7 June 2025

• Diplomacy: India hosted the 4th India-Central Asia Dialogue in New Delhi under EAM Jaishankar. The five Central Asian republics condemned the Pahalgam attack and backed India's permanent UNSC membership bid.
• Quantum: India's National Quantum Mission targets 50-100 qubits by 2030 with Rs 8,000 crore in funding. Google's Sycamore (2019) remains the global benchmark at 53 qubits for a specific task.
• Navy: INS Arnala, India's first anti-submarine warfare shallow-water craft built by GRSE, commissioned at Visakhapatnam.
• Parliament tech: NeVA (National e-Vidhan Application) being extended to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly, moving India closer to paperless legislatures.
• Space internet: Starlink received India's third satellite broadband licence, after Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications.

GS area: International Relations (India's neighbourhood, Central Asia)

India hosted the 4th India-Central Asia Dialogue in New Delhi. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar chaired the session. The dialogue series began in 2019 in Samarkand.

• Participating states: India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
• Key outcomes:
  • All five Central Asian states condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and endorsed India's counter-terrorism position.
  • A Second India-Central Asia Rare Earth Forum will be convened, focused on supply-chain cooperation for critical minerals.
  • Support for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to join the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
  • Agreement to expand digital payment connectivity and trade in national currencies.
  • Endorsement of India's bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
• INSTC: the International North-South Transport Corridor is a 7,200 km multi-modal route linking India (Mumbai) through Iran (Bandar Abbas) to Russia (Moscow) and onward to Europe, bypassing Pakistan. It is a significant connectivity project for India's access to Central Asia.
• Central Asia geography: the five republics are landlocked. None borders India directly. They are connected to India via Afghanistan (unstable corridor) or the sea-and-land INSTC through Iran.

Static linkage: International Relations (India's extended neighbourhood, INSTC, UNSC reform).

GS area: Science and Technology (Quantum computing)

India's National Quantum Mission (NQM) was approved in 2020 with Rs 8,000 crore in funding. The mission targets development of quantum computers with 50 to 100 qubits by 2030.

• Qubit: the basic unit of quantum computing. Unlike a classical bit (0 or 1), a qubit can exist in superposition, representing 0 and 1 simultaneously through quantum mechanics.
• Google Sycamore (2019): completed a benchmark calculation in 200 seconds that Google claimed would take a classical supercomputer 10,000 years. This demonstrated quantum advantage for a specific task.
• IBM systems: IBM has built quantum computers with over 100 qubits.
• China's Jiuzhang: a photonic quantum computer demonstrating quantum advantage using light particles rather than superconducting circuits.
• Decoherence: the main engineering challenge. Qubits lose their quantum state (decohere) extremely rapidly, in some systems in as little as 10^-4 seconds. Computing must happen faster than decoherence.
• India's position: among the top five global investors in quantum computing. The NQM also covers quantum communication, quantum sensing, and quantum cryptography.
• Applications: drug discovery, cryptography (breaking and creating codes), materials science, climate modelling, and optimisation problems.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (emerging technologies, quantum computing).

GS area: Defence, Science and Technology (Indigenous manufacturing)

INS Arnala, the first of a class of eight anti-submarine warfare shallow-water craft (ASW-SWC), was commissioned at Visakhapatnam.

• Builder: Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.
• Specifications: 77.6 metres in length; 1,490 tonnes displacement; maximum speed of 25 knots; endurance of 1,800 nautical miles.
• Indigenous content: 80 per cent.
• Role: detect, track, and neutralise enemy submarines in shallow coastal waters. Shallow-water ASW is more challenging than deep-water ASW because sonar signals reflect off the seabed.
• GRSE: a Government of India enterprise under the Ministry of Defence. It has delivered over 100 vessels to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard. It also built the first frigate of the Brahmaputra class and is constructing the next-generation patrol vessels.
• Name: Arnala Island is off the coast of Maharashtra near Vasai. Indian Naval vessels are often named after islands, rivers, and geographical features.

Static linkage: Defence (naval capabilities, indigenous manufacturing), Science and Technology (ASW technology).

GS area: Governance, Polity (Legislature modernisation)

The National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) was being extended to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly (inauguration scheduled for 9 June 2025).

• Developer: Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
• Approval: 15 January 2020.
• Project cost: Rs 673.94 crore.
• Vision: "One Nation, One Application" for all state and Union Territory legislatures.
• Features: AI-powered translation through BHASHINI for multilingual support; 80 per cent indigenous systems; digital business for questions, motions, bills, and proceedings.
• Scope: covers Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, 28 State Assemblies, and 6 Legislative Councils where they exist.
• Goal: eliminate paper from legislative processes, reduce printing costs, and enable real-time access to proceedings.
• Puducherry assembly: a UT with a legislature. The UT is governed under Part VIII (Article 239A) of the Constitution which allowed Parliament to create a legislature for Puducherry.

Static linkage: Polity (legislature, constitutional provisions for UTs), Governance (e-governance).

GS area: Science and Technology, Economy (Telecommunications)

Starlink received India's third licence for satellite-based broadband, joining Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications.

• Parent company: SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002.
• Satellite altitude: approximately 550 km in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). LEO satellites have lower latency than geostationary satellites (at 36,000 km).
• Speed and latency: up to 150 Mbps download; 20-25 milliseconds latency.
• Planned constellation: up to 42,000 satellites.
• Significance for India: the licence enables Starlink to offer broadband in areas where terrestrial fibre or 4G coverage is absent, particularly remote mountains and islands.
• Regulatory framework: satellite broadband in India is governed by the Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Communications under the Telecommunications Act, 2023.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (space technology, LEO satellites), Economy (telecommunications).

• Zimbabwe elephant culling: Zimbabwe's ZimParks approved culling of 50 elephants at Save Valley Conservancy, which holds 2,550 elephants against a carrying capacity of 800. The decision follows failed relocation efforts (200 moved over 5 years) and rising human-wildlife conflict.
• G7 Summit: the 52nd G7 Summit was scheduled for Kananaskis, Canada (June 15-17, 2025). PM Modi attended as a special invitee. The G7 formed in 1975 as G6 (Canada joined in 1976). Russia was removed in 2014 following the Crimea annexation, reverting from G8 to G7.
• Mithi River (Mumbai): an Enforcement Directorate raid flagged a Rs 65 crore scam in the desilting project for the Mithi River. The Mithi flows 18 km through Mumbai (Salsette Island), receives overflow from Vihar and Powai lakes, and drains into the Arabian Sea via Mahim Creek. Silt accumulation and encroachments worsen Mumbai's flood risk every monsoon.