Daily Current Affairs Analysis | 06th August, 2026 | Shankar IAS Academy | UPSC | Mains 2026

[music] Hi, hello, welcome to Shankar is Academy's daily current affair analysis for the date 6th of August 2026. Please like, share, comment and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have the bell icon pressed for instant notifications and for better current affair analysis. So today's topic for discussion. So the first one would be on liquor crackdowns. So FSSI has actually went ahead and formed a strict crackdown on liquor companies or liquid manufacturers at different parts of country especially in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. where it has accused those manufacturers saying that they have actually added synthetic flavors or synthetic additives which are beyond the prescript prescribed limit. So we will discuss what are those ways in which the distillers or the manufacturers actually perform this alcohol making and why they actually go beyond the limit and what are the things that FSSI has informed about those informed about those limits and the next part of discussion will be on this carcinogenic medicines. So recently I ARC that is international agency for research on cancer ARC under WH has banned or are actually not banned are actually classified three medicines as carcinogenic means cancer creating or cancer causing. So we will discuss what are those three medicines and how I ARC classifies on what basis and briefly we'll also discuss what is I ARC. Then our next part of discussion will be on gender intelligence oncology. Oncology is again a study on treatment and diagnosis of cancer that is prevention treatment and diagnosis of cancer. So oncology is basically a study on cancer treatment. So we will discuss why we need gender intelligence oncology. What are the uh challenges faced by women, men and also what are the health system gaps that are present in today's oncological system in India. And finally we will also give some uh steps or government steps that have been taken to address those gaps. Our fourth part of discussion that is on scientific brain drain in India. So India we know we have lot of qualified scientists, lot of PhD scholars and research scholars but still we have a brain drain. So we will discuss in the context of ISRO scientists who have left ISRO because of certain reasons like workspace autonomy and also institutional harassment. So we will discuss what are the factors that are actually leading to this brain drain and also what is the impact it is creating and how to actually overcome or mitigate those challenges. And lastly we will have our discussion on films focus briefly on three films topics very interesting topics and also we'll have a films based practice question for it as well. So let's move on to the discussion and uh firstly we will discuss FS SI crackdown on liquor manufacturers. So recently there are many liquor manufacturer who have been caught by FSSI on their sales on alcohol. So what is FSSI saying here means why they have called this liquid manufacturers what is the problem and we'll understand certain terms and certain things in this manufacturing of alcohol and we we will also conclude our discussion with the films based practice question. So firstly you have to understand FSSI is a statutory body. So it was established in 2006 and it stands for food safety and standards authority of India. Okay. Food safety and standards authority of India is actually stat comes under ministry of health and family affair ministry of health. You have to remember it. This can be tested in your films. So Ministry of Health FSI is a statuto body. We will discuss what what is the relation or what is the context here how why it has crackdown on certain liquor manufacturers. The first one is it has actually multiple manufacturing facilities across India means it is not only is an MP MH that is Maharashtra everywhere it has actually led an operation it has actually went on sit action where the two core violations are the unauthorized addition of artificial flavors to neutral sprit and deceptive and misleading age claims on product packaging. So the first one is whenever there is a sprit you you actually mention what is the percentage of alcohols what is the age of maturation. So there are certain things which you actually mention and there is unauthorized addition of artificial flavors because this age of maturation percentage of alcohol these are done through some natural process which gives natural flavor. But when you have when you have to when you have this additive spirits which gives us artificial flavors there is a violation. So we'll see what is a violation and also the product packaging the age claims is actually many times breached by these manufacturers. So flavoring the ne neutral alcohol. So the distillers who actually produce alcohol, who actually produce whiskey, rum kind of those what they do is from the fermented spread that is first you have something something called fermented spirit from these corn, potatoes, grapes what not you have this permanent spirit. Distillers what they do is what is operation of distillers is they separate this concentrated alcohol and the water they use different techniques cooling evaporation different techniques they use they increase the concentration percentage of alcohol that is the task. So from sugar cane, from corn, from barley, from potatoes, from grape, whatever the fermented liquid they get, these distillers collect it, they concentrate the alcohol and remove the water content. So the percentage of alcohol is increased and finally they bottle it and they sell it. So distillers they use extra neutral alcohol which lacks natural tra. They use synthetic shortcuts shortcuts to bring the natural flavor very quickly. that external synthetic rum flavor, whiskey flavor to recreate traditional taste and lab testing have detected that artificial additives actually have substandard base spirits because there is something called oak maturation means oak maturation M. So here what happens is the the permanent liquid is placed in oak oak barrels and these barrels actually give the natural taste or natural flavor and it also gives a color to the spirit. So this oak the barrel oak barrel is actually porous. So it lets some oxygen inside. There is some chemical reaction that is taking place which makes this spirit or which makes this fermented liquid gives a new taste and also gives a new concentration. So this is a natural process. It gives natural flavor. But people what they do to get