Che Guevara - Idealism or revolutionary marketing?

Ernesto "Che" Guevara lived fast, died young and left, if not a good-looking corpse, at least one full of mysticism.

But the Argentine-born guerrilla fighter also left a legacy of ideals against injustice in Latin America and beyond, which turned him into a global icon, albeit one full of controversy. He remains a symbol 40 years after his death.

Che Guevara's image - particularly as it was immortalized in 1960 by Cuban photographer Alberto Korda, wearing a beret with a single star and looking into the distance - is used around the world as a leftist fetish or just a symbol of juvenile rebelliousness.

It adorns millions of T-shirts, flags, posters and key rings, and even the body in the form of tattoos like the one proudly worn by Argentine football legend Diego Maradona.

Aware of the impact of his image, those responsible for Guevara's death on Oct 9, 1967 in the Bolivian town of La Higuera hid his corpse, which remained missing for 30 years. But that only made Che's legend grow.

"For the radical left, the fetish of Che means a cultural victory after a political defeat," Cuban essayist Ivan de la Nuez noted in a recent article.

Communist Cuba has watched almost with satisfaction the commercial success of its great figure, despite the paradox that, in so doing, it is giving its consent to the mercantilist practices that Che criticised so much.

The island is full of murals and posters with the effigy of the "heroic fighter" or his most famous phrases, and street markets are full of Che merchandise - avidly bought not only by tourists but also by many enthusiastic Cubans.

Cubans, however, are keen to point out that their sentiment is different.

"Here in Cuba whenever we have the chance to have a Che T-shirt we wear it with great affection and love and not because it is a fashionable object but because we really feel it," medicine student Yendri Gatorno said.

Che's grandson Canek Sanchez Guevara has repeatedly criticized a situation in which the fighter's figure is used by the state in Cuba "as symbolic, moral and ethical capital of the revolution and then as merchandise of the residues of the revolution".

A majority of Cuban supporters of the revolution led by Fidel Castro would not agree.

"At the beginning it bothered me to see those symbols, but I realized that I was actually wrong, that nobody becomes a millionaire selling T-shirts," Alberto Granado - Che's friend from youth - said in a recent documentary.

"The presence of Che in T-shirts, for young people, is a way to bother their parents. Even those who did not know who Che was knew that his presence was a way to bother their parents, who have done nothing to achieve a better world. And symbols are also a way to show presence," Granado said.

For Veneranda Fe Garcia, the director of the Che Guevara Memorial in Santa Clara, Cuba, the sale of symbols of the fighter "is part of the impact that Che's figure has in the years in which young people see Che as an expression of rebelliousness, as a spirit of resistance, or of change, of transformation.

"Nobody is going to get rich with those images ... All that which is for sale is there because behind it there are always people with different expressions, aspirations," she said.

Forty years after Che's death, Cuba does not appear ready to stop exploiting the figure which, along with Fidel Castro, has most contributed to internationalise the ideals of revolutionary Cuba.

"We know that in other countries Che is used to market his figure and sell sweaters, T-shirts ... We do not reject that policy because, one way or another, we are left with the joy that those people who have acquired the garments will some day feel more committed to Che," student Yendri said.

DPA

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Have political parties, but spare the pious iftar

Iftar parties in the capital are falling into a rut - the president and the vice president's iftars have taken place while Sonia Gandhi and Shiela Dikshit are about to host their parties. There are so many of them that it is difficult to tell who was the first one to break the ice this year!

Almost all political hawks, big and small, jump on the iftar bandwagon in their effort to portray their special love and affection for the cajoled and beleaguered Muslim community. What is very interesting is that most of the invitees are non-Muslims and the few Muslims who are part of it are the ones who never observe fasting.

It is observed that token representation from old Delhi, Zakir Nagar and trans-Yamuna areas and senior bureaucrats and politicians are invited to mingle next to beautifully laid-out buffets. The idea is perhaps to show that politicians are one with the minority community.

Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, the imam of the Shahi Fatehpuri Masjid in Delhi and a pious 'rozedar' (one who fasts), hates the politicisation of iftars and points out that more than 90 percent people at such dos do not observe the fast. Besides, the fast is nullified if the iftar material is bought with money from bribes and he wants this practice to stop.

Ramadan, the ninth month according to the Islamic calendar, happens to be the most pious month as it was during this month that the holy Quran was revealed to the last Prophet, Hazrat Mohammed. There is no room in it for lies, hypocrisy and politics. If ever there was blatant hypocrisy indulged by the political hawks, it is the "iftar party". There can be other political dinners; the pious iftars ought to be spared.

What hurts is that iftar tokenism is indulged not just by those who see Muslim minorities as a bunch of illiterate and ghettoised vote banks. These iftar sessions are also held by those who see the Muslim community as the punching bag. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that leaves no stone unturned to prove that Indian Muslims are antinational seeks to mellow the animosity by throwing big designer iftar parties with elaborate menus. I remember the iftar at Hyderabad House by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998 - an occasion that seemed to implore the Muslim community to wash away the Babri mosque imbroglio and its aftermath.

It is believed that these iftar parties began some time in 1975 after the Turkman Gate riots during the Emergency. The late Inder Mohan, activist of the PUCL (People's Union for Civil Liberties), told me that Indira Gandhi started the practice to appease the angry Muslims of Delhi, at the behest of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna. That is when the tradition of iftar diplomacy began. In the first of these iftar parties, the people invited included a selective gathering of ambassadors and diplomats, top politicians, celebrities from the fields of media, sports, films and business.

Indira Gandhi's plea was - and rightly so - that such parties provide an opportunity to mix with the public and it was for a festive cause. She believed that iftars create an air of better understanding between the people of various communities and that they are truly secular.

Iftar dinner parties began in Delhi's political circus when Indira Gandhi was wooing Muslims. But now they have become mandatory, especially for the ruling party.

Iftars, like all else in the land of Mercedes, Fords, Cielos and cellular wielding cronies, have transformed over the years.

In today's iftars we find that tradition has given way to designer decorations and the mian bhais of Delhi's glitterati! The food too has been adapted to various tastes with Punjabi being in the driver's seat - Amritsari fish amidst sheermal and mutton qorma.

The way iftar invitations are sent is ridiculous! One person in the office prepares the list. Another dispatches them. Yet another receives invitees at the gate.

It becomes a very impersonal affair. After the Congress, every party arranged political iftars "religiously". The roza is basically a religious ritual and there are certain tenets to be followed as far as roza iftar is concerned. Though no dishes are specified like the ones at the political iftars, the real iftar is rather simple -- consisting of kachalu (fruit mixture), pakodas, dates, water etc. Since Islam believes in sharing, it is recommended that iftar be shared with members of the family, friends and the not so privileged.

