Data Center Cooling Tech, India's R&D, and Current Affairs for UPSC

Hello and welcome to ANA Academy. Welcome to the most comprehensive Hindu analysis on YouTube. So first let's

start our discussion by looking at the topics that we are going to discuss from the Delhi edition of the Hindu. I have

chosen a total of 11 important articles. There are eight articles important for both prelims and mains and three

articles that are important just for the prelims exam. Along with this, there is one PIB article from yesterday which can

be very important for the prelims examination. So let's cover all these 12 topics in complete detail so that you

don't have to go back and read the newspaper again. But before we start, I have a very important announcement. If

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classes. So with this let's get started and look at the first article. On page number 11 there's a very detailed

article on the cooling technologies that are used in data centers. See in today's AIdriven world these

gigawatt data centers are coming up across the world. In India as well two major gawatt data centers have been

recently announced. I'm sure you must be aware that Google has announced a massive 1 gawatt data center facility in

Vishaka Patnam in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Then India's own TCS has also announced a hypervalt 1 gawatt data

center which is likely to come up in Hyderabad. So both these hyperscalar data centers

are of 1 gawatt capacity and they will generate tremendous amount of heat. In order to remove the heat, cooling

solutions are absolutely essential. In fact, that is one reason why data centers are very costly, expensive,

technologically complicated and also raises environmental concerns because of the power consumption and the water

consumption of these data centers. So after Google announced its 1 gawatt facility at Vishaka Patnam a big

controversy followed as locals started raising concerns that Vishaka already suffers from water shortage. So if a

mega facility of Google were to take up the nearby water resources for cooling the data center, there were fears of

water shortage that could affect the urban population of Vishaka. Similar concerns have been expressed

with regard to TCS Hypervolt data center as well in Hyderabad where the city already suffers from water related

challenges especially during the dry summer months. So in this context, Google has confirmed that it will not be

relying on water cooling. Instead, it will be using air cooling technology. So this brings up the question of

cooling solutions for data centers. What are the technologies involved? What is the difference between air cooling and

water cooling? These are some essential concepts that you must be familiar with. Now first and foremost let's understand

why a data center produces so much heat. What is the requirement of even cooling solutions? That is something first you

need to understand. See when you look at any processor it is made up of billions of transistors

right and these transistors they essentially manipulate the electrical current as they perform the computing

operations and the resistance the transistor material offers to the flow of electricity is what generates the

heat. I'm sure you must have noticed in your laptops, in your desktop computers, in

your mobile phones when you're using the devices there is a certain amount of heat which is generated. Of course, the

battery could also radiate heat but the processor which is made up of billions of transistors as it resists the flow of

electrical current generates a certain amount of heat. Now this heat has to be dissipated. In fact, in most processors,

there is a inbuilt heat sink. It is often mounted on a cooling plate.

So, generally in the handheld and household appliances that we use,

you often experience heat from the battery and the charging and discharge of the device, but not from the

processor itself. Because the processor heat is already contained within the device because of the heat sink which is

built into it. A cooling plate which can essentially absorb that extra heat and radiate this thus managing the heat

within the device. But this doesn't work in a simple manner when it comes to massive data centers. Data centers are

made up of millions and millions of these processors. So this is where I want you to

understand the composition of a data center. What is it exactly made up of? So essentially

billions of transistors make up a processor. Now when it comes to AI computing,

GPUs, graphic processing units form the very foundation of the processing capabilities in a data center. Now

millions of these GPUs collectively come together to form let's say a server maybe thousands and

lacks of GPUs depending on the investments being made and depending on the requirement right a collection of

processes will form a server and a collection of servers forms a rack. This is what you often find in a data center

and these racks are piled up as clusters which essentially forms your data center. Data center is a collection of

multiple such clusters. So just imagine how many processes must be operating in one data center. It could run into lacks

of them, even millions of them. So when you're looking at billions and billions of transistors, trillions and

trillions of transistor operations, just imagine the heat it is going to generate.

The ballpark figure, the thumb rule is that a 1 gawatt facility will generate heat of around 1 gawatt

which has to be essentially dissipated. It has to be captured. it has to be transferred or else it will burn the

electronics. So to make this massive data center function, heat management is absolutely

critical for the functioning of these devices. So when it comes to heat management, there are different

technologies involved. So when it comes to heat management in a data center,

there are two primary technologies. One is air cooling, the other is water or liquid cooling.

Now both these technologies have its own advantages and disadvantages. There are some trade-offs involved. Now within air

cooling, there are different options available. Within water cooling and liquid cooling, there are different

methodologies that are employed and in some cases hybrid cooling is used. A mixture of air cooling and water

cooling. So let's go through these technologies briefly just to get a common man's understanding.

Now the most common form of air cooling is what we do in our homes in our offices where you employ air cooling

through air conditioners and air handlers. You might remember from your school days or your college days your

computer labs would always have air conditioners when the classroom or the campus would never have a AC. Only the

computer lab would be fitted with a AC. Why? because it is necessary to maintain the right temperatures. You see this in

corporate offices as well. But when it comes to a data center, you need a larger industrial scale cooling

facility. You need massive refrigerants which can help in essentially dissipating that heat. Simple methods

are used while setting up the data center where the hot isle and the cool isle are completely separated physically

separated. For example, you have a rack here. The racks are separated, kept at a certain distance. And there is a cooling

aisle and a hot isle where the heat is trapped and later allowed to dissipate into the outside environment through a

exhaust system or a a fan system which can allow the air to move out. So thus physical segregation with regular air

cooling through air conditioners, air handlers is one way of doing it. The other method which is quite effective is

a rear door heat exchanger where every rack at the back of it is essentially pumped with cool air.

