Real Time Train Information System (RTIS)

Advanced Communication and Information Technologies have revolutionalised the ways we do our business. Indian Railways is no exception. Customer expectations have risen. Yesterday`s better services are today`s basic  necessities. Availability of  accurate train running information on a click  of a button is one such facility public would love to have.

Train information dissemination through 139 in the existing Train Information System over Indian Railway,  being dependent on manual collection & feeding of train running information has certain limitations.

              To overcome limitations of the existing Train Running Information System, it was decided to develop GPS based train tracking system  jointly by RDSO & IIT-Kanpur.  The system has been developed and working successfully in number of trains.  It has now been decided to open the  Real-time Train Information System (RTIS) to public in  few trains to begin with effect from today  i.e.19 October 2011.

At present , the facility can be availed for only 12 trains.

RTIS system deployed in the trains will provide the following information to public/passengers:
(i)        Train locations.

(ii)        Train running position (i.e. whether train is running on time or if running late and by how much.

(iii)    Train location with respect to next  stopping station in terms of  kms.

This information will be available on website “http://www.simran.in”. Public may also get the train running information through SMS  by sending a text  message  “ <train number>” to mobile number  09415139139.  A typical message received by passenger say for   train number 12004, aShatabdi Exp. train,  is as under:-
” On 19/10/2011 10:00, Train 12004 N Delhi – Lucknow Shat. is running at 129 kmph near Bharthana, 126 km from KANPUR CENTRAL. Presently Right on time ”

The above message is actual reply received to a SMS querry.

Ministry of Railways has decided to implement RTIS to track all trains, passenger as well as freight trains.  For this, a work has been approved in Railway Budget 2011 at a cost of Rs. 110.0 Cr.  The project  is likely to be completed by Dec.’ 2012.

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Upgrading NSG(National Security Guards)

SPECIAL Forces around the world are elite organisations held in high esteem. These play a vital role in crisis situations such as in anti-terrorist or stealth operation of the kind seen during the taking out of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan’s Abbottabad. In India, however, recognition of and importance to Special Forces has been slow to come by. Seemingly, now, the government appears to be waking up to the necessity of according serious attention to the National Security Guard (NSG), the country’s federal-level special response unit raised to counter terrorists, which had played a vital role in neutralising Pakistani terrorists during the 26/11 attack in Mumbai.

On the 27th raising day of this elite force this weekend, the NSG’s Director General announced plans of strengthening the force with two more units of 1,600 commandos and upgrading the force with more sophisticated weapon systems and other aids. Some of the gadgets are to be provided by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). While the plan is laudable and in keeping with the security situation in the country, the government needs to bear in mind the record of the DRDO which has been high on promises but low on delivery. The government must ensure that it sticks to its plan to augment and upgrade the force. The government has not made much headway in its F-INSAS programme (Futuristic Infantry Soldier As a System) aimed at upgrading Infantry soldiers with similar equipment announced with much fanfare over half-a-decade ago.
The NSG is a vital Special Force for the country. In fact, it is the country’s only Special Force equipped and trained to handle a wide range of anti-terrorist operations at close quarters – be it evoking the surrender of terrorists from inside the Golden Temple during Operation Black Thunder-II in May 1988, neutralising a hijacker of an Indian Airlines aircraft at Amritsar airport in 1994, conducting hostage rescue operations in Jammu and Kashmir and from inside a temple in Gujarat, counter-insurgency operations in the mountainous terrain of Doda or, more recently, neutralising Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai. The government must accord the highest priority to this Special Force considering that challenges posed by terrorists have become far more complex and complicated.

