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From the Editor’s Desk

Hello friends

Every year we bid farewell to luminaries in the field of science. This year too the world has lost several eminent scientists and activists.And all of them have mattered most to research world as well have influenced the lives of people. Here below I mention a few of these celestial beings, who have left behind a wealth and legacy of scientific knowledge for us.

Professor Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist left for heavenly abode on March 14, 2018. He was 76 years old.

Professor Yash Pal, scientist, educator,

educationist and an institution-builder known for his contributions to the study of cosmic rays passed away on July 24, 2017. National Centre for Science Communicators (NCSC) organized a two-day long conference in honour of Prof. Yash Pal in the year 2006.

Space scientist Professor U.R. Rao, former ISRO chairman and father of the Indian satellite programme that started with Aryabhata left us on July 25, 2017. He was 85 years old.

Veteran molecular biologist, activist and former founder-director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, Dr. Pushpa Mittra Bhargava passed away on August 1, 2017 at the age of 90. NCSC hosted a conference to felicitate Dr. Bhargava on his completing 80 years in the year 2008. Incidentally, Prof.U.R.Rao chaired one of the key sessions at the same conference.

We, at NCSC pay a tribute to all the renowned scientists who have dedicated their lives to science. We can never forget their incredible contributions to the varied fields of science and the role they played as scientists, educationists and science communicators.

We have been lucky to be living in a scientific golden era. Science

and technology is growing by leaps and bounds. Newer discoveries, achievements and revolutionary understanding of science are catalyzing new businesses, researches, technologies and industries. And together they all reflect upon our day-to-day life.

As we step into 2018, it’s time to review our scientific accomplishments. NCSC has a long list of achievementsto its credit. With efforts from our organizing committee and support from Science Centres and Institutions, we have been able to organize successful science communication seminars and scientific meetings.

Commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Bombay College of Pharmacy, a seminar on “Recent Trends in Science Journalism and Science Communication” was organized on November 4, 2017 at the Bombay Pharmacy College, Mumbai, in collaboration with NCSC and Indian Pharmaceuticals Association-Maharashtra State Branch, to enlighten all regarding the importance of effective scientific communication. Mr. Suhas Naik-Satam, General Secretary, NCSC, convened the meeting.

On November 11, 2017, NCSC in association with Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, Materials Research Society of

Vidnyan Bhavan,V. N. Purav Marg,Sion-Chunabhatti,Mumbai 400022Tel. :091-22-24054714/6268www.ncscmum.org

For Private Circulation Only.Newsletter

April 2018

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India, Mumbai Chapter, Indian Physics Association, The Board of Research in Nuclear Science and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, organized a National Conference on Meeting India’s Challenge in Science and Technology as a tribute to Dr. Rajagopala Chidambaram, the principal scientific advisor to the Government of India for his outstanding contribution to the development of Science and Technology for over five decades.

The theme of the conference was “National Development: Energy, Education, Knowledge Network, National Security and Rural Development”. The conference was held at the Auditorium of TIFR. The convener for the theme meeting was Mr. Suhas Naik-Satam.

Marathi Vidnyan Parishad (MVP) felicitated Shri A. P. Deshpande, Chairman, NCSC and Secretary, MVP, on his 75th birthday on December 15, 2017, for his contribution to science communication and education. The celebration was held at Kudal, Maharashtra. MVP brought out a Festschrift in his honour.

Storytelling is the primeval medium of communicators. And teachers especially are professional storytellers. Best teachers have fine stories to narrate in the class. Storytelling basically is embedded into early childhood education. Unfortunately, science has the largest number of stories but has the least number of storytellers.

In order to carry forward this mission, NCSC together with Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), NES and SVB Group of educational Institutions and Indian Development Foundation

(IDF), organized a “Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) story festival 2018”, which was convened by Mr. Suhas Naik-Satam.

This one-day fest was a tribute to Dr. A.P. Jayaraman, Scientific Advisor to Labour India Educational Research Centre, Kerala and Logic Mills Academy, Singapore, Vice Chairman, NCSC and a pioneer in the genre of creative science stories. Dr. Jayaraman completed 75 years on January 15, 2018. The event was held at the Auditorium of Nehru Science Centre, Mumbaion January 13, 2018.The objective of the festival was to engage teachers and educators with STEM stories.

Science and technology has formed the foundation for progress in society.The well being of any society strongly depends upon the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) income.GDP is strongly correlated with the availability of energy, water, food and nutrition and healthcare. To discuss the social relevance of scientific research and its role in achievement of societal prosperity, a daylong symposium was organized by Nehru Science Centre, MVP and NCSC, held at the Nehru Science Centre on February 16, 2018.

