ITER stands for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The project will aim to demonstrate the technological feasibility of nuclear fusion reactions and its deployment in the power generation sector.
India applied for membership in early 2005, and later that year, in October, its membership was approved by an inspection committee that visited the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in Ahmedabad. The group evaluated India’s ability to contribute meaningfully to the software and hardware requirements of ITER.
India’s foray into nuclear physics is not new; ever since the Pokhran test in 1998, the country has been constantly on the forefront of research in the nuclear sciences. Two important reasons drive R&D in the country in this direction.
The first is that the world’s largest reserves of thorium are located in India, with an estimated 650,000 tonnes remaining. Thorium is an important nuclear fuel and yields much more energy during the nuclear fission process than does uranium.
The second reason is, indirectly, the Indian education system, which encourages more science than technology amongst students. Consequently, the nation is a powerhouse for verifying, processing and interpreting second-hand information as can be obtained from CERN in Europe and Fermilab in the USA.
The ITER is scheduled to go online in 2012, and as we approach that date, its significance is gaining in the country because of the opposition the government has met with in setting up more fission reactors around the country. The arguments of the public are justified, but that doesn’t mean we are in a position to abandon the nuclear program.
Like all other sources of energy, there are problems, and the way to deal with these problems is not to brush them aside especially when the solutions can go a long way in resolving the energy crisis that threatens to cripple the nation. If we don’t switch to alternative sources of energy soon enough, fossil fuels will contribute as much as 60% to our energy source, and that is obviously unaffordable.
If the ITER becomes successful – and the chances are great that it will – then India’s full partnership with the program will translate into reduced costs when it comes to setting up nuclear fusion reactors. We need to give it some time, say, until 2016, for the technology to become fully deployable as a safe solution.
The ITER is not the only super-project that India is currently involved in. In Theni, about 500 km from here, a massive cavern is being excavated in the Bodi Hills to situate India’s first particle physics observatory. Called the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), it will house the world’s largest neutrino detector that will study neutrinos coming from outer space as well as receive particles from the LHC at CERN for further study. The investment in the project is somewhere around Rs. 1,250 crore, and is expected to start functioning in 2012.
The national investment in R&D in India is currently 1.9% of the GDP. This translates to the faith the Indian government has begun to express in the scientific community. Right now, it does look like we are at a crossroads, where we must decide immediately to switch from nuclear fission reactors to solar power generators, but that’s not the end of the road.
Yes, renewable energy can be harnessed, but our research on that front is minimal, if not negligible. We can set up local grids that produce power and then feed it into the national grid at a feed-in tariff provided by the government, and that way, we can gradually reduce the load on the central grid.
At some point of time, we even might be able to define future growth rates based on just solar or wind power. However, nuclear fusion technology and the capabilities it purchases for growth and prosperity cannot be beat any time soon, and India’s emergence as a particle physics superpower is tied in to that goal.
Showing posts with label ITER. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ITER. Show all posts
Friday, 11 November 2011
ITER & India
ITER stands for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The project will aim to demonstrate the technological feasibility of nuclear fusion reactions and its deployment in the power generation sector.
India applied for membership in early 2005, and later that year, in October, its membership was approved by an inspection committee that visited the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in Ahmedabad. The group evaluated India’s ability to contribute meaningfully to the software and hardware requirements of ITER.
India’s foray into nuclear physics is not new; ever since the Pokhran test in 1998, the country has been constantly on the forefront of research in the nuclear sciences. Two important reasons drive R&D in the country in this direction.
The first is that the world’s largest reserves of thorium are located in India, with an estimated 650,000 tonnes remaining. Thorium is an important nuclear fuel and yields much more energy during the nuclear fission process than does uranium.
The second reason is, indirectly, the Indian education system, which encourages more science than technology amongst students. Consequently, the nation is a powerhouse for verifying, processing and interpreting second-hand information as can be obtained from CERN in Europe and Fermilab in the USA.
The ITER is scheduled to go online in 2012, and as we approach that date, its significance is gaining in the country because of the opposition the government has met with in setting up more fission reactors around the country. The arguments of the public are justified, but that doesn’t mean we are in a position to abandon the nuclear program.
