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Note4students

Due to its possible positive impact on Indian Transportation System, it is much needed technology for India. UPSC is known to ask questions on the applications of Science and Technology, this topic is one of them.

Hyperloop for India

Hyperloop one, the US based startup that plans to revolutionize the current modes of transportation, showcased its vision for India at an event in Delhi.

What is hyperloop?

1. A proposed mode of freight and passenger transportation in which a pod like vehicle will be propelled through a near vacuum tube at airline speed for the price of a bus ticket.
2. These pods essentially are autonomous which would enable high speed travel inside the tube. This will also ensure that the vehicles glide silently for miles without any turbulence.
3. As we start the next revolution on Internet of things and digitize physical things we look towards a futuristic transportation infrastructure.

Proposals from India

1. Hyperloop one plans to build networks around the world for which they need local partners, manufacturing companies and firms that innovate around the system. This is important to create common standards across the world.
2. Hyperloop one held a global competition in 2016 asking contestants to submit proposals on were the network should be built.
3. As per the company, highest number of registrations were from India and proposals from five Indian companies even made to the semi-final round. Each of these teams had proposed various routes for the network.
4. These include Delhi to Mumbai, Bengaluru to Chennai, Bengaluru to Thiruvananthapuram among others.

Possible Advantages for India

1. To transform urbanization and our current modes of transportation we need disruptive technology
2. Remarkable shift in which we perceive urbanization as a person can stay in Chennai and work in Bengaluru
3. It will be environmentally sustainable with no direct emissions
4. It will be cost efficient
5. Co- development will essentially mean access to technology
6. It is in line with the government’s aim to Make in India, which will create local manufacturing jobs

Concerns

1. Concerns whether a developing country like India should invest in a technology which is still at experimental stage
2. There exist regulatory challenges, whether hyperloop will come under railways or civil aviation or an entirely new body
3. Safety concerns are yet to be addressed

 

Questions

Q.) What is the science involved in Hyperloop? Can it transform how Indians Transportation System? Examine

 

Note4students

Recently, Gravitational waves, the cosmic ripples that distort space-time itself, have been directly detected for the first time. It is an important discovery and India is also doing research in this area. This makes it more important for the exam. The article presents a comprehensive view of the discovery.

What are Gravitational waves?

1. Gravitational waves are distortions or ‘ripples’ in the fabric of space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the Universe
2. These ripples would travel at the speed of light through the Universe, carrying with them information about their cataclysmic origins, as well as invaluable clues to the nature of gravity itself

What are the Sources of Gravitational Waves?

1. Any object with mass that accelerates (which in science means changes position at a variable rate, and includes spinning and orbiting objects) produces gravitational waves, including humans and cars and airplanes etc.
2. But the gravitational waves made by us here on Earth are much too small to detect
3. The strongest gravitational waves are produced by catastrophic events such as colliding black holes, the collapse of stellar cores (supernovae), coalescing neutron stars or white dwarf stars, the slightly wobbly rotation of neutron stars that are not perfect spheres, and the remnants of gravitational radiation created by the birth of the Universe itself

Not one but four types of Gravitational Waves!

In order to understand the types of gravitational waves, Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) scientists have defined 4 categories of gravitational waves

These categories are: Continuous Gravitational Waves, Compact Binary Inspiral Gravitational Waves, Stochastic Gravitational Waves, and Burst Gravitational Waves

But, Why Detect Them?

1. This will open up a new window of study on the Universe, giving us a deeper understanding of these cataclysmic events, and usher in brand new cutting-edge studies in physics, astronomy, and astrophysics
2. More importantly, since gravitational waves don’t interact with matter (unlike electromagnetic radiation), they travel through the Universe completely unimpeded giving us a crystal clear view of the gravitational wave
3. This will provide astronomers and other scientists, first glimpses of previously unseen and unseeable wonders, and greatly adding to our understanding of the nature of space and time itself

So, How does LIGO come into the Picture?

1. LIGO( Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) is the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory and a cutting edge physics experiment
2. LIGO exploits the physical properties of light and of space itself to detect and understand the origins of gravitational waves
3. LIGO has 2 widely separated identical detector sites working in unison as a single “observatory”: one in Hanford, southeastern Washington State and the other in rural Livingston, Louisiana
4. LIGO has a very close collaboration with the VIRGO collaboration that analyzes data from VIRGO, a 3 km gravitational wave interferometer located near Pisa, Italy
5. Data from LIGO and Virgo are combined and analyzed together by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations
6. Thus significantly increasing the capability of combined data for detecting and using gravitational waves to learn about nature

Is there any Way ahead for India?

