SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Overview 8.1 The major thrust in the Science & Techol- ogy (S&T) sector during the Eighth Five Year Plan, inter-alia, include :
i) basic research in frontline areas;
ii) innovative research in areas of S&T with emphasis on Research & Development (R&D) activities in emerging technolo- gles which provide the opportunity of securing a position for leadership and self-reliance;
iii) diffusion of appropriate technology and technology support for ancillaries of large units;
iv) integration of S&T in socio-economic and rural sectors to fulfil the basic needs of water, food, health and nutrition, shelter, education, energy, clothing, employ- ment, etc.
8.2 Concerted efforts have been made to im- plement well defined, time bound programmes in the various disciplines of S&T like Atomic Energy, Space, Biotechnology, Ocean Sci- ence, Industrial Research etc. Special empha- sis has been laid particularly for inculcating the spirit of using S&T as an important input to the development process.
8.2.1 Science and Technology Advisory Com- mittees have been set up in most of the devel- opment departments like Steel, Coal, Mine, Petroleum, Transport etc. for formulation, im- plementation and monitoring of S&T pro- grammes relevant to the concerned sector.
8.2.2 In order to promote science and technol- ogy activities at the grass root level, State Science and Technology Councils/ Depart- ments have been strengthened and their inter- action with various scientific institutions and development departments ensured for effec- tive implementation of location specific pro- jects/programmes.
8.3 To take an overall view of the scientific efforts and policy guidelines for the develop- ment of science and technology in the country, a Cabinet Committee on Science and Technol- ogy was setup at the apex level. For the imple- mentation of the recommendations of the Sci- entific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet, an Empowered Committee of Secretaries on Sci- ence and Technology has also been consti- tuted.
Milestones 8.4 There has been a number of significant events during the Eighth plan period in the S&T sector.
8.4.1 The successful launch of indigenously built lNSAT--II A and II-B has resulted in several facilities like video conferencing, ex- pansion of TV services to more areas, etc. PSLV D-II was successfully launched and the remote sensing satellite (IRS P-2) placed in the orbit. A programme entitled 'Integrated Mis- sion for Sustainable Development' (IMSD) has been launched in several districts for the formulation of location specific development plans. National Institute of Ocean Technology was set up at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras with the objective of undertak- ing research in the fields of ocean energy marine instrumentation., ocean engineering system etc.
8.4.2 Some of the useful contribution of' atomic energy research pertain to : successful development of U-233 based fuel, fabrication of MOX fuel assemblies for power reactors, development and promotion of radio isotopes and radiation applications for the industrial modernisation of the country, lasers for appli- cation in industry and medicine, etc.
8.4.3 In other areas of S&T, technology mis- sion mode projects have been launched in the areas of sugar production technologies, ad- vance composites, fly ash disposal and utilisa- tion, seismological observations, aquaculture biological pest control, biofertilisers and leather for the validation and demonstration of' the relevant technologies, which have been considered to hold great promise for the devel- opment effort.
8.5 Some of the significant achievements vis- a-vis special features in respect of the major S&T departments/ agencies are briefly indi- cated below:
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Atomic Energy 8.6 The thrust of the atomic energy research during the Eighth Plan has been mainly on design and development of nuclear reactors for power generation, for basic research, isotope production etc. which have resulted in the de- velopment of several spin-off technologies as well.
8.7.1 The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed a number of useful technologies for power reactors have been de- veloped for in-service inspection systems and for the inspection of coolant channels, remote video inspection system, vibration-based diag- nostic system for identification of coolant channels besides fabrication of several fuel pins for Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) involving thorium utilisation and plutonium recycling.
8.7.2 Fabrication of Mixed Oxide (MOX)fuel; development of Uranium-233 based fuel; ra- dio-isotope production capability including specialised radio isotopes like Cobalt-60, Carbon-14, Phosphorous-32 etc. for their use in medicine and agriculture; a new version of "Tritium-in-air" monitor to meet the require- ments of nuclear power stations in the country; establishment of irradiation technology for the preservation and hygienisation of perishable foods in their natural form by gamma radia- tion; development of a variety of remote han- dling and robotic equipments for the effective and safe operation of nuclear facilities; opera- tionalisation of Waste Immobilisation Plant (WIP) at Tarapur for the processing of high active liquid wastes; development of a super- computer system having peak processing speed of 640 MFlops, based on parallel proc- essing technique to meet the high speed com- puting needs of the country etc. are some of the achievements.
8.7.3 Some of the research spin-offs include: development of a process for desalination of Water; Reverse Osmosis filteration process-, production of invert sugar syrup using immo- bilised enzyme; detection of leakage in pipe lines; manufacture of low carbon ferro alloys; design and fabrication of ozone generator; pro- duction of boron, etc.