this natural flavor they add some synthetic additives so that they no need to go for this o maturation because o maturation generally takes some years sometimes. So they want to avoid this time frame. They want to go quickly to the market. So they or add this synthetic additives. That is where the problem starts. So the old mark variant claimed that seven years old blended on its primary level. They said they have blended seven years old because they said 7 years they have kept it under maturation. But basically after said that 95%age is unaged. So everything that is added 95%age of that monk or the old monk product is actually unaged because means they actually synthetically added. So that is the concern here and uh that is why FSSI has taken strict action against many brand variants and manufacturers here. This is just for understanding nothing to remember here. So they have they have taken action against many many of these brands. So if you are also consuming these brands you have to be aware that you are drinking something synthetic not natural FSSA regulatory framework. So what is happening in the natural profile authentic rum and whiskey must develop aroma taste naturally through fermentation. Yeah. So it should happen naturally that's what I was saying the oak wood maturation this oak wood maturation is overcome and they are having redundant flavors. These flavors are added and there's the food safety norms actually are breached. So this is the things that we are discussing now. So there there should be natural profile which is being present with the process like oh food maturation and there are redent flavors that are getting added and that misleads the consumers and finally the food safety norms has been breached by this these manufacturers. So what are the reclassification? So there should be standard spirits so reserved strictly for traditional fermented distilled and matured products without synthetic based flavoring. So this should be made mandatory and flavored reabeling products with added flavors must be renamed because when you rename you distinguish it from the fl synthetic and the unsynthetic that is natural and finally you can sell it to the customers more informed because infor consumers will take decision based on that rather than you cheating them and selling them. So it is actually it can also be claimed in competition commission of India where you can argue that certain manufacturers are performing these things but these things are not as per the rules of the production. So flavored re labeling should be done and front discloses the true nature of artificial flavor must be printed prominently on the front of the pack that will actually be more profound because when there is something informed in the front page automatically it attracts the people's attention and also the age limits can be better informed over there on the front page. Front disclosure the scope of regulations. So what remains permitted and what is explicitly banned? Actually what remains permitted in the sense where the uh blending can be done. So here if you see flavors like coffee, vanilla, spices remain fully legal where is technically justified means these flavors can be added to the spirits so that to bring a fresh aroma to that alcohol but where it is not means where the explicitly banned adding natural identical additives saying that this is being naturally produced this is being naturally cultivated naturally matured. So such things such additives should be banned like oak caging mild use a proper distillation means they are claiming that they are oaging but it is not oaging. Oak caging as said oak tree based barrels the barrels which are made of oak tree which is very much used for maturation of this alcohol. So this is what I was saying the oak age maturation. You can see the oak barrels here where the liquids are stored. and it is used for maturation. Yeah. So we'll see a practice question based on from films perspective with reference to the recent action taken by food safety authority of India against certain liquid brands. Consider the following statements. Whenever you have three such statements basically you start from the third statement that is an trick that is an idea. So the third statement is the provision applies to the entire Indian alcohol industry irrespective of compliance with food safety standards. It is not for entire alcohol industry. That is wrong. Only for certain alcohol industry who are producing these graded alcohols. So this statement is incorrect. This is a trick because third statement mostly will have a trap. So you should whenever this three statement question is given try to start it from the third statement and go forward from second first. The third statement is incorrect but automatically the answer is a but let's discuss the other two. Under the food safeties act alcohol beverages fall within the regulatory amsa. That is correct. FSS prohibited the sale of certain liquid products because they contain flavoring substances that mimic the alcohol beverage itself. Yes. because they added these synthetic flavors making them non-compliant with prescribed standards. That is exactly correct. So answer should be A. Let's check. Yes, answer is A. Now let's move on to the next part of the discussion. So let's move to the next part of discussion. So which is related to certain medicines which are actually classified as cariogenic by who. So we will see what are these medicines which are actually classified as caroggenic. This caroggenics means a potential to cause cancer. So we will see what are those medicines and what is the agency or what is the body under who that actually functions and that actually classifies these medicines across the world. So briefly the context the international agency for research on cancer that is ARC is actually the cancer arm or the cancer research research arm of WO which actually classifies these medicines under different groups. The group one carcoins means they are carcoenic to humans. So it classifies the medicines into different groups and under which group one means these medicines are cariogenic to humans are causing cancer to or having the potential to cause cancer to humans. These findings are published officially in the latest oncological reports and this classification is based on a but not on risk. So we will see what is the difference between azard and risk. Azard is basically the danger. You can see a means danger means this IRC says that this medicine is having such an danger towards carcogenic means it is having