💥UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (April Batch) + Access XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

Archives: News

  • Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

    A partnership to carry India into net-zero future

    op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Context

    At a time when our planet faces an existential crisis, there is little doubt that we need innovative, scientific and urgent steps to secure humanity’s future.

    India’s climate commitment

    • We need to act decisively to reach global net-zero, restricting future cumulative emissions to the remaining carbon budget — as COP26 noted — if the rise in temperature is to remain within the limits of the Paris Agreement.
    • At COP26, India announced its climate commitments — the “Panchamrit”, including a commitment to reach net-zero by 2070.
    • India’s announcement of its net-zero goal is a major step considering that our country is not the cause of global warming.
    • Its historical cumulative emissions are a mere 4.37 per cent of the world’s total. 

    India’s steps to achieve the targets

    [1] India’s renewable energy targets and achievements

    • India’s renewable energy targets have steadily become more ambitious, from the 175 GW by 2022 declared at Paris, to 450 GW by 2030 at the UN Climate Summit, and now 500 GW by 2030, announced at COP26.
    • India has also announced the target of 50 per cent installed power generation capacity from non-fossil energy sources by 2030, raising the existing target of 40 per cent, which has already been almost achieved.
    • Renewable technologies: India will not lag in terms of new cutting-edge renewable technologies and has already announced a Hydrogen Energy Mission for grey and green hydrogen.
    • In energy efficiency, the market-based scheme of Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) has avoided 92 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions during its first and second cycles.

    [2] India’s E-mobility transtion

    • FAME: India is accelerating its e-mobility transition with the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles Scheme to support the electric vehicle market development and enable its manufacturing ecosystem to achieve self-sustenance.
    • Incentives for customers and companies: The government has also announced a slew of incentives for customers and companies to promote e-vehicles.
    • Adoption of BS-VI: India leapfrogged from Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) to Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission norms by April 1, 2020.
    • Scrapping policy: A voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and unfit vehicles now complements these schemes.
    • Electrification of railway routes: Indian Railways is charging ahead, targeting the full electrification of all broad-gauge routes by 2023.

    [3] Ujjwala Yojana and UJALA

    • The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana has benefitted 88 million households with LPG connections.
    • More than 367 million LED bulbs have been distributed under the UJALA scheme, leading to energy savings of more than 47 billion units of electricity per year and a reduction of 38.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
    • With these and many other initiatives, India has already achieved a reduction of 24 per cent in the emission intensity of its GDP between 2005 and 2016, and is on track to meet its target of 33 to 35 per cent by 2030.

    Role of private sector

    • Since industries also contribute to GHG emissions, any climate action will need to reduce or offset emissions that emerge from industrial and commercial activity.
    • The public and private sectors in India are already playing a key role in meeting the climate challenge, helped by growing customer and investor awareness, as well as increasing regulatory and disclosure requirements.
    • Enterprises are well-positioned to not just adapt to but also gain from the low-carbon transition.
    • The low-carbon transition challenge is bigger for companies that are largely coal-powered and contribute more than half of our country’s emissions.
    • The business fraternity must make the best possible use of this opportunity to invest in climate technologies and expand the use of renewable energy sources.
    • The Indian cement industry has taken pioneering measures and achieved one of the biggest sectoral low carbon milestones worldwide.

    Way forward

    • India’s journey on the low-carbon pathway towards net-zero requires the active participation of all stakeholders.
    • Sustainable lifestyles and climate justice are at the core of this journey.

    Conclusion

    With cooperation from the private sector, India will be able to responsibly use its fair share of the global carbon space and contribute to reaching the global net-zero goal to build a more environmentally sustainable planet.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Monsoon Updates

    Western Disturbances to bring rain in New Delhi

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    Under the influence of two consecutive western disturbances, New Delhi is in for a wet spell.

    Western Disturbances

    • A western disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
    • It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern driven by the westerlies.
    • The moisture in these storms usually originates over the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
    • Extratropical storms are global phenomena with moisture usually carried in the upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried in the lower atmosphere.
    • In the case of the Indian subcontinent, moisture is sometimes shed as rain when the storm system encounters the Himalayas.
    • Western disturbances are more frequent and strong in the winter season.

    Impact: Winter Rainfall and Extreme Cold

    • Western disturbances, specifically the ones in winter, bring moderate to heavy rain in low-lying areas and heavy snow to mountainous areas of the Indian Subcontinent.
    • They are the cause of most winter and pre-monsoon season rainfall across northwest India.
    • An average of four to five western disturbances forms during the winter season.