Like all other sources of energy, there are problems, and the way to deal with these problems is not to brush them aside especially when the solutions can go a long way in resolving the energy crisis that threatens to cripple the nation. If we don’t switch to alternative sources of energy soon enough, fossil fuels will contribute as much as 60% to our energy source, and that is obviously unaffordable.
If the ITER becomes successful – and the chances are great that it will – then India’s full partnership with the program will translate into reduced costs when it comes to setting up nuclear fusion reactors. We need to give it some time, say, until 2016, for the technology to become fully deployable as a safe solution.
The ITER is not the only super-project that India is currently involved in. In Theni, about 500 km from here, a massive cavern is being excavated in the Bodi Hills to situate India’s first particle physics observatory. Called the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), it will house the world’s largest neutrino detector that will study neutrinos coming from outer space as well as receive particles from the LHC at CERN for further study. The investment in the project is somewhere around Rs. 1,250 crore, and is expected to start functioning in 2012.
The national investment in R&D in India is currently 1.9% of the GDP. This translates to the faith the Indian government has begun to express in the scientific community. Right now, it does look like we are at a crossroads, where we must decide immediately to switch from nuclear fission reactors to solar power generators, but that’s not the end of the road.
Yes, renewable energy can be harnessed, but our research on that front is minimal, if not negligible. We can set up local grids that produce power and then feed it into the national grid at a feed-in tariff provided by the government, and that way, we can gradually reduce the load on the central grid.
At some point of time, we even might be able to define future growth rates based on just solar or wind power. However, nuclear fusion technology and the capabilities it purchases for growth and prosperity cannot be beat any time soon, and India’s emergence as a particle physics superpower is tied in to that goal.
India applied for membership in early 2005, and later that year, in October, its membership was approved by an inspection committee that visited the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) in Ahmedabad. The group evaluated India’s ability to contribute meaningfully to the software and hardware requirements of ITER.
India’s foray into nuclear physics is not new; ever since the Pokhran test in 1998, the country has been constantly on the forefront of research in the nuclear sciences. Two important reasons drive R&D in the country in this direction.
The first is that the world’s largest reserves of thorium are located in India, with an estimated 650,000 tonnes remaining. Thorium is an important nuclear fuel and yields much more energy during the nuclear fission process than does uranium.
The second reason is, indirectly, the Indian education system, which encourages more science than technology amongst students. Consequently, the nation is a powerhouse for verifying, processing and interpreting second-hand information as can be obtained from CERN in Europe and Fermilab in the USA.
The ITER is scheduled to go online in 2012, and as we approach that date, its significance is gaining in the country because of the opposition the government has met with in setting up more fission reactors around the country. The arguments of the public are justified, but that doesn’t mean we are in a position to abandon the nuclear program.
Like all other sources of energy, there are problems, and the way to deal with these problems is not to brush them aside especially when the solutions can go a long way in resolving the energy crisis that threatens to cripple the nation. If we don’t switch to alternative sources of energy soon enough, fossil fuels will contribute as much as 60% to our energy source, and that is obviously unaffordable.
If the ITER becomes successful – and the chances are great that it will – then India’s full partnership with the program will translate into reduced costs when it comes to setting up nuclear fusion reactors. We need to give it some time, say, until 2016, for the technology to become fully deployable as a safe solution.
The ITER is not the only super-project that India is currently involved in. In Theni, about 500 km from here, a massive cavern is being excavated in the Bodi Hills to situate India’s first particle physics observatory. Called the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), it will house the world’s largest neutrino detector that will study neutrinos coming from outer space as well as receive particles from the LHC at CERN for further study. The investment in the project is somewhere around Rs. 1,250 crore, and is expected to start functioning in 2012.
The national investment in R&D in India is currently 1.9% of the GDP. This translates to the faith the Indian government has begun to express in the scientific community. Right now, it does look like we are at a crossroads, where we must decide immediately to switch from nuclear fission reactors to solar power generators, but that’s not the end of the road.
Yes, renewable energy can be harnessed, but our research on that front is minimal, if not negligible. We can set up local grids that produce power and then feed it into the national grid at a feed-in tariff provided by the government, and that way, we can gradually reduce the load on the central grid.
