Why is it in the News?

At least nine people were injured after an explosion at the bustling Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru’s Whitefield area recently, possibly by an improvised explosive device (IED).

What is Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)?

• An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) refers to a makeshift explosive device constructed and deployed unorthodoxly or improvised.
• These devices are typically crafted using commonly available materials, including explosives, triggers, and containers, often to cause destruction, injury, or death.
• IEDs can vary widely in design and complexity, ranging from simple pipe bombs to more intricate devices incorporating timers, remote controls, or even cellular communication for activation.
• IEDs can be deployed using a vehicle, carried, placed, or thrown by a person, delivered in a package, or concealed on the roadside.
• Due to their adaptable nature, IEDs are commonly used by insurgents, terrorists, and other malicious actors to carry out attacks against both military and civilian targets.
• Their unpredictable nature and often concealed placement make them particularly challenging for security forces to detect and mitigate.
• Efforts to counter IED threats involve a combination of technological advancements, intelligence gathering, and counterinsurgency strategies aimed at identifying and neutralizing these devices before they can cause harm.

Types of IEDs:

• Vehicle-Borne IEDs: Among the most destructive forms of IEDs are those concealed within vehicles. These can be driven to specific locations and detonated, causing massive explosions capable of levelling buildings.
• Suicide Bombings: Suicide bombings involve individuals strapping IEDs to their bodies, becoming human carriers of destruction. This method inflicts maximum damage in densely populated areas.
• Package IEDs: Package IEDs are small devices hidden in innocuous-looking packages. They are often placed in public spaces, targeting unsuspecting victims.

Methods of IED Initiation:

• Remote Control: IEDs can be remotely triggered using various methods, such as cell phones or radio signals, allowing attackers to maintain a safe distance from the explosion.
• Pressure Activation: Pressure-sensitive IEDs detonate when a certain amount of pressure is applied, making them lethal traps for those who inadvertently trigger them.
• Timers: IEDs can also be equipped with timers, which delay the explosion to occur at a specific time, further complicating detection and prevention.

The Devastating Impact of IEDs:

• The aftermath of IED explosions is often catastrophic, leading to loss of life, severe injuries, and widespread damage to infrastructure.
  • The psychological impact on survivors and affected communities can be long-lasting.

Detection Technologies and Challenges:

• Detection technologies such as (Metal Detectors, X-ray and Imaging Scanners, Explosive Trace Detection (ETD), and Sniffer Dogs) play a critical role in countering the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), but they also face numerous challenges due to the evolving nature of these devices.

Why is it in the News?

While acknowledging the importance of the environment and its long-term impact on organizations and the economy as a whole, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has now released a draft framework for banks to follow.

What are Climate-led Financial Risks?

• “Climate-related financial risks” means the potential risks that may arise from climate change or from efforts to mitigate climate change, their related impacts, and economic and financial consequences according to RBI.
• These risks manifest through two primary channels: physical risks and transition risks.
• Physical Risks: These entail the economic and financial consequences arising from the escalating frequency and severity of extreme weather events linked to climate change. Such events can exert pressure on the financial sector in various ways:
  • Renewable Energy Sector (REs) Vulnerability: The occurrence of local or regional weather events may strain the anticipated cash flows to REs, impacting their financial stability. Furthermore, chronic flooding or landslides pose risks to the collateral that REs have pledged as security for loans.
  • Infrastructure and Property Damage: Severe weather phenomena can inflict damage on the physical assets and data centres owned or leased by REs, impairing their capacity to deliver financial services effectively.
• Transition Risks: These risks stem from the transition toward a low-carbon economy, influenced by factors such as evolving climate-related policies, technological advancements, and changing consumer behaviours. Key considerations include:
  • Policy and Regulatory Shifts: Changes in climate-related regulations and policies, along with advancements in technologies, can significantly influence the transition process. Moreover, alterations in customer sentiments and behaviour patterns play a pivotal role in shaping this transition.
  • Economic Impact: The transition toward reducing carbon emissions carries substantial implications for the economy at large. It entails a shift toward sustainable practices and investments, which can impact various sectors and industries differently.
• Recognizing and addressing these climate-related financial risks is imperative for ensuring the resilience and stability of the financial sector in the face of evolving environmental challenges.

