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Contents

• Designer babies' or Three parents babies- debate and issues

• Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, 2013

• Bio-Similar medicines

• Draft National Health Policy 2015

• National AYUSH Mission

• Outer Space: Issues and Challenges

• Role of ISRO in rural development

• Net neutrality and why is it important in India?

• 'MeghRaj' (GI Cloud Project): National Cloud Computing Initiative -

• Digital India Programme

• Space Junk- Graveyard Orbit and Kessler’s syndrome

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CURRENT AFFAIRSScience & Technology-I

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NotesDesigner babies’ or Three parents babies- debateand issues

A number of children each year are born with faults in their mitochondrialDNA which can cause diseases. Due to it the parts of the body that need mostenergy are worst affected: the brain, muscles, heart and liver. Faulty mitochondriahave also been linked to more common medical problems, including Parkinson’s,deafness, failing eyesight, epilepsy and diabetes. Thus, Three-parent babiesmechanism has been evolved to decrease the number of children born withdiseases.

What Are Designer Babies?

The colloquial term “designer baby” refers to a baby whose genetic makeuphas been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in-vitrofertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes orcharacteristics.

Three-parent babies are human offspring with three genetic parents, createdthrough a specialized form of In-vitro fertilisation in which the future baby’smitochondrial DNA comes from a third party. The procedure is intended toprevent mitochondrial diseases including muscular dystrophy and some heartand liver conditions. It is the subject of considerable controversy in the fieldof bioethics.

What traits could be changed in a designer baby?

• Gender

• Appearance

• Intelligence

• Disease

• Personality

Technique and methods

Mitochondria are the tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the bodythat convert food into useable energy. They have their own DNA, which doesnot affect characteristics such as appearance. Defective mitochondria are passeddown only from the mother. They can lead to brain damage, muscle wasting,heart failure and blindness.

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NotesThe technique uses a modified version of IVF to combine the DNA of the twoparents with the healthy mitochondria of a donor woman. It results in babieswith 0.1% of their DNA from the second woman and is a permanent changethat would be passed down through the generations.

a) Two eggs are fertilised with sperm, creating an embryo from the intendedparents and another from the donors.

b) The pronuclei, which contain genetic information, are removed from bothembryos but only the parents’ are kept.

c) A healthy embryo is created by adding the parents’ pronuclei to the donorembryo, which is finally implanted into the womb.

a) Eggs from a mother with damaged mitochondria and a donor with healthymitochondria are collected.

b) The majority of the genetic material is removed from both eggs.

c) The mother’s genetic material is inserted into the donor egg, which can befertilised by sperm.

Ethical and other Issues related with the Designer Babies

The process of creating a “designer baby” is often questioned because of it’sshaky moral platform. Though there are certainly some positive things that canbe obtained from the use of genetic engineering used on unborn babies, but itis often wondered if parents will have the “right” reasons to genetically modifytheir baby, or if reasoning will become more superficial.

Some of the cons associated with the genetic engineering of babies are:

a) If the process is not done carefully, the embryo could be accidentallyterminated. Furthermore, the technology used is not 100% safe yet. It isonly in the experimental stages at this point.

b) Parents may use this technology for superficial purposes; such as purposelyseeking out a blonde haired, blue eyed baby for appearance concerns only.

c) Could create a gap in society. “Designer” babies would most likely bebetter looking, smarter, etc. This could create “classes” between designerand non designer babies.

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Notesd) Because the technology is so new, it is unknown whether geneticallymodifying the babies will effect the gene pool. This could cause difficultieslater on throughout the baby’s family tree.

e) A baby cannot consent to having it’s body altered; therefore some do notbelieve it’s right as parents do not “own” their children.

f) The procedure is not cheap, and not everyone would be able to afford it.Could create prejudice between “Designer” and “non designer” children.Could cause the “non-designer” children to miss opportunities becausejobs among other things are more likely to take the “optimum” candidatefor something.

Although there are many questions of if genetically modifying babies is ethical andfor the moral reason, there are many positives to this:

a) Installs a better understanding of genetics for genealogists and biologists.

b) Increases human life span up to 30 years.

c) Prevents genetic diseases such as down syndrome, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’sDisease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and many others.

d) Reduces risk of inherited medical conditions such as obesity, anemia,diabetes, cancer, and many more.

e) Enhancement of children.

f) Allows parents to give their child a healthy life.

Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of IndiaBill, 2013

The Bill aims to promote the safe use of modern biotechnology by enhancingthe effectiveness and efficiency of regulatory procedures. The Bill establishesthe Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India. The Authority will consistof a chairperson, two full time members, and two part time members. The billvividly talks about the powers/functions/working of the NBRA.

National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) will be an independentstatutory body with wide-encompassing functions relating to the bio-safetyapproval of genetically modified products and processes.

According to the 2004 Task Force on Application of Agricultural Biotechnologyreport, the establishment of the NBRA “is a must” if India is “to derive fullbenefit from this fast growing area of science including fields like functionalgenomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and nano-biotechnology, in a safe andresponsible manner.” In fact, in accordance to the report, the establishment ofthe NBRA was “essential for generating the necessary public, political,professional and commercial confidence in the science based regulatorymechanisms in place in the country”.

There is also establishment of the Appellate authority under the bill which willlook into the appeal provisions and coordination among different departmentsof the government.

There is another risk assessment unit established which will further assess therisk involved in the projects/approval application. Risk Assessment Unit willappraise applications for proposed research, transport or import of an organism

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Notesor product, before final approval is granted.  The Product Rulings Committeewill make recommendations to the Authority for the manufacture or use oforganisms or products.  The Environmental Appraisal Panel will makerecommendations on environmental safety of organisms and products.

An Inter-Ministerial Governance Board has been established to promote inter-ministerial or departmental co-operation for the effective discharge of thefunctions of the Authority. A Biotechnology Advisory Council will renderstrategic advice to the Authority regarding developments in modernbiotechnology and their implications in India.

Key Issues with the bill

a) The Tribunal has jurisdiction over a ‘substantial question relating to modernbiotechnology’. However, the Bill does not define this term. Leaving aterm undefined could allow for flexibility but could also increase ambiguity.

b) The Tribunal will consist of one judicial member and five technicalmembers. This is not in conformity with a Supreme Court decision thatthe number of technical members on a bench of a Tribunal cannot exceedthe number of judicial members.

c) The Tribunal’s technical members shall be eminent scientists or governmentofficials with experience in the field. It is unclear whether the technicalexpertise of the latter can be equated with the former.

d) The Bill does not specify any liability for damage caused by a product ofbiotechnology. Therefore, it will remain open to the courts to determineliability arising out of any adverse impact of modern biotechnology.

e) Various committees have recommended that an autonomous statutoryregulator having members with expertise in biotechnology be set up.

Bio-Similar medicines

Unlike generic medicines where the active ingredients are identical, biosimilarsare similar to but not identical copies of the originator biologic. They aresimilar, but not the same. Biologics made by different manufacturers differfrom the original product and from each other. The complexity of biologicsprecludes identical copies and is therefore not the same as generic drugs. Dueto the complex structure of biologic medicines and the processes involved inproduction, biosimilars must be determined on the basis of analytical, non-clinical and clinical data to be similar to an original biologic in terms ofstructural characteristics, and safety and efficacy. Minor differences with theactive ingredient are expected and permitted so long as any such differencesare demonstrated not to be clinically meaningful. The patents of a growingnumber of biologic medicines have already expired or are due to expire, whichhas led to an increased interest in the development of biosimilars.

How do biosimilars differ from the original innovator medicines?

The active ingredient of a biosimilar is expected to closely resemble that ofthe original biologic. Unlike generic medicines (small molecules) where theactive ingredient is required to be identical, the manufacturing process throughwhich a biologic (large molecule) is made cannot be exactly duplicated byanother manufacturer. There are naturally occurring differences between anoriginator and biosimilar medicine:

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Notesa) Biologic medicines are not made using a set of standard materials, but aredeveloped using unique biological systems and living cells. As a result, theactive ingredient is impossible to recreate exactly and the selected celllines from which the biologic medicine originates are unique to eachmanufacturer.

b) The manufacturing process for biologic medicines requires dozens of stepsinvolving hundreds of variables and is generally more complex thanmanufacturing processes for chemical drugs. Any variation in this complexprocess can affect a biologic product’s stability, efficacy, safety and/ orimmunogenicity. Unlike small molecule drugs, biologic medicines areproduced in genetically-engineered living cells that are sustained in a highly-controlled environment. The protein produced by the cells will beinfluenced by individual cell characteristics as well as the environmentand nutrients provided.

c) The manufacturer has different processes that create distinctivecharacteristics in the product, which are specific to the manufacturer. Thiscreates a unique relationship between a biologic’s manufacturing processand the final product approved by regulators.

