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Population Explosion and Food Security in India..

ood security as defined by the World Development Report 1986 is a situation of “access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life”.

The FAO (1983) defined food security as “ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food they need”. As the world population reaches a stage of more than six billion, to which India contributes one billion, the question regarding the future availability of food for all assumes some importance.

The issues pertaining to population explosion and food security was raised by T.R. Malthus for the first time in 1798. Malthus postulated that population tends to increase by a geometric ratio (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 ) but food production grows by arithmetic ratio (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ). Although the idea was over-simplistic, it is not completely irrelevant.

The gravity of the situation of food security in India can be better understood by a study conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which reveals that India faces major challenges on two fronts vis-a-vis food security, i.e., population explosion which has exceeded agricultural growth rate in the post-independence period and the unequal distribution of food resources due to the abysmally low purchasing power of about thirty-five million of the country’s population.

Even if the food is equally distributed, in order to counter the negative impact of population explosion, the agricultural growth rate has to be maintained at a steady 4.5 per cent from 1997 to 2002 to sustain an overall economic growth of 7 per cent. In the circumstances, it is alarming that the average size of operational holdings has come down to less than 1.6 hectare in 1990-91 from 2.3 hectare in 1970-71.

The marginal and the small holdings together constitute over 78 per cent of the total. Given the continued fragmentation of land holdings the technology we are adopting can never be scale neutral.

The problem of food security is compounded by our increasing tendency to depend on a narrow mix of food crops. Thus, the food production systems have become vulnerable to biotic and abiotic stresses. The cultivators in the early periods of civilisation managed such stresses by adopting sustainable agronomic practices like shifting cultivation, mixed cropping, crop rotations and so on.

An instance of the pressure of population making a once-beneficial practice harmful is to be seen in shifting cultivation. As more people require more food and more land, the practice of leaving land fallow long enough to recover is no more practicable, thus rendering shifting cultivation more harmful than useful.

ndependent India, by and large, has been able to avoid large scale deaths caused by famines, by resorting to a multipronged strategy comprising increased food production, augmentation of grain reserves, maintenance of a public distribution system (PDS) and generation of employment. However, hunger caused by under-nutrition continues to be endemic. The protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) in our country is abnormally high in most of the households.

The study done by the National Council for Agricultural and Economic Research (NCAER) suggests that about 80 per cent of India’s rural population and 70 per cent of urban population thrive on less than the recommended levels of calories. It is estimated that by 2025 almost 50 per cent of the Indian population will be residing in urban areas which calls for a substantial shift in the patterns of food cultivation. Since the national average yield of most of the crops is staggeringly low, it is necessary that we bridge the gap between the actual and potential yield through technology transfer so as to ensure food for all.

While it was physical access to food which was important during the first three decades after independence, nowadays the economic access to food has been considered to be more important because of our endemic poverty and the population explosion. By the end of the Ninth Plan India would require about 215 million tonnes of food-grains. But for keeping a food reserve for contingency purposes and for achieving a consistent export target of 5 million tonnes by 2002 AD the demand for food-grains would further grow to 230 million tonnes.

Most of the quantitative and qualitative indicators of food security at the household level are linked to the poverty issue. As Amartya Sen (1981) points out, the poor do not have adequate means or entitlements to secure food, even when food is locally or regionally available. It is interesting to note that merely increase in income does not necessarily ensure improved nutritional status. Access to gainful employment, suitable technologies and other productive resources are important factors influencing under-nutrition.

Planning for the billions

More than half of the seven-billion world population is huddled on three per cent of the earth's land area. But as the recently published U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) report cautions, this should not be taken to mean that the world can mindlessly absorb any number of people for years to come. Nor does it imply that its cities can expand without rethinking their current course. What emerges from the population figures is that there is an urgent need to plan human settlements proactively, using the available land wisely and ensuring that the future population is provided with better places to live in. In the next three decades, much of the population growth will occur in urban areas, and about five billion people will live in cities. Africa and Asia are set to double their urban population in the same period. If the business-as-usual approach continues, this growth is bound to be haphazard and lopsided, throwing up serious problems of population management. Smaller towns that have neither the resources nor the planning infrastructure are absorbing significant numbers of people. For instance, in India, of the 2,774 new urban centres that have emerged in the last decade, 2,532 are census towns or places without a statutory urban local body such as a municipality. This disconnect is an urgent reminder to policymakers that they must strengthen the capacities of smaller towns and enable them to handle the population surge better.

