Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Taragiri, the third stealth frigate of the Project 17A, was launched by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. (MDL).

• The second ship of P17A class Udaygiri was launched on May 17 this year and is expected to start the sea trials during the second half of 2024. The keel of the fourth and the final ship was laid on June 28.
• The ship has been built using integrated construction methodology which involves hull blocks construction in different geographical locations and integration/erection on slipway at MDL.

Features

• The steel used in the hull construction of P17A frigates is indigenously developed DMR 249A, which is a low carbon micro-alloy grade steel manufactured by the Steel Authority of India Limited. 
• Indigenously designed Taragiri will have a state-of-the-art weapon, sensors, an advanced action information system, an integrated platform management system, world class modular living spaces, a sophisticated power distribution system and a host of other advanced features.
• It will be fitted with a supersonic surface-to-surface missile system and the ship’s air defence capability is designed to counter the threat of the enemy aircraft and the anti-ship cruise missiles would revolve around the vertical launch and long-range surface to air missile system
• The vessel is being launched with an approximate launch weight of 3,510 tonnes and is designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house design organisation the Bureau of Naval Design
• The ship, 149.02 metre long and 17.8 metre wide, is propelled by a CODOG combination of two gas turbines and two main diesel engines which are designed to achieve a speed of over 28 knots at a displacement of approximately 6,670 tonnes.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has arrested a man who had masterminded the incorporation of a large number of shell companies linked to China and provided dummy directors on their boards to run the fraudulent businesses. 

The arrest was part of the crackdown on Chinese shell companies that are allegedly into serious financial crimes in India.

What are shell companies?

• Shell companies are companies without active business operations or significant assets.
• Shell companies can be set up by business people for both legitimate and illegitimate purposes.
• Illegitimate purposes include hiding particulars of ownership from the law enforcement, laundering unaccounted money and avoiding tax.
• With the shell company as a front, all transactions are shown on paper as legitimate business transactions, thereby turning black money into white. In this process, the business person also avoids paying tax on the laundered money.
• All shell companies are not illegal. Some companies could have been started to promote start-ups by raising funds.

Indian laws to deal with shell companies

• Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016
• The Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002
• The Companies Act, 2013.

Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO)

• The Serious Fraud Investigation Office(SFIO) is a fraud investigating agency. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.The SFIO is involved in major fraud probes and is the coordinating agency with the Income Tax and CBI.
• The Government approved setting up of this organization in 2003 on the basis of the recommendations made by the Naresh Chandra Committee which was set up by the Government in 2002 on corporate governance.
• As per the Companies Act 2013, SFIO is a multi-disciplinary organization under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, consisting of experts in the field of accountancy, forensic auditing, banking, law, information technology, taxation, etc. for detecting and prosecuting or recommending for prosecution white-collar crimes/frauds.
• The SFIO conducts investigations on receipt of a report of the Registrar or on intimation of a special resolution passed by a company, request from any department of the Central Government or a State Government or in the public interest.
• SFIO is headed by a Director as Head of Department in the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India.
• The Headquarter of SFIO is in New Delhi, with five Regional Offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad & Kolkata.

Tax evasion vs. Tax avoidance

• The objective of Tax avoidance is to reduce tax liability by applying the script of law whereas Tax evasion is done to reduce tax liability by exercising unfair means. Tax planning is done to reduce the liability of tax by applying the provision and moral law.

Common tax avoidance techniques include:

• Deducting a charitable donation
• Deducting Health Savings Account contributions
• Putting money into a 401(k)
• Using a student loan interest deduction

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The death of a 12-year-old girl in Kerala from rabies, despite having multiple inoculations of the vaccine.

How does a rabies vaccine work?

• Rabies is a disease that is caused by a family of viruses called the lyssaviruses and found in a range of mammals. 
• The virus targets the central nervous system and is nearly 100% fatal to the host animal if it succeeds in infecting it. 
• Though many animals from cats to crocodiles can be transmitters of the virus, it is most likely to spread to people from the bite of an infected dog or a cat as they are the most common pets. 

How is the vaccine made?