    Its significance

    • Precipitation during the winter season has great importance in agriculture, particularly for the rabi crops.
    • Wheat among them is one of the most important crops, which helps to meet India’s food security.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. The winds which blow between 30°N and 60°S latitudes throughout the year are known as westerlies.
    2. The moist air masses that cause winter rains in the North-Western region of India are part of westerlies.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) Only 1

    (b) Only 2

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

     

    Post your answers here.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Terrorism and Challenges Related To It

    Multi Agency Centre (MAC): A common counter-terrorism grid

    Prelims Only | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Various Security Forces, Agencies & Their Mandates

    The Union government has asked the States to share more intelligence inputs through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

    Why in news?

    • States are often reluctant to share information on the platform.
    • There are several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time.
    • Plans are afoot for more than a decade to link the system up to the district level.

    About MAC

    • The Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) was formed in December 2001 following the Kargil intrusion and the subsequent overhaul of the Indian national security apparatus suggested by the Kargil Review Committee report.
    • Accordingly, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was authorized to create a multi-agency centre (MAC) in New Delhi.
    • Now functioning 24×7 as the nodal body for sharing intelligence inputs, MAC coordinates with representatives from numerous agencies, different ministries, both central and state.
    • Various security agencies share real-time intelligence inputs on the MAC.
    • The state offices have been designated as subsidiary MACs (SMACs).
    • As many as 28 organisations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces and State police, are part of the platform.

    Back2Basics: NATGRID

    • NATGRID is an intelligence-sharing network that collates data from the standalone databases of the various agencies and ministries of the Indian government.
    • It collects and collates a host of information from government databases including tax and bank account details, credit/debit card transactions, visa and immigration records and itineraries of rail and air travel.
    • It came into existence after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
    • It is accessible to only authorized people from 10 security agencies on a case-to-case basis for investigations into suspected cases of terrorism.
    • It will also have access to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, a database that links crime information, including First Information Reports, across 14,000 police stations in India.

    Note: NATGRID data will be made available to 11 central agencies, which are: Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Directorate General of GST Intelligence.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Blockchain Technology: Prospects and Challenges

    Understanding IC15, India’s first Crypto Index

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Superapp CryptoWire recently launched India’s first cryptocurrency index, IC15, which will measure the performance of the 15 most widely traded cryptocurrencies listed on leading crypto exchanges by market capitalization.

    What is IC15?

    • CryptoWire constituted an Index Committee of domain experts, industry practitioners, and academicians that will select cryptocurrencies from the top 400 coins in terms of market capitalization.
    • The eligible cryptocurrency should have traded on at least 90% of the days during the review period and be among the 100 most liquid cryptocurrencies in terms of trading value.
    • Also, the cryptocurrency should be in the top 50 in terms of the circulating market capitalization.
    • The committee will then select the top 15 cryptocurrencies. The index will be reviewed quarterly.

    What is its significance?

    • IC15 can be replicated for creating index-linked products such as index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
    • Usually, the performance of a mutual fund scheme is assessed with reference to a benchmark, which could be a total return index of the Nifty or the Sensex.
    • IC15 is the first index in India that can act as a benchmark of the underlying cryptocurrency market and the performance benchmark for fund managers.
    • Moreover, robo-advisors, which provide financial advice with moderate to minimal human intervention, can use this index to create investment products at lower costs.

    How  does  IC15  correlate  with other market indicators?

    • IC15’s base value as on 1 April 2018 was 10,000.
    • It would mean that the index has gained 615% in absolute terms to 71,475.48 till 31 December 2021.

    Can  index-based  crypto investment reduce risks?

    • Index investing can be an effective way to diversify against risks as a fund invests in a basket of assets against a few limited coins.
    • However, index-based investing may not fully remove risks associated with investing in crypto assets.
    • Case in point: IC15 saw a 50% plunge in 2018, whereas other asset classes have seen a maximum drop in the range of 3-4%.
    • Further, bitcoin and ethereum have a combined weightage of 77% in the index, making it highly vulnerable to any volatility in these two coins.

    Can crypto funds be launched in India?

    • SEBI has recently asked mutual fund houses not to launch crypto-based funds until the Centre comes out with clear regulations.
    • This means asset management companies for now won’t be able to launch crypto funds based on IC15.
    • However, in the absence of any regulations, crypto platforms can offer products based on the index.
    • Global crypto investment platform Mudrex last year launched Coin Sets—crypto funds based on themes such as decentralized finance or market cap.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Primary and Secondary Education – RTE, Education Policy, SEQI, RMSA, Committee Reports, etc.

