IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nanotechnology, Biotechnology and Intellectual Property Rights

What the official syllabus says

General Studies III (Main Written Examination, Paper V):

• Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Topics in detail

Information technology and computers

• Basics: hardware, software, operating systems, networks, cloud computing
• Supercomputers in India (the PARAM series) and high-performance computing uses in weather forecasting and research
• Digital India (2015); digital public infrastructure: Aadhaar, UPI (2016), DigiLocker, the Open Network for Digital Commerce
• E-governance and service delivery; common service centres
• Artificial intelligence: uses in governance, health and agriculture; bias and accountability; IndiaAI Mission (2024)
• Big data, blockchain, Internet of Things
• 5G and future networks; BharatNet
• Law: Information Technology Act, 2000; Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023
• Digital divide

Space

• Indian Space Research Organisation (1969); Aryabhata (1975), the first Indian satellite
• Launch vehicles: PSLV, GSLV, LVM3, SSLV
• Missions: Chandrayaan-1 (2008), Mars Orbiter Mission (2013), Chandrayaan-2 (2019), Chandrayaan-3 (landing near the lunar south pole, 2023), Aditya-L1 (2023)
• Human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan; space docking experiment
• Applications: communication, remote sensing, weather, navigation (NavIC), disaster warning
• Reforms: IN-SPACe (2020), NewSpace India Limited, Indian Space Policy 2023, private launchers and satellites
• Space debris and outer space treaties

Robotics

• Industrial robots, automation and employment
• Robots in surgery, defence, disaster response and agriculture
• Drones: uses and the Drone Rules, 2021
• Autonomous vehicles and the ethics of machine decisions

Nanotechnology

• Meaning: materials at the scale of 1 to 100 nanometres
• Applications: medicine and drug delivery, electronics, water purification, agriculture (nano fertilisers), textiles
• Nanomaterials: carbon nanotubes, graphene, quantum dots, nano silver
• Risks: toxicity, environmental release, regulation
• Nano Mission (2007)

Biotechnology

• Recombinant DNA technology, genetic engineering, CRISPR gene editing
• Genetically modified crops: Bt cotton (2002), the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, debates on GM food crops
• Medical biotechnology: vaccines, biosimilars, stem cells, gene therapy
• Genomics: Genome India project
• Industrial and environmental biotechnology: biofuels, bioremediation
• Biofortified crop varieties; tissue culture
• DNA fingerprinting and forensic uses
• Bioethics and biosafety; Cartagena Protocol
• Department of Biotechnology (1986); BioE3 policy

Intellectual property rights

• Kinds of IPR: patents, copyright, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications, plant varieties
• TRIPS Agreement of the WTO; World Intellectual Property Organization
• Patents Act, 1970 and the 2005 amendment (product patents); Section 3(d) and evergreening; the Novartis case (2013)
• Compulsory licensing and access to medicines
• Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
• Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001
• Traditional knowledge and biopiracy; Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
• National IPR Policy (2016)
• Other IP laws: Copyright Act, 1957; Trade Marks Act, 1999; Designs Act, 2000
• IPR in trade agreements: data exclusivity and patent term extension debates

Overlaps

• Internal Security: cyber security and the use of technology by criminals.