General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Anxiety disorders are among the most frequently occurring mental health problems in the community today. They often go unrecognised in primary care settings due tolack of awareness and available human resources.

Introduction

• Anxiety, as an emotion, is experienced by many in day-to-day life. In some, it can become persistent and disabling.
• Fear is an emotional response to perceived imminent threat or danger associated with urges to flee or fight.
• This ‘fight-or-flight response’ is characterised by a startled response and physiological changes.
• In contrast, anxiety is the apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by a feeling of worry, distress, and/or bodily symptoms of tension.

Historical context

• Until the last part of the 19th century, anxiety disorders were not classified separately from other mood disorders, such as depression.
• In 1895, Sigmund Freud first suggested that people with mainly anxiety symptoms should be differentiated from depression. He gave the name “anxiety neurosis” to this entity.
• Freud’s original anxiety neurosis included people with phobias and panic attacks. He subsequently divided them into two groups – anxiety neurosis and anxiety hysteria.
• The first group included people with mainly psychological symptoms of anxiety, while the second group had people with phobias and physical symptoms of anxiety.

Prevalence and onset of anxiety

• India’s National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) of 2015-2016 found the prevalence of neurosis and stress-related disorders to be 3.5%.
• These disorders were twice as common in women as compared to men.
• There is evidence that the developmental period of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood are periods of high risk for the onset of anxiety disorders.

Clinical features of anxiety

• Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterised by excessive worrying (which lasts more than six months) and is not restricted to particular circumstances — for example, only when attending a social event.
• Common features include apprehension, tension, difficulty concentrating, and autonomic symptoms such as dry mouth or abdominal discomfort.
• Panic disorder is characterised by recurrent unexpected surges of severe anxiety (also known as panic attacks), which typically peak within 10 minutes and last around 30-45 minutes.
• They are characterised by a sudden onset of palpitations, choking sensation, chest pain, dizziness, depersonalisation (patients feel that they have changed and feel divorced from their own self), derealisation (patients feel that the world has become unreal, distorted or falsified), and fear of dying or losing control.
• Social anxiety disorder is characterised by the intense, persistent fear of being scrutinised or evaluated negatively by others.
• Patients anticipate ridicule or humiliation, and avoid many social situations or endure them with great distress.
• Shyness is a core symptom of social phobia
• Separation anxiety disorder is characterised by fear or anxiety concerning separation from those to whom an individual is attached.
• Common features include excessive distress when experiencing or anticipating separation from home, and persistent excessive worries about potential harms to attachment figures or untoward events that might result in separation.
• Specific (simple) phobia is characterised by the fear of particular objects, animals or situations. Common specific phobias include fears of animals, blood, injection, flying, heights, lifts, enclosed spaces, dental treatment, and choking.

Treating anxiety

• The need for treatment is determined by ascertaining the severity and persistence of symptoms, their impact on everyday life, the co-occurrence of depressive symptoms, and previous response to medication or psychotherapy.
• The choice of treatment is influenced by clinical characteristics, patient and doctor preferences, and the local availability of potential interventions.
• There is much overlap across anxiety disorders for evidence-based effective therapies, such as the prescription of a selective serotonin re uptake inhibitor (SSRI) or a course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), but there are differences in treatment response between disorders.

Conclusion

• Anxiety disorders are among the most frequently occurring mental health problems in the community today. They often go unrecognised in primary care settings due to stigma, lack of awareness, and lack of locally available human resources. Therefore it is vital to increase public awareness of anxiety disorders and the fact that they are treatable with effective interventions.

General Studies Paper 3

Context

• The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study in Nature Communications.

