Editorial Boar d P at r on : Editor: Vishal Gulia Scient if ic Engin eer (B) Dep t t . of Scien ce & Techn olo gy Har yana, P anchku la Members: Dr RS Hooda, Chief Scient ist, Har yana Sp ace Applica t ion C entr e Hisar Scien t if ic En gin eer (A) Dep tt. of Scien ce & Techn olo gy Har yana, Panchkula Shri Raj vir Singh A Q uart erly N ewslet t er of t he Har yana Stat e C ouncil f or Science and Technology Vol. 3, No. 3 J uly - Sept ., 2011 Sci ence an d T echn o l ogy R epor t er Shri P K Das , I AS Financial Secr et ary, Science & Techn olog y Dep art ment , Haryana and Chairman/ EC, Haryana St ate Coun cil f or Sci ence & Tech nolog y Commissioner & P r incipal Sh. Anur ag Agarwal, I AS Direct or Gener al, Science & Techno logy Dep ar t ment, Haryana and Secret ary/ EC, Haryana St at e C ouncil f or Science & Technology EDITORIAL The Department of Science and Technology through Haryana State Council for Science & Technology, in its all out efforts to promote and po pul ariz e science in the state, is alwa ys i nvo l ved in conducting vari ou s science po pu l arization program m es for schoo l and college students. The aim behind organization of these programmes is to generate scientific temp er am on g gene ral masses, parti cularly stud ents. During this qua rter , a Sci ence Workshop was o rganiz ed at the Saraswati rd Vidya Mandir Senior Seconda ry School, Jagadh ari on 3 Septembe r 20 11 . Dr . R.K. K oh l i, Professor and Ch airma n, Dep tt. of Bota ny, Pu njab Universi ty , Ch an digarh, wh o is al so the fi rst Ha ryan a Vi gyan Rata n Award reci pient wa s invited to conduct this workshop for the sci en ce stude nts of th th 11 and 12 classes of the Yam una Na gar distri ct. In the workshop, he explained the process of research by which a scientist identifies the prob le m , hypo thesi ze, think and through experiments find s sol ution and com mu nicates with the wo rl d throu gh research p ub l icati on s and bo oks. Ano ther worksho p for providi ng career guidan ce to the science stud ents th th of 10 – 12 cl asses was organiz ed through a reno wned career counsel or Mrs. Usha Al bu querque of Career Sma rt Group , Noida a t Pan chkula, in which she guided the pa rti ci pa ti ng studen ts ab ou t vari ous career o ptions after stud yi ng natural / pure sciences. Besides, a workshop on astron omy was also organ ized at Kuru kshetra throu gh Dr. Arvind C Ra na de, scien tist from Vigyan Prasa r, Noida for the sci en ce teach ers of the nea rby schoo ls. From this issue of the newsletter we are a dd ing a new fea ture, u nd er which we a re starti ng a n interesti ng co lum n de ali ng w ith facts of s cien ce, latest about science and insights and analysis about science and technology. Hopefully, the new feature will be found interesting and will be ap preci ated b y the rea ders. (V isha l Gulia )
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2 Science and Technology Reporter, Vol. 3 (3), July-Sept., 2011
The Dep artment of Science a nd Technology, Ha ryana h as
organized career counseling cum awareness workshop forth
career op tion s in scien ces for the stud ents of region on 30
September 2011 a t Bhavan Vidyalaya , Sector -15
Panchkula. In this workshop, the renowned career
coun selor Mrs. Usha Albuq uerqu e of Ca reer Smart Grou p,th
Noida ha s been invited for guiding the students of 10 toth
12 classes about the o ptions of higher studies in n atural /
pure sciences and future career opportunities after
acquisition of higher qualification in science subjects
besides other career opportunities. This workshop was
aimed to motivate the participating students to studytea che rs an d scien tists. Also, it wou ld stand still ne wsciences and make it as their career. The key period for
researches and further development of technology. Hestudents to make serious decisions about their careers isth th further elaborated that this workshop is a step towardsduring 10 – 12 classes and a ccordingly this workshop has
mo tivating the stude nts back to sciences and ma king thembeen arranged for students of these classes to have timelyaw are a bo ut futu re prosp ects in this field with the o bjectiveguidan ce. Mrs. Albu que rque gu ided the studen ts in jud gingto reverse the de clining tren d towards sciences. Thetheir aptitude first and then for opting the right path todepartment will also organize more similar workshops inchoose their career. More than 250 students from variousoth er d istricts as well. Besides, d ep ar tme nt will also take a llGovt. / Private schools of the region participated in thenece ssary mea sures for improving science edu cation in theworkshop. An information booklet having details likeState.eligibility, selection procedures, top institutes of various
disciplines in sciences and engineering etc. was alsoOn this occasion, Sh. Anurag Agarwal, IAS, Director
distribu ted a mo ng the p articipa nts.
