Nobel laureates of Indian origin mostly from Tamil Nadu, Bengal

Is it more than just a coincidence that the Nobel laureates of Indian origin belong to Tamil Nadu and West Bengal?

Like Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, the latest winner, C.V. Raman and Subramanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the prize in 1930 and 1983 respectively, were also Tamils. They were also members of the Tamil diaspora in the US who had emigrated following the rise of the backward caste movement in Tamil Nadu that put the upper castes under social and political pressure.

Of the other winners, the first among Indians was Rabindranath Tagore, who received the prize in 1913. It was not until 1998 before another Bengali won the prize -- economist Amartya Sen.

There were two other winners, however, who were associated with Calcutta, as Kolkata was then known, although they were not Bengalis. Ronald Ross was one of them. He received the prize in 1902 for his work on malaria, which he studied at the Presidency General Hospital (now Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital) between 1881 and 1899. The other was Albania-born Mother Teresa, who won the prize in 1997.

The reason why Tamil Nadu and West Bengal should have produced more Nobel laureates than other provinces is probably due to the fact that these two states had a headstart in the matter of modern education.

The first college imparting Western-style education was set up in Calcutta in 1817. It was called Hindu College and became the

Presidency College in 1855. Similarly, the Presidency College of Madras (now Chennai) was set up in 1840.

What cannot be easily explained, however, is that although Elphinstone College in Bombay was set up at the same time (1856), Maharashtra has not been as fortunate as Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in the matter of producing Nobel prize winners.

This strange regional imbalance where two states in the east and the south are the only ones from where scholars and scientists of distinction have emerged, must arouse curiosity.

Only historians can offer some clues by probing the past periods of these two regions in terms of ascertaining their intellectual legacies along with sociologists who try to identify the factors responsible for the academic achievements.

Arguably, the distinction which the British made about martial and other races in India may include a grain of truth after all even though such assessments were later criticised as another attempt by a colonial regime to divide and rule.

It has to be noted that apart from those Tamils who won the prize, there were also others who eminently deserved it, such as the mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, who, incidentally, was the nephew of the great astrophysicist Subramanyan Chandrasekhar.

In Bengal, too, there were at least two others who could have won the prize. One of them was Jagadish Chandra Bose, who pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, as the Internet wikipedia says, and also made “significant contributions” to plant science.

The other was Satyendra Nath Bose, who is known for his work on quantum mechanics, which led to the Bose-Einstein theory. The subatomic particle, Boson, is named after him.

Not surprisingly, two other scientific terms recall these Indian scientists. One is the Raman effect, which is named after C.V. Raman, and the other is Chandrasekhar limit, which is named after the astrophysicist.

The other Indian scientist who won the prize is the molecular biologist, Hargobind Khorana, another resident of America. He was born in that part of Punjab which is now in Pakistan.

Then, there is Rajendra Pachauri, also from north India, who won it in 2007 for his contributions in the field of climate change. He was also the first to get the Nobel prize for peace after the Dalai Lama, who received it in 1989. Though not an Indian, the Tibetan pontiff can be regarded as an honorary citizen of the country.

V.S. Naipaul is the second person of Indian origin who won the prize for literature after Tagore. But his links with India are no more than tenuous despite his keen interest in its history and the social scene. He was born in Trinidad and is now a British citizen.

Amulya Ganguli, IANS

India celebrates Diwali, 32 die in Tamil Nadu DIWALI, THE FESTIVAL

celebrated across India Saturday with prayers, fireworks and frenzied shopping but it was marred by tragedy in Tamil Nadu. With the economy slowly recovering from the recession that badly hit Diwali last year, people celebrated the festival with fervour and with greater enthusiasm.

Many thronged temples, distributed sweets and wished friends and relatives, with SMS messages - which seem to have replaced the traditional greeting cards - going to and fro throughout the day.

Innumerable homes across the country witnessed colourful rangolis and flowers on doorsteps. There were prayers to Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity.

In the evening, millions of lights from tiny earthen diyas and dazzling strings of electric bulbs lit up homes, factories and offices from one of the country to another.

Tragedy struck Tamil Nadu’s Pallipatu village, some 90 km from Chennai, when a devastating fire engulfed a godown packed with shoppers for crackers, charring 32 to death. Most victims were from Andhra Pradesh.

Barring this tragedy, it was a joyous day everywhere.

Marketing professional Radhika Mishra said in New Delhi: “I got up early and went to the temple with my family. Like every year my sister and I decorated the courtyard with rangolis and diyas.”

Many extended their Diwali weekend to take a small vacation.

“I took the opportunity to go to Jodhpur with my wife,” engineer Prateek Shah told IANS.

In Karnataka, victims of the recent floods too joined the celebrations.

“I am going to enjoy Diwali fully. I want to forget all the sad incidents and welcome a new beginning,” Santosh Nair, a techie, told IANS.

Reports of Diwali celebrations also came from Tripura and Assam in the northeast.

In Udaipur in south Tripura, a large fair was organised at the 14th century Tripura Sundari Temple with the government contributing over Rs.3 million.

Two buffaloes and hundreds of goats and pigeons will be sacrificed Saturday night in the presence of hundreds of thousands of devotees, said Subrata Deb, chairperson of the Udaipur municipality.

