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GS Paper: GS3-17.Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.

  • Hellfire R9X missile: The mystery weapon

    The US military used its ‘secret weapon’ — the Hellfire R9X missile – to kill Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri on the balcony of a safehouse in Kabul.

    What is the Hellfire R9X missile?

    • Better known in military circles as the AGM-114 R9X, the Hellfire R9X is a US-origin missile known to cause minimum collateral damage while engaging individual targets.
    • Also known as the ‘Ninja Missile’, this weapon does not carry a warhead and instead deploys razor-sharp blades at the terminal stage of its attack trajectory.
    • This helps it to break through even thick steel sheets and cut down the target using the kinetic energy of its propulsion without causing any damage to the persons in the general vicinity or to the structure of the building.
    • The blades pop out of the missile and cut down the intended target without causing the massive damage to the surroundings which would be the case with a missile carrying an explosive warhead.

    When did the Hellfire missile enter active service?

    • The Hellfire 9RX missile is known to have been in active service since 2017.
    • However, its existence became public knowledge two years later in 2019.
    • It is a variant of the original Hellfire missile family which is used in conventional form with warheads and is traditionally used from helicopters, ground-based vehicles, and sometimes small ships and fast moving vessels.
    • For several years now, the Hellfire family of missiles, including the ‘Ninja Missile’, are armed on Combat Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones.

    What is known about the other Hellfire missile variants?

    • Hellfire is actually an acronym for Heliborne, Laser, Fire and Forget Missile and it was developed in the US initially to target tanks from the Apache AH-64 attack helicopters.
    • Later, the usage of these missiles spread to several other variants of helicopters and also ground and sea-based systems and drones.
    • Developed by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, the Hellfire missile has other variants such as ‘Longbow’ and ‘Romeo’ apart from the ‘Ninja’.

     

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  • Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill 2022

    Context

    A draft law to replace the 1940 Drugs and Cosmetics Act with a Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill 2022 was uploaded by the Union health ministry in early July, seeking public comments and objections.

    Major provisions of the Bill

     1] E-commerce for medical drugs

    • Presently, online sales of medicines account for a fraction of the total pharma sales in India but are forecast to grow exponentially.
    • The first major feature in the new Bill that affects consumers relates to e-commerce.
    • Like all online shopping, the consumer gets the advantage of discounts and the comfort of shopping from home.
    • In normal times, e-commerce can surmount three uniquely Indian disadvantages.
    • Storage condition: The first relates to climatic conditions, which require medicines to be stored at below 30 degrees Celsius and 70 per cent relative humidity — unattainable in most of India.
    •  It can mandate establishing a back-end brick and mortar store for drug supply having good storage conditions.
    • Compliance with regal provision: The second advantage of e-commerce could be fulfilling a legal requirement — providing a bill to the consumer and retaining one copy bearing the batch numbers and expiry dates of the drugs.
    • In addition, the practice of accessing prescription drugs over-the-counter would reduce.
    • In the case of e-commerce, registration of a pharmacy can require enrollment with the central and state drug control organisations and the practice of uploading a prescription from a registered medical practitioner can be enforced.
    • Concern: Shopping for medical drugs on the internet could encourage overuse or incomplete use of drugs, increase dependency on habit-forming medicine — for example, sleep-inducing drugs or self-medication with products for weight loss, male enhancement, even treating mental illness — which is fraught with dangerous consequences.
    •  A greater focus on medical devices: The draft law also proposes according a greater focus on medical devices, which include thousands of engineered apparatuses like stents, joint implants, pacemakers, catheters, etc, which require quality regulation.
    • Provision for advisory board: Rules for medical devices were notified in 2017 but now it is proposed to establish a statutory Medical Device Technical Advisory Board, with experts from the fields of atomic energy, science and technology, electronics, and related fields like biomedical technology to guide the process.
    • This is a welcome move that will bring in the required expertise.

