Why in the News?

• India is likely to be invited to join the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative aimed at securing global semiconductor, AI, and critical mineral supply chains.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Pax Silica (Background, Global Context, Objectives, Key Members, India’s Perspective, Challenges, Way Forward)

Understanding Pax Silica

• Pax Silica is a multilateral initiative launched by the United States in December 2025 to secure supply chains of critical technologies such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and rare earth elements (REEs).
• The term “Pax” denotes peace, while “Silica” refers to silicon-based semiconductor technologies, symbolising a stable and cooperative global technology order.
• The Pax Silica Declaration emphasises three core objectives:
  • Reducing coercive economic dependencies,
  • Ensuring secure global technology and AI supply chains, and
  • Building trusted digital infrastructure.
• The initiative reflects growing concerns that over-dependence on a single country for critical inputs can expose economies to geopolitical coercion.

Global Context Behind Pax Silica

• The global economy is witnessing a shift where advanced technologies such as AI, semiconductors, and digital infrastructure are becoming central to economic and strategic power.
• At the same time, supply chains for rare earths and critical minerals remain highly concentrated.
• China currently dominates the global supply of rare earth elements and processing capabilities.
• In recent years, it has used export restrictions as a strategic tool, including suspending REE exports following tariff disputes with the U.S. India too faced disruptions in rare-earth magnet supplies, affecting its automobile and electronics industries.
• The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed vulnerabilities of globally fragmented and concentrated supply chains, prompting countries to pursue diversification and resilience strategies.

Key Members of Pax Silica

• The Pax Silica grouping brings together technologically advanced and resource-rich countries.
• Key participants include the United States and Japan as technology leaders; Australia as a major lithium and rare-earth exporter; the Netherlands for advanced lithography technologies; South Korea for memory chip manufacturing; and Singapore for semiconductor fabrication.
• Israel contributes expertise in AI software, defence technologies, and cybersecurity, while the United Kingdom hosts one of the world’s largest AI markets.
• Gulf countries such as Qatar and the UAE add financial strength through sovereign investment funds.
• Canada, the European Union, OECD, and Taiwan currently participate as observers.

India’s Strategic Relevance

• India is not yet a formal member but is expected to be invited soon. India brings several strengths to Pax Silica.
• It has one of the world’s most robust digital public infrastructures, a rapidly growing AI market, and a large pool of skilled technology professionals.
• The Government of India has also launched the India Semiconductor Mission and national AI initiatives with significant financial support.
• Investments by Indian firms such as the Tata Group and foreign companies like Micron indicate growing confidence in India’s semiconductor ecosystem.
• Additionally, a steady return of skilled Indian professionals trained abroad could strengthen domestic capabilities.

Existing Supply Chain Initiatives Involving India

• India has already taken steps to enhance supply chain resilience. In 2021, it joined Australia and Japan in launching the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative.
• India is also part of the Quad’s Critical Minerals Initiative, aimed at securing emerging technology supply chains.
• Collaborations with Japan, Singapore, and Israel in semiconductor manufacturing further position India as a credible partner in Pax Silica-aligned ecosystems.

Challenges for India in Joining Pax Silica

• Despite the opportunities, India faces challenges. Pax Silica members are largely high-income U.S. allies, whereas India would be the first developing country and non-ally strategic partner in the grouping.
• This may create expectation gaps on policy alignment and strategic responses.
• India also prioritises strategic autonomy and may resist frameworks that constrain independent foreign or economic policy choices.
• Moreover, India may seek to protect its nascent semiconductor and AI industries through subsidies, procurement preferences, and calibrated import controls, policies that may not fully align with the current U.S. policy environment.

Strategic Implications and the Road Ahead

• The emergence of Pax Silica signals the likelihood of two parallel global technology supply chains, one centred around China and the other around Pax Silica countries.
• Given India’s long-standing technological collaboration with Western economies and recent supply disruptions from China, aligning with Pax Silica appears strategically advantageous.
• However, India is expected to proceed cautiously, engaging in dialogue to ensure that participation strengthens domestic capabilities without compromising strategic autonomy or development priorities.

Why in News?

• India is witnessing a sharp rise in digital frauds, particularly the phenomenon of “digital arrest” scams, leading to massive financial losses and erosion of trust in digital payments.
• In response, a high-level inter-departmental committee (IDC) constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is examining systemic solutions, including a transaction “kill switch” and a fraud insurance mechanism.

What’s in Today’s Article?

