UPSC Key | Hypersonic missile, Carbon dioxide and Global warmingSubscriber Only

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies- III: Indigenization of technology and developing new technology, Security challenges and their management

What’s the ongoing story: In a major boost to its military prowess, India has successfully flight-tested a long-range hypersonic missile off the coast of Odisha. This achievement has put the country in a select group of nations with a weapon that can strike with extreme speed and evade most air defense systems.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the history of missile technology in India?

• What is a hypersonic missile?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of hypersonic missiles?

• What kind of missiles does India have?

• Which of India’s missile systems are most important?

• Read about the Nag, SAM system Akash, Astra, Rudram, Agni and Prithvi

• Organisation to look for: DRDO

Key Takeaways:

• The missile, developed by the DRDO, is designed to carry various payloads for ranges greater than 1,500 km, an official readout said.

• This missile has been indigenously developed by the laboratories of the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, Hyderabad, along with various other DRDO laboratories and in-industry partners. “India has achieved a major milestone by successfully conducting a flight trial of a long-range hypersonic missile from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off- the coast of Odisha,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in a post on X.

• Generally, hypersonic missiles, capable of carrying conventional explosives or nuclear warheads, can fly in the range of five times the speed of sound (Mach 5, which is roughly 1,220 km/h at sea level).

• At present, Russia and China are ahead in developing hypersonic missiles, while the US is in the process of developing a range of such weapons under an ambitious program.

Do You Know:

• A key feature of hypersonic missiles is their manoeuvrability, which sets them apart from ballistic missiles that follow a set course or trajectory.

• The two types of hypersonic weapons systems are Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGV) and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles. The HGVs are launched from a rocket before gliding to the intended target while HCMs are powered by air-breathing high-speed engines or ‘scramjets’ after acquiring their target.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????With DRDO successfully testing India’s first long-range hypersonic missile, all you need to know about the weapon

Previous year UPSC Prelims/Mains Question Covering similar theme:

(1) With reference to Agni-IV Missile, which of the following statements is/are correct? (2014)

1. It is a surface-to-surface missile.

2. It is fuelled by liquid propellant only.

3. It can deliver one-tonne nuclear warheads about 7500 km away.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

What’s the ongoing story: Nigeria on Sunday conferred its second-highest national award, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making him the second foreign dignitary to receive the distinction after Queen Elizabeth, who was conferred the award in 1969.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the history of India-Nigeria relations?

• What are the areas of cooperation between India and Nigeria?

• How is the increasing presence of China in Africa presenting a challenge for India?

• What is the significance of Nigeria for India?

• What are the awards and honors bestowed upon Modi by various countries?

• Map work: Location of Nigeria

Key Takeaways:

• The PM is in Nigeria on the first leg of his three-nation visit at the invitation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This visit is the first by an Indian PM to Nigeria in 17 years.

• Modi held talks with President Tinubu on Sunday, and said that India accords high priority to its strategic partnership with Nigeria and it will work towards boosting ties in a range of areas, including defence, energy and trade.

• He identified terrorism, separatism, piracy and drug trafficking as major challenges and said “the two countries have worked together to deal with them and will continue to do so”.

• Referring to the African Union becoming a permanent member of the G20 at the India-hosted summit last year, Modi described it as a significant outcome.

• He also described the around 60,000-strong Indian expatriate community as a key pillar of India-Nigeria relations and thanked Tinubu for ensuring their welfare.

• Before the delegation-level talks, Modi and Tinubu held a one-on-one meeting at the Presidential Villa. Following the talks, three MoUs — on Cultural Exchange Programme, Customs Cooperation and Survey Cooperation — were signed. The PM also announced that India is sending 20 tonnes of relief supplies for Nigerian people hit by floods last month.

Do You Know:

• In over six decades of close partnership between India and Nigeria, India has emerged as a development partner of Nigeria on two fronts. First, by offering developmental assistance through concessional loans ($100 million) and capacity-building training programmes.

• Nigeria is the second-largest trading partner of India in the Africa region. Bilateral trade between India and Nigeria stood at $11.8 billion in 2022-23. In the year 2023-24, the bilateral trade stands at $7.89 billion showing a declining trend.

• With a total investment of $27 billion, approximately 135 Indian companies are actively engaged in Nigeria’s vibrant market. These investments traverse diverse sectors, encompassing infrastructure, manufacturing, consumer goods, and services.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????India-Nigeria trade officials meet as China’s investments in Africa falter

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation

Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

What’s the ongoing story: At COP29 in Baku, India has expressed frustration with developed countries for not seriously discussing how to support climate action in developing nations, saying it is impossible to tackle climate change without financial and technological help.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Read about the Paris Agreement and Conference of Parties (CoP).

