Haryana: Science, Technology and Environment

What the official syllabus says

General Studies III (Paper V) ends with "Related issues of Haryana." Read with the science and environment lines of the paper, it covers:

• Related issues of Haryana.
• Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
• Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
• Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Topics in detail

Science and technology institutions in Haryana

• National Brain Research Centre (Manesar)
• Translational Health Science and Technology Institute and Regional Centre for Biotechnology (Faridabad)
• ICAR institutes at Karnal and Hisar (dairy, buffalo, wheat and barley, soil salinity, animal genetic resources); buffalo cloning work at NDRI Karnal
• Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC), Hisar: remote sensing and GIS for land use, crops and planning
• Haryana State Council for Science, Innovation and Technology
• Universities and technical institutions: NIT Kurukshetra and State technical universities
• Kalpana Chawla (born in Karnal), the first woman of Indian origin in space

Technology in governance in Haryana

• Parivar Pehchan Patra and data-linked delivery of schemes
• Online portals for services, land records, crop registration and procurement
• Use of drones and GIS in land survey and agriculture
• IT and electronics industry in Gurugram; data centres

Forests and conservation

• Haryana has one of the lowest shares of forest cover among Indian States; tree cover outside forests and agro-forestry (poplar and eucalyptus feeding the Yamunanagar plywood industry)
• Shivalik hills in the north (Morni hills, Kalesar) and the Aravalli hills in the south (Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Mahendragarh, Rewari)
• Protection of the Aravallis: Supreme Court restrictions on mining; land under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900; the Mangar Bani sacred grove; the Aravalli Green Wall project
• Protected areas: Sultanpur National Park (Gurugram), Kalesar National Park (Yamunanagar), Bhindawas, Khaparwas, Bir Shikargah, Abubshahar, Saraswati and Nahar wildlife sanctuaries
• Ramsar sites: Sultanpur National Park and Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary
• Vulture conservation breeding centre at Pinjore; blackbuck protected by Bishnoi communities
• Village ponds and johads; the Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority

Main protected areas

Pollution

• Air pollution in the NCR districts: vehicles, construction dust, industry, brick kilns, burning of crop residue and waste
• Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas, and the Graded Response Action Plan
• River pollution: the Yamuna (industrial and sewage drains from Panipat and Sonipat; Drain No. 8), the Ghaggar and the Markanda
• Textile dyeing effluent in Panipat; common effluent treatment plants
• Solid waste in Gurugram and Faridabad: landfills (Bandhwari) and waste-to-energy
• Haryana State Pollution Control Board

Degradation

• Groundwater depletion in the rice belt; salinity and waterlogging in central districts
• Desertification risk and sand dunes in the south-west
• Encroachment on Aravalli forest land; loss of wetlands and village commons
• Environmental impact assessment of mining, highways and industrial estates in the State

Overlaps

• Science and Technology, IT, Space and Biotechnology and Environment: the national side of the same topics.
• General Studies I: the physical geography of Haryana.