US is advancing well into UAV area.They are doing research on how birds and makkhi's fly and are making small planes with light wings to fly with same technique.I saw some flyinf models on national geographic.
It was very very small. <!--emo&:o--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ohmy.gif' /><!--endemo--> Just like playing disc. It goes very high and takes very fine high resolution videos with coin-shaped cameras.
Lets dream indians are making something like it in background. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rolleyes.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Note: Dreaming is not offence. <!--emo&:lol:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='laugh.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Ground trials on the new engine will commence next year and the first actual flight may take off by 2007. </b> <!--emo&:thumbsup--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbup.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbup.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:guitar--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/guitar.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='guitar.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
By VIJESH KAMATH
DH News Service, BANGALORE
Imagine travelling from Bangalore to London in less than three hours or cruising around the globe at 5,700 kms per hour! <b>Even as the world is celebrating the centenary of powered human flight, India is all set to actively compete with Russia, France and the US to realise what is being dubbed as âone of the greatest aeronautical research challengeâ â achieving sustainable hypersonic flight in atmosphere.</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Speeds greater than Mach 5 or five times the speed of sound are called hypersonic, thatâs travelling at speeds about 1.6 km per second or approximately 5,700 km per hour. A regular passenger plane flies at 0.8 Mach while fast military jets fly at Mach 2 (supersonic fighter aircraft). SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest jet flies at Mach 3.2. The fastest rocket-plane, X-15 flew once at Mach 6.6 way back in 1960.
The Hyderabad based Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) has now taken up the ambitious task of developing an engine that can maintain an aircraft at mind-boggling hypersonic speeds. âTechnologically it is possible, but the task is very challenging. It is like sustaining a lighted candle in a hurricane,â DRDL Director Prahlada told Deccan Herald here.
An alumnus of UVCE and the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Mr Prahlada is confident India will achieve the first actual flight of the engine by 2007. Presently in the configuration stage, the ground trials on the engine will commence next year, he said.
The scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjets) propelled by a special type of air-breathing jet engine, is the key enabling technology for sustained hypersonic flight. Mr Prahlada , who is also leading the integrated guided missile programme as chairman of the Programme Board which has the responsibility of realising, producing and deploying the missile systems Prithvi, Trishul, Akash and Nag, says the project is a more practical version of DRDOâs Aerobic Vehicle for Hypersonic Aerospace Transportation (AVATAR) envisaged to deliver a 500 kg to 1,000 kg payload to low earth orbit.
Another great challenge in designing a hypersonic plane, Dr Prahlada points out, is to build an aircraft that will withstand the temperatures experienced at high speed flight.
DRDL is working with the Mishra Dathu Nigam (Midani) to develop high temperature Nickel-Cobalt alloys and other exotic composite materials that can handle the heat associated with hypervelocity flight. In addition, the conceptual design, development of technology components are being jointly undertaken by the IITs, IISc and a few universities across the country, Mr Prahlada said.
<b>India has another advantage in this sector, the aircraft could be integrated with proven rocket technology like that of Agni for providing the initial thrust during take off. </b>
venture???...u mean there is some 2nd party? <!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
No news is bad news from Mars :friusty
Thursday, December 25, 2003 Posted: 8:48 PM EST (0148 GMT)
LONDON, England -- British scientists have failed in their latest attempt to make contact with the Beagle 2 probe which was to have landed on Mars on Christmas Day.
The lack of a signal is a blow for the European Space Agency which is making its attempt to land a craft on the Red Planet.
More than 19 hours after the tiny craft was to have rolled to a stop on the surface of Mars, the radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, England, took advantage of the planet's position to begin scanning its surface for the Beagle's signal, The Associated Press reports.
Almost six years after South Asia went overtly nuclear, the Indian Army is getting some cover against a tactical nuclear strike on its forward or advancing formations.
<b>Defence Ministry sources said the army was planning to build hundreds of underground field shelters near the border and LoC and nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) warfare gear will soon be made available to troops in bulk</b>.
<b>âThe shelters will be installed at various places along our boundaries, including the LoC, and the Punjab and Rajasthan borders,â the sources said</b>.
<b>âThe shelter is a self-contained unit with sleeping bunks for 30 personnel, captive power and water supply, toilets, a decontamination module, waste disposal and fire-fighting systems,â </b>explains Pradeep Dass of Dass Hitachi, a Delhi engineering company, which will manufacture the shelters.
âThe shelter can also be used as a decontamination centre for troops,â says Brigadier G.R.C. Rajan, an NBC expert. âIn the event of an attack, soldiers (who escape a N-strike) can pass through the shelter for decontamination and rest,â he points out.
Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, <b>12 prototypes of the shelter costing Rs 70 lakh each</b>, have been handed over to the army.
