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Subject: Science and Technology

  • Union Cabinet gives nod to Indian Space Policy, 2023

    Central idea: The Union Cabinet has approved the Indian Space Policy, 2023.

    Indian Space Policy, 2023

    • It aims to enhance the role of the Department of Space, boost the activities of ISRO missions, and encourage participation from research, academia, startups, and industry.

    Salient features

    (1) Outlining roles and responsibilities

    • The Indian Space Policy, 2023 outlines the roles and responsibilities of various organizations in the space sector.
    • The policy includes the responsibilities of ISRO, NewSpace India Limited, and private sector entities.
    • This clarity in roles will help in the efficient functioning of the components set up in recent times.

    (2) Multistakeholder participation

    • The policy aims to boost the space sector by enhancing the role of the Department of Space and encouraging participation from research, academia, startups, and industry.
    • This will help in the development of the space segment and create more opportunities for the private sector.

    (3) Boosting ISRO Missions

    • The Indian Space Policy, 2023 aims to boost the activities of ISRO missions.
    • This will help ISRO achieve its objectives more efficiently and effectively.
    • It will also help in the development of new technologies and innovative solutions.

    (4) Involvement of Private Sector

    • The Policy, 2023 recognizes the importance of the private sector in the development of the space sector.
    • It encourages the involvement of private sector entities in various aspects of the space segment.
    • This will create more opportunities for the private sector and help in the growth of the Indian space industry.

    (5) Research and development

    • The policy aims to involve research, academia, and startups in the development of the space sector.
    • This will help in the development of new technologies, innovative solutions, and talent pool.
    • It will also help in the growth of the Indian space industry and create more opportunities for research and development in the sector.

    Conclusion

    • The Indian Space Policy, 2023 is a comprehensive policy that provides clarity in the roles and responsibilities of various organizations in the space sector.
    • The policy aims to boost the space segment, encourage private sector involvement, and involve research, academia, and startups in the development of the sector.
    • The policy will help in achieving the objectives of ISRO more efficiently and effectively, and create more opportunities for the private sector and research and development in the space sector.

     

  • What is Dhawan II Engine?

     

    dhawan

    In Telangana, private space vehicle company Skyroot Aerospace has test-fired its 3D-printed Dhawan II engine.

    Dhawan II Engine

    • The Dhawan II engine is a cryogenic engine developed by Skyroot Aerospace for use as the upper stage of the updated version of their Vikram II rocket.
    • The engine was recently test-fired for a duration of 200 seconds and demonstrated impressive performance results.
    • Cryogenic engines use extremely cold liquid propellants, which can provide greater thrust and enhance the payload-carrying capacity of a rocket.
    • The engine was developed using advanced technologies like 3D printing and green propellants.
    • Its successful testing marks a significant milestone for Skyroot Aerospace in their efforts to become the first private launcher from South Asia.

    Stipulated use

    • The Dhawan II engine will be used as the upper stage of the updated version Vikram-2.
    • Using a cryogenic upper stage instead of a solid fuel stage enhances the payload carrying capacity of a rocket.
    • The updated Vikram II rocket is scheduled to become launch-ready by next year, making Skyroot the first private launcher from South Asia.

    Skyroot’s other sub-orbital and orbital flights

    • Skyroot carried out its first sub-orbital flight in November 2021, using a single-stage solid fuel Vikram S rocket.
    • The company plans to carry out its first orbital flight by the end of this year using the updated Vikram II rocket.
    • The Vikram-1 rocket, the first in the series of rockets being developed by Skyroot, will use three solid-fuel stages to take satellites to orbit.

    Impressive performance results and advanced technologies

    • The endurance test of Dhawan-II demonstrated impressive performance results.
    • The company is proud to be at the forefront of developing cutting-edge cryogenic technologies in the private space sector of India.

     

  • ISRO’s Reusable Launch Vehicle Mission RLV LEX

    reus

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) conducted a successful autonomous landing mission experiment for a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) at the Aeronautical Test Range in Chitradurga, Karnataka.

    What is a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)?

    • RLV is a type of spacecraft that is designed to be reused multiple times for launching payloads into space, instead of being discarded after a single launch like traditional rockets.
    • They are seen as a more cost-effective and sustainable option for space launches, as they reduce the need for manufacturing new rockets for each mission.
    • They typically consist of a reusable orbiter, similar to a space shuttle, and a reusable booster that provides the initial thrust needed to lift the orbiter and payload into space.
    • After the payload is released into orbit, the orbiter and booster return to Earth and land back on a runway, where they can be refurbished and reused for future launches.

