20 Topics.
0 of 15 Concepts Done
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 1999UPSC 2010UPSC 2012
What to Study: What makes a crop transgenic? Remember the three main traits engineered into crops, each with its standard example: resistance to pests (Cry proteins), tolerance to herbicides (Roundup Ready soybean) and better nutrition. Which concerns are specific to herbicide-tolerant crops?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2014
What to Study: Learn what cytoplasmic male sterility and gene silencing are, and how each is used in crop improvement. Understand why male sterility makes hybrid seed production easier. Does male sterility occur only in engineered plants, or also in nature and in conventional hybrid breeding?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 1999UPSC 2000UPSC 2001UPSC 2021
What to Study: Which bacterium gives the gene, and which pests does it protect against? Remember the two generations (Bollgard I and II), what each carries and the year each was approved. Understand how Bt cotton cut pesticide use, why pink bollworm is still a problem, and why illegal herbicide-tolerant (HTBt) cotton is in the news. Is Bt cotton India's only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2011UPSC 2012
What to Study: Which gene from Bt is in Bt brinjal, and which pest does it target? What did India decide about its commercial cultivation in 2010? Compare this with Bangladesh.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2018
What to Study: Which institution developed DMH-11? Understand the barnase-barstar system it uses to make hybrid seed, and the role of the bar gene. Why was GEAC's October 2022 decision a first for India, and why is it contested? The court case is covered separately.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2010
What to Study: Which deficiency is Golden Rice meant to fight? Understand which compound it makes in the grain and how it is produced. How does it differ from conventionally bred biofortified crops?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2010UPSC 2012
What to Study: You should be able to explain the benefits (less pesticide, better nutrition, yield) and the concerns (gene flow and biodiversity, pest and weed resistance, seed prices and patents, labelling, biosafety). Also learn why a state government's consent is needed for GM field trials.
What to Study: What do SDN-1, SDN-2 and SDN-3 each do to the plant's DNA? Understand why SDN-1 and SDN-2 products can end up with no foreign DNA, and why that makes them different from transgenic GM crops. The legal treatment is covered separately.
What to Study: Which two genome-edited rice varieties did ICAR release in May 2025? Remember the institute and the parent variety behind each, and the traits aimed at (yield and early maturity, salinity and alkalinity tolerance). What does the claim that they are the world's first mean?
What to Study: What are transgenic animals used for (for example proteins and disease models)? Remember India's first gene-edited sheep (institution and gene edited, 2025). Is a gene-edited animal the same as a transgenic one?
What to Study: Understand the principle of totipotency and how a whole plant is grown from a small piece of tissue. Remember the benefits: fast multiplication, uniform plants and disease-free planting material. Why is meristem culture used to get virus-free plants?
What to Study: At what stage is the nutrient added in each of the two? Remember the nutrients targeted (iron, zinc, amino acids, provitamin A) and a crop example for each. Are most Indian biofortified varieties genetically modified? Think of iron-rich pearl millet and zinc-rich wheat.
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 2000UPSC 2010
What to Study: What are biofertilisers? Remember the main organisms and what each does: Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, cyanobacteria (Anabaena-Azolla in paddy), mycorrhiza and phosphate-solubilising bacteria. Which of the nitrogen fixers live in symbiosis, and which live freely?
Asked in UPSC PrelimsUPSC 1999
What to Study: Which kinds of living things are used as biopesticides? Remember standard examples from bacteria (Bt), fungi (Trichoderma, Beauveria), viruses (nucleopolyhedrovirus) and plants (neem). Understand why they are called eco-friendly and target-specific.
What to Study: How does a biostimulant differ from a fertiliser and from a pesticide? Under which order were biostimulants brought into regulation in 2021? What changed in June 2025, when provisional registrations ended, and what must a product now have to be sold?