You can see each rack being connected to a cooling system at the behind where cool air or sometimes even cool liquid

is pumped behind and all the heat captured from the processors is relegated to a heat sink a cooling plate

which lies at the back of the rack which can essentially transfer the heat and thus maintain the idle working

temperature that is required. So these are different air cooling solutions. Then you also have direct liquid

cooling. Now liquid cooling is any day considered to be much more efficient as compared to air cooling. Why? What is

the reason behind it? There can be a prelims question based on this concept. That's because

a liquid like water it any day has a higher heat capacity compared to air. What is heat capacity?

It is essentially the amount of heat which has to be given to raise the temperature of a substance by let's say

1°C. So greater the heat capacity, it means it can absorb more heat for the same

volume of that material. So since a liquid like water has higher heat capacity

compared to the same volume of air, it will take in more heat. it will require more heat to raise the temperature of

water by 1°C. So as a result liquid cooling or primarily water cooling is highly

preferred across industries and as well as in the AI data center industry and also please understand air cooling

may not be very effective in a high density heat environment. Air cooling is effective only up till a certain limit

but beyond that air cooling starts becoming ineffective. So that is a big trade-off. The efficiency gets

compromised in air cooling and especially when you're dealing with a massive 1 gawatt facility. Air cooling

is never considered as a practical cooling solution. Air cooling will work probably up to 20 kilow not beyond that.

But if you're looking at today's GPUs that generate tremendous amount of heat and you're looking at a massive data

center with clusters of these GPUs, air cooling alone won't be able to solve the heat problem. So water cooling is

considered as the most efficient in terms of its heat capacity because it has a much higher heat capacity than

air. In this case, liquid is directly placed up against the processor. There is essentially a piping system within

the rack and within each processor and it supplies chilled liquid. Generally it would be chilled water

which is which is passed through these racks and it passes behind the rack system and enters the processors where

right below the processor there will be a cooling plate with internal tubing. It's like a internal plumbing, a piping

system that exists within the racks that are set up and the water flows through it. It'll take out the excess heat and

the water then leaves the system and it gets recycled again. So such liquid-based cooling is quite

expensive to set up because you can imagine if such a complicated infrastructure has to be set up where

very fine almost nano level tubings has have to be developed right because when you look at the size of these processors

and if you look at the the intricacies that are involved the plumbing needs to be extremely on a small scale and

achieving such level of precision and setting up the entire infrastructure turns out to be much much more expensive

than compared to air cooling systems. Air cooling is any day cheaper compared to liquid cooling mainly because of the

complex piping and the plumbing systems that are required within each rack within each processor layer and that's

where the complication comes up technologically. It becomes much more challenging and complex.

Then another cooling methodology is immersion cooling which is quite common in the industry today. As the name

itself suggests in immersion cooling the processes the entire racks will be immersed in a liquid coolant like water

chilled water. Some of you might be wondering how can this even work right? You would have seen that even if a half

glass of water fell on your laptop it gets burnt. It gets shortcircuited. How come entire servers are being dunked

into water? That's because this again involves special fabrication. A liquid which is used here is

non-conductive. It'll be non-conductive in nature. So it's not regular water which is used.

It's a nonconductive liquid in which the entire racks of processes can be immersed to help maintain the heat

management. So this again will be quite expensive because the non-conductive liquid and

even the electronics and the processes they require a different fabrication to make them withstand uh the immersion

process. So this again turns out to be quite expensive but it is very very effective.

There are many many other methods which are coming up. We also have evaporative cooling where

cool air is essentially used. Then the heat is basically transferred to water. Cool air first picks up the heat and the

air the hot air now interacts with water which will evaporate the water right and thus it transfers the heat and the air

goes back to cool the processes and the racks. So evaporative cooling is a hybrid method where there is a mixture

of air along with water cooling where water is allowed to evaporate to take out the excess heat. Then there's also

dry cooling which I mentioned earlier where there is no additional cooling provided. No air cooling, no water

cooling. The heat is just allowed to dissipate with the help of fans and exhaust. But again this may not work

everywhere. This will work probably in very cool regions. It depends on the local conditions as well.

That's why many data centers are set up in temperate countries where the climate is much cooler. They they don't prefer

tropical countries or equatorial countries with higher temperatures. So countries in western Europe probably

countries like Canada, few parts of United States where the temperatures are naturally very low, right? And also

humidity factor plays a role if you're using water cooling. Keeping their local factors in mind accordingly cooling

solutions are employed. Dry cooling will work only in extremely cold countries maybe in Norway right maybe in Denmark

uh where extreme low temperatures are there uh where the heat exchange can be a simple natural ventilation with

industrial fans which can guide the air and help the heat flow out naturally into the outside environment. There's

also another technology being developed geothermal heat rejection where the heat is channeled into the underground

water channels. It's a upcoming technology where the heat is directly pumped into

the underground aquifiers. Right? But this is again under development. Then natural water bodies

are also used. like a lake or a artificial pond where the water can be used for cooling

of a data center and now that hot water is produced. This can be channeled for reusage

for other industries where hot water is required. But again this is quite difficult to

implement. Maybe if you have a cluster of ind industries then let's say there is one common artificial lake or even a

natural water body the data center will first draw the water right they will heat up the water by uh ensuring that