8.8 The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Re- search (IGCAR) is now among the world lead- ers in sodium technology which is essential for the design and development of 500 MWe Pro- type Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). For the fabrication of various PFBR components such as steam generator, speed drive etc. Linkages have been established. In the case of technol- ogy for the chemical plant control system and the application of specific-chip-design, efforts have been made for transfer of these technolo- gies to ECIL and other industries.
8.9 The achievements at the Centre for Ad- vanced Technology (CAT) pertain to electron accelerator-cum- storage ring, viz. the 450 MeV Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) named INDUS-1. It has also taken up the de- velopment of two accelerators viz. (i) A 750 KeV, 20 KW DC Accelerator for the cable irradiation and (ii) A Radio the rapeutic Elec- tron Accelerator based on 20 MeV Microtron already developed as injector to INDUS-1; lasers for their application in the industry, medicine and research sectors etc.
8.10 Some of the important contributions of the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), Calcutta have been : Fabrication of' photon multiplicity detectors which have been tested successfully in CERN (European Centre for Nuclear Research) Laboratory, Geneva-, fabrication and installation of superconduct- ing cyclotron, the fifth in the world; and the designing and commissioning of the first ever large Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) Ion source, the latest successful heavy ion source.
8.11 One of the major national programmes under execution at the Tata Institute of Funda- mental Research (TIFR) is the Giant Metre wavelength Radio Telescope (GMRT) being built at Narayangaon near Pune. 18 antennas have so far been completed and the project is expected to be completed in 1995. Gravita- tional experiments at Gauribidanur conclu- sively proved the absence of the fifth force in Nature postulated a few years back.
8.12 At the Tata Memorial Research Centre (TMC), some of the important R&D achieve- ments relate to : laser surgery for head, neck and oesophageal cancer; and the establishment of long term bone marrow cultures. The activi- ties of Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) and the Institute of Physics are mainly centred around the pelletron facilities and to develop proper infrastructure facilities for un- dertaking pelletron based experiments.
8.13 Besides these achievements, DAE has established an efficient facility in non-destruc- tive testing of materials and a mechanism is
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being worked out to make this facility flow to the industry. So far out of a total number of 71 technologies developed, 31 have been trans- ferred to industry. In addition, MOUs were signed with National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), TIFR, Indian Railways, Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) etc. for transfer of tech- nologies and know-how.
8.14 During the remaining period of the Eighth Plan while the main emphasis of the DAE would continue to be on the engineering de- sign and development of 500 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRS), safety re- search, instrumentation, decontamination of reactors, robotics development, immobi- fisation of high level waste and spent fuel reprocessing, research in the areas of Radia- tion ionisation spectroscopy, Plasma physics and Development of materials and crystals would also be initiated. By evolving an order of priority critical areas of research would be promoted and some of the important pro- grammes like the GMRT, Advanced Centre for Training, Research & Education in Cancer (A CTREC) at Vashi, National Programme on Lasers etc. expedited.
Biotechnolgy 8.15 The major thrust in the Eighth Plan has been on the R&D in emerging fields of biotechnology, R&D for biotechnology prod- uct development, technology transfer and demonstration, integrated manpower develop - ment, augumentation of infrastructural facili- ties and their optimal utilisation, special biotechnology programmes for specific groups and weaker sections etc.
8.16 In the field of agriculture and allied areas, tissue culture techniques have been developed for the improvement of horticulture plants, plantation crops, ornamental plants etc. for the domestic as well as export market and also for forest tree species through two tissue culture Pilot plant facilities, set up at National Chemi- cal Laboratory (NCL), Pune and Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi. Tissue Culture Cardamom project in the states of Ker- ala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has demon- strated a substantial increase in the yield per ha. Other major programmes include Oil Palm Demonstration Project in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra; field demonstrations of biofertilisers like Blue Green Algai (BGA), Azolla and Rhizobium resulting in the increase of crop yield and also field demonstrations for biological control of pests, diseases and weeds forvarious crops like cotton, chickpea, ground nut, tobacco etc." a multi-institutional coordinated project on transgenic cotton to develop cotton varieties resistant to bollworm; setting up of three na- tional gene banks for the conservation of me- dicinal and aromatic plants at National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, Tropical Botanical Garden Research In- stitute (TBGRI), Trivandrum and Central In- stitute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow; scriculture biotechnol- ogy programme for the development and dem- onstration of immuno-diagnostic kits for the early detection and control of various diseases of silk worm, improvement of cocoon yield. development of transgenic silk worm etc.
8.17 In the area of Animal Biotechnology cattle herd improvement has been demon- strafed through Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) and techno-economic viabilities of prawns and carp fanning. R&D efforts for health care include: identification of a new cholera strainfrom Bangaladesh, development of specific DNA probe for diagnosis of tuber- culosis, construction of genomic library of' Plasmodium vivax antigen gene, cloning of' chloroquin resistant Plasmodium falciparum gene, development of immunodiagnostic kits against hepatitis C and E. E. coli diarrhoea. etc.
