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BPSC Mains GS-2 Masterclass · Science & Technology

Science for India's Four Big ChallengesPopulation, Health, Resources & Farmland

Four problems shape India's future: a huge and growing population, serious health risks, degraded land, water and air, and shrinking farms. For each, this page sets out the scale of the problem and the scientific initiatives that can answer it.

People1.37 bnPopulation

expected 1.64 bn by 2050.

Health1:1456Doctor–population ratio

WHO norm 1:1000.

Costs~60%Out-of-pocket spend

of current health expenditure.

Land29%Land degraded

ISRO, 2011-13.

Farms1.08 haAverage farm size

down from 2.28 ha in 1970-71.

Holdings86.21%Small and marginal holdings

of all holdings, 2015-16.

Part 1 · Increasing population

A Growing Population, and Science to Manage It

India has much to show since independence, but a population heading for 1.64 billion lies at the root of many other problems.

Illustration of a crowded Indian town with a health centre, a small farm plot squeezed by new buildings and a degraded hillside

Achievements and challenges

Since independence India has several achievements to its credit. It is among the fastest growing economies in the world, continued to have distinguished position of being largest democracy in the world, lifted millions out of poverty, has become a space, nuclear power as well as IT super power and enjoys a respectable image at the global level.

However, it is faced with numerous challenges like high poverty ratio, climate change, land degradation, low agricultural productivity, pollution etc. But the key issues that make our future uncertain are increasing population, higher health risks, degraded natural resources and dwindling farm lands.

Increasing population

According to the UN's World Population Prospects 2019 report, India is projected to become the most populous country by 2027 surpassing China.
The current estimated population of India is 1.37 billion and it is expected to be 1.64 billion by 2050.
This ever increasing population of the country is considered as the root of the numerous other challenges like low quality of life, high poverty and unemployment, degradation of environment, low capital availability for development, food security etc.
However, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4, as many as 23 States and Union Territories already achieved below 2.1 TFR. And the Economic Survey 2018-19 notes that India is set to witness a “sharp slowdown in population growth in the next two decades”. But, still at the current rate of growth, India's population is likely to peak by 2048 at about 1.61 billion and is a key issue for the policy makers.

Scientific initiatives for increasing population

Use of Geographic information system (GIS), data-processing software, internet technologies can be used to enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of the whole census operation, data collection and information dissemination of the data. Accurate and quality data can help the evidence based decision making regarding population control.
The science can also help in population control measures, e.g. using digital media platforms for spreading awareness regarding family planning, use of contraceptive technologies to ensure that every pregnancy is intended and as safe as possible.
Science and technology also helps addressing the issues arising due to population increase, e.g. use of internet technologies for affordability and accessibility of quality education and health services, using clean energy technologies (e.g. solar, wind, nuclear etc.) to fulfil the rising energy demands due to increasing population and economic development and using modern agricultural technologies to ensure food security.
The skill development technology initiatives like virtual training can help increase the human capital and demographic burden can be turned into a demographic dividend, e.g. an initiative for capacity building through Virtual learning modules namely iGOT platform.

Part 2 · Higher health risks

Higher Health Risks, and Science to Reduce Them

Weak pandemic preparedness, diabetes, tropical diseases, TB, high out-of-pocket costs, too few doctors and mental illness, against telemedicine, space tech, biotech and nanomedicine.

Higher health risks

India is faced with numerous challenges in the health sector, e.g.:

In the Global Health Security Index, which measures pandemic preparedness for countries based on their ability to handle the crisis, India ranked 57, lower than the US at 1, the UK at 2, Brazil at 22, and Italy at 31, highlighting India's vulnerability.
Globally it has the 2nd highest number of diabetic patients.
Being a tropical country it has some of the most severe issues with infectious and Neglected Tropical Diseases on the planet like Soil-transmitted helminths, kala-azar, Dengue, Malaria, Leprosy, Trachoma etc.
According to Global TB report 2019 of WHO, India has highest TB burden in the world which causes about 220,000 deaths every year.
Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) as a percentage of Current Health Expenditure continues to be around 60%.
The economic survey 2019-20 had highlighted the issues related to the medical infrastructure in the country, for example, the doctor-population ratio in India is 1:1456 against the WHO recommendation of 1:1000.
- Uneven distribution of healthcare workforce: Most of the workforce practice in metropolitan or tier I or tier II cities, creating personnel deficiencies in small towns and villages.
Still not so impressive health indices with Maternal Mortality Rate at 122 (in 2015-17), Infant mortality rate at 28 in 2019 and child mortality rate 34 in 2019.
India also faces the issue of large number of cases of mental health: in 2017, there were 197·3 million people with mental disorders in India, comprising 14·3% of the total population of the country. One among every seven people in India had a mental disorder, ranging from mild to severe.
The Covid-19 pandemic is not only a recently emerged health risk, it has also exposed the existing issues in the health system of the country.

