Railways Proposes to set up 'Malaviya Chair' for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi

New Delhi: The Union Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has announced the Railways intends to set up an innovation council called “Kayakalp” for the purpose of business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovation in Railways in accordance with the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister for Innovation, Technology Development and Manufacturing. Presenting the Railway Budget for 2015-16 in Parliament today he opined that every dynamic and thriving organization needs to innovate and re-invent its practices. 

The Railway Minister informed the members that Government of India has conferred Bharat Ratna on Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and to mark the centenary celebrations of Banaras Hindu University, Railways proposes to set up ‘Malaviya Chair’ for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi. This Chair will help in development of new materials to be used in all assets of Railways. 

Railways have decided to strengthen the RDSO into an organization of excellence for applied research. RDSO would collaborate with institutions of repute. Railways will set up in 2015-16 four Railway Research Centers in select universities for doing fundamental research. 

The Railways Minister stressed on the need to invest in fundamental and applied research for seeking solutions to rail-specific issues. Railways intends to set up a technology portal to invite innovative technological solutions. 

He informed the members that a consortium of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Science And Technology and Industries on an Investment Sharing Model is being set up as part of Technology Mission for Indian Railways to take up identified Railway projects for research. 

In praise of the lord…

Well-known Nata Sankirtana artist from Manipur, Ningthoujam Shyamchand Singh, throws light on the art form.

Ningthoujam Shyamchand Singh is a multi-talented artiste from Manipur. Adept in Cholom and Eshei, he is also a well known name in the art of Nata Sankirtana. In fact, he is the third generation Nata Sankirtana performer from his family.

Singh, the ‘Joypatra’ of Imphal’s well-known Shri Shri Govindajee Temple Board and the lead singer for the temple’s Pala Loishang or Department of Nata Sankirtana, recently performed the art

in praise of Devi Dhumel at Rabindra Bharati University and Viswa Bharati University in West Bengal along with his troupe. This, he says, “was in connection with the year-long diamond jubilee celebration of the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipuri Dance Academy”, of which he is a faculty member. In this interview, he allows us a glimpse into a life dedicated to a devotional art. Excerpts:

On what occasions are What are the occasions when Nata Sankirtana performances held?

It is performed during the Nahutpa-Chura Karan-Lugunthangba initiation to accept a person as a bona fide performer of rites and the rituals relating to family ceremonies like marriage, death, samavadswar, the first death anniversary, the utsav, before performing the raas leela, besides for some other spiritual ceremonies and functions.

What are the step-by-step rituals followed in a Nata Sankirtana?

How important is Shri Chaitanya in a Nata Sankirtana performance?

Shri Chaitanya initiated Sankirtana. He was the supreme guru and father of Sankirtana, Mahajjeigya ofKali kaal (the age of Kali). He was the joint incarnation of Radha-Krishna in Kali yuga to enlighten human beings and to do away with darkness that exists in the mind of man.

At what age did you get initiated into the art of Nata Sankirtana?

When I was 12, I started learning Nata Sankirtana from Adi Guru Huiningshungbam Nabadwip Singh of Uchiwa in Manipur.

Who inspired you to learn it?

My father, late Ningthoujam Angangyaima Singh, inspired me to learn Nata Sankirtana.

Are you a full-time Nata Sankirtana guru or do you have any other profession?

I am a full-time Nata Sankirtana guru. I became a guru at the age of 30 and joined Jawaharlal Nehru Manipuri Dance Company in 1998.

Do you earn well as a guru?

Fortunately for me, as a Nata Sankirtana guru, all my needs are taken care of.

What does is a usual day in your life look like?

I wake up each morning before the Sun starts his journey with his seven horses across the sky. At this juncture, the time is exclusively mine and used for getting ready to face the day. It is the time to be with my God and I pray to him fervently, after which I go on to read newspapers and may be a book.

A few of my students come to my house to learn Nata Sankirtana, Eshei and Cholom. I also teach them the theory of the subjects they are learning. Thereafter, I go to teach students at the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipuri Dance Academy.In the evening after coming back from JNMDA I exercise for an hour to keep fit. After which the time is for rest and reading books.

How many times during the day are you required to perform at the Govindajee Temple?

As the head of Pala Loishang of Shree Shree Govinadajee Temple Board, I have to be there most of the time for performing and arranging Sankirtana performances.

