Unanswered questions

The key takeaway from the meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with State Chief Ministers to discuss the contours of the new body that will replace the Planning Commission was this: that power and planning should be decentralised and States should be empowered to plan, design and manage schemes based on what fits them best. This is a point on which consensus appeared to have emerged even as the Chief Ministers diverged along party lines over whether the existing body should be revamped or be replaced with a new one. The decision to offer a greater say to States in planning and managing schemes seems to have been born from Mr. Modi’s own experience as Gujarat Chief Minister when he made presentations to the Plan panel and felt the need for a better platform to articulate the views of his State. In line with this consensus, Chief Ministers would be included in the body on a rotational basis to give it a federal character. Mr. Modi’s remark on ‘bottom to top’ planning is a comment on how New Delhi cannot tailor the development plans of States as each State has unique needs and problems. A second point that appeared to have gained recognition was that expertise and knowledge resided as much outside the government, if not more so, and that these needed to be tapped by roping in the private sector into the new body.

There is, however, not much clarity on the traditional role of the Planning Commission, including its job of sitting in on expenditure committee meetings. Will it mean the end of the planning process itself? If not, who will formulate and monitor the annual and five year plans as the Commission was doing? Sunday’s meeting also failed to tackle the issue of who will allocate and transfer funds from the Centre to the States for Centrally-sponsored and Plan schemes, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stating that further consultations would be held on this issue. The Planning Commission has also been a veritable think-tank producing studies and policy reports that different Ministries relied upon in their decision-making. The body was staffed largely by academics and bureaucrats at the top, and an attempt to enlist expertise from the business sector did not go very far. If the new body has to be a public-private think-tank, as the Prime Minister seems to want it to be, it should have the ability to attract top-drawer talent and also network with research bodies and universities in India and abroad. Interestingly, unlike the existing Planning Commission, the new body is likely to have a statutory role, giving greater weight to its functions and powers. At this stage, many unanswered questions remain, and a great deal more of conceptual thought needs to go into the making of the new body that is to come into being by the end of January.

Climate summit: Responsibility of developed nations stressed

Both India and the United States stuck to their respective stand on the differentiation of countries according to the Kyoto Protocol  which had clear divisions for the developed countries as annexe one and developing countries as non annexe one.

Union Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar on Monday said that this  differentiation should remain as it is.  India is not in favour of rewriting the Protocol to change the categorisation of countries, he pointed out in a clear indication that historical responsibilities of the developed countries would continue to be a determining factor in funding adaptation and technology transfer. .

The BASIC or Brazil, South Africa, India, and China group of countries will meet this week and he said the countries are all on the same page on several issues. They also agreed that the intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) should have a strong adaptation focus.  "What carbon space have you released for us to grow?" Mr. Javadekar asked, adding that adaptation needs to be an essential part of the INDCs of developed countries.  BASIC also wants developed

countries to make more meaningful financial contributions.

Mr. Javadekar said India was opposed to an ex ante review process and he said countries needed the internal freedom to determine their domestic climate action needs. He said that new climate legislation in India would include a review of laws on forest, wildlife, environment, water, and air and proposed amendments to make the laws and rules transparent. He also emphasized the fact that India would not accept a review of its climate targets in a bilateral meeting with

the head of the delegation of the United States, Todd Stern. An official statement said they discussed issues related to Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC)s, pre 2020 ambitions and elements of the 2015 agreements including mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer framework and capacity building. Mr.Javadekar said that the target of 20,000 MW Solar Energy production had been increased to 100 GW during next 5 years which would save a huge amount of coal.

He said the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR) should be at heart of the Paris Agreement. He also reiterated the need for technology upgradation through joint collaborative research and expressed concern at the availability of limited Carbon Space for the growth imperatives of developing countries. The US delegation indicated that 1992 Annexes of the convention need to be redefined. Both the delegations agreed to continue to work jointly to make the outcome of Lima COP positive and acceptable, the statement said.