    Issues not addressed in the Bill

    • Mismanagement of trade: What the Bill does not address is the need to stop the continued mismanagement of the wholesale and retail drugs trade in India.
    • Requirements for drug license not changed: Rule 64 (2) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 lays down that a wholesale drug licence can be given to a qualified pharmacist or one who has passed the matriculation examination or its equivalent or a graduate with one year’s experience in dealing with drug sale.
    • This is a relic from 80 years ago.
    • When the country is reported to have over 7,00,000 pharmacists, this anachronism must be discarded.
    •  It is essential to introduce a binding and enabling provision to only licence qualified pharmacists and put the safety of millions of citizens before the self-preservation of a few thousand wholesalers and stockists.

    Way forward

    • There is need for ensuring digitisation of procurement, inventory control and accountability for dispensing drugs into a digital trail.

    Conclusion

    The debate should not be between e-commerce and retail sale. It should be between being compliant and non-compliant.

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  • Dwindling fighter strength of the IAF

    In a tragic accident, a MIG-21 trainer jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Rajasthan killing both the high-ranked officer pilots onboard.

    What is the status of the MIG-21 jets in the IAF?

    • The MIG-21 was inducted into the IAF in the early 1960s and since then more than 800 variants of the supersonic fighter were inducted into service.
    • It remained the frontline fighter jet of the force for a long time.
    • During this period, there were over 400 accidents involving the jet which claimed the lives of around 200 pilots.

    Nature of service

    • Currently, there are four MIG-21 squadrons in service consisting of the upgraded Bison variant.
    • IAF officials have stated that there is technical life still left in them.
    • There are only four squadrons of the MIG-21 aircraft.

    Why use outdated aircraft?

    • With delays in new inductions, the IAF has been forced to continue the last four MIG-21 Bison squadrons in service.
    • One squadron is set to be phased out in the next few months, while the remaining three squadrons are planned to be phased out in the next three years.
    • This phase-out was worked out much before last week’s tragic incident.

    What is the present fighter strength of the IAF?

    • The IAF has an authorized strength of 42 fighter squadrons.
    • As time passes, the drawdown is increasing as the total technical life is completed.
    • However, the rate of new inductions is not matching the drawdown, depleting the overall number of fighter squadrons.
    • Additionally, several frontline aircraft in the inventory including the Jaguars, and MIG-29s will begin phasing out by the end of the decade.
    • For instance, by 2027-28 the first of the MIG-29s, inducted in the late 1980s, will start going out.

    New squadrons to be inducted

    • In the last few years, the IAF has inducted two squadrons of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas and two squadrons of Rafale fighter jets procured from France which pushed the squadron strength to 32.
    • In January 2021, the IAF had signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for 83 of the more advanced LCA MK-1A which it will start receiving from early 2024 onwards.
    • Along with that the to-be-acquired 114 Multi-Role Fighter Aircraft (MRFA) will help arrest the drawdown.
    • A larger and even more capable LCA-MK2, as well as the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), are under development.
    • However, their availability in enough numbers will take some time.

    Inherent limitations to the IAF

    • Hardware/Technological Challenges: Technology is at the core of an air force – acquiring and assimilating it is our primary challenge. The lack of it curtails national options, impacting postures and doctrines. Denial and selective availability of technology are all enmeshed in international relations.
    • Maintenance Challenges: Maintenance challenges determine how long aircrafts last and their cost-effectiveness. ‘Maintainability’, which includes logistical issues, is therefore, crucial.
    • Relying on Upgrades: IAF is badly in need of new Fighter Aircraft to compete with new 5th generation Modern jets. At current there are old aircraft and it is mostly dependant on Super Manoeuvrable Modern Generation Fighter Jet Su 30 MKI.
    • Delaying of Aircraft Delivery: The current order of IAF the Rafale is expected to be completed in 2024. The LCA Tejas of HAL has now produced 21 but still it has to manufacture in more number to replace the retiring MIG 21 BISON.

    Roadmap to shore up fighter strength

    • No easy roadmap: The IAF has acknowledged that they will not be able to achieve the desired strength for the time being and that they are doing the best they can.
    • Indigenous aircraft: In addition to the indigenous aircraft coming up, the IAF is confident that increasing the low availability rates of Su-30 and other fighters in service will offset some of the shortfalls in the interim.
    • Offsets of war: This could be potentially impacted due to the war in Ukraine even though officials have said that they are assessing the impact of the war and western sanctions.

