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Blockchain Technology – Everything you need to know in
layman’s language
The Blockchain technology has become a regular news item with the emergence
of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Now, this technology is disrupting almost all markets,
changing the way we do our day to day business. Yes, the blockchain technology is
changing our world.
Let’s decode the latest buzz word – The Blockchain Technology – in this post. Thank
you for the excellent feedback on our earlier articles in this series – on Artificial
Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), and Automation. Feel free to post your feedback
on this article in the comment section at the post-bottom.
Comparing Blockchain to an Excel Sheet
Imagine a Microsoft Excel Sheet file in your laptop with details of some transactions
you made. You can call it a ledger.

Now, imagine that your Excel Sheet file is copied to hundreds of your friends’
computers, connected to each other forming a network. The ledger in your laptop has
become a distributed ledger.
Then imagine that this network of computers is designed with a technology to
regularly update this Excel Sheet, whenever you or your friends update the ledger.
You now have a basic understanding of the blockchain!
What is a blockchain?
In simple terms, blockchain is a digital ledger.
Wondering what is a ledger?
Ledger is a book containing accounts to which debits and credits are posted from
books of original entry.
A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger. So simple, right?
Defenition of Blockchain
The main chain (black) consists of the longest series of blocks from the genesis block (green) to the
current block. Orphan blocks (purple) exist outside of the main chain.
The blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger of transactions that can be
programmed to record virtually everything of value.
Each list of record in a blockchain is called block.

So a blockchain is a continuously growing list of records called blocks, which are
linked and secured.
Who invented blockchain technology?
Blockchain Technology was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 for use in
the cryptocurrency bitcoin, as its public transaction ledger. Satoshi Nakamoto’s aim
in creating the decentralized Bitcoin ledger—the blockchain—was to allow users to
control their own money so that no third party, not even the government, would be
able to access or monitor it.
The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi, disappeared back in 2011, leaving behind open source
software that the users of Bitcoin could update and improve.
The invention of the blockchain for bitcoin made it the first digital currency to solve
the double spending problem without the need of a trusted central authority or
central server.
The bitcoin design has been the inspiration for other applications.
Bitcoin Is To Blockchain As Email Was To The Internet
In the 1990s, when the internet technology (TCP/IP or HTTP) was in the native stages,
email was the first major application. Later new applications like web browsers came.
Websites became popular. People started using chat software like Skype. Now if you
look at your mobile, see how many different applications are run using the Internet.
Similarly, when blockchain technology emerged, bitcoin was the first major
application which used it. Other cryptocurrencies followed the trend. Now, blockchain
technology is used in a variety of applications like security, online voting etc.

Internet Technology vs Blockchain Technology
Simply put, the Internet allows computers to exchange information; Blockchain allows
computers to record information.
Both use a lot of computers (nodes).
The Digital Economy, Wikinomics is bold on the subject and reflects about Blockchain
that:
The first generation of the digital revolution brought us the Internet of
information. The second generation — powered by blockchain technology — is
bringing us the Internet of value: a new platform to reshape the world of business and
transform the old order of human affairs for the better.
Blockchain is a vast, global distributed ledger or database running on millions of
devices and open to anyone, where not just information but anything of value — money,
but also titles, deeds, identities, even votes — can be moved, stored and managed
securely and privately. Trust is established through mass collaboration and clever code
rather than by powerful intermediaries like governments and banks.
Technologies behind blockchain technology!

1. Private Key Cryptography
2. P2P Network (Peer-2-Peer)
3. Program (the blockchain’s protocol)
What is the need of blockchain technology?
The blockchain is a mechanism to bring everyone to the highest degree of
accountability. No more missed transactions, human or machine errors, or an
exchange that was not done with the consent of the parties involved.
The most critical area where Blockchain helps is to guarantee the validity of a
transaction by recording it not only on the main register but a connected distributed
system of registers, all of which are connected through a secure validation
mechanism.
Blockchain technology can find applications in the following areas in future:
 Smart contracts – Any industry heavily reliant on contracts, such as insurance,
financial institutions, real estate, construction, entertainment, and law, would
benefit from blockchain’s indisputable way to update, manage, track and secure
contracts. Smart contracts, those that are embedded with if/then statements and
be executed without the involvement of an intermediary, also use blockchain
technology.
 Supply chain management – Whenever value changes hands or the status of
asset changes, blockchain is ideally suited for managing the process.
 Asset protection – Whether you’re a musician who wants to ensure you get
royalties when your music gets played or a property owner, blockchain technology
can help you protect your assets by creating an indisputable record of real-time
ownership.
 Personal Identification – Governments manage vast amounts of personal data
from birth and death records to marriage certificates, passports and census data.
Blockchain technology offers a streamlined solution for managing all of it
securely.
 Payment processing – Blockchain has the potential to be highly transformative
to any company that processes payments. It can eliminate the need for
intermediaries that are common in payment processing today.

 Crowdfunding – As with traditional crowdfunding, a blockchain
powered crowdfunding campaign seeks to secure investment for a new project
from an interested community. But in this instance, funding is most likely to
come in the form of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain technology – opportunities and advantages
 The blockchain allows our smart devices to speak to each other better and faster.
 Blockchain solves the problem of manipulation. It brings everyone to the highest
degree of accountability.
 Online identity and reputation will be decentralized. We will own the data that
belongs to us.
 Cryptocurrencies take the power away from governments to control the value of
currencies and hand it to people.
 The potential is great for people in the informal economy to exploit the
blockchain’s middleman-free way to exchange asset.
 Blockchain technology can more equitably address issues related to freedom,
jurisdiction, censorship, and regulation, perhaps in ways that nation-state models
and international diplomacy efforts regarding human rights cannot.
 Blockchain-based systems allow for the removal of intermediaries involved in the
record keeping and transfer of assets.

 The removal of intermediaries and settlement on distributed ledgers allows for
dramatically increased transaction speeds compared to a wide range of existing
systems.
 Data entered on the blockchain is immutable, preventing against fraud through
manipulating transactions and the history of data. Transactions entered on the
blockchain provide a clear trail to the very start of the blockchain allowing any
transaction to be easily investigated and audited.
Blockchain technology – Criticisms and Challenges
Huge power required: Remember all that computing power required to verify
transactions? Those computers need electricity. Bitcoin is a poster child of the
problematic escalation in power demanded from a large blockchain network. That’s
not appealing given today’s concerns about climate change, the availability of power in
developing countries, and reliability of power in developed nations.
Security about the private key: The private key must remain secret at all times
because revealing it to third parties is equivalent to giving them control over the
bitcoins secured by that key. The private key must also be backed up and protected

from accidental loss, because if it’s lost it cannot be recovered and the funds secured
by it are forever lost, too.
Transaction speed: Transaction speed is also an issue. As we noted above, blocks in
a chain must be verified by the distributed network, and that can take time.
Summary
In scaling society up from tribes and small groups, governments have had to confront
the problem of enabling secure commerce and other interactions among strangers.
The methods now may be very different, but the goal is still the same – a secure way
of transactions.
The complex world of big data and IOT is emerging. Blockchain will be an important
part of our financial and technological digital future.
The ‘blockchain’ technology behind bitcoin could prove to be an ingredient of an entire
new world of technology, as big as the internet itself, a wave of innovation that drives
the middleman out of much commerce and leaves us much more free to exchange
goods and services with people all over the world without going through corporate
intermediaries.
It could radically decentralise society itself, getting rid of the need for banks,
governments, even companies and politicians.

Internet of Things (IoT) – A Simple Explanation
Who orders vegetables for your home? You or your parents do that, right? But what if
tomorrow, your refrigerator directly orders for vegetables after analysing the shortage
in stock? Yes, that is possible with the emergence of a new concept called the Internet
of Things (IoT).
What is the “Internet of Things (IoT)”?
The internet of things (IoT) is a concept that describes the idea of everyday physical
objects being connected to the internet. In the Internet of Things, the connected
devices should be able to identify themselves to other devices.
Simply put, this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an ON and OFF
switch to the Internet or to each other. This includes everything from cell phones,
coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost
anything else you can think of.
Or, if you want us to make it more simple – Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept
where Things can talk to other Things!
Internet of Things – Example
Let’s go back to my morning and there I am lying blissfully asleep or so it seems.
The sensors in my arm sent something is very wrong my heart rate – it is going up, my
breathing has become erratic, and instead of this time gently waking me, it vibrates

aggressively to get my attention, and as I roll over, I I’m grabbing my chest, and I’m I’m
like what’s going on, so I reach over to my phone.
I pull it up and sure enough there’s a message it says I’m having high blood pressure in
my breathing as a radicand and it suggests that I take a two aspirin right away and
then goes on to say it says all my vital signs have been recorded in electronically
transmitted to my medical provider.
So back at the hospital the doctors already evaluating my data and in his
professional opinion I need to get in the hospital right away so we electronically
dispatch Emergency Medical Team directly to my home including pertinent data about
my current medical situations so they know how to take care of me and I even get a
notice or a message from the EMT that they’re about to arrive I’m whisking to the
hospital and I’m put under keen observation.
The good news is later that morning that doctor comes and says you’re going to be
fine. You were suffering a heart attack and we avoided any major damage because
you got the treatment you needed in just the nick of time so now is the internet of
things worth it maybe all because things can talk to other things or what we call
the Internet of Things Thank you.
Note: This is an excerpt from the speech by Benson Hougland at TEDxTemecula.
Who coined the term the Internet of Things?
In 1999 Kevin Ashton, then at P&G (later MIT’s Auto-ID Center), coined the term
‘Internet of Things’. It was a new term, but not a new operation. It was known as
pervasive computing, ubicomp, and ambient intelligence.
The first version of the internet was about data created by the internet. The next version
is about the data created by things.

Which devices can be part of IoT?
Anything that can be connected, will be connected.
Any device, if it has an on and off switch then chances are it can be a part of the IoT.
Very often the connected devices will have an I.P address. With Internet Protocol
Version 6 (IPv6), assigning an IP address to billions of devices has become very much
feasible.

Examples of ‘things’ which can be connected to internet include:
 Connected Wearables – Smartwatches, Smart glasses, fitness bands etc.
 Connected Homes – connecting household appliances to the network.
 Connected Cars – vehicles that are connected to the internet.
 Connected Cities – smart meters which analyse usage of water, gas, electricity etc
connect cities to IoT
Operationally this means that we can define the Internet of Things as the seamless
flow between the –
 BAN (body area network): wearables,
 LAN (local area network): smart home,
 WAN (wide area network): connected car, and
 VWAN (very wide area network): the smart city.
Key to this flow is having control of the data.
That is why Google is offering a Glass and a Lens so you can synchronize your health
data into the NEST and the Google Car throughout the smart city applications of
google.org. The idea is that in consumer applications and services you never have to
leave the Google Cloud. The products are gateways linking up the networks.
Why would we want an Internet of Things?
We want it because it can offer us –
 the best possible feedback on physical and mental health.
 the best possible resource allocation based on real-time monitoring.
 best possible decision making on mobility patterns.
 the best possible alignments of local providers with global potential.

IoT – Opportunities and Benefits
IoT offers us the opportunity to be more efficient in how we do things, saving us time,
money and often emissions in the process.
Internet of Things can be used to tackle simpler day-to-day issues – like finding a car
parking space in busy areas, linking up your home entertainment system and using
your fridge webcam to check if you need more milk on the way home.
IoT offers many other benefits industrially, such as:
 Unprecedented connectivity: IoT data and insights from connected applications
and devices empower organizations with the ability to deliver innovative new
products and services faster than their competitors.
 Increased efficiency: IoT networks of smart and intelligent devices provide real-
time data to arm employees with the information they need to optimize their day-
to-day efficiency and productivity.
 Cost savings: IoT devices provide accurate data collection and automated
workflows to help organizations reduce their operating costs and minimize errors.
 Time savings: Connected smart devices can help organizations enhance the
performance of systems and processes to save time.

IoT – Threats and Challenges
There is a very clear danger that technology is running ahead of the game.
More than 7 billion devices will need to be made secure by their manufacturers before
2020.
The need to secure every connected device by 2020 is “critical”.
IoT botnets, created using a network of out-of-date devices took large websites and
services offline in 2016.
Everything that’s connected to the internet can be hacked, IoT products are no
exception to this unwritten rule. (Remember the car hacking scene in the ‘Fate of the
Furious’ movie).
If every product becomes connected then there’s the potential for unbridled
observation of users. This will create a lot of privacy issues.

In the future, intelligence services might use the internet of things for identification,
surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain
access to networks or user credentials.
Summary
Simply, the Internet of Things is made up of devices – from simple sensors to
smartphones and wearables – connected together.
IoT is increasingly being used to define objects that “talk” to each other.
IoT is a giant network of connected “things” (which also includes people). The
relationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.
Companies are using IoT, AI and machine learning to rapidly evolve in a way we’ve
never seen before

Gene Editing – What is CRISPR-Cas9?
Gene editing or genome editing is a way of making specific changes to the DNA of a
cell or organism. An enzyme cuts the DNA at a specific sequence, and when this is
repaired by the cell a change or ‘edit’ is made to the sequence.
Enzymes which cut DNA are known as engineered nucleases
DNA is inserted, deleted or replaced in the genome of a living
organismusing engineered nucleases or molecular scissors.
Currently, there are four families of engineered nucleases which are being used 1)
Meganucleases, 2) Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), 3) Transcription activator-like
effector-based nucleases (TALEN), 4) Clustered regularly interspaced short
palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas system.
These nucleases create site-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs) at desired locations
in the genome.
The induced double-strand breaks are repaired through the end- joining or
recombination, resulting in targeted mutations.
Why is Gene Editing in news?
 US scientists have successfully edited the DNA of human embryos to erase a
heritable heart condition that is known for causing sudden death.

 Researchers from the Oregon Health and Science University in California, China
and South Korea repaired a mutation in human embryos by using a gene-editing
tool called CRISPR-Cas9.
 Clinical trials are under way in China and in the US to use this tool for treating
cancer.
 In May 2017, it was shown that in mice it is possible to shut down HIV-1
replication and even eliminate the virus from infected cells.
 In agriculture, a new breed of crops that are gene-edited will become commercially
available in a few years.
What is CRISPR-Cas9?
 CRISPR is a dynamic, versatile tool that allows us to target nearly any
genomic location and potentially repair broken genes. It can remove, add or
alter specific DNA sequences in the genome of higher organisms.
 CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) are
sections of DNA and are sections of genetic code containing short repetitions of
base sequences followed by spacer DNA segments.
 CAS-9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9) is an enzyme. It uses a synthetic guide
RNA to introduce a double strand break at a specific location within a strand of
DNA. It is a system used by bacterial cells to recognize and destroy viral DNA as a
form of adaptive immunity.
How does CRISPR – Cas9 work?
 CRISPR scans the genome looking for the right location and then uses the Cas9
protein as molecular scissors to snip through the DNA.

 Cas9 endonuclease – guide RNAs to direct it to a particular sequence to be edited.
The genetic sequence of the RNA matches the target sequence of the DNA that has
to be edited.
 When Cas9 cuts the target sequence, the cell repairs the damage by replacing the
original sequence with an altered version.
 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 are the pros of Gene editing?
 CRISPR could be used to modify disease-causing genes in embryos brought to
term, removing the faulty script from the genetic code of that person’s future
descendants as well. Genome editing (Gene editing) could potentially decrease,
or even eliminate, the incidence of many serious genetic diseases, reducing
human suffering worldwide.
 It might also be possible to install genes that offer lifelong protection against
infection.
What are the cons of Gene editing?
 Making irreversible changes to every cell in the bodies of future children and all
their descendants would constitute extraordinarily risky human
experimentation.
 There are issues including off-target mutations (unintentional edits to the
genome), persistent editing effects, genetic mechanisms in embryonic and fetal
development, and longer-term health and safety consequences.
 Some argue that we do not understand the operations of the genome enough to
make long-lasting changes to it. Altering one gene could have unforeseen and
widespread effects on other parts of the genome, which would then be passed
down to future generations.
 Many consider genome alterations to be unethical, advocating that we should let
nature run its course.
 Few argue that after permitting human germline gene editing for any reason
would likely lead to its ignorance of the regulatory limits, to the emergence of a
market-based eugenics that would exacerbate already existing discrimination,
inequality, and conflict.
 It will become a tool for selecting desired characteristics such as intelligence
and attractiveness.

What are the risks associated with Gene Editing?
 In the 2016 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community
statement United States Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper,
named genome editing as a potential weapon of mass destruction, stating that
genome editing conducted by countries with regulatory or ethical standards
“different from Western countries” probably increases the risk of the creation of
harmful biological agents or products.
 Low cost and accelerated pace of development of this technology and its deliberate
or unintentional misuse might lead to far-reaching economic and national security
implications.
 It could lead to the manufacture of biological weapons by
potential bioterrorists who might use the knowledge to create vaccine resistant
strains of other pox viruses, such as smallpox, that could affect humans.
How is this technology being regulated worldwide?
The United States has banned federal aid from being used to support germline
editing.
In the United Kingdom, one can apply to the regulatory body for a licence to edit the
genomes of a human embryo, but only for research work. The embryos have to be
destroyed within 14 days.
The recently held International Summit on Human Gene Editing announced that it
would be irresponsible to proceed with any clinical use of germline editing until the
relevant safety and efficiency issues were resolved.
In India, there is no law for forbidding research laboratories and private companies
from using the technology to experiment on embryos. However, the Drug Controller
General of India is trying to use interpretations of existing laws on drugs to clamp
down on improper use.
The guidelines listed by the Indian Council of Medical Research state that germline
editing is forbidden.

GSLV Mk III-D1 OR GSAT-19 Mission – Another Success
Story
GSLV Mk III-D1 launched GSAT-19 on June 05, 2017 from the Satish Dhawan Space
Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota. The first developmental flight of GSLV Mk III
(the GSLV-Mk III-D1) successfully placed GSAT-19 satellite to a Geosynchronous
Transfer Orbit (GTO).
Know more about GSLV Mk III
 GSLV Mk III is a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO.
 It is a three-stage vehicle with two solid motor strap-ons (S200), a liquid
propellant core stage (L110) and a cryogenic stage (C25).
 GSLV-Mk III is capable launching 4 ton class of satellites to Geosynchronous
Transfer Orbit (GTO).
 GSLV Mk III is designed to carry 4 ton class of satellites into Geosynchronous
Transfer Orbit (GTO) or about 10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is about
twice the capability of GSLV Mk II.

Then, what is GSLV-Mk III-D1?
GSLV-Mk III-D1 is the first developmental flight, carrying 3136 kg GSAT-19 satellite to
a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The vehicle is configured with a 5 m ogive
payload fairing and slanted strap-on nose cone to provide aerodynamic robustness.
Note: The first experimental flight of LVM3, the LVM3-X/CARE mission lifted off from
Sriharikota on December 18, 2014, and successfully tested the atmospheric phase of
flight. Crew module Atmospheric Reentry Experiment was also carried out in this
flight. The module reentered, deployed its parachutes as planned and splashed down
in the Bay of Bengal.
3 stages of GSLV Mk III – The Mechanism

The two strap-on motors of GSLV Mk III are located on either side of its core liquid
booster. Designated as ‘S200’, each carries 205 tons of composite solid propellant and
their ignition results in vehicle lift-off. S200s function for 140 seconds. During strap-
ons functioning phase, the two clustered Vikas liquid Engines of L110 liquid core
booster will ignite 114 sec after lift -off to further augment the thrust of the vehicle.
These two engines continue to function after the separation of the strap-ons at about
140 seconds after lift -off.
About GSAT 19 Satellite
 GSAT-19 satellite with a lift-off mass of 3136 kg, is the communication satellite of
India, configured around the ISRO’s standard I-3K bus.
 GSAT-19 carries Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders.

