India's Minerals' Diplomacy: Towards Building Resilient Supply Chains
India has been proactively pursuing its mineral diplomacy in order to secure and diversify its critical minerals supply chains. Through pursuing a multipronged approach which focuses on bilateral ties and multilateral initiatives, India's mineral diplomacy has sought to mitigate geopolitical risks, to foster resilient, transparent, and sustainable partnerships. Anupama Vijayakumar writes.
The agreement aims to foster knowledge exchange and technological collaboration, particularly in the area of clean and sustainable energy solutions. The renewed agreement covers advanced areas such as power system modeling, integration of variable renewable energy, cross-border electricity trading, and development of EV charging infrastructure.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project aims to generate clean energy by smashing atoms together at super-high temperatures.Scientists from 30 countries including India are ready to assemble the world's most powerful magnet to boost the development of the global nuclear fusion project.
During President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco’s visit, India and Angola exchanged MoUs on cooperation in Ayurveda and other traditional medicine systems, agriculture and culture. Angola signed the ISA Framework Agreement. India has invited Angola to join the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, Global Biofuel Alliance, etc.
L2MRail inaugurated an artificial intelligence (AI) Lab for Railway Safety. The facility will be used to design AI-led deep-tech systems and create rail-specific based AI models to bring accidents down to zero by 2030.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and IBM are collaborating to advance the quantum industry in India through the Government of Andhra Pradesh’s new Quantum Valley Tech Park, which is under construction in Amaravati. The park will house an IBM Quantum System Two, equipped with a 156-qubit Heron quantum processor, making it the largest quantum computer in India.
In a first, the US Food and Drug Administration has cleared the pigs developed by the UK-based company PIC after conducting a safety review. The genetically engineered pigs are expected to be resistant to nearly all strains of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS).
This annual three-day conference, themed “AiVerse”, focused on the vast potential and disruptive power of Artificial Intelligence in shaping the future of enterprises and society and brought together entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, and academia.
The session was held during 5-16 May 2025 in Vienna, Austria. Discussions include legal aspects of space activities, the status of UN space treaties, and emerging challenges like space resource utilization.
Held virtually during 8-9 May 2025, the discussions highlighted aspects including harnessing digital innovation to empower health workers and accelerating investment in health workforce education and jobs.
ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, North East announced the successful transfer of its indigenously developed CRISPR-Cas-based diagnostic technology for the ultra-sensitive and rapid detection of TB to Meril Diagnostics for large-scale commercialisation.
IIT Madras has developed two indigenous silicon photonics products: a Fiber-Array Unit Attachment Tool for precise photonic chip packaging, and a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) for ultra-secure data encryption. These could play a key role in the future of quantum communication, defense applications, and next-generation electronics manufacturing in India.
Developed by IIT Bombay, new AC filtration technology captures most of the pollutants from PM 2.5 to PM 1 as well as allergens and pathogens. AIRTH, an air purification startup, announced successful testing of AC filtration technology Filtrix that can be applied in any air conditioner to deliver clean air.
The rice varieties DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) and Pusa DST Rice 1 have been developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). These genome-edited varieties “will enhance rice yields by 20-30 per cent, conserve water, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from rice cultivation.
Speaking at the inauguration, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated the significance of India moving to “designing at 3nm as “truly next-generation”. “We’ve done 7nm and 5nm earlier, but this marks a new frontier,” he added.
The problem: Understanding how bacteria manage electron imbalances is crucial for advancing biological systems used in waste processing and clean energy. The research suggests such electricity-generating mechanisms might be widespread in nature, opening new paths in sustainable technology and microbial science.
Electricity Generating Bacteria: Researchers at Rice University discovered how certain bacteria perform extracellular respiration — pushing electrons out of their cells. These bacteria use naphthoquinones (natural compounds) to shuttle electrons to external conductive surfaces. This allows them to "breathe" using solid materials instead of oxygen, effectively generating electricity during their metabolic processes. Computer models and lab tests confirmed that bacteria could survive and metabolize efficiently using this electron-discharge method.
Future Prospects: This discovery could lead to biotechnology improvements by enhancing processes like wastewater treatment and fermentation by stabilizing electron flow. The bioelectronic sensors can pave the way for new types of sensors that function in oxygen-poor environments — useful in medicine, pollution tracking, or even space missions. It also has potential for clean energy as the bacteria could be engineered to convert carbon dioxide into useful chemicals using electricity, mimicking photosynthesis but powered by renewable energy.
The Problem: Despite the vast amount of energy contained in falling rain, there is currently no commercial technology designed to harvest this energy. This untapped potential represents a significant opportunity for renewable energy generation. The challenge lies in developing efficient systems that can capture and convert the kinetic energy of raindrops into usable electricity.
The Method: Researchers at the National University of Singapore have demonstrated a novel approach to harnessing energy from raindrops. The study found that if water falls in a particular way—with pockets of air in between “plugs” of falling water, inside a certain size of tube—it could produce far more electricity. The method makes it possible for around 10 percent of the available energy from the rain to be converted into usable electrical energy. In the study, small sample tubes powered 12 LED light bulbs. The technology is customizable for different situations.
Future Prospects: The research is still at an early stage. If scaled effectively, such technologies could be integrated into existing infrastructure, providing an additional source of renewable energy. This could lead to energy systems that are more resilient and less dependent on traditional sources.
The Report, while alluding to the promise of AI to improve millions of lives around the world, also includes key insights on how AI is being globally perceived in the human development context.
The survey conducted by the UN Development Program revealed that over 60 per cent of the individuals expect the technology to positively impact their work and create new opportunities.
The positive perceptions extended to those residing and Low and Middle Income Countries. 70 per cent expect AI to increase their productivity, and two thirds anticipate using AI in education, health, or work within the next year.
The modernisation of education and health systems, building an economy focused on human collaboration with AI and human centricity are among some of the recommendations the report makes to ensure AI benefits all of humanity.
The UNDP further "urges stronger global cooperation on AI governance, alignment between private innovation and public goals, and a renewed commitment to human dignity, equity, and sustainability".
The report highlights practical technical and organisational measures to secure network infrastructure, explores the complexities of measuring resilience with insights drawn from OECD-wide data, and presents key policy trends alongside proven best practices from across OECD countries.
While system failures were identified as the primary cause of network outages, others include malicious actions, natural disasters, and human errors. Critical infrastructure such as submarine cables and internet exchange points (IXPs) have been termed particularly vulnerable.
Redundancy (backup components ready to take over if a failure occurs) and diversity (using different suppliers and technologies to avoid simultaneous failures) have been identified as key modes of ensuring resilience.
Resilience can further be enhanced by leveraging emerging technologies like AI, cloud integration and software-defined networking (SDN) to enable dynamic reconfiguration during disruption.
The report categorizes resilience metrics into three phases: preparation, service delivery, and recovery. Metrics such as network availability, reliability, and performability help policymakers evaluate and improve network resilience, though standardizing these globally remains a challenge.
Collaboration between operators, regulators, and stakeholders has been termed essential for rapid response to outages. The joint preparedness can be improved by implementing crisis simulations and instituting clear communication protocols.
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