About the Framework:

• Commencing from the financial year 2025-26, all major financial institutions across India, including top-tier NBFCs and renowned NBFCs, will be mandated to furnish details about governance, strategy, and risk management strategies.
• Additionally, they will be required to initiate disclosure of metrics and targets from the fiscal year 2027-28.

Key highlights of the framework include:

• Enhanced Disclosure Requirements: Banks will be obligated to unveil climate-related risks that could potentially impact their financial stability.
  • This measure aims to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of climate-related financial risks and opportunities, fostering early assessment and proactive management.
• Scope of Coverage: The framework encompasses various financial entities, including scheduled commercial banks (excluding local area banks, payments banks, and regional rural banks), Tier-IV primary urban cooperative banks (UCBs), and top and upper layer non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
• Disclosure Obligations for Renewable Energy Sector (REs): REs are mandated to disclose crucial information related to climate-related risks and opportunities across short-, medium-, and long-term horizons. Key areas of disclosure include:
• Identification of Climate-Related Risks and Opportunities: REs are required to identify and disclose climate-related risks and opportunities relevant to their operations and financial outlook.
• Assessment of Impact: REs must delineate the impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on their business strategies and financial planning, enabling stakeholders to comprehend the implications on their overall strategy.
• Resilience Evaluation: REs are tasked with evaluating the resilience of their strategies in light of diverse climate scenarios, thereby ensuring robustness in navigating potential challenges and capitalizing on emerging opportunities.

Significance:

• A pressing requirement exists for an improved and standardized disclosure framework for regulated entities to mitigate financial risks.
• Without such a framework, there is a risk of assets being mispriced and capital being misallocated, which could have adverse repercussions on financial stability. Consequently, the imperative for a standardized disclosure framework on climate-related financial risks became evident.

Why is it in the News?

The Union Cabinet recently approved the country's first semiconductor fab to be made by the Tata Group in collaboration with Powerchip Taiwan.

What is Semiconductor Fabrication?

• The semiconductor fabrication process is a complex and highly specialized series of steps that transform raw materials into functional electronic components.
• This process involves a multitude of techniques and technologies, with each stage requiring precise control and attention to detail.
• A semiconductor fab -- short for fabrication -- is a manufacturing plant in which raw silicon wafers are turned into integrated circuits (ICs).
• A fab lab features a clean room where ICs are etched onto wafers.
• The completed chips are sent to a back-end assembly and test facility before they are packaged and sold.
• A semiconductor fab facility always includes a clean room -- so known because its environment is carefully controlled to eliminate dust and vibrations and to keep the temperature and humidity within a specific narrow range.
  • Contamination can enter the fab environment through external sources, resulting in damage to products that can affect overall yield.
• To minimize the losses, all potential sources of contamination are thoroughly analysed and cleaned.
  • For example, the tools used in the chip manufacturing process have low levels of particulates and fibres.
• The goal is to ensure that extraneous contamination is not introduced into the semiconductor fab to ensure the highest quality of the final products.

Technology Used in Semiconductor Fab Labs:

• Photolithography: Photolithography is a crucial optical process in the fabrication process, as it is used to create intricate circuit patterns on a single wafer's surface.
• This is achieved by coating the wafer with a photosensitive material, called a photoresist, and then exposing it to high-wavelength deep ultraviolet (DUV) or extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light through a mask containing the desired pattern.
• The exposed photoresist undergoes a chemical change, which allows it to be selectively removed.
• It leaves behind a patterned layer that serves as a protective layer for subsequent processing steps, such as etching and deposition. 

Why is it in the News?

For the upcoming Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections, senior citizens who are 85 years and older will be able to opt for postal ballots as the government recently amended the rule to increase the eligibility from the current limit of 80 years and above.