elabora ted the initiatives taken by the de pa rtmen t in recentpa st to prom ote science ed ucation in the State. He sa id thatThe workshop was inaugurated by Sh. P K Das, IAS,there are tremendous opportunities with handsomeFina ncial Co mm ission er an d Principa l Secretary to Go vt. of packages after acquiring higher qualifications in sciences.Ha ryana, Dep artment o f Science a nd Technology. On thisHe asked the participating students to take maximumoccasion, he sho wed con cerns that these d ays, most of thebenefit from the guidance of Mrs. Albuquerque andstudents are attracted towards engineering and medicalmo tivated the m to cho ose science a s their careers.cou rses instea d o f pu rsuing ba sic scien ces for highe r stud ies,
which would result in acute shortage of quality science
A Science Worksho p wa s organ ized at Sa raswati Vidya Mand ir various problems. He explained the process of research byrd
Senior Secondary School, Jagadhar i on 3 September 2011. which a scientist ide ntifies the p roblem , hypo thesize, think an dth through exp erime nts finds solution an d co mm un icates with theIn this workshop about 1000 science students of classes 11
th world throu gh resea rch p ub lications an d boo ks. After the talk,an d 12 from different Govt. an d Pvt. schools and
an op en d iscussion an d qu estion an swer session was held withun dergradu ate college stude nts of the Yam un a Na gar district
the participants. The participants showed keen interest andpa rticipa ted. Dr. R.K. Koh li, Professor an d Ch airma n, Dep tt.
asked lot o f question s related to ca reer opp ortunities in science .of Botany, Pun jab University, Ch an digarh gave an interesting
Mrs. Jagjeet Kaur, District Education Officer, Yamuna Nagartalk on the top ic “Ho w to think of Research as ca reer with lea st
was the Chief Guest of the above workshop. Participatingfacilities”. Professor Kohli motivated the young students and
teachers and students appreciated the efforts made by theinspired them with a lecture on how to think of Research as
S c i e n c e & T e c h n o l o g y D e p a r t m e n t f o rcaree r with least facilities. According to h im the excitem en t an d
promoting/popularization of science through organizingcreativity of kno wled ge is unlim ited in science. It is the scientist
lecture/talk on scien tific issues b y e m inen t scien tist.who lives after dea th. World-over, the society an d the
governm en t ap proa ch to the scientists for find ing solution s to
Sc ience Workshop at Yam una Nagar
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In 1011 an Arab scientist Ibn al-Ha ytham (Alha zen ) The colou r of un iverse is beige according to a survey of wrote “Boo k of Op tics” de scribing for the first tim e the red-shift em ission s by 20 0,0 00 galaxies by a grou p of pro pe rties of a m agn ifying glass. The se principles led to astron om ers from Jo hn Ho pkins University.the invention of microscope later on .
Moon is moving away from the earth as its orbit isThe so-called discovery of microbial life on moon was increa sing b y 3.5 cm every yea r.false. It was due to the fact that NASA researchers
There are 62,000 miles of blood vessels in the humanmistook b acte ria from their cloth ing which were sticking
body – laid end to end they would circle the earth 2.5to the Surveyor 3 camera left on the m oon and recovered times.later by Su rveyor 3 du ring ha nd ling.
The G reat Barrier Reef is 200 0 Km long an d is the lon gestThe e arth's magn etism is thou ght to be ca used by electricliving structure o n Ea rth.currents flowing through its core of molten iron and
nickel.The temperature on the surface of Mercury exceeds
Electric m otors work in the op po site way to gene rators. 430 °C du ring the d ay a nd falls to minus 18 0°C at night.Generators send electricity through coil of wire in a
The lotus seeds have the longest viability of 300-400magnetic field which makes the wires to move and theyears.ph en om en on is called electroma gnetic ind uction . While
in electric m oto rs such as in cassette playe rs the curren t is A mosquito h as 27 teeth.used to m ove a shaft.
