National Deep Tech Startup Policy
Pre+Mains (GS3/Science and Technology )
Why in News?
National Deep Tech Startup Policy (NDTSP) Draft has been made available for public comment.
About
Background: At its 21st meeting, the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) advocated the formation of a National Consortium and a Working Group to develop an all-encompassing legislative framework to support the deep tech startup ecosystem in India.
Goal: To establish the groundwork for the development of new industries by utilising the transformative potential of technological advancement across a variety of areas. India’s capabilities are to be greatly strengthened, and global competitiveness is to be improved.
This strategy will be developed by the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India in collaboration with important stakeholders.
The strategy specifies nine major thematic priority areas that call for action in order to start the process of creating a favourable ecosystem:
- Nurturing Research, Development & Innovation
- Strengthening the Intellectual Property Regime
- Facilitating Access to Funding
- Enabling Shared Infrastructure and Resource Sharing
- Creating Conducive Regulations, Standards, and Certifications
- Attracting Human Resources & Initiating Capacity Building
- Promoting Procurement & Adoption
- Ensuring Policy & Program Interlinkages
- Sustaining Deep Tech Startups
Innovations built on cutting-edge scientific and technical advances are referred to as deep technologies. They have the ability to address India’s most severe socioeconomic problems because of their disruptive character.
The four main pillars of India’s deep tech vision are:
- safeguarding India’s economic future;
- moving towards a knowledge-driven economy;
- enhancing national competence and
- sovereignty through the Atma Nirbhar Bharat imperative; and promoting ethical innovation.
Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023
Pre+Mains (GS2/Polity)
Why in News?
The Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was introduced in Lok Sabha.
About:
In order to construct separate lists of Scheduled Tribes for the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, it alters the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes Order, 1989.
The Bill also includes four new communities on Jammu and Kashmir’s list of Scheduled Tribes. These include the Paddari Tribe, Gadda Brahmin, Koli, and Pahari Ethnic Group.
Current Situation:
The Gujjars and Bakerwals, who predominately reside in the districts of Rajouri, Poonch, Reasi, Kishtwar, Anantnag, Bandipora, Ganderbal, and Kupwara, are J&K’s two largest ST communities.
The majority of them, particularly the Bakerwals, are nomadic; in the summer, they move their animals to higher elevations and return only before the start of winter.
After Kashmiris and Dogras, they are the third-largest ethnic group in J&K.
In 1991, along with the two smaller groups of Gaddis and Sippis, they received ST status.
As a result, these four communities were granted a 10% quota for Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in J&K in 2019 as well as 10% reservation in government posts and admission to educational institutions.
Proposed Communities:
The Paharis are people of Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh descent, as well as Kashmiri settlers who have lived in Rajouri and Poonch for a while.
Paharis include those who were displaced from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as well as Hindus from upper castes.
The isolated Paddar region of the mountainous Kishtwar district is home to the Paddari Tribe. The Paddari homeland, which spans two tehsils, shares boundaries with J&K to the west, Pangi in Himachal Pradesh to the south, and Zanskar (Ladakh) to the north and east.
According to the 2011 census, there were 21,548 people living in Paddari, of which 83.6% were Hindus, 9.5% were Buddhists, and 6.8% were Muslims. The locals speak the Paddari language, as do others who have relocated there from other areas.
ISRO successfully conducts TransLunar Injection of Chandrayaan-3
Pre+Mains (GS3/ Science and Tech.- Space)
Why in News?
Chandrayaan-3 was launched towards the moon using the TransLunar Injection (TLI) by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
About
After finishing its orbit around the Earth, Chandrayaan-3 turns towards the Moon. Following a successful perigee-firing at ISTRAC, ISRO successfully placed the spacecraft into a translunar orbit.
On August 5, the Chandrayaan-3 is anticipated to enter lunar orbit, at which point its liquid engine will be fired once more to place the spacecraft in lunar orbit.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission of India:
The third lunar exploration under the Chandrayaan programme will take place on the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which will launch on July 14, 2023.
Similar to Chandrayaan-2, it consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan.
Chandrayaan-3 does not, however, have an orbiter like the previous mission did. Instead, the lander-rover payloads are transported to the moon by the propulsion module, which also serves as a communication relay satellite.
