6 March 2025

• Technology: NITI Aayog released a strategic paper on quantum computing and its implications for national security.
• Environment: A metal object from a Chinese rocket crashed in Kenya, reviving debate on the Liability Convention, 1972.
• Trade: US President Trump's reciprocal tariff threat affected India, China and the EU.
• Polity: D Voters in Assam (Doubtful Voters) remained a live political and legal issue.
• Geography: Biologist Alfred Russel Wallace's Wallace Line was in focus as an example of biogeography.

GS area: Science and Technology, Internal Security

NITI Aayog released a strategic paper on quantum computing and its implications for encryption and national defence.

• National Quantum Mission: Launched 2023. Budget: 6,003 crore rupees over 8 years.
• Core threat: Quantum computers can break RSA and ECC encryption (which secure banking and defence communications) exponentially faster than classical machines. The threat is called "harvest now, decrypt later."
• Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC): The response strategy. NIST (US) finalised PQC standards in 2024. India must transition its sensitive systems.
• Indian startups: QpiAI (quantum AI), BosonQ Psi (quantum simulation), TCS Quantum Computing Lab.
• Google's Willow chip: A self-correcting quantum system announced in late 2024, considered a milestone in error correction for quantum computing.
• Qubit coherence: Maintaining quantum states long enough for computation is the core engineering challenge.

The National Quantum Mission funds research in four areas: quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing and quantum materials.

Static linkage: Science and technology, internal security.

GS area: Environment (Space), International Relations

A 500 kg metal ring from a Chinese Long March rocket crashed in Mukuku, Kenya, injuring no one but prompting a legal question: who compensates?

• Outer Space Treaty, 1967: States bear responsibility for national space activities, including those of their private companies.
• Liability Convention, 1972: Launching states have absolute liability for damage caused by space objects on Earth's surface. The claimant state (here, Kenya) files a claim against the launching state (China).
• 25-Year Rule: The voluntary guideline that satellites deorbit within 25 years of mission end. Compliance rate is approximately 30 per cent.
• ISRO's Project Netra: India's space situational awareness system. Detects debris as small as 10 cm at a range of 3,400 km.
• ISRO manoeuvres: Conducted 21 collision avoidance manoeuvres in 2022 to protect operational satellites from debris.
• Mega-constellations: Starlink (42,000 satellites planned) and OneWeb sharply escalate low Earth orbit congestion.

Static linkage: International relations (space law), science and technology.

GS area: Economy (International Trade), International Relations

US President Trump announced matching tariffs on imports from countries that apply higher tariffs on US goods. India was named as a target.

• WTO Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rule: WTO members must apply the same tariff to all MFN trading partners. Discriminatory tariffs violate this principle.
• Exception: Article XXI of GATT allows deviation on national security grounds, which the US is invoking.
• India's average tariff: India's applied MFN tariff is around 18 per cent, among the higher rates in the G20.
• Consequence for India: Export-sensitive sectors including textiles, steel, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products face risk.
• Strategic response: India is negotiating a Bilateral Trade Agreement with the US to provide preferential tariff treatment, reducing tension.
• WTO Article XXIV.8(b): A full Free Trade Agreement must cover "substantially all trade" (typically interpreted as 90 per cent of tariff lines).

Static linkage: International relations, Indian economy (trade).

GS area: Polity (Citizenship, Elections)

Assam's D Voter category became a flashpoint in the citizenship debate.

• D Voter: "Doubtful voter" category introduced by the Election Commission in 1997 specifically for Assam.
• Legal basis: The Citizenship Act, 1955 defines citizenship. Citizenship Rules, 2003 specify documentation requirements.
• Process: D Voters are referred to Foreigners' Tribunals for determination of citizenship status. Until cleared, they cannot vote or contest elections.
• Foreigners' Tribunals: Quasi-judicial bodies that determine if a person is a foreigner under the Foreigners Act, 1946.
• National Population Register: Tracks individuals whose citizenship status is uncertain pending documentation.
• NRC (National Register of Citizens): The 2019 NRC in Assam excluded about 19 lakh people. Their cases are also being heard by Foreigners' Tribunals.

The distinction between D Voter, NRC exclusion, IMDT Act (struck down 2005) and FCRA matters is a rich area of UPSC questions on citizenship governance.

Static linkage: Polity (citizenship, elections), governance.

GS area: Geography (Biogeography), Environment

The Wallace Line was in focus as an example of biogeographic discontinuity.

• Identified by: Alfred Russel Wallace in 1863 during his research in Southeast Asia.
• Location: Runs between the islands of Bali and Lombok (Indonesia) and through the Makassar Strait between Borneo and Sulawesi.
• Origin: Continental drift 35 million years ago created a deep-water barrier that prevented land animals from crossing.
• Effect: Sharp species distinction. West of the line: tigers, elephants and Asian fauna. East of the line: kangaroos, cockatoos, marsupials and Australasian fauna.
• Wallace-Weber line: A further eastward boundary beyond which Asian fauna disappear completely.
• Relevance: The deepwater barrier of the Makassar Strait (over 2,000 m) explains why even during ice ages (when sea levels fell 120 m), land bridges did not connect the two regions.

Wallace and Darwin co-developed the theory of evolution by natural selection. The biogeographic insight from the Wallace Line was formative for evolutionary biology.

Static linkage: World geography (biogeography), environment (biodiversity).

GS area: Economy (Infrastructure), Government Schemes

The Parvatmala Pariyojana (National Ropeways Development Programme) made progress with MoRTH approvals.

• Launch: Union Budget 2022-23.
• Ministry: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
• Budget: 1.25 lakh crore rupees for over 200 projects.
• Key approved projects:
  • Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib: 12.4 km ropeway in Uttarakhand.
  • Sonprayag to Kedarnath: 12.9 km ropeway in Uttarakhand.
• Funding model: Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), in which the government provides 60 per cent during construction.
• Purpose: Improve connectivity in hilly terrain (tourism, urban transport, military logistics), replace dangerous mountain roads.

Static linkage: Economy (infrastructure), geography (hills/mountains).

GS area: Economy (Animal Husbandry), Government Schemes

The revised Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme (LHDCP) provided enhanced funding for disease management.

• Outlay: 3,880 crore rupees for the period 2024 to 2026.
• Pashu Aushadhi component: Generic veterinary medicines made available through PM-Kisan Samriddhi Kendras.
• Diseases covered: Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Brucellosis, PPR (Peste des Petits Ruminants), Classical Swine Fever, Lumpy Skin Disease, Anthrax and Rabies.
• Mobile Veterinary Units (MVUs): Provide doorstep veterinary care, especially for marginal farmers.
• Fund sharing: 60:40 between Centre and states. 90:10 for Northeast and Himalayan states. 100 per cent for Union Territories without legislatures.

Static linkage: Economy (agriculture and animal husbandry), government schemes.

• 12th Regional 3R Forum, Jaipur: India's "Cities Coalition for Circularity" (C-3) launched at the regional forum on circular economy, with CITIIS 2.0 funding 18 cities.
• Japan forest fire: A major fire in Iwate Prefecture, the largest in Japan in three decades, deployed over 2,000 firefighters. Japan is 80 per cent mountainous and sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire.