* The Centre on Wednesday (19th april 2023) approved the National Quantum Mission (NQM) with an estimate of Rs 6,003 crore for eight years.

* Announcing the decision, Science & Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said, "the decision is going to give India a quantum jump in the field."

* India is going to be at par with six global countries researching quantum technology. Most countries are in the research and development phase.

* The US, China, France, Austria, and Finland are in the R&D stage and are yet to venture into the application stage of the technology, and India will be the latest entrant in the elite club.


What is quantum technology?

* Quantum technology is a field of physics and engineering that studies and applies the principles of quantum mechanics to the development of new technologies. Quantum mechanics is the branch of physics that describes the behavior of matter and energy at a microscopic scale, where the classical laws of physics do not apply.

* Quantum technology includes various types of technologies, such as quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensing.

* While the classical computer is transistor-based, quantum computers are going to work on atoms. Quantum computers use quantum bits (qubits) instead of classical bits to perform calculations. The advantage of quantum computing is that it can solve problems much faster with more authenticity.

Source : India Today