The ministerial iftars make a mockery of Ramadan. The purpose of an iftar congregation was basically to serve food to the downtrodden and the deprived. By indulging in iftar diplomacy, politicians make a mockery of this otherwise very solemn and dignified rite. In one BJP iftar last year, the moment the time of breaking the fast approached, thousands of people (bearded and un-bearded) fell on the food and everything was over within seconds, leaving nothing for the poor rozedar.

Maulana Abdul Hameed Rehmani, the Ahl-e-Hadees scholar, states that iftar is a religious and personal activity and should not be interfered in a political manner that mocks at iftar. But Maulana Jameel llyasi, president of the All India Imams' Association, is of the view that such iftars are socially viable as people belonging to various backgrounds feast with one another.

Some years ago, Hyderabad House was booked for H.D. Deve Gowda's first iftar party as prime minister. Preparations began well in advance as a menu of standard iftar dishes was prepared. But Gowda's men struck down a few non-vegetarian items to include the humble farmer's favourites - sambar, dosa and bisi bela bhat. Well, if I tell you the secret, democracy triumphed over sheermal! On the day of the iftar, as Gowda welcomed his 700-strong gathering, a combined aroma of uthapam and seekh kebabs arose from the kitchen puzzling old timers. In fact that served as the appetizer. Even haleem was there in pure Hyderabadi style.

Some regular iftar buffs eagerly wait for this holy month and the most sought-after iftar invitations for them are those of the president, prime minister and of some ministers. Various approaches are used to pocket an invitation.

"It is high time to move from symbolism to realism, from tokenism to service," says Khwaja Iftekhar Ahmed, president of the Inter Faith Harmony Foundation of India. He adds that the Sachar committee report and recommendations are an eye opener for the whole Indian society and also for the Muslim community to join their heads and hands together to undertake the gigantic task of uplifting the second largest majority of India.

For the last couple of years, the iftar session where Sonia Gandhi spends more time is the one considered a success in the Congress. Similar is the case in the BJP. Their iftar success is measured by whether Vajpayee and Advani attend them. In Mumbai, Bal Thackeray commands the same respect in his circles as Sonia in the Congress.

Indo-Asian News Service

Seven Delhi elephants get micro-chipped

Seven captive elephants in the Indian capital have been micro-chipped by an NGO as part of efforts to regulate the trafficking and exploitation of the animals.

"By micro-chipping the elephants, we can monitor and control the illegal trade and trafficking of captive elephants. Elephant traders and owners resort to capturing elephant calves from the wild and separate them from their herds." said Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of the NGO Wildlife S.O.S.

The micro-chipping was part of the Wildlife Week, which was celebrated during Oct 1-7 by conservationists, animal lovers and state governments across the country to reiterate their commitment to conservation of wildlife.

"With this, only four elephants now remain to be micro-chipped out of the total 31 captive elephants in Delhi," said Vasudha Mehta, communication officer of Wildlife SOS.

"The micro-chipping of the elephants was carried out under the guidance of D.M. Shukla, chief wildlife warden and conservator of forests, Delhi. The remaining four elephants will be micro-chipped this week." Mehta said.

S. Kumar, the Wildlife S.O.S veterinarian who has an exceptional record of working with elephants in states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala, inserted the microchip in the elephants, Vasudha told IANS.

Information on each elephant and its owner has also been documented in the chip. As a result, veterinarians can know what disease an elephant has been suffering from. Any new elephants illegally captured from the forests can also be detected.

Delhi has 31 captive elephants that are used during religious ceremonies, weddings and other public functions. They had been living in the trans-Yamuna area of Delhi for the past many decades. But last year they had to relocate along with their owners in view of preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in the capital.

Micro-chipping is carried out for identification of animals, which involves a unique 12-digit identification tag for each elephant in the form of a transponder or chip.

The chip, which is the size of a rice grain, is planted under the subcutaneous layer of skin behind the elephant's ear. The transponder is detected through a special microchip reader, a scanning instrument.

The wildlife inspectors who supervised the micro-chipping procedure have instructed the owners to get their elephants examined by the Wildlife S.O.S veterinarian on a periodic basis for any health ailments.

"The owners are required to submit to us a quarterly health certificate duly signed by the veterinarian. This would ensure that the animals are not subjected to cruelty and exploitation," an official said.

Indo-Asian News Service
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India's space odyssey - from bullock cart to moon rocket

Why does India, a poor country, want to explore the moon instead of using that money to alleviate poverty?
That was the question raised six years ago when India’s space agency ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) asked the government for $65 million to build and launch an unmanned scientific spacecraft to circle the moon.

The government ultimately sanctioned the funds - the mission is all set to take place early 2008 - but only after critics were appeased by protracted public debates and several seminars.

The scenario has changed considerably since then.

Nov 6, 2006, witnessed a dramatic twist when a cross section of the scientific community assembled in the southern Indian city of Bangalore to unanimously endorse ISRO's most ambitious and expensive project to date - a manned space flight - without batting an eyelid.

The project, yet to be formally cleared by the government, will cost $2.2 billion in the first phase to put an Indian in orbit by 2014, and at least twice as much in the second phase to land him or her on the moon by 2020 - four years ahead of China.
If approved - which is a certainty given India's scientist-President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's backing - India will join the select club of US, Russia and China that run manned space missions.

The decision marks a reversal of ISRO's proclaimed policy enunciated four decades ago by Vikram Sarabhai, father of India's space programme, who had said: "India does not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the explorations of the moon or planets or manned space flights."

Towing that policy, ISRO had all along maintained that manned missions do not justify the cost and used Sarabhai's statement to adorn the agency's annual reports and home page of its website until recently. The statement is not there now.
What caused the change?

"There are two reasons for this," ISRO chairperson Gopalan Madhavan Nair told this reporter. "We have set planetary exploration as our next long-term goal and human presence in space is essential for this effort."

Secondly, with India's economy booming, costs that used to be a problem before should not be of concern now.
Nair's predecessor, Udipi Ramachandra Rao, a key advocate of manned missions, agreed.

"Sarabhai's words are not relevant today as planetary exploration beckons future mankind. Even if India wants to build solar power stations in space to meet its energy needs, you need humans there to assemble the solar panels."
A third reason, not aired publicly, is a feeling in ISRO that it is losing ground to its neighbour China — which in 2003 sent an astronaut into space — and therefore should catch up.

If planetary exploration is ISRO's long-term goal and manned space flights are a prerequisite for this, why not team up with Russia or the US rather than go it alone?

Rao doubts if collaboration would work in the area of human space flights given the constantly shifting geopolitical equations and the fact that manned activities in space do have a commercial angle.

"We have to develop our own capability like the Chinese have done."