The emerging role of biosimilars:

Countries around the world face a growing, aging population and an increasein chronic disease. With expanding demand for good-quality healthcare comesthe challenge of controlling healthcare expenditure. The regulated introductionof biosimilars into the market has been forecasted to increase access to muchneeded biologic medicines and reduce costs. Over the next few years, we willcontinue to see a new generation of complex biosimilars being developed asnumerous leading biologic medicines, worth an estimated $81 billion in globalannual sales, will lose their patents by 2020. Fusion proteins and monoclonalantibodies used in cancer and autoimmune diseases are expected to form asubstantial proportion of this new line of biosimilars.

Based on experience gained by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) sincethe introduction of a regulatory mechanism for developing, reviewing andapproving biosimilars in the European Agency, the EMA has updated itsoverarching guidance on the general principles of Biosimilar development,quality and nonclinical and clinical issues. In addition, class specific guidelinesfor growth hormones, monoclonal antibodies, GCSFs, recombinant folliclestimulating hormones, interferons, lowmolecular weight heparins andrecombinant insulin products have been developed. The biologic medicinesmarket is expected to grow to $190-200 billion by 2016, with biosimilars asmall but growing proportion at $2-2.5 billion.

Regulation of biosimilars

In India, biosimilar biologics are regulated as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act1940, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 (as amended from time to time)and the Rules for the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage ofHazardous Microorganisms and Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells1989 (Rules 1989) notified under the Environment (Protection) Act 1986. TheCentral Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and Department ofBiotechnology (DBT), through the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation(RCGM), approved the biosimilar biologics using an abbreviated version ofthe pathway applicable to new drugs. CDSCO is the apex regulatory authorityin India, and addresses issues and challenges for ensuring the safety and efficacy

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Notesof similar biologic products and establishing appropriate regulatory pathways.CDSCO, in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) recentlyissued the Guidelines on Similar Biologics: Regulatory Requirements forMarketing Authorization in India, which have now been implemented. Theseguidelines detailed the regulatory requirements, such as data requirements forproduction process, characterisation, preclinical studies and clinical trials, forthe marketing authorisation of biosimilar biologics.

One of the most important considerations when regulating biosimilar biologicsin India is that a similar biologic can only be approved against an authorisedreference biologic using a complete data package. However, if the referencebiologic is not authorised in India, it should be licensed and marketed for atleast four years with significant safety and efficacy data. The manufacturer hasto submit data demonstrating similarity during product characterisation,preclinical and clinical studies carried out in view of an authorised referencebiologic to ensure that the similar biologic product meets acceptable levels ofsafety, efficacy and quality.

Draft National Health Policy 2015

The health situation in India has improved significantly in the last few decades.The policy and programmatic interventions have succeeded in reducing theburden of communicable diseases and achieved big successes like eliminationof polio from India. However, there are many persisting challenges such as,health services are quantitatively inadequate and quality often not known, lowpublic expenditure on health and people often have to pay out of their pocketsto avail health services at risk of falling into poverty, and the emerging burdenof non-communicable diseases (NCDs), etc. Fortunately, these challenges arebeing recognized and there are incremental steps and clearly articulatedintentions to improve access to quality health services at cost affordable to thepeople, as a part of ongoing discourses on universal health coverage (UHC) inIndia.

On policy level, the Union Government of India has prepared a draft of thenext National Health Policy (NHP) for India. The draft policy has a numberof necessary ingredients, specifically focusing on tackling the known healthchallenges in the country.

Key objectives of the Policy include

a) Improving health status by expanding preventive and curative servicesthrough the public health sector;

b) Reducing out of pocket expenditure on health care;

c) Ensuring availability of free, comprehensive primary health care servicesand access to free essential drugs, diagnostics etc. in public health facilities;and

d) Encouraging the growth of the private health care industry to make healthcare more effective and affordable.

Some of the key focus areas of the Policy are:

a) Strengthening the regulatory framework of health care to include reformof professional councils and ensure a balance between autonomy andaccountability of professional councils. The rules regarding setting up of

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Notesmedical colleges and regulation of medical education will be revised tocorrect distortions between prevailing health needs and professional skills.

b) Clinical trials need to be regulated by law. Other laws that need to bereviewed include the Mental Health Bill, the Medical Termination ofPregnancy Act, the Bill regulating surrogate pregnancy and assistedreproductive technologies, Food Safety Act, Drugs and Cosmetics Actand the Clinical Establishments Act.

c) Enacting a National Health Rights Act to guarantee health as a fundamentalright. The central government will do this after discussion and on therequest of three or more states. Other states could choose to adopt thisby a resolution of their Legislative Assembly.

d) Raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP with 40% of thisexpenditure being borne by the central government. In addition to generaltaxation, the government will raise resources by creating a health cess onthe lines of the education cess. Special commodity taxes may be imposedon tobacco, alcohol, extractive industries etc.

e) Focussing on targeted investments in building health infrastructure andhuman resources. Expand the number of specialists and doctors by investingin states with larger human resource deficits. The policy intends tostrengthen 58 existing medical colleges and convert 58 district hospitals tonew medical colleges. The central government shall also expand the numberof AIIMS like institutes of medical education and research from 9 to 15.The financing would be shared between the central and state governments.

Issues and challenges

The latest health policy speaks about a wide variety of issues that plague ourhealth-care system — low public health expenditure, inequity in access, andpoor quality of care. It also suggests a variety of ways to address them, mainlyfocussed around increasing government spending on health and expanding thepublic delivery system.

To meet the expenses, the policy draft wants to introduce a complex systemthat relies largely on tax collection but also proposes tapping the services ofnot-for-profit ventures and trusts.

An assortment of secondary and tertiary services are proposed to be boughtby the government from public and private healthcare facilities — though it isunclear how this differs from the present system of ‘empanelled’ privatehospitals. This system has not proved very effective for various reasons,including delayed and inadequate reimbursement of the costs. Indeed privateprovision and public financing is everywhere a recipe for disaster, and willserve no interests but that of private healthcare providers.

The new policy acknowledges that the present concept of primary healthcarecovers hardly 20 per cent of the health needs and that heavy out-of-pockethealth expenditure is pushing nearly 63 million people into poverty every year.It has, consequently, done well to broaden the definition of primary healthcareto include more services related to reproductive and child health as well asseveral infectious and non-communicable diseases.But although bringing downmedical expenses has been listed among the major objectives of the newpolicy, it has no ideas on how to do it.

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NotesHowever, the health policy fails to tackle head-on the core problem of theIndian health system — its management, administration and overall governancestructure, without which the measures it suggests are merely symptomatictreatments, akin to putting a “Band-aid on a corpse.”

The policy draft itself provides evidence for this malaise. Russia and SouthAfrica both spend a significantly higher amount on public health than India.On the contrary, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are both countries that actuallyspend less on their healthcare (as a percentage of GDP) than India, yet bothhave better outcomes.

Within India too, the draft policy notes that States with better capacity haveutilised the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) funds more effectively,while States with poorer initial conditions have been left with worse outcomes.The fundamental difference lies in management and governance structures.Globally, research findings have highlighted the criticality of administration inimproving health outcomes.

The weight of evidence clearly suggests that if we want our health outcomesto improve, the Indian health policy needs to focus on how its health systemis governed and managed. While our people are among the best and brightest,long years of neglect and misgovernment have vitiated our public managementsystems with perverse incentives. It is easier and more sensible for peoplewithin the system to subvert their jobs — through chronic absenteeism, endemiccorruption and private practice — than to actually do them. The draft policymentions band-aids for a few of these problems, but it needs to prioritise andlay far greater focus on the critical issue of governance and management of theIndian health system.

