Land Mark Discovery: Stem Cells created in less than half an hour

Stem cell research has been an exciting field of research due to its unique potentialities. Yet again it has heralded a new discovery when the researchers of the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology of Kobe, Japan headed by Dr. Haruko Obokata developed a simpler, cheaper and faster way of developing stem cells. Through a series of experiments conducted over a period of time they have shown that immature white blood cells when immersed in an acidic solution can be turned into the master cells capable of developing into all other kinds of specialised cells.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells which can differentiate into specialised cells. They can be thought of as blank slates or cells which are yet to be specialised. They are in their early stages of development and have the ability to become any kind of cell to form skin, bones or any other organ.  Because of the inherent ability to transform into any type of cells, they have wide range of uses in medicine. There are two major types of stem cells- Embryonic stem cells (ES) are those which are harvested from embryos or precisely the inner cell mass of the blastocyst or an early stage embryo and adult or induced pluripotent cells (iPS) are those which are obtained from the adult skin cells and are genetically reprogrammed to become stem cells. Since harvesting of ES embryonic cells requires destruction of embryo there are several ethical concerns about its use. Inducing pluripotency (ability to regenerate into specialised cells) is a tedious process and involves the serious risk of tumour development.

The new method developed by Obokata doesn’t involve any genetic tweaking. This has been a case of serendipitous discovery when she observed that as cells that have been squeezed as they passed through a thin tube, shrank to the size of stem cells. She immediately   wanted to check the effects of different kinds of stress like low oxygen, heat, starvation and acidic condition had on cells. Through carefully planned experiments she has shown that immature white blood cells bathed in mild acidic solution of pH 5.5 for 25 min lost their blood identity and started redifferentiating by showing the gene markers typical of early embryos. When these cells are transferred into a regenerating media they began to multiply and acquired features of typical embryonic stem cells. When these cells were introduced into embryo of mice they developed into different tissues. Dozens of such mice were created in the lab and they appeared to be healthy, normal and fertile. The procedure was referred to as “stress-triggered acquisition of pluripotency” and cells are called STAP cells. This experiment was first performed in the blood cells extracted from a new born mouse. The she repeated the same procedure with brain, skin, muscle, bone marrow, lung and liver cells to check for the authenticity of the process.

Some scientists viewed that this is in compliance with the way how nature allows injured cells to regenerate. This new procedure has been claimed as a landmark discovery since it is set to revolutionise the field of the stem cell biology since it opened up a new possibility of turning back the developmental clock directly without interfering with the genes. Regenerative medicine would receive a massive shot in arm since it raised the hope of repairing and regenerating the damaged tissues in treatment of diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinson’s disease. New and healthy organs can be regenerated at any time without risk of rejection by the immune system. This will drastically bring about a fundamental change in perception of scientists about the interplay of the environment on the genome.

There are several instances in nature where environment or the external stimuli played a crucial role in developmental cues. For example temperature determines the sex in crocodile, when frog’s cells destined to become skin when exposed to mild acidic conditions develop into brain tissue. Stap cells have certainly opened up new vistas for personalised medicine. This procedure would even shed light on the mechanisms the cell would undergo during wear and tear and can unravel the phenomenon of how the age of cells is locked in. But the most intriguing part would be to understand the mechanism of how cells are reprogrammed into stem cells under mild acidic cells. If so, then the why doesn’t it happen when we eat lemon, vinegar or coke.

But it is still unclear if this procedure can work in humans and with adult tissues. Even if this procedure is developed in humans, it has to be shown if the tissues developed from the Stap cells are safe and wouldn’t turn into tumours. Still there is a long way to go but definitely this breakthrough would add to the existing knowledge of the stem cells and might further help in accelerating progression of the stem cell research for clinical applications. Tests in humans and other mammals are still underway and if it works in humans it will be a gamechanger.

 

 

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Polio Free India: A Perspective

 

During the 65^th Republic Day parade while recounting on the notable achievements of the past one year, apart from the successful launch of Mangalyaan, GSLV, rescuing the pilgrims from the Uttarakhand floods, evacuation of people during the cyclones in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, eradication of polio has found a special mention. India has come a long way towards the total eradication of Polio and WHO is going to make an official announcement on the same.

The Pulse Polio programme has been initiated in the year 1995 by the  Ministry of health and family welfare of Government of India and state governments with the support of several multilateral partners like WHO (World Health Organisation), UNICEF and the Rotary International. India has began its tryst with the oral polio vaccine immunisation programme by adopting the WHO’s expanded programme on immunisation in 1978. Prior to it nearly 500 children were paralyzed by the wild polio every day. With coordinated and intense mass immunisation programme the numbers have come down to 2000 cases annually till 2009 and in 2010 there were just 42 cases of polio.  While in 2011 a single case was detected from West Bengal on January 13^th 2011. With three consecutive years of zero incidence of the disease, India is now all set to be declared Polio free by the South East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (RCCPE) scheduled to meet in Delhi in the last week of March 2014 to review documents of 11 countries of the region.

The battle of polio eradication was taken up by 2.4 million vaccinators, social mobilisers and community health workers for 35 years. Nearly 170 million children under the age of five were immunised during every round. The fight couldn’t have been won but for the dedication and relentless work of the frontline workers whose services were backed by an investment of nearly 3 billion dollars by the government of India and other donors. Reaching out to the vast population of diverse social-cultural back grounds and overcoming several physical and social barriers and achieving higher rates of immunisation covering the most vulnerable and migrant population in spite of poor health infrastructure in India has been the most challenging task.

As India is set to celebrate its splendid success cross border entry of polio seems to be a major threat especially from Pakistan where a large number of Polio vaccinators are still targeted by the militant groups as western ploy. Earlier, China which was Polio free reported incidence of polio following the import of virus from Pakistan in 2011. Hence heightened monitoring of International borders across Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Pakistan by running continuous Polio immunisation check posts is essential to prevent the virus from being imported back into the country through the immigrants. Three countries in the world are still battling with polio which includes Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. 

Surveillance of Polio was initiated in 1997 with WHO setting up the National Polio Surveillance Project to help early detection and prompt investigation of children with incidence of paralysis. Polio is highly infectious disease and caused by polio virus and passed through person to person (faecal-oral) contact. Hence the investigation includes testing of stool samples from various locations to confirm the presence of the virus. This surveillance has been useful in identifying the gaps and strategic planning of the immunisation scheme for better coverage of population in the polio prone areas. Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) developed by Sabin containing mixture of live attenuated polio strains of all three types of polio virus types was initially used for immunisation. Despite the best of efforts India failed to achieve the target of polio eradication by 2000. Then efficacious monovalent oral polio vaccine (mOPV) was introduced in 2005 to more rapidly interrupt the virus. Based on further investigations, The India Expert Advisory Group on Polio (IEAG) has advised that type 1 and 3 seems to be more prevalent following which bivalent vaccines were administered from 2010.