1. Yes, because Union cabinet has approved a proposal to establish a state-of-the-art gravitational wave observatory in India in collaboration with LIGO in the US
2. The project will bring unprecedented opportunities for scientists and engineers to dig deeper into the realm of gravitational wave and take global leadership in this new astronomical frontier
3. This will also bring considerable opportunities in cutting-edge technology for the Indian industry which will be engaged in the construction of the 8-km long beam tube at ultra-high vacuum on a leveled terrain
4. With its establishment, India will join the global network of gravitational wave detectors
5. The establishment of an observatory in India assumes importance because the further the distance between the observatories, the greater will be the accuracy in locating gravity waves
6. Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are among the states shortlisted for the experiment

Q.) Recently, Union cabinet has approved a proposal to establish a gravitational wave observatory, one of the mega science projects in India. Discuss, how will this project help India if it becomes a reality.

Note4students

The article explains the problems associated with the GM crops and they can be tackled. Important for Mains Paper 3.

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What is GMO?

1. GMOs can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination
2. It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between non related species
3. Foods produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM foods
4. Recently in India, GM mustard crop was introduced, which was later withdrawn. There is a raging debate going on advantages and disadvantages of GMOs
5. For a long time, further study was requested by farmers, environmentalist on GMO crops

 

Why are GM foods produced?

1. GM foods are developed – and marketed – because there is some perceived advantage either to the producer or consumer of these foods
2. This is meant to translate into a product with a lower price, greater benefit (in terms of durability or nutritional value) or both
3. Initially GM seed developers wanted their products to be accepted by producers and have concentrated on innovations that bring direct benefit to farmers (and food industry generally)
4. One of the objectives for developing plants based on GM organisms is to improve crop protection

What really is India’s recently developed GM mustard?

1. A team of scientists at Delhi University led by former vice-chancellor Deepak Pental has bred DMH-11, a genetically modified (GM) mustard hybrid
2. Hybrids are normally obtained by crossing two genetically diverse plants from the same species
3. The first-generation offspring resulting from it has higher yields than what either of the parents is individually capable of giving
4. But there is no natural hybridisation system in mustard, unlike in, say, cotton, maize or tomato
5. What team has done is, that they have created a viable hybridisation system in mustard using GM technology
6. The resulting GM mustard hybrid, it is claimed, gives 25-30% more yield than the best varieties such as ‘Varuna’ currently grown in the country

Is there a need, in the first place, for developing a mustard hybrid?

In 2014-15, India imported 14.5 million tonnes of edible oils valued at $10.5 billion

With the country’s own annual edible oil production stuck at below 7.5 million tonnes, of which mustard’s share is roughly a quarter

So, there is need to raise domestic crop yields and cut dependence on imports

Hybrid technology is a potential technique to boost yields, as has been successfully demonstrated in a host of crops

What are the environmental risks?

1. GMOs contaminate forever. GMOs cross pollinate and their seeds can travel far and wide
2. It is impossible to fully clean up our contaminated gene pool
3. Genetic engineering allows plants to survive high doses of weed killers, resulting in higher herbicide residues in our food
4. GMO crops are creating ‘super weeds’ and ‘super bugs,’ which can only be killed with more toxic poisons

Are there any advantages?

Insect Resistance:

Some GMO foods have been modified to make them more resistant to insects and other pests

This means the amount of pesticide chemicals used on the plants are reduced, so their exposure to dangerous pesticides are also reduced

Stronger Crops:

Another benefit that GM technology is believed to bring about is that crops can be engineered to withstand weather extremes and fluctuations, This means that there will be good quality and sufficient yields even under a poor or severe weather condition

Environment Protection:

GM crops often requires less time, tools and chemicals, and may help with reducing greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion and environmental pollution

More Nutritious Foods:

According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), some GM foods have been engineered to become more nutritious in terms of vitamin or mineral content.

Economic Benefits

Larger production leading to increased farm income, reduced poverty, low food prices and thus reduced hunger and malnutrition.

Besides new food products are also included, diversifying food varieties

Then, Why has there been so much concern about GM foods among some public interest groups, activists and consumers?

Since the first introduction on the market in the mid-1990s of a major GM food (herbicide-resistant soybeans), there has been concern about such food among activists and consumers, especially in Europe

In fact, public attention has focused on the risk side of the risk-benefit equation, often without distinguishing between potential environmental impacts and public health effects of GMOs Consumers have questioned the validity of risk assessments, both with regard to consumer health and environmental risks, focusing particulary on long-term effects

Consumer concerns have triggered a discussion on the desirability of labeling GM foods, allowing for an informed choice of consumers

What further developments can be expected in the area of GMOs?

