The Election Fee of India (ECI) has a singular problem at hand amid the scarcity of semi conductors and chips within the nation — it has to prepared practically 4 lakh Digital Voting Machines (EVMs) for the overall elections in 2024.
Professor Rajat Moona who lately took cost because the director of Indian Institute of Know-how Gandhinagar (IITGN) is an energetic member of ECI’s Technical Professional Committee for EVMs since 2009 and has been instrumental in defining the EVMs and VVPAT. The Committee is headed by DT Shahani, retired professor of IIT Delhi.
Sharing the issues with The Indian Specific, Moona mentioned, “The world goes by an unprecedented disaster of semi conductors. It’s taking monumental time to get parts although we began the planning virtually a yr in the past.”
Including that there are practically 4 lakh (earlier era) M2 machines, Moona mentioned all future elections, together with meeting elections, will probably be on much-advanced model or the M3 machines. “As per estimates, there’s a requirement of 10-11 lakh EVMs for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together with 20-30 per cent further machines as back-up that provides as much as a complete 13 lakh machines towards the 9 lakh machines obtainable,” he added.
Ruling out signing of an settlement between the Vedanta Foxconn Group and the Gujarat authorities for a semi conductor challenge to cowl this scarcity, Moona mentioned it’s time-consuming and complex. “India has a minimum of gone into semi-conductor manufacturing that could be a very constructive step. However the outcomes will probably be seen solely after 7-8 years,” he mentioned.
“Most machines have been used within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections so there was acutely aware efforts to not use them in Meeting elections… however in 2024, if we would not have enough variety of machines, we might have to make use of the practical ones out of the outdated ones,” he added.
To tide over the scarcity, Moona mentioned they’re exploring “different sources”, with the most important provider being Europe. “Main provider is Europe, whereas chip manufacturing sometimes occurs in Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. We’re taking a look at a number of sources and the best way we are able to scale back dangers… The scarcity is as a result of time taken in manufacturing… It takes time to develop crystals and the demand may be very excessive,” he mentioned including that the Covid-19 pandemic additionally created an unprecedented demand as a number of crops have been shut, lockdowns have been imposed and workers have been working from residence.
Since resistors and capacitors are usually not manufactured in India, they should endure a stringent high quality assessments, Moona mentioned, including, “The bandwidth reduces due to all these controls. Say, we can not do greater than 1,000 machines a day. But when it’s important to do 4 lakh machines, we require 400 days. However now (as a consequence of scarcity), in a yr, 1,000-2,000 machines is what may be made.”
The Russia-Ukraine battle additionally had an influence, Moona mentioned, although not considerably, as these two international locations present sure sort of gases which can be used within the manufacturing of semi conductors.
The yr 2006 was a turning level for EVMs and those that have been used until then have been final used within the 2014 basic elections. “Pre-2006 machines have been destroyed after which new ones got here… we redesigned them and the machines have been quicker with higher processer and fewer energy hungry. These are known as M3 machines. In 2024 elections, in all probability they might be used the final time or will not be used in any respect,” he mentioned.
Extra machines are wanted as outdated machines change into unusable and variety of voters enhance, Moona mentioned. “Additionally we’d like spare ones in case one thing goes fallacious. Throughout elections you can not do something so we have to have a spare capability… many of those machines go into election petitions and get locked until court docket provides judgement. As soon as they’re locked, they go unhealthy quicker,” he mentioned including generally it might take a decade.
When VVPATs have been introduced in, they might work solely with M2 and M3 machines and never with M1 machines, he cited as one more reason for the requirement of latest machines.
Ruling out the tampering allegations made by political events, Moona mentioned it isn’t doable. “These are standalone machines. You can’t join them to any community or Wi-Fi or Bluetooth… The software program within the machines is one-time programmable and that’s finished on the time of producing. It can’t be modified. When you discover a bug within the software program, the one possibility is to recall the machines,” he mentioned.
Claiming that 99.9 per cent failures of the machines are caught on the first degree checks, earlier than going to elections, Moona mentioned including it doesn’t matter what one says (about tampering), it has by no means been proved.
On the educational entrance, Moona mentioned that his precedence at IITGN is to make the establishment utterly paperless. “We don’t do any cheques or drafts on paper. At IITGN, for inner administration, we use paper however even that may cease quickly. Digital first ought to be the first motto,” he mentioned. The 14-year-old IITGN is ready to endure an overhaul, he mentioned, including, “The thought is to take away older stuff out… and usher in no matter is required for the nation and society.”
Laying emphasis on computing engineering, he mentioned, “Issues like Synthetic Intelligence and machine studying are going to be the defining components for industries 4.0. India is definitely taking this huge transformative step by transferring from buying and selling zone to manufacturing and design zone.”
Instrumental in defining among the key functions for the nation, together with good card driving licence, automobile registration, e-passport, digital toll assortment and mobility card, Moona was earlier the director of IIT Bhilai and Director Normal of the Centre for Growth of Superior Computing (C-DAC.