National AYUSH Mission

Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Governmentof India has launched National AYUSH Mission (NAM) during 12th Plan forim­plementing through States/UTs. The basic objective of NAM is to promoteAYUSH medical systems through cost effective AYUSH services, strengtheningof educational systems, facilitate the enforcement of quality control ofAyurveda, Siddha and Unani & Homoeopathy (ASU &H) drugs and sustainableavailability of ASU & H raw-materials. It envisages flexibility of implementationof the programmes which will lead to substantial participation of the StateGovernments/UT. The NAM contemplates establishment of a National Missionas well as corresponding Missions in the State level. NAM is likely to improvesignificantly the Department’s outreach in terms of planning, supervision andmonitoring of the schemes.

Vision

a) To provide cost effective and equitable AYUSH health care throughoutthe country by improving access to the services.

b) To revitalize and strengthen the AYUSH systems making them as prominentmedical streams in addressing the health care of the society.

c) To improve educational institutions capable of imparting quality AYUSHAYUSH education

d) To promote the adoption of Quality standards of AYUSH drugs andmaking available the sustained supply of AYUSH raw-materials. 

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NotesObjectives

a) To provide cost effective AYUSH Services, with a universal access throughupgrading AYUSH Hospitals and Dispensaries, co-location of AYUSHfacilities at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres(CHCs) and District Hospitals (DHs).

b) To strengthen institutional capacity at the state level through upgradingAYUSH educational institutions, State Govt. ASU&H Pharmacies, DrugTesting Laboratories and ASU & H enforcement mechanism.

c) Support cultivation of medicinal plants by adopting Good AgriculturalPractices (GAPs) so as to provide sustained supply of quality raw-materialsand support certification mechanism for quality standards, GoodAgricultural/Collection/Storage Practices.

d) Support setting up of clusters through convergence of cultivation,warehousing, value addition and marketing and development ofinfrastructure for entrepreneurs.

Components of the Mission

1. Mandatory Components:

a) AYUSH Services

b) AYUSH Educational Institutions

c) Quality Control of ASU &H Drugs

d) Medicinal Plants

 2. Flexible Components:

a) AYUSH Wellness Centres including Yoga & Naturopathy

b) Tele-medicine

c) Sports Medicine through AYUSH

d) Innovations in AYUSH including Public Private Partnership

e) Interest subsidy component for Private AYUSH educational Institutions

f) Reimbursement of Testing charges

g) IEC activities

h) Research & Development in areas related to Medicinal Plants

i) Voluntary certification scheme: Project based.

j) Market Promotion, Market intelligence & buy back interventions

k) Crop Insurance for Medicinal Plants

Out of the total State envelop available, 20% funds will be earmarked forflexible funds which can be spent on any of the items given below with thestipulation that not more than 5% of the envelop is spent on any of thecomponents:

The financial assistance from Government of India shall be supplementary inthe form of contractual engagements, infrastructure development, CapacityBuilding and supply of medicines to be provided from Department of AYUSH.

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NotesThis will ensure better implementation of the programme through effective co-ordination and monitoring. States shall ensure to make available all the regularmanpower posts filled in the existing facilities. The procurement of medicineswill be made by the States/UTs as per the existing guidelines of the scheme.

Issues and challenges

There are some practical challenges in the mainstreaming of AYUSH into theexisting healthcare system.

First, the broad philosophical orientation of each system of medicine is distinct.For example, while the allopathic system addresses symptoms and treatmentof causes of illnesses based on a biomedical model understood with the helpof epidemiological investigations, the Ayurveda system largely operates on aholistic approach to illness that balances the three doshas namely vata,pitta and kapha and places health in the larger context of social, economic,environmental, and psychological situations. This diversity in approach is veryimportant to keep in mind while integrating the systems. While this differencepertains to only one of the AYUSH specialties, it is important to note thatAYUSH itself comprises five very different specialties, thus leading to greaterdiversity. Philosophically divergent practices forced together without a commonground can mean chaos unless the systems are ready to evolve, gaining fromtheir mutual strengths.

Another significant challenge in the mainstreaming process that is currentlyadvocated is that of cross referral of patients.  Legally, cross practice has beenprohibited by the Supreme Court of India, where there is a clear direction thatnon allopathic practitioners may not practise allopathic medicine. This is alsoclear in the Code of Medical Ethics of the Medical Council of India, whereit is stated: “A person obtaining qualification in any other system of Medicineis not allowed to practice Modern system of Medicine in any form.”  TheCommon Review Missions of the NRHM have shown that AYUSHpractitioners are practising Allopathic medicine in several states, including UttarPradesh, Chattisgarh and Bihar. Given that there is clear law prohibiting crosspractice, its implications on mainstreaming have to be assessed.

Other challenge is Issue of Public accountability. Accountability of the systemto the public is an essential component of the health system as it ensurescommunity acceptance, involvement and participation. The NRHM hasincorporated several mechanisms for community accountability. Some of theseare community monitoring of the programme; village health, water and sanitationcommittees which make the detailed village level health plan; and patientwelfare societies (rogi kalyan samitis) at the level of the primary, secondary andtertiary care facilities which will govern the functioning of the facilities. Suchaccountability mechanisms are now largely restricted to the allopathic system.The document on mainstreaming of AYUSH does mention the establishmentof patient welfare societies for AYUSH hospitals at the district and tertiarycare levels. But there is no mention of accountability at the level of integratedcare at the primary and secondary levels. Though there is a clear mention oftraining the ASHA in AYUSH, the village health plan does not emphasiseAYUSH. AYUSH should also be made a part of the village health plan. Unlessit is integrated at the grassroots level, there is no scope for proper publicaccountability of the AYUSH practitioner. For better evolution of the publicaccountability mechanism, there is also a need for active advocacy aboutAYUSH at the village level and health worker level. Unless patients knowwhat they are getting, how can we expect them to question it?

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NotesOuter Space: Issues and Challenges

Outer space is the near-vacuum beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. It has no airto scatter the light and so what we observe is a black emptiness spangled withstars and other extraterrestrial matter.

What constitutes Outer Space?

• It is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth.

• It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing alow density of particles predominantly plasma of hydrogen and helium, aswell as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, neutrinos, dust and cosmicrays.

UN treaties coming under the supervision of UN committee on peaceful uses ofouter space

• Outer Space Treaty: The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities

of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moonand Other Celestial Bodies.

• Rescue Agreement: The Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, theReturn of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer

Space.

• Liability Convention: The Convention on International Liability forDamage Caused by Space Objects.

• Registration Convention: The Convention on Registration of Objects

Launched into Outer Space.

• Moon Treaty: The Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the

Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.

Outer Space Treaty

The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing theActivities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including theMoon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international

space law. The Treaty was opened for signature by the three depositoryGovernments (the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates of America) in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967.

The Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework on international space law,including the following principles:

• The exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefitand in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all

mankind.

• Outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all States;

• Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty,by means of use or occupation, or by any other means;

• States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destructionin orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other

manner.

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Notes• The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peacefulpurposes;

• Astronauts shall be regarded as the envoys of mankind;

• States shall be responsible for national space activities whether carried outby governmental or non-governmental entities;

• States shall be liable for damage caused by their space objects; and

• States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies.

Space Race:

With the advancement of technology and integration of nations througheconomy, the level of partnership among nations has gained momentum. Wewitness several bilateral and multilateral forums where cooperation amongnations is visible. Earlier scientific endeavors were to show one’s capability butnow have added scientific strength-economic strength-political cooperation andfuture partnership. Earlier space advancement and struggle between USA andUSSR were more of political rift. But now it is a multidimensional approach.This space race has paved the way for governance system for space too. OuterSpace Treaty is one such approach because Space comes under Global Common.

Recently, Space Debris and Space Junk has gained much attention due to everincreasing crave of nations to send their space satellites and creating a problemof space junk or debris.

Why focus is on China?

China has made rapid forays in expanding its influence over many of the thirdworld countries keen on entering the space age. By making available spaceservices—by way of building custom made satellites followed by their in orbit-delivery—China not only stands to expand its business interests but also seeksto strengthen its diplomatic clout. By arranging soft loans and providing knowhowand expertise for building and launching satellites on reasonable terms, Chinais all set to become a recognized player in the multi- billion dollar global spacemarket. Indeed, this dual offer of technological support and financial assistanceon reasonable terms has made China the most sought after “space partner” forthe developing countries.

