The natural process of healing bone joint injuries is slow. Now scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Guwahati have developed an implantable mat that will help bone joint injuries to heal faster. The mat is made of a layer of silk fabricated onto bioglass and can be implanted at the site of injury. 

A bone joint is an area where adjacent hard and rigid bones are joined to one another by cartilage tissue. Cartilage is flexible and consists of specialized cells called chondrocytes that produce a protein, collagen, which helps bone joint injuries to heal naturally. 

“We isolated natural silk from silk worms and made nanofibrous mats that aid in treating bone joint defects owing to their special properties. They have a porous sponge like structure that helps chondrocyte cells to attach and grow. The cells produce more collagen at the site of bone joint injury, which helps to heal the injury faster,” explained Biman Mandal, professor at the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering of IIT Guwahati, who led the study. The research has appeared in journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

Doctors also use autologous chondrocyte implantation in which chondrocyte cells from injured person are extracted, cultured in lab, multiplied, and then transplanted back to the site of injury. This method has high success rate but is expensive. Knee replacement surgery is another option but not affordable by many.

Researchers now plan animal trials in which silk mats will be implanted in goats and sheep to see if it helps to enhance the pace of healing injured joints and to evaluate safety. “If the results are promising, then we will go for human trials,” Mandal told India Science Wire. 

Amit K Dinda, professor at the Department of Pathology of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, who is not connected to the study, commented that while the method appears to be low cost, there will be “greater clarity only after preclinical animal studies to test biocompatibility, toxicity, local tissue reaction at the site of implantation and process of sterilization.” All these steps are necessary to obtain regulatory approval for human use.

The study was done in collaboration with the University College London and was funded by the Department of Science and Technology- UK India Education and Research Initiative (DST-UKIERI) and Department of Biotechnology. The team included Joseph Christakiran, Philip JT Reardon, Rocktotpal Konwarh, Jonathan C Knowles, and Biman B Mandal. (India Science Wire) 

Scientists have fabricated solar panels that could withstand harsh environmental conditions that prevail in upper reaches of Himalayas. These panels have been deployed in the Zanskar valley area to meet energy needs of people living there.

The panels have been designed to provide either warm water or help heat up the people’s homes. They work on the simple principle of solar energy absorption by black coated galvanised iron sheet and aluminum alloy pipe coil through a normal window glass to heat the water or the air. Each panel can heat 100 to 120 litres of water per day. The space heating panels can heat up the air and blow it into living spaces at temperatures of up to 65-70 degrees Celsius. 

A total of 158 panels have been transported from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh traversing eight mountain passes including Tanglangla – the second highest pass in the world at an altitude of 17, 582 feet. 

The project has been implemented by the Shimla-based Himalayan Research Group of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Highland Agricultural Research and Extension Station at Padum, under the Technology Intervention for Mountain Ecosystem: Livelihood Enhancement through Action Research and Networking (TEAM-LEARN) programme. 

At present, residents of the area use the dung from their livestock as the source of heat. Women had to spend nearly three to four hours every day. With the induction of the solar technology, this drudgery would be saved. In addition, it would mitigate the pollution problems caused by burning of dung indoors and help improve the productivity of their farms as the dung would be available as manure.(India Science Wire)

NEW DELHI: Denouncing terrorism as a menace to the society and humanity, the Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu today asserted that terror has no caste and no religion.

“No religion teaches, preaches or supports terrorism. A terrorist is inhuman. In other words a terrorist is a `rakshasa’. Religion and terrorism should not be mixed but some outside forces are doing this. We should be cautious of such attempts,’’ he said. His oblique reference was to Pakistan’s attempts to foment trouble in Kashmir Valley by acts of provocation and terrorism by exploiting religioun. 

Delivering the second Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam memorial lecture, organized by the India Islamic Cultural Centre here, Mr. Naidu came out strongly against casteism, saying it was fast losing its relevance. In his inimitable, extempore style of coining rhythmic phrases, he took a dig at politicians for still sticking to factors like caste for garnering votes.

“I am no longer a politician and I do not belong to any political party. A politicians should be chosen on the basis his or her conduct, character, caliber, and capacity and not by caste,’’ he said amid applause from the select gathering. 