1. GM organisms are likely to include plants with improved resistance against plant disease or drought, crops with increased nutrient levels, fish species with enhanced growth characteristics
2. For non-food use, they may include plants or animals producing pharmaceutically important proteins such as new vaccines

Q.) “GM mustard exposes our double standards when it comes to technology for farmers.” Critically comment.

Source:

Civilsdaily

 

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Particulars of the ICAR

1. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
2. The Council is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country. With 97 ICAR institutes and 45 agricultural universities spread across the country this is one of the largest national agricultural systems in the world.
3. Formerly known as Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, it was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in pursuance of the report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture.
4. The ICAR has its headquarters at New Delhi.
5. The Council is the apex body for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.
6. Union Minister of Agriculture is the ex-officio President of the ICAR Society

Role of ICAR in Indian Agriculture

1. The ICAR has played a pioneering role in ushering Green Revolution and subsequen developments in agriculture in India through its research and technology development that has enabled the country to increase the production of foodgrains by 4 times, horticultural crops by 6 times, fish by 9 times (marine 5 times and inland 17 times), milk 6 times and eggs 27 times since 1950-51, thus making a visible impact on the national food and nutritional security. It has played a major role in promoting excellence in higher education in agriculture. It is engaged in cutting edge areas of science and technology development and its scientists are internationally acknowledged in their fields.
2. The mandate of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is: To plan, undertake, aid, promote and coordinate education, research and its application in agriculture, agroforestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, home science and allied sciences.
3. To act as a clearing house of research and general information relating to agriculture, animal husbandry, home science and allied sciences, and fisheries through its publications and information system; and instituting and promoting transfer of technology programmes.
4. To provide, undertake and promote consultancy services in the fields of education, research, training and dissemination of information in agriculture, agroforestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, home science and allied sciences.
5. To look into the problems relating to broader areas of rural development concerning agriculture, including postharvest technology by developing co-operative programmes with other organizations such as the Indian Council of Social Science Research, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the universities.
6. To do other things considered necessary to attain the objectives of the Society

Issue of Agri Research and extension

1. Agricultural extension is the application of scientific research and new knowledge to agricultural practices through farmer education. Basically educating farmers about the latest technologies being developed in the labs i.e. lab to land linkage.
2. While Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) with agriculture research universities played a key role in the Green revolution. Of late agriculture research has been plagued by severe under investment and neglect.

Three key weaknesses

Agri education is weak in states due to (i) resource crunch, (ii) difficulty in attracting talented faculty, (iii) limited linkages and collaborations with international counterparts, (iv) weakening of the lab-to-land connect; and, (v) lack of innovation

Low investment in public agricultural research in India. As share of agriculture GDP, it is even less than that of Bangladesh and Indonesia

Majority (63.5 per cent) of scientists have low to very low level of productivity

Solution

1. There is need of instituting performance indicators in universities.
2. Improve investment as a proportion of agri GDP
3. securing participation from the private sector
4. instituting a system in which the winner is offered a proportionately large enough award for innovating desirable agricultural traits (such as improving pules productivity considerably) but the intellectual property rights of the innovation are transferred to the government
5. Leverage mobile phones to provide timely information to farmers
6. Leverage the potential of drones (UAVs) to provide crucial information on crop health, irrigation problems, soil variation and even pest and fungal infestations that are not apparent at eye level to farmers
7. Improve regulatory process to address concerns against GM crops while adapting high yielding technologies

Q.) The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) mandate is agriculture education, research and farm extension. Critically evaluate its performance over the years and how it must be revamped?

Note4Students:

Government decision to construct 10 more PHWR Reflects the government’s commitment to prioritise the use of clean power in India’s energy mix.  It is the part of low-carbon growth strategy and to ensure long-term base load requirement for the nation’s industrialisation. So this topic is important.

Introduction

Pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor

1. Using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel,
2. This uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator.
3. While heavy water is significantly more expensive than ordinary light water, it creates greatly enhanced neutron economy, allowing the reactor to operate without fuel-enrichment facilities (offsetting the additional expense of the heavy water) and enhancing the ability of the reactor to make use of alternate fuel cycles.

Advantages of PHWR

1. The use of heavy water as the moderator is the key to the PHWR (pressurized heavy water reactor) system, enabling the use of natural uranium as the fuel (in the form of ceramic UO2), which means that it can be operated without expensive uranium enrichment facilities.
2. The mechanical arrangement of the PHWR, which places most of the moderator at lower temperatures, is particularly efficient because the resulting thermal neutrons are “more thermal” than in traditional designs, where the moderator normally is much hotter. These features mean that a PHWR can use natural uranium and other fuels, and does so more efficiently than light water reactors (LWRs).