• What is the climate finance debate between developing and developed nations?

• How is ‘climate finance’ the need of the hour for tackling climate change?

• What are some of the criticisms of COP?

• What measures have been taken by the government of India to tackle the challenge of climate change?

• What should be the way forward for resolving the climate finance debate between developing and developed nations?

Key Takeaways:

• At the Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) Saturday, India said that developed countries have historically contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions. India said developed countries had “continuously shifted goals, delayed climate action, and consumed a highly disproportionate share of the global carbon budget.”.

• “We have seen no progress in matters that are critical for developing countries (during the last week). Our part of the world is facing some of the worst impacts of climate change, with far lower capacity to recover from those impacts or to adapt to the changes to the climatic system for which we are not responsible,” India’s deputy lead negotiator, Neelesh Sah, said.

• The MWP was created two years ago at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to help support mitigation. The developing countries said that the MWP was meant to help nations share solutions for cutting emissions and not to force any country to take specific actions. However, the developed nations want the MWP to push for immediate action from all countries.

• Sah said if there are no means of implementation – financial support, technology, and capacity-building-developing and low-income economies cannot adapt to the effects of green- house gas emissions.

• In 2009, developed countries promised to provide $100 billion every year by 2020 to support climate action in developing countries, but this goal was only met in 2022. Of the money provided, about 70 percent came as loans, increasing the financial burden on low-income countries. The developing economies argue that the financial support should come from developed countries’ government funding and not from the private sector, which is not accountable to the UN climate process.

• The potential withdrawal of the US and Argentina from the Paris Agreement has significantly affected the morale of negotiators at COP29. However, countries like China, the UK and Brazil have taken a strong leadership role.

Do You Know:

• Countries in Baku are trying to negotiate an agreement — New Cumulative Quantitative Goal or NCQG on climate finance — that will mobilise at least one trillion USD every year for climate action around the world. While there is a general acknowledgement that this much money is needed, everything else about the mobilisation of the amount is uncertain right now.

• Developing countries want a bulk of this money to be publicly-funded, grant-based or concessional, and directed entirely towards their needs. Developed countries have been silent on how much money they themselves are willing to commit, or on the proportion of the total need that should come from publicly-funded sources.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Countries begin from scratch on finance talks

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(2) With reference to ‘Global Climate Change Alliance’, which of the following statements is/are correct? (UPSC CSE 2017)

1. It is an initiative of the European Union.

2. It provides technical and financial support to targeted developing countries to integrate climate change into their development policies and budgets.

3. It is coordinated by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC). What are the commitments made by India in this conference? (UPSC CSE 2021)

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

What’s the ongoing story: Suhas Palshikar writes– “ Our expectations from and understanding of democratic governance have hit such rock bottom that the latest Supreme Court (SC) ruling on “bulldozer justice” appears to be a major achievement. While it is indeed a much-needed nudge, the matter need not have gone to the SC in the first place.”

Key Points to Ponder:

• What do you understand by the bulldozer justice?

• What is the Right to Property?

• What are the constitutional provisions related to the Right to property?

• What are the important SC rulings on the right to property?

• What is the right to shelter?

• What are the principles of natural justice?

• How does ‘bulldozer justice’ violate the separation of power and public trust?

Key Takeaways:

• “Assuming that this ruling of the SC will be broadly respected, the larger malaise will still remain, because the bulldozer is a symptom of what is wrong with our democracy. The Court has finally taken note of the physical bulldozer and has attempted to restrict its illegal use.”

• These conceptual and ideological bulldozers consist of a statism that believes in prioritising the supposed interests of the state over those of citizens. Toward this end, not merely the executive but the legislature too is quite proactive and the judiciary has either been a silent spectator or a willing participant. Ironically, the draconian powers of the state are often legitimised through a supposedly democratic set of arguments.

• “Three arguments contaminate our understanding of democracy. First, the idea that democracy is only about the majority. Two, there is often a manufactured hankering after a “strong leader” in the name of a strong government. Three, an election is understood as giving a mandate rather than a limited authorisation.These constitute the real bulldozer.”

• “Each one of these principles does have a nuanced connection with democracy and yet, when they are taken in isolation and caricatured at the cost of everything else they become the ideological apparatus for justifying bulldozers and encounters — actual and conceptual.”

