“Rise of Nuclear Energy Development initiatives in Climate Change Debate!”

Report of Indian Nuclear Society-TERI NATIONAL WORKSHOP

“Nuclear Energy Development in India: addressing climate change, public perception and large scale deployment”; New Delhi, 13 August 2009

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Nuclear Energy has the potential to be a reliable, sustainable and environment friendly energy source that can contribute to the accessibility of affordable energy services in all interested countries for present and future generations. Any use of nuclear energy should be beneficial, responsible and sustainable, with due regard to the protection of people and the environment, non-proliferation, and security.

----International Atmoic Energy Agency Handbook of Nuclear Energy Basic Principles

While giving inaugeral address, Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to PM said, "Nuclear renaissance in the recent times is driven by Climate Change threat. Mitigation technologies like nuclear, hydro, renewable, energy efficiency practices along with new age techniques of Carbon capture & storage along with Integrated Gasification are responsible for creating new possibilities towards achieving target to stop the global warming increase by 2 degree centigrade which will be topic of much awaited discussion in coming Copenhagen negotiations on Climate Change. It is the projection of International Atomic Energy Agency Nuclear energy generation capacity must grow by 80% upto 2030. (World Nuclear Association, 2008) So, contemporary outlook established by Technology Foresight predictions say that Nuclear Energy is the way forward in ending the problem of depleting fossil fuel resources when the utilization of those is becoming more and more expensive.

Despite past evidences based on two accidents of Three Mile Islands and Chernobyl, whole world is realizing to end the long lasting ban on Nuclear Energy projects because of ascending significance of it`s long lasting low operational cost and less per unit energy cost. The urge to invest more and more in nuclear energy was the principle reason behind the recent initiatives taken by western world in forging new partnerships for adapting Knowledge Management practices to the very complex, strategic and high ended nuclear technologies. Most recently countries who were most critical about going nuclear. ”

Recent Nuclear Technology Review Report, 2009 by DG, International Atomic Energy Agency vindicates what Dr. Chidambaram was saying:
“Also in Europe, the United Kingdom published a White Paper in January 2008 that stressed that it was in the public interest for nuclear energy to continue to form part of the United Kingdom’s low carbon energy mix in order to help meet carbon reduction targets and ensure secure energy supplies. Several European utilities expressed interest in building new reactors in the UK. Italy decided to start negotiations with French government to acquire, build, operate and generate energy from Nuclear power plants. This lead towards Italy announcing plans for re-establishing the legal, regulatory and technical infrastructure necessary to restart its nuclear power programme, which had been shut down following a referendum in 1987. A bill overturning the nuclear moratorium was approved by the lower chamber of the Parliament in early November. In Romania, partners signed an investment agreement to finance construction of Cernavoda-3 and -4. In Bulgaria, partners signed contracts for the construction of Belene-1 and -2. In Finland, Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) applied to the Council of State for approval in principle to build Olkiluoto-4, and two further applications are being prepared by other companies. In Switzerland, Atel, Axpo and BKW FMB Energy have submitted applications to build new nuclear power plants in Niederamt, Beznau and Gösgen. In Slovakia, Slovenské elektrárne launched a tender for the resumption of construction at Mochovce-3 and -4.”

Dr. R.K. Pauchauri, DG, TERI and Chairperson IPCC said,

“ Skeptics still question the validity of claims behind the climate change. Climate change is reality. Every government on planet has recognized the need of having a comprehensive understanding about the implications of Climate Change which can also be attributed to the disruptive changes in environment. The world global warming is being attributed only in terms of temperature rise and having impact over sea glaciers resulting in melting and sea level rise. But there are different dimensions of Climate Change; drought, intense winter, El-Nino and enormous other catastrophes.

The kind of regional diversity we witness in our country is challenge to understand the local implications of human induced intervention in climate. Considering the vast diversity, there is need of at least 20 study groups which will rigorously map the coming scenario of environment and suggesting the local action for effects arising due to global problem. Looking towards enormous level of scientific-governmental efforts needed to reduce the degree of vulnerability it is very very important to start active communication with society.”

Dr. S. K. Sinha, Director, Reactor Design & Development Group & Design, Manufacturing & Automation Group, BARC said,

“India has mastered the Closed Nuclear Fuel Cycle in nuclear reactor and country can become world leader in this area inspired by Three Stage Nuclear program. For many years opposing nuclear energy was principle identity of being a committed environmentalist. But now no more ! We are already enjoying the fruits of the first generation India has chalked out a nuclear power program based on its domestic resource position of uranium and thorium.

The first stage started with setting up the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) based on natural uranium and pressure tube technology. In the second phase, the fissile material base will be multiplied in Fast Breeder Reactors using the plutonium obtained from the PHWRs. Considering the large thorium reserves in India, the future nuclear power program will be based on thorium–²³³U fuel cycle. However, there is a need for the timely development of thorium-based technologies for the entire fuel cycle. The Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) has been designed to fulfill this need. The AHWR is a 300 MW_e, vertical, pressure tube type, heavy water moderated, boiling light water cooled natural circulation reactor. The fuel consists of (Th–Pu)O₂ and (Th–²³³U)O₂ pins. The fuel cluster is designed to generate maximum energy out of ²³³U, which is bred in situ from thorium and has a slightly negative void coefficient of reactivity.

For the AHWR, the well-proven pressure tube technology has been adopted and many passive safety features, consistent with the international trend, have been incorporated. A distinguishing feature which makes this reactor unique, from other conventional nuclear power reactors is the fact that it is designed to remove core heat by natural circulation, under normal operating conditions, eliminating the need of pumps. In addition to this passive feature, several innovative passive safety systems have been incorporated in the design, for decay heat removal under shut down condition and mitigation of postulated accident conditions. The design of the reactor has progressively undergone modifications and improvements based on the feedbacks from the analytical and the experimental R&D. This paper gives the details of the current design of the AHWR.”