It is planned to launch a rover close to the lunar south pole, where it will conduct a number of tests for the next two weeks.
The lander will disengage from the propulsion module once it is in lunar orbit and make an attempt at a soft landing close to the southern polar area of the moon.
The United States, the former Soviet Union, and China are the only other space agencies to have successfully landed a lander on the moon. None have come close to the south pole of the moon.

Delhi Services Bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha
(Mains: GS2/Government Policies & Interventions)
Why In News?
The Delhi Services Bill is set to replace the Delhi services Ordinance designating the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) as the authority who will have the final say on the postings and transfer of all bureaucrats serving under the Delhi government.
About the Delhi Services Bill
The Bill deviates from the Delhi services Ordinance on two aspects:
Itt drops Section 3A that said, “Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgement, order or decree of any Court, the Legislative Assembly shall have the power to make laws as per Article 239AA except with respect to any matter enumerated in Entry 41 of List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India or any matter connected therewith or incidental thereto.”
It also empowers the L-G to appoint the heads of boards or commissions that are enacted by Delhi Legislative Assembly.
The National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA):
The bill aims to constitute the National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA).
With a view to give effect to the intent and purpose behind the provisions of Article 239AA of the Constitution, a permanent authority is being constituted named NCCSA.
NCCSA would be headed by the Chief Minister of Delhi along with the Chief Secretary, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Principal Secretary, Home, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi,
It is being constituted to make recommendations to the Lieutenant Governor regarding matters concerning transfer postings, vigilance and other matters.
The National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) shall have the responsibility to recommend the transfers and postings of all Group ‘A’ officers (IAS) and officers of DANICS serving in the Delhi government.
Significance:
Several important national and international institutions and authorities like the President, the Parliament, the Supreme Court, various constitutional functionaries, foreign diplomatic missions, international agencies, etc., are located in Delhi and high dignitaries from other nations pay official visits to Delhi.
The highest possible standards are required to be maintained in the administration and governance of the NCT of Delhi
The bill is expected to maintain a balance between the interest of the nation with the interest of the Union territory of Delhi in the administration of the capital to the manifestation of the will of the people reposed in the Central government as well as the government of NCT of Delhi.
Dual Governance of Delhi
Delhi as Union territory (UT) and National Capital Territory (NCT):
- Delhi holds a unique position in India’s administrative framework.
- As a Union territory, it is governed by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act 1991 which provides for both an elected assembly and an L-G appointed by the Union Home Ministry.
- It was amended and is now governed by the Government of National Capital Territory (GNCT) of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021.
- The status of Delhi being a UT under Schedule 1 of the Constitution and the ‘National Capital Territory under Article 239AA, engrafted by the Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014, put the dynamics of the relationship between the elected Council of Ministers in Delhi and the Central Government under severe strain.
- Status:
Delhi was given a fully elected legislative assembly and a responsible government through an amendment in the constitution in 1991.
Since 1991, Delhi had been made a UT with an assembly with “limited legislative powers”.
About the dispute over control of services
About:
- According to few, the Delhi government has no power over administrative services at all.
- Whereas according to others, transfers and postings of Secretaries, HODs and other officers in the scale of Joint Secretary to the Government of India and above can be done by the Lieutenant Governor and for other levels, including DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) officers, the files can be routed through the Chief Minister to LG”.
- Centre’s opinion:
- The Centre had sought a reference to a larger Bench, arguing that it needed the power to make transfers and postings of officers in Delhi on account of it being the national capital and the “face of nation”.
- Opinion of Delhi government:
According to Delhi govt., a government cannot function if it does not have control over services as the exclusion of civil servants will negate governance and render officials unaccountable to people.
Supreme Court’s verdict
- The ruling places following constitutional principles within the interpretation of Article 239AA:
- Representative democracy,
- Federalism and accountability – to an elected government
- The court concluded that Delhi under the constitutional scheme is a Sui Generis (or unique) model, and is not similar to any other Union Territory. It said Delhi presents a special constitutional status under article 239AA.
- The ruling was in favour of the Delhi government.