The background

• Predictions of an ice-free Arctic Ocean have a long and complicated history, and the 2030s is sooner than most scientists had thought possible.
• The Arctic has been experiencing climate heating faster than any other part of the planet.
• As it is at the frontline of climate change, the eyes of many scientists and local indigenous people have been on the sea ice that covers much of the Arctic Ocean in winter.
• This thin film of frozen seawater expands and contracts with the seasons, reaching a minimum area in September each year.
• The ice which remains at the end of summer is called multiyear sea ice and is considerably thicker than its seasonal counterpart. It acts as barrier to the transfer of both moisture and heat between the ocean and atmosphere.
• Over the past 40 years this multiyear sea ice has shrunk from around 7 million sq. km to 4 million.
• That is a loss equivalent to roughly the size of India or 12 UKs. In other words, it’s a big signal, one of the most stark and dramatic signs of fundamental change to the climate system anywhere in the world.

Blue Ocean Event (BOE)

• A Blue Ocean Event (BOE) is probably something you’ve never heard of, but in just a few years it will be the biggest story that everyone is talking about.
• A BOE is when the Arctic Ocean changes from being covered in ice year-round and reflecting most of the sunlight that impacts it back into space to being mostly ice-free blue water for a period of time during the warm season (May through October), which will cause it to absorb most of the sunlight that impacts it.
• Once a BOE occurs during a warm season, the Arctic Ocean water will refreeze during the following cold season.
• However, since the water will be slightly warmer each year, longer Blue Ocean Events are expected with each passing warm season, causing extensive impacts to the global climate and human habitat.
• Blue water, which is dark, absorbs more sunlight than white ice, due to the fact that darker colors naturally absorb more sunlight than lighter colors, a phenomenon known as the “albedo effect.”
• One problem with predicting when this might occur is that sea ice is notoriously difficult to model because it is influenced by both atmospheric and oceanic circulation as well as the flow of heat between these two parts of the climate system.

The Consequences

• There is still plenty of uncertainty around the exact date – about 20 years or so– because of natural chaotic fluctuations in the climate system. But compared to previous research, the new study still brings forward the most likely timing of a blue ocean event by about a decade.
• Arctic sea ice is an important component of the climate system. As it dramatically reduces the amount of sunlight absorbed by the ocean, removing this ice is predicted to further accelerate warming, through a process known as a positive feedback.
• This, in turn, will make the Greenland ice sheet melt faster, which is already a major contributor to-sea level rise.
• The loss of sea ice in summer would also mean changes in atmospheric circulation and storm tracks, and fundamental shifts in ocean biological activity.

Way forward

• In conclusion, temperatures could rise strongly by 2026, resulting in humans going extinct, making it in many respects rather futile to speculate about what will happen beyond 2026.
• On the other hand, the right thing to do is to help avoid the worst things from happening, through comprehensive and effective action through a Climate Plan.

General Studies Paper 2

Context

• As we commemorate yet another World Refugee Day (June 20), we honour the courage and resilience of the 103 million individuals who have endured forced displacement due to conflicts and unrest worldwide. These staggering figures mask countless human stories marked by loss and shattered dreams.

Importance of the day

• This day is a reminder of our collective responsibility as global citizens and a call for engagement and empathy.
• It is a day to promote solidarity between communities, and, most importantly, to reflect on the importance of welcoming refugees and displaced persons into our communities.
• Global conflicts which include the ongoing wars in Ukraine, Myanmar and Sudan among others, and the protracted situations in Afghanistan, and Somalia present an unprecedented challenge.
• Sadly, South and Southeast Asia are not immune to the challenges of displacement. India is home to some 250,000 forcibly displaced persons, with women and children constituting half of that population.
• India continues to graciously host and assist refugees and asylum-seekers within its territory — a testament to our shared humanity.

Refugees want opportunities, not handouts

• For refugee youth, it is not just a matter of talent; it is a matter of prospects.
• They want opportunities, not handouts.
• They wish to be self-reliant and are eager to use their talents and passions to contribute to the communities hosting them.
• We can all do more to give them hope and those opportunities while they are away from home.