At some point of time, we even might be able to define future growth rates based on just solar or wind power. However, nuclear fusion technology and the capabilities it purchases for growth and prosperity cannot be beat any time soon, and India’s emergence as a particle physics superpower is tied in to that goal.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Clear and present danger
“Revolutions in information and communication technologies have always been based on small findings in solid state physics” quips Dr. G. Baskaran, firmly establishing both the place and scope of technology. Affiliated with the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada, Dr. Baskaran is a renowned theoretical physicist. He recently delivered a short lecture at the Asian College of Journalism, speaking on everything from the role of science and the ongoing battle to explain super-luminary neutrinos to the future of science.
His statement couldn’t have come at a better time to remind the world of the necessity of science – and its techniques that we call technology. In the face of looming budget cuts in the USA and Europe, politicians and policy-makers have been raising serious questions about the necessity of everything from privately-owned small research labs to proposed upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
The evolution of science and technology has been associated with greater unity amongst peoples, Dr. Baskaran said, and better health, wealth, education and opportunities to preserve our culture. “There is some responsibility also”, he adds with a confidence mature with experience.
With likely the greatest ICT revolution at its peak, his words suggest that the technology fuelling it is also maturing in the sense of its acceptance and social penetration. Perhaps it is time for the world to get on the wagon, increase its investments in R&D, and start saving up. The future it seems can stand only to gain because historical ties are snapping in the face of a rupture that is allowing previously-lagging nations like India and China give past-leader USA a run for its money. Increased capitalist traction in the form of tablet computers and smartphones should be thanked for this.
Perhaps the best example of such an opportunity is the increasing feasibility of multi-state-owned research laboratories. The pioneer in this regard is CERN, which was funded and built by 12 countries in 1954, a number that has increased to 20 since, and currently receives funding from 69 countries worldwide. Next in line are the soon-to-come International Linear Collider (ILC) quartered in Japan and the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France, as brought to light by Dr. Baskaran.
Such projects ease the burden on countries that wish they had the data from experiments but can’t provide the land to build the lab in the first place. In the case of CERN, the land belongs to two countries, the running costs to 69 nations, the responsibility to more than 7,300 physicists and engineers, and the experimental data to 6.6 billion people. Such overwhelming benefits require only a distributed investment model and cross-border trust to encash it. Alas, the last factor is the most impeding.
Consider the discovery of the super-luminary muon neutrinos detected at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy on September 23. In the absence of a unifying agency, the data would have been consumed by Italian researchers alone, keeping the world at bay for howsoever long it took to verify the results and get them published.
Now, a Puerto Rican or a Chilean has as much chance of explaining the phenomenon as does a Pakistani or Indian scientist. In fact, not only does the entire scientific community benefit by the sharing, but the chances of discovering something that will define the next big revolution are also increased.
(When asked about the strange occurrence, Dr. Baskaran asserted that owing to the small mass and low interactivity of the neutrinos, the existing energy generation technologies would not change as much our perceptions of the Universe. That, in turn, he said, will present new possibilities to produce more energy.)
A persisting sign of hope for India is its assistance with the construction of superconducting magnets at the LHC that even now are energizing beams of protons, and its significant contribution to the establishment of ITER. Further, Dr. Baskaran also revealed the news of a proposed Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Theni, to be run by the government of India.
Alright, enough of taking comfort from the successes of the present; where are we headed? What does the future of science look like? The Tevatron has been closed, the baton has been passed to Europe to continue to look for the Higgs boson, the INO is under construction, and scientific representation is on the up. What about nanotechnology? It’s common knowledge that the Indians didn’t pay sufficient heed to Mr. Feynman. Is there still some space at the bottom?
We wouldn’t know, or, as Dr. Baskaran says, “There is nanomoney being spent on nanotechnology.” Employing India’s rise as an important centre for cheap but good medical care, he points out the important sectors our industries can capitalize on if it only took nanotech to the common man, akin to Gandhi’s talisman. There’s drug delivery, magnetic-resonance imaging, NEMS (nano-electromechanical systems), and, on another note, quantum computing. With continuing failure to look into these sectors, we're not only losing out on the international arena but we are also denying our citizens the opportunities to employment, to knowledge, to possibility.
