Indigenus

Why does a NASA astronaut's visit to the idyllic north-eastern Indian state of Assam kick up such a frenzy? Because the astronaut is married to an Assamese-American.

© NASA

Colonel Edward Michael Fincke recently received public felicitation in Guwahati, the capital of Assam, in a function organised by Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters (FASS). Assam's illustrious son-in-law is married to Renita Saikia, who also works for NASA. Mike mama (maternal uncle), as he has come to be known in Assam, was Commander of the Expedition 18 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Earlier this year, this father of three children (called Chandra, Tarali & Surya -- moon, star and sun in Assamese) addressed Assamese students live from the ISS, answering their innocent queries on life in space and stoking their ambition to step into his shoes when they grow up.

In one of his missions, Mike carried an Assamese Gamosa (scarf) and famously performed the Assamese folk dance Bihu in zero gravity in the ISS. He clicked hundreds of pictures of the north eastern states and Assam's famous geographical landmark river Brahmaputra from space.

Now, that's a great way of cross cultural, trans-border popularisation of science! Wonder why the government hasn't yet utilised this avenue -- international marital ties -- to bring science to the grassroots in a big, concerted way.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on September 22, 2009
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The theory behind the coconut plucking machine proposed by the Kerala government has found new propagators in New Delhi. The department of science and technology (DST) has now urged the scientific community of this country to find ways of 'connecting grassroots innovation with innovations that make products globally competitive' so that they compliment one another and do not become competitors.

‘India as Innovation Hub’, a seminar organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) in New Delhi this week saw the DST secretary T. Ramasami talk of India's diversity in the innovation ecosystem in devising simple, low-cost grassroots solutions. Also, why product innovation must co-exist with process innovation.

However, the government machinery alone is not enough to boost innovation of the kind being exhorted here.
Venture capitals need to take all this where it must reach.

As the Executive vice chair of the National Innovation Foundation Anil Gupta points out, the National Innovation Fund was created to build a national register of innovations, mobilise intellectual property protection, set up incubators for converting them into viable business opportunities and help in taking them to the nook and corners of the country. The innovation database includes information on plant variety, utilities and general machinery, farm implements, energy devices, agricultural and traditional knowledge practices, livestock management, herbal remedies, biodiversity examples, innovation concepts and ideas.

Experts at the seminar also called for creation of innovation clusters, more innovation leaders at all levels of the society, conversion of urgent needs like water, sanitation, accessible health care, education and poverty into national innovative projects and formation of an India Action Council for innovation.

The innovation buzz really seems to be getting the pride of place it deserves and how!

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on September 09, 2009
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It was evident at the National Technology Day celebrations (May 11) that science administrators and policy makers in this country have put all fears generated by the great recession behind. Science and innovation can’t wait for the global economy to bounce back, experts at an international conclave on research and development in New Delhi felt. The meet saw several countries pledging continuous ongoing scientific cooperation to India despite the global meltdown.

Sweden and Finland, alongside many other countries, participated in India’s first global Industrial R&D conclave looking at strategies to drive growth in times of the global economic crisis. Petri Peltonen, Director General of Finland’s innovation department in the ministry of employment was of the view that during the ongoing economic turmoil, investments in R&D and innovation are crucial. Finland will renew its innovation policy in technical as well as non-technical domains. The policy would have a focus on the users and market. Anders Sjoberg, Charges d’ Affaires of the embassy of Sweden in India said in order to regenerate growth, Sweden has to be associated with big nations like India. Several Swedish MNCs have established their R&D hubs in India, and such intensive collaborations expose India to advanced technologies, he said.

India’s bilateral arrangements and intellectual property safeguards have further strengthened the innovation environment in the country. According to Y. P. Kumar, head of international cooperation in India’s Department of Science and Technology, development in science and technology has reached new dimensions due to online information availability.

The conclave assumed importance in the backdrop of the economic meltdown, which has created alarming conditions for R&D- and innovation-led businesses. The risk capital has shrunk and has placed R&D investments at lower priority. Governments across the globe are trying to boost the economy and industrial growth through strategic policy changes by creating a more favourable R&D ecosystem.

Apart from a slew of articles, I read P. Balaram's analysis in Current Science. Since I did not get any response to my earlier blog addressing the issue, I have been left wondering if science in India is recession-proof.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on May 13, 2009
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Most scientists and institutes abroad have been asking me this question very frequently these days. How bad has the economic slowdown hit Indian science? Many seem to believe that science funding in this region is less affected since it is longer term and much of it is government funded.

I haven't really heard of any major cuts in funding or grants by the major science policy makers of this country till now. On the contrary, prime minsiter Manmohan Singh did make an announcement at the recently concluded Indian Science Congress reiterating the government's stand to double investment in science from one per cent to two per cent of national income. Budget outlay for the ministries of science and technology and earth sciences have been trebled for the last four year period 2004-08, relative to the previous four-year period, 2000-04.