Pressurised heavy-water reactors do have some drawbacks.

1. Heavy water generally costs hundreds of dollars per kilogram, though this is a trade-off against reduced fuel costs.
2. The reduced energy content of natural uranium as compared to enriched uranium necessitates more frequent replacement of fuel; this is normally accomplished by use of an on-power refuelling system.
3. The increased rate of fuel movement through the reactor also results in higher volumes of spent fuel than in LWRs employing enriched uranium.
4. since unenriched uranium fuel accumulates a lower density of fission products than enriched uranium fuel, it generates less heat, allowing more compact storage.

Recent Developements

1. Union Cabinet gave its approval for the construction of 10 units of the new indigenous 700 MWe (mega watt electric) pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs).
2. The new reactors are of significantly higher capacities compared to the PHWRs currently under operation
3. The standard PHWR being used in India is of 220 MWe though two 540 MWe reactors were installed in Tarapur in 2005 and 2006. The ten reactors will be installed in Kaiga in Karnataka (Unit 5 and 6), Chutka in Madhya Pradesh (Unit 1 and 2), Gorakhpur in Haryana (Unit 3 and 4) and Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan (Unit 1, 2, 3 and 4).

Analysis

Why PHWR

1. The main reasons for selecting PHWRs in the 1960s for the First Stage of the Indian nuclear power programme have been the use of natural uranium oxide as the fuel, the best utilisation of mined uranium in energy production and the prospect of establishing a completely self-reliant technology.
2. The government’s measure seeks to fast track its three-pronged program—developed largely during the country’s almost 30-year-long isolation from international nuclear trade—and also factors in India’s abundant thorium resources, which constitute 25% of the world’s total reserves.
3. The first step of the three-stage program involves building indigenously engineered PHWRs and light-water reactors to produce plutonium. The second stage uses fast-neutron reactors fueled by plutonium to breed U-233 from thorium. In the third stage, using wholly indigenous technology, the country will use advanced heavy-water reactors fueled with U-233 obtained from the irradiation of thorium in PHWRs and fast reactors.
4. India wants to ramp up production of power from low-carbon sources and has outlined plans to install a total of 175 GW of renewables by 2022.
5. As of March 2016, about 61% of the country’s installed capacity was coal-fired, 14% came from hydropower, 14% came from other renewables (mostly wind, followed by small hydro and biomass), 8% from natural gas, 2% from nuclear, and 1% from diesel.
6. 100% of all their components are manufactured by the Indian industry.
7. As far as the safety is concerned, the PHWR technology scores well in terms of its several inherent safety features.
8. The biggest advantage of the PHWR design is the use of thin walled pressure tubes instead of large pressure vessels used in pressure vessel type reactors.
9. This results in a distribution of pressure boundaries to large number of small diameter pressure tubes.
10. The consequence of an accidental rupture of the pressure boundary in such a design will have a much less severity than that in a pressure vessel type reactor
11. In addition, the Indian 700 MWe PHWR design has enhanced safety through dedicated Passive Decay Heat Removal System which has the capability of removing decay heat from core without requiring any operator actions similar with the technology adopted for Generation III+ plants to address the Fukushima type accident.
12. The 700 MWe Indian PHWR has steel-lined containment to reduce the leakages and containment spray system to reduce the containment pressure in case of a loss of coolant accident and for scrubbing radio nuclides in case of their release beyond the design limit.

Research and development

1. Over four decades of relentless research, design and development work in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Nuclear Power Corporation and the matching contributions of some of their industry partners who had shown the courage in taking up the challenging manufacturing and construction work have enabled India in establishing the technology in totality.
2. Mastering the entire fuel cycle including prospecting of minerals, mining, processing and manufacturing of fuel and structural materials, reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and immobilization of radioactive waste has given India a unique position of self-reliance in the atomic energy domain.
3. The constraint of a limited reserve of uranium in the country which earlier impeded a rapid growth in nuclear power has now been eased by augmented production of indigenous uranium and import of uranium under the civil nuclear co-operation agreements with several countries

Clean Energy

1. India is now poised for a rapid growth in the nuclear power capacity which is essential for meeting the demand of clean electricity.
2. The per-capita electricity consumption in India (now close to 1000 KWh) is nearly one-third of the world average and there is an obvious need for a substantial enhancement of non-carbon electricity production to improve the quality of life of our people.
3. The impressive growth in the solar and wind power has made a visible impact in increased availability of electricity in many areas. However, it needs to be emphasized that the distributed and intermittent sources of energy such as solar and wind cannot meet the base load demand very effectively.
4. The nuclear energy source is concentrated, continuous and reliable and, therefore, can be complemented by solar and wind energy in meeting the overall demand of electricity with practically zero carbon foot-print.

