crops. For example the pink bollworm has grown resistant to the toxins produced by BT cotton seed of Monsanto.
  • Concerns for the environment: The susceptibility of non-target organisms (e.g. bees and butterflies) and the loss of biodiversity of crop/plant species remains a concern.
    • Toxins produced in GM crops are present in every part of the plant, so when the parts that have not been harvested decompose, a considerable amount of the toxin may reach the soil/water table.
  • Regulatory Challenges 
    • Possibility of data manipulation: The GEAC does not conduct the closed field trials on their own but are solely dependent on the data provided to them by the technology developer making it susceptible to manipulations and fudging the data. 
    • Concerns regarding GEAC: Issues such as adhocism in its constitution, criteria adopted for selection of its members, dominance of bureaucrats, no representation from civil society or states where Bt Cotton has been introduced, head not being from field of Biotechnology etc. remain.
    • Functioning of DLCs: The presence of District Level Committee (DLC) which regulates GM crop at the ground level is hardly felt in any of the States.
  • Negative public perception: Public attention has focused on the risk side of the risk-benefit equation owing to lack of transparency and ignorance about the scientific facts related to GM crops. Moreover, India has imported edible GM soybean and canola so the resistance to growing the same is contradictory.
• Regulations in India 
  • 
  • Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells 1989 (known as ‘Rules, 1989’) under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986:
    • These rules and regulations cover the areas of research as well as large scale applications of Genetically Modified Organism (GMOs) and products made there from throughout India.
    • The rules also cover the application of hazardous microorganisms which may not be genetically modified. 
  • GM food imports require approvals under two laws: the Environment Protection Act of 1986 and the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006. While the former covers environmental impacts of the food products, the latter assesses the food’s impact on human health.
    • Since no regulation has been finalised for GM products, it is still banned in the country.
• Way Forward 
  • National policy on GM crops: should be brought to define the exact areas where GM is required by the country and where the government will encourage public and private investment in GM technology.
  • Proactive Patent regime: It must be ensured that proper legislative and judicial safeguards exist to prevent monopolisation of the GM seed market. For example the recent Supreme Court held that US company Monsanto cannot claim patents on its GM cotton seeds.
  • Transparency: The GEAC reports must be made public and effective discussion should be held with scientific community and civil society to allay their fears. 
    • An independent authority, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), to regulate organisms and products of modern biotechnology should be setup.
  • Legal measure: There should be a liability clause, that is, if something goes wrong the liability should be fixed statutorily like in case of US law, liability is huge in case the GM tech effects the regular varieties of crops. It will ensure that case of non-accountability, in case of pink bollworm pest attack on BT cotton, does not repeat itself in case of other GM crops.
  • Stringent Regulation: With advances in biotechnology, there is an urgent need for stringent regulation or scrutiny in the sector to ensure cultivation and sale of environmentally-safe agro products. 
    • The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and the Biological Diversity act, 2002 must be effectively implemented.
    • Mandatory labelling of GMOs should be enforced to provide an option to consumers.
  • Cooperation: The state governments must be consulted before taking a decision related to GM crops issue as agriculture is a state subject.
  • Analyse Cost-Benefit of New Technology: It can be argued that while technological changes inevitably have led to some negative externalities, a broader picture should be kept in mind when deciding to include them in our day to day life.

Gene Editing:

• Gene Editing is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted or replaced in the genome of an organism using artificially engineered nucleases, or “molecular scissors”. 
  • These nucleases create site-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs) at desired locations (e.g. where anomalous gene is present). 
  • Such breaks are then repaired through recombination or inserting new gene, resulting in targeted mutation.
• Benefits of Gene Editing:
  • Human genome editing can be used to treat many human diseases & genetic disorders like HIV/AIDS, haemophilia etc. 
  • It could substantially bolster disease resistance in humans & increase life span. 
  • It could form the basis of highly efficient & cost effective next generation antibiotics (based on bacteriophage viruses).
  • Gene editing can be used to protect endangered species or bring to life extinct species.
  • It can be used to grow healthier food (via fortification) and increasing harvest.
  • It has the potential to slow down the spread of diseases by eliminating its means of transmission. E.g. Gene editing can be used to introduce sterile mosquitoes into the environment.
• Issues with Gene editing:
  • Balance Risks & Benefits: Due to the possibility of off-target effects (edits in the wrong place creating properties different from those that were intended) and Mosaicism (when some cells carry the edit but others do not, leading to presence of two or more populations of cells), safety is of primary concern.
  • Application of the technique to human germline:
    • Until now, all therapeutic interventions in humans using genome editing have been performed in somatic cells (i.e. only patient gets affected, no chance of inheriting the altered genes by patient’s offspring).
    • Safety concerns have been raised regarding genome editing in human germline, where unpredictable changes can be transmitted to following generations.
  • Ecological impacts: A ‘gene drive’ can propagate a set of genes with negative traits throughout a population which may lead to disappearance of whole targeted population with severe ecological consequences. 
  • Difficulty in regulation: The precise genetic modifications obtained through CRISPR Cas9 technique makes it more difficult to identify a genetically modified organism once outside the lab and also to regulate such organisms in the market. 
    • At present there is no regulating body to keep a check on the practices and applications of the technology. It may therefore lead to reduced transparency, low quality and may also increase the unnecessary delay in the treatment of patients.
    • CRISPR-Cas9:  It a recent approach to genome editing.  It was adapted from a naturally occurring genome editing system in bacteria.  It is faster, cheaper, more accurate, and more efficient than other existing genome editing methods. 
      • CRISPR is the DNA-targeting part of the system which consists of an RNA molecule, or ‘guide’, designed to bind to specific DNA bases through complementary base-pairing.
      • Cas9 is the nuclease part that cuts the DNA.
  • Uncontrolled clinical trials: There are at present no standard norms for standardisation of norms for clinical trials for checking the efficacy of the treatment.
• Ethical Challenges around Gene Editing 
  • Concerns over ‘Designer Babies’: Engineering human embryos raises the prospect of designer babies, where embryos are altered for social rather than medical reasons e.g. to increase height or intelligence.
  • Justice and Equity: There is concern that genome editing will only be accessible to the wealthy and will increase existing disparities in access to health care and other interventions. Taken to its extreme, germline editing could create classes of individuals defined by quality of their engineered genome (e.g. super-intelligence/extra-ordinary beauty). Thus, the use of genetic enhancement would lead to an abhorrent form of social inequality, and that is unjust.
  • Informed consent: Critics say that it is impossible to obtain informed consent for germline therapy because the patients affected by the edits are the embryo and future generations.
    • Testing new technology on humans which may have inter-generational adverse impact without necessary safeguards amounts to treating humans as means to an end, a violation of Kantian ethical principle. 
  • Genome-Editing Research Involving Embryos: Many people have moral and religious objections to the use of human embryos for research. India & Canada doesn’t allow genome-editing research on embryos, while US has banned federal aid from being used to support germline gene editing.
  • Regulations for consumers: Regulation of patents is challenging as many economic interests are involved and may lead to litigations. The case of biotechnological companies patenting human genome sequences for therapeutic use puts too much emphasis on profits, which raises ethical issues.
  • Note:  Last year, He Jiankui, an independent Chinese researcher, triggered global controversy over claims that his experiments produced the world’s first genetically altered babies using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology.
• Way Forward:
  • The scientific community must lay down principles to distinguish between ‘good’ & ‘bad’ uses of gene editing:
    • Transparency: Researchers must fully disclose information about benefits, risks, and implications to stakeholders.
    • Promoting Wellbeing: Research must be designed to increase human health and wellbeing.
    • Equity: Benefits & burdens of the research must be broadly and equitably accessible.

