NDA (II) 2017 General Ability Test · Question 133 of 150

Correct — B, the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems programme is run by the Department of Science and Technology, which is one of the three departments under that ministry, and DST carries an ICPS Division among its technology-development programmes. The choice of ministry follows from what the programme is for — funding basic and applied research across robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, sensor networks, quantum technologies and control systems, and building the academic-industry links such research needs. That is a research-funding job, and in the Union government research funding of this kind sits with the Department of Science and Technology.

• (a)Ministry of Earth Sciences — This ministry runs the India Meteorological Department and the ocean, polar and seismology institutes. Its research mandate is the atmosphere, the oceans and the solid earth, not general-purpose computing and control research.
• (c)Ministry of Information and Broadcasting — Its remit is broadcasting and the media — Doordarshan, All India Radio, film certification, the Press Information Bureau. It regulates and communicates; it does not fund engineering research programmes.
• (d)Ministry of New and Renewable Energy — Solar, wind, biomass and small hydro are its subject. It does support technology work, but only within renewable energy, and cyber-physical systems is a far broader mandate than that.

A cyber-physical system is one in which computation and communication are tightly interwoven with physical processes — sensors read the world, software decides, and actuators act on it. Driverless vehicles, smart grids, industrial automation and networked medical devices are all examples, and the term overlaps heavily with the Internet of Things. India's programme in this area is run by the Department of Science and Technology, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, alongside the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Scheme-to-ministry questions reward one habit — read the purpose of the scheme and ask which ministry's core business it is. Anything described as fostering research and development across engineering disciplines belongs to Science and Technology; anything about a single sector belongs to that sector's ministry. As of the September 2017 examination the ICPS programme was newly announced. It has grown since: the Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems in 2018 with an outlay of Rs 3,660 crore over five years, and twenty-five Technology Innovation Hubs have been set up at institutions across the country, each taking a distinct vertical from artificial intelligence to quantum technologies. The implementing department has not changed.

• The Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems programme is implemented by the Department of Science and Technology, under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
• A cyber-physical system integrates computation and networking with physical processes through sensors and actuators.
• The Union Cabinet approved the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems in 2018 at an outlay of Rs 3,660 crore for five years.
• Twenty-five Technology Innovation Hubs have been established at institutions across India under the mission.
• The Ministry of Science and Technology comprises the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

• Assigning anything with the word 'cyber' in it to the information technology or broadcasting ministry.
• Confusing the Ministry of Science and Technology with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which runs the digital-governance programmes.
• Quoting the 2018 mission's outlay as though it belonged to the 2017 announcement.

This slot is almost always a scheme-to-ministry match, so revise flagship programmes in ministry groups rather than alphabetically.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems is implemented by

  • (a)the Department of Space
  • (b)the Department of Science and Technology
  • (c)the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
  • (d)the Ministry of Heavy Industries

  Answer(b) the Department of Science and Technology — under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is the best example of a cyber-physical system?

  • (a)A printed telephone directory
  • (b)A sensor-driven smart electricity grid that reroutes supply automatically
  • (c)A stand-alone word processor
  • (d)A photographic film camera

  Answer(b) a sensor-driven smart grid — computation, communication and physical control are locked together.