Thesymposium was organized to celebrate the Platinum jubilee year of the internationally renowned atomic scientist with academic acclaim, professional excellence and social commitment, Dr. Anil Kakodkar who entered into the 75th year of his age on 11November, 2017. The convener of the symposium was Mr. A.P. Deshpande, Chairman, NCSC.

On February 26, 2018, NCSC jointly with St. Xavier Institute of Communications (XIC) and Technology Information,

Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC), organized a half-day meeting at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai on “Technology Vision 2035: Climate Change”, which was convened by Mr. Suhas Naik-Satam.

In addition to these conference meetings, NCSC jointly with Vigyan Prasar has been broadcasting radio serials for many years. Eleven AkashvaniKendras in Maharashtra have been broadcasting a radio serial in Marathi,entitled ‘ShashwatVikas’ (sustainable development) since June 4, 2017 and will continue to do so until May 27, 2018.Aakashvani Pune is producing these programmes. There are 52 episodes in all, some of which are interactive programmes with participation from students and listeners. Each 30-minute program is a feature/drama. Dr. KishorKulkarni is coordinating the radio serials.

On behalf of the NCSC committee, we from the Editor’s desk, wish you a very fruitful and productive scientific year ahead. We will keep you informed about our activities and scientific endeavours in due course of time. It is true that achieving success in science communication is a team sport, which we all have to play together. More and more collaborative efforts are needed to communicate science to society. So let us leave our disagreements aside and work together democratically and ethically to achieve this goal of moving along the road to discovery and understanding of science.

— Dr. Parul R. Sheth

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Dr. Bal Phondke, prolific scientific writer and chief guest of the seminar, accentuated the significance of scientific temperament for coherent communication and elaborating on essentiality of faith for driving critical thinking in our minds.

Dr. A. P. Jayaraman, a renowned nuclear scientist and a veteranscience communicatorspoke on importance of versatility for effective scientific communication and explaining how to cautiously build a bridge between Research organizations and media, circumventing the barriers presented by reputed journals.

Mr. Arvind Paranjpye, Director, Nehru Planetarium, elucidated the dynamics of scientific communication and how technology has evolved, improved and paved better ways to convey scientific accomplishments to the public.

Dr. Parul R. Sheth, freelance science writer, briefed on the revolutionalisation of mediums of communication - traditional journalism to online interaction and addressing on how science engaging is more important than just understanding science.

Mr. Mrityunjay Bose, Chief of Bureau of Deccan Herald in Mumbai, had a pragmatic take on the love-hate relationship between scientists and journalists, explaining the pitfalls of publicizing information to the masses due to lack of inefficient communication between scientists and media, concluding his speech with a strong message that science writers are the mediators who are responsible in broadcasting scientific discoveries.

On behalf of Bombay College of Pharmacy, Dr. (Mrs.) Anuradha Majumdar, Associate Professor of Pharmacology coordinated the programme.

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A bridge called as “Corpus Callosum” facilitates communication between the two hemispheres of our brain – how can this information be disseminated among people with non-scientific background? The answer is, by learning the art of scientific writing. A consummate scientific writer is the one who can make a layperson bypass the complexity of scientific labyrinth, preserve its credibility and promulgate research with utmost fidelity. Apart from the onerous lab-work, young scientists should learn how to present our research in public domain in a lucid manner.

Commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Bombay College of Pharmacy, a seminar on “Recent Trends in Science Journalism and Science Communication” was organized on November 4 2017 at the Bombay Pharmacy College, in collaboration with NCSC and Indian Pharmaceuticals Association-Maharashtra State Branch, to enlighten everyone regarding the importance of effective scientific communication.

RECENT TRENDS IN SCIENCE JOURNALISM AND SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

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A REPORT ON THE BRNS THEME MEETING ON “SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT”

A BRNS Theme Meeting on the role of Science and Technology in National Development was held at the Home Bhabha Auditorium, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai on November 11, 2017.

The Theme Meeting was organized jointly by NCSC, Nehru Science Centre, Materials Research Society of India, Mumbai Chapter Indian Physics Association, Board of Research In Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and TIFR as a tribute to Dr. R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India for his contribution to science and technology. The meeting consisted of theme presentations by eminent scientists in the country. A cross section of people including college students, attended the meeting.

The topics for the Theme Meeting were Neutron Scattering for Studying Struc-ture of Matter, High Pressure Physics, National Security, Nuclear Diplomacy, Rural Technology, Education, Science-Industry Synergy (Transportation Re-search and Development), National Knowledge Network and Nuclear En-ergy Power and Non-Power.