potential to cause cancer. But what is risk? Risk is depends on individual means what is the intensity of the drug taken by the individuals. What is the level of exposure and what is the condition of that individual when he or she is taking the drug. So the risk is something different compared to Azard because risk can be at eye level based on the individual but Azard is actually uniform means it it can say to what extent this medicine can actually create problems or create cancer effects to humans. So the medicine's classification is based on azard not on risk which should be noted as a keyword not risk. So what are these medicines? The first medicine you don't have to remember the medicines exactly. You need to know what is IC how they function under whom they function and on what basis they classify. So the first one is the hydrochloroioide. So they actually treat hypertension that is blood pressures. And next one is warosenol which is antifungal medicine. The third one is tacrol limus which is imunosuppressent after organ transplation. After organ transplantation what happens is you need certain immunity or you need certain imunino response for which these medicines are used tarolimus. So these three medicines have been classified as carogenic to humans that means they are put under group one. So why they are important because IRC classification identifies whether urgent can cause cancer that is based on assert. So this actually makes the patient makes a doctor more aware that what should be the what should be the medicine that needs to be given to specific treatment. So this classification plays important role and it is also highly standardized classification under who and patients should not discontinue these medicines without the consulting their physicians because even though these medicines have been classified as carcogenic they should not be immediately terminated means patients should not immediately terminate their usage they should consult their physicians and slowly replace it with some other medicines. So that are the those are the important clarification given by IRC regarding this report and briefly about IRC as I said it is an cancer research arm of WHO. It was established in 1965 and headquartered at France that is Leyon France but WH you you need to know it is headquartered in Geneva and it is established in 1948. So it was established in 1948 who but the cancer research arm was established in 1965 and these conducts research on cancer causes and publishes I arc monographs and also evaluates cariogenic azotss to humans. So these are the functions of the IRC. So we will according to these functions they have classified those medicines. So we have seen what is hazard versus a hazard is nothing but a danger means you can say to what level of danger you can identify the danger that is caused by those medicine to humans that is caroggenic effects. Risk is nothing but it is customizable or it is from the perspective of individual. An individual who is more than 8 years old is having more risk towards the medicine. An individual who is at 20s or 30s is having less risk. So individual risk is depending upon the likelihood of developing cancer. So that is what the difference is and what is the relevance to India by branding these three chemicals or these three medicines. The first one is since it is widely prescribed for hypertension they will have to actually undergo this national NCD management means the non-communicable disease. So the non-communicable disease management should actually consider this ban and replace the prescriptions or replace the medicines with other things and accordingly it highlights the need for rational prescribing and also regular monitoring of long-term drug therapy because whenever the drugs is getting um whenever the drugs is getting consumed it is it is having its own side effects as well. So there need to be long-term monitoring or regular monitoring for every drug that has been given and such that they have to be reported for any such carcogenic effects or other effects so that these drugs at the long term at the long run can be long run can be creating dysfunctional effects to the body. Yeah. So let's have a prelims practice question based on our discussion. It is not a very big discussion on these three. What all you need to know is you need to know about IRC, you need to know about WH briefly and you also need to know what are the uh basis on which this classification is made and the first topic or the first statement is IRC is the cancer research agency of the WH. Yeah, this statement is correct. So the first statement is correct. As a group one carcogen classification means that the substance possesses high cancer risk under all levels of exposure and should not be used medically. So this all levels of exposure is what the risk and assert difference comes. So at all levels of exposure means at all levels of risk. So that is not right because the risk varies but a remains constant. So this statement two remains incorrect. Third statement is hydrochloroite okarin zonolo and tocorrolimus have recently been classified by arc as group one carons. Yes, these three medicines have been classified as group one carons which we have discussed. So the answer should be one and three. Let's check. Yes, the answer is one and three. Let's move on to the next part of discussion. So moving on with the next part of discussion. Gender intelligent oncology. So first we need need to know what is oncology. Oncology is nothing but the study of treatment and prevention of cancer. The cancer can be any cancer. Blood cancer, it can be breast cancer, it can be stomach cancer, any cancer. But oncology is study of prevention and treatment. Treatment includes diagnosis also. of cancer. So here we will discuss why we need gender intelligent oncology because India is facing some problem in gender intelligence that is having inclusive oncology for both men, women and other gender. What are the challenges faced by these genders in actually accessing the cancer treatment and what can be the way forward that is what are the government initiatives that are taken in this regard and finally we'll end up with the discussion with way forward and also based practice question so yeah so what are the challenges faced by women so let's discuss what are challenges faced by women because women are actually doubly vulnerable because whenever there's a situation whenever there is a vulnerability There is vulnerability for the society as a whole but women as an extra level as a next step