Science in India Newsletter

Index

S&T Policies:

 S&T Policies:

1. Early phase human trials may be allowed in India

Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is looking at allowing foreign pharma companies to do early-stage clinical trials on humans, called Phase 0, in India, which is not allowed now. Moreover, CDSCO, under the leadership of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), is taking a slew of measures in the areas of clinical trials, regulations for medical devices, pharma co vigilance, and IT enabled services, in a bid to improve the transparency and reliability of the drug approval process.

At present, foreign pharma companies are allowed to do clinical trials from Phase 2 in India. Phase 0 trials are designed to speed up the development of promising drugs by establishing in the early stages itself whether the drug or agent behaves in human subjects as was anticipated from pre-clinical studies.

(Financial Express India, 10.09.2008)              

                                                                                          

The Karnataka government has provided 17.35 acres of its land to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) for setting up their International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) campus in Bangalore.
"Government of Karnataka has transferred 17.35 acres of government land this month to Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) to build its ICTS campus on long term lease basis of 30 years," a TIFR spokesperson Kishore Menon said on Wednesday. ICTS was set up last year at TIFR here to contribute to the growth of excellence in the basic sciences. The ICTS concept has broad similarities with other successful institutions like Kavli Institute of theoretical Physics in US, the Isaac Newton Institute in UK and the Abdus Salam International Centre for theoretical Physics ,Italy, he said. "The ICTS has been adapted to meet the specific needs and conditions in India," its director Professor Spenta Wadia said. ICTS will provide a platform to organise scientific programmes in traditional areas at the forefront of knowledge and their interconnections.
 
 
(The Hindu, 29.10.2008)      

                                                                                        

India has launched a website (http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/) to provide knowledge on environment issues like how to install a solar water heater, and on waste management. An initiative of the National Knowledge Commission and a green group, it will not only teach people how to be environment friendly but also give information to researchers, students and even laymen on environment.


(igovernment.in, 08.12.2008)
  

Through carbon trading projects in India under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), more than 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be avoided by 2012 —cutting back 10% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions every year. The government has cleared more than 1,000 projects for carbon trading, the highest in the world, attracting investments worth Rs 119,662 crore (EUR 18 billion) in these green ventures.


(The Times of India, 08.09.2008)
  

The Centre proposes to set up a Solar Energy Commission, with equal participation from the private sector. It is to tap the solar energy potential for meeting the future energy needs of the country.

The initial investment for the project will be around $ 10 billion. The Commission, on the lines of the Atomic Energy Commission, will be an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology. It will be responsible for the deployment of commercial and near-commercial solar technologies. It will establish a solar research facility at an existing establishment to coordinate research and development activities being carried out in the public and private sectors. It is estimated that just about 2 per cent of India’s land mass under solar collectors, at current efficiency levels, could meet the country’s entire energy requirements even 25 years from now. Together with indirect solar energy, this potential source of clean energy holds the promise of energy independence for India. India is endowed with a rich solar resource exceeding 1600 kWh/m2 per annum. The Commission will be responsible for realising integrated private sector manufacturing capacity for solar material, cells and modules, networking of Indian research efforts with international initiatives with a view to promoting collaborative research and acquiring and adapting technology, besides establishing a regulatory framework and providing funding available under the global climate mechanisms. Over the next 7-10 years, the Commission will aim to deliver at least 80 per cent coverage for all low temperature (less than 150 degrees Celsius) and at least 60 per cent coverage for medium temperature (150 to 250 degrees Celsius) applications of solar energy in all urban areas, industries and commercial establishments.

Rural solar thermal applications will also be pursued under private-public partnership, wherever feasible. Commensurate local manufacturing capacity to meet this level of deployment, with necessary technology tie-up, will also be established. Solar energy conversion systems fall into three categories according to their primary energy production: solar electricity, solar thermal systems and solar fuels. The untapped energy potential of each of these three generic approaches is well beyond current usage levels. The main challenges before the government are to reduce the cost/watt of electricity to compete with fossil and nuclear electricity, identifying cost-effective methods to convert sunlight into storable, dispatchable thermal energy that bridges the diurnal cycle and to produce chemical fuels directly from sunlight that could be used as cheap solar fuel.


(The Hindu, 21.05.2008)
  

 Research:

6. India touches the Moon

The 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads on Chandrayaan-I, ejected from the main spacecraft — orbiting around the moon at a distance of 100 km — at the appointed time of 8.06 pm on 13 November. And, after a 25-minute textbook journey, hit the lunar surface at a designated location near the moon’s south pole. The MIP became the first Indian object to leave its imprint on the moon’s surface.

A small cube-shaped instrument, with the Tricolour on all four sides, met its tryst with the lunar surface signalling a mission accomplished step by flawless step over 24 days and nights — and a giant leap for the country’s space programme.

The MIP became the first Indian object to leave its imprint on the moon’s surface. The United States, the erstwhile USSR and the European Space Agency are the only other three to have “deliberately landed an object on the moon.”
 

