India and Nepal share a long and intertwined history, marked by cultural, religious, and economic connections. 

• Ancient Ties: The historical connections between the people of India and Nepal date back to ancient times. There have been exchanges of culture, traditions, and religious practices, particularly due to the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism in the region.
• Political Relations: The emergence of powerful kingdoms in the Indian subcontinent, such as the Maurya and Gupta empires, influenced the political landscape of Nepal. Over the centuries, various dynasties ruled both regions, and they often maintained close ties.
• Medieval Period: During the medieval period, both regions witnessed the spread of Islam, and the Mughal Empire's influence in India impacted the political dynamics in Nepal. The rulers of Nepal maintained their autonomy during this period.
• The British Influence: As the British East India Company expanded its influence in the Indian subcontinent, the territories surrounding Nepal were affected. However, Nepal managed to remain independent and maintained its sovereignty.
• Anglo-Nepalese War (1814-1816): The Anglo-Nepalese War took place between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Nepal. The war concluded with the signing of the Sugauli Treaty in 1815, which defined the boundary between British India and Nepal, establishing the Kali River as the western boundary of Nepal.
• Treaty of Friendship (1950): The Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in 1950 between India and Nepal is a crucial document that governs their relations. The treaty establishes close ties, including provisions for free movement of people and goods between the two countries.
• Economic Cooperation: Over the years, economic cooperation has played a significant role in India-Nepal relations. Trade, transit facilities, and developmental assistance have been important aspects of their bilateral cooperation.
• Cultural and People-to-People Ties: The cultural affinities between the people of India and Nepal have remained strong. The open border allows for extensive people-to-people interactions, and shared religious practices, especially Hinduism, further contribute to the close bond between the two nations.
• India and Nepal boast robust defence cooperation. India supports Nepal's military modernization through equipment, training, and disaster assistance. Joint exercises like SURYA KIRAN foster collaboration. Since 1950, Chiefs of the Army exchanged honorary ranks, symbolizing the deep bond. Gorkha regiments showcase this connection further.

The India-Nepal border dispute, simmering for decades, continues to be a major point of contention between the two nations. Understanding the complexities of this issue requires delving into its historical roots, contested areas, and ongoing efforts towards resolution.

Tracing the Origins

• Treaty of Sugauli (1816): This treaty between the British East India Company and Nepal defined the initial border, but ambiguities in the document sowed the seeds of future disagreements.
• Kalapani Valley: This strategically located valley at the confluence of the Kali and Mahakali rivers is a major flashpoint. Both India and Nepal claim ownership, each citing historical records and maps.
• Lipulekh Pass: This mountain pass provides access to Kailash Mansarovar, a sacred pilgrimage site for Hindus. India's construction of a road here in 2020 reignited tensions.
• Susta Area: Located in Nepal's Terai region, this fertile land along the Gandak River is another disputed territory.

Impact of the Dispute

• Strained Bilateral Relations: The border issue casts a shadow on the otherwise friendly ties between India and Nepal.
• Local Communities Affected: Uncertain land ownership hampers development projects and impacts the lives of people living along the border.
• Security Concerns: Unresolved territorial claims can potentially pose security risks in the region.

Efforts Towards Resolution

• Joint Technical Level Boundary Working Group (JTLBWG): Established in the 1980s, this group has successfully demarcated most of the border but remains deadlocked on the disputed areas.
• Diplomatic Consultations: Both countries engage in regular talks to find a solution, but progress has been slow.
• Public Discourse: Civil society groups and media in both countries play a role in raising awareness and advocating for peaceful resolution.

Nepal is important to India for various strategic, cultural, economic, and geopolitical reasons. The close relationship between the two countries is rooted in historical, geographical, and sociocultural ties. Here are several reasons why Nepal is significant to India:

