Walking with national flag: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday arrested six Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and separatists, who were heading towards the Lal Chowk here to hoist the national flag on the occasion of the country's 62nd Republic Day.
The incidents on the eve of republic day, which occurred in the Indian State of J&K, pained every Indian. One political party tried to gain mileage, exploiting the current situation in J&K. Instead of dealing with the situation politically, the governments at the Centre and the State treated it as a law and order problem and created a huge mess. In that process they actually supported the goal of political parties exploiting the situation. In addition, they also sent a wrong message to the general public. The public asks: Are we required to obtain permission to walk with the national flag in our country?
Efficient solar cells: The researchers have demonstrated a new solar cell design that can not only convert the full spectrum of sunlight to electrical energy, it is also practical to make using common manufacturing techniques in the semiconductor industry.
The efficiency of solar cells currently available is low. One of the reasons is it cannot use the full spectrum of light (all frequencies) for the energy conversion. The new, multiband photovoltaic device based on gallium arsenide nitride is highly efficient and practical to produce.
One after another, such gory incidents occur and public becomes meek spectators. At times we wonder whether this country is ruled by mafia, some on the chair and some supporting it from outside. We know again some inquiry committee will be appointed and the incident will be coolly forgotten, like those earlier. Nothing tangible can be achieved unless we bring in systemic changes. No political party speaks about it.
As expected, last week was dominated by the climate change meet at Copenhagen. Let us take a bird’s eye view of the last week’s developments.
Swine flu:
After the initial hesitation, the government included private hospitals in the fight against swine flu. But lately, they are facing flak from the government once again. So far, there are 670 deaths due to swine flu in our country and according the Health Ministry most of it is due late reporting for which they hold private doctors responsible. Two things are obvious: (a) private doctors require training on the modalities, (b) better coordination between the government and private agencies is required
Climate change at Copenhagen:
A tonne of carbon dioxide emitted in India is the same as a tonne of carbon dioxide emitted in the U.S., but that isn't making climate negotiations any simpler in Copenhagen. India has displayed flexibility in its climate change position by offering to adopt the international guidelines under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), while reporting to Parliament on its unsupported domestic efforts to deal with climate change. This move can be viewed as a significant step. It conveys to the global community that India’s reporting would be at international standards, at the same time the government would be able to tell the domestic audience that it has not submitted to international review.
Why should India be concerned about climate change? The three main ‘categories’ of impacts, namely those on agriculture, sea level rise leading to submergence of coastal areas as well as increased frequency of extreme events. Each of these pose serious threats to India. Read this article and more such interesting articles. Help India become Carbon Neutral.
China and the US were placed at the bottom end of a worldwide national ranking of performance on climate protection published on Monday, 14 December 2009. Compiled by Germanwatch, a think tank and the Climate Action Newtork (CAN), an alliance of environment pressure groups, the annual Climate Change Performance Index ranks countries based on their climate protection performance, comparing 57 industrialised countries and emerging economies.
Money laundering:
A team from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that sets benchmarks for legislation on money laundering, is in India to assess the country’s legal and enforcement framework. The assessment, which ends on Friday, 18 December 2009, will set the ball rolling for New Delhi’s membership of the elite body.
Illegal activities such as drug trafficking, trade in weapons and white collar crimes can generate large sums of money. Money laundering refers to the act of making these gains legitimate by disguising the source of money, changing its form or moving it to a location where not many questions are asked.
Storing power in the grid:
The distribution of electricity to millions of consumers is a difficult task because while the amount of electricity generated is relatively fixed over short periods of time, the demand for electricity fluctuates throughout the day. A highly efficient electricity grid that can easily harmonize energy production with energy consumption is needed to answer this problem. Read my recent blog post on the subject
Danish Island:
The Danish island of Samsohas become one of the first industrialized places on Earth to qualify as completely energy self-sufficient. Should we aim at converting our villages into the so called ‘Danish Islands’ using appropriate renewable technology ?
India’s first commercial MW power plant:
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr. Farooq Abdullah on 15 Dec 2009 (Tuesday) inaugurated country’s first commercial 2 mega watt Solar Power Plant in Punjab’s Amritsar District.
Cement and concrete:
Those working on cement and concrete may have a look at my recent blog post on International Journals on Cement.
The week was dominated by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao, who was on indefinite fast for his demand of Separate Telangana State. The Pandora's box was opened when the Government at the Centre declared that the bifurcation of present Andhra Pradesh can be considered to carve out the separate state of Telangana. Where as there are huge protests from the parties opposed to the idea (including Congress Party), the earlier somewhat mute demands of separate statehood from the other parts of the country became strong, example: Vidarbha, Gorkha Land and so on. The demands for separate statehood are due to increased aspirations of people on the one hand and the regional imbalances in the development created over the years, within the State, on the other. The imporatant question is whether the creation of smaller states shall lead to better development or only add to the administartive machinery.
Tiger Woods announced that he will be away from the Golf for some time and spend time with his family. Tiger is a great player. Hope he settles the personal issues and returns to the professional life soon.
At Copenhagen, India declared that whilst they are ready to go with the world in terms of limiting the carbom emissions on voluntary basis, they will not accept any legal binding. I think we in India should focus on (a) renewable sources like solar and wind energy (b) reduce the energy losses and pilferages, example in electricity transmission.
As an academician, I always searched for a perfect model for academic-industry cooperation.James Weyhenmeyer, Senior Vice Provost for Research with the State University of New York (SUNY) shows the way.