When asked about what special efforts are being taken to address the upcoming need of human resources in view to aggressively go ahead with third stage of nuclear power programe he said:

“Research and development in the field of cutting edge nuclear technologies have to be necessarily based on elaborate programmes, and the velocity of such R&D is strongly dependent on the level of inputs of our limited resources to such programmes, in competition with other shorter term priorities. Recognising this, and the fact that India has to be in the lead as far as the development and deployment of thorium utilisation technologies are concerned, an early beginning in this direction has already been made.

A strong indigenous R&D infrastructure, including trained scientific and engineering manpower, developed over last several decades, is already available, to a large extent, to help us in reaching further milestones towards the goal of large scale deployment of thorium as a sustainable energy resource for India. In order to make further continued progress on this path in a focussed and co-ordinated manner, and also to make an optimum utilisation of the resources available to us at any point of time, it is now important to formulate a fairly well laid out roadmap for the third stage of our nuclear power programme.

Dr Pradeep Kumar Dadhich, Senior Fellow, TERI said,

“On a per capita basis, our consumption is around 610 kWh per year. In the countries comprising the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD), the corresponding figure is about 10 000 kWh [3]. India’s population is expected to rise to 1.5 billion by the year 2050. If we assume that the development aspirations of the people of India

would call for per capita electricity generation of about 5000 kWh per year, the country has to plan to have total electricity generation of about 7500 billion kWh per year. This is about 12 times the generation in the fiscal year 2001-02. Electricity generation of this magnitude calls for a careful examination of all issues related to sustainability, including diversity of energy supply sources and technologies, security of supplies, self sufficiency, security of energy infrastructure, effect on local, regional and global environments and demand side management.

We have rather meagre reserves of uranium, the only naturally occurring fissile element that can be directly used in a nuclear reactor to produce energy through nuclear fission. We, however, have nearly a third of the entire world’s thorium, which is a fertile element, and needs to be first converted to a fissile material, uranium-233, in a reactor. Our strategies for large scale deployment of nuclear energy must be, and are therefore, focussed towards utilization of thorium.

Goals of the Third Stage are:

The third stage of our programme has to necessarily meet the following goals:

i) Utilisation of thorium as fuel on a commercial scale.
ii) Large scale of deployment of nuclear power in the country.
iii) Achieving good economic performance as compared to alternate options for energy generation.
iv) Attaining higher levels of transparent safety, through optimal utilisation of inherent and passive safety features.
v) Utilising the proliferation resistant potential of thorium fuel cycle to the full extent.
vi) Providing for adaptability to non-electrical applications, in particular, desalination and
vii) High temperature processing applications, including those for generation of non-fossil fluid fuels. ”

Shri S.K. Chande, Vice Chairman, AERB delivered talk on ‘Regulatory aspects of nuclear energy in India’ especially the different credible and concrete safety measures taken to ensure the long lasting security of the nuclear power plants. He talked about different safety surveillance mechanisms deployed for nuclear facilities, radiation facilities, industrial operations, Environmental aspects, emergency preparedness. Also, he briefly described about Research activities in the following areas are being pursued at AERB's Safety Research Institute (SRI), Kalpakkam.

In his talk ‘Public perception of nuclear energy in India: experiences from project implementation, Dr. S. K. Malhotra who is Head, Public Awareness Division, DAE elaborated about the number of prevailing misconceptions about nuclear power plants and nuclear energy altogether. During the second world war when the nuclear weapons were used then it is significant to recall that there was no nuclear power reactor operational in all over world. It was only in 1954 that Soviet Union operationalized first nuclear power plant Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant. Therefore public perception that nuclear energy is only used for nuclear weapons needs to be corrected again and again. The same Japan which was humiliated in massive destruction due to nuclear weapons is generating around 30 % of it`s energy from nuclear fission.

The decision of particular country to go nuclear is definitely one of the debatable questions. But we should not underestimate the enormous potential of this which holds enormous potential to develop human lives. The basic facts about difference between power generation and weapons development needs to be told to public. Method by which fundamental scientific facts are taught in school are not entirely reflecting the kind of other civilian research work being held in Nuclear energy establishment.

The science teaching in schools is moreover directed at explaining the different aspects about nuclear explosion but not the positive aspects of it`s deployment for solving wide ranging problems in our life. Eradication of wide ranging negative perceptions have lead towards stopping of various mining activities to acquire natural uranium in our country. Out of the total minable land where there is estimate that we have more than one lakh tonnes of uranium ore and o.7 % percent of that accounting for natural enriched uranium is till remained unexplored. The deeply rooted ignorance about nuclear power generation plants is posing enormous pressing challenge of Public Engagement to educate them about the issues involved. In various concerns expressed by civil society, non-governmental organizations etc. So DAE is involved in persistent demystification of the facts of nuclear energy so as to reduce the element of distrust in the public mind scape.

Presenting the journalistic perspective about nuclear energy development in India NDTV Science Editor, Mr. Pallav Bagla narrated in detail the status of media's approach towards investigating the facts. He was very critical about the quality of investigative journalism happening in India. Expressing his commitment towards discovering facts from any quarter of country, he emphasized on engaging in continuous study and interaction about issues of nuclear energy by personal involvement.

He expressed satisfaction that he is allowed to have freedom to work on scientific issues in serious which other organizations rarely give. “Due to the persistent engagement with the subject I am able to identify the correct significance of the event/incidence to make sense of the jargon involved, linking the information received to the hardcore facts already known by experience and constant habit of research with restless toiling is really needed in this profession, Complacency to go cynical by having sensational breaking news is really doing damage to the wider debate about the real issues of nuclear energy.

On the other hand the DAE, compared to it`s massive strength of 75, 000 minimum work force has allocated only around 10 people for Public Awareness division. There is much secrecy involved in various operations of nuclear energy generation. Because the generation of nuclear energy is going to be competitive more and more in coming days, certain level of desired and deserved transparency and openness should be given to journalists. The quality and quality of information resources about nuclear energy issues is also very important issue which cannot be ignored.

