69 member states meet to vote on scrapping leap seconds by 2027
GS3Economy · S&T · Environment · Security· IT, AI, semiconductors & computing· Prelims·
Why in news
69 member states of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) are meeting to vote on scrapping leap seconds by 2027 to address technical synchronization issues.
Background
The BIPM is meeting in Versailles to discuss the removal of leap seconds, which have been added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) since 1972. Major entities including NIST, LinkedIn, Reddit, Qantas, ASIC, and Meta have highlighted technical issues with the current system.
Facts for Prelims
- BodyBIPM: International Bureau of Weights and Measures
- Fact27 leap seconds have been added to UTC since 1972
- S&TUTC: Coordinated Universal Time used to sync with Earth's rotation
- FactProposed deadline for scrapping leap seconds is 2027
For Mains
Q. Discuss the technical and systemic challenges posed by leap seconds in global digital infrastructure and the implications of transitioning to a non-leap second system.
Dimensions to cover in your answer
- Systemic instability: Risk of software crashes and database errors in high-frequency trading and cloud computing
- Synchronization bottleneck: Difficulty in maintaining precise time-stamping across distributed global networks
- Infrastructure overhaul: Requirement for massive updates to legacy systems and industrial IoT protocols
Keywords: Coordinated Universal Time · Digital Infrastructure · Synchronization · BIPM · Systemic Risk
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