Arun Majumdar joins Obama Administration
The Obama Administration named Arun Majumdar, a product of the best engineering schools in India and US, as the first Director of the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), an agency tasked with reducing America's reliance on foreign energy supplies, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and improving energy efficiency.
"It is a rare privilege and an honor when the President asks you to serve the nation in such a capacity," said Majumdar of his nomination, which, while needing to be confirmed by the Senate, sent ripples across the country's scientific- academic community. "I came to this country as an immigrant and am deeply appreciative and indebted to this nation for opening the doors and welcoming me with open arms. I have received so much. This is my way of stepping up and paying back."
"He has had a highly distinguished research career in the science and engineering of energy conversion, transport, and storage ranging from molecular and nanoscale level to large energy systems," the White House said in its announcement. "At Berkeley Labs and UC Berkeley, he helped shape several strategic initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy as well as energy storage." For more than a decade, Majumdar, who is also the founding chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Nanotechnology Institute, has been the country's leading materials scientist, making spectacular advances in energy conservation. He was recently credited with developing a way to use silicon nanowires to capture and use the energy lost as heat during the production of electricity. The futuristic technology could someday be used to convert the large amounts of waste heat into useful electricity.
Gayatri Chetna Center opens in New Jersey
Dr Pranav Pandya, the present head of the World Gayatri Parivar and Shailbala Pandya (Jiji) led thousands of devotes in performing the Pranprathistha of the idols of Gayatri Mata, Lord Ganesh and Hanumanji at the newly refurbished Gayatri Chetna Center in Piscataway here.
Chants of Gayatri Mantra reverberated throughout the entire 90 minute ceremony, which was not witnessed by devotes present at the venue but also throughout the world through live telecast.
As many as 12 children performed the murti purification bathing, nine couples led in the prayers with Dr. Pandya who recited Sanskrit slokas and also explained the meaning and importance of every aspect of the purification. Serenity, devotion and spirituality marked the opening of the Gayatri Chetna Center here, the first of its kind on the East Coast of USA. The center provides a unique place for Gayatri sadhana, yoga and meditation.
Earlier on Saturday despite the warning of thunderstorm from Danny, the rain God also stopped paving the way for the Kalash Yatra all along the Centennial Avenue. As many as 500 women and young girls participated in the mile-long Yatra. The marchers chanted Gayatri Mantra and slogans like `Gayatri Mata ki jai', `Shaktikunj Haridwar ki jai', The event was followed by a 251 Kundiya yagna.
The ingredients needed for the yagna were shipped from India. As many as seven saints came all the way from Haridwar along with Dr Pandya and Jiji. These saints were Dr. Pramod Bhatnagar, Dr. Brij Mohan Gaur, Sandeep Kumar, Suraj Prasad Shukla, Raj Kumar Vaishnav, Shiv Narayan Prasad and Pushkar Raj. Some of them will be staying back to train the local priests.
Indian girl charms world leaders at the UN climate change session
"When a politician speaks very few listen to them but when a child speaks and addresses an congregation like the one at the United Nations everyone listens," said 13 year old Yugratna Srivastava from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh who spoke her heart out about the climate change during her address to the world body.
In her 10 minute speech to the United Nations which was heard by US President Barack Obama, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and top leaders, the 13 year old called upon them "to educate students about the climate change by making environmental education mandatory at all levels of learning. In the awareness, it is not just about solving an environmental problem but it is exclusively about changing the mindset and attitude of people."
The only child of A K Srivastava and Roshani, Yugratna is the first girl from India and second in the world after Severine Suzuki in 1992, to address the august gathering of over 100 world leaders, on behalf of nearly three billion population comprising children and youth. Yugratna who hails from an organization called Tarumitra, meaning friends of trees recalled the recent i n t e r n a t i o n a l Children and Youth Conference held in Korea and attended by over 800 participants and several thousand online friends have urged the world leaders among other things to "not just formulate policies but also enforce them by translating them into actions."
Yugratna became sensitized to environmental protection in Grade 6 in St. Francis School in Shamli, India. She used to collect media reports and clippings on environmental issues when she was a child. In 2008, she visited Norway to take part in an International Children Conference where also she had delivered a speech, followed by another visit to Nairobi to take part in a meet on Climate Change. Yugratna has also been a member of the United Nations Environment Program's Youth Board.
