Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nuralink
Mains level: Nuralink and its applications and testing issues
Context
- Elon Musk’s medical company, Neuralink, has been accused of causing needless suffering and death to around 1,500 animals in just short few years. Sources indicate that animal testing is proceeding too swiftly, which results in unnecessary suffering and death for the animals.
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What Is Neuralink?
- A device to be inserted in brain: Neuralink is a gadget that will be surgically inserted into the brain using robotics. In this procedure, a chipset called the link is implanted in the skull.
- Insulated wires connected to electrodes: It has a number of insulated wires connected from the electrodes that are used in the process.
- Can be operated by smartphones: This device can then be used to operate smartphones and computers without having to touch it.
- Neurons of the Brain: The brain consists of neurons that transmit signals to cells in the body including muscle, nerve, gland and other neuron cells.
- Functions of each part of the brain: Every neuron is made up of three parts called the dendrite, the soma (cell body) and the axon. Each of this part has its own function. The dendrite receives the signals. The soma processes these signals. The axon then transmits the signals to the other cells.
- Neurotansmitters: The neurons are connected to one another by the synapses which release neurotransmitters. These chemical substances are then sent to another neuron cell’s dendrite causing the flow of current across the neurons.
How Does Neuralink Work?
- Electrodes can read electric signals: The electrodes that are part of the Neuralink will read electrical signals that are produced by several neurons in the brain. The signals are then outputted in form of an action or movement.
- Implanted directly in the brain: According to the company’s website, the device is implanted directly in the brain because placing it outside the head will not detect the signals produced by the brain accurately
What Does Neuralink Do?
- To operate encephalopathy: Neuralink can be used to operate encephalopathy.
- People with paralysis can be operated: It can also be used as a connection between the human brain and technology. This means that people with paralysis can easily operate their phones and computer directly with their brain.
- It will help people to communicate: Its main purpose is to help people to communicate through text or voice messages.
- Wide applications: Neuralink can also be utilised to draw pictures, take photographs and do other activities.appliactions
Conclusion
- Though the Neuralink innovation pushing the boundaries of neural engineering, cruelty over the animals cannot be ignored.
Mains question
Q. What is Neuralink? What is the science behind the human brain and what the neuralink will do?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Russia Ukraine war, India-Russia relations
Context
- Russia marks two anniversaries the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union and the 31st anniversary of its dissolution. Following the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917, the Soviet Union was proclaimed on December 30, 1922. Until its dissolution on December 26, 1991.
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- Special Strategic Partner: Vladimir Putin’s Russia continues to be valued as the heir to the Soviet Union and as a special strategic partner.
- Ukraine war has not affected the ties: Putin’s aggression against Ukraine and his brutal bombing of its civilian population, which Moscow claims is an integral part of Russia, has hardly made a dent in the way the Indian political classes think about the crisis.
- Russia as anti-imperialist: On the left and centre of the Indian political spectrum, the Soviet Union has been viewed purely through the ideological lens of progressive politics nationalist, internationalist, communist and anti-imperialist. That lens, however, is detached from the history of Russia and the continuing struggles for its political soul.
- Russia as best friend forever: Within the strategic community, the conviction that Russia is India’s “best friend forever” leaves little room for a nuanced view of Russia’s domestic and international politics.
Understanding Russia’s behaviour through Russian History
- The Bolshevik Revolution: It is initially sought to destroy the Russian Orthodox Church, eventually leveraged it in the deification of the Soviet state and lent a religious colour to the claim of Russian exceptionalism.
- Alliance with orthodoxy: Putin has taken the alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church to a higher level. For the Russian nationalists today, the effort to take back Ukraine is a “holy war”.
- Limited sovereignty to other communist state: After the Second World War, Soviet Russia insisted that fellow communist states had only “limited sovereignty” and Moscow had the right to intervene to keep them on the straight and narrow path of socialism and prevent their destabilisation. The military invasions in Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968), and Afghanistan (1979) were motivated by this impulse.
- Russia has not given up Imperialist tradition: In claiming that Ukraine has no sovereignty of its own, Putin is merely following that imperial tradition as well as the conviction that Ukraine, Belarus and Russian-speaking people everywhere are part of the “Russkiy Mir” or the “Russian world”.