• Nepal shares a long and open border with India. This geographical proximity fosters people-to-people connections, facilitates trade, and allows for easy movement of goods and people between the two countries.
• India and Nepal share deep cultural and religious ties, with Hinduism being the predominant religion in both nations. Many Hindu pilgrimage sites, such as Pashupatinath Temple and Lumbini (the birthplace of Lord Buddha), are located in Nepal, attracting pilgrims from India.
• Nepal holds strategic importance for India due to its location between India and China. The geopolitical dynamics of the region make Nepal a crucial player in India's efforts to maintain regional stability and security.
• Several rivers originating in Nepal flow into India, making water resources a significant aspect of the relationship. Cooperation on river management and water-sharing agreements is essential for both countries.
• India and Nepal engage in extensive economic cooperation, including trade and transit agreements. The open border facilitates the movement of goods, contributing to economic integration between the two nations.
• Both countries share concerns related to regional security, including counter-terrorism and the maintenance of peace in the region. Collaboration on security matters is crucial for addressing common challenges.
• The historical relationship between India and Nepal is characterized by mutual respect and support. The Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed in 1950 solidified the close ties and included provisions for economic and security cooperation.
• India and Nepal maintain diplomatic relations at various levels. High-level visits and diplomatic engagements help in addressing bilateral issues and strengthening the overall relationship.
• As both India and China seek to expand their influence in the region, Nepal's strategic position becomes crucial. India aims to maintain strong ties with Nepal to counterbalance any growing influence from other countries, including China.
• Given the shared borders and historical connections, a stable and friendly Nepal is vital for ensuring overall regional stability. India's interests in maintaining peace and harmony in its neighbourhood underscore the importance of a positive relationship with Nepal.

• Balancing Act: Nepal often engages in a delicate balancing act between its two large neighbours, India and China. It seeks to maintain cordial relations with both countries while safeguarding its own interests.
• Infrastructure Projects: China's infrastructure projects in Nepal, particularly under the BRI, have been a source of concern for India. The geopolitical implications of such projects contribute to the complexity of trilateral relations.
• Regional Stability: Stability in Nepal is crucial for both India and China to ensure regional peace and security. The three countries have overlapping interests in maintaining stability in the Himalayan region.

6. India's Neighbourhood First Policy 

India's Neighbourhood First Policy is a strategic foreign policy initiative aimed at prioritizing and strengthening relations with its immediate neighbours. This policy, which gained prominence in the early 2000s, seeks to:

• Build friendly and mutually beneficial relationships with all neighbouring countries.
• Engage in active development partnerships through infrastructure projects, economic cooperation, and knowledge sharing.
• Create a stable and secure regional environment conducive to collective growth and prosperity.
• Promote regional cooperation and integration on issues like trade, security, and cultural exchange.

Key Pillars of the Policy

• Consultative and non-reciprocal approach: Engaging neighbours with respect for their sovereignty and prioritizing their needs.
• Focus on outcome-oriented solutions: Delivering tangible benefits through concrete projects and initiatives.
• People-to-people contacts: Fostering cultural exchange, educational opportunities, and tourism to build lasting bonds.
• Security cooperation: Addressing regional security threats through collaboration and joint efforts.

Examples of Implementation

• Boosting trade and investment: Free trade agreements, border trade facilities, and infrastructure development projects.
• Cooperation in energy, water resources, and disaster management: Sharing expertise, technology, and resources for mutual benefit.
• Cultural exchange programs: Promoting understanding and appreciation of each other's traditions and languages.
• Security partnerships: Joint training exercises, intelligence sharing, and border management cooperation.

Challenges and Opportunities

• Internal conflicts and political instability in some neighbouring countries can hinder progress.
• Competition from other major powers like China for influence in the region.
• Building trust and resolving bilateral issues like border disputes require ongoing dialogue and diplomacy.

QUANTUM COMPUTING

1. Context 

• Quantum computing is a rapidly-emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers. 
• IBM Quantum makes real quantum hardware a tool scientists only began to imagine three decades ago available to hundreds of thousands of developers.
• Engineers deliver ever-more-powerful superconducting quantum processors at regular intervals, alongside crucial advances in software and quantum-classical orchestration.
• This work drives toward the quantum computing speed and capacity necessary to change the world. 
• These machines are very different from the classical computers that have been around for more than half a century.

Image Source: IBM

3. Need for quantum computers

• For some problems, supercomputers aren’t that super. When scientists and engineers encounter difficult problems, they turn to supercomputers.
• These are very large classical computers, often with thousands of classical CPU and GPU cores. However, even supercomputers struggle to solve certain kinds of problems.
• If a supercomputer gets stumped, that's probably because the big classical machine was asked to solve a problem with a high degree of complexity. When classical computers fail, it's often due to complexity
• Complex problems are problems with lots of variables interacting in complicated ways.
• Modelling the behaviour of individual atoms in a molecule is a complex problem, because of all the different electrons interacting with one another.
• Sorting out the ideal routes for a few hundred tankers in a global shipping network is complex too.

4. Quantum computers work

• Quantum computers are elegant machines, smaller and requiring less energy than supercomputers.
• An IBM Quantum processor is a wafer not much bigger than the one found in a laptop.
• And a quantum hardware system is about the size of a car, made up mostly of cooling systems to keep the superconducting processor at its ultra-cold operational temperature.
• A classical processor uses bits to perform its operations. A quantum computer uses qubits (CUE-bits) to run multidimensional quantum algorithms.