• The vaccine is made up of an inactivated virus that is expected to induce the body into producing antibodies that can neutralise the live virus in case of infection. 
• There are also test vaccines that involve genetically modified viruses.
• There is no single-shot rabies vaccine or one that offers permanent immunity. 
• Administering a vaccine, even after being bitten by a rabid animal, is effective because the virus is slow-moving and it can be several weeks before the disease manifests into a fatal encephalitis.
• A shot of rabies immunoglobulin (rabies-antibodies against the virus derived either from people or horses) followed by a four-week course of anti-rabies vaccine, is nearly guaranteed to prevent rabies.
• There are mainly two ways of administering the rabies vaccine – firstly, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) which is given to persons who have been exposed via a bite to an animal suspected to be infected. The vaccines are administered either into the muscles, or into the skin.
• Secondly, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) which is given ahead of time to persons who have a high risk of being infected, such as veterinarians.
• The advantage of a PrEP is that if bitten, one doesn’t need an immunoglobulin injection, and two subsequent shots of the vaccine will suffice for full protection, unlike the four-course prescription in the case of PEP.
• However, the WHO doesn’t recommend PrEP as a general preventive.

Are rabies vaccines easily available in India?

• According to the Health Ministry, there are at least six rabies vaccines approved for India. 
• They all contain inactivated virus made of duck, chicken or human cell cultures and are marked as safe, efficacious and with long immunity. 
• Rabies vaccines are available for free in government dispensaries though vaccines administered in a private clinic can cost up to ₹500 per dose. 

Vaccines for Animals

• Given that rabies treatment requires multiple shots of vaccine as well as immunoglobin, sticking to the schedule is challenging.
• Governments of countries where rabies is endemic have frequently set targets to eliminate the disease India has committed to do so by 2030. 
• Vaccinating animals too doesn’t guarantee lifelong immunity from the disease. Because dogs are deemed responsible for 99% of all rabies infections in people, the government in its 2021 plan, called the ‘National Action for Plan — Rabies Elimination’, aims to vaccinate at least 70% of all dogs in a defined geographical area annually for three consecutive years. 

Concerns

• Hospitals running out of vaccines
• Knowledge about vaccines and treatment is still inadequate in India.
• No centralised database of vaccine availability is maintained.
• Requirement of multiple shots of vaccine as well as immunoglobin makes sticking to the schedule challenging.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

During Bangladesh Prime Minister visit to India from September 5 to 8, the two sides signed a slew of agreements, including the first water sharing agreement since the landmark Ganga Waters Treaty, 1996.

• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on sharing of the waters of the Kushiyara river, a distributary of the Barak river which flows through Assam, and then on to Bangladesh. 
• The agreement comes in a year when both lower Assam in India and Sylhet in Bangladesh have witnessed deadly floods highlighting the requirement for greater cooperation on flood control and irrigation-related issues between the two countries.

Kushiyara River 

• Kushiyara river is a distributary of the Barak River which originates in the uplands of Assam and flows through it, and then on to Bangladesh.
• Barak River rises in Manipur and is part of Surma-Meghna River System.
• The agreement is aimed to benefit the southern areas of Assam in India and the Sylhet region in Bangladesh.
• Bangladesh will be able to withdraw 153 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water from the Kushiyara out of the approximately 2,500 cusecs of water that is there in the river during the winter season.
• The water of Kushiyara will be channelled through the Rahimpur Canal project in Sylhet.

What is the Kushiyara agreement?

• Over the last century, the flow of the Barak river has changed in such a way that the bulk of the river’s water flows into Kushiyara while the rest goes into Surma. 
• The agreement is aimed at addressing part of the problem that the changing nature of the river has posed before Bangladesh as it unleashes floods during the monsoon and goes dry during the winter.
• Approximately 10,000 hectares of land and millions of people will benefit from the water that will flow through a network of canals in Sylhet benefiting the farmers involved in Boro rice, which is basically the rice cultivated during the dry season of December to February and harvested in early summer. 
• Bangladesh has been complaining that the Boro rice cultivation in the region had been suffering as India did not allow it to withdraw the required water from the Kushiyara. 
• The agreement addresses Bangladesh’s concern over water supply along the river, during the winter months but flood control in the basin of Kushiyara is expected to require much more work.

Why is the water from the Kushiyara so important for Rahimpur Canal?