Former vice-chief of army staff Lt.-General (retd) Vijay Oberoi says the shelters are not designed to protect everybody. âIn a million-man army, we canât protect everybody. The shelters will protect key commanders and command centres.â
Dass agrees. âIt is designed for ensuring the survival of key personnel in a near-miss situation,â he says. In a direct nuclear hit, itâs going to be instant vaporisation.
Experts say itâs the perfect opportunity to construct the shelters as N-hell has broken loose in Pakistan. With Pakistan accused of proliferation on a massive scale, Indiaâs move can only be construed as defensive.
Besides, building permanent defensive structures along the LoC, gives it even more legitimacy.
The go-ahead for the construction of the shelters presupposes that Pakistan is likely to use tactical nukes against an Indian armoured thrust early in a war. However, experts doubt if Pakistan has the expertise to make tactical nukes.
Boston, March 3 -- A team of researchers led by Indian American physicist Rusi Taleyarkhan announced March 2 that they have new evidence in support of earlier findings that sound waves can be used in nuclear fusion reactions.
Taleyarkhan, an IIT (Chennai) alumni, came to the United States in 1977, earning a master's degrees in nuclear engineering and business administration and later a doctorate in nuclear engineering, also from Rensselaer. He is the developer of the stun gun or variable velocity projectile, which is being tested by the US military.
The present research, a follow-up to a controversial report published two years ago, describes "statistically significant neutron and gamma ray emissions" after sound waves and pulsed neutrons hit a chilled liquid acetone tank spiked with deuterium fuel.
When Taleyarkhan and his team of researchers made the same claim in an article in the journal Science two years ago, many scientists reacted with skepticism, even ridicule. But new experiments, using better detectors, offer more convincing data that the phenomenon is real.
"We've addressed all the issues and now they all speak for themselves with far greater intensity than they did before," said Taleyarkhan, who conducted the experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and is a professor of nuclear engineering at Purdue.
"A fair amount of very substantial new work was conducted, " Taleyarkhan said. "And also, this time around I made a conscious decision to involve as many individuals as possible - top scientists and physicists from around the world and experts in neutron science - to come to the lab and review our procedures and findings before we even submitted the manuscript to a journal for its own independent peer review."
WASHINGTON: An Indian-American scientist with the IIT imprimatur has, along with several American colleagues, caused a stir in the world scientific community by claiming to have achieved nuclear fusion in a small table top experiment. If it is proved right and authenticated by peers, such a fusion â the same principle that fuels the sun â could be the source of cheap, clean and limitless energy, and could change the world.
Scientists have worked for decades in this direction and the possibility that a team might have cracked the problem is considered so remote that the announcement, to be reported in the journal Science later this week, has been greeted with scepticism in the academic community. Leading the research team making a stab at what is considered the holy grail in the world of physics is Rusi Taleyarkhan, a senior scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Richard Lahey, a professor of engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
Taleyarkhan earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, and came to the United States in 1977, earning a master's degrees in nuclear engineering and business administration and later a doctorate in nuclear engineering, also from Rensselaer. He considers Dr Lahey, who is also close to India and has consulted with the Indian nuclear establishment, his mentor.
...
"Of course Mother Nature does throw googlies at us, but we believe it can be scaled and are optimistically cautious," Dr Taleyarkhan told this correspondent in an interview Tuesday from his lab in Oakridge. "Such a process also has applications other than mass energy production, such as food radiation and chemical synthesis."
The journal Science itself was non-committal. "In this instance, we see no good reason for suppressing the paper, and even less for attempts to discredit in advance. The premature critics of the result, and those who believe in it, would both do well to cool it, and wait for the scientific process to do its work," it said in an editorial comment.
Dr Taleyarkhanâs has impressive scientific pedigree and credentials. He has been the group leader and program manager in the Engineering and Technology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. One of his more remarkable inventions is a rifle that can be adjusted so its user fires bullets at varying speeds. The US government has shown great interest in the project because such a non-lethal weapon can be used effectively for peace-keeping, riot-control, and school security.
Son of a prominent Parsi clan of Mumbai, Dr Taleyarkhanâs larger family includes luminaries such as the late Bobby Talyarekhan, the famous radio broadcaster, and Homi Taleyarkhan, a former diplomat. He is married to Navaz Rusi and they have three children, Pervin, Manaz and Meher.
Excerpts from report ... full text available from AP.
March 5, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A phenomenon that may be nuclear fusion was created in a laboratory bottle by researchers who zapped tiny dissolved bubbles with sound waves, which triggered a flash of light and a brief surge of superhigh temperatures.
Using a device described as the size of three stacked coffee cups, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say the phenomenon was like nuclear fusion in a bottle. Some scientists disputed the claim. The study appears this week in the journal Science and was released for publication by the journal on Monday. Researchers at Oak Ridge said the experiment, which they called "bubble fusion," created two signs of nuclear fusion: a burst of subatomic particles called neutrons and the production of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen.