Self-reliance, in fact, has been the hallmark of ISRO, especially after the US and Europe banned the export of space technologies to India following its first nuclear test in 1974.

This turned out to be a blessing in the long run as it drove ISRO to reinvent technologies it could no longer buy, said Nair.

For instance, in 1993, ISRO decided to develop its own cryogenic engine after Russia reneged on transferring the technology.

Oct 28, 2006, was a memorable day in ISRO's calendar when the homemade cryostage passed the "hot test". It will power ISRO's heaviest rocket GSLV (Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle) scheduled for launch in 2007.

In fact, ISRO embarked on developing the GSLV ignoring advice that Indians would find it cheaper to get their satellites launched by western rockets than developing the launchers themselves.
"I am glad we invested in developing our own launcher," said Rao. “But for that, we would not be talking today about manned mission.”

ISRO's quest for self-reliance has extended to other areas as well. This year, it began setting up a $320 million navigation satellite system to reduce the country's dependence on US owned Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.
But the real jewel in ISRO's crown is its constellation of seven remote-sensing satellites - two will be added next year - the world's largest.

Sale of its images worldwide generates $7 million in revenue to Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial arm. Within India, scientists have used the satellite pictures to combat deforestation, monitor desertification, and predict crop yields and to locate groundwater and increase fish catch.

Thanks to the INSAT network of nine communication satellites - the biggest in the Asia-Pacific region - 90 percent of Indians can watch television, get daily weather forecasts and disaster warnings.

The "super-cyclone" that hit India's eastern coast on Oct 29, 1999, could have killed thousands but for an INSAT satellite that tracked its course every half hour identifying areas that needed to be evacuated.

According to Nair, ISRO is keen to share the benefits of remote sensing with other developing nations. It will build and launch in 2009 the TWSAT (Third World Satellite) that will beam imageries for use by select developing countries.

In 2004, ISRO pulled off a world first, launching Edusat, a 'teacher in the sky' that now connects 2,300 classrooms in the country. And what started in 2001 as a pilot telemedicine project - bringing health care to the rural areas via satellite - now links 165 smaller hospitals across the nation to 33 speciality hospitals in major cities. This means the patient in a village can get the best medical advice without travelling huge distances.

And with production lines for two types of rockets - PSLV and GSLV - India has also carved a place in the launch business.

It has launched small satellites for Belgium, Germany and South Korea and has payloads of European Union, Argentina, Israel, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada and France awaiting launch by 2008 end. The commissioning of the $95 million second launch pad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state last year was in anticipation of the boost in launch business, says ISRO.

On the same lines, the growing need for domestic satellites - six for the INSAT system, three remote sensing and one astronomy satellite in the next five years - has led ISRO to build a new production facility in Bangalore that can handle six satellites at a time.
ISRO says its reliance on foreign launchers for the INSAT satellites will also end once the Mark-3 version of GSLV, that can lift four tonnes, comes out in 2008. A launch on GSLV-Mark 3 should cost half the rate charged by Europe's Ariane. Nair said ISRO is looking ahead in terms of newer technologies like reusable rockets to further reduce launch costs.

Remarkably, ISRO has been able to do all this with an annual budget of $660 million - three percent of what the US space agency NASA spends in a year.

From the firing of three-inch thick ‘toy' rockets in 1963, to the 414-tonne GSLV today, ISRO's journey has been a saga of dedication and determination - but a journey that has not always been smooth.
Out of 21 launches there were five failures — the latest on July 18 this year when its GSLV crashed along with a $20 million satellite.

But such failures, common in the space business, have not diminished ISRO's credibility globally. Last year, it grabbed a contract for supply of a satellite for Europe's Eutelsat, and another for developing and launching of a satellite for Russia's global satellite navigation system Glonass.

In 1981, when ISRO scientists were transporting their first communications satellite APPLE to the launch pad on a bullock cart, sceptics wondered if a primitive country could really harness advanced technology.

Their doubts will vanish in January 2008 when an Indian rocket with scientific payloads from Europe and the US will blast off from Sriharikota for a rendezvous with the moon.

The moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, will create 3D maps of the moon's surface at a resolution of between 5 and 10 meters, something that has never been done before, said Nair.

And India's space programme continues to zoom upwards.

Indo-Asian News Service

Indian diaspora - the bridge that links India to the world

"When I meet heads of state and government and business leaders in distant lands, they tell me very proudly that the Indian community is a great asset, that people of Indian origin are highly creative, productive, enterprising, peace-loving and devoted to their families, their communities and their neighbourhoods."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this while inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2007, the annual conclave of the 25 million-strong Indian diaspora spread across 130 countries, at New Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan convention centre Jan 7, putting in perspective the reputation the Indian communities overseas enjoy. And with it, the importance the Indian diaspora holds for India in the global context today.

"We are one family. The whole world is our home. That is why I have often said that while the sun has set on many great empires of the world in the past, the sun will never set on the world of the Indian diaspora! From Fiji in the East, to Los Angeles in the West, from Cape Town in the South to Toronto in the North, the people of Indian origin are the world's most globalised community," the prime minister said.

It is not just the moolah, the remittances, that count, say Indian officials who power the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), the nodal ministry that interfaces with non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs). There is knowledge and experience to be shared, ideas to be explored and successful models in multiple fields to be replicated.

As the prime minister said, "Invest not just financially, but intellectually, socially, culturally, and, above all, emotionally."

The Indian diaspora, once considered as the manifestation of 'brain drain', is now looked on as a major catalyst and enabler that can spur the country's growth rate, much like the overseas Chinese have turned out to be for China's phenomenal growth.

And that is because overseas Indians have made significant achievements in all fields, be it politics, education, industry, sports, arts, science technology or philanthropy.

Last year alone, overseas Indians were in news all across the world -- from New Zealand where Sir Anand Satyanand became the first person of Asian ethnicity to be appointed governor-general of that country, to Britain where L.N. Mittal came to head the world's largest steel entity, Arcelor-Mittal, to the US where Sunita Williams became the second woman of Indian origin to go to space.

The year 2006 also saw writer Kiran Desai becoming the youngest woman to win the prestigious Booker Prize and Indian American Indra Nooyi being appointed the chief executive of global beverage giant PepsiCo.

Prior to blasting off to space, Williams, whose father hails from the western Indian state of Gujarat, said, "I am half Indian and, I am sure a group of Indian people are looking forward to seeing a second Indian, a person of Indian origin, flying into space."

She was only partially correct. It was not just a group of Indians that had looked forward to her flight to space. It was the whole of India that was connecting emotionally with one of its "achievers" overseas.

The brightest side of this new sunshine story of India and its growing links with its diaspora is that overseas Indians are acknowledging with pride their Indian origins.