Large urban agglomerations pose a different problem. The number of people residing within the city core has come down because of expensive land prices, but the peripheries have expanded with low densities, consuming more land and forcing long commutes. Mumbai city, for instance, had a negative population growth rate of 5.75 per cent in the last decade, but Thane, its suburb, which is about 40 km away, recorded 36 per cent growth. Such a sprawl means a huge loss of agricultural land, and it pushes the perimeter of urban consumption far beyond its immediate region. If this pattern continues unchecked, the land required to support each person, currently estimated to be 2.7 hectares, will increase and result in an ‘ecological overshoot.' Harnessing the advantages of population growth and stemming the ‘degenerative peripheralisation' are challenging tasks. Recycling urban properties to enhance population densities and planning a balanced regional development could be a way forward. A vital issue of concern is planning for the poor. Studies have shown that a large part of future urban growth will comprise poor people (UNFPA 2007). If the world has to remain slum-free and equitable, providing for the land needs of marginalised people should be a top priority.

AMU chooses Khuldabad site for special centre in Maharshtra

In a step ahead for establishment of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) special campus in Maharshtra, AMU informed the Government of Maharashtra that Khuldabad site comprising 332 acres of land is best suitable to establish the AMU centre.

The Maharashtra government proposed lands in three places-Malegaon, Aurangabad and Khuldabad- for the AMU campus. Recently, an AMU team led by Vice Chancellor PK Abdul Azis inspected the all three sites.

AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. P.K. Abdul Azis in a letter addressed to Shri Mahesh Pathak, Secretary, Higher and technical Education, Government of Maharashtra said that the power and water availability to the proposed land and the convenience of transferability to AMU as being owned by the Government of Maharashtra besides the logistic facilities were important among other considerations in the selection of Khuldabad site.

A bird's eye view of the Khuldabad site identified for AMU Centre

He appealed that the land should be encumbrances-free and contiguous, measured, fenced up by the government and to be transferred in favour of the Registrar of AMU Aligarh and all the land record handed over to on the day of land transfer.

Prof. Azis also requested to handover the land within a shortest possible time preferably within one month so that the University can prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) and Detailed Feasibility Report (DFR) for submission to the Government of India and seek the permission of Hon’ble President of India in her capacity as the Visitor of the University as was done in the case of Murshidabad and Malappuram Centre.

Prof. Azis has urged the state Government to give the entire 332 acres of land with addition of 10 acres of land lying adjacent to the social forestry region. He also asked for protected water should be provided by the state Government along with a 33 KV electricity sub-station at the proposed site and the site should be connected by a 30 meter wide road from the national highway within three month.

New AMU Centre in Maharashtra

Maharashtra Minorities Affairs Minister Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan today said efforts are on to finalise a 260-acre plot for setting up a centre of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) at Khultabad taluka near Aurangabad.
Khan said the centre has decided to set up five centres of the university all over the country, including Maharashtra.
"A Rs 25-crore fund has been sanctioned and a suitable plot for setting up the centre is being searched. The suitable plot is situated at Sulibhanjan, 25 km away from Aurangabad," he added.
An AMU delegation will come to the state to review and finalise the plot. "After their approval, the proposal will be sent to the Revenue department for clearance," he added.
The minister said there were a lot of vacancies for teachers in primary and secondary urdu medium schools in the state because of which students are facing hurdles.
"Rural development and education department should take details of the number of vacancies from the district collectors and take steps to fill the vacancies. The teachers should also get promotions on time," he added.

AMU team to visit Aurangabad for proposed AMU Centre

A six-member team, headed by the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Prof. P. K. Abdul Azis, will visit Aurangabad (Maharashtra) on October 25-27, 2011 to inspect the sites identified by the District Magistrate, Aurangabad for the establishment of AMU Centre.