Alongside this, the country has just passed a bill to set up a National Science and Engineering Research Board to be responsible for major scientific research funding in the country. The autonomous board would have the freedom to establish new modalities of funding research as well as creating facilities and structures to improve the quality and quantity of scientific research.

Doesn't look like we have been badly hit, does it? I am just curious to know if there are any examples contrary to this apparently rosy picture.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on January 21, 2009
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am just back from the Indian Science Congress dedicated this time to the young scientists of this country. Sadly, the average age of most speakers at this significant 96th edition of the congress was above 50. "Where are the young scientists, I would like to know," asked a visibly disturbed Bikas Sinha, director of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, who was speaking at a session on India's contribution to the Large Hadron Collider experiment in CERN, Geneva. Sadly again, there weren't many such hands-on papers or presenters at the congress. Sinha said most topics presented at the congress were a 'joke' since even burning issues like 'climate change' were being handled 'so lightly'. "Anyone can google that information and present it. What's the big deal about coming to a congress of scientists to make generic presentations?"

The venue -- North Eastern Hill University in picturesque Shillong, the scotland of the East -- turned out to be a good crowd puller because of reasons remotely connected to science. Delegates were accompanied by their families, and in some cases extended families, and were spotted more at Elephant Falls and the Shillong Peak than the plenary sessions. The organisation of the grand event, attended by close to 4000 people (non-scientists included) was far from professional, though the geographic location of NEHU (3 and a half hours away uphill from the nearest airport) did not help matters much. Pre-paid cellular telephones or internet data cards didn't work at the venue and that wasn't something attendees were warned about. "This is a colossal waste of public money," the Vice-Chancellor of Nagaland University K. Kannan, who understands the geographical disadvantages of the north-east, said about his impression of the congress.

Much has been written about the failure of the congress to attract sensible presentations or young scientists but organisers Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) seem to be living in a world of their own. The Congress really needs to reinvent itself. Last year, there were talks of creating a parallel annual meet of top scientists from across disciplines in New Delhi. However, no announcement to this effect was made at the conference.

It would be good to know from participants and observers their view of the congress and ideas to improve it before ISCA plans a grand centenary four years hence.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on January 06, 2009
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (18) | TrackBacks (0)

An annual budget of 10 billion rupees (close to US$200 million) is a good amount of money to create new funds for scientific pursuits in India. The fund is expected to come from an independent agency -- National Science and Engineering Research Board (NSERB) -- to promote basic research in science and engineering, similar to the US National Science Foundation. Scientists are hoping it would be fast and not like all other government funding bodies that believe in loads of paperwork and are characterised by huge time lags between application and grant.

Till now, Indian scientists had access to about 3.6 billion rupees from the Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC), the biggest government funding agency, apart from some other smaller ones, but only in select research areas such as health, agriculture, energy or biotechnology.

In the new regime, the prompt and smart institutes with good ideas will benefit. But they have loads of funds anyway, since they have always been prompt and smart. So who should benefit? There are concerns that the NSERB might end up feeding the fat babies and the undernourished will continue to remain neglected. Which are the institutes that should be given top priority when such new funds are generated? Are there any truly gifted institutes/universities in India that have not been able to make a mark just because their kitties have perpetually been empty?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on December 17, 2008
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Loads of fresh evidence is being unearthed from either side of the Indo-Pak border. Evidence that could put the Indus valley civilisation at par with its other glamorous ancient cousins -- Egypt and Mesopotamia. From being considered the 'boring' cousin of these rich civilisations, Indus is all set to give them competition. However, in putting together a fresh perspective for these old world ruins, archaeologists are facing a lot of challenges. Political discord between India and Pakistan is affecting excavation and archaeological exploration of vast stretches of land that might hold many clues to the fascinating past of this subcontinent.

To quote Andrew Lawler from a recent article (Boring No More, a Trade-Savvy Indus Emerges, Science 320, 1276 - 1281 (2008) DOI: 10.1126/science.320.5881.1276): "Many foreign archaeologists steer clear of Pakistan because of political instability, while India's government--scarred by colonialism--often discourages researchers from collaborating with European or American teams. A virtual Cold War between the two countries leaves scientists and sites on one side nearly inaccessible to the other. And although Indus sites are finally receiving extensive attention, many unexcavated mounds face destruction from a lethal combination of expanding agriculture, intensive looting, and unregulated urban development."

A small group of archaeologists from Pakistan, India, America, Europe, and Japan studies the Indus. This group also suffers from poor peer-bonding. As a result, they work in spates and it is difficult to find too many published papers in either the subcontinent's journals or elsewhere.