So, are we again looking at the dearth of planning that has failed to incentivize the study of science in the country? Yes, at least in part. However, initiatives like InSPIRE – which is a 5-week long immersion program that reconnects Indians abroad to Indians at home – bear promise. On a final note, Dr. Baskaran insists that instead of continuing to depend on the government, which in turn depends on internally available resources, it is time to utilize the abundance of intellectual property within the nation and trust in the democracy of science.
His statement couldn’t have come at a better time to remind the world of the necessity of science – and its techniques that we call technology. In the face of looming budget cuts in the USA and Europe, politicians and policy-makers have been raising serious questions about the necessity of everything from privately-owned small research labs to proposed upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
The evolution of science and technology has been associated with greater unity amongst peoples, Dr. Baskaran said, and better health, wealth, education and opportunities to preserve our culture. “There is some responsibility also”, he adds with a confidence mature with experience.
With likely the greatest ICT revolution at its peak, his words suggest that the technology fuelling it is also maturing in the sense of its acceptance and social penetration. Perhaps it is time for the world to get on the wagon, increase its investments in R&D, and start saving up. The future it seems can stand only to gain because historical ties are snapping in the face of a rupture that is allowing previously-lagging nations like India and China give past-leader USA a run for its money. Increased capitalist traction in the form of tablet computers and smartphones should be thanked for this.
Perhaps the best example of such an opportunity is the increasing feasibility of multi-state-owned research laboratories. The pioneer in this regard is CERN, which was funded and built by 12 countries in 1954, a number that has increased to 20 since, and currently receives funding from 69 countries worldwide. Next in line are the soon-to-come International Linear Collider (ILC) quartered in Japan and the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France, as brought to light by Dr. Baskaran.
Such projects ease the burden on countries that wish they had the data from experiments but can’t provide the land to build the lab in the first place. In the case of CERN, the land belongs to two countries, the running costs to 69 nations, the responsibility to more than 7,300 physicists and engineers, and the experimental data to 6.6 billion people. Such overwhelming benefits require only a distributed investment model and cross-border trust to encash it. Alas, the last factor is the most impeding.
Consider the discovery of the super-luminary muon neutrinos detected at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy on September 23. In the absence of a unifying agency, the data would have been consumed by Italian researchers alone, keeping the world at bay for howsoever long it took to verify the results and get them published.
Now, a Puerto Rican or a Chilean has as much chance of explaining the phenomenon as does a Pakistani or Indian scientist. In fact, not only does the entire scientific community benefit by the sharing, but the chances of discovering something that will define the next big revolution are also increased.
(When asked about the strange occurrence, Dr. Baskaran asserted that owing to the small mass and low interactivity of the neutrinos, the existing energy generation technologies would not change as much our perceptions of the Universe. That, in turn, he said, will present new possibilities to produce more energy.)
A persisting sign of hope for India is its assistance with the construction of superconducting magnets at the LHC that even now are energizing beams of protons, and its significant contribution to the establishment of ITER. Further, Dr. Baskaran also revealed the news of a proposed Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Theni, to be run by the government of India.
Alright, enough of taking comfort from the successes of the present; where are we headed? What does the future of science look like? The Tevatron has been closed, the baton has been passed to Europe to continue to look for the Higgs boson, the INO is under construction, and scientific representation is on the up. What about nanotechnology? It’s common knowledge that the Indians didn’t pay sufficient heed to Mr. Feynman. Is there still some space at the bottom?
We wouldn’t know, or, as Dr. Baskaran says, “There is nanomoney being spent on nanotechnology.” Employing India’s rise as an important centre for cheap but good medical care, he points out the important sectors our industries can capitalize on if it only took nanotech to the common man, akin to Gandhi’s talisman. There’s drug delivery, magnetic-resonance imaging, NEMS (nano-electromechanical systems), and, on another note, quantum computing. With continuing failure to look into these sectors, we're not only losing out on the international arena but we are also denying our citizens the opportunities to employment, to knowledge, to possibility.
So, are we again looking at the dearth of planning that has failed to incentivize the study of science in the country? Yes, at least in part. However, initiatives like InSPIRE – which is a 5-week long immersion program that reconnects Indians abroad to Indians at home – bear promise. On a final note, Dr. Baskaran insists that instead of continuing to depend on the government, which in turn depends on internally available resources, it is time to utilize the abundance of intellectual property within the nation and trust in the democracy of science.
