Transforming India into a leading Quantum-Powered Economy

• The roadmap “Transforming India into a leading Quantum-Powered Economy” will help to build a home grown quantum computing ecosystem and capture a major share of the global quantum market.
• It aims to incubate at least 10 globally competitive quantum startups, each surpassing USD 100 million in revenue and  capturing over 50% of the value in the global quantum software and services market by 2035.

Status in India of Quantum Technology

• Talent Pool: India ranks 2nd globally in the number of graduates in quantum-relevant fields (approximately 91,000), behind only the EU.
• State-Level Competition: Different states are actively building their own ecosystems. For example, Karnataka has established the Quantum Research Park (QuRP), and Andhra Pradesh recently launched the Amaravati Quantum Valley (AQV).

Recommendations of Roadmap

• Expand the Quantum Workforce: Grow the scientific, deep engineering and professional deployment-ready workforce in 2-3 years.
• Prioritization of Top 3-5 Quantum Opportunity Areas: Such as secure communication and  Health and Pharma, Cryogenics, Financial services, logistics etc.
• Accelerate Lab-to-Market Transition: Significantly improve ease of doing research, of technology validation and of taking technology from lab-to-market, within 2 years.
• Lead in Global Standard Setting: Engage actively with global standards bodies and take leadership in international standard setting related to quantum technologies to ensure that Indian products have access to global markets.
• Make Indian domicile attractive for startups: So that >90% deep tech Indian startups choose to stay domiciled in India.

About Quantum Technology

• Definition: Quantum technology is a class of technology that works by using the principles of quantum mechanics (the physics of sub-atomic particles), including quantum entanglement and quantum superposition.
• Classified into four major vectors: Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication (Utilizing concepts like quantum key distribution (QKD)), Quantum Sensing and Metrology, Quantum Materials.

Flight Duty Time Limitations Rules

• India’s aviation sector is facing major disruptions as the newly implemented Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules have triggered large-scale flight cancellations and delays, especially at IndiGo, due to crew shortages and tighter fatigue norms.

Flight Duty Time Limitations Rules: What it is?

• FDTL refers to regulatory limits on how long pilots can be on duty, how many hours they may fly, the number of night operations they can perform, and the minimum rest required to prevent fatigue.
• Published by: Issued and enforced by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) under a revised framework notified in January 2024.
• Aim: To reduce fatigue-related safety risks, align Indian aviation with global norms, and ensure safer flight operations by regulating duty hours, night operations, and rest requirements.

Features:

• 48 hours of continuous weekly rest ensures pilots get sufficient uninterrupted recovery time, reducing cumulative fatigue that builds up over busy rosters and frequent night operations.
• Night period extended to 00:00–06:00 increases protected rest hours for early-morning and late-night flights, which are biologically high-fatigue windows, strengthening safety margins.
• Limit of two-night landings and two consecutive night duties reduce exposure to the most fatiguing tasks, preventing performance degradation during critical phases of flight.
• Mandatory roster adjustments and fatigue reporting require airlines to redesign schedules and allow pilots to formally flag fatigue risks, making crew management more transparent and safety-driven.
• Phased implementation by November 1, 2025 pushed airlines to overhaul long-standing scheduling practices and expand crew capacity to comply with the stricter fatigue-control framework.

Significance:

• Enhances flight safety by scientifically addressing circadian fatigue.
• Aligns India with ICAO and international best practices.
• Improves pilot well-being and operational discipline.

AstroSat

• IIA celebrated 10 years of the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) aboard AstroSat, marking a decade of major scientific discoveries.

AstroSat:

• AstroSat is India’s first dedicated astronomy satellite enabling simultaneous observations in UV, optical, soft X-ray and hard X-ray bands.
• Launched in: 2015 by PSLV-C30 into a 650 km orbit.
• Aim: To study cosmic sources across multiple wavelengths, track high-energy processes, and provide global-access astronomical data.

Key Features:

• Five scientific payloads covering 0.3–100 keV + UV bands.
• Enables simultaneous multi-wavelength imaging, unique among space observatories.
• High pointing stability and long-duration exposure capabilities.
• Data processed and archived by ISSDC, Bylalu; mission operated by ISTRAC, Bengaluru.
• Minimum designed life: 5 years, extended far beyond.

Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT):

• A twin-telescope UV imager aboard AstroSat capable of near-UV, visible, and far-UV observations.

Features:

• Spatial resolution better than 1.5 arcseconds (among the world’s best in UV imaging).
• Two telescopes: NUV+Visible and FUV channels.
• Developed by a national consortium led by IIA, with ISRO centres.

Significance:

• India’s first UV space telescope, second globally in FUV capability after Hubble.
• Enabled major discoveries: hot companions of Be stars, blue stragglers, UV disks in dwarf galaxies, novae in Andromeda, AGN UV–X-ray correlations.

Mahad Satyagraha

• The Mahad Satyagraha has returned to public discourse as scholars revisit its profound role in shaping constitutional morality and human rights ethics in India.

Mahad Satyagraha:

• A historic non-violent movement led by B. R. Ambedkar asserting Dalit rights to access public water and reject caste-based exclusion—one of India’s earliest human rights struggles.
• Launched in: March 19–20, 1927 (Mahad 1.0) and December 25–26, 1927 (Mahad 2.0) at Mahad, Bombay Presidency (now Raigad, Maharashtra).