Navratri celebrated with religious fervor
Backless cholis, embroidered chania, colorful dhotis and kurtas and a kaleidoscope of saris were all out as Gujaratis in particular and others in general danced to the tune of loud music as Navratri was celebrated with the usual gusto throughout the entire length and breadth of the United States. Particularly in the New Jersey area, which is the hub of the Indian and Gujarati population in particular, Navratri is a high voltage event with livewire performances and New Age entertainment
Musicians from India made it to the shores of the US to make the Indians dance to traditional rhythms mixed with modern beats.
"It's right when harvest happens, kind of an offering to the goddess," said Anil Patel, the president of the Union Township-based India Culture Society (ICS). "The Navratri festival is a place where second-generation immigrants can learn from their parents' cultural values," he said adding "It's like a skill that you learn from them."
The Navratri festivals organized by Peter (Pradip) Kothari at the Garden State Exhibit Center here and the ICS at Elizabeth were the most sought after places for the younger generation.
The Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central New Jersey (IACFNJ) also organized Navratri Garba celebration at South Brunswick High School in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey.
Governor Jon Corzine attended the event and lighted the diya and prayed at the tastefully decorated make shift temple with the Goddess Durga's statue was sitting. South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese, Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, IACFNJ President and Councilman Mahesh (Mac) Shah, prominent businessman Piyush Patel of Summit Research Labs, Sandip Patel of Mercury Staffing and many other community leaders accompanied the Governor.
ELECTRICITY FOR ALL INDIANS BY 2012, CLAIMS MINISTER
Electricity for all by 2012. This is the new promise made by the Indian power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde during his address to the Asian media at the Indian consulate in New York. Out of the total of 125,000 villages in India as many as 25,000 will be getting electricity from non-renewable energy sources while the others will get the power from different sources.
Shinde painted a rosy picture for the Indian power sector claiming that as many as 78,000 MW of power will be generated in the 11th five year plan which was far more than ever done by the Indian power industry. He said, "over the 11th Plan (ending 2011-12), India hopes to add 78,000 MW of capacity and the 12th Plan (2012-17) targets additions of another 100,000 - 110,000 MW. So far, between 2007-08 and 2008-09, about 12,000MW has been added and another 66,000 MW is in various stages of the pipeline. Much of this will be private-funded and managed".
In reply to a question as to the reasons for the delay in initiating power generation reforms, the minister said, "Some of the reasons could be attributed to, chronic fuel shortages which was hurting power generation and projects are faltering because of reasons as varied as delayed investment decisions, contractual problems, resistance to land acquisition, geological issues and natural calamities. Another problem was that no proper orders were placed. While there were plans for generating 42,000 MW of power, orders for equipment were placed for generating only 21,000 MW which had a snowballing effect on generation". In the five years to 2012, it has a target of adding 78,577MW of capacity, but could miss this by 60% because of shortage of equipment.
He said, "Country's installed power generation capacity is around 147,000MW, but a significant portion of this capacity is idling because of the scarcity of fuels such as coal, gas and uranium. Coal-based power generation accounts for 76,000MW, while the country's gas-based capacity is 14,600MW, which is operating at 52% efficiency.
Roads are key to economic growth, says Kamal Nath
Indian Federal minister for Road Transport and Highways, Kamal Nath said, "Roads are the key to the economic development of the country. Good roads lead to better and faster economic activity." Nath was addressing top Indian and American businessmen at the Indian consulate in New York.
He said, "India has recently launched an impressive program to develop roads. Work on almost 20,000 Km was in progress at an estimated cost of $ 200 billion. Such an effort will provide stimulus all sections of the economy. This will be a 10 point quantum jump for the economic development as envisaged by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh."
According to Kamal Nath, "India has not suffered so much due to the economic meltdown in the world as our financial systems were on a sound footing. We have the best financial practice as compared to anywhere in the world as a result of which our growth trajectory has been steady and upward." Nath was in the United States for a week, capping off a world tour to revive foreign interest in India's massive infrastructure development, particularly roads and highways. India's road network of 3.32 million km is second only to the United States and is in need of major upgrades.
"India is set to launch the world's biggest Public Private Partnership program that will result in the development of 15,000 km of roads and highways over the next three years at a cost of $70 billion," he said adding, "The current five year plan calls for $500 billion in upgrades to India's infrastructure sector - with about one-third of the investment coming from the private sector."
He presented detailed plans for increasing the pace of road building, up from 2 km a day to 20 km a day. The plans - with timelines for land acquisition, feasibility studies, bidding and building - envision the construction of 127 roads in the coming year, at a cost of $20 billion of which 50 percent of the projects would be undertaken on a "Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)" basis.
