Laser weapon system
- The U.S. Navy announced on Wednesday it tested a laser weapon and destroyed a floating target in West Asia, a system that could be used to counter bomb-laden drone boats deployed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
- The test on saw the USS Portland test-fire its Laser Weapon System Demonstrator at the target in the Gulf of Aden, the body of water separating East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.
What are laser weapons?
- A laser weapon is a directed-energy weapon based on lasers. After decades of R&D, as of January 2020 directed-energy weapons including lasers are still at the experimental stage and it remains to be seen if or when they will be deployed as practical, high-performance military weapons.
- Atmospheric thermal blooming has been a major problem, still mostly unsolved, and worsened if fog, smoke, dust, rain, snow, smog, foam, or purposely dispersed obscurant chemicals are present.
- Essentially, a laser generates a beam of light which needs clear air, or a vacuum, to work without thermal blooming.
- Thermal blooming is an atmospheric effect, seen in high energy laser beams.
- It is the result of the nonlinear interaction of laser radiation with the propagation medium, usually air, which is heated by the absorption of a fraction of the radiation.
- The amount of energy absorbed is a function of the laser wavelength. The term “thermal blooming” is often used to describe any type of self-induced “thermal distortion” of laser radiation.
THE HINDU
Push for Semiconductor
- The Union Cabinet approved a ₹76,000 crore scheme to boost semiconductor and display manufacturing in the country, taking the total amount of incentives announced for the electronics sector to ₹2.3 lakh crore.
- The comprehensive programme for the “development of sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem in the country” was aimed at making India a global hub of electronic system design and manufacturing.
- The programme would usher in a new era in electronics manufacturing by providing a globally competitive incentive package to companies in semiconductors and display manufacturing as well as design.
- The scheme would provide fiscal support of up to 50% of the project cost for setting up semiconductor and display fabrication units.
- In order to drive the long-term strategies for a sustainable semiconductors and display ecosystem, a specialized and independent ‘India Semiconductor Mission’ will be set up.
- The India Semiconductor Mission will be led by global experts in semiconductor and display industry.
- It will act as the nodal agency for efficient and smooth implementation of the schemes on semiconductors and display ecosystem.
- Trusted sources of semiconductors and displays had strategic importance in the current geopolitical scenario and were “key to the security of critical information infrastructure”.
- The approved programme will propel innovation and build domestic capacities to ensure the digital sovereignty of India. It will also create highly skilled employment opportunities to harness the demographic dividend of the country,”
- Electronics manufacturing in the country had increased to $75 billion over the past seven years and was expected to reach $300 billion in the next six years.
- The “chips to start-ups” programme would develop 85,000 well trained engineers.
SEMICONDUCTOR
- A semiconductor material has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as metallic copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way.
- For eg. Elemental semiconductor: Germanium, silicon, selenium, etc.
- Compound semiconductors: Gallium, arsenide, Indium, phosphide, cadmium, sulphide etc.
- An N-type semiconductor carries current mainly in the form of negatively charged electrons similar to the conduction of current in a wire.
- A P-type semiconductor carries current predominantly as electron deficiencies called holes. A hole has a positive electric charge, equal and opposite to the charge on an electron
- The primary difference between intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors is their form. For example, intrinsic semiconductors are pure in form and composed of only one kind of material. They do not have any form of impurity added to them.
- In contrast, extrinsic semiconductors are impure. Extrinsic semiconductors comprise multiple intrinsic semiconductors with other substances added to change their properties.
- Semiconductors are an essential component of electronic devices, enabling advances in communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation, clean energy, and countless other applications.
- Semiconductors, sometimes referred to as integrated circuits (ICs) or microchips
THE HINDU
Speaker power
- Consider Rule 362(1) to begin with: “At any time after a motion has been made, any member may move that the question be now put, and unless it appears to the Speaker that the motion is an abuse of these rules or an infringement of the right of reasonable debate, the Speaker shall then put the motion that the question be now put.” Closure cannot be imposed without a prior debate.
- Rule 363(1) says: “Whenever the debate on any motion in connection with a Bill or on any other motion becomes unduly protracted, the Speaker may, after taking the sense of the House, fix a time limit for the conclusion of discussion on any stage or all stages of the Bill or the motion, as the case may be”
- The Speaker has ample power to quell disorderly behaviour. But thereafter, the House is the master. It can overrule the Speaker (Rule 374A).
- The Speaker can adjourn the House or suspend a sitting. The Speaker has no power to refuse a debate unless an undertaking is given for good conduct in future.
- Debates are meant for the edification of the people and are, in turn, influenced by public opinion.
- Jennings wrote, “Obstruction is an ordinary part of parliamentary procedure”. The Rules of Procedure provide precisely what Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice prescribes. In the event of grave disorder, the Speaker may adjourn the House or suspend the sittings. He cannot stipulate good behaviour as condition for debate.
- To limit the capacity of the House to debate is to frustrate the very purpose of the institution, and so undermine support for the system of government.
THE HINDU
Food price and non-agriculture economy
- A high price of food can trigger economic insecurity for the individual
- For the household, a high price of food crowds out expenditure on other items ranging from health and education to non-agricultural goods.
- This prevents the market for non-agricultural goods from expanding.
- The expansion of this market is necessary for the non-agricultural economy to grow.
- An indication of the elevation of the price of food in an economy is the share of food in a household’s budget. In a global comparison we would find that this share is very large for India.
- Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (2016) show that this share ranges from over 30% for India to less than 10% for the U.S. and the U.K. The figure for China is around 20%
- Both from the point of view of food security for low-income households and the dynamism of the non-agricultural sector, agricultural policy cannot ignore the price at which food is produced.
- We know of the wastage due to the lack of proper transportation and cold storage facilities, both of which lower the effective supply and keep prices high.
- But the fact of low agricultural yield in India by comparison with the rest of the world has been known for long, and little is done about it.
- A superior management of soil nutrients and moisture, assured water supply and knowledge inputs made available via an extension service would be crucial
- As agriculture is, unlike industrial production, an activity that is affected by fluctuation in the weather, it is risky.
- Given the importance of food for our survival, this justifies public intervention in agriculture.
- India needs an agricultural policy that ensures that farming is profitable but this cannot be at the cost of a high price of food.
- The ‘food problem’ should no longer be seen only in terms of the availability of food from domestic sources.
- Too high a price of food, reflected in a high share of food in household expenditure, is another dimension of the problem.
THE HINDU