the processes can cool down. Now the hot water can be supplied immediately to nearby industries let's say a

desalination plant which is nearby or a food processing center which requires hot water. So such other industries can

reuse that heat but this again depends on a lot of other factors but these technologies are also being tried and

tested across the world. So this is just a sample I'm giving you a overview of different heating solutions cooling

solutions that you find in the AI industry. So air cooling and water cooling are the two primary technologies

and under each category you have different types different types of air cooling solutions different types of

water cooling or liquid cooling solutions plus emerging technologies including geothermal and uh other

non-conducting fluids which are being used for immersing entire racks into the coolant itself. Now what about the cost

and effectiveness? That is the most important factor. As I told you, air cooling is much much

cheaper. Significantly cheaper. The upfront cost uh involved in setting up a air cooling

solution for a data center could be anywhere around 7 to 10% cheaper. Which means liquid cooled facilities are

costlier to set up. The initial upfront cost is higher. But however when it comes to effectiveness, liquid cooled

centers are much much more efficient compared to air cooling. Why? What is the reason? I already explained. It's

because of the higher heat capacity of liquids especially water always has a higher heat capacity compared to air.

Now a good air coolant system can maximum handle around 20 kilowatt of heat. So what engineers do and these big

tech companies do is that when they focus on smaller data facilities where the heat to be managed is around 20

kilowatt they prefer air cooling solutions because it is cheaper though it is not very effective there is

a trade-off involved because of the lower cost they prefer air cooling for the low density resources and the low

density centers where the heat is around 20 kow and below With some additional features, you can try to manage even up

to 50 kilowatt of heat. Not more than that. Maybe around 50 kow of heat can be managed with air cooling solution which

is further enhanced with additional features. But when it comes to cooling a 1 gawatt data center, air cooling is

considered as impractical. Just using air cooling will not solve the problem. It's impractical because it

cannot handle high density heat environments. That is the reason why liquid cooling, water cooling is most

preferred. When you look at the latest GPUs like Blackwell series of Nvidia, right, and the entire edge series of

GPUs of Nvidia, they generate at least around 700 to,000 watts per GPU. Imagine how how much heat the entire facility a

cluster could generate. So maybe it would be beyond 120 to 150 kilow

for each rack and air cooling will completely fail at this level of heat and that is why a hybrid system has to

be relied upon. So what generally the tech companies and engineers do is that they use a mix of air cooling, water

cooling and even other technologies. It's a combination. They use air cooling in low heat

centers whereas in high density heat centers water cooling is used. So the same

facility one data center will have a mix a combination of both generally because it brings a mix of efficiency along with

cost optimization. But please understand when air cooling is relied upon there is another added problem.

It generates a lot of background noise because when you're running massive air conditioners, chilling plants and fans

and exhaust systems, it will generate a huge amount of noise. a low humming sound. So when you put together it

collectively, it generates around 100 decibel noise which can be very very disturbing and cause noise pollution in

the entire neighborhood. You might have seen viral videos on social media where American residents are posting these

videos in isolated neighborhoods where people were living peacefully for decades. All of a sudden data centers

have come up few kilometers away from their neighborhood leading to a constant humming noise and it is so disturbing

that people cannot sleep. Especially in California, this has become a huge menace.

People are petitioning against these data centers. They're trying to sue them and they're protesting against these

data centers because of the noise they generate. You have to install acoustic dampeners

which can dampen the noise, dampen the humming sound. Even after that the low frequency background noise can travel

several kilometers causing disturbances not just for humans. It can disturb birds, animals and it can have a very

serious and detrimental environmental impact. Now with regard to water cooling, the other concern is

will it lead to water scarcity? Will it have a significant environmental impact?

Because what happens to the hot water? Is it directly released back into the environment? And that is never conducive

for the water bodies. Will it lead to water wastage and water scarcity where water may not be available for drinking

or irrigation but could be diverted towards data centers? Are we staring at such a future where these massive tech

companies will consume up some of the water which is available which could affect water availability for other

priority areas. So these are the big concerns and challenges that come up. That's the reason why we have seen uh a

controversy break out with regard to Google's data center in Vishaka. But now Google has committed that it will

primarily rely on air cooling with a mix of hybrid cooling. In fact, Google has even promised that it will

invest in its own watershed management to ensure it can contribute back to the community. in Vishaka Patna. Google is

committing that it will invest several million dollars in rainwater harvesting systems, underground water recharge

systems and ensure it doesn't use extensive water cooling but the data center will be primarily air cooled.

Even TCS has given a similar indication that in a country like India water cooling is not seen as the right

approach. So either it would be air cooled or with a mixture of hybrid cooling where the companies will be

given a mandatory environmental obligation to ensure they invest in water management to protect water

resources nearby and help local communities to ensure that it does uh the region doesn't suffer from water

shortage or a water scarcity. So this is the only way forward for a country like India which means you need strict

regulations. You need to ensure that the companies are held accountable for any environmental impact and the right

effective solutions will have to be employed. It has to be a combination of hybrid technologies with main focus on

air cooling for low density uh heat management. For highdensity heat management, liquid cooling is essential.