faces the double vulnerability because due to the gender or due to the gender or sex. So the first one is the eye burden of breast and cervical cancers. So this is persistent among women. Recently we have known that cervical cancers has been virally widely spread across India. for which India is actually providing or trying to give some uh vaccines or trying to find vaccines for this cervical cancers. So women are generally faced with these two kind of cancers that is breast cancer and cervical cancers which are not specific to men. So the next one is the delayed diagnosis due to stigma, low health prioritization and limited autonomy and financial values. When you see when you take a woman generally basically an urban woman or rural woman or any woman there is some stigma there is some hesitation to go to the hospital to get diagnosed for the problems they are facing. It can be due to the financial burden as well because many womens are dependent on men for their day-to-day activities. So in such a case these kind of cancers or these kind of problems are goes unnoticed due to financial barriers and also low earth prioritization. Women generally the mothers prioritize their health and they give more priorities to the kid or to the husband or to their family. So this low prioritization actually makes them more vulnerable and they get more uh such cancers in ice eye level. So next is limited access to breast conserving surgery. These two cancers are actually predominant for women. But in that sense there should be also such facilities for women to take care of those cancers or to mitigate that cancers from them in different formats on different fronts. But there is limited access to these kind of surgeries and treatment interruptions due to caregiving responsibilities. Because women who have to take care of their kid who are immediately are getting married or who are actually married in late early ages are asked to take care of the kid, take care of the family and due to this there is treatment interrupt interruptions. So these kind of challenges are faced by women. So whenever there is an treatment or whenever there is a vaccine or whenever there is an uh study that needs to be taken for certain uh diseases or for certain non-communicable diseases including cancer you need to have a general neutrality for general neutrality you need to take aspect and you need to take the perspectives of women men as well not only women but also men as well. So in that aspect we will see what are the challenges faced by men. We saw in women there are two type of cancers that is very much predominant. In men there is high burden of tobacco and alcohol related cancers because many men or maybe most of the men are actually facing directly or indirectly the effects of tobacco and alcohol. So in that case so nearly 45%age of men's cancer cancer in men is related to tobacco and alcohol. So in these kind of things make it more more more concentrated for men in such a different aspect of cancer. So women having a different cancers men having a certain kind of cancer which need both needs to be addressed that is that where we call general intelligence oncology. Next is delayed care due to musculine norms and risk denial. And if you take an average man they'll due to their own masculinity or due to their own social status they will not be able to come forward and accept that they are having such kind of disease such kind of cancers which makes them socially important because whenever a man goes and says that I have cancer he is having lot of household priorities household things that he needs to take care which is socially pro socially uh provided to him. So when such a case man denies the acceptance of such cancers so that he is not going to take any treatment. So which means he's going to suffer with the treatment with the cancer throughout his life and also um going to affect its family. So the masculinity that is the social status of man denying its treatment. The next thing is low participation in preventive screening. There is no voluntary participant by these men by the women for the preventive screening of these cancers. So that whenever there is preventive screening it can be easily diagnosed at a very early stage. Then health system gaps is the what next thing that actually denies the general intelligence oncology. The first thing is one side fits all cancer care which is should be not the case for any health care system because a person in in certain society or person in certain geography can face a different level of same cancer and also the person from different geography can face certain level of cancer certain level of cancer at different level mean the same cancer it can be breast cancer can be cervical cancer any cancer the same cancer is affecting at different levels. So one size fits all cancer should not be taken forward. The next thing is inadequate screening and especially in rural areas. This is due to lack of facilities and it can be also a cyclic because when doctors say there are no patients who are coming for it so they don't have the facilities but what the patients feel is that since there is no facility there the patients are not coming over there. So it's a it's a discussion that is going on the ball is getting uh tumbled here and there. So there is this inadequate screening is a is a task that needs to be um that needs to be gap that needs to be filled by the government agencies. The male dominated clinical research in many places there male dominated clinical research which actually gives hesitation to women to go forward for such cancer treatments. Then lack of gender disagregated data. So the data for women, for men, for third gender is missing because there is no accumulation of data at one point or maybe at one source where people or where the practitioners can actually come forward and take it for their treatment. So what are the government in some of government initiative? Quickly we will discuss the first one is national program for prevention and control of cancer, diabetes, cardiovacular diseases and stroke. These are all non-communicable diseases. So that's why they are put into one bracket. So this actually prevents the control of cancer by early screening awareness and also establishment of state cancer institutes. The second one is national cancer grid that is standardizes the cancer care and strengthens the oncology training across hospitals means whenever the grid the grid means it is going to be a standard standardized one. So this standardized one it is going to give