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Washington & London [illus. 1] The horrific events of 11 September in New York and Washington have left scientists -- in common with people from all walks of life -- [...]

Science features prominently in the manifestos of the main political parties contesting India's month-long general election, which began on 16 April. The battle mainly involves two coalitions: the ruling left-of-centre [...]

Russia, France and other countries are rushing to capitalize on India's nuclear-power programme, four months after the United States pressured the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to end India's nuclear isolation. [...]

Nuclear tests carried out by India's Bharatiya Janata Party government have been widely approved by the general public and have also been supported by scientists. However, protestors, including Kuldip Nayar, India's former high commissioner to the UK, believe that such spending is dangerous and the tests are a political diversion.

Agricultural research centers in developing countries have been trimming their staffs as international funding has become tight. India's International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics will be laying off more than 500 of its staff, one third of which comprises local employees. The International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines will also be serving 'separation' notices to 550 employees, most of whom are local hires. A layoff may also be in the offing for the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical in Colombia. The three research institutes receive funding from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.

Indian scientists are pressuring the government to tighten rules on human DNA and blood sample exports. They claim that valuable genetic data are being smuggled from the country illegally under the guise of collaborative research in human genetics. Although the Indian Council of Medical Research has been screening biological exports since 1992, council officials lament that they have not been provided with enough enforcement powers.

India's remarkable growth in science funding--notching up annual increases of about 25% over the past five years--seems finally to have been hit by the global economic downturn. Last week, the [...]

Under new rules, medical practitioners in India cannot accept any gifts or favors from drug companies. The rules, which come from the Medical Council of India and went into effect [...]

India's particle physicists have lost their battle to build a neutrino laboratory--one of the country's biggest physics projects--under the Nilgiri hills at Singara in the state of Tamil Nadu. The [...]

BANGALORE The first appointment in a scheme to recruit expatriate scientists to senior positions in the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)--India's largest science agency--seems to have misfired badly. [...]

Stiff opposition from activists has persuaded the Indian government to put off commercial release of the country's first genetically modified (GM) food crop, despite clearance from the nation's top biotechnology [...]

Indian universities are likely to find themselves under a new oversight body, human resource development minister Kapil Sibal announced last week. Physicist Yash Pal led the committee that recommended setting [...]

An international collaboration to study insects in the Western Ghats mountains in southern India has been unable to get off the ground because of government concerns over biopiracy. The Indian-American [...]

India's prime minister Manmohan Singh has announced unprecedented funding for science education and research, saying it is a top priority for his government. He has announced a range of schemes [...]

India's high-energy physicists have been given the go-ahead to build an underground laboratory to study neutrinos. The plan to investigate these elusive subatomic particles has been in the works since [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] Activists say law will make HIV/AIDS drugs unaffordable for most people. The Indian government has passed a new law forbidding local companies from manufacturing copies of [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] An international patent agreement that goes into effect on 1 January 2005 is compelling Indian drug companies to pump money into research and development (R&D), strike [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] The genetic makeup of Indians favors a fast and easy spread of AIDS, Indian scientists have cautioned their government. The presence of certain genetic variants also [...]

Author(s): I-han Chou [1]; K.S. Jayaraman [2] When the first HIV-positive case surfaced in the southern Indian city of Madras--now called Chennai--18 years ago, the Indian Council of Medical Research [...]

Author(s): Myrna Watanabe [1]; K.S. Jayaraman [2] Experts in AIDS research, ethics, law and policy quietly met in Geneva mid-July to debate whether sponsors of HIV prevention trials are obligated [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] The Indian government has agreed to fund research on the humble goat, Capra hircus, as a source of cells for liver transplants. If monkey trials planned [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] To promote India as a global health destination, the Indian government has announced in its annual federal budget a series of new tax concessions and incentives [...]

When the board of governors for the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) meets next week, it may be in for a shock. The board, which represents the [...]

Author(s): K.S. Jayaraman [1] K. S. Jayaraman replies I stand by my story. When I spoke to him, Dr Chauhan confirmed my information that the last scientist to join the [...]

Work at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, India, has been affected by sanctions imposed by the US government, following India's nuclear tests in 1998. Some projects may have to be abandoned if sanctions are not lifted. The US government claimed that TIFR was one of 250 entities helping the country's nuclear and missile programmes. TIFR scientists believe that sanctions have gone way beyond the state purpose of restricting INdia's nuclear missile and military activity.