    Way forward

    • Air power is becoming technologically more refined with unmanned platforms, cyber-space linkages and AI advances.
    • The inherent trans-border nature of this military capability needs astute professional and political husbanding.
    • Acquiring credible aerospace power with a meaningful degree of indigenization will need a greater degree of national resolve, professional integrity and resource allocation than is the case now.
    • China has demonstrated the degree of suasion and intimidation that airpower can bring to bear in relation to Taiwan.

     

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  • AlphaFold: AI-based Protein Structure Prediction Tool

    DeepMind, a company based in London and owned by Google, announced that it had predicted the three-dimensional structures of more than 200 million proteins using AlphaFold.

    This is the entire protein universe known to scientists today.

    What is AlphaFold?

    • AlphaFold is an AI-based protein structure prediction tool.
    • It is based on a computer system called deep neural network.
    • Inspired by the human brain, neural networks use a large amount of input data and provide the desired output exactly like how a human brain would.
    • The real work is done by the black box between the input and the output layers, called the hidden networks. AlphaFold is fed with protein sequences as input.
    • When protein sequences enter through one end, the predicted three-dimensional structures come out through the other.
    • It is like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

    How does AlphaFold work?

    • It uses processes based on “training, learning, retraining and relearning.”
    • The first step uses the available structures of 1,70,000 proteins in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to train the computer model.
    • Then, it uses the results of that training to learn the structural predictions of proteins not in the PDB.
    • Once that is done, it uses the high-accuracy predictions from the first step to retrain and relearn to gain higher accuracy of the earlier predictions.
    • By using this method, AlphaFold has now predicted the structures of the entire 214 million unique protein sequences deposited in the Universal Protein Resource (UniProt)

    What are the implications of this development?

    • Proteins are the business ends of biology, meaning proteins carry out all the functions inside a living cell.
    • Therefore, knowing protein structure and function is essential to understanding human diseases.
    • Scientists predict protein structures using x-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or cryogenic electron microscopy.
    • These techniques are not just time-consuming, they often take years and are based mainly on trial-and-error methods.
    • The development of AlphaFold changes all of that.
    • It is a watershed movement in science and structural biology in particular.

    What does this development mean for India?

    • Vaccine development: Understanding the accurate structures of COVID-19 virus proteins in days rather than years will accelerate vaccine and drug development against the virus.
    • Structural biology: From the seminal contribution of G. N. Ramachandran in understanding protein structures to the present day, India is no stranger to the field and has produced some fine structural biologists.

    Back2Basics: Proteins

    • Protein is found throughout the body—in muscle, bone, skin, hair, and virtually every other body part or tissue.
    • It makes up the enzymes that power many chemical reactions and the hemoglobin that carries oxygen in your blood.
    • At least 10,000 different proteins make you what you are and keep you that way.
    • Protein is made from twenty-plus basic building blocks called amino acids.
    • Because we don’t store amino acids, our bodies make them in two different ways: either from scratch or by modifying others.
    • Nine amino acids—histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine—known as the essential amino acids, must come from food.
    • Chemically, amino acids are organic compounds made of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen or sulfur.
    • There are seven types of proteins: antibodies, contractile proteins, enzymes, hormonal proteins, structural proteins, storage proteins, and transport proteins.

     

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  • Uncontrolled Descent of Space Debris

    A Chinese booster rocket made an uncontrolled return to earth, leading to US furore against Beijing for not sharing information about the potentially hazardous object’s descent.

    Yet another Chinese irresponsibility

    • Ending over a week of global anxiety and alarm, the debris from a large Chinese rocket – the Long March 5B — crashed to earth over the Pacific and the Indian oceans.
    • It felt into the Sulu Sea near Malaysia.
    • The 22-tonne core stage of the rocket hurtled uncontrollably back to earth. There were fears that it might hit a populated area.
    • China, however, had dismissed these fears despite widespread criticism for rocket re-entry risks imposed by it on the world.

    What is an Uncontrolled Re-entry?