The team is visiting the district on the request of Prof. Fauzia Khan, Minister of State for Education, Government of Maharashtra, said Dr. Rahat Abrar, Public Relations Officer, AMU.

The other members of the team include Prof. Anwar Jahan Zuberi, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and former Vice Chancellor, University of Calicut, Prof. Jawaid Akhtar, Dean, Faculty of Management Studies and Research, Prof. Ekram Husain, Principal, Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, Prof. N. A. K. Durrani, Media Advisor, Prof. M. Saud Alam Qasmi, Former Dean, Faculty of Theology.

India Says Is Now Third Highest Carbon Emitter

India's environment minister said on Monday the country could not have high economic growth and a rapid rise in carbon emissions now that the nation was the number three emitter after China and the United States.
Jairam Ramesh's comments come as negotiators from nearly 200 governments meet in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin. The U.N. talks aim to reach agreement on what should follow the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol, the key treaty on climate change, which expires in 2012.
Indian per-capita emissions are still low but demand for energy is rising as the middle-class buys more cars, TVs and better housing. Much of that energy comes from coal oil and gas, the main sources for planet-warming carbon dioxide.
But Ramesh said India's rush for wealth could not come at the expense of the environment.
Officials said his comments are the first time a government minister has said India has overtaken Russia as the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
"We will unilaterally, voluntarily, move on a low-carbon growth path. We can't have 8-9 percent GDP growth and high-carbon growth," Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in the Nepalese capital.
"It has to be low-carbon 8 percent, 9 percent growth and that is the objective that we have set for ourselves," he said.
Poorer nations are now the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and many big developing countries have taken steps to curb the growth of their emissions but say they won't agree on absolute cuts, fearing this will hurt their economies.
India weathered the global financial crisis better than most, and is setting its sights on economic growth of almost 10 percent over the coming years. Its economy currently grows at around 8.5 per cent.
"We are the third largest emitter of the greenhouse gases in the world ... China is number one at 23 percent, the United States is second at about 22 percent and India is number three at about five percent."

GREENER PATH
In India, any talk of a low-carbon economy was once seen as politically very risky, given the economic costs involved. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in January asked a panel to begin charting a path to a greener economy. The report is expected by the year-end
Although India has announced a new climate plan which identifies renewable energy, such as solar power, as a key element, coal remains the backbone of energy supply in a country where almost half the 1.1 billion population has no access to electricity.

"The gap between the second and the third (highest emitters) is very very high, but nevertheless we need to be conscious of our contribution," Ramesh said.
The fraught U.N. talks have been hobbled by lack of trust between rich and poor nations over climate funds, demand for more transparency over emissions cut pledges and anger over the size of cuts offered by rich nations.
The risk of the talks stalling is so great that the United Nations has stopped urging nations to commit to tougher pledges to curb carbon emissions, fearing further debate could derail already fraught talks on a more ambitious climate pact.

More Water on Moon!!!

There is a lot more water on the moon than previously believed, according to an analysis of NASA data being published Friday, a finding that may bolster the case for a manned base on the lunar surface.

The discovery grew out of an audacious experiment last year, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration slammed a spent-fuel rocket into a lunar crater at 5,600 miles an hour, and then used a pair of orbiting satellites to analyze the debris thrown off by the impact. They discovered that the crater contained water in the form of ice, plus a host of other resources, including hydrogen, ammonia, methane, mercury, sodium and silver.

The discovery of significant amounts of water on the m there.

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NASA announced its groundbreaking discovery of lunar water last November. Now, a more detailed analysis of the data—the subject of six research papers being published in the journal Science—concludes that there is a lot more water on the moon than anyone expected, about twice the concentrations seen in the Sahara Desert.

"It's really wet," said Anthony Colaprete, co-author of one of the Science papers and a space scientist at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. He and his colleagues estimate that 5.6% of the total mass of the targeted lunar crater's soil consists of water ice. In other words, 2,200 pounds of moon dirt would yield a dozen gallons of water.