    [pib] What is Nai Talim?

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The Vice President of India has said that the New Education Policy follows the ‘Nai Talim’ of Mahatma Gandhi by giving importance to the mother tongue as the medium of instruction at the school level.

    What is Nai Talim?

    • The phrase Nai Talim is a combination of two words- Nai Means ‘New’ and Talim – a Urdu word-means ‘Education’.
    • In 1937, Gandhiji introduced the concept of Nai Talim in India. It aimed to achieve Gram Swaraj (liberation of villages).
    • In short, Gandhiji dreamed to make all villages independent; and self-reliant.
    • It is an approach to the total personality development of body, mind and spirit and was based on four principles namely:
    1. Education or learning in mother tongue along with handicraft work,
    2. Work should be linked with most useful vocational needs of the locality,
    3. Learning should be linked with vocational work, and
    4. Work should be socially useful and productive needed for living.

    Gandhiji and Education

    • Gandhi’s first experiments in education began at the Tolstoy Farm ashram in South Africa.
    • It was much later, while living at Sevagram (Wardha) and in the heat of the Independence struggle, that Gandhi wrote his influential article in Harijan about education.
    • In it, he mapped out the basic pedagogy (or teaching) with focus on:
    1. Lifelong character of education,
    2. Social character and
    3. A holistic process
    • Thus, for Gandhi, education is ‘the moral development of the person’, a process that is by definition ‘lifelong’.
    • He believed the importance of role of teacher in the learning process.

     

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:

     

    Q. One common agreement between Gandhism and Marxism is

    (a) The final goal of a stateless society

    (b) Class struggle

    (c) Abolition of private property

    (d) Economic determinism

     

     

    Post your answers here:

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • NGOs vs. GoI: The Conflicts and Scrutinies

    Aiding in governance

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Context

    The collaborative effort of markets and the Government are key to the development of a country.

    How CSR law aids citizenry-private partnerships

    • Section 135 of the Companies Act mandates corporates who are beyond a certain level of profits and turnover to pay at least 2% of their net profits before tax to the development space.
    • Scope for collaboration with Non-state actors: This law gives corporates the necessary impetus to collaborate with non-state actors like Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). 
    • Using the depth of engagement of non-state actors: Non-state actors, because of their depth of engagement with communities, bring patient capital to corporate board rooms and help the state, too, by engaging in welfare activities.
    • Role of NGOs: A key pillar of democratic governance is citizens’ power to question the state.
    • NGOs and voluntary groups/organisations have played a significant role in building capacities of citizens to hold governments accountable.
    • Hence, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) grants, have assumed importance to provide the much-needed sustenance to NGOs and CSOs as key players in non-state governance.

    How Non-state actors differ from Governments

    • Risk-averse nature of bureaucracy: The Indian bureaucratic elite have little appetite for risk-taking and innovation because of the constant changing goalposts of their politician-bosses or because the quantum of work is more than what they can efficiently handle.
    • Bureaucrats, therefore, often take recourse to the status quo even if it is to at least get some work done and not stall everything by campaigning for change, especially in the realm of governance.
    • Fear of failure: There is also the fear of failure, with its deep-rooted consequence of non-risk-takers smoothly sailing to the top posts.
    • In such contexts, it is the non-state actor who innovates and creates breakthrough models of community engagement.
    • They also become the vehicle to carry the demands of people to formal institutions.
    • We saw this in the case of the Right to Information (RTI) campaign, which became a law after decades-long efforts by NGOs.
    • It is common knowledge that the District Collector calls on vetted NGOs/CSOs to implement various schemes during the normal course of the day or to step in at short notice when calamities strike.
    • When non-state actors take a large load off the state’s shoulder, the state can focus more on governance.
    • Research shows that it is the synergy of NGOs, Government and corporates which is the key to the development.

    Conclusion

    The CSR law has made the corporate world not only clean its own mess but has also created a legal framework for corporates to work with NGOs and CSOs. NGOs and CSOs in India, will play a major role in mobilising citizen action to right various wrongs.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc

    A reality check on great CAPEX expectations

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Context

    Economists are predicting a potential virtuous capital investments (capex) cycle to kick in globally as we emerge from the pandemic.

    Why do analysts think that capital investment cycle is about to start?

