1 August 2023

• Science and Technology: The Draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy was released for public consultation; India ranks third globally in startup ecosystem size.
• Tourism: A Draft National Tourism Policy was released proposing to lift India from its 2023 ranking of 54th in the global travel and tourism competitiveness index.
• Semiconductors: India's Design-Linked Incentive scheme has supported 30 or more semiconductor design startups since its 2021 launch; India has about 20 per cent of the world's semiconductor design engineers.
• Environment: The Stockholm Convention's POPRC recommended listing chlorpyrifos and four other chemicals as persistent organic pollutants, with implications for India's agrochemical regulation.

GS area: Science and Technology, Economy

The National Consortium released a Draft National Deep Tech Startup Policy for public consultation. Deep tech refers to startups built on substantial scientific or engineering advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, quantum computing, and advanced materials.

• India's startup ecosystem: India ranks third globally. The country has more than 326 incubators. About 14 per cent of these focus specifically on deep tech.
• Gap the policy addresses: Funding drops sharply as a startup moves from early research to commercialisation. This gap in the innovation pipeline is the policy's primary concern.
• Overseeing body: The Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) is the coordinating authority for the deep-tech agenda.
• Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme: Launched in 2021 to support semiconductor design. It provides up to 50 per cent fiscal support with a cap of 15 crore rupees per application. The target is 20 companies achieving a combined turnover of 1,500 crore rupees.
• India Semiconductor Mission: A 76,000-crore-rupee initiative to build domestic semiconductor fabrication and design capacity.

Static linkage: India's semiconductor policy, startup ecosystem (GS Paper 3).

GS area: Economy, Governance

The Ministry of Tourism circulated a draft national policy aiming to raise India's share of global tourism receipts. India was ranked 54th in the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Development Index in 2023. It had ranked 46th in 2019.

• Scale of the sector: Tourism contributed approximately 170 billion dollars and 5.8 per cent of GDP in 2021.
• Heritage assets: India has 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 32 cultural, 7 natural, and 1 mixed.
• Key ongoing schemes:
  • Adopt a Heritage: Invites public sector and private entities to maintain heritage monuments.
  • Swadesh Darshan: Funds integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits.
  • PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive): Develops infrastructure at religious tourism sites.
• Policy objective: The draft proposes increasing tourist arrivals, length of stay, and per-capita spending, which together determine foreign exchange earnings.

Static linkage: Tourism policy, cultural heritage, services sector (GS Paper 3).

GS area: Science and Technology, Economy

India designs approximately 2,000 integrated circuits annually, contributing about 20 per cent of the world's semiconductor design engineering talent. The country has not yet commercially fabricated chips at scale.

• Strategic dependency: Chips are embedded in consumer electronics, defence systems, vehicles, and medical devices. The pandemic-era chip shortage exposed risks for countries without domestic semiconductor capacity.
• DLI scheme outcome: More than 30 semiconductor design startups have been established since the scheme's 2021 launch; 5 have already received government support under the scheme.
• India Semiconductor Mission: Under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Targets building wafer fabrication, display fabrication, and packaging capacity with a 76,000-crore-rupee outlay.
• Three-stage incentive: The mission covers display fabs, semiconductor fabs, and compound semiconductors separately.

Static linkage: Electronics manufacturing policy, critical technologies (GS Paper 3).

GS area: Economy (intellectual property), Culture

The Geographical Indications Registry granted three new GI tags to products from Tamil Nadu.

• Jaderi Namakatti: A medicated chalk stick produced in Vellore district. Used in Ayurvedic and Siddha medicine as a skin coolant.
• Kanniyakumari Matti Banana: An aromatic banana with a distinct taste; cultivated in coastal Kanniyakumari. This product was also verified through a GI tag awarded on 2 August 2023.
• Chedibutta Saree: A handloom weave from Salem incorporating floral motifs.
• GI tag mechanism: Protects the reputation and origin of a product. Governed by the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.

Static linkage: Intellectual property, handicrafts and handlooms (GS Paper 3).

GS area: Governance, Education

The Ministry of Education launched the ULLAS (Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society) app under the Nav Bharat Saksharta Karyakram (New India Literacy Programme). The programme targets adults aged 15 years and above who are out of school.

• Digital delivery: Content is accessed via the DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) portal.
• Target population: The programme focuses on those who missed formal schooling. It covers foundational literacy, vocational skills, and digital awareness.
• National context: India's literacy rate was 77.7 per cent in the 2011 Census. The gap between male and female literacy remains around 16 percentage points.

Static linkage: Adult education, digital India, social schemes (GS Paper 2).

• Direct overseas listing: Indian companies were permitted to list directly on recognised stock exchanges in the International Financial Services Centre at GIFT City, Gandhinagar. This removes the prior requirement for a domestic listing first.
• GOBARdhan scheme: The central scheme for setting up biogas and compressed biogas plants received more than 1,200 plant installation requests, including 320 compressed biogas plants, within 60 days of a policy push.
• 46,000-year-old nematodes revived: Scientists in Germany revived nematode worms from Siberian permafrost. The worms had been frozen for approximately 46,000 years. The find raises questions about cryptobiosis, the ability of organisms to suspend biological processes under extreme conditions.