06 Oct 2023 : The Hindu Editorial

Editorial 1: Inspiring colours: On the 2023 Chemistry Nobel

Context:

• The 2023 Chemistry Nobel Prize goes  to trio that made ‘artificial atoms’. Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov were recognised for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.

Understanding quantum dots:

• If atoms are contained in a vessel at a low density, they behave in a certain way, but if they are packed densely together, with little moving space, something new happens.
• Quantum dots are small crystals a few nanometres wide. Each quantum dot has only a few thousand atoms (whereas a single droplet of water can have a sextillion). And because the atoms are packed so closely together in the dot, their electrons are very close to each other.
• In this setting, the laws of quantum mechanics describe the behaviour of quantum dots — so much so that an entire dot can mimic the behaviour of an atom.

• The dots have another famous property. If you shine some light on a quantum dot, it will absorb and re-emit that light at a different frequency (or colour) depending on its size. Smaller dots emit light of higher frequency (bluer) and vice versa. So, a quantum dot made of some material would respond in one way whereas a quantum dot made of the same material but smaller would respond differently.

Applications:

• For these reasons, quantum dots have found many applications in transistors, lasers, medical imaging, and quantum computing.

1. Display systems: Quantum dots make computer monitors and TV screens more colorful and brighter. They can also emit light of different colours and brightness.
2. Quantum Computing: Quantum dots can be used as qubits or quantum bits for use in quantum computing due to their quantum mechanical properties.
3. Healthcare: Quantum dots play a role in targeted drug delivery for certain cancer treatments under broader precise medicine. They also have broader applications in nanomedicine.
4. Diagnostic tools: can be used in imaging technologies like MRI scans. The tiny quantum dots can also be used by to map biological tissues at a very small scale.
5. Anti-Counterfeiting: Quantum dots can be used as security markers on currency and documents to prevent counterfeiting.
6. Solar Energy: Quantum dots improve the efficiency of solar panels by helping them absorb and convert sunlight into electricity.

Conclusion:

• Understanding why the quantum dots behave the way they do requires specialised knowledge of quantum mechanics, but quantum mechanics do not dictate their behaviour. The 2023 Nobel Prizewill help generate more research into this exciting new frontier of chemistry.

Editorial 2: Equality and identity: On the findings of the Bihar caste count

Context:

• Bihar government has taken a decision to conduct a caste survey in the  state.

Meaning of caste census

• It refers to the inclusion of caste-wise demographic survey, primarily enumerating the Other Backward Classes (OBC) population, and not just schedules castes and tribes (SCs and STs).

History of caste census in India:

1. The first caste census data was released in 1931.
2. Although caste returns were collected in 1941 they were not tabulated due  to wartime economic measures.
3. In 1952 decennial census, the first separate data on Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) was published.
4. The 2011 census included data on caste, but the caste census data was not released.

Significance of caste census:

• Reservation in educational institutes and government jobs are provided on the basis of caste identities. The absence of fresh caste census data means that the caste estimates of 1931 are being projected for formulating welfare policies in 2021.
• The highest reservation mandate for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at 27 % is caste based as the BP Mandal Commission ascertained the backwardness of the class on the basis of caste.

Caste census of Bihar:

• The significance of Bihar conducting a caste survey and publishing a caste-wise count of its population is quite immense. The survey, which had all the trappings of a census, complete with a two-stage process of house-listing followed by the eliciting of information from the households, has shown that 63% of Bihar’s 13 crore population belong to castes listed under the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories. The socio-economic profiles of the people have also been recorded, but are yet to be revealed.
• At the national level, it may give a boost to the political demand for a country-wide caste census and push the judicial discourse towards reconsidering the 50% legal ceiling on total reservation in education and government services.
• On the legal side, the numbers may be utilised to present the sort of ‘quantifiable data’ that the judiciary has been asking for to justify the levels of reservation obtaining in various States.

Methodology and issues:

• Bihar’s exercise marks a precedent on how a caste count should be conducted. The methodology included giving a code to each of the 214 castes in the State’s lists of castes. Sub-castes and sects were identified in advance and subsumed under a broader caste name. This meant that the enumerators could assign a code to any caste name given by a respondent.
• A major reason for the Union government not releasing the caste-related details of its Socio-economic and Caste Census  (SECC 2011) was that the data it yielded was too confusing and unwieldy. As many as 46 lakh castes were named by the people, presumably because they gave castes, sub-castes, sects, clans, and surnames when asked to name their castes.

Way forward:

• While there are functional and practical advantages to knowing exact caste numbers, it is not to be forgotten that the larger goal of the Constitution remains the attainment of a casteless society.
• Affirmative action indeed helps address inequities in society. The state must also look for ways to ensure equality of opportunity and equitable distribution of resources without accentuating caste identity.