- Mao’s characterization of Russia: After he broke from the Russian communists, Mao began to characterise Russia as an “imperial power”. Mao had not forgotten the persistent tension between the Chinese and Russian empires.
Analyzing Russia’s internal politics
- Weak federalism by Lenin: The founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin warned against the dangers of “great Russian chauvinism”. He insisted on structuring a federal polity with the right of various nationalities to secede.
- Strong soviet by Stalin: Stalin, however, turned Russian federalism into a hollow shell and erased the difference between the “Soviet Union” and “Soviet Russia”.
- Putin refuse to recognize Ukraine: Putin denounced Lenin for giving a separate identity to Ukraine. “Modern Ukraine”, Putin said, “can with good reason be called ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine’.”
- Stalling the democratic process: The enduring autocratic impulse in Moscow that is rooted in the stalled democratic revolution. Traditionally, the Russian fear of disorder has left the population to put great faith in strong leaders.
- Centralising tendency: The frequent but unsuccessful efforts at political liberalisation have left a fertile ground in Russia for centralising power under leaders like Putin and increasing the chances of grave miscalculation.
What should be the India’s approach towards Russia?
- Not directly criticize Russia: Although it has been reluctant to directly criticise Russian aggression, official India is not blind to the fact that Putin’s “special military operation” has gone horribly wrong.
- Taking note of changing world order: India will inevitably find ways to adjust to the tectonic shifts in the world order triggered by Putin’s misadventure.
- Learning from Putin’s mistake: The Indian political and strategic communities must come to terms with the many complex factors that have contributed to Putin’s egregious errors in Ukraine.
Conclusion
- To understand how the war in Ukraine might play out and its longer-term consequences for India, India’s discourse must pay greater attention to the turbulent history of Russia and its troubled relations with its Central European neighbours.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: AVGC-ER
The Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Promotion Task Force report has proposed a national AVGC-Extended Reality Mission with a budget outlay to be created for integrated promotion and growth of the sector.
What is AVGC?
- While the etymology of the word surrounds everything to do with Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics, the overarching term is an umbrella for all the sub-sectors that are contributing to India’s digital economy.
- This includes-
- Animation Studios
- VFX Studios
- Game Development Studios
- Platforms
- Hardware Manufacturers
- Software developers
- Virtual Production Studios and many more entities
- The sector saw immense growth with technological adoption as is, but it witnessed steep uptake with the onset of the pandemic.
Why focus on the AVGC sector?
- Emerging sector: The global AVGC industry amounts to $800 billion, and the Indian AVGC sector is brimming with the potential to bag up to 5 percent of the global share ($40 billion).
- India’s IT prowess: India today contributes about $2.5-3 billion of the estimated $260-275 billion worldwide AVGC market.
- Skilled workforce availability: According to industry experts, the Indian market which currently employs about 1.85 lakh AVGC professionals, can witness a growth of 14-16% in the next decade.
- Employment generation: Not only does the sector contribute significantly to the economy, it also creates an abundance of employment opportunities for several skilled sectors, with over 160,000 jobs that it could provide yearly.
Key recommendations by the task force
The report has also recommended-
- “Create in India” campaign with an exclusive focus on content creation
- Establishment of AVGC accelerators and innovation hubs in academic institutions
- Democratizing AVGC technologies by promoting subscription-based pricing models for MSME, Start-ups and institutions;
- Indigenous technology development through incentive schemes and Intellectual Property creation; and
- Setting up a dedicated production fund for domestic content creation from across India to promote the country’s culture and heritage globally.
- Memorandum of Cooperation with developed global AVGC markets — U.S., Japan, South Korea, Germany etc.
Way forward
- Policy vision: Because of the wide range of sub-sectors that are amass under AVGC’s wide umbrella, there is a need for a broad vision to help further incubate this industry.
- Up-skilling: There is a requirement for not only financing and resource allocation for the sector, but also education and talent development.
- Collaboration: Gaming, VFX, and animation markets in the likes of the US or South Korea, for instance, has been heavily incubated, and are thus at the crest of the wave on a global scale today.
Conclusion
- If it gets the correct atmosphere to grow in–especially one that covers all the bases under it, the Indian AVGC sector has the capacity to become the zenith of Digital India and the hallmark of the ‘Brand India’ dream that PM envisages.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pralay Missile
Mains level: Tactical weapons and their battle significance
The Defence Ministry has decided to deploy indigenously developed surface-to-surface ‘Pralay’ ballistic missiles near India’s borders with China and Pakistan.