• The water of the Kushiyara has been used for centuries in Sylhet’s subdivisions.
• The utility of the river and the canal during the lean/winter season had gone down, affecting cultivation of rice as well as a wide variety of vegetables for which Sylhet is famous. 
• The additional water of Kushiyara through the Rahimpur Canal therefore is the only way to ensure steady supply of water for irrigation of agriculture fields and orchards of the subdivisions of Sylhet.

Concerns

• India objection to the to the Rahimpur Canal of Sylhet which was built to help the farmers access Kushiyara’s water – and claimed that the dyke and other infrastructure interfered in border security.
• Similar pact for Teesta River – which is a tributary of the Brahmaputra, originates in the Teesta Kangse glacier and flows through the state of Sikkim and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh; has been in the works for around a decade and is currently disputed.
• Impact of climate change on South Asian rivers that can affect communities and trigger migration.
• Bangladesh has cited low water flow in its rivers during the winter months as a matter of concern as it affects its agriculture sector.

What are the hurdles to the Teesta agreement?

• The Kushiyara agreement is relatively smaller in scale in comparison to Teesta that involves West Bengal, which has problems with the proposal. 
• The Kushiyara agreement did not require a nod from any of the States like Assam from which the Barak emerges and branches into Kushiyara and Surma.
• The reduced water flow of the Kushiyara during winter and Teesta too, however, raise important questions about the impact of climate change on South Asian rivers that can affect communities and trigger migration. 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

The President of India virtually launched the Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan. 

• The President said that it is the duty of all citizens to give high priority to ‘Pradhan Mantri TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’ and to make this campaign a mass movement. 
• It is because TB causes the largest number of deaths among all other infectious diseases in our country. 
• India has a little less than 20 percent of the world’s population, but has more than 25 percent of the total TB patients of the world. 
• Most of the people affected by TB come from the poor section of society.
• Every day 1,200 Indians die of TB — 10 every three minutes.
• According to Health Ministry data, only 63% of the patients infected with the airborne disease are currently under treatment.
• Further, 1,47,000 patients are resistant to first- and second-line TB medicines.

TB Eradication 

• According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, all nations have set the goal of eradicating TB by the year 2030. 
• But the Government of India has set the target of eradicating TB by the year 2025 and efforts are being made at every level to fulfill this resolution.
• At the current rate of progress, global targets to eliminate TB by 2030 will be missed by a 150 years.

What is Tuberculosis (TB)?

• Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious airborne bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 
• It most commonly affects the lungs but can also damage other parts of the body.

Types of TB-related Conditions:

• Latent TB: The bacteria remain in the body in an inactive state. They cause no symptoms and are not contagious, but they can become active; 
• Active TB: The bacteria do cause symptoms and can be transmitted to others; 
• Multi Drug resistant (MDR) TB: It is caused by an organism that is resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin, the two most potent first line TB drugs. These drugs are used to treat all persons with TB disease; 
• Extensively drug-resistant TB: It is resistant to both first- and second-line drugs due to drug misuse and mismanagement. It is a more serious condition than MDR TB. 
• Its symptoms usually include a cough (sometimes blood-tinged), weight loss, night sweats and fever. 
• Patients with active symptoms require a long course of treatment involving multiple antibiotics.

What steps have been taken for combating TB?

• National Strategic Plan for TB elimination (2017-25): It plans to provide incentives to private providers for following the standard protocols for diagnosis and treatment as well as for notifying the government of cases. Further, patients referred to the government will receive a cash transfer to compensate them for the direct and indirect costs of undergoing treatment and as an incentive to complete treatment.
• Nikshay: It is an online tuberculosis reporting system for medical practitioners and clinical establishments that aims to increase the reporting of tuberculosis, especially from the private sector.
• TB-free India Campaign: It was launched to take the activities under the National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination forward in a mission mode for ending the epidemic by 2025.
• Currently, two vaccines VPM (Vakzine Projekt Management) 1002 and MIP (Mycobacterium Indicus Pranii) have been developed and identified for TB, and are under Phase-3 clinical trial.
• Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is presently the sole vaccine available for the prevention of Tuberculosis (TB). However, its efficacy is very less in countries on or near the equator like India, Kenya and Malawi, where the burden of TB is higher.

How to eradicate TB from the society?