Under the Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan a body which receives inputs from WHO, UNICEF, Centres of Disease Control Atlanta, strategy is to shift to bivalents with attenuates of type 1 and 3. From 2015 onwards to achieve comprehensive complete eradication along with regular oral vaccines a round of Injectible Polio vaccine (IPV) containing silent instead of live attenuates of vaccines shall be administered.

While the country is tipped towards the status of being declared as polio free nation, another similar paralytic condition in children is on rise. Nearly 53,000 cases of non polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP) were reported in the past 13 months in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh alone. Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is the term used to describe the symptoms of Polio which are characterised by weakness or paralysis and reduced muscle tone. The cause of AFP is mostly polio virus but in some cases it is can be caused by non-polio virus. The WHO’s Weekly Epidemological Weekly annualised the non-polio AFP to the tune of 15.06 cases for one lakh children below the age of 15 while the global rate is 5.48. One of the reasons for the high rate of AFP in the two states is both the states are subjected to highest level of surveillance by the WHO as they were traditionally known to be regions endemic to incidence of Polio.

Though the exact reasons for higher incidence of the NPAFP are still not clear, a paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics proposed that increased proportion of the polio doses might have resulted in increased NPAFP rate. But the WHO office in India countered it and now ICMR has taken up the investigation of NPAFP. Some experts view that increased surveillance coupled with the expanded definition of AFP, along with more intense training of health workers on what constituted AFP might perhaps be the reason for increase in reporting of cases rather than the real increase in incidence of the disease that might caused these symptoms.

India has several short comings- its weak health care system, poor sanitation, contamination of water supply, endemic belts of polio where resistance for virus started building up from 1990’s, resistance to vaccination due to misconceptions and inaccessibility to various regions. Though celebrations are justified several health workers and doctors believe that India owes a dedicated national programme for the existing patients already diagnosed with polio. Polio is a preventable neuronal disease through natural means like providing clean water and sanitation. But India has opted for a tedious technical route of vaccination for eradication due to the low standards of sanitation and hygiene. It is for the same reason that experts from all over the world thought it would be near impossible for India to achieve massive target of polio eradication.

Polio eradication is a model of excellence and this model should be effectively utilised for other public health initiatives in the country. Using the polio infrastructure, expertise and operational experience it should strengthen routine immunisation and protect its children from the vaccine preventable diseases. These dedicated efforts shouldn’t rest in laurels but should continue to deliver till the global polio-free certification is achieved. The existing channels can be used for eradication of other vaccine preventable diseases like measles and rotavirus infections.  After eradication of small pox in 1978, polio is the second disease that has been eliminated through immunisation in India.

 

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Annual Letter of Bill and Melinda Gates 2014

 

The year 2015 will mark the end of the time period set to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and shall finalize the post-2015 development agenda. The UN’s initiative at the Millennium Summit in 2000 had set out to achieve eight Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) that includes the promise of removing the people from extreme poverty and multiple deprivations. About 189 United Nations member countries and 23 international organisations have committed to achieve goals by 2015. The overarching goal of poverty reduction is attained as poverty rates are now nearly halved between 1990 and 2010. But still 1.2 billion live in extreme poverty zone.  Several initiatives, both public and private, have contributed to the progress made.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private foundation in the world towards battling poverty, hunger and disease. The Annual Letter 2014 of Bill and Melinda Gates assumes significant importance due to the Foundation’s sustained contributions and partnerships that helped to mitigate the poverty and improved the health of millions of children across the globe. The Letter had also pronounced few positive predictions. By 2035, Bill Gates predicted that there will be almost no poor countries left in the world as per the current definition.

In his letter Gates busted three most common myths that are believed to obstruct the progress by elucidating that there are already clear signals of progress. First, poor countries are doomed to stay poor.  In the early 1960’s the world was divided into US and its western allies, Soviet Union and its allies and other countries which were termed as third world countries. In the developed world, children would attend schools while in the third world kids died young, didn’t attend school much and are trapped in poverty. But in fact there has been gradual and consistent progress across various countries over the period of time wherein life style in the third world has changed; per capita income has substantially increased. Since 1960 China’s income has increased eight fold, India’s has quadrupled; Brazil’s almost quintupled and Botswana had witnessed 30 fold increases in income. Similarly the percentage of extremely poor has almost halved since 1990. Now the countries fall in two broad categories- developed or developing countries. All the nations are growing at a faster pace but still there are still a handful of nations which are hardly developing. Hence nations are referred to as High, Medium and Low income nations. Likewise, sub-Saharan countries from Africa are doing extremely well and are racing towards sustained development. The key is to invest collective efforts towards developing cheaper and natural sources of energy to contain the damage to the environment and climate.

The Second myth is that foreign aid is a big waste. Often people believe that aid doesn’t help however, Bill Gates says that foreign aid has saved and effectively improved lives of many and laid foundation for a long term economic progress. Even the young voters of developed nations feel that as much as 10% of budget is spent on development aid and hence calling for it’s immediate roll back. However, the statistics indicate that even the most generous nation Norway allots less that 3% of the budget towards development fund and the figures for US is less than 1%. The fact is that most foundations work in tandem with the aid receiving Governments that also contribute to the funds as a part of collective commitment to development. It is also important to note that through foreign aid, taxpayers around the world are investing in development organisations that are saving lives in poorest countries.

As an example, Gates refers to the US, which invests $ 11 billion in foreign aid. It has coordinated with three organisations- Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (GAVI) Alliance vaccinated 440 million children against vaccine-preventable diseases, Polio Global Eradicative Initiative nearly 2.5 billion have been immunised against Polio, The Global Fund to fight against Malaria, HIV and TB 6.1 million people received anti retroviral therapy apart from detecting 11.2 million cases of TB. US government in fact spends 60 times more on military. Till now Melinda and Bill Gates have donated $28 billion towards the foundation.

With regards to aid, people are still sceptical about the amount of aid that actually reaches that last mile since corruption at various stages eats away into the funds. While there is no denial of the fact that corruption does exist, it does occur in a small scale and negligible when compared to saving lives. Moreover, funds are also utilised in research and developing new tools like vaccines and better crops. Yet, another argument is that aid breeds dependency. Most of the aid recipient nations hardly receive any aid now and few of them have graduated into aid providing nations even. India now receives 0.09% of GDP as aid down from 1% in 1991. But aid in particular sectors like health, agriculture and infrastructure would harness growth in long term. Aid has helped in eradicating small pox world-wide, eliminated measles in Southern Africa, eliminated polio in Latin America and a health initiative in China reduced TB cases by 40%. Health has in fact yielded great results which reduced child mortality and many people are living longer and leading healthier lives.

Finally, the third myth is that saving lives leads to overpopulations which seem to be so fictitious and presumptuous.  There seems to be a correlation between high infant mortality to high birth rate in some of the fast reproducing nations. In fact higher mortality doesn’t reduce the growth of population, as in case of Afghanistan. In fact, it is observed that as child morality is reduced, birth rate and consequently the population growth decline because, when infant mortality decreases it is observed that people tend to have smaller families. Further, women’s empowerment, age of marriage and level of education have an important bearing on the fertility rate.