4.1. Superfluids

• A desktop computer likely uses a fan to get cold enough to work.
• Quantum processors need to be very cold about a hundredth of a degree above absolute zero.
• To achieve this, we use super-cooled superfluids to create superconductors.

4.2. Superconductors

• At those ultra-low temperatures, certain materials in our processors exhibit another important quantum mechanical effect: electrons move through them without resistance. This makes them "superconductors." 
• When electrons pass through superconductors they match up, forming "Cooper pairs."
• These pairs can carry a charge across barriers, or insulators, through a process known as quantum tunnelling.
• Two superconductors placed on either side of an insulator form a Josephson junction.

4.3. Control

• Our quantum computers use Josephson junctions as superconducting qubits.
• By firing microwave photons at these qubits, we can control their behaviour and get them to hold, change, and read out individual units of quantum information.

4.4. Superposition

• A qubit itself isn't very useful. But it can perform an important trick: placing the quantum information it holds into a state of superposition, which represents a combination of all possible configurations of the qubit.
• Groups of qubits in superposition can create complex, multidimensional computational spaces. Complex problems can be represented in new ways in these spaces.

4.5. Entanglement

• Entanglement is a quantum mechanical effect that correlates the behaviour of two separate things.
• When two qubits are entangled, changes to one qubit directly impact the other.
• Quantum algorithms leverage those relationships to find solutions to complex problems.

5. Making quantum computers useful

• Right now, IBM Quantum leads the world in quantum computing hardware and software. It is a clear and detailed plan to scale quantum processors, overcomes the scaling problem, and build the hardware necessary for quantum advantage.
• Quantum advantage will not be achieved with hardware alone.
• IBM has also spent years advancing the software that will be necessary to do useful work using quantum computers.
• They developed the Qiskit quantum SDK. It is open-source, python-based, and by far the most widely-used quantum SDK in the world.
• The Qiskit Runtime is the most powerful quantum programming model in the world.
• Achieving quantum advantage will require new methods of suppressing errors, increasing speed, and orchestrating quantum and classical resources.

 

For Prelims: Quantum computing, supercomputers, Qiskit Runtime, IBM, National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications, superconductors,  For Mains:  1. What is Quantum computing? Discuss the need for Quantum Computers in emerging countries like India. (250 Words) 2. What are quantum computers and how are they different from conventional computers? Where does India stand in the race to build quantum computers that can realise their full potential? (250 Words)

 

 

Previous Year Questions   1. India's first Supercomputer is  (TSPSC AEE 2015) A. Aditya B. Param Yuva C.  Param D. Vikram-100 Answer: C   2. What is the full form of IBM? (SSC Steno  2017)  A. International Business Machine B. Indian Beta Machine C. Integral Business Machine D. Internal Beta Machine   Answer: A   3. Which one of the following is the context in which the term "qubit" is mentioned? (UPSC 2022)  A. Cloud Services B. Quantum Computing C. Visible Light Communication Technologies D. Wireless Communication Technologies   Answer: B   4. Quantum computing uses  (ACC 124 CGAT  2021) A. Qubit B. Bits C. Bytes D. Qubytes   Answer: A

 

Source: IBM

 

OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLES

 

1. Context

A 16-year-long assessment of trends in turtle populations in India says the numbers of the Olive Ridley species suggest a “steady or growing” population. However, rising sand temperatures due to climate change are causing a large proportion of these turtles to be females, “raising questions” on the long-term viability of the population

2. Olive Ridley Turtles

• The Olive ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.
• These turtles are carnivores and get their name from their olive-colored carapace.
• They are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.
• They are found in warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans.
• Odisha's Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is known as the world's largest rookery of sea turtles.

Image Source: Down to Earth

3. Conservation of Olive Ridley Turtles

• Conservation of the Olive Ridley turtles in Odisha began with the discovery and worldwide recognition of the Gahirmatha rookery close to the mouth of the Brahmani-Baitarani (Dharma) River, in 1974.
• A second mass nesting was discovered in 1981 at the Devi River mouth, about 55 nautical miles south of Gahirmatha.
• In 1994, a third mass nesting area was also discovered at the Rushkulya river mouth, 162 nautical miles south of Gahirmatha.
• The Olive Ridley Turtles come to the beaches of the Odisha coast annually between November and December and stay on until April and May for nesting. 
• Off late, nesting has been observed to start from late January to early February. The turtles choose the narrow beaches near estuaries and bays for laying their eggs.
• Each adult female lays approximately a hundred to hundred and forty eggs at a time.

