Date: 18/01/2023

Relevance: GS-3: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, biotechnology.

Key Phrases: Nuclear fusion, Open AI-based products, quantum technology, RNA methylation, mRNA, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, machine learning, Generative Pretrained Transformer.

Context:

• 2022 followed the prior one as a year of rapid improvement in science and technology. The ‘warp speed’ vaccine development for covid that saved millions of lives was the highlight of 2021.
• That strong innovation thread continued in 2022 with meaningful progress in nuclear fusion, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, vaccine development and mRNA-based applied research.

Highlights of the year gone by:

1. Open AI-based products:
   • 2022 saw the development of Generative Pretrained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), which is a state-of-the-art language processing AI model developed by Open AI.
   • It is capable of generating human-like text and promises to have a wide range of applications.
2. From Quantum Mechanics to Quantum Technology:
   • The revolution in computers has so far taken place through semiconductors or ‘classical bits’; the revolution in quantum technology is just beginning with the development and deployment of quantum bits or qubits.
   • Qubits offer infinitely more combinations than binary strings of 0s and 1s can. While it is still very nascent, quantum computing and communications offer the potential for extreme scale, solving complex problems and transforming the field of cybersecurity.
3. Vaccines for Infectious Diseases:
   • The rapid development of mRNA-based vaccines for covid has rekindled interest and momentum in vaccine research.
   • After decades of research, a malaria vaccine called RTS,S/AS01 was approved for use in 2021 against the falciparum parasite.
   • Several million children in areas where malaria is endemic were vaccinated in 2022.
   • Another vaccine developed by the same laboratory in Oxford that developed the AstraZeneca distributed covid vaccine cleared phase 3 trials in 2022 and will likely be approved for use this year.
   • Both these vaccines and several others in development follow the traditional method of live-attenuated or inactive pathogen-based vaccines with adjuvants, and not the newer mRNA-based methods.
   • There are many efforts underway for mRNA-based vaccine ‘platforms’ that can target a whole class of viruses including viral mutations as they arise.
4. RNA Methylation:
   • Exciting progress has been made in manipulating RNA in such a way that plant yields go up dramatically while at the same time increasing drought tolerance.
   • Gene encoding for a protein called FTO for both rice and potato plants increased their yield 300% in the laboratory and 50% in field tests.
   • The process uses RNA methylation, a reversible modification to RNA that impacts numerous biological processes and regulates gene expression.
   • This has the potential to dramatically increase yield without the dilemmas usually associated with genetic modification.

Why there is a need for Scientific and Technological progress in India?

• Scientific and technological progress is the most crucial driver of long-term development and India has the potential to become a scientific power.
• The development of an indigenous COVID-19 vaccine is just one of many signs of this potential.
• India can benefit from not only geopolitical trends as supply chains diversify away from China, but also scientific trends as emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, and renewable energy mature at breakneck speed.
• Science, today, is at a stage of compounding innovation where advances in one field spur advances in others.

Steps to boost scientific innovation in India:

1. Boosting gross expenditure on research and development (GERD):
   • India must start by increasing its GERD to 1 percent of GDP.
   • It is vital that GERD increase at least in line with India’s economy.
2. National Research Foundation (NRF):
   • The 2020 New Education Policy recommended setting up the National Research Foundation (NRF) to fund large-scale research projects in universities with Rs 50,000 crore over five years.
   • India should implement the recommendation and this could be modelled on the US’s National Science Foundation, which has played a key role in transforming America’s universities into research powerhouses.
3. Incentivising R&D spending in the private sector:
   • While initially, most research spending must come from the Centre, the long-term target must be to incentivise R&D spending in the private sector.
   • The 2021 Economic Survey pointed out, in scientifically dominant countries like the US and China more than 80 percent of GERD spending is from the private sector, which explains breakthroughs like Google’s AlphaFold.
   • By contrast, the Indian private sector contributes only 37 percent of research funding.

Conclusion:

• In nuclear fusion, structural biology and vaccine manufacturing, India is part of many global consortiums that are at the cutting edge of science.
• India’s research and development agenda must transition from Soviet-era independent laboratories to institutes of excellence that are part of the university system.
• This transition will be required to fulfil India’s aspiration of rising from a middle income to an upper middle-income country.

Source: Live Mint

Mains Question:

Q. Why there is a need for Scientific and technological progress in India? Discuss some of the recent Initiatives taken by the Government to boost science and technology in India. (250 words)