The letter strongly opines the answer to sustainable world lies in creating societies where people enjoy basic health, relative prosperity, fundamental equality and access to contraceptives.

 

 

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The New Buzz in Space Science- Rosetta Spacecraft Wakes Up After Deep Space Hibernation

It is a regular practice for most of us to get ready for the day at the buzz of an alarm.  But is  a moment of incredible trepidation when the European Space Agency (ESA)’s spacecraft Rosetta woke up after a gap of 31 months at the buzz of its preset alarm to begin its rendezvous in space. What makes science so interesting is not just the labyrinth of the technology but the huge amount of excitement in can invigorate in researchers and science enthusiasts.

The International Rosetta Mission was approved in November 1993 by the ESA’s Science Programme Committee as part of Planetary Corner Stone Mission in ESA’s long term space Science Programme. The mission was originally scheduled for a rendezvous with the comet 46 P/Wiratenin but due to postponement of launch of the space craft twice, the new target is comet 67 P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Comet was named after the discoverers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko who first indentified it in September 1969. The mission has been aptly named after Rosetta Stone, the slab of volcanic basalt which provided the key to unravelling the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Scientists hoped that this mission would unfold the mysteries of oldest building blocks of solar system- Comets. Rosetta is a robotic spacecraft launched on March 2004 by the Ariane 5 rocket. It has two main elements: the Rosetta Space probe orbiter which harbours 12 instruments and Philae, a robotic lander with additional 5 instruments.  It is designed to both orbit and land on the comet to have the most detailed study of comet. During its 10 year long voyage it made three flybys of earth and one flyby of Mars in 2007. It has passed by two asteroids: 2867 Steins in 2008 and 21 Lutetia in 2010. The spacecraft entered deep space hibernation mode when instruments have been powered down to conserve energy in June 2011. It was programmed to remain in that state till 20^th Jan 2014 when the hibernation exit will be initiated. All the operations are controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) Darmstadt, Germany

Comets are the small icy bodies which originate either in the Oort Cloud that exist far beyond the orbit of the Pluto or from the Kuiper Belt located beyond the orbit of Neptune and releases gas or dust. When comets pass close to the sun they get heated up and begin to outgas thus displaying visible atmosphere or Coma and sometimes a tail. Usually the dust consists of ice, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and more. Scientists believe that comets might have brought water and other organic molecules to earth which led to initiation of life on earth. Comet 67 P are believed to have originated from Kuiper belt and are controlled by Jupiter’s gravity. Hence they are called the Jupiter Family Comets. Due to collisions or gravitational perturbations these icy bodies are ejected from the Kuiper belt and fall towards sun. When these comets cross the orbit of Jupiter and interact with it their orbits gradually change. Comet 67 P whose perihelion was 4 AU (Astronomical Unit or the distance between the Sun and earth) in 1840 has come closer to sun due to a fairly close encounter with Jupiter in 1959  and slipped to 1.27 AU, following which its distance has changed a little. The robotic lander Philae of Rosetta is going to land on the surface of the comet from the sunward side of the orbit so that it would encounter less dust and with a low probability of being disabled by large impact.

The succeeding events post-hibernation have been meticulously planned. In May 2014, the spacecraft will enter a slow orbit around the comet and gradually slowdown in preparation for landing. The lander will approach the comet at a speed of 3.6kmph and upon contact with the comet, two harpoons will be fired into the comet to prevent the lander from bouncing off the surface comet.  Still very little is known about surface properties of the comet are known. Hence after the detailed mapping in August 2014, the exact site of landind will be decided. Rosetta will land on comet in November 2014  after which it will escort the comet around the sun. The mission will be annulled in December 2015.

Currently Rosetta is 800 million kilometres away from earth. The radio transmission signals travelling at a speed of light takes 45 minutes to reach the nearest Gold Stone radio dish in California. The spacecraft is at a distance of 9 million km from comet and this would be gradually reduced to 10km by September 2014 by series of burns on its thrusters and by November 2014 the three-legged Philae will land on the comet.

Cometary explorations began in 1978 with the launch of NASA’s International Cometary Explorer, passed the tail of Comet Giacoinni-Zinner and Comet Halley. Followed by two Russian probes, Vega-1 and Vega-2 in 1984; Japanese twin spacecrafts Sakigake and Suisei (1985); ESA’s Giotto in 1985. NASA’s missions include- Deep Space 1(1998), Stardust (1999), Contour (2002), Deep Impact (2005) which was retired in 2010. Rosetta is the first mission ever attempting to land on the nucleus of comet.

Till now the mission had successfully carried out its objectives of global characterisation of asteroids, including determination of their dynamic properties, surface morphology and composition. Rosetta is gearing up for the final leg of studying comets, also referred to as dirty snowballs. They are believed to contain materials that have remained largely unchanged since the formation of solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Further the enticing analysis of the comet dust in 2006 brought by the Stardust mission of NASA revealed presence of several interesting molecules and an amino acid Glycine, which is an important component of many enzymes, receptors and DNA. Amino acids can be right-handed or left-handed. But left-handed amino acids are alone used in life on earth. Hence analysing the composition of comets can provide an answer or give a hit that may be life or the ingredients of life may have been brought to earth from extraterrestrial space. Thus, this mission is extraordinary for its miraculous adventures in space and for overwhelming exhilaration it is set to generate.

 

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Key Challenges To Skill Development Initiatives In India

 

Two incidents in the past couple of weeks demand attention. First, as the nation is gearing up for the general elections 2014 and politicians are actively engaged in wooing the youth of the country for a promising bright future with skill development initiatives. Second, the latest report on Global Employment Trends 2014 by International Labour Organisation (ILO) released two days ago indicates that global unemployment is up by 5 million from the previous year with major unemployment observed in East and South Asia regions wherein 45% additional job seekers are added to the market. The important question to ask at this juncture is if India is providing appropriate skills to the youth at all?

India which is touted to benefit greatly from its demographic dividend is now compelled to work out a systematic approach to employ its 600 million youth. The grim fact remains that there is a serious mismatch between the available skills sets to what is actually required by the industry. Hence, India is obligated with the task of providing skills and competencies that can make the youth competitive both within the domestic and in international labour markets. Skilled manpower is the key to development. Realising the compelling need to equip and continuously upgrade the skills of our working age population India has adopted Skill development as national priority for the next 10 years.

India’s National Policy on Skill Development (2009) aims to create empowered work force with enhanced skills, knowledge and internationally recognised qualifications to gain access to decent employment and ensure India’s competitiveness in the dynamic global market. It also aims at increasing the productivity and employability of work force apart from focus on enhanced capability to suit rapidly changing technologies and the labour market demands. However, in developing countries like India- with vast and rapidly growing population problems are two-fold- while there is paucity of the highly trained and quality labour on one hand, large sections of population have little or no employable skills. If India was to grow at a rapid pace in emerging sectors, it essentially needs personnel with special skills sets and training. The growing gap between the existing skills and knowledge has to be effectively bridged.