- The judgment also recognises “principles of democracy and federalism” to be part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
- It held that while Delhi could not be accorded the status of a state, the concept of federalism would still be applicable to it.
Article 239 AA & Special Status of DelhiArticle 239 AA was inserted in the Constitution by the 69th Amendment Act, 1991, and conferred Special Status upon Delhi following the recommendations of the S Balakrishnan CommitteeThe committee was set up in 1987 to look into Delhi’s demands for statehood.Provisions:According to this provision, the NCT of Delhi will have an Administrator and a Legislative Assembly.Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the Legislative Assembly, “shall have the power to make laws for the whole or any part of the NCT with respect to any of the matters in the State List or Concurrent List in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union territories” except on the subjects of police, public order, and land.Article 239AB provides that the President may by order suspend the operation of any provision of Article 239AA or of all or any of the provisions of any law made in pursuance of that article. This provision resembles Article 356 (President’s Rule) |
Women’s Unpaid Labour
Mains: (GS3/Development and Employment)
News:
To recognise women’s unpaid labour, the Tamil Nadu government recently launched Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai Thittam (Women’s basic income scheme), which aims to provide ₹1,000 per month to women in eligible households.
What is Women’s Unpaid Labour?
Indian women have disproportionately borne the responsibility of domestic and care work, which is unpaid.
It includes household-specific tasks like cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, household management and maintenance, grocery shopping, child care, and caring for sick or elderly members.

Chart 3: Women who are not in the labour force (neither employed nor seeking employment) spend 7.5 hours a day. But employed women were not far behind, spending 5.8 hours a day compared to employed men who spent 2.7 hours a day. Unemployed men spend 3.5 hours per day on such chores, over two hours less than employed women.
Chart 4: Married women spend around 8 hours/day compared to women who are widowed/divorced/separated (5.7 hours/day) or have never married (4.3 hours/day). In contrast, married men spend only 2.8 hours/day compared to men who are widowed/divorced/separated (4.2 hours/day) or have never married (3.1 hours/day).
Why is it a concern?
The more the burden of domestic work, the lower the participation of women in the labour force.
India’s female labour force participation rate (LFPR) has been declining for more than 20 years, despite the share of educated women surging in this period.

Chart 1: In the last two decades, female LFPR has fallen from 30% to 24%, despite the Class 10 enrolment rate among girls increasing from over 46% to 87%.
Chart 2: Compare India’s 2022 female LFPR to that of other BRICS countries (excluding Russia) and select South Asian countries. India’s female LFPR (24%) was the lowest among all these countries.
Challenges with measuring and compensating women’s unpaid work:
1. Measuring unpaid work: Whether a value can be assigned to unpaid care work, which usually involves emotions. Can the care provided by a parent to their child be valued in terms of a market wage?
2. A binary view of labour: Housework is conventionally categorised into ‘economic’ and ‘non-economic’ categories, depending on notions of productivity and labour that is productive and accounted for and labour that is not considered productive and is unaccounted for.
3. Identifying what counts as work: Women often undertake unpaid tasks such as weeding fields, tending to cattle, cutting grass, and so on. Typically, this is all considered to be household work, despite it being productive. This work goes unreported and unaccounted for.
4. The perception that housework is women’s work: Compensating housework might further perpetuate this stereotype and could help solidify it. In a situation where women are already rapidly disappearing from the labour force, institutionalising patriarchal conceptions like this may not help bring more women into other paid jobs.
5. Confusion around who provides compensation: Demands that asked husbands to pay wages to their wives for the housework criticised on the grounds that the onus of housework on the housewife, conversely imply that the men are the ‘owner’.
What needs to be done?
- A carefully formed, state-supported policy (instead of a simple transfer of money from husband to wife within the household) could be a viable solution.
- The first step must be to think of methods that assign appropriate values to domestic work and care work, not just because women deserve a salary for their labour, but because it is important to reclaim dignity of such work.
- Use time as a valuing measure: The government needs to account for the non-market household economy.
- Consider a state-supported gender-neutral income transfer at the household level.
- Universalise maternity entitlements and childcare as a public good. This would allow Indian women to move away from the immense burden of care work.