Dismantling the barriers

• Refugees and asylum seekers encounter a myriad of obstacles, such as legal recognition and challenges in obtaining government-issued documents, which hinder their access to essential services, including financial support and health care.
• It is incumbent upon us to dismantle these barriers and ensure that they are afforded equal opportunities in employment, education, housing, and health care.
• Our efforts in creating an inclusive society must cater to the unique needs of refugee youth.
• To ensure that truly no one is left behind, we should engage with and include youth, especially refugee youth, in the realisation of the Sustainable Development Agenda.
• Addressing the rising number of the forcibly displaced is an urgent moral imperative that demands our collective action.
• The Global Compact on Refugees acknowledges the magnitude of the displacement crisis and calls for solidarity through a whole of society approach.
• It is built on the understanding that the responsibility towards the forcibly displaced is not limited to governments but extends to each one of us including individuals, the private sector, non-government organisations and community-based organisations.
• It also recognises that the Global South is disproportionately affected and that host communities need assistance.

 Conclusion

• This is a critical moment in our lifetimes when we have the power to shape future generations. And we invite individuals, the private sector and governments to do their part in supporting youth from refugee and host communities. Together, we can truly ensure the Government of India’s vision of ‘Viksit Yuva Viksit Bharat’ is realised.

General Studies Paper 3

Introduction

• Quantum computers and artificial intelligence are two of the emerging areas of interest in the realm of computing. Recently, IBM published a paper in which it claimed to have demonstrated that a quantum computer could solve a useful problem that today’s conventional computers can’t, a result merited by concerns that their computations might become too unreliable when they also become complicated.

Defining qubits

• Quantum computers use qubits as their basic units of information.
• A qubit can be a particle — like an electron; a collection of particles; or a quantum system engineered to behave like a particle.
• Particles can do funky things that large objects, like the semiconductors of classical computers, can’t because they are guided by the rules of quantum physics.
• The premise of quantum computing is that information can be ‘encoded’ in some property of the particle, like an electron’s spin, and then processed using these peculiar abilities.
• As a result, quantum computers are expected to perform complicated calculations that are out of reach of the best supercomputers of today.
• Other forms of quantum computing use other units of information. For example, linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) uses photons, the particles of light, as qubits.

Understanding phonons

• Physicists thus wondered whether they can use phonons as qubits.
• Photons are packets of light energy; similarly, phonons are packets of vibrational energy.
• While researchers can manipulate electrons using electric currents, magnetic fields, etc. and photons with mirrors, lenses, etc, they needed new tools to manipulate phonons.
• Beam-splitters are used widely in optics research. Imagine a torchlight shining light along a straight line. This is basically a stream of photons.
• When a beam-splitter is placed in the light’s path, it will split the beam into two, that is, it will reflect 50% of the photons to one side and let the other 50% pass straight through.
• When the single wave interacts with the beam-splitter, it enters a superposition of the two possible outcomes — reflected and transmitted. When these states recombine, an interference pattern shows up.

Types of Phonons

• When the unit cell consists of more than one atom, the crystal will contain two types of phonons. Thus, there are two types of phonons that we study in condensed matter physics:
• Acoustic Phonon: In acoustic phonons, both positive and negative ions swing together.
• Optical Phonon: In optical phonons, both positive and negative ions swing against each other. The optical phonons are excited easily by light.

Properties of Phonons

• Phonons are often used as a quasiparticle; some popular research has shown that phonons and protons may indeed have some kind of mass and be affected by gravity.
• phonons are said to have a kind of negative mass and negative gravity.
• phonons are known to travel faster (with maximum velocity) in denser materials.
• It is projected that phonons would deflect away as it detects the difference in densities, exhibiting the qualities of a negative gravitational field.
• Phonons have also been predicted to play a key role.
• They can also be used as quasiparticles.
• They can be affected by gravity.
• They tend to have negative energy and negative mass.
• They travel faster in denser material (with higher velocity).