Eleventh Five year Plan indicated that the proportion of skilled work force has consistently and substantially comedown from existing 15.34% in 1995 to 10.57% in 2005. During the same period the proportion of unskilled workers has increased from 73.08% to 82.5%. In cognizance a road map for skill development has been laid by the 11^th five year plan by constituting National Skill Development Mission. Accordingly at the national level, a Coordinated Action on Skill Development with three-tier institutional system has been created. It includes Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill Development (PMNCSD), National Skill Development Coordination Board (NSDCB) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) created in 2008.

Each of these institutions has specific functions and the coordinated action of these three tiers ensured the implementation of the skill development through Central Ministries, state governments, private and public training institutions. The PMNSCD set the core principles and envisioned a mission of creating 500 million skilled people by 2022, while the NSDCB has taken up the task of coordinating the activities of the Central ministries/ departments of State and NSDC has ventured into public, private partnership that catalyses setting up of large scale for profit sustainable vocational training institutes across the country. It was also expected to fund the labour assurance, labour market information systems and train the trainer facilities.

Around 20 ministries of the central government are closely associated with skill development. They have a two pronged approach-one setting up own training capacities and providing per trainee costs of training for the specific target populations. While at State level, State Skill Development Missions (SSDM) besides coordinating with the central ministries, state line departments, industry and private training institutions has the significant task of identifying key sectors of skill development and play a pro-active role in accelerating the pace of skilling the target population. SSDM in some states are often elected by state and are under the Chief Secretary or Chief Minister while others have housed these SSDM’s under specific departments like the labour or the human resource development or planning.

However, on May 9^th 2013, the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) was created to subsume the PMNCSD, NSCDB and office of Adviser to PM on skill development with a view to streamline the existing arrangements and to bridge the regional, social, gender and economic divide by skilling the youth especially the disadvantaged and the marginalised groups like SCs, STs, OBCs, women, differently-able persons through various skill development programs. It is also responsible now to coordinate and harmonise skill development efforts of the Government and private sector to achieve the skilling targets of 12^th five year plan and beyond, while the Central Ministries and NSDC will continue to implement the projects in their remit. In addition NSDA will anchor the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) and facilitate setting up of professional certifying agencies in addition to the existing ones apart from acting as nodal agency for the SSDMs. Finally, it will create and maintain national data base related to skill development including development of dynamic Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS).

On December 19^th 2013, the Cabinet committee on Skill Development approved the NSQF, a quality assurance framework which organises qualifications according to series of levels, knowledge, skills and aptitude. A nationally integrated education and competency based skill framework, NSQF will provide multiple pathways, horizontal as well as vertical, both within vocational education and vocational training thereby linking one level of learning to another higher level of learning. This will enable a person to acquire desired competency levels and transit into the job market at opportune time and return for acquiring additional skills to upgrade the competency levels. More importantly, the evolution of NSQF will discontinue India’s efforts on developing the National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF) and the National Vocational & Education Qualifications Framework (NVEQF). The challenge is now to align the existing curricula and certification process to that of the standards stipulated by the NSQF.

For an effective implementation of the NSQF and to benefit from the demographic dividend, NSDA will have to dialogue with similar international frameworks for mutual recognition of qualifications, which will facilitate various categories of skilled manpower to migrate overseas without any hassle. Secondly, NSDA also has to make concerted effort to make NSQF and the regulations in built more understandable and transparent to facilitate mobility from vocational education to general education. Thirdly, while the Sector Skill Councils (SSC) already set up under the NSDC will work in collaboration with the industry to write the competency standards, the challenge is to network with various international employer and also certification agencies in the course of writing the National Occupational Standards for various occupations & sectors. Fourthly, attempts have to be made to oversee that the progression pathway is transparent so that institutes, students and employers are clear about what they can or cannot do after pursuing particular course so that the inequity and disparity in qualification can then be addressed. Above all, providing the last mile connectivity in terms of counselling and connecting the youth the job market is very crucial.

Addressing the above will help NSDA its endeavours to measure up to the global international standards and make India a source nation for trained and certified manpower. This in turn will open up avenues for Indian workers not only in domestic market but also in the overseas labour market since the training and certification will be based on the assessment by agencies whose credibility is internationally recognised. By 2022, India’s 75^th Independence Day, India would be the youngest nation with median age of 31 and nearly 25% of world’s work force will be from India in the next three years. Appropriate skilling of the youth can alone put India at a competitive advantage on the global skills pedestal.

 

 

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Growth and Employment Trends 2014

 

The global employment trends 2014 released by International Labour Organisation (ILO) had presented with various statistics of the prevailing economic status of all countries. India’s GDP was pitched at 5% for the year 2013. Though India could withstand the weathering Economic Financial Crisis in 2008-2009 as the economy grew at record 11% it had succumbed to slow growth in 2011 due to domestic factors and reverberations in the economies of advanced countries. Further the decline in GDP of India is attributed both to low levels of investment and poor performance of manufacturing sector. India currently faces several macroeconomic challenges and imbalances due to high consumer price inflation which is pegged at 10.8%, current account deficit stands at 4.9% of GDP thus making it more dependent on external capital flows. The economic slowdown, policy uncertainty, and change in investor sentiment had led to volatility in capital flows in India; hence even the exchange rate has plummeted.

Labour Markets

Statistics indicate that labour markets are dominated by informal and agriculture sector where in wages are meagre and jobs are unprotected. Total employment in India has expanded from 2009 to 2012 in informal sector by 13.9 million jobs. The current unemployment in South Asia stands at 4% against 3.9% in 2013 with youth and women becoming more vulnerable to job loss. Youth unemployment is 10.2% against adult unemployment of 2.5%. Labour force participation has always been low in South Asia and it has come down to 39.6% implying increased enrolment into schools especially in secondary schooling.

Gender Gaps

There is wide spread gender disparity in terms of quality of employment, opportunities for better jobs and wages. Female labour participation hovers around 31% in India while it is 82.7% for Indian men. While the percentage of salaried men in the working group of 15-59 is 21.2% for men, 13.4% of females have such jobs. Women still tend to earn less, work in less productive jobs and are over-represented in unpaid family work.

Structural Transformation

Self-employment continues to be the most prevalent in South Asia. The number of jobs in informal sector has reduced and new jobs are created in registered formal sector. But due to the absence of the regular employment benefits and relationships there is an increase in the number of casual or contractual work force. Owing to poor structural transformation still most of the work force is dependent on agriculture sector with 51.7% people making their living through agriculture. It is as high as 74% in Pakistan.

Outlook

There is still a lot of scope for development as the fundamentals of economy like investment in infrastructure, large youth population and skill development programmes offer a great scope for shifting back to booming economic status. The essential key lies in converting the growth into decent employment for young women and men entering the labour market.

