Science, Technology and Environmental Issues
Domain 5: Science, Technology and Environmental Issues
This domain tests health, information and communication technology, biodiversity and disaster management. Questions reward precise definitions: incidence versus prevalence, mitigation versus adaptation, and hazard versus disaster.
Core concepts
- Health: incidence counts new cases in a period; prevalence counts all existing cases at a point or over a period. Vaccines train the immune system using antigens, often without causing disease. Antimicrobial resistance grows through unnecessary antibiotic use. Telemedicine and digital health extend services.
- ICT: digital public infrastructure includes Aadhaar, UPI and DigiLocker. Cybersecurity protects confidentiality, integrity and availability. Artificial intelligence and semiconductor policy are current technology priorities; Telangana promotes IT clusters and electronics manufacturing.
- Biodiversity: ecosystems provide provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services. Telangana has Kawal and Amrabad tiger reserves and protected areas such as Pakhal and Eturnagaram. The Western and Eastern Ghats are distinct biogeographic zones.
- Disaster management: the NDMA coordinates policy under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The Sendai Framework 2015-2030 stresses understanding risk, governance, investment, preparedness and build-back-better. Floods, droughts, heat waves and cyclones require early warning and local action plans.
Worked example
A district reports 1,200 new dengue cases in a year among a population of 6,00,000. Incidence per 1,000 = (1,200 / 6,00,000) x 1,000 = 2 per 1,000 person-years. If 300 old cases are still ill at year-end, that count contributes to prevalence, not incidence. The reasoning separates new events from existing cases.
Traps that cost marks
Do not use prevalence as incidence. Do not say a vaccine causes the disease it prevents. In environment, distinguish conservation from preservation and mitigation from adaptation. In disasters, a hazard becomes a disaster only when it causes serious damage and disruption.