He asserted that there should not be discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, community, language and religion.  He exhorted the teenagers to learn as many languages as they can but first master their mother tongue be it Urdu, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil or Bengali. “All languages are beautiful, all of them connect people,’’ he said.

Mr. Naidu who was elected Vice President of India earlier this month admitted that he was finding it a little difficult to strictly adhere to protocol and reading written speeches. “ I am only deviating from the written text, I speak from my heart.  I am not deviating from my righteous path and duty,’’ he quipped.

Describing Dr. Kalam as a “human being extraordinaire’’ who came from a humble background and became one of the iconic and “People’s President’’, Mr. Naidu said that Dr. Kalam’s vision was to see a transformed, fully developed India by 2020 where the urban-rural divide would be reduced to a thin line.

“It further envisioned a prosperous, healthy secure nation devoid of terrorism -a peaceful and happy nation on a sustainable growth path and one of the best places to live in,’’ he said. He reminded that Dr. Kalam had outlined an integrated action plan in five core areas – agriculture and food processing, education and healthcare, information and communication technology, infrastructure development and self-reliance in critical technologies,

The Vice President said that India has to tap and realize the full potential of unleashing the forces of growth and create wealth. “We have to ask if factors like poverty, illiteracy, corruption, casteism, communalism, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, regional and economic disparities are holding India back,’’ he said.

Mr. Naidu appealed to all citizens to work collectively and individually rise above narrow, selfish mentality and pledge to work with missionary zeal to banish poverty, corruption, communalism, regionalism and any kind of ism that will pull the country backwards. He pointed out that corruption was posing a huge challenge to both the government and the society. “This plague has to be completely eliminated,’’ he said.

Mr. Naidu who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha said the behavior of the people’s representatives should be exemplary and they should be role models for others. He said there cannot be any scope for obstructing the country’s development and there is only one mantra to move forward – discuss, debate, decide and not disrupt.

The President of the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) Sirajuddin Qureshi said the Centre was working for amity and harmony among all religions and communities.  

The Reserve Bank of India today in its annual report says that almost 99 per cent of banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes that were demonetised last November have returned to the system. 

In the report for 2016-17, the RBI said that out of 632.6 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 currency notes in circulation, 8.9 crore have not been returned post the note ban last November.

The government had on November 8, banned old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in an attempt to weed out black money in the country. 

The old notes were allowed to be deposited in banks, with unusual deposits coming under income tax scrutiny.

The government replaced old Rs 500 notes with new ones, but no replacement for Rs 1000 notes has been made. 

Instead, a new Rs 2,000 note was introduced post note ban.

RBI said there were as many 588.2 crore of Rs 500 notes, both old and new in circulation as of March 31, 2017. As of March 31, 2016, there were 1,570.7 crore Rs 500 notes in circulation.

The report further said that the cost of printing of currency notes more than doubled to Rs 7,965 crore in 2016-17 from Rs 3,421 crore in the previous year on account of new currency printing.

Besides, new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes, the RBI has also printed new Rs 200 notes.

A quiet truce has yet to descend on the iconic IT company, Infosys , despite the resignation of chief executive Vishal Sikka following a series of bruising battles with venerated founder and promoter, N. R. Narayanamurthy. Friction and uncertainty prevails for several reasons. First, Vishal Sikka remains in the company in executive vice chairman. Second, investors and shareholders are agitated over the enormous loss in wealth due to the steep fall in company share prices after Sikka’s resignation. And third, there is no clarity as yet over the next chief executive or even the prospects of a search committee for a new person to take over the reins of the company. The presence of U.B. Pravin Rao in Sikka’s place is not reassuring despite his being a long time presence in the company. 

The Infosys saga is being compared to a similar corporate dispute but involving a much larger industrial house, the Tatas.  It was less than a year ago that Tata Sons removed the first non-family member to be appointed chairman from the top post of the business house. In Infosys  similarly, it was the first non-promoter chief executive who had to resign due to persistent criticism from the promoters.  Interestingly, in both these cases the appointments had been made by the very same persons who later argued strongly for the exit of these individuals.