The presence of water doesn't make it more likely that there ever was life on the moon, as the location studied is among the coldest in the solar system. But the large quantity boosts the case for a manned lunar base from which to launch other interplanetary adventures. Water is crucial because its components, hydrogen and oxygen, are key ingredients for rocket fuel. Oxygen can also be extracted from water to make breathable air.

Finding a water source on the moon has long been a dream, because it could save on the expense of transporting it from earth. A bottle of water on the moon would run about $50,000, according to NASA, because that is what it costs, per pound, to launch anything to earth's nearest neighbor.

Scientists have discovered significant amounts of water on the moon, a finding that may bolster the case for establishing a manned base on the lunar surface. Lee Hotz has details. Plus, who owns the moon? And why stocks were so volatile today.

The U.S. likely won't be involved in manned voyages to the moon anytime soon. President Barack Obama recently canceled a NASA program to return astronauts to the lunar surface a decade from now. The agency, however, is working on the grander, longer-term prize of a manned trip to Mars.

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Jack Pfaller/NASA

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite and its Centaur booster rocket crashes into the moon in this artist's illustration.

But other countries are gearing up. China has pledged to land astronauts on the moon by 2025, and India has plans to do the same by 2020. Japan wants to establish an unmanned moon base in a decade, potentially setting the stage for a manned mission later. So far, only the U.S. has sent astronauts to the moon.

NASA chose its impact site carefully. Because of the tilt of the moon's axis, the floors of large craters at either pole haven't received direct sunlight for billions of years. NASA's target was a crater, Cabeus, near the southern pole.

Cabeus is a cosmic trap. Any material that lands there sticks. "There's almost no energy to warm up the molecules, so that they can't bounce off again," said G. Randall Gladstone, co-author of one of the Science papers and a planetary scientist at the nonprofit Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

Dr. Gladstone and others believe that Cabeus contains cosmic material that has accumulated over a billion years or more. Scientists know that most of the moon is almost entirely dry. But some remote observations had suggested that water might be present at cold-trap regions of the moon.

The quantity of water discovered was 50% greater than NASA's initial estimates. Other measurements suggest there's even a "lunar permafrost" covering about 30% of the southern polar region of the moon, with ice lying just below the surface.

In its search for lunar water, NASA launched an Atlas V rocket stacked with an upper-stage rocket known as Centaur. Above it sat the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. Atop that sat another satellite, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO.

More

• For Now, Moon Resources Belong to Everyone
• NASA Scientists Find Water on Moon

The LRO went into moon orbit. Centaur eventually flew toward the Cabeus crater, followed by a hurtling LCROSS. Drained of fuel, Centaur was now the equivalent of an empty soda can 36 feet tall.

It slammed into the crater's "fluffy, snow-covered dirt," scientists said, spewing at least 8,800 pounds of debris, dust and vapor. LCROSS's instruments took measurements on the quantity of water vapor and ice in the plume, then smashed into the moon as well.

The LRO satellite, meanwhile, orbited 30 miles above the moon. Its main task—which it continues to do today—was to create a three-dimensional map of the moon's surface, but it collected data on the impact plume as well.

A surprising amount of the Cabeus dirt, about one-fifth, is a mix of different elements and volatile compounds, including water. The rest is made from the typical components of moon rock, including feldspar and basalt.

How NASA Found Water on the Moon

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The scientists also found molecular hydrogen in the soil. "That's interesting because if you want to make rocket fuel you could heat up the soil and hydrogen would come pouring out," said Dr. Gladstone.

The Coaching Menance in India

Nearly 40,000 students arrive in Kota every year from across India, to prepare for the entrance tests to the exclusive Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT).

More than 450,000 students take the IIT exam but only three percent succeed. 

17-year-old Vijay Singh dreams of getting an engineering degree. To fulfill his ambition, he studies morning, noon and night.

"Money can be earned by many other ways, it is not necessary to do IIT for that. IIT is done for respect," he said.

Another student, Suvraj Kumar from Bihar, spends his days in a dingy, fluorescent-lit room in a boys' hostel, sharing it with four others. It's a place to study ten hours a day and sleep a few hours a night. Most importantly, it's just Rs. 2000 a month. Kumar's father went to loan sharks to pay his fees.