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Stability in Nepal good for India

NEPAL Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai will be on an official visit to India for three days in the third week of October. He had a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the UN and the latter had reportedly expressed India’s support for completing the peace process in Nepal.
Mr Bhattarai will have both economic and political agendas when he meets the Indian Prime Minister. In the political agenda, the peace process, and India’s support for its successful completion are bound to have the highest priority. Prime Minister Bhattarai will probably want to be re-assured of the Indian government’s backing for the ongoing peace process in Nepal so that the configuration of political forces in Nepal remains conducive to the promulgation of a new democratic constitution at the earliest.
A politically stable Nepal is in the interest of both Nepal and India, the South Asian region as a whole, and also Nepal’s northern neighbour, China. We, therefore, feel that India and other concerned international powers would be well advised to use their friendly influence, jointly or severally, to persuade all political formations of the country to agree to complete the peace process and strengthen national institutions for Nepal’s stability, democracy, development and progress.
On the economic side there are two major issues that are of concern to Nepal both from a short-term and long-term perspective. First, the rising imbalance in trade between Nepal and India, a problem that requires urgent and cooperative corrective action. In the short run, Mr Bhattarai will perhaps ask for the removal by India of the non-tariff barriers which crop up from time to time to hinder the flow of Nepal’s exports to India. Internally, to boost production and reduce supply disruptions, the Nepal government has to rein in trade unions in both industrial and transport sectors where Mr Bhattarai’s own party remains influential.
The other major issue pertains to the Nepal-India trade arrangements and the need, from a medium-term to long-term perspective, for Kathmandu and New Delhi to engage in discussion to work out a new model of interaction that will lead to the sharing of prosperity through adequate spill-over in Nepal of India’s high economic growth rate in the form of increased exports of Nepalese products to India, and vigorous flow into Nepal of direct investments by Indian companies. In this context, the India-Nepal trade treaty, signed in the mid-1990’s, which had helped increase Nepalese exports to India and also Indian investments in Nepal, could be the model. On its part, the Nepal government should create a receptive political and economic environment for investment by Indian business houses. The two governments should jointly discuss ways and means of reviving the liberal trade and investment regime of the mid-nineties.
Proper, mutually agreed harnessing and utilisation of Himalayan water resources will be to the benefit of people in both countries. Economic growth in the Gangetic plain of India with over 400 million people will require an increasing volume of water for irrigation and power, and for industrial and urban use. Himalayan waters are the most important natural resource of Nepal that must be tapped for energy, irrigation, navigation and flood control for Nepal’s growth and development. Utilisation of this resource should be viewed in an integrated manner for the benefit of the people of both countries. In doing all this, experiences of the past, which still rankle in Nepalese minds, must be borne in mind.
Flood-control measures in the border areas, which cause inundation or other damage in one or the other country, must be avoided. Water resource utilisation models of the 1950’s are no longer relevant. An independent non-governmental agency, with participation from the apex organisations representing industry and commerce in both Nepal and India, could be set up to look at the issues of trade and water resources in a holistic framework and come up with suggestions that are geared to new realities.
In a study of this kind, the necessity of involving Indian states of Bihar and UP, the two states that have the most interest in the way the Himalayan water resources are harnessed, should be given due consideration. In a short-term perspective, however, Prime Minister Bhattarai may sound India for the export of power to Nepal for the next four or five years till the new hydro-projects in Nepal, now being constructed with both Nepali and foreign capital, become operational. India should consider any such request favourably.
One important issue that has been of concern to India is security. The two countries have not been on the same wave-length in their perceptions of the term “security”, and misunderstandings persist in this regard. Nepal is an independent and sovereign country that borders the two would-be super powers of the world in the 21st century. This is a ground reality. Another ground reality is that Nepal’s long border with India is an open one, and there have been cases of infiltration of undesirable elements that have carried out activities against the national interests of both nations.. There was also the high-jacking of an Indian plane from Kathmandu airport by terrorists.
While China’s interest in Nepal and the importance of Nepal-China relations is to be recognised and understood, India’s concern about undesirable activity, across the open border, must also be given serious consideration. Nepal should leave no stone unturned to ensure that Nepali soil is not used for any kind of terrorist and other destructive and undesirable activities directed against India. In this context, Nepal and India had signed, more than a decade ago, an agreement to institute a monitoring mechanism ( record keeping and a registration system, etc) all along the border without giving up the traditional free border concept between the two countries. That agreement should be reviewed with a view to its operationalisation. Our open border should continue to be our strength and not become a source of undesirable activities harming Nepal-India relations.
In a fast-changing world, it is incumbent on the leaders of the two countries to start a new era of understanding and cooperation that takes cognisance of the changing dynamics of economic and power relations in the region. This would mean, in our view, efforts by both countries to promote the idea of “shared prosperity” as an umbrella concept for their relations in the 21st century.
Adjustments are needed in the perceptions and thought processes of both countries. While India should re-examine the existing assumptions defining its unbalanced economic relationship with Nepal, the latter’s political elite should, in the context of the present geo-strategic realities, forge consensus and unity and shed the “small nation psychology” to define Nepal’s national interests with clarity and vision, so that India as a close southern neighbour comes to trust the capability and strength of the Nepali state to remain sensitive to its vital interests.