Are young people inclined toward listening to or learning Nata Sankirtana? How popular is Nata Sankirtana today?

Many young people are attuned to it and come forward to learn Nata Sankirtana. For Manipuri Hindus, Nata Sankirtana is a part of their lives. It is performed on every ceremonial occasion, so it is quite popular.

Keywords: Ningthoujam Shyamchand Singh, Nata Sankirtana

Giants of Indian science

The Quantum Indians” drives home the point about India’s contribution to science.

Watching the Raja Choudhury-directed 52-minute documentary “The Quantum Indians” definitely swells the pride of Indian viewers and in all probability will inspire a few youngsters to pursue scientific research irrespective of the hurdles.

Produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust and the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs it won the National Film Award for Best Educational Film in 2013. It highlights how in the early part of the 20th Century and over 20 years before India’s independence, three remarkable Indian scientists Satyendra Nath Bose, C.V. Raman and Meghnad Saha revolutionised the worlds of physics and science by giving three remarkable discoveries and theories.

The film explores their individual biographies, collective impact on the world of science and their legacy in Indian science using their own words, archival imagery and footage, interviews with leading Indian scientists and historians and animated visualizations to demonstrate their theories. The Bose-Einstein Statistic, Condensate and Bosons, the Raman Effect and the Saha Equation have been responsible for some major breakthroughs in quantum physics and astrophysics in last and this century. These include the discovery of the Higgs Boson Particle, the splitting of light and the high temperature ionization of elements.

Agreeing that the film seeks to develop and inspire scientific temper among people especially youngsters, Rajiv Mehrotra, executive producer and commissioning editor, says: “There are many Indian scientists who have made a seminal impact after being trained and groomed in India. The three scientists in the film will inspire people and imbibe hope in them that they too can excel in scientific exploration and investigation after studying, training and grooming in India.” Bose and Saha did M.Sc from Calcutta University while Raman did M.A. from Presidency College Madras. Incidentally, all three taught initially at the University of Calcutta, became members of the Royal Society and Raman went on to win India’s only Nobel Prize for Science.

Remarkable it is to know that Bose sent his paper to Albert Einstein leading to half the particles in this whole world named after him. Similarly Raman who did have a spectrograph wrote to G.D. Birla requesting him for funds to buy one and assuring him that his discovery will definitely land a Nobel Prize. Saha who became a leading astrophysicist initiated creation of Planning Commission and laid emphasis on nuclear energy.

Choudhury has not limited himself to laboratories in portraying the genius of the three Indians but has also highlighted different aspects of their personalities. Bose championed teaching of science in mother tongue to break the language barrier. He was a kind-hearted person who shared food with famine stricken children. Raman, who is credited of guiding several well known Indian scientists, was a great teacher but an intolerant perfectionist who loved children. Saha stands out for fighting against all odds and poverty before he went on to establish the Institute of Nuclear Physics, the first of its kind in India and organising the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. The scientists were not untouched by the freedom movement in the country and after Independence were committed to nation building. Receiving his Nobel Prize (1930) was hurt by the absence of the Indian flag at the ceremony and remarked that he could not claim to be an Indian there. He dedicated the prize to the freedom fighters of Indian who according to him were spending the golden time of their life in British jails.

Though PSBT movies are shown on different channels of Doordarshan, documentaries like “The Quantum Indians” need to be screened in educational institutions. It requires exposure which can be provided by various Government institutions and also by public-private partnership efforts. Despite critical acclaim such movies which are available for on Internet and for non-commercial display still remain unseen by a vast majority.

Why rural connect of Indian MNCs is a boon

By Vijay Mahajan





The rural DNA of Indian MNCs is their biggest strategic asset that will be hard for any other country to match