• ‘Digital Arrest’ Scams
• Key Proposals Under Consideration
• Institutional Framework Involved
• Role of RBI and Insurance Sector
• Key Challenges and Way Ahead
• Conclusion

‘Digital Arrest’ Scams:

• Meaning:
  • Cyber-enabled fraud: Fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials via video calls. Victims are shown fake IDs, arrest warrants, and threatened with arrest. Leaked personal data is used to build credibility.
  • Social engineering: Victims are kept under psychological pressure for hours and coerced into transferring money to mule accounts.
• Estimated losses: Victims across India are believed to have collectively lost nearly Rs 3,000 crore to digital arrest scams, prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of the issue.

Key Proposals Under Consideration:

• Transaction ‘Kill Switch’:
  • An emergency button embedded in UPI apps, and banking/payment applications.
  • Once activated all banking and financial transactions are instantly frozen, preventing further outflow of funds during suspected fraud.
  • It aims to create last-mile consumer protection, and real-time intervention in fraud scenarios.
• Tracking and blocking fraudulent transactions: Exploring systems to identify suspicious transactions, prevent instant splitting of funds into multiple mule accounts, and address rapid laundering techniques used by fraud networks.
• Fraud insurance mechanism:
  • Proposal to introduce insurance coverage for fraud-related losses in banking.
  • Driven by increasing scale and sophistication of digital frauds, and recognition that traditional audits and compliance are insufficient.
  • RBI’s evolving stance - Shift from viewing fraud as merely a compliance issue to a systemic and balance-sheet risk.

Institutional Framework Involved:

• The IDC is chaired by Special Secretary (Internal Security), MHA, with representatives from:
  • Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY),
  • Department of Telecommunications (DoT),
  • Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),
  • Department of Financial Services (DFS),
  • Ministry of Law & Justice (MoLJ),
  • Ministry of Consumer Affairs (MoCA),
  • Reserve Bank of India (RBI),
  • CBI, NIA, Delhi Police, and
  • The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) (with the CEO, I4C acting as Member-Secretary).
• Additionally: MeitY met major IT intermediaries (Google, WhatsApp, Telegram, Microsoft) earlier.

Role of RBI and Insurance Sector:

• RBI observations:
  • There were 23,879 fraud cases involving an amount of Rs 34,771 crore as of 2024-25.
  • The RBI’s Payment Vision 2025 report has proposed studying the feasibility of setting up a Digital Payment Protection Fund (DPPF) to provide security cover to defrauded customers and payment instrument issuers.
• Expert view: Existing cyber insurance does not cover first-party fraud losses, especially those caused by customer manipulation.
• Preferred option - Insurance pool model:
  • Backed by contributions from banks, insurers and potentially supported by regulatory frameworks – that could spread fraud risk across the system.
  • This will be similar to terrorism insurance pools in several countries.
  • Such a structure would help manage tail risks while keeping premiums affordable.

Key Challenges and Way Ahead:

• Operational complexity: Avoiding misuse or accidental triggering of the kill switch.
  • Technology-based safeguards - AI-driven fraud detection and transaction velocity checks.
• Interoperability: Uniform adoption across banks, UPI platforms, and fintech apps.
  • Strengthened coordination - Banks–Insurers–Regulators–Tech platforms partnership.
• Moral hazard: Risk of reduced consumer vigilance if insurance is guaranteed.
  • Consumer awareness - Nationwide campaigns on digital arrest scams.
• Regulatory coordination: RBI, IRDAI, MeitY, and banks must act in sync.
  • Regulatory clarity - Clear SOPs for kill switch activation and reversal.
  • Legal backing - Amendments to IT and banking regulations for rapid response.
• Coverage gaps: Current cyber insurance inadequate for social engineering frauds.
  • Insurance innovation - Creation of a fraud insurance pool under IRDAI leadership.

Conclusion:

• India’s rapid digitalisation has outpaced traditional risk-control mechanisms, making digital fraud a systemic threat rather than a mere compliance issue.
• The proposed initiatives represent a paradigm shift towards proactive, consumer-centric and system-wide protection.
• If implemented with robust safeguards, regulatory coordination and public awareness, these measures can significantly enhance the resilience and credibility of India’s digital financial ecosystem.

Context

• The turn of 2026 underscores the erosion of the post–Second World War international order.
• Structures once rooted in multilateral norms and collective security are giving way to a fragmented environment driven by unilateral coercion, regional power assertions, and opportunistic diplomacy.
• The year reveals a world transitioning from rules-based order to competitive multipolarity, where norms often yield to force and influence.