In an unusual additional review, however, two other Oak Ridge researchers said the experiment's results were not accurate. This additional report was posted on the Internet by Science, along with a response by the original authors.
Harnessing nuclear fusion, the power that lights the sun, has long been a goal of researchers who view it as the ultimate energy source. Most researchers have concentrated on huge machines that mimic the sun by compressing hydrogen plasma and heating it to millions of degrees to force atoms to fuse. This reaction gives off heat and an isotope of helium, along with some subatomic particles.
In the experiment reported in Science, researchers used the simple equipment to create and analyze a brief flash and burst of heat that may be fusion. R. P. Taleyarkhan of Oak Ridge, the first author of the study, said in Science that the experiment is true "tabletop physics," using an apparatus "the size of three coffee cups stacked on top of the other." Richard Lahey Jr., a Rensselaer professor and a co-author of the study, said in a statement it was not clear whether the technique could be used as an energy source.
In the study, researchers used a beaker of a chemical called deuterated acetone. Normal acetone is a colorless, volatile liquid often used as a paint remover or chemical solvent. In deuterated acetone, the chemical's normal hydrogen atoms have been replaced with deuterium, a hydrogen isotope that is heavier than ordinary hydrogen and is capable of fusion reactions. When combined with oxygen, deuterium is sometimes called "heavy water."
The researchers introduced tiny bubbles, no bigger than the period at the end of a sentence, into the beaker. They then zapped the bubbles with sound waves. The bubbles rapidly expanded and then collapsed. It's believed that the bubble collapse causes a momentary shock wave that creates high pressures, high temperatures and a flash of light, called sonoluminescence.
...
The announcement of the Taleyarkhan tabletop fusion experiment is in sharp contrast to one that University of Utah researchers announced at a news conference in 1989. Unlike the Utah experiment, which was rejected by many other physicists, Taleyarkhan's experiment was reviewed by a committee of experts, selected by Science, before the study was accepted for publication.
<!--QuoteBegin-O Vijay+Mar 4 2004, 11:39 PM-->QUOTE(O Vijay @ Mar 4 2004, 11:39 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--> http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS....0304082201
Indian American Confirms Breakthrough Fusion Experiment
Francis C. Assisi
An Indian theoretical physicist who questioned the existence of black holes and thereby challenged Stephen Hawking of Britain at last feels vindicated. But he is sad.
Abhas Mitra, at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, was perhaps the first and the only scientist who had the guts to openly challenge Hawking of Cambridge University who is regarded by many as the modern-day Einstein.
For over 30 years Hawking and his followers were perpetuating the theory that black holes -- resulting from gravitational collapse of massive stars -- destroy everything that falls into them preventing even light or information to escape.
Mitra, four years ago, in a controversial paper in the reputed journal, Foundations of Physics Letters, showed that Hawking's theory was flawed. He proved black holes couldn't exist because their formation and existence flouted Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Except a handful, the majority of mainstream scientists dismissed Mitra's conclusions even though, till now, no scientist has contradicted him in writing. Mitra invited several notable black hole theorists including Hawking and Jayant Narlikar of India to criticise his work but no one replied.
Naturally, Mitra now feels vindicated following Hawking's own admission two weeks ago at a conference in Dublin, Ireland, that there isn't a black hole "in the absolute sense."
In essence, Hawking's "new" black holes never quite become the kind that gobble up everything. Instead, they keep emitting radiation for a long time -- exactly what Mitra showed in his paper.
Hawking's about-turn has vindicated Mitra. But, in retrospect, he feels sad about the treatment he got at home while trying to take on Hawking all by himself.
Too "embarrassed" to be associated with a man who challenged Hawking, even Mitra's close colleagues avoided him and he became an outcast. To add insult to injury, BARC authorities removed Mitra from the theoretical physics division on the excuse that this division was meant only for those doing "strategic research."
"The ironic element in this whole exercise," Mitra told PTI, "is that the person who actually dared to show that there cannot be any black holes was completely ignored both by the academicians and the media."
A black hole is characterised by an imaginary boundary called the "event horizon" that shuts everything within. But in 1976 Hawking introduced quantum mechanics into the problem and claimed that black holes do radiate energy -- although at a low rate -- and ultimately vanish into nothingness.
The vanishing act, however, destroys all the trapped information as well - directly conflicting with the laws of quantum physics that say that information can never be completely wiped out. This is the "information loss paradox" associated with black holes that, in a way, was created by Hawking's own work.
One logical resolution of this paradox would have been to realise that black holes did not exist. But Mitra says that such sweeping, yet logical thinking "was never undertaken by either party involved in this prolonged debate and they kept on debating effectively to make the paradox more popular and perpetuating."