• Spread Awareness about the Results from Treatment
• People have to be informed that prevention of this disease is possible.
• Its treatment is effective and accessible.
• The government provides free-of-cost facilities for prevention and treatment of this disease
• Eradicate the Stigma attached with the Disease
• Equipping the patients with vocational skills to help them join the workforce and live a prosperous and productive life.
• The governments, pharma / biotech companies, and foundations must increase investment in TB research, at least to the levels laid out in the UN High Level Meeting Report and make TB a central element in global pandemic response strategies.
• Include Private Sector in this fight.
• The private sector has a very crucial role to play in checking the rise of TB as it is the first place a patient from an urban area visits. We need to make them a partner in this fight.

Advances in TB diagnostics, treatments and prevention need to be pursued and scaled up with the urgency they deserve. If we do not behave like TB is a global health emergency, we will continue to experience unacceptable suffering from a disease that has killed more than 20 million people in this century alone.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

A statue of Subhas Chandra Bose was unveiled by PM of India at India Gate, inaugurated along with the Kartavya Path that was earlier known as Rajpath.

Subhas Chandra Bose’s Early Life

• Born to an upper-class Bengali family in 1897 in Cuttack, Subhas Chandra Bose was the ninth child of Janakinath and Prabhavati Bose.
• In 1909, Subhas Chandra Bose moved to Ravenshaw Collegiate School, where he completed his secondary education. 
• While he continued his European education throughout his life, he became less drawn to Anglicized ways than his family members during his schooling.
• Influenced by the teachings of Ramakrishna and his disciple Swami Vivekananda, as well as the themes of Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel Ananda Math, Subhas found what he was looking for: “his Motherland’s freedom and revival”.
• After school, he entered the Presidency College in Calcutta in 1913, where he studied philosophy. 
• His earliest battle with British authority occurred while he was a student, against Professor of History E F Oaten, who had once in class spoken about England’s civilizing mission in India.
• Afterwards, Bose went to Cambridge University to prepare for the Indian Civil Services (ICS) exam in 1920. 
• But later, determined to join the struggle for India’s freedom, he abandoned the project and resigned from the ICS to join the Mahatma Gandhi-led national movement.

Bose’s Disagreements with Gandhi

• After reaching Bombay, now Mumbai, in 1921, he obtained an audience with Gandhi to get a better understanding of his plan of action. 
• While he had great respect for the Mahatma, Bose left the meeting dissatisfied with the answers he received.
• Gandhi was willing to wait a long time for Independence, Bose wanted immediate action, if not immediate results. 
• Gandhi was anti-materialistic and hostile to modern technology, Bose saw technology and mass production as essential to survival and dignity. 
• Gandhi wanted a decentralized society and disliked the modern state;
• Bose wanted a strong central government and saw the modern state as the only solution to India’s problems. 
• And finally, Bose did not share Gandhi’s dedication to non-violence.”
• Despite tensions between the two, Bose was well aware of the significance of a leader like Gandhi. 
• Bose was the first to call him the “father of the nation” during an address from the Azad Hind Radio from Singapore in July 1944.

The rift within the Congress

• Over the next two decades, Bose devoted his life to the nationalist movement, gaining considerable political influence and becoming one of the most powerful leaders in the Congress party.
• In 1938, he was elected Congress president in the Haripura session, where he tried to push for swaraj as a “National Demand” and opposed the idea of an Indian federation under British rule. 
• He stood for re-election in 1939 and defeated Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya, the Gandhi-backed candidate. 
• 12 of the 15 members of the Working Committee resigned from their roles.
• Bose tried to set up another working committee, but after being unable to do so, was forced to resign and was replaced by Prasad.
• Within a week, he proposed the creation of the “Forward Bloc” within the Congress Party, in order to bring the radical-left elements of the party together.

