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Tiger Pataudi passes away

September 22, 2011

Skipper Mansur Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi in 1967: image THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY

Tiger Pataudi, MAK , the Nawab of Pataudi, passed away today at the age of 70. Captain of Oxford, captain of Sussex and captain of India.

He was a hero for me through my teens and beyond and was the first Indian captain who gave the Indian cricket team a belief in themselves and that they could win against any other.

He was a dashing batsman but it was his attitude which was his most vital quality and which earned him the nickname “Tiger”.

I had the privilege of watching him play in the 1960’s in England.

He had class.

RIP

MAK Pataudi: the eye of the Tiger

Tiger Pataudi was a prince among cricketers

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Posted in India, Sport | 1 Comment »

Jaguar Land-Rover thrives under Tata and fuels Tata Motors profits

September 18, 2011

When the Tata Group with Ratan Tata acquired Jaguar Land-Rover (JLR) in 2008 there were many disturbing and even depressing omens. The financial crisis of 2008 was just beginning to emerge. JLR was bleeding cash and Ford Motor Company were happy to bail out for the $2.3 billion that the Tata Group paid. In India Tata shareholders and analysts were concerned that they had bitten off more than they could chew. The Tata Group had relatively low debt and the levels of debt that they would have to take on not only for the acquisition but almost as much again for investment in JLR raised the fears that JLR could bring not only Tata Motors but the whole group down. The price was seen as being too high for what was considered a “vanity” acquisition. In the UK there were fears that the strong Jaguar and Land-Rover brands would be hurt badly by coming under Indian ownership. Jobs would be lost to Mumbai and technology would be stolen the story went. The company culture would be destroyed and innovation would come to an end. How could an Indian company messing around with a car like the Nano have the audacity to think that they could offer anything to two thoroughbred brands such as Jaguar and Land-Rover?

But 3 years on the story of JLR under Tata is an island of optimism in a gloomy sea. And it is not just optimism. The “vanity” acquisition has a gilded edge. JLR profits are up sharply and it contributes more than 50% of Tata Motors profits. An Indian company that dealt primarily with cheap small cars and trucks succeeded where Ford Motor Co and few others before had failed.

The Telegraph: Jaguar Land Rover is poised to deliver a major boost to the Government’s plans to boost growth by confirming this week that it will build a £400m engine plant in the Midlands that will potentially create up to 2,000 jobs.

JLR’s fortunes have undergone a dramatic transformation under the ownership of Indian group, Tata Motors, which bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2008. …. 

The company was forced to turn to the Government for support in 2009 when car sales around the world crashed, but walked away from negotiations when Lord Peter Mandelson, the trade secretary, demanded strict terms including the right to appoint the chairman. The company then secured debt from commercial lenders and was able to reap the benefits of a surge in demand for Jaguars and Land Rovers in Asia.

In the year to March 31, JLR made a record pre-tax profit of £1.1bn after increasing sales by 26pc to 243,621. Under the leadership of chief executive Ralf Speth and Tata chairman Ratan Tata, JLR is investing £1.5bn a year in new products and has ambitions to drive production at its three Midland plants to 500,000 vehicles a year. The company has already hired 3,000 staff this year, including a record 350 graduates, and now employs almost 21,000 people in the UK.

JLR’s engines are currently supplied by Ford from plants including Bridgend and Dagenham in the UK…… 

Mr Tata also played down the loss of Carl-Peter Forster, who has stepped down as Tata Motors chief executive. He said: “The credit for the turnaround of Jaguar Land Rover goes to the management team and workforce. No single person can or should take credit.”