 Besides, it carries a Geostationary Radiation Spectrometer (GRASP) payload to
monitor and study the nature of charged particles and the influence of space
radiation on satellites and their electronic components.
 GSAT-19 also features certain advanced spacecraft technologies including
miniaturised heat pipe, fibre optic gyro, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems
(MEMS) accelerometer, Ku-band TTC transponder, as well an indigenous Lithium-
ion Battery.
 GSAT-19 satellite was launched by GSLV Mk III-D1 on June 05, 2017 from the
Second Launch Pad (SLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR),
Sriharikota.
Specification of GSAT-19 Satellite
 Launch Mass: 3136 Kg
 Dry Mass: 1394 kg
 Mission Life: 10 years
 Physical Dimensions 2.0 m x 1.77 m x 3.1 m
 Launch Vehicle: GSLV Mk III-D1/GSAT-19 Mission
 Type of Satellite: Communication
 Manufacturer: ISRO
 Owner: ISRO
 Application: Communication
 Orbit Type: GSO
The history of the launch vehicles of India: A moment of success
and joy!

“The GSLV – MKIII D1/GSAT-19 mission takes India closer to the next generation
launch vehicle and satellite capability. The nation is proud!” – tweets Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. What do you think? Post your opinion as comments.

Malware Types: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Ransomware etc
Almost everyone is familiar with the term computer virus, but only a few might have
heard about the term malware. A computer virus is a type of malware. Malware
includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, ransomware and many
others. In this post, we analyse the different types of malware including the
Wannacry, which is a form of ransomware.
What is a Malware?
 Malware is the shortened form of malicious software.
 Malware is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or
intrusive software including Ransom wares, Computer Viruses, Worms, Trojan
Horses, Spyware, Adware, Scareware etc.
 This is any program or file that is harmful to a computer user.
 The term refers to software that is deployed with malicious intent.

 Malware can be deployed even remotely, and tracking the source of malware is
hard.
 It can take the form of executable code, scripts, active content, and other
software.
 These malicious programs can perform a variety of functions, including stealing,
encrypting or deleting sensitive data, altering or hijacking core computing
functions and monitoring users’ computer activity without their permission.
 This combination has enabled commercial malware providers to supply
sophisticated black markets for both malware and the information that it collects.
Evolution of Malware
 Computer-enabled fraud and service theft evolved in parallel with the information
technology that enabled it.
 The term malware was first used by computer scientist and security
research YisraelRadai in 1990.
 Before the term malware, malicious software was referred to as computer viruses.
 One of the first known examples of malware was the Creeper virus in 1971,
which was created as an experiment by BBN Technologies engineer Robert
Thomas.
What is the purpose of creating a Malware?
 Initially, it started as a prank among software developers. However, later on,
malware converted into a full-fledged industry of black and white market.
 It may be used by black hat hackers or even some governments for monitoring
their targets.
 Demand for sophisticated malware is created primarily by organised crime
syndicates and state-sponsored espionage agents.
Malware is typically used:
1. To steal information that can be readily monetized, such as login credentials,
credit card and bank account numbers,
2. And intellectual property such as computer software, financial algorithms, and
trade secrets.
3. To ransom money in Bitcoin, for example, Wannacry Ransomware.

4. Spy on computer users for an extended period without their knowledge, for
example, Reign Malware.
5. It may be designed to cause harm, often as sabotage for example Stuxnet.
6. Extort payment for example Cryptolocker.
List of Common Malware types:
 Adware: The least dangerous and most lucrative Malware. Adware displays ads on
your computer.
 Spyware: Spyware is software that spies on you, tracking your internet activities
in order to send advertising (Adware) back to your system.
 Virus: A virus is a contagious program or code that attaches itself to another piece
of software, and then reproduces itself when that software is run. Most often this
is spread by sharing software or files between computers.
 Spam: Spamming is a method of flooding the Internet with copies of the same
message. Most spams are commercial advertisements which are sent as an

unwanted email to users. Spams are also known as Electronic junk emails or junk
newsgroup postings. These spam emails are very annoying as it keeps coming
every day and keeps your mailbox full.
 Worm: A program that replicates itself and destroys data and files on the
computer. Worms work to “eat” the system operating files and data files until the
drive is empty.
 Trojan: A Trojan horse or Trojan is a type of malware that is often disguised as
legitimate software. Trojans are written with the purpose of discovering your
financial information, taking over your computer’s system resources, and in larger
systems creating a “denial-of-service attack” which is making a machine or
network resource unavailable to those attempting to reach it. Example: Google,
AOL, Yahoo or your business network becoming unavailable.
 Backdoors: Backdoors are much the same as Trojans or worms, except that they
open a “backdoor” on a computer, providing a network connection for hackers or
other Malware to enter or for viruses or SPAM to be sent.
 Rootkit: This one is likened to the burglar hiding in the attic, waiting to take from
you while you are not home. It is the hardest of all Malware to detect and
therefore to remove; many experts recommend completely wiping your hard drive
and reinstalling everything from scratch. It is designed to permit the other
information gathering Malware in to get the identity information from your
computer without you realising anything is going on.
 Keyloggers: Records everything you type on your PC in order to glean your log-in
names, passwords, and other sensitive information, and send it on to the source
of the keylogging program. Many times keyloggers are used by corporations and
parents to acquire computer usage information.
 Rogue security software: This one deceives or misleads users. It pretends to be a
good program to remove Malware infections, but all the while it is the Malware.
Often it will turn off the real Anti-Virus software.
 Ransomware: If you see this screen that warns you that you have been locked out
of your computer until you pay for your cybercrimes. Your system is severely
infected with a form of Malware called Ransomware. Even if you pay to unlock the
system, the system is unlocked, but you are not free of it locking you out again.
 Browser Hijacker: When your homepage changes to one that looks like those in
the images inserted next, you may have been infected with one form or another of
a Browser Hijacker. This dangerous Malware will redirect your normal search

activity and give you the results the developers want you to see. Its intention is to
make money off your web surfing. Using this homepage and not removing the
Malware lets the source developers capture your surfing interests.
How does a Malware spread?
Cybercriminals continuously devise innovative resources to get malware into the
computer. Here are some of the most common ways of spreading:
 Email: Cybercriminals are notorious for including malicious attachments and
links in emails that appear to come from friends, reputable organisations, or other
trusted sources. Some malicious emails can even infect your computer from the
email client’s preview pane, without your opening or be downloading an
attachment or a link.
 The Internet: Surfing the Web may feel like a private activity, but in fact, you’re
exposing your computer to unwanted contact with anyone else who has a
computer and Internet access.

 Outdated software: Malwares can crawl the Internet, looking for vulnerabilities of
outmoded software to spread its influence over computer systems.
 Local Area Networks (LANs): A LAN is a group of locally connected computers
that can share information over a private network. If one computer becomes
infected with malware, all other computers in the LAN may quickly become
infected as well.
 Instant messaging (IM) and peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing systems: If one is
using a client for these online activities, malware may spread to your computer.
 Social networks: Malware authors take advantage of many popular social
networks, infecting the massive user-data networks with worms. If a social
website account is infected with a worm, just about anyone who visits a poster’s
profile page could “catch” the worm on her system.
 Pop-ups: Some of the most sophisticated malware spreads through well-disguised
screen pop-ups that look like genuine alerts or messages. One particularly
devious and widespread “hoax pop-up” claims to have scanned your computer
and detected malware. If you attempt to remove the malware as urged, you’ll
actually install the malware.
 Computer storage media: Malware can be easily spread if you share computer
storage media with others, such as USB drives, DVDs, and CDs. While it may
seem safe to open a CD of photos from a colleague, it’s always best to scan
unfamiliar files first for possible corruptions or security risks before you copy or
open them.
 Mobile devices: Mobile malware threats have become increasingly prevalent, as
more people use their smartphones and tablets as mini-computers, helping
malware problems proliferate across additional platforms.
Recent case of Malware attack: WannaCry
In 2017 May, there was a massive global ransomware attack. The attack infected more
than 230,000 computers in 150 countries including India, demanding ransom
payments in bitcoin in 28 languages.
What is WannaCry?

 WannaCry is Encrypting Ransomware or Crypto Locker type of ransomware that
is programmed to attack Microsoft Windows software.
 According to some statistics, hackers extorted business and institutions for more
than $209 million in Ransomware payments in the first three months of 2016.
The business of Ransomware is on pace to be a $1 billion a year crime.
 Shadow Brokers: People (Hackers) behind these attacks call themselves by this
term.
Severely affected:
 Britain’s National Health Service (NHS),
 Spain’s Telefónica,
 FedEx (USA)
 Deutsche Bahn
 Several plants of carmakers Renault and Nissan had stopped production in
France and England due to the malware,
 The Russian Interior Ministry had reported about 1,000 computers.
 Affected Areas in India: Andra Pradesh, Kerala, some Pharma companies and
over 48,000 attempts of ransomware attacks were detected in India. 60% of the

attempts targeted enterprises, while 40% targeted individual customers said a
cyber-security firm, Quick Heal Technologies.
What is the Origin of Wannacry attack?
 It is said by Wikileaks that National Security Agency (NSA) of USA had these
methods to have monitored over subjects.
 This loophole was recently leaked by WikiLeaks.
 The same vulnerability of Windows Operating system was used by ransomware.
 However, Microsoft had released the security patches for the same earlier.
What does it do the computer?
 Some variants of ransomware encrypt data in such a way that it is impossible to
decrypt unless the user has an encryption key. These are
called ‘Encrypting Ransomware’ that incorporate advanced encryption methods.
 Another type of ransomware that is frequently circulated is ‘Locker ransomware,
which locks the victim out of the operating system, making it impossible to access
the desktop and any apps or files. CryptoLocker, like WannaCry, is a malware
when injected into a host system, scans the hard drive of the victim and targets
specific file extensions and encrypts them.
How does it spread?
 Wannacry encrypts the files on an infected computer.
 It spreads by using a vulnerability in implementations of Server Message Block
(SMB) of Windows systems. This exploit is known as ETERNALBLUE.
 It encrypts hard disk/drive and then spread laterally between computers on the
same LAN.
 It also spreads through the malicious Email-attachment.
How to remain protected from ransomware?

 Regular Data Backup: This helps restore the last saved data and minimise data
loss. Ransomware also attacks servers; hence it is important to have a backup on
a disconnected hard drive or external device on the pre-defined regular basis.
 Prevention: To prevent infiltration of malware, having password protected tools to
identify and filter certain file extensions like “.exe” or “. Zip”, are essential. Emails
that appear suspicious should also be filtered at the exchange level. There are also
some tools that detect the entry of such malware with features of zero days’
protection which work on threat emulation and threat extraction techniques.
Users and businesses also need to ensure that hidden file extension is displayed
since it becomes easier to filter them.
 User awareness: Awareness among users needs to be created to avoid opening the
unsolicited attachment. Malware is typically designed to mimic identities of people
that users interact with on a regular basis either on a personal or professional
level.
 Rules in IPS: It’s necessary to create rules in the Intrusion Prevention Software
(IPS) to discard or disallow the opening of files with extension “.exe” from local App
data folders or AppData.

 Regular patch and upgrades: To prevent leaks or vulnerabilities in software,
ensure to regularly update the software versions and apply patches released by
the vendor. These patches and version are often released to wrestle with known or
newly discovered exploits and can prevent known signatures of these malware,
Trojans or ransomware to enter the system.
 Install and run anti-malware and firewall software. When selecting software,
choose a program that offers tools for detecting, quarantining, and removing
multiple types of malware.
 The combination of anti-malware software and a firewall will ensure that all
incoming and existing data gets scanned for malware and that malware can be
safely removed once detected.
 Keep software and operating systems up to date with current vulnerability
patches. These patches are often released to patch bugs or other security flaws
that could be exploited by attackers.
 Be vigilant when downloading files, programs, attachments, etc. Downloads that
seem strange or are from an unfamiliar source often contain malware.
Some Initiatives by Government of India:
 National Cyber Security Policy 2013: Indian Government already have
a National Cyber Security Policy in place. The National Cyber Security Policy
document outlines a roadmap to create a framework for comprehensive,
collaborative and collective response to deal with the issue of cyber security at all
levels within the country.
 Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has been designated to act as
a nodal agency for coordination of crisis management efforts. CERT-In will also
act as an umbrella organisation for coordination actions and operationalization of
sectoral CERTs. CERT-in will also issue early warnings.
 Cyber Swachhta Kendra: The “Cyber Swachhta Kendra” is a Botnet Cleaning and
Malware Analysis Centre (BCMAC), operated by the Indian Computer Emergency
Response Team (CERT-In) as part of the Government of India’s Digital India
initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Its
goal is to create a secure cyberspace by detecting botnet infections in India and to
notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users so as to prevent further
infections.

Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and the Red Line
Campaign
You might have heard about Superbugs which are resistant to all medicines. This is
known as Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR). Studies by WHO has found that in many
developing countries including India, the careless use of antibiotics is very prevalent.
In this post, we shall discuss the dangers of Anti-Microbial resistance (AMR). We will
also cover the Redline Campaign.
What is Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)?

 The Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) is an ability of a microbe to resist the effects
of medication previously used to treat them. It is also known as the antibiotic
resistance.
 The WHO defines antimicrobial resistance as a microorganism’s resistance to an
antimicrobial drug that was once able to treat an infection by that microorganism.
 The resistance to antimicrobials is a natural biological phenomenon.
 It should be noted that it is the microbe which will become resistant to antibiotics
and not the person (patient). A person cannot become resistant to antibiotics
because the resistance is a property of the microbe, and not by a person or other
organism infected by a microbe.
Reasons for Anti-Microbial Resistance
The main reasons for the antimicrobial resistance are as follows:
1. The natural resistance in certain types of bacteria.
2. The genetic mutation.
3. By one species acquiring resistance from another.
 Resistance can appear spontaneously because of random mutations, or by more
commonly following gradual buildup over time, and because of misuse of
antibiotics or antimicrobials.
 The resistance is generally slow to reverse or is irreversible. This urges that the
interventions to stop the development of resistance should be implemented early
before resistance becomes a problem.
The Facts and Figures related to Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR)
 Nearly 2 lakh people die every year from multi-drug and extremely drug-resistant
TB.
 In India, 60,000 newborns die each year of Antibiotic-Resistant Neonatal
Infections.
 In the US, over 2 million infections are caused by bacteria resistant to at least
first-line antibiotic treatments, costing the US health system $20 billion each
year.
 Around 70 percentage of diarrhoeal illness are caused by viral infections, against
which antibiotics are ineffective. But for diarrhea treatment antibiotics are used
frequently.

 Nearly 500 million antibiotics courses are used each year to treat diarrhoea in
India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Brazil. The Universal access to improved water and
sanitation could reduce this by 60 percentage.
Myths and Reality regarding Anti-Microbial Resistance
 Myth #1: Antibiotic resistance happens when the human body becomes
resistant to antibiotics.
 Reality: In fact bacteria—not humans or animals—become resistant to antibiotics
and their spread causes hard-to-treat infections.
 Myth #2: Individuals are not at risk of a drug-resistant infection if they
personally take their antibiotics as prescribed or not take antibiotics at all.
 Reality: Anyone, of any age, in any country, can get an antibiotic-resistant
infection – irrespective of their intake of antibiotics. This is because not humans
but bacteria is becoming resistant.
What are the reasons for the recent increase in the use of antibiotics
in India?
The reasons for the sharp increase in antibiotic use are as follows:
1. The high disease burden.
2. The rising income.
3. The easy and the cheap availability of these medicines to the public.
4. The uncontrolled sales of antibiotics.
5. Poor public health infrastructure.
6. Lack of awareness regarding the misuse of antibiotics.
International Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance
India presided over the 68th session of the World Health assembly proceedings in
Geneva (May 18-26, 2015) which adopted a Global Action Plan on AMR to prepare a
blueprint with specific actions and timelines for WHO as well as member states to
address the growing threat of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
What are the main aims of this International Conference on
Antimicrobial Resistance?
The main aims of this conference are:

1. To work towards combating antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) globally.
2. To create an awareness on the rational use of drugs and antibiotics among the
patients, pharmacists, and doctors.
Being one of the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics, the Indian Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, in association with the World Health Organization (WHO)
Regional Office for South Asia, had conducted an International Conference on
Antimicrobial Resistance. JP Nadda (Union Health Minister) launched the logo “Use
with Care” for antibiotics at this International Conference.
The Indian health minister also used the platform to launch the media campaign of
‘Medicine strips with Red Line’ which may help to create mass awareness against
the misuse of antibiotics.
What is a Red Line campaign?
 The Union health ministry’s Anti-Microbial Resistance awareness campaign urges
people not to use medicines marked with a red vertical line, including
antibiotics, without a doctor’s prescription.
 These medicines are called as the ‘Medicines with the Red Line’.
 To check the irrational use of antibiotics, the ‘red line’ will helps the users to
differentiate them from other drugs.

 This campaign is aimed at discouraging unnecessary prescription and over-the-
counter sale of antibiotics causing drug resistance for several critical diseases
including TB, malaria, urinary tract infection and even HIV.
What are the other government Initiatives that helps to curb Anti-
Microbial Resistance (AMR) in India?
The Union Health Minister of India in the international Conference on Anti-Microbial
Resistance had stated that the first step in addressing the problem of AMR is to avoid
the need for antibiotics at all in the first place. An improved water, vaccination, and
sanitation may control the inappropriate antibiotic use indirectly. The main
government policies that help in this process are:
 Through the Swacch Bharat program, the Government has taken active steps to
improve hygiene and sanitation and reduce the environmental spread of
pathogens.

 The Vaccination is an equally important public health measure, and
through Mission Indradhanush, India has set itself an ambitious goal of
increasing routine immunization coverage to 90% within just a few years.
Note:
1. India faces a twin challenge of overconsumption of antibiotics breeding drug-
resistant bacteria while ensuring that the poor and vulnerable have easy access.
2. The lack of access or delayed access to effective antibiotics is causing more deaths
in India than from drug-resistant bacteria.
What are the strategies of WHO’s Global Action Plan on Anti-
Microbial Resistance?
1. To improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through
effective communication, education, and training.
2. To strengthen the knowledge and evidence base through surveillance and
research.
3. To reduce the incidence of infection through effective sanitation, hygiene and
infection prevention measures.
4. To optimize the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health.
5. To develop the economic case for sustainable investment that takes account of the
needs of all countries and to increase investment in new medicines, diagnostic
tools, vaccines and other interventions.
What are the other solutions available to combat the Antimicrobial
Resistance?

 Encourage the appropriate and informed health care seeking behavior among the
citizens.
 Educate patients and the general community on the appropriate use of
antimicrobials and to create awareness about the dangers of taking antibiotics
without being prescribed.
 Educate all groups of prescribers and dispensers (including drug sellers) on the
importance of appropriate antimicrobial use and containment of antimicrobial
resistance.
 The Prescription Audit may minimize the overuse and misuse of drugs, helps to
plan essential drug selection and to estimate the drug need of the community and
help the health administrators, policy planners, manufacturers, distributors,
health professionals and various consumer groups for their decision making.
 The regular review of health care procedures and documentation of auditing is
also important in combating AMR.
 Link professional registration requirements for prescribers and dispensers to
requirements for training and continuing education.
 Control and monitor pharmaceutical company promotional activities within the
hospital environment and ensure that such activities have an educational benefit.
 Establish infection control programs, based on current best practice, with the
responsibility for effective management of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals
and ensure that all hospitals have access to such a program.
 Improving the sanitation, proper vaccination and maintaining a good and healthy
lifestyle can prevent the use of antibiotics to an extent.
Conclusion
 AMR has emerged as the number one public health challenge faced by the world
today.
 Through the International Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, India shows
her willingness to work with the other Member States to achieve the common goal
of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) containment.
 India adopted the redline campaign when the consumption of antibiotics in India
has increased sharply while the effectiveness of these drugs to treat bacterial
infections has been steadily declining.