Clear and present danger
“Revolutions in information and communication technologies have always been based on small findings in solid state physics” quips Dr. G. Baskaran, firmly establishing both the place and scope of technology. Affiliated with the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada, Dr. Baskaran is a renowned theoretical physicist. He recently delivered a short lecture at the Asian College of Journalism, speaking on everything from the role of science and the ongoing battle to explain super-luminary neutrinos to the future of science.
His statement couldn’t have come at a better time to remind the world of the necessity of science – and its techniques that we call technology. In the face of looming budget cuts in the USA and Europe, politicians and policy-makers have been raising serious questions about the necessity of everything from privately-owned small research labs to proposed upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
The evolution of science and technology has been associated with greater unity amongst peoples, Dr. Baskaran said, and better health, wealth, education and opportunities to preserve our culture. “There is some responsibility also”, he adds with a confidence mature with experience.
With likely the greatest ICT revolution at its peak, his words suggest that the technology fuelling it is also maturing in the sense of its acceptance and social penetration. Perhaps it is time for the world to get on the wagon, increase its investments in R&D, and start saving up. The future it seems can stand only to gain because historical ties are snapping in the face of a rupture that is allowing previously-lagging nations like India and China give past-leader USA a run for its money. Increased capitalist traction in the form of tablet computers and smartphones should be thanked for this.
Perhaps the best example of such an opportunity is the increasing feasibility of multi-state-owned research laboratories. The pioneer in this regard is CERN, which was funded and built by 12 countries in 1954, a number that has increased to 20 since, and currently receives funding from 69 countries worldwide. Next in line are the soon-to-come International Linear Collider (ILC) quartered in Japan and the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France, as brought to light by Dr. Baskaran.
Such projects ease the burden on countries that wish they had the data from experiments but can’t provide the land to build the lab in the first place. In the case of CERN, the land belongs to two countries, the running costs to 69 nations, the responsibility to more than 7,300 physicists and engineers, and the experimental data to 6.6 billion people. Such overwhelming benefits require only a distributed investment model and cross-border trust to encash it. Alas, the last factor is the most impeding.
Consider the discovery of the super-luminary muon neutrinos detected at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy on September 23. In the absence of a unifying agency, the data would have been consumed by Italian researchers alone, keeping the world at bay for howsoever long it took to verify the results and get them published.
Now, a Puerto Rican or a Chilean has as much chance of explaining the phenomenon as does a Pakistani or Indian scientist. In fact, not only does the entire scientific community benefit by the sharing, but the chances of discovering something that will define the next big revolution are also increased.
(When asked about the strange occurrence, Dr. Baskaran asserted that owing to the small mass and low interactivity of the neutrinos, the existing energy generation technologies would not change as much our perceptions of the Universe. That, in turn, he said, will present new possibilities to produce more energy.)
A persisting sign of hope for India is its assistance with the construction of superconducting magnets at the LHC that even now are energizing beams of protons, and its significant contribution to the establishment of ITER. Further, Dr. Baskaran also revealed the news of a proposed Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Theni, to be run by the government of India.
Alright, enough of taking comfort from the successes of the present; where are we headed? What does the future of science look like? The Tevatron has been closed, the baton has been passed to Europe to continue to look for the Higgs boson, the INO is under construction, and scientific representation is on the up. What about nanotechnology? It’s common knowledge that the Indians didn’t pay sufficient heed to Mr. Feynman. Is there still some space at the bottom?
We wouldn’t know, or, as Dr. Baskaran says, “There is nanomoney being spent on nanotechnology.” Employing India’s rise as an important centre for cheap but good medical care, he points out the important sectors our industries can capitalize on if it only took nanotech to the common man, akin to Gandhi’s talisman. There’s drug delivery, magnetic-resonance imaging, NEMS (nano-electromechanical systems), and, on another note, quantum computing. With continuing failure to look into these sectors, we're not only losing out on the international arena but we are also denying our citizens the opportunities to employment, to knowledge, to possibility.
So, are we again looking at the dearth of planning that has failed to incentivize the study of science in the country? Yes, at least in part. However, initiatives like InSPIRE – which is a 5-week long immersion program that reconnects Indians abroad to Indians at home – bear promise. On a final note, Dr. Baskaran insists that instead of continuing to depend on the government, which in turn depends on internally available resources, it is time to utilize the abundance of intellectual property within the nation and trust in the democracy of science.
His statement couldn’t have come at a better time to remind the world of the necessity of science – and its techniques that we call technology. In the face of looming budget cuts in the USA and Europe, politicians and policy-makers have been raising serious questions about the necessity of everything from privately-owned small research labs to proposed upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
The evolution of science and technology has been associated with greater unity amongst peoples, Dr. Baskaran said, and better health, wealth, education and opportunities to preserve our culture. “There is some responsibility also”, he adds with a confidence mature with experience.
With likely the greatest ICT revolution at its peak, his words suggest that the technology fuelling it is also maturing in the sense of its acceptance and social penetration. Perhaps it is time for the world to get on the wagon, increase its investments in R&D, and start saving up. The future it seems can stand only to gain because historical ties are snapping in the face of a rupture that is allowing previously-lagging nations like India and China give past-leader USA a run for its money. Increased capitalist traction in the form of tablet computers and smartphones should be thanked for this.
Perhaps the best example of such an opportunity is the increasing feasibility of multi-state-owned research laboratories. The pioneer in this regard is CERN, which was funded and built by 12 countries in 1954, a number that has increased to 20 since, and currently receives funding from 69 countries worldwide. Next in line are the soon-to-come International Linear Collider (ILC) quartered in Japan and the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in France, as brought to light by Dr. Baskaran.
Such projects ease the burden on countries that wish they had the data from experiments but can’t provide the land to build the lab in the first place. In the case of CERN, the land belongs to two countries, the running costs to 69 nations, the responsibility to more than 7,300 physicists and engineers, and the experimental data to 6.6 billion people. Such overwhelming benefits require only a distributed investment model and cross-border trust to encash it. Alas, the last factor is the most impeding.
Consider the discovery of the super-luminary muon neutrinos detected at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy on September 23. In the absence of a unifying agency, the data would have been consumed by Italian researchers alone, keeping the world at bay for howsoever long it took to verify the results and get them published.
Now, a Puerto Rican or a Chilean has as much chance of explaining the phenomenon as does a Pakistani or Indian scientist. In fact, not only does the entire scientific community benefit by the sharing, but the chances of discovering something that will define the next big revolution are also increased.
(When asked about the strange occurrence, Dr. Baskaran asserted that owing to the small mass and low interactivity of the neutrinos, the existing energy generation technologies would not change as much our perceptions of the Universe. That, in turn, he said, will present new possibilities to produce more energy.)
A persisting sign of hope for India is its assistance with the construction of superconducting magnets at the LHC that even now are energizing beams of protons, and its significant contribution to the establishment of ITER. Further, Dr. Baskaran also revealed the news of a proposed Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Theni, to be run by the government of India.
Alright, enough of taking comfort from the successes of the present; where are we headed? What does the future of science look like? The Tevatron has been closed, the baton has been passed to Europe to continue to look for the Higgs boson, the INO is under construction, and scientific representation is on the up. What about nanotechnology? It’s common knowledge that the Indians didn’t pay sufficient heed to Mr. Feynman. Is there still some space at the bottom?
We wouldn’t know, or, as Dr. Baskaran says, “There is nanomoney being spent on nanotechnology.” Employing India’s rise as an important centre for cheap but good medical care, he points out the important sectors our industries can capitalize on if it only took nanotech to the common man, akin to Gandhi’s talisman. There’s drug delivery, magnetic-resonance imaging, NEMS (nano-electromechanical systems), and, on another note, quantum computing. With continuing failure to look into these sectors, we're not only losing out on the international arena but we are also denying our citizens the opportunities to employment, to knowledge, to possibility.
So, are we again looking at the dearth of planning that has failed to incentivize the study of science in the country? Yes, at least in part. However, initiatives like InSPIRE – which is a 5-week long immersion program that reconnects Indians abroad to Indians at home – bear promise. On a final note, Dr. Baskaran insists that instead of continuing to depend on the government, which in turn depends on internally available resources, it is time to utilize the abundance of intellectual property within the nation and trust in the democracy of science.
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