And the culture-clash that was feared just did not happen. Instead a new spirit seemed to be infused into JLR. Kevin Stride, the chief engineer of the highly-acclaimed XF program said in 2009

“There’s a real buzz around the brand at the moment, Even in a difficult world, there’s a buzz because we’re feeling empowered, we’ve got the right product line-up to go and tackle the world and we’re gaining some confidence. 
“If you went to people at different function levels in Jaguar Land Rover and asked what they thought of Tata, you’d get a big thumbs-up. It’s a good place to be at the moment. For individuals like myself, it’s changed for the better. We had a great relationship under Ford. People were cynical about that, but they were a very good company to work for. With Tata, it’s different, but different in a good way. …. We are held accountable very clearly as an independent company, whether in engineering or marketing or finance, we are held accountable for proper business performance, which in the old regime was a little filtered. It was very difficult to see cause and effect. We were not able to be as focused as we are now. ….. Tata has a very healthy way of approaching all the businesses they own. They don’t centralise it, they don’t put layers of bureaucracy in it. They evaluate the business model; if they like it, they buy the company and demand that they deliver on the business plan. You can’t just meander off and fail. ……. Cultural change is the hardest thing to do. It does take time. But we’ve been with Tata for a year, we are more agile already, people (within JLR) are questioning why we do things and if it adds value, and we are feeling more empowered to go and attack it. If it doesn’t make any sense and it adds another layer, let’s not do it any more.

…. Since Tata have come in, we’ve now got an insight into how they deal with Indian sources and sources within the whole of South-East Asia. My perception is that they are extremely focused businessmen and extremely principled in what they do, which is great coaching for us as a company. We’ve gone and looked at how they operate as a company – how they source components, how they design them, how they manufacture them – and we’ve got quite a bit to learn from them on the business side.

Jaguar is able to offer an insight into quality processes in the premium world. In terms of our engineering simulation and development, we’re pretty advanced for a company the size of Jaguar Land Rover. That’s something we’ll be able to provide benefit to the Tata Group in years to come”.

And the story is far from over yet. While cash management is the mantra of the moment, there are ambitious plans for the introduction of new models and upgrades of the existing ones in a long-term plan that runs until 2014. Tata Motors and JLR are now in “very intensive discussions” with a leading Chinese car maker about forming a historic joint venture that would see the company also produce its luxury cars in China.

CarAdvice: With tough economic times hurting sales of Tato’s famous Nano, Jaguar Land Rover are now generating a massive 57 percent of Tata’s revenue. The British brands have seen their pretax profit increase 20-fold to 1.12 billion pounds ($1.76 billion) for the fiscal year. As it stands today, Tata and its Jaguar Land Rover division is valued at over $12 billion.

It wasn’t just a matter of good fortune that the brands have become successful, in fact, Jaguar is still striving to improve with sales down 27 percent for the last quarter. Land Rover on the other hand, has seen significant growth (up 22 percent for last quarter) following strong demand for its upmarket SUVs.

The Range Rover Evoque  has already seen more than 20,000 pre-orders, despite not going on sale till September.

Tata is investing a massive $2.5 billion into Jaguar Land Rover product development each year to keep the flow of new products coming. This should see Jaguar offer a significantly larger range to turn the sales slide around. The multi-billion dollar annual investment will see the development or upgrade of 40 new vehicles across the two brands over the next five years. The two that we look forward to the most are the Jaguar C-X75 supercar and an entry-level sedan to rival the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series.

The C-X75 is meant to showcase Jaguar’s engineering prowess and build its brand credibility to compete with its German rivals. The hybrid supercar can accelerate from 0-100km/h in under three seconds and run on electric power alone for around 50km: image CarAdvice.com.au

It will be tough for Jaguar to mount a serious challenge to Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz but perhaps with Tata Motors this is not impossible. And it will be a healthy and welcome development for the car industry.

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Posted in Automobiles, Business, Engineering, India, Technology, UK | 1 Comment »

An analysis of retractions of scientific papers in India

August 12, 2011

From Professor T.A. Abinandanan on his blog Nanopolitan:

Scientific Misconduct in India: An Analysis of Retractions in PubMed

I presented this work at the Workshop on Academic Ethics organized by Rahul Siddharthan, Gautam Menon and N.S. Siddharthan about a month ago.

Quick summary: PubMed database lists ~103,000 papers published by Indian authors during the previous decade (2001-2010); 70 of these papers have been retracted, and 45 of the retractions are due to some form of misconduct. Plagiarism is overwhelmingly the primary mode of misconduct: all but one of the 45 misconduct-related retractions were due to plagiarism.