Conclusion

• Phonon is an important topic of study in solid state physics and condensed matter physics. It is studied because, most physical structures such skyscrapers, are subjected to crystal vibrations. This vibrations are direct consequence of phonon. Therefore, as a physicists and engineers, we can regulate the strength of vibrations by calculating a good estimate of relations between, frequency, wave vector, and energy. Therefore, studying phonon is encouraged.

General Studies Paper 3

Context

• Over the last few weeks, there has been an increasingly vocal campaign to unseat the President-Designate of COP28, Minister Sultan Al Jaber of the host nation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Background

• This includes a recent letter from United States and European parliamentarians calling for his removal on the grounds that he is CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
• As representatives of developing countries in the climate change front line, and as leaders of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a group of 58 of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries hosting 1.5 billion of the world’s poorest people, we know only too well the urgency of the climate challenge.
• We have endured climate-related economic losses of $500 billion in the last two decades alone.

This is a journey of unity

• However, recognising that this journey, towards a clean energy future, is one we must embark on together.
• Fossil fuel-dependent economies are critical to these efforts, and they clearly have a more difficult task defining their energy transition strategy.
• It is important to avoid division and continue to engage the  fellow parties at COP28 and elsewhere on the best way forward for their economies and for the planet.

Finance will be crucial for COP28.

Debt is a barrier

• Many of the nations are crippled by unsustainable debts, including debts which are becoming unpayable due to climate damages largely caused by emissions elsewhere.
• Rather than going one by one over the financial cliff, we urgently need a collective approach which recognises the debt problem and the barrier it now poses to clean energy investment and climate adaptation.
• Sovereign wealth funds and multilateral development banks (MDBs) could assist in de-risking restructured debts and insuring re-issued climate bonds,
• The UAE leadership for a clean energy target starting in 2025, transforming the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company into the Abu Dhabi Clean Energy and Grid Company by 2030, and towards global financial reform including of the International Monetary Fund.
• The Loss and Damage fund that was secured last year in Sharm El-Sheikh must not be just be another empty bank account, and fossil fuels-dependent economies can demonstrate their commitment to a shared future by making subscriptions to support funding for climate damages in the most vulnerable countries, well in advance of the COP.
• Holding COP28 in the UAE, and with Sultan Al-Jaber as COP President-Designate, may well be an opportunity to engage the fossil fuels industry to make some significant and quantifiable commitments to emissions cuts and climate action in general.

Key Points emphasized by the COP28 president-designate Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber:

• Methane Emissions and Net-Zero Plans.
• Inclusive Energy Transition and Climate Justice.
• Maximizing Technology Adoption and Climate Finance.
• Renewable Energy Capacity and Hydrocarbons.
• Carbon Capture Technologies and Industrial Emissions.
• Breakthroughs in Battery Storage, Nuclear Energy, and Fusion.

Conclusion

• There are no winners and losers in a global climate breakdown. Instead of seeking to exclude relevant parties and stakeholders, we believe everyone should participate in decisions with such important ramifications.
• Time is running out, and we all need to work together to save the 1.5°C Paris target before it is too late.

General Studies Paper 3

Context

• The Y chromosome, often referred to as the “master of maleness”, has long captivated scientists and historians alike.

Y chromosome

• In humans, in addition to the 22 pairs of chromosomes in each, we have a pair of sex chromosomes called X and Y.
• Sex as a specification is determined by these sex chromosomes. They carry sex-determining genes.
• All biological males have X and Y chromosomes and all biological females have two X chromosomes.
• The ‘sex-determining region Y’ on the Y chromosome determines the biological male sex.