On the other hand, the DAE compared to it`s massive strength of 75, 000 minimum work force has allocated only around 10 people for Public Awareness division. There is much secrecy involved in various operations of nuclear energy generation. Because the generation of nuclear energy is going to be competitive more and more in coming days, certain level of desired and deserved transparency and openness should be given to journalists. The quality and quality of information resources about nuclear energy issues is also very important issue which cannot be ignored.

CLEARLY THIS WORKSHOP MARKS NEW HORIZON OF DEBATE IN CONTEXT OF LONG PERSISTED IGNORANCE TOWARDS POTENTIAL OF NUCLEAR ENERGY IN REDUCING THE ENERGY DEFICIT FOR AND THUS MOVING TOWARDS EXPLORING SOLUTIONS FOR climate change induced abrut transitions.

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We learn best when we teach !

Moving Beyond Cognitive Level to Lifelong Learning !
Developing approach towards Information Literacy !!


Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink! The same can be translated to voluminous information explosion around the world. Pragmatic evaluation of information source, sensible selection of relevant information, efficient use of the acquired information remains the challenge of this world which is increasingly becoming vulnerable due to misinformation, lack of processed information and ignorance towards the aspect of utility which comes by the intuition and common sense, qualities which are sought after in ascending way from information science professionals. Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” (‘American Library Association’, 1989)


Defining competency in specifically defined skills in education institutions is still unattended area of building knowledge base. The difference between entry level and exit level competency is the measurement of the value added to the potential of that particular student's learning capability. This positive difference in competency level leading towards development of individual careers is one of the credible benchmarks of the accreditation of the educational institutions.

Many times due to influence of certain sources, student already know about the strength of the educational program they are going to undertake. But they may not know what type of skills and knowledge attitude they must need in order to transform this opportunity of education into successful entry into the professional work desired by student. So this journey from ‘Desired’ to become ‘Deserved’ travels through channel of skill development which is entirely shaped by evolving dimensions of information literacy.


Why it is important to understand the difference between entry level and exit level competency? The reason is society reflects its composition in educational institutions. Then is certain class or caste possess different skills than other group of people then it is futile to measure all of them on the same academic criteria even though avoiding bias against meritorious students. Emergence of paradigm of information literacy is very critical shift in assessment of the students at the juncture where we all are debating Affirmative Action and other Social Justice Initiatives across the public and private sector. Skills and Competency should remain the entry and exit assessment criteria whoever the person is and irrespective of the whatever merit and heritage individual student have in the concerned discipline of study, field of profession or perspective of thinking.


Benefits of Information Literacy Assessment:
The specific need for information must be demonstrated to the appropriate authorities. This requires understanding of the problem in rational manner, preparing the clear presentation having comprehensive idea about the problem or task in hand and communicate it in simplest language without letting in any jargon which may hamper the process of understanding of the problem in mutual way. After doing this justifying the expenses is major task because it helps to plan and acquire the resources in advance for the fulfillment of the task. Earning accreditation for the services which involves the information creation and dissemination activities. Then comes the level of articulation of level of competencies. This is embedded part of direct teaching strategy and done by organizing students in different learning groups by identifying different information


Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning. It is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning. An information literate individual is able to:
a) Determine the extent of information needed
b)Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
c)Evaluate information and its sources critically
d)Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
e)Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
f)Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access
and use information ethically and legally
(Source: Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education: © ALA, 2000, http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm)


Objectives of these ACRL standards is to rank relevancy of selected skills, be responsible in assessment of no. of skills under acquisition, matching skills to that of required competency benchmarks and articulating the level of performance based on the acquired skill utility in our operations or activities. This approach is driven by belief that we have to create ‘lifelong learning skills’ in the students or the group which is undergoing intensive/extensive training. Then focus of our efforts shifts beyond cognitive level of learning and moves towards process of ‘Lifelong Learning’.


‘Lifelong Learning’ involves creating a rational attitude and interest towards the subject, persistence on timely completion of the task, realistic and relevant goal setting, multiple approaches to problem solving, willingness to apply learning and not least willingness to apply learning in our daily lives. Most significant initiative from the learners should be in the form of knowing when to ask for information. This task will demand enormous systematic efforts to identify right source, cumulative conscious efforts to compile data, contextual processing of that data to transform that into information, then practicing on that acquired understanding to inherit non-obvious tacit and generate new explicit knowledge. The best way to develop the sustainable habit of life long learning is to develop acumen of teaching because we learn best when we teach !


(Special thanks to Prof. Caroline M. Stern, Professor, Ferris State University, MI, USA. She recently delivered talk Information Literacy Competencies: New Directions in New Delhi)


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Celebrating Spirit of Father of Scientific Revolution in International Year of Astronomy 2009

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.--- Galileo Galilee

There is nothing more beautiful than truth and nothing more true than beautiful thing. Galielo`s life was evidence to this proposition. When we celebrate International Astronomical year 2009 and dedicate ourselves to discern the concealed theories of the universe we have to remember that the exploration of knowledge about this universe started in the age where there was no separate identity for science. Alchemy was considered as the form and appearance of the scientific phenomenon by which common mind is always intrigued to the extent of appreciation, fear and exclamation.

This was the period in the 16^th century when the foundations of Aristotelian beliefs were not shaken. This was the time when Michel Angelo died, Shakespeare was borne. This is the golden period of renaissance and the man we are talking about is one of the chief architects of this revolution; yes, he is Galileo Galilee. Never before word rebel and arrogance were truly hallmark of intellectual rigor and passion for discovery of truth embedded in the natures bounty. Even though in literal sense Galileo was not a person word ‘arrogance’ signifies but he always longed to excel within rules but more often he bridled against them.