3-Parent Baby:

• Three-parent baby, human offspring produced from the genetic material of one man and two women through the use of assisted reproductive technologies, specifically mitochondrial manipulation (or replacement) technologies and three-person in vitro fertilization (IVF).
• Mitochondria:
  • The mitochondria are organelles inside cells that are involved in releasing energy by producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the key energy currency that drives metabolism. Mitochondria are referred to as the powerhouse of the cell.
  • In addition to energy production mitochondria also helps to regulate the self-destruction of cells (aptosis), necessary for production of substances such as cholesterol and heme (a component of haemoglobin). 
  • While most of DNA is found in cell nucleus, some DNA is also found in the mitochondria, it is called mitchochondrial DNA (mtDNA).
  • Mitochondria are inherited solely from the mother and this results into cases of babies been born with rare mitochondrial diseases if mother has the faulty mtDNA.
  • Certain disorders caused due to mtDNA dysfunction are diabetes, respiratory disorders, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease etc.
  • There is currently no cure for mitochondrial diseases.
• The Process of Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy is involved to get 3-Parent baby.
  • Mitochondrial Replacement therapy (MRT) is a form of In Vitro Fertilization (Assisted Reproductive Technology).
  • It is used to replace mother’s faulty Mitochondrial DNA with healthy Mitochondria from a donor woman during IVF process, thus the name- “three-parent” baby.
  • It can be done by two methods – Pronuclear transfer and Spindle transfer.
    • Spindle Transfer:
      • In this method the spindle and associated chromosomes from the normal mitochondria are removed and destroyed and the spindle and related chromosomes form the mother’s eggs/abnormal mitochondria are transferred to the emptied donor egg.
      • The reconstituted egg is fertilised with sperm from father and the embryo with normal mitochondria and maternal and paternal genomes is transferred to the uterus.
    • Pronuclear Transfer:
      • In this method, first mother’s eggs with abnormal mitochondria and the donated egg with normal mitochondria are fertilised with sperm.
      • Then the pronuclei from the normal mitochondria are destroyed and the pronucleus from zygote of the abnormal mitochondria is transferred to the emptied zygote.
      • After this procedure the embryo with normal mitochondria and maternal and paternal genome is transferred to the uterus.
    • 
• The resulting child is still conceived from two parents and will have nuclear DNA from the woman and her partner, and mitochondrial DNA from the donor.
• The donor’s mitochondria contribute just 37 genes to the child, compared with more than 20,000 from the parents. That is a negligible amount and far less than one would gain from a blood transfusion or organ transplant.
• No other characteristics in terms of intelligence, eye colour, hair colour, height etc. are changed.
• Advantages: It could prevent severe genetic diseases being passed from mother to offspring and can be used to treat infertility.
• The United Kingdom became the first country in 2015, to have officially approved procedures to create “three-parent” babies.

Plasma Therapy:

Kerala has won Indian Council of Medical Research’s approval to explore the feasibility of administering convalescent plasma transfusion on critically ill patients to treat Covid-19.

Genome Sequencing:

• What is Genome Sequencing?
  • Genome is an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all of its genes. Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism. 
    • In humans, a copy of the entire genome (more than 3 billion DNA base pairs) is contained in all cells that have a nucleus. 
  • Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism’s DNA.
• Benefits of Genome Sequencing:
  • Saving Biodiversity: Genome Sequencing help record the genomes of organisms at risk. Given Climate Change and related worries such as loss of forest cover, about 50% of current biodiversity could be lost by the end of the 21st century in what is being referred to as the Sixth Great Extinction.
  • Discovery of Unknown Species: It is believed that there are somewhere between 2 million and 3 million eukaryotic species on the planet. Only about half have been identified so far.
  • New Resources: It should also lead to the discovery of new drugs, new biofuels, and boost agricultural technologies, with obvious commercial benefits.
    • It will be possible to develop disease, insect and drought resistant crops. 
  • Generate Revenues: It could help to boost scientific capacity and generate revenues for poor countries with rich biodiversity.
  • Better Understanding: It will revolutionize the understanding of biology and evolution and thus create new approaches for the conservation of rare and endangered species by providing a high-resolution, base-by-base view of the genome 
    • Scientists also hope that being able to study the entire genome sequence will help them understand how the genome as a whole works—how genes work together to direct the growth, development and maintenance of an entire organism. 
  • Huge information: It delivers large volumes of data in a short amount of time to support assembly of novel genomes.
  • Understanding outside the genes: Genes account for less than 25 percent of the DNA in the genome, and so knowing the entire genome sequence will help scientists study the parts of the genome outside the genes. This includes the regulatory regions that control how genes are turned on and off, as well as long stretches of “nonsense” or “junk” DNA—so called because we don’t yet know what, if anything, it does. 
  • Sequencing of other species: While this method is commonly associated with sequencing human genomes, the scalable, flexible nature of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology makes it equally useful for sequencing any species, such as agriculturally important livestock, plants, or disease-related microbes.
  • Understanding diseases: Genomic information has been instrumental in identifying inherited disorders, characterizing the mutations that drive cancer progression, and tracking disease outbreaks.
  • Environment protection: The knowledge generated by this sequencing will help in environmental protection by detecting bacteria and other organism that may pollute air, water, soil and food.
• Challenges for genome sequencing:
  • Ethical and social issues: If handled carelessly genetic information can threaten us by discrimination by potential employers and insurers.
  • Tedious task: The most difficult part of genome sequencing is to acquire and process high-quality samples from species that are hard to reach.
  • Lack of Technologies: New technologies such as specimen-collecting drones may need to be developed. 
  • IPR issue: There are complicated protocols involved in transferring physical samples and genetic data across borders, and there are bound to be disputes about the sharing of the benefits obtained. 
  • Legal Frameworks: While the Nagoya Protocols of 2014 provide a framework for such transfers, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity will have to work out new protocols and, ideally, create a new, transparent and equitable legal framework.
• Initiatives:
  • Earth BioGenome Project: Launched by International biologists. It is a project to sequence, catalog and characterize the genomes of all of Earth’s eukaryotic biodiversity. 
    • It involves projects by various countries:
      • US-led project to sequence the genetic code of tens of thousands of vertebrates 
      • Chinese project to sequence 10,000 plant genomes 
      • The Global Ant Genomes Alliance, which aims to sequence around 200 ant genomes.
    • Currently, fewer than 3,500, or about 0.2 per cent of all known eukaryotic species on Earth have had their genome sequenced.
    • Physical samples would be stored frozen in liquid nitrogen in four or more facilities located in different parts of the world, and repositories of digitised information would be created.
    • The participating institutions would raise their own funding as far as possible. However, the project has the backing of the World Economic Forum.
    • The potential benefits of EGP are compared to those from Human Genome Project, which has transformed research into human health and disease.
  • Human Genome Project (HGP):
    • HGP-Read:
      • This was an international and multi-institutional effort that took 13 years [1990-2003] to produce a blueprint of the human genome. 
      • The HGP has revealed that there are probably about 20,500 human genes composed of over 3 billion base pairs.
      • India did not participate in HGP-read.
    • HGP-Write:
      • This project was launched in 2016 to write or build an artificial human genome from scratch with sophisticated bio-engineering tools. 
      • Potential applications include growing transplantable human organs, engineering immunity to viruses in cell lines, engineering cancer resistance into new therapeutic cell lines, and accelerating high-productivity, cost-efficient vaccine etc.
  • Genome India Project:
    • It was launched in 2017 by the Centre for Brain Research at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in collaboration with Institute of Bio-resources and Sustainable Development (a national institute of the Department of Biotechnology).
    • It seeks to carry out Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of over 2,000 individuals spanning different ethnic, linguistic and socio-cultural sections of the northeastern states.
    • It would help in understanding the genetic origins of the different ethnic groups and also an increased understanding of the genetic disease burden which would help in the development of personalised medicine.
  • 100k GenomeAsia Project: A group of Indian scientists and companies are involved with a 100k GenomeAsia project, led out of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, to sequence the whole genomes of 100k Asians, including 50,000 Indians.