    Why developing RLV is a big feat?

    Developing RLVs requires advanced technologies, including-

    1. Heat-resistant materials for protecting the spacecraft during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere
    2. Advanced guidance and control systems for landing and
    3. Reliable propulsion systems for launching and landing

    ISRO’s RLV-TD project

    • ISRO is developing essential technologies for a fully reusable launch vehicle to enable low-cost access to space.
    • The RLV-TD is being used to develop technologies like hypersonic flight (HEX), autonomous landing (LEX), return flight experiment (REX), powered cruise flight, and Scramjet Propulsion Experiment (SPEX).
    • It looks like an aircraft and consists of a fuselage, a nose cap, double delta wings, and twin vertical tails.

    Development of RLV

    (1) First RLV experiment:

    • In 2016, the RLV-TD was launched into space on a rocket powered by a conventional solid booster (HS9) engine.
    • The spacecraft travelled at a speed of Mach 5 when re-entering the earth’s orbit and travelled a distance of 450 km before splashdown in the Bay of Bengal.
    • Critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance and control, reusable thermal protection system, and re-entry mission management were successfully validated.

    (2) Second RLV experiment:

    • The RLV LEX test on April 2, 2023, involved a Chinook Helicopter lifting the RLV LEX to a height of 4.5 km and releasing the RLV.
    • After midair release, the RLV carried out an autonomous landing on the Aeronautical Test Range airstrip, under the exact conditions of a Space Re-entry vehicle’s landing.
    • It achieved landing parameters as might be experienced by an orbital re-entry space vehicle in its return path.

    Advantages of RLVs

    • Reusable launch vehicles are considered a low-cost, reliable, and on-demand mode of accessing space.
    • The cost of a launch can be reduced by nearly 80 percent of the present cost by using RLVs.

    Global RLV technologies

    • NASA space shuttles have been carrying out dozens of human space flight missions.
    • The private space launch services provider SpaceX demonstrated partially reusable launch systems with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets since 2017.
    • SpaceX is also working on a fully reusable launch vehicle system called Starship.
    • Several private launch service providers and government space agencies are working on developing reusable launch systems.

    Significance

    • RLVs have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of space launches, as a significant portion of the cost of traditional rockets comes from the need to manufacture new rockets for each mission.
    • By reusing spacecraft, the cost per launch can be significantly reduced.
    • Additionally, RLVs can provide greater flexibility and reliability for space launches, as they can be launched on-demand instead of needing to be manufactured and assembled for each mission.

     

  • SNAP-10A: World’s first Operational Nuclear Reactor in Space

    snap

    Central idea: The newscard is about the US government-sponsored System for Nuclear Auxiliary Power (SNAP) program, also known as SNAPSHOT for Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power Shot, and its SNAP-10A space nuclear reactor.

    What is SNAP-10A?
    SNAP-10A A nuclear reactor sent to space by the US in 1965
    SNAP program A government-sponsored program for developing compact, lightweight, and reliable atomic devices for use in space, sea, and land
    Objective To produce at least 500 watts of electricity for a year or longer in Earth orbit
    Components Enriched uranium fuel with zirconium hydride as a moderator, and liquid sodium-potassium alloy as the coolant
    Conversion A thermoelectric converter was used to directly convert heat from the reactor into electricity
    Payload Weighed less than 431 kg, including the instruments and shielding, and was designed to be remotely started and operated in space
    Launch April 3, 1965, on an Atlas-Agena D rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base and placed in a polar orbit
    Operations Achieved on-orbit criticality within six hours of startup and set to autonomous operation at full power after 200 hours of reactor operations
    Contact loss Contact was lost with SNAP-10A for about 40 hours on May 16, 1965, and the reactor’s reflectors ejected from the core, causing the core to shut down and bringing an end to the reactor’s operations
    Test objectives All test flight objectives were met, except the length of operation, which was just 43 days as opposed to the expected year or more
    Significance Only known nuclear reactor sent to space by the US, while Russia has sent several, including one that crashed and scattered radioactive debris over Canada in 1978
    Current status Continues to be in Earth orbit, and NASA expects it to do so for 2,000 years or more

     

  • IIT Mandi’s novel catalyst to make Hydrogen more viable fuel

    hydrogen

    Scientists at IIT Mandi have created an innovative carbon-based catalyst that can enhance the efficiency of water electrolysis to generate green hydrogen.