 In the final reports of the Global Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, the India
had appreciated for Medicines with the Red Line campaign on antibiotics. The
global review was commissioned by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron in
2014 and was chaired by economist Jim O’Neil.
 India’s idea of Medicines with the red line is now being cited as a model that can
be used globally to counter the rising threat of superbugs.
 The WHO Global Strategy defines the appropriate use of antimicrobials as the
cost-effective use of antimicrobials which maximizes clinical therapeutic effect
while minimizing both drug-related toxicity and the development of antimicrobial
resistance.
 Any intervention to limit access by enforcing prescription-only laws unwittingly
cuts off a vast majority of the population, particularly in the rural areas, that
lacks access to doctors.

Automation: Will it kill more jobs in the coming years?
Enterprises currently spend over $1.5 billion to incorporate automation into their
projects. Robotic automation is growing at a whopping rate of 60%. Fears that
automation will kill more jobs continues to grow. Now, the world is dealing not only
with robots that do physical labor but with Artificial Intelligence that does mental
labor as well.
What is Automation?
 It was first coined in 1948, in the manufacturing sense, by Ford Motors Vice
President Delmar S. Harder.
 Automation or automatic control is about the usage of various control systems for
the operation of equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers, and
heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering, and stabilization
of ships, aircraft and other applications and vehicles with insignificant or reduced
human involvement.
 In other words, it can also mean the use of computers to control a specific process
in order to upturn consistency and efficacy thereby reducing human labor.
What is the Timeline of Automation?
Date Developments
1500-1600 Water power for metalworking; rolling mills for coinage strips.
1600-1700 Hand lathe for wood; mechanical calculator.

1700-1800 Boring, turning, and screw cutting lathe, drill press
1800-1900
Copying lathe, turret lathe, universal milling machine; advanced mechanical
calculators.
1808
Sheet-metal cards with punched holes for automatic control of weaving patterns in
looms.
1863 Automatic piano player (Pianola)
1900-1920 Geared lathe; automatic screw machine; automatic bottle-making machine.
1920 First use of the word robot
1920-1940 Transfer machines; mass production.
1940 First electronic computing machine.
1943 First digital electronic computer.
1945 The first use of the word automation.
1947 The invention of the transistor.
1952 First prototype numerical control machine tool.
1954
Development of the symbolic language APT (Automatically Programmed Tool);
adaptive control.
1957 Commercially available NC machine tools.
1959 Integrated circuits; first use of the term group technology
1960 Industrial robots.
1965 Large-scale integrated circuits
1968 Programmable logic controllers
1970s
First integrated manufacturing system; spot welding of automobile bodies with
robots; microprocessors; minicomputer-controlled robot; flexible manufacturing
system; group technology.

1980s
Artificial intelligence; intelligent robots; smart sensors; untended manufacturing
cells.
1990-2000s
Integrated manufacturing systems; intelligent and sensor-based machines;
telecommunications and global manufacturing networks; fuzzy-logic devices;
artificial neural networks; Internet tools; virtual environments; high-speed
information systems
2000-
onwards
4th Industrial Revolution, Internet of Things (IoT), Wearable devices, Personal and
professional robots, Robotics from manufacturing to services and even the primary
sectors of the economy, Big data.
What are the major advantages of automation?
 It can replace hard physical and monotonous work such as daily routine works.
 It can be maintained and even upgraded by simple quality checks.
 Increased throughput time that is time to complete a job, therefore, increased
productivity.
 Improved quality due to the replacement of humans by machines, therefore,
reducing human induced errors.
 Improved reliability of processes and products by timely problem escalation and
resolution if any the process or the product.
 Increased speed of production due to advancement in technology, therefore, better
production time and thus higher output.
 Savings on the long-term costs of the labor and the cost of poor quality.
 Higher flexibility of skills as well as adaptation.
 In the jobs where there is a requirement of hard physical or monotonous work or
dangerous environments (i.e. fire, space, volcanoes, nuclear facilities, underwater,
etc.), robots can deliver better.
 Some tasks which are beyond human capabilities of size, weight, speed,
endurance, such as lifting heavy machines, faster computing, weather perdition
etc can be done be them efficiently.
 Open opportunities at the higher level in the development, deployment,
maintenance and running of the automated processes.
What are the main disadvantages of automation?
 Security and vulnerability to hacking.

 The rise of unemployment across the manufacturing and services sectors and in
the short term it would prove to be a huge challenge to the administration.
 Initial costs during the research and development may sometimes exceed the cost
saved by automating the process.
 The initial capital requirement is very high and common people can’t afford it.
 The decrease in demand for human labor due to machines and intelligent robots
taking over the jobs in the manufacturing and the services sectors. For example:
In china, some customs officers are now robots, in Japan robots as housemaid is
emerging trend.
 Automated technologies falling into the hands of the terror groups may unleash
modern terror network including machine and therefore vulnerability of humans
may magnify.
What are some applications of Automation in society?
Automation is playing many roles across the sectors to ease human life and make
living conditions better. Some of its applications are:
 Manufacturing sector: Industrial robots have changed the game of production
and now a single production line can produce multiple variants and therefore
minimize the cost and optimize the timing of production.

 Health Sector: Automation of surgical instruments, health database and
information on diseases of different types has led to the faster diagnosis and
better drug prescription and further higher survival rates to the humans.
 Service sector: Robots are replacing to humans in the jobs across the
restaurants, tourism, customs in the developed countries however it is still in
nascent phase.
 Education: New kinds of tools which would be based upon the skill set and
capability of the student can be developed. It can lead to education as per need,
not as a directly forced medicine.
 Women and children: Automation can lead to the better surveillance system and
therefore reduced crimes against them.
 Corruption: Automation in governance such as E-governance, in service delivery
system such as E-sahyog may start an era of more transparent and good
governance.
 Automated retail stores: Example – Macdonald keep robots as waiting manager,
Bengaluru-based Pace Automation Ltd. has partnered with IBM to provide a
cloud-based solution to help native Kirana merchants turn into e-tailers.
 Automated stores: Many supermarkets across the developed countries are going
full automation to save costs.
 Automated Mining: We often hear the loss of human lives due to mining
accidents. Therefore to reduce such instances people are being replaced by robots.
 Automated highway system: It’s very popular in western countries and recently
our government has announced road safety policy on similar lines.
 Emerging trend is about Home automation using Internet of things where
appliances are connected either by apps or by any local machine.
 Wearable devices: Next step of revolution is different kinds of devices which can
monitor health 24*7*365 and even apply for medicines if required. Further, they
will take care of other needs such as connectivity, exercise, education etc.
Therefore all in one machine.
 Weather prediction: Natural calamities such as droughts, tsunami, floods,
cyclones etc. can be predicted in advance and further early warning systems can
help in reducing human and environmental loss.
 IT Automation: In judiciary may lead to faster resolution of cases and reduce
justice delivery time.

 Automated patrolling: of border areas may strengthen our internal and border
security and help in curbing cross-border terrorist infiltrations, human-animal-
resource trafficking at the borders.
What are the new challenges emerging out of automation?
 Safety and security of data.
 As per a World Bank report, Automation looms threat on 69 percent of the
jobs in India and 77 percent in China.
 As per reports by HR Honchos, 60% of the global workforce may get displaced in
future by the automation and artificial
 The threat to privacy which is evident from the recent hacking of Debit cards.
 Regulation of these new technologies.
 The textile sector which used to employ 40 workers for an investment of 1 crore
now employs only 25 workers per Rs.1 crore.(Texprocil and Ernest & Young
report)
 Rising unemployment due to faster change of skills and technologies.
 Modern cyber criminals who remains invisible and cause pain to millions by direct
or indirect criminality.
 It has become a tool for the terror group to spread their propaganda and attract
young youths. For example social media such as Facebook, twitter has become
hiring tool for them.
 A recent emerging threat is about the “Trust” on machines. Recent elections where
EVMs were used led to some people speculating that they have been

compromised. Therefore they may sometimes pose administrative challenges of
this sort.
Paradox of Automation
The Paradox of Automation says that the more efficient the automated system, the
more crucial the human contribution of the operators. Though the number of humans
involved is less, their involvement becomes more critical. If an automated system has
an error, it will multiply that error until it’s fixed or shut down. This is where human
operators come in.
A fatal example of this was Air France Flight 447, where a failure of automation put
the pilots into a manual situation they were not prepared for.
Conclusion
Many experts have described the rise of automation as one of the most important
economic and social developments in history. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has
characterized it as the fulcrum of a 4thIndustrial Revolution. Moreover, the economist
Andrew McAfee said, “Digital technologies are doing for human brainpower what the
steam engine and related technologies did for human muscle power during the
Industrial Revolution. They’re allowing us to overcome many limitations rapidly and to
open up new frontiers with unprecedented speed. It’s a very big deal. But how exactly
it will play out is uncertain.”
It may cause unemployment, unease in the mindset of masses, and even social
conflict at many conflicts at many reasons. In the short run, it is very difficult to
predict who will get the most of the benefits however better policy guidelines, better
regulations, and social security measures will essentially bring overall goodness to the
society.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Everything you need to know
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot word these days. In this post, we cover artificial
intelligence in detail – its meaning, scope, risks, ethics etc.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
 To make it simple – Artificial Intelligence is intelligence exhibited by machines.
 It is a branch of computer science which deals with creating computers or
machines as intelligent as human beings.
 The term was coined in 1956 by John McCarthy at the Dartmouth conference,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 It is a simulation of human intelligence processes such as learning (the
acquisition of information and rules for using the information), reasoning (using
the rules to reach approximate or definite conclusions), and self-correction by
machines, especially computer systems.
 Nowadays it has become an umbrella term which encompasses everything from
robotic process automation to actual robotics.
 Recently it has become widely popular and gained prominence due to its
multifaceted application ranging from healthcare to military devices.
Is it possible for a computer to become completely Artificially
Intelligent?

 Work is being done in this arena however except some instances of computers
playing games faster than the best human players no success has been achieved.
 For Example: In May 1997, an IBM super-computer called Deep Blue defeated
world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a chess match.
 Another recent example of 2016 is, AlphaGo, a program driven by Google’s
DeepMind AI, has won Korean Lee Sedol, one of Go’s most dominant players.
What is the philosophy and ethics of Artificial Intelligence?
 The research and development of AI started with the intention of creating
intelligence in machines that we find and regard high in humans. Thus answering
the big question which is can machines think and behave like humans do?
Three main philosophical questions related to Artificial Intelligence
 Are they dangerous to humanity? How can we ensure that machines behave
ethically and that they are used ethically?

 Is artificial general intelligence probable? Can a machine decipher any problem
that a human being can solve using intelligence? Or are there hard boundaries to
what a machine can accomplish?
 Is it possible for machines to have a mind, consciousness, and mental states in
exactly the same sense that human beings do? Can a machine be sentient, and
thus deserve certain rights? Can a machine intentionally cause harm?
Examples of Artificially Intelligent Technologies
 Robotic process automation: Automation is the process of making a system or
processes function automatically. Robots can be programmed to perform high-
volume, repeatable tasks normally performed by humans and further it is
different from IT automation because of its agility and adaptability to the changing
circumstances.
 Natural language processing (NLP) is the processing of human language and not
computer language by a computer program. For Example, spam detection, which
looks at the subject line and the text of an email and decides if it’s junk.
 Pattern recognition is a branch of machine learning that focuses on identifying
patterns in data.
 Machine vision is the science of making computers visualize by capturing and
analyzing visual information using a camera, analog-to-digital conversion, and
digital signal processing. It is often compared to human eyesight, but machine
vision isn’t bound by biology and can be programmed to see through walls. It is
used in a range of applications from signature identification to medical image
analysis.
 Machine learning: Field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without
being explicitly programmed. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning and
can be thought of as the automation of predictive analytics.
 Robotics is a field of engineering focused on the design and manufacturing of
robots. Robots are often used to perform tasks that are difficult for humans to
perform or perform consistently.
Applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

 Healthcare Sector: Machine learning is being used for faster, cheaper and more
accurate diagnosis and thus improving patient outcomes and reducing costs. For
Example, IBM Watson and chatbots are some of such tools.
 Business Sector: To take care of highly repetitive tasks Robotic process
automation is applied which perform faster and effortlessly than humans.
Further, Machine learning algorithms are being integrated into analytics and CRM
platforms to provide better customer service. Chatbots being used into the
websites to provide immediate service to customers. Automation of job positions
has also become a talking point among academics and IT consultancies such as
Gartner and Forrester.
 Education Sector: AI can make some of the educational processes automated
such as grading, rewarding marks etc. therefore giving educators more time.
Further, it can assess students and adapt to their needs, helping them work at

their own pace. AI may change where and how students learn, perhaps even
replacing some teachers.
 Financial Sector: It can be applied to the personal finance applications and could
collect personal data and provide financial advice. In fact, today software trades
more than humans on the Wall Street.
 Legal Sector: Automation can lead to faster resolution of already pending cases
by reducing the time taken while analyzing cases thus better use of time and more
efficient processes.
 Manufacturing sector: Robots are being used for manufacturing since a long
time now, however, more advanced exponential technologies have emerged such
as additive manufacturing (3D Printing) which with the help of AI can
revolutionize the entire manufacturing supply chain ecosystem.
 Intelligent Robots − Robots can perform the tasks given by a human because of
sensors to detect physical data from the real world such as light, heat,
temperature, movement, sound, bump, and pressure. Moreover, they have
efficient processors, multiple sensors and huge memory, to exhibit intelligence.
Further, they are capable of learning from their errors and therefore can adapt to
the new environment.
 Gaming – AI has a crucial role in strategic games such as chess, poker, tic-tac-
toe, etc., where the machine can think of a large number of possible positions
based on heuristic knowledge.
 Speech Recognition – There are intelligent systems that are capable of hearing
and grasping the language in terms of sentences and their meanings while human
talks to it. It can handle different accents, slang words, noise in the background,
change in human’s noise due to cold, etc.
 Cyber Security: In the 20th conference on e-governance in India it was discussed
that AI can provide more teeth to cyber security and must be explored.
What are the downsides and risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
 The decrease in demand for human labour due to machines and intelligent
robots taking over the jobs in the manufacturing and the services sectors. For
Example: In china some customs officers are now robots, In japan robots as
housemaid is emerging trend.
 Existential risks: Stephen Hawkins has once said “The development of full
artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop
artificial intelligence, it will take off on its own and redesign itself at an ever-

increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t
compete and would be superseded”.
 AI technologies falling into terrorist hands may unleash modern terror network
including machine and therefore vulnerability of humans may magnify.
 It may lead to moral degradation in society due to decreased human to human
interactions.
 In such an era of rapid and disruptive changes, many questions arise: will these
technological changes be accompanied by equally profound economic, social and
cultural changes? Will technology destroy jobs at a faster rate than the rate of
creation of jobs? Will future governments be forced to fork out Universal Basic
Income? How could education be redefined with artificial intelligence, big data,
augmented reality and personalized learning pathways? Are conventional
manufacturing plants under threat with the advent of additive manufacturing?
What will be the impact on skills required? After all these changes, people-to-
people communication and socio-economic activities remain the same?
Possible areas for AI applications in Indian conditions
 It can complement Digital India Mission by helping in the big data analysis which
is not possible without using AI.
 Targeted delivery of services, schemes, and subsidy can be further fine-tuned.
 Smart border surveillance and monitoring to enhance security infrastructure.
 Weather forecasting models may become proactive and therefore preplanning for
any future mishaps such as floods, droughts and therefore addressing the farming
crisis, farmer’s suicide, crop losses etc.
 By analyzing big data of road safety data and NCRB (National Crime Record
Bureau) data for crimes, new policies can be formulated.
 Disaster management can be faster and more accessible with the help of robots
and intelligent machines.
 In the counterinsurgency and patrolling operations, we often hear the loss of
CRPF jawans which can be minimized by using the robotic army and lesser
human personnel.
 AI can be used to automate government processes, therefore, minimizing human
interactions and maximizing transparency and accountability.

 It can be applied to study ancient literature upon medicines and therefore help in
modernizing the health care with the juxtaposition of modern machines and
ancient techniques.
 In the remotest areas where the last leg of governance is almost broken, AI can do
the job. For Example: in the tribal areas and the hilly areas of the northeast.
Which is the nodal organization of the government for the research
work on Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
 Centre for artificial intelligence and robotics (CAIR), is the primary laboratory of
DRDO for research and development in different areas of defense, Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) and is located in Bangalore. It is involved in the
Research & Development of high-quality Secure Communication, Command, and
Control, and Intelligent Systems.
 CAIR came into existence in 1986.
 Projects: NETRA- software to intercept online communication, SECOS- Secure
operating system.
What are the challenges India’s Artificial Intelligence Development
is facing?
 AI-based applications are mostly driven largely by the private sector and have
been focused largely on consumer goods.
 Public-private funding model which is a success in the United States, China,
South Korea, and elsewhere may be considered good for India. Presently it is not
present in India.
 Our educational system is not updated to the modern technologies and is
outdated in today’s economic environment as the nature of jobs shifts rapidly and
skills become valuable and obsolete in a matter of years.
 The debate of poverty vs. technology and where to spend the most is more likely to
persist until the political class takes a higher interest in real issues than trivial
ones.
Conclusion
Despite these threats and challenges, it would be stupid to argue that Artificial
Intelligence (AI) is not the future and it’s only a matter of time that machines will
replace most of the jobs. It does not mean the end of the road for humanity and we

have a history of technological revolutions causing social and political changes in
society. In the Early years there are bound to have some fears and challenges but so
was the case with the French revolution, steam engines, industrial revolutions and
most recently the computers. Nevertheless, there will be more opportunities in the
fields not yet known and there will be more jobs to cater to human needs. In the case
of India, Innefu is one such Artificial Intelligence (AI) based company which is still in
its nascent phase but soon may challenge global companies and therefore can create
AI-ecosystem in India.

Rare Earth Elements (REE): Why are they strategically
important?
Rare Earth Elements (REE) are metals having many similar properties. The global
demand for rare earth elements has increased significantly in line with their
expansion into high-end technology, environment, and economic areas. In this post,
we see the importance of Rare Earth Elements and their strategic significance.
What is a Rare Earth Element (REE)?
 Rare earth elements (REE) are a group of seventeen chemical elements that
occur together in the periodic table, 15 lanthanides ( Z=57 through 71),
Scandium and Yttrium.
 All are metals and have many similar properties which often cause them to
be found together in geologic deposits. That is why they are also known as rare
earth metals.
 They are also referred to as “rare earth oxides” because many of them are sold
as oxidecompounds.

 Samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb),
yttrium (Y), cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium
(Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd),
praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm).
Why Scandium and Yttrium also included in the Rare Earth
Elements (REE)?
 Because they are found in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and show
similar chemical properties.
Are rare earth materials rare as a natural resource?
 They are not rare in quantity, in fact, some of them are very abundant in earth’s
crust for example cerium is more abundant than copper and lead. However, their
extraction is very difficult.
Why are they called as rare earth minerals?
 They are so-called ‘rare earth’ because they were originally isolated in the 18th
and 19th centuries as oxides from ‘rare minerals’. Further, technologically it was

difficult to extract them from their oxides forms until the 20th century. Therefore,
the name they got in the 18th century is still stuck with them.
 They occur in many minerals but typically in concentrations too low to be refined
in an economical manner.
What is the significance of Rare Earth Elements (REE)?
 They have distinctive electrical, metallurgical, catalytic, nuclear, magnetic and
luminescent properties.
 They are strategically very important due to their use of emerging and diverse
technologieswhich cater to the needs of current society.
 Its usage range from daily use (e.g., lighter flints, glass polishing mediums, car
alternators) to high-end technology (lasers, magnets, batteries, fibre-optic
telecommunication cables).
 Even futuristic technologies need these REMs (For example high-temperature
superconductivity, safe storage and transport of hydrogen for a post-hydrocarbon
economy, environmental global warming and energy efficiency issues).
 The global demand for REMs has increased significantly in line with their
expansion into high-end technology, environment, and economic areas.
 They are extremely important for many modern technologies, including consumer
electronics, computers, and networks, communications, clean energy, advanced
transportation, health care, environmental mitigation, national defense etc.
 Due to their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties, they
help in technologies perform with reduced weight, reduced emissions, and energy
consumption; therefore give them greater efficiency, performance, miniaturization,
speed, durability, and thermal stability.
What are the uses of Rare Earth Metals (REMs) in Defense?

Usage of Rare Earth Elements (REE) in Emerging
technologies
 They are being used in anything and everything that comes out as an innovative
product nowadays for example from I-phones to I-TV and many other devices
that people use every day such as computer memory, DVDs, rechargeable
batteries, cell phones, catalytic converters, magnets, fluorescent lighting and
much more.
 These are used for air pollution control, illuminated screens on electronic
devices, and the polishing of optical-quality glass.
What is rare earth dilemma?
 The extraction of REMs is one of the most environmentally negative and toxic
generating of all mining practices.
 Disproportionate rare earth mining has resulted into landslides, clogged rivers,
environmental pollution emergencies and even major accidents and disasters,
causing great damage to people’s safety and health and the ecological
environment.
 China produces tens of millions of tons of wastewater every year while extracting
rare earth minerals.
 Therefore, it’s a dilemma that is we really having better lifestyle using these
materials in emerging technologies or we polluting our environment in the process
too much!
Global Uses and Production of Rare Earth Elements (REE)

Analysis of supply demand of REE
 Currently, China has control over 94% in producing and mining REMs and
further china has very high natural reserves for these. As per some recent reports,
China is even buying these reserve in others countries and regions to have
a monopoly over production for a very long time. And due to these very reasons,
it has become very critical metal for India since India is not having enough
resources and it further suffers technological constraints in mining its own
reserves of REEs.

 A study, conducted by the think-tank Council on Energy Environment and
Water, identifies 12 minerals out of 49 that were evaluated as ‘most
critical’ for India’s manufacturing sector by 2030. These are beryllium,
chromium, germanium, limestone, niobium, graphite, rare earth, rhenium,
strontium, tantalum and zirconium. Other minerals like limestone and graphite,
while currently abundantly available in India, are deemed ‘critical’ because
extractable resources could be scarce in the future.
 For others, the report says, India is 100 percent import-dependent for seven
out of 12 identified critical minerals and does not have any declared resources
for them, except light rare earth (found along with monazite sands) and
beryllium.
What is the future use of Rare Earth Metals?
 The global demand for automobiles, consumer electronics, energy-efficient
lighting, and catalysts is expected to rise rapidly over the next decade. REMs are
critical raw material for future of these technologies/industries.
 Rare earth magnet demand is expected to increase due to the rise in demand
for rechargeable batteries.
 New developments in medical technology are expected to increase the use of
surgical lasers, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission
tomography scintillation detectors.
 Future military and navy arsenals may utilize REMs for better efficiency and
handling.
Sample questions for Mains
1. What are Rare earth metals? Are they really rare? Elaborate their uses from
strategic, developmental, environmental, ethical perspective.
2. REMs are the minerals of future. Elaborate this statement. Is China’s role justified
in monopolizing REMs resources? Where does India stand in this?
Sample questions for Prelims-2017
(1) Which of the following elements comes under rare earth metals?
1. 15 lanthanides ( Z=57 through 71)
2. Scandium and Yttrium
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Code:

 A) 1 only
 B) 2 only
 C) Both 1 and 2
 D) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (Option C), Both 1 and 2.
Learning Zone: TheRare earth elements (REE) are a group of seventeen chemical
elements that occur together in the periodic table, 15 lanthanides ( Z=57 through 71),
Scandium and Yttrium.
(2) With reference to Rare Earth Minerals (REMs). Consider the following statements:
1. They are also known as rare earth metals because all of them are metals.
2. They are also known as rare earth oxides because it is very rare to find their
oxides.
3. REMs have very diverse uses starting from daily life technologies to high-end
technologies and military use.
4. The USA is the largest producer of REMs.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Code:
 A) 1, 2, and 3 only
 B) 2 only
 C) 1 and 3 only
 D) 1, 2, 3, and 4
Answer: (Option C)
Learning Zone: Many students may choose option b as the correct statement,
however, it is not because, though REMs are called as rare earth oxides, They are not
rare in quantity, in fact, some of them are very abundant in earth’s crust, for example,
cerium is more abundant than copper and lead. However, their extraction is very
difficult.

Supercomputers: Everything you need to know about
Supercomputers have a high level of computing performance compared to a general
purpose computer. In this post, we cover all details of supercomputers like history,
performance, application etc. We will also see top 3 supercomputers and the National
Supercomputing Mission.
What is a supercomputer?
 A computer with a high level of computing performance compared to a general
purpose computer and performance measured in FLOPS (floating point operations
per second).
 Great speed and great memory are the two prerequisites of a super computer.
 The performance is generally evaluated in petaflops (1 followed by 15 zeros).
 Memory is averaged around 250000 times of the normal computer we use on a
daily basis.
 Housed in large clean rooms with high air flow to permit cooling.
 Used to solve problems that are too complex and huge for standard computers.
History of Supercomputers in the World

 Most of the computers on the market today are smarter and faster than the very
first supercomputers and hopefully, today’s supercomputer would turn into future
computers by repeating the history of innovation.
 The first supercomputer was built in 1957 for the United States Department of
Defense by Seymour Cray in Control Data Corporation (CDC) in 1957.
 CDC 1604 was one of the first computers to replace vacuum tubes with
transistors.
 In 1964, Cray’s CDC 6600 replaced Stretch as the fastest computer on earth with
3 million floating-point operations per second (FLOPS).
 The term supercomputer was coined to describe CDC 6600.
 Earlier supercomputers used to have very few processors but as the technology
evolved and vector processing was turned into parallel processing, use of
processors multiplied manifold resulting into supra fast supercomputers of the
current decade.
History of Supercomputer in India
 As the saying goes “need is the mother of all inventions”, India started its journey
towards supercomputers because it was denied the import of Cray
supercomputers from the United States of America due to arms embargo imposed
on India after Nuclear tests in the 1970s.

 They were of the opinion that India might use the same for the development of
military rather than civilian purposes since supercomputers came under dual-use
technology group.
 Ideation phase was started in the 1980s.
 The first indigenous supercomputer was developed indigenously in 1991 by
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing which was called as PARAM
8000.
 Russian assistant in the development was paramount.
 PARAM 8000 was replicated and installed at ICAD Moscow in 1991 under Russian
collaboration.
 In 2007, India held top 10 spots for speeds of supercomputers.
 As of July 2016, India has 9 supercomputers with speeds in top 500 but not any
in top 10.
How powerful are supercomputers as compared to a computer?
 The performance of ordinary computers is generally quoted in MIPS (million
instructions per second).
 MIPS is about the fundamental programming commands (read, write, store, and
so on) the processor can manage.
 Therefore computers are compared based on the number of MIPS they can handle
which is typically rated in gigahertz as the processor speed.
 Supercomputers are rated a different way because they are dealing with the
scientific calculations.
 They are measured according to how many floating point operations per second
(FLOPS) they can do.
 Since supercomputers were first developed, their performance has been measured
in successively greater numbers of FLOPS, as the table below illustrates:

World’s top 3 supercomputers
1. Sunway TaihuLight – developed in China with the computing power of a 93
petaflop/s.
2. The Tianhe-2 (MilkyWay-2) – from China. This supercomputer is capable of 33.8
petaflop/s.
3. Titan – from the US. Computing capacity is 17.5 petaflop/s.
What is the next generation supercomputing?
 Optical computing calculations with the near speed of light by using optical
devices and connections in place of transistors. Latest developments in this field
have already taken place with the optical equivalent of transistors being switched
on using photons and not electrons. Since photons travel at speed of light,
therefore, calculations may be done at sub-light speed.
 DNA computing calculations by recombining DNA in a parallel environment.
Numerous possibilities are tried at the same time; the most optimal solution will
be “the strongest to survive.”
 Quantum computing not in practical use yet only conceptual proofing done but
think of it as calculations being done before you have thought of them. Work is
done in the blink of an eye since time is of no essence here.
What are the Applications of a Supercomputer?

 Academic research: For observing and simulating the phenomena which are too
big, too small, too fast, or too slow to observe in laboratories. For example,
astrophysicists use supercomputers as “time machines” to explore the past and
the future of our universe. Another important area is quantum mechanics.
 Weather and climate modeling to forecast with better accuracy by analyzing
multiple factors and their interrelationships.
 Medicine discovery for e.g. How a protein folds information leads to the discovery
of new drugs.
 Monsoon Forecasting using dynamic Models.
 Big data mining to strengthen and better mobilization of digital India mission.
 Oil and gas exploration, therefore, ensuring energy security of India.
 Airplane and spacecraft aerodynamics research and development, therefore better
safety standards and smoother connectivity thereby helping in ease of
transportation.
 Simulation of nuclear fission and fusion processes, therefore imparting better
nuclear infrastructure models and helping in energy security of the nation.
 Molecular dynamics: supercomputer simulations allow scientists to dock two
molecules together to study their interaction which may lead to the development
of innovative materials for future generation technologies.
 In 1994, A supercomputer was used to alert the scientists about the collision of a
comet with Jupiter, providing them time to prepare to observe and record the
event for useful analysis and its application in predicting future comet collision
with the earth.
What are the initiatives taken by the Government of India?
 In the 12th five-year plan, the government of India (GOI) had committed that
$2.5bn would be sanctioned for the research in the supercomputing field.
 In 2015, GOI approved 7-year supercomputing program known as National
Supercomputing Mission which aims to create a cluster of 73 supercomputers
connecting various academic and research institutions across India with $730mn
investment.
Some facts for Prelims
 There are no exaflop (higher than petaflops) computing supercomputers in the
world and the first product is expected around 2019-20.
 India is also preparing to launch its exaflop supercomputers by 2020.

 China’s, Sunway TaihuLight is the fastest supercomputer (93 Pflops) and China
has more supercomputers than the USA as of July 2016.
Possible Sample Questions for Mains
1. What are supercomputers? What is its status in India? How does it help in the
development of India and the world?
2. Supercomputers have more strategic significance than scientific. Illustrate.
Sample Questions for Prelims
Question: With reference to supercomputers, petaflops are related to?
 A – The latest model of sSupercomputers developed by China.
 B – The latest model of supercomputers developed by the USA.
 C – The performance of supercomputers.
 D – Floppy disks which are used on normal desktop computers.
Answer: (Option C) The performance of supercomputers.
Learning Zone: The performance is generally evaluated in petaflops (1 followed by 15
zeros) and some supercomputers may even perform quadrillions flops.

India’s Ballistic Missile Defence System: Why should we
need it?
The Indian Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Programme is an attempt to develop and to
use a multi-layered ballistic missile defence system to protect from ballistic missile
attacks. The India’s decision to develop Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) was
introduced in the light of the ballistic missile threat mainly from Pakistan, especially
can be attributed to the Kargil War in 1999.
What are Ballistic missiles?

 A ballistic missile/projectile is one which follows “ballistic trajectory”.
 The ballistic trajectory is the path followed by the projectile (missile) after thrust
forces (propulsion) stop and the projectile are only acted upon by gravity and
friction (drag forces).
 A ballistic missile thus is one which is guided in the initial phase, i.e. lift off, while
the rest of the trajectory is dependent on gravity and require minimal guidance.
What are the advantages of Ballistic Missile?
 The have very long range, as they travel above the atmosphere, experience less
drag and use gravity and earth’s rotation.
 They are highly fuel efficient. Only fuel requirements are during lift-off phase and
during course correction measures.
 Multiple independent targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRV) capability can be
achieved in ballistic missiles.
 Due to fuel efficiency, their pay load carrying capacity is significantly more than
cruise missiles.
What’s Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) System?
 A Ballistic Missile Defence system (BMD) is missile defence system that acts as a
shield against ballistic missile attacks.
 You may not that the purpose is defense (by intercepting a ballistic missile) and
not attack/offense.
 A ballistic missile can be intercepted in three phases:
1. Terminal phase: During the atmospheric descent phase.
2. Mid-course interception (in flight interception) – Most preferred interception.
3. Lift off phase– i.e. targeting at launch point- require advance radars.
 Generally, a BMD is a two-tier automates system which has:
1. The advance radar system, Early warning system ( Also called sensors system).
2. Integrated command and control center.
3. Interceptor missile batteries- need to be agile, mobile and strategically located on
land and sea.
India’s Ballistic Missile Defence System
 India’s BMD development began in 1999, after the Kargil war.

 The primary aim was to bolster India’s defence against possible nuclear attack
from Pakistan. It holds a place of prime importance especially when India follows
‘No first use’ policy.
 India seeks to deploy a functional ‘iron dome’ ballistic missile defence (BMD),
incorporating both low-altitude and high-altitude interceptor missiles.
 India’s BMD is primarily developed by DRDO with help of many public and private
firms like BEL, Astra Microwave, L&T, etc.
 India’s BMD is being developed in 2 phase:
1. The first phase aims to develop a shield to intercept missile with a range up to
2000 km. 1st phase radar range is up to 600 km.
2. The second phase will have intercept missile with 5000 km range. Radar range of
this phase would be 1500 km.
Two- tiers of India’s BMD
They are Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) and Advanced Air Defence (AAD) respectively.

Prithvi Air Defence (PAD)
 Also referred as Pradyumna Ballistic Missile Interceptor.
 It’s designed for High altitude interception ( exo-atmospheric interception).
 Intercept missiles at altitudes between 50 – 80 km.
 The interceptor is Prithvi Defence Vehicle ( PDV) which has two-stage, both with
solid propellants.

Advanced Air Defence (AAD)
 Also called Ashwin Ballistic Missile Interceptor.
 It’s endo-atmospheric interception system ( for low altitude interception).
 Altitude of interception is range up to 30 km.
 It has single-stage solid fuelled missile.
Configurations of BMD

 According to Lieutenant General Balraj Nagal (retired), director of the Centre
for Land Warfare Studies. There are five possible configurations of BMD. These
are:
1. A land and sea-based defence system against all kind of threats. This system is
too expensive and requires too much technological and infrastructural
development. Though it is the safest configuration, it still isn’t 100% secure.
2. In Second configuration BMD is deployed to protect critical population centres,
control and command centres, critical infrastructure centres (including nuclear
facility) and major economic zones. It’s strategically and economically more
pragmatic than the first configuration. Yet, it is too costly for a nation like India.
3. In the third configuration, protection is provided to command and control centre,
nuclear forces and important citizen population centres.
4. BMD will provide protection to command and control centres and nuclear forces
and the capital in the fourth configuration. This is the most suitable candidate
considering the nascent stage of India’s BMD and also a weak financial condition
of the nation. It protects critical nodes of governance as well as of counter- attack.
5. The final configuration would involve BMD deployment only around command and
control centre and the capital. Its purpose is only for total defence and not able to
provide ability counter attack as nuclear forces are left out of it.
Why should India need BMD?
 India follows ‘No First Use policy‘. A robust BMD provides an opportunity to the
nation to strike back if a nuclear projectile is launched by an enemy state.
 In the past efforts have been made by radicalised non- state fractions in Pakistan
to obtain Missile technology. BMD would shield from non-state actors initiated
missile warfare and thus could avoid Mutual Destruction trap.
 India has hostile, nuclear states in its north. It’s only practical for the nation to
prepare in advance.
 China is developing new technologies to implement its Anti-Access/Area-Denial
(A2/AD) strategy in the Western Pacific. It can impact mainland in Indian water.
A robust BMD is a proactive measure to tackle China’s A2/AD strategy.
 BMD reduces the incentive for the enemy state to launch a nuclear attack, Thus
enhancing strategic stability.
 An indigenous system would reduce the import bill of defence systems from other
nations.

 There are side benefits of BMD too, like better reconnaissance, detection, tracking
and situation awareness.
 Technology developed for BMD can be used in other sectors, especially in space
technology.
Apprehensions regarding BMD
 It may start the arms race with Pakistan investing in more powerful missiles to
thwart BMD disturbing strategic balance.
 BMD is ineffective against Cruise missiles. Both China and Pakistan have cruise
missile capable of delivering the nuclear payload.
 No BMD can have 100% success rate in the interception of the projectile (ballistic
missile).
 BMD is a very costly affair. For example, U.S. Continental System is estimated to
have cost around $100 bn from 2002 onwards.
 India has a wide and segregated geography. It creates a problem in protection of
all critical centre and creation on land infrastructure for BMD in many areas.
 Even after interception there remain chances of damage, especially if the
interception is done in the terminal phase of the ballistic missile.
 BMD testing is done in controlled atmosphere raising the question on its efficacy
in war time.
 DRDO has been criticised for not releasing whole data related to BMD system. It
evokes a sense of suspicion regarding BMD’s capability.
Conclusion:
In the fast changing geo-political scenario, strategic preparedness and self-reliance are
the new currency of defence. BMD fulfills all such criteria and creates a protective
shield which has not only physical but also the psychological effect on hostile nations.
It bolsters India’s NO FIRST USE policy by providing with the second strike capability.
Though there are issues related to its cost, effectiveness, and extent; nevertheless with
development in technology and support from Make in India, it has the capability to
augment over a period of time. As for now, BMD is an idea whose time has come and
will remain so for a long.

ISRO’s World Record PSLV C37 Launch: Top 10 Facts You
Should Know
ISRO on February 15, 2017, created history and world record by successfully
launching 104 satellites on a single mission. India overtook the previous record of 37
satellites launched (by Russia in 2014). The satellites were launched using
launch vehicle of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – PSLV C37.
ISRO’s PSLV C37 Launch: Top 10 Facts You Should Know
This remarkable feat by ISRO is yet another proud moment for the Indian space
scientific communityand the nation. Let’s see the top facts of this mission.
Fact 1: PSLV C37 carried 3 Indian Satellites and 101 foreign satellites

Of the 104 satellites ISRO launched today, three are Indian and 101 are foreign.
United States (96), Israel, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and the
Netherlands are the foreign clients.
Fact 2: 103 satellites were nano satellites
PSLV carried a 714-kilogram main satellite for earth observation and 103 smaller
“nanosatellites” which weighed a combined 664 kilograms.
Fact 3: Major Indian Satellite is CARTOSAT-2
An Indian cartographic satellite, believed to be capable of taking high-resolution
images is also on board. It is expected to be used to monitor regional arch-rivals
Pakistan and China. Other Indian satellites are INS -1A and INS -1B.
Fact 4: Sriharikota
The launch took place from the spaceport of Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. This is
about 125 km from Chennai.
Fact 5: 18 minutes
In about 18 minutes all the satellites were released into space.
Fact 6: Growing Business
India is emerging as a major player in the multi-billion dollar space market. This
world record creating PSLV launch is a sign that India is emerging as a major player
in the multi-billion dollar space market. Putting commercial satellites into space for a
fee is a growing business sector. That’s because companies, as well as countries, are
seeking greater and more high-tech communications.
ISRO: Future plans

Fact 7: India had already successfully demonstrated her scientific capabilities with 2
major space missions – Chandrayan mission (to the moon) and Mangalyan mission (to
Mars).
Fact 8: The second mission to Mars is tentatively slated for in 2021-2022. As per
existing plans, it may well involve putting a robot on the surface of the Red Planet.
Fact 9: ISRO is also mulling the idea of missions to Jupiter and Venus.
Fact 10: In addition to this, ISRO is also working on a Reusable Lauch Vehicle, widely
known as India’s space shuttle.