a oncology training across hospital at a standardized level that is very much important and we also know Aishman Bat which gives the health cover up to five lakh per eligible family and also for people who are aged above 70 it is it is going to give without any social background it is going to help the people who are aged above 70 and financial support health minister cancer patient fund is it's been provided financial aid for economically weaker cancer patients it is central level union level then the Pradhan Mandri BJP was that is it giving affordable cancer medicines so the medicines that are coming from PMBBJP scheme it provides affordable cancer medicines at all districts in all districts and all then customs duty exemptions there are certain certain instruments there are certain medical instruments there are certain drugs which needs to be needed for needed for this cancer treatment. So that cancer treatment are exempted from customs duty. So these are certain initiatives that are brought by government to have a inclusive oncology. So in research and innovation yeah in next car 19 India's first indigenous car cell therapy for certain blood cancer. So these kind of research and innovation is also promoted by uh Indian government at at a at a scale of significance so that to be to beat these kind of blood cancers and other cancers and advanced center for treatment research and education cancer. So which is which is for clinical trials and for daily research and quad cancer that is having international collaboration. part is Australia, Japan, India and US they are coming together for such and uh in in the aspect of cancer. So there's international collaboration that brings international standards and practices to cancer treatment in India. So these are steps taken by India including the research including international collaboration in R&D as well as collaborating with the state governments in and establishing the state cancer institutes. So these things actually reduce the gaps that we have discussed earlier and promotes a inclusive treatment for cancer. Then way forward can be provide gender disagregated cancer data have the gender disagreement data at union level also at the state level so that it can be used for treatments. Then last mile screening should be enhanced because the people who are the rural or the remote places are are going to be the most vulnerable. The last mile screening should be enhanced. Then gender sensitive training should be given because you you should not concentrate on only blood cancer. You should not concentrate only on breast cancer. You should not concentrate only on certain tobacco related cancers but you have to be more gender sensitive because that's how you going to increase the inclusivity. Then increased representation of women in clinical trials. Whenever there's women in clinical trials, these women who are patients, they don't have any hesitations. They can come forward and they can give out their grievances or their problems and get a treatment from the woman trials or woman clinical women doctors. Design cancer policies that address gender specific barriers. So gender specific barriers that that is included in SG5. So these gender specific barriers should be also overcome so that it promotes your sustainable development goal. Five, let's have a premium based practice question related to our discussion with reference to chimeic antigen receptor that is car cell therapy which we add in research and innovation slide. It involves genetically modifying a patient's own T- cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Yeah, this statement is correct. That is the definition of this card cell therapy because it is going to give a genetically modified T- cell therapy cell and the therapy is mainly used for advanced blood cancers that have relapsed or are resistant to conventional treatments. Yeah, for conventional treatments we have many other things that are present but this is for advanced treatment and that is this statement should be correct. As I said whenever there is three statement question go from the third statement but here we went from top let's move from bottom that let's consider third statement now patients receive highdose chemotherapy immediately after carel therapy institution to enhance the therapies effectiveness. This is incorrect. It is not immediately. Okay. So the answer should be one and two. Let's check. Yes, the answer is one and two. Let's move on to the next topic for the discussion. So moving ahead, we'll discuss the next topic for the day which is scientific brain drain in India. If you see since the age of Mr. Satyendra Nad Bos who was the great scientist in India who was also about to get a Nobel Prize for his work in statistics and finding a new state of matter. So there were scientists then like Bose who were facing many issues including workplace autonomy low expenditure and R&D and also other harassment issues. There were many such issues faced by scientists then in 20th century early 20th century in India who are even who are even facing the same thing even today. As we know that recently 100 plus scientists in ISRO have went forward and they said we are going to resign our job from ISRO and move to other places. Why? When they asked why they said there is no workplace autonomy, there's less institutional uh support for them and also they said there are many issues which are reducing the pace of research. So in this context we will discuss what are the impacts of such things that is happening for India where we where we cannot retain our smart scientists. What are the reasons for it and also what how can we overcome it because if you see R&D is going to the base for any research or any development that should be happening in India. So we will discuss in these things these corners and let's move ahead. So yeah before moving forward we have to discuss what is the R&D's ecosystem that is present right now in India as we all know that India spends very less in R&D but it is around 6 to 7%age but yeah here here there is a catch very recently department of space and department of science and technology have said that India after 2009 10 across crossed the8 percentage of GDP expenditure on R&D. So it is a very uh very big milestone because after 17 long years we have crossed this8 percentage of GDP. But we all know that the average the global average is 2.5%age of expenditure on GDP but we are more close towards that we are just moving towards that we are at8%age and more interestingly 50%age of that8%age more