"The loan puts pressure that you have to do this. That is why I am moving in that direction," said Suvraj.

Passing the IIT exam has become the ultimate sign of success, and about one-third of those who pass are believed to have studied in Kota.

There are more than 100 institutes in Kota, from fly-by-night, one-teacher operations, to marble-floored six-story institutions that have enviable infrastructure.

One of the first institutes here was started by V.K. Bansal. Struck down by muscular dystrophy, he tutored students for the IIT in his spare time. In 1991, his classes became a full-time operation. Others followed.

At these institutes in Kota, no one is talking about Nobel Prizes or making contributions to science, their dream is more prosaic: a steady job, respectability and, above all, money.

National panel will seek to check diversion of tribal lands

 The National Council for Land Reforms will meet on October 28 to give a thrust to moves to check the diversion of land in tribal areas to private companies, and launch schemes to ensure that every landless person has at least the land to build a house.

The council, chaired by the prime minister, will take a close look at consolidating the laws governing land records and benami transactions to plug violation of ceiling laws.

A key agenda drawn by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh will be to nudge the states to abide by the Supreme Court's Samata judgment of July 1997 banning transfer of land and mining leases to non-tribals in Schedule V areas: an issue which has huge implications for industries in tribal pockets. Sources said the Centre was likely to insist on implementation of the judgment in "letter and spirit".

The council was formed in October 2008 in the wake of a "jal, jungle, zameen" march to the Capital by tribals and others protesting against the usurpation of their land and other resources by outsiders. That the body which comprises 10 chief ministers has finally been activated has to do with the recognition of land as the source of problems plaguing the hinterland and alienation of tribal land due to usurpation by powerful individuals and industrialists, all contributing to the growing menace of naxalism.

The sudden interest in land may be academic, it being a state subject and an intractable political and social issue. However, the council may help renew the focus on land management, especially among tribals. The coming meeting may look to bring about convergence between Centre and states to ensure that policy guidelines do not fall prey to jurisdictional issues.

The Centre will also launch central schemes for homestead rights for homeless rural poor, survey of bhoodan lands, reconciliation of forest and revenue land records, establishment of land tribunals for fast disposal of appeals, survey of common property resources in villages and survey and settlement operations in tribal sub-plan areas.

It will also seek recognition of gram sabhas as competent authority for transfer of tribal land by sale or lease, and for restoration of alienated tribunal lands and for maintenance of land records. Another demand for withdrawal of encroachment cases and minor forest offences may be raised.

Along with the council, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, eager to buy peace with protestors in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls, had also formed a committee to go into the issues of "state agrarian relations and unfinished task in land reforms".

Coming on the back of the urgency across political spectrum to amend the 1894 Land Acquisition Act, the initiative of the rural development ministry is interesting. While the new bill, now with Parliament's standing committee, seeks to ensure better price for farm land, it has drawn criticism from activists who see it as facilitating the sale of land when it should have discouraged it. The focus on land management and tribal land through the brainstorming in the national council will seek to right the perspective.

AMU allocates Rs.1 crore each for Kerala and WB centres | ummid.com

The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has allocated Rs.1 crore each for the purchase of management and law books at its Malappuram and Murshidabad centres.

AMU Vice-Chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis asked directors of both centres to proceed with the purchase of books.

The university has also authorised Deans of law and management faculties to appoint teachers for short period.

Prof. Azis said that under special powers vested with the Deans, they could appoint faculty on temporary basis for a period of one month.

AMU centres at Malappuram in Kerala and Murshidabad in West Bengal are part of AMU VC's ambitious plan to open such centres in five different states of the country. The other three centres are Kishanganj in Bihar, Malegaon in Maharashtra and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

AMU officials plan these centres to be converted into full fledged universities by 2020 when the AMU is slated to complete 100 years of establishment.