At his swearing-in ceremony in New Zealand's capital Wellington, Sir Anand said, "I acknowledge also my Indian origin, with four grandparents who migrated from that country to Fiji."

Another positive aspect of this new phenomenon is that many overseas Indians are returning to India, to actually take part in its growth process.

One very good example is Vikram Akula, founder of SKS Microfinance, an organisation that offers micro loans and insurance to poor women in impoverished areas of India.

"We need to look at getting microfinance in every village and every slum in the country," Akula, who holds a BA from Tufts University, an MA from Yale University and a PhD from the University of Chicago, told CNN.

Similarly, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), one of the most influential professional bodies in the US, has started two pilot projects in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to improve primary healthcare in the two states.

It is not that one needs to come back to India to contribute to its growth story. After all, the Indian diaspora is being seen as the bridge and enabler that links India to the rest of the world.

Nothing manifests this better than the recent civilian nuclear energy deal between India and the US.

After Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush agreed on the deal, the Indian American community, regarded as the most educated and affluent of all immigrant communities in that country, lobbied hard for the US Congress to pass the bill that gave accent to the deal.

"I thank the overseas Indian community and its leaders who played a very significant role in highlighting the importance of this initiative in the US and elsewhere," Prime Minister Singh said at PBD 2007, acknowledging the Indian American lobbyists' hard work.

Another heartening aspect of this new phenomenon is that overseas Indians living in different countries are drawing upon their common Indian roots to seek each other's help.

After Trinidad & Tobago, home to around 520,000 Indian origin people, put up a rather creditable performance in its football World Cup finals debut last year, the Indian diaspora in that country sought the help of Indian origin footballer Vikash Dhorasoo to promote football among the youth there.

After all, it was at the same World Cup finals that Dhorasoo, whose ancestors had migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Mauritius, became the first Indian origin player to play in a World Cup finals match when he took the field for France in a group match against Switzerland.

If India hopes to keep using the bridge that the diaspora is, it has to maintain it too, see to it that no cracks develop, and ensure that the bridge stands on a string foundation. It was precisely with the mandate of looking after the welfare of overseas Indians that the Indian government had created the MOIA in September 2004.

Since then, the ministry has been taking several initiatives to keep India's ties with its diaspora strong.

A very important development has been the proposed PIO university.

"It is a wrong notion that all overseas Indians are rich," Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said in the course of an interaction with reporters in New Delhi. "They want quality and affordable education and we will provide this to them through the PIO university. The fees (for various courses) will not be high."

Another key initiative by the government has been to push for labour welfare pacts with countries, particularly in the Gulf, which have a large number of overseas Indian workers, and who contribute substantially to the country's economy by way of remittances. More than $23 billion flowed in to India as remittances last year, which was the highest for any country.

In fact, it won't be wrong to say that MOIA and its mandate will have to play a key role in India's growth story.

India and the Indian diaspora - two shining stories. Two stories linked by the common bonds of history, heritage and culture. India sees this combination as an essential component in establishing itself as a global power, sooner than later.

As Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar, himself of Indian origin, said about the Indian diaspora at PBD 2007: "They are not merely cultural ambassadors for India abroad; they are also ambassadors of the 'abroad' to India and can help interpret and explain international conditions to India and so contribute to its transformation."

Indo-Asian News Service

Indian Air Force - at 75, 'touching the sky with glory'

It started out in 1932 with four creaky biplanes of World War I vintage. Today, at 75, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has evolved into the second largest air force in Asia, and the world's fourth.

It's a journey that has had its thrills and spills and has seen the IAF graduate from piston engine planes to fourth generation combat jets and from manual controls to fly-by-wire technology travelling the spectrum from the subsonic to the supersonic era.

Today, with the induction of cutting edge technology weapons and systems, the IAF is poised to acquire a strategic reach that its outgoing head, Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi, who retired March 31, says is necessary if India's armed forces are to protect the country's economic, energy and other vital needs in a fast changing world.

In fact, it was President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the supreme commander of the armed forces, who outlined the parameters for such a role when he reviewed the IAF fleet March 7. It was only the fourth time in the IAF's history that such an event has been conducted.

"The Indian Air Force by the year 2025 will be a model air force for the rest of the world to emulate, endowed with the very best of technology in the world, alert and agile strategic planning capability and above all the most professional and dedicated air warriors," the president said.

To understand how this will happen, one has to begin from the start.

The IAF officially came into being on Oct 8, 1932 but the first fleet was raised April 1 the next year with four Westland Wapiti IIA biplanes, six Royal Air Force (RAF)-trained officers and 19 "Havai Sepoys" or air soldiers.

This "A" flight was blooded four-and-a-half years later during action in Miranshah in North Waziristan (now in Pakistan) to support army operations against insurgent tribesmen.

A "B" flight was formed in April 1936, also with Wapiti biplanes, but it was only in June 1938 that a "C" flight was raised to bring No. 1 Squadron to full strength. Its strength had by then risen to 16 officers and 662 men.

With World War II initially confined to the European theatre, the IAF first went into action on the Burma front only in February 1942, by which time two more squadrons had been raised.

On Feb 1 of that year, No.1 Squadron arrived in Burma with its newly acquired Lysanders, flying tactical reconnaissance missions. However, the Japanese advance was relentless and with the final evacuation of Burma, No.1 Squadron personnel were flown to India, where at Risalpur in June 1942, the unit began converting to the Hurricane IIB fighter.

The IAF again went into action with the resumption of operations against the Japanese in 1944 and, by the end of the year, its operational element had progressively risen to nine squadrons.

Five of the Hurricane-equipped squadrons played a major role in the Arakan offensive which began in December 1944, disrupting the enemy's lines of communication and constantly harrying the Japanese forces until victory was achieved with the reoccupation of Rangoon on May 3, 1945.

IAF personnel were decorated with 22 Distinguished Flying Crosses and a host of other honours. The service was also honoured with the bestowal of the prefix "Royal" to its nomenclature in March 1945.

The partition of the subcontinent in 1947 saw the RIAF losing many of its permanent bases and other establishments, as also some squadrons, and literally had no time to recover from this as it went into action Oct 27 of that year as it performed the then unimaginable feat of airlifting a full battalion of Indian Army troops from New Delhi to Srinagar to stave off Pakistan-backed intruders who had swarmed into Jammu and Kashmir.

Three days later, the first Spitfires reached Srinagar and were soon engaged in strafing the raiders. The fighting continued for 15 months, with heavy RIAF involvement throughout, till a ceasefire came into force Jan 1, 1949.

On Jan 26, 1950, India became a republic and the force dropped its "Royal" prefix. At this time, it possessed six fighter squadrons of Spitfires, Vampires and Tempests, one B-24 bomber squadron, one C-47 Dakota transport squadron, one Air Observation Post flight, a communications squadron and a growing training organisation.