    Water electrolysis and its Challenges

    • Water electrolysis is the process of splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity inside an electrolyser.
    • However, this process consumes a lot of electrical energy.
    • A well-known solution is to use a catalyst to induce the water molecules to split at a much lower energy.
    • The better catalysts are often based on the metals iridium and ruthenium, which are expensive, in great demand in other sectors, and not consistently stable as the reaction progresses.

    IIT’s breakthrough: Development of Laser Carbon

    • Researchers have developed a porous carbon material containing nitrogen that functions both as a catalyst and as the anode in electrolyser units.
    • This material, called “laser carbon,” was produced by exposing a sheet of a polymer called polyimide to a laser beam, which carbonised the exposed bits, leaving the remainder rich in nitrogen.

    How does laser carbon work?

    • The nitrogen atoms in laser carbon draw electron clouds towards themselves, rendering the nearby carbon atoms to bond with atoms or molecules containing electron pairs.
    • This makes the location of these atoms active sites for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER).
    • OER is a bottleneck in this ideal reaction process because it proceeds slowly, with many intermediate steps, lowering the total reaction efficiency.
    • Laser carbon offers to fix this problem by reducing the OER overpotential, which means the reaction kicks off sooner and proceeds with more vigor.

    Advantages of laser carbon

    Laser carbon has several advantages over other carbon-based catalysts.

    • It is “highly power efficient,” cheaper to produce, has a simpler synthesis technique, and “can be batch-manufactured with a laser.”
    • The manufacturing process is also environment-friendly, as no waste is generated, and there are no wet chemicals that would require disposal.
    • Additionally, it does not require a substrate as it is self-supported in the form of a film, acting as both electrode and electrocatalyst.

    Challenges

    • The catalytic activity of laser carbon may not be as high as that of some metals but is comparable.
    • Further improvements in the fabrication process and use of other polymers may address this challenge.

  • Novel compound to treat Kala-Azar Infection

    kala-azar

    Central idea: The Kolkata-based Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) have established the potential of quinoline derivatives to treat drug-resistant leishmaniasis, which is also called kala-azar or black fever.

    What is Kala Azar?

    • Kala-Azar is a vector-borne (sandfly) neglected tropical disease caused by the protozoan parasites of the genus leishmania.
    • It afflicts the world’s poorest populations in over 90 countries throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America.
    • Current annual estimates of kala-azar are about 1,00,000.
    • More than 95% of cases reported to the WHO are from India and other tropical countries, most importantly co-infection with HIV, which leads to an immunocompromised state.

    How does Quinoline work over this?

    • The quinoline derivative is a potent inhibitor of an enzyme called topoisomerase 1 (LdTop1).
    • This enzyme is essential for the maintenance of DNA architecture in parasites and is distinct from the one found in humans.
    • Poisoning LdTop1 imparts significant cytotoxicity to both Leishmania parasites found in the gut of sandfly vectors (promastigotes) and those found in infected humans (amastigotes) of both the wild type and the antimony-resistant isolates.
    • This is done without inducing lethality to human and mice host cells.

    Significance of quinoline treatment

    • Overcoming drug resistance in clinical leishmaniasis is a severe challenge in rural India.
    • The current treatment regimens against kala-azar use formulations that are toxic and induce high levels of drug-resistance.

    What is the breakthrough?

    • The novel inhibitor targeting the leishmania parasites was identified by screening them against recombinant Leishmania topoisomerase 1 enzyme.
    • In all, 21 derivatives were prepared and evaluated for their antileishmanial activity, and one of them was found to be effective.

     

  • India’s Semiconductor Dreams: A Strategic Shift in Focus and Incentives

    India’s Semiconductor

    Central Idea

     

    • India’s semiconductor policy should shift focus from attracting global giants like Intel to leveraging existing facilities and developing domestic solutions for electronics markets.

     

    Background

    • The US Department of Commerce and India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure subsidies do not hinder India’s semiconductor ambitions.
    • However, the likelihood of Intel investing in a greenfield 300mm wafer fabrication plant in India remains low due to its focus on fabs in the US.