In the case of the Tatas, it was considered a legacy issue of an organization that had been set up at the turn of the century. The sweeping changes initiated by Cyrus Mistry after being made chairman were not palatable to those who had run this large business house for decades. Ultimately, an insider, the chief of TCS was appointed in his place, in the hope that an insider would follow the cultural norms of the organization.

There is a similar pattern to the ongoing war of attrition in Infosys. But with a significant difference. In the case of Tatas, most members of the company board supported Ratan Tata. In the case of Infosys, the board has not only come out strongly in defence of Vishal Sikka but actually castigated Narayanamurthy for this role. There is no doubt that Murthy is the most high profile and renowned of the seven founders of the iconic IT company. For the board to thus come out aggressively against him means that the provocation was considered beyond acceptable limits.

There are legacy issues as well in Infosys. The promoters were chagrined by the shifts in culture. The frugal lifestyle of the founder promoters had shifted to one where corporate jets were used while soaring salaries for the top executive and hefty severance packages for exiting employees became a norm. The biggest bugbear was the acquisition of a company with which Sikka was reported to have had ties a long time ago. In deference to criticism from Murthy, the board held back the severance package and set up an external committee to enquire into the corporate acquisition. But this was not enough for Murthy who continued a sustained attack via the media. The last straws were his inability to accept the committee’s decision that the acquisition was above board and a message hinting at Sikka’s lack of capability.

Along with Sikka’s resignation came a detailed statement by the Infosys board squarely placing the entire blame for the situation on Narayanamurthy. The fact is, that this is a major watershed in the annals of corporate India. This is the first time that a board has taken such a strong stance against a promoter. In similar situations abroad, boards have united to support management against promoters, but this has taken place for the first time in this country.

The question is, what is the way forward for the company as well as for the future of good corporate governance in the country. Infosys like other Indian IT companies, is already battling global headwinds that are not propitious. The main lure of Indian IT professionals was their low cost and this attraction may be lost if the Trump administration has its way. Another key issue of artificial intelligence taking away jobs is also looming large over the IT sector globally. To tackle this challenge, Sikka is reported to have created a new division and a new revenue stream for Infosys which was expanding rapidly. It seems there are no two opinions on the fact that he has left the company in a better financial condition than when he joined it.

His resignation, however, has meant that share value has fallen considerably at one fell blow. While the media highlights the losses to the wealthy promoters,  it is ultimately ordinary shareholders who are suffering huge losses on their investments. For Infosys, therefore, this bruising battle has taken a toll in many ways.

As for good corporate governance, an issue repeatedly highlighted by Narayanamurthy, it has to be seen how the role of promoters needs to be viewed in future. It cannot be argued that promoters of companies should not have a right to raise issues that are pertinent with the management and the board. But if they seek to have a say in every decision, it would be wise for them to remain on the boards of these concerns and ensure their views are taken into account. Staying out of the company and then taking the battle to the media, cannot be considered good corporate governance by any stretch of imagination. Also in case there is need to ensure that the management continues to follow the same culture of the company as laid down by the founders, then the selection of chief executives needs to be carried out with this aspect in mind. When Vishal Sikka was appointed, the selection was reportedly meant to transform the company to tackle the changes in an evolving global scenario. And for this purpose, Sikka was considered the right candidate. A doctorate in artificial intelligence surely had the right credentials for the top executive to deal with the issue of automation in the IT industry. 

These qualifications, however, were not enough as the criticism is that he did not follow the path of  moderation which is at the core of the culture of Infosys. Since this issue has become paramount in the debate, it should have been considered as being of prime importance while appointing a successor to run the company. In fact, succession planning needs to be taken with greater seriousness in corporate India, given the weightage given to culture by many concerns. However, having made the appointment, the board should have supported Sikka in a more consistent manner rather than waiting for his departure to issue a statement critical of Narayanamurthy.  And the promoters need to be advised that  their advice can continue to be given but not while they remain aloof from the company. Promoters are not ordinary shareholders and as such have greater responsibility. Their words carry weightage with the media, shareholders and investors. It now devolves on them to take an active role in trying to revive the image of this iconic company which was once widely known for its excellent corporate governance.