than 50%age of the8%age have been has been come from the private sector this is the first time that is happening that 50%age above of R&D expenditure is coming from the private sector of that if you see the first and the foremost sector among the private sector which contributes to this is the transport sector. The second is pharma and drugs. The third is biotechnology. So these three are the important players who are contributing a lot in R&D ecosystem that is private R&D ecosystem and who are above 50%age at present right now. Earlier government used to spend about 64%age. Now it spends around 48%age and private spends around 52%age. So low R&D investment is still a concern because as I said the global average is 2.5%age. Israel's a small nation spends around 6%age for its R&D. US spends around 3.5 percentage. So these are nations who are who are developing their R&D in a in a very profound manner so that they'll be able to develop more such things that is coming forward in new technology AI, semiconductors, quantum whatever it is. So low R&D investment is a concern but India is improving it. We have passed this8%age of GDP expenditure on R&D. Second there is rising R&D spending means since though there is rising R&D spending uh that is from 60,000 cr to around 1.2527 25 27 lakh cr there is at percentage wise not a big jump okay so we are gross in gross expenditure we are actually improving our R&D uh expend R&D spending but percentage wise we are not improving very steeply strong global position India's ecosystem R&D ecosystem is developing as you all know that the global innovation index which is given by WIPO that is world intellectual property organization and agency of UN. It has said that India is improving its innovation and India is ranking at 38th position right now and we have more PhD graduates coming out than any other country because it's almost third largest nation to produce more PhD graduates. So in such way there is workforce there is potential there is expenditure which is moving towards grass towards uh improvement that is grow in grass wise we are improving our expenditure and there's growing innovation as well patent filings have been also in increase so these things are are giving a base for India's R&D ecosystem at present but we will discuss what is the issues there one such issue as already I mentioned the percentage of GDP which we are spending for R&D. We'll also see what are the other issues that are making scientists like especially scientists in in ISRO to leave the organization and move towards their other career paths. Why scientists are leaving? As I said, the first one is the bureaucratic and hierarchal culture. If you see when a scientist has to uh project or give his idea to its to his team to SRR team or to the IR authority who going to approve his finance or who's going to approve his project there is always this hierarchal culture and bureaucratic culture which delays or which actually uh demotivates the scientist or the respective scientist to move forward. This is present especially in all the PSUs in India which is also BHL HL etc which is creating a lot of delay for the approvals. The next is limited autonomy. The scientists are focused or they said that you have to focus only certain things. You have to not go and uh see like explore different things but you are only given certain set of task which you have to do. Means you are already restricting their ideas, you're already restricting their functions. So there is limited autonomy for scientists in these institutions. And next is poor workplace environment. There are fear of retaliation because even when you exceed your scope or when you exceed your uh way of doing the functions or way of uh doing the projects or also the in the laboratories how you going to use those instruments. when you exceed your limits, you are going to face retaliation from your peers or from your seniors. So the workplace workplace environment actually not motivating enough for the scientists to move freely and also produce their uh also give their own opinion of ideas. So there should be there should there is weak grievance retressal mechanism as well. Many many places if you see the scientists they do not open up their mouth. They just say okay let it go. I'll just sit there and do whatever they say. It is just like another government job where it's like passing the papers and doing and not more of innovation over there. So the workplace environment is also poor and other cult other thing is the weak research culture mentoring excessive focus on protocol reduced collaborations because when you say when you see uh the world today it is it is moving more dynamically. You are because whenever there is new technology whenever there is new application the scientists or the people who are working on research should grab the opportunity and see what they can do from it. But these protocol that are set already are actually making them are bringing it in a situation of paradox because the protocol says that you have to follow certain steps to provide to go on with this research. But before you follow those protocols already the opportunity is lost already the research opportunity is lost. So the protocol and the research opportunity is not getting in match. So this is there is a weak research culture that that is been highlighted in this article. the career opportunities if you see many private uh people many private organizations give better renumerations for these scientists like for example let's say ISRO scientists they work in ISRO for years and years and years but let's say they move to other private organization for example let's say skyroot or let's say agnipul cosmos or even let's say uh they move they move to other agencies like other space agencies like NASA or SpaceX they provide lot of renumerations for these scientists that's why if you could you could see many Indian scientists working in those uh agencies Japan agencies or NASA or else in SpaceX so the career opportunity is weak in India that is the important reason for the scientist to move forward and the other thing is the institutional trust because unfairness in administrative weaken the scientist long-term commitment because administration will not uh will not blindly trust people will not blindly say that you are blindly uh give you a free hand to do whatever the research you can do. So there is such in a lack of institutional trust because they always uh see what you're doing. They always keep you checked they always uh keep you in constrained