But the companies will have to ensure that they take up the obligation to protect the water resources and invest

in water management to improve water availability. So based on what we have discussed, please take up this prelims

practice question. Consider the following statements. For heat removal in data centers, air cooling is

considered to be a very expensive option compared to liquid cooling. Using air cooling alone to cool a 1 ghawatt data

center is considered as impractical. Which of the our given statements is or are correct? So please let me know the

correct answer in the comment section below. Now let's look at the mains practice question. Data centers are

increasingly adopting advanced cooling technologies to manage rising computing and energy demands. So that is the first

statement which has been given. First part of your question. Examine the major air based and water-based cooling

technologies used in data centers. This is the second part of our question. Highlighting their advantages and

limitations. The third part of the question. How can India balance data center growth with energy efficiency,

water security and environmental sustainability? Fourth part of the question. The key to write a good answer

is to first read it carefully, understand, comprehend what it is asking and break down the subp parts in the

question. So as I pointed out, there are four subp parts in this question and today I'll be giving you a model answer

as well. Many students were asking for it. Until now we would discuss the approach and I would expect you to write

but I'm adding a model answer as well today just to give you a reference as to how you can build a good answer for this

question. In the introduction start out by pointing out how data centers are the backbone of today's AIdriven digital

economy and mention the challenge of cooling when it comes to data centers. So you're setting the context in the

first paragraph. You're highlighting the role of data centers in a AIdriven world. At the same time, the challenge

posed by the demand for cooling solutions. Then in the body, since the question is

asking you to identify different forms of air and water cooling solutions and compare their advantages and

disadvantages, I would suggest you make a table. Maybe you can list out four maybe five

types of cooling technologies. just air cooling involving air conditioners and air handlers. Then you can talk about

the rare door uh heat exchange strategy, evaporative cooling, direct liquid cooling and immersion cooling and hybrid

cooling. So here you can mention some of the advantages and the drawbacks, right? You

don't have to get technical here, not required. You can mention the cost effectiveness and the heat management

effectiveness. That is what you need to consider and maybe the environmental angle when it comes to mentioning the

pros and cons. Even if you add let's say one or two points under each technology that is more than sufficient then talk

about the challenges for a country like India and you have to present a way forward right you have to present a

outcome on how India can ensure that we can tackle the challenges I demand for electricity which could shoot up the

demand for water which could shoot up because of data centers examine its socio environmental impact. So that

could be one small paragraph and then a few solutions, a few suggestions. Implementing power usage effectiveness,

water usage effectiveness standards. These are globally recognized standards for efficient power and water

utilization. Talk about the need for hybrid cooling technologies

where a mix of directtochip immersion cooling will be used with some air cooling along with acoustic dampeners to

dampen the noise generated by air cooling systems. Also locating the facilities in a very strategic location

so that it doesn't disturb the civilians. It doesn't affect the environment. Identifying the right

location where there is sufficient land and water availability. All these factors will have to be kept in mind. So

mention maybe even three or four solutions as a way forward and then conclude on these lines. See never take

a harsh stand against AI. Don't just obsess with the environmental concerns. Of course you have to highlight the

environmental challenges and give a solution to it. The way forward is sustainability, right? The way forward

is to drive AI technology in India. Set up more data centers. But how can we balance the environmental and social

concerns? So always take that middle path focusing on environmental sustainability. Don't take any extreme

position. Don't blindly focus on uh technology and growth and compromise environment. That can't be the right

approach as well. So take the middle path, the path of sustainability and your conclusion should be aligned with

the path of sustainability. So this is a model answer. You can directly take the answer from here and try to build your

own version of the answer. Now let's move to the next article. On page number eight, there's an article focusing on

India's research and development in key industries. As you know, India lags behind when it

comes to R&D investments across industrial sectors from chemicals to even pharma, automobiles, uh even

industries like food processing, leather, you name any industry, India lags behind its global peers when it

comes to investments in research and development. See, of late there has been one excuse uh which is being provided by

the private industry, even by the government sometimes. There is a argument floating around that

US tariffs has deterred the Indian industry from investing more in R&D.

See since 2019 under President Trump there has been a tariff war a trade war going on between

India and US on and off during Trump's first presidency right especially from the 2019 to 20 period during his first

term and now starting from last

as part of his second presidency where several sectors Indian exports have been targeted. Now these high

tariffs of course will affect the margins for the industry right uh because last year Trump announced a 50%

tariff on India one of the highest in the world with 25% being a penalty tariff for India importing Russian oil.

So at these high tariffs obviously exports of Indian industries to the US would be hit you and as you know US is a

key export market. So those industries whose sales are being affected whose export potential is being affected

obviously revenues will fall and they'll account for the changing uh macroeconomic conditions and they will

reduce their investment in R&D. Why? Because R&D investment in general is a risky investment. Companies have to

invest massive amounts of money and there may not be immediate results coming out of research and development

right maybe if you fund 10 20 projects maybe one will succeed one can be commercialized at scale to get some

profits so R&D requires lot of patience it's a long-term investment but without innovation right the industry cannot

move forward you you cannot focus on value addition you can't focus on uh driving uh further innovation across key

technologies. So one excuse being offered by Indian industry and the government is that our

R&D investment has remained low for the last few months because of American tariffs because many sectors like

organic chemicals, paint industry, plastics and uh leather all these industries have been heavily hit. Many

factories have even shut down. So because of the falling sales and falling margins, industries are rep prioritizing

and they're diverting funds away from R&D and they're saying it's because of American tariffs. But the writer is

breaking this myth. He's establishing the ground reality. The ground reality in Indian industry is that US tariffs

has nothing to do with R&D investments. See there is no doubt that American tariffs will hit our exports. Export

oriented industries will take a hit. Their profit margins will take a hit. Correct? But this has nothing to do with

the low R&D investments. Low R&D investments prevailed even before US tariffs, even before Donald

Trump came into office. When you take sectors like chemicals, plastics and leather as I mentioned historically

these industries have invested bare minimum in R&D. Even if you take the metal industry for example, right? And

let's say even industries like food processing the focus on innovation is bare minimum. When you compare with

global average, India falls way behind the curve. We are many many steps behind the curve. When you look at India's

private industrial sector, the biggest R&D investment happens in pharma and also in automobiles.