     

    Facts for prelims: Semiconductors

    • Semiconductors are materials that have properties that are in between those of conductors (such as copper) and insulators (such as rubber).
    • They have the ability to conduct electricity under certain conditions, but not under others.
    • The conductivity of semiconductors can be manipulated through the introduction of impurities or doping with other materials. This process alters the electronic properties of the material and creates regions of excess or deficit of electrons, called p-type and n-type regions respectively. The interface between these regions is known as a p-n junction, which is a fundamental building block of many semiconductor devices.

     

    Applications

    • Semiconductors are a fundamental component of modern technology and have significant importance in many areas of our daily lives.
    • Electronics industry: Semiconductors are a crucial component in the electronics industry, which is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. Semiconductors are used in a wide range of electronic devices, from smartphones and computers to medical equipment and home appliances.
    • Miniaturization: The ability to miniaturize electronic components using semiconductors has led to the development of smaller, more powerful, and more energy-efficient devices. This has enabled the development of portable devices, such as smartphones and laptops, which have become an essential part of our daily lives.
    • Energy efficiency: Semiconductors have enabled the development of energy-efficient devices, which are crucial in the context of climate change and global warming. Energy-efficient lighting, for example, uses semiconductor materials such as LEDs, which consume far less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs.
    • Renewable energy: Semiconductors are also essential in the development of renewable energy technologies such as solar cells and wind turbines. Solar cells, for example, use semiconductor materials to convert sunlight into electrical energy.
    • Medical applications: Semiconductors are also used in a wide range of medical applications, from imaging devices to implantable medical devices. In particular, semiconductor-based biosensors are becoming increasingly important for disease diagnosis and monitoring.

     

    All you need to know about India’s semiconductor policy

     

    • India has launched a new semiconductor policy called the National Policy on Electronics (NPE) in 2019, with the aim of creating a globally competitive electronics manufacturing industry in the country.
    • The policy aims to attract investment in semiconductor fabrication units, also known as fabs, and encourage the development of a domestic ecosystem for semiconductor design and manufacturing.

     

    The key objectives of the policy

     

    • Attracting investment: The policy aims to attract global semiconductor companies to set up manufacturing units in India by providing them with incentives such as financial support, tax incentives, and land at subsidized rates.
    • Promoting domestic manufacturing: The policy aims to promote domestic manufacturing of semiconductor components by providing incentives such as production-linked incentives, subsidies, and preferential market access to products made in India.
    • Developing human resources: The policy aims to develop a skilled workforce in the semiconductor sector by providing training and education programs in collaboration with leading academic institutions.
    • Encouraging research and development: The policy aims to encourage research and development in the semiconductor sector by providing financial support to research institutions and startups.

     

    India’s semiconductor policy: What it needs?

    1. India’s Semiconductor History
    • The Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) was established in Mohali in 1983 to create an electronics ecosystem.
    • Market liberalization in 1991 and a fire in 1989 derailed these plans, but the facility still has the potential to support India’s semiconductor ecosystem.
    1. Shifting Focus:
    • The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITy) has been trying to attract Intel to India, but their efforts may not be fruitful.
    • A better approach would be to leverage SCL’s existing assets and focus on the More than Moore segment of semiconductors (>180 nm node) for automotive electronics, PV-Inverters, 5G infrastructure, and railway electronics.
    1. Incentives and Subsidies:
    • Subsidies should target fabless design houses with proven designs willing to fabricate at the SCL in the 180nm+ node.
    • Incentives should also be provided to global design companies with products aimed at India-specific markets.
    • The existing DLI/PLI schemes do not provide such incentives, and a course correction is needed.
    1. Leveraging Existing Infrastructure:
    • Efforts to open up subsidies to global small and medium-sized enterprises in the upstream supply chain are welcome.
    • However, coupling these efforts with the defined incentives and targeted upgrades is essential for success.
    1. Leadership and Execution: To achieve this vision in the next five years, the SCL needs a full-time director with prior “More than Moore” foundry experience, as opposed to a career scientist from the Department of Space.

    India’s Semiconductor

    Conclusion

    • India’s semiconductor policy should shift focus from attracting global giants like Intel to leveraging existing facilities and developing domestic solutions for electronics markets. This will require a strategic shift in focus, targeted incentives, and strong leadership. Failure to act may result in India missing out on the semiconductor fabrication bus once again.

    Mains Question

    Q. Semiconductors are a fundamental component of modern technology. In this light analyze India’s semiconductor policy.

  • GPT-4: AI Breakthrough or Pandora’s Box?