Is the Coalition Of People Tipping For A Coalition Government?

 

Sensation savvy media is going gaga over the debutante AAP and indeed provided the fledgling party with much needed publicity to catapult its popularity across the nation.  After AAP took over the reins of power following people’s referendum in the capital state, media intervention and exuberant coverage of the new cabinet has undoubtedly steered the party into limelight. Be it for the sudden obsession to please the middle class who have veneered the party to a respectable position or the new found interest of the educated who have realised their stead fast duties towards nation, media has taken a deliberate advantage. This has even resulted in the telecast of the proceedings of the state assembly on the television as well.

Initially AAP was brushed aside as underdog, but it made an incredible difference in the political terrain of Delhi and climbed up the political ladder by popular vote. Having assumed the power they are expected to assiduously prove their leadership and governing abilities to lay claims for a larger role. With the result, the party has flung open its doors for all, due to which enthusiastic, well-educated, mature professionals, entrepreneurs; intellectuals are jumping into the band wagon of AAP who are aspiring for a greater role in nation building. Propelled by the overwhelming support of people of Delhi the party have resorted to inclusive mood of attracting people of various conflicting ideologies into the party. Consequently, new ideas, new spirits within the party are bound to keep it in high spirits for sometime but in absence of proper ideology and national perspective about the diverse issues that impinge the nation at various stages the future of the party as a national force would be a big sham.

Lately the political bickering and rifts  within the party are coming to fore and making news for dubious reasons. The party who had confounded fears about the existing parties and their standards seems to have fallen short of those credentials too early too fast. A party which has indeed attracted personalities far and wide now seems to suffer from lack of perspective about wider issues. Mallika Sarabhai, noted social worker has expressed her concerns about the ideology of party regarding women’s issues, gay rights and their stand on the minority rights. Similarly Captain Gopinath was apprehended about the party’s stand on checkmating the FDI in retail. AAP must have done a greatest service to the nation as a mass movement with its objectives of anti-corruption, against misgovernance, against VIP culture and made a head way into aam aadmi who were greatly enthused by its agenda. As it ventured ahead to graduate into a political party it has grossly undermined other crucial aspects of governance which form the backbone of administering a state or region. It is widely popular among masses for sympathizing with their woes and for standing by them in their times of desperation. But with people of different ideology jumping into the party with rejuvenated national interests the party has been now reduced into a coalition of individuals lacking a harmony in ideology. Earlier the entry into the party has been highly regulated and restricted to individuals with integrity. With every passing day the party is assuming new avatar as scintillating allegations and conflicting facts surface about the ministers of the party. The order, discipline and moral uprightness have become matter of serious debates as various disparaging voices are heard from amongst the party. Emboldened by its reputation in the urban and semi urban belt, it is ambitiously strategising to contest for Lok Sabha elections in as many as 400 seats.

The concept of the participative democracy was fostered by AAP for taking crucial decision of staking claim for power in Delhi might have been an excellent idea to appease the voters who voted them into power. Eventually it raises serious doubts about the inability of the central leadership to take strategic decisions. One of the cofounders has postulated that similar formula should be extended to other issues like presence of armed forces in the Kashmir valley and para military forces in the Maoist areas. This kind of immature approach speaks of volumes of their political inexperience, lack of perspective and callousness about the issues that threaten both internal and external security. Moreso, their promise of providing free drinking water and reducing electricity tariff are nothing sort of election freebies as both of them are fulfilled by paying off the agencies from the state exchequer. This socialistic approach is not unique by any means and their huge call for revamp falls short of real action.

Apart from overwhelming response to its mass membership drive, nothing positive about the party has been in news. It made a great difference in Indian political scenario by breaking the barriers of casteism, discrimination and polarisation with its novel and appealing ways of reaching people and communicating with them. Hence other parties are now forced to emulate the immaculate approach and novel election campaigning strategy devised by the AAP.

However the role of being a worthy alternative at the national level seems to be preposterous. Putting aside the contemporaneous corruption issues for a while it is time to be nation–centric. Can India at this stage afford to have a political novice to manage the helm of affairs while it is struggling to check the rebellion within its motley under control? The past decade has witnessed the worst form of corruption, debauchery, misgovernance ever since Independence. India which was touted as emerging super power in Asia by the west is now at the verge of being shunted as an “underachiever”. Any electoral verdict delivering a fractured majority would entail a greatest disservice to the nation known for its priceless treasure of demographic advantage.

The prudent middle class who are pushing hard for a change must be aware of activities dirty tricks department of the oldest political party which is fighting behind the screens to make a dent in the huge anti-congress wave on which BJP is riding. Politics apart, stability and strong governance are indispensible for a country. Fighting against corruption, misgovernances are no mean issues but to be a front runner among the emerging nations and to extricate the nation from the shackles of poverty stable growth is needed. Political stability is the first step in this long march towards economic growth and development. National interests of AAP can largely increase the chances for a hung parliament. Coalition government needless to say, will dispel the investors, industrialists and foreign governments away from Indian markets. The way forward would be realising the need the stable governance which can entail the nation with a vision of shining India and might lead nation to a higher level.


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Legalisation of Cannabis: A Panacea or Paradox

 

Be it the consequence of the waning influence of America over the Latin American countries or their desperate bid to break the serious nexus between the lucrative marijuana trade and organised crime, Uruguay became the first country to legalise marijuana trade. With the result it has parked across many countries to reform their existing laws. Even Other Latin American countries are seriously contemplating on the process of legalisation of marijuana. More than 20 states in US have already legalised the medical use of the substance while Colorado and Washington have legalised Cannabis for both medical and recreational use through ballot legislation on January 1st. Alaska is going to join the band wagon having collecting more than requisite number of signatures of people for the legislation in August 2014. While three states Arizona, Oregon and California have  kick started all the moves for legislation.

As per the new law in Uruguay the production, sale and possession of cannabis is legal. It will allow registered users over 18 years of age to buy 40gm of cannabis for a month and permits them to grow eight marijuana plants for personal use. This legislation will come into force from April this year. President Mujica admitted that the promulgation of the law is an act of desperation as their 50 year long battle against drugs has failed. They believed that this law would expose more drug cartels but critics were worried as more people would get exposed to the drugs. Opposition blamed the President for making the country guinea pigs for his wild experiment. This decision drew much international flak especially from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) as the law is in complete contravention to the international drug treaty to which Uruguay is a party. Further there is a fractured opinion about the law with former Presidents of several Latin American countries welcoming the law and Pope Francis indirectly criticised it on his trip to Brazil.

Even countries are rife with serious debates, it is clear that several years of prohibitionist stance failed to yield fruitful results against drugs which are considered as this evil.  Due to which their non-medical has been completely curtailed. People are now not really interested in discussing the harmful effects of the substance but maintain that negative effects can be reduced by effectively regulating the drug. It is largely viewed that legalisation would eradicate an underclass of people burdened with crippling criminal records and gives police more time to pursue real crime. As a British legislator confessed that pressure from old college of people who call for tough action on drugs prevents them from passing laws for legalisation. But statistics indicate that regardless of the prohibition people would still have drugs. Thus, it would be wise to choose the policy approach that delivers the best outcomes and minimises the harms.