Employment

1. Manufacturing orders of close to Rs 70,000 crore are expected to come through to the domestic industry on account of the projects and are expected to generate more than 33,400 jobs in direct and indirect employment.

The merit of the closed fuel cycle

1. Which has been adopted right from the beginning of the Indian programme is not only in multiplying the fuel resource but also in reducing the radio-active burden of the nuclear waste dramatically.
2. In this context, the successful development of separation of minor actinides from the nuclear waste in India, deployed in pilot plant scale, has drawn world-wide attention. Plutonium recovered by reprocessing of spent fuel from operating PHWRs has been used in making the plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel for the full core of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) which has initiated the commissioning activities before commencing operation.

Challenges

1. The decision to step up the indigenous civil nuclear reactor programme comes amid festering concerns over the deployment of imported light water reactor-based projects in collaboration with global vendors such as Toshiba-Westinghouse and Areva
2. The speed at which we can grow our nuclear power capacity
3. In this context one can examine the experience of France and USA in nineteen seventies and of China in the recent years.
4. They all have achieved very impressive rapid growth by adopting a convoy or a serial mode of installation of nuclear power plants of a few standardised designs. In such a strategy, the industry can gear up their dedicated production lines for sophisticated nuclear components and construction companies can deploy their manpower and skill-set most effectively.

Conclusion

1. With the entry of India in her Second Stage of nuclear power programme in which Fast Breeder Reactors will not only enable the growth of the installed nuclear capacity, but also generate more fissile materials, plutonium-239 and uranium-233 by conversion of fertile isotopes, uranium-238 and thorium-232 respectively
2. An enhanced scope and an accelerated implementation of the First Stage of the programme will make a far- reaching impact on securing the energy self-reliance of the country.
3. By operating multiple recycles in the uranium-plutonium fuel cycle the supply of fissile material is expected to be enhanced by a factor of 60 and by using the huge reserve of thorium, the current estimate being four times that of uranium, India can sustain the supply of clean nuclear energy for several centuries.

Question:

Q.) PHWR will help India to achieve its Paris climate change conference commitments. analyse

 

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Note4student

INO project since its inception is mired with controversies.A number of op-eds have been written on this issue.

Context

1. India’s wait to join the elite club of countries undertaking neutrino research suffered a procedural delay
2. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) suspended the environmental clearance (EC) granted to the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)
3. It was ordered it to file a fresh application for clearance

INO project:

• 1. The proposed INO project primarily aims to study atmospheric neutrinos in a 1,300-m deep cavern in the
  2. Bodi West Hills in Theni district, Tamil Nadu
  3. If completed, the INO would house the largest magnet in the world
  4. It will be four times more massive than the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN’s Compact
  5. Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector’s magnet

Neutrinos:

• 1. Neutrinos are tiny particles. They are almost massless. They travel at near light speeds.
  2. They are born from violent astrophysical events such as exploding stars and gamma ray bursts
  3. Therefore, they are abundant in the universe and can move as easily through matter as we move through air
  4. They are notoriously difficult to track down. If you hold your hand towards the sunlight for one second, about a billion neutrinos from the sun will pass through it
  5. This is because they are the by-products of nuclear fusion in the sun

Aim of the INO project:

• 1. It aims to use to understand some of the unsolved mysteries of the universe Setback of delayed project
  2. The suspension of INO’s environmental clearance is a setback
  3. The scientific community hopes these procedural lapses will be addressed in an earnest and time-bound manner

Environmental issues

1. After initially denying permission to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to locate the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Singara in Nilgris District in TamilNadu, Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), Government of India accorded both environmental and forest clearance for locating the project in the Bodi West Hills (BWH) in Theni District in TamilNadu.
2. However, Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal has recently suspended the environmental clearance granted to the neutrino observatory by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), due to some objections such as the proposed location being just about 4.9 kilometers from the Madhikettan Shola National Park in Idukki district of Kerala.
3. The Southern Bench of National Green Tribunal has asked the project promoters to submit a fresh application with more details.
4. The project has also been objected by local people on safety consideration. The project is suffering prolonged delay.