4. Threats faced by Olive Ridley Turtles

• The Olive Ridleys face serious threats across their migratory route, habitat, and nesting beaches, due to human activities such as turtle-unfriendly fishing practices, and the development and exploitation of nesting beaches for ports, and tourist centers.
• Though international trade in these turtles and their products is banned, they are still extensively poached for their meat, shell, and leather.
• Turtles eggs, though illegal to harvest, have a significantly large market around the coastal regions.
• The most severe threat faced by the Olive Ridleys is the accidental killing of adult turtles through entanglement in trawl nets and gill nets due to uncontrolled fishing around nesting beaches during their mating season.
• Over 1.3 lakh turtles are believed to have been killed after being entangled in the nets of mechanized fishing trawlers in the last thirteen years.

5. Legislation for the Protection of Olive Ridley Turtles

• All five species of sea turtles occurring in India, including the Olive Ridley Turtles, are legally protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and Appendix I of the CITES convention which prohibits trade in turtle products.
• The mass nesting beach of Gahirmatha is a part of Bhitarkanika Wildlife sanctuary and the waters around Bhitarkanika was declared as Gahirmatha (Marine) Wildlife Sanctuary in September 1997, to protect the nesting and breeding habitat of the Olive Ridley.
• The coastal waters off Devi and Rushikulya rookery are declared as a no-fishing zone during the sea turtle breeding season under the Odisha Marine.
• Fisheries Regulation Act (OMFRA), 1982, and Odisha Marine Fisheries Regulation Rules, 1983. The Coast Guard is empowered to enforce the provisions of the Act.
• To reduce accidental entrapment and death of turtles, the Odisha government has made it mandatory for the mechanized fishing trawlers to use Turtle Excluder Devices or TEDs, which is a specially designed net with an exit cover that retains the catch while allowing the turtles to escape.

6. Operation Olivia, 2014

• As the nesting period stretched over six months, the Indian Coast Guard undertakes the Olive Ridley Turtle protection program under the code name 'Operation Olivia' every year.
• Coast Guard District No.7 (Odisha) commenced Operation Olivia 2014 on 08 Nov 2014 under the coordination and control of Commander Coast Guard Region (North East).
• As part of the operation, fishing boats found close to the marine reserve area were regularly checked by the ship's boarding party for confirming the usage of turtle excluder devices (TEDs).
• Offenders were warned and reported to the Assistant Director of Fisheries. Close coordination was maintained with the fisheries and forest department during the entire operation.

7. Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary

• Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is a marine wildlife sanctuary located in Odisha.
• It extends from the Dhamra River mouth in the north to the Mahanadi river mouth in the south.
• It is very famous for its nesting beach for olive ridley sea turtles.
• It is the one of world's most important nesting beaches for turtles.
• The olive ridley turtles turn up in millions for mass nesting along the Odisha coast every year. This phenomenon is referred to as 'arribada'.
• Apart from Gahirmatha, these aquatic animals turn up at the Rushikulya river mouth and Devi river mouth for mass nesting.
• Rushikulya river mouth is considered the second-biggest nesting site for Olive Ridley Turtles in India.

Previous year question

1. Which one of the following is the national aquatic animal of India? (UPSC 2015) A.Saltwater crocodile B. Olive ridley turtle C. Gangetic dolphin D. Gharial Answer: C 2. The 'Olive Ridley Turtles are considered to be endangered because of their few remaining nesting sites in the world. In this context, which among the following statement(s) is/are correct? (OPSC 2016) (1) Their peculiar behavior of synchronized nesting in mass numbers is known as Arribada'. (2) Gahirmatha Beach in Orissa is one of their few nesting grounds in the world. A. Only 1           B. Only 2             C. Both 1 and 2               D. Neither 1 nor 2 Answer: C 3. Which of the following statements about the olive ridley turtles is/are correct? (CDS 2018) 1. They are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world. 2. They live in warm waters of Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. 3. The Coromandel Coast in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley turtles. Select the correct Answer using the code given below. A. 1, 2 and 3       B. 1 and 2 only         C. 2 and 3 only         D. 1 only Answer: B

For Prelims 

For Prelims: Olive Ridley turtles, arribada, Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, Brahmani-Baitarani (Dharma) River, Devi River, Rushkulya river, Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, CITES convention, Bhitarkanika Wildlife sanctuary, Fisheries Regulation Act (OMFRA), 1982, and Turtle Excluder Devices or TEDs.

Source: Down to Earth