Contemporaries of Galileo were greatly involved in advancing human understanding through landmark works like Magnetism by William Gilbert, New Astronomy by Johanes Keplar, Science Capital by Padua and not to forget his own work The Starry Messenger. He was the pioneer in discovering the telescope. Indicating how path breaking was that discovery, Danial Borstine says, “Who would dare use a toy to penetrate majesty of celestial sphere.” He tried to negate what Keplar said about the tides happening due to the influence of gravity of moon. He ridiculed him in soft language as, “Among the great men who have philosophized about the action of tides, the one who surprised me most is Keplar. He was the person of independent genius. But he became interested in the action of the moon on the water, and in other occult phenomena, and similar childlessness.

He was the first man to tell us that universe has more stars than seen before milky way has innumerable stars. Galileo was middle age celebrity. He shared a zest of social life. He was very much aware about limitations of human quest to know about the universe. This is reflected from one of his remarks, “Brash to call everything in universe vain & superfluous if it does not serve us The presumptuous ignorance of mankind !” He believed that “The universe cannot be read untill we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word. (Opere II Saggiatore p.171) Without contrasting the spirit of humility expresses in last two sentences he goes on to say that In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.(Arago, Eulogy of Galileo, 1874)

He describes the divine spirit enshrined in the human attitude to investigate natural laws in a language apparently seems high order diplomatic argument and on other side reflects a true ingenuity of a reasoned man bent upon demolishing the mental world refusing to open their minds to new winds of knowledge. He says, “The divine intellect indeed knows infinitely more propositions than we ever can know. But with regard to those few which the human intellect does understand. I believe that it`s knowledge equals the Divine in objective certainty.”

He built critical attack against the belief system which were powerful in sustaining the anti-rational establishment. He says, “It is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can ever speak untruth—whenever its true meaning is understood. But I believe nobody will deny abstruse, and may say things which are quite different from what its barewords signify.” This observation of him signifies to his ability to discern the paradoxes associated with the culture which builds beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, culture and civilization. In this context it is important to remember that Galileo was visionary communicator. He believed in using language of common man. He used to say, “I work in colloquial language use therefore I must have everyone able to read it. He was quick prolific, astute in dedicating himself for better understanding of people what he was working upon. In this respect he was among the rarest of the rare scientists.

Galileo Galilei has been described by Albert Einstein as “the father of modern physics, indeed, of modern science all together.” He was the one who brought in new ideas into classical mechanics and systematized the field. His great discoveries with the telescope mark him as the founder of modern observational astronomy. While he was also a prolific inventor, his importance in history is as an outspoken champion of science. He is remembered for his defense of the new (then) heliocentric theory of Nicholas Copernicus against the dogmatic views of the Catholic Church. Galileo was a wonderful writer and orator who understood the importance and necessity popularizing science. While he was unparalleled in his pursuit of truth, he was also known for his arrogance, sarcasm and conceit which landed him in many disputes. Science got a distinct identity with the life and works of Galileo.

Galileo's thought process about the grandness of the structure and mechanism of science is evident from his quote: “Infinites and indivisibles transcend our finite understanding, the former on account of of their magnitude, the latter because of their smallness; Imagine what they are when combined.” This was foresighted statement the fruits of which we are watching today with he advancement of Quantum Physics, High Energy Astronomy both hand in hand.

(With inputs Based on Talk : “Galileo and the Rise of Science” by P.R. Vishwanath, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore delivered on 6^th Aug, 2009, Jawaharlal Nehru University)

"Empires of Future will be Empires of Mind"

Before we take a careful look at the subtle shifts in Indian Science Policy framework in last fifty years let us go five decades back and recall one of the very very significant clauses of Science Policy Resolution 1958, Para 3:
It is only through the scientific approach and method and the use of scientific knowledge that reasonable material and culturtal amenities and services can be provided for every member of the community, and it is out if a recognition of this possibility that the idea of a welfare state has grown.
It is charateristic of present world that the progress towards the practical realisation of a welfare state difefrs widely from country in diret relation to the extent of industrialisation and the effort and resources applied in the pursuit of science.


Then Technology Policy Statement, 1983 recognised that key to successfully develop indigenous capability in technology demands a conscious integrated approach covering technology assessment, development,, acquisition, absorption, utilization and diffusion and connected aspects of financing, based on overall national interests, priorities and the attainment of the most challenging technological goals.


Further, in recent years Science and Technology Policy, 2003 this shift becomes more visible... To ensure that message of science reaches every citizen of India, man and woman, young and old, so that we advance scientific temper, emerge as a progressive and enlightened society, and make it possible for all our people to participate fully in the development of science and technology and its application for human welfare. Indeed science and technology will be fully integrated with all spheres of national activity.

Going ahead adding the emphasis in another clause S& T Policy says;
There is growing need to enhance public awareness of the importance of science and technology in everyday life, and the directions where science and technology is taking us. People must be able to consider the implications of emerging science and technology options in areas which impinge directly upon their lives, including the ethical and moral, legal, social and economic aspects. In recent years, advances in biotechnology and information technology have dramatically increased public interest in technology options in wide ranging areas. Scientific work and policies arising from these have to be highly transparent and widely understood.
Support for wide dissemination of scientific knowledge, through the support of science museums, planetaria, botanical gardens and the like, will be enhanced. Every effort will be made to convey to the young the excitement in scientific and technological advances and to instill scientific temper in the population at large. Special support will be provided for programmes that seek to popularize and promote science and technology in all parts of the country. Programmes will also be developed o promote learning and dissemination of science through the various national languages, to enable effective science communication at all levels. A closer interaction of those involved in the natural sciences and technology, social sciences, humanities and other scholarly pursuits will be facilitated to bring about mutual reinforcement, added value and impact.


I consider above listed three beliefs and policy objectives have consistent flow in itslef. In 1958 we recognised power of scientific approach and believed that it is capable to make us realise the idea of welfare state. Again in 1983 we underlined the might of technology competence and self reliance in technological capabilities which can reduce vulnerability, perticularly in strategic and critical areas. The year 2003 marks the necessity of public understanding of science and value of participation in the stream of scientific and technological progress of the country. In this context I share with you about the workshop "CREATION AND DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE" sponsored by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology during New Delhi 27-29 July 09.


