Monthly Archives: February 2012

Star-struck

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Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor made it to celestial stardom, quite literally, when some fans chose to buy a star in his name in the Orion constellation last week for his birthday. Last year, Shah Rukh Khan got his name etched on lunar soil when fans named the ‘Sea of Tranquility’ crater after him.

Bollywood stars Shahid Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan have already gone 'celestial'.

Scores of websites [1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and more] are selling the stars, moon and galaxies to whoever has money to buy a celestial gift for their loved ones. Organisations and individuals have also been controversially selling extra-terrestrial real estate on other planets, natural satellites or space — a bit of the moon, an acre of Mars and a yard of the space north-west of Andromeda galaxy!

In the wake of this new-found craze among Indians to ‘name a star’, here’s some reality check:  the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is the internationally recognized authority which designates all heavenly bodies according to globally accepted rules. The IAU clearly “dissociates itself entirely from the commercial practice of ‘selling’ fictitious star names or ‘real estate’ on other planets or moons in the Solar System.”

Here is an interesting fact sheet by IAU on why stars don’t get real names instead of boring numbers, who is legally responsible for naming objects in the sky and why the IAU can’t do much about the mushrooming of such star-sellers across the world. Turns out, the certificates issued by these star-sellers are only expensive pieces of paper that give you a temporary feeling of happiness. The star is named after someone in their company’s ‘individual registry’ — which isn’t saying much!

So the next time you hear about a Bollywood or Hollywood star being reborn in the sky, just know that a bunch of gullible, star-struck people lost some money to a bunch of dream-sellers!

Science Day

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Happy Science Day to all!

A proud day in the annual calendar of India dedicated to celebrating science. The day marks the discovery of the Raman effect by Indian physicist Chadrasekhara Venkata Raman on 28 February 1928. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for this path breaking discovery in 1930.

It was lovely to hear of celebrations in universities, institutions, colleges and schools from across the country (though many of them remained closed today in the national capital region on account of assembly polls).

The government’s science popularisation wing Vigya Prasar held public lectures at the National Science Centre in New Delhi with nuclear energy and environment experts talking about ‘Clean Energy Options and Nuclear Safety’ and ‘Scientific Attitude’. A workshop on low cost science teaching aids; quiz and essay writing competitions for youngsters were also part of the interactive programme. Along with the National Centre for Innovations in Distance Education (NCIDE), Vigyan Prasar also unveiled an innovative science popularisation programme through mobile phones, the first such in India.

In the western state of Gujarat, a five-day science carnival with the theme ‘Sparking Young Minds with Science’ was kicked off. Along with the usual competitions for students and lectures, it had some lively film shows, demonstration exhibitions and sky gazing fun.

Yesterday, we heard of protests on the eve of National Science Day at Pune’s Agharkar Research Institute. The protestors did not allow nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar, a former chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commision, to deliver a talk on the Jaitapur nuclear power plant. The plant, in Maharashtra, has been facing anti-nuclear protests since last year.

A national science day is a reminder of the country’s science legacy and a day for policy makers to spare a thought about the biggest malady affecting science — its education in schools and colleges. Hope there was some discussion in some corner of this country to address the issue.

 

Vaccine policy

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Authors N. Raghuram & Y. Madhavi

India’s vaccine policy  announced in April last year met with more criticism this week as two New Delhi-based science policy analysts — Y. Madhavi and N. Raghuram — made a bold and scathing attack in an opinion paper in the Indian Academy of Sciences journal Current Science.  The policy, they say, is more about “spending and coverage than about protecting children”. The scientists, who have been pressing for a “comprehensive and evidence based vaccine policy” are convinced that India’s disease incidence figures and public health statistics are “dubious and industry manufactured.”

The policy is designed to justify spending public money on privately produced vaccines in the name of protection from diseases, they contend. Madhavi, from the National Institute of Science, Technology & Development Studies (NISTADS) and Raghuram, from the GGS Indraprastha University, go on point out that unlike other national policies, the draft of the vaccine policy was not made public for discussions among stakeholders before dbeing finalised. “Why was the entire drafting exercise done in such a tearing hurry and intriguing secrecy, ” they ask.

Vaccine Policy

© MOHFW

The authors observe that the vaccine policy does not take into account the opinion and feedback of government-run bodies Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and NISTADS on this issue. Moreover, several courts in the country, including the Supreme Court, are still hearing a number of cases on the government’s handling of serious policy issues in vaccine manufacture and adoption. India has repeatedly faced criticism for the shortage of many routine vaccines for universal immunization programmes.

They further allege that the policy pays “lip service” to several important issues such as criteria for new vaccine introduction into universal immunisation programmes. The most annoying thing about the present policy, however, seems to be the fact that it was formulated and implemented top-down without the mandate of the scientific community, civil society, cabinet or parliament.

It remains to be seen what the government does to meet mounting criticism on this front.

Young blood

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Indian science desperately needs more young blood at the policy making level. We have been hearing this far too often these days in the Nature India forum where many young and enterprising scientists deliberate on issues that concern them.

An editorial in the journal Science today emphasises the need for young scientists to become opinion makers and policy drivers in this country. In the editorial, eminent chemical scientist Raghunath Anant Mashelkar supports the view of a ‘Young Academy’ for India and makes a strong case for such a “borderless” academy discussing matters of all scientific disciplines.  He says such an academy must also be “dynamic”, harnessing the power of technology and social media, and have a mind of its own.

India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which recently released a vision document, also feels the need to source potential young leaders from across the world, empowering young leadership and grooming them through leadership development programmes.  The document also talks of creating a CSIR science management cadre.

At the 99th Indian Science Congress held in Bhubaneswar in January 2012, many speakers — young and old — talked at length about ‘creating space’ for the young scientists of this country in policy making bodies. The sentiment echoed in many speeches given by top science policy makers of this country.

It would be wonderful to see these talking points converted into action. Yes, there are funds, awards, scholarships and grants to recognise and encourage young scientists, but including bright young minds in shaping the future of science in this country would be another step forward.


					

		
		
	


				
					
	

		

						
Night planets

			
						

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News of another lovely celestial event has come in from the Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai. Arvind Paranjpye, who has just moved to the planetarium as its Director from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, informs us of an opportunity to see all the ‘naked eye’ planets at night between February 23 to March 2.


As always, the resourceful skygazer has created computer simulation images to show what the cosmic phenomenon would look like. He traces the moon, half hour past sunset in the western sky above Mumbai, to track the lunar movement vis-a-vis the planets Mercury, Venus and Jupiter between February 23 and 27, 2012.


Planet show
© Arvind Paranjpye


This is also a good opportunity to see Mercury, he says observing that Copernicus who first suggested that planets go around the Sun instead of the Earth, never saw Mercury himself.


The last such planet show was during April-May last year when Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars came together in the dawn sky.


For more information on this and more celestial events happening over India, here‘s Arvind’s helpful blog.


Happy planet watching!