These are two industries where the biggest R&D investment takes place. Now even this doesn't match up to the global

average. Forget other sectors. Our two leading R&D sectors are pharmaceuticals and

automobiles. You can even add engineering to this category, the third category probably. But when you compare

with what other countries are doing like let's say China for example and other peers across the world, they are many

many miles ahead of India. So the writer is very clear that Indian industry and the government they should stop giving

this excuse that R&D investments have gone down because of American tariffs. That's a lie. The reality is that R&D

investments across these sectors have been historically low even before American tariffs came into picture. So

this picture is likely to continue even after Trump even after American tariffs end. As of now India US have hit a pause

button a interim trade deal has been announced and uh they're also progressing towards finalizing the

interim trade agreement. Now even after let's say the tariffs rationalize even then the investments in R&D in these

sectors will remain always low compared to global average. Now take for example metals

in India metal industries barely invest4% of their sales on R&D. The global average however is 1.6%.

If I take auto and other related parts or even electrical equipment, the investment from Indian industry is

hardly around 2% of their sales. Global average is 5% in these sectors. when you look at let's say even pharma

then automobiles and as I said leather food processing if you compare with let's say China or other Asian economies

or other emerging economies they are many many miles ahead and steps ahead in terms of overall investments being made

so that is the reason why the author is urging India's private sector and the government to step out of this mindset

and drive fresh investments into research development and innovation Historically our investments have been

very very low. Now when you look at the data there is some positive development. Finally, recently the department of

science and technology informed the parliament that India's GED the gross expenditure on R&D has touched.8%

it's exactly 83% of GDP which is the highest since 2010. We used to spend around8% back in 2010.

it had fallen to around 6% over the last I would say 15 years. Finally, it's back to the same number and what is really

interesting in this data is that for the first time private sector investment in R&D

has overtaken public investment by the government. See when you look at leading

technological powerhouses like China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, US, Israel, they all invest anywhere between

3% to 5% of their GDP on R&D. India stands at 83%. Look at the difference. And in most of these countries, it is

the private sector which is the leading investor followed by the public investments from the government.

But this was never the case with India. Until this year, until the fresh data came out for 2023, 2024, prior to this,

government investment in R&D was always higher almost 60% and above with private sector hardly investing around 30% in

R&D. But for the first time private investment in R&D has touched 51.8% for 2023 2024 and this is a structural

shift in India's R&D investments. What is the structural shift?

Before 2023 24 it was always government investments which were in majority in the R&D

sector. But now for the first time, private sector investment has crossed the 50% mark.

Private investment has overtaken public sector investment for the first time in 2023 24. So this structural shift

finally is a positive sign because when you compare with other peers who are driving innovation, the main funds are

coming from private industry across sectors, right? Then government funding goes into basic research. It goes into

new frontier areas. For example, last year the government of India has launched the RDI scheme, research,

development and innovation scheme launched in 2025 with a seed capital of 1 lakh cr.

So it is implemented through the Anusand National Science Research Foundation

and it will provide concessional loans and credit to those industries working in deep tech working in Sunrise Frontier

Technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotech, semiconductors.

These leading deep tech industries, they are the primary focus of the RDI scheme with a capital of one lakh crores

where concessional funding would be provided, loans and credit would be provided to these ventures. But however,

your traditional industries like cement or fertilizers, plastics, organic chemicals, food processing, leather,

they have to drive their own investments. Even the government has to incentivize them, support them because

the new fund which was created is only for the deep tech industry and critical emerging technology industry. Your

traditional industries don't have much government support as well. So it's important for each private sector

industry to step up their investments and even the government to come up with dedicated incentives and funds to back

research and innovation in traditional sectors as well. So this is your mains practice question. India's investments

in R&D has seen a structural shift but is miles behind global peers. Discuss. We also have a prelims question on the

RDI scheme which we just discussed. There are four statements which have been provided. It aims to catalyze

private sector investment in research development innovation in strategic and sunrise sectors. It is implemented

through a special purpose fund under the ANRF the Anusand National Research Foundation. The scheme provides funding

exclusively in the form of grants to academic and government research institutions. Quantum technology, AI,

biotech and digital economy are among the priority areas. So which among the uh given statements is or are correct?

So please let me know the correct answer below in the comments for both the prelims questions. Now let's move

towards the smaller articles which are there in the paper. On page seven, we have a security related article from

Northeast India. A northeast insurgent outfit, the NSN Kaplang Nikki Sunumi faction

has extended the ceasefire with the government of India. See what is NSCN?

NSN is one of the most notorious northeast insurgent outfits. The n the national socialist council of Nagaland.

This insurgent outfit has been one of the long-running insurgencies in the northeast. It was established in the

year 1980. Later on, the group split in 1988 into two different factions.