- Invest in public infrastructure and services: Investing in water, sanitation, roads, energy, and health services could significantly reduce women’s work-load.
Way Ahead:
Before attempting to monetise or assign a value to women’s housework activities, it is essential that steps be taken to reduce and redistribute such work.
As women need to be empowered at work, men should be empowered at home. There is a need to sensitize men about the sharing of domestic work.
The Madras High Court recently held that home-makers are entitled to an equal share in household properties purchased by the husband, reason being the wife bears and rears children and minds the home and thereby frees her husband for his economic activities. Thus, giving due recognition to the domestic work done by the women.
Space Junk
Pre+Mains: (GS3/Science and Technology)
Why in News?
The Australian Space Agency has confirmed that a large object found on the shores of western Australia to be the debris of an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket.
Space Junk
- It is not uncommon for space debris to fall to the ground. In the majority of these occurrences, tiny rocket bits that have survived the friction of the atmosphere are at fault.
- In 2021, a sizable piece of a Chinese rocket weighing 25 tonnes crashed into the Indian Ocean.
Concerns: The harm posed by falling space debris to people and property is not insignificant. Large items can pose a harm to marine life and cause pollution even when they fall into the waters.
- International Liability Convention for Space Object Damage
- The Outer Space Treaty, the broad framework governing nations’ behaviour in space, is supplemented by a number of international agreements, including this one.
- The Liability Convention, which was put into effect in 1972, primarily addresses harm done to other space assets by space objects, while it also covers harm to people on Earth by falling items.
According to the Convention, the country that launched the spacecraft is “absolutely liable” for any harm that its spacecraft may have inflicted on the planet or on an airborne mission.
If the nation where the trash lands has been harmed by the falling object, it may file a claim for compensation.
“In accordance with international law and the principles of justice and equity,” is how the compensation sum will be decided.
Only once has this Convention clause led to the payment of compensation thus far; Canada successfully sued the former Soviet Union for damages after a radioactive satellite crashed into an unoccupied area of its northern territory in 1978. According to reports, the Soviet Union paid 3 million Canadian dollars.
Akira Ransomware
Mains: GS 3/Cyber Security
Why in News
The Computer Emergency Response Team of India issued an alert for the ransomware dubbed “Akira.

About Akira ransomware
- It is designed to encrypt data, create a ransomware note and delete Windows Shadow Volume copies on affected devices.
- The ransomware gets its name due to its ability to modify filenames of all encrypted files by appending them with the “.akira” extension.
- It is designed to close processes or shut down Windows services that may keep it from encrypting files on the affected system.
- It uses VPN services, especially when users have not enabled two-factor authentication, to trick users into downloading malicious files.
- Once the ransomware infects a device and steals/encrypts sensitive data, the group behind the attack extorts the victims into paying a ransom, threatening to release the data on their dark web blog if their demands are not met.
- The ransomware, found to target both Windows and Linux devices, steals and encrypts data, forcing victims to pay double ransom for decryption and recovery.
Targeted and Issues
The ransomware has been in use since March 2023 and has progressively accumulated a list of victims, primarily corporate networks in the industries of education, banking, real estate, manufacturing, and consulting.
In addition to stealing private company information, threat actors often use it as leverage when extorting money.
Akira has already attacked firms in a variety of sectors, including finance, education, manufacturing, and asset management, including London Capital Group and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Measures
- CERT-In: Founded in 2004, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is the national nodal organisation that gathers, analyses, and disseminates information on cyberattacks; publishes guidelines, advisories for preventive measures, forecasts, and alerts; and implements actions to handle any significant cyber security event.
- The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre has been established to protect the nation’s critical information infrastructure, while the National Cyber Security Coordinator, under the National Security Council Secretariat, coordinates with various agencies on cybersecurity issues at the national level.
- The National Cyber Coordination Centre aims to raise awareness about current and potential dangers, while the Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) has been established for the purpose of detecting dangerous software programmes and offering free tools to remove them.
Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Mains: (GS3/Science and Technology)
Context
- Electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a crucial element for the world’s transition to becoming net-zero.
What are Electric Vehicles?