• “Contemporary India witnesses this transgression much more…Democracy is a delicate and difficult balance among foundational norms, procedural restraints and popular wishes. Such an idea of democracy becomes a hindrance to megalomaniac projects of reshaping norms, undermining procedures and hijacking popular sentiments. Therefore, projects to redefine democracy emerge.”

Do You Know:

• The Supreme Court recently held that demolishing the properties of citizens without following due process for the sole reason that they may be involved in some crime is contrary to the rule of law and directed that officials indulging in such “high-handed actions” be made accountable. The court also issued certain directions that have to be complied with before properties are demolished.

• A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan ruled that “the executive cannot become a judge and decide that a person accused is guilty and, therefore, punish him by demolishing his residential/commercial property/properties. Such an act of the executive would be transgressing its limits”.

• The bench added that “if the executive acts as a judge and inflicts penalty of demolition on the citizen on the ground that he is an accused, it violates the principle of separation of powers”.

• The Supreme Court said, “Right to shelter is one of the facets of Article 21. Depriving such innocent people of their right to life by removing shelter from their hands, their heads in our considered view would be wholly unconstitutional…”.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Explained: SC on ‘bulldozer justice’

????SC slams bulldozer action, list demolition rules, warns official

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(3) What is the position of the Right to Property in India? (UPSC CSE 2021)

(a) Legal right available to citizens only

(b) Legal right available to any person

(d) Neither Fundamental Right nor legal right

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation

Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

What’s the ongoing story: India’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels are expected to increase by 4.6% in 2024, the highest among major economies, according to a new report by Global Carbon Project, an organisation that quantifies the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What are greenhouse gases GHGs?

• How GHGs contribute to global warming?

• Why is carbon dioxide (CO2) considered the primary driver of anthropogenic climate change?

• What are the sources of CO2 emissions?

• What measures have been taken to control the CO2 emissions?

• Read about the- Carbon markets, Carbon capture and storage (CCS), Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), Carbon-neutrality

Key Takeaways:

• Globally, fossil-based CO2 emissions are set to touch a record high of 37.4 billion tonnes this year, a rise of 0.8% from 2023, the report said. At this rate, there is “a 50% chance global warming will exceed 1.5 degree Celsius consistently in about six years”.

• CO2 is one of the most important GHGs in the atmosphere and is the primary driver of anthropogenic climate change.

• Studies have shown that CO2 has contributed more than any driver to climate change. In fact, CO2 is responsible for about 70% of global warming, according to an analysis by Facts on Climate Change, a Czech Republic-based independent think tank.

• There are two reasons for this. One, CO2 is much more abundant in the atmosphere compared to CH4 and HFCs. Since the onset of industrial times in the 18th century, human activities have raised atmospheric CO2 by 50%, which means the amount of CO2 is now 150% of its value in 1750 (see chart), according to a report in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

• Two, CO2 remains in the atmosphere longer than the other major GHGs emitted due to human activities. It takes about a decade for CH4 emissions to leave the atmosphere (it converts into CO2) and about a century for nitrous oxide (N2O).

• Notably, water vapour is the most abundant GHG in the atmosphere. However, it has a short cycle (10 days on average) and does not build up in the atmosphere in the same way as CO2 does. Therefore, water vapour does not have much heating effect compared to CO2. But as global temperatures continue to soar, more water evaporates into the atmosphere, causing more warming.

Do You Know:

• GHGs are those gases in the Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. The Sun emits shortwave radiation or sunlight that passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by the planet’s surface to warm it. However, some of this sunlight is reflected back by the surface as infrared radiation (heat) which has a longer wavelength.

• GHGs such as CO2 and methane (CH4), which cannot absorb shortwave radiation, trap infrared radiation. That is because unlike oxygen or nitrogen molecules, CO2 and methane are made up of three or more atoms, which gives them a larger variety of ways to stretch and bend and twist.

• The issue is not the presence of GHGs but their concentration levels, meaning their amount in the atmosphere. For about a thousand years before the Industrial Revolution, the GHG concentration remained relatively constant. Since then, there has been a constant rise in the amount of some of the GHGs, especially CO2, due to human activities like burning fossil fuels. As a result, more heat is getting trapped in the atmosphere, leading to a rise in global temperatures.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

???? Is Earth becoming warmer?