‘Juvenile delinquent’

• Estimated to have emerged around 200-300 million years ago in a common ancestor of all mammals, the Y chromosome has had a unique genetic journey, and embedded within its DNA lies a remarkable tale of evolution.
• Scientists published the complete genetic sequence of the Y chromosome in 2003. This sequence provided an outline of 23 million bases of the 60 million or so bases that together make up the Y chromosome.
• In total, the chromosome encoded for only 55 genes and accounted for around 2% of the genetic material inside a cell.
• Many researchers jokingly refer to the Y chromosome as the “juvenile delinquent” among chromosomes pertaining to its abundance of repetitive sequences, poor functional utility (with a small number of genes), reluctance to socialise (i.e. recombine with other chromosomes), and a high proclivity to degenerate over the course of evolution.
• Indeed, because it has little potential to recombine, the diminutive Y chromosome has been passed from father to son, carrying the legacy of generations.

Vital genes

• In a landmark genetic study, published in March 2003 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers reported that around 0.5% of all the men in the world have inherited a Y chromosome from the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan or one of his descendants.
• Y chromosome possesses genes that are vital to biological functions, including those linked to ageing and lifespan regulation.
• In the animal kingdom (including mammals), scientists have noticed substantial differences in lifespan between the sexes: the females tend to live longer than the males.
• This phenomenon has been attributed largely to the absence of a second Y chromosome in males, exposing the deleterious mutations in the X chromosome.
• It is also well known that men lose the Y chromosome with age and that this is associated with a higher frequency of cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, and a shorter lifespan.

Losing the Y

• Studies have shown that LoY in humans occurs with age and is associated with several debilitating medical conditions – a finding that has been validated in mice with LoY, resulting in weak heart muscles (cardiomyopathy), stretchedor thickened heart tissue (fibrosis), and heart failure.
• researchers have also found that the pathological effects observed on account of LoY in mice’s hearts could be negated by transforming growth factor beta 1-neutralising antibodies, suggesting a potential treatment for this medical condition in future.
• The human Y chromosome is about one-third as big as the X chromosome. So, many animal species, including humans, have a genuine fear of losing the Y chromosome in the distant future.

Conclusion

• Genome sequences of the Neanderthals, an ancient relative of the modern human, harbour telltale signs of the replacement of the Y chromosome beginning from modern humans. This suggests that such replacement is not new to the human lineage, and that it is quite possible that the Y chromosome may have to relinquish its coveted title of “master of maleness” to another chromosome in the times to come.

General Studies Paper 3

Introduction

• Nothing focuses the nation’s collective attention on the Indian Railways as a major accident. The triple train collision at Bahanaga Bazar railway station, near Balasore in Odisha on June 2, which led to the tragic loss of over 280 lives, has evoked all the expected responses from various quarters, offering explanations as to how the accident occurred and remedial measures to prevent accidents in the future, and comparisons with Railway systems abroad. In short, there is an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

Safety and the information flow

• This concerns the flow of information regarding unsafe practices or situations on a real-time basis.
• Unlike many other organisations or industries, where the activities or operations are concentrated more or less in a limited area physically the activities of the Railways are spread geographically over a wide area, involving a multiplicity of disciplines (departments) that need to work in close coordination on a real-time basis to ensure the smooth and safe running of trains.
• In order to ensure uniformity in the compliance of rules and regulations and safety in operations, a large number of codes and manuals have been evolved for different departments over the decades to standardise the procedures as far as possible.

