BJP in turmoil, lack of strong Opposition and Dance of Democracy

There is no need to mention about the current crisis that BJP is undergoing due to the fight between its members. Each one is accusing the other of something. Question has arisen as to who will lead the main opposition party , the BJP now.

The RSS has termed that BJP is in crisis because it has deviated from Sangh ideology. And has planned to re-establish the BJP so that it functions well and in accordance with the long term ideologies that are the pillars of RSS.

With no great leaders as the stature of Vajpayee and Advani, new members will be taken into the party. However, Advani will be the first line leader because of the mass base he holds and therefore, all others derive their strength from him.


However, as Pankaj Vohra, the Political Editor, Hindustan Times puts it

"Advani's credibility is now at an all-time low. His colleagues — George Fernandes, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Brajesh Mishra and Arun Shourie — have accused him of lying about the Kandahar episode. Further, it is being alleged that he was the brain behind the cash-for-vote scam in Parliament in July 2008. Any leader who is painted as a ‘liar’ by his own colleagues will be on the backfoot. His continuation, therefore, is untenable. It is for the party and the RSS to decide the timeframe for his departure. But it has to be sooner than later. Otherwise the BJP’s credibility will sink further."

With such a situation arising where the main opposition in the Parliament is in the worse turmoil ever, we people can never expect the democracy to function properly. There would be no one to oppose government policies and hold it accountable to the public. Moreover, lack of a strong opposition leader who can actively debate legislations and constantly question the government will lead to a chaos like situation.
India is in a phase where we are exploring our potential to the fullest to become world leaders whether it is economy or science, literature or music. In this phase, we all need a strong government as well as opposition. Let us all hope that indeed our dreams of a stable and progressive democracy be true soon.

Chandrayaan-I comes to an abrupt end

My country's first maiden moon mission, namely Chandrayaan-I has come to an abrupt ending, with ISRO losing communication with the spacecraft after nearly ten months, cutting short the oddessey of a what was supposed to be two year long project.

Chandrayaan was launched Oct 22, 2008 from India's only spaceport Sriharikota, about 90 km from northeast of Chennai, on board the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV). It has provided large volume of data from sophisticated sensors such as terrain mapping camera, hyper-spectral imager and moon mineralogy mapper, meeting most of the scientific objectives of the mission.


"The contact was lost at 01.30 IST as the deep space network (DSN) at Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore, received the data from the lunarcraft during the previous orbit up to 00.25 IST," according to an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) statement from Bangalore.

However, as Project Director of the mission, Mr Annadurai puts it,"Chandrayaan-1 has done its job technically about 100%. Scientifically, it has done almost 90-95% of its job."

ISRO Chairman Madhavan Nair said scientists were analysing what has gone wrong and whether there was any possibility of recovery.

Some critics regard the space programme as a waste of resources in a country where millions still lack basic services.

Here is a video from Times TV...



Chandrayaan-I was India's first step towards the moon. Whatever may be the results, it has sparked off a great many positives for our nation. Our scientists have now a greater confidence level because we have already had a mission at an expenditure that was many times less than our US and Japanese counterparts.Many students are now striving hard to realise their dreams to be space-scientists. Various debates and competitions are now being held in various parts of the country regarding the knowledge of the mission. It has led to popularization of space sciences and radio astronomy as a career pursuit.

And say what...We Indians have progressed towards the second phase with our design of Chandrayaan-II complete, and our scientists get a chance to check and recheck their architecture of the mission critical components.

All this is a sign that we are moving towards realizing our India Vision 2020.

Cost of Adaptation to Climate Change

Needless to mention, the climatic change in the planet has given severe headache to all nations of the world, the major culprit being the greed of humanity for prosperity without maintaining a natural balance with the ecosystem.

Changing climate patterns have caused less rainfall this year, most of them coming in the form of clouds formed due to low pressure over the seas. This has dramatically reduced the crop yields this season for which the common man suffers and also the prices rise sky high thereby turning life worse for a dominant portion of our population. A drought situation has also arisen.

The glaciers which are the main source of water for our perennial rivers are also melting, so we may experience water shortage also.

Meanwhile the UNO is busy in policy planning for persuading nations susceptible most to climate changes to sign up to a global agreement in December. However, many scientists and experts report that the UN has underestimated the budget and that it is going t be two to three times more as compared to that predicted.The UNFCCC(UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) has estimated annual global costs of adapting to climate change to be US$40-170 billion, or the cost of about three Olympic Games per year.

Scientists led by a former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warn that these estimates were produced too quickly and did not include key sectors such as energy, manufacturing, retailing, mining, tourism and ecosystems. Other sectors that the UNFCCC did include were only partially covered. The report has been named as Assessing the costs of adaptation to climate change: A critique of the UNFCCC estimates. (Click on the link to download the report)

However, Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, in a statement issued Friday, said precise figures on the amount of cash required was unnecessary at this stage. Such estimates “remain a moving target,” he said, adding that “starting to plug the hole right now is more important than determining its exact future size.”
"Poorer countries need to be given aid to adapt to climate change and this amount needs to be scaled up significantly in coming years", he adds.

