Revision summary
TIFAC is DST’s autonomous 1988 council for technology information, forecasting, and assessment. Vision 2020 and Vision 2035 are its public roadmaps from gadgets to citizen outcomes. It also backs selected mission-mode technology projects so foresight is not only a report. IT by 2020 meant cloud, UPI-class payments, big data, IoT, cyber security, early AI, 5G trials, supercomputing, and Indian-language e-governance. The live test is whether Indian firms and the State can absorb and secure those stacks.
Model answer
Introduction
- TIFAC is India’s technology foresight body: it does not run a factory, and it is not a university. It sits under the Department of Science and Technology as an autonomous council that asks what technologies the country will need, which ones it can absorb, and where the gaps are. The 2018 question pairs that mandate with a concrete list — information technology that was coming into Indian use by 2020.
Body
What TIFAC is and its mandate
- The Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council was set up in 1988 as an autonomous body under DST after the Technology Policy Statement era, to give the government an organised look-ahead.
- Mandate one: technology information — collect, analyse, and circulate what exists globally and in Indian labs so ministries and firms are not flying blind.
- Mandate two: forecasting — horizon scans and roadmaps (famously Technology Vision 2020 with A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s association, later Technology Vision 2035) that name sectors and citizen outcomes, not only gadgets.
- Mandate three: assessment — techno-economic appraisal of options, including whether a import, a licence, or a domestic mission is the least-bad path.
- Mandate four: enabling missions and home-grown technology projects in selected areas (for example mission-mode work historically linked to TIFAC in sugar, advanced composites, and similar windows) so foresight is not only a book.
- TIFAC therefore sits between science policy and industrial choice: it is a council of assessment, not the implementer of every Digital India app.
Upcoming IT technologies in India by 2020 (as a 2018 foresight list)
- Cloud computing and GI Cloud (MeghRaj)-type government clouds, so departments stop buying a server for every file.
- Mobile-first services, Unified Payments Interface-class digital payments, and Aadhaar-linked e-KYC as the public-facing IT stack of Digital India.
- Big-data analytics for governance, logistics, and weather-crop advisories, sitting on Aadhaar, GST, and satellite layers.
- Internet of Things on cities, meters, and factory floors, with the 2015 IoT draft policy as the official signal.
- Cyber security, encryption, and CERT-In scale-up as the other side of the same digital boom.
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning for language, vision, and decision support — NITI’s AI discussion was live by 2018, with 2020 as an early deployment horizon, not mature AGI.
- 4G saturation and 5G trials, supercomputing under the National Supercomputing Mission (2015), and Indian-language computing / natural language processing for a non-English public.
- E-governance platforms (e-Hospital, e-Courts, land records) and GIS as the boring IT that actually changes a tehsil.
TIFAC’s job is to have seen these waves early. By 2020 the IT list was no longer science fiction; the assessment question was absorption, security, and indigenous capability.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD T[TIFAC DST 1988] --> I[Information] T --> F[Forecast Vision 2020 2035] T --> A[Assessment missions] F --> IT[Cloud IoT AI UPI cyber 5G] IT --> D[Digital India absorption]
Conclusion
TIFAC (1988, DST) forecasts, informs, and assesses technology choices and has authored Vision 2020 and 2035-type roadmaps. By 2020 India’s IT horizon was cloud, mobile payments, big data, IoT, cyber security, early AI, 5G trials, supercomputing, and language-ready e-governance. The mandate is look-ahead plus assessment, not running every app.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Mention the earmarked fields, aim and special powers provided to Indian citizens in Technology Vision Document 2035.
Next question in the 2018 paper (Q17). View answer →
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Is TIFAC the same as MeitY or NIC?
No. TIFAC forecasts and assesses under DST. MeitY and NIC implement much of the government’s IT stack.
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Were these IT items only private-sector fashion by 2020?
No. Cloud policy, Digital India, NSM, and CERT-In made them State programmes as well as market products.
Same topic · past papers
UPPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2019 · Q19 · UPGS3 · 12 marks
What is cloud computing? Highlight the services rendered by cloud computing and enlist its advantages.
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