A. China’s Strategy:

• India and other like minded nations are skeptic about China’s so calledsoft space diplomacy. Particularly India feels that China is encircling India,now from space.

• A thin line of ‘String of pearls’ and ‘Maritime Silk Route’ of China,already a concern for India from long time. Secondly China has left noscope untapped where India has failed to tap or boost its relations with itsneighboring nation.

• China’s endeavors may not be against India in reality but loss of neighborshold is a major concern for India, whatsoever may be the reasons.

B. Concerns for India:

China has done its best to support the Sri-Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives,Pakistan and other nations in satellite technology. India’s concern is inevitable

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Notesas India has no hold in space diplomacy even among its neighbors. In today’sdiplomatic ties certain leverages or cooperation matters a lot. When China isdoing well to support in scientific development, it is inferred that it will getmajor future cooperation from those nations and enhance its importance,strategically and economically that can affect several future economical andpolitical engagements of India. In short, China’s String of pearls, Maritime SilkRoute and now thread of space satellites to have eye on India.

So, we can derive that China’s space diplomacy will largely affect India onfollowing grounds:

1. Security

2. Economic

3. Political

4. Scientific research and cooperation

• One of the major concerns for India is securing its border. With Chinaencompassing space with the help of India’s neighbor, it is comprehensiblethat China can be detrimental for India’s internal security as well by itscovert spying through satellites. Also, with its ‘String of pearls’ and‘Maritime silk Road’ in place, China is an imperative threat to India’ssecurity.

• There is no denying the fact that China’s assertiveness to intrude in other’sbusiness has already been exposed through various cyber attacks. Andwhen it would have hold of satellites, then spying is not a problem forthem.

• There can be other dimensions too. For instance, China’s growing staturewould allure other developed nations to cooperate and certainly Chinawill have greater say in multilateral forums where developed worlds wouldbe involved.

• Secondly, in matters directly affecting India and China, the more strongand influential will have its hold. This is hard to comprehend but diplomacyat world level lean towards them who are economically and politicallymore powerful.

What is there for India?

• India is not far from China in terms of technological developments inspace technologies. India’s strength in PSLV’s has marked its image atworld level. The recent advancement in GSLV and cryogenics can be ofgreat help for India. Further the commercial arm of ISRO, Antrix iscollaborating with many foreign stakeholders to further India’s interest.

• India’s cooperation with France, Canada, Japan, Germany etc is already atits best in satellite endeavors.

Role of ISRO in rural development

Rural is essentially agricultural, its settlement system consists of villages orhomesteads, socially it connotes greater interdependence among people, moredeeply rooted community life, and occupationally it is highly dependent oncrop farming, animal keeping, tree crops and related activities.

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NotesAs a concept, rural development connotes overall development of rural areaswith a view to improve the quality of life of rural people. In this sense, it isa comprehensive and multidimensional concept and encompasses thedevelopment of agriculture and allied activities, village and cottage industries,socio-economic infrastructure, community services and facilities, and above allthe human resources in rural areas

But more than 700 million Indians live in rural areas and far-flung villages thatdo not yet have basic services such as electricity, sanitation and water, muchless knowledge-enhancing technologies such as telecommunication services.

In order to bring about development and enhance the quality of life of thevillagers a definite policy with regard to communication support must beformulated and pursued.

Space technology, as the powerful enabler, provides a variety of vital inputs forholistic and rapid development of rural areas, and villages in specific. India hasbeen among the world leaders in developing end-to-end capability in bothsatellite remote sensing and communication. Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) has made remarkable progress in building state of the art the-art spaceinfrastructure such as the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) for communicationand the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites for earth observation. ISRO hasalso been a champion in demonstrating the use of space technology for societalgood. ISRO has piloted several socially relevant space application projects likethe Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), the Training andDevelopment Communication Channel (TDCC), the Jhabua DevelopmentCommunications Project (JDCP) using INSAT; and finding prospectivegroundwater zones to provide drinking water in villages, providing land andwater resources development plans at watershed level using IRS. Space basedservices, emanating from Satellite Communication (SatCom) and EarthObservation (EO) hold much value in transforming the village society. WhileSatCom provides the conduit for effective delivery of information and servicesacross vast regions, the EO provides community-centric spatial information interms of geo-referenced land record, natural resources, sites for exploitinggroundwater for potable and recharge, incidence of wastelands havingreclamation potential, watershed attributes, environment, infrastructure relatedinformation, alternative cropping pattern, etc. Synthesising the spatialinformation with other collateral and weather information, EO also facilitateslocale-specific advisory services at community level. Space based systems areeffective in supporting disaster management at community level, wherein thevulnerability and risk related information, early warning, forecast of unusual/extreme weather conditions, etc., provide for building resilience at villagecommunity level.

Thus Space technology should be harnessed by the local bodies to create aninformation base and for providing service.

Space Technology Applications for Rural Development are discussed below:

Satellite communication and earth observation satellites have demonstratedtheir capabilities to provide the services relating to healthcare, education, weather,land and water resources, land records, agricultural advisories, etc., relevant atcommunities/ village level. The value-added, high-resolution earth observationimages provide community-centric, geo-referenced spatial information formanagement of natural resources, such as land use/ land cover, terrain

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Notesmorphology, surface water and groundwater, soil characteristics, environmentand infrastructure.

• Village resource centre

ISRO has embarked upon VRC programme to disseminate the portfolio ofservices emanating from the space systems as well as other InformationTechnology (IT) tools, directly down-the-line to the rural communities. VRCs

essentially have: digital connectivity (for videoconferencing and informationtransfer) with knowledge centers and specialty healthcare providers enabledvia INSAT; spatial information on natural resources generated using IRS data;a host of information pertaining to management of natural resources andsocio-economic relevance; and facilities for primary healthcare services and

distance education.

With the involvement of stakeholders, VRCs will catalyse ruralentrepreneurship; and facilitate e-Governance and other services of social

relevance. ISRO is implementing VRC programme in partnership with reputedNGOs, Trusts and other agencies including the Governmental ones.

VRC Services – Portfolio

Tele-education: Focus is on imparting vocational training at local level - aimedat skill development and capacity building to catalyse livelihood support in

rural areas; supplementary teaching to rural children; and non-formal and adulteducation.

Tele-healthcare: Thrust is on both preventive and curative healthcare at primary

level. The Telemedicine system at VRCs consists of customised medicalsoftware, with certain medical diagnostic instruments. With the help of localdoctor/ paramedic, expert medical consultation and counseling are provided

to the villagers from specialty hospitals. Healthcare awareness is also a majoractivity of VRCs.

Land and Water Resources Management: Information on land and waterresources extracted from satellite images is organised in GeographicalInformation System (GIS), and provided to the villagers through the VRC. The

local farmers, availing the support of the skilled/ trained personnel managingVRCs, utilise this information for better management of their land resources.

Interactive Advisory Services: VRCs facilitate interactions between the localpeople and experts at knowledge centers - Agricultural Universities, TechnicalInstitutions, etc- on a wide range of subjects such as alternative cropping

systems, optimisation of agricultural inputs-like seeds, water, fertilizer,insecticides, pesticides, producer oriented marketing opportunities, crop insurance,etc.

Tele-fishery: VRCs located at coastal tracts are being provided with near realtime information on satellite derived Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ). Informationpertaining to inland fisheries, aquaculture, etc., is also provided through VRCsas relevant.

e-Governance services: The services include information and guidance to localpeople on village oriented governmental schemes on agriculture, povertyalleviation, rural employment, social safety nets and other basic entitlements,animal husbandry and livestock related, micro-finance related, etc.

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NotesWeather Services: Short, medium and long-term weather forecasts, at locallevel; and agrometeorology advisory services are being enabled.

Others: Depending on the local needs, each VRC provides a host of otherservices.

• Satellite Communication

One of the major components and driving force related to rural developmentis communication. It has been given highest priority for bringing desirablesocial and behavioural change among the most vulnerable rural society. Satellitecommunications has the ability to simultaneously reach a large population,spread over vast distances, and inherently is a powerful tool to supportdevelopment education and training.

ISRO had undertaken several projects that focused on development of humanitythrough sophisticated satellite-based communication. Right from the inceptionof utilizing space programmes for development, the experiments like SatelliteInstructional Television Experiment (SITE), Kheda Communications Project(KCP), Jhabua Development Communications Project (JDCP), Training andDevelopment Communication Channel (TDCC) have been carried out.

