Relevance: GS III (Science & Tech, Environment, Industrial Policy) | Source: The Hindu
1. Context: The Physical Reality
While “Data is the New Oil” refers to economic value, physically, Data Centres are the new “Oil Refineries.” They are industrial factories processing digital info, consuming massive land, water, and energy. As rich nations tighten environmental norms, they are offshoring these “dirty” operations to the Global South.
2. Key Concept: “Data Dumping”
- Definition: The practice where developed nations (Global North) export the environmental costs of data processing to developing nations (Global South).
- The Logic: Data centres generate immense heat and noise. To avoid local backlash and resource depletion, companies move them to countries with weaker regulations and cheaper land (like India), effectively “dumping” the ecological burden.
3. The Triple Threat (Environmental & Social)
Impact | Why it matters? |
| Water Stress | Servers need massive cooling. In tropical, water-scarce regions, data centres compete with locals for drinking water. |
| Energy Spike | They run 24/7. In India, where ~70% of power is coal-based, this significantly spikes the Carbon Footprint. |
| Jobless Growth | Data centres are Capital Intensive (expensive gear) but Labour Light. They occupy huge land tracts but create very few permanent jobs. |
4. India’s Vulnerability
India is aggressively building data infrastructure for Data Sovereignty, but faces unique risks:
- Tropical Penalty: Being a hot country, cooling servers in India requires far more energy/water than in cooler Nordic nations.
- Regulatory Vacuum: Current policies incentivize investment (infrastructure status) but lack strict environmental audits for water/heat usage.
UPSC Value Box
Term / Policy | Relevance for Prelims |
| Hyperscale Data Centre | Massive facilities with thousands of servers used by tech giants (Google/Amazon). They require dedicated power grids and are the primary source of “Data Dumping” concerns. |
| Draft Data Centre Policy | Released by MeitY. It aims to grant “Infrastructure Status” to data centres to ease credit flow, but critics argue it lacks sustainability safeguards. |
| Green Data Centres | Facilities utilizing Liquid Immersion Cooling or renewable energy to reduce the Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio. |
Q. The term “Data Dumping,” recently seen in the news, best describes which of the following scenarios?
(a) The disposal of electronic waste in landfills of developing nations.
(b) The outsourcing of resource-intensive data processing to countries with weaker environmental regulations.
(c) The strategy of flooding a network with redundant data to cause a cyber outage.
(d) The mass deletion of cloud data by companies to reduce storage costs.
Correct Answer: (b)
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