Top-down approach

• Ever since the inception of the railways in this country, periodic field inspections by authorities at various levels have been one of the main tools for the management to ensure compliance with laid-down procedures and standards of workmanship.
• While this system has, by and large, stood the test of time over the decades, it suffers from a few drawbacks, particularly in the context of railway safety.
• By its very nature, the “top-down” approach places the onus of detecting deviations from the norm on the higher authorities.
• It becomes a veritable “cops and robbers” scenario, in which the higher authority looks down on the staff at the cutting-edge level with suspicion and distrust; and, conversely, the staff at the lower levels adopt an attitude of “catch me if you can”.
• It encourages window dressing and sweeping of problems under the carpet. Transparency and frankness are usually the casualties in such a situation.
• Detection and rectification of such deviations at the earliest opportunity can prevent many unsafe situations from developing into serious accidents.
• While in every case a remedy may not be available, even becoming aware of the shortcomings on a real-time basis can often help the management in avoiding a major disaster.
• Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS)
• The system was developed by one of the British universities nearly three decades ago for application on the British Railways in the mid-1990s.
• The underlying philosophy is to encourage the lower staff to point out deviations on a real-time basis, maintaining the confidentiality of the reporter, and encouraging the expression of frank views.
• The system, in effect, turns the conventional top down inspection on its head. This is in fact an example of real empowerment of staff.
• With the rapid advances in communications and information technology since CIRAS was developed nearly three decades ago, the introduction of a similar reporting system on the Indian Railways should not be difficult.
• However, there is a need to sound a note of caution. The success and effectiveness of a CIRAS-like reporting system depends not only on putting in place the physical infrastructure but also a total change in the mindset of the management, from the highest to the lower levels, vis-à-vis the staff at the field level.
• There has to be an attitudinal change from the conventional approach of fault-finding and punishment to a more enlightened ethos of a shared commitment to ensure safety at all levels.
• The aim should be to correct, not punish. Listen to the voices from below and act. Effecting this change is not easy.

Way forward

• Perhaps it is time to have a serious rethink on the recently introduced Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS) scheme, which is bound to destroy whatever loyalty and sense of “ownership” that exists towards a particular discipline (department) amongst the management cadre.
• It is perhaps also time to revert to the earlier system of having a full-time Cabinet Minister for the Railways.
• Unprecedented levels of investments at a time when the organisation is going through a challenging phase of transformation amidst many external challenges requires undivided attention at the highest policy-making level.

General Studies Paper 3

Introduction

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been dominating the headlines for its triumphs, and also fears being expressed by many including some of the best minds in AI. Several leading AI experts and thinkers have been part of different cautionary messages about AI. There is deep concern about AI among many who know it.

Artificial intelligence

• Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) refers to intelligence that is not limited or narrow. Think of it as human “common sense” but absent in AI systems.
• Common sense will make a human save his life in a life-threatening situation while a robot may remain unmoved.
• There are no credible efforts towards building AGI yet.
• Many experts believe AGI will never be achieved by a machine; others believe it could be in the far future.

Areas of use, limitations and AGI

• AI systems are capable of exhibiting superhuman performance on specific or “narrow” tasks, which has made it to the news in the field of games like chess and also in biochemistry for protein folding.
• The performance and utility of AI systems improve as the task is narrowed, making them valuable assistants to humans. Speech recognition, translation, and even identifying common objects such as photographs, are just a few tasks that AI systems tackle today, even exceeding human performance in some instances.
• Their performance and utility degrade on more “general” or ill-defined tasks. They are weak in integrating inferences across situations based on the common sense humans have.

ChatGPT – AI Tool

• ChatGPT is a generative AI tool that uses a Large Language Model (LLM) to generate text.
• LLMs are large artificial neural networks that ingest large amounts of digital text to build a statistical “model”.
• Several LLMs have been built by Google, Meta, Amazon, and others.
• ChatGPT’s stunning success in generating flawless paragraphs caught the world’s attention. Writing could now be outsourced to it.
• Some experts even saw “sparks of AGI” in GPT-4; AGI could emerge from a bigger LLM in the near future.
• True AGI will be a big deal if and when it arrives. Machines outperform humans in every physical task today and AGI may lead to AI “machines” bettering humans in many intellectual or mental tasks.
• Bleak scenarios of super-intelligent machines enslaving humans have been imagined. AGI systems could be a superior species created by humans outside of evolution.
• AGI will indeed be a momentous development that the world must prepare for seriously.