It was then that Mitra published his seminal paper showing that gravitational collapse of massive star can at best produce an "Eternally Collapsing Object" but not an "event horizon" or a black hole in the strict sense. "Since no event horizon is formed, there is no paradox at all in the first place," Mitra argued.
In a subsequent work Mitra showed that the "Eternally Collapsing Objects" that he proposed are actually the massive compact objects now referred to as Black Hole Candidates (BHCs).
Motivated by Mitra's work, American physicists Stanley Robertson and Darryl Leiter have confirmed in 2002 that BHCs have intense magnetic fields as predicted by Mitra and therefore are not real black holes which cannot have magnetic field.
Mitra says that in the light of new developments, "the supposed black holes are not really black holes and it would be intellectual dishonesty to still call them as black holes and keep the debate alive."
Though his own colleagues had sidelined Mitra after his first paper, he is solaced by the encouraging e-mails he had received from several physicists around the world.
One from Salvatore Antoci, University of Padova, Italy, a noted relativist says: "Let me express to you my great joy in seeing your much-disputed paper eventually accepted for publication by Foundations of Physics Letters. Convincing the community of relativists about the mythical nature of black holes will remain a tremendous task, but it is a little less desperate thanks to your success."
Peder Norberg, of the Department of Physics, Durham University, UK, said he carefully read through Mitra's paper and found "that most of the results presented there are more than impressive" while Stanley Robertson, a relativist of South Oklahoma State University, USA said: "On first becoming acquainted with your work, I was dubious, thinking it unlikely that something as profound as belief in the existence of black holes could become erroneously established in the literature. In the meanwhile, I have found no errors in your work. It is fascinating."
The only Indian who praised Mitra's work was relativist Pankaj Joshi of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.
The BARC scientist recalls the episode in the 1930s when Subramanian Chandrasekhar's work on the upper mass limit of white dwarfs was considered incorrect by celebrated astrophysicists like Sir Arthur Eddington even though no one could precisely point out any error in Chandra's work.
<b>India's first Skybus successfully test-run</b> -Pioneer
Margaon
India's first Skybus was successfully test-run here on Wednesday. "With the first public test, the technology is proven. The Skybus' potential is enormous. It costs much less than models like the underground Metro and is flexible as it does not need any particular geography for implementation," Konkan Railway Corporation Limited MD D Rajaram said.
<b>MShourie gives Rs 12 crore to IIT-Kanpur!y Webpage</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He's planning to give the money to IIT-K once again this time for a research centre on environmental remediation where research would be undertaken to find solutions to various environmental problems such as air and water pollution.
Once again the IIT top team is putting together a project report so that he can get permission to spend the money. "After the success of the BSBE department at IIT-Kanpur, I'm confident of getting permission to contribute the entire funds towards the environmental remediation centre," he says.
Shourie believes environmental remediation is the need of the hour. "It is a great problem which can be converted into a great opportunity. Once we have found solutions to our environmental problems, we can market these solutions to Europe."
Shourie has made his mark on Indian public life as a journalist, minister and legislator. But on the IIT-K campus he has left a memorial in bricks and mortar.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Shourie gives Rs 12 crore to IIT-Kanpur! </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He's planning to give the money to IIT-K once again this time for a research centre on environmental remediation where research would be undertaken to find solutions to various environmental problems such as air and water pollution.
Once again the IIT top team is putting together a project report so that he can get permission to spend the money. "After the success of the BSBE department at IIT-Kanpur, I'm confident of getting permission to contribute the entire funds towards the environmental remediation centre," he says.
Shourie believes environmental remediation is the need of the hour. "It is a great problem which can be converted into a great opportunity. Once we have found solutions to our environmental problems, we can market these solutions to Europe."
Shourie has made his mark on Indian public life as a journalist, minister and legislator. But on the IIT-K campus he has left a memorial in bricks and mortar.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Murthy laments Indian leadership</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Accusing the political and bureaucratic leadership of failing in their duty to develop the country, IT major Infosys Chairman and Mentor N R Narayanamurthy today lamented that the quality of people was sliding down further and further.
''They have failed to raise the aspirations of the people and the interest of the community ahead of their own interest,'' he said while delivering the Conference Chairman's
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Referring to agricultural productivity, he informed that 65 per cent of the people in rural areas produce 220 million tonnes of food grains. ''The real solution to reduce poverty is to wean away people from the agricultural sector to manufacturing and services sector,'' he said, adding that this would result in greater agricultural productivity.
