• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated three PARAM Rudra supercomputers on September 26.
• The supercomputers are valued at Rs 130 crore.
• Significance of the Occasion
  • Described as a “momentous” occasion by the Prime Minister.
  • Aims to provide “state-of-the-art advanced facilities” to India’s scientific community.
  • Intended to advance research in fields such as physics, cosmology, and earth sciences.

Overview of Supercomputers

• Definition
  • Supercomputers are large computing systems designed to solve complex scientific and industrial challenges.
• Applications
  • Used in:
    • Quantum mechanics
    • Weapons research
    • Weather forecasting
    • Climate research
    • Oil and gas exploration
    • Molecular dynamics
    • Data analytics and big data
  • Characteristics
    • Expensive and require significant space, typically comprising multiple racks holding computer nodes.
    • High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems are composed of several interconnected supercomputers.

National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)

• Launch and Objectives
  • Launched in 2015 to develop a grid of 70 powerful supercomputing systems.
  • Aims to support research and development in higher education institutions.
• Structure and Funding
  • The mission has an economic outlay of Rs 4,500 crores.
  • Jointly managed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
  • Implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• Current Status
  • Two phases of the NSM are complete, with the third phase currently underway.
• Broad Applications
  • Climate modelling
  • Weather prediction
  • Aerospace engineering
  • Computational biology
  • National security and defence applications

Significance of the NSM

• Historical Context
  • India faced technology-denial from Western nations in the 1970s and 1990s, prompting the need for indigenous technology development.
• Impact on Computational Capacity
  • Boosts India’s computational capabilities, which PM Modi likened to a tool for “soft power.”
• Deployment and Usage
  • Over 20 supercomputing systems have been deployed nationwide since the program’s launch.
  • Supports diverse research areas, including:
    • Bioinformatics
    • Disaster simulation and management
    • Quantum chemistry
    • Climate research

Notable Supercomputers and Their Capacities

Notable Facts About the NSM

• Achievements (2019-2023)
  • Total capacity of 24.83 petaFLOPS HPC machines commissioned.
  • Trained 1.75 lakh individuals in HPC skills.
  • Over 73.25 lakh high-performance computational queries executed.
• Current Initiatives
  • Established learning centres at IIT Kharagpur, Palakkad, Chennai, Goa, and CDAC Pune, operating PARAM Vidya (versions 1-5).