What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

EDITORIAL1 : Tamal, the last imported warship

Context

Built in Kaliningrad, Russia, INS Tamal is expected to be the last Indian warship acquired from abroad, marking the culmination of the Navy’s decades-long push for maximum indigenisation in shipbuilding.

INS Tamal

• INS Tamal is the eighth Talwar-class frigate— these are improved versions of the Krivak III-class frigates — built by Russia for the Indian Navy as a part of Project 1135.6.
• It is also the second of four additional follow-on shipsof the class that were ordered in 2018.
• The first, INS Tushil,was commissioned in Kaliningrad in December last year. The final two, Triput and Tavasya, are being built in India by the Goa Shipyard Limited with transfer of technology and design assistance from Russia.
• Triput,which was launched into sea last July and is expected to be commissioned in 2026, will be India’s first indigenously built Talwar-class frigate.
• AIR:INS Tamal is a multirole frigate which has a maximum speed of 30 knots (56 km/h), and a range of upto 4,850 nautical miles (8,980 km). The ship will be manned by a crew of 250 sailors and 26 officers.
• It is capable of carrying out blue water operations in all four dimensions of modern naval warfare — air, surface, underwater and electromagnetic.
• INS Tamal carries two kinds of anti-aircraft missiles — 24 vertically-launched Shtil surface-to-air missileswith a range of upto 70 km, and eight short-range Igla missiles.
• SURFACE:INS Tamal’s anti-ship/ land attack capabilities are centred around the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. The ship carries a complement of eight such missiles which boast an operational range in the hundreds of kilometres, and can fly at speeds of upto Mach 3.
• UNDERWATER:For anti-submarine warfare (ASW), INS Tamal has a RBU ASW rocket-launcher, which can fire salvos of upto 12 rockets equipped with depth charges at a time.
• EW:INS Tamal boasts a complement of advanced electronic warfare (EW) suite and advanced Electro-Optical/Infra-Red systems, which act as ears and eyes of the platform. EW suite includes decoy launching systems which disrupt enemy radar, and jammers.
• The warship can also accommodate the upgraded Anti-submarine and Airborne Early Warning helicopters, the Kamov 28 and Kamov 31,which, according to the Navy, act as “major force multipliers”.

Towards indigenisation

• INS Tamal will be the last imported warship to be inducted into its fleet and is a major milestone in the road to aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) in defence.
• In the early years after Independence, India neither had the know-how to build its own ships, nor the resources to develop this capability.
• It was thus compelled to acquire frigates and destroyers from other countries, mostly the UK and the erstwhile USSR.
• INS Ajay, a small patrol vessel commissioned in 1960, was the first indigenously-built ship in India.
• India’s push for naval indigenisation began with Leander-class frigates in the 1960s, which had just 15% local content.

Conclusion

• Frigates are primarily meant to serve as platforms for guided missile systems. They can serve in a variety of roles, from anti-submarine, anti-ship, and anti-aircraft warfare to land attacks, and can fight either solo or as part of a larger naval formation.

 

EDITORIAL2 : Closing in on TB

Context

Prime Minister Modi recently reviewed the TB elimination drive, stressing public involvement and innovative strategies amid new advances in diagnostics, digital tools, and vaccines.

Progress in recent years

• According to the WHO’s ‘Global TB Report 2024’,global TB incidence fell by 8.3 per cent between 2015 and 2023.
• India outpaced this trend, achieving a 17.7 per cent reduction. These gains reflect the focused efforts and commitment of the NTEP.
• As we look to sustain and accelerate these gains, we must focus on closing the diagnostic gap— the most critical weak link in the TB care cascade.
• In 2023, an estimated 2.7 million peopleworldwide who developed TB were not diagnosed or notified.
• Studies suggest that this early stage of the disease, known as subclinical TB, may account for about 50 per cent of cases in high-burden settings, including India.This is likely a key driver of the ongoing transmission.

TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

• India’s recently concluded 100-day intensified TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan has provided several learnings.
• By screening vulnerable populations, including those without symptoms, the programme noted that the campaign identified 2.85 lakh asymptomatic TB patients — out of 7.19 lakh diagnosed.
• These individuals would likely have been missed under conventional, symptom-based screening approaches.
• By deploying portable chest X-rays, the campaign demonstrated the transformative potential of technology.
• AI-assisted reading of X-rays can detect lung abnormalitiesrapidly and accurately, allowing for quick identification of otherwise “missing” cases.
• The government’s plan to scale up this approach country-wide is encouraging and could serve as a global model.

Government initiatives

• A new generation of point-of-care diagnostic tools is transforming what’s possible. Traditional sputum-based tests can be challenging, particularly for children and the elderly.
• But innovations — such as non-invasive sampling methods like tongue or nasal swabs— can help detect TB earlier and more affordably.
• The availability of open PCR platformscan be another game-changer — by cutting the cost of testing significantly, these platforms can make high-quality molecular diagnostics accessible across public and private settings.
• Along with the upgradation of our diagnostic capacity, we must look at reducing mortality due to TB.
• India has taken important steps to improve supportive care, including the doubling of monthly nutritional support under the Nikshay Poshan Yojana (NPY)— a direct cash transfer scheme that helps patients meet their dietary needs during treatment.

Suggestions

• The country is also moving toward differentiated models of TB care, where services are tailored based on a patient’s risk profile and severity at diagnosis.
• This includes early risk stratification, timely referral of severe cases to higher-level facilities, and the provision of more intensive inpatient care where needed.
• We must prioritise reducing TB deaths to as close to zero as possible in the near future.
• While these advancements in diagnostics, treatment, and care delivery are crucial, we must not lose sight of the long-term solution — an effective TB vaccine.
• The experience of developing Covid vaccines demonstrates how global collaboration, streamlined regulatory pathways, and strong public investment can significantly accelerate timelines— an approach that must now be applied to TB vaccine development.
• India, with its scientific leadership and manufacturing capacity, is uniquely placed to drive the development and equitable deployment of next-generation TB vaccines, just as it did with Covid.
• An mRNA vaccineis in an early stage of development in India, and others are at various stages of clinical trials.

Conclusion

With continued political commitment, evidence, data-informed policies and a strong focus on innovation, India can drive transformative change in the global fight against TB.