The microwave was discovered accidentally after aCo nifers (gian t Sequ oias an d p ines) are the oldest trees researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate in hison this planet. The oldest- Methuselah Pine growing in
po cket me lted.Western USA is abo ut 48 00 ye ars old.
Som e importa nt facts a bout scienceCo llected by: Dr.V.K. Koch ha r a nd Dr. Su nita Kochh ar
Science and Technology Reporter, Vol. 3 (3), July-Sept., 2011
When we go out for shopping for be it grocery, vegetables,
clothes, stationary or any thing, delivery in plastic or simply
po lythen e b ags is taken for gran ted. Life withou t plastics in the
present da y rou tine is un thinkab le. But do you know the use o f
plastic ba gs was started o nly in 70 s and ga ined mo me ntum in
80s to reach its pea k in 90 s and in the recent deca de. Bu t why is
it that after being in use so extensively it is increasingly
beco ming ne cessary to b an the p lastic ba gs (Fig.1.)?
almost com pletely replaced pa per b ags a s also p lastic replaced
me tal, glass, timb er, stone a nd o ther materials Currently more
than 500 billion or even 1 trillion plastic bags are used world
wide.
But ho w is it that a fter capturing the world for 3-4 d ecad es, why
the use of plastic bags is being ba nn ed o r being red uced ? It isdue to multiple reasons such as environmental concerns,
reduction in the sup plies of petroleum a nd petroleum p rodu ctsBefore going further into the problem of plastic bags, let us
and global climate change due to excessive use of petroleumconsider what are plastics made of and why did they capture
products and increase of green house gases in thethe market of packing and delivery systems. Plastic bags are
environment.made of polyethylene and consist of long chains of ethylene
monomers consisting of one atom of carbon and two of Environmental Concerns and health hazards: It is the
hydrogen (Fig.2). Ethylene is derived from petroleum and excessive and indiscrimina te use o f plastics tha t has resulted in
na tural gas. The light weight plastics bag a s we kno w toda y was environmental and health hazards. Besides that it results in
the invention o f a Swed ish en ginee r Sten G au s Thulin. He was huge amounts of plastic waste sticking to unexpected places
first to develop the idea of plastic bags by simple folding, an d p ollutes the e nvironm en t (Fig. 3). Most of the p lastic waste
molding and cutting of plastic tubes. In 60s a patent was is not de grada ble and find s its way in water bod ies an d o therob tained b y Cellop last Com pa ny o f USA in 1 965 for the first places. Eve n in land fills it ma y take 1 00 0 ye ars for plastic ba gs
time. Soon after other companies like Mobil (famous to decom pose. According to an estima te each person produ ces
petrochemical company) and Dixie Bag Company obtained 57 2 Kg of litter pe r yea r, ou t of which mo re tha n h alf is plastic
pa tents of variation s of this basic concep t in 1 977 an d later on waste. USA is the biggest polluter followed by China, India,
gradu ally the plastic bags becam e chea per than pap er bags due Russia, Japan, Germany, UK respectively. Unauthorized
to improvement in technology and abundant and cheap recycling units cause environmental pollution; unregulated
pe troleum supp lies at that time . littering of plastic bags has resulted in the choking of water
ways, rivers and other water bo dies all over the world. P lasticBut it was not till 1982 that the plastic bags were started to be
litter has been found even on most unexpected places likeused o n a large scale, when America's large grocery comp an ies
North and So uth Poles and Moun t Everest. Many cattle arelike Kroger and Safeway started replacing paper bags with
cho ked to d ea th while grazing o n litter conta ining plastic ba gs.more affordable plastic bags. From mid 80's the plastic bags
Plastic bags are injuriou s to h um an hea lth a s well, espe cially
.
Why plast ic ba gs are be ing ba nne d a ll over the world?
Biode grad ab le Alterna tives.
Drs V.K. Kochh ar an d S unita Kochha r
Retired Deputy Directors & Heads of Biotechnology, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow
Fig.1. Common site in Indian cities, a rag
picker with load of plastic bags.
Fig. 2. Structure of Polyethylene chain the major constituent of Plastic.
Science and Technology Reporter, Vol. 3 (3), July-Sept., 2011
discouraged all over the world and many countries besides
Ind ia, USA, Russia, S ou th Africa, UK and oth ers.
