Content :
- Bihar SIR: 2003 Electoral Rolls Uploaded on ECI Website
- Duality discovered in magnetic material could revolutionize design of electronic devices
Bihar SIR: 2003 Electoral Rolls Uploaded on ECI Website
Why 2003 Roll?
- 2003 is being used as a reference point for lineage and legacy proof, especially in states like Bihar where documentation is patchy.
- This addresses documentation challenges in rural/low-literacy populations and migrant families.
- Who Benefits?
- Individuals with ancestral voter presence in 2003, especially those without birth certificates or identity proofs, can use parent details from that roll.
Relevance : GS 2(Governance ,Elections -Reforms)
Key Highlights
- Historic Roll Uploaded: ECI uploaded the 2003 Bihar Electoral Roll on voters.eci.gov.in, covering 4.96 crore electors.
- Document Exemption: These 4.96 crore electors are exempted from submitting any documents during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR)—they only need to verify and submit the Enumeration Form.
- Benefit to Descendants: Children of these electors can also use the 2003 roll as proof of parentage, needing no additional documents for their mother/father.
- For New Names: If someone’s name is not in the 2003 roll, they can still use their parent’s entry from 2003 as proof and submit documents only for themselves.
- Facilitation for BLOs: Hard copies and online versions of the roll have been provided to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to ensure accessibility and ease during enumeration.
Legal & Procedural Basis
- Mandatory Roll Revision: As per Section 21(2)(a) of the Representation of People Act, 1950 and Rule 25 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, revision before every election is legally required.
- Ongoing Revision Practice: ECI has conducted annual revisions (summary & intensive) for 75 years, reflecting the dynamic nature of electoral rolls.
Eligibility & Rationale
- Why Revision?: Rolls change due to deaths, migration, marriage, education, new voters, etc., necessitating regular updates.
- Elector Criteria: Under Article 326 of the Constitution, an Indian citizen aged 18+ and an ordinary resident of a constituency is eligible to be registered.
Policy Perspective Angle
- Promotes inclusiveness, ease of voter registration, and supports digitization of electoral processes.
- Balances documentation rigor with accessibility, especially in socio-economically backward regions.
Related concepts:
Types of Roll Revision:
- Summary Revision: Annual exercise, usually done between October–January.
- Intensive Revision: Involves house-to-house verification; done every few years or when required.
What is an Electoral Roll?
- It’s a list of eligible voters in a constituency, maintained by the ECI. Without registration, one cannot vote.
Broader Governance Themes
Good Governance
- Transparency & Accessibility: Free public access to the 2003 electoral roll enhances transparency, empowering citizens to verify and claim voter rights.
- Administrative Efficiency: Reduces workload for electoral officers and simplifies citizen compliance, aligning with Minimum Government, Maximum Governance.
Electoral Reforms
- Ease of Registration: Eases the voter registration process by reducing document burden—an important step in streamlining electoral bureaucracy.
- Use of Legacy Data: Smart use of historical electoral data reflects an adaptive and data-driven electoral reform model.
Inclusive Democracy
- Reduces Documentation Barrier: Crucial for the marginalized, migrants, and women, many of whom struggle with identity documentation.
- Inter-generational Inclusion: Allows new voters to register using parent data, strengthening family-linked voter continuity, especially in rural setups.
Addressing Potential Criticisms & Challenges
1. Accuracy of 2003 Roll
- Challenge: The 2003 roll may contain outdated or erroneous entries due to migration, deaths, or duplications.
- ECI Response: Verification through Enumeration Forms and BLO-level checks can act as a filter to update records and prevent misuse.
2. Digital Divide
- Challenge: Rural and elderly populations may lack access to the website or digital literacy.
- ECI Response: Hard copies of the roll are also being distributed to BLOs, ensuring offline accessibility.
3. Privacy & Data Use Concerns
- Challenge: Publishing legacy rolls online might raise privacy or misuse concerns.
- ECI Safeguards: Data is limited to essential identifiers, and public access aligns with legal norms for voter transparency.
4. Potential for Political Misuse
- Challenge: Selective referencing of older rolls might invite allegations of exclusion or manipulation.
- Safeguard: Uniform access to all, and the right to submit fresh documentation if name not found, maintains fairness.
Duality discovered in magnetic material could revolutionize design of electronic devices
Scientific Breakthrough: CrSb in Altermagnets
What Are Altermagnets?
- Altermagnets are a newly discovered class of magnetic materials combining the best of:
- Ferromagnets: Strong, external magnetism (e.g., fridge magnets).
- Antiferromagnets: Internally magnetic but with no net external magnetism due to cancellation.
- Unique Trait: Altermagnets appear non-magnetic on the outside but show powerful internal spin behaviors — ideal for advanced applications like spintronics.
Relevance : GS 3(Science and Technology)
Why Chromium Antimonide (CrSb) Is Special
- Metallic Nature: CrSb conducts electricity like metals.
- High-Temperature Magnetic Order: Works well above 60°C (more than 2× room temperature) — vital for real-world use.
- Record-High Spin Splitting: Exhibits 30× room temperature spin-splitting, making it ideal for spintronic manipulation.
- Spintronic manipulation means controlling the spin direction of electrons to store, process, or transfer data — like turning a tiny compass needle up or down to mean 1 or 0.
Newly Discovered Phenomenon: Direction-Dependent Conduction Polarity (DDCP)
- What’s New?
CrSb shows different charge carriers depending on the direction of electric flow:- Along layers (in-plane): Conducts via electrons (n-type behavior).
- Across layers (out-of-plane): Conducts via holes (p-type behavior).
- Why It’s Rare:
- Most materials are either n-type or p-type.
- CrSb is both, depending on direction — a very rare and significant feature.
- Implication:
DDCP challenges traditional semiconductor classification and enables new design paradigms.
Practical Applications & Technological Impact
Device Simplification
- Current Approach: Devices like solar cells or thermoelectrics need two materials (n-type & p-type), or complex doping techniques.
- CrSb’s Advantage: Offers both conduction types in one single crystal — no doping, no heterostructure needed.
- Doping means adding a small amount of another element(Impurities) to a pure material (like silicon) to change how it conducts electricity.
- A heterostructure is when you join two or more different materials together, each with different properties.
- Result: Simplified, more compact, and efficient device design.
Next-Gen Spintronics
- CrSb’s strong spin-splitting makes it ideal for spin-based electronics, which aim to replace charge-based logic.
- Potential for faster, low-power devices using electron spin rather than electric current.
Environmental Benefit
- Composed of earth-abundant, non-toxic elements — good for sustainable tech and clean electronics manufacturing.
Broader Relevance: Science, Policy, and Innovation
For Science and Material Research
- Opens a new field of exploration: materials with intrinsic p/n-type duality.
- Could inspire the search for other materials with DDCP.
For Industry and Technology
- Could revolutionize semiconductors and thermoelectric materials by reducing dependency on material blending.
- Promotes cost-effective and scalable manufacturing.
For Policy and Governance
- Aligns with India’s goals in indigenous R&D, Make in India, and green technology.
- Strengthens India’s leadership in cutting-edge materials science.
Challenges & Future Directions
- Reproducibility & Scalability: Industrial synthesis of high-quality single-crystals like CrSb needs optimization.
- Integration into Devices: Requires engineering solutions to incorporate direction-sensitive conduction into chip design.
- Material Stability: Long-term behavior under varying environmental conditions must be studied.