The New ‘Donroe Doctrine’ and the Return of Hemispheric Hegemony

• The year begins with a dramatic U.S. operation: the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, justified as a security imperative and framed as an updated incarnation of the nineteenth-century Monroe Doctrine.
• This new ‘Donroe Doctrine’ reflects President Donald Trump’s instinct to restore hemispheric primacy and assert the United States as the dominant guarantor of security in the Western Hemisphere.
• Trump’s November 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) articulates ambitions to deny non-Hemispheric competitors’ strategic access to the region.
• The Venezuelan action fits a broader pattern of hemispheric reassertion, combined with veiled signals toward Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, and even Greenland.
• The muted international response reinforces the perception that sovereignty norms have weakened and that the post-1945 security architecture is no longer constraining major powers.
• This environment invites emulation: China and Russia now appear more confident about advancing their own spheres of influence, with Taiwan representing China’s most salient potential flashpoint.
• Global politics edges toward a world of regional doctrines rather than global consensus.

The Trouble in Asia: A Region of Uneven Fires

• The Trouble in West Asia
  • West Asia enters 2026 in a fractured state. Israel’s military offensives in Gaza have paused, yet durable peace remains elusive.
  • Violence persists as a background condition, especially in densely populated and contested zones.
  • Instability deepens with unrest in Iran, where the regime identifies itself as fighting four simultaneous wars: economic, psychological, military, and counterterrorism.
  • The U.S. and Israel perceive an opportunity to undermine the Khamenei regime, reviving unfinished objectives from 2025.
  • Additional sanctions and covert manoeuvres heighten regional tension, making escalation more likely than reconciliation.
• Afghanistan and Bangladesh
  • The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied militant groups gain renewed momentum, threatening the fragile Afghanistan–Pakistan frontier.
  • Pakistan experiences intensified military dominance under Field Marshal Asim Munir, with democratic processes further eroded.
  • Yet Islamabad paradoxically enjoys revived status as a preferred U.S. partner and recipient of advanced weapons systems, reshaping regional balances.
  • Bangladesh confronts democratic uncertainty as elections promise procedural renewal without guaranteeing stability.
  • Together, these trends render West and Northwest Asia a mosaic of local crises without regional mechanisms for conflict resolution.

China’s Strategic Poise and the Pacific Reshuffle

• Amid this volatility, China finishes 2025 with strengthened geopolitical posture.
• The tariff confrontation with the U.S. fails to cripple Chinese industry; instead, Beijing consolidates its position in global supply chains and uses rare earth export restrictions as strategic leverage.
• These actions underscore China’s capacity for economic statecraft.
• China’s influence expands across Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, eroding traditional U.S. dominance in the Eastern Pacific.
• Power shifts occur quietly through investments, infrastructure, and maritime logistics rather than direct confrontation.
• The U.S. finds itself stretched between reasserting hemispheric control and countering Chinese expansion across the Indo-Pacific.

India at the Crossroads: Strategic Uncertainty and Diplomatic Constraints

• India enters 2026 in an ambiguous strategic position. Despite alignment with U.S. interests on several fronts, Trump criticizes India’s continued imports of Russian oil and cultivates closer ties with Pakistan, producing a subtle diplomatic chill.
• This reduces India’s leverage in West Asian crises and narrows its mediation space.
• Mini-lateral initiatives such as I2U2 and the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor progress, yet economic vulnerabilities remain.
• China holds a tactical advantage in tariff and trade disputes, limiting India’s ability to hedge.
• The improvement in India-China relations after the 2025 Tianjin meeting stabilizes tensions but does not generate momentum for deeper rapprochement.
• Terrorism persists as an ambient threat in 2026. While India may avoid major attacks, Islamic State and al-Qaeda activity in Africa and West Asia ensures that militant networks remain dispersed, resilient, and transnational. 

Conclusion

• The emerging world of 2026 is defined not by institution-building but by geopolitical disorder.
• The Donroe Doctrine symbolises a shift from multilateral restraint to unilateral assertion, encouraging similar ambitions among rival powers.
• Middle states such as India must adapt to an environment where power increasingly substitutes for legitimacy and where regionalism replaces global security consensus.