Inugerating the workshop Dr. Jyoti Bhat who is technical adviser in DSIR tried to ignite the minds about the need of communication. She said, "People always feel need of new knowledge. This new knowledge always leads to development of new capabilties by inspring the younger generation to move towards careers in science and technology. This emotional transition which is marked by urge to have new, sophisticated, state of the art knowledge is hallmark of this emerging society. When people crave for accurate, relevant and structural knowledge it shapes Human Capital Transformation in a sense it directs the efforts of communicator in developing Intellectual assests for organisations. This knowledge creation and transfer happens in three stages:
a) From scarce capabilties to knowledge transfer
b) Knowledge adaptation and dissemination
c) Cross border knowledge creation and transfer
Here she laid emphasises on need of collaboration being the urgent strategy of the organisations, departments, industries and a nation as a whole. She stressed that for effective knowledge utilisation, strengthening economic and institutional regime, developing educated and skilled workers, creating efficient innovation system and building dynamic information infrastructure are the strict imperatives.

To move in this direction bearing strategic perspective one needs to visualise the urgent and pressing need of : enhancement of knowledge base, awareness building about science-technology issues, building of more Technology Management Resource Centres, Curriculum Development about Innovation, recognising the role of teachers in inspiring new generation towards science and technology, more imaginative and modern media for information dissemination. setting up of the academic chairs promoting research environment !!!


Prof. Ashok Chandra who is Director of Centre for Managing of Innovation and Technology, IMI shared his experiences of formulating the National Education Policy, 1986. He said, "We must treat process of policy formulation as utmost importan rather than result of policy formulation. The identification of the numerous stakeholders and timely participation of the all people will certainly give birth to mature consultation and the draft coming out of the deliberations will be of immense acceptance value and reach due to prior interaction. He advocated that we should use the process of policy formulation for effective communication and thus to educate about ingredients of the technical issues involved in the subject of debate. Any policy is reflection of agenda of diverse interest groups involved in that process. Thus differing viewpoints must be reconciled and thus harmonisation in Policy Objectives can be achieved. All social, cultural and economic spheres in that specific context must be considered for that matter. Thus likewise policy always respond to the external changes and the revised and reviewed policy must have some tangible committment in terms of deadline and quantitative targets in terms of performance-productivity index.


Dr. Vinay Kumar, former Adviser to MoST stressed upon "Freedom of Expression" in the organisation leading to innovation. He emphasised on Management support to new ideas, motivation-award policy, toleration of failure, positive outlook and exposing employees to new experiences and directions.


Dr. Naresh Kumar, Head, R&D Planning Division, CSIR described in detail about the emerging platform of Open Source Drug Discovery(OSDD- OSDD is a CSIR-led Team India consortium with a global partnership. It's vision is to provide affordable healthcare to the developing world by providing a global platform where the best minds can collaborate & collectively endeavor to solve the complex problems associated with discovering novel therapies for neglected tropical diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, etc. It is a concept to collaboratively aggregate the biological and genetic information available to scientists in order to use it to hasten the discovery of drugs. This will provide a unique opportunity for scientists, doctors, technocrats, students and others with diverse expertise to work for a common cause.) His focus was "Information in Open Source Domain: A Tool for Knowledge Creation and Dissemination for new drug of TB". He emhaised again and again that the wisdom does not lie only in the four walls of the organisation, it is always scattered outside. Our challenge is to get , organise and disseminate that information for betterment of the initiative for which organisation is striving.

He said that present IT infrastructure, connectivity and high throughput analysis capability makes OSDD possible. Going ahead he threw light on the shifting paradigms of Computational Biology. In traditional biology where things were shaped by classical, basic experimentation in low throughput where animal studies were having prominence in this new OSDD knowledge sharing model, research in Combinaitonal Chemistry, Genomics, Proteonomics, Metabolomics, Biotechnology is enhanced by high throughput analysis and molecular imaging. To support this massive initiative to discover new drud for T.B. due to which one person per minute is being killed in India and there has been no credible drug discovered uptill now after 1966 marks the strategic significance. While explaining this "Open Model of Knowledge Access", he laid immense stress on OPEN SYNTHESIS while organising knowledge addressing TARGET MOLECULE which in turn will pass through SCREENING to finally move towards DRUG DEVELOPMENT before we allow PRE-CLINICAL AND CLINICAL TRIALS by Contract Research Organisations.


P. Banerjee, Director, NISTADS spoke about Organising Scholarly Community while realisng the responsibilities of proffessional occupation like to create knowledge, to develope the skills and to nurture the attitudes of proffessionals. He said that dynamism of organisation depends not on devising new produciton function but to devise new channels by which continous learning and regeneration of ideas is possible. In a hierarchic organisaion it is always possible that bundling and unbundling of the information may be done by the seniors or established people while if given chance juniors may come out with wondeful ideas. While it should be remembered that traditional approaches of creativity based on the diktat and authority are collapsing the proffessional standards and disciplinary boundaries are new masters of the innovation.


He further said that proffessional spirit is weakest in India compared to best practises in the world. He cited his study about mindset of Indian Research Laboratories in forging active collaboration for research inside city, outside city and across the national borders. He consistently pointed out with proven facts that Indian Researchers are not even willing to share information (let alone knowledge ?) across the walls in the same research organisaitons as Science Citation Index and other Indexes indicate toward reluctance of Indian researchers in citing fellow scientists compared to enthusiasm of Chinese in doing so about their fellow Chinese scholars. This in comparison with China, he said, is also sadly true about degree of investment per scientific Human Resource, number of conferences being held, ability to spend the allocated money, number of scientific instruments being purchased, number of guest faculties being invited to Indian Universities and Research Institutes, growth of proffessional bodies in the country and most importantly REALISING THE COLLABORATION POSSIBILTIES.
Eventually to highlight the features of robust research system which India needs to develop, he stressed upon a) Improvement of research performance, b) Improvement of research quality and c) Improvement of Innovation Performance.