Dr. S. Banerjee, Chairman Scientific advisory committee was the strong force that conceptualized the theme for the BRNS Conference and matched the sub themes with the most authentic voices.

From the design function to the final delivery of the scientific theme offering,

his signature indelibly visible, his man-agerial sagacity was the single variable for the success of the theme meeting.

Neutron Crystallography - Dr. B. A. Dasannacharya

Dr. B. A. Dasannacharya, former Director, Solid State and Spectroscopy Group of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) presented Dr. Chidambaram’s contribution to neutron crystallography and its recognition by the International Union of Crystallography as the Vice-President.

He described the pioneering work of Dr.Chidambaram in building the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance equipment and the classic research done on hydrogen bond and the bent hydrogen model.

Dr. Raja Ramanna spotted Dr. Chidambaram’s talents and brought him to BARC where he started work on neutron scattering. He built a sophisticated instrument to rotate the crystal along three chosen axes and rotate the detector also along one of these. Dr.Chidambaram started with simple molecules and proceeded to increase the quality of the instrument and tackle more complex molecules. His team first built semi-automatic Neutron Diffractometer and later a more sophisticated instrument –3-dimensional Fully Automatic Diffractor and studied amino acids. This enabled them to determine the structure of six amino acids out of 20 and the instrument was the dream of every crystallographer.

High Pressure Physics: Dr. S K Sikka

Dr. S.K. Sikka, former Director of Atomic and Condensed Matter Physics Group at BARC was Dr. Chidambaram’s first PhD student. He described the role of high pressure physics for national security and energy security as envisaged by Dr. Chidambaram. After developing the nuclear fuel cycle for energy security, six nuclear tests were conducted for national security.

He recollected the calculations of Dr. Chidambaram providing the shock equations of state of different materials in the implosion device. State of the art computer codes for design, simulation and yield estimates of nuclear explosives were also advanced. A set of slides was shown signifying the agreement between designed values and measured values for nuclear devices. Dr. Chidambaram led the team to investigations of phase transformations in titanium, zirconium and hafnium on alloying or under pressure which are vital to the Indian heavy water reactor regime.

Nuclear diplomacy: Mr. Kiran Doshi

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Mr. Kiran Doshi, Former ambassador of India to Austria, said that the objective of nuclear diplomacy is to prevent other countries from acquiring the bomb. He narrated the strategy of nuclear ‘haves’ promising assistance in using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and universal nuclear disarmament to countries forsaking nuclear weapons.

India refused to join the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). After India tested a nuclear device in 1974, the nuclear ‘haves’ made every effort to make India sign up. Dr. Chidambaram withstood such pressures with disarming grace playing a balancing role as IAEA Leader and protecting national interests.

Ambassador Doshi used the following calibrated qualifiers to sketch the character profile of Dr. Chidambaram - affable and courteous, thoughtful and considerate, cheerful and humorous; a patient listener; a great talker, endowed with the extraordinary memory that only the South Indians of this world seem to have. He continued the profiling with clearheaded, farsighted and focused; resourceful, courageous, and strong; wise like Vidur and masterly command over language. According to him Dr. Chidambaram masterminded India’s post explosion diplomacy.

Rural Technology : Dr. Anil Joshi

Dr. Anil Joshi of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization focused on Dr. Chidambaram’s contribution to promoting technological accessibility in rural and remote areas and referred to him as the “Hero of the mountains” and a “Rural crusader”.

He lauded Dr. Chidambaram’s initiative, which enabled Central Food Technological Research Institute to work in Jammu & Kashmir and the North Eastern states. Temples and shrines like Vaishno Devi, Kedarnath and Badrinath made sweets from local millets, thus empowering local farmers.

With Dr. Chidambaram’s creativity, lab springs were established and recharged using environmental isotope technology. Locally fabricated small bridges were to facilitate logistics. Dr. Chidambaram advocated tool rooms for artisans and a network of artisans was created sharing resource utility.

Another vital area, which received support from him, was the management of forest fires. Villagers were trained in litter control and small tanks of water conserved via environmental isotope technology were created to keep moisture high and to prevent ignition of surface fires.

Education: Dr. S. M Chitre

Dr. S.M Chitre, Distinguished Professor, Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, University of Mumbai pointed out the contributions made by Dr.Chidambaram to improve the quality of higher education. Citing the example of the launching of Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences, he described the success of the experiment in education by Dr.Chidambaram. It targeted students from non-urban and rural areas from economically challenged families.