Many Latin American countries already don’t punish for possession of small amounts of the substance for personal use. By extending the prohibitionist regime, states have realised that they have gifted the criminals huge profits, lost influence over the key users in the medical sector and lost significant amounts in lieu of taxes. On the other hand, they spent several billions of dollars to nab the drug traffickers and thousands were locked up for possession of drugs and for petty narcotic crimes.

International Drug Policy Consortium has reported that nearly 70% of Latin American women were used as mules to clandestinely transport the illicit cargo within their bodies making them severe drug offenders. Hence many governments in this region are in favour of dropping or relaxing the hard-line prohibitionist approach which was launched during Nixon’s regime which has failed to stem the increased consumption of Cannabis and other hard drugs like cocaine over the last 40 years. It sounds surreal but South American countries have extended complete ban over the usage of marijuana for medical use even. Now these countries like Chile would first permit the usage of marijuana for medical use which will pave way for its recreational use. There are five countries in world- Argentina, Australia (where possession of large amounts is subjected to ticketing but not punishment), Belgium, Columbia, Nepal where possession of small quantities for personal use is permitted and not meted out with serious punishment.

Legalised use of cannabis in all the three forms marijuana (grass or ganja), hashish (charas) and bhang was a norm in India till 1985 where state owned retail units used to sell these drugs. Traditionally these have been considered as poor man’s intoxicants in India and their consumption was never considered as deviant behaviour. Come Holi and marijuana is savoured in all forms without any restraint. Actually legalisation of Cannabis is considered to be an elitist view as it is considered to be medically less harmful than alcohol. Ancient Indian medical treatises are replete with several medications for diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting etc where cannabis constituted an essential ingredient. Since 1961 US has started a serious campaigning for global law against all drugs and during this stint soft drugs like marijuana which were way of life in India were included with hard drugs like heroin. Though, India withstood the pressure for 25 years, it has buckled down when Rajiv Gandhi in 1985 enacted Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.  Under this the minimum punishment was violation of NDPS act was 10 years. With the result drug peddling has become a serious scourge with criminals shifting their focus from marijuana to hard drugs which fetched them 10 times more profit with the same amount of risk. Subsequently, addiction to hard drugs began to hit the Indian society. Twenty nine years later with several countries paving way for legalisation of Cannabis, India might think of amending the NDPS Act.

Amidst of the changing perception about legalisation, China is making unprecedented plans for cashing on this boom. It had set the stage to exploit the burgeoning marijuana market with more than half of the patents relating to or involving cannabis originating in China. It has filed 309 of the 606 patents related to the drug. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) report more than 2.5% of World’s population or around 147 million people use Cannabis. The medicinal properties of cannabis have been increasingly explored. Research has established that it can be used for nausea caused by chemotherapy of cancer and chronic pain to cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. Following the acceptance of cannabis in medicinal drugs by the west, the pharmaceutical sciences of China have outpaced the western world in quickly evolving new medical applications with this substance. Westernised Chinese medicine is becoming increasing popular and available in dispensaries.

Several Chinese patents for herbal treatment are filed using cannabis. They are used in medications for constipation, peptic ulcers, multiple sclerosis and cancer. All these are shown to have curative effects with little or no side effects. Following their foot-steps Jamaica, announced forming its first medical company based on marijuana. Owing to its traditional knowledge on marijuana, Jamaica aims to transform its fledging economy through medicinal cannabis. But International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has been very critical about Cannabis and lashed out- “Cannabis is not only addictive but affects the fundamental brain functions, IQ potential, academic and job performance and impair driving skills. Smoking of cannabis is more carcinogenic than smoking tobacco”. Irrespective of directives of the International body, Younger generation comprehends that alcohol in spite of being more harmful is not regulated, so it hardly makes sense  why marijuana be driven by the underground market. Countries are in the process of bracing up for a psychoengineering experiment the results of which are much awaited.

 

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Excruciating Weather Bouts- Polar Vortex

 

Polar vortex has become latest buzz word ever since estimated 187 million people have been reeling under the spell of record low sub freezing temperatures ever recorded in several parts of United States of America. Nearly all the states from mid west to South east and north east are reeling under the life threatening cold as the National weather service has described it. Life was thrown out of the gear as thousands of passengers have been stranded since flights operating in these regions have been cancelled, schools are closed and business establishments have been shut down. People were advised to stay indoors as much as possible to avert the frost bites and hypothermia. This anomalous weather conditions are fall out of the Polar Vortex.

Polar vortex also termed as Polar Cyclone hover near the poles year long. They are weaker in summer and strongest in winters.  Basically it is a whirl wind of extremely cold and extremely dense air moving in the counter clockwise direction over the low pressure area near the poles. These winds usually reach a speed of 160 kmph and keep the cold air locked up at the poles. But when the cyclones are weak, the winds break up, and spills over to the South bringing with it Arctic temperature. In the present case, the entire Arctic vortex has tumbled down south resulting in freezing temperatures. The Arctic vortex is elongated in shape with two centres in the northern hemisphere, one in the Baffin Islands of Canada and the other over north east Siberia. In Southern hemisphere it is located in the Ross Ice Shelf.

 Studies conducted in 2001 have suggested a link between the extreme weather conditions and polar vortex and identified interactions with the decline of the Arctic sea ice, reduced snow cover, evapotranspiration and North Atlantic Oscillations. These observations are considered preliminary as the conclusions are based on the data of previous 13 years which is termed to be insufficient in Climatological study. Climatology observations are usually based on the comparisons of data over several decades.

As per the existing view, snow at the polar caps reflects the sunshine but as the sea snow declined, water started absorbing sunlight resulting in increase of levels of evaporation and transpiration and substantial warming of the Arctic region, twice as faster as the rest of the planet. The jet stream or the fast blowing westerly winds which act as a boundary between the cold northern polar air and the warm southern air is essentially preventing the entry of the Arctic winds down south. But as the temperature difference between the northern polar and the southern tropical regions narrow down, the jet stream weakens making it more likely for the cold Arctic air to move to southern latitudes. Some scientists view that an unusually large kink in the jet stream might have led to escape of the Arctic air further down south. This Polar vortex can lead to major cold out breaks in any portion of Northern Hemisphere- North America, Europe and Asia. This might result in cold snaps in multiple locations. The temperature fall was to a tune of 25 to 35 degrees below the average over large swaths of the Midwest. This kind of extremely frigid temperature was earlier recorded in winter 1985 Arctic outbreak.