If that doesn’t sound bad enough, consider this: At 44 per 100,000 papers, India’smisconduct rate is far higher than that of countries such as the UK, the USA, Germany and Japan.

There’s some silver lining, though: Retraction of papers from Indian authors show a steep fall since 2007 — either because Indian researchers know better now, or because plagiarized papers are ever less likely to make it to print in the first place due to increasingly widespread use of plagiarism detecting software by journals.

Here’s the html version; if you prefer a pdf, get it from here.

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Posted in Ethics, India | Comments Off on An analysis of retractions of scientific papers in India

Indian exports up 82% as focus shifts to new markets in Africa and S. America

August 12, 2011

Financial turbulence in India’s traditional markets in Europe and the US have threatened to limit  development. Even though domestic consumption has increased significantly in the last decade the Indian economy is still very dependent upon exports. There has been a shift of emphasis in the last few years as India has tried to emulate China and develop new markets in Africa and South America.

Although exports had contracted for 13 straight months beginning November 2008, India rebounded from the crisis quickly, logging an unprecedented 37.6% growth in 2010-11 on the back of incentives and a push into new markets in Latin America and Africa.

July exports surged nearly 82% from a year ago to $29.3 billion while imports grew 51.5% to $40.4 billion, trade data released on Thursday showed. 

Exports of engineering goods, which now account for as much as 30% of the export basket, to Latin America increased four-fold during April to July. The IT industry too intensified exports to the region while the pharmaceutical industry found huge demand for its generics in Brazil and Mexico.

This strategy targeting Latin America and Africa has its limits since in absolute terms the US and EU still account for a third of the country’s exports and a large portion of India’s imports. Any decline in exports to these regions will create a balance of payments problem. In April-July 2011, imports grew 40% to $151 billion, expanding the trade deficit to $42.7 billion. In July alone, the trade deficit was $11 billion.

Fortunately the 2011 monsoon looks like being  close to an “average monsoon” which should keep domestic demand buoyant. But the best long-term demand hedge for India will be in differentiating from Chinese products and increasing exports to China. Imports from China are growing fast and to get trade with China into a more healthy balance will also reduce the balance of payment risks.

From the Hindu Business Line (which is by far the most balanced and reliable financial newspaper in India):

NEW DELHI, AUG 11: 

Exports in July grew by an astonishing 81.8 per cent to $29.3 billion, according to provisional data released by the Commerce Secretary, Dr Rahul Khullar, on Thursday.

The drivers of this growth – the fastest since April 1995, according to Bloomberg – were sectors such as engineering, petroleum products, readymade garments, gems and jewellery. The strategy to diversify to new markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America has helped in maintaining high growth rates.

Dr Khullar, however, told reporters that the growth rates will definitely slowdown from August due to a demand contraction in traditional markets such as the US and Europe. He said the increase in interest cost is hurting small and medium exporters, adding that, “I am trying to get something done on that front”. …..

Since consumers in the US and Europe — owing to lower income and fear of job losses — are likely to switch over to cheaper products, exporters adapting quickly to cater such a demand will survive, Dr Khullar said. He added that the country is “better prepared” to face any slowdown than it was in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

Dr Khullar said that monthly exports are likely to fall to less than $25 billion, which would make it tough to achieve a figure of $300 billion for the entire fiscal. In 2010-11, India’s merchandise exports were valued at a record $246 billion. …… 

Meanwhile, imports in July rose 51.5 per cent to $40.4 billion. Trade deficit (gap between imports and exports) in July widened to $11.1 billion, up from $7.7 billion in June and $8.9 billion in April 2011. It had touched a $15 billion–high in May.

Dr Khullar said the high level of trade deficit continues to be a worry, adding that it could be over $130 billion for this fiscal. Trade deficit during April-July 2011 is already $42.7 billion.

Exports during April-July 2011 jumped 54 per cent to $108.3 billion, while imports during this period increased 40 per cent to $151 billion.