Scramjet Engine: Why in News Headlines Now?
Scramjet Engine is making headlines these days. The successful testing of Scramjet
engine designed by ISRO represents a major milestone in India’s future space
programs. But what is a Scramjet Engine?
What is a Scramjet Engine?
To
make it simple, a scramjet is a supersonic combusting ramjet). This is a variant of
a ramjet jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow.
As Scramjet is essentially a Ramjet with variations, it would be easy if we start our
learning process from Ramjet. Let’s first start with the basics – the difference between
a jet engine and rocket engine.
What is the main difference between a Jet and Rocket engine?

The main difference is that a rocket carries its own supply of oxygen (Oxidizer Tank)
for combustion while a jet engine utilizes oxygen from the atmosphere for combustion.
This makes rocket engine less energy efficient when compared to Jet engines.
Jet Engine
A jet engine is a machine that converts energy-rich, liquid fuel into a powerful
pushing force called thrust. The thrust from one or more engines pushes a plane
forward, forcing air past its scientifically shaped wings to create an upward force
called lift that powers it into the sky.
The first operational Jet Engine was developed by Hans von Ohain of Germany. But
the credit for its discovery got to Great Britain’s Frank Whittle (1930).
The main processes in a Jet Engine
A Jet Engine has 3 main processes:
1. Compression
It increases the pressure of the air trapped inside the chamber.
2. Combustion
It increases the temperature of the air-fuel mixture by releasing heat energy from the
fuel.
3. Exhaust
It increases the velocity of the exhaust gases, thereby powering the vehicle.(Newton’s
third law of motion)
Types of Jet Engines

All jet engines and gas turbines work in broadly the same way. Hence they all share
five key components: an inlet, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine
(arranged in exactly that sequence) with a driveshaft running through them. Even
though they have similarities, jet engines differ in their extra components. The main
types of Jet engines based on how air is compressed in the engine are as below:
1. Turbo Jet
Turbo jet engine is an air-breathing jet engine. This is one of the most common types
of jet engines. It is still widely used in airplanes.
2. Turbofan Engines
Turbofans differ from the turbojets in the way they have an additional component –
a fan. The fan sucks in the air and then further gets compressed and combustion
takes place in the burner.
3. Ramjet

High-speed forward motion is used to compress the air (no compressor). Fuel is
injected into the combustion chamber where it mixes with the hot compressed air and
ignites. The average speed of Ramjet is 3-6 Mach. But the ramjet efficiency starts to
drop when the vehicle reaches hypersonic speeds.
4. Scramjet
Here also, the high-speed forward motion is used to compress the air (no compressor),
but it is an improvement over the ramjet engine as it efficiently operates at
hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. Speed is greater than 6
Mach (Six times the speed of Sound).
5. Dual mode Ramjet (DMRJ)
Type of jet engine where a ramjet transforms into scramjet over Mach 4-8 range,
therefore, it can operate both in subsonic and supersonic combustion modes.
Scramjet (Supersonic Combustion Ramjet): Operation Details
 To fire something we need air, that is oxygen. Rockets usually carry oxygen in
oxidizer tank even when it is traveling in earth’s atmosphere. But, if we can use
atmospheric oxygen during this time it would become energy efficient. Here comes
the importance of Scramjet engine.
 Scramjet engine designed by ISRO uses Hydrogen as fuel and the Oxygen from
the atmospheric air as the Oxidizer. This makes the system much lighter, more
efficient and cost effective.
 The scramjet engine was test launched on board of Rohini 560 sounding rocket
(Research Rocket). This RH 560 is a two stage Advanced Technology Vehicle (ATV)

and is designed & developed by ISRO to test scramjet engine. ATV is the heaviest
(3 tons) sounding rocket developed till date by the ISRO.
India and Scramjet Technology
India had started the efforts on Scramjet technology long back and we did a ground
testing in 2006 which validated the design of the engine. And now, India became the
fourth country to claim the successful testing of Scramjet Engine. Russia was the first
country who claimed scramjet flight test in 1991, and later US and European Space
agency also joined the elite group.
Scramjet – Challenges
 As mentioned earlier, Scramjet does not have a compressor to compress the air,
instead, it uses its high-speed forward motion to compress the air. Therefore
scramjet cannot produce efficient thrust unless boosted to high speed. From this,
we understood that scramjet engine cannot work until it attains enough speed.
This is the main drawback of Scramjet Engine.
 As we all know, Launch Vehicles have multiple stages with each having a different
engine. After the fuel burns out in the first stage, the engine is jettisoned to
reduce the weight of the vehicle. So when the second stage ignition begins, speed
is enough for the scramjet to function. Therefore ISRO used scramjet engine at the
second stage during the flight test and using this technique it excelled in
overcoming the drawback.
 Some of the other technological challenges handled by ISRO during the
development of Scramjet engine include the design and development of
Hypersonic engine air intake, the supersonic combustor, development of materials
withstanding very high temperatures, computational tools to simulate hypersonic
flow, ensuring performance and operability of the engine across a wide range of
flight speeds, proper thermal management and ground testing of the engines.
The importance of having this technology
1. The efficiency of the launch vehicle depends on how much weight it can carry for
with a particular amount of fuel. Currently, Indian rockets carry a huge quantity
of oxygen (approx.200 tons) that is nearly 85 percent of the rocket mass and it
gets burnt during the atmospheric flight phase of the rocket. Use of Scramjet
would help to reduce the weight of launch vehicle and increase the speed. It would
help India to do more with a limited space budget.

2. Satellite launching business is gaining momentum and Antrix Corporation (the
Commercial wing of ISRO) has been launching satellites at a lower cost when
compared to other players. This can be further augmented by using Scramjet
Engine which would help to minimize the cost.
3. Scramjet engine can be used to augment ISRO’s reusable launch vehicle (RLV).
Avatar
Avatar (from “Aerobic Vehicle for Transatmospheric
Hypersonic Aerospace TrAnspoRtation”) is ISRO’s reusable launch vehicle platform
which is capable of carrying out satellite launches like normal aircraft, takes off
vertically and lands back on a runway. It is designed to use ramjets and scramjets for
thrust. Each of these engines will be used in different stages of the flight wherein
scramjets are used at hypersonic speeds.
Summary
In a nutshell, development of Scramjet engines is an important milestone in ISRO’s
endeavor towards its future space transportation systems. Air breathing propulsion is
a solution for a powered long return cruise flight necessary for reusable launch
vehicles. In addition to this, DRDO has been working on to develop Brahmos II Cruise
Missile based on the same scramjet technology. This calls for the faster development
of ramjet or scramjet technologies which would help India to execute advanced space
missions in future. Also, it will add colors to our much hyped Make In India initiative.
References
1. BrahMos-II – Wikipedia
2. Jet programs – Wikipedia
3. DRDO
4. Antrix Corporation – Wikipedia
5. HyperMach
6. VSSC
7. ISRO
8. Techradar
9. The Hindu
10.ISRO

India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV): Everything you
need to know
India successfully tested the launched of indigenously made Reusable Launch
Vehicle (RLV), capable of launching satellites into orbit around earth and then re-
enter the atmosphere, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. RLV is dubbed as India’s
own space shuttle. (The ‘Space Shuttle’ was a partially reusable low Earth orbital
spacecraft system operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), as part of the Space Shuttle program.)
What’s the significance of Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV)?
 RLV is the unanimous solution to achieve low cost, reliable and on—demand
space access.
 The making of the Indian space shuttle or RLV-TD has taken five years and the
government has invested Rs. 95 crore in the project.
 This flight will test the capability of the vehicle to survive a re-entry at speeds
higher than that of sound.

 The solution to reducing cost of launching satellites into orbit is to recycle the
rocket or make it reusable.
 Scientists at ISRO believe that they could reduce the cost by as much as 10 times
if reusable technology succeeds, bringing it down to $2,000 per kg from the
present $20,000 per kg.
What about NASA’s space shuttle programme?
Nasa grounded its space shuttle programme in 2011 after using its reusable
vehicles like Discovery, Endeavor, Columbia and Challenger for over three decades to
launch various missions, including the International Space Station (ISS) and the
Hubble telescope.
Everything you need to know about India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle
(RLV) and Hypersonic flight experiment
Narendra Modi
✔@narendramodi
Launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD is the result of the
industrious efforts of our scientists. Congrats to them.
9:12 AM - May 23, 2016
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 Scientists at ISRO tested the RLV Technology Demonstrator (TD), in the first
experiment of its kind known as Known as hypersonic flight experiment.
 It was about 10 minutes mission from liftoff to splashdown.

 The purpose of the experiment is to help the shuttle glide over a virtual runway in
the Bay of Bengal, situated 500 km from the coast.
 The RLV-TD is unlikely to be recovered from sea (Bay of Bengal) during this
experiment as it is expected that the vehicle will disintegrate on impact with water
since it is not designed to float.
 The 6.5 meter long Re-usable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-
TD) weighed about 1.7 tons.
 The special booster or the first stage is powered using a solid fuel that hoist the
RLV-TD prototype to about 70 km into the atmosphere from where the descent
began. During the descent phase, small thrusters helped the vehicle navigate
itself to the landing area.
 The final version will take at least 10-15 years to get ready.
List of India’s launchers:
1. SLV – Historic
2. ASLV – Historic
3. PSLV – Operational
4. GSLV – Operational (Read about the launch of GSLV D5)
5. Sounding Rockets – Operational
6. LVM (GSLV Mark 3) – Future
Types of India’s space crafts
1. Communication Satellites
2. Earth Observation Satellites
3. Navigation Satellites
4. Scientific Exploration Satellites
5. Experimental Satellites
6. Small Satellites
7. Student Satellites
Major Missions
1. Mars Orbiter Mission
2. LVM3-X (CARE)
3. GSAT-16 (using cryogenic engine)
4. PSLV-C27/IRNSS-1D (navigation satellites)
5. PSLV C37 (104 satellites).

Gravitational Waves: Einstein Was Right!
Einstein was right! Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves a
century ago. Now, scientists confirmed the detection of gravitational waves. This is
one of the biggest discoveries of modern science.
What are Gravitational Waves?
In simple terms, gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time created by
the movement of mass.
Gravitational waves are caused by the movement of mass. These are mostly too small
to be detected, so we need to look for waves that begin with massive events like
the Big Bang, the collapse of stars and the collision of black holes.
Discovery of Gravitational Waves
Researchers working with the recently upgraded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-
Wave Observatory (LIGO) — a set of two identical observatories located in
Washington and Louisiana — revealed that they have directly seen the ripples in
space-time, which are known as gravitational waves, created by two black holes that
collided 1.3 billion years ago.
What does that mean? Two black holes collides some 1300,000,000 years ago creating
gravitational waves. Our scientists just discovered the waves of the past event. The
scope? Massive. Gravitational waves can tell a lot about the history of our universe.

This discovery comes 100 years after Einstein first theorized gravitational waves. The
waves were detected on Sept. 14, 2015, scientists said. Since then, scientists have
been evaluating their findings to make sure they were accurate. There is no doubt
that the discovery will usher in a new age of research and discovery for physicists
around the world.

Einstein’s Prediction about Gravitational Waves
Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his general theory of
relativity a century ago, and scientists have been attempting to detect them for 50
years. Einstein pictured these waves as ripples in the fabric of space-time produced by
massive, accelerating bodies, such as black holes orbiting each other. Scientists are
interested in observing and characterizing these waves to learn more about the
sources producing them and about gravity itself.
Significance of the discovery
 Gravitational waves can distort the space-time, around other objects, including
Earth.
 The discovery of gravitational waves also confirms that black holes really do exist.
 The discovery will open a door to millions of new discoveries.
 The new discovery also confirms one of Einstein’s strangest predictions put forth
as part of his general theory of relativity 100 years ago.
 If we could detect the waves properly, then it would enable us to “see” the
development of black holes and the development of stars.
 We would be able to understand the beginnings and formation of the universe,
and many of its most mysterious parts.

Ebola Virus Disease – A Challenge to India
Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe,
often fatal illness in humans. The Ebola virus is transmitted to people from wild
animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human
transmission.The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if
untreated. There are currently no licensed Ebola vaccines but 2 potential candidates
are undergoing evaluation.
History of Ebola: Ebola virus disease (EVD) first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous
outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of
Congo. The Yambuku outbreak occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which
the disease takes its name. The current outbreak in west Africa is the largest and
most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. The
first cases were notified in March 2014. The most severely affected countries, Guinea,
Sierra Leone and Liberia have very weak health systems, lacking human and
infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict
and instability.
Ebola Virus Strains
There are 5 species of Ebola Virus (belonging to the virus family Filoviridae) that have
been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Reston and Taï Forest. The first 3,
Bundibugyo ebolavirus, Zaire ebolavirus, and Sudan ebolavirus have been associated
with large outbreaks in Africa. The virus causing the 2014 west African outbreak
belongs to the Zaire species.
 The Ebola virus is a member of RNA virus known as ‘Filoviriade’.
 The Ebola virus is the world’s third deadliest infectious disease after HIV.
 The new strain of Ebola is called Ebola Tai(WHO).
Transmission of Ebola
It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts.
Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood,
secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as chimpanzees,
gorillas, fruit bats, monkeys, forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the
rainforest.

Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact
(through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or
other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding,
clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
Symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease
The Ebola virus causes hemorrhagic fever which begins it’s effect in 4 to 10 days after
the infection. Symptoms are such as fever, chills, loss of appetite, headache etc. As
the disease advances more symptoms such as vomiting, sore throat, diarrhea, chest
pain and bleeding may occur. Incubation period for this virus is from two to twenty
one days. People may be exposed to the Ebola virus from direct contact with the blood
and secretions of infected person. It attacks every part of the human body and
disrupts immune system which finally may lead to death.
Ebola Virus Disease – A Challenge to India
Ebola which is native of African continent is spreading to many other countries
through the people who are affected by this virus. When affected people from
countries like Guinea, Liberia,Sierra Leone moved to other countries, the virus spread.
There was strict ban from the side of many countries on natives from West African
nations. But the disease has already spread to non-Africans and the scrutiny became
tough. All the countries near by Africa are scrutinizing in their respective airports.
Medical checkup is done to the passengers from Africa. But unfortunately they may
not be recognized as infected because the virus takes almost 21 days to incubate. So
even if the person is affected he is not able to be identified.

India is also taking measures so that the virus should not be spread to the country.
But there are thousands of Indians who are working in Ebola infected areas in Africa.
If they return to their homeland – India – then chances of spreading of the virus is
there. It’s really a big challenge to India to tackle the virus. Although the government
is making efforts to screen the people at international airports, the potential threat is
still there. Dense population and poor sanitation are the main problems to tackle
Ebola in India. Health care services in India are abysmal.
Measures
1. Reducing the risk of wildlife-to-human transmission.
2. Reducing the risk of human-to-human transmission.
3. Outbreak containment measures.
Currently there is no licensed vaccine to treat the disease. Healthcare workers are
among the biggest segment of affected people. People who are affected by Ebola are
not revealing because of the fear of isolation. Suggested measures to tackle Ebola
include hospitals with isolation wards and improved surveillance. Health care workers
must be trained to handle Ebola patients. Strict screening must be done at airports
not only to the people who come from African countries but also to everyone as the
virus has already spread to other countries. People who are identified with the
symptoms of Ebola virus disease must be immediately treated by the medical
personnel and should be strictly monitored from time to time. Government should
provide awareness to the people about the virus so that people can be cautious and
can go for medical checkup if symptoms appear.

Genetically Modified Crops and Regulations in India
Genetically modified crops (GM crops) are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of
which has been modified using genetic engineering techniques. More than 10% of the
world’s crop lands are planted with GM crops.
In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur
naturally in the species like resistance to certain pests, diseases, environmental
conditions, herbicides etc. Genetic Modification is also done to increase nutritional
value, bioremediation and for other purposes like production of pharmaceutical
agents, biofuels etc.
Concerns regarding Genetically Modified Crops
Many believe that food on the market derived from GM crops poses no greater risk to
human health than conventional food. However, opponents have objected to GM
crops on several grounds, including environmental concerns, safety of GM foods, the
business interests behind GM crops, intellectual property laws etc.
Arguments in favor of GM Crops:

The proponents, argue that the GM technologies have been around for about 15 years
and they have been in use across the world including in countries such as Brazil and
China. During a visit to India in March 2005, Norman Borlaug – widely regarded as
the father of the Green Revolution – supported producing genetically modified (GM)
food to eradicate hunger from the world. “It is better to die eating GM food instead of
dying of hunger,” said the Nobel laureate, who passed away in 2009.
 Former prime minister, Manmohan Singh, saw biotechnology as key to food
security and warned against succumbing to “unscientific prejudices”.
 “The concerns over their (GM crops) perceived risks should be addressed by
following internationally accepted procedures for assessing safety parameters.
ICAR, which is involved in developing useful products and technologies in this
field, must contribute to the public discourse and provide clarity on this sensitive
issue,” – President Pranab Mukerjee.
 Indian intelligence agency names anti-GM groups such as Greenpeace India and
Gene Campaign as one of the many “anti-national” foreign-funded NGOs
hampering India’s economic progress.
 Agriculture scientists from research institutions including IARI, ICAR and various
Universities demanding “field trials” for GM crops, arguing that “confined field
trials are essential for the evaluation of productivity performance as well as food
and environmental safety assessment”.
 A group of prominent scientists had met under ‘father of green revolution’ MS
Swaminathan at National Academy of Agricultural Sciences ( NASA) and issued a
15-point resolution in favour of GM crops.
 “A brinjal crop normally requires up to 30 sprays of insecticides. This goes into
the human consumption indirectly. If we grow and consume Bt brinjal, we will
consume some of the genes that have been built into the seeds to make the crop
pest- and herbicide-resistant. Ultimately, we have to see which of the two is less
harmful for consumption” – S.S. Gosal, Director of Research, Punjab Agriculture
University.
Arguments against GM crops:
Organisations such as Greenpeace argue that the GM crops don’t yield better results,
but push the farmers into debt. They lose their sovereign right over seeds as they are
forced to buy GM seeds and technologies from multinational corporations. The

increasing incidence of suicide by farmers cultivating Bt cotton is cited as an example
of the perils of GM crops in a country such as India. Besides the suspect merits of GM
crops, what the opponents also say is that once they are released into the
environment, it’s irreversible.
Regulatory Mechanisms in India
The top biotech regulator in India is Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee
(GEAC). The committee functions as a statutory body under the Environment
Protection Act 1986 of the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF). It was earlier
known as Genetic Engineering Approval Committee. Under the EPA 1986 “Rules for
Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous
Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells 1989”, GEAC is
responsible for granting permits to conduct experimental and large-scale open field
trials and also grant approval for commercial release of biotech crops.
The Rules of 1989 also define five competent authorities i.e. the Institutional Biosafety
Committees (IBSC), Review Committee of Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), Genetic
Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), State Biotechnology Coordination
Committee (SBCC) and District Level Committee (DLC) for handling of various aspects
of the rules.
PS: A Biotechnology Regulatory Authority was proposed, but the bill got lapsed due to
the dissolution of 15th Loksabha.
Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)
1. The Committee shall function as a Statutory Body under the Ministry of
Environment & Forests for approval of activities involving large-scale use of
hazardous living microorganisms and recombinants in research and industrial
production from the environmental angle as per the provisions of rules 1989.
2. The Committee shall also be responsible for approval of proposal relating to
release of genetically engineered organisms and products into the environment
including experimental field trials as per the provisions of Rules, 1989.
3. The Committee shall be responsible for approval of proposals involving the use of
living modified organism falling in the risk category Ill and above in the

manufacture/import of recombinant Pharma products or where the end product
of the recombinant Pharma products per se is a living modified organism.
4. The Committee may co-opt other members/experts to the GEAC in accordance
with the provisions of Section 4, para 3 of the Rules, 1989 as necessary.
5. The Committee may also appoint subgroups/sub-committees/expert committee to
undertake specific activities related to compliance of biosafety.
6. One third members of the GEAC will constitute the quorum for convening the
meeting.
7. The members of the GEAC will be required to sign a ‘Statement of Declaration of
Independence’ and ‘Statement of Confidentiality’ (as per enclosed proforma).
8. The Committee shall function for a period of three year from the date of issue of
this notification.
9. With the approval of the Chairman GEAC, if required, representative of other
Ministries and other experts may be invited as ‘Special Invitees’ to participate in
the meeting of the GEAC depending on the issues to be discussed.
Major companies interested in Genetically Modified crops in India include Monsanto
India, Mahyco and BASF. The industry body — Association of Biotech Led
Enterprises- Agriculture Group (ABLE-AG) wants a progressive push to the march of
GM technology in India.
Genetically Modified Crops in India
GM Crops : Courtesy Hindu Business Line
The country has yet to approve commercial cultivation of a GM food crop. The only
genetically modified cash crop under commercial cultivation in India is cotton.

