Science and Technology: Developments, Applications and Indian Achievements

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper IV: General Studies III.

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

Topics in detail

Developments and their applications in everyday life

• Health: vaccines, diagnostics, telemedicine, medical imaging, antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance
• Agriculture: high-yielding varieties, biofertilisers, biopesticides, precision farming
• Energy: solar cells, batteries, nuclear power, fuel cells
• Communication: mobile telephony, the internet, satellites for television and navigation
• Materials: new materials, nanomaterials, composites, semiconductors
• Everyday technologies: LED lighting, digital payments, GPS-based services, e-governance
• Effects of technology: productivity, convenience and access, along with concerns of privacy, job loss, e-waste and inequality of access

Science and technology institutions and policy

• Departments and bodies: Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Department of Atomic Energy, Indian Space Research Organisation
• Science and technology policies (1958 Scientific Policy Resolution and later policies)
• Research and development spending, the role of private industry, the research ecosystem
• Science communication and scientific temper (Article 51A(h))

Achievements of Indians in science and technology

• Classical contributions: Aryabhata, Brahmagupta and Bhaskara in mathematics and astronomy; Sushruta and Charaka in medicine
• C. V. Raman (Raman effect; Nobel Prize in Physics, 1930)
• Srinivasa Ramanujan (number theory, infinite series)
• Jagadish Chandra Bose (radio waves, plant physiology); Satyendra Nath Bose (Bose-Einstein statistics); Meghnad Saha (thermal ionisation equation)
• Homi J. Bhabha (nuclear programme, three-stage nuclear power plan); Vikram Sarabhai (space programme); Satish Dhawan
• A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (launch vehicles and missiles)
• M. S. Swaminathan (Green Revolution); Verghese Kurien (Operation Flood)
• Scientists of Indian origin: Har Gobind Khorana (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1968), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1983)
• Institutional achievements: space missions, indigenous vaccines, digital public infrastructure, supercomputers

Indigenisation and developing new technology

• Need for indigenisation: strategic autonomy, technology denial regimes, import bills
• Defence indigenisation: the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, the Light Combat Aircraft, indigenous aircraft carrier, lists of items for domestic procurement, defence industrial corridors
• Nuclear technology: the three-stage programme based on thorium, indigenous reactors
• Space: indigenous cryogenic engine and launch vehicles
• Electronics and semiconductors: chip design and fabrication, electronics manufacturing
• Technology transfer, joint ventures and offsets; reverse engineering
• Innovation ecosystem: start-ups, incubators, patents filed by Indians, industry-academia links
• Barriers: low R&D spending, brain drain, weak commercialisation of research
• Frugal innovation and grassroots innovation: low-cost technologies for Indian needs
• Technology for public health: indigenous vaccines, low-cost diagnostics, generic medicines
• Science diplomacy and international research collaborations

Overlaps

General science and current developments are part of Prelims General Studies Paper I. Specific frontier fields are on the next page.