Example:

ISRO’’s Gram SAT satellite connects rural development ministry with 1100panchayats. The exercise was aimed at getting feedback on the various ruraldevelopment schemes under operation in the state and to gain an insight intothe problems at the field level, on which the ministry needed to focus furtherplanning efforts.

The effort was equally aimed at enhancing the awareness of the beneficiarieson their entitlement and various processes involved for availing the benefit ofthe schemes.

The communication initiative was part of the ministry’s effort to bring abouttransparency and efficiency in implementation of its various schemes all overthe country, for which it has been initiating different proactive measures likeonline monitoring and social auditing, among others.

Gram SAT pilot projects are being run in some select states of the country andare being utilised very to reach out development messages directly to thevillagers by ensuring community listening, viewing and linking up large bodyof villagers.

• Tele-Education

The tele-education programme launched by ISRO, serviced by the exclusivesatellite ‘EDUSAT’, is primarily intended for school, college and higher levelsof education to support both curricula based as well as vocational education.With 5 Ku-band transponders providing spot beams, and one Ku-bandtransponder providing national beam, and 6 extended C-band transponderswith national coverage beams, EDUSAT is specifically configured for audio-visual medium, employing digital interactive classroom and multimedia multi-centric system. Many important institutions such as the IGNOU, UGC, IITs,and many State Education Departments and Universities are making use ofthe EDUSAT network. Presently, more than 34,500 classrooms are in theEDUSAT network out of which 3,400 are interactive terminals.

Satellites can establish the connectivity between urban educational institutionswith adequate infrastructure imparting quality education and the large number

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Notesof rural and semi-urban educational institutions that lack the necessaryinfrastructure. Besides supporting formal education, a satellite system canfacilitate the dissemination of knowledge to the rural and remote populationabout important aspects like health, hygiene and personality development andallow professionals to update their knowledge base as well. Thus, in spite oflimited trained and skilled teachers, the aspirations of the growing studentpopulation at all levels can be met through the concept of tele-education.

• Tele-Medicine

A healthy citizen contributes to make a healthy nation. Over the years, thegovernment has introduced various healthcare initiatives and policies, whichhas resulted in the increase in life expectancy of our citizens. However,providing healthcare to millions of people in rural India is really a formidablechallenge. It is a matter of concern that a meager 3% of the qualified doctors,who are attached to about 23,000 Primary and 3,000 Community HealthCentres, are available to attend to the 70% of the Indian population. Satellitecommunication technology, combined with information technology provides atechnological means of taking the benefits of the advances in medical sciencesto large sections of people spread out in remote and inaccessible villages.

Telemedicine is a confluence of Communication Technology, InformationTechnology, Biomedical Engineering and Medical Science. The Telemedicinesystem consists of customised hardware and software at both the Patient andSpecialist doctor ends with some of the Diagnostic Equipments like ECG, X-ray and pathology Microscope/Camera provided at the patient end. They areconnected through a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) system andcontrolled by the Network Hub Station of ISRO. Through a Telemedicinesystem consisting of simple computer with communication systems, the medicalimages and other information pertaining to the patients can be sent to thespecialist doctors, either in advance or on a real time basis through the satellitelink in the form of Digital Data Packets. These packets are received at thespecialist centre.

ISRO’s telemedicine network has enabled many poor rural villagers hithertodenied with quality medical services to get the best of medical services availablein the country. As of now, we have 377 tele-medicine nodes consisting of 320remote/ district/ medical college/ mobile hospitals connected to 57 superspecialty hospitals in different cities through ISRO’s satellites. The ISROtelemedicine network is expanding to various regions in the country and hasbecome one of the most visible and sociological applications in the worldtoday.

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NotesMobile Telemedicine Unit consisting of Medical equipment along withTelemedicine hardware, software and VSAT system mounted in a Bus/Van canestablish a Mobile Telemedicine centre at any place. The major area of MobileTelemedicine applications are in the field of Tele Opthalmology andCommunity Health. Under Mobile Tele Opthalmology, Rural Eye Camps canbe conducted and the Rural Population can undergo eye screening for Cataract,Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy. Under Community Health Program,Mobile Telemedicine units are very useful not only for Disease Prevention butalso for Health Promotion in terms of running awareness camps & teachinghygienic practices. Village Resource Centres and Telemedicine Recently, ISROhas also initiated pilot projects for integrating Telemedicine/Tele-health withthe Resource Information database as well as Tele-Education facilities at theVillage Resource Centres/Community Centres (VRC) to reach out to morerural areas of the country. The first of the pilot projects has been implementedin the state of Tamil Nadu wherein the nodal centre operated by an NGOagency at Chennai is connected to remote villages in three districts and moreare to come in the future.

One of the major advantages of Telemedicine technology has been the saving

of cost and effort to the rural patients as they are not required to travel long

distances for obtaining consultation and treatment. A study conducted by an

independent agency on one thousand patients in the Chamarajanagar district

hospital in Karnataka has revealed that there was a cost saving of 81% to the

patient. That is, the patients who availed the telemedicine consultation and

treatment spent only 19% of the money which they would have otherwise

spent if they had to travel to the nearest cities for a similar treatment. In the

case of remote offshore islands, this is much more significant both to the

patient and the Government administration. In such cases, not only the patients

have the cost saving but can be provided with quick and timely medical aid.

• Disaster Management Support

India is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world with increasingvulnerability to cyclones, floods, landslides, droughts and earthquakes. The

Disaster Management Support (DMS) Programme of ISRO, provides timely

support and services from aero-space systems, both imaging and

communications, towards efficient management of disasters in the country.

The DMS programme addresses disasters such as flood, cyclone, drought,

forest fire, landslide and Earthquake. These include creation of digital database for facilitating hazard zonation, damage assessment, etc., monitoring of

major natural disasters using satellite and aerial data; development of appropriate

techniques and tools for decision support, establishing satellite based reliable

communication network, deployment of emergency communication equipments

and R&D towards early warning of disasters.

To support the total cycle of disaster/ emergency management for the country,

in near real time, the database creation is addressed through National

Database for Emergency Management (NDEM), a GIS based repository of

data. NDEM is envisaged to have core data, hazard-specific data, and dynamic

data in spatial as well as aspatial form. 

Airborne ALTM-DC data acquisition is being carried out for the flood pronebasins in the country. The development of flight model of C band DMSAR isnearing completion. SAR data was acquired over selected basins usingDevelopment model of DMSAR. Towards providing emergency

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Notescommunication for disaster management activities, and at the behest of Ministryof Home Affairs (MHA), ISRO has set up a satellite based Virtual PrivateNetwork (VPN) linking the National Control Room at MHA with DMS-DSCat NRSC, important national agencies, key Government Offices in Delhi andthe Control Rooms of 22 multi-hazard-prone States. Further ISRO has developedand deployed INSAT Type-D terminals (portable satellite phones), INSATbased Distress Alert Transmitter (DAT) for fishermen, Cyclone WarningDissemination System (CWCS) and DTH based Digital Disaster WarningSystem (DDWS) in disaster prone areas.

As part of R&D support to DMS for remote sensing applications, work onTropical Cyclone Track intensity and landfall prediction, Earthquake Precursorstudies, Coastal Vulnerability mapping and Early Warning of Landslides arebeing carried out. 

The DMS programme is also supporting the many international initiatives bysharing data and information. Through International Charter “Space and MajorDisasters” and Sentinel Asia (SA) initiative for supporting disaster managementactivities in the Asia-Pacific region, ISRO is providing IRS datasets and otherinformation for use during major calamities. 

Remote Sensing Applications

Remote sensing has enabled mapping, studying, monitoring and managementof various resources like agriculture, forestry, geology, water, ocean etc. It hasfurther enabled monitoring of environment and thereby helping in conservation.In the last four decades it has grown as a major tool for collecting informationon almost every aspect on the earth. With the availability of very high spatialresolution satellites in the recent years, the applications have multiplied. InIndia remote sensing has been used for various applications during the last fourdecades and has contributed significantly towards development.