manner that you function only in for certain way or not for certain projects in a certain way not use your own brain and do different things. So such institutional trust are there but slowly India is actually moving forward and coming out of these clutches. We will see what are the steps taken by government before um before the scientists leave or maybe what are the steps that are which are going to be taken by the government and also other organizations for these problems. So we saw what are the reasons why that are making scientists to leave India or maybe leave the organizations where they are functioning. But what is the impact of that those things? So impact immediately affects certain things. The research institution it affects the research institution. It affects science and technology. It affects long-term nations growth also. So research institution if you say loss of experienced scientists and mentors. If you're immediately losing your scientists let's say the pro scientists from Gaganyan missions, the scientists from Chandran 4, Chundran five missions are leaving after a certain point in time. They cannot be immediately replaced with other scientists because the the value of experience is lost. So the experienced scientist and mentors are lost when such things happen. Declining in institutional memory, innovation and research continuity. The know how should be transferred because when I'm leaving the organization, I have to transfer whatever things that I have done or whatever things that are in pipeline to the next coming scientist. So when that transfer of knowledge is not there when that transfer of knowledge is not happening then there is the loss in memory innovation and research continuity again the new guy should start from scratch which will take time loss of resources and lot of other problems next on science and technology what are the impacts the first impact would be the India's capability in AI semiconductor quantum technology and space that is in advanced technology these scientists who can perform advanced task who can perform advanced applications uh related things are actually leaving the domain or leaving the uh workspace from India and are they moving to other places or foreign nations it is going to affect our long-term plan on this technologies like AI and semiconductors the other thing is there technological self-reliance it is intuitive it is related because the atma in self-reliance that is atma in science and technology will get reduced or will get compromised on human resource. What happens? There is reduced mentoring for young researchers. It is not going to motivate young researchers. Like say for example there were there is there was once upon a time an I value for research from IITs. The PhD from IIT is valued a lot but now the young researchers are not motivated to do research in such institutions rather they go for immediate benefits or immediate renumerations. So it demotivates the young researchers to move forward or take a career path like scientist or take a career path like PhD. And what is on public investment the returns on investments on research infrastructure will get reduced automatically that happens because when you are not able to do when you are not able to get returns from the experienced scientists then how will you get returns from the new scientists or new people who are coming into the organization because let's say with an example of ISRO let's say 100 scientists are working in a very professional and highly important task when they are believing that the return on investment on that project will be less because the new scientists cannot work on the same pace on same design or same mentality because they will take time and when they take time there is more resources that you are going to spend on them. So automatically the resource on return on investment is very less. So these are the impacts which you can mention quickly when you get when you get a question on mains. So what are the government initiatives we'll see quickly there's nothing much deep which we have to del in you have to see what are the just there. The first one is the RDA scheme funds to deep tech and emerging technologies by government of India and partnership for accelator innovation research under ANRF research fund national research fund national research fund strengthens research infrastructure through in institutional partnerships then mission for advancement in I impact areas at Maha support I impact translation research you have to just code these things you don't need to quote deep into it who is doing it Why they're doing it? Nothing required. You need to support these things that government initiatives are there to promote these scientists. But it should be more aware to them. Then prime minister early career research grant startup funding for young researchers. Post-doctoral fellowships is there. And we also have PMRF I think it is discontinued right now but it is coming in a different form where research PhD research people are given 75,000 per month for extinguished for better research. So this is actually getting discontinued now but they're going to come bring it in different format. So there is 75,000 per month for very few selected people PhD scholars there is such a in initiative there's one more called why scheme where it tries to bring back the Indian diaspora Indian scientists from foreign to India that is bringing back the scientific drain back to India so it is reverse scientific ific drain. So WBO scheme tries to reverse the scientific drain. So this scheme can also be quoted. Then we have diversity for inclusivity and diversity. We promote women scientists as well through ser power program. Then we have inclusive in research grant. So such things can be quickly quoted by you when you write the test when you write the uh answer for what are the government initiatives that are present way forward. If you see administrative transparency and accountability should be increased. Griven's redressal mechanism should be increased so that the scientists are not are not curtailed by the administrative retism and promote academic freedom that is giving more free and to scientists more funding and also more autonomy so that they can they can use their ideas then come up with the innovative projects mentorship based programs hierarchy and encourage collaboration collaboration with foreign institutes collaboration with different Indian institutes within India so that they bring an holistic development and merit based evaluation and promotion and