(The Views are Personal)

Today, 1.2 billion adolescents stand at the crossroads between childhood and the adult world. Of those,  243 million live in India, representing a huge amount of untapped potential. India must ensure that we help create the conditions that would allow adolescents to fulfil their aspirations and to break the deeply entrenched vicious cycles of inequity and poverty.

Research has shown that adolescence is a critical stage in human development. When boys and girls enter adolescence, they are on the brink of maturity and adulthood, and at the same time undergoing several physiological and psychological changes that are influenced by social, cultural and gender norms and practices.  For example, cultural practices and gender norms often define the expectations from a girl as to who she should be when she grows up, what role she should play as a daughter, wife or a mother vs. what is expected from a boy.

These cultural practices and social expectations manifest in more than one ways, including girls dropping out of school, early marriage for both girls and boys, pressure to bear children at an early age; restriction of mobility due to concerns around girls’ safety and chastity, various forms of violence, as well as lack of opportunity to voice thoughts or opinions.  These expectations are exacerbated by adolescents’ inability to access critical services, like health, education, psycho-social support. 

In order to fulfil their potential, we must ensure that adolescents’ unique needs are met, and that they have a smooth transition to adulthood. While there is no quick fix for this complex problem, we know that a few things can work to improve adolescents’ lives.

Providing the much needed support: convergence of services as a solution? 

The concept of multi- sectoral collaboration and coordination is not new. The relevance and efficiency to undertake multi-sectoral collaboration has been well documented – for example, efforts to coordinate delivery of maternal, newborn and child health services by the Indian Government’s  -national and state level,  health and family welfare department and women & child development department; or, the coordination between women & child development department and ministry of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) to coordinate efforts of Self Help Groups (SHGs) of women.

In order to make the convergence of services more effective and scale-able, certain key issues need further discussions, debate and implementation.

Convergence of services: the essential ingredients for  success

Perspective building – shared vision, understanding and goals across sectors 

As the first step, convergence of services needs perspective building across relevant sectors that need to provide adolescent focussed services in a coordinated manner – i.e. Ministries or departments of Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Development, Social Welfare, Human Resources Development (Education), Panchayati Raj Institution, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Most often than not, the goals and priorities for each of the ministries are set in isolation with a narrow perspective and understanding of adolescents’ needs.  The collaboration with other ministries or departments is then from a perspective of achieving a single ministry’s goals  i.e. from a health perspective alone, or education perspective alone. Such narrow perspective can exclude specific (and possibly large) population, or not take into account various underlying factors or causes that impede progress on certain indicators. For example, not addressing issues of early marriage and early pregnancies, can impact the goal of continuing education, or addressing issue of school drop outs can impact the health specific goals for adolescents.  Similarly, only addressing health issues through schools can leave out a large population of girls who have dropped out of school or never enrolled.  

Thus each of these Ministries or Departments should have a shared vision drawing from an indepth understanding of the unique needs and challeges faced by the adolescents, which should guide setting of the goals for their respective ministries.  This would further inform the implementation of the existing initiatives and schemes such as the Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), Beti Padhao Beti Bachao, Apni Beti Apna Dhan, and leverage initiatives of each department to ensure strengthening of overall policies and programmatic approaches. 

Resource convergence – State and district level PIPs

With a shared common perspective, the relevant government departments need to develop common Project Implementation Plans (PIPs) at the state and district levels to ensure that the meagre resources allocated for adolescents under each department, are utilized in a thoughtful and strategic  manner. 

The resource convergence by developing state specific action plans or district level action plans should also bring in other actors such as Civil Society Organizations including NGOs, as well as private sector partners to ensure further leveraging of resources – financial, technical, and human resources.  The development of joint project implementation plans should also incorporate effective mechanisms for monitoring and tracking of activities, platforms for review and reflection using the evidence for mid-course correction, and not be used as a mechanism for resource or budget allocation only.    

Convergence at the points of service delivery: leveraging the existing platforms for systems level convergence at the institutional level – state, district, village or community level. 