Bio-degradable alternatives to plastic: Now the big
qu estion- are there an y alterna tives to plastic? There are
“biopo lyme rs” or the p rodu cts ma de from na tural sources that
can be easily biodegraded can be used to make bioplasticwhich can be easily rolled into films to make bags. Of course
there is the old paper bag which is made from the most
abundant natural biopolymer the cellulose (Fig.4). The
cellulose is the com mo n biopolymer on earth an d a bout 33 %
of all plant life is composed of this natural biopolymer. But
pa per ba gs occupy lot of space a nd a re not that strong altho ugh
they are bio-degradable. The cloth bag which is made from
cotton an d is also m ad e of the biopo lyme r cellulose is ano therdue to emana ting gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon
time tested alternative. Some of the other biopolymers thatmo noxide, ethylene a nd acetylene from burn ing of plastics for
ha ve be en u sed to m ake films to m ake b ags is starch-which isrecycling. Som e yea rs back, the governm ent ha d app ointed
another naturally derived polymers of polysaccharides ie.Justice R.C. Cho pra Co mm ittee that included h ea ds of Cen tral
carboh ydrates. There a re some other p olymers like po lylacticPollution Control Board and Delhi Pollution Control Boardsacid (PA) and polyhydroxybutyric acid (PHBA) which have
and experts in environm ent and hum an h ealth to go throughalso been used to make bioplastic. The researches are still
the effects of plastics on hu ma n h ealth a nd environm ent Thegoing on but a s yet there is still no alterna tive to the pa per o r
recomm enda tions were imp lem ented a nd Delhi governm entcloth bags which is biodegradable as well as environmental
ba nn ed use o f plastic ba gs. Similarly the ce ntral and other statefriendly. Moreover the biopolymers are sustainable and are
governments including Haryana Government have bannedalways rene wab le since they a re ma de from p lan t sou rces.
the u se of plastics bags. Fines o r surcha rges are be ing imp osedSense of responsibili ty: Unless we realize the impo rtan ceon the u se of plastic ba gs.of self discipline an d social respon sibility it is ha rd to find a ny
Petroleum sup plies and global climat e chan ge: During alternative to plastic, meantime although the scientists are stillthe early years the plastic bags found favour because of en gage d in finding suitable alterna tives. We ha ve to follow theab un da nt p etroleum supplies. But with the d wind ling fossil fuel no rms an d a s an individu al respon sible citizen an d d ischargeresources, the fossil fuels like petroleum and natural gas need effectively ou r role in society. At ma ny p ub lic place s after som eto be conserved. Therefore, the diversion of precious fun ction s are ove r, the who le groun d is full of litter, p lastic ba gs,petroleum for manufacturing plastics is being discouraged. plates, cup s which show o ur lack of respo nsibility an d feelingsBesides th is asp ect, the excessive u se o f fossil fue ls ha s resulted towa rds ou r duties. The d ay we a ll start rea lizing this an d startin global warming and general climate change all over the understanding our duties, alternatives will definitely be there.world. Since, the excessive use of plastic products including This is why we n eed to stop the use o f plastic ba gs as soon asplastic ba gs also u ltima tely results in the use o f m ore p etroleum po ssible and ma ke it man da tory for peo ple to bring their ownand global climate change, the use of plastic bags is being eco -frien dly bags to stores.
.
Fig.3. Plastic litter sticking to grass on the ground and
even to a tree.
Fig.4. Structure of cellulose consisting of chains of glucose residues as amylose and amylopectins.
Science and Technology Reporter, Vol. 3 (3), July-Sept., 2011
National Remo te Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyde raba d in watch situation an d rema ining 6 districts were no rma l withassociation with H ARSAC cond ucts a project on “Nationa l respect to agricultural drou ght. This was du e to scanty rainfallAgricultural Drou ght Assessme nt an d Monitoring System ”. in the state du ring Ju ly mo nth. The situation was better for theBased on the satellite da ta an d other an cillary da ta on mo nthly State during August as 15 districts were observed a s norma lba sis, the a gricultural drought bu lletins are be ing gen erated an d 6 districts in watch situation in the mo nth of August. Thefrom Ju ly to Octobe r 20 11 un de r the project. Based on the situation ha d impro ved further during Septem ber as thean alysis of the drou ght bulletin of July 201 1 for Ha ryana , 8 agricultural situation wa s ob served a s no rma l throu ghou tdistricts were indicated in the alert con dition , 7 districts in the Ha ryan a.
NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL DROUGHT ASSESSMENT AND
MONOTORING SYSTEM (NADAMS)
Rea lizing the impo rtan ce of Ge o-informa tics too l for University, ho wever the classes & practical work are ma na ged
deve lop me ntal plann ing an d for sustainab le man agem ent of by HARSAC. An MoU for this collab oration was executed by
resources Ha ryana Sp ace Application Cen tre (HARSAC) in the Fina ncial Com mission er an d Principal Secretary to Go vt.
collab oration with Gu ru Ja mb heshwa r University of Scien ce of Ha ryana , Science & Techn ology Depa rtmen t an d the Vice-
and Technology (GJUS&T) s ta r ted an M.Tech . Geo- Chancello r o f GJUS&T in the presence of the then Chief th
informa tics programm e in 200 9. This course covers the stud y Secretary on 11 August 2009 at Chand igarh.
of Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS),Now, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
Global Positioning System (GPS), Computer Science andvide ref. n o. F.No.North-West/1-4415 807 91 /2011 /EOA Dated:
Inform ation Tech no logy. Thirty stud en ts with B.Tech or M.Sc.30-08-2011 has granted its approval for the M.Tech
qualifications are admitted under this course through anGeoinformatics course being offered by GJUS&T and
entran ce test organ ized by GJ US&T. The a dm issions, condu ct HARSAC.of examinations and award of degree are managed by the
HARSAC'S M.TECH GEO -INFORMATICS CO URSE GETS
AICTE RECO GNITION
Science and Technology Reporter, Vol. 3 (3), July-Sept., 2011
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8
A one day 'Astronomy workshop' was organized by the
Kalpan a Cha wla Memo rial Plane tarium (KCMP), Kurukshetrath
on 6 August 2011 a t the plane tarium for science teachers from
different schoo ls of Kuruksehtra a nd nea rby area s.
Workshop started with a lecture from Dr. Arvind C Ranade,
Scientist from Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science &
Technology, Govt. of India. In his lecture Dr. Ranade
dem on strated several subjects of the p ractical astron om y like
recognizing p ole star, change s in season s on the e arth, rising o f
mo on 5 0 m inutes late, one p hase of moon towards the earth,
why there are 12 zodiac signs etc. A special session was
conducted for direct interaction between the teachers and Dr.
Ranade stressing on importance of astronomy in presentthrilling experience for teachers to observe stars and planets at
scenario.night throu gh telescop e. Abou t fifty science tea che rs from differen t
In the workshop, astronomy kits were also distributed to the schools of Kurukshetra a nd arou nd pa rticipa ted in this worksho p.invited teache rs. Sh . R K Yad av from Vigyan Prasar co nd ucted
Further, it is worth to m en tion he re tha t the KCMP, which wa s setthe hands on activity session and explained the utility of
up in the mem ory of fam ous astrona ut and the brave dau ghter of astronomy kits in imparting practical knowledge to the
Haryana, Late Dr. Kalpana Chawla, to impart education onstudents. Sh. Sanjeev Kumar, Educational Assistant of KCMP
astronomy in an informal way among students and generalalso exp lained the m ethod s of night sky watching. An a ma zing
masses, has become an important destination for the visitors.night sky-view session through telescope s was con du cted a t the
During this quarter, it was visited by about 20,148 visitors whichconclusion of the work-shop , in which various co nstellations,
include 3,958 students and a revenue of Rs 4,54,480/- wasplanets and moon were shown to the participants. It was a
gene rated through sale of tickets.
Trainings / S em inars / Con ferenc es a tte nde d
Sh. Rajvir Singh, Scientific Engineer (A) an d Sh. Visha l Gu lia, organ ized by the coop eration of Ban galore Association for Science
Scientific Enginee r (B) from DST, Ha ryana pa rticipa ted in the Edu cation (BASE), the Go vernm ent of Karna taka's Dep artm ent of
Programme on “Conceptualization and Implementation Science and Technology, the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium,
Bangalore and the International Lunar Observatory Associationof Data Center” organ ized by the Engineering Staff Co llege o f th thth th
(ILOA) during 8 – 9 Sep tem ber 2011 a t Banga lore.India (ESCI), H yderaba d during 5 – 7 S ep te mb er 2 0 11 .
They also took part in the “Galaxy Forum India 2011”
KCMP organ ized Astron om y Worksh op for sc ience tea che rs
Science and Technology Reporter, Vol. 3 (3), July-Sept., 2011