Stem cells hold new hope for baldness

New procedures are being evolved in different therapies and surgical methods to extend the benefits of stem cell research and its applications to the needy people with better and effective results. “This has not only revolutionised bio-technology sector as a whole but also contributed immensely to the therapeutic procedures in a variety of areas. Cosmetology is no exception to this and people are deriving lot of benefit out of this,” said cosmetologist Dr. G. Radhika Reddy.

Addressing an awareness meeting held at their newly established Angels Advanced Clinic at Ramalingapuram here on Sunday, Dr. Reddy said the biggest advantage with the Stem cells cause a healthy multiplication of cells in a specific part of the body where it would be introduced. This had indeed become a boon for the public seeking natural relief from various illnesses including skin and hair related disorders. In the case of chronic problem of hair loss, Dr. Radhika said that the stem cell would be injected into the scalp in the form of a liquid.

It would reactivate the weakened hair roots leading to re-growth and new growth of hair.

Thanking the Prince of Mathematics: Carl Friedrich Gauss

Carl Gauss a prodigy mathematician born to a poor, working class parents in Brauschweig, Germany surprised his elementary school teacher by adding all the integers from 1 to 100 simply by observing that the sum of 50 pairs of numbers is 101. The story goes that he had figured that 100 numbers could be determined by the equation n(a+b)(1/2)=50(a+b) where n=100, a = the first digit in the sequence and b = the last digit in the sequence.

His mathematical talent befuddled his teachers and mentors such that he grew up to become an influential mathematician of his century.
Gauss’s wide range of discoveries, from his fundamental theorem of algebra to his ground breaking work in number theory has shaped the field to the present day.

The true genius of his work, experts think is how he ultimately took these theories and applied them to in many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.

He once wrote, “All the measurements in the world are not worth one theorem by which the science of eternal truth is genuinely advanced.” It was at the same time he took up the job of geodesic survey mapping irregularly shaped curved surfaces across the country.  Although, he failed to produce an accurate map of Hannover, he succeeded in creating a number of important advances in mathematics of curved surfaces, development of curvilinear coordinates and established ideas on non Euclidean geometry. 

To which Einstein later wrote, "If Gauss had not created his geometry of surfaces, which served Riemann as a basis, it is scarcely conceivable that anyone else would have discovered it. The importance of Gauss for the development of modern physical theory and especially for the mathematical fundamentals of the theory of relativity is overwhelming indeed."

Gauss’s list of discoveries extends to modular arithmetic, prime numbers, number theory, squares, quadratic reciprocity etc. But it was more astonishing that he worked on these discoveries independently without any collaborators or co workers!

This Thanksgiving lets be grateful to the man who overcame all the difficulties while pursuing mathematics and continued to discover more and more fundamentals that shaped the field to what it is today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dec 10 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

WHO: India has 12.8cr suspected malaria cases

Kounteya Sinha

London:





As many as 111 crore Indians are at risk of getting infected with malaria and of these, 28 crore have been found to be at highest risk. The World Health Organization on Tuesday said that India has 12.8 crore suspected malaria cases.India recorded 8.81 lakh confirmed cases. This means that only 7% of malaria cases are being confirmed in the country . The country also faces the most deadly threat of the malaria strain becoming resistant to the most advanced drugs available till date, thanks to unregulated selling of banned malaria therapies.
The most dangerous malaria carrying vector ­­ P falciparum has been found to have become resistant to the drug artemisinin in five countries ­­ Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. WHO has banned the sale of oral artemisinin based monotherapy medicines and replaced them with artemisinin combination therapies. The use of monotherapy medicines threatens the long-term usefulness of artemisinin because it fosters the spread of resistance to the drug. The number of countries that allow the marketing of oral artemisininbased monotherapies has dropped tremendously since the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution supporting the ban in 2007.
But as of December 2014 the WHO confirmed that 24 pharmaceutical companies continued to market oral artemisinin monotherapies, half of them located in India.WHO also said India and Thailand are on track to achieve a decrease of 50­75% in malaria cases.
For the full report, log on to http:www.timesofindia.com