Several existing platforms and service delivery channels at the state, district, village or community level can be further leveraged in a contextually relevant and holistic way:

Institutions for convergence of services: By way of examples, one could potentially look at – Health Centres Â– for providing general as well as sexual and reproductive health services as well as psycho- social support and counselling services to the adolescents; Anganwadi centres (AWC) – for providing comprehensive services including nutritional services through mid-day meals, or AWC as centre to bring adolescents together; Schools Â– for awareness raising, capacity building of school going adolescents on issues of health, gender equitable norms and behaviour, achieving their aspirations through continued education, violence prevention; Self Help Groups or SHGs Â– for reaching the women or mothers of the adolescents in the community, for raising their awareness on  the  harmful effects  of child marriage, early pregnancy, and promoting the importance of continued education for their daughters; Men’s groups for ensuring participation and support from men.

Service delivery agents:  Convergence of services and reaching the adolescents could also be undertaken along with and with support from -Front Line workers (ASHAs, AWW), teachers, community leaders, who are already reaching the community members and households.  

For example, in a recent discussion in Rajasthan, India, the state and district government officials, in support of a project PanKH (Promoting Adolescents Engagement Knowledge and Health), outlined several potential platforms of collaboration.  PanKH is a joint initiative of ICRW (International Center for Research on Women), and PRADAN the implementation organization.  The platforms discussed for collaboration included self help groups (SHGs), AWCs (Anganwadi centers) in Dholpur, Rajasthan, where the relevant government officials agreed to jointly host awareness and service provision activities to ensure comprehensive services and reach to the adolescents.

Use of data and research findings for decision making and enhancing program effectiveness

The convergence approach that brings different sectors and actors together will necessitate the development of common set of indicators that are shared across, based on the overarching common vision to help guide the indicator and milestone setting process.

With the technological advancements and reach across various levels and actors, there exists easy access to ‘real time data’ to help guide not only the planning processes but also periodic and frequent reviews to understand why and where services are being reached, or not!  This real time data analysis can then help inform the discussion on the gaps in providing these services – but in a constructive and supportive manner – to aid mid-course correction of the implementation activities and approaches.

Use of data for review, reflection and monitoring, will require joint and periodic reflection meetings across levels and government departments with the approach of solving problems and supportive supervision.

Thus a well conceptualized, and well implemented ‘convergence of services’ approach for adolescents, can go a long way in ensuring that we reach all adolescents with the appropriate, and timely services and support to help them achieve their aspirations and develop into mature and healthy adults.

(The article is authored by ICRW’s Regional Director (Asia)- Dr. Ravi Verma and Former COO-Madhu Deshmukh)

Glaciers in the Himalayas, which store large amounts of water in the form of glacial ice, have an intricate relationship with climate change. A new study in an important basin in the Indian Himalayas shows that low-altitude glaciers are more sensitive to climate change and have lost a significant amount of water in the past three decades.

An understanding of fresh water stored in the Himalayas is crucial for water resource management in the region, but it has been difficult to estimate the amounts of water stored in these glaciers. Researchers have now used a new technique to estimate mass of glaciers and a new model to estimate the volume loss over a long period. It combines satellite data of snowlines, a temperature-index melt model and the accumulation-area ratio method to estimate annual mass balance of glaciers in the basin as a whole.

The study, which covered 146 glaciers in the Chandra basin in western Himalayas, shows that these glaciers as a whole have lost 19 percent of the total basin volume during the period from 1984 to 2012. However, the loss of volume for small and low-altitude glaciers in the basin is as high as 67 percent in the same period.

The total surface area of the selected glaciers is about 660 square kilometers. The total ice volume estimated for these glaciers is 62 gigatonnes (with a margin of ± 16 gigatonnes). In total, the Chandra basin has experienced a water loss of 11.1 gigatonnes (with margin of ± 8 gigatonnes) from 1984 to 2012, which is about one-fifth of the total estimated volume.

“This is the first time, not only in India but globally, that we have an estimate of how much volume and mass of glaciers has been lost over a period of time in a large basin. This is the first reliable estimate of both how much water is stored and how much has been lost in the past 30 years,” Anil V Kulkarni, professor at the Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who led the research team, told India Science Wire. 

The findings of the research have been published this week in journal Annals of Glaciology. The research team also included Sayli Atul Tawde of Center for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Govindasamy Bala of Interdisciplinary Centre for Water Research at IISc. 