The award of scholarships by the Department of Atomic Energy (DISHA) and the Department of Science &

Technology (INSPIRE) schemes to the selected students as also the residential accommodation in hostels on the campus, especially to outstation students are a huge attraction especially for students coming from the disadvantaged families. The national programs in nuclear energy, space exploration, oceanography and life sciences need highly trained and motivated human resources and it was Dr. Chidambaram’s foresight that brought about a paradigm shift in higher education by networking institutions of higher learning.

Academia-Industry Interactions: Mr. Neeraj Sinha

Mr. Neeraj Sinha, Scientist / Adviser, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India in his talk focused on Dr. R. Chidambaram’s current role as the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India Dr.Chidambaram endeavors to bring in synergy amongst the various scientific departments and other ministries in creating an enabling science and technology (S&T) ecosystem that encourages innovations across disciplines.

A major initiative of Dr. Chidambaram was to galvanize academia industry interaction in the sectors of automotive, machine-tools and electronics-hardware. Energetic thrust was given to develop the Advanced Ultra Supercritical (AUSC) technology for power generation through indigenous efforts.

Another brainchild of Dr. Chidambaram was the idea of doing small research and development activities, called pre-project R&D activities, to address technological gap areas in identified

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technology areas where a small grant could make a big difference. He has launched ten projects, which includes boilers with high temperature materials, turbines and high precision grinding machines.

Dr. Chidambaram’s role in Electronics, Computers & Communication Technology in India: Mr. Prabhakar S. Dhekne

Mr Prabhakar S. Dhekne, Scientific Consultant to the Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, focused on Dr. Chidambaram’s role in Electronics, Computers and Communication Technology with emphasis on indigenization, self-reliance and competitive research and development using cutting edge technologies.

He shared the experience of using distributed computing on ND systems. The establishment of ANUNET (DAE wide satellite based network) and DAE-VIE (Vision for Information Exchange) annual meetings to network DAE IT people and users was Dr. Chidambaram’s idea.

Dr. Chidambaram fostered in-house development of supercomputing. ANUPAM was the first supercomputer developed under his initiative and the latest version is ANUPAM-Aganya with high sustained processing power. He set up Cyber Security Committee. Reaching out to advance Centres of Research, he signed the India-CERN Collaboration protocol.

Dr.Chidambaram concentrated his attention on e-infrastructure project and created National Knowledge Network (NKN) connecting as many

as 1650 institutes in the country along with international connectivity. He also conceptualized NKN-enabled technology delivery model to rural areas.

Dr. Chidambaram’s initiative created the Centre of Excellence in Nano-electronics with focus on the design, fabrication and characterization of traditional and novel material based devices. He also gave a great fillip to Big Data Technology to develop disciplines of Climate science, Astrophysics and Bioscience.

DAE Programmes on Nuclear Power and Nuclear Applications – Dr.Sekhar Basu

Dr.Sekhar Basu, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission gave a detailed account of national Nuclear programme beginning with the first stage of setting up of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors and associated fuel cycle facilities. These reactors will have an average capacity of 2.5 to 3 GWe per year for the next fifteen to twenty years. He announced the construction of ten PHWRs and two PWRs with an annual budget of Rs. 3000 crores. Presently twenty two reactors are in operation and twenty one reactors are under construction which will take the nuclear capacity to 22000 MWe by 2030.

The second programme covers the exploration, mining and milling of Uranium and other metals. Established Uranium reserve is 2,70,000 tonnes and an action plan has been drawn for increasing it to 7,50,000 tonnes in the next fifteen years. Uranium production will be increased from 500 to 5000 tonnes.

The third programme is the second stage of Indian Nuclear Power Programme. This includes the ten-fold rise in power from Fast Breeder Reactors and the creation of matching fuel cycle facilities in the back end. Fast Reactors Fuel Cycle Facility is being constructed. Three thermal reactors reprocessing plants are in operation and one large plant is under construction.

Health care at providing affordable Cancer care to five lakh new patients per year and decreasing the cancer mortality rate by 15 per cent. Food security, water and wastewater management, mega science schemes, basic research and science education and outreach activities are other programmes on the anvil. Dr. Basu recalled the professional mentorship of Dr.Chidambaram.

Report by Mr. Suhas B. Naik-Satam

Convener, A BRNS Theme Meeting & General Secretary, NCSC.

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STEM STORYTELLING FESTIVAL

Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics–STEM story festival 2018 was organized as a tribute to Dr. A.P. Jayaraman, Scientific Advisor to Labour India Educational Research Centre, Kerala and Logic Mills Academy, Singapore, Vice Chairman, National Centre for Science Communicators (NCSC) and a pioneer in the genre of creative science stories. Dr. Jayaraman completed 75 years on January 15, 2018.

Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), NES and SVS group of educational institutions, Indian Development Foundation (IDF) and NCSC, jointly organized the seminar on January 13, 2018 at the Auditorium of Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai.

The STEM storytelling festival engaged teachers and educators with STEM stories and encouraged them to create science stories, which they can use as value additions to science teaching. The goal of the festival was to explore the expanding world of creative STEM stories and to establish networking with resource persons.

Dr. S. Sivadas, Professor of Chemistry, Former Editor, Eureka, a publication of the Kerala ShastraSahityaParishad (KSSP), delivered the keynote address. He talked about his long-lasting association with Dr. Jayaraman and about his rendezvous with all forms of literature – stories, dramas, puppets, cartoon, comics and most importantly science storytelling.

Dr. S. K. Jain, Chairman, Mahapragya Public School, Mumbai described the varied modes of storytelling. He informed the audience about the norms that are used in storytelling such as setting, details, time, date, scenery, weather and location to build a story, its background creating images in the mind. According to Dr. Singh involvement of the listener can be achieved by including personal experiences, anecdotes, sounds and images of animals for younger children, thus generating larger than life imageries.

Dr Renuka Thergaonkar, Head Department of Cosmetics & Fragrance, V. G. Vaze College, Mumbai, who teaches perfumery and cosmetic science, presented an interesting story explaining essential oils from plants being used in aromatherapy. She brought out the fact that storytelling can impart an easy understanding of the subject.

Ms. JyothyRamachandran, Principal, Mahapragya Public School, Mumbai coined storytelling as “RasayanikManthan”. According to her storytelling or transfer of knowledge has been passed on from generation

to generation. Stories were depicted as cave paintings 27,000 years ago. Text and language came into being, 35,000 years back. Today, in this digital age, PowerPoint is used to depict stories.

Ms. Ramachandran narrated the story of Mr. David JP Phillips from Sweden, CEO of a training company in presentation skills. Mr. Phillips has been training people in communication and has delivered TEDx talks such as magical science of storytelling and how to avoid death by Power Point, which have been uploaded on the You Tube. She gave examples of how difficult subjects can be presented and taught in a simple manner. One of them was about neurochemicals in the brain. She talked about the angel’s cocktail consisting of endorphins, the feel-good chemicals and devil’s cocktail, which include cortisol and adrenaline, the two stress hormones. She averred that the best way to impart science education is through storytelling in a simple and fun-way, which helps develop love for science.

UshaVenkatraman, educationist and a performing artist narrated stories and sang songs to reveal how science can be

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weaved into them to make it exciting, fascinating and easy to grasp especially for younger children.

Ms. Payal Shah Karwa, author, content director at the Word Jockey Creative Content Studio, Mumbai talked about why stories work with children. She mentioned plots of storytelling in general, for instance, stories with monsters, whom the good people win over or stories that have a theme about a poor person becoming rich - rags to riches and many more. MsKarwa stressed that using such plots in the stories make them motivating and thought-provoking.

Ms. HarshadaKalaiArasanSwamy a student of NES Ratnam College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai, narrated the story entitled “The Happiest RO man”, written by Dr. A.P. Jayaraman. The story explains the reverse osmosis process used to supply safe potable drinking water.

Ms. ManjulaYadav, education officer at Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, demonstrated scientific experiments.

Mr. Abhay Mokashi, senior journalist, moderated the panel discussion on STEM stories in the classroom or out of classroom. The participants on the panel were Principals of Mumbai schools, Dr. Sagareeka Bhatia, RBK International School, Ms. SeemaSabhlok, S.M. Shetty High School Dr. LathaVenkat, KGS Sarvodaya Balika Vidyalaya, and Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava, KES TP Bhatia High School.

During the discussion, salient issues were raised regarding the teaching in schools. There emerged a few striking points. In recent times, students are curious and learning has reached a different level. They use Internet, You

Tube etc. to search for information. It is important that the schools use guided learning techniques. Principals felt that language should not be a barrier for any teaching or learning. Storytelling is

a good way to teach. In addition, poetry also serves as a good medium to catch students’ attention.

Mr. VithalNadkarni, senior journalist and Dr. SiddhivinayakBarve from the Department of Biotechnology, V.G.Vaze College, Mumbai, conversed with Dr. Jayaraman regarding his learning curve; his scientific vocation, his synthesis of the Kerala SasthraSahityaParishat, his interest in education of children and his creative science storytelling abilities.

Following the felicitation, Dr. Jayaraman gave the valedictory address in which he presented his tryst with STEM stories and his journey through storytelling.