India has its own satellites like Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) series -Resourcesat, Cartosat, Oceansatetc which provide required data for carryingout various projects. Some of the important projects carried out in the countryinclude Groundwater Prospects Mapping under Drinking Water Mission,Forecasting Agricultural output using Space, Agro-meteorology and Land basedobservations (FASAL), Forest Cover/Type Mapping, Grassland Mapping,Biodiversity Characterization, Snow & Glacier Studies, Land Use/Covermapping, Coastal Studies, Coral and Mangroves Studies, Wasteland Mapping etc.The information generated by large number of projects have been used byvarious departments, industries and others for different purposes likedevelopment planning, monitoring, conservation etc.

Some Future Programmes:

• Space Based Information System for Decentralized Planning (SIS-DP) 

Realizing the potential and capability of remote sensing and GIS for providingcost and time-effective resource database, the Planning Commission, Ministryof Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Rural Development has proposed toprepare District Resource Atlases using remote sensing and GIS techniques tostrengthen various aspects of decentralized district level planning through a co-ordinated approach.

The ICT enabled geospatial platform can be formed using space based EOsystems and engaging local bodies for planning and carrying out areadevelopmental activities in a decentralized, speedy and transparent manner.

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NotesThe Major Objectives are:

I. Spatial depiction of land & water resource along with their attributeinformation for preparation of District Resource Geospatial Atlaskeeping Village Cadastral data as base on seamless manner for entirecountry; (States which are already covered may be brought to uniformstandard with respect to content and accuracies),

II. Development of software tools and utilities (including web based GISapplications and standalone) for providing multipurpose user drivenapplications for speedy, accurate and transparent decision making for districtplanning.

III. Capacity building in state departments along with training of manpowerand capability for spatial data analysis, which will maintain, update &manage database for decentralized planning.

Village cadastral maps will be collected, scanned, vectorised and geo-referencedto be overlaid onto ortho-rectified imagery. Attribute data from user departmentswill be converted into spatial layer and various customized information systemwill be developed for use in planning activity. One node for each state will becreated for providing centralized facility for archiving, organizing, updating anddissemination of information at grassroots level.

The objective of the Space based Information System for Decentralized Planningmission is to establish and enable the information system comprising of spatialnatural resources and non-spatial data towards supporting the districts for thedecentralized planning. This GIS database will be customized to meet therequirements of stake holder departments/concerned in providing the digitalresource atlases and any other requirements of the States based on theirproblems/priority/developmental programme at Village/Block/Taluka/Districtlevel. The Mission is intended to be executed and supported by State RemoteSensing Application Centres/Institutes/IT Departments and Industries andownership of the database and resource information will be with respectiveindividual stakeholder departments.

Net neutrality and why is it important in India?

As its name indicates, net neutrality is about creating a neutral internet. Thebasic principle driving net neutrality is that the internet should be a free andopen platform, almost like any other utility we use in our home (like electricity).Users should be able to use their bandwidth however they want (as long as it’slegal), and internet service providers should not be able to provide priorityservice to any corner of the internet. Every website (whether it’s Google,Netflix, Amazon, or UnknownStartup.com) should all be treated the samewhen it comes to giving users the bandwidth to reach the internet-connectedservices they prefer. Your electric company has no say over how you use yourelectricity—they only get to charge you for providing the electricity. Netneutrality aims to do something similar with your internet pipes.

What are the Arguments for Net Neutrality?

Proponents of net neutrality don’t want to give the ISPs too much powerbecause it could easily be abused. Imagine that Verizon or AT&T don’t like theidea of Google Voice, because it allows you to send text messages for freeusing your data connection. Your cellphone carrier could block access to GoogleVoice from your smartphone so you’re forced to pay for a texting plan from

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Notesthem. Or, they see that a lot of people are using Facebook on their smartphone,so even if they have the bandwidth to carry that traffic, they decide to chargeyou extra to access Facebook, just because they know it’s in high demand andthat they can make a profit.

What will happen if there is no net neutrality?

To put it out straight, if there is no net neutrality, the Internet won’t functionas we’ve known it too. It will mean Internet Service Providers (ISP) will beable to charge companies like YouTube or Netflix as they consume morebandwidth, and eventually the load of the extra sum will be pushed to theconsumers. Similarly, ISPs can then create slow as well as fast Internet lanes,which will mean all websites cannot be accessed at the same speed and onecan do so only on paying an additional sum. For instance, currently, you havea standard data package and access all the content at the same speed, irrespectiveof whether its an international website or desi. Similarly, ISPs can also chargeextra for the free calls you make using services like WhatsApp, Skype andothers, and eventually the load of additional payable sum by the OTT playerswill be pushed onto consumers.

Net Neutrality is extremely important for small business owners, startups andentrepreneurs, who can simply launch their businesses online, advertise theproducts and sell them openly, without any discrimination. It is essential forinnovation and creating job opportunities. Big companies like Google, Twitterand several others are born out of net neutrality. With increasing Internetpenetration in India and given that we are becoming a breeding ground forstartups and entrepreneurs, the lack of net neutrality should worry usgreatly. Besides, it is very important for freedom of speech, so that one canvoice their opinion without the fear of being blocked or banned.

Net neutrality in India

Taking the recent events into account, its time net neutrality is imposed inIndia too.

Since the past couple of years, the instances of Internet censorship in Indiahave increased manifold. In 2011, India adopted the new ‘IT Rules 2011’ thatsupplemented the IT Act 2000. These rules made it mandatory for Internetintermediaries to remove objectionable content within 36 hours of receivingcomplaint. But the terms included were vague and open to interpretations.These rules received sharp criticism, but they have prevailed. In 2011,government also drew flak as it asked major sites like Google, Facebook andYahoo to ‘pre-screen’ content and remove any objectionable, defamatory contentfrom going live.Government requests for banning content has also been on riseover the past couple of years.

On the other hand, with the increasing popularity of instant messaging appslike WhatsApp, Viber and others, telcos had started making noise against theaccelerated adoption of these services. Throughout last year, they’ve havebeen quite vocal about their dislike for over-the-top (OTT) services, who havebeen cannibalizing their main revenue streams – calls and SMSes.

There was buzz around a fee being imposed on popular OTT services, but thematter fizzled out soon after TRAI rejected telcos’ proposal to do so. In a bidto make up for the losing revenue, Airtel decided to play evil Santa on Christmas2014 and announced an extra charge on making VoIP calls. The social mediahad gone all out condeming Airtel for the act, and the service provider had to

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Notessoon retract its decision. Net neutrality got yet another blow in India with therecent announcements from Reliance and Airtel.

In India, Facebook has teamed up with Reliance Communications in an effortto bring Internet.org to smartphone as well as feature phone users. But at theMobile World Congress, telecom service providers such as Vodafone, Airteland Telenor have made their discomfort clear when it comes to offering freeInternet services over expensive telecom networks.

In order to compete with Reliance, Airtel announced Zero marketing platformallowing customers to access apps of participating app developers at zero datacharges. Now, you may be wondering what is wrong if someone wants to offerfree Internet? Free internet sounds tempting, but you need to be aware that youare only getting free access to services/apps which have struck a deal with thetelcos. App developers and services flush with funds will not find it an issueto pay telcos for data charges. But this can leave app developers, specially startups, who cannot afford Airtel or Reliance’s data rates at a definite disadvantage.

In India, the concept of net neutrality doesn’t exist legally. However, ISPs tryto moderately not violate any laws. They’ve approached TRAI for the losingrevenues and are awaiting TRAI’s decision on regulation IM app by OTTplayers. Most decisions here are made by DoT and TRAI. However, it wouldbe a good move to get things legally on paper, while Internet access in Indiais still at its infancy.

‘MeghRaj’ (GI Cloud Project): National CloudComputing Initiative

Cloud computing in simple terms can be defined as storing and accessing dataand programs over the Internet instead of computer’s hard drive. Cloud in theterm of Cloud Computing refers to set of hardware, networks, storage, services,and interfaces that combine to deliver aspects of computing as a service.

MeghRaj is a set of discrete Cloud computing environments (National andState Clouds) built on existing or new (augmented) infrastructure, following aset of common protocols, guidelines and standards issued by the Governmentof India.

Components of MeghRaj

• Setting up of National Clouds by Centre.

• Enhance the e-Gov Appstore.

• Demand Assessment.