Data about daily minimum, maximum air temperature and snowfall from 1984 to 2012 was obtained from Kaza weather station, located about 25 kilometers from the basin boundary. Other data such as temperature lapse rates and snow densities for calculating melt factors were are obtained the Patseo observatory of Snow Avalanche and Study Establishment.

Dr Kulkarni said the loss of volume in low-altitude glaciers seen was substantial and it suggested that small villages located in this valley might experience water scarcity because mountain communities depend on water supplies from low-altitude glaciers.

The new findings are consistent with other studies on Himalayan glaciers which report that high altitude glaciers are not losing ice and some of them like Karakoram are growing. “The glaciers in Chandra basin have a large amount of water stored in them and they are not in danger of vanishing anytime soon. But small and medium sized glaciers situated in the lower altitudes of this basin have lost almost 70 percent of their volume in the last 30 years,” Dr Kulkarni explained. This is important because most of the communities are not living along the big glaciers but along the small ones as weather is more conducive. 

Temperature is an influencing factor and there has not been a change in the pattern of snowfall or precipitation. It was in the 1980s that the temperature started to rise, leading to melting of some glaciers. The mass loss has gone up in last decade and this is consistent with the rise in temperature. 

The study also measured sensitivity of Chandra basin glaciers to temperature rise. “Sensitivity analysis suggests that a 20% increase in snowfall can offset changes in mass balance for a 1 degree temperature rise,” the study says.

The Chandra basin, located in Lahaul–Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, has over 700 square kilometers of glaciated area with over 200 glaciers at different altitudes. The basin consists of valley and mountain-type glaciers. The melt water from Chandra basin joins water from the Bhaga basin to form Chandrabhaga, which becomes the river Chenab as it flows into Jammu and Kashmir and plains of Punjab. (India Science Wire)

Mr. Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs, declared the launch of production of HAL designed 5.8 ton category Light Combat Helicopter and dedicated the HAL’s role changer design upgrade program of Hawk-i to the nation in HAL premises here today. Senior officials from Ministry of Defence, Indian Air Force and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Jaitely hailed HAL’s confidence in bringing Hawk-i and LCH indigenously. He said DPSU work culture and performance have highest standards of professionalism. “We are moving in the right direction in evolving ourselves into a major manufacturing hub. In this context today’s experience has been encouraging”, he said.

HAL’s Rotary Wing R&D Centre designed the LCH whereas Mission  & Combat System R&D Centre (MCSRDC) designed the Hawk-I in association with  the Aircraft Division.

The basic version of LCH has been cleared by CEMILAC. The DAC has accorded approval for procurement of 15 LCH from HAL under IDDM category. Accordingly, the production is launched today.

HAL designed the twin engine Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) of 5.8 Ton class featuring narrow fuselage and tandem configuration for pilot and co-pilot/ weapon system operator. The helicopter has indigenous state of the art technologies like integrated dynamic system, bearing less Tail Rotor, anti-resonance vibration isolation system, crash worthy landing gear, smart glass cockpit, hinge less main rotor, Armour Protection and stealth features from visual, aural, radar and IR signatures. The helicopter is equipped with 20mm Turret gun, 70 mm Rocket, Air to Air Missile, EO-Pod and Helmet pointing system. The helicopter can carry out operational roles under extreme weather conditions at different altitudes from sea level, hot weather desert, cold weather and Himalayan altitudes. The LCH has demonstrated capability to land and take off from Siachen Range with considerable load, fuel and weapons that are beyond any other combat helicopter.

HAL produced its 100^th Hawk jet trainer aircraft with designation as Hawk-i; (Hawk-India). HAL took up the indigenous role change development program to convert the jet trainer into a Combat-Ready platform. The aircraft is upgraded with indigenously designed avionics hardware, software and system architecture enhancing operational role from a trainer aircraft into a Combat-ready platform with improved quality and depth of training by Large Force Engagement (LFE) tactics through Electronic Virtual Training System (EVTS). Hawk-i is capable of delivering precision Munitions  including  Air to Ground and close combat weapons, self defence capabilities through Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, digital map generator and operational reliability through new Dual Hot stand-by Mission Computer Avionics architecture supported by indigenous high accuracy and high Altitude Radio Altimeter, IFF MKXII, Data Transfer system, CMDS and RWR. The aircraft was flown during 2017 Aero India at Bangalore with lot of appreciation from users. The integration of indigenous HUD, RLG based INS and Anti Airfield Missile is in advance stage.