- Dr. Parul R. Sheth

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Marathi Vidnyan Parishad, Nehru Science Centre and National Centre for Science Communicators jointly organized one-day symposium on February 16, 2018 at Nehru Science Centre to celebrate platinum jubilee year of veteran nuclear scientist Dr. Anil Kakodkar. In the inaugural function, Prof. J. B. Joshi, President, Marathi VidnyanParishad felicitated Dr. Kakodkar with a shawl and a fruit basket; and wished him healthy life ahead. Symposium began after the introductory remarks by Mr. A. P. Deshpande, Honorary Secretary, MVP and Chairman,NCSC, followed by the brisk keynote addressby Prof. J. B. Joshi.

In the first session of symposium on ‘Food and Nutrition’, Dr. V. Prakash from International Union of Nutritional Sciences emphasized the need of strong networking between farmers, government agencies, markets, researchers and the community. Dr. SiminIrani, Senior Advisor, UNICEF Mumbai expressed her worries about malnourished children, especially in tribal belts. She said that, there are challenges to treat such children and different approaches should be followed than conventional medicinal practices while treating them. Dr. RekhaSinghal from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai reviewed various traditional and innovative ways for food preservation. She also talked about the

research, which is currently going on in this field.

The second session of the symposium was on Energy and it began with the presentation of Prof. S. P. Sukhatme, Former Director, IIT, Mumbai. Prof. Sukhatme narrated the future need of electricity of our country and how it can be fulfilled using renewable energy resources. Prof. RanganBanerjee from IIT Mumbai, presented his thoughts on sustainable solutions for energy in rural India. Prof. J. B. Joshi, HomiBhabha Chair, HBNI, expressed his views on how villages can be made self reliant as far as energy is concerned using biomass as a resource. He also narrated the present scenario of research, which he is carrying out with the help of his research students.

The last and third session was on Healthcare and three eminent experts from KEM Hospital and G. S. Medical College namely Dr. AmitaAthavale, Dr. ShubhangiParkar and Dr. RujutaHadaye expressed their views on air pollution in Mumbai, mental health problems and water and sanitation respectively.

At the end of a daylong symposium, Dr. Kakodkar expressed his views. According to him, education must have reflection in regards

with identifying problems of the society and finding their solutions. Dr. Kakodkar

said, “We are experiencing two major divides: urban and rural India; and technologically best countries in the world and India. Bridging these divides is possible only through education and knowledge”.

Dr. Parul R.Sheth, Dr. PareshVaidya, Dr. RupeshGaikwad, Mr. HemantLagvankar and Mr. SuhasNaik-Satam shouldered the responsibility of coordinating various sessions in this symposium. Mr. ShivprasadKhened, Director Nehru Science Centre proposed the vote of thanks.

- Mr. HemantLagvankar

REPORT ON PROSPERITY THROUGH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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TECHNOLOGY VISION 2035: CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change is a real global issue, which affects the very nature of our lifestyle and India has recognized the problem of climate change by signing the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016. Xavier Institute of Communications (XIC) on February 26, 2018 jointly organized a talk on “Technology Vision 2035: Climate Change” with Technology Information, Forecasting & Assessment Council (TIFAC) and NCSC. The students of Communication for Development (C4D) of St. Xavier Institute of Communication (XIC) arranged the meeting with some of the renowned scientists on the panel.

Dr. Anil Kakodkar the former Chairman, Department of Atomic Energy (BARC), Prof. PrabhatRanjan, the Executive director of TIFAC, and Dr. Gautam Goswami, Head of the Technology Vision 2035 werethe speakers for the event.

Vice Chairman of NCSC, Dr. A. P. Jayaraman, made the opening remarks.He talked about the importance of technological development in India under the guidance of Dr. Anil Kakodkar. Dr. Jayaraman said, “Dr. Kakodkar always draws a line that in technology column

there is a strong correlation between the wealth created by the nation and the number of Ph.D. holders in engineering.” Dr. Jayaraman highlighted that technology is the single critical variable for national development.

Senior Journalist and the course head of C4D, Mr. AbhayMokashi spoke about the need for media to report on issues related to science despite debating only about the political and communal issues. Mr. Mokashi highlighted the urgent requirement of media professionals to talk about the developmental issues related to technology and science and on how we can contribute to the world in the similar sense.