Bt Cotton
For the time being, the only genetically modified crop that is under cultivation in India
is Bt cotton which is grown over 10.8 million hectares. Bt cotton was first used in
India in 2002.
Bt Brinjal
The GEAC in 2007, recommended the commercial release of Bt Brinjal, which was
developed by Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company) in collaboration with the
Dharward University of Agricultural sciences and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural
University. But the initiative was blocked in 2010.
GM-mustard
Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 or DMH-11 is a genetically modified variety of mustard
developed by the Delhi University’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants.
The researchers at Delhi University have created hybridised mustard DMH-11 using
“barnase / barstar” technology for genetic modification. It is Herbicide Tolerant (HT)
crop. If approved by the Centre, this will be the second GM crop, after Bt Cotton, and
the first transgenic food crop to be allowed for cultivation in the country.
Controversies and Moratoriums associated with GM Crops in India –
Timeline
 2002 – Bt cotton introduced in India.
 2006 – Activists filed a PIL against GM crops in the Supreme Court.
 2010 – The then environmental minister Jairam Ramesh blocked the release of Bt
Brinjal until further notice owing to a lack of consensus among scientists and
opposition from brinjal-growing states. No objection certificates from states were
made mandatory for field trials.
 2012 – Parliamentary standing committee on agriculture, in its 37th report asked
for an end to all GM field trials in the country.
 2013 July – New crop trials have been effectively on hold since late 2012, after a
supreme court-appointed expert panel recommended suspension for 10 years
until regulatory and monitoring systems could be strengthened. Though the SC

panel suggested moratorium on GM trails, there was no official verdict from the
Supreme Court on this issue.
 2013 July – Environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan put on hold all trials
following SC panel suggestions.
 2014 – Her successor, Veerappa Moili cleared the way for trails. (NB: Two of
Manmohan Singh’s own environment ministers had stalled GM trials earlier, but
Veerappa Moily took an opposite stand and the process of approving the one-acre
field trials restarted.)
 2014 March – GEAC (UPA government) approved field trials for 11 crops,
including maize, rice, sorghum, wheat, groundnut and cotton.
 2014 July – 21 new varities of genetically modified (GM) crops such as rice, wheat,
maize and cotton have been approved for field trials by the NDA government in
July 2014. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) — consisting
mostly of bio-technology supporters — rejected just one out of the 28 proposals
up for consideration. Six proposals were rejected for want of more information.
 2016: GEAC gave green signal to GM Mustard for field trial, but SC stayed the
order and sought public opinion on the same.
 There are as many as 20 GM crops already undergoing trails at various stages.

Higgs Boson : The God Particle
The standard model of particle physics hypothesized about Higgs Boson in 1964.
The discovery of Higgs particle was announced at CERN on 4 July 2012. The
discovery has been called monumental because it appears to confirm the existence of
the Higgs field, which is pivotal to the Standard Model and other theories within
particle physics. As scientists are busy finding out the details of the Higgs Field, let’s
have a quick look at some of the most perplexing questions based on Higgs particle.
Why is the Higgs particle called the “God particle”?
The nickname is pure invention. There’s nothing in the mathematical equations, in
the interpretation of the physics, in any philosophy, or in any religious text or
tradition that connects the Higgs particle or the Higgs field with any notion of religion
or divinity. Professor and Nobel Prize Winner Leon Lederman, allowed his book on the
Higgs particle to be assigned this attention-getting title, and thus the name!
Field vs Waves vs Particle
A field is normally made up of waves. An waves are made up of particles. The least-
intense possible wave that a field can have is called a particle. Applying the concept in
Higgs Field : Higgs particle is the smallest possible Higgs wave, and a Higgs wave is a
ripple in the Higgs field.
What’s so important about the Higgs particle?
Finding the Higgs particle is the first big step toward the main goal: understanding
the properties of the Higgs field and why it has a non-zero average value.
What’s so important about the Higgs field?
The Higgs field has a non-zero average value. And because it does, many elementary
particles have mass. Remember that the electric field has zero average value.
Discovery of Higgs field would explain why some fundamental particles have mass
when the symmetries controlling their interactions should require them to be
massless. It would also explain why the weak force has a much shorter range than the
electromagnetic force. The discovery of a Higgs boson should allow physicists to finally
validate the last untested area of the Standard Model’s approach to fundamental

particles and forces, guide other theories and discoveries in particle physics, and
potentially lead to developments in “new” physics.
Large Hadron Collider
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built to figure out what the Higgs field is (or Higgs
fields are), how it works (or they work), and whether it is (or they are) elementary or
composite. In-fact LHC was built to do much more than discover the Higgs Boson,
such as…
 Identify dark matter
 Search for extra dimensions of space and microscopic black holes
 Look for signs of unification of fundamental forces
 Find “evidence” for string theory
 Find the Higgs Boson
 Understand antimatter

 Learn about the fundamental forces that have shaped the universe since the
beginning of time, and will determine its fate.
The Higgs field is not the universal giver of mass to things in the
universe!
Ordinary matter’s mass is mostly from atomic nuclei. That doesn’t come entirely from
the Higgs field.The Higgs field gives mass to most of the elementary particles, but not
to bigger composite particles. This means even if there is no Higgs field, there would
have been protons and neutrons, which of-course has mass. So Higgs field is not the
universal giver of mass to things in the universe.
Higgs field is not the sole mass giver even to elementary particles!
Standard Particle Model
The Higgs field is not the universal giver of mass to all elementary particles. The Higgs
particle itself gets its mass, at least in part, from elsewhere, may be from dark matter.
PS: Now it is true that the W and Z particles, the quarks, the charged leptons and the
neutrinos must get their mass from a Higgs field. It’s not possible for them to have
masses any other way. But this is not true of the Higgs particle itself.
NB : The mass-less particles are photons, gluons and gravitons.
Beyond the Higgs Boson
The standard model of particle physics hypothesized about Higgs Boson. In fact this
hypothesis states that the Higgs Field is made up of elementary particles called Higgs

Bosons. But in reality there might be more than one Higgs Field made up of particles
other than Higgs Bosons too.
UPSC Question on Higgs Boson
Question: The efforts to detect the existence of Higgs boson particle have
become frequent news in the recent past. What is /are the importance of
discovering this particle?
1. It will enable us to understand as to why elementary particles have mass.
2. It will enables us in the near future to develop the technology to transferring
matter from one point to another without traversing the physical space between
them.
3. It will enable us to create better fuels for nuclear fission.
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
1. 1 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3
Ans : 1 ( 1 only)

Dark Matter vs Anti Matter vs Negative Matter
Matter is anything that has mass and takes space. But apart from the ‘normal’
matter, there are different other forms of hypothesized matter. A few examples include
Dark Matter, Anti Matter and Negative Matter. You by now know that matter and
energy are inter convertible; so there are Dark Energy, Anti Energy and Negative
Energy too. Now let’s see what each of these terms signify.
Dark Matter and Dark Energy
The term ‘dark’ is used to denote the unknown. So dark energy corresponds to an
unknown energy. And dark matter corresponds to unknown matter whose properties
are not clear to scientists.
More about Dark Energy: Supernovae observations showed that the expansion of the
Universe, rather than slowing, is accelerating. Something, not like matter and not like
ordinary energy, is pushing the galaxies apart. This “stuff” has been dubbed dark
energy, but to give it a name is not to understand it. Whether dark energy is a type of
dynamical fluid, heretofore unknown to physics, or whether it is a property of the
vacuum of empty space, or whether it is some modification to general relativity is not
yet known.
Why scientists think there is dark matter or energy?
Because scientists see its gravitational influence on the rest of the Universe. As one
simple example of the evidence for dark matter, the velocity of rotation for spiral
galaxies depends on the amount of mass contained in them. The outer parts of our
own spiral galaxy, the Milky Way, are rotating much too fast to be consistent with the
amount of matter that we can detect; in fact the data indicates that there must be

about 10 times as much matter as we can see distributed in some diffuse halo of our
galaxy to account for its rotation.
Dark matter reacts only to gravity and weak atomic force!
Dark matter only interacts by way of gravity and the weak atomic force. Dark matter
does not interact via either the strong atomic force or electromagnetism hence dark
matter cannot be seen and is hard to detect.
Anti Matter and Anti Energy
‘Anti’ means opposite. So anti matter has some properties opposite with respect to the
usual matter. For example, the electron has as its antiparticle the antielectron. The
electron and the antielectron have exactly the same masses, but they have exactly
opposite electrical charges. PS: When an electron meets an antielectron, the two
annihilate and produce a burst of light having the energy corresponding to the masses
of the two particles.
Anti matter behaves like normal matter under gravity but opposite with respect to other
three forces!
Scientists assume that antimatter behaves as normal matter under gravity, though
the truth is that they have never seen a large enough mass of it to know for certain it
behaves the same. But anti matter reacts just opposite to other three forces than the
reaction produced by normal matter.
Negative Matter and Negative Energy
Negative matter is a hypothetical type of matter which if it exist will have negative
mass and negative energy. It will in essence have a negative gravitational charge and
repel normal matter. Yet it will interact just like any other matter in every other way.
PS: Hope you remember that matter and anti-matter will attract each other resulting
in annihilation. But matter and negative matter will repel each other under gravity.
The action of negative matter under other three forces is not hypothesized yet.
Barynoic Matter vs Non Baryonic Matter

Ordinary matter and anti matter are known as baryonic matter. Dark matter is known
as non-baryonic matter.
Ordinary Matter is just 4.9% of the universe
According to the Planck mission team, and based on the standard model of
cosmology, the total mass–energy of the known universe contains 4.9% ordinary
matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy. Thus, dark matter is estimated to
constitute 84.5% of the total matter in the universe, while dark energy plus dark
matter constitute 95.1% of the total content of the universe. Or in short, we are
unsure about what’s there in 95% of the universe!
PS: If the about statistics are true, then the matter that we are made of (baryonic
matter) is but a small impurity compared to the dominant matter in the universe
(non-baryonic matter). As someone has put it, “not only are we not the center of the
Universe, we aren’t even made of the right stuff!”
Why Dark Matter is not Anti Matter?
If the dark matter out there were antimatter, we would expect it to annihilate with
matter whenever it meets up with it, releasing bursts of energy primarily in the form
of light. We see no evidence in careful observations for that, which leads most
scientists to believe that whatever the dark matter is, it is not antimatter.

The Four Fundamental Forces of Nature
The Four Fundamental Forces of Nature are Gravitational force, Weak Nuclear force,
Electromagnetic force and Strong Nuclear force. The weak and strong forces are
effective only over a very short range and dominate only at the level of subatomic
particles. Gravity and Electromagnetic force have infinite range. Let’s see each of them
in detail.
The Four Fundamental Forces and their strengths
1. Gravitational Force – Weakest force; but infinite range. (Not part of standard
model)
2. Weak Nuclear Force – Next weakest; but short range.
3. Electromagnetic Force – Stronger, with infinite range.
4. Strong Nuclear Force – Strongest; but short range.
Gravitational Force
The gravitational force is weak, but very long ranged. Furthermore, it is always
attractive. It acts between any two pieces of matter in the Universe since mass is its
source.
Weak Nuclear Force
The weak force is responsible for radioactive decay and neutrino interactions. It has a
very short range and. As its name indicates, it is very weak. The weak force causes
Beta decay ie. the conversion of a neutron into a proton, an electron and an
antineutrino.
Electromagnetic Force
The electromagnetic force causes electric and magnetic effects such as the repulsion
between like electrical charges or the interaction of bar magnets. It is long-ranged, but
much weaker than the strong force. It can be attractive or repulsive, and acts only
between pieces of matter carrying electrical charge. Electricity, magnetism, and light
are all produced by this force.
Strong Nuclear Force

The strong interaction is very strong, but very short-ranged. It is responsible for
holding the nuclei of atoms together. It is basically attractive, but can be effectively
repulsive in some circumstances. The strong force is ‘carried’ by particles called
gluons; that is, when two particles interact through the strong force, they do so by
exchanging gluons. Thus, the quarks inside of the protons and neutrons are bound
together by the exchange of the strong nuclear force.
Note : While they are close together the quarks experience little force, but as they
separate the force between them grows rapidly, pulling them back together. To
separate two quarks completely would require far more energy than any possible
particle accelerator could provide.
Electroweak Theory and Grand Unification Theories (GUT)
There is a speculation, that In the very early Universe when temperatures were very
high (the Planck Scale) all four forces were unified into a single force. Then, as the
temperature dropped, gravitation separated first and then the other 3 forces
separated. Even then, the weak, electromagnetic, and strong forces were unified into a
single force. When the temperature dropped these forces got separated from each
other, with the strong force separating first and then at a still lower temperature the
electromagnetic and weak forces separating to leave us with the 4 distinct forces that

we see in our present Universe. The process of the forces separating from each other
is called spontaneous symmetry breaking.
 The weak and electromagnetic interactions have been unified under Standard
Electroweak Theory, or sometimes just the Standard Model. (Glashow, Weinberg,
and Salaam were awarded the Nobel Prize for this in 1979). [Unification of Weak
forces except gravity]
 Grand unification theories attempt to treat both strong and electroweak
interactions under the same mathematical structure. [Unification of Weak forces
and strong forces] PS: Attempts to include gravitation in this picture have not yet
been successful.
 Theories that add gravity to the mix and try to unify all four fundamental forces
into a single force are called Superunified Theories.
 PS: Grand Unified and Superunified Theories remain theoretical speculations that
are as yet unproven, but there is strong experimental evidence for the unification
of the electromagnetic and weak interactions in the Standard Electroweak Theory.
Furthermore, although GUTs are not proven experimentally, there is strong
circumstantial evidence to suggest that a theory at least like a Grand Unified
Theory is required to make sense of the Universe.
References
1. CSEP
2. NASA
UPSC Prelims Question 2013
Qn: The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity,
electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference
to them, which one of the following statement is not correct?
1. Gravity is the strongest of the four
2. Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge
3. Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity
4. Strong nuclear force holds protons and nutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.
Ans: 1

Fermions and Bosons : Particles Which Make The
Universe
There are possibly only two classes of ‘particles’ in the universe – Fermions and
Bosons. All elementary particles (Quarks, Leptons, Guage Bosons, Static Bosons etc.)
will fall under either of these two. Not only elementary particles, but also composite
particles like Baryons (Eg: Protons, Neutrons etc.) will also fall under this basic
classification of all particles into Fermions and Bosons. The scheme of Quantum Field
Theory is that Fermions interact by exchanging Bosons.
Fermions and Bosons : Diagramatic Representations
Fermions : Characteristics and Examples
All fermions have half-integer multiple spins (ie 1/2, 3/2, 5/2…). Fermions are
subject to Pauli Exclusion Principle which states that no particle can exist in the same
state in the same place at the same time. Thus Fermions are solitary. Only one
Fermion may occupy any quantum state – the Fermionic solitariness of electrons is
responsible for the structure of molecular matter (in fact for all ‘structure’ in the
universe). The degeneracy pressure that stabilizes white dwarf and neutron stars is a
result of fermions resisting further compression towards each other. Fermions obey
Fermi–Dirac statistics. Fermions are usually associated with matter while Bosons are
the force carriers.

Examples of Fermions: Leptons (Electrons, Neutrinos etc), Quarks (Up, Down etc.),
Baryons (Protons, Netrons etc.)
 NB : The difference between quarks and leptons is that quarks have a color charge
(and therefore interact with the strong force) and leptons do not. This means that
gluons will react with quarks but not with leptons.
 NB: Quarks are always accompanied by gluons, and are always in sets where their
total color charge equals zero. Quarks are what make up the composite particles
like hadrons (heavy) and mesons (medium).
Bosons : Characteristics and Examples
All bosons have either zero spin or an even integer spin. Bosons are
gregarious. Bosons may occupy the exact same quantum state as other bosons, as for
example in the case of laser light which is formed of coherent, overlapping photons. In
fact, the more bosons there are in a state the more likely that another boson will join
that state (Bose condensation). Fermions are usually associated with matter while
Bosons are the force carriers.
Examples of bosons include fundamental particles such as photons, gluons, and W
and Z bosons (the four force-carrying gauge bosons of the Standard Model), the Higgs
boson, and the still-theoretical graviton of quantum gravity; composite particles (e.g.
mesons and stable nuclei of even mass number such as deuterium (with one proton
and one neutron, mass number = 2), helium-4, or lead-208); and some quasiparticles
(e.g. Cooper pairs, plasmons, and phonons).
 NB: The name boson was coined by Paul Dirac to commemorate the contribution
of the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose in developing, with Einstein, Bose–
Einstein statistics—which theorizes the characteristics of elementary particles.
 NB: The graviton (G) is a hypothetical elementary particle not incorporated in
the Standard Model. If it exists, a graviton must be a boson, and could
conceivably be a gauge boson. (Elementary Boson). Update – scientists recently
discovered Gravitational waves.
 NB: Composite bosons are important in superfluidity and other applications of
Bose–Einstein condensates.

Steen Ingemann on Fermions and Bosons
The electrons belong to the class of elementary particles called leptons. The leptons and
quarks together constitute the class called fermions. According to the Standard Model all
mass consists of fermions. Whether the fermions combine to form a table, a star, a
human body, a flower or do not combine at all depend on the elementary forces – the
electromagnetic, the gravitational, the weak and the strong forces. According to the
Standard Model all force is mediated by exchange of (gauge) bosons. The
electromagnetic force is mediated by exchange of photons, the strong force by exchange
of gluons while the weak force is mediated by exchange of W and Z bosons.
– Steen Ingemann
Composite Particles
Mesons are intermediate mass particles which are made up of a quark-antiquark pair.
They are bosons. Three quark combinations are called baryons. Baryons are fermions,
ie they have spins like 1/2, 3/2 etc.
Composite particles like Mesons and Baryons comes under a large umbrella called
Hardrons. Hadrons are particles which interact by the strong interaction. This general
classification includes mesons and baryons but specifically excludes leptons, which
do not interact by the strong force. The weak interaction acts on both hadrons and
leptons.
Names for Combinations of Elementary Particles
1. 1 quark + 1 anti quark = Mesons.
2. 3 quarks = Baryons.
3. 5 quarks = Penta quarks.