Climatologists believe that warmer than average temperatures in the Arctic regions can weaken the Polar vortex resulting in colder than average temperatures in the lower latitudes. Perhaps, weakening of the polar vortex might have been the reason for the extreme winter of 2009-2010 which brought record snow to regions of Northern Europe, eastern Asia and eastern North America. Polar vortices in the Antarctica are the reason for winter weather in Southern hemisphere and have resulted in conditions responsible for depletion of the ozone layer as well.

This phenomenon is largely the offshoot of the rapid warming and loss of the sea ice in the Arctic largely due to the manmade climate change. Arctic warming is altering the heat balance between the poles and the equatorial regions with the result extreme weather conditions have become more common. While North America is reeling under the subfreezing temperatures regions across Arctic, Scandinavia, Europe and Asia have recorded above average temperatures. This kind of situation referred to as Arctic Paradox or Warm Arctic, Cold Continents was first identified by some researchers several years ago. Now the global warming is becoming global weirding plunging continents into occasional deep freeze. It might be surprising but true that Fairbanks in Alaska is jealously warmer that Georgia or Alabama.

Further Climate reports of the TIME magazine has predicted the year 2014 to be one of the warmest years of the earth. The other three warmest years on record are 1998, 2005, 2010 and all of these were El Nino years. El Nino in Spanish means “the boy” and it occurs when the surface ocean waters in the South Pacific Ocean becomes abnormally warm which develops over the western coast of South America and cause climate change across Pacific Ocean. Since the Pacific Ocean covers 30% of the planet’s surface any additional energy generated by its warming can tip off major weather changes around countries of the world. This type of anomalous weather situations occur at irregular intervals of two to seven years and lasts for nine months to two years. The average period of occurrence is five years. When the warm conditions prevail for seven to nine months they are classified as El Nino Conditions and if it occurs for more than nine months they are called El Nino Episodes. El Nino has a counterpart La Nina means little girl during which the sea surface temperature across equatorial eastern central Atlantic Ocean is lower than normal by 3-5C. El Nino is not always followed by La Nina.

El Ninos often result in abnormally dry conditions in South East Asia and Australia and weakening of Indian Monsoon. They can also result in extreme conditions in North and South America while Southern Africa experiences drought. Even the marine life is drastically affected, El Nino reduces the upwelling of the cold nutrient water which supports the large fish populations and the warm oceanic waters can destroy the corals. Hence the impact on the world fishing economy would be serious.

The consequences of a strong El Nino’s can be devastating ranging from serious outbreak of tropical diseases to higher rates of civil war as recorded in the year 1997-98. Research has suggested that powerful El Nino that occurred between 1789 to 1793 devastated crop yields in Europe and might have triggered the French revolution. In fact, the year 2013 which had no El Nino had extreme weather conditions with unusually high amounts of rains and hot summers, an sign of increasing global warming. But climatologists expect that South Pacific waters might heat up to at least 0.5 C higher than average for three months to be an El Nino and predict that year 2014 might be a record breaker on all fronts. Undeniably the affects of global warming which is entirely man made are leaving their trail of destruction on the mankind and sending warning signals across to curtail the scrupulous destruction of the Mother Nature.

 

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Triumphant Moments Of The Satellite Launch

 

Most of us try to categorise people on the basis of intellect and undoubtedly we accord highest honour and respect to them. Scientists indeed fall into one such group, obviously their high level of understanding, technical know-how. Irrespective of the professional affiliations, everyone have to work incessantly to flourish, progress and to make rapid strides. Untiring efforts needless to say bring lot of recognition, reputation and other extra benefits which motivates people to work. Personal success might sometimes draw flaks in spite of earning the honour and the glory with sheer commitment and dedication. But needless to say personal accomplishments bring along with them the needed recognition and added advantage to the individual per se. But when it comes to performing something for the country or society at large people may not be rewarded immediately for their dedicated endeavour and the fruits of their hard work may not be imminent. But the contentment, joy and the feeling of achievement is beyond compare.

After watching the picture perfect launch of the GSLV D5 rocket harbouring the indigenous cryogenic engine, ineffable flux of emotions flushed my mind. Just as the rocket blasted off the launch station, my mind was filled with exhilarating joy and fantasy. The rocket was carrying not only the satellite aboard but also the spirits of hundreds of scientists who have toiled relentlessly for the past two decades. As it bolstered into the skies a sense of nervousness grappled the mind. Since its trajectory in the space would largely determine the success of the entire mission. Just as the entire scientist community was watching the trail of the launch vehicle with clenched fists closely monitoring its flight parameters of relative velocity, acceleration, altitude and azimuth every single second was a moment of trepidation. The intense excitement and accelerated heart beats found respite when the vehicle unleashed the satellite into its designated orbit and even the solar panels of the satellite were deployed as expected. The initial seventeen minutes following the blastoff were the moments of inexplicable anticipation and gave goose bumps to everyone who closely monitored the launch.

The official congratulatory hand shake from the chairman of the ISRO finally brought down the curtain on those frozen moments and filled the control room with celebrations. The sense of achievement and fulfilment of a long pending project was clearly reflected in faces of the scientists who were elated.

In 1992 when developed countries of the world have declared technology apartheid against India, Indian scientists have silently vowed to develop the cryogenic technology. In this incredible journey of developing the cryogenic engines, India has used all six of the seven Russian cryogenic engines and one indigenously developed engine. ISRO began its tryst with GSLV (Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle) containing the cryogenic engines in 2001. But unfortunately ISRO could register just three successful launches. Now after undergoing the gruelling exercise of developing the technology India could proudly flaunt its mastery in the cutting edge technology. Cryogenic technology has been denied to India as the western world thought India to be a potential threat to their business interests in the emerging market of the global satellite launching.

The heightened fears of the West had costed Indian Space programme dearly due to the numerous obstacles and delays caused by the vested interests. The sabotage in the form of the dubious spying case framed against the two expectionally brilliant scientists- in-charge Nambi Narayanan and D. Sasi Kumar of the cryogenic programme in ISRO has delayed our programme by 19 years. Apart from successfully ripping them off the distinguished scientific career, the case has led to their unceremonious exit from the organisation. Besides being labelled as spies the severe torment and humiliation suffered by them is inexplicable. Thus the west tactfully averted the success of project on the cryotechnology for the lack of the talented personnel who could spear head the project.  The fall out of this entire strategy still continues and India was forced to shell out thousands of dollars to use the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Ariane 5 rocket for deploying its communication satellite weighing more than 2000 kg. In a recently concluded seminar in Chennai former director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Institute Veeraraghavan announced that for every one kg of pay load to be deployed into the geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the equator ESA charges $20,000. Thus it costs around 250 crore rupees just for launching a satellite apart from the cost of building the satellite and transporting it. The cost of the current GSLV project stands at Rs 370 crores.

The sabotage theory holds ground as the book Russia in Space- A failed frontier written by the British space writer Brian Harvey mentions about the plans of the imperilled nations and role of CIA in blocking India from perfecting the cryo technology. Nations feared that India’s progress might be detrimental to their prospects in the business of the space technology and nuclear energy. Hence these scandals were witch crafted to derail and delay the Indian technological missions which could otherwise lead the nation into a sphere of self-reliance.