    GPT-4

    Central Idea

    • OpenAI’s GPT-4, the latest AI model, is creating shock waves around the world. It has incredible capabilities, but also raises ethical questions and concerns about its potential misuse.

    Capabilities of GPT-4

    • Enhanced abilities: GPT-4 is a considerable improvement over its predecessor, GPT-3.5, with enhanced conversational and creative abilities that allow it to understand and produce more meaningful and engaging content.
    • Accept both text and image input: It can accept both text and image input simultaneously, which enables it to consider multiple inputs while generating responses, such as suggesting recipes based on an image of ingredients.
    • Diverse potential: GPT-4’s impressive performance in various tests designed for humans, such as simulated bar examinations and advanced courses in multiple subjects, demonstrates its potential applications in diverse fields.

    Background: What is ChatGPT?

    • Simple definition: ChatGPT is a chatbot built on a large-scale transformer-based language model that is trained on a diverse dataset of text and is capable of generating human-like responses to prompts.
    • A human like language model: It is based on GPT-3.5, a language model that uses deep learning to produce human-like text.
    • It is more engaging with details: However, while the older GPT-3 model only took text prompts and tried to continue on that with its own generated text, ChatGPT is more engaging. It’s much better at generating detailed text and can even come up with poems.
    • Keeps the memory of the conversations: Another unique characteristic is memory. The bot can remember earlier comments in a conversation and recount them to the user.
    • Human- like resemblance: A conversation with ChatGPT is like talking to a computer, a smart one, which appears to have some semblance of human-like intelligence.

    Facts for Prelims: Other AI models

    Model Name Developer Key Features/Description
    BERT Google Transformer-based, bidirectional, excels in question-answering, sentiment analysis, and NER
    XLNet Google/CMU Combines BERT and autoregressive language modeling, improved performance in NLP benchmarks
    T5 Google Transformer-based, multi-task learning framework, strong performance across NLP tasks
    RoBERTa Facebook AI Optimized version of BERT, improved training strategies, top performance on NLP benchmarks
    Megatron NVIDIA Designed for large-scale training, used for training GPT-like models with billions of parameters
    CLIP OpenAI Learns from text and image data, bridges NLP and computer vision, zero-shot image classification

    Limitations and Concerns of GPT-4

    • Factual inaccuracies: GPT-4, like its predecessor, is prone to factual inaccuracies, known as hallucinations, which can result in the generation of misleading or incorrect information.
    • Not transparent: OpenAI has not been transparent about GPT-4’s inner workings, including its architecture, hardware, and training methods, citing safety and competitive reasons, which prevents critical scrutiny of the model.
    • Biased data: The model has been trained on biased data from the internet, containing harmful biases and stereotypes, which may lead to harmful outputs that perpetuate these biases.

    GPT-4

    Potential Misuse

    • Undermining human skills and knowledge in education: GPT-4’s capabilities pose a threat to examination systems as students may use the AI-generated text to complete their essays and assignments, undermining the assessment of their skills and knowledge.
    • Potential to be misused as a propaganda and disinformation engine: The powerful language model has the potential to be misused as a propaganda and disinformation engine, spreading false or misleading information that can have far-reaching consequences.

    Ethical and Environmental Implications

    • Ethical use: The development of large language models like GPT-4 raises concerns about the ethical implications of their use, especially with regard to biases and the potential for misuse.
    • Energy consumption: The environmental costs associated with training these models, such as energy consumption and carbon emissions, contribute to the ongoing debate about the sustainability of AI development.

    Conclusion

    • GPT-4 offers incredible advancements in AI, but it also raises important questions about the ethical implications and potential misuse of such powerful technology. Society must carefully weigh the benefits and drawbacks of building models that test the limits of what is possible and prioritize the development of responsible AI systems.

  • Scientists spot Piezoelectric Effect in Liquids

    peizo

    Central idea: Scientists have recently discovered evidence of the piezoelectric effect in liquids for the first time. This effect has only been observed in solids for the past 143 years. This new finding challenges the theory that describes this effect and opens doors to previously unanticipated applications in electronic and mechanical systems.

    What is Piezoelectric Effect?

    • The piezoelectric effect occurs when a body develops an electric current when it is squeezed.
    • It has been observed in quartz crystals (SiO2), which are used in wristwatches, clocks, and various instruments that convert mechanical stress to a current.

