1 . RSVC–AMRIT Platform
Syllabus Mapping: GS III: Science & Technology • Rural Technology • Innovation & Technology Transfer • Inclusive Development + GS II: Rural Development
- RSVC–AMRIT platform was launched by the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, to strengthen technology-led rural development and technology transfer.
- It has been developed by NABARD in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (OPSA) and serves as the digital backbone of the RuTAGe Smart Village Centre (RSVC) ecosystem.
- AMRIT is designed to cover the complete RSVC lifecycle: technology discovery → validation → deployment → tracking → monitoring → knowledge management.
- It seeks to connect innovators, technology providers, startups, validators, accelerators, implementation partners, funding agencies, academic institutions and rural communities on a common platform.
- The objective is to bridge the gap between available technologies and actual rural needs, enabling wider adoption of appropriate, affordable and locally relevant technologies.
- RSVCs act as village-level technology hubs facilitating transfer of technologies from research institutions, innovators and startups to rural communities.
- Key areas include agriculture, rural enterprises, renewable energy, education, assistive technologies, water & sanitation and citizen services.
- NABARD currently supports 8 RSVCs, with the AMRIT platform providing a digital layer to complement their physical grassroots presence.
- AMRIT is envisaged as a national repository of rural innovations, technologies, best practices and collaboration opportunities.
- RuTAG (Rural Technology Action Group) is an initiative of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, launched in 2004, to provide demand-driven Science & Technology interventions for rural areas.
- RuTAG 2.0, launched in 2023, places greater emphasis on commercialisation and wider dissemination of technologies developed under RuTAG.
- RSVC (RuTAGe Smart Village Centre) takes this concept closer to the grassroots by creating a permanent village-level technology hub, designed to address the needs of surrounding villages.
2. CYBER KUSHTI 2026
Syllabus Mapping: GS III: Cyber Security • Artificial Intelligence • Digital Technology • Cybercrime • Emerging Technologies
- NIELIT, under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), launched CYBER KUSHTI 2026 on 15 August 2026 as a national Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon.
- It is designed to test human judgment in cybersecurity assessment, rather than merely the speed of detecting vulnerabilities.
- It is being conducted in collaboration with the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) Foundation, with CERT-In as Knowledge Partner.
- Every team receives the same deliberately imperfect Security Assessment Package. The package contains a mixture of genuine, false and duplicated findings, while some real vulnerabilities are deliberately omitted.
- Teams must identify, reject, prioritise and defend security findings. Thus, the competition tests the ability to distinguish real threats from false positives and determine which vulnerabilities require priority action.
- Unlike conventional Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions, CYBER KUSHTI focuses on security judgement, prioritisation and decision-making.
- Three rounds: Akhada + Dangal + Kesari: In-person – 9 October 2026, New Delhi
- The final round will be held during the 3rd National Conference on Cyber Security, Digital Forensics and Intelligence (NCCDFI 2026).
- NIELIT is an autonomous scientific society under MeitY involved in education, training, skill development and capacity building in Electronics & Information Technology.
3. FutureSkills PRIME
Syllabus Mapping: GS III: Science & Technology • Emerging Technologies • Digital Economy • Skill Development • Human Resource Development
- FutureSkills PRIME (FSP) is a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) and NASSCOM for skilling, reskilling and upskilling India’s workforce in emerging technologies. It was launched in 2018.
- The programme aims to build an industry-ready digital talent pool through an online, industry-aligned and continuously updated learning ecosystem.
- Major technology areas include: Artificial Intelligence + Big Data Analytics + Internet of Things (IoT) + Cyber Security + Cloud Computing + Blockchain + AR/VR + Semiconductors
- More than 34 lakh candidates registered, with 23 lakh+ enrolled/trained and 13 lakh+ certified under the programme.
- Around 41% of certified/participating learners are women, while over 86% are from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, highlighting the programme’s role in inclusive digital skilling.
- The portal currently hosts 500+ industry-aligned courses, allowing learners to access training and certification anytime and anywhere.
- C-DAC and NIELIT Resource Centres supplement the online platform through training, bootcamps and capacity-building, including training of government officials and trainers.
- National Credit Framework (NCrF): SSC-NASSCOM has partnered with State Governments and academic institutions for adoption of FutureSkills PRIME courses into academic curricula, enabling integration of emerging-technology skilling with formal education.
4. DLI Scheme & Indigenous Semiconductor Chip Design – VIHAAN
Syllabus Mapping: GS III: Science & Technology • Semiconductors • Indigenous Technology • Electronics Manufacturing • Digital Infrastructure • Atmanirbhar Bharat
- Aheesa Digital Innovations, a Chennai-based fabless semiconductor startup, has achieved first-pass silicon success with VIHAAN, a broadband networking System-on-Chip (SoC) designed using the indigenous VEGA microprocessor.
- VIHAAN is designed for fibre-broadband applications and aims to support the expansion of domestically designed semiconductor solutions for India’s digital infrastructure.
- The chip had earlier completed its design tape-out and is targeted to proceed towards production tape-out in 2027.
- Aheesa has received around ₹40 crore from the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation (TNIFMC) through the Tamil Nadu Emerging Sector Seed Fund (TNESSF) and other private investors.
- The development is supported under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, which promotes indigenous semiconductor design capabilities among Indian startups and companies.
- DLI supports chip designs for applications including satellite communication, drones, surveillance, defence & aerospace, automotive, IoT, AI, telecom equipment and smart meters.
- Chip design is a major value-addition component of the semiconductor value chain, contributing up to 50% of overall value addition and around 15–35% of the Bill of Materials (BOM) cost of electronic products.
- Fabless semiconductor company: A company that designs semiconductor chips but does not own fabrication facilities; manufacturing is outsourced to semiconductor foundries.
- SoC (System-on-Chip): Integrates multiple functional components of a computing/electronic system onto a single chip, improving integration and potentially reducing size, power consumption and cost.
- Tape-out: The stage at which the finalised chip design is sent for fabrication. Successful fabrication followed by testing validates whether the physical silicon performs as intended.
- VEGA: An indigenous RISC-V-based microprocessor ecosystem developed in India; it represents efforts towards developing domestic processor-design capabilities.
5. Kavach Version 4.0
Syllabus Mapping: GS III: Infrastructure • Railways • Indigenous Technology • Transport Safety • Science & Technology
- Indian Railways has approved deployment of Kavach Version 4.0 over 660 Route Km of the Izzatnagar Division of North Eastern Railway (NER).
- The project has an estimated cost of ₹295 crore and will be implemented under the umbrella work for Kavach with LTE communication backbone on the remaining sections of Indian Railways.
- Kavach is India’s indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to enhance railway safety.
- It continuously monitors train movement and signalling conditions and can automatically apply brakes when required.
- Key objective: prevent Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD) incidents and train collisions.
- Kavach also enables trains to operate safely at maximum permissible speeds and supports safe operations during adverse conditions such as dense fog.
- LTE communication backbone provides the communication infrastructure required for reliable exchange of data between the train, signalling infrastructure and control systems.
- ATP (Automatic Train Protection): A railway safety system that automatically intervenes when a train violates safety conditions, such as exceeding permitted speed or passing a signal at danger.
- SPAD (Signal Passed at Danger): A situation where a train passes a railway signal that requires it to stop, creating a serious collision risk