    • Generally, the core or first stage of a rocket is made up of heavy pieces that usually don’t reach orbit after liftoff, and fall back safely along a near-precise projected trajectory.
    • If they do enter an orbit, then a costly de-orbit manoeuvre is required for a steered, controlled return using engine burn.
    • Without a de-orbit manoeuvre, the orbital core stage makes an uncontrolled fall.

    Why did it fell back?

    • Gigantic remnants from China’s Long March 5B rockets’ core stage are known to make such fiery, out-of-control descents back to earth.
    • Most nations’ rockets, separate the launcher from the payload before leaving the atmosphere.
    • An extra engine then gives the payload a final boost.
    • But China’s 5B series does NOT use a second engine and pushes right into orbit, the report points out.

    Why is it difficult to track uncontrolled descents?

    • The variables involved make it difficult to precisely track the re-entry time and drop zone of rocket debris in uncontrolled descents.
    • The factors that make this prediction extremely challenging include atmospheric drag, variations in solar activity, angle and rotational variation of the object among others.
    • A miscalculation of even a minute in re-entry time could result in the final resting place of the debris changing by hundreds of kilometres.
    • It’s important to understand that among the 10 tough things that we do in space, debris re-entry is probably one of the toughest ones to predict.

    Are there laws regulating space junk?

    Yes. The Space Liability Convention of 1972.

    • It defines responsibility in case a space object causes harm.
    • The treaty says that a launching State shall be absolutely liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space objects on the surface of the earth or to aircraft, and liable for damage due to its faults in space.
    • The Convention also provides for procedures for the settlement of claims for damages.
    • However, there is no law against space junk crashing back to earth.
    • In April this year, suspected debris from a Chinese rocket was found in two Maharashtra villages.

    Cases of settlements

    • In 1979, the re-entry of NASA’s 76-ton Skylab had scattered debris over uninhabited parts of Australia, and the space agency was fined $400 for littering by a local government.
    • The only settlement using the Liability Convention was between the erstwhile Soviet Union and Canada over the debris of Soviet Cosmos 954 falling in a barren region.
    • Canada was paid CAD 3 million in accordance with international law for cleaning up the mess.

    Do you know?

    The 1979 Skylab was rumoured to be falling in India. We may ask our parents who were apparently kids at that time. The event was widely perceived as a Pralay (doomsday) in rural India back then! People were in all joy with festive food/partying every day fearing so that they would never see the next dawn!!

  • A path to global connectivity

    Context

    As terrestrial 5G mobile networks are being rolled out across countries, there is a renewed interest in integrating Non-Terrestrial Networks.

    SatNets for 5G

    • Satellites and terrestrial networks have always been considered two independent ecosystems, and their standardisation efforts have proceeded independent of each other.
    • The primary non-terrestrial network that is being considered is the low latency Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks (SatNets), as a complement to terrestrial networks.
    • Towards this, Starlink, operated by the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, and OneWeb, promoted by Bharti Global, have launched about 2,500 and 648 LEO satellites respectively at an altitude of about 1,200 km with the objective of promoting global broadband connectivity.
    • There are other players such as Reliance Jio in a joint venture with Luxembourg-based SES and Amazon’s Project Kuiper.

    Benefits of using SatNets

    • 1] Service continuity in emergency: service continuity to provide seamless transition between terrestrial networks and SatNets in case of public safety, disaster management and emergency situations;
    • 2] Providing service in remote area: Service ubiquity to provide 5G services in unserved and underserved areas of the world, thereby bridging the digital divide;
    • 3] Scalability: Service scalability that utilises the unique capabilities of SatNets in multicasting and broadcasting similar content over a large geographical area.
    • 4] Service to in-motion user: The LEO SatNets can provide service not only to stationary but also to in-motion users.
    • 5] Low latency over long distance: Wireless communications through LEO satellites over long distances is proven to be 1.47 times faster than communication over the same distance through terrestrial optic fibre. It is this advantage along with global coverage that provide a strong use case for LEO SatNets to complement terrestrial optic fibre networks.
    • SatNet in standardisation: In view of the above advantages, standard-setting organisations such as the Third Generation Partnership project (3GPP), comprising telcos and equipment manufacturers around the world, started integrating SatNets in the standardisation process.