Mr. Ashok Kumar Gupta, Secretary (Defence Production), outlined the contributions made by Defence PSUS. Mr. T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL in his welcome address said maintaining its excellent track record HAL today has come-up with two new products that would strengthen India’s defence services.

After the Supreme Court declared ‘Right To Privacy’ a fundamental right, WikiLeaks alleged Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States might have breached private and sensitive data of Aadhaar Card.

WikiLeaks published a secret document revealing that CIA is using its US-based technology provider ‘Cross Match Technologies’ for cyber bullying and spying that may have stolen Indian Aadhaar Data.

Official Twitter account of WikiLeaks tweeted on Friday: Have CIA spies already stolen #India’s national ID card databse? #aadhaar #biometricarchive.is/R2Hdu#selectio…#modi   

According to WikiLeaks, CIA conducts covert operations under the name of ‘ExpressLane’ that secretly exfiltrate data collection, used to get access to biometric data. Reports claim that the office of technical services (OTS) is a wing of CIA equipped with the biometric collection system, meant to liaison with the services around the globe.

The government officials have refuted the allegations by the WikiLeaks by saying that the data repository is safe under UIDAI. “The reports do not have any basis in fact. Aadhaar data is safely encrypted and is not accessible to any other agency,” official said to The Times of India.

Cross Match Technologies Background

The ‘Cross Match Technologies’ was one of the first handlers and suppliers of biometric devices certified by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for the Aadhaar program in India. This company is specialised in developing biometric software for law enforcement and the intelligence community. It hit the headlines in the year 2011 when the Cross Match Technologies’ devices were used by the US Navy Seals to identify Osama Bin Laden during the operation at Abbotabad in Pakistan. 

Previous Companies Under Scanner

Earlier, the possibility of data leak is feared among many experts after UIDAI pooled in ‘L1 Identity Solutions’,’ Satyam-Morpho’ and ‘Accenture’ to roll out the biggest mass surveillance program. L1 Identity Solutions’ top brass are the former Director CIA George Tenet and former Homeland Security deputy secretary Adm James. With its headquarters in Connecticut, this company is one of the biggest defence contractors specialised in facial recognition and biometrics. L1 Identity Solutions and Accenture work in a close affinity to US intelligence agencies. Satyam Morpho has joined US in ‘smart border project’.

Data Leak Crisis Brawls with WikiLeaks Claims

With this accuse on CIA, WikiLeaks has strengthen the vulnerability of Aadhaar data leak. UIDAI has so far spent approximately 5982.62 crores for more than a billion enrolments of Aadhaar Cards. 1615.34 crores have been spent between the financial year 2015-2016. Centre for Internet and Society, Bengaluru-based organization (CIS) has learned that data of more than 130 million Aadhaar card holders has been leaked from four government websites. They are National Social Assistance Programme, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Chandranna Bima Scheme and Daily Online Payments Reports of NREGA. It also includes Bank details and other confidential details of millions of residents.

CIDR- One Database for a Billion data

Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) is a data management and storing agency in India which is initiated for the Aadhaar project. It is regulated by the statutory body of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This centralised database is probably one of the biggest repositories on this planet.

In 2010, experts had claimed that more than a thousand government sites and portals were attacked more than 4000 times by China alone in one year. In April 2011, 77 million Sony Play stations and digital media delivery service Qriocity were hacked which resulted into a shutdown of the network for a week. The London School of Economics also reported that a central database of vulnerable to hacking and other terrorist and cyber crime activities. Recently Wannacry Ransomware virus hits the globe. More than 99 countries were affected. 

After the major blow to the Center on Right to Privacy front, five bench judges of SC will test the validity of Aadhaar on the yardstick of the privacy as fundamental right. As the cornerstone of the privacy are the fingerprints, Iris scan and the other biometric data, the Centre might be facing implications on the constitutionality of Aadhaar. 

