Science & Technology — Glossary

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) are the biologically active chemical substances in a drug that produce the intended therapeutic effect, distinct from inactive excipients.

Aditya-L1 is India's first dedicated solar observatory mission, launched by ISRO in 2023 to study the Sun from a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L1.

Aditya-L1 is India's first space-based solar observatory, launched by ISRO in September 2023 to study the Sun from the L1 Lagrange point.

The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board is India's statutory nuclear safety regulator, constituted in 1983 to enforce radiological and industrial safety in atomic and radiation facilities.

Agni is India's family of indigenously developed nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missiles built by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

Agni-V is India's indigenous nuclear-capable, road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile with a range exceeding 5,000 kilometres, developed by the DRDO.

Atmanirbhar Bharat is India's self-reliance economic policy, launched in 2020, to build domestic capacity in manufacturing, technology and defence while remaining globally integrated.

The Atomic Energy Commission is India's apex policy-making body for nuclear matters, established in 1948 to formulate and oversee atomic energy programmes.

August 2024 was the month in which Bangladesh's Awami League government collapsed and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled, ending fifteen years of rule.

Ayushman Bharat is India's national health protection scheme, launched in 2018, combining wellness centres with a ₹5 lakh annual hospitalisation insurance cover for poor families.

Biotech and health denotes the application of biological sciences and genetic technologies to medicine, agriculture, and industry, governed in India by dedicated departments, regulators, and policy frameworks.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is India's national regulatory authority for drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and vaccines, functioning under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Chandrayaan-3 was India's third lunar mission, which on 23 August 2023 made India the first nation to soft-land near the Moon's south pole.

The CHIPS and Science Act is a 2022 United States law providing roughly $52.7 billion in subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research to reduce reliance on Asian supply chains.

Communication is the structured transfer of information, ideas, or instructions between a sender and a receiver through a channel, enabling shared understanding and coordinated action.

Covaxin (BBV152) is India's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, an inactivated whole-virion vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech with the ICMR-National Institute of Virology.

Covishield is the Indian-manufactured version of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India and central to India's pandemic immunisation programme.

Critical minerals are metals and non-metals deemed essential to economic and national security yet vulnerable to supply disruption owing to concentrated extraction or processing.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is the apex Government of India agency under the Ministry of Science and Technology that promotes and funds biotechnology research, regulation, and commercialization.

The Digital Rupee (e₹) is the Reserve Bank of India's central bank digital currency, a sovereign legal-tender liability of the RBI issued in digital form.

The Drone Rules, 2021 are Indian regulations notified under the Aircraft Act, 1934, that liberalised the certification, registration and operation of unmanned aircraft systems.

Gaganyaan is India's first human spaceflight programme, led by ISRO, to send a three-member crew to a low Earth orbit of about 400 km and return them safely.

The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of world economies by innovation capacity and output, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

High-yield facts to retain are the compact, recurring, high-frequency data points—dates, articles, treaties, ratios, and named authorities—that disproportionately influence scores in competitive civil-service and diplomatic examinations.

The India Semiconductor Mission is a 2021 specialised, independent business division under Digital India Corporation tasked with building a sustainable semiconductor and display fabrication ecosystem in India.

The IndiaAI Mission is a 2024 central-sector scheme to build India's artificial-intelligence ecosystem through subsidised compute, datasets, applications, and safe-AI institutions.

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) is a US-led plurilateral economic arrangement launched in 2022 covering trade, supply chains, clean energy, and anti-corruption.

Make in India is the Government of India's 2014 flagship initiative to transform the country into a global manufacturing, design, and innovation hub by attracting investment and easing business.

The National Quantum Mission is a 2023 Indian Government scheme to develop quantum computing, communication, sensing, and materials over 2023–2031 with an outlay of ₹6,003.65 crore.

NIST is the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal agency under the Department of Commerce that develops measurement standards, metrology, and cybersecurity frameworks.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is ISRO's four-stage expendable rocket, operational since 1994, designed primarily to place satellites into Sun-synchronous polar orbits.

Quantum computing is a computational paradigm that exploits quantum-mechanical phenomena—superposition, entanglement, and interference—to process information using qubits rather than classical bits.

The Semicon India Programme is India's central-government scheme, notified in 2021–22 with a ₹76,000-crore outlay, to build a domestic semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem.

Space is the physical expanse beyond Earth's atmosphere, governed internationally as a global commons that no state may appropriate by claim of sovereignty.

ZyCoV-D is the world's first DNA plasmid-based vaccine against COVID-19, developed by India's Zydus Cadila and granted emergency use authorisation in August 2021.