To leave all of you lingering in spiral of thoughts:
It was 50 years ago this May that Snow, an English physicist, civil servant and novelist, delivered a lecture at Cambridge called “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution,” which was later published in book form. Snow’s famous lament was that “the intellectual life of the whole of Western society is increasingly being split into two polar groups,” consisting of scientists on the one hand and literary scholars on the other. So why did Snow think the supposed gulf between the two cultures was such a problem? Because, he argues in the latter half of his essay, it leads many capable minds to ignore science as a vocation, which prevents us from solving the world’s “main issue,” the wealth gap caused by industrialization, which threatens global stability. "

Ultimately one can`t help but recall the verbatim of Winston Churchil that "Empires of the future will be certainly empires of the mind...!!!"


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# Questioning old beliefs and realising that nothing is absolute and certain in life compells us to communicate perspectives we have reposited on the mind being nourished everyday by infinite data, innumerous information, questionable knowledge and doubtful wisdom.

# Ability to cope up with the uncertainty and lateral thinking is another powerful tool which is symbol of efficient thinking ability of the persons to take first decisive steps to convey their point of view about the state of affiars he/she is interested in.

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A Report on International Workshop on Nanotechnology and Advanced Functional Materials

Held in National Chemical Laboratory, Pune during July 9-11, 2009:


Nanotechnology cannot be viewed in terms of dimensions alone. In fact, it represents a convergence of the traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry biology at continuously evolving research frontier. This is an area which is having highly promising prospects for turning fundamental research into successful innovation. Miniaturization of the experimentation and precision in intervention at the atomic level is the hallmark of progress in research of Nanotechnology. During the past decade the field of Nanotechnology has emerged as a frontier research area due to it's enormous promise for novel applications to diverse fields of human endeavor such as Bio-medical sciences (drug delivery, therapy, hypermedia, advanced imaging), defense (smart and light systems). Aerospace (engineered surfaces and composites) agriculture, energy and advanced device systems, special paints and coating etc.


Intense research which is now in progress worldwide is directed at realizing this promise via controlled nano-synthesis, appropriate functionalisation of nano-materials, self assembly or templated assembly of nanostructures, integration of nanomaterials with other materials to generate functional nano-composites, development and implementation of novel devise concepts highlighting the special quantum features of nano-materials and so on.


The chief attraction of the workshop was highlighted by the galaxy of the Speakers who delivered talks. In his plenary talk Prof. C.N.R. Rao from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, discussed the need to work on the interface between water and an organic liquid which according to him has not been investigated adequately for preparing nano-crystals and thin films of materials. His research consisting of liquid-liquid interface provides an excellent medium for preparing ultrathin nanocrystalline films of metals, metal chalcogenides and oxides.


Paul S. Weiss from the Pennsylvania State University Park talked about the use of molecular design, tailored synthesis, intermolecular interactions and selective chemistry to direct molecules into desired positions to create nanostructures apart from connecting functional molecules to the outside world. Anupam Medhukar from University of Southern California tried to communicate the ability to synthesize nanostructures of a wide variety of inorganic, organic and bio-organic materials. According to him, this ability enabled the designed fabrication of functional nano-systems with increasing sophistication in their architecture and expanding arenas of applications. These applications will help to reveal new approaches to addressing important issues of human environment and health. This will be possible from new paradigm for solar energy conversion to nanoscale real-time imaging of bio-makers of intracellular processes in live cells to manipulating or endowing cell function.


Nano science and nano-technology is not simply a continuation of miniaturization from the micro to the nano scale, respectively. Nano is different. The transition from micro to nano is a disruptive step, a discontinuous continuation, in many ways: in component size, in technologies, in analytics, in material properties, and in concepts. Nano-science and nano-technology stand at the confluence of classical and quantum mechanical properties and behavior and of a multiplicity of fields such as condensed matter physics and technology, macromolecular chemistry, and biology. Nano-mechanics and nano-chemistry are forging new pathways between the 'virtual' world of data processing of all kinds, including mechanical, chemical and thermal processing, and the 'real' world of sensing and actuation, bringing about a pervasive wave of new, integrated processing, sensing, and actuation technologies.


Work done by Gwangmin Kwon from Hanyang University in Korea et al reflects on ongoing minuiaturization in size and integrity of electronic and mechanical devices which lead to an interest in the fabrication of nanometer-sized uniform structured on surfaces. This technique will be an easier method for metal deposition onto the specific area under atmospheric condition. India has to visualize the potential of these types of "nanomanufacturing technologies" that will be essential in the time of full-scale application of future nanotechnology through a series of possible research efforts listed below:
a) To construct the basic technologies for efficiently manufacturing nanodevices and nanomaterials --- the design, fabrication and pattern transfer of nanostructures, the highly-reproducible and large-scale production of nanomaterials, nanomanufacturing using self-organization, and the evaluation and inspection of nanostructures.

b) To develop machines to realize above-mentioned nanomanufacturing processes and thus implement the developed nanomanufacturing technologies for various applications.

c) To investigate phenomena related to nanomanufacturing based on nanoscale science, and feed back the knowledge to the nanomanufacturing technology.

d) To innovate the manufacturing technology of various devices, systems and materials based on nanoscale science. For example, improvement of reproducibility and uniformity by understanding the interactions between tools in a broad sense and workpieces at nanoscale, develop sophisticated and environmentally-friendly manufacturing process based on nanoscale chemistry.