News Summary:

• The government, in collaboration with the Election Commission, has introduced amendments to the Conduct of Election Rules (1961), specifically targeting the eligibility criteria for voting by postal ballot.
• Notably, the minimum age for senior citizens eligible for postal voting has been increased from 80 years to 85 years.
  • Previously, Rule 27A of the Conduct of Election Rules had extended the postal ballot facility to senior citizens above 80 years, persons with disabilities, poll officers, and individuals diagnosed with COVID-19.
• This provision was first implemented during the 2020 Bihar assembly polls, coinciding with the onset of the pandemic.
• Despite the initial extension of postal voting rights to senior citizens aged 80 and above, a subsequent review by the Election Commission revealed that only a small fraction, approximately 2-3%, of eligible voters in this age group opted for postal ballots.
  • The majority preferred to physically visit polling stations to cast their votes.
• Considering the statistics indicating that the total number of senior citizens above 80 years stands at 1.75 crore, with 98 lakh falling within the age range of 80-85 years, the government deemed it necessary to amend the existing rule.
  • This adjustment reflects a nuanced approach aimed at ensuring efficient electoral processes while addressing the preferences and needs of elderly voters.

What is Postal Voting?

• Postal voting is only available to a specific group of voters.
• By retyping her choices on the ballot paper and returning it to the inspection officer before counting, a voter can remotely cast her ballot using this feature.

Who Can Avail This?

• Armed forces members such as those in the Army, Navy, and Air Force, armed police officers serving outside their home states, government workers stationed outside of India, and their wives are only eligible to vote by mail.

Features:

• Voters may use this service from any location outside of the designated constituency.
• This system makes it easier to create voter electoral roll data for services.
• It has two layers of security, making it a secure system:
  • 1. Downloading the encrypted electronically transmitted postal ballot (ETPB) file requires an OTP (one-time password).
  • 2. To decrypt, print, and deliver ETPB, a PIN is necessary.
• By sending postal ballots electronically to eligible service voters, this system addresses the time constraint associated with mailing postal ballots.
• The specific quick response code ensures confidentiality and prevents the duplication of cast ETPB.

Concerned Raised by Political Parties:

• Parties argue that allowing voters 65 and older to cast postal ballots violates voting confidentiality since many of the population lacks education and may ask for help from others at various points, ultimately identifying their chosen candidate.
• Their exposure to "administrative influence or influence by the government or the ruling party" also results from this.

Why is it in the News?

Recently, Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated an airstrip and the St James Jetty on North Agaléga Island in the Indian Ocean.

About Agalega Islands:

• Agaléga Island comprises two islets, a long and thin northern island and a shorter, round southern island.
• It is slightly over 3,000 kilometres from the nearest mainland Indian coast, deep in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar.
• Despite its pristine appeal, Agaléga remains largely undiscovered by tourists and there are no hotels, water bungalows, or bustling tourist shops.
  • Instead, approximately 300 islanders sustain themselves through coconut cultivation and fishing, maintaining a way of life passed down through generations.

Importance of Agalega Islands:

• The development of the Agalega Islands holds significant socio-economic and national security implications for Mauritius, aligning closely with India's maritime vision.
  • Despite being a dependency of Mauritius, the islands have long remained underdeveloped, posing challenges to the sustainability and well-being of their inhabitants.
  • Necessities often required referral to Mauritius due to the lack of infrastructure.
• Moreover, the absence of an official government or security presence posed a serious vulnerability, necessitating urgent attention.
  • Recognizing the potential to transform this vulnerability into a strategic asset, Mauritius prioritized the development of the islands and the establishment of facilities capable of accommodating ships and aircraft.
• In this regard, the construction of a jetty and an airstrip emerged as imperative steps to bolster the islands' infrastructure.
  • Given the shared interests and cooperation between Mauritius and India, the government of Mauritius selected India as its preferred development partner for this ambitious initiative.

Why did Mauritians Choose India?

• Ties between India and Mauritius go back to 1948, 20 years before the country’s independence from Britain.
• Seventy percent of the inhabitants of Mauritius are of Indian origin, and the two countries share deep historical, social, and cultural bonds.
• The consistent feature in the history of bilateral relations has been friendship and trust at all levels — the political leadership, the diplomatic and military communities, as well as between the peoples of the two countries.
• The development of these strategically located islands required trust more than anything else. India was the obvious choice.

Significance for India:

• The goodwill and trust between the two countries will be further enhanced. India will welcome opportunities to further develop these islands in collaboration with Mauritius as the latter deems appropriate.
• The joint development of Agaléga underscores India’s commitment to the vision of Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), and its willingness to assist smaller maritime nations in building capacity and developing capability.
• It will indicate to other maritime neighbours that India is a benign and friendly country that respects the sovereignty of independent nations.
• India would like to emerge as the preferred development and security partner in the Indian Ocean Region.