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| January
26,2003
India arrives on the world scene Source:India Express
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| In fifty-three
years since India became a Republic, it has travelled a great deal, especially
in the arena of science and technology.
It is breaking new ground, finding new paths, reaching out in space, into the depths of the earth and oceans – not just to feed a billion Indians with grain and milk, but also try and put quality into the life of the people. An Indian mission to the moon has already been announced. The world is tapping Indian brains as never before. India has arrived on the world scene. Indians are now looking for a fortune overseas. The big corporations are coming to India to set up shop and do their research and development right here. They are also sourcing billions of dollars of software and other work from Indian corporates – both public sector and private – to get high technology and innovations from India. India is one of the few countries engaged in developing clean fuels of the future. One of these is hydride – small blocks of solidified hydrogen to run motor vehicles. Advanced work is being done at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and Banaras Hindu University. In Varanasi, 50 prototype motorcycles are being tested to ascertain whether hydride can run them in difficult terrain as well as in town and country. The cost of the engines may be high today but if and when experiments succeed even in a decade, the fuel cost of running them would be very low. The prime concern of the innovators is safety and no risks are being taken anywhere in the world to rush it for use. But in future even aircraft could use hydride. Decentralized fuel cell power packs using agro alcohol have also been developed to electrify rural and remote areas. To encourage and support grassroot innovations a National Innovation Foundation has been set up with a corpus of Rs. 50 crore. There were 1000 applicants in the year 2000 but by the end of 2003 more than 40,000 applications will be considered from Indian innovators at home and overseas, especially the USA. The Government is offering Swarnajayanti fellowships to young scientists and each fellowship is Rs. 25,000 per month for research in frontier areas of science. Two science awards have been announced for women besides awards for school children. Links:
Automobile Industry urged to develop initiatives for reliable and competitive production of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Vehicles
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