    Measures by the government

    • Realising the advantages, the Government, in its National Digital Communications Policy 2018, has indicated the development of an ecosystem for local manufacturing of satellite communication systems and promoting participation of private players for the strengthening of satellite communication infrastructure in the country.
    • Accordingly, the New Space India Limited (NSIL), a public sector enterprise, was established in 2019 to re-orient space activities from a ‘supply driven’ model to a ‘demand driven’ model, thereby ensuring optimum utilisation of the space assets.
    • The Department of Space also established in 2020 a new regulatory body named the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).
    • IN-SPACe is intended to provide a level playing field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure.

    Issues and challenges

    • Allocation of frequency: Issues will involve addressing issues around frequencies to be allocated for satellite broadband, the methodology of allocation, the relatively higher cost of consumer equipment and the placement and interconnections of SatNets with terrestrial public landline/ mobile networks at the ground stations
    • Cost: The other major challenge in LEO SatNets is the cost of user terminal and access charges to the end users.
    • A recent research analysing both Starlink and OneWeb concludes that the standalone LEO SatNets have a distinct cost advantage only if the density is less than 0.1 person per square km compared to terrestrial broadband networks.
    • Hence it is to the advantage of LEO SatNet providers to integrate their networks with terrestrial 5G networks to improve the cost economies.

    Conclusion

    All these, along with the proposed revisions to the Satellite Communications Policy of the Government, will provide the required fillip to LEO SatNets to become an integral part of the communication infrastructure of the country.

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    Back2Basics: LEO satellites

    • LEO satellites orbit between 2,000 and 200 kilometers above the earth. LEO satellites are commonly used for communications, military reconnaissance, spying and other imaging applications.
    • A low earth orbit (LEO) satellite is an object, generally a piece of electronic equipment, that circles around the earth at lower altitudes than geosynchronous satellites.
    • Satellites made for communications benefit from the lower signal propagation delay to LEO.
    • This lower propagation delay results in less latency.
    • Being closer to the earth has an obvious benefit for many types of earth observational satellites by resolving smaller subjects with greater detail.

  • Russia to leave International Space Station (ISS)

    Russia will pull out of the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost.

    Why in news?

    • Russia will end a symbolic two-decade orbital partnership between Moscow and the west.

    International Space Station (ISS)

    • The ISS was launched in 1998 as part of joint efforts by the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe.
    • The idea of a space station originated in the 1984 State of the Union address by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
    • The space station was assembled over many years, and it operates in low-earth orbit.
    • Since its inception, it has served as a laboratory suspended in space and has aided multiple scientific and technological developments.
    • The ISS was originally built to operate for 15 years.

    Why was ISS launched?

    • A space station permits quantum leaps in research in science, communications, and in metals and lifesaving medicines which could be manufactured only in space.
    • ISS has consistently maintained human presence for the past 21 years, providing astronauts with sophisticated technologies for scientific research.

    What is Russia’s role in maintaining the ISS?

    • The ISS is built with the cooperation of scientists from five international space agencies — NASA of the U.S., Roscosmos of Russia, JAXA of Japan, Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency.
    • Each agency has a role to play and a share in the upkeep of the ISS.
    • Both in terms of expense and effort, it is not a feat that a single country can support.
    • Russia’s part in the collaboration is the module responsible for making course corrections to the orbit of the ISS.
    • They also ferry astronauts to the ISS from the Earth and back.
    • Until SpaceX’s dragon spacecraft came into the picture the Russian spacecraft was the only way of reaching the ISS and returning.

     

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  • Private Sector Boost in India’s Space Industry

    Principal Scientific Adviser stated earlier this month that the government would soon come up with a new space policy that could initiate the rise of India’s own “SpaceX-like Ventures”.

    Prospects of the proposed Space Policy

    • The final version of the policy would soon be referred to the Empowered Technology Group for further examination.
    • The proposed move would increase private sector participation in the industry.
    • The policy document recognizes that India has not tapped into its complete potential in space sector.

    Why is development in the space sector important?