What are Tactical Missiles?
- Generally, short-range missiles are termed tactical while long-range missiles are termed strategic.
- A missile which is used to destroy tactical targets of enemy like bunkers, mortar position, artillery position etc. is tactical missile.
- Battlefield missiles are tactical while long-range missiles targeting bigger targets like cities are termed strategic.
- Features of these missiles include-
- Versatile range: Tactical missiles fills the gap between long range rockets and short range ballistic missiles , and have range mainly about 100 to 200 kms .
- Very high precision and accuracy: These missiles are highly accurate, and can destroy small steady and moving targets with high accuracy.
About ‘Pralay’ Missile
- Pralay is a Hindi word which means “apocalypse” or “to cause great destruction” or “damage”.
- The Pralay missile project was sanctioned in 2015 and is a derivative of the Prahaar missile programme, which was first tested in 2011.
- Developed by the DRDO, the ‘Pralay’ ballistic missile is a canisterised tactical, surface-to-surface, and short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) for battlefield use.
- It can hit targets from a distance of 150 to 500 km and is extremely difficult to intercept by enemy interceptor missiles.
- Pralay is powered by a solid fuel rocket motor and is a high explosive preformed fragmentation warhead that weighs somewhere between 350 kg to 700 kg.
- It also accounts for its Penetration-Cum-Blast (PCB) and Runaway Denial Penetration Submunitions (RDPS).
Unique features of Pralay
- Precise targeting: The missile is designed to destroy enemy radar, communication installations, command centres and airfields.
- Quasi Ballistic Trajectory: It means the object takes a low curved path after being shot.
- Stealth features: Pralay has the ability to evade any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) interceptors by performing mid-air manoeuvres by using a manoeuvrable re-entry vehicle.
- Destruction capability: When a high-explosive warhead, like the one Pralay missile is equipped with, explodes, its pieces are thrown at a high speed which can inflict heavy damage.
What makes Pralay lethal?
- The Indian missile can be compared to China’s Dong Feng 12 and the Russian Iskander missile that has been used in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
- The US Army is in the process of increasing the range of a similar short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).
- What makes Pralay deadly is that it is a quasi-ballistic weapon, which means that while it has a low trajectory and is largely ballistic, it can manoeuvre in flight.
- Unlike intercontinental ballistic missiles that exit the Earth’s atmosphere, short-range ballistic missiles stay within it.
What lies ahead?
- Pralay, along with the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, will form the crux of India’s planned Rocket Force — a concept that was envisaged by former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the late General Bipin Rawat.
- Only conventional missiles would come under the planned Rocket Force as and when it’s ready, while nuclear weapons would continue to be under the ambit of the Strategic Forces Command.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Denotified Tribes, SEED Scheme
Mains level: Mainstreaming of marginalized DNTs
A Parliamentary panel has pulled up the Centre over the “very slow” process to categorize over 260 Denotified, nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes (DNTs) under either the SC/ST/OBC lists.
Why in news?
- The government officials also pointed ‘delay’ in the approval of benefits under the SEED (Scheme for Economic Empowerment of DNTs) scheme launched in February this year.
- There is a scheme in place with proper budgetary outlay, but there is no whereabouts of targeted beneficiaries for it. Imagine how ironical this is.
Who are the DNTs?
- The term ‘De-notified Tribes’ stands for all those communities which were once notified under the Criminal Tribes Acts, enforced by the British Raj between l87l and I947.
- These Acts were repealed after Independence in l952, and these communities were “De-Notified”.
- The DNTs (of whom most are the medieval period Banjaras) are the most neglected, marginalized, and economically and socially deprived communities.
- Most of them have been living a life of destitution for generations and still continue to do so with an uncertain and gloomy future.
- More than 10 crore Indians from over 1,400 communities are either denotified, nomadic or semi-nomadic.
About SEED Scheme
- It has been formulated for families having income from all sources of Rs.2.50 lakh or less per annum and not availing any such benefits from similar Scheme of Centre Government or the State Government.
- The Scheme will be implemented through a portal, developed by the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment.
- Post verification, the funds will be transferred directly to the beneficiaries in their account.
- The other implementing agencies are Ministry of Rural Development, National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and National Health Authority (NHA).