Ten years later, the IAF was called on to perform an unusual commitment when it was asked to support UN operations in the Congo (formerly Zaire) in 1961-62.

This involvement continues till date, with about a dozen Mi-35 gun ships and Mi-17 medium transports deployed on UN peacekeeping duties in the African nation.

The IAF was again tested in October 1962 when war erupted on the China-India border.

In all this, the IAF was expanding rapidly, with its compliment of 28,000 officers and men at the time of the China war increasing by some two-thirds by the end of 1964.

Another epoch making event took place in August 1962 with the decision to purchase 12 MiG-21 fighters from the Soviet Union - the IAF's first combat aircraft of non-western origin - and for Soviet technical assistance in setting up production facilities for the fighter in India.

Since then, a number of MiG variants have been inducted into the IAF which now also flies the -27 and -29 models, as also the Sukhoi SU-30 air dominance fighter that has only a handful of rivals in the US F-16 and F-18 Super Hornet and the Swedish Gripen.

The IAF once again went to war in 1965 with the Canberras flying 200 interdiction missions against Pakistani bases, and the nippy Gnats and Hunters stopping the advance of the enemy armour in the deserts of Rajasthan.

This conflict, in fact, was the first full-scale war in which the post-independence IAF was involved.

Then, in 1971, the professional standards, capability and flexibility of the IAF were put to the acid test as the political situation on the subcontinent rapidly deteriorated due to the liberation movement that began in what was then East Pakistan.

Aerial conflicts between the Indian and Pakistani air forces began on the eastern front on Nov 22, preceding a full-scale war by 12 days. On Dec 3, the Pakistan Air Force launched pre-emptive strikes against IAF bases at Srinagar, Amritsar and Pathankot, and at others in northern India. The IAF responded in kind.

In the end, the IAF had good reason to be satisfied with its showing during the conflict.

Since then, it has been a period of consolidation and growth with the IAF fleet strength now at a little under 1,400 aircraft, including 294 air superiority jets, 300 ground attack aircraft, 99 second line combat aircraft, 282 helicopters, 254 transport aircraft, and 154 trainers.

It's little wonder that the IAF should be eyeing a strategic reach and the creation of an Aerospace Command to integrate the capabilities of the three wings of the Indian armed forces.

Explained Tyagi of the concept he mooted three years ago: "I see that India as it grows economically will have to worry about trade security, economic security, food security, energy security. That is the new role of the armed forces. In addition to the traditional defence role, (they) will also have to perform the security role."

This meant the armed forces would have to operate in an expanded area.

"If you agree with that line of argument, then we are saying that we'll have to be prepared to launch operations - not fighting necessarily - to protect our interests at larger distances," Tyagi maintained.

So, how far has the IAF advanced in playing such a role?

President Kalam provided the answer: "The air force has the best of fighter aircraft in the world with multi-role capability, with the ability to carry unique payloads. Above all, you have the capacity to (launch) long-range deep-penetration missions."

If one considers that only six air forces in the world operate midair refuelling tankers and even fewer the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) - the first of which will join the fleet later this year, one begins to appreciate the strategic depth the IAF is acquiring. These are powerful force multipliers and play a critical role both in the training process and in times of conflict.

And, once the IAF begins inducting the 126 multi-role combat aircraft it hopes to acquire soon, it will be truly on the way to translating President Kalam's vision of the future into reality - and continuing its motto of "Touching the sky with glory".

Indo-Asian News Service

Tracking the Indian Railways' turnaround saga

It's a turnaround story that has not only amazed management experts but also caught the attention of premier global business schools like Harvard and Wharton - the dramatic return to profitability for the 154-year-old Indian Railways, among the world's largest railroad networks.

In February, when Railway Minister Lalu Prasad presented India's railway budget for the 2007-08 fiscal, its most striking aspect was the Rs.215 billion ($4.5 billion) surplus he announced for the organisation that employs 1.5 million people and boasts a 63,332-kilometer network that ferries 14 million passengers daily in 9,000 trains (4,000 more for cargo) from 6,947 stations.

"The railways are poised to create history," exulted Lalu Prasad, one of India's most colourful politicians, during his 116-minute speech, referring to the highest-ever surplus - akin to profits for companies - which the Indian Railways was projected to post for the fiscal year ended March 31.

"This is the same railway that defaulted on the payment of dividend and whose fund balances had dipped to Rs.3.59 billion ($80 million) in 2001," said the minister to the amazement of industry honchos and experts who were listening attentively to the speech.

In fact, he not only said that the surplus would increase next fiscal but also belied speculation over freight and upper class fare hikes that had once been a regular feature for the railways to bridge deficits. In fact, he even announced an across-the-board cut in tariffs and rolled out plans for 40 new trains, extended the run of 23 and increased the frequencies of 14 others.

All this only left experts gasping. They wondered what had caused such a sharp turnaround in the organisation from being the backbone of the Indian economy to being termed a "white elephant" headed towards bankruptcy by a government-appointed expert group.

"Today Indian Railways is on the verge of a financial crisis. To put it bluntly, the 'business as usual, low growth' will rapidly drive it to fatal bankruptcy, and in 16 years, the Government of India will be saddled with additional financial liability," said the report presented in July 2001.

This was, indeed, alarming for the Indian Railways, which since the commencement of its first journey on April 16, 1853, has come to reflect the pluralistic character of the country with many unique features such as having the world's largest as well as the smallest stations, the oldest running locomotive and a separate budget since 1924.

But from 2005, the signs of change were visible and became well entrenched by 2007. "The railways' renaissance has been engineered by simple entrepreneurial practices, which have evoked the admiration of internationally renowned institutions and companies alike," said a report by KPMG, which also conducted an international conference on railways in New Delhi last month.

"The railways are now working like a private sector corporation. This is great news for India. We wish other public services, especially in the social sector, like education and health would follow suit," Habil Khorakiwala, president of an apex industry group, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), said.

"The turnaround is not hype because the net revenues have increased sharply," said Prof. G. Raghuram, who has thoroughly examined the performance of the Indian Railways as a case study for the premier Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, one of India's best-known business schools.

"By increasing the axle-loading of wagons (which increases freight traffic) and, combining it with a market-oriented approach, Lalu Prasad has contributed to the success of Indian Railways," Raghuram added.

Lalu Prasad attributed the transformation almost entirely to improved efficiency that was even able to withstand increased competition from budget carriers that were offering to fly passengers for the cost of a second-class air-conditioned fare of the railways.

"Over the past 30 months, freight volumes have grown by 10 percent. Similarly, growth in passenger volumes has been doubled," he explained to a group of 130 students from Harvard and Wharton a few months ago, while delivering a lecture on the transformation of Indian Railways.