Further, the untimely deaths of the two Indian giant space scientists –Homi Jehangir Bhabha, father of Indian nuclear programme and Vikram Sarabhai in mysterious circumstances at very crucial stages of technological advancements speaks of the                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              larger international conspiracy. Even the latest incidents of mysterious deaths of Indian nuclear scientists which are largely downplayed, unreported and dismissed calls for a serious intervention of Indian government in checkmating the malicious interests of the vested interests. India has to shake off its callous attitude and has to strongly condemn the unnatural deaths, kidnappings and alleged torture meted out to its brilliant intellectual personnel.

As an ordinary citizen, the concerted efforts of the scientists or the achievements of the nation in the world platform are the moments of pride and honour. None of our personal glories can ever make us so cherished or can fill the heart with pride as the resounding glory of national advancement. Nation as a unit is the greatest binding factor which connects all of us together as we can share the periods of glory with fervour. Blessed are the individuals who could pledge for nation and commit themselves for the progress of the nations which finally paves way for nation building as well.

 

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Can ISRO Repeat Its Magic?

After the remarkable success of the recent Mars Mission, the levels of expectations from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have been sky high. People have become more optimistic about the new missions to space. The 29hr countdown for the launch of the GSLV D5 (Geo Synchronous Launch Vehicle) will begin around 11:20am on Jan 4^{th .} GSLV D5 piggy backs communication satellite GSAT-14 weighing 1,982 kg scheduled to take off on Jan 5^th at 4:18 pm. GSLV D5 is  ISRO’s indigenous cryogenic engines are getting ready for crucial testing. The indigenously built satellite GSAT-14 has six Extended C bands and six Ku band transponders to aid in digital audio broadcasting and for providing communication services to teleeducation and telemedicine. It is expected to function for over 10 years and will replace the GSAT-3(EDUSAT) which has been orbiting for over a decade.

The 161 feet tall, GSLV weighing 640 tonne at liftoff, belongs to the GSLV-Mk III series. It is the heaviest rocket built in India. The launch vehicle along with its satellite would carry the spirits of the ISRO scientists, who want to break the jinx of launching the heavy vehicle. Following the initiation of the GSLV project and its first flight in 2001, ISRO could register three successful launches out of the seven launch attempts. The last attempt in August 2013 to launch GSLV D5 had to be called off as launch officials detected a leak in the Hydrazine tank of the rocket’s second stage. Hence the much anticipated return- to- flight of the GSLV assumes greater significance as ISRO scientists has toiled hard to nail down all the technical glitches. To this end, the solid first stage and the core base shroud has been thoroughly inspected and replaced. The vehicle’s four–strap on engines have been replaced. The most significant objective of this mission is to test the indigenously built third stage cryogenic upper stage (CUS). ISRO scientists are very keen about testing the functioning of CUS, as this replaces the Russian Cryogenic engines which were used in rocket’s earlier experimental flights.

After the failure of GSLV D3 in April 2010 which had the indigenously built engine, ISRO scientists went back to their drawing board and revisited the entire design of GSLV. GSLV D3 blew up mid-air minutes after the launch. Having learnt from the failures of previous launches, extensive testing and large-scale modifications have been made in GSLV-D5. Accordingly several changes have been incorporated which includes a redesign of the shroud portion of launch vehicle to protect the cryogenic engine better, reinforcement of the wire tunnel to withstand higher pressure and some improvements to the aerodynamic characteristics of the launch vehicle. Even the fuel booster turbo pump and the ignition sequence of the cryogenic engine have been redesigned as this was thought to be one of the reasons for earlier failures.  For the first time High Altitude ignition testing for ignition of the cryogenic engine has been carried out by simulating vacuum like conditions to ensure a successful launch.

India needs to master the technology of building big launch vehicles. Currently, the Indian work horse PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) has proven its launch capability by launching 58 (23 Indian and 35 foreign) satellites so far. PSLV are capable of carrying remote sensing satellites which are lighter and are placed in polar orbits. These satellites weigh from few hundred kilograms to about a tonne. Polar orbits are the orbits in which satellites don’t move in tandem with the rotation of the earth and hence they are not suitable for communication. The cost efficiency and the reliability of PSLVs have been established in the segment of the smaller satellites. India already boasts of 30 to 35% cheaper launches than other countries. Whereas Communication satellites are heavier, weighing 2 to 5 tonnes need big boosters in the GSLV series of vehicles to hoist these satellites into the  geosynchronous orbits 36,000km above the equator, where the satellite moves in tandem to earth’s rotation and hence service of satellite is available to the user all the time.

India has to establish its credentials in the launching the heavier communication satellites where the scope for real business of global satellite launching lies. Hence powerful GSLV Mark IIIs (like the GSLV-D5) containing the cryogenic engines are needed to carry five-tonne satellites. These engines have fuels hydrogen and oxygen in liquid form capable of producing enormous thrust per unit mass. These fuels are stored in extremely low temperatures to maintain them in liquid state. The cryogenic engines are powered by very less fuel than otherwise be needed. These fuels are indeed very clean as they produce huge amounts of water while burning. Hence a successful GSLV-D5 flight will make India only the sixth nation, joining the elite club of nations that include United States, Russia, France, Japan and China.

 Unfortunately India’s journey towards the cryogenic motor development has been jittery. India has initiated GSLV project in 1990 and signed a contract with Russia for supply of 7 cryogenic engines of 7.5 tons thrust along with the transfer of cryogenic technology. But in 1993, the US severely objected Russia selling cryogenic technology to India as this would be a violation under the Missile technology Control regime (MTCR). MTCR is an informal agreement and voluntary partnership between 34 members. The regime was formed by the G-7 industrial nations-US, UK, France, Canada, Italy, Germany and Japan with an objective of limiting the proliferation of the missiles and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology capable of carrying 500kg payload at least 300km. It has 34 members which includes Russia.  As per MTCR guidelines, members established a “no undercut” policy means if a member denies sale of technology to another country, then the policy has to be strictly adhered by all other members. Thus now 117 nations enforce restrictions on exports to control the proliferation of UAV’s.  

Hence ISRO has been single-handedly working for developing this technology which is so zealously protected by all nations. More over the technology was denied as business interests of Europe, Russia and the US would be severely threatened by the arrival of India in this heavy vehicle-launch business. Indeed it is a great blessing that nations have shut down their doors as Indian scientists would be forced to develop the technology thus reducing our reliability on foreign launchers like European Space Agency’s Ariane to launch the communication satellites.

The successful launch of the GSLV can spear head ambitious projects like Chandrayaan-2, another Mars mission, and a manned vehicle into orbit for building space stations. For now, all eyes are focussed on the successful launch of the GSLV-D5, for India to clinch its rightful share in the ever emerging market of $300 billion dollars satellite launch services.

 

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