The conviction and 20 year prison term slapped on Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for raping two women in 2002, has once again turned the spotlight on India’s numerous self-styled spiritual gurus and preachers. 

These days, gods seem to be in news for all the wrong reasons. From financial fraud to rape and even outright murders, their self-appointed leaders are grabbing national attention on a fairly regular basis. 

From time to time, one of these controversial gurus, one may have never heard of, but who have lakhs of followers is charged with a crime. These gurus maintain innocence despite compelling evidence, their followers allege conspiracy and sometimes even take up arms against the State. The gurus may eventually even go to jail, but the followers refuse to stop believing  in them.

A saga of this unfolded on November 19, 2014 when more than 6,000 followers of Sant Rampal Satlok laid siege of his fortified ashram in Hisar district of Haryana and by the end of the night, the controversial godman was arrested.

At least six persons lost their lives in the stand-off as Rampal eluded the police while many of his key aides and around 450 supporters were also arrested. 

On August 25, the country witnessed a similar chain of events when the flashy guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim SIngh was convicted in the rape of two women disciples in 2002 by a CBI court in Panchkula in Haryana.

Minutes after the court gave the verdict, hundreds of Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s followers went on a rampage setting fire to vehicles and railway stations and leaving a trail of destruction that killed 32 people and injured 350 people.

This has become a truly hackneyed story. Every few years, a ‘godman’, who is never heard of, but has thousands of fanatical devotees, is charged with crime from financial fraud to sexual molestation to outright murder,

The guru goes into hiding, his followers scream conspiracy and sometimes are even ready to take arms against the State. Finally, the guru surrenders and put in jail. But the faith of his followers remains unshaken.  We wonder-just who are these ‘godmen’. And what is forcing people to fanatically follow these ‘godmen’, when common sense and logic should command them to do the exact opposite. 

Mankind’s propensity to believe in a God or higher power is well known. According to evolutionary psychologists, this propensity can be linked to the unique ability of human beings to attribute design or reason to things, even where there may be none.  With society being in constant flux in the last many decades due to socio-economic factors, the need to rely on a higher power seems to have increased. 

In a country of a million gods and thousands of identities, the changing landscape has had a huge cultural and psychological implications. Rootless individuals seeking to make sense of their world may drift to alcohol, drugs or psychiatrists to find answer.In India, most seem to have drifted to the godmen.

It is not difficult to understand why India has had a long history of gurus or spiritual guides-the learned master who attain higher knowledge. In recent times, the tradition seemed to have metamorphosed into an industry, with the so called godmen exploiting weaknesses of existing institutions like family, religion and society to their advantage and offering instantaneous miracles and quick-fix solutions to cure the dissonance caused by modern life. 

So what accounts for India’s enduring relationship with the gurus. For one, in a fast-urbanising country, with ambition and confusion, gurus are like placebos for the uncertain masses. People flock to them, thinking that they can help give them big breaks in their lives. 

India has always had gurus for a long as one can remember, There are global godmen like Maharshi Mahesh Yogi to the Beatles turned for spiritual salvation in the 1960s. And there are godmen for the rich and poor with huge followings. The origin of godmen and their popularity today can be traced back to guru-shishya tradition. Some godmen come from established school of spirituality but often they don’t belong to any religious order. 

Well known author and journalist Khushwant SIngh in his book ‘Gods and Godmen of India’ writes: “India has been in the Godmen business longer and produce more of them than anywhere else in the world.”  Singh’s final chapter is titled ” God save us from godmen’. The one thing he finds in common with anyone of the powerful guru-teachers in India is that, they are all fantastically wealthy. Our godmen are not committed to poverty.” says Singh. 

The self-styled godmen or women have made a mockery of faith and have lavish life style. From Swami Sachidanand, Radha Maa, Trikal Bhawant, Asaram Bapu (now in Jodhpur Central Jail after being charged with raping a 16-year old girl), Swami Amrita Chaitanya, and the list is endless. 

Will Rahim’s sentence in Rohtak’s Sunaria district jail end the blind faith of thousands of people on the self-proclaimed godmen in India or will these so called gurus continue to thrive is a question to ponder.  

(The View are Personal.)