MANAV: Human Atlas Initiative

• Launched by Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
• MANAV Project aims to create an open and interactive atlas of human biology, compiling, curating and synthesizing data at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organismic level from scientific literature and public databases.
• For the first time, Indian scientists will be mapping every single tissue of the human body to have deeper understanding of the roles of tissues and cells linked to various diseases.
• The project can be signed up by students who are in their final year graduation and above. Even participants having a science background but not necessarily involved in active scientific research can be part of this network.
• Benefits and applications:
  • Physiological and molecular mapping – holistic analysis: The aim of the project is to understand and capture the human physiology in two stages – in a normal stage and while in a disease stage. Such a database on individual tissues, once ready, can come handy
    • in tracing the causes of a disease,
    • understanding specific pathways, 
    • decode the body’s disease stage linked to tissues and cells, 
    • develop disease models through predictive computing. 
  • Drug discovery: The teams will also study any potent elements or molecules that have never been used in the form of drugs, to target the specific cells or tissues.
  • Customise and personalize medicine: 
    • Patient specific support for medicine/ treatment decisions
    • Understanding of pre-clinical and clinical assessment of healthcare products
    • Personal health forecasting.
  • Skill development of student community: students will be the backbone on assimilating the information. This platform will impart key skills to the student community to read classified scientific literature, in this case, on individual tissue-basis, and perform annotation and curation.
  • Future research: Since all the information generated will pass through multiple levels of reviews, it will be an Atlas or a reliable collection on human body tissues. It will also identify gaps in the current biological knowledge, which could be basis for future studies – for both future researchers and to the clinicians and drug developers, who finally handle human bodies in disease conditions; and future policies.

Awareness in the field of nanotechnology:

• Nanoscience is the study of materials which are in nanoscale range (1-100 nanometres).
• Conversion of any material in nanoscale results in alteration of its physicochemical, biological, mechanical, optical, electronic, etc. properties which can be utilized for different useful activities.
• Nanotechnologies are the design, characterisation, production and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape and size on a nanometre scale.
• Current status of Nanotechnology in India:
  • India ranks third in the number of researches in the field of nanotechnology after China and USA.
  • The 9th Five-Year Plan (1998-2002) had mentioned for the first time that national facilities and core groups were set up to promote research in frontier areas of S&T which included superconductivity, robotics, neurosciences and carbon and nano materials. 
  • In 2007 a Mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission) was launched by the DST to foster, promote and develop all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology which have the potential to benefit the country. 
    • It is an umbrella programme for capacity building which envisages the overall development of this field of research in the country and to tap some of its applied potential for nation’s development.
    • Objectives of Nano-Mission:
      • Basic Research Promotion: Funding of basic research by individual scientists and/or groups of scientists and creation of centres of excellence for pursuing studies.
      • Infrastructure Development for Nano Science & Technology Research: Investigations on the nano scale require expensive equipments like Optical Tweezer, Nano Indentor, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), etc. For optimal use of expensive and sophisticated facilities, it is proposed to establish a chain of shared facilities across the country. 
      • Nano Applications and Technology Development Programmes: Promoting application-oriented R&D Projects, establish Nano Applications and Technology Development Centres, Nano-Technology Business Incubators etc. Special effort will be made to involve the industrial sector into nanotechnology R&D directly or through Public Private Partnership (PPP) ventures. 
      • Human Resource Development: The Mission shall focus on providing effective education and training to researchers and professionals in diversified fields so that a genuine interdisciplinary culture for nanoscale science, engineering and technology can emerge. It is planned to launch M.Sc./M.Tech. programmes, create national and overseas postdoctoral fellowships, chairs in universities, etc. 
      • International Collaborations: Apart from exploratory visits of scientists, organization of joint workshops and conferences and joint research projects, it is also planned to facilitate access to sophisticated research facilities abroad, establish joint centres of excellence and forge academiaindustry partnerships at the international level wherever required and desirable.
  • Other initiatives 
    • Eighteen sophisticated analytical instruments facilities (SAIFs) established by DST across India play a major role in advanced characterisation and synthesis of nano-materials for various applications.
    • Centre of Excellence in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology established by DST-Nano mission helps research and PG students in various thrust areas.
    • Thematic units of excellence (TUEs) for various areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology play a major role in product-based research to support nanotechnology.
    • INSPIRE scheme supports research fellows to work in interdisciplinary nanotechnology, nanoscience and nano-biotechnology areas.
• Applications of Nano Technology:
  • 
  • Medical field: for various purposes like disease diagnosis, drug delivery, cancer treatment, repair damaged tissue through tissue engineering etc.
    • Nano-pharmaceutical is an emerging field that combines nanotechnology with pharmaceutical and biomedical science with the goal of targeted drug delivery which may improve efficacy and safety profile. There are no uniform internationally acceptable guidelines for nano-pharmaceuticals
  • Defence
    • Use in intelligence gathering through difficult to detect sensors/cameras/recording devices. 
    • Possible supplement to traditional weaponry for close combat situations.
    • Precision guiding tools for snipers/others who use fire motor shells. 
  • Agriculture
    • In the food processing industry antimicrobial nanoemulsions are used for applications in decontamination of food equipment, packaging or food, nano-based antigen detecting biosensors for identification of pathogens contamination.
      • Anti-bacterial products such as nano silver when used as a materials preserver maintain its ability to reduce odour-causing bacteria longer and require smaller quantities than other silver preservatives. 
    • Soil health can be maintained by neutralizing harmful chemical or biological agents. Bio indicators can be used to detect the bio magnification of pesticides and fertilizers. 
    • Enhancement of agricultural productivity using bio-conjugated nanoparticles (encapsulation) for slow release of nutrients and water.
    • For controlling pests state-of-the-art nanotechnology has evolved to hassle-free gel-based carriers for pheromones called nanogels.
  • Water treatment and remediation 
    • Nanomembranes for water purification, desalination and detoxification. 
    • Nanosensors for the detection of contaminants and pathogens. 
    • Magnetic nanoparticles for water treatment and remediation. 
  • Construction 
    • Nanomolecular structures to make asphalt and concrete more robust to water seepage.
    • Heat-resistant nanomaterials to block ultraviolet and infrared radiation. 
    • Self-cleaning surfaces (e.g., windows, mirrors, toilets) with bioactive coatings.
  • Energy 
    • Novel hydrogen storage systems based on carbon nanotubes and other lightweight nanomaterials
    • Photovoltaic cells and organic light-emitting devices based on quantum dots.
    • Researchers have demonstrated that sunlight, concentrated on nanoparticles, can produce steam with high energy efficiency. 
• Challenges in Nanotechnology:
  • Health and environmental impact: Nanoparticles is believed might be able to disrupt cellular, enzymatic and other organ related functions posing health hazards. On the other hand nanoparticles might also be non-biodegradable and on disposal, these disposed materials might form a new class of nonbiodegradable pollutant and pose a new threat to the environment (air, water, soil) and health.
  • Information asymmetry: This includes lack of information on the nature and characteristics nanomaterials in applications, insufficient methods for detecting and measuring nanomaterials, inadequate breadth of risk related research. The improvement of efficiency, reliability, safety and lifetime, as well as the reduction of costs becomes the main challenges for the application of nanotechnology.
  • Lack of infrastructure and human resources: There is poor lab firm integration, which is compounded by the scarcity of skilled manpower that could provide linkages between the technology and commercial domains. This gap between basic research and application is another challenge in nanotechnology.
  • High costs of technology: High nanotechnology costs for acquisitions of intellectual property rights, nanotechnology infrastructure, lack of human and policy capacity, financial constraints often act as an impediment. 
  • Governance issues: As nanotechnology is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, it has given rise to various issues. This has led to significant overlaps in the areas to R&D support identified by different agencies. 
  • Ethical consequences: For instance nanotechnology may be used in warfare, may invade people’s privacy, or may impinge on the relationship between human beings and technology.
  • Effect on developing and underdeveloped countries: Reverse effects of nanotechnology developments on material demands and consequently on developing countries’ export of raw materials. Properties at the nano-scale maybe used to imitate the properties of rare minerals, thus affecting the export rates of their main producers.
• Nanotechnology could be both relevant and appropriate to sustainable development practices in India. Therefore, it is necessary to develop responsible nanotechnology governance, encourage the development of appropriate products targeted to help meet critical human development needs.

Awareness in the field of robotics:

• Robotics is an interdisciplinary sector of science and engineering dedicated to the design, construction and use of mechanical robots. Robotics develops machines that can substitute for humans and replicate human actions.
• Benefits of Robotics:
  • Fewer errors.
  • Higher equality.
  • Less downtime.
  • Higher productivity.
  • More energy efficient.
  • Improved security and control.