Narayanamurthy said it would be a misnomer to say that India had emerged as an IT superpower. The Country's IT turnover was a mere 13 billion dollars compared to the world trade of 300 to 400 billion dollars. ''We hardly contribute four or five per cent,'' he added. Referring to exports, he said India should emulate the example of countries such as China, South East Asia, Mexico and Brazil and encourage exports. The exports should jump from the current 11 per cent of the GDP to 35 per cent and this meant ''we have to jump from 70 billion dollars of exports to 250 billion dollars.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
(not sure which thread this article belongs to, here it goes....)
From: K.M.Padmanabhan, Prerana Educational Media P Ltd.
INTERACTION WITH THE STUDENTS OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SRINAGAR
19-08-2004: Srinagar
Mission of Developed India and the Youth
I am indeed delighted to participate in the interaction meet with the students of National Institute of Technology. I greet the students, and congratulate the Faculty and staff of NIT, for shaping the young minds. I always cherish interaction with the students and faculties in this intellectually alert environment. Here I am reminded of the question asked by a young girl from Nagaland, during my visit. She asked me, Mr. President, I would like to live in a happy, prosperous and safe India. Will you please tell me when and how it will be achieved? And tell Mr. President, how can I contribute as a student for such a mission? This is a very important question for all of you. You have to ask yourself, what I can give to our country keeping this in my mind; I have chosen the title of my talk, missions of Developed India and the Youth.
Freedom movement and scientists
The first vision of independence in 1857 triggered the process of change. Later the freedom movement brought the best of leaders in politics, public life, music, poetry, literature and science. This movement was driven patriotism and sacrifice with a unity of mind and purpose. There was a desire in many Indians to excel and surpass foreigners in every field of life. This led to demonstrating their individual talent. In Chandra, the biography of the famous astrophysicist S
Chandra Sekhar by Kameshwar Wali, it reads:
Before 1910, there were no (Indian) scientists of international reputation but after the first world war between 1920 and 1925, suddenly five scientists of international repute emerged. They were JC Bose, CV Raman, Meghnad Saha, Srinivasa Ramanjan and Prof Chandra Sekhar himself. I have associated this remarkable phenomenon with the need for self-_expression, which became a dominant motive among the young during the national movement. It was a part of the national movement to assert oneself. We could show the west in their own realm that we were equal to them. Like science, the first vision of the freedom movement generated top class leaders in every walk of life.
I am always reminded of an incident of significance that took place sometime in 1901 when a ship was sailing from Bombay to Europe. Two great human beings were travelling in that ship. They introduced each other. They were Swami Vivekananda and Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. Swamiji asked Nausserwanji Tata where he was going and what was the mission. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata said, Swamiji I am going with a mission to bring steel industry to my country. Friends it was 1901, when India was ruled by the British. Swamiji said, it is indeed a beautiful mission. However, I would like to give you a small caution. Whatever amount you spend to get the process of making steel, you should invest in learning the metallurgical science of making steel also. I will prefer, you start an institute, a laboratory to do advanced research on the subject. What a prophetic statement!. A big planning took place. That planning had two parts: the first part was to start steel manufacturing plant presently at Jamshedpur. After this he donated one sixth of his property for establishing an Institute for material research, which is the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore.
The message we get is that in the pre independence period we had visionary leaders who had contributed to the freedom movement through achievements in science, technology and industry.
After 57 years of independence, aspirations are mounting that India should become a developed country. This is the second vision for the nation. How we can
prepare ourselves for this challenge? Second Vision for the nation To become a developed India, the essential needs are
(a) India has to be economically and commercially powerful, at least to be one of the four top nations in terms of size of the economy. Our target should be a sustained GDP growth of more than 10 percent annually and that the people below the poverty line to be reduced to near zero.
(b) Near self-reliance in defense and needs of weapon, equipment with no umbilical attached to the outside world.
We have identified five areas where India has a core competence for an integrated action.
(1) Agriculture and food processing - we have to place a target of 360 million tons of food and agricultural production. Other areas of agriculture and agro food processing would bring prosperity to rural people and speed up economic growth.
(2) Reliable and quality electric power for all parts of the country.
(3) Education and Healthcare - we have seen, based on experience, education and healthcare are inter related.
(4) Information Communication Technology - This is one of our core competence. We believe, this area can be used to promote education in remote areas and also to create national wealth.
(5) Strategic sectors - This area, fortunately, witnessed growth in nuclear technology, space technology and defense technology. Other areas like Advanced Sensors and Materials would need a push.
These five areas are closely inter-related and would lead to national, food, and economic security. A strong partnership among the R&D, academia, Industry and the community as a whole with Government departments will be essential to accomplish the Vision.
Connectivity for rural development Nearly 700 million people of India live in the rural areas in 600,000 villages. Connectivity of village complexes providing economic opportunities to all segments of people is an urgent need to bridge the rural-urban divide, generate employment and enhance rural prosperity. Repeating what we did before for several decades with more of the same may not be the way to proceed further. We need to innovate to increase connectivities to the villages making clusters out of them even while retaining their individualities.