The Election Fee of India (ECI) has a singular problem at hand amid the scarcity of semi conductors and chips within the nation — it has to prepared practically 4 lakh Digital Voting Machines (EVMs) for the overall elections in 2024.
Professor Rajat Moona who lately took cost because the director of Indian Institute of Know-how Gandhinagar (IITGN) is an energetic member of ECI’s Technical Professional Committee for EVMs since 2009 and has been instrumental in defining the EVMs and VVPAT. The Committee is headed by DT Shahani, retired professor of IIT Delhi.
Sharing the issues with The Indian Specific, Moona mentioned, “The world goes by an unprecedented disaster of semi conductors. It’s taking monumental time to get parts although we began the planning virtually a yr in the past.”
Including that there are practically 4 lakh (earlier era) M2 machines, Moona mentioned all future elections, together with meeting elections, will probably be on much-advanced model or the M3 machines. “As per estimates, there’s a requirement of 10-11 lakh EVMs for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together with 20-30 per cent further machines as back-up that provides as much as a complete 13 lakh machines towards the 9 lakh machines obtainable,” he added.
Ruling out signing of an settlement between the Vedanta Foxconn Group and the Gujarat authorities for a semi conductor challenge to cowl this scarcity, Moona mentioned it’s time-consuming and complex. “India has a minimum of gone into semi-conductor manufacturing that could be a very constructive step. However the outcomes will probably be seen solely after 7-8 years,” he mentioned.
“Most machines have been used within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections so there was acutely aware efforts to not use them in Meeting elections… however in 2024, if we would not have enough variety of machines, we might have to make use of the practical ones out of the outdated ones,” he added.
To tide over the scarcity, Moona mentioned they’re exploring “different sources”, with the most important provider being Europe. “Main provider is Europe, whereas chip manufacturing sometimes occurs in Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. We’re taking a look at a number of sources and the best way we are able to scale back dangers… The scarcity is as a result of time taken in manufacturing… It takes time to develop crystals and the demand may be very excessive,” he mentioned including that the Covid-19 pandemic additionally created an unprecedented demand as a number of crops have been shut, lockdowns have been imposed and workers have been working from residence.
Since resistors and capacitors are usually not manufactured in India, they should endure a stringent high quality assessments, Moona mentioned, including, “The bandwidth reduces due to all these controls. Say, we can not do greater than 1,000 machines a day. But when it’s important to do 4 lakh machines, we require 400 days. However now (as a consequence of scarcity), in a yr, 1,000-2,000 machines is what may be made.”
The Russia-Ukraine battle additionally had an influence, Moona mentioned, although not considerably, as these two international locations present sure sort of gases which can be used within the manufacturing of semi conductors.
The yr 2006 was a turning level for EVMs and those that have been used until then have been final used within the 2014 basic elections. “Pre-2006 machines have been destroyed after which new ones got here… we redesigned them and the machines have been quicker with higher processer and fewer energy hungry. These are known as M3 machines. In 2024 elections, in all probability they might be used the final time or will not be used in any respect,” he mentioned.
Extra machines are wanted as outdated machines change into unusable and variety of voters enhance, Moona mentioned. “Additionally we’d like spare ones in case one thing goes fallacious. Throughout elections you can not do something so we have to have a spare capability… many of those machines go into election petitions and get locked until court docket provides judgement. As soon as they’re locked, they go unhealthy quicker,” he mentioned including generally it might take a decade.
When VVPATs have been introduced in, they might work solely with M2 and M3 machines and never with M1 machines, he cited as one more reason for the requirement of latest machines.
Ruling out the tampering allegations made by political events, Moona mentioned it isn’t doable. “These are standalone machines. You can’t join them to any community or Wi-Fi or Bluetooth… The software program within the machines is one-time programmable and that’s finished on the time of producing. It can’t be modified. When you discover a bug within the software program, the one possibility is to recall the machines,” he mentioned.
Claiming that 99.9 per cent failures of the machines are caught on the first degree checks, earlier than going to elections, Moona mentioned including it doesn’t matter what one says (about tampering), it has by no means been proved.
On the educational entrance, Moona mentioned that his precedence at IITGN is to make the establishment utterly paperless. “We don’t do any cheques or drafts on paper. At IITGN, for inner administration, we use paper however even that may cease quickly. Digital first ought to be the first motto,” he mentioned. The 14-year-old IITGN is ready to endure an overhaul, he mentioned, including, “The thought is to take away older stuff out… and usher in no matter is required for the nation and society.”
Laying emphasis on computing engineering, he mentioned, “Issues like Synthetic Intelligence and machine studying are going to be the defining components for industries 4.0. India is definitely taking this huge transformative step by transferring from buying and selling zone to manufacturing and design zone.”
Instrumental in defining among the key functions for the nation, together with good card driving licence, automobile registration, e-passport, digital toll assortment and mobility card, Moona was earlier the director of IIT Bhilai and Director Normal of the Centre for Growth of Superior Computing (C-DAC). RITU SHARMA
AHMEDABAD, OCTOBER 5
The Election Fee of India (ECI) has a singular problem at hand amid the scarcity of semi conductors and chips within the nation — it has to prepared practically 4 lakh Digital Voting Machines (EVMs) for the overall elections in 2024.
