27 June 2023

• Defence: India-US strategic partnership outcomes covered semiconductors, 5G, quantum, critical minerals, and joint space missions.
• Justice: The Delhi High Court upheld the conviction of five Uttar Pradesh police officers for custodial torture causing death.
• Organ donation: National Organ Transplantation Guidelines 2023 removed the age limit for recipients and domicile requirements.
• Space: ISRO confirmed Chandrayaan-3 launch in mid-July 2023. The lander is named Vikram, the rover Pragyan.

GS area: International Relations, Science and Technology

The full scope of the India-US technology partnership announced during the state visit covered six domains.

• Semiconductors: Micron Technology (2.75 billion dollar facility in Gujarat); Applied Materials (semiconductor centre); Lam Research (60,000 engineers trained). India's semiconductor industry stood at 27 billion dollars in 2022, over 90 per cent imported.
• Advanced telecommunications: Open RAN (Radio Access Networks) collaboration, with India and the US co-leading Bharat 6G development.
• Space: Artemis Accords signed; NASA-ISRO joint ISS mission 2024; joint satellite launch cooperation.
• Quantum and AI: Indo-US Quantum Coordination Mechanism; bilateral AI governance dialogue.
• Defence: GE F414 co-production; MQ-9B drones; INDUS-X innovation ecosystem.
• Critical minerals: India's entry into the US-led Minerals Security Partnership covers cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese, and rare earth elements.
• Clean energy: Hydrogen Breakthrough Agenda co-leadership; solar manufacturing supply chain cooperation.

Static linkage: International relations; science and technology; economy.

GS area: Polity, Governance, Ethics

The Delhi High Court upheld the 2019 conviction of five Uttar Pradesh police officers in a custodial torture death case. The torture occurred in 2006 and took 13 years to result in a conviction.

• Constitutional protection: Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) is violated by custodial torture. Article 20(3) protects against self-incrimination, making compelled confessions unconstitutional.
• International standard: The UN's Nelson Mandela Rules (2015) set minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners. India participates in the UN Human Rights Council but has not ratified the UN Convention Against Torture.
• The ethical dimension: Courts have flagged torture is wrong not only legally but also practically: evidence obtained through torture is unreliable, it corrupts the police institution, and it targets the most vulnerable.

Static linkage: Polity; governance; ethics.

GS area: Health, Governance

The government released revised National Organ Transplantation Guidelines.

• Key changes:
  • Removed the previous upper age limit of 65 years for organ recipients.
  • Eliminated domicile requirements (patients can now seek organs in any state, not only their home state).
  • Abolished registration fees.
• India's status: Third largest country by total organ transplants globally (behind the US and China). Total transplants rose from 4,990 in 2013 to 15,561 in 2022.
• Deceased organ transplants: Rose from 837 in 2013 to 2,765 in 2022.
• Living vs deceased: Deceased organ donation is considered ethically superior because it avoids coercion risks and physical harm to healthy living donors.
• WHO Principle 5: Organ donation must be voluntary with no monetary compensation (reasonable expenses may be covered).
• THOA: The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994 is the governing legislation. It was amended in 2011 to allow more relative donors and enable swapping.

Static linkage: Health; governance; ethics.

GS area: Science and Technology

Discussions on India's position in radio astronomy were in the news ahead of the Square Kilometre Array project.

• Radio telescopes: Detect radio waves from astronomical objects. They can operate day and night (unlike optical telescopes), penetrate dust clouds, and detect sources invisible to optical telescopes.
• Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT): Located in Khodad village near Pune, Maharashtra. Operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), a unit of TATA Institute of Fundamental Research. Among the world's largest radio telescope arrays at metre wavelengths.
• Other major radio telescopes: SARAS 3 (India, for detecting cosmic dawn signals); ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array, Chile); FAST (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, China, world's largest single-dish); VLA (Very Large Array, USA).
• ISRO's role: ISRO's SPAR (Space Physics and Applications Research) contributes to space weather monitoring using radio techniques.

Static linkage: Science and technology (astronomy, space).

• Wagner Group aftermath: Russia confirmed Yevgeny Prigozhin (Wagner Group chief) would relocate to Belarus following the failed mutiny of 23-24 June. The Russian ruble fell to a 15-month low. Wagner operations in Syria and Africa continued under modified arrangements.
• Lab-grown meat approved in the US: The US Department of Agriculture approved the first commercial production of cell-cultivated chicken by Good Meat and Upside Foods. Singapore had been the first country globally to approve lab-grown meat in 2020. India has no regulatory framework for cultivated meat.
• Fibonacci spirals in ancient plants: A study of fossilised plants dated to 407 million years found that some early plants showed non-Fibonacci spiral arrangements, suggesting that the near-universal Fibonacci spiral in modern plants evolved later.