Engineering exports were $8.7 billion in July alone and $31.6 billion during April-July 2011 due to a huge increase in such shipments to Africa and Latin America. Thanks to high oil prices, shipments of petroleum products also rose. They were worth $4.6 billion in July and $18.6 billion in April-July, an increase of 60 per cent.

Mr Khullar said exports of most sectors have shown huge growth due to the ‘lag effect’ as these were the orders that Indian exporters received months before the recent crisis in US and Europe, tsunami in Japan, huge inflation in China and a robust growth in Latin America.

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Posted in Business, Economy, India, International Trade | Comments Off on Indian exports up 82% as focus shifts to new markets in Africa and S. America

Kalasalingam University takes action against misconduct: head of department and 6 PhD students sacked

August 7, 2011

The Sangiliyandi Gurunathan and Kalasalingam University story was covered by earlier posts here and here.

I have today received replies from the University and from the Society of Scientific Values reporting on the actions already taken. The head of Department – Sangiliyandi Gurunathan – had been instructed to and has resigned. Four students registered for a PhD have had their registrations cancelled. Pending PhD registrations for two further students have also been cancelled.

This is a remarkable, speedy and very commendable response from the Vice Chancellor Dr. S Radhakrishnan. In the Indian context (and perhaps in the context of any University) the speed and decisiveness is unprecedented and it gives me hope for the future of ethical and academic standards at Indian Universities.

Press Release (pdf)  Kalasalingam release 

The replies from Dr. Radhakrishnan, Vice Chancellor and from Prof. Chopra of the Society of Scientific Values to the mail I had sent to Chopra (copied to Radhakrishnan) follow:

date Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 8:13 AM
subject Re: Action taken by Kalasalingam University

Dear Sir, 
Please refer the attached pdf file  regarding the action taken against Dr. G. Sangliyandi and the research scholars who are found to be involved in scientific misconduct (Image manipulation and the potential of scientific fraud) 
Thanking you for bringing this issue to our notice immediately. 

With Regards 
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
Vice-Chancellor
Kalasalingam University
Krishnankoil – 626 126
Tamilnadu INDIA 

From SSV copied to me

Dear Prof Radhakrishnan:

On behalf of the Society for Scientific Values (SSV), I wish to thank you and congratulate you  on taking a right and an exemplary decision on unethical  practices by your colleague and students. We will post this news on our website as also in our next News&Views.  Very rarely do VCs take such strong and correct action as you have done.
SSV will be very happy to join hands with your faculty colleagues to organise  one day  seminar on Ethical Values for S&T at your University at a mutually convenient date. Please do let me know.
Best wishes
Prof (Dr) K. L. Chopra (Padamshri)
FNA, FASc, FNASc, FNAE, D.Sc.(hc)
(Former Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur)
President, Society for Scientific Values

date Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 9:32 PM
subject Wholesale retractions of papers at Kalasalingam University

Dear Professor Chopra,

You will be aware of the wholesale findings of image manipulation in at least 8 papers from the Biotechnology Department of Kalasalingam University. Sangiliyandi Gurunathan is the primary investigator on these papers and the list of retracted papers which bear his name is now getting very long.

There seem to be two issues here: 
  1. the widespread manipulation of images and plagiarism by doctoral  students, and
  2. the lack of leadership and supervision which seems to encourage such   scientific misconduct. 
I draw your attention to:
Retraction Watch – Angiogenesis retracts two papers, cites image manipulation in eight, as PI blames unethical students
ktwop blog – At least 8 more papers from biotechnology department at Kalasalingam University manipulated as 2 are retracted.
I would hope that the Society for Scientific Values could conduct an investigation because something is seriously amiss at this university.
I have also copied this to Dr. S Radhakrisnan, Vice Chancellor since I have corresponded with him earlier (February 2011) about the earlier retraction of Sangiliyandi Gurunathan’s paper. 
best regards
(ktwop)

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Posted in Ethics, India, Science, scientific misconduct | 6 Comments »

At least 8 more papers from biotechnology department at Kalasalingam University manipulated as 2 are retracted

July 27, 2011

There is something that seems rotten at the biotechnology department at Kalasalingam University. Either there is a tradition of faking images or there is little sense of any kind of ethics. I have posted earlier about retractions of papers where Sangiliyandi Gurunathan, the head of the department, was the supervisor.