In the last three years, I had the fortune of visiting ten developing countries with the largest rural population seven in Asia (India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Philippines) and three in Africa (Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt). These ten countries collectively include about 2.2 billion rural consumers out of more than 3.4 billion rural consumers in the world (around 65%) and 3 billion rural consumers in Asia and Africa (around 73 %).During my travels, I conducted hundreds of interviews with companies and NGOs and did market visits to rural areas and urban slums for my next book on the emergence and dynamics of rural consumers in developing countries. India leads this pack and the world with more than 800 million consumers living in rural markets and more than 150 million rural migrants living in urban centres who maintain links with their families, visiting them during festivals, special family occasions and harvest times, and supporting them financially through remittances. Rural migrants living outside India (especially in the Middle East) are connected with their families through Skype and mobile phones and remit extensively. Despite urbanisation, number of Indian consumers living in rural markets is not going south any time soon.
The rural BRIC
Consider the much talked about BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. Brazil and Russia are mostly urbanised with less than 15% and 26% of their populations living in rural areas respectively. In fact, Brazil is more urbanised than the USA. Further, both of these countries have GDP per capita of more than $10,000 and are not considered developing countries as per my first book on developing countries, The 86 % Solution.Although China's GDP per capita is still less than $10,000, it has an active agenda to accelerate urbanisation -about 48 % of its population lives in rural markets, the second largest in the world. In terms of percentage of population living in urban areas, India is where the USA was at the end of 19th century and China is where it was in 1920s. Time will tell how fast India and China will attain the current percentage USA urban population size of more than 80%.
So how do the progressive companies grow in India? They grow by having an inclusive strategy that focuses both on urban consumers and rural consumers. It is in their DNA. Consider Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). Although it is a European MNC, its Indian DNA is very rural along with Pakistan and Bangladesh, other two members of the top ten rural club, who report to its Mumbai office.
Unilever, in these three countries, caters to the needs of more than 1 billion rural consumers (more than 33 % of rural consumers living in Asia and Africa). It is not a coincidence that HUL requires its new executive recruits to spend some time in rural markets. I met a few senior executives during my travels who credit this feature of their HUL initiation for their success with their new positions.
HUL is considered a rural innovation hub in the Unilever universe. Many of its rural innovations have been rolled out to other de veloping countries (e.g, Shakti Amma , Help A Child Reach 5 campaign).
Rural aspirations and missed calls
During my travels, I was not surprised to find that aspirations of rural mothers are not any different from their urban counterparts.Why should they be? They also want the best for their families and children. Overall, their incomes are increasing and thanks to mobile and satellite technologies; they are connected via mobile phones and television.Consider, for example, the recent acquisition of Bangalore-based ZipDial by Twitter.ZipDial has capitalised on the “missed call“ behaviour of Indian consumers and is helping companies like HUL connect their brands to rural consumers. “Missed Call“ behaviour is not unique to Indian consumers. During my travels, my drivers communicated with me through missed calls. Even the Indian TV industry is using rural or semi-rural settings and stories to create successful TV serials that appeal even to urban consumers. Directbroadcast satelliteinternet service providers, like Dish in the USA, are broadcasting these stories all over the world.
Indian MNCs are leading the way in rural consumer markets. I learned a lot from a number of companies from different sectors, including Dabur, Marico, Hero, Maruti , CEAT, Dish TV, Airtel, Micromax, Mahindra, Aadhaar Retailing, FINO, ICICI Bank and Amul. I did not realise that India has one of the largest tribal populations. I was moved by the work done by an amazing NGO called PRADAN that helps tribal families attain sustainable living and make them potential consumers for the various products and services. Social Franchisors cre ated by World Health Partners are bringing medical advice and medicines to the rural consumers via emerging video technologies.It is now crossing the seas to Africa. FICCI and Government of India Technology Board is working with the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, my academic home, to nurture young entrepreneurs to develop rural innovations and solutions that they can export to other developing countries also.
In my opinion, the rural DNA of Indian MNCs is their biggest strategic asset that will be hard for any other country to match.It is the rural DNA that they can and are carrying across the 86% of the world population that lives in developing countries. They understand how to appeal to the aspirations of rural consumers amidst lack of infrastructure, economic and language diversity, and unorganised retail markets. Consider Africa. Almost all of its 50 plus countries have huge rural populations including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Africa and Mozambique. I am sure this is not news for some of the Indian MNCs. Many of them are already there. CD
The author is the John P.Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at Mccombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin
Edit & Desk : Dibeyendu Ganguly, Moinak Mitra, Priyanka Sangani, Dearton Thomas Hector and TV Mahalingam Design : Shubhra Dey, Sanjeev Raj Jain, Nitin Keer

