LOS ANGELES: History is back in the news in a bid to shape the future. Recently US President Barack Obama recalled a 53-year incident to energize the country. India, one of the emerging giants, could take a page from Obama’s book.
US politicians used the Soviet launch of the Sputnik I satellite on 4 October, 1957, to spur massive new investments in technology and education. By November 2, the New York Times suggested that “The long orbital shadow of the sputnik has been able to do in a few weeks what scientists and educators have been unable to do in years,” in an article headlined “Sputnik Acts a Spur to U.S. Science and Research; Changes Coming.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, boosting math, engineering and science education, in September 1958. NASA began operations the following month.
More than half a century later, Obama returns to a theme common in US policy circles, citing global competition from China and India in his State of the Union address. He regularly refers to the prodigious output of brainpower from the world’s two most populous countries in exhorting the need for US economic and education reform. As he told a town-hall meeting in 2009, “we can’t afford our kids to be mediocre at a time when they’re competing against kids in China and India.” At a gathering last year in Las Vegas, he cautioned that if both countries are “producing more scientists and engineers than we are, we will not succeed.”
Anumakonda Jagadeesh comments:
I differ from some of the views expressed in
the article. India’s Advancement in Science and Technology, Education is
well-known to the world. Being one of the populous countries the development is
noteworthy.
A
New Frontier
The tradition of science and technology (S&T) in India is over 5,000 years
old. A renaissance was witnessed in the first half of the 20th century. The
S&T infrastructure has grown up from about Rs. 10 million at the time of
independence in 1947 to Rs. 30 billion. Significant achievements have been made
in the areas of nuclear and space science, electronics and defence. The
government is committed to making S&T an integral part of the
socio-economic development of the country.
India
has the third largest scientific and technical manpower in the world; 162
universities award 4,000 doctorates and 35,000 postgraduate degrees and the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research runs 40 research laboratories
that have made some significant achievements. In the field of Missile Launch
Technology, India is among the top five nations of the world.
Science and technology, however, is used as an effective instrument for growth
and change. It is being brought into the mainstream of economic planning in the
sectors of agriculture, industry and services. The country's resources are used
to derive the maximum output for the benefit of society and improvement in the
quality of life. About 85 per cent of the funds for S&T come directly or
indirectly from the Government. The S&T infrastructure in the country
accounts for more than one per cent of the GNP. S&T in India is entering a
new frontier.
Atomic Energy
The
prime objective of India's nuclear energy programme is the development and use
of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes such as power generation, applications
in agriculture, medicine, industry, research and other areas.
India is today recognized as one of the most advanced countries in nuclear
technology including production of source materials. The country is
self-reliant and has mastered the expertise covering the complete nuclear cycle
from exploration and mining to power generation and waste management.
Accelerators and research and power reactors are now designed and built indigenously.
The sophisticated variable energy cyclotron at Kolkata and a medium-energy
heavy ion accelerator 'pelletron' set up recently at Mumbai are national
research facilities in the frontier areas of science.
As part of its programme of peaceful uses of atomic energy, India has also
embarked on a programme of nuclear power generation. Currently eight nuclear
stations are producing eight billion kilowatt of electricity. Four more nuclear
power stations are planned. The new nuclear reactors are designed in India. The
peaceful nuclear programme also includes producing radioisotopes for use in
agriculture, medicine, industry and research.
Space
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO),
under the Department of Space (DOS), is responsible for research, development
and operationalisation of space systems in the areas of satellite
communications, remote sensing for resource survey, environmental monitoring,
meteorological services, etc. DOS is also the nodal agency for the Physical
Research Laboratory, which conducts research in the areas of space science, and
the National Remote Sensing Agency, which deploys modern remote-sensing
techniques for natural resource surveys and provides operational services to
user agencies. India is the only Third World Country to develop its own
remote-sensing satellite.
India joined a select group of six nations on October 15, 1994, when the Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) successfully accomplished its mission of
placing the 800 Kg remote sensing satellite, IRS-P2, in the intended orbit.
Earlier in May, the fourth developmental flight of the Augmented Satellite
Launch Vehicle (ASLV) achieved its mission by placing the 113 Kg SROSS-C2
scientific satellite in a near-earth orbit. India is well on its way to
developing a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) capable of putting
2000 Kg satellites into space. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is
currently trying to develop an indigenous cryogenic engine for GSLV. A GSLV
model has already been tested in wind tunnel.
The INSAT series of satellite launched earlier are performing well and provide
vital services for telecommunications, television, meteorology, disaster
warning and distress detection. The latest INSAT series include new features
like Ku-band transponders and mobile satellite services transponders.
The remote-sensing satellites, launched in 1988 and 1991, have already become
the mainstay of the natural resource management system of the country.
The projected launch of advanced remote sensing satellites will not only
enhance the scope of their application, but will also offer commercial service
to other countries.
The Indian achievement in the application of space-based remote sensing
technology has led a US company to enter into an agreement for marketing the
data from Indian satellites globally.
India's progress in space technology has attracted worldwide attention and
demand, with leasing agreements for marketing of IRS data and supply of space
hardware and services. India also believes in co-operation in space with
agencies all over the world. A high-level UN team selected India for setting up
a UN Centre for Space Science and Technology Education. India is on the
threshold of achieving self-reliance in the launch capability. It will be a
befitting tribute to the father of the Indian space programme, Dr. Vikaram
Sarabhai, whose 80th birth anniversary was observed in August 1996.