Scientific initiatives for higher health risks

Information and space technology

Leveraging Information Technology: Rolling out of e-Sanjeevani Tele Consultation Services and Aarogya Setu app for self-assessment and contact tracing in case of covid-19 pandemic.
Space technology is also used in the health sector, e.g.
- Global navigation satellite systems and geographic information systems are used for the study and forecasting of communicable and noncommunicable diseases;
- satellite communication and global navigation satellite systems for disaster response;
- satellite communication for telemedicine and tele-education;
- Various health research and technologies developed for inhabited space flights have been adapted for terrestrial use.
Blockchain-enabled mobile platform “HealthPro” to connect hospitals, insurance companies and host medical records of patients.
KARMI-Bot was a robot deployed by a government hospital in Ernakulam, Kerala to serve food and medicines to coronavirus patients with an aim to reduce risk of infections for doctors and health workers.

Diagnosis, treatment and vaccines

Scientific measures help in dealing with diseases and pandemic at all the stages, e.g.
- RT-PCR test, rapid antigen test diagnosis of Covid 19.
- Development of medicines and treatments, e.g. Convalescent Plasma Therapy for Covid-19, Remdesivir for Ebola treatment.
- Bio-technologies like Genetic Sequences and Genetic engineering are used for the development of vaccines.
- Stem cell therapy: regenerative medicine which promotes the reparative response of diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissue using stem cells or their derivatives.
Food fortification technologies can improve the nutritional profile of the food products. It will boost the immunity among the population reducing the prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases, e.g. Golden Rice with additional vitamin A.

Nanotechnology

Nano medicine has resulted in formation of Nano scale diagnostic devices which are more efficient & able to detect cancer, bacterial and viral infection.
- Nanotechnology can help to repair damaged tissue through tissue engineering.
Drug Delivery: For the formation of Nano size drug which will help in lowering overall drug consumption & side effect by depositing active agent at specific places in body.
Nanotechnology holds the key to stopping anti-biotic resistant bacteria and the deadly infections they cause.

Example: Targeted nano drug delivery works like a courier with an exact address: the medicine is packed inside a particle that only opens at, say, a tumour, so a smaller dose does the job and healthy organs are spared the side effects.

Part 3 · Degraded natural resources

Degraded Land, Water and Air, and Science to Restore Them

Nearly a third of India's land is degraded, forests burn, e-waste piles up, water is scarce and polluted and the air is among the world's worst.

Degraded natural resources

The rapid growth of population in combination with economic development and over use of natural resources have led to degradation of natural resources.
Land degradation: A 2016 report by the ISRO found that about 29% of India's land (in 2011-13) was degraded, this being a 0.57% increase from 2003-05.
- Loss of soil cover, mainly due to rainfall and surface runoff is responsible for 98 per cent of desertification in the country.
- At the COP-13, India had committed to restoring 13 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by the year 2020 and an additional 8 million hectares by 2030.
About 21.40% of forest cover in India is prone to fires as per a report by the Forest Survey of India (FSI). They cause long term damage through loss of biodiversity, ozone layer depletion, loss of habitat for wildlife and soil erosion etc.
India is the third largest electronic waste generator in the world after China and the USA as per the Global E-waste Monitor 2020. The toxic materials from electronic devices are released into bodies of water, groundwater, soil and air, affecting both land and sea animals.
Water contamination: As per NITI Aayog's composite water management index, India is facing one of its major and most serious water crises.
- Its water demand is projected to be twice the available supply by 2030. While almost 80% of water supply flows back into the ecosystem as wastewater.
- In India, 70% of states treat less than half of their waste water.
- India is currently ranked 120 among 122 countries in the water quality index. 21% of communicable diseases in India are from usage of unsafe water.
According to the World Air Quality Report, 2020, 22 of the top 30 most polluted cities in the world are in India.
A recent study has found that at least 30.7% of deaths in India can be attributed to air pollution from fossil fuels – that means about 2.5 million people die every year after breathing toxic air.
Further, Illegal mining of natural resources like coal, sand etc has led to degradation of natural resources.

Scientific initiatives for degraded natural resources

Mapping

Space technology (e.g. GIS) and Drone technology can be used for collecting information and the zoning and mapping of the degraded natural resources. It will enable the informed decision making.