THINK POST-MILLENNIUM - Ground Realities of Water & Sanitation

Bjorn Lomborg





What targets should the world set for water and sanitation? 2.5 billion people ­ almost half the developing world ­ lack a basic latrine and 1 billion have to resort to what is politely known as open defecation. In India, almost 600 million have to defecate in the open. This large problem was also addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, in his last Independence Day speech, stated the government was targeting sanitation for all in 10 years.Similarly , 750 million people have no access to any type of basic source of drinking water. Each day 136 million town dwellers spend more than 40 minutes each day to fetch water and more than 600 million in rural areas spend more than an hour to fetch their water. In rural India, almost 88 million people still lack basic water access.
The good news is that we can do something. Over the past 25 years, more than 2 billion have gained access to better water and almost 2 billion to sanitation. At the turn of the century , the global community committed to a set of targets under the umbrella of the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at improving the world as much as possible over the next 15 years. Their water and sanitation goal helped 2 billion people get better access.
Now, with the deadline fast approaching, 193 national governments are aiming to build on the successes already achieved and agree to a new set of targets to improve people's lives even more by 2030.
But resources and capabilities are not infinite, so we have to get this right. That's why the Copenhagen Consensus Center, my think tank, has asked more than 60 teams of expert economists to analyse some of the more promising proposals put forward and make their own recommendations for which should make the final cut.
So, what is the case for prioritising clean water and sanitation?
The most obvious benefit comes in the form of better health.Providing even basic latrines and hand-washing facilities can make a big impact on the spread of disease. There are a number of waterborne infectious diseases that could be curtailed. The biggest and deadliest are those that cause diarrhea, including cholera and a range of viral infections. These are a significant cause of death, particularly among young children, but infected adults may be too ill to work and older children unfit to go to school.
The other big benefit is time-saving. The analysis of the basic water supply and sanitation targets assumes that people in rural villages no longer have to spend an hour a day on average fetching water, but can collect the same amount in 20 minutes. In urban areas ­ which will continue to grow fast over the coming decades ­ it is expected that people will halve the time needed to collect water from 40 to 20 minutes.
Because we will add an extra billion people to the global population over the next 15 years, getting water and sanitation to everyone will require a substantial effort.However, a team of economists from the World Bank has estimated that providing sanitation for 3 billion more people will cost about $31 billion annually . This is the cost of providing such low-cost solutions as pour-flush and dry pit latrines in rural areas and flush toilets to a septic tank in urban areas, shared by less than 30 people. Yet, the benefits will amount to $92 billion annually , about three-quarters of which are time benefits, and the remaining one-quarter is health benefits (it omits environmental benefits). This means that every dollar spent on sanitation will help the world's most vulnerable about $3, measured in better health and less time wasted.
Providing improved water to an extra 2.3 billion people, e.g.through a well, spring and borehole, or collected rainwater that can be reached within 30 minutes or less, will cost $14 billion annually. Yet, again it will create much larger benefits, with less disease and death and with less wasted time. In all, the benefits are estimated at $52 billion annually , so that each dollar spent will generate $4 of benefits.
One stop on the way to better sanitation is simply avoiding open defecation in rural areas with shared latrine or communal toilets.Because this is even cheaper at $13 billion annually , each dollar can deliver a substantial benefit of $6.
In short, there is a strong case for investing in improved water supplies and sanitation. This would help half this world's population and benefit the poorest the most.The economic case is as strong as the moral one.
The author is Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center NEXT WEEK: Science & Tech