Electronics
The Department of Electronics plays the
promotional role for the development and use of electronics for socio-economic
development. Many initiatives have been taken for a balanced growth of the
electronics industry. The basic thrust has been towards a general
rationalization of the licensing policy with an emphasis on promotion rather
than regulation, besides achieving economy of scale with up-to-date technology.
A multi-pronged approach has been evolved for result-oriented R&D with
special emphasis on microelectronics, telematics, and high-performance
computing and software development.
Application of electronics in areas such as agriculture, health and service
sectors has also been receiving special attention. For upgrading the quality of
indigenously manufactured products, a series of test and development centers
and regional laboratories have been set up. These centers for electronic design
and technology help small and medium electronics units. A number of R&D
projects have been initiated to meet the growing requirements of the industry.
Oceanography
India has a coastline of more than 7,600 km
and 1,250 islands, with its Exclusive Economic Zone covering over 2 million sq.
km and continental shelf extending up to 350 nautical miles. The Department of
Ocean Development was established in 1981 to ensure optimum utilisation of
living resources, exploitation of non-living resources such as hydrocarbons and
minerals, and to harness ocean energy. Two research vessels, ORV Sagar Kanya
and FROV Sagar Sampada, are assessing and evaluating the resource potential.
Survey and exploration efforts have been directed to assess seabed topography,
and concentration and quality of mineral nodules. In August 1987, India was
allotted a mine site of 150,000 sq. km in the central Indian Ocean for further
exploration and development of resources. India is the only developing country
to have qualified for Pioneer Status by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea
in 1982, and it is the first country in the world to have secured registration
of a mine site.
India has sent 13 scientific research expeditions to Antarctica since 1981, and
has established a permanently manned base, Dakshin Gangotri. A second permanent
station, an entirely indigenous effort, was completed by the eighth expedition.
The objective is to study the ozone layer and other important constituents,
optical aurora, geomagnetic pulsation and related phenomena. By virtue of its
scientific research activities, India acquired Consultative Membership of the
Antarctic Treaty in 1983 and acceded to the Convention on the Conservation of
Antarctic Marine Living Resources in July 1985. India is also a member of the
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and has played a significant role
in adopting a Minerals Regime for Antarctica in June 1988.
A National Institute of Ocean Technology was set up for the development of
ocean-related technologies. It is also responsible for harnessing resources of
the coastal belts and islands.
Biotechnology
India has been the forerunner among the
developing countries in promoting multi-disciplinary activities in this area,
recognizing the practically unlimited possibility of their applications in
increasing agricultural and industrial production, and in improving human and
animal life. The nucleus of research in this area is the National Biotechnology
Board, constituted in 1982.
A Department of Biotechnology was created in 1986. Recently, the Biotechnology
Consortium India Ltd. was set up. It will play the role of a catalyst in
bridging the gap between research and development, industrial and financial
institutions. Some of the new initiatives taken include developing techniques
for gene mapping, conservation of biodiversity and bio-indicators research,
special biotechnology programmes for the benefit of the scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes and activities in the area of plantation crops.
The areas which have been receiving attention are cattle herd improvement
through embryo transfer technology, in vitro propagation of disease resistant
plant varieties for obtaining higher yields, and development of vaccines for
various diseases.
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
CSIR was established in 1942, and is today the premier institution for
scientific and industrial research. It has a network of 40 laboratories, two
cooperative industrial research institutions and more than 100 extension and
field centers. The council's research programmes are directed towards effective
utilisation of the country's natural resources and development of new processes
and products for economic progress. It is now playing a leading role in the
fulfillment of the technology missions evolved by the Government(Source:India
MapsofIndia).
The number of publications by
Indian scientists is characterized by some of the fastest growth rates among
major countries. India, together with China, Iran and Brazil are the only developing countries
among 31 nations with 97.5% of the world's total scientific productivity. The
remaining 162 developing countries contribute less than 2.5% of the world's
scientific output.
The Looming Food Crisis
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MEDFORD: The sharp rise in food prices has sparked fears of a global food shortage. The Food and Agriculture Organization recently announced that food prices had hit an all-time high, and the World Bank stated that 44 million more had fallen into hunger due to food prices. Spreading unrest in the Middle East fueled partly by skyrocketing food prices adds urgency to the gathering crisis.
Those monitoring climate change observe, correctly, that extreme weather events are harmful to crops, as recent severe droughts in Russia and China and floods in Australia, India, Pakistan and Europe showed. Others observe that China is growing fast and its middle-class citizens include more meat in their diets, which requires more feed grains. Some inflation hawks suggest a hike in interest rates, despite high unemployment, because rising commodity prices might spark inflation.
Whether these fears come true or not, a complex array of global forces shaping the next decade may make current problems seem easy. First, production is up. From 2006/07 to 2010/11, the US Department of Agriculture estimates total production of rice, wheat, corn, soya and other coarse grains and oilseeds rose from 1.78 to 1.96 billion tons, an increase of 10 percent. World population grew less than 5 percent in those four years, so output is rising more than twice as fast as population. How long this may continue into the future is a different question. But it’s hard to argue that bad weather has driven up food prices when the world has more per capita than before.
Anumakonda Jagadeesh comments:
Yes. I agree.
Extreme weather conditions are the cause for decline in food grain production
globally.