A Dramatic Escape

• Bose was arrested in 1940 before he could launch a campaign to remove the monument dedicated to the victims of the Black Hole of Calcutta, an incident when a number of European soldiers died while imprisoned in 1756.
• After going on a hunger strike, he was released from jail in December.
• He soon began his escape from India, travelling by road, rail, air and foot in various disguises to avoid British surveillance. 
• He entered Soviet-controlled Kabul via the northwest of India and finally reached Nazi Germany, where he remained for two years. 
• He was provided assistance to defeat the British, and Bose was allowed to start the Azad Hind Radio and was provided with a few thousand Indian prisoners of war captured by Germany.
• Bose soon turned his focus to South East Asia, specifically Singapore, a British stronghold that had been taken over by Japan

The INA and World War II

• The Indian National Army was formed in 1942, consisting of thousands of Indian prisoners of war captured by the Japanese, and supported by Japanese troops.
• After his arrival in Singapore, Bose announced the formation of the provisional government of the Azad Hind in October 1943.
• The Chalo Delhi campaign ended at Imphal however, as the British and British Indian armies, along with American air support were able to defeat the Japanese forces and the INA and push them out of Kohima as well.
• In April-May 1945, Bose, along with the INA soldiers as well as women he had recruited for the Rani of Jhansi regiment was forced to retreat on foot to Thailand, while facing incessant enemy fire.
• After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, the war came to an end.
• After the Japanese surrendered on August 16, Bose left South East Asia on a Japanese plane and headed toward China. 
• The plane, however, crashed, leaving Bose badly burned and dead.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Vice President calls Dara Shikoh as torchbearer of social harmony

• The Vice President said India had a glorious heritage of not only ‘tolerance’ for others’ views, but a unique culture of ‘engagement’ with all views – a culture of pluralism and syncretism. 
• He said that this spirit of mutual respect was exemplified by Indian kings too –  from the time of the great Asoka to the crown prince Dara Shikoh.

About Dara Shikoh

• A genius, a skilled poet, and a Sanskrit scholar, Dara Shikoh studied Sufi and Vedic philosophies extensively.
• He (1615-59) was the eldest son of Shah Jahan and elder brother of Aurangzeb.
• He is described as a “liberal Muslim” who tried to find commonalities between Hindu and Islamic traditions.
• He is known as a pioneer of the academic movement for interfaith understanding in India.
• He had a deep understanding and knowledge of major religions, particularly Islam and Hinduism.
• He was inclined towards philosophy and mysticism over military pursuits in comparison to Aurangzeb.
• In 1655, his father declared him the Crown Prince, but was defeated by Aurangzeb, his younger brother, in 1657 after Shah Jahan fell ill.
• He was assassinated by Aurangzeb, in a bitter struggle for the throne on 30th August, 1659 when he was 44.

His Work

• Dara Shikoh’s magnum opus Majma-ul-Bahrain (which means ‘Confluence of Two Oceans’) has helped in bringing stronger unity among the people of India. It remains ever relevant to not only India but to the entire humanity.
• He translated the Upanishads and other important works from Sanskrit to Persian. 
• He was convinced that the Upanishads are what the Qur’an calls ‘Al-Kitab Al-Maknoun’ (The Hidden book).

Promotion of Indian Culture:

• He acquired proficiency in Sanskrit and Persian, which enabled him to play a key role in popularising Indian culture and Hindu religious thought.
• He translated the Upanishads and other important sources of Hindu religion and spirituality from Sanskrit to Persian. Through these translations, he was responsible for taking the Hindu culture and spiritual traditions to Europe and the West.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

India ranks 132 out of 191 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) 2021, after registering a decline in its score over two consecutive years for the first time in three decades.

The drop is in line with the global trend since the outbreak of COVID-19 during which 90% of the countries have fallen backward in human development.

HDI Index

• The Index is part of the Human Development Report 2021-2022 released by the United Nations Development Programme on Thursday. 

• The HDI measures average achievement of a country in three basic dimensions of human development  a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living.

• It is calculated using four indicators — life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. 
• The world over, nine out of 10 countries have slipped in their human development performance due to multiple crises such as COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and environmental challenges, indicating that human development globally has stalled for the first time in 32 years.

India’s HDI score of 0.633 places it in the medium human development category, lower than its value of 0.645 in 2018,<SU>indicating a reversal in progress.

• India’s expected years of schooling stand at 9 years, down from 12.2 years in the 2020 report, although the mean years of schooling is up at 6.7 years from 6.5 years in the 2020 report.
• Although India retained its 132nd position in the Gender Development Index, the female life expectancy dropped from 71 years in the 2020 report to 68.8 years in the 2021 report.
• The mean years of schooling for females declined from 12.6 to 11.9 years in the corresponding period.
• India scored 0.123 in the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) with a headcount ratio of 27.9 per cent, with 8.8 per cent population reeling under severe multidimensional poverty.
• Over the last decade, India has lifted a staggering 271 million out of multidimensional poverty, the report noted.