8.18 R&D in the environment and biodiversity conservation led to the development of ELISA, PCR and DNA probe for the detection of pathogenic bacteria, viruses and Entamoeba histolytica in drinking water, identification of microbial strain for desulphurisation of fossil fuel, laboratory level optimisation of desul- phurisation of gas etc.
8.19 In the biotechnology industry pro- gramme, several technologies have been trans- ferred to the industries leading to the development of various products like preg- nancy slide test, Dot ELISA pregnancy test, amoebic liver abscess detection kit, efficient alcohol producing yeast strain, Leishmaniasis detection kit etc. A National bio-informatics network has been set up with linkages at the national level through NICNET and at the international level through VSNL Gateway and ERNET (DOE).
8.20 An integrated manpower development programme includes PG/PD programme in 23
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academic/ research institutions, short term training courses, national and overseas associ- ateships, training programme for industrial R&D personnel as well as biotechnology pop- ularisation programme.
8.21 National Institute of Immunology (NII) has developed leprosy vaccine and stand- ardised non-surgical ETT in cows. Other im- portant developments at NII include bovine Y-chromosome specific probe for the identifi- cation of male embryo, drug targetting system to deliver large variety of drugs. The Interna- tional Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) has developed re- combinant hepatitis B vaccine, AIDS diagnos- tic kit, human gamma interferon, recombinant bovine growth hormone, and diagnostic kits for gall midge resistance in rice.
8.22 With a view to develop suitable economi- cally viable technology packages for valida- lion and field trials, transfer of technology for large scale production and commercialisation to users, three Technology Mission Mode pro- jects in the field of biofertilisers, biological pest control and semi-intensive aquaculture heave been launched and several special biotechnology programmes like installation of a meat meal plant, screening of various Tribes in different States for genetic disorders, vermi composting etc. have been initiated for the benefit of SC/ST population, Weaker Sections and Women.
8.23 The efforts under the international col- laboration resulted in establishing three gene banks for medicinal and aromatic plants and launching of a project for establishing Asian Bioinformatic Network and to undertake tech- nology assessment on the potential of new biotechnolgies for IPM, agroforestry and rain- fed farming etc.
8.24 There is need to formulate a biotechnol- ogy profile for the country spelling out the areas of thrust, role vis-a-vis programmes of the various departments/ agencies/ institu- tions, resourccs, required etc. including the monitoring mechanisms. The large scale dem- onstration,extension and training programmes on biotechnology application may be imple- mented by the concerned development depart- ments and appropriate mechanisms evolve for transfer of technology.
Ocean Development 8.25 The thrust in the areas of Ocean Science and Technology has been on Antarctic re- search, polymetallic nodules programme, de- velopment of ocean data and information sys- tem including application of remote sensing technology, marine pollution monitoring, ma- rine instrumentation, wave energy, R&D and manpower development etc.
8.26 In the Antarctic research programme, the 12th and the 13th scientific expeditions have been undertaken with emphasis on multidisci- plinary approach, reduction in logistic support. increase in scientific content and better utilisa- tion of available ship time. A laser heterodyne system was tested and the millimetre wave experiment was conducted. An Antarctic Study Centre has also been set up in Goa.
8.27 Under the Polymetallic Nodules Pro- gramme, the significant achievements include survey and maping of deep seabed area of 1,50,000 sq. km. in the Central Indian Ocean, development of a mining system using re- motely operated vehicle by Central Mining Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur and its testing in a shallow basin, development of technology for extraction of metals from nodules through pilot plant cam- paigns by NML, Jamshedpur and RRL, Bhub- neshwar.
8.28 The Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Pre- diction System is being operated through 11 scientific institutions for monitoring the level of pollution along the coast. The information on pollution level has been disseminated to the Pollution Control Board of the coastal States. Two indigenously built coastal research ves- sels are being procured for monitoring of the coastal pollution.
8.29 Under the Marine Satellite Information System (MARSIS) programme, Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) maps have been prepared and disseminated among the users; shore to fishing vessel communication system has been developed; and coastal area maps on wetlands, shore line changes etc. have been completed for the States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu be- sides the coral reef mapping of the Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar, Lakshadweep and An- daman and Nicobar Islands. For monitoring the sea level variation due to climatic changes tide gauge programme has been initiated. The National Ocean Information Service (NOIS) has helped in the exchange of oceanographic data/ information through a network of 13 maritime data centres which are being linked through the NICNET.
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8.30 Other important continuing programmes include: manpower development through uni- versities etc. and demonstration of technical capability for the generation of electric power from the sea waves at Vizhinjam harbour (Thi- ruvananthapuram). A major initiative by the Planning Commission has resulted in the set- ting up of a National Institute of Ocean Tech- nology (NIOT) for undertaking R&D in areas of wave energy, deep seabed mining, marine instrumentation, coastal zone management etc.