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Discovery of India's Old Sunken garden

A sunken garden was discovered during the restoration of Isa Khan's tomb in the precincts of the Humayun's Tomb World Heritage site. The sunken garden can be considered as the earliest example of sunken garden in India.
Isa Khan:
Isa Khan was a noble under Sher Shah Suri, the afghan ruler who had overthrown Humayun. The octagonal shaped tomb was built in 1547

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China and India: How they are managing population issue?

While delivering the lecture on “Approach to 12th Five Year Plan” at the HCM Rajasthan Institute of Public Administration, Jaipur, India on April 12, 2011[1], the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the Indian economic growth has been impressive in the past two decades but lacked "inclusiveness". He pointed out that “the percentage of people below the poverty line has gone down, but the common man's access to basic services such as water, health and education has not improved satisfactorily”. He highlighted that "deprivation" was much greater than the economic growth rate. And this is also supported by the Human Development Index, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1990. It indicates enlarging people’s choices. The most critical of these wide- ranging choices are to live a long and healthy life, to be educated and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living.  The 2010 HRD Report indicates that gap between India and China has increased significantly   as compared to the situation in 1990. India ranked 121 among 169 countries as compared to China, which ranked at 89 in 2010.

The main reason behind this, as per Dr. Ahluwalia, that “we have inclusive politics, now we need inclusive economics”. No doubt, the Indian economic growth has been impressive since nineties however, lacks inclusiveness and this is mainly due to galloping population growth (see Table 1, Blog dated August 29, 2011). It appears that the successive governments and various political parties at the national level have not shown the will to resolve the population issue since the emergency (1975 – 1977). This Blog argues that India’s massive population base, a threat to sustainable development, demands immediate attention.

When India became independent in 1947, population growth was seen as a major impediment to the country's socio-economic development and population 'control' was seen as integral to the sustainable development process. In 1952, a sub-committee appointed by the Planning Commission asked the government to provide sterilization facilities and contraceptive advice through existing health services to limit family size. The National Health Policy of 1983 emphasized the need for "securing the small family norm through voluntary efforts and moving towards the goal of population stabilization" by achieving replacement level fertility of 2.1 children per woman by 2000. The National Population Policy 2000 proposed a long-term and holistic view of development, population growth and environmental protection. Its stated goal is to achieve replacement level fertility by 2010 to achieve stable population by the year 2045. Following the announcement of a National Population Policy, a number of states have formulated their own policies. In 2005, Government of India launched the National Rural Health Mission (2005-12) to achieve the replacement level fertility by 2012. But it is unlikely to be achieved. As the total fertility rate in India remains at the high number of 2.8 children per woman so it is highly unlikely that the goal of replacement level fertility will be achieved by even 2020. Thus, India’s population will continue to grow at a rapid rate. The U.S. Census Bureau does predict a near-replacement total fertility rate of 2.2 to be achieved in India in the year 2050.