Now Retraction Watch reports that

Angiogenesis retracts two papers, cites image manipulation in eight, as PI blames unethical students   

According to the retraction notice for one of the papers, “Gold nanoparticles inhibit vascular endothelial growth factor-induced angiogenesis and vascular permeability via Src dependent pathway in retinal endothelial cells” (we’ve annotated with links and citation data):

This article has been retracted at the request of the Editors as it contains manipulated figures.

In Figs. 3 and 4, paper photomicrographs are supposed to represent images of endothelial cell cultures after scratching the monolayer in order to assess migration of the cells. However, the panels do not represent independent data, but instead contain repetitive cell patterns suggestive of digital manipulation of these figures.

As such, this article represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community and the Editors take a very strong view on this matter, and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this problem was not detected during the submission and review process.

It has been found that other articles from the same laboratory also contain manipulated figures. We have listed those articles below.

Pigment epithelium-derived factor inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor-and interleukin-1beta-induced vascular permeability and angiogenesis in retinal endothelial cells. Sheikpranbabu S, Ravinarayanan H, Elayappan B, Jongsun P, Gurunathan S. Vascul Pharmacol. 2010 Jan-Feb;52(1–2):84–94. Epub 2009 Dec 16. [Retraction notice available here.]

Pigment epithelium-derived factor inhibits erythropoietin-induced retinal endothelial cell angiogenesis by suppression of PI3K/Akt pathway. Haribalaganesh R, Sheikpranbabu S, Banumathi E, Gurunathan S. Exp Eye Res. 2010 Jun;90(6):726–33. Epub 2010 Mar 16. [Cited twice, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge]

Isolation and characterization of goat retinal microvascular endothelial cells. Haribalaganesh R, Banumathi E, Sheikpranbabu S, Deepak V, Sirishkumar N, Gurunathan S. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2010 Jun;46(6):529–37. Epub 2010 Mar 7.

High-yielding enzymatic method for isolation and culture of microvascular endothelial cells from bovine retinal blood vessels. Banumathi E, Haribalaganesh R, Babu SS, Kumar NS, Sangiliyandi G. Microvasc Res. 2009 May;77(3):377–81. Epub 2009 Feb 21.

Pigment epithelium-derived factor inhibits advanced glycation end-product-induced angiogenesis and stimulates apoptosis in retinal endothelial cells. Sardarpasha Sheikpranbabu, Ravinarayanan Haribalaganesh, Elayappan Banumathi, Namagiri Sirishkumar, Kyung-Jin Lee, Sangiliyandi Gurunathan. Life Sciences. 2009 November;85(21–22):719–31. Epub 2009 October 8.

Gold nanoparticles inhibit vascular endothelial growth factor-induced angiogenesis and vascular permeability via Src-dependent pathway in retinal endothelial cells. Kalishwaralal K, Sheikpranbabu S, BarathManiKanth S, Haribalaganesh R, Ramkumarpandian S, Gurunathan S. Angiogenesis 2011 Mar;14(1):29–45. Epub 2010 November 9. [This is the same article mentioned in the notice.]

PEDF inhibits VEGF- and EPO-induced angiogenesis in retinal endothelial cells through interruption of PI3K/Akt phosphorylation. Banumathi Elayappan, Haribalaganesh Ravinarayannan, Sheik Pran Babu Sardar Pasha, Kyung-jin Lee and Sangiliyandi Gurunathan. Angiogenesis 2009, Dec 12(4):313–324. Epub 2009 August 6. [A retraction notice is available for this paper, which has been cited seven times.]

PEDF prevents reactive oxygen species generation and retinal endothelial cell damage at high glucose levels. Elayappan Banumathi, Sardarpasha Sheikpranbabu, Ravinarayanan Haribalaganesh, Sangiliyandi Gurunathan. Exp Eye Res. 2010 90(1):89–96. Epub 2009 October 16. [Cited four times.]