    Ans. Address wide range of problems

    (1) Climate Change

    • Satellites provide more accurate information on weather forecasts and assess (and record) long-term trends in the climate and habitability of a region.
    • By monitoring the long-term impact of climate change at regional, territorial, and national scales, governments would be able to devise more pragmatic and combative plans of action for farmers and dependent industries.
    • Additionally, they can also serve as real-time monitoring and early-warning solutions against natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, wildfires, mining etc.
    • Real-time tracking can also serve multiple purposes in defence.

    (2)  Connectivity

    • In this light, it must be noted that satellite communications, which are used to facilitate telecommunication services, are among the major categories for investment in the space technology sector.
    • Satellite communication can reach more remote areas where conventional networks would require a heavy complimenting infrastructure.
    • Additionally, as to reliability, the World Economic Forum had stated that satellite communication can help connect 49% of the world’s unconnected population.
    • Other prominent categories include spacecraft and equipment manufacturing.
    • What essentially needs to be remembered is that the strategic space avenue is an integration of the aerospace, IT hardware and telecom sectors.

    Where does India stand in the global space market?

    • As per SpaceTech Analytics, India is the sixth-largest player in the industry internationally having 3.6% of the world’s space-tech companies (as of 2021).
    • US holds the leader’s spot housing 56.4% of all companies in the space-tech ecosystem.
    • Other major players include UK (6.5%), Canada (5.3%), China (4.7%) and Germany (4.1%).
    • The Indian Space Industry was valued at $7 billion in 2019 and aspires to grow to $50 billion by 2024.

    Why does India matter in the global space-tech market?

    • The country’s standout feature is its cost-effectiveness.
    • India holds the distinction of being the first country to have reached the Mars’ orbit in its first attempt and at $75 million — way cheaper than Western standards.

    Future prospects of India’s private ‘Space’

    Ans. India may lead in space junk management

    • Almost 60-odd start-ups had registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) this year.
    • A majority of them were dealing in projects related to space debris management.
    • As space becomes more congested with satellites, the technology would thus help in managing ‘space junk’ (debris of old spacecraft and satellites).

    Where does India lack?

    Ans. Undisputedly, it is the finances

    • The US and Canada were the highest receivers of space-related investment in 2021.
    • The US’s space budget was $41 billion in 2021, $23.3 billion of which was focused on NASA.
    • India’s total budgetary allocation for FY2022-23 towards the Department of Space was ₹13,700 crore ($172 million).
    • Further, as per Tracxn data, funding into the sector’s start-ups (in India) nearly tripled to $67.2 million on a year-over-year basis in 2021.

    How is the private sector’s involvement regulated in India?

    • In June 2020, the Union government announced reforms in the space sector enabling more private players to provide end-to-end services.
    • The central idea was to bring forth a predictable policy and regulatory environment for them and additionally provide access to ISRO facilities and assets to improve their capacities.

    (1) Establishment of IN-SPACe

    • An announcement for the establishment of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) was made.
    • It was mandated the task of promoting, authorising and licensing private players to carry out space activities.
    • As an oversight and regulatory body, it is responsible for devising mechanisms to offer sharing of technology, expertise, and facilities free of cost to promote non-government private entities (NGPEs).
    • IN-SPACe’s Monitoring and Promotion Directorate oversees NGPE’s activities as per prescribed regulations and reports back in case any corrective actions or resolutions are required.
    • ISRO shares its expertise in matters pertaining to quality and reliability protocols, documentation, and testing procedure through IN-SPACe’s ‘interface mechanism’.

    (2) Establishment of NSIL

    • Additionally, constituted in March 2019, New Space India Ltd (NSIL), is mandated to transfer the matured technologies developed by the ISRO to Indian industries.
    • All of them are under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.
    • Private sector’s involvement in the long term, as with other commercial sectors, is believed to help spur investment and expertise in the realm which is capital-intensive and demands high technology.

     

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  • A new global standard for AI ethics

    Context

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is more present in our lives than ever. From predicting what we want to see as we scroll through social media to helping us understand weather patterns to manage agriculture, AI is ubiquitous.