Professor Rajat Moona who lately took cost because the director of Indian Institute of Know-how Gandhinagar (IITGN) is an energetic member of ECI’s Technical Professional Committee for EVMs since 2009 and has been instrumental in defining the EVMs and VVPAT. The Committee is headed by DT Shahani, retired professor of IIT Delhi.
Sharing the issues with The Indian Specific, Moona mentioned, “The world goes by an unprecedented disaster of semi conductors. It’s taking monumental time to get parts although we began the planning virtually a yr in the past.”
Including that there are practically 4 lakh (earlier era) M2 machines, Moona mentioned all future elections, together with meeting elections, will probably be on much-advanced model or the M3 machines. “As per estimates, there’s a requirement of 10-11 lakh EVMs for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together with 20-30 per cent further machines as back-up that provides as much as a complete 13 lakh machines towards the 9 lakh machines obtainable,” he added.
Ruling out signing of an settlement between the Vedanta Foxconn Group and the Gujarat authorities for a semi conductor challenge to cowl this scarcity, Moona mentioned it’s time-consuming and complex. “India has a minimum of gone into semi-conductor manufacturing that could be a very constructive step. However the outcomes will probably be seen solely after 7-8 years,” he mentioned.
“Most machines have been used within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections so there was acutely aware efforts to not use them in Meeting elections… however in 2024, if we would not have enough variety of machines, we might have to make use of the practical ones out of the outdated ones,” he added.
To tide over the scarcity, Moona mentioned they’re exploring “different sources”, with the most important provider being Europe. “Main provider is Europe, whereas chip manufacturing sometimes occurs in Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. We’re taking a look at a number of sources and the best way we are able to scale back dangers… The scarcity is as a result of time taken in manufacturing… It takes time to develop crystals and the demand may be very excessive,” he mentioned including that the Covid-19 pandemic additionally created an unprecedented demand as a number of crops have been shut, lockdowns have been imposed and workers have been working from residence.
Since resistors and capacitors are usually not manufactured in India, they should endure a stringent high quality assessments, Moona mentioned, including, “The bandwidth reduces due to all these controls. Say, we can not do greater than 1,000 machines a day. But when it’s important to do 4 lakh machines, we require 400 days. However now (as a consequence of scarcity), in a yr, 1,000-2,000 machines is what may be made.”
The Russia-Ukraine battle additionally had an influence, Moona mentioned, although not considerably, as these two international locations present sure sort of gases which can be used within the manufacturing of semi conductors.
The yr 2006 was a turning level for EVMs and those that have been used until then have been final used within the 2014 basic elections. “Pre-2006 machines have been destroyed after which new ones got here… we redesigned them and the machines have been quicker with higher processer and fewer energy hungry. These are known as M3 machines. In 2024 elections, in all probability they might be used the final time or will not be used in any respect,” he mentioned.
Extra machines are wanted as outdated machines change into unusable and variety of voters enhance, Moona mentioned. “Additionally we’d like spare ones in case one thing goes fallacious. Throughout elections you can not do something so we have to have a spare capability… many of those machines go into election petitions and get locked until court docket provides judgement. As soon as they’re locked, they go unhealthy quicker,” he mentioned including generally it might take a decade.
When VVPATs have been introduced in, they might work solely with M2 and M3 machines and never with M1 machines, he cited as one more reason for the requirement of latest machines.
Ruling out the tampering allegations made by political events, Moona mentioned it isn’t doable. “These are standalone machines. You can’t join them to any community or Wi-Fi or Bluetooth… The software program within the machines is one-time programmable and that’s finished on the time of producing. It can’t be modified. When you discover a bug within the software program, the one possibility is to recall the machines,” he mentioned.
Claiming that 99.9 per cent failures of the machines are caught on the first degree checks, earlier than going to elections, Moona mentioned including it doesn’t matter what one says (about tampering), it has by no means been proved.
On the educational entrance, Moona mentioned that his precedence at IITGN is to make the establishment utterly paperless. “We don’t do any cheques or drafts on paper. At IITGN, for inner administration, we use paper however even that may cease quickly. Digital first ought to be the first motto,” he mentioned. The 14-year-old IITGN is ready to endure an overhaul, he mentioned, including, “The thought is to take away older stuff out… and usher in no matter is required for the nation and society.”
Laying emphasis on computing engineering, he mentioned, “Issues like Synthetic Intelligence and machine studying are going to be the defining components for industries 4.0. India is definitely taking this huge transformative step by transferring from buying and selling zone to manufacturing and design zone.”
Instrumental in defining among the key functions for the nation, together with good card driving licence, automobile registration, e-passport, digital toll assortment and mobility card, Moona was earlier the director of IIT Bhilai and Director Normal of the Centre for Growth of Superior Computing (C-DAC).