february 2012 issue 02 n volume 08
President Dr M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr Ravi Gupta GM Finance Ajit Kumar DGM Strategy: Raghav Mittal Programme Specialist: Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar
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It has been excellent commentary. In my opinion our awareness about data/information security is in very nascent stage. Even though we do have very innovative applications, and the process of transition to the e-mode is very commendable, our preparedness to tackle any untoward happening is very much wanting. I really like that with all secured networks in advanced nations still we have so much of threats like WikiLeaks, we wonder what could be our response. Dr Sunil K Agrawal, Director, STPI Maharashtra on eGov January Interview with Dr Avinash Vashistha, Chairman & MD, Accenture India
Events Vicky Kalra human resource Sushma Juyal legal R P Verma accounts Anubhav Rana, Subhash Chandra Dimri Editorial & Marketing Correspondence egov – G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA–201 301, India Phone: +91-120-2502181-85 Fax: +91-120-2500060 Email: info@egovonline.net egov is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd in technical collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS). Owner, Publisher, Printer: Ravi Gupta, Printed at Vinayak Print Media Pvt. Ltd, D-320, Sector-10, Noida, U.P. and published from 710 Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50 Noida, UP Editor: Ravi Gupta © All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic and mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage or retrieval system, without publisher’s permission.
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egov / www.egovonline.net / February 2012
In the previous efforts to build supercomputing in India, we ended up funding projects in IISc, CDAC etc. However these ended up as damp squibs as they never really opened up the youth to teachers and students, or became a part of the culture iin the education system. Past record of access to supercomputing set up in IISc to those desirous of using it has been abysmally poor. We may be repeating the same mistake by just funding a small group in IISc once again without it becoming a truly national mission. Here I may quote William Press of Harvard, “Simulation and Mathematical Modeling will drive the 21st Century just the way steam did in the 19th Century.” Hence building a culture of supercomputing in the nation needs a national thrust in nurturing a national culture among the youth in colleges in the algorithms and their implementations in different architectures. The NAL group in Atmospheric Sciences did a great job in building a truly ‘desi’ supercomputer. Others essentially imported available hardware from abroad and used it for their own individual research interests. I do hope that this time we learn from past poor record in this area. We need to set up a national mission in supercomputing with equal emphasis on UG and PG
education in Simulation and Mathematical Modeling with opportunities for scholars to develop algorithms and applications. We may note that Supercomputing implies capacity for managing large volumes of data and capacity to build gigantic scientific databases. We have treated this vast and strategically important field in fragmented ways in the past. We need the spirit of NPTEL that engages large numbers of faculty across multiple institutions. Hopefully we shall not fall into the past trap of a few possessive researchers restricting the developments in this area. The new and younger scientific minds in this area should drive this project itself in well organized and professionally managed ways across an open network of institutions and scholars. K R Srivathsan on eGov portal news item “Ministry of Science and Technology Sanctions 5000 Crore for Supercomputer Research” It is, no doubt, an ambitious project of the Government of Gujarat to ensure social justice for the poor and deprived sections of our population. But the important areas which need to be covered under ICT are the additional employment created under MGNREGP, public distribution system and the land ownership patterns of the SC and ST households. Binayak Rath Professor of Economics IIT Kanpur Binayak Rath, Professor of Economics, IIT Kanpur on eGov January interview with Sanjay Prasad, Principal Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Gujarat
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