"On the supply side, increase in load coupled with reduction in turnaround time of wagons from seven to five days has contributed to an incremental loading capacity," the minister said in the rather simplistic explanation.

With financial parameters back on track, the Indian Railways now has set itself ambitious targets in areas such as refurbishment of stations, passenger amenities, better coaches and new freight corridors as it approaches the 11th Five Year Plan that begins April 1.

And says KPMG: "Indian Railways is in a dynamic phase of growth with new initiatives planned to capitalise on the existing gains and moving steadier and closer to the larger objective of offering world-class services in both freight and passenger transportation."

Indo-Asian News Service

The shared heritage of an emerging South Asia

As leaders of eight South Asian nations ended their regional summit in the Indian capital, there was a greater sense of purpose and a sense of shared heritage in a region that is not only home to nearly a fourth of humanity but is a cradle of ancient civilisations and the birthplace of major religions.
Connectivity - physical, mental and economic - is the new buzzword of an emerging South Asia that has finally awakened to its economic potential and immense benefits of regional integration that can make it, as Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing put it, one of the world's leading economic hubs.
"A new dawn is breaking over South Asia," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared at the end of the 14th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in New Delhi.
The summit brought to the fore the increasing global importance of the region for the world's major powers. The US, the EU, China, Japan and South Korea participated in the summit as observers for the first time and the inclusion of Afghanistan in the SAARC underscored the region's economic and cultural linkages to Central Asia.
At the heart of this renewed optimism about a new future for the multicultural and multilingual South Asia was the sense of connection people of the region, immersed in a shared culture and history, feel instinctively for each other.
Going beyond mere rhetoric, the two-day SAARC summit in New Delhi underscored this connect with its many concrete decisions. The setting up of a South Asian Economic Union, a Customs Union, a South Asian University, a Food Bank to supplement national efforts in times of crises, and agreeing to ensure effective market access through the smooth implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) were some of them.
Besides, the South Asian leaders vowed to make tangible progress in the next six months on four key issues -- water (including flood control), energy, food and the environment.
The event gave leaders of the eight South Asian countries - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal - an opportunity to share concerns but also provided a platform to build on the region's strengths and the shared cultural identity of its people.
"Beyond the compulsions of politics and the imperatives of economics, there is a cultural dimension to unity within SAARC," said Karan Singh, president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
Interestingly, South Asia is the cradle of four important religions of the world - Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism - and its multicultural mosaic includes nearly half a billion Muslims who live in the region.

"Hinduism is the predominant religion linking India and Nepal, Islam is the common thread running through India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives. Buddhism bridges India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal," remarked Karan Singh.
Some of Sikhism's holiest shrines are in Pakistan. Except for Lumbini in Nepal, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, Buddhism's most important shrines are located in India.
Besides religion, there is a potent linguistic and literary alchemy shared by people of the region with English as the link language. Nobel-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore is equally popular in India and Bangladesh and can lay claim to the singular distinction of penning national anthems of two countries. Couplets penned by Urdu poets like Mirza Ghalib and Iqbal are recited with equal fervour in both India and Pakistan.
Then, Bengali is spoken in Bangladesh and eastern India, Tamil in Sri Lanka and southern India and Punjabi and Urdu in Pakistan and large parts of northern India. Add to this cinema, music and dance.
With such literary, cultural and religious affinities, there is now growing realisation that anything is possible if the political establishments pool in their economic and intellectual resources for the collective good of South Asia.
Some of that happened at the SAARC summit, which put the 1.7 billion people at the centre of its roadmap for the region.
Decisions taken inside conference halls have a direct bearing on the day-to-day lives of the people.
Asymmetries like a telephone call from New Delhi to Islamabad costing a few times more than what it takes to connect to the US, or a Bangladeshi having to shell out more for seeing the Taj Mahal than Indians might soon be a thing of the past if the leaders keep their promise made at the summit.
India's unilateral concessions to liberalise visa regime for students, teachers and journalists is yet another step towards making the region a homogenous whole - distinct in national identities but secure in a South Asian one as well.
Decisions to rationalise telecom tariff on a reciprocal basis and to charge nationals of SAARC member countries for entry into archaeological and heritage sites the same fees as applicable to their own nationals are just some of the pro-people measures that will help in crossing barriers and promoting integration in the region.
Within a year, SAARC also plans to implement a regional telemedicine network connecting two hospitals in each of the SAARC countries with super-speciality hospitals in India.
Each member state agreed to earmark one rural community as a SAARC village to showcase innovative models of development and poverty alleviation and home-grown best practices for transforming the lives of the people in South Asia.
Above all, SAARC leaders focused on "deepening of pro-poor orientation of growth processes" to carry the fight against poverty to its logical conclusion. South Asia is home to the world's highest concentration of the poor and the illiterate.
Nepal's Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, whose country is one of the poorest in the region, has stressed on making the elimination of poverty of the region the central mission of SAARC.
"I can't agree more that the touchstone of our efforts to reinvigorate SAARC must be the difference we make in the lives of the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak. This is our highest mandate," said Prime Minister Singh.
Refreshingly, people are the focus of this new mood of renaissance in South Asia. "Popular participation in the larger process of South Asian integration is increasing," said S.D. Muni, a noted South Asia specialist.
"One sincerely hopes that in the coming century, South Asia will rediscover its basic heritage and reinforce its cooperative moorings," he said, echoing the new mood of energy and optimism in the region.
And when that happens, and the fruits of that cooperation percolate down to the people who need it the most, the region can truly embark on the road to a promising tomorrow.
Indo-Asian News Service

India's chariot festival celebrates communal harmony

Behind the cheerful chaos of India's many festivals lies its deeply syncretic core. Like the annual chariot festival where millions of Hindus across North India celebrate a triad of deities coming out of their temple homes, ably helped by Muslims who join in the festivities not because religion demands it, but because tradition and mutual respect call for it.

This year too barriers melted as Indians got together to celebrate the 'rath yatra', as it is more popularly known, in various Indian towns, but most spectacularly in the eastern state of Orissa where Lord Jagannath and his siblings Balabhadra and Subhadra are worshipped.

And in Orissa, it is in the coastal town of Puri where the festival really comes into its own with devotees driven to a frenzy to catch a glimpse of the three deities as they come out of their 12th century abode, the Jagannath temple, and slowly make their way through the streets in a time- honoured tradition.

Though there is a strict restriction preventing non-Hindus from entering the world famous temple in Puri, it is not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the many Muslims who help make the festival what it is.

In the Orissa town of Paradeep, for instance, both Hindus and Muslims pulled the elaborately designed chariots.