In spite if all these policy statements,  India’s population has grown from 361 million in 1951 to 1210 million in 2011 in last sixty years and is growing by around 16 to 17 million every year. We have to agree that efforts made over the years for improving quality of life have been partially neutralized by the rapid growth of the population. It is well recognized that population stabilization measures and economic growth initiatives, when effectively synchronized, synergistically maximize the socioeconomic well-being of the people.

Now question arises as how to forge ahead? While making a public presentation at the International Development Research Centre[2], Canada on March 18, 2009, Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, one of India’s known economists, stated that the “distinguishing feature of India’s growth story is that India has followed a gradualist path. We do not believe in a big bang”. But I do believe that the time has come to think in terms of “a big bang” at least in certain areas like reducing population growth in a broader context of reproductive rights. Otherwise our policy makers will be forced to take some drastic measures like one child family norm in near future. Most of the Members of Parliament (Loksabha)  during the debate on ‘population stabilization in India’ on August 4, 2010  argued  that  “the recent increase in the population of India and the pressure exercised in the limited resources of the country have brought to the forefront the urgency of the problem of family planning and population control”[3]. One of the young Members of the ruling party Mr. Deepender Hooda (ROHTAK, Haryana) voiced that: “The demographic dividend that we talk about, I think we are inching closer to demographic disaster”. In short, Ms. Paramjit Kaur Gulshan (Faridkot, Punjab) expressed the views of many members of Parliament when she said “it is high time that we awake from our deep slumber and take the bull of population-explosion by the horns. Only then can we stabilize our population. The future generations will never forgive us if we fail to rise to the occasion”.

Are Indians against small family norm? While India’s population continues to grow by 16-17 million people annually, 25 million women, mostly belonging to the “bottom of pyramid” especially in Four Large North India (FLNI) States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh seek to postpone childbearing, space births, or stop having children, but are not using a modern method of contraception. Often, these women travel far from their communities to reach a health facility, only to return home “empty handed” due to shortages, stock outs, and/or non availability of doctors and paramedical staff. When women are thus turned away, they are unable to protect themselves from unwanted/unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. And this type of incomplete control over the reproductive process leads to relatively high levels of unwanted childbearing. Around 26 million children are born in India every year and out of this about 5.5 million births have been classified as unplanned. Further, as per the latest National Family Health Survey (2005-06) about 30% (around 240 million) of the total population in the young age group 0-35 years in India was the product of unwanted childbearing.

Based on the data obtained from the National Family Health Surveys, I came to the conclusion that out of 1210 million people in 2011, there are around 370 million people who are the product of unwanted fertility.  As a result, India currently stands at a very disadvantageous position. India is now forecast to surpass china in total population in the next nine and ten years and definitely before 2020 unless we focus on this issue during the 12^th Five Year Plan (2012-17). India’s population is stated to rise by almost 300 million over the next twenty years (2010-2030). While China is currently (2010) larger than India’s by over 120 million, by 2030 India’s population is expected to exceed China’s by 130 million. It is important, therefore, to design a suitable strategy to reduce unwanted pregnancies.

Two general options are available to the policy makers who are interested in achieving a breakthrough on the population front or where population growth has stalled at an undesirable high level: strengthen the management of family planning program and encourage socio-economic development with special reference to female education. The former is aimed primarily at reducing unwanted fertility, while the latter is aimed at reducing the demand for children. There is no need to implement coercive measures like China or to provide incentives and disincentives. The real need is to provide family planning servicers services in un-served and underserved areas.

Unfortunately, so far, most sections of India’s elite and policy makers have done little to push for a serious population policy. In large part this has been because they have been benefitted  from this unending supply of ‘cheap’ vote or labor. But this unending supply of cheap and largely unskilled labor also has serious unrecorded economic and political consequences. For example, in the global market, this put Indian industry at a competitive disadvantage rather than advantage.  In 2010, China stood at 17^th in a global league of “national competitiveness” and it has risen from 73^rd place in 1990 and had left India, which was ranked at 42^nd[4].