    • Less leveraged: Corporates are less leveraged today compared to 2008.
    • Indian corporates repaid debts of more than Rs 1.5 trillion.
    • Fiscal and monetary support: Companies are also more confident of durable fiscal and monetary support.
    • Increased savings: Households have large excess savings built during Covid — $1.7 trillion in the US and roughly $300 billion in India as per a UBS report.
    • Cash: Lastly, corporates are sitting on a large cash pile – S&P 500 firms’ cash has soared from $1 trillion pre-pandemic to $1.5 trillion now.

    Why capex wave is difficult in India?

    • Fall in capital formation: India’s fixed capital formation rate has steadily fallen from 36 per cent of GDP in 2008 to 26 per cent in 2020.
    • For a set of 718 listed companies for which data is consistently available from 2005, the capex growth rate has decreased from 7 per cent in 2008 to around 2 per cent in 2020.
    • Low return on invested capital: The return on invested capital in FY21 is still low at 2-3 per cent compared with 16-18 per cent returns in 2005-08.
    • Structural issues: Land acquisition is still tough, changes to labour laws have been slow, and reform uncertainty has resurfaced with the rollback of the agriculture reform laws.
    • Discouraging current data: As per CMIE data, the quarter ending in June 2021 saw Rs 2.72 lakh crore worth of new projects announced. This fell to Rs 2.22 lakh crore for the September 2021 quarter.
    • This is much below the average of Rs 4 lakh crore a quarter of new project announcements during 2018 and 2019.
    • Further, new projects are concentrated in fewer industries (power, and technology) with the top three accounting for 44 per cent of the total of new projects announced.
    • Low capacity utilisation: At the same time, capacity utilisation for corporate India is at an all-time low.
    • From a peak of 83 per cent in 2010, when capex was running hot, utilisation levels declined to 70 per cent just before the pandemic, and further to 60 per cent in June 2021 as per the RBI’s latest OBICUS data.
    • Capex is funded either from fresh debt or equity issues or from accumulated cash. Large firms are repaying debt.

    Conclusion

    It is too early in the cycle to predict anything with confidence, but we need more evidence to predict a capex cycle.

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-China

    China’s new Border Law and India

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    China’s new law on land borders has come into effect on January 1.

    Key takeaways of the Border Law

    China passed the law for the “protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”.

    • Sacrosanct nature of Borders: Under the law, “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China are sacred and inviolable”.
    • Border defense: It mandates the state to take measures “to strengthen border defense, support economic and social development as well as opening-up in border areas.
    • Habitation near borders: It seeks to improve public services and infrastructure in such areas, encourage and support people’s life and work there.
    • Consultations with neighbors: The law asks the state to follow the principles of equality, mutual trust, and friendly consultation, handle land border related-affairs with neighboring countries.

    Why did China bring it?

    Several factors may have led to China’s move.

    • Aggressive actions: The new law is a tool the Chinese government will use if it wants, as its actions have been aggressive even before this law.
    • Maritime assertion: This law reflects Beijing’s renewed concerns over the security of its land border while it confronts a slew of unsettled disputes on its maritime front (in the South China Sea).
    • Land boundary issues: The confrontations on the Sino-Indian borders in recent years may have reminded Beijing about this law.
    • Fear of radicalization: Afghanistan under the Taliban may become a hotbed for terrorism and extremism that could spread to Xinjiang amongst Uyghurs.
    • One-China Policy: China officially (constitutionally) claims mainland China and Taiwan as part of their respective territories. It has similar assertions for Hong Kong.

    Does it concern India?

    • No specific mention: Although the law is not meant specifically for India, it is bound to have some impact.
    • May hamper disengagement:  The date for the round meeting is still awaited, amid concerns that the Chinese delegation can use the new law to try to bolster their existing positions.
    • Possible misadventures: The new law provides for the construction of permanent infrastructure close to the border. This has been observed in Arunachal Pradesh.

    What impact can it have on India-China relations?

    • Onus on China: The view is still divided. Much depends on China’s actions, regardless of the new law.
    • Unilateral action: The new law might be the latest attempt by China to unilaterally delineate and demarcate territorial boundaries with India and Bhutan.
    • Maintain status-quo: The new law will make China dig its heels in, on the ongoing standoff as well as for the resolution of the larger boundary issue.
    • Permanent demarcation of borders: There is also a possibility that Beijing appears to be signaling a determination to resolve the border disputes on its preferred terms.

    Recent mis-adventures

    • China has been building “well-off” border defense villages across the LAC in all sectors, which the new law encourages.
    • President Xi visited a village in Tibet near the border with Arunachal Pradesh followed by renamings.
    • China has constructed a bridge in Eastern Ladakh connecting the North and South Banks of Pangong Tso.

