Syllabus
Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life.
Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology; Indigenization of Technology and Developing New Technology. (GS 3)
Source
The Hindu,22/09/2023
Content
Under development
- Underdevelopment is a state of incomplete or insufficient development.
- Underdeveloped economies are characterized by low per capita income, slow growth rate, economic inequalities, low productivity of labor,underutilization of natural resources,large scale unemployment, dominance of agriculture, high incidence of poverty etc.
Challenges to curb underdevelopment in India
- Poverty: A significant challenge in India is poverty, which affects millions of people and hampers development efforts.14.96% of the Indian population are multidimensionally poor (National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI),2019-2021).
- Education: Ensuring quality education for all is crucial to address underdevelopment.
- Infrastructure: Developing robust infrastructure, including transportation, power, and water supply, is essential for economic growth.
- Corruption: Addressing corruption at all levels is necessary to promote development and ensure efficient governance.Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2021 ranks India 85th out of 180 countries.
- Gender Inequality: Promoting gender equality and empowering women are key challenges that need to be addressed.India has ranked at 127 out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity according to the World Economic Forum’s annual Gender Gap Report, 2023.
- Agriculture: Enhancing agricultural productivity and ensuring farmers’ welfare are important for rural development.
- Employment: Creating employment opportunities and reducing unemployment,underemployment and disguised unemployment are crucial for inclusive growth.
- Environmental Sustainability: Balancing economic growth with environmental conservation is a challenge that needs attention.
- Social Inequality: Reducing social disparities and promoting social inclusion are important for overall development.
Role of technology in curbing underdevelopment in India
- Agriculture: Technology has played a crucial role in transforming India’s agriculture sector. Initiatives like precision farming, soil health cards, and e-NAM have helped increase productivity, reduce wastage, and improve farmers’ incomes.Technology-driven solutions enable better crop management, access to market information, and efficient resource utilization.
- Health: Technology has enabled better healthcare delivery in India through telemedicine, electronic health records (EHRs), and mobile health applications. Telemedicine allows remote consultations, EHRs facilitate efficient patient management, and mobile health apps provide access to healthcare information.
- Education: Technology has transformed education delivery in India through initiatives like SWAYAM that provide free online courses to students across the country. Online learning platforms enable access to quality education resources, bridge the urban-rural divide, and promote lifelong learning.
- Energy Security: Initiatives like the National Solar Mission have helped increase solar capacity in the country. Renewable energy technologies reduce dependence on fossil fuels, mitigate climate change impacts, and create sustainable energy systems.Innovations in biofuels are also reducing the carbon footprint of India.
- Empowerment of society: Initiatives like Digital India focuses on providing digital infrastructure, digital services, and digital literacy to citizens. By leveraging technology, the government can improve service delivery, enhance transparency, and empower citizens.
- Efficient governance: Technology has made governance more efficient, transparent, and accessible to citizens. Initiatives like e-governance, e-procurement, and e-courts have helped reduce corruption and improve service delivery. By digitizing government processes, technology enables faster decision-making, reduces bureaucracy, and enhances accountability.
- Food security:India is leveraging modern biotechnological advancements to improve crop productivity, climate resilience etc.This can address various challenges faced by the agricultural sector and ensure a stable food supply.
- Real-time data: India’s space program has made significant strides in recent years. Missions like Chandrayaan,Mangalyaan etc have showcased India’s technological prowess. Space technology enables weather forecasting, disaster management, communication networks, and navigation systems like NavIC.
Emerging technology for development
- Gene therapy is a technique that modifies a person’s genes to treat or cure disease.Gene therapy can be used to treat diseases including cancer, genetic diseases, and infectious diseases.Advancement in this field will create new revolution in the Health sector.
- Artificial Intelligence has various applications in the current society. AI can solve complex problems in an efficient way in multiple industries, such as Healthcare, entertainment, finance, education, etc.
- Quantum Computing:Quantum Computing has various applications like drug development, financial modeling,cybersecurity,weather forecasting etc.
- Virtual Reality: Virtual Reality has been developed in a variety of domains, such as education, architectural and urban design, digital marketing and activism, engineering and robotics, entertainment, virtual communities, fine arts, healthcare and clinical therapies, heritage and archaeology, occupational safety etc.
Technology: Pros
Technology: Cons
Govt initiatives to improve development through technology
- Aadhaar:India’s Aadhaar digital ID is being used to deliver government subsidies, benefits, and services.
- Blockchain technology:The government of Andhra Pradesh state is utilizing blockchain technology to address issues of fraud and corruption in the state by implementing a blockchain-based platform which would make land ownership data records encrypted and thus incorruptible and transparent.
- DIKSHA – Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing is the national infrastructure platform for school education in India used widely across the country by crores of users in 35 plus languages. DIKSHA has been identified as a Digital Public Good (DPG) by the Government of India.
- eSanjeevani-It is a telemedicine system that has been deployed nationally under Ayushman Bharat Scheme. It extends the reach of specialized healthcare services to masses in both rural areas and isolated communities.
- Nano Ganesh: This is a mobile-based remote controller that is used to control water pumps from a mobile phone with mobile signal connectivity at both ends.The app is useful as an interface between the high voltage starters and the low voltage GSM modules, which allows for farmers to turn the water pumps on and off and to check how much power is available.
Conclusion
- Digitalisation and technological innovation are strong drivers of sustainable development and inclusive growth
- It has a huge potential to reduce poverty, create jobs, increase competitiveness and even facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance.
- Bridging the digital divide must be given a central role in all development policies.
Reference
- https://m.economictimes.com/opinion/et-commentary/how-india-inc-can-leverage-technology-to-curb-insidious-graft/articleshow/101465918.cms
- https://www.eppgroup.eu/newsroom/news/reducing-poverty-through-technology#:~:text=Digital%20technologies%20can%20enable%20low,other%20public%20and%20private%20services.
- https://borgenproject.org/technology-is-reducing-poverty-in-india/#:~:text=Nano%20Ganesh%20is%20a%20useful,signal%20connectivity%20at%20both%20ends.
- https://www.ndear.gov.in/diksha-infrastructure.html