Isn't it in the interest of the subcontinet, its science and history that the governments come together to allow full fledged digging on the border, even if it means archaeologists will have to work under the vigilant eyes of armed forces? Isn't there a way out to give Indus its pride of place in the league of ancient civilisations?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on September 18, 2008
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In the biggest ever climate change research networking in India, 75 institutes will come together to conduct scientific and economic studies steered by the country's ministry of environment and forests. The results will form part of the national report to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The India Institute of Tropical Meteorology will play a key role in defining the scope and expanse of the studies. The project will focus primarily on the impact of climate change on the country -- its water resources, agriculture, forests, health, energy and economy among a few variables. This promises to be the most comprehensive climate change research consortium ever constituted in this country. It will be well worth waiting to see the results of the studies and how they match up with western projections for India.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on August 12, 2008
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Oil prices have shot up again. Internationally, oil prices have tripled since 2006 and food prices doubled.
In this grim scenario, an expert in the US Congressional Research Service has listed five factors for the increase of global food prices:

1. Weather: Droughts in Australia and Eastern Europe and poor weather in Canada, Western Europe and Ukraine resulting in reduced supplies of grain. Global stocks of corn, wheat and soybeans are at historically low levels.

2. Export restrictions: Grain export restrictions by some countries to augment domestic supplies and hopefully contain the effects of high prices on their own consumers. India has imposed tight restrictions on non-basmati rice exports, and Vietnam banned exports of rice. Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, is expected to export a record amount this year as prices rise to unprecedented levels. The price of Thai rice has tripled since January and now stands above $1,000 a ton.

3. Rising oil and energy prices: This has affected all levels of the food production and marketing chain, from fertilizer costs to harvesting, transporting and processing food.

4. Higher incomes: In emerging markets like China and India, this has resulted in strong demand for food commodities, meat and processed foods and higher prices in world markets. Both these countries are increasing their consumption of meat, and they need corn and other feed grains. It takes 7 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of meat. China, once a major grain exporter, has become an importer of grain.

5. Increased demand for biofuels: This has reduced the availability of agricultural products for food and feed use.

Do you think there are more reasons, globally and specific to India or Asia, that are triggering this trend?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on June 04, 2008
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The debate on whether India should be allowed to become the 'clinical trials hub' of the world is slowly losing fire. When multinational companies zeroed-in on India about a decade back, critics called it their ploy to get "human guinea pigs" in India. Undoubtedly, India's disease burden in cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis -- far more than most countries -- was the prime attraction. Add to that the huge population, cheaper operational costs, easy patient procurement, English speaking physicians and IPR preparedness -- the perfect setting.

The country's clinical trials market in 2006 was US$ 140m and is growing at a compounded annual rate of 40%. It is estimated to touch US$ 600m by 2010.

What's your take on the clinical trials scenario in the country? Do you think India has overcome the initial setback of lack of experienced investigators and clinical research professionals? Is there better awareness of good clinical practice (GCP) compliance? Are ethics always in place?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on May 21, 2008
Categories: Health, Policy | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The verdict is finally out. The government wants to evolve a more 'effective, alternative mechanism' for a science conclave that overcomes the rot plaguing the annual Indian Science Congress. Science minister Kapil Sibal has announced in a written reply in Parliament that the number of participants and topics at the science congress had increased in recent years, thereby making it 'impossible for any organiser to hold meaningful discussions'.
We were expecting the government to take note of this malaise as reflected in this discussion in the Nature India forum.
It seems, a parallel annual meet of top scientists from across disciplines is being proposed in New Delhi to keep up with the latest in their respective fields. One just hopes that it doesn't end up being another government exercise in Vigyan Bhavan.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on March 19, 2008
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Amidst all the debate on the rise and fall and rise of Indian science, this piece of news in the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Indian Parliament, was quite uplifting. Many might dismiss this as the regular politician's occasional figure-rattling exercise, but sampe this: 38% of all doctors in the US and 36% of NASA scientists are Indians, as it turns out after careful inspection of payrolls.

What's more, 12 per cent of all scientists in the US of A are Indians. Research is on the upswing with the number of PhDs from India going up from 17,898 two years back to 18,730. The Union minister of state for HRD D. Purandeshwari merrily announced plans of creating 1,000 more positions for research scientists in this country.

More happy figures: Micrososft has 36% Indian staff, IBM 28%, Intel 17% and Xerox 13%.

Very optimistic statistics. What do we make out of this?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on March 11, 2008
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

India has allocated Rs 85 crore in its 2008-09 budget to woo back students into science. The programme -- Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) -- will groom meritorious science students from Class XII onwards, offering them scholarships to groom a career in science. The idea is to churn out more scientists and offer them attractive jobs in leading research institutes of the country. The fund for multi-disciplinary research in frontier areas has also been hiked from Rs 370 crore to Rs 415 crore. The overall spending in science and technology and environment has increased significantly from Rs 7,742 crore to Rs 9,283 crore.

Does the future of doing science in this country look brighter?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on March 01, 2008
Categories: Policy | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)