1 January 2025

• Polity: Dissent in constitutional courts remains a live topic. Only 14 Private Members' Bills have become law in India, the last in 1970.
• Technology: Google's Willow quantum chip completed a task in minutes that would take classical computers 10 septillion years.
• Defence: Exercise Surya Kiran-XVIII brought Indian and Nepali armies together in the Shivalik ranges.
• World: Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency due to gang violence. The Jeju Air crash in South Korea killed 179 people.
• Elections: Overseas Indian voter participation in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections stood at just 2,958 despite 1,19,374 registered voters.

GS area: Polity (Judiciary)

Judicial dissent is the formal disagreement of one or more judges with the majority opinion in a court decision. It is integral to constitutional democracy because it keeps contested legal questions alive for future reconsideration.

• Three types of dissent: intellectual dissent (a different reading of law), political dissent (resistance to state pressure on courts), and social dissent (challenging dominant norms).
• ADM Jabalpur (1976): Justice H.R. Khanna's lone dissent upheld Article 21's protection of life and personal liberty even during the Emergency. The majority ruled against it. Khanna paid for his dissent with the loss of the Chief Justice's post.
• Lalta Prasad Vaish (2024): Justice B.V. Nagarathna wrote a notable dissent in this recent bench decision.
• Kihoto Hollohan (1992): A landmark Tenth Schedule case where the Court upheld anti-defection provisions by majority, with a dissent on the finality clause.

A dissenting judgment has no immediate legal force. Its value lies in articulating a principled counter-position that later courts or legislatures may adopt.

Static linkage: Indian judiciary (Polity), role of courts in a democracy.

GS area: Polity (Parliament)

A Private Member's Bill is a legislative proposal introduced by an MP who is not a government minister. It is the primary mechanism by which individual legislators can push legislative agendas beyond the government's programme.

• Time allocation: Fridays are reserved for Private Members' Bills and resolutions in both Houses.
• Legislative record: Only 14 Private Members' Bills have ever become law in India. The last was passed in 1970.
• Discussion time (17th Lok Sabha): 9.08 hours in the Lok Sabha and 27.01 hours in the Rajya Sabha were spent on Private Members' Bills across the entire term.
• Practical status: The government controls the parliamentary calendar. Most Private Members' Bills lapse when the House dissolves.

The low success rate reflects the fusion of executive and legislative power in India's parliamentary system. The Rajya Sabha has historically given more time to such Bills.

Static linkage: Parliament (Polity), legislative process.

GS area: Science and Technology

Google announced its Willow quantum processor, a significant step in quantum computing.

• Scale: 105 physical qubits in the processor.
• Coherence time: 100 microseconds. Coherence time measures how long a qubit can maintain its quantum state before errors accumulate.
• Operating temperature: Approximately -273.15°C, near absolute zero. Quantum processors require extreme cooling to suppress thermal noise.
• Benchmark task: Willow completed a Random Circuit Sampling task in minutes. The same task would take the world's fastest classical supercomputers 10 septillion years.
• Applications: Drug discovery, climate modelling, and materials science are the primary civilian applications being targeted.

Quantum computing does not replace classical computing. It excels at specific problem types involving probability distributions and complex optimisation.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (GS Paper 3), basic quantum concepts.

GS area: Defence and Security, International Relations

The 18th edition of Exercise Surya Kiran took place at the Nepal Army Battle School in Saljhandi, located in the Shivalik ranges of western Nepal.

• Participants: Indian Army and Nepal Army.
• Focus areas: Counter-terrorism operations, jungle warfare, disaster management, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
• Significance: Nepal and India share an open border and close defence ties. Joint exercises build interoperability and deepen the security relationship between the two forces.

Static linkage: India-Nepal relations (International Relations), bilateral defence exercises.

GS area: Polity (Electoral process)

India allows Non-Resident Indians to register and vote in their home constituencies, but participation remains very low.

• Registrations (2024): 1,19,374 overseas voters registered for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Kerala accounted for 89,839 of these.
• Actual turnout: Only 2,958 overseas voters voted. Kerala alone contributed 2,670 of them.
• Current system: Overseas voters must travel physically to their home constituency to vote. There is no remote voting option.
• Proposed reform: The Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) has been discussed as a potential route to enable remote voting for overseas Indians. It is currently available only to service voters and senior citizens.

The gap between registrations and turnout reflects the cost of travel and the structural barrier of in-person voting.

Static linkage: Elections in India (Polity), Article 326 (right to vote).

• Trinidad and Tobago: Declared a state of emergency because of gang violence. The island nation lies 11 km northeast of Venezuela. Its capital is Port of Spain and its highest peak is El Cerro del Aripo (940 m).
• Jeju Air crash: Flight 7C2216 crashed at Muan Airport, South Korea, killing 179 people. The incident revived discussion of belly landing procedures (landing on the fuselage when landing gear fails).