jugular vein - Foodie for thought

Jug Suraiya





Fascinated by grub? You could end up losing weight

When we were kids we always seemed to be hungry. But perhaps because of that, anyone who seemed overly fond of food was called a `greedy guts', or in my native Kutchi, a `khaodro', a glutton.Times change. Today someone who obsesses about food is not called greedy guts, or a khaodro, or a glutton. The person is called a foodie. And the word is not a pejorative; it's a compliment.
This is because the nature, and purpose, of food has changed. Food is no longer just something with which to satisfy hunger. For the middle class at least, food has become a culinary art form.
Not everyone can become a cordon bleu chef. But everyone can become a foodie.
I've become a quasi-foodie myself, thanks to Bunny who's joined the Gurgaon Foodies Group, an online association of over 10,000 people who exchange notes, recipes, reviews, photos and general gupshup all to do with food.
Foodie groups have mushroomed all over, and it's become something of a cachet to say you belong to one. Being associated with a foodie group gives you a social ranking about on a par with belonging to a cine society which watches Lithuanian films with Serbian subtitles, and a notch or two higher than membership of the local Rotary Club.
So what exactly do foodies do? Well, they talk to each other about food and describe it and explain how it is cooked, or where it can be obtained from and what it costs. They try out new recipes and each time they make a dish they lovingly take photos of it from various angles to email to all their foodie friends, who meantime are busy taking pictures of the dish they've cooked and which they're putting out on the foodie grapevine.
The result of all this hyperactivity ­ talking about food, trying out new recipes, photographing food and putting the images on the net ­ leaves very little time for the actual eating of food.
Foodies are like the tourist who goes to the Taj Mahal and is so preoccupied taking snapshots of it, and posing against it in a variety of ways, that he clean forgets to actually see the wretched thing. Foodies are so busy yakking about food and fiddling about with it, and making sure that the piyazoos, or pasta, or whatever they've cooked is looking yummy in the pix, that they often forget to eat the stuff.
So one of the side benefits of being a foodie and freaking out about food is that you stand a fair chance of losing weight instead of gaining it.
So: Foodies of the world unite ­ you have nothing to lose but your double chins.

the speaking tree - Yogic Healing Of Mind, Body And Spirit

Swami Chidanand Saraswati





The practice of yoga was intuited, channelled, perfected and codified by our rishis and sages for the attainment of total health in body , mind, and spirit, so that the material human body may be a vehicle for spiritual awakening and enlightenment. The word `yoga' means `union'. Yoga is that which we become, that which unfolds and awakens when the body , mind, thoughts, motions and intentions are joined together.Today , joyfully, the practice of yoga is burgeoning throughout the world. Yet, there is rampant competition amongst styles, lineages and `brands' of yoga.`Which is the best?' is a common question. If there can be a `best' and therefore a `worst', it is not yoga. If there is competition, criticism, back-stabbing and cheating, it is not yoga. Yoga is cooperation. Yoga is togetherness. Yoga is a practice through which we connect to our own breath, bodies, minds and ultimately to our spirits. Then, in that divine, eighth limb of yoga as elucidated by Patanjali, we experience samadhi, the ultimate union of our spirit with the Supreme Spirit, our soul with the Supreme Soul. It is a union, verily, of us to each other and to the Universe.
Today the world needs yoga more than ever. However, we need it not only because we are more out-ofshape, obese and at risk for diabetes and heart disease than ever. All of that is true and yoga can be a fabulous panacea for nearly all that ails our physical body . Yet yoga has much more to offer. Today that which ails us ­ as individuals, communities, societies, religious groups and nations ­ is separation. The borders and boundaries between `me' and `you' and `us' and `them' are thicker and more i and `them' are thicker and more intractable than ever. Our personal frame of reference is narrowing each day .
Our culture expounds `Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', that the world is one family . However, today , most of us do not identify as members of the world family .Rather, we identify as members of a political party or a religious group, or a country club, or followers of a particular guru. The lines between us get thicker and thicker. That separation, that sense of `self ' versus `other' is what permits us to dehumanise each other so drastically that we can be complicit, directly or indirectly, in each other's suffering and death. That sep aration is also what leads to the increase of depression world wide. Depression is marked by feeling alone, disconnected, isolated from the world, feelings which, when taken to an extreme, permit us to even take our own lives without realising the pain our death will cause others.
Yoga is a solution. It is a solution to our abysmal physical health and skyrocketing medical bills. The postures and breathing exercises are unparalleled in their ability to restore wellness.Yoga is a solution to personal angst, depression and lack of meaning in our lives. As we connect with divine prana, we realise that we are being nourished by the Universe, and inextricably linked to the web of Life. Yoga is also a solution to that which ails our planet. When we realise our interconnectedness, then we stand up and change our attitude and our actions into ones that protect that global family as ardently as we'd protect our own nuclear family .
The challenge is ours: to co-opt yoga into yet another way to compete with each other and separate ourselves from each other, or to use it in its fullest meaning, bringing health to ourselves, our communities and our world. The International Yoga Festival is being held at Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh, March 1-7. For details, visit http:www.internationalyogafestival.com
Follow Swami Chidanand Saraswati at speakingtree.in