Causes:

• Denial of access to public water sources such as the Chavdar Tank due to caste-based untouchability.
• 1923 Bole Resolution legally allowed Dalits to use public facilities, but local caste elites resisted implementation.
• Rising caste violence in villages like Goregaon and Dasgaon reinforcing the need for collective assertion of rights.

Key Features of Mahad Satyagraha

• Assertion of Civil Rights: Ambedkar and thousands of followers marched to Chavdar Lake and drank water to affirm equality as a human right.
• Challenge to Brahmanical Hegemony: Upper castes performed “purification rituals,” prompting Ambedkar’s stronger mobilisation in Mahad 2.0.
• Burning of Manusmriti: On December 25, 1927, Ambedkar symbolically rejected the scriptural basis of caste oppression.
• Birth of Constitutional Morality: Ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity—later embedded in the Constitution—were explicitly articulated at Mahad.
• Participation of Women: Ambedkar addressed women directly, making gender equality central to the anti-caste struggle.
• Non-violent Democratic Protest: Inspired by the French Revolution’s ideals, but rooted in Buddhist ethics of dignity and maitri (compassion).

Outcome:

• Legal victory (1937): Courts held no valid custom existed to bar Dalits from public tanks, affirming equal civic rights.
• Strengthened Dalit political consciousness: Mahad became the birthplace of a new rights-based movement.
• Foundation for later struggles: Directly influenced Ambedkar’s arguments in Annihilation of Caste and shaped the moral core of India’s Constitution.
• December 25 recognised as Indian Women’s Liberation Day, reflecting the gendered nature of Ambedkar’s social revolution.

Exercise Garuda & Garuda Shakti 2025

• Two major military exercises were in focus: Exercise Garuda 25 between India and France concluded in France, while Exercise Garuda Shakti 2025 between India and Indonesia commenced in Himachal Pradesh.

Exercise Garuda 25:-

• Host: Air Base 118, Mont-de-Marsan, France
• Nations Involved: India (IAF) and France (French Air & Space Force – FASF)

Key Features:

1. IAF deployed Su-30MKI, IL-78 air-to-air refuellers, and C-17 Globemaster III.
2. Conducted complex missions including strike, escort, air refuelling, and coordinated operations.
3. Included joint mission planning, tactical execution, and exposure to each other’s SOPs.
4. Ensured high aircraft serviceability through IAF maintenance teams.
5. Reinforced Indo–French strategic partnership and improved interoperability in high-end air combat.

Exercise Garuda Shakti:-

• Host: Special Forces Training School, Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh
• Nations Involved: India (PARA SF) and Indonesia (Indonesian Special Forces)

Key Features:

1. Focus on counter-terrorism tactics, unarmed combat, combat shooting, sniping, and heliborne ops.
2. Training on drone warfare, counter-UAS, and loiter-munition planning in semi-mountainous terrain.
3. Includes sharing expertise on weapons, equipment, and operational procedures.
4. Culminates in a validation exercise simulating real-operation scenarios for testing readiness.

R&D Roadmap to Enable Net Zero Targets through CCUS launched

• First of its kind R&D Roadmap to Enable Net Zero Targets through CCUS launched by Department of Science & Technology (DST), the roadmap offers Three Phased Research & Development Program in Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS).

Three Phases Include

• Integration of the current state-of-the-art CCUS technologies or their improved versions as End-Of-Pipe (EP) solution in the existing emitting industries.
• Integration of advanced CCUS technologies in new industrial manufacturing plants using CCUS Compliant Design (CCD).
• Integration of emerging CCUS technologies like photo-bio-electro-catalytic conversions as CCUS in One Pot (COP) strategy in new low-emission industrial manufacturing technologies.

About CCUS

• Technologies that enable the mitigation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from large point sources like power plants, or removing existing CO2 from atmosphere and storing it either in seawater, deep-sea sediments, or geological sites, etc.

Role of CCUS in Mitigating Climate Change

• Reducing emissions in ‘hard-to-abate’ industries: Mainly industries that are difficult to decarbonise including iron, steel and chemicals.
• Producing low-carbon electricity and Hydrogen: CCUS can be installed on power plants running on coal, gas, biomass or waste.
• Removing existing CO2 from atmosphere: Through either Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) or Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS) – both having technological foundation with CCUS.
• DACCS enables the capture of CO2 directly from the atmosphere while BECCS can result in CO2 removal on a net basis where the biomass is sustainably sourced.

Parliamentary panel seeks full operationalisation of Lokpal’s inquiry and prosecution wings.

• The Committee notes that despite statutory requirements under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, the inquiry and prosecution wings  of Lokpal remain inadequately operationalised.

About Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013

• The act mandates establishment of the Lokpal at the union level and Lokayukta at the state level to deal with complaints relating to corruption against certain public functionaries.

It also contains provisions for establishment of :-

• Inquiry Wing  (Section 11) headed by the Director of Inquiry:  for the purpose of conducting preliminary inquiry into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
• Prosecution Wing(Section 12) headed by the Director of Prosecution:  for the purpose of prosecution of public servants in relation to any complaint by the Lokpal under this Act.

Parliamentary Committee Report Findings

1. Inquiry Wing: Using officers on deputation temporarily, but full operationalisation incomplete.
2. Prosecution Wing: only a small number of cases have reached the prosecution stage so far, and thus a full‑fledged separate wing has not yet been set up.
3. Recommendations : The Committee reiterates that both wings must be fully constituted within six months and urges urgent steps to operationalise both the Inquiry and Prosecution Wings.