The dangers

• Superhuman AI: The danger of a super intelligent AI converting humans to slaves.
• Malicious humans with powerful AI: AI tools are relatively easy to build. Even narrow AI tools can cause serious harm when matched with malicious intent. LLMs can generate believable untruths as fake news and create deep mental anguish leading to self-harm. Public opinion can be manipulated to affect democratic elections. AI tools work globally, taking little cognisance of boundaries and barriers.
• Highly capable and inscrutable AI: AI systems will continue to improve and will be employed to assist humans. They may end up harming some sections more than others unintentionally, despite the best intentions of their creators.
• Another worry is about who develops these technologies and how. Most recent advances took place in companies with huge computational, data, and human resources. ChatGPT was developed by OpenAI which began as a non-profit and transformed into a for-profit entity. Other players in the AI game are Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple. Commercial entities with no effective public oversight are the centres of action.

India must be prepared

• Awareness and debate on these issues are largely absent in India.
• The adoption of AI systems is low in the country, but those used are mostly made in the West.
• We need systematic evaluation of their efficacy and shortcomings in Indian situations.
• We need to establish mechanisms of checks and balances before large-scale deployment of AI systems.
• AI holds tremendous potential in different sectors such as public health, agriculture, transportation and governance.
• As we exploit India’s advantages in them, we need more discussions to make AI systems responsible, fair, and just to our society.
• The European Union is on the verge of enacting an AI Act that proposes regulations based on a stratification of potential risks.
• India needs a framework for itself, keeping in mind that regulations have been heavy-handed as well as lax in the past.

Conclusion

• Everything that affects humans significantly needs public oversight or regulation. AI systems can have a serious, long-lasting negative impact on individuals. Yet, they can be deployed on mass scale instantly with no oversight.

General Studies Paper 2

Context

• Over the last few years, there has been incredible momentum in U.S.-India ties, driven primarily by their defence relationship.

Background

• United States Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin travelled to India from June 4-5 to reinforce the major defence partnership and advance cooperation in critical domains.
• Noticeably, his visit secured an agreement on a road map for defence industrial cooperation, announced as part of the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (Ice-T) agreement and which had its inaugural meeting in January this year.
• The road map envisages boosting defence manufacturing in India through greater technological cooperation.
• While the objectives complement India’s own self-reliance mission and its desire to lessen import dependence, it potentially repositions the U.S. in the broader context of the U.S.-India strategic relationship.

The objectives

• The visit’s objective had two important legs: technological innovation and growing military cooperation.
• One of the most important steps taken during the visit was towards strengthening the bilateral defence relationship by creating a road map to promote collaboration in the defence industry.
• The road map aims to expedite crucial co-development and co-production initiatives, fostering stronger connections between the defence sectors of the two countries.

The initiatives

• There was the launch of a new initiative, Indus-X, which is to provide a new impetus to the defence innovation engagement between the two countries.
• This builds on the U.S.-India bilateral Space Situational Awareness arrangement signed in 2022, which promises to enhance information-sharing and cooperation in the space sector.
• India’s ‘Major Defence Partner’ (MDP) status along with the four foundational agreements signed with the U.S. now allow for the sharing of technology and more frequent cooperation.
• These have not only allowed the sharing of sensitive technologies without India having to become an ally but have also proved to be effective mechanisms to prevent backsliding due to procedural difficulties or structural differences.

The Indo-US mandates

• During the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in April 2022, the U.S. Defence Secretary referred to the U.S.-India defence partnership as the cornerstone of their engagement in the Indo-Pacific.
• He outlined broad aspects in the Indo-Pacific including coercive actions by the People’s Republic of China; the aggressive actions of Russia towards Ukraine aimed at forcibly redrawing borders and undermining national sovereignty; transnational issues such as terrorism and climate change.
• Beyond the Indo-Pacific, a strong rationale for projecting broader industrial cooperation between Indian and U.S. companies in the defence sector is the existing scale of American investments in India.
• American companies led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Honeywell Aerospace, Raytheon, Textron and others partner across a range of manufacturing activities related to the defence sector with Indian companies, most prominently with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the Tata group.
• These are likely to be supplemented by linking defence start-ups from both countries through an ‘innovation bridge’ that was announced in the iCET agreement.
• Recent steps promise to jump start the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) by providing specific momentum to co-production and co-development in the defence sector.

