UPSC CARE Mains Practice 3rd December 2025
Mains Practice Questions for the Day
- The fight against antimicrobial resistance in India will be won or lost not in ICUs, but in pharmacies, farms, factories and wastewater drains.” Discuss in the context of NAP-AMR 2.0 and the One Health framework. (GS-3 – Health)
- Bioremediation is increasingly being viewed as a sustainable alternative to India’s costly and energy-intensive pollution control methods. Discuss the potential of bioremediation in addressing India’s environmental challenges. Also examine the regulatory and scientific limitations that hinder its large-scale adoption. (GS-III (Environment, Pollution, Biotechnology)
1Q. Critically examine the Supreme Court’s judgement on the ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014’ with reference to the appointment of judges of higher judiciary in India. UPSC (2017) (GS Paper-2 Judiciary)
Introduction:
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in India has shifted from a hospital-centric issue to a One Health crisis, shaped by antibiotic misuse in humans, livestock, aquaculture, agriculture, and environmental contamination. NAP-AMR 2.0 (2025–29) attempts to address these interconnected pathways.
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AMR Originates Beyond Hospitals
- Pharmacies: Over-the-counter antibiotic sales, irrational prescriptions, and self-medication create resistant strains before they reach ICUs.
- Farms & Livestock: Non-therapeutic antibiotic use for growth promotion in poultry, cattle and aquaculture accelerates resistant bacteria in the food chain.
- Factories: Pharmaceutical effluents (e.g., “Hyderabad pharma cluster”) release high antibiotic residues into water bodies, creating environmental “hotspots of resistance.”
- Wastewater: Untreated sewage, hospital waste, slaughterhouse discharge and runoffs spread multi-drug-resistant organisms across soil and rivers.
NAP-AMR 2.0 Attempts to Tackle These Pathways
- One Health Integration: Links human health, animal health, agriculture, aquaculture and environment.
- Expanded Surveillance: Strengthens lab networks across veterinary, food safety and environmental sectors.
- Stewardship & Regulation: Focus on tighter pharmacy regulation, prescription audits, rational antibiotic use and banning growth-promotion antibiotics.
- Innovation: Promotes rapid diagnostics, alternatives to antibiotics, environmental monitoring.
- Governance Reform: NITI Aayog-led Coordination Committee and push for State AMR Cells.
But Critical Gaps Remain
- No compulsory State Action Plans.
- No funding incentives (unlike TB or NHM).
- Weak enforcement on effluent discharge, veterinary misuse, and OTC sales.
- Limited private-sector accountability despite its dominance in healthcare and livestock sectors.
Conclusion:
India’s AMR battle will not be won only through hospital stewardship. Only a cooperative Centre–State framework, stronger environmental regulation, and strict control of antibiotic use in pharmacies, farms and factories can make NAP-AMR 2.0 a genuinely transformative One Health programme.
2Q. “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are transforming both military and civilian sectors through their diverse types and expanding applications.” Explain the different types of UAVs and analyse their major advantages in India’s developmental and security context. (GS-III – Defence Technology)
Introduction:
India’s rapid industrialisation and urbanisation have produced complex environmental challenges—untreated sewage, pesticide accumulation, oil spills, heavy-metal contamination, and landfill overload. Conventional remediation methods such as thermal treatment, chemical neutralisation or mechanical extraction remain expensive, energy-intensive and often generate secondary pollution. In this context, bioremediation—using microorganisms, fungi, algae and plants to degrade toxic pollutants—offers a sustainable, cost-effective alternative.
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Potential of Bioremediation in India
Bioremediation holds significant promise across multiple sectors:
- Restoration of contaminated rivers and wetlands: Indigenous microbes can degrade organic matter, industrial effluents and agricultural runoff in polluted rivers like the Ganga and Yamuna.
- Treatment of oil spills and petrochemical contamination: Oil-eating bacteria and microbial consortia can clean coastal spills and refinery zones.
- Reclaiming toxic industrial sites: Microorganisms and hyperaccumulator plants can remove heavy metals (arsenic, chromium, cadmium) from mining belts and industrial clusters.
- Solid waste and landfill management: Microbial cultures help break down organic waste, reducing landfill load.
- Agricultural land detoxification: Pesticide-degrading bacteria improve soil health and reduce long-term chemical residues.
India’s rich microbial biodiversity and government initiatives—like DBT’s Clean Technology Programme, CSIR-NEERI research, and emerging biotech start-ups—further strengthen bioremediation potential.
Regulatory and Scientific Limitations
However, large-scale adoption faces significant challenges:
- Absence of national bioremediation standards—no uniform protocols for microbial use, monitoring or site-specific applications.
- Biosafety concerns, especially with genetically modified (GM) microbes used in modern bioremediation.
- Limited scientific data on pollutant–microbe interactions across India’s diverse habitats.
- Lack of trained personnel and weak institutional capacity at state and municipal levels.
- Fragmented regulatory oversight between MoEFCC, DBT, CPCB and SPCBs, leading to delays in approvals.
- Public apprehension regarding the release of engineered organisms into open environments.
- Pilot-stage stagnation—most innovations from IITs, CSIR labs and start-ups have not transitioned into full-scale field deployment.
Conclusion:
Bioremediation offers India a vital pathway for low-cost, ecological restoration of contaminated lands and water systems. Yet, to mainstream this technology, India must build robust biosafety guidelines, create national bioremediation standards, invest in regional bioremediation hubs, and strengthen local capacities. A science-driven, well-regulated framework—combined with community engagement—will determine the success of bioremediation as a cornerstone of India’s environmental management.