INDIA IS   AT THE CRITICAL JUNCTURE BECAUSE PROBLEMS INDIA HAS FOR LONG SET ASIDE HAVE COME TO THE FORE AND GALLOPING AND UNEVEN POPULATION GROWTH MAKES THEM PRESSING. ADDRESSING THIS ISSUE OF POPULATION IS THE ANTIDOTE TO THE VARIOUS CONCERNS PLAGUING THE NATION (LIKE CORRUPTION, POOR GOVERNANCE, POVERTY, WOMEN EMPOWERMENT, ETC.).  AS SUCH, THE POPULATION ISSUE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BECOME A “STUMBLING BLOCK” TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC PROGRESS AS WELL AS THE UNITY OF THE COUNTRY.  IT IS ARGUED THAT TOWARDS FASTER AND MORE “INCLUSIVE GROWTH”, THE INDIAN ECONOMIC ROAD MAP ESPECIALLY DURING THE 12^TH FIVE YEAR PLAN MUST GIVE DUE IMPORTANCE TO THE ISSUE OF POPULATION STABILIZATION AND EDUCATION.

The writing is on wall. The question is not whether we act or not, but whether we act now or later and deal with much more dire and expensive consequences. What India does in the next few years especially during the period of Twelve Five Year Plan (2012-17) will determine its future. 

We have to understand that China’s one child family policy, which was first announced in 1979, has remained in place despite the extraordinary economic  and social changes that have occurred over the past three  decades. And it emerged from the belief that development would be compromised by rapid population growth. And at least we can learn it from the Chinese experience to give top most priority to reduce unwanted fertility in order to have a reasonable population growth at the level consistent with the requirements of sustainable economic growth, social development and environmental protection.

About 30 years ago, China was behind India in economic prosperity. Today, it is ahead. China is what India’s future could look like once we get our act right. But if we insist on saying that ‘we are like that only’, then we will remain like this only. To remain eternally fatalist would be fatal. We simply have to change to be able to compete effectively in the world, as argued by Vikram Sood[5]. We have to remember that all talk of harmonious development does not make any sense. Nobody will give us space voluntarily. We have to make that space ourselves by taking vital policy decisions to reduce population growth.

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Mega beats Mimi for world's biggest virus

A virus found in the sea off Chile is the biggest in the world, harbouring more than 1,000 genes, surprised scientists .

The genome of Megavirus chilensis is 6.5 per cent bigger than the DNA code of the previous virus record-holder, Mimivirus, isolated in 2003.

Viruses differ from bacteria in that they are usually far smaller and cannot reproduce on their own, needing to penetrate a host cell in which to replicate.

But M. chilensis is such a giant that it surpasses many bacteria in size and is genetically the most complex DNA virus ever described.

It was taken from sea water sample closed to the shore of Las Cruces, Chile. Its host organism is unknown.

DNA viruses include pox viruses and herpes viruses, but M. chilensis "doesn't seem to be harmful for humans," said Jean-Michel Claverie, of France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

The study appears in a US journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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Brain cell growth during adolescence key to sociability

The growth of brain cells during adolescence is the key to sociability, which produces an opposite effect when impaired or blocked, new research says.

Mice shunned the company of other mice as adults when scientists blocked the growth of their brain cells' (neurons) during adolescence, according to the Yale University study.

New brain cells are being continually generated after birth and at a greater rate during childhood and adolescence, in a process called neurogenesis, the journal Neuroscience reports.

Adult mice which had neurogenesis blocked during adolescence showed no interest in other adult mice and evaded attempts to engage in social behaviour.

"These mice acted like they did not recognize other mice as mice," said Arie Kaffman, assistant professor of psychiatry and senior study author.

This breakthrough could help researchers understand the inner springs of schizophrenia and other mental disorders, according to a Yale statement.

Intriguingly, schizophrenics have a deficit in generating new neurons in the hippocampus, one of the brain areas where new neurons are created.

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