Conclusion

• The visit of the U.S. Defence Secretary has prepared the ground for the official state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.S. on June 22 which could see a few big-ticket announcements, especially in the area of defence cooperation. The sky, it seems, is the limit in the emerging defence partnership between two of the world’s leading democracies.

General Studies Paper 2

Introduction

• In a country as diverse as India, ranking universities and institutions is not an easy task. The Ministry of Education established the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2016 to determine the critical indicators in which institutions’ performance could be measured. Since then, institutions nationwide, including universities and colleges, eagerly await their standings in this nationally recognised system every year.

Ranking by NIRF

• NIRF ranks institutes by their total score and it uses five indicators to determine this score — ‘Teaching, Learning & Resources’ (30% weightage); ‘Research and Professional Practice’ (30%); ‘Graduation Outcomes’ (20%); ‘Outreach and Inclusivity’ (10%); and ‘Perception’ (10%).
• Academic communities have had concerns about the construction of these indicators, the transparency of the methods used, and the overall framework.
• An important part of it is focused on the research and professional practices part of the evaluation because they pay a lot of attention to bibliometric measures.
• Currently, the NIRF releases rankings across various categories: ‘Overall’, ‘Research Institutions’, ‘Universities’, and ‘Colleges’, and specific disciplines like engineering, management, pharmacy, law, etc.
• The rankings are an important resource for prospective students navigating the labyrinth of higher education institutions in India.

Bibliometrics

• Bibliometrics refers to the measurable aspects of research, such as the number of papers published, the number of times they are cited, and the impact factors of journals.
• The allure of bibliometrics as a tool for assessing research output lies in its efficiency and convenience compared to qualitative assessments performed by subject experts, which are more resource-intensive and require time.
• However, science policy experts have cautioned authorities against relying too much on bibliometrics as a complete assessment.
• They argued that bibliometric indicators don’t fully capture the intricacies of scientific performance, and that we need a more comprehensive evaluation methodology.

Issue with overly relying on bibliometrics

• This criticism has been levelled against the NIRF vis-a-vis the efficacy and fairness of its approach to ranking universities.
• For example, the NIRF uses commercial databases, such as ‘Scopus’ and ‘Web of Science’, to get bibliometric data. But these entities aren’t impervious to inaccuracies or misuse.
• The NIRF’s publication-metrics indicator solely considers research articles, sidelining other forms of intellectual contributions, such as books, book chapters, monographs, non-traditional outputs like popular articles, workshop reports, and other forms of grey literature.
• As a result, the NIRF passively encourages researchers to focus on work that is likelier to be published in journals, especially international journals, at the cost of work that the NIRF isn’t likely to pay attention to.
• This in turn disprivileges work that focuses on national and local issues, as international journals prefer work on topics of global significance.

Transparency of NIRF

• University rankings are controversial. NIRF, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and the QS World University Rankings all have flaws.
• Experts have emphasised that they ought to be transparent about the data they collect, the sources and how they collect it, and how that data becomes the basis for the total score.
• The NIRF is partly transparent as it publicly shares its methodology, but it doesn’t provide a detailed view.
• The framework for assessment and scoring are based on bibliometric data. However, there is a potential discrepancy in how they label research quantity and quality. The labels in question are imprecise and potentially misleading.

Conclusion

No matter how rigorous the methods, university rankings invariably involve some level of ambiguity. The NIRF’s emphasis on rankings can lead to unhealthy competition between universities, fostering a culture that puts metrics in front of the thing they are trying to measure: excellence in education and research.