Some of the Frontier Areas of Nanotechnology Research are:
1) To fabricate devices by combining top-down processing and self-organization.
2) Establishment of ultra-high resolution printing technology and advance its practical applications.
3) Establishment of nanoetching technology and advance its practical applications.
4) Applying nanoimprint technology to various materials and advance its practical applications.
5) To develop innovative photo-lithography technology and laser processing technology.
6) To develop processing and inspection technology using super-parallel beam/probes.
7) Establishment of innovative bonding technology through nanosurface modification.
8) Establishment of organic synthesis technology to create nanostructures.
9) To invent new Miro-Nano Electromechanical Syatems (MNEMS) process and advance its practical applications.
10) Establishment of nanocoating technology.
11) Establishment of ultra-precision machanical processing technology with nanometer accuracy.
12) To develop next-generation nanoprocessing and nanoinspection machines.
13) Drastic improvement of the throughput and reproducibility of nanomaterial processes.
14) Establishment of large-scale nanomaterial production method.
15) Establishment of defect repairing technology for nanostructures.
16) To develop technology for the precise arrangement of biomaterials and apply the technology to biochips.
17) To produce nanomaterials and biomaterials using nanofluidic chips.
18) To fabricate new devices by integrating various nanoprocessing technologies.
19) To clarify the mechanism of self-organization, and control the self-organization.
20) Drastic improvement of manufacturing efficiency and reduce environmental burden through nanoscale science.
21) To clarify the interactions between tools in a broad sense and workpieces using nanotechnology.



Nitin Padture from the Ohio State University, Columbus, USA elaborated on recent results and concepts about 3-D ceramic/single wall carbon nanotubes compositers that posses unprecedented, hierarchical grain boundary structures. These nanocomposites are beginning to show promising mechanical properties that could be tailored; toughness, strength, contact damage resistance, and high temperature creep. In, addition, the unique grain-boundary structures of these nanocomposites could allow tailoring of their electrical and thermal properties independently, offering true multifunctionality.


Strategic significance of the workshop is understood if we glance through the areas in which current work of nanotechnology is being explored. At present, advanced photolithography, nanoimprint (nanopattern transfer), ink jet nanoprinting, scanning probe processing and measurement, laser nanoprocessing and nanomeasurement, self-organization, bioprocesses, microreactors etc. are studied as nanoprocessing technology. Nanodevices and systems such as ultra-high density LSI, nanobiochips and MEMS/NEMS and various nanomaterials are being studied. Consequently, a number of promising ideas and seeds have been generated. However, it has become clear that one important issue to be solved in the application and development of such ideas is to build the highly-efficient mass-production methods.


The scientific justification of this strategic sector is that the development of nano-measurement technology has made it possible to scientifically understand various phenomena at nanoscale. Technologies such as functional scanning probe microscopy, infinitesimal material identification, the ultra-sensitive measurement of surface-adsorbed materials, ultra-sensitive force measurement and nanoscopic positioning have been and continue to develop. These nano-measurement technologies have facilitated the scientific understanding of various phenomena seen in manufacturing processes at nanoscale.


In the presentation titled ‘Quantum Wells and Quantum Dots for Functional Devices’; S.B. Kripanidhi from Indian Institute of Science described his work in the context of recent progress in top-down lithograpjy, colloidal chemistry, and epitaxial growth have made it possible to fabricate structures in which carriers are confined in all three dimensions to a nano-size region of a semiconductor. The 3-D carrier confinement and the near discrete route of bound states are ideal for implementation of infrared detectors and energy related applications.


Amongst other notable presentations some were: Light Emitting Quantum Clusters of Gold and Silver (T.Pradeep, IIT Madras), Nanowire for logic and photovoltaic applications (Supratik Guha, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center), Functional nanoscale materials for devices (J.V. Yakhmi, BARC), Template based synthesis of nanowires and nanotubes of metal oxide and molecular materials and experiments on single nanowire (A.K.Raychaudhari, S.N.Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata), Metal nanorod arrays: Modern solutions for classical problems(Pushan Ayyub, TIFR, Mumbai), Hybrid Solar Cells: Wet-chemical process for nanocrystalline semiconductor thin films with water soluble conducting polymers (Wonjoo Lee et. al., Hanyang University, Korea), Synchrotron based characteristics of advanced materials (Xingyu Gao, National University of Singapore), Designing superior piezoelectric ferroelctrics through nanostructured materials science (Nagarajan Valanoor, University of New South Wales,
Australia).


This workshop marks the important transition phase in Indian context. As the world, mainly USA, EU and Japan has taken giant strides in the direction of development of novel devices from the quantum nanotechnology, our country has to take serious dedicated steps in the direction of long-term basic research on self-assembly/organization and surface/interface science, young researcher training programs and the importance of user facilities for interdisciplinary exchange. Also, this workshop underlined the urgency to reshape our orientation towards “complex nanosystems,” “three-dimensional measurements with excellent temporal resolution in engineering-related fields” and “convergence of science, engineering and technology at the nanoscale.”


The promise of nanotechnology can only be realized if robust, reliable devices can be constructed which have predictable functional and mechanical properties. While at the macro scale we know how to measure the requisite properties that can be used to predict mechanical reliability, straightforward tests don’t exist as the size of devices and specimens approaches the nanoscale. There are also serious questions raised as to whether the properties themselves are size dependent. Mechanisms of failure and the character of the flaws from which failure initiates can also be different for materials at the nanoscale. The coming world is the world of Electronical, Biological devices which are based on these applications of nanotechnology. Welcome to the world of Nano BioElectronics !!!

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Indian Science Budget 2009-10

Substantial quantitative hike in science budget needs generational transformation...

Kindly consider following for the instance:

a) There is high-urgency to scale up the investment in frontier areas of scientific research and matching converging technology to that research like Material Sciences, Genomics and Bio-Medical, Renewable Energy Research and many areas likewise. We have not started to look towards many emerging possibilities of scientific research let alone the budgetary allocations.

b) Our scientific research budget even cannot be compared to budget of Multinational companies like Pharmacology company Pfizer which has research budget more than that of India`s total R&D budget.

c) The discovery of new drugs and their development into useful pharmaceuticals is central to the concept of medical progress. Remembering that Indian government has created separate Dept. of Medical Research and it has got 562 crores compared to 462 crores last year, the OSDD and other efforts of DSIR for invention of new drugs and pharmaceuticals; remains stand-still as Government allocations for drugs and pharmaceuticals research stands decreased from 100 crores in 2008-09 to 96 crores in 2009-10.

d) Remembering that Defense research has many civilian research spin-offs, fresh news report about Defense Minister's submission this month in Parliament reflects that for 70 % of Military technology and equipments procurement India is still dependent on foreign companies and self-reliance is still long way to go.