Criticism of INO Project:

• 1. The explosives used in construction are a threat to the highly sensitive ecology of the Western Ghats
  2. The relevant radiation safety studies for carrying out the long baseline neutrino experiment in the second phase of INO have not been done
  3. There are further allegations that neutrinos are radioactive particles
  4. The INO will double up the storage of nuclear waste

The better side of the story:

• 1. The proposed excavation is planned to be carried out by a controlled blast, limiting the impact of vibrations with the help of computer simulations
  2. Additionally, building the INO involves constructing an underground lab accessed by a 2 km-long horizontal access tunnel, resembling a road tunnel
  3. Such tunnels have been built extensively in India and the relevant studies show that the environmental impact (mainly dust and noise in the initial phase) have been managed

Q.) Critically examine the uses of understanding of neutrinos, and significance of its research for India. Also critically comment why set-up of neutrino research facility in India is being opposed.

Source:

http://southasiajournal.net/why-is-neutrino-observatory-project-facing-issues-in-india/

 

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Note4students

Mains Mapping: “Mains Paper 3: Science & Technology | Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.”

UPSC always go after the topic of ‘breakthrough technologies’. Those technologies which can affect everyday life of Mankind.

What is LI-FI?

1. LiFi(Light Fidelity) is a high-speed wireless communication technology that uses visible light to transmit information. It has some similarities to existing WiFi technology, as well as some huge differences.
2. WiFi and LiFi are similar because both technologies are wireless, but also very different, because unlike WiFi, which relies on radio waves, LiFi uses visible light communication (VLC) or infrared and near-UV spectrum waves.
3. In other words, LiFi works by using visible light, like the light that is emitted by any regular lamp or bulb!.

Working of LI-FI

1. Li-Fi is a Visible Light Communications (VLC) system. This means that it accommodates a photo-detector to receive light signals and a signal processing element to convert the data into ‘stream-able’ content. Unlike Wi-Fi, which uses radio waves, Li-Fi runs on visible light.
2. Here, data is fed into an LED light bulb (with signal processing technology), it then sends data (embedded in its beam) at rapid speeds to the photo-detector (photodiode).
3. The tiny changes in the rapid dimming of LED bulbs is then converted by the ‘receiver’ into electrical signal.
4. The signal is then converted back into a binary data stream that the user would recognise as web, video and audio applications that run on internet enables devices.

What is an LED Bulb:

An LED lightbulb is a semi-conductor light source meaning that the constant current of electricity supplied to an LED lightbulb can be dipped and dimmed, up and down at extremely high speeds, without being visible to the human eye.

Advantages of LI-FI

1. LiFi presents many unprecedented advantages for its uptake and use, as far as wireless Internet connectivity is concerned.
2. LiFi relies on visible light to communicate, which is a good thing in more ways than one. These waves are able to carry far more information than the traditional radio waves used in WiFi technology.
3. The visible light spectrum is almost 10,000 times larger than the spectrum occupied by radio waves.
4. Also, LiFi is said to increase bandwidth by 100 times what we have today with WiFi.
5. A LiFi connection can transmit data at the rate of 224 gigabytes per second.
6. LiFi is also more suitable in electromagnetic-sensitive areas like hospitals, airplane cabins, and nuclear power plants (where electromagnetic disturbance can be disastrous).

Disadvantage of LI-FI

1. Along with all these benefits, there are also some disadvantages of a LiFi connection.
2. Since it uses visible light to transmit data, LiFi would be rather useless in conditions where there is no light. That means no Internet while lying in your bed at night.
3. If you have a WiFI router installed in one room of your house, you can connect your devices sitting anywhere in the house, but this is not the case with LiFi.
4. Since visible rays cannot pass through walls, you have to be in the immediate vicinity of the source of light to access the Internet on your device, which may not sound particularly convenient to many people.
5. This technology is also said to be less reliable (again, due to it being dependent on visible light) and has high installation charges.

Future of LI-FI

1. There’s no doubt that LiFi is going to transform the world of Internet connectivity, but it seems unlikely that its rise would necessarily mean the death of WiFi, since the latter is deeply embedded in the lifestyles of billions of people.
2. A more likely scenario, though, is that we’ll eventually have a wide range of technologies available at our disposal and will be free to choose the most appropriate one.
3. Having that flexibility certainly seems like the most desirable scenario to us.

Question

“Li-Fi is not expected to completely replace Wi-Fi, but the two technologies could be used complementarily to create more efficient, green and future-proof access networks.” Discuss.

Source:  http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tFei3PUmaFtGO3T2hDSciN/LiFi-A-green-avatar-of-WiFi.html

www.Wikipedia.com

 

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Note4students

It is a very crucial technology. It is likely to have unprecedented impact on mankind. UPSC in last few years have asked a number of Questions on Land-mark developments and Since it is a revolutionary development, it is important for mains 2017.

What is CRISPR?