- Any vehicle propelled by an electric drivetrain, taking electric power from a portable, electrical energy source, is called an Electric vehicle (EV).
Different Types of EVs
- Hybrid EV: In hybrid EVS an internal combustion engine (ICE) is used to produce electricity with an electrical generator.
- A small battery, typically 1-5kWh, is used in a hybrid EV as an energy buffer to store the electricity.
- The battery can’t be charged from the grid.
- Full EV: Also called a battery EV or a plug-in EV has no ICE and hence no tailpipe emissions.
- The battery typically is much larger at 20-120 kWh and it can only be charged from the grid.
- Plug-in hybrid EV: It is still a hybrid EV with a much larger battery, typically 5-15 kWh.
- This larger battery can also be charged from the grid. This means a plug-in hybrid operates like a fully electric vehicle as long as there is energy in the battery.
- Fuel-cell EV: It uses a fuel cell to produce electricity with a small battery buffer to manage variations.
Fuel CellA fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen or other fuels to cleanly and efficiently produce electricity. If hydrogen is the fuel, the only products are electricity, water, and heat. WorkingFuel cells work like batteries, but they do not run down or need recharging. They produce electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied. Benefits over conventional technologies It can convert the chemical energy in the fuel directly to electrical energy with efficiencies capable of exceeding 60%.Fuel cells have lower or zero emissions compared to combustion engines. Hydrogen fuel cells emit only water, addressing critical climate challenges as there are no carbon dioxide emissions. There also are no air pollutants that create smog and cause health problems at the point of operation. Fuel cells are quiet during operation as they have few moving parts.ApplicationsThey can provide power for systems as large as a utility power station and as small as a laptop/computer. |
Fuel economy of hybrid and fully electric EVs:
- The use of an ICE in combination with a generator and battery in a hybrid EV results in the fuel economy of these vehicles being 1.5-2x times higher than in conventional ICE vehicles for city driving and 1-1.5x times higher for highway driving.
- A plug-in hybrid EV combines the best of both hybrid and full EVs. Using a small battery (5-15kWh) that can be charged from the grid, it can cover 80-90% of all short, day-to-day commutes in a fully electric mode with 3-4x higher fuel economy than conventional vehicles.
Net-zero for a vehicle
- Making vehicles net-zero requires cutting emissions from both new and existing vehicles. It includes emissions from both the tailpipe of the vehicle and at the power plant.
- Well-to-wheel emissions are all emissions related to fuel production, processing, distribution, and use.
- The life-cycle emissions is a more comprehensive index that includes well-to-wheel emissions and emissions due to vehicle and battery production, maintenance, and end-of-life recycling.
- In the case of full EVs: the lower the emissions from power production, the lower the vehicle’s well-to-wheel and life-cycle emissions.
The grids of different countries are decarbonised to different extents at present
How do EVs’ life-cycle emissions compare to ICE vehicles?
According to International Council on Clean Transportation, an independent nonprofit organization, life-cycle emissions of various vehicles in the U.S., Europe, China, and India (Figure 3), switching to full EVs will result in 19-34% lower emissions by sedans and 38-49% by SUVs – even with the fossil-fuel-dominated energy mix in India.

Challenges to transitioning to electric mobility:
- Charging infrastructure: A successful transition to full EVs requires fast-charging infrastructure along highways. The lack of a fast-charging infrastructure will discourage people from buying full EVs.
- The High cost: It is due to the high-capacity power connections, the cost of making and installing a new transformer and cables; high battery costs; service-level agreements; DC charger plug options and quantities; customisation costs; labour costs; and permits.
- Reliability of grids:Economically developing nations don’t have access to a grid or the grid isn’t 100% reliable. This in turn could retard the transition to EVs.
Way Ahead
- The current focus in the industry is on full EVs, which isn’t practical for the immediate future, given grid reliability, state of highway charging infrastructure, and prohibitive vehicle costs.
- Hence, hybrid EVs present a big opportunity to lower emissions in the interim, until we have full EVs powered 100% by renewable energy.
- The 1.5-2x higher fuel economy of hybrids and 3-4x higher fuel economy of plug-in hybrids in electric mode drastically reduces fuel costs, emissions, and oil imports.