At least one of the papers from journals other than Angiogenesis, the 2010 article in Vascular Pharmacology, has already been retracted. But others have yet to be pulled.

The Retraction Notice is damning and Sangiliyandi Gurunathan cannot escape responsibility for the sorry state of affairs at a new and rather young University. Retraction Watch reports that he blames a lack of ethics with his students but his supervision and guidance are sadly lacking. But the Vice Chancellor Dr. S Radhakrishnan cannot escape responsibility either. I had written to him back in February and he had replied that a high level committee was looking into the matter. I was disappointed then that he seemed more concerned about avoiding future complaints rather than addressing the ethics at his University. Prodding is of little value if his own sense of ethics is not engaged to bring about improvements. I have brought the latest retractions and the sorry state of affairs at the University to the notice of the Society for Scientific Values which has the goal of upholding ethics in the Indian Scientific community and which does advise the Government of India.

But there is a bigger issue here than just the lack of supervision and absence of ethics at Kalasalingam University. Education is a highly lucrative and a booming business in India and private universities have little sense of ethics. There are some small signs that ethics and academic excellence are getting a higher priority but the financial results are still pre-eminent and private universities in India have a long way yet to go.

Capitation fees: The stench of corruption in the Indian body academic

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Posted in Biotechnology, Ethics, India, scientific misconduct | 3 Comments »

Japan Colloquium: Lessons for crises management

July 24, 2011

I was recently invited to write a contribution for a Japan Colloquium for the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad.

My contribution entitled ” Sound judgements must not be stifled by Crisis Management Protocols” appears in Japan’s Tragedy and Aftermath: Lessons for Crises Management, Vikalpa, Volume 36, No.2, April – June 2011, pages 81 – 118.

Sound Judgments Must Not be Stifled by Crisis Management Protocols – Vikalpa June 2011

The story is told that at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, the three reactors in operation began an orderly shutdown when the Great Tohoku quake of 2011 struck, even though the magnitude at 9.0 was significantly higher than the 8.3, the plant was designed for. But when the tsunami wave rolled in and all the 13 back-up diesel generators and all the emergency cooling pumps were knocked out, then an unprecedented and unforeseen chain of events was set in motion. It is said that the site management quickly came to the conclusion that sea water cooling was necessary even though this would render the reactors permanently inoperable. But it took a further eight hours for the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) management in Tokyo to agree. In the event the meltdown of the fuel rods may have been unavoidable in any case but an additional eight hours of cooling with sea water could not have hurt. A similar story is told about Hurricane Katrina where an operating engineer had the possibility of opening some valves and preventing flooding of some areas of New Orleans but did not do so because such a decision was explicitly excluded from his authority and his superiors were unreachable.

The question that arises is whether the culture of an organization helps or hinders individual managers to make judgments at times of crisis or impending disaster? Should the site manager at Fukushima or the operating engineer in New Orleans have had to wait for higher authority as they did or should the organizational culture have permitted him to bypass the chain of command? ……

The “goodness” of a judgment can only be assessed long after the judgment itself and therefore it is the soundness of judgment which must be sought rather than the intangible goodness of a future result. But a sound judgment must also be consummated by the willingness to exercise it. 

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Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik supports Sanātana Dharma and the Saffron Brigade

July 24, 2011

Unlikely support for right-wing Hindu fanatics and their anti-muslim views can be found in the “manifesto” of the perpetrator of the Norwegian massacre – Anders Behring Breivik.