Components of the scheme
The Scheme will have the following four components:
- Free Coaching: A component of free Coaching for DNT Students has been envisioned for the educational empowerment of these communities. It seeks to enable them to appear in competitive examinations/ admission to professional courses like medicine, engineering, MBA, etc. for obtaining an appropriate job in the Public/Private Sector.
- Health Insurance: Members of these communities are likely to have little or no access to medical facilities and other benefits available under the mainstream health policies.This would ensure a health insurance cover of Rs.5 lakhs per family per year for families as per norms of “Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
- Livelihood Initiatives: The decline of traditional occupations of DNT/NT/SNT communities has exacerbated their poverty. A focus to support livelihood generation for these communities was required.
- Financial support for Housing: Considering the shortage of houses for DNTs, it has been proposed to earmark a separate outlay for PMAY to support specific importance in providing houses only for DNTs living in rural areas.
Why was such scheme launched?
- DNTs are ignored communities: They escaped the attention of our developmental framework and thus are deprived of the support unlike Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- Most deprived section: Historically, these communities never had access to private land or homeownership.
- Ecological contribution: These tribes used forests and grazing lands for their livelihood and residential use and had “strong ecological connections.
Status of DNT’s identification
- Anthropological Survey of India study: AnSI had submitted reports on categorisation of 48 DNT communities so far. Further, the AnSI is finalising studies on 161 communities and is expected to finish studying the remaining communities (about 70) by the end of 2022.
- Idate Commission: It had categorised 1,262 communities under SC/ST/OBC lists and 267 communities were left uncategorised.
Why is there such delay?
- Slow response from states: Officials cannot begin processing the applications for the SEED scheme unless the State and district-level reviews are completed.
- Duplication of communities: There is inaccurate categorization/duplication of communities which leading to hiccups in the approval process.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Geoglyphs
Mains level: Prehistoric Rock Art
Experts and conservationists have raised concerns over the proposed location for a mega oil refinery in Barsu village of Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district.
What are geoglyphs?
- Geoglyphs are a form of prehistoric rock art, created on the surface of laterite plateaus.
- They are made by removing a part of the rock surface through an incision, picking, carving or abrading.
- They can be in the form of rock paintings, etchings, cup marks and ring marks.
Ratnagiri’s geoglyphs
- Clusters of geoglyphs are spread across the Konkan coastline in Maharashtra and Goa, spanning around 900 km.
- Porous laterite rock, which lends itself to such carving, is found on a large scale across the entire region.
- Ratnagiri district has more than 1,500 pieces of such art, also called “Katal shilpa,” spread across 70 sites.
- The figures depicted in the geoglyphs include humans and animals such as deer, elephant, tiger, monkey, wild boar, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, cattle, pig, rabbit, and monkey.
- Moreover, they also include a high number of reptilian and amphibian creatures such as tortoises and alligators, aquatic animals such as sharks and sting rays, and birds like peacocks.
Why are they significant?
- Tourism potential: Ratnagiri’s prehistoric sites are among three Indian attractions that may soon become World Heritage Sites. The other two include Jingkieng Jri, the living root bridge in Meghalaya, and Sri Veerabhadra Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Lepakshi.
- Evolution of art: The geoglyph clusters also are examples of advanced artistic skills, showing the evolution of techniques of etching and scooping in rock art.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PRASAD Scheme
Mains level: Religious tourism development
President of India inaugurated ‘PRASAD’ project at the tourism facilitation centre in the pilgrim town of Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.
About Srisailam
- The temple at Srisailam is the ancient and sacred place of South India.
- The presiding deity of the place is Brahmaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy in natural stone formations in the shape of Lingam.
- It is listed as one of the twelve Jyotirlingams existing in the country.
Development with PRASAD scheme
- The pilgrim town will get a pilgrim complex, amenities centres, an amphitheatre, sound and light show, digital intervention, parking areas among others.
- There is total outlay of ₹48.03 crore under the PRASAD project.
Back2Basics: PRASAD Scheme
- PRASAD stands for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD).
- It is 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Tourism Ministry.
- Provisions under the scheme include-
- Tourism Promotion and Tourist Ecosystem
- Vocational Training for Tourists and Hospitality Business
- Hunar se Rozgar tak (HSRT) and earn while you learn programs
- Improving Tourist Infrastructure
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