Asian scientists have called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) to establish a global fund to protect and promote indigenous and civilizational knowledge systems (ICKS). The proposals also call on Unesco to develop projects that recognize the economic value of indigenous technologies. There were also recommendations for an international code of ethics fo science and technology, addressing issues such as knowledge monopolies.

India is learning that technology on its own cannot solve problems in society, and that science-based innovation has to be socially accepted and suited to the prevailing cultural system. The country's first waste incineration plant was commissioned in 1988, but closed down in 1992 without producing any electricity. The government had not taken into consideration the fact that reusable items are retrieved by Delhi's 8,000 rag pickers from municipal landfill sites and that the remainder was insufficient to operate the plant.

Scientists in India strongly disagree with the government's nuclear testing programme and are determined to prevent it from continuing. Activist professor D.P. Dasgupta hopes the anti-nuclear test movement will gain support across the country. Many scientists have already pledged their support, according to Dasgupta. India and south Asia should not be wasting precious resources on weapons programmes, says Dasgupta.

The Global Environment Facility, a $2 billion United Nations fund managed through the World Bank, has agreed that its activities should be made more transparent. There will be enhanced participation from the public, the private sector and environmental organizations. It has not been possible to reach agreement on the controversial issue of how to cost projects. There will be no change in distribution of funds to ozone depletion, climate change, water supplies and biodiversity conservation.

It is becoming increasingly widely recognized in India that germplasm can no longer be made freely available to outsiders. However, many scientists also agree that it is vital to exchange germplasm between countries if new varieties are to be developed and food production improved. Efforts to protect India's agro-biodiversity are based on the $20 million national gene bank commissioned in 1997.

An international review committee's proposal that India's leading scientific establishment, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, should rationalize its research and restructure its administration has been criticized by some faculty members. The advice, which they say is a rushed job, suggests that the institute abandons nuclear energy research and reduce its astronomy programme, while two mathematical groups should be merged.

India is to allow international experts to examine two of its existing nuclear reactors and the design for its new 500-MW reactors. Experts commend the action, but perceive it as a response to criticism about the unsafe nature of its older reactors, and as an action related to India's refusal to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Indian officials denies this second accusation, saying that the measure is intended to boost confidence in the industry and to attract private-sector investment.

The sterile-insect technology (SIT) project in Delhi is likely to be revived with the aim of eradicating the main vector for urban malaria, Anopheles stephensi. The new project will use mosquitoes sterilized by radiation, but some scientists are sceptical about the project, claiming that eradication would only be temporary.

India has had no Nobel Prize winners in science since the 1940s despite investing $50 billion to create a network of roughly 120 universities of technology and 100 national laboratories. Many feel that this is largely because the government has allowed the nation's once-excellent university systems to steadily disintegrate over the last five years of its independence. One prominent scientist opined that the national laboratory and university system generally frowns upon initiative, inspiration or innovation.

Medical researchers in India are focusing on diseases which are relatively insignificant, such as cancer and neurological disorders, rather than on those which affect many ordinary people, such as parasitic diseases and respiratory diseases. Medicine has a high status in Indian society, but there seems to be a serious mismatch between medical research and the needs of ordinary Indians, according to Subbaiah Arunachalam of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.

A self-taught chemist Ramar Pillai's demonstration of producing petrol-like inflammable liquid by adding leaves of a native herb to water has baffled Indian scientists. The demonstration conducted at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi has led scientists to accept that the process produces a hydrocarbon fuel though they have no explanation for it. According to Pillai, his fuel would cost 3 US cents/litre and since it is of plant origin the exhaust would be cleaner. However, the rapidity of the process and the dubious nature of the hydrogen/oxygen sources are puzzling the scientists.

Foreign geneticists are making every effort to collect human genetic material from India, while the Indian government plans tighter laws on the export of human blood and DNA samples in accordance with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The government plans to limit exports to those foreign collaborators who agree to technology transfer and to pay royalties from discoveries made using the genetic material. However, India has been unable to amend its Patent Act to comply with GATT due to opposition from environmental groups.