INDIA:Faculty shortage in colleges, varsities a whopping 54%

India’s higher education sector is working with half the teacher strength it actually needs. The first major government assessment of faculty crunch in colleges and universities across the country has thrown up shocking results, putting the faculty resource shortage in the country at 54 per cent. This is much higher than 40 per cent previously estimated.
The student ratio in the country is a whopping 1: 20.9 whereas according to the UGC’s own standards, it should be only 1: 13.5 (1: 12 for postgraduate students and 1: 15 for undergraduate students).
Student ratio currently is higher by 7.4 students per teacher for which the additional teacher requirement is 3, 83,868, which is the current shortage. In percentage terms, the teacher shortage stands at 54 pc, state the findings of the special taskforce the Human Resource Development Ministry had constituted on September 14, 2009 on “Faculty Shortage and Design of Performance Appraisal System.”
After two years of fieldwork, the taskforce today submitted its report to the government, pegging the additional teacher requirement in India’s colleges and universities at 13, 17,331 by the end of the 12th Plan in 2017. The projection has been made on the basis of average annual gworth of 6 per cent in student enrolment in the country. The taskforce made its projections after meeting all higher education regulators including the UGC, the AICTE, the MCI, the Pharmacy Council of India, Bar Council of India and the Dental Council of India.
Given the sheer scale of the crunch, government’s goal of attainment of a Gross Enrollment Ratio of 20 per cent by 2015 in the higher education sector looks unachievable unless of course teachers are provided for. India’s current GER (number of students who enter colleges) is a dismal 12.4 pc, which is half of the world’s average.
So far as the faculty crunch goes, the committee found the Central universities reeling under severely shortage. Of the total sanctioned faculty strength of 13514 in these universities, 4662 are unfilled, taking the percentage shortage to about 35.
Guru Ghasi Das Vidhwavidyalaya Chattisgarh (converted into a Central university from its state university status in 2009) has the highest faculty shortage as 65 pc of its teachers; positions are unfilled.
The University of Allahbad follows with 58 pc shortage and the prestigious University of Delhi had the third highest number of unfilled teachers’ positions at 53 pc. Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Viswa Bharti follow at 15.3 pc; 14.5 pc and 15.7 pc shortage.
In terms of gross shortage, University of Delhi (where the cut offs soared this year to 100 pc) is currently short of 910 teachers followed by the BHU at 905.
In state universities, data was available only for 77 out of 264 such varsities. In these 77, there are 23915 sanctioned teachers’ posts; 33.3 pc are lying unfilled.
The highest shortage is in the following state universities - North Bengal (94.7 pc); Gujarat (over 70 pc); Rajasthan (69.8 pc). Among state varsities with zero vacancies are Annamalia, Kannur, National Law School Bangalore and Sri Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit.
Affiliated colleges are also severely hit with 3585 of the total 12150 sanctioned faculty positions vacant. Here, Himachal’s colleges have the highest - 33 per cent - vacancy followed by Maharashtra at 31 pc.
Painting a grim picture, the taskforce has urged the HRD Ministry to immediately order a full assessment of faculty position in India without which policy projections for the 12th Plan would be impossible. The panel was asked to report on the crunch and suggest the way forward for the 12th Plan.
The Panel pointed out that the MCI and the Pharmacy Council were unable to furnish estimates of shortage while the AICTE said the technical education sector was short of 1.5 lakh teachers (it has 1.5 lakh currently).

The Centre of Advanced Studies Status for the Urdu Department of AMU

 The University Grants Commission (UGC)has bestowed upon the Urdu Department of Aligarh Muslim University the status of Centre of Advanced Studies. It is the first ever department in India which has received the prestigious status. Usually UGC grants the above status to those departments who have completed successfully atleast three projects in specially identified areas within five years. Prof. Mohd. Zahid, Chairman of the Department said that by granting the status of Centre of Advanced Studies to Urdu Department, the UGC has recognized its contribution in the field of Urdu literature and research in the last thirty years. Prof. Zahid said that UGC has appointed Prof. Qazi Afzal Husain as the Coordinator and Prof. Mohd. Zahid as Deputy Coordinator.

GSAT-12 communication satellite launched successfully by PSLV

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Friday successfully launched its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV- C17) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, 100 km north of Chennai, carrying to space GSAT-12, a communication satellite. This is the 18th successful launch of PSLV. 