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(4) Consider the following: (UPSC CSE 2019)

1. Carbon monoxide

2. Methane

3. Ozone

4. Sulphur dioxide

Which of the above are released into atmosphere due to the burning of crop/biomass residue?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2, 3 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Should the pursuit of carbon credits and clean development mechanisms set up under UNFCCC be maintained even though there has been a massive slide in the value of a carbon credit? Discuss with respect to India’s energy needs for economic growth. (UPSC CSE 2014)

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance and Indian Polity

Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security; Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism

What’s the ongoing story: The Centre on Thursday (November 14) reimposed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in six police station areas of Manipur. The Home Ministry’s notification mentioned the “volatile” situation and “active participation of insurgent groups in heinous acts of violence” as the reasons.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the history of ethnic conflict in Manipur?

• Read about the AFSPA.

• What are the arguments in favour and against AFSPA?

• What are the main tribes of Manipur?

• Why is there unrest in Manipur?

• What are the important recommendations on AFSPA?

Key Takeaways:

• Most of these police station areas are in the Imphal Valley, from where AFSPA had been fully withdrawn last year, citing “significant improvement in the security situation”. On Saturday, the Manipur government wrote to the Centre asking for a review and withdrawal of its decision.

• AFSPA, which traces its roots to a colonial statute introduced in response to the Quit India Movement in 1942, was retained in independent India. The law was first brought as an ordinance, and then notified as an Act in 1958.

• Over the years, AFSPA has been imposed in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab (during the years of militancy). It remains in force in parts of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, and the entirety of J&K.

• AFSPA gives sweeping powers to the armed forces by providing military personnel blanket immunity for a range of actions. It allows the military to open fire — and even cause death — against any person breaking the law or carrying arms and ammunition. It also gives them the power to arrest individuals and search premises without warrants on the basis of “reasonable suspicion”.

• There can be no legal proceedings against armed forces personnel for these actions without prior approval from the Centre. AFSPA can be imposed by the Centre or the Governor of a state, on the entire state or parts of it, after these areas are declared “disturbed’’ under Section 3 of the Act.

• While the AFSPA will indeed grant greater freedom to the Army to use force, much will depend on the political will of the government to act — and to deal with the fallouts of strong action. Unlike in most conflict areas, the armed forces in Manipur are currently not only fighting militant groups but also a civil society that is armed to the teeth, thanks in no small measure to weapons looted from police armouries.

• The government will be wary of the history of AFSPA in the Northeast, where alleged excesses by the armed forces (like in the early years of the Naga insurgency) only ended up strengthening insurgent movements. The ongoing ethnic violence has already provided a second wind to Meitei militant groups such as the PLA and the UNLF, which had been pushed out of the state in the past decade.

Do You Know:

• Notably, while the AFSPA gives powers to the central government to unilaterally take the decision to impose AFSPA, this is usually done informally in consonance with the state government. The Centre takes its decision after having received a recommendation from the state government.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????Knowledge nugget: AFSPA

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Human rights activists constantly highlight the fact that the Armed forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is a draconian act leading to cases of human rights abuses by security forces. What sections of AFSPA are opposed by the activists? Critically evaluate the requirement with reference to the view held by the Apex Court. (UPSC CSE 2015)

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies-II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

What’s the ongoing story: A cargo ship from Karachi docked at Chattogram (formerly Chittagong) port on Wednesday (November 13), marking the first-ever direct maritime contact between Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is the history of the Liberation of Bangladesh and what role did India play in it?

• What is the history of India-Pakistan relations?

• What are the areas of cooperation between India and Bangladesh?

• What are the emerging challenges in India and Bangladesh ties?

• What is the significance of Bangladesh for India?

• What is the potential impact of the regime change in Bangladesh on India?

• Map work: Location of Bangladesh and Indian states sharing boundaries with Bangladesh.

Key Takeaways:

• Described by the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka as “a major step in bilateral trade”, the development could signal a significant shift in the historically tenuous relationship between the two countries. This shift, however, has been on the cards ever since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August this year.

• The shadow of 1971 has long loomed large over the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Pakistan.

• During the nine-month long Mukti Juddho (Liberation War) in 1971, the Pakistani military and its collaborators committed innumerable atrocities, the memories of which are deeply imprinted in Bangladesh’s national psyche. Some 3 million people were killed, thousands were tortured and raped, and millions fled their homes to escape Pakistani brutality.

• Pakistan has never apologised or expressed regret for its crimes — to the detriment of the bilateral relationship between Dhaka and Islamabad.

• Bilateral relationships have been particularly sour under certain governments in Dhaka, most notably, under Sheikh Hasina, central to whose political agenda was seeking justice for atrocities perpetrated during the Liberation War.