1. It is a revolutionary gene editing technique that scientists have borrowed from nature.
2. CRISPRs (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) are sections of DNA, while CAS-9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) is an enzyme.
3. Bacteria use them to disable attacks from viruses.

Working of the CRISPR

1. Crispr scans the genome looking for the right location and then uses the Cas9 protein as molecular scissors to snip through the DNA.
2. Cas9 endonuclease – guide RNAs direct it to a particular sequence to be edited.
3. When Cas9 cuts the target sequence, the cell repairs the damage by replacing the original sequence with an altered version.
4. Unlike other gene-editing methods, it is cheap, quick, easy, safer and more accurate to use because it relies on RNA–DNA base pairing, rather than the engineering of proteins that bind particular DNA sequences.

What is Genome Editing?

1. It is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted or replaced in the genome of an organism using engineered nucleases, or “molecular scissors”.
2. These nucleases or enzymes create site-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs) at desired locations.
3. The induced double-strand breaks are repaired through end joining or recombination, resulting in targeted mutation.

CRISPR/Cas9 Applications

Arguably, the most important advantages of CRISPR/Cas9 over other genome editing technologies is its simplicity and efficiency.

Basic Science

To date, the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool appears to work in nearly every organism, from micro-organisms to monkeys, and in every cell type: kidney, heart and those, like T-cells, that researchers had previously found difficult to modify.

Agriculture

Some of the earliest papers using CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing focused on crops important for agriculture such as rice and wheat. It was realized early on that this system could be utilized to specifically alter the DNA of these crop species to improve traits like disease and drought tolerance.

Disease Modeling

Disease modeling using animals has been a hurdle for study of many types of human diseases due to the difficulty in generating genetically modified animals that accurately recapitulate human pathology. The process was inefficient and inaccurate or simply impossible to do. CRISPR-Cas9 has allowed for generation of transgenic animals like rats, monkeys and other animals which are more suitable for human disease modeling than mice and thus permit better drug-development tests.

Gene Therapy

In 2014, CRISPR-Cas9 was used in mice to correct a mutation associated with a human metabolic disease called tyrosinaemia (Yin et al., 2014). It was the first use of CRISPR/Cas9 to fix a disease-causing mutation in an adult animal and an important step towards using the technology for gene therapy in humans.

Concerns related to CRISPR Tech.

1. CRISPR is basically knock out strategy to silence the gene by inhibiting the RNA polymerase activity inside the nucleus. It’s still in the nascent stage, so it would be hard to comment about the major disadvantages
2. But it’s very labour intensive and high cost oriented technique than RNA interference which provides a complete gene knock down within the cytosol with higher efficiency.

The Way Forward

1. CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology is being touted as one of the biggest biotechnology breakthroughs of the century
2. This new technology is a powerful tool for manipulating the genomes of not only mice but also somatic and embryonic stem cells from other species, including humans.
3. It is likely that the refinements of these systems will continue and that they will be adapted in new ways to create ever more sophisticated animal models for and genetic therapies for treating human diseases.

Question

Q.) “CRISPR technology is much faster, yield better results, and is relatively easy to do.” Examine.

Source

http://cellculturedish.com/2016/05/crispr-cas9-system-applications/

https://www.taconic.com/taconic-insights/gems-design/crispr-genome-engineering-advantages-limitations.html

https://www.jax.org/news-and-insights/jax-blog/2014/march/pros-and-cons-of-znfs-talens-and-crispr-cas

Wikipedia
Quora

Note4students

This technology is in its early stages of development. It has become more important due to its relevance in agriculture sector. As, India has many issues(For example, late monsoon) related to agriculture sector. This technology can become solution to these problems in future.

What is Cloud Seeding?

1. Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification, a way of changing the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud.
2. The usual intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow), but hail and fog suppression are also widely practiced in airports.
3. The history of cloud seeding has experienced uncertain results because it can never be known whether a cloud that rains after seeding might have rained anyway. This is because seeding is performed on clouds that look like they have some potential for producing rain.

Cloud Seeding Methods

There are three cloud seeding methods: static, dynamic and hygroscopic.

1. Static cloud seeding involves spreading a chemical like silver iodide into clouds. The silver iodide provides a crystal around which moisture can condense. The moisture is already present in the clouds, but silver iodide essentially makes rain clouds more effective at dispensing their water.
2. Dynamic cloud seeding aims to boost vertical air currents, which encourages more water to pass through the clouds, translating into more rain [source: Cotton]. Up to 100 times more ice crystals are used in dynamic cloud seeding than in the static method. The process is considered more complex than static clouding seeding because it depends on a sequence of events working properly. Dr. William R. Cotton, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, and other researchers break down dynamic cloud seeding into 11 separate stages. An unexpected outcome in one stage could ruin the entire process, making the technique less dependable than static cloud seeding.
3. Hygroscopic cloud seeding disperses salts through flares or explosives in the lower portions of clouds. The salts grow in size as water joins with them. In his report on cloud seeding, Cotton says that hygroscopic cloud seeding holds much promise, but requires further research.