Here is a video of Prof. Martin Parry, Imperial College London, talking to IIED about climate change, vulnerable countries, the most urgent issues and the vital next steps.



Regardless of the efforts of UNO, it is high time for humanity to change its ways for a sustainable development, failing which we all are sure to face crisis in the near future.

My Technical Blog

Hi Everyone, I have started a technical blog by the link provided below. Anyone visiting from Netbeans Wiki is requested to visit my Technical Blog.

I miss B'day at UCE

Yo my birthday!!! no serious topics man... I can't bear it at least today. So what are the birthday updates????

My friends wished me, some on phone, some on orkut, and some by mail.

But I miss today UCE very much. Infact, we UCEians have a peculiar style of celebrating birthdays. Right before 12.00 am buddies gather at your room...you don't even know you have suddenly become a celebrity.

And everyone will wish you, but that's not the only thing. Suddenly someone will give you a loud thunder at the back, thus starts a cermony where everyone gets atleast one such bump. I think engineers of UCE make real crackers with these strokes.Those strokes apply equally to room-mates also. Favorite juniors also have to share that... but indeed it was thrilling.

They will carry you to a pool and throw you inside. What you do is to splash water on everyone and it is an hours play over there in the midnight and everyone is drenched.

After that we return to the room, cut the B'day cake and the party with some of the most "peculiar dancers" of the century. No classes, go to restaurant, have a good lunch, go to cinema, then have a dinner and its all over.

Thanks UCE for such a memorable birthday...

And this my group...

Pokhran, CTBT and war between scientists

The news channels are flashing today about the doubts raised on the success of Pokhran-II which was held way back in 1998. K Santhanam, a former top official of the Defence Research and Development Organization(DRDO) has stated that the nuclear tests at Pokhran in 1998 were partially successful and not enough from security point of view and that India should not be signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT). Santhanam says that India should go for more nuclear tests.

What everyone is pondering about is why Santhanam was silent for the last 11 years?

However, such a claim has been discarded by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who spearheaded the nuclear tests as the then Director General of the DRDO. As Kalam puts it, "After the test, there was a detailed review, based on the two experimental results: (i) seismic measurement close to the site and around and (ii) radioactive measurement of the material after post shot drill in the test site.From these data, it has been established by the project team that the design yield of the thermo-nuclear test has been obtained."

India conducted five nuclear tests on May 11 and 13, 1998 at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan which included a 45 kiloton (kt) thermonuclear device, called as hydrogen bomb in common parlance.The other tests on May 11 included a 15 kt fission device and a 0.2 kt sub-kiloton device. The two simultaneous nuclear tests on May 13 were also in the sub-kiloton range -- 0.5 and 0.3 kt.

It is being also said by some that Santhanam's statement is going to bolster India's opposition to signing the CTBT. However, all the people at responsible posts of the government have completely stated that such a comment has no validity in the truest sense of the terms. Also, some VIP has commented on Santhanam not to make his personal duel with somebody as an issue of the nation.

Whatsoever, this issue has put to question the caliber of all the scientists who are involved with the cause. It is not only the scientists but also common people who will be affected with this. Simply because this matter has directly put query on the status of our India as an independent nuclear power.

Reformation in higher education

Well, why at all I am writing about this? People would say that yes at the times of recession, the best option is to go for higher studies...and therefore folks are running after that. But before that I would question myself if I have understood all that I was taught at the under-graduate level?? And obviously the answer that comes to my mind is a big no. So, a decision evolves to make the best use of what I have known, gain some experience, explore my potentials, experiment what I can at this moment and what I cannot. Let the pay package be a bit less than that applied to post-graduates.


Some people question what is the value of education if it does not pay you enough? But is money everything? Then whatever we enjoy at present would not have been there. It is there because someone sacrificed luxury to give you this, may it be some form of music or a house or even the laborers who made the roads. Every job has its own dignity and we should respect that.


With the recession, the demand for coaching institutes that provide training for entrances to premier institutes is booming up. The positive side is the facility being provided to students, but in reality they are mechanizing an education level that should be completely guided by one's level of intellect. Now with this trend on the rise, there is a loss to the nation in terms of intellectuals who can really be the driving force, who can mobilise the state, bring about a revolution in their respective sector. The final result is that we grow weak at roots and a nation weak at roots can not sustain long.


The scientists in the various educational institutes are busy publishing papers. Research has been redefined to be "Not copying from one, but from two." A kind of race has begun in the stream of paper publication, just for a matter of getting promotion and hence, a higher pay package. However, the truth is that innovation is always fundamental and thus the world only remembers those who really contributed something.

The remedy for this situation is building up a student from the base. There is no necessity for teaching the whole course, no coaching would be necessary, no branding of institutes. Right from the beginning, the student must be given a food for thought.This will make him search what he wants. Atleast he will sit and open a book or search some sites; more positively gather friends for a brian storming session on the topics. Can't a subject guide give this much?

Lastly, professors at IITs and IISc, MIT-OCW etc must be thanked for feeling this need for posting their course materials and inspirational videos on their websites. This will go a long way for those who want to listen about their favourite subjects and learn, thereby contributing to the next generation.

NPTEL

MIT-OCW