Do You Know:

• Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said on Sunday that the interim government will seek the extradition of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India after the fall of her government following a mass protest movement in August.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

???? UPSC Issue at a Glance | Bangladesh Crisis and India: 4 Key Questions You Must Know for Prelims and Mains

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(5) With reference to river Teesta, consider the following statements: (UPSC CSE 2017)

1. The source of river Teesta is the same as that of Brahmaputra but it flows through Sikkim.

2. River Rangeet originates in Sikkim and it is a tributary of river Teesta.

3. River Teesta flows into Bay of Bengal on the border of India and Bangladesh.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

The protests in Shahbag Square in Dhaka in Bangladesh reveal a fundamental split in society between the nationalists and Islamic forces. What is its significance for India? (UPSC CSE 2013)

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national importance and science

Mains Examination: General Studies-III: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

What’s the ongoing story: Rajeev Chandrasekhar writes– “We are living in the age of AI. Most conversations about AI tend to get hyperbolic and giddy with excitement about the possibilities it represents. Much of this excitement is justified.”

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is artificial intelligence (AI)?

• What are the areas of AI application?

• What are the benefits of AI?

• What are the challenges associated with the AI?

• Read about the India artificial intelligence (AI) mission.

• Is there any legal framework for AI regulation globally and nationally?

Key Takeaways:

• “AI is many things. At its core, the promise is that it has the power to deliver more with less. It is an enabler of the coming wave of innovation. It could lead to machines and platforms with human-like intelligence if we achieve the holy grail of AGI (artificial general intelligence) and accelerate progress in several use cases from healthcare to security.”

• “There are three trends that are driving this.

First, the pace of digitalisation is rapidly accelerating. Currently 90-crore Indians are connected to the Internet and by 2026 that figure will touch 120 crore, making India the largest connected and digitalised country in the world.

Second, as more and more Indians connect to and use the internet and the digital ecosystem, each is consuming and generating huge volumes of data. This is also making India one of the largest data repositories in the world. DPIs and digitalisation have made governments big repositories of personal and non-personal data.

Third, in the post-Covid world, governments around the world are looking for ways to do more with their resources. There is a race to become efficient. Becoming efficient is becoming a political goal for many governments including in the US where Elon Musk is being asked by President-elect Donald Trump to focus on it.”

• “The first phase of digital government addressed the dysfunctionalities and transformed India. With the intersection of DPI and AI, the government can become more efficient and ensure that the same resources can be used to make an impact across a broader spectrum of society.”

• “India is the current Chair of GPAI (Global Partnership of AI) and has led the move to ensure trusted partnerships play a lead role in shaping the future of Tech and AI. The country’s success in using GovAI in reimagining governance will ensure that AI is not the preserve of a few companies or countries, but is more inclusive and accessible by all countries.”

Do You Know:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of machines, especially computers, to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include things like understanding language, recognising patterns, solving problems, and making decisions.

• AI can be classified into two types: Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) also known as weak AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) also referred to as strong AI.

• ANI is designed for specific tasks and excels within a narrow domain. Examples include virtual assistants like Siri, recommendation systems on platforms like Netflix, and image recognition software. ANI systems are highly specialised and cannot transfer their expertise to unrelated tasks.

• AGI aims to replicate human cognitive abilities, enabling it to perform any intellectual task a human can do. AGI would possess general reasoning skills, understand context, and adapt to new situations across various domains. It would be capable of autonomous learning and problem-solving without requiring task-specific programming.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

????What is Artificial Intelligence, how is it revolutionising healthcare

Previous year UPSC Prelims Question Covering similar theme:

(6) With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following? (UPSC CSE 2020)

1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units

2. Create meaningful short stories and songs

3. Disease diagnosis

4. Text-to-Speech Conversion

5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only

(b) 1, 3 and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:

Introduce the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI). How does Al help clinical diagnosis? Do you perceive any threat to privacy of the individual in the use of Al in healthcare? (UPSC CSE 2023)

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, a 22-year-old Te Pāti Māori (the Māori Party) MP, led the haka after being asked about her party’s vote on the Treaty Principles Bill that seeks to reinterpret a 184-year-old treaty between the British and the Māori.

The haka is of deep cultural significance to Māori identity and is traditionally performed by warriors on the battlefield or to welcome another tribe. According to New Zealand Tourism’s website, haka “was a show of physical prowess but also an embodiment of cultural pride, strength, and unity.” It is usually performed in a group and involves chanting, dramatic facial gestures, hand movements and stamping the feet.

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