Achieving energy security

Dr. Anil Kakodkar discussed prospects of achieving energy security in India and various possibilities to generate alternative energy sources ranging between conversion of liquid energy to the gas grid and biomass conversion to reduce the air pollution, and solar thermal power, which can be helpful to sustain a healthy environment. Dr. Kakodkar said that almost 80 per cent of India’s oil requirements are imported and are expected to rise from five to eight percent in the coming decades. He further

added that it is a matter of great concern and shall be addressed by looking out for substitutes and enhancing the domestic production of oil.

Dr. Kakodkar addressed that energy se-curity is important for our country in order to deter any kind of disturbance either from the external or internal reasons. He said, “We should be able to carry on with life for a reasonably long period, which is long enough for the disturbance to get over and by manag-ing energy security we can achieve the same.” Dr. Kakodkar informed that we need certain transformations to use the available energy in different geographi-cal regions and the most convenient is electricity. “Electricity constitutes about 10 to 15 per cent, at the user-end, of the energy that we produce. This proportion will grow as the standard of life improves but it is unimaginable for it to be 100 percent,” he added.

Talking about energy security, Dr. Kakodkar said that we have certain challenges in this context, “A good part of our economy runs on oil including transportation and industries and we

lack the amount of oil as a fossil.” He cited that “India’s production of oil is stable for the last several years.”

Dr. Kakodkar suggested that it would be a wise strategy for India to get away from the liquid fuel as per its capacity. Substitute for that can be the electric mobility and the use of gas fuel, he added. “We should actualize the gas grid for the same as we do for the electrical grid for the use of the same as fuels, especially for the intense and large requirements of industries and urban setups. At the user end, the key point is that we should focus on electricity and gas grid and if we do that, we could get away with the factors, which pollute the environment.” He also said that we should focus on converting biomass into a more user-friendly fuel.

Dr. Kakodkar highlighted that today our main source of energy is coal and continuing with coal as the main energy source, we should think about converting coal into gas, he added. However, looking at the future nuclear energy will replace the coal as the main energy source. Nuclear energy has potential much larger than the coal. These are sources, which we require for centralized generation of energy.

Speaking on the Nuclear energy, Dr. Kakodkar said that nuclear energy is the only non-fossil energy, which can support the base load operation. “For long-term and sustainable clean energy future we can produce energy through nuclear energy.”

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Technology preparedness for climate change in India

Speaking extensively about the technological advancements, commitments, and preparedness of India to tackle the problem of climate change, Dr. GautamGoswami said that under Technology Vision 2035 (TV 2035) India is committed to carrying out several national missions on climate change, which vary from energy efficiency to sustainable development of agriculture and natural habitat to using waste as an energy source.

Talking about the institutional framework of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Dr. Goswami said that India adopted the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015. He informed about India’s commitment to Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to “Reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level, achieve 40 per cent of electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel by 2030, and to create additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent via trees and forests.”

TV 2035 plans to bring technological development under Agriculture, Coal

and Energy, Transport, Habitat, and Waste. It also talks about enhancing the technological capabilities to use Wind, Solar, and Biomass as energy sources. One of the major aspects that TV 2035 includes is that of protecting and conserving the forests, and also, to avoid any kind of destructions to the forests by developing the managing system for the same.

Disruptive technologies for meeting climate change commitments“Technology in the service of India: ensuring the security, enhancing the prosperity and strengthening the identity of every Indian.”

Dr. Prabhat Ranjan informed that Tech-nology Vision 2035 focuses on develop-ing the quality of life of each citizen of this country. He said that TIFAC asked the students all across the country about how they look India in the year 2035 and on the basis of the responses, they have planned for the TV 2035.

Dr. Ranjan said that India as a country needs to develop in improving the healthcare for people so that the lifespan can be increased and also in the food and agricultural sector. He talked about various technologies some of which require targeted research concerning

coal, fuel-based transportation, water purification pipelines, and many more. He focused on the scope of vertical farming, which is readily deployable and ready for the practice on the field.

As the TV 2035 is centered towards developing the quality of life of every individual, it focuses on the healthcare and public hygiene, availability of energy all the time, decent habitat, and quality education. Dr. Ranjan said that the vision also discussed the grand challenges including the infrastructural and anaemia problems among children and women.

ConclusionWhile concluding the event, the panel informed that we, as citizens, could contribute to the TV 2035 and a clean environment by correcting our daily habits. Dr. Anil Kakodkar said that “Change comes from us and by correcting our small habits such as not littering; we can contribute to a clean environment.” Dr. Kakodkar talked about Shri PopatraoBagujiPawar who transformed his village into a model of development.

The panel said that the usage of public transport is efficient as compared to using private vehicles. Dr. Kakodkar said that laws can help with respecting the environment. Cuba has passed a law that it is compulsory for everyone to pursue terrace farming. He said that India should look into this aspect as well.