The majestic launch vehicle lifted off from Sriharikota at 4.40 pm and within a few seconds disappeared into the clouds. Thirty minutes later, it injected the satellite into an orbit with a perigee (closest point to earth) of 284 km and an apogee (farthest point) of 21,000 km. 

"PSLV-C17 launch has been a success," Isrochairman K Radhakrishnan said. "We have achieved an orbit just 8 km away from the one planned. In the next half an hour we will get information on the health of the satellite." 

GSAT-12, weighing 1,410 kg at lift-off, is configured to meet the country's growing demand for transponders in a short turnaround time. It will boost television broadcasting and various other communication services like tele-education, telemedicine and village resource centres. 

PSLV-C17, which marked the 19th flight of the Isro's workhorse, was similar to the one used for the Chandrayaan-1 mission on October 22, 2008, with six extended solid strap-on motors. The Indian National Satellite (Insat) system, established in 1983, is one of the largest domestic communication satellite systems in the Asia Pacific region. 

GSAT joins that system, which has eight other satellites – Insat- 2E, Insat- 3A, Insat- 3C, Insat- 3E, Insat- 4A, Insat- 4B, Insat- 4CR and GSAT-8, providing 175 transponders in the S, C, Ext-C and Ku-bands.

The Hindu : Business / Economy : National Sample Survey finds huge disparity in Indian income

The Hindu : Business / Economy : National Sample Survey finds huge disparity in Indian income

AMU approves five new study centres

Aligarh Muslim University has sanctioned the establishment of five study centres of distance education in different parts of the country.

The approval has been granted for establishing these centres at different educational establishments at Saharsa, Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur in Bihar, a release said here today.

The remaining two centres will be established at Badaun and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, it added.

According to Director, Distance Education Centre, AMU, Mohd Rizwan Khan, the university does not have any financial commitment in the establishment of these centres which would fall under the ambit of the Centre for Distance Education.

These centres will offer courses for graduates and undergraduates.

B.Tech Admission Process starts at AMU

The admission process for B. Tech and B. Arch started today at the Engineering faculty of the Aligarh Muslim University.

The Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Prof. S. Mahdi Abbas Rizvi informed that for the first time in the history of the University, new procedure for the completion of admission has been adopted by using biometric identity check and data process. In this process, data regarding thumb impression, signature and photograph of the selected candidates were collected electronically for the automatic and computerized identity check before the completion of admission.

He said that after completion of admission, the Dean, Faculty of Engineering will issue a Biometric Smart Card for all future verification. He further said that the admission will be completed on June 30, 2011 and the classes will commence on August 2, 2011, after Summer Vacation.

The Vice Chancellor has constituted a committee to oversee the B. Tech Admissions 2011-2012. The committee will be responsible to see that admissions are done in smooth and transparent manner. The committee will also enquire and take decision in case of reported impersonation cases.

Dean, Faculty of Engineering said that the Committee will take stern action in accordance with the law of the land in the event of detection of any unfair means used for securing admission.

Elinor Ostrom honored in France, Norway

Elinor Ostrom, Distinguished Professor of political science at Indiana University Bloomington and co-recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in economic sciences, is being honored by the scientific community in France. In a tribute to her work, Ostrom will receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Montpelier and deliver a keynote address at a UNESCO conference in Paris.

The conference for the United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization will take place June 22-24. This will be Ostrom's first official visit to France since receiving the Nobel Prize.

Ostrom, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in economic sciences, focuses her research on the governance of common property, or common pool resources, especially through collective action and self-organization. She is a founding director of the IU's Workshop on Political Theory and Policy Analysis, a research center supported in part by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research at IU Bloomington.

The theme of collective governance is the topic for Ostrom's lecture at an international symposium hosted by CIRAD, a French research center working with developing countries on international agricultural and development issues. The symposium is organized and coordinated by more than two dozen French scientific organizations and universities. After receiving her honorary doctorate from the University of Montpelier, Ostrom is meeting separately with researchers for an advanced workshop and will conduct a master class with doctoral students.