    Recent observation

    • The piezoelectric effect was found in pure 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)imide and 1-hexyl-3-methyl imidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide.
    • Both of these liquids are ionic liquids, which means that they are made of ions instead of molecules, and were found at room temperature.

    Why is the effect in liquids surprising?

    • Liquids do not have an organized structure like solids, which is why the piezoelectric effect has only been expected in solids until now.
    • However, the scientists found the effect in pure ionic liquids at room temperature, challenging the current understanding of the effect.
    • The magnitude of the piezoelectric effect in the first liquid was 16 millivolt per newton (mV/N) and in the second, 17 mV/N, in both cases within a margin of 1 mV/N.

    What is the strength of the effect?

    • In the experiment, the scientists found that the strength of the piezoelectric effect in the two ionic liquids they tested was lower than that of quartz by a factor of 10.
    • However, this is still a significant discovery since it opens the door to new applications.

    Possible applications

    • The discovery of the piezoelectric effect in liquids opens the door to previously inaccessible applications that have fewer environmental issues than many currently used piezoelectric materials.
    • Additionally, these liquids displayed the inverse piezoelectric effect, which could be used to control how the liquids bend light passing through them by passing different currents through them, creating lenses with dynamic focusing abilities.

     

  • What is Biotransformation Technology?

    bio

    Central idea: The article highlights the issue of plastic waste generated by e-commerce giant Amazon and the need for a biotransformation technology that can make plastics biodegradable and its potential applications in reducing plastic waste in various industries.

    Amazon’s Plastic Waste Problem

    • Amazon generated 321 million kilograms (709 million pounds) of plastic from packaging waste in 2021.
    • The amount of plastic waste generated by Amazon in 2021 is enough to circle the Earth over 800 times as air pillows.

    What is Biotransformation Technology?

    • Biotransformation technology is a novel approach to ensure plastics that escape refuse streams are processed efficiently and broken down.
    • The technology was co-developed by Polymateria and the Imperial College in London, UK.
    • Plastics made using this technology are given a pre-programmed time during which the manufactured material looks and feels like conventional plastics without compromising on quality.
    • Once the product expires and is exposed to the external environment, it self-destructs and biotransforms into bioavailable wax, which is then consumed by microorganisms, converting waste into water, CO2, and biomass.
    • The technology is the world’s first that ensures polyolefins fully biodegrade in an open environment without causing any microplastics.

    bio

    Need for Biotransformation Technology

    • India generates 3.5 billion kgs of plastic waste annually, and a third of it comes from packaging waste.
    • In 2019, plastic packaging waste from e-commerce firms was estimated at over a billion kilograms worldwide.
    • Amazon generated nearly 210 million kgs (465 million pounds) of plastic from packaging waste in 2019.
    • Up to 10 million kgs (22.44 million pounds) of Amazon’s plastic packaging ended up in the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems as pollution in 2019.

    Application of this technology

    • The food packaging and healthcare industries are the two prime sectors that could use this technology to reduce waste.
    • The increase in cost is relatively small compared to conventional plastic which does not contain this technology.
    • Some well-known Indian firms in the food and packaging industries deploy such technologies.
    • Within healthcare and pharma industries, this technology provides biodegradable solutions for non-woven hygiene products like diapers, sanitary napkins, facial pads, etc.

    India’s initiatives to tackle plastic pollution

    • Phased elimination: The Indian government launched a plastic waste management gazette to help tackle the ever-growing plastic pollution caused by single-use plastics. The government imposed a ban on single-use plastics last year to bring a stop to its use in the country.
    • National Dashboard on Elimination of Single-Use Plastic and Plastic Waste Management: It brings all stakeholders together to track the progress made in eliminating single-use plastic and effectively managing such waste.
    • Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) portal: It helps in improving accountability traceability, and facilitating ease of compliance reporting in relation to EPR obligations of the producers, importers, and brand-owners.
    • Lifecycle monitoring: India has developed a mobile app to report single-use plastics grievances to check the sale, usage, or manufacturing of single-use plastics in their area.

    Alternatives to Reducing Plastic Waste

    • A switch to jute or paper-based packaging could potentially cut down plastic waste.
    • Wooden packaging is yet another alternative, but that will make the packaging bulkier and increase the cost.
    • The alternatives can be made using coir, bagasse, rice and wheat bran, plant and agricultural residue, banana and areca leaves.

     

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