The manifesto appeared on line yesterday 

2083+-+A+European+Declaration+of+Independence

An unlikely combination: The Templar Cross and the Hindu Swastika

About Hindu nationalism he writes:

Saffronisation is a political neologism (after the saffron robes of the Hindu clerics), used to refer to the policy of right-wing Hindu nationalism (or Hindutva) which seeks to make the Indian state into a “Hindu nation” and its Sikh, Buddhist and Jain minorities incorporated into Hinduism. These nationalist movements are also called Sanatana Dharma movements.
A related term, the Saffron Brigade, is used as a descriptor of people and organisations in India that promote Hindu nationalism such as the Sangh Parivar by their critics, who allege a militant Hindu agenda. The Sanatana Dharma movements or Hindu nationalists in general are suffering from the same persecution by the Indian cultural Marxists as their European cousins. ………

The only positive thing about the Hindu right wing is that they dominate the streets. They do not tolerate the current injustice and often riot and attack Muslims when things get out of control, usually after the Muslims disrespect and degrade Hinduism too much. This behaviour is nonetheless counterproductive. Because instead of attacking the Muslims they should target the category A and B traitors in India and consolidate military cells and actively seek the overthrow of the cultural Marxist government.
India will continue to wither and die unless the Indian nationalists consolidate properly and strike to win. It is essential that the European and Indian resistance movements learn from each other and cooperate as much as possible. Our goals are more or less identical.
The PCCTS, Knights Templar support the Sanatana Dharma movements and Indian nationalists in general.

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Posted in Behaviour, India, Norway, Politics | 3 Comments »

New uranium finds help fuel India’s nuclear program

July 19, 2011
India has a flourishing and largely indigenous nuclear power program and expects to have 20,000 MWe nuclear capacity on line by 2020 and 63,000 MWe by 2032.  The target is to supply 25% of electricity from nuclear power by 2050.
But uranium ores in India are largely low-grade ores which are not usually economic for power generation (and are therefore mainly used for weapons programs). Because India is outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty due to its weapons program, it was for 34 years largely excluded from trade in nuclear plant or materials, which has hampered its development of civil nuclear energy until 2009.
The civil nuclear program is heavily dependent upon the continued import of nuclear fuels. Nevertheless new finds of uranium ore in India provide comfort for the continuing nuclear program in the wake of Fukushima.
Uranium mining in Andhra Pradesh, which has been held up for years by environmental and other activists, has finally begun. Andhra Pradesh’s uranium ore is five times richer than in India’s old mines at Jaduguda. But this does not solve India’s uranium shortage for nuclear power plants. Jaduguda ore has just 0.06% uranium, and AP will yield maybe 0.3%.
But internationally, commercial ores have up to 15% uranium and India will need imported fuel for the foreseeable future

From The Hindu:

Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh could have one of the largest uranium reserves in the world. Recent studies have indicated that it could have a reserve of 1.5 lakh (150,000) tonnes of the scarce material.

Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Srikumar Banerjee said: “Studies have already shown that the area had a confirmed reserve of 49,000 tonnes and recent surveys indicated that this figure could go up even three folds.”

He said uranium deposits in Tummalapalle appeared to be spread over 35 km. Exploratory works are under way. At present, the country is estimated to have a total reserve of about 1,75,000 tonnes of uranium, apart from this.

Terming the new findings a major development, Dr. Banerjee, however, pointed out that the indigenous reserves would still not be sufficient to meet the entire demand of the country’s nuclear programme. “The new findings would only augment the indigenous supply of uranium. There would still be a significant gap. We would still have to import.”

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Posted in India, Nuclear Power | 2 Comments »

Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault’s Rafale make the shortlist for Indian MMRCA order

April 27, 2011
Eurofighter Typhoon

Eurofighter Typhoon: Image via Wikipedia

The Indian $10 billion MMRCA order for 126 fighter aircraft now lies between the Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault’s Rafale. They have been invited to the Indian MoD for further discussions on their commercial bids on April 28. The commercial bids are to expire tomorrow.

These two vendors seem to have have made the shortlist and the other four – Lockheed Martin F16, Boeing F/A 18, MiG-35 and Saab Gripen IN have been left out. Saab confirmed that they have been informed that they have not made the shortlist. (Svenska Dagbladet).

Dassault's Rafale: Dassault

Under the Indian system of procurement, the top two qualifying vendors will be invited for commercial negotiations and the one which offers the best terms (lowest price) will be eventually selected.

Related:  Indian MMRCA decision in two weeks – Eurofighter Typhoon still leads

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Posted in Aviation, Defense, India | 3 Comments »

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