Different cheerful stories kept propping up about positive Philip Indian Government gave after the Annual Financial Proposal was tabled in Parliament in the first week of the month. “India hikes science budget despite slowdown” (Nature), “The Rebirth of Indian Science” (Business World), and “India pours funds into climate, space research” (Sci-Dev Net) have applauded Government on increase in science budgets.

India`s scientific research continues to rise to the occasion by realizing the challenges of fundamental research, link between research and undergraduate education, frontier areas of research in coming years. But looking at the the vast demography, expansive consumer market and rapidly growing higher education opportunities we are well behind the human resource development of all the sectors compared to the emerging and established countries in scientific research.

While Atomic Energy (from 1703 to 2730 crores), DRDO (from 3413 to 4787 crores), Space (from 2181 to 2828 crores) and Agriculture (from 2501 to 3135 crores) remain the pivotal sectors of Indian Scientific Research the new emerging areas are being given conscious attention. Climate Change, Ecology and Environment related investments are up from 682 to 955 crores while Oceanographic research will have it`s expanded share in the form of 519 crores up from 321 crores in 08-09.

Major thrust areas like Nano-science, Nanotechnology and Bio-Science and Bio-Technologies are witnessing transitional change in the national approach towards high-tech areas which are characterized by serious and expensive fundamental research. DST recently launched Energy Bio-sciences Research centre in University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. While National Mission on Nano-Science and Nanotechnology could not secure beyond 130 crores in 09-10 compared to what it got 145 crores in 09-10 the Department of Biotechnology also saw marginal increase from 821 to 912 crores in current fiscal.

Looking at the last three year trend by tracing the data provided by Statement I – Consolidated Fund Of India - Revenue Account – Disbursements estimates for 2007-08 FY were revised from 8596 Crores Rs. to 7321 Crores Rs. In 2008-09 this proposed allocation(unrevised) went on to become 9208 Crores Rs. This FY 09-10 sees the hike upto 12, 716 Crores Rs. There is one observed and uncomfortable indicator to the aspect of spending of Science budget allocations. Majority of the funds allocated to the basic and industrial science research are facing reduction in the following revised estimates compared to the other ‘Strategic’ sectors like Space, Atomic Energy and Defense which normally are spending more in revised estimates vis-a-vis other scientific bodies.

This raises two important questions. It is not entirely right to raise the doubt on efficiency of other scientific research institutions to spend money but it is observed that compared to the Strategic research institutions they are being little behind in comprehensive spending out of the allocated money. Secondly why we are not able to adapt to demand to initiate large scale public research programs and centers of excellence which will really address to the concern of apparently small but day to day problems of Indian life. Debate of Big Science and Little Science continues to harass the budgetary allocations whenever we watch the sharp divide between civilian and defense research balance tilting towards latter one.

While the trend in spending continues to be encouraging and there are some concrete reasons for the rejuvenation of research system due to the schemes which are launched rapidly in last two years such as formation of new central universities, new Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Indian Institute of Technologies, National Science and Social Science Foundation (NS3F) as well as National Foundation for Science and Engineering (NFSE). With an annual budget of Rs 1,000 crore. On the front of Human Resource Development it should be noted that we are spending money but not significantly. There are scholarships of INSPIRE, Young Scientists Programe of DST/DBT, UGC-CSIR JRFs/SRFs but those are minuscule when we look at the negative enrollment, completion and progress reports of the science students throughout their journey in graduation, post graduation and at research level. Government must devote extraordinary attention towards HRD in Science-Technology-Innovation because no committed research is possible unless and untill bright incentives are provided at early age.

India will not be able to respond confidently to the policy changes are being taken worldwide if we do not address the problem of research funding at two levels. Firstly Our failure in motivating private sector to contribute their money towards research is hampering the development of fundamental research in our public funded research institutions. Considering the pros and cons of the debate associated with “Utilization and Commercialization of Public Funded Research Bill 2008” it should be emphasized that new mode of knowledge production will arrive only when Govt-University-Industry will actively work when the fundamental research is directly linked to entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development of the nation based on the supportive funds provided by governments. Enactment of ‘Science and Engineering Research Board’ in Dec. 2008 was very positive development in this regard.

Secondly, we have to establish and fund more research alliances and knowledge networks in order to make cascading effect out of investment in HRD consisting of more and more Ph.Ds, These formal and informal research networks must be empowered by government in order to inspire themselves for more steps in the direction towards venture capital Culture. These people then will really come up with valuable suggestions on how we can transform the picture of spending in Scientific Research will move forward from 0.8 % of GDP to ahead compared to 3.1 % of Japan, 2.7% of USA, 2.5 % of Korea and 1.2 % of China.

National Knowledge Commission has amplified this already magnified problem of HRD in these words: “ If India is to make the transition to a Knowledge economy, it is therefore vital that research and development within the country be dramatically improved. There is ample evidence that India is not well-placed for this future transformation. For example, in many disciplines, there is already a severe shortage of well-trained young doctorates to fill in existing posts in research institutes and universities. This problem is likely to be even more acute in the envisaged elite new universities.” In this respect it should be noted that proposal for Scholarships in Science in Higher Education is lowered by 85 crores in 08-09 budget to mere 40 crores in 09-10 Financial Statement.

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Total Solar Eclipse 22 July 2009 Photographs

Click Here:

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/world/solar-eclipse-sweeps-across-asia/20090722-dsrc.html