The issuing of patents for the process of extracting an insecticide from the neem tree to the multinational company W.R. Grace has been opposed by an international coalition of aid and environmentalist groups. According to these groups the patent laws allow multinationals to patent methods using indigenous knowledge based on scientific techniques. The Indian farmers also fear that the purchase of neem seeds by the multinationals will create a scarcity of the seeds in India. According to Grace, the company only wants patents for their technique.

The rejection of the directorship of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, by a senior physicist at IBM, NY, has caused the IAEA, the founder of ICTP, to renew its search for a new director. The political upheavals in Italy and a suspected pressure from the government to appoint an Italian scientist have delayed the recruitment. However, the IAEA hopes to secure an appointment for the directorship by 1996.

The World Health Organization (WHO) ordered a probe into the exact nature of the outbreak of pneumonic plague in Surat, India. Indian microbiologists question the categorization of the epidemic as pneumonic plague because plague spreads only in cold climates while the temperature in Surat at the time of the outbreak was 35 degrees centigrade. The absence of bubonic plague, which usually precedes pneumonic plague, adds weight to the Indian scientists' claim. The WHO, however, is certain that the disease is plague and plans to examine all factors that led to this mysterious outbreak.

The resignation of the vice-chancellor of Delhi University opposing government cutbacks on university expenditure highlights the financial crisis faced by the 144 universities in India. Rising high education budget requirements in the nation have compelled the University Grants Commission, a central university funding organization, to restrict university maintenance budgets and have forced university heads to look for other funding sources. Meanwhile, academics are worried over the impact of financial constraints on the quality of India's science and engineering education.

Two separate research groups claimed credit for isolating an organism used to prepare a leprosy vaccine. The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) in Bombay, India, opines that the organism Mycobacterium was isolated in CRI as early as in 1958 and a vaccine was developed in 1987. The rival group at the National Institute of Immunology proposes to rename the Mycobacterium to M. pranii and claim responsibility for the isolation of the microorganism in 1978. The Society for Scientific Values will consider the issue.

The seed from a herbal plant, Strychnos potatorum, is a uranium and heavy metal binder. The plant is found in India, Sri Lanka and Burma and is used by tribals to purify muddy water in streams and wells. Uranium binding potential of the plant is attributed to certain proteins and pH content of the reaction medium decides the binding efficiency.

The panel of geologists set up by the Government of India to investigate the Sep 1993 earthquake in Maharashtra will try to determine whether a considerable amount of information was available for the various government departments to predict the occurrence of a major earthquake in that region. The earthquake measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, and killed more than 30,000 people who lived in mud and stone houses though it did not damage roads and engineering constructions. A few geophysicists in the National Geophysical Research Institute have claimed that they had detected the rift valley in the Deccan plateau in 1973 and but government did not consider their warning.

The problems of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and India's ambitions to enter the satellite launch business by 1995 were compounded when the country's most powerful rocket fell into the Bay of Bengal immediately after take-off in its first, but unsuccessful flight from the Sriharikota launch pad. The polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) developed complications in the separation of its second phase. Russia's withdrawal from a contract to supply cryogenic technology necessary for ISRO's geostationary satellite launch vehicle and the imposition of technology embargoes by the US jeopardized ISRO's ambitious plans.

Russia has decided not to honor its contract to sell cryogenic rocket technology to India, most likely due to US pressure. The US claimed that the sale violated international non-proliferation agreements because the rockets could be used to launch missiles. Russia will still provide engines for India, but not the technology involved in producing them. The day after Russia made the decision, US and Russian officials signed a satellite launch agreement and announced plans to share aerospace technology. India is understandably displeased by Russia's decision.

Indian science libraries have cut down the import of foreign journals as they cannot afford to subscribe to these journals. This has led to a network movement, which connects different libraries, all of which subscribe to different journals and periodicals. Universities and research laboratories can access them by getting a photocopy of the required article or through computer interconnection. Subscribing to the Indian National Scientific Documentation Center (INSDOC) is beneficial, as it has links with 800 science libraries and can provide foreign science journal.

The model for the forecasting of monsoons developed in 1987 by Vasant Gowariker, a chemical engineer, has been declared unscientific by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) even though it was proven accurate over a period of five years. Professional jealousy may be the reason for the rejection of the model. Gowariker believes the government has made a major mistake by rejecting his model as the country will be exposed to inaccurate forecasts.