Bioremediation

Bioremediation for waste management in which microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, fungi), plants or biological enzymes are used to consume and break down environmental pollutants, in order to clean a polluted site. Example: oil zappers.

Bioenergy

Promoting use of Bioenergy (e.g. bioethanol and biodiesels) to check global warming.

Bioplastics

Developing recyclable bioplastics to curb the environmental degradation due to plastics pollution.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology can be used for water and soil remediation due to their high reactivity, selectivity and versatility, e.g. nanomembranes for water purification, desalination and detoxification; Nanosensors for the detection of contaminants and pathogens etc.

Clean energy

Renewable energy technologies, Nuclear technology and Fuel Cell technology etc can be used to replace the coal as major source of energy safeguarding the degrading environment system.

Robots

Robot technology can be employed in some conditions like Bandicoot to clean sewers.

Part 4 · Dwindling farm lands

Shrinking Farms, and Science to Make Every Hectare Count

Cultivable land is shrinking and farms have halved in size; mapping, land records, data, soil testing, nanotech and biotech can help.

Dwindling farm lands

Out of the total land mass of 328 million hectares, about 60% or 181.95 million hectares is cultivable. But in 1988-89, we had 185.142 million hectares of cultivable land and what's worse is that only 45 percent of land is under irrigation.
Land degradation, diversion of agricultural land for urbanisation and infrastructural development, land fragmentation, land submergence due to rising sea level etc are some of the major reasons behind the dwindling farm lands.
Since the first agriculture census over 45 years ago, the number of farms in India has more than doubled from 71 million in 1970-71 to 145 million in 2015-16, while the average farm size more than halved from 2.28 hectares (ha) to 1.08 ha.
- The share of small and marginal holdings in the country has risen to 86.21 per cent of total operational holding in 2015-16.
In India, the agricultural land is decreasing at a rate 30,000 hectares per year. Combined with the drought and floods in various states, it can threaten the food security in India.
The cultivable land in India has shrunk marginally by 0.43 per cent to 182.39 million hectare in last five years. This is due to shift in area for non-agricultural purposes such as buildings, road and railways among others.

Number of farms (million)

2015-16145 mn
1970-7171 mn

Average farm size (hectares)

1970-712.28 ha
2015-161.08 ha

Scientific initiatives for dwindling farm lands

Again drones and GIS system can be used for the mapping and collection of information about the available farm lands for the evidence based decision making regarding land use planning, e.g.
- Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas released by ISRO provides National level land degradation mapping.
- Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) has already been started to usher in a system of updated land records.
- Bhoomi project: It was undertaken and developed by the State Government of Karnataka. It was done so in order to computerize all the records of the land in Karnataka.
Super computers and big data analysis have already been used for the timely dispersal of information about the weather related data so that farmers can minimise the production loss due to uncertain rainfall.
Soil Testing Labs (STLs) with Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) spectrophotometer are used for the distribution of Soil Health Cards to the farmers which helps promote sustainable farming and reduction of the use of chemical fertilizers which is a major cause of land degradation.
Better input management and increases soil fertility through use of nanotubes, biosensors, controlled delivery systems, nanofiltration, etc.
Biotechnology can be used not only for the land reclamation (e.g. bio-remediation) but also to increase the productivity of crops (e.g. GM crops) to minimise the impacts of declining farm lands.

A holistic answer

Thus, scientific initiatives can help us dealing with these key issues in a holistic manner. If India is to attain the sustainable development goals, these key challenges must be addressed. And science and technologies are important tools which will help us in this process.

“If India is to attain the sustainable development goals, these key challenges must be addressed. And science and technologies are important tools which will help us in this process.”

— BPSC Mains answer · National challenges

Curated for BPSC, UPSC & State PCS Civil Services Aspirants | Science & Technology Master Module

Explore More Beyond the Book Modules

Science for India's Four Big ChallengesPopulation, Health, Resources & Farmland

A Growing Population, and Science to Manage It

Increasing population

Scientific initiatives for increasing population

Higher Health Risks, and Science to Reduce Them

Higher health risks

Scientific initiatives for higher health risks

Information and space technology

Diagnosis, treatment and vaccines

Nanotechnology

Degraded Land, Water and Air, and Science to Restore Them

Degraded natural resources

Scientific initiatives for degraded natural resources

Shrinking Farms, and Science to Make Every Hectare Count

Dwindling farm lands

Scientific initiatives for dwindling farm lands

BPSC Mains Previous Year Questions

In the present scenario, the key issues of the country are: “Increasing population, higher health risks, degraded natural resources and dwindling farm lands”. Discuss at least four scientific initiatives on each of the four areas that you would like to apply.