Standard Particle Model of Quantum Mechanics: Inside an
Atom
Standard Particle Model of Quantum Mechanics is a mathematical model which
explains the particle-wave nature of sub-atomic particles. This model proposed two
major groups of elementary particles of matter, ie. Quarks and Leptons. The model
also proposed elementary force carriers known as Gauge Bosons (responsible for the
forces in nature) and one Higgs Boson. Standard Particle Model explains the matter-
energy conversions, with the help of Quarks, Leptons, Gauge Bosons and Higgs
Boson.
What’s inside an atom?
You know about the Protons, Neutrons and Electrons, which make up the atom.
Electrons are not further divisible. Electons are one type of elementary particle type
under a broad category called Leptons. But what about the particles inside the
nucleus, ie.Protons and Neutrons? Are they made up of still smaller particles? Yes,
they are composite particles made of elementary particles. These elementary particles
are called Quarks.
Elementary (Fundamental) Particles of Matter – Quarks and Leptons
Elementary particles occur in two basic types called quarks and leptons. There are 6
Quark types and 6 Lepton types. Together, Quarks and Leptons are part of a larger
class known as Fermions. Fermions have spin like 1/2, 3/2, 5/2 etc. Quarks and
Leptons are Fermions with 1/2 spin.

6 Quarks
Standard Particle Model
1. Up Quark
2. Down Quark
3. Charm Quark
4. Strange Quark
5. Top Quark
6. Bottom Quark
The six quarks are paired in the three generations – the “up quark” and the “down
quark” form the first generation, followed by the “charm quark” and “strange quark”,
then the “top quark” and “bottom (or beauty) quark”. The lightest and most stable
particles make up the first generation, whereas the heavier and less stable particles
belong to the second and third generations. All stable matter in the universe is made
from particles that belong to the first generation; any heavier particles quickly decay
to the next most stable level.
Quarks also come in three different “colours” and only mix in such ways as to form
colourless objects.
6 Leptons

1. Electron
2. Electron Neutrino
3. Muon
4. Muon Neutrino
5. Tau
6. Tau Neutrino
The six leptons are similarly arranged in three generations – the “electron” and
the “electron neutrino”, the “muon” and the “muon neutrino”, and the “tau” and the
“tau neutrino”. The electron, the muon and the tau all have an electric charge and a
sizeable mass, whereas the neutrinos are electrically neutral and have very little
mass.
Fundamental Forces
1. Gravitational Force – Weakest force; but infinite range. (Not part of standard
model)
2. Weak Nuclear Force – Next weakest; but short range.
3. Electromagnetic Force – Stronger, with infinite range.
4. Strong Nuclear Force – Strongest; but short range.
PS : The weak and strong forces are effective only over a very short range
and dominate only at the level of subatomic particles. Weak nuclear forces are
responsible for radioactivity.
Force Carrier Particles or Bosons
Particles of matter transfer discrete amounts of energy by exchanging bosons with
each other. Each fundamental force has its own corresponding boson. Bosons have
spin like 0, 1, 2, 3 etc. Bosons can again be divided into Gauge Bosons and Higgs
Bosons.
Gauge Bosons (Responsible for energy transfer)
1. Gravitational Force – Graviton (Not part of standard model)
2. Weak Nuclear Force – W and Z bosons (ie W+, W- and Z-0 bosons)
3. Electromagnetic Force – Photon.
4. Strong Nuclear Force – Gluon.

Higgs Boson or God’s Particle (Responsible for mass)
The proposed Higgs Boson particle is responsible for the mass of every particle.
How many confirmed elementary particles are there in the standard
model?
Name Types Generations Antiparticle Colors Total
Quarks 2 3 Pair 3 36
Leptons 2 3 Pair None 12
Gluons 1 1 Own 8 8
W 1 1 Pair None 2
Z 1 1 Own None 1
Photon 1 1 Own None 1
Higgs 1 1 Own None 1
Quarks come in 6 flavors and 3 colors, which gives us 18 unique quarks. The leptons
come in 6 flavors, but none of which are colored.
Fermions are matter particles. For every particle of matter there is a corresponding
antiparticle of antimatter. So there are 18 anti-quarks and 6 anti-leptons.
On to the bosons. Gluons come in 8 color combinations. There are two kinds of W
boson, one kind of Z boson, and one kind of photon for a total of 4 electroweak
bosons. There is only one kind of higgs boson.
Since bosons aren’t matter particles, they have no antiparticle counterparts. There are
no “antibosons”. I think we’re ready to wrap it up. 8 gluons, 4 electroweak, and 1
Higgs gives us 13 bosons in total. So, 48 Fermions + 13 total Bosons = 61 known
elementary particles.

Classical Mechanics vs Quantum Mechanics
In this universe there are huge objects like planets and stars. There are also sub-
atomic particles like protons and neutrons. You may note that at sub-atomic sizes,
the wave nature of particles cannot be neglected and that the particles move at very
high speeds. Which theory of Physics explains satisfactorily the behavior of both?
Classical theory propounded by Issac Newton? Or General theory of relativity given by
Einstein? This post is an introductory article before our in-depth analysis of Standard
Particle Model of Quantum Mechanics.
Classical Mechanics for Macroscopic Objects
Classical mechanics describes the motion of macroscopic objects such as spacecraft,
planets, stars, and galaxies. The classical mechanics (as known as Newtonian
mechanics) provides extremely accurate results as long as the domain of study is
restricted to large objects and the speeds involved do not approach the speed of light.
The classical theories are simple, but this branch of mechanics cannot be applied
to extremely small particles moving at very high speed, as the results may turn
inaccurate.
Quantum Mechanics for Micro (and macro) scopic Objects
Quantum Mechanics has much more complicated theories than classical mechanics
(thanks to Einstein), but provides accurate results for particles of even very small
sizes. Quantum Mechanics handles the wave-particle duality of atoms and molecules.
Special theory of relativity by Einstein (1905) deals with particles of extremely small
sizes while General theory of relativity by Einstein (1916) can be used to study all
particles in general, ie. even particles of macroscopic sizes. Thus it can be said that
General theory of relativity is a super set of Special theory of relativity. But still
Classical Mechanics is preferred to General theory of relativity for particles of
macroscopic sizes, just because of its simplicity.
Standard Particle Model of Quantum Mechanics
One of the surprises of modern science is that atoms and sub-atomic particles do not
behave like anything we see in the everyday world. They have wave properties, which
is not observable in macroscopic objects. To describe this particular behavior,
characteristics and interactions, scientists have developed a mathematical model

known as Standard Particle Model. This model proposed two major groups of
elementary particles of matter, ie. Quarks and Leptons. The model also proposed
elementary force carriers known as Gauge Bosons and one Higgs Boson. Standard
Particle Model links the matter-energy conversions, with the help of Quarks, Leptons,
Gauge Bosons and Higgs Boson.
Beyond Standard Particle Model
The standard Particle model of Quantum mechanics is firmly set in the arena of
special relativity, where the space-time background is flat. Defining particles in a fixed
curved background space-time is not yet well-understood (except in some special
cases).
Also, the proposed but not yet discovered particle Gravition, responsible for
Gravitational force, does not come under the scope of Standard Particle Model.
Quantum Field Theory (QFT)
Statistical Mechanics at quantum level with many degrees of freedom: When
both quantum mechanics and classical mechanics cannot apply, such as at the
quantum level with many degrees of freedom, Quantum Field Theory (QFT) becomes
applicable. QFT deals with small distances and large speeds with many degrees of
freedom as well as the possibility of any change in the number of particles throughout
the interaction. The scheme of Quantum Field Theory is that fermions interact by
exchanging bosons. We will see more about Fermions and Bosons later.
To deal with large degrees of freedom at the macroscopic level, statistical mechanics
becomes valid. Statistical mechanics explores the large number of particles and their
interactions as a whole in everyday life. Statistical mechanics is mainly used in
thermodynamics.

Non Quantum Relativistic Mechanics vs Relativistic Quantum Mechanics vs
Quantum Gravity
In physics, relativistic mechanics refers to mechanics compatible with special
relativity (SR) and general relativity (GR). It provides a non-quantum mechanical
description of a system of particles, or of a fluid, in cases where the velocities of
moving objects are comparable to the speed of light c. As a result, classical mechanics
is extended correctly to particles traveling at high velocities and energies, and provides
a consistent inclusion of electromagnetism with the mechanics of particles. This was
not possible in Galilean relativity, where it would be permitted for particles and light
to travel at any speed, including faster than light. The foundations of relativistic
mechanics are the postulates of special relativity and general relativity. The
unification of SR with quantum mechanics is relativistic quantum mechanics, while
attempts for that of GR is quantum gravity, an unsolved problem in physics.

The Big Bang Theory
Big Bang Theory is about the origin of Universe. It suggests that about 1370 crore
(13.7 billion) years ago, all matter and energy in the universe was concentrated into
an area smaller than an atom. At this instant, matter, energy, space and time
were not existent. Then suddenly with a bang, the Universe began to expand at an
incredible rate and matter, energy, space and time came into being. As the Universe
expanded, matter began to coalesce into gas clouds and the stars and planets. Some
scientists believe that this expansion is finite and will done day cease. After this point
in time, the Universe will begin to collapse until a Big Crunch occurs.
Just before the Big Bang
No one knows what the universe was like at this time. The best current theory, the
“inflationary universe” model assumes that all of space is filled with an extremely
concentrated, unstable form of energy that will be transformed into particles of
matter at the instant of the Big Bang. But no one knows how space and time came
into existence in the first place.
The first few minutes to next thousand years
After the initial expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow the formation of
subatomic particles, including photons, electrons, protons and neutrons.Though
simple atomic nuclei formed within the first three minutes after the Big Bang,
thousands of years passed before the first electrically neutral atoms formed. The
majority of atoms that were produced by the Big Bang are hydrogen, along with
helium and traces of lithium.
PS : If the universe had remained this hot and dense for much longer, the hydrogen
would all have been cooked into other chemical elements. Without hydrogen, there
would be no water, and therefore no life as we know it!

Big Bang Theory Time Line
Earlier Opaque Universe vs Later Transparent Universe
Photons (light) being elementary particles would have been formed soon after the Big
Bang. But these photons would have been scattered by the early electrons. As the
Universe continued to cool, it would have eventually reached the temperature where
electrons combined with nuclei to form neutral atoms (recombination). Before this
“recombination” occurred, the Universe would have been opaque because the free
electrons would have caused light (photons) to scatter the way sunlight scatters from
the water droplets in clouds. But when the free electrons were absorbed to form
neutral atoms, the Universe suddenly became transparent. Those same photons – the
afterglow of the Big Bang known as Cosmic Background Radiation – can be observed
today.
PS: Opacity of the early Universe before recombination is, in effect, a curtain drawn over
those interesting very early events. Fortunately, there is a way to observe the Universe
that does not involve photons at all. Gravitational waves, the only known form of
information that can reach us undistorted from the instant of the Big Bang, can carry
information that we can get no other way. Two missions that are being considered by
NASA, LISA and the Big Bang Observer, will look for the gravitational waves from the
epoch of inflation.
Rate of Expansion of Universe is not decreasing, but increasing due
to Dark Energy!
It had always been assumed that the matter of the Universe would slow its rate of
expansion. Mass creates gravity, gravity creates pull, the pulling must slow the
expansion. But supernovae observations showed that the expansion of the
Universe, rather than slowing, is accelerating. Something, not like matter and not
like ordinary energy, is pushing the galaxies apart. This “stuff” has been
dubbed dark energy, but to give it a name is not to understand it. Whether dark
energy is a type of dynamical fluid, heretofore unknown to physics, or whether it is a

property of the vacuum of empty space, or whether it is some modification to general
relativity is not yet known.
Question of Equilibrium : Answer in Inflationary model
Our investigation shows that the early Universe was too homogeneous. How could
pieces of the Universe that had never been in contact with each other have come to
equilibrium at the very same temperature? This and other cosmological problems
could be solved, however, if there had been a very short period immediately after the
Big Bang where the Universe experienced an incredible burst of expansion called
“inflation.” For this inflation to have taken place, the Universe at the time of the Big
Bang must have been filled with an unstable form of energy whose nature is not yet
known. Whatever its nature, the inflationary model predicts that this primordial
energy would have been unevenly distributed in space due to a kind of quantum
noise that arose when the Universe was extremely small. This pattern would have
been transferred to the matter of the Universe and would show up in the photons that
began streaming away freely at the moment of recombination.
Proofs of Big Bang
1. Expanding galaxies: Hubble in 1929, noted that galaxies outside our own Milky
Way were all moving away from us, each at a speed proportional to its distance
from us. He quickly realized what this meant that there must have been an
instant in time (now known to be about 14 billion years ago) when the entire
Universe was contained in a single point in space. The Universe must have been
born in this single violent event which came to be known as the “Big Bang.”
2. Cosmic Background radiation: Those early photons – the afterglow of the Big
Bang known as cosmic background radiation – can be observed today.
Missions to study Big Bang
1. Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) : NASA has launched two missions to
study the cosmic background radiation, taking “baby pictures” of the Universe
only 400,000 years after it was born. The first of these was the Cosmic
Background Explorer (COBE).
2. Wilkinson Microware Anisotropy Probe (WMAP): The second mission to examine
the cosmic background radiation was the Wilkinson Microware Anisotropy Probe
(WMAP). With greatly improved resolution compared to COBE, WMAP surveyed
the entire sky, measuring temperature differences of the microwave radiation that

is nearly uniformly distributed across the Universe. The picture shows a map of
the sky, with hot regions in red and cooler regions in blue. By combining this
evidence with theoretical models of the Universe, scientists have concluded
that the Universe is “flat,” meaning that, on cosmological scales, the geometry of
space satisfies the rules of Euclidean geometry (e.g., parallel lines never meet, the
ratio of circle circumference to diameter is pi, etc).
3. Planck: A third mission, Planck, led by the European Space Agency with
significant participation from NASA, was launched in 2009. Planck is making the
most accurate maps of the microwave background radiation yet. With instruments
sensitive to temperature variations of a few millionths of a degree, and mapping
the full sky over 9 wavelength bands, it measures the fluctuations of the
temperature of the CMB with an accuracy set by fundamental astrophysical
limits.
Telescopes: Today NASA spacecraft such as the Hubble Space Telescope and
the Spitzer Space Telescope continue Edwin Hubble’s work of measuring the
expansion of the Universe.
The Big Bang Theory in Laymen Language
Universe is flat!
In the beginning there was only energy. This energy got converted to small particles
(like photons). As there were earlier free electrons too, these earlier photons got
scattered by first electrons. The result: a dark universe! But later, when electrons
combined with protons and neutrons (atomic nuclei), atoms were formed. As then
there were no free electrons to scatter photons then the Universe became transparent!

Some unknown energy kept particles pushing apart. Meanwhile the universe started
too cool too. Atoms like Hydrogen were formed. Atoms formed molecules, molecules
combined to form compounds and so on. The final result : all the big objects like what
we see today planets, stars, galaxies and so on! But now when we analyse the
universe, the shape of the universe is flat, ie as if explosion taken place on a 2 -
dimensional table!
The two theories which formed the basis of the big bang theory are : (1) Einstein’s
General Theory of Relativity and (2) The Cosmological Principles, which states that the
universe is homogeneous through out. Hope at least the basics of the ‘not-so-easy-to-
understand’ Big Bang theory of energy to mass conversion is clear! If not, have a look
at 2-3 reference documents.
1. Timeline of the Big Bang.
2. Shape of the universe.
3. Beyond Big Bang Cosmology.

India’s Nuclear Weapon Programme
Do you know who has his fingers on nuclear button in India? Prime Minister? Army
Chief? Again, what is the role of Nuclear Command Authority (NCA)? What is Strategic
Forces Command or Strategic Nuclear Command? We hope this post to clear your
doubts related to India’s external security as we discus in brief, topics like India’s
Nuclear Weapon Program and principles like No First Use and Minimum Credible
Deterrence.
History of India’s Nuclear Weapon Programme
 On 26 June 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru, announced:
As long as the world is constituted as it is, every country will have to devise and
use the latest devices for its protection. I have no doubt India will develop her
scientific researches and I hope Indian scientists will use the atomic force for
constructive purposes. But if India is threatened, she will inevitably try to defend
herself by all means at her disposal.
 India’s nuclear program started on March 1944 and its three-stage indigenous
efforts in technology were established by Dr. Homi Bhabha when he founded the
nuclear research center, the Institute of Fundamental Research.
 India’s loss of territory to China in war of 1962, provided the New Delhi
government impetus for developing nuclear weapons as a means of deterring
potential Chinese aggression.
 India first tested a nuclear device in 1974 (code-named “Smiling Buddha”), which
it called a “peaceful nuclear explosion.”
 India performed further nuclear tests in 1998 (code-named “Operation Shakti”).
India’s No-First-Use Policy and Doctrine of Credible Minimum Deterrence (CMD)
In August 1999, the Indian government released a draft of the doctrine which asserts
that nuclear weapons are solely for deterrence and that India will pursue a policy of
“retaliation only”. The document also maintains that India “will not be the first to
initiate a nuclear first strike, but will respond with punitive retaliation should
deterrence fail” and that decisions to authorise the use of nuclear weapons would be
made by the Prime Minister or his ‘designated successor(s).’ The doctrine of “No first
use” means “no first use against non-nuclear weapon states”, as clarified by our NSA.

The doctrine “no first use against non-nuclear weapon states” reflected India’s
strategic culture, with its emphasis on minimal deterrence.
Main Nuclear Authorities in India
Names to remember : Nuclear Command Authority (NCA), Strategic Nuclear
Command, Cabinet Committee on Security, National Security Advisory Board etc.
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)
The civil leadership, in the form of the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) is the
only body authorised to order a nuclear strike against another offending strike: In
effect, it is the Prime Minister who has his finger “on the button.”
Nuclear Command Authority (NCA)
On January 4, 2003, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) constituted the
Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). NCA has two councils : Executive Council and
Political Council. The Executive Council is chaired by the National Security
Advisor (NSA) while Political Council is chaired by the Prime Minister. National
Security Advisor gives the inputs to the Political Council, which authorities a nuclear
attack when deemed necessary. This mechanism of Political Council being advised by
Executive Council and letting the “nuclear button remain with PM” was implemented

to ensure that Indian nukes remain firmly in civilian control and that there exists a
sophisticated Command and Control (C2) mechanism to prevent their accidental or
unauthorised use.
Strategic Nuclear Command or Strategic Forces Command
Strategic Nuclear Command, forms part of India’s Nuclear Command
Authority (NCA). India’s Strategic Nuclear Command was formally established in
2003. The joint services SNC is the custodian of all of India’s nuclear weapons,
missiles and assets. It is also responsible for executing all aspects of India’s
nuclear policy. The directives of the NCA are to be operationalised by the Strategic
Forces Command under the control of a Commander-in-Chief of the rank of Air
Marshal (or its equivalent) in charge of the management and administration of the
tactical and strategic nuclear forces. (So as it is clear, Strategic Nuclear Command is
the implementing agency of the nuclear decision.)
National Security Council (NSC) of India
The National Security Council (NSC) of India is the apex agency looking into the
country’s political, economic, energy and strategic security concerns. (Please note that
NSC has roles beyond nuclear deterrance. The chief exective is the National Security
Adviser. Prior to the formation of the NSC, these activities were overseen by the
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.) The three-tiered structure of the NSC
comprises the Strategic Policy Group, the National Security Advisory Board and a
Secretariat represented by the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).
How does Nuclear Deterrence Work in India?
The executive council of NSA advise the political council of NSA in case of any security
treat or nuclear action needed. The political council give orders to Strategic Nuclear
Command. Strategic Nuclear Command posses all major nuclear arsenals, and it is
the agency responsible for executing a nuclear retaliation. SNC requires approval from

NCA for any nuclear action. Recent estimates suggest that India has between 90 and
110 nuclear weapons.
Nuclear Triad
Nuclear Triad is a term used to denote a nation which has capabilities of nuclear
strike from land, air and water. India has tested its abilities in land, air and sea, but
operational missiles are not there with regard to sea.
 From Land : Ballistic missiles with nuclear war-head in the Prithvi and Agni
Series.
 From Air : Nuclear bombs from Dassault Mirage 2000s and SEPECAT Jaguars.
(Free-falling and un-guided method).
 From Sea : Submarines : Sagarika K-15 missile in Arihant Submarine; Ship :
Dhanush missile from ships like INS Subhadra or INS Rajput.