We saw the emergence of the NSN IM faction under leaders like Isak and Mua after whom this faction was named and a

rival faction called NSN K, the Kaplan faction led by its leader Kaplan. Because of their ideological

differences, the group split into two entities. The Isak Mua faction or NSN largely took shelter in Bangladesh

whereas the Kaplan faction NSNK took shelter in Myanmar. Now in 2014

the Isak Moa faction signed a framework agreement to initiate a peace process with the government of India and since

then NSN IM has largely surrendered and remains with a ceasefire agreement with the Indian government. Since then a Naga

peace process also has been going on and the Isak Muya action has been completely decimated thanks to support from the

then Bangladesh government under Shik Kasina leaders of Isak Moya were handed over to India. The terror sanctuaries

were destroyed and it was forced to sign the framework agreement which has initiated the Naga peace process. But

however the Kaplang faction which has rejected the peace process. It continues to operate from Myanmar and continues to

remain active by carrying out attacks against India. But after the death of its leader

Kaplang who passed away in 2017, this group has now broken into multiple factions.

You have the NSN Kaplang Congo faction, the NSN Kaplan Angong faction, the NSN Kaplang Nikki faction and NSCRR.

They all emerged with the declining health of its leader Kaplan and the eventual death of Mr. Kaplan. So

following his death, these different outfits have formed and they continued carrying out attacks against uh India by

being based out of Myanmar. But following India's targeted operations

including the surgical strikes Indian special forces carried out in Myanmar, these groups have been substantially

weakened and three out of these four factions have now signed a ceasefire agreement with India.

The only outfit which has not signed a ceasefire agreement is the Angyong faction.

The NSA and Angyong faction which is part of the Kaplan group itself has not signed any ceasefire agreement. Remains

a active terror group an active insurgent organization. Whereas the other three have signed a ceasefire

agreement. So now the home ministry ministry of home affairs has extended the ceasefire with the Nikki Sumi

faction which had entered into a ceasefire agreement back in 2021. It has now been extended till next year

2027. So this adds to the peace process with Naga outfits. India is confident that

soon we will finalize a Naga peace agreement and we will bring all the Naga armed groups on board and finally bring

India's oldest insurgency to an end because this is India's longest lasting insurgency. It broke out in 1947 even

before India's independence. Next again from the northeast a topic related to Manipur.

Manipur's chief minister has said that there is no group ethnic armed

groups in Manipur which has been banned because of the recent ethnic violence involving the mateis and the cookies and

the armed militias. There is one notorious controversial group in the news. It's called Aramai Tangol.

Arami Tangol is a radical ethnist

armed militia. It started out in 2020 as a socioultural organization

seeking to protect the cultural heritage of the Matei community who are in majority in Manipur to revive the glory

of the Manipuri Matey kingdom. In fact, the name and the symbolism is also derived from Manipur's Matei Kingdom.

Right? Arami is a reference to a dart a dart-l like weapon uh which was used by the Matei rulers. Tangol refers to a

troop or a platoon. So it's like a army of soldiers wielding dart weapons which is a reference to the historical Matei

empire that existed. So the logo, the symbolism, everything is inspired by Matei history and Matey culture. Now

during the ethnic clashes with kooky armed militias Aramai Tangol it engaged in large-scale violence. It carried out

large-scale violence in the region. Security analysts believe that this is a armed radical extremist militia. But

however the state government is not labeling these groups as extremist groups or terrorist organizations. The

state government has said only individuals who have committed brutal violence will be targeted with the

police. There'll be cases filed against them but entire organizations will not be banned. So Aram tangol is not a

banned organization as of now though it has been associated with radical extremist activities and violent militia

action against cookie groups. Right? Right. It is seen as a counter to the armed kooki militias and kooki insurgent

outfits that have targeted the mateis. So this has been a cycle of violence and counter violence between matey armed

groups and kooki armed groups. So please remember the name Arami tenol which is a matey ethnationalist armed militia.

Next, the financial action task force has submitted a very important report related to Havala networks.

First of all, what is FATF? FATF is a global watchdog to combat moneyaundering and terror financing.

It's a intergovernmental body that was set up back in 1989 by the G7 countries to implement counter moneyaundering

measures. It sets global standards that countries have to follow through a national law to fight against money

laundering. After the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, its mandate was expanded to counter terrorist financing,

to implement anti-terror financing measures. So, it has two objectives to counter moneyaundering to implement CML

measures and to implement ATF measures, anti-terror financing measures because both are interconnected. Money

laundering is directly linked with terror financing. This in turn shares a link with

organized crime like drug trafficking, arms trafficking etc.

These three are interconnected. Now FATF has submitted this report on Havala transactions.

The report is titled investigating professional money laundering underground banking and the use of

havala and other similar service providers. So first of all you need to understand what is a haval network? What

is a havala transaction? See havala networks are rooted in Islamic banking a very traditional unofficial underground

banking system that works entirely on the basis of trust. In a hala transaction, there is no

physical movement of money or physical movement of cash. There is no formal entries and registers which are

maintained. It works entirely on word of mouth. It works through actual physical communication and completely on trust

where the money is moved from country to country, one jurisdiction to another. This infographic perfectly depects how a

havala transaction works. Let's say a individual wants to transfer money to a person in country B.

Let's say a Indian wants to send $1AK dollars to his friend who is in the United States. Now he doesn't want any

trace any record to be left and he doesn't want to use the regular banking uh gateways and the financial

architecture which is present. So he will approach a havala dealer in India who will take the money in cash and he

will charge a certain commission for the money to be moved to the targeted recipient. Now he will communicate the

deal to his counterpart like a Havala dealer in India. There would be Havala dealers in the US. They're all part of

one network, a trustbased network. So he will tell him who's the recipient and to authenticate the transaction they would

have agreed upon a code. The Havara dealer in India would have given a code to the client who in turn would have

passed that secret password to the actual recipient in the US. So the Havala dealer in the US will now meet

the intended recipient will confirm the identity, authenticate the identity with the code and then hand over the money.

