Mains Practice Questions for the Day
- Q. Generative biology has the potential to transform healthcare, but its dual-use nature may also amplify biological risks. Discuss its applications and concerns. Suggest a suitable governance framework, with particular reference to India.
- Q. UPI has emerged as a foundational component of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure. Discuss its contribution to financial inclusion and economic formalisation, and identify the challenges to its sustainable expansion.
Q. Generative biology has the potential to transform healthcare, but its dual-use nature may also amplify biological risks. Discuss its applications and concerns. Suggest a suitable governance framework, with particular reference to India.
Introduction:
Generative biology combines artificial intelligence with synthetic biology to design new DNA, RNA and protein sequences. Its potential was demonstrated when AI models designed complete bacteriophage genomes, of which 16 produced viable phages after laboratory synthesis. This marks a transition from reading and modifying genomes to designing biological functions.
Body
Transformative Applications
1. Healthcare
- AMR control: Customised phages can target multidrug-resistant bacteria.
- Gene delivery: Engineered viral vectors can deliver CRISPR to specific tissues.
- Drug and vaccine discovery: AI can optimise antigens, antibodies and therapeutic proteins.
- Precision oncology: Oncolytic viruses may selectively destroy cancer cells.
2. Scientific Advancement
- AI can explore genetic combinations beyond human trial-and-error capacity.
- It can shorten literature review, modelling and experimental-design cycles.
- It can support genomics, protein engineering and pandemic preparedness.
Major Concerns
- Dual-use risk: Therapeutic design tools may be misused to develop harmful biological agents.
- Capability amplification: AI can make skilled laboratories faster and more effective at biological engineering.
- Ecological uncertainty: Accidental release may create unforeseen ecosystem effects or species-barrier risks.
- Screening gaps: Novel sequences may evade systems that identify only known pathogens.
- Patent ambiguity: Ownership of AI-generated biological entities remains unclear.
Governance Framework
- Mandate KYC and screening for commercial DNA-synthesis orders.
- Shift from sequence-matching to function-based risk assessment.
- Red-team biological AI models against harmful prompts.
- Regulate access to frontier models and high-end computing through graduated, auditable controls.
- Strengthen laboratory biosafety and institutional dual-use review.
- Update the Biological Weapons Convention to address AI-generated pathogens.
India’s Priorities
The IndiaAI Mission should support biomedical models, secure computing, quality biological datasets and trusted researcher access.
Conclusion:
India should pursue controlled acceleration—promoting medical innovation while increasing safeguards according to capability and risk. AI sovereignty and biosecurity must advance together.
Q. UPI has emerged as a foundational component of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure. Discuss its contribution to financial inclusion and economic formalisation, and identify the challenges to its sustainable expansion.
Introduction:
The Unified Payments Interface is an interoperable, real-time payment system developed by NPCI. In ten years, its annual transaction volume increased from 1.78 crore to over 24,162 crore, making it the backbone of India’s digital-payment ecosystem.
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Contribution to India’s Digital Economy
Financial Inclusion
- UPI enables direct access to bank accounts through mobile applications.
- UPI 123PAY extends digital payments to feature-phone users.
- QR-based acceptance allows small vendors to receive payments without costly hardware.
Economic Formalisation
- Digital records improve transaction traceability.
- Instant settlement encourages businesses to shift from cash.
- Integration with IPOs, credit lines and recurring mandates expands access to formal financial services.
Innovation and Competition
- Its interoperable architecture allows banks and fintech firms to build services on common infrastructure.
- UPI Lite, AutoPay and credit-card integration have broadened use cases.
Global Influence
UPI is operational in 11 foreign countries and accounted for around 49% of global real-time payment volume in 2024, demonstrating the export potential of India’s digital public infrastructure.
Challenges
- Cyber fraud and social engineering threaten consumer confidence.
- Connectivity gaps limit use in remote areas.
- Rising volumes require scalable and reliable infrastructure.
- Failed transactions need faster grievance resolution.
- Data collection raises privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
- International expansion requires wider merchant acceptance.
- The ecosystem must remain affordable while ensuring provider sustainability.
Way Forward
- Strengthen fraud detection and regional-language awareness.
- Expand low-connectivity and feature-phone solutions.
- Improve system redundancy and dispute resolution.
- Enforce privacy and cybersecurity standards.
- Develop interoperable cross-border payment partnerships.
- Maintain competition and accessible services.
Conclusion:
UPI’s next decade must combine innovation and global expansion with security, reliability, inclusion and consumer protection.