Mr. Abhay MokashiCourseHead, Communication for

Development (C4D) along with team, XIC, Mumbai.

RECALLING STEPHEN HAWKINGDr. A P Jayaraman, Vice-Chairman, NCSC and Mr. Suhas Naik-Satam, General Secretary, NCSC with Prof. Stephen Hawking at the reception hosted by British Council at The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Mumbai January 12, 2001, during his visit to India. He turned 59 on January 8, 2001.

Mr. Suhas Naik-Satam, and Dr. Parul R Sheth had the fortune of attending his talk at Shanmukhananda Hall, Sion on January 14, 2001.

12

Prof. Stephen Hawking, a symbol of human hope and inspiration for hundreds and thousands of people with debilitating disabilities, is no more. He defied all odds to lead a creative and productive life for over 50 years.

Hawking, died in the early hours of March 14, 2018 at his home in Cambridge, England, at the age of 76. For well over 50 years, Hawking had lived with a disease - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)- in which motor neurons die, leaving the brain incapable of controlling muscles. His frail yet indefatigable appearance stuck to the wheel chair with his characteristic voice synthesized speech, will surely be missed by hundreds of thousands of his admirers all across the globe. For the innumerable differently abled and their caregivers, for whom he continued to be a shining star of hope and aspirations, his death means the star has collapsed into a black hole creating an unconquerable vacuum.

Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford, England, in 1942. He was destined to be famous from the word go. Rather, Hawking did not excel in school as a child. It was only after he entered the college that he started enjoying his subject and got immersed in his studies. While pursuing his Ph.D. in cosmology at the University of Cambridge, he was diagnosed with the ALS disorder. By then he had already noticed that he was getting clumsy; had even fallen once or twice for no apparent reason. His father then took him to the family doctor to ascertain reasons for his unnatural fall and clumsiness. Suspecting something serious the family doctor referred him

to a specialist, who after conducting a series of diagnostic tests diagnosed that Stephen had motor neuron disease.

Unlike many who would have been crestfallen and feared for their future, the diagnosis helped him to be more focused and to overcome his so-called “bored with life attitude” that he possessed before this diagnosis. Addressing an audience of disabled students at Seattle University he had said “Before my condition was diagnosed, I had been very bored with the routine life.It is only after coming face to face with death that I became more focused over my research.” It was this indefatigable attitude that helped him keep cheating death.

No one, not even Hawking himself, expected that he would survive for so long. Even today while the medical fraternity continues to debate as to how he could survive this long with ALS, hundreds of thousands of disabled people and their care givers continue to look up to him with a ray of hope that this miracle could happen to them as well.

Hawking was one of the most successful scientists, who brought science to the masses and we as science communicators owe a special debt to him. His public popularity can best be seen from the number of copies that his best-selling book “A Brief History of Time” sold. Almost 10 million copies of his book were sold in 40 different languages and he was on the best-seller list of several newspapers and magazines for several weeks including a record 237 weeks for the Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper.

Hundreds of thousands of people from across the globe brought and read his book especially because it was written in a profoundly simplified manner. He put forward a complex subject of cosmology to the general reader in its most easiest of ways. Yet there are thousands of others who brought this book but never cared to read it. This book therefore is also infamously referred to as “One of the most unread books of all time”.

I was one of those lucky few, with a couple of colleagues at the National Science Centre Delhi, who had the opportunity to listen briefly to Stephen Hawking on January 15, 2001, during his visit to India. During his Delhi visit he also met the then President K.R. Narayanan at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President had described his 45-minute meeting with Hawking as “An unforgettable experience”. Stephen Hawking, knowing well that the President was from Tamilnadu the land of the great Ramanujan, is believed to have told him that “Indians are so good at mathematics and physics”. Hawking won the hearts not just of the President but the entire nation.

In his demise, while the world has lost a great scientist, the global differently abled community has lost their ideal; a role model, who defied all odds of disability well over 50 years. He has shed a ray of hope into the lives of hundreds of thousands of the differently abled section of the society and their caregivers.

Mr. Shivaprasad Khened, Director, Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai

EULOGY FOR STEPHEN HAWKING

Published for National Centre for Science Communicators by A. P.Deshpande, Chairman, National Centre for Science Communicatorsat Vidnyan Bhavan, V.N. Purav Marg, Sion-Chunabhatti, Mumbai 400022 .Tel. :091-22-24054714/6268

Editor : Dr. Parul R Sheth Editorial BoardDr. A.P. Jayaraman, Vice Chairman, NCSC Suhas Naik-Satam, General Secretary, NCSC