"This communal harmony comes at a time when both good news and goodwill have become rare commodities and violence, hatred and indifference to the dignity of human life have made people cynical," said researcher Prasanta Kumar Padhi.

"Both Hindus and Muslims are active members of the rath yatra committee. Our Muslim brothers cleaned the village road for the smooth arrival of the chariots and they also dragged the sacred ropes of the chariots from the Jagannath temple," said Mustaq Khan from the village of Deulasahi near Paradeep.

Of the 2,500 residents, nearly 800 are Muslims, and the two communities have been participating in this manner since time immemorial.

"Some Muslim carpenters were also engaged by the village committee to build the chariots. Members of both communities provided the timber for the construction of the chariots," said another village resident Dayanidhi Das.

And this spirit of amity is not restricted to the rath yatra alone.

Hindus in the village also participate in festivals observed by Muslims.

"Hindus join in our Eid and other festivals. The two communities also attend each other's marriages and other ceremonies," said Sahid Khan.

Damodar Panda, the chief priest of the Paradeep Jagannath temple, said, "Both communities have always lived peacefully in this village. As per Hindu traditions, Muslims are not entitled to enter temples. But here we allow the entry of any person irrespective of caste, creed and religion."

India's inclusive spirit also came into play in some areas like Mayurbhanj district in Orissa where women take over from the men to pull the chariot of Goddess Subhadra.

"We are very happy that we have the privilege of pulling chariots of Devi Subhadra. I come here every year along with my two daughters to participate in the procession," said Shrabani Ghosh, a devotee from West Bengal.

"Orissa should be proud of the women of Mayurbhanj... women are getting the same power as men. It is very impressive," added Pramod Rath from Maharashtra.

The convivial spirit only adds to the fun of the festival that has so often been described as the "god's day out".

This year, as in previous years, the rituals in Puri began at 9.30 a.m. when Lord Jagannath (literally lord of the universe), Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra came out of their 12th century abode to go to the Gundicha temple about three kilometres away amidst chants of hymns and the rhythmic beat of traditional instruments.

The frenzied devotees surged forward for a glimpse of the deities on three chariots as fine sunny weather greeted the huge crowds.

Devotees danced to the beats of gongs and chants of 'Haribol' and 'Jai Jagannath' as the three gigantic chariots, preceded by gigantic intricately carved wooden horses, rolled down the Grand Road.

The chorused chant of hymns, beating of the traditional drums and other musical instruments and the roar of the teeming crowds were loud enough to drown the roar of the waves by the seashore.

While Taladhwaja, the chariot of Lord Balabhadra, and Devadalana, the chariot of Devi Subhadra reached the Gundicha temple by evening, Nandighosha, the chariot of Lord Jagannath couldn't reach the Gundicha temple, known as his birthplace.

Legend has it that the gods step out of their home and return to it nine days later through the city so that people irrespective of caste, creed and religion can get a glimpse of them.

"The unique annual event has caught on in different parts of the country, but the celebration at Puri continues to be special as the triad comes out to see their devotees, some of whom are normally barred from entering the temple," Surya Narayan Rath Sharma, a Jagannath cult researcher, told IANS.

Inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, hundreds of priests went through a series of intricate rituals to prepare the deities for the occasion.

"In the morning, after a few initial rituals inside the temples, the three chariots parked in front of the Lion's Gate were consecrated. Thereafter, the three deities were taken out in a colourful procession. The scene of bringing the deities down the 22 steps of the main staircase in a swaying manner amidst gong beats was a feast for the eyes," said Suresh Mohapatra, chief administrator of the Jagannath temple administration.

One of the high points was the moment when frenzied devotees started pulling the 43-foot-high Taladhwaja, which has 14 wheels. Next came the turn of Devadalana and finally, the 44-foot-high Nandighosha, which with 16 wheels proceeded towards Gundicha Temple.

Indo-Asian News Service

India celebrates as Taj Mahal gets modern day recognition

You may call it just modern day affirmation of a historical marvel, but when the magnificent 17th century Taj Mahal in the north Indian city of Agra made it to the New Seven Wonders of the World list it meant something more than mere tokenism for millions all over the country.

After all, the luminescent white marble mausoleum built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal is not a mere tourist attraction.

The onion domed monument with four minarets, all of which are inlaid with intricate jewelled work, marble filigree and calligraphic inscriptions from the Quran is a manifestation of the best in Indian craftsmanship, architectural traditions and culture.

And when the eight-year campaign by a private body, the New7Wonders Foundation, finally ended in July with the Taj Mahal making it to the final seven on the basis of popular votes - 100 million of them received through SMS, emails and phone calls - there were rapturous cheers all over.

Apart from the Taj Mahal - construction of which started in 1632 and finished in 1648 - the others are the Great Wall of China, Brazil's Statue of Christ the Redeemer, Peru's Machu Picchu, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, Jordan's Petra archaeological site and the Colosseum in Rome.

Mushirul Hasan, noted historian and vice chancellor of the Jamia Milia Islamia university in the Indian capital, was elated: "The Taj is a symbol of India's glorious heritage, of love and unparalleled architecture. We should celebrate the occasion."

Mughal historian R. Nath added: "Taj Mahal represented undoubtedly the 5,000 years of excellence of Indian creativity in different forms."

Sushil Sitapuri, a Lucknow-based writer who recently brought out a special volume on the Taj Mahal, told IANS: "The Taj Mahal is a jewel, like Kohinoor. Former US president Bill Clinton said there were two groups of people in the world - one, those who had seen the Taj, and others, those who had not seen the Taj."

The excitement was palpable. People stayed up all night to catch the news on television as direct pictures beamed in from Lisbon, where Indian star Bipasha Basu joined Hollywood actors Ben Kingsley and Hillary Swank to announce the names.

In Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, it was festivity time. People took to the streets in their motorcycles and cars while others got busy bursting firecrackers and distributing sweets - so what if it was the dead of night.
Agra's municipal commissioner Shyam Singh Yadav told IANS: "It is a great psychological boost. I am very happy. Agra will now get wide publicity all over the world and many more people will come to see the Taj Mahal which represents India's cultural unity."

Although UNESCO categorically denied its involvement with the contest, it was a matter of pride for the people of Agra.

"Agra-ites voted with full enthusiasm till the last minute," said Amit Agarwal, an IT professional who himself voted 10 times.

Rakesh Chauhan of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Agra said the results had come at the right time when much was happening in the city and the Commonwealth Games were to be held in New Delhi in three years.

Poulomi Saxena, an advertisement professional in Jaipur, Rajasthan, said that the declaration would certainly bring more foreign tourists to India.

"There was no doubt about the beauty of Taj and its standing as a tourist attraction site. But its place in the new seven wonders list would certainly generate a lot of awareness among people across the globe and attract them
to India."