So essentially money has exchanged, money has reached the internet recipient but the actual cash never left India. It

remains with the Havala dealer in India. Now this Havala dealer might be involved in drug trafficking, arms trafficking or

other criminal activities could have linkages with terror outfits and the money could now be diverted towards

terror financing. So this underground banking method is called Havala transactions. It works entirely on trust

on word of mouth. There's no paper trail, no registers maintained, no track record. So even if someone were to

investigate, it's almost impossible to trace the root of the money. Now what is the FATF report talking about? Why is it

so important? Why am I stressing on this? The FATF report acknowledges

the introduction of technology into Havala transactions which is making it all the more undetectable.

The FATF report has noted that today underground banking through Havala networks has become technologically

sophisticated. The report has flagged the usage of virtual digital currencies, virtual assets,

encrypted messaging applications to facilitate Havala transactions.

It has come across instances where money launderers, criminals and terror groups, they have been using virtual

digital currencies to carry out actual havala transactions through virtual format. They have used stable coin

transactions or popular digital currencies like bitcoins to carry out these transactions. They are using

fintech applications, digital wallets. They are using highly encrypted

messaging apps to talk to each other, right? To communicate in secret. They are using platforms like Signal,

Discord, and even more sophisticated underground black market applications. Then even online gaming platforms,

betting platforms are being used to facilitate Havala transactions and that is a new emerging

concern. So that trend has been flagged in this FATF report. So please be aware of these new trends emerging in the

world of money laundering. Next, there's something related to UPSC civil services exam.

Recently, as you know, the results were announced for the 2025 attempt, right?

We even marked the success of our toppers from an academy as well. But there is a shocking development with

regard to the recent civil services results. None of them have received any further information from DOP or from

Labasna. The foundation course as of now stands delayed. Why? Because there is a case in

the Supreme Court. This is with regard to how DOP applied OBC reservation. It had excluded

several OBC eligible students by classifying them as part of creamy layer based on their parental income.

Just by looking at parental income, several candidates were denied OBC reservation though they were eligible

for it by placing them under creamy layer category. This is what DOP had done.

Now the matter had reached the Supreme Court in the Rohit Natan judgment. The Supreme Court has essentially

stopped the proceedings and now the center is filing a counter application and thus leading to a delay in the start

of the foundation course and there has been no further information from DOP and Labasna for the toppers of the civil

services examination of last year. So we will continue to track this particular development the case related to Rohit

Natan judgment and we will be sharing further details as the issue develops. Next there is a very big surprising

development in the Indian economy. According to this data, for the first time ever in India's passenger vehicle

market, alternate fuel vehicles have overtaken petrol cars for the first time.

This shows the increasing adoption of CNG vehicles, electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles.

According to industry sales data in the month of uh August, the sale of alternate fuel cars was

around 41.95% of the total car sales. In comparison, petrol car sales stood at 40.85%.

So it's happening for the first time in the Indian transport industry. When you look at China, China already made this

jump many many months ago. Now we are also seeing the trend in India for the first time. Probably this trend is

likely to hold with more alternate fuel vehicles being sold in the coming months and years with a dropping demand that

you will see probably in the next few years for IC engines. So this is a trend that you need to make a note of. Now

coming to the prelim section, let's take a quick look at the prelims related articles.

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute CMFRI which is headquartered in Kochi in Keralum has developed a

mobile application called Matzia Metri.

Matsyametry. It is a app which can automatically detect and segregate the fish

as per its size. Thus taking away the need to handle the fish physically manually.

This will help the entire fishing industry to estimate the catch to segregate the fish according to size and

thus create greater market potential. So it's a automated app. All you have to do is click a picture of the fish or a

batch of fish which has been caught. It can automatically segregate the size and there is no need for a manual or a

handheld inspection. So this will be a very big boon for the fishing industry for the fish food processing industry as

well. Uh which will help set better quality standards. So this app is called Matsyametri developed by the central

marine fisheries research institute headquartered in Kochi. Next the defense acquisition council

which is chaired by defense minister Rajnat Singh has granted the acceptance of necessity

which is the initial approval for defense deals worth 1.1 lakh crores. This is a massive

push towards defense modernization. In fact, the needs of the Indian Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force has

been kept in mind. For all three services, different weapon platforms and systems have been approved and the main

focus is on indigenization. A large part of these technologies would be indigenously developed, designed and

produced. the indigenization could be as high as 98%. With reduced dependency on foreign

vendors and foreign suppliers this again is a remarkable transformation we are that we are witnessing in Indian defense

industry where there is a growing focus on indigenization local domestic procurement with reducing dependency on

foreign supplies and foreign vendors. For the Indian Army, the Defense Acquisition Council has approved

advanced CBRN reconnaissance vehicles which can even navigate through a highly contaminated environment which could be

contaminated with chemical weapons, biological weapons or nuclear or radioactive leakage. Plus Indian Army

has also secured reconnaissance vehicles plus high mobility vehicles

especially to move around quickly in difficult terrain uh like desert areas, high altitude areas, high mobility

vehicles dedicated to different terrains. Then self-propelled mechanical mine layers.

These are self-propelled vehicles which can lay mines in the border regions. Then advanced light helicopters for the

army aviation unit. Then troll tanks and the Sarvatra bridge system which can improve logistics.

