We experience the benefits of computing every day in our lives. Since the inception of computers, it has evolved in many ways. Getting much more powerful each year with more and more computing power and advanced hardware. However, there are certain computing tasks no classical computers can handle, no matter how much horsepower it acquires.
All classical computing systems are programmed to store information in binary states i.e., in terms of zeroes and ones. On the other hand, Quantum computers rely on quantum mechanical phenomena to manipulate information. To carry this out, these computers store information as quantum bits, or simply qubits. This allows the Quantum computer to carry out tasks that the most powerful traditional computers cannot complete.
But better late than never, India came to join the party recently. Only a few days ago, the Indian government announced their plan to invest Rs.8000 crores ($1.12 billion) in quantum computing research over the next five years. Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister of the country said that the scheme is created to boost the research for the technology under the National Mission of Quantum Technology and Application project.
As other countries are on their way to achieve Quantum Supremacy, India is pretty new to the area. There are not many projects under the technology too. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) set up a research project last year. The Quantum-Enabled Science & Technology (QuEST) is the one project which is underway with an investment of Rs.80 crores ($11.2 million). It is set up in an institute in the city of Hyderabad.