About India International Conference on Democracy and Election Management (IICDEM) 2026:

• The 3-day conference, starting on the 21st of January, will be held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
• It is being organised by the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) under the aegis of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• IICDEM 2026 is poised to be the largest global conference of its kind hosted by India in the field of democracy and election management.
• Nearly 100 international delegates, representing over 70 countries from across the world, are expected to participate.
• Representatives of international organisations, foreign missions in India, and academic and practicing experts in the electoral domain will also take part.
• The programme will feature a mix of general and plenary sessions of Election Management Bodies (EMBs).
• These discussions will focus on global electoral challenges, international electoral standards, and innovations and best practices in election processes.
• As part of the conference, 36 thematic groups will conduct detailed deliberations.
  • These groups will be led by Chief Electoral Officers of States and Union Territories and supported by national and international academic experts.
• During the event, the ECI will also formally launch ECINET, ECI’s one-stop digital platform for all election-related information and services.
• An exhibition highlighting the scale and complexity of conducting elections in India will run alongside the conference.
• The exhibition will also showcase recent initiatives undertaken by the ECI to strengthen electoral roll preparation and the conduct of elections.
• Additionally, the docuseries “India Decides”, which documents the conduct of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, will be screened on the opening day of IICDEM 2026.

Key Facts about India International Institute of Democracy & Election Management (IIIDEM):

• IIIDEM is the dedicated training, academic & resource arm of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• Established in 2011, the Institute was conceived to train, prepare, and equip election officials and other stakeholders for delivery of free, fair, credible, and error-free elections.
• It is a global knowledge and capacity-building centre dedicated to advancing democratic governance and strengthening electoral integrity.
• IIIDEM is one of the few institutions in the world which is not only involved in the training and capacity building of its electoral officials, but also caters to the requirements of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) the world over.
• IIIDEM has a team of senior experts and professionals to run its academic and research programmes.
• It holds domestic and international courses and training programmes that are residential and non-residential.
• Earlier, the IIIDEM was housed in the premises of the ECI. Now, the Institute is functioning from a full-fledged campus at Dwarka (Delhi).

About Sela Lake:

• Sela Lake, also known as Paradise Lake, is a glacial lake located near Sela Pass in Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Sela Pass is a crucial mountain pass connecting the Tawang region with the rest of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Its crystal-clear waters reflect the peaks around it, offering a stunning view.
• The lake is usually frozen all winter because of its very cold temperatures (below zero).
• The lake and its surroundings have limited vegetation because of the altitude.
• Locals and Buddhist monks consider Sela Lake a sacred site.

About Type 096 Tang-Class Submarine:

• The Type 096 (NATO reporting name of Tang-class) submarine is China’s next-generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN).
• It is bigger, stealthier, and armed with longer-range missiles than its predecessors.
• Features:
  • It is said to have raft-mounted machinery, hull isolation systems, and a propulsion design that minimizes acoustic signatures during patrols.
  • These features are aimed at making the sub harder to detect in contested waters.
  • The vessel's pressurized water-cooled nuclear reactor powers a single shaft via a steam turbine arrangement.
  • Modern power plant elements and improved vibration dampening technologies are said to enhance submerged speed and stealth performance.
  • The submarine is expected to carry between 16 and 24 JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), each capable of ranges exceeding 10,000 to 12,000 kilometers and equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs).
  • It can also launch wire-guided, high-speed Yu-6 torpedoes with a range of over 29 km.

About Vadhavan Port:

• It is a proposed new port on the coast of Maharashtra.
• It is being developed as an all-weather greenfield deep-draft major port.
• It is ideal for large container and bulk vessels.
• The project will be constructed by Vadhavan Port Project Limited (VPPL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB).
• The strategic location of Vadhavan Port provides it with a unique edge. It will connect seamlessly to industrial centers across Maharashtra, Gujarat, and beyond.
  • The capacities created will also aid EXIM trade flow through IMEEC (India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor) and INSTC (International North South Transportation Corridor).

About Parakaempferia alba:

• It is a new species of Zingiberaceae (ginger family).
• It was discovered in the Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh.

Key Facts about Zingiberaceae:

• Zingiberaceae, the ginger family of flowering plants, is the largest family of the order Zingiberales.
• These aromatic herbs grow in moist areas of the tropics and subtropics, including some regions that are seasonably dry.
• Members of the family are perennials that frequently have sympodial (forked) fleshy rhizomes (underground stems).
• A few species are epiphytic—i.e., supported by other plants and having aerial roots exposed to the humid atmosphere.
• Many species are economically valuable for their spices and perfume.
  • The dried thick rhizome of turmeric (Curcuma longa) is commonly ground for culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic uses.
  • The seeds of Elettaria cardamomum are the source of cardamom.
  • Ginger is obtained from the fresh or dried rhizomes of Zingiber officinale, and a number of ornamental gingers are grown for their attractive flowers and foliage.
  • Several species of shellflower (Alpinia) are cultivated as ornamentals.