INVISIBLE INK

Feb. 21, 2019

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the creator of indelible ink used in elections has prepared the ‘invisible ink’ as part of a pilot project mooted by the Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MVPL).

Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MVPL): 

  • The MVPL, a Karnataka government company, has a monopoly on the manufacture of indelible ink since 1962, and is a major supplier to the Election Commission of India (ECI). 

  • It also exports the indelible ink for elections in other countries. 

Invisible ink: 

  • Background: The indelible ink was formulated as a deterrent against voting twice. But voters in some countries people don’t want to display such a mark. So MVPL asked NPL to prepare the ‘invisible ink’ as part of a pilot project for use by a client country in Europe. 

  • Features: 
    • The invisible ink when applied on the finger, doesn’t leave a trace — it merely glows a bright orange when a low-intensity beam of ultraviolet light is shone on it. 

    • The chemical — a transparent liquid — is an “organic-inorganic” mixture that was biodegradable and could be washed off in 48 hours. 

    • The ink works on the principle of fluorescence — certain materials emit a characteristic glow when exposed to ultraviolet light. The NPL ink, however, glows only when exposed to a narrow band of frequencies of ultraviolet (UV) light. 



  • Way ahead: 
    • The ‘invisible ink’ was only at the discussion stage It may not find immediate application in Indian elections as they are spread out over many weeks. 

    • The NPL’s invisible ink experiment is linked to a larger project of creating security inks that could be used to make bank notes and documents, such as passports, more secure. 



Source : The Hindu

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