The integrated methods which will bring prosperity to rural India are: the physical connectivity of the village clusters through quality roads and transport; electronic connectivity through tale-communication with high bandwidth fiber optic cables reaching the rural areas from urban cities and through internet kiosks; knowledge connectivity through education, skill training for farmers, artisans and craftsmen and entrepreneurship programmes. These three connectives will lead to economic connectivity through starting of enterprises with the help of banks, micro credits and marketing of the products. The integrated method envisages a mission mode empowered management structure with executive powers at the local implementation levels and by reducing the transactional costs through simplification of procedures of governance.
Creating such village clusters depending upon the region and population will cost between Rs.100-200 crores per cluster. After initial short-term employment during construction etc., we may have to plan for initiating actions for providing regular employment opportunities for 3000 ý 5000 people. This has to be done by creating new market driven enterprises brought by investors. If the industrial areas (IT, BT, Cottage industries) are marketed well they can attract investors and thus lead to local wealth generation. Such value addition will also generate high value employment in service and support sector for about 10000 people. In addition we need to promote entrepreneurship in the rural areas and equip people with skills for their own self-employment meeting the needs of modern economy and society. Some of these persons may also turn out to be innovators and create new big industries. Development of J&K J&K has approximately 6400 inhabited villages with a population of over 8 million. The population is spread in hilly terrain and 75 per cent of them live in villages. Their main occupation is agriculture and cottage industries such as carpet weaving, silk products, handicrafts etc. The area is rich in forest trees such as Chinar, deodar, pine and fir. Walnut, willow, almond, cider and saffron add to the rich flora of Jammu & Kashmir. The state also has a rich crop of fruits particularly Apple, Leh Berry, cherry. Value addition to fruits and vegetables is very important.
The entire state of J&K can have 100 PURAs each having approximately 60 villages and an average population of over fifty thousand. The task will be to create physical, electronic, knowledge connectivity to these village clusters leading to economic connectivity of the cluster. The role of NIT in national development
The NIT Faculty and students as part of their project work, should develop the connectivity and economic development of a few chosen clusters as a economically
viable business model. This will give them an ample opportunity to make their education practically relevant and useful to the society.
Their development programme can include improvements in the existing systems of agriculture and the handicrafts of the villages and implementation of modern technological methods. The NIT Faculty can train the students in entrepreneurship programme which will enable the students to provide leadership in some of the villager cluster enterprises. NIT students in turn can train the villagers through vocational training programmes on modern methods of agriculture, handicrafts and cottage industries. Research can also be carried out in hill agriculture. There is a laboratory in Leh called FRL (Field Research Laboratory) specialized in hill agriculture, animal husbandry and poultry in extreme cold climate.
Role Model
The institution and the faculty members should work towards making themselves as role models in their own discipline. This will attract best of students to the institution. In addition to quality and value based education, the formal education in entrepreneurship is required, which will make the students do things differently, thinking beyond boundaries, being bold, and be able to take risks. In addition, a normalization programme is required for developing communication, aptitude and attitudinal skills among the students coming from various rural areas, which will provide a level playing field for these students.
Networking of Institutes of Excellence NIT should develop its own core competence and it should be unique. It is possible to facilitate collaborative knowledge sharing through Tele-Education and knowledge connectivity with other National Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Science. This will help the faculty members to share the knowledge with other leading engineering institutions and promote self-learning by students.
We have several institutions of higher learning in engineering and technology in the country. These include the IISc, IITs, NITs and many leading technology universities. One of the powers of networking is that it is disruptive technology and a knowledge multiplier. In order to make availability of knowledge across these institutions uniform, I recommend that the Nation takes up on priority basis to network these institutions with a very high speed backbone so that real time multiple streams of video and audio can be shared across. This will make our dream of virtual university a reality.
Now I would like to answer some of the questions asked by the NIT students.
1. How India will be able to make a successful manned mission to moon? - Asma Ranshid, 3rd Mechanical.
Ans. At the moment the Lunar mission aims at launching a satellite which will orbit around the moon and acquire scientific data. All the technologies needed for this mission is available with the Indian Space Research Organisation. Launching of manned mission will be the next step.
2. What is the future of electrical energy being transmitted via satellite instead of transmission lines?- Laraib Muzamil, 7th Electrical.
Ans. Launching of Solar power satellite will be another challenge to the world community.
3. How India is going to develop in the field of material and electronics?- Kuldeep Singh Chib, 7th Mechanical.
Ans. Nano Technology is going to play a major part in the field of materials and electronics. Nano science deals with 1 to 100 nano metre size moleculer structure. Nano science will make a revolution in electronics, biotechnology and materials. Certain research and industrialization are in progress. A mission mode planning is essential to reap the benefits of nano science and technology.