• Setting up of Cloud Management Office – Setting up an eco system forCloud proliferation (Policies, Guidelines, templates, security norms,certification, migration support, business models for applications, tariff &revenue models for private sector Cloud services) – Empanelment/Accreditation of Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) – Awareness workshopsand training programs for cloud adoption for departments.

• Setting up of Clouds by other Government entities.

• Setting up of Dedicated Clouds by Private players.

• Cloud ready application development, test and training environment.

• MeghRaj (GI-Cloud) service Directory.

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NotesAdvantages of GI Cloud

• Optimum utilization of existing infrastructure.

• Any software made available by any government of department in Indiacan be made available to other departments as well without additionalcosts.

• It provides single point for maintaining Information & CommunicationTechnology (ICT) infrastructure in India.

• According to the demands from the citizens of India, infrastructure of thegovernment can be increased accordingly.

• Efficient service delivery

• A security framework for the entire GI Cloud will lead to less environmentalcomplexity and less potential vulnerability.

• Increased user mobility.

• Reduced effort in managing technology.

• Ease of first time IT solution deployment.

• Cost reduction.

• GI Cloud shall prescribe the standards around interoperability, integration,security, data security and portability etc.

Uses of Meghraj

• The GI Cloud will provide services to government departments, citizensand businesses through internet as well as mobile connectivity.

• In addition to accelerating the delivery of e-services to citizens andbusinesses , the government’s cloud-based service delivery platform willalso support a number of other objectives including increasedstandardization, interoperability and integration, etc.

Can MeghRaj - the govt cloud infrastructure bridge the centralised services gap?

Over the next decade, the Indian government’s g-cloud approach will drivemajor changes in the types of services it delivers - not just to citizens but alsoto employees and businesses by:

a) Rolling out services faster and reaping the desired benefits earlier;

b) Optimising the use of infrastructure while reducing management overhead;and

c) Reducing bureaucracy and increasing transparency.

while the government’s effort to centralise services via the g-cloud iscommendable, the initiative will be successful if the government can overcomethree fundamental challenges.

These challenges are:

A lack of common policies will challenge application reuse. The problem issignificant in India due to the diversity of the federal structure and the disjointed,disparate IT initiatives of the central and state governments. The government

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Noteswill face challenges in getting the various departments to use common policiesand a shared g-cloud infrastructure.

Individual technology stacks and a lack of infrastructure standardisation willlimit success. The Indian government has set up multiple data centres andallowed vendors to colocate their hardware infrastructure in these data centersfor the rollout of e-Governance initiatives. Forrester believes that the governmentwill face significant challenges in managing, consolidating, and scaling its privateg-cloud model.

The lack of a clear mandate or incentives will affect g-cloud uptake. A closerlook at the g-cloud framework published by the government reveals that thereis no clear execution plan. The government should not rely on incentives andsanctions to spur widespread adoption of the g-cloud, because individualdepartments still feel the need to control all aspects of their services.

To harness the power of cloud, the g-cloud needs to provide a wide range ofservices that are more efficient and economical than traditional ICTinfrastructure. While other government initiatives, such as the process architectingframework and common service centres, address some of the fundamentalissues related to eServices penetration, the g-cloud initiative must focus onstandardisation, optimisation, and the partner ecosystem.

Issues and Challenges in Cloud Computing:

a) Data Segregation – Encrypted information from multiple companies maybe stored on the same hard disk, so a mechanism to separate data shouldbe deployed by the provider.

b) Recovery – Every provider should have a disaster recovery protocol toprotect user data

c) Investigative support

• If a client suspects faulty activity from the provider, it may not havemany legal ways to pursue an investigation

• Tools / Techniques / Process for Law Enforcement assistance

• National Security issues

Digital India Programme

Recently the government of India has launched Digital India which aims totransform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledgeeconomy.  The programme will be implemented in phases from the currentyear till 2018.  The Digital India is transformational in nature and would ensurethat Government services are available to citizens electronically.  It would alsobring in public accountability through mandated delivery of government’sservices electronically, a Unique ID and e-Pramaan based on authentic andstandard based interoperable and integrated government applications and databasis.

Vision of Digital India

The vision of Digital India programme aims at inclusive growth in areas ofelectronic services, products, manufacturing and job opportunities etc. It iscentred on three key areas –

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Notes• Digital Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen

• Governance & Services on Demand and

• Digital Empowerment of Citizens

With the above vision, the Digital India programme aims to provide BroadbandHighways, Universal Access to Mobile Connectivity,  Public Internet AccessProgramme,  E-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology,eKranti – Electronic Delivery of Services, Information for All, ElectronicsManufacturing: Target Net Zero Imports,  IT for Jobs  and Early Harvest

Programmes.

Key Projects of Digital India programme

Several projects/products have already launched or ready to be launched asindicated below:

a) Digital Locker System aims to minimize the usage of physical documentsand enable sharing of e-documents across agencies. The sharing of the e-

documents will be done through registered repositories thereby ensuringthe authenticity of the documents online.

b) MyGov.in has been implemented as a platform for citizen engagement in

governance, through a “Discuss”, “Do” and “Disseminate” approach. Themobile App for MyGov would bring these features to users on a mobilephone.

c) Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Mobile app would be used by people and

Government organizations for achieving the goals of Swachh BharatMission.

d) eSign framework would allow citizens to digitally sign a document onlineusing Aadhaar authentication.

e) The Online Registration System (ORS) under the eHospital application has

been introduced. This application provides important services suchas online registration, payment of fees and appointment, online diagnosticreports, enquiring availability of blood online etc.

f) National Scholarships Portal is a one stop solution for end to endscholarship process right from submission of student application,

verification, sanction and disbursal to end beneficiary for all the scholarshipsprovided by the Government of India.

g) DeitY has undertaken an initiative namely Digitize India Platform

(DIP) for large scale digitization of records in the country that wouldfacilitate efficient delivery of services to the citizens.

h) The Government of India has undertaken an initiative namely BharatNet, a high speed digital highway to connect all 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayatsof country. This would be the world’s largest rural broadband connectivityproject using optical fibre.

i) BSNL has introduced Next Generation Network (NGN), to replace 30

year old exchanges, which is an IP based technology to manage all typesof services like voice, data, multimedia/ video and other types of packetswitched communication services.

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Notesj) BSNL has undertaken large scale deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots throughoutthe country. The user can latch on the BSNL Wi-Fi network through theirmobile devices.

k) To deliver citizen services electronically and improve the way citizens andauthorities transact with each other, it is imperative to have ubiquitousconnectivity. The government also realises this need as reflected by including‘broadband highways’ as one of the pillars of Digital India.  Whileconnectivity is one criterion, enabling and providing technologies to facilitatedelivery of services to citizens forms the other.

Significance of each pillar of Digital India programme and the challengesgovernment faces in trying to implement them:

a) Broadband Highways

Digital India aims to have broadband networks that will span India’s cities,towns and 250,000 villages by end-2016, along with a system of networks anddata centres called the National Information Infrastructure.

The vision is grand. If successful, it could transform citizen access to multimediainformation, content and services. It also gives the government access to agreat deal of information. However, laying cables doesn’t ensure they will beused.

After years of broadband and nationwide fibre-optic infrastructure targets, India

remains stuck at a total of 15 million wire line broadband users. Yet mobile

broadband use has exploded, currently standing at 85 million users, driven by

apps like Facebook and WhatsApp, and the sharing of images and videos.

Experience shows that it is communications and content, not empty pipes, that

drive network usage. And manufacturing content is not a government strength.

This project needs content and service partnerships with telecom companies

and other firms, with new entrepreneurs.

b) Universal Access to Phones

This focuses on mobile network penetration, with a plan to fill the gaps in

connectivity in India by 2018. Though mobile networks have reached most

populated parts of India, the last mile is a long one: 42,300 villages still exist

outside the reach of a mobile signal.

“Universal access” does not, however, guarantee a working network. Even in

its major cities, India’s mobile network is so stressed that many say it’s broken,

with call failures and drops a common complaint. An intense shortage of

spectrum has driven up costs and driven down service quality for India’s telecom

industry.

But the problem is much bigger than dropped calls. As many as 85% of India’s

100 million broadband users are mobile. As users ramp up multimedia use, and

the next 100 million mobile broadband users come on board, networks will not

be able to keep up. Digital India needs more spectrum.

c) Public Internet Access

This aims to increase the number of government-run facilities (Common Service

Centres or CSC) that provide digital services to citizens, especially in remote

or rural areas with low connectivity.