India Among South Asian Countries

• Among India’s neighbours, Sri Lanka (73rd), China (79th), Bangladesh (129th), and Bhutan (127th) are ranked above India, while Pakistan (161st ), Nepal (143rd ), and Myanmar (149th) are worse off.
• The report said around 90 per cent of countries registered a decline in their HDI value in 2020 or in 2021.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Army have successfully completed six flight-tests of Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) system from Integrated Test Range (ITR) Chandipur off the Odisha coast.

• The flight-tests were carried out against high-speed aerial targets mimicking various types of threats to evaluate the capability of the weapon systems under different scenarios, including long range medium altitude, short range, high altitude manoeuvring target, low radar signature with receding & crossing target and salvo launch with two missiles fired in quick succession. 
• The system performance was also evaluated under day and night operation scenarios.

Objectives

• During these tests, all the mission objectives were met establishing pin-point accuracy of the weapon system with state-of-the-art guidance and control algorithms including warhead chain. 
• The performance of the system has been confirmed from the data captured by a number of Range instruments like Telemetry, Radar and Electro Optical Tracking Systems (EOTS) deployed by ITR. 

Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) System

• It is a short-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.
• Designed and developed by DRDO to provide a protective shield to moving armoured columns of the Army from enemy aerial attacks.
• QRSAM is a canister-based system stored and operated from specially designed compartments.
• The system is capable of detecting and tracking targets on the move and engaging targets with short halts.
• Missile can operate on the move with search and track capability & fire on short halt
• The entire weapon system has been configured on mobile and is capable of providing air defence on the move.
• It has a range of 25 to 30 km.
• It also consists of two radars – Active Array Battery Surveillance Radar and Active Array Battery Multifunction Radar – with one launcher.
• Both radars have 360-degree coverage with “search on move” and “track on move” capabilities.
• The system uses a single-stage solid propelled missile and has a mid-course inertial navigation system with two-way data link and terminal active seeker developed indigenously by DRDO.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST), a new I-STEM (Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map) initiative called “Women in Engineering, Science, and Technology (WEST)” was launched.

• The WEST programme will cater to women with a STEM background and empower them to contribute to the science, technology, and innovation ecosystem. 
• I-STEM is a national web portal for sharing research equipment/facilities and is the umbrella under which many programmes for promoting collaborations in R&D and technological innovation among and between academia and industry especially startups are underway.
• Through the WEST initiative, I-STEM shall provide a separate platform to scientifically inclined women researchers, scientists, and technologists for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences in frontier areas of science and engineering. 
• Women may join the WEST program and explore opportunities to become stakeholders in various domains and pursue careers in R&D at various levels: technicians, technologists, scientists, and entrepreneurs. 
• The Skill Development programmes under the WEST initiative will provide training for women with S&T backgrounds to brush up on their abilities and become engaged “in the field” as lab technicians and maintenance engineers, filling crucial gaps in the R&D infrastructure of the country. 
• This initiative will also help bring women back into S&T domains after a career break.
• With this experience, women can become entrepreneurs to serve as consultants for the operation and maintenance of sophisticated equipment/instruments through the I-STEM platform. 
• This would go a long way towards filling a “skills gap”, and putting publicly-funded equipment to good use.

Indian Science, Technology and Engineering facilities Map (I-STEM)

• I-STEM is a National Web portal for sharing R&D (Research and Development) facilities.
• The portal facilitates researchers to access slots for the use of equipment, as well as to share the details of the outcomes, such as patents, publications and technologies.

Launch

• Launched in January 2020.
• It is an initiative of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India under the aegis of Prime Minister Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) mission.
• PM-STIAC: It is an overarching Council that facilitates the Principal Scientific Adviser’s Office to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges in hand, formulate specific interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly.

I-STEM shall provide a platform/forum for women researchers to deliberate on achievements, issues, and exchange ideas on taking the country forward through advances in science, technology, and innovation. In addition, a digital consortium “Connect Quickly” for online discussion and immediate support has also been established through the I-STEM WhatsApp and Telegram platforms.