4. As you know that the rest mass of photon is zero. Also any particle having rest mass equal to zero can attain the velocity of light. According to Einstein mass of particle increase with increase in velocity. Since when photon strikes anything it behaves as particle. Why then its mass is not infinite at that time as its velocity is equal to the velocity of light? -Bital Ahmed Shah, 7th E & C.
Ans. Though physicists say that photons are massless, it is possible to assign a "relativistic mass" to a photon which depends upon its wavelength. This relativistic mass can not be infinite. Due to finite wavelength the mass of the photon is finite even at the velocity of light.
5. Why organisations like HAL, NAL, DRDO & ISRO have not as yet started their research related activities in the valley? - Mir Ajaz Ahmed, 5th Civil.
Ans. DRDO has a Field Research laboratory at Leh which concentrates on High Altitude Agriculture, Poultry and Animal Husbandry. Also SASE of DRDO has detachments at Srinagar and many other places in the valley which in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology works on mountain meteorology, and they give avalanche prediction to the Armed Forces and Civilian Sectors. Communication and Remote Sensing Data provided by ISRO is widely being used by Geologists and Communication Specialists. The Indian Astronaumical Obersvatory (IAO) the high altitude station of IIA, is situated at an altitude of 4500 metres above MSL to the north of western Himalayas. The cloudless skies and low atmospheric water vapour make it one of the best sites in the world for optical, infrared sub millimeter and millimeter wavelengths.
6. What steps our Government is taking to set up software & electronics industries in the valley?-Rasleen Kaur, 7th E&C.
Ans. There is a Software Technology Park in Srinagar. The CEDT was established quite some time back. The State Government is also now inviting number of entrepreneurs to come forward and set up Software and Electronics Industries in the valley. Because of its clean environment and the cold climate the valley is suitable for electronics and computer hardware.
7. Why we are not at par with other countries in producing nobel laureates?-Anabreen Anjum, 7th Civil.
Ans. Science is a life long mission and a full time passion. Emphasis on sustained high quality science, funding scientific institutions and encouraging the young scientists have commenced in a big way recently in our country. The type of infrastructure which has come now in various organizations in the country demands high quality research. I hope in a decade many things can happen.
8. How do you justify the statement preparation for war as a defence for peace.-Rahul, 5th Mechanical.
Ans. My view is the following for the last 3000 years India has been invaded by many countries. Alaxander invaded India then British ruled, French had the colony, dutch had the colony, portugese had set up colony. Why? India needs peace for its progress. When all around the nation countires have nuclear weapons India cannot sit and do tapas. Strength respects strength. Whatever we have done in defence is only to defend our freedom. At no time India either in the past or in the future would ever invade any nation and for example our nuclear policy enunciates no first use . That means defending the country is the foremost mission.
9. In our State, we have a policy to recruit diploma & degree holders in the ratio 3:1 for J.E. Post. Diploma engineers are preferred over highly qualified B.E. / B.Tech. degree candidates. How can you help us in solving this problem? -Sikander Choudhary, 7th Civil.
Ans. In our country, in all our states and UTs, we have small number of jobs to offer from the government side. Presently, a three pronged approach to generate entrepreneurs, who would in turn generate employment is being launched. Schools and colleges will teach the art of entrepreneurship to the students. The banks will provide the venture capital through hassle free loans. This approach, as in developed countries, has to spread in India and create more enterprises so that instead of job seekers we will have job providers.
NITs should offer special courses on Entrepreneurship for the engineering graduates passing out from this institution. They should also work with Industrial units and banks for creating new enterprises in the valley. The entrepreneur developed by this Institute will manage these Enterprises. This will be the long-term solution for finding creative and productive employment for the engineering graduates.
10. Our valley is having a high potential for hydro electric power and wind energy but exploitation is not at satisfactory level. What steps are being taken by the Government in this direction?-Binyamin Ahmed, 7th Mech.
Ans. Hydro potential in the state is 14000 MW. So far 1474 MW power is being generated. 960 MW power plant is under construction. There are 30 projects for which feasibility reports have been prepared for generating additional power to the extent 2480 MW of hydro power. There are constraints due to some international treaties in certain river regions. There is no plan for wind energy while there are solar power has been generated and used in villages of Kargil and Leh. Solar power potential is very high because 320 days sunlight is available. Mini hydels of 1 MW capacity is being explored. Ministry of NES is exploring the possibility of generating through Geo thermal potential at Puga valley.
11. In view of N.I.T. Srinagar (formerly R.E.C. Srinagar) being an institution of Excellence, established in 1960, having distinguished faculty, best facilities, located at backdrop of beautiful hills besides the lake and topographically best located. We are not having any I.I.T. in J & K, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Why our Institute is not being transformed into I.I.T.? - Fouzia Nazir, 7th E&C.