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NotesThe objective is to increase the 140,000 facilities to 250,000, or one in nearly

every village. It also aims to convert 150,000 post offices into multi-service

centres. The vision is that the longest distance a villager or tribesperson should

have to travel should be to the nearest CSC.

This project was first approved in 2006, but moved slowly in its initial years.

One of the big boosts from Digital India could be the dramatic ramp-up the

mega-project is setting as a target. Citizen services will be one driver of adoption.

d) e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology

Of all the “pillars” of Digital India, this is the oldest and most mature initiative.

For decades, hundreds of e-governance projects have been piloted across India.

Many were quick successes that however died out once the chief promoter,

often a bureaucrat on a two-year posting, moved on.

The processes and services include digitising manual databases, introducingonline applications and tracking, using online repositories for citizen documents,

introducing publicly-visible government workflow automation, and public

grievance redress. Almost every e-governance project that India needs has

been successfully piloted somewhere in the country. The daunting task for

Digital India will be to take successful pilot projects, replicate and scale them

up.

e) e-Kranti - Electronic Delivery of Services

e-Kranti comprises 41 large e-governance initiatives, called “mission modeprojects”. They span e-education (all schools to get broadband and free wi-fi,as well as MOOCs - Massive Online Open Courses), e-Healthcare andtechnology for farming, security, financial inclusion, justice, planning and cyber-security.

The sheer scale of these projects helps ensure that they do not meet the fateof most e-governance projects in India, which remain pilots.

Several have been completed successfully, including the overhauled passportservice, and the “MCA21” project for company registration from the Ministryof Corporate Affairs.

f) Information for All

This set of web, mobile and social media platforms aims to connect citizenswith the government. It is already well under way, both on social media, andthe citizen portal MyGov.in.

These digital channels are used mostly in broadcast mode, with governmentresponding to very few, filtered, questions, and no criticism, especially frommedia.

g) Electronics Manufacturing

This plan aims for “net zero imports” in electronics, or imports that matchexports by value, by 2020. This is ambitious.

As of now, India stands to import three quarters of the $400bn worth ofelectronics products it will consume in the next five years. Hardware exportsas of now are still under $10bn. This calls for a very big ramp-up in localmanufacturing.

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NotesThe plan includes incentives for big chip fabrication as well for mobile and set-top box manufacturers, and clusters and incubators for start-ups. That’s probablythe biggest push and global image makeover being attempted by the presentgovernment, via its “Make in India” campaign launched last year.

Critics of the programme say that the “manufacturing first” focus can slowprogress when the objective should be on something else, like education (suchas with the previous government’s Aakaash tablet programme). There is alsoa school of thought that “net zero” imports should be seen on a wider canvas- for instance across technology products and services. India exports nearly$100bn worth of technology and business process services.

h) IT for Jobs

This is a project to train 10 million students from smaller towns and villagesfor IT sector jobs over five years. Among the plans: Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) locations in every north-eastern state, 300,000 service delivery agents tobe trained for IT services, and 500,000 rural workers to be trained by telecomoperators for their own needs.

The challenge here is not just the numbers, but quality. The technology sectorincreasingly finds that the dwindling manpower resources available for its jobsare under-trained and mismatched to its needs. Most firms are forced to investa great deal into their own training for “fresher” recruits.

i) Early Harvest Programmes

These are the low-hanging fruit, and the projects already under way. For instance,a new messaging platform for government employees has over 13 millionmobiles and 2 million emails in the database; biometric attendance for allcentral government offices in Delhi, wi-fi in universities and in public locations,eBooks in schools, SMS-based weather information, disaster alerts.

The challenge remains usage.For instance, the project aims to provide secureemail as the primary form of communications within the government, and tothe outside world.

Official email has been available for well over a decade in India, though itssecurity is debatable. Yet most government officials and politicians prefer touse personal email services from Gmail and other public providers that can beaccessed on their mobile phones. Most experts see this as a huge risk.

Space Junk- Graveyard Orbit and Kessler’ssyndrome

Space junk or space waste is the collection of defunct objects in orbit aroundEarth. This includes everything from spent rocket stages, old satellites, andfragments from disintegration, erosion, and collisions. Since orbits overlap withnew spacecraft, debris may collide with operational spacecraft. More than 100million objects orbit our planet, experts estimate, but only 1,134 of them areoperational satellites. The rest is space junk: moribund satellites, discardedrockets, and millions of smaller pieces of debris, the result of in-orbit collisions.

Humanity must act now to reduce the vast amount of space junk around Earthto keep the problem from getting completely out of hand. NASA estimatesthat there are currently 500,000 pieces of space junk bigger than a marble and22,000 as large as a softball. The number of flecks at least 1 millimeter indiameter probably runs into the hundreds of millions. These pieces are moving

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Notesso fast that even a tiny shard could knock out one of the 1,000 or so operationalsatellites currently orbiting the planet. That’s potentially a big problem in ourtechnological society, which is increasingly dependent on satellites to providecommunications.

For one thing, future missions must be sustainable, with proper disposal ofspacecraft at the end of their operational lives. And the world needs to beginremoving debris from orbit soon, or else risk an escalating and self-sustaining

cascade of collisions over the coming years.

Major concerns

• The amount of debris orbiting the Earth keeps growing each year, disrupting

satellites and occasionally putting astronauts in harm’s way.

• If the problem gets severe enough, it could eventually make low-earthorbit unusable.

• There may soon be so much debris in orbit around the Earth that futurespace missions could become impossible, scientists have warned.

• The space junk issue is becoming more severe day by day. All the space

agencies should come together and take this on a serious note. The removalof space junk is pre-requisite for future space missions and no one can

deny this bitter truth.

Steps Taken:

• British scientists have invented a harpoon that could punch a hole inspace debris and send it crashing safely back down to Earth.

• To tackle the problem, the space agency is designing a hunter-killer space

probe to track down and destroy defunct satellites and so halt the growth

of the burgeoning cloud.

• The e.DeOrbit probe would deploy a Roman gladiator-style array of netsand harpoons to first trap rogue satellites and then drag them downwardsuntil they burn up in the atmosphere.

Graveyard Orbit:

A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is a supersynchronous orbit that lies significantly above synchronous orbit,

where spacecraft are intentionally placed at the end of their operational life. Itis a measure performed in order to lower the probability of collisions with

operational spacecraft and of the generation of additional space debris (knownas Kessler syndrome).

A graveyard orbit is used when the change in velocity required to perform a

de-orbit maneuver is too high. For satellites in geostationaryorbit and geosynchronous orbits, the graveyard orbit is a fewhundred kilometers above the operational orbit. The transfer to a graveyardorbit above geostationary orbit requires the same amount of fuel that a satelliteneeds for approximately three months of station keeping. It also requires a

reliable attitude control during the transfer maneuver. While most satelliteoperators try to perform such a maneuver at the end of the operational life,only one-third succeed in doing so.

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NotesKessler Syndrome:

The Kessler Syndrome is a theory proposed by NASA scientist Donald J.Kessler in 1978, used to describe a self-sustaining cascading collision of spacedebris in LEO. It’s the idea that two colliding objects in space generate moredebris that then collides with other objects, creating even more shrapnel andlitter until the entirety of LEO is an impassable array of super swift stuff. Atthat point, any entering satellite would face unprecedented risks of headfirstbombardment.

Matter in orbit travels at ridiculously high speeds, say 22,000km/h, just as anexample. If this matter were to travel in the same plane and direction indefinitely,it would be impossible for any matter to collide, like cars going straight on ahighway at the same speed, never endeavoring to switch lanes or get off on anexit.

But in space, uncontrolled objects do not follow a straight path. Instead, eachpiece of debris is subject to drift and decay. The variation in Earth’s gravitationfield causes drift, or the gradual movement of an object to a different orbitalplane. The friction of an object with Earth’s atmosphere causes decay, or theslow decrease in an object’s altitude.

Live satellites can be repositioned using onboard thrusters to counteract naturaldrift and keep to their intended orbits, but dead ones. Those just keep onfloating, unrestrained, drifting and decaying and, at any moment, knocking intoother drifters.