Pros of Cloud Seeding:

(1) It creates rain, providing relief to drought-stricken areas

Of course, this is the best advantage of cloud seeding as it is its main purpose after all. Offering the ability to reduce the impact of droughts by and bring stimulating rain is very powerful. It can lead to more crop yields, and the best part is, this could occur in areas that might not have supported crops in the past. This means that this technology has the potential to get rid of future water scarcity and famine for some regions.

(2) It makes a place more hospitable

Due to extreme heat, some parts of the world have become dry, even making them unsuitable to live in or visit. But thanks to cloud seeding, we can increase the probability of rainfall and make these typically dry areas much more hospitable. As a result, these places will be become habitable and will be able to receive more tourists, helping the overall economy. The potential effects of this technique are definitely far reaching.

(3) It would allow for economic growth

If farmers were able to grow and sell more crops, then a region’s overall economy would improve greatly. Aside from agriculture, we have previously mentioned that tourism would also be boosted, where previously inhospitable places would be transformed into desirable holiday spots. The boost in economy would then circulate among the local residents and improve their living conditions.

(4) It can reduce crop damage

The technology of cloud seeding has been effectively utilized in suppressing undesirable forms of precipitation, such as hail, which can cause damage to crops and cities. As you can see, it can alter or modify storm clouds that would produce hail and other frozen forms of precipitation otherwise.

(5) It has the potential to help regulate the weather

Even the best regions to grow crops are facing severe weather, which means that they are still suffering some damage to their produce. Luckily, this technology is stated to have the capability to regulate atmospheric conditions through water vapor, so this problem would also be solved.

Cons of Cloud Seeding:

(1) It uses chemicals that might be harmful.

As cloud seeding basically involves the use of chemicals and putting them in the air, it does have the potential to harm plants, animals and people, or the environment as a whole. The way the chemicals are being used in this technology and would affect the organisms that will be hit by the artificial rainfall is considered its most direct concern. As of yet, scientists and researchers have been able to state the complete effect of this technique. Though silver iodine is not currently known to be hazardous to human health, this might change in the future as more and more research is being conducted and completed.

(2) It can lead to abnormal or unpredictable weather patterns and flooding.

Though cloud seeding is believed to regulate the weather, some people fear that it might ultimately change climatic patterns on the planet. Places that are normally receiving moisture might start experiencing drought due to the artificial process of adding chemicals to the atmosphere to stimulate rain. Remember that once the compounds used by this technology are released into the atmosphere, we will have no control over what type of weather would form afterwards. There are several possible consequences, such as excessive rain that can cause flooding, which means that regions experiencing chronic water shortage would suffer more, as they probably do not have any system designed to deal with floods and other disasters.

(3) It is yet to be fully proven as cost-efficient and effective.

Assessments done on the effectiveness of cloud seeding is not foolproof so far. Since it is used mostly on clouds that already show signs of potential rainfall, it is not known if the technique is actually the reason for producing rain.

(4) It can cause cloud pollution.

As the artificial rain falls, seeding agents like silver iodide, dry ice or salt will also fall. While research on the effects of silver iodide is still ongoing, there have been found high levels of the residual silver discovered in places near cloud-seeding projects, which are considered toxic. As for dry ice, it can also be a source of greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, as it is basically carbon dioxide.

(5) It is a costly process.

The cost of cloud seeding is indeed astronomical, considering the procedures involved in it, such as delivering chemicals to the sky and releasing them into the air by flare shots or airplanes. Of course, the costs of chemicals add up to the overall amount. The expense we pay for cloud seeding can be justified if the amount of rainfall during the first attempt would thoroughly water crops and saturate the ground, otherwise the process would have to be repeated even up to several times.

The Way Forward

As the procedure is still in its early development stages, a lot of changes to improve it can be expected. Trying to address the problem of drought is an ongoing battle, so as the debates around the world about its use. Determining if cloud seeding is good or bad is definitely not easy, but by taking into account the pros and cons listed above, you will be able to have a better understanding about its functionality and efficiency.

Q.) “Is Cloud Seeding a solution for rising irrigation problems in Indian Agriculture Sector.” Critically examine.

References:

http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=98

http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/meteorologists/cloud-seeding1.htm

https://flowpsychology.com/10-pros-and-cons-of-cloud-seeding/