The Sarvatra bridge system is a indigenously developed automated bridge system which can be

deployed in a minute's notice and it can improve logistics and transportation. Right? It can help deploy these bridges

to improve connectivity across rivers and revines improving land-based mobility for the Indian army. Then for

Indian Navy, the Arudra radars are being procured which will replace the existing foreign

surveillance radars used by the Navy. Arudra is a indigenous surveillance radar system developed for Indian Navy.

Plus the Navy will also focus on marine gas turbines to develop them indigenously as it is critical for

propulsion for naval warships. Until now with regard to gas turbines, the Navy depended heavily on foreign vendors and

foreign designs. So there is greater focus on indigenizing marine gas turbines. Then for Indian Air Force, lot

of new spare parts, equipment and electronic avionic units have been approved for India's fighter jets and

helicopters and transport planes which can enhance the capability of the existing fleet of

the Indian Air Force. Plus, India will also be procuring a groundbased multi-purpose jammer to jam enemy radars

to strengthen India's electronic warfare capabilities. Uh, according to reports, this is based on lessons learned from

operation Synindor. In fact, there is a PIB press release in this regard from the defense ministry and it points out

that the new groundbased multi-purpose jammer will be capable of jamming multiple signals including radar signals

which can strengthen India's capabilities in in a electronic warfare environment plus a new smart card system

for identification within the armed forces. the existing smart cards, identity cards will be completely

replaced with a RFID system to ensure that only authorized personnel will have access to military facilities and

institutions. So these are the various deals and contracts that have been approved. The initial acceptance has

been provided by the defense acquisition council. Then coming to the last article from the Hindu. India's carbon credit

trading system has been recognized by United Kingdom. Now this is very significant for India's

trade for India's exports. As you know UK is a key market for Indian exports. Recently India and UK

have finalized and worked out a FDA which is now taking effect. Right? It'll further drive our exports

because of the duty-free environment which is being created. But the UK has a trade barrier, a non-tariff trade

barrier called the carbon border adjustment mechanism which is exactly similar to

the mechanism of the European Union. Though UK is no longer part of the EU, it has exited EU. Both EU and UK have a

similar mechanism when it comes to carbon emissions. The carbon border adjustment mechanism calls for higher

tariffs based on carbon emissions. So this can hit the export potential of

your goods. Let's say steel produced in India is being exported to UK. If the steel doesn't match UK's emission

standards, it will be hit with higher tariffs which will reduce the export competitiveness of Indian steel and

it'll deter the importers and traders in UK from buying Indian steel. So this could become a trade barrier that could

hurt India's trade interests. And India has always opposed the carbon border adjustment mechanism because India's

argument is that any climate linked action should be undertaken only under UN framework convention on climate

change because here the principle of equity is provided for through CBDR principle where countries are expected

to take up higher responsibility for historical emissions. But if countries implement this bilaterally through their

trade policies like how EU and UK are planning to do this goes against the principle of equity. So that is why why

India opposes the carbon border adjustment mechanism. Now that UK has recognized the carbon credit trading

scheme of India. This will allow Indian companies to ensure that they match the certifying standards of UK and once

certified it will help in the smooth and easy flow of Indian exports without facing the burden of higher carbon

tariffs on Indian exports to the UK. So this will bring in a trade advantage. So the recognition by the UK

Bureau of Energy Efficiency helps Indian traders to ensure that the carbon credits that

they earn is recognized in the UK. So with this recognition, the Indian exports will essentially bypass the

carbon border adjustment mechanism of the UK. Now coming to the PIB press release which I was mentioning earlier.

It is from the ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. According to this press release, the

government of India is promoting two types of technologies under py culture to promote fisheries. One is RA

recirculatory aquaculture systems and the second technology is boflock. Now there can be a prelims question

related to this because these new technologies are being promoted under Pradan Mantri Matsya Sampa Yojana which

is a dedicated scheme implemented by the central government to promote the fishery sector in India. Now this aligns

with the blue economy model. In blue economy or ocean economy model the focus is on sustainable exploitation of marine

resources. ensure that marine resources are extracted sustainably and local

communities have to benefit from that. The fishing communities and coastal villages have to benefit from

exploitation of marine resources. This is the sustainable principle behind blue economy model or ocean economy model. So

in line with this agenda, India is promoting two new technologies for fisheries. RA recirculatory aquaculture

systems and boflock technology. What are those technologies? Under RA, recirculatory aquaculture system, water

is treated and recycled to allow the fish to grow under optimal conditions. This minimizes water

wastage. It also improves nutrient availability for the fish

and it is seen as more environmentally sustainable. Then boflock technology it basically introduces beneficial

microorganisms into the into the fishery so that it improves the quality of the water and

supports the growth of the fish. It can even act as a bio- remediator to take out some harmful toxins which can

bioaccumulate. So in boflock technology beneficial microorganisms are introduced to clear the water filter out the water

and make it much cleaner and support fish growth which is known to increase productivity significantly.

The recycling technology under RA it can save almost 90 to 95% of the used water will be recirculated

making the fisheries industry much more efficient and less water intensive. So please make a note of these two

technologies promoted under Pradan Mantri Matsya Sampa Yojana. So on this note I bring today's session to an end.

I hope it was interesting and insightful session. Please don't forget to give me your answers for the prelims practice

questions in the comment section. That is it. Thanks for watching. We'll see you tomorrow and share the video with

other aspirants and do subscribe to our channel. That is it. Thank you. Take care.