funding that is this is very much required for any institution merit- based funding poster culture that values scientific contribution over designation so what how small the project how small the thing can be it should be more focused on scientific value but not on the designation let's say a low the scientist at the lower grade low pay level is bringing some innovative project but scient scientist at the IPA level is only bringing a small level project that is not that much of significant then this project the low the scient the scientists who are joined new who's bringing a new project should also be valued such as the way forward that should be car carried on in India's R&D ecosystem let's see what quickly see the mains practice question related to this the challenge before India is not producing talented scientists but retaining them in public research institutions discuss the factors responsible scientific talent exodus from India and suggest measure to build more innovative friendly research ecosystem. So India is having a very good R&D base as I said the gross expenditure is increasing more PhD graduates are coming out innovation index we are moving forward patent filings we are moving forward so everything is there in India but we cannot retain them in public innovation space so that is where the problem is we have to highlight what is the problem before that we'll highlight what is the India's R&D ecosystem then the problem then finally the mitigation steps now let's move on to the next topic So moving on we'll discuss the topics for the pre focus today. So the first one is Dimsa dance. So Dimsa dance is performed recently in Aluri Sitaramar Raju International Airport inauguration. This is Bogapuram als this airport is also called Bogapuram. It is in AP Andhra Pradesh. Why this dance has come into news today? because it was officially set as Guinness World Record because over 13,000 tribal women student participated in this performance. So it was performed in this airport inauguration in Andhra Pradesh and also this dimsa translate to sound of footsteps means it is specific or it is actually practiced or it is performed in eastern gods specifically in Araku valley where we have Araku coffee. Why is that Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh? So this dimsa dance is traditionally performed to honor village deities and also they celebrate good harvest and poster comm community unity. So you need to just remember where the dance is performed what the dance means and what is the theme for the dance that is all it's important from this perspective. This is where a pick taken in their performance dims dance. You can see both men and women participate in this dance. So the next topic is exercise rotar clap. So this rotar clap exercise is actually being concluded recently. This is third part three that is third part of this inauguration. Third part of this inaugural exercise. It was organized or it is only done by Indian air force. It is not bilateral or it is not including other countries. It is only for air force. Indian Air Force. So it is held annually. Okay. It is held annually and it is this mission or this exercise it is for countering the unmanned aerial systems because unmanned aerial system that is UAVs the drones actually have become the norm for skirmishes. So to avoid these skirmishes across the border especially in the Pakistan border such exercise have been uh taken taken by Indian air force. So they this has recently concluded in J Salmer where there is pokron field firing. Pocrron is where we have done our nuclear testing. So this pokram field firing range in Jalmer it's actually used as a ground for this exercise. So this exercise you all you need to know is it is for Indian air force. this car carried forward by Indian air force for against counter that is to counter the UAVs. It is an annual exercise. So these three things are very much important which you need to know. Yeah. So the next one is Glaw Lake has actually been accredited as one not one that is 101st Ramsar site of India. This is situated in Arnachal Pradesh and Arnachal Pradesh gets its first Ramsar site that is claw lake. It is inside this Kamlong tiger reserve which is part of the eastern Himalayas. So what is the water source for this lake? Water source is fed by brristin mountain streams. There are many streams means not specific one stream that is source for this gl lake and it is actually sacred to Mishmi community. Mishmi is a local community over there in Arnachal Pradesh and highest number of Ramsa sites if you see in India specific to state it's in Tamil Nadu okay Tamil Nadu has 20 Ramsar sites which is highest among any state in India if you take country wise that is which country has more Ramsar sites which is United Kingdom around 175 to 176 Ramsar sites that are presented in United Kingdom and the largest Ramsar site in India is Sundarans which is in West Bengal. Smallest is Reuka that is in Imachal Pradesh. So you need to know what is the largest, what is the smallest and also you need to know which state has more number of Ramsa sites, which country has more number of Ramsa sites and this is the latest Ramsa site that has been added. And for your reference 100th Ramsar site is in UP 100 Ramar UP which is J Praash Nan J Praash JP J Praash Narayan bird sanctuary. So that's all about this topic. Let's move on. So this is the glow. can see it's in eastern Himalayas or natural. So let's have a practice question related to this gallet. So the first statement is it is the first Ramsa site in Arnachal Pradesh. That is correct because Arnachal Pradesh though it is actually ecologically more diverse it is getting its first Ramsa site which is very much important and it is located within the Kamlang Tiger reserve in the eastern Himalayas. That is correct. This eastern and western Himalayas where the trap would be. You have to just note it down where the trap they could sit. The eastern this reserve is in eastern Himalayas. That is correct. It is spread primarily by the Brahmaputra river. That is not correct because it is not specific to Brahmaputra. That is incorrect. The lake is considered sacred by the Mishmi community. Yeah, this community is the local community which is considering this lake as sacred. So 124 should be correct. So option D should be correct. Let's check. Yes, option D. Thank you for watching. Please like, comment, share and subscribe our YouTube channel and also have the bell icon pressed for instant notification. See you again on next interesting session. [music]