But despite the jubilation nationwide, there was one corner that was truly special.

As the results came in in the early hours of July 8, a dingy tenement in West Bengal's Howrah area lit up. The last of the Mughals, Sultana Begum, the 54-year-old great granddaughter-in-law of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, whooped in sheer joy.

"It was one of the happiest moments of my life. I stayed up till late in the night to watch the telecast of the results from Lisbon," she said from her 66 sq ft dingy room in a Howrah slum, 10 km from the state capital Kolkata.
Sultana's husband, late Mirza Mohd Bedar Bukht, was a direct descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar and crown queen Zeenat Mehal.

"The Taj will always remain among the top draws and it doesn't require any fresh voting to validate its standing in the world. When some television channels reported that the monument was slipping out of the race, I was sure it would figure in the list prepared by the New7Wonders Foundation," Sultana Begum told IANS.

While the rest of India celebrated the entry of the Taj Mahal into the ivy league of world wonders, Sultana Begum had only a few family members with her to enjoy the moment.

Her daughter Madhu Begum, granddaughter Roshna Ara and brother Parvant Singh Maihari were basking in the reflected glory of the luminescent white monument built by their forefathers.
As was the rest of the nation, of course.

Indo-Asian News Service

Oceans - the next frontier for Indian scientists

A fungus that can make detergents more effective, a nanobacteria that can hold the key to understanding formation of the earth, a 60 million-year-old chunk of rock that can make India rich - Indian scientists are plumbing the depths of oceans like never before, unearthing secrets of the earth, and the sea, in their quest for unravelling the past and bettering the future.

Marine biologist Kottekkadu Krishnan, for instance, at the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) in India's coastal state Goa is intrigued by the extremely tiny bacteria (nanobacteria) he found in an ice core sample he brought from Antarctica. He thinks - but not everyone agrees - that the strange organisms were originally residents of the earth's mantle that were ejected during volcanic eruptions and transported to Antarctica by the ash and got trapped in ice.

Having done research in Antarctica for over quarter of a century, Indian scientists have started exploring another very cold place on Earth. On Aug 6, NCAOR director Rasik Ravindra and his team of four scientists landed in the Arctic in what is said to be the first of several such expeditions. There, in collaboration with Norwegian scientists, they will look for cold-adapted microbes with possible application in industry.


Known for its beaches, Goa also hosts the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), founded in 1966, that has grown into a major institution in ocean sciences.
At NIO, Chandralata Raghukumar is thrilled by her discovery of a fungus that she recovered from the bottom of central Indian Ocean. The fungus Aspergillus ustus produces an enzyme that works efficiently at low temperatures. "German and US detergent manufacturers are testing our patented enzyme (US patent 2005101002) as possible additive to their products for washing clothes in cold instead of hot water," she says.

But it is the trophy that NIO's Virupaxa Banakar scooped from an undersea mount that has excited the authorities. It is a chunk of rock covered with a seven cm thick crust that Banakar says must have taken over 60 million years to form. Analysis showed these crusts contain cobalt and platinum - both precious.
"Systematic harvesting of the cobalt crusts beneath our seas can potentially make India rich," says Banakar who is going to lead a massive hunt for cobalt crusted mounts in north Indian Ocean under a $7.5 million government funded project.

Hitherto largely confined to the shores, India's oceanographers are venturing beyond and discovering things even as the country is rapidly developing new capabilities in marine science.
The ice core laboratory operated by Thamban Meloth at NCAOR - where the nanobacteria were found - is the only one of its kind in the tropical world. Upgrading the department of ocean development into a full-fledged ministry of earth sciences last year has given a new thrust to oceanography research.

The thrust is taking place at many fronts.
India has already started work on third base in Antarctica. The expedition to the Arctic has signalled India's foray into the northern hemisphere. India will soon be adding a brand new ship to its research fleet and a manned submersible for underwater research. With help from Russia, India is already building a robotic vehicle that can dive up to 6,000 metres. The first prototype was tested successfully at a depth of 205 metres in October 2006.
Indian oceanographers have also been promised their first ice class research vessel that Ravindra says will enable scientists "go to Antarctic in winter and to the Arctic in summer and do year-round research in the tropics".

India has decided to join the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP) as an associate member paying $1 million as annual fee. China and Korea are the only other associate members of IODP sponsored by the United States, Japan and a 17-member European consortium. Through this programme, India intends to initiate deep drilling in the Arabian Sea, the western Andamans and in the Bay of Bengal.
The membership "will enable Indian scientists to join shipboard parties and sit on scientific panels", says Manik Talwani, president of Washington-based IODP, adding that "in the long term" it will help discover energy and mineral resources.

Henry Dick, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts, US, believes India is ideally located to play a major role in Indian Ocean research.
"Western centres of oceanographic research in Europe and North America had sent relatively few research expeditions to the Indian Ocean due to the distance," he says in an email interview. "Thus the path is open for India for major new explorations and discoveries in its surrounding ocean."
India's interest in the ocean is as much economic as it is scientific. As one of the seven pioneer investors in undersea mining, it has been allotted a 75,000 sq km area of seabed in the central Indian Ocean - strewn with manganese nodules that contain copper, nickel and cobalt. India would like to mine these someday.
Meanwhile the ministry's attention has been drawn to Banakar's discovery of cobalt crusts because they are available in shallow water as slabs capping the seamounts whereas nodules occur on seabed at abysmal depths of four km or more.
"In the next five years, we plan to explore all the prominent underwater mounts in the northern Indian Ocean and stake our claim whenever the International Seabed Authority is ready to open sea mounts for commercial exploitation," says Banakar.
The government says the manned submersible that it intends to procure will help in the exploration of cobalt crusts and also hydrothermal sulphides and gas hydrates - a source of methane, which can be used as a fuel.

Globally, ocean mining is still accorded low priority. But India is not taking chances given the fact that its 7,500 km long coastline gives the country an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) measuring 2.2 million square km, or about two-third of its land area.
India has also put in a claim for an additional 1.5 million sq km sea floor area beyond the EEZ, says Sivramakrishnan Rajan of NCAOR.
Indian expertise in 3-D bathymetry (sea bottom survey) is in fact in great demand in neighbouring countries. "We have trained Sri Lankans and now Myanmar is desperate that we survey their continental shelf."
But, as noted by the leading science journal Nature, India's grandiose schemes in marine research may potentially be thwarted by the creeping manpower shortage as only four or five universities in India teach oceanography. However, Satish Ramnath Shetye, director of NIO, is confident that with more funding - India will be spending $100 million on oceanographic research this year - and challenging research programmes, the trend will reverse.

Indo-Asian News Service