(Indian Express, 15.11.2008)

                                                                                          

India's national tricolour was on the Moon on November 14 to mark the country's physical presence after Chandrayaan-1's Impact Probe landed on the lunar surface when the unmanned spacecraft successfully ejected the instrument in a giant leap for the country's space programme. India was only the fourth nation to complete the moon odyssey when the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) hit the lunar surface exactly at 8.31 PM, about 25 minutes after the probe instrument descended from the satellite in what ISRO described as a “perfect operation”.

Elated ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said the terrain mapping camera on board the MIP has been switched on and images of lunar surface with an around five metre resolution has been received. The MIP is one of the 11 scientific instruments (payloads) onboard Chadrayaan-1 India's first unmanned spacecraft mission to Moon launched on October 22 from Sriharikota spaceport. Developed by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of Thiruvananthapuram, the primary objective of MIP is to demonstrate the technologies required for landing a probe at the desired location on the moon. The probe will help qualify some of the technologies related to future soft landing missions. This apart scientific exploration of the moon at close distance is also intended using MIP. From the operational circular orbit of about 100 km height passing over the polar regions of the moon, the MIP is intended to conduct chemical, mineralogical and photo geological mapping of the moon with Chandrayaan-1's 11 scientific instruments (payloads).


(PTI Science Service, December 1-15)
  

After the success of Chandrayaan -1, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has conceptually developed a Sun mission called ''Aditya''.

ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, said the success of Chandrayaan -1 has boosted the confidence of ISRO scientists to look beyond the moon.
"Aditya has been approved and its operations would begin soon. Sun mission is very critical and one of its kind in the global space research," Nair added.

He further revealed that ISRO is also developing a fast track satellite to augment rural development and the Indian space sphere. The operations will continue for the next one-and-half years.

(Zeenews, 10.11.2008) 

                                                                                          

The Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) here is setting up a new facility at a cost of Rs 100 crore to study the impact of waves on ships and the work on the project will begin soon, according to Dr V. Bhujanga Rao, Director. At a press meet here on Wednesday on the occasion of the National Technological Day celebrations in the lab, the Director said the project would be completed in four years. The new facility – along with the cavitation tunnel and high speed towing tank – would make the NSTL the only laboratory of its kind, Dr Bhujanga Rao said.

Currently, he said, the naval ships were being sent abroad to conduct the specialised studies required for assessing the impact of waves on ships and the proposed facility at the NSTL would fulfil the need.

Dr Bhujanga Rao said the order for production of advanced lightweight torpedoes, developed by the NSTL, had been placed with Bharat Dynamics Ltd, Hyderabad. In the heavy weight torpedo category, the NSTL was working on torpedoes based on electric propulsion and thermal engines. He said the BDL would set up unit here soon. He said the NSTL was working on advanced submersibles and autonomous underwater vehicles and they would be launched by the end of 2009.
 

(The Hindu, Business Line, 15.05.2008)                                      

The Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) here is setting up a new facility at a cost of Rs 100 crore to study the impact of waves on ships and the work on the project will begin soon, according to Dr V. Bhujanga Rao, Director. At a press meet here on Wednesday on the occasion of the National Technological Day celebrations in the lab, the Director said the project would be completed in four years. The new facility – along with the cavitation tunnel and high speed towing tank – would make the NSTL the only laboratory of its kind, Dr Bhujanga Rao said.

Currently, he said, the naval ships were being sent abroad to conduct the specialised studies required for assessing the impact of waves on ships and the proposed facility at the NSTL would fulfil the need.

Dr Bhujanga Rao said the order for production of advanced lightweight torpedoes, developed by the NSTL, had been placed with Bharat Dynamics Ltd, Hyderabad. In the heavy weight torpedo category, the NSTL was working on torpedoes based on electric propulsion and thermal engines. He said the BDL would set up unit here soon. He said the NSTL was working on advanced submersibles and autonomous underwater vehicles and they would be launched by the end of 2009.

(The Hindu, Business Line, 15.05.2008)        
                                                                                         
 

Chennai (PTI): Basking in the glory of the success of India's maiden unmanned lunar mission, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair on Thursday said Chandrayaan-II would be launched by 2012 and a small robot is planned to be dropped on the moon. "Chandrayaan-II will be launched by 2012. We will have a lander that will drop a small robot on the moon, which will pick samples, analyse data and send the data back. Already the project has been formulated for Chandrayaan-II," Nair told reporters on the sidelines of an international seminar on Emerging Scenarios in Space Technology and applications here. He described as speculation reports that the government had not sanctioned ISRO's proposal for a manned mission. Justifying the relevance of manned moon mission, Nair said "We cannot be lagging behind in terms of our capability to access space. China, USA and Japan are going ahead with huge plans for space." Nair also sought to silence critics of the Chandrayaan-1 moonmission programme over its 'exorbitant' costs saying that only a 'miniscule' portion of the Indian space programme's budget had been allotted for the mission.

(The Hindu, Business Line, 25.10.2008)        
                                                                                         
 

 Academic Exchange/ Education:

12. Indo-German science centre inaugurated

Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal and his German counterpart, Annette Schavan, inaugurated an Indo-German Science and Technology Centre here on Tuesday.

It will promote linkages among research institutions, the academia and industry in the two countries, and support joint projects in the health, automobile and advanced materials sectors.