Nuclear Chemistry Basics Explained
Another article under our guest contributor program; this time covering the basics of
nuclear chemistry. Those who have missed the last article covering basics of
chemistry, you may read it here. Now let’s us focus on Nuclear Chemistry which is an
area given stress in most of the UPSC Preliminary question papers. Let’s start from a
few basic concepts first.
Atomic number (Z)
Atomic number is the number of protons or electrons present in an atom (for every
atom, the number of proton and electron are same).
Eg: Nitrogen (N) = 7, Calcium (Ca) = 20, Oxygen (O) = 8.
Mass number (A)
Mass number is the sum of protons and neutrons present in an atom (or it is the sum
of electron and neutron present in an atom.)
Eg: Nitrogen (N) = 14, Calcium (Ca) = 40, Oxygen (O) = 16
Isotopes
Elements having same atomic number but different mass number are called isotopes.
Eg: Protium, Deuterium, Tritium.
Isobars
Elements having same mass number but different atomic numbers are called isobars.
Eg: 40S, 40Cl, 40Ar, 40K, and 40Ca.
Allotropes
Different forms of a single element are called allotropes.
Eg: Diamond and graphite are two allotropes of carbon; ie. pure forms of the same
element that differ in crystalline structure.

Radioactivity
Unstable atomic nuclei will spontaneously decompose to form nuclei with a higher
stability. The decomposition process is called radioactivity. Energy and particles
released during the decomposition process are called radiation.
There are three major types of natural radioactivity : alpha, beta and gamma
radiation.
Alpha Radiation
23892U → 42He + 23490Th.
The helium nucleus is the alpha particle.
Beta Radiation
234
90 → 0
-1e + 234
91Pa.
The electron is the Beta particle.
Gamma Radiation
Gamma rays are high-energy photons with a very short wavelength. Gamma emission
changes neither the atomic number nor the atomic mass.
Nuclear reactions
Nuclear reactions are mainly two types :
1. Nuclear fission.
2. Nuclear fusion.
Nuclear Fission
Nuclear fission takes place when an atom’s nucleus splits into two or more smaller
nuclei. These smaller nuclei are called fission products. Particles (e.g., neutrons,
photons, alpha particles) may also be released along fission.
Example:

23592U + 10n → 9038Sr + 14354Xe + 310n.
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion is a process in which atomic nuclei are fused together to form heavier
nuclei. Large amounts of energy are released when fusion occurs.The reactions which
take place inside the sun is an example of nuclear fusion.
Examples:
11H + 21H → 32He.
32He + 32He → 42He + 211H.
11H + 11H → 21H + 0+1β.

Chemistry Basics – Atoms, Molecules, Elements,
Compounds, and Mixtures
Chemistry is the study of the composition, structure, properties and change of matter
[matter is defined as anything that has rest mass and volume (it takes up space) and
is made up of particles]. Chemistry is chiefly concerned with atoms (a basic unit in
chemistry) and their interactions with other atoms.
Atoms
An atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a central nucleus surrounded by
negatively charged electrons. The nucleus contains protons and neutrons. Electrons
revolve around the nucleus in different orbits.
Subatomic particles
The constituent particles of an atom are called subatomic particles. They mainly
include protons, electrons and neutrons. The electron is the least massive of these
particles at 9.11×10−31 kg with a negative charge. Protons have a positive charge and
Neutrons have no electrical charge.
Discoveries:
 Proton by Ernest Rutherford in 1918.
 Electron by J.J. Thomson in 1897.
 Neutron by James Chadwick in 1932.
Nucleus
The central part of an atom is called nucleus. Particles present inside the nucleus are
called nucleons and they include mainly protons and neutrons. Due to the presence of
protons nucleus has a positive charge.
Molecules
Molecules are made of atoms of one or more elements. Some molecules are made only
by one type of atoms (two oxygen atoms bond together to form O2 molecule) while
molecules like protein are made up of atoms from different elements.
Elements

A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom
distinguished by its atomic number. Carbon, Oxygen, Silicon, Arsenic, Aluminum,
Iron, Copper, Gold, Mercury etc. are all examples of elements.
Note :
 Hydrogen and Helium are the most abundant elements in the universe.
 Iron is the most abundant element (by mass) in the earth.
 Oxygen is the most common element in the earth’s crust.
 The 8 most abundant elements in Earth’s crust (by mass) are the following :
1. 46.6% Oxygen (O)
2. 27.7% Silicon (Si)
3. 8.1% Aluminum (Al)
4. 5.0% Iron (Fe)
5. 3.6% Calcium (Ca)
6. 2.8% Sodium (Na)
7. 2.6% Potassium (K)
8. 2.1% Magnesium (Mg)
Periodic Table
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev is the father of periodic table. The first detailed form of
the periodic table was developed by Mendeleev (based on mass number) but
later Henry Gwyn Jeffrey’s Moseley made a new periodic table based on atomic

number. Mosley is called the father of modern periodic table.
Natural elements
The elements which occur in naturally on earth are called natural elements.
Eg: Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon etc.
Synthetic or man-made elements
A synthetic element is a chemical element that does not occur naturally on the
earth. These are prepared by artificially and are unstable. The first synthetic
element made was Technetium.
Compounds
Compounds contain more than one kind of atoms (more on atoms, later). It cannot be
separated into constituent atoms by simple methods.
Eg: common salt (NaCl), Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3).

Mixtures
Mixtures are a combination of two or more substances, which when combined, each
substance retains its own chemical identity. Examples of Mixtures include :
 sand and water.
 salt and water.
 sugar and salt.

GSLV D5, GSAT 14, Cryogenic Technology and ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved another milestone as it
successfully launched the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5) from
the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. GSLV launch is a
great achievement as it used indigenous developed cryogenic engine. Let’s discuss in
this post certain keywords related to Space Technology and ISRO like GSLV D5,
Cryogenic Engine, GSAT-14 etc.
GSLV D5 : The rocket
GSLV D5 : Image Courtesy ISRO
For beginners : Rocket and Satellite are two different entities. Rocket or launch
vehicle is the vehicle used to launch satellites. In other words, launch vehicle will have
a rocket engine in it and this rocket engine is fired to lauch the satellites into the
orbit. Examples of launch vehicles include PSLV, GSLV etc. Examples of satellites
include GSAT, INSAT, IRS etc.
GSLV D5: GSLV D5 is a rocket (lauch vehicle) used to launch the satellite GSAT 14.
The rocket engine used in this launch vehicle was a cryogenic one, which uses
cryogenic propellants at low temperature.
What’s special about GSLV D5 launch? India already had successfully launched
many satellites using launch vehicles in the PSLV and GSLV series. But this was for
the first time, India successfully launched a satellite using its indigenous developed
cryogenic engine. In the previous missions of GSLV, we were using Russian

Technology for cryogenic engines. But now, we have mastered cryogenic technology
and have emerged as a major space power.
GSLV is a three-stage launch vehicle with solid, liquid and cryogenic stages. It is
designed to inject 2 Ton class of communication satellites to Geosynchronous
Transfer Orbit (GTO). GSLV-D5 vehicle is configured with its first and second stages
similar to the ones flown during earlier GSLV missions. The third stage is the
indigenous cryogenic stage.
Propellants used in the three stages of GSLV
 1 Stage (Strap- Ones) : UH25 & N2O4.
 1 Stage (Core Stage) : HTPB.
 2 Stage : UH25 & N2O4.
 3 Stage : LH2 & LOX.
HTPB : Hydroxyl Terminated Poly Butadiene, LH2: Liquid Hydrogen, LOX : Liquid
Oxygen.
N2O4 : Nitrogen Tetroxide, UH25 : Unsymmetrical Dimethyl Hydrazine + 25%
Hydrazine Hydrate.
Cryogenic propellants used in this mission: liquid oxygen at minus 183 degrees
Celsius and liquid hydrogen at minus 253 degrees’ Celsius.
About the cryogenic engine
India’s indigenous cryogenic engine is named CE-7.5. This cryogenic rocket engine is
used to power the upper stage of GSLV. The engine was developed as a part of the
Cryogenic Upper Stage Project (CUSP). It will replace the KVD-1 (RD-56) currently
powering the upper stage of GSLV.
Advantages: Cryogenic rocket stage is more efficient and provides more thrust for
every kilogram of propellant it burns compared to solid and earth-storable liquid
propellant rocket stages. Specific impulse (a measure of the efficiency) achievable with
cryogenic propellants (liquid Hydrogen and liquid Oxygen) is much higher compared
to earth storable liquid and solid propellants, giving it a substantial payload
advantage. However, cryogenic stage is technically a very complex system compared to
solid or earth-storable liquid propellant stages due to its use of propellants at
extremely low temperatures and the associated thermal and structural problems.

GSLV Variants:
The main variants are GSLV Mk.I and GSLV Mk.II. GSLV Mk.II variant uses an Indian
cryogenic engine, the CE-7.5, and is capable of launching 2500 kg into geostationary
transfer orbit. Previous GSLV vehicles (GSLV Mk.I) have used Russian cryogenic
engines. GSLV Mk.I had three sub-variants like GSLV Mk.I (a), GSLV Mk.I (b)
and GSLV Mk.I (c).
GSAT 14 : The Satellite
GSAT 14 : Image Courtesy ISRO
GSAT-14 is a 1,982-kg communication satellite. GSAT-14 is expected to replace the
GSAT-3 satellite, which was launched in 2004. GSAT-14 was launched by a
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.II (GSLV D5), which incorporated an
Indian-built cryogenic engine on the third stage.
After reaching Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), GSAT-14 will use its own
propulsion system to reach its geostationary orbital home and will be stationed at 74º
East longitude.
GSAT-14 will help provide many satellite based communication services to the
country including tele-education and telemedicine. The satellite carries six Ku-
band and six Extended C-band transponders to provide coverage of the whole of
India. GSAT-14 also carries two Ka-bandbeacons which will be used to conduct
research into how weather affects Ka-band satellite communications. The satellite is
powered by two solar arrays, generating 2,600 watts of power.

PSLV and GSLV
 India had in the last two decades 25 consecutive successes of its Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicles (PSLVs).
 GSLV could not claim such a success rate. GSLV has attempted eight launches to
date, since its first launch in 2001 through its most recent launch in 2014. Three
launches have been successful, four have failed, and one was a partial failure,
placing the satellite into an unplanned, but recoverable, orbit.
 While PSLV can carry satellites up to 2 tonnes to a lowearth orbit, GSLV was
needed for the launch of heavier satellites, especially of the telecommunication
variety that need to be put in a 36,000km geosynchronous orbit.
Perigee and Apogee
Perigee is the point nearest to earth while Apogee is the farthest point from
earth. After a flight of 17 minutes 5 seconds, GSAT-14 satellite was precisely injected
into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a Perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 175

km and an Apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 35,945 km with an orbital inclination of
19.3 degree with respect to the equator.
Targeted Orbit of GSLV-D5
 Perigee : 180 ± 5 km
 Apogee : 35975 ± 675 km
 Inclination : 19.3 ± 0.1 deg
Mock questions to test your grasp
Qn 1 : Which among the following statements are true regarding India’s space
technology?
1. GSAT and PSLV are the main rocket launching vehicles of India.
2. Satellite launching center of India is at Wheeler Islands, Odisha.
3. India’s indigenous cryogenic engine is named Cryo 2014.
Answer Choices :
 A : 1 only.
 B: 2 and 3 only.
 C : All the above.
 D: None of the above.
Qn 2 : Which among the following statements are true?
1. Perigee of a satellite corresponds to the farthest point from earth in its orbit.
2. Before placing GSAT 14 into the final Geosynchronous orbit, it was first placed
into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO)
3. India’s indigenous cryogenic engine used for GSAT 14 launch, used liquid
Hydrogen and Oxygen in its cryogenic stage.
4. GSLV D5 had 4 stages.
5. GSAT 14 carried Ku band transponders as well as C band transponders.
Answer Choices :
 A : 1 only.
 B: 2 and 3 only.
 C: 2, 3 and 5 only.
 D: 1, 3 and 5 only.

FRP Composite Material And Its Applications
Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) (also known as fibre-reinforced polymer) is a composite
material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. Composites are established
as an alternative material system to traditional materials such as steel, wood,
aluminium and concrete. Bakelite was the first fibre-reinforced plastic.
Materials used as Fibres in FRP composites
Glass, carbon, basalt or aramid and at times fibres such as paper, wood or asbestos
are also used.
Materials used as Polymers in FRP composites
The polymer used is usually an epoxy, vinylester or polyester thermosetting plastic or
phenol formaldehyde resin.
Manufacturing of FRP Composite Material
FRP involves two distinct processes, the first is the process whereby the fibrous
material is manufactured and formed, the second is the process whereby fibrous
materials are bonded with the matrix during moulding.
Applications of FRP in aviation and automobile industry
 Fibre-reinforced plastics are best suited for any design program that demands
weight savings, precision engineering, finite tolerances, and the simplification of
parts in both production and operation.
 A moulded polymer artefact is cheaper, faster, and easier to manufacture than
cast aluminium or steel artefact, and maintains similar and sometimes better
tolerances and material strengths.
UPSC Mains 2013 Question related to FRP
What is an FRP composite material? How are they manufactured? Discuss their
applications in aviation and automobile industry:

Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013
Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013 seeks to send a signal to the
Indian scientific community, both in the private and public domain, that science,
technology and innovation should focus on faster, sustainable and inclusive
development of the people. The policy seeks to focus on both STI for people and
people for STI. It aims to bring all the benefits of Science, Technology & Innovation to
the national development and sustainable and more inclusive growth. It seeks the
right sizing of the gross expenditure on research and development by encouraging
and incentivizing private sector participation in R & D, technology and
innovation activities.
The policy also seeks to trigger an ecosystem for innovative abilities to flourish by
leveraging partnerships among diverse stakeholders and by encouraging and
facilitating enterprises to invest in innovations. It also seeks to bring in mechanisms
for achieving gender parity in STI activities and gaining global competitiveness in
select technological areas through international cooperation and alliances. The
policy goal is to accelerate the pace of discovery, diffusion and delivery of science led
solutions for serving the aspirational goals of India for faster, sustainable and
inclusive growth. A Strong and viable Science, Research and Innovation system for
High Technology led path for India (SRISHTI) are the goal for the STI policy.
The Key features of the STI policy 2013
 Promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society.
 Enhancing skills for applications of science among the young from all social
sectors.
 Making careers in science, research and innovation attractive enough for talented
and bright minds.
 Establishing world class infrastructure for R&D for gaining global leadership in
some select frontier areas of science.
 Positioning India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020 (by
increasing the share of global scientific publications from 3.5% to over 7% and
quadrupling the number of papers in top 1% journals from the current levels).
 Linking contributions of Science Research and innovation system with the
inclusive economic growth agenda and combining priorities of excellence and
relevance.
 Creating an environment for enhanced private sector participation in R &D.

 Enabling conversion of R & D output with societal and commercial applications
by replicating hitherto successful models, as well as establishing of new PPP
structures.
 Seeking S&T based high risk innovation through new mechanisms.
 Fostering resource optimized cost-effective innovation across size and technology
domains.
 Triggering in the mindset & value systems to recognize respect and reward
performances which create wealth from S&T derived knowledge.
 Creating a robust national innovation system.
Aspirations of the Policy
The main aspirational elements of the STI policy are:
 Raising Gross Expenditure in Research and Development (GERD) to 2% from the
present 1% of the GDP in this decade by encouraging enhanced private sector
contribution.
 Increasing the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of R&D personnel in India by
at least 66% of the present strength in 5 years.
 Increasing accessibility, availability and affordability of innovations, especially for
women, differently-abled and disadvantaged sections of society.
Mechanisms
Wide ranging mechanisms are envisaged to be deployed to realize the policy
aspirations, a few of these are:
 Promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society.
 Enhancing skill for applications of science among the young from all social
strata.
 Making careers in science, research and innovation attractive enough for talented
and bright minds.
 Empowering women through appropriate STI inputs and investments.
 Facilitating private sector investment in R&D centres in India and overseas.
 Promoting establishment of large R&D facilities in PPP mode with provisions for
benefits sharing.
 Permitting multi stakeholders participation in the Indian R&D system.

 Treating R&D in the private sector at par with public institutions for availing
public funds.
 Bench marking of R&D funding mechanisms and patterns globally.
 Aligning Venture Capital and Inclusion Innovation Fund systems.
 Sharing of IPRs between inventors and investors.
 Modifying IPR policy to provide for marching rights for social good when
supported by public funds and for co-sharing IPRs generated under PPP.
 Providing incentives for commercialization of innovations with focus on green
manufacturing.
 Closing gaps in the translation of new findings at the grassroots and the
commercial space.
 Forging strategic partnerships and alliances with other nations through both
bilateral and multilateral cooperation in science, technology and innovation.
 Triggering ecosystem changes in attitudes, mindset, values and governance
systems of publicly funded institutions engaged in STI activities to recognize,
respect and reward performances which create wealth from S&T derived
knowledge.
Policy Implementation
Implementation of the proposals contained in the Policy will necessitate consultations
with different government departments/ministries and agencies besides consultations
with overarching, science and engineering academies industry and business
associations etc. Accordingly DST will establish a Policy Implementation Group to
expeditiously operationalise the proposals within the next two years.
Backdrop
Prime Minister, Shrimati Indira Gandhi had announced the Technology Policy
Statement (TPS) at the Science Congress in January 1983. It focused on the need to
attain technological competence and self-reliance. Several of the statements of TPS
were implemented. Subsequently, a Science and Technology Policy
(STP) was announced in 2003, seeking to bring science and technology (S&T)
together. It basically called for integrating programmes of socio-economic sectors with
the national R&D system and the creation of a national innovation system. The world
has changed vastly since then in all spheres of human activity. New paradigms of
innovation have emerged, arising, among others, out of the pervasive intrusion of

internet and globalization. Even then systems that foster innovation have become
country and context specific. India has declared 2010-20 as the “Decade
of Innovation.”India’s demographics have changed significantly too. The youthful
populations have high expectations and aspirations of the nation. The Science,
Technology and Innovation Policy (STI) 2013 approved by the Union Cabinet is in
furtherance of this declaration and aims to bring perspectives to bear on Science &
Technology led innovations in the changing context.

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