Ans. My view is you bring a name to NIT in performance and a brand. One day you will get it. In this connection I would like recall a famous couplet from Thirukkural of Saint Thiruvalluvar. It means that whatever may be the depth of the river or lake or pond, whatever may be the condition of the water, the Lilly flower always comes out and blossoms. Similarly, if there is a definite determination to achieve a goal even if it is impossible to achieve, the man succeeds.
Conclusion: what can I give to my country? Every one of us has gone through the various phases of education from childhood to profession. A scene appears in front of me. A child, a teenager, an adult and a leader. How does each one react to a particular situation? The situation is human need. The child asks, "What can you do for me"? The teenager says, "I want to do it alone". The young person proclaims, "let us do it together". The leader offers, "What can I do for you". National Institute of Technology is transforming you to become a leader. I am sure, with this spirit you will always ask yourself a question what can I give to my country and be a partner in transforming the nation into a peaceful, prosperous and happy place to live.
<b>Cellphones outstrip landlines in India</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI (AFP) - Mobile phone users have outstripped traditional landline connections in India, the government announced.
Some 44.5 million Indians now use mobile handsets, compared with the 43.9 million existing landline users, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement.
"And thus the number of mobile subscribers has now crossed fixed telephony subscribers in the country," the regulator said, following the addition of 1.2 million cellular telephone users since April.
According to US-based investment bank Morgan Stanley, India's mobile market is expected to grow at a compound average rate of 40 percent until 2007.
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The New Space Race
Why China and India could rule the skies
By Bruce SterlingPage 1 of 1
Americans might wonder why developing countries like India and China would spend precious resources in space. But those countries have good reasons - more compelling ones than the US has. Consider the weather, which can be lethal throughout Asia. With satellites, it's possible to see typhoons, floods, and dust storms coming and shout a warning to the victims-to-be. Monitor the weather and you can manage agricultural productivity so that massive populations don't starve. Track hordes of insects and you have a fighting chance to protect your crops. Watch your restive population in places like Kashmir and Tibet and you just might keep your far-flung nation from falling apart at the seams.
Of course, the US is the undisputed space leader. Driven by fear of the Soviet Union's early successes, the government funded gaudy efforts like Apollo and Skylab, programs of undeniable technical machismo but little practical payoff. But America - democratic and market driven - has always found it difficult to swallow the gargantuan cost. Thus, public support blows hot and cold. The Ansari X Prize suggests that the country's future in space is in the hands of entrepreneurs with their eyes focused on quarterly reports.
India and China have played the tortoise to America's hare. The keynote for their style of space-racing is patience, plus self-reliance and practicality: Eschew shiny techno-delusions. Avoid budget-busting spectaculars. Stick with goals that improve the lives of ordinary people. Arrange canny tech-transfer deals with Europeans, Soviets, Americans - anybody who will pay. Then wrap it all up in a Nehru jacket of selfless socialist service.
India's space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, has managed to keep engineers in charge and thus restrain the nation's notorious bureaucracy from looting the enterprise. The upshot: Sturdy, homegrown satellite launchers and sturdy, homegrown nuclear missiles. Last January, prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee urged his countrymen to work toward a manned moon landing.
Similarly, China's space program is a geek stronghold within a turbulent, ideological society. The People's Republic launched its first satellite in 1970, and today it boasts enough nuclear-tipped ICBMs to roast the American seaboards. In 2003, Chinese officials reportedly announced plans for their own manned moon landing in 2010, although they later denied it.
It's clear that India and China have the means, motive, and opportunity to become the technical leaders of a new era. But what would they do with such an exalted position?
Most likely they would do things the same way they always have: slowly and pragmatically. China's leaders have talked about establishing a city on the moon, but this is paper tiger hype: A lunar Beijing would be useless. Yet China's rapidly industrializing economy has developed an unquenchable thirst for energy. Given the country's passion for outsize civil engineering projects, the Chinese would do well to build a giant orbiting solar power station. The cost would be roughly equal to that of Three Gorges Dam, and there's nothing wrong with the physics.
While China has been on an industrial binge, India has built an information economy dependent on satellites. The need to loft them efficiently and the country's position near the equator, where the Earth's gravity is evenly distributed, gives India a special incentive to consider building a geosynchronous space elevator. Ribbons of carbon nanotube some 24,000 miles long could fling cheap Indian hardware hither and yon, turning the land of Gandhi into the world's data back office. Want to know where you parked your car? Ask an Indian.
And what about Americans? What would be their role in the Great Upshoring? They could pull up stakes and go live there. That's one feature of the American experience that no other great power can match. The territory is still wide open - but not for long.
Contributing editor Bruce Sterling wrote about US space power in issue 10.04. He maintains a blog at www.wired.com.
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