Both countries would contribute €10 million each over the next five years. The fund would be used to catalyse joint research involving industry and the academia, apart from science and technology institutions.

Mr. Sibal and Dr. Schavan also launched a campaign,‘India and Germany-Strategic Partners in Innovation,’ which will focus on further deepening cooperation in science.

They signed a joint declaration, ‘Science for Sustainability,’ which aims at developing a full-fledged Indo-German programme to address cleaner technologies and energy security.

(The Hindu, 10.08.2008)

                                                                                          
 

The 5th Meeting of the EU-India S&T Cooperation Agreement Steering Committee took place in Brussels on 1 and 2 October 2008. It was co-chaired by Mr José Manuel Silva Rodriguez, Director General for Research on the European side and by Dr T.S. Ramasami, Secretary (Director General) Department of Science and Technology (DST) on the Indian side. In addition to colleagues from many of the Directorates in DG RTD, the participants on the European side included colleagues from other DGs, including TREN, ENV, ENTR, RELEX, JRC and INFSO. For the first time ever officials from Indian Ministries / Departments other than DST participated in the Steering Committee Meeting. They included the Secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and an Advisor form the Department of Biotechnology. The Indian Embassy in Brussels was also represented at the Meeting.

The formal Steering Committee Meeting was preceded by bilateral meetings for the Indian delegation with colleagues within the different directorates in DG RTD and other DGs, as well as with the COST organisation. The topics for these bilateral meetings included Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology; Environment; SME policy, Energy; Social Sciences and Science in Society; Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (all in DG RTD); ICT for competitiveness and innovation and Innovation Policy (in DG ENTR).
These meeting enabled an informal exchange of views and exploration of possible areas for future cooperation. Areas identified in the bilateral meetings were more formally discussed in the Steering Committee Meeting. The visit to COST was also a first for the Indian delegation and the discussions there will hopefully lead to a joint event in the near future.

The main deliverables of the Steering Committee Meeting included: agreement on the main topics for the 2010 and 2011 EU – India Coordinated Calls for Proposals – with 5m Euro support by each party, each year. The topics are: Solar Energy research (2010) and, Waste and Water research (2011); recognition of the clear progress towards a much more significant EU – India cooperation in climate change research; the start of Indian cooperation with DG ENTR in the field of innovation (best practices) etc; finalisation with DBT of the 2009 Coordinated Call on Food and Nutrition; a commitment by the Indian side to formally nominate National Contact Points for FP7 as well as to facilitate European researchers to come to India for example under the Marie-Curie Scheme; discussion and general agreement on two forthcoming workshops in 2008 on Social Sciences and on Energy respectively (November 2008); agreement to hold at least one video conference with the participation of the co-chairs, in between the SCM meetings; agreement on finalising a “Dynamic S&T Cooperation Roadmap” and to use/ update it as a “living” document of progress in cooperation. It was also decided to disseminate the Roadmap e.g. through RTD, Delegation and DST websites.
The overall atmosphere was very positive.

(India Science and Technology News, September - October 2008)
                                                                                          
 

 Miscellaneous:
 

14. India given 15,261 patents in 2007-2008

A record number of scientific inventions have been patented in the country during the last financial year. The tally of patents is nearly twice that of the year before.

The controller general of patents’ office granted a total 15,261 patents in 2007-08 as against 7,539 granted in 2006-07. This is a 11-fold rise compared to the tally five years ago.

This includes 977 product patents allotted in pharmaceutical sector up to March 2008. Patenting of pharma products was allowed after an amendment in the Patents Act in 2005. The uptrend in patenting inventions has continued. The controller general of patents has granted around 6,000 patents in the first quarter of the current year, said senior official in the ministry of commerce.

However, this does not mean that scientific research has taken off in the country in a big way. Most of the patents granted in the country are of foreign origin. Of the total 15,261 patents registered in 2007-08, as many as 13,844 were of foreign origin.

The growth in number of patents is so large because of chemical and drug patents being registered in the country. In year 2007-08, 4,071 patents where from the chemicals category and 1,469 were drugs, said the official.
The rise is probably due to the reason of a slew of measures taken up by the department. The patent offices have been modernised further and technical measures like e-filing have been introduced.

(Economic Times, 16.08.2008)

                                                                                           
 

The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATMC) approved India’s proposal last year, for a third base station to be set up. The station will be at Larsemann Hills (east Antartica), and just 600 kilometers east of the second station, Maitri.

Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said, “Indira Gandhi who set up the Gangotri in the Antarctic way back. And then of course we set up second station, Maitri. And now I’ve decided to set up the third station in the Antarctic, which is going to be set up very soon.”
This third station will eventually replace Maitri, since it will outlive its utility soon.

India sent its first expedition to the Antartic in 1981, and its first expedition to the Arctic last year.

(livemint.com, The Wall Street Journal, 21.08.2008)
                                                                                           
 

This newsletter has been prepared by the Science Section of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, New Delhi. Texts of articles from science magazines and newspapers have been edited for their length and are partly based on information from the Embassy. No responsibility for the content of the articles is accepted.