    Issues with AI  and it why it matters to India

    • Bias and discrimination: The data used to feed into AI often aren’t representative of the diversity of our societies, producing outcomes that can be said to be biased or discriminatory.
    • Errors in facial recognition: There are problems emerging in facial recognition technologies, which are used to access our phones, bank accounts and apartments, and are increasingly employed by law-enforcement authorities, in identifying women and darker-skinned people.
    • For three such programs released by major technology companies, the error rate was 1% for light-skinned men, but 19% for dark-skinned men, and up to 35% for dark-skinned women.
    • Biases in facial recognition technologies have led to wrongful arrests.
    •  Indeed, if the business model of how these technologies are developed does not change to place human interests first, inequalities will grow to a magnitude never before experienced in history; access to the raw material that is data is key.
    • These issues are of particular importance to India, which is one of the world’s largest markets for AI-related technologies, valued at over $7.8 billion in 2021.
    •  The National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence released by NITI Aayog in 2018 highlights the massive potential of AI in solving complex social challenges faced by Indian citizens across areas such as agriculture, health, and education, in addition to the significant economic returns that AI-related technologies are already creating.

    UNESCO agreement

    • To ensure that the full potential of these technologies is reached, the right incentives for ethical AI governance need to be established in national and sub-national policy.
    • India has made great strides in the development of responsible and ethical AI governance, starting with NITI Aayog’s #AIForAll campaign to the many corporate strategies that have been adopted to ensure that AI is developed with common, humanistic values at its core.
    • UNESCO’s recommendations: Last November 193 countries reached a groundbreaking agreement at UNESCO on how AI should be designed and used by governments and tech companies.
    • UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence took two years to put together and involved thousands of online consultations with people from a diverse range of social groups.
    •  It aims to fundamentally shift the balance of power between people, and the businesses and governments developing AI.
    • Countries which are members of UNESCO have agreed to implement this recommendation by enacting actions to regulate the entire AI system life cycle, ranging from research, design and development to deployment and use.
    • This means they must use affirmative action to make sure that women and minority groups are fairly represented on AI design teams.
    • The Recommendation also underscores the importance of the proper management of data, privacy and access to information.
    •  It establishes the need to keep control over data in the hands of users, allowing them to access and delete information as needed.
    • It also calls on member states to ensure that appropriate safeguards schemes are devised for the processing of sensitive data and effective accountability, and redress mechanisms are provided in the event of harm.
    • Socio-cultural impact: The broader socio-cultural impacts of AI-related technologies are also addressed, with the Recommendation taking a strong stance that-
    • 1] AI systems should not be used for social scoring or mass surveillance purposes;
    • 2] That particular attention must be paid to the psychological and cognitive impact that these systems can have on children and young people;
    • 3] Member states should invest in and promote not only digital, media and information literacy skills, but also socio-emotional and AI ethics skills to strengthen critical thinking and competencies in the digital era.
    • In a number of countries, the principles of the Recommendation are already being used in AI regulation and policy.
    • Finland provides an example of good practice of this regard, with its 2017 AI Strategy.

    Conclusion

    The new agreement is broad and ambitious. It is a recognition that AI-related technologies cannot continue to operate without a common rulebook. Over the coming months and years, the Recommendation will serve as a compass to guide governments and companies, to voluntarily develop and deploy AI technologies that conform with the commonly agreed principles it establishes.

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  • What are Fast Radio Bursts (FRB)?

    A strange radio signal (called Fast Radio Bursts) has been detected in a galaxy several billion light-years from Earth, a recent study claimed.

    What is an FRB?

    • The first FRB was discovered in 2007, since when scientists have been working towards finding the source of their origin.
    • Essentially, FRBs are bright bursts of radio waves (radio waves can be produced by astronomical objects with changing magnetic fields).
    • Its durations lie in the millisecond scale, because of which it is difficult to detect them and determine their position in the sky.

    Who discovered it?

    • The X-ray portion of the simultaneous bursts was detected by several satellites, including NASA’s Wind mission.
    • Further, a NASA-funded project called Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2 (STARE2) also detected the radio burst.

    Why are they significant?

    • First noticed in 2018 by the Canadian observatory the waves have created ripples across the globe for one reason — they arrive in a pattern.
    • This gave birth to theories that they could be from an alien civilization.
    • Initially, it was believed that the collision of black holes or neutron stars triggers them.
    • But the discovery of repeating FRBs debunked the theory of colliding objects.

     

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