    Conclusion

    • The law only “states the obvious” as “every country is in the business of protecting its territorial integrity.
    • The big question is what your territory is, and there we don’t agree with each other.

     

    [RSTV Archive] India-China Ties Post-Galwan

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-SAARC Nations

    Pakistan ready to host SAARC Summit

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah has said that his country was ready to host the 19th SAARC Summit and invited India to join it virtually if it is not willing to visit Islamabad.

    About SAARC

    • The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia.
    • Members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
    • It was established in Dhaka on 8 December 1985. Its secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
    • The organization promotes the development of economic and regional integration.
    • It maintains permanent diplomatic relations at the United Nations as an observer and has developed links with multilateral entities, including the European Union.

    Formation of SAARC

    • After the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the security situation in South Asia rapidly deteriorated.
    • In response, the foreign ministers of the initial seven members met in Colombo in 1981.
    • At the meeting, Bangladesh proposed forming a regional association that would meet to discuss matters such as security and trade.
    • While most of the countries present were in favour of the proposal, India and Pakistan were skeptical.
    • Eventually, both countries relented and in 1983 in Dhaka, joined the other five nations in signing the Declaration.

    Economic significance of SAARC

    • The SAARC comprises 3% of the world’s area, 21% of the world’s population and 4.21% (US$3.67 trillion) of the global economy, as of 2019.
    • It launched the South Asian Free Trade Area in 2006.

    Major accomplishments

    • Forum for discussions: It has provided a platform for representatives from member countries to meet and discuss important issues, something that may have been challenging through bilateral discussions.
    • Diplomatic tool: India and Pakistan for example would struggle to publicly justify a meeting when tensions between the two are particularly high, but both countries often come together under the banner of SAARC.
    • Crisis management: The bloc has also made some headway in signing agreements related to climate change, food security and combating the Covid-19 crisis.
    • Technology: It has been another avenue of cooperation marked by the launch of South Asia Satellite by India.

    Limitations to SAARC

    • Small scale: Despite its lofty ambitions, SAARC has not become a regional association in the mould of the European Union or the African Union.
    • Internal divisions: Its member states are plagued by internal divisions, most notably the conflict between India and Pakistan.
    • Trade disputes: This in turn has hampered its ability to form comprehensive trade agreements or to meaningfully collaborate on areas such as security, energy and infrastructure.
    • Terrorism: The last SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan has been cancelled several times due to many nations pulling out of the summit citing fears of regional insecurity.

    Why must India rethink on SAARC?

    • Extended diplomacy: India continued to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings along with their Pakistani counterparts.
    • Pandemic mitigation: Reviving SAARC is crucial to countering the common challenges brought about by the pandemic.
    • Economic cooperation: Apart from the overall GDP slowdown, global job cuts has led to fall in revenue for migrant labour and expatriates from South Asian countries.
    • Countering China: While dealing with China, a unified South Asian platform is a crucial countermeasure for India.

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

  • ISRO Missions and Discoveries

    Gaganyaan and other new Missions in 2022

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Achievements Of Indians In S&T

    After a rather muted 2021 in terms of satellite launches, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is gearing up for a number of missions in 2022 including the launch of the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan.

    Gaganyaan Mission

    • Gaganyaan is crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP).
    • The IHSP was initiated in 2007 by ISRO to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit.
    • The first uncrewed flight, named Gaganyaan 1, is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2022 on a GSLV Mark III rocket.
    • ISRO had been working on related technologies and it performed a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment and a Pad Abort Test for the mission.
    • If completed in meantime, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after the Russia, US and China.

    Details of the project

    • The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capability.
    • In its maiden crewed mission, this capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two or three-person crew on board.
    • This Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) manufactured crew module had its first un-crewed experimental flight in 2014.
    • DRDO will provide support for critical human-centric systems and technologies like space-grade food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, parachutes for the safe recovery of the crew module and fire suppression system.

    Other missions this year

    • Earth Observation Satellites: EOS-4 and EOS-6
    • Flights for Crew Escape System of Gaganyaan
    • Chandrayaan-03
    • Aditya Ll
    • XpoSat

    New projects

    • Venus mission
    • DISHA –a twin aeronomy satellite mission
    • TRISHNA, an ISRO-CNES [Centre national d’études spatiales] mission

     

    UPSC 2022 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)

    Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor

Join the Community

Join us across Social Media platforms.