CAREERS AT USIEF, DELHI

USIEF seeks results-oriented candidates with professional experience and a desire to excel for the following positions:

1. Senior Program Officer - Indian Program

2. Program Coordinator – U.S. Program

How to Apply

ABOUT: The United States–India Educational Foundation (USIEF) seeks result-oriented candidates for the position of Senior Program Officer, Indian Program.  Please find below the link for detailed announcement and USIEF employment application form. Last date for receiving completed application form is December 29, 2014.

Please Visit: http://www.usief.org.in/Careerdelhi.aspx

Requested to bring this to the notice of any suitable candidate(s).

For any query related to this announcement, please write to shadab@usief.org.in

How to Apply: Interested candidates should complete the USIEF EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION FORM and e-mail as word attachment to careers@usief.org.in along with detailed CV and a Cover letter explaining how you meet the competency criteria or send a printed copy of these documents to: Manager HR, United States-India Educational Foundation, 12 Hailey Road, New Delhi – 110001

CONTACT:

Shadab Khan

Human Resources Manager

United States-India Educational Foundation

12 Hailey Road, New Delhi 110001, India

Tel +91.11.42090909

Fax +91.11.23329718

Email shadab@usief.org.in

Website www.usief.org.in

"2ND IPE-IIPA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND DOCTORAL COLLOQUIUM ON 'TRANSFORMATIVE SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH"

Dates: 3-4 March, 2014.
Organisers: 'Institute of Public Enterprise' (IPE), Hyderabad and 'Indian Institute of Public Administration'(IIPA), New Delhi,
Venue: IPE, Hyderabad.
Paper Submission Dates:
    Abstracts: by December 20, 2014.
    Full papers: by January 31, 2015.


ABOUT: Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, is honoured to invite papers for its 2nd "International Conference and Doctoral Colloquium on 'Transformative Social Science Research: Disciplines Geographies and Think Tanks'" to be held on March 3-4, 2015.

Aimed at providing a progressive push to the social sciences re search, the conference will majorly involve discussions on current status of social science research in various countries, its existing and future trends in diverse disciplines and a viewpoint from knowledge-rich think tanks. The conference will also cover sub-themes such as history and development of social science, role of social science research in meeting the challenges of the integrated market place, role and impact of various think tank initiatives and public affairs and public policy. With significance given to all the aspects of social science research, the conference will highlight the issues  ad challenges in the area and will also put forward crucial solutions and strategies to overcome them.

The conference invites paper submission from-Institutes and Academies of social sciences from various countries, Researchers from all the social science disciplines, Think Tank organizations Policy makers, Government ministries, Education departments and Statistical organizations.

Doctoral Colloquium: Doctoral Colloquium for Ph.D. research scholars will be organized as part of the conference, in which, the research work in progress can be presented to experts from the respective domains to receive their feedback by the research scholars. Those scholars who have recently submitted their theses and awaiting examination can also apply.

Inviting papers: Papers are invited from Faculty (Conference track on trends in SSR) and Research scholars (Doctoral Colloquium on trends in SSR) in the following disciplines for the concerned tracks in the conference.
o Demography and Social Statistics, Methods and Computer applications
o Development Studies, Human Geography and Environmental Planning
o Economics, Management and Business Studies
o Education, Psychology
o Social Anthropology, Sociology and Socio-linguistics
o Law, Economic and Social History
o Political Science, Public Administration and International Relations
o Science and Technology Studies
o Social Policy and Social Work

The following themes, which are cross-cutting across various disciplines in social sciences and also across different countries and states in India, could be considered for the Social Science conference:.

1. Economic Growth
2. Poverty
3. Labour Force and Employment
4. Human Development
5. Demographic change
6. Urbanization
7. Migration: both internal and international (contract labour migration)
8. Gender issues and women empowerment.