West Bengal celebrated Kali Puja and Diwali, with the police keeping a close vigil to prevent use of banned sound-producing crackers.

At the famed Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai, Diwali celebrations began with the auctioning of valuable offerings made to its coffers.

Most households also prepared sweets and savouries and the special ‘Diwali Leghium’, a herbal jam.

For newly married couples, it was the first Diwali post their wedding.

Instead of account books, these traders pray to computers this Diwali

THERE ARE PROBABLY few things more sacred to traders than the account book and so traditionally on Diwali, they have been praying to it. This year however, a group of businessmen prayed to their computers instead.

Since Diwali is associated with the goddess of wealth Lakshmi, the business community considers it as an auspicious time to start a new accounting year.

Praveen Khandelwal, president of the Confederation of All India Traders said that this time they were praying to their computers.

“In view of rapid computerisation, most traders across the country have changed their accounting system from traditional Bahi-Khata to computer system. Therefore, on the occasion of Diwali, the trading community is worshipping their computers,” Khandelwal said.

According to him, a special puja was organised at Karol Bagh, a busy business district in the capital, with vedic mantras being recited by priests.

“We are offering our prayers to one computer and a laptop, since the latter is now being used in our shops as well,” said Harish Kumar, a trader who participated in the ceremony.

While the ceremony was attended by around 25 traders and shop keepers of the area, it attracted scores of other curious onlookers.

“Generally we see shopkeepers praying to their account books on Diwali, but this is the first time I am seeing puja being done to computers and laptops! I had come out of my house to buy some flowers and stopped by to see what they were doing with the machines,” homemaker Gauri Sharma said.

Northeast frets, but India can do little on China’s Brahmaputra dam

WHILE CONCERNED OFFICIALS of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have asked for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention, India may not be able to make much noise over China’s hydro project on the Brahamaputra in Tibet, said officials.

Sources said that it was India’s assessment that the Zangmu hydropower project would be a “run of the river” hydro project, which will not violate any international laws.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said, in response to a media report, that India will be trying “to ascertain whether there are recent developments that suggest any change in the position conveyed to us by the government of China”.

The spokesperson said at earlier meetings of India-China experts on trans-border river issues “the Chinese side has categorically denied that there is a plan to build any such large-scale diversion project on the Brahmaputra river”.

According to the sources, India will be inquiring about the Zangmu project at the next bilateral meeting of water experts. China’s reported plans to build a dam across the Brahmaputra river and divert water to its arid provinces have been opposed by the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments. “Large-scale diversion of water would adversely hit the state’s economy and could even lead to environmental problems and affect the surface water table in the (Indian) northeast,” Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

The 2,906-km long Brahmaputra is one of Asia’s largest rivers that flows the first stretch of 1,625 km in Tibet region, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km through Bangladesh before converging into the Bay of Bengal.

“We are going to seek the prime minister’s intervention to ensure that China does not construct the dam. It would have devastating impact on Assam,” the chief minister said.

“It would be a gross violation of international protocol if China arbitrarily constructs the dam,” Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh Takam Sanjay said. Experts feel that a dam on the Brahmaputra would have a cascading impact in the northeast and even in Bangladesh.

“We are worried as many areas in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and even Bangladesh would go dry if the Chinese went ahead with their plans. This move would severely affect water flow to the region which in turn would adversely affect agriculture,” said Sapna Devi, a geologist.

According to media reports, China was planning to divert 200 billion cubic metres of water to feed the Yellow River in an attempt at easing acute water shortage in Shaanxi, Hebel, Beijing and Tianjin.

The Brahmaputra is the lifeline for a vast majority of the people in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bangladesh. Most of them depend on the river to irrigate their fields, fishing and transportation of goods.

Agriculture forms the backbone of the economies in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with nearly 80 percent of the 28 million people in the two states eking out a living through farming.

There has been no official reaction from Beijing to India’s concern about damming the Brahmaputra.

IIMs get more autonomy, collegium to appoint directors

GIVING FURTHER autonomy to the country’s premier B-schools, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal Friday said a 13-member collegium will appoint institutes’ directors and board members.

“The collegium will suggest names for appointment of the board members and the directors,” Sibal said after a meeting with directors of all IIMs.

Currently, the IIM director and board members are appointed by the central government.

The minister told reporters that the directors have opposed the setting up of a pan-IIM board as suggested by the R.C. Bhargava committee but have agreed to the collegium-based appointment idea.

Sibal said the collegium will have academics and members from industry. While each IIM will have its own board, the collegium will suggest names for appointment of director and board members at all seven IIMs.

Reacting to the announcement made by Sibal, IIM-Kozhikode Director Debasis Chatterjee said: “We are happy about the development. The minister has assured us that there will be no interference in our functioning.”

During the meeting the minister assured the directors that he is in favour of greater autonomy to these premier business schools and asked the directors to prepare a vision document for the next five years.

“The directors will submit their vision document keeping in mind both quality and inclusiveness,” Sibal said, adding that it must be done by January 2010.

The idea of the IIMs opening off-shore campuses was also discussed at the meeting. Earlier, the ministry had rejected a proposal of IIM-Bangalore to open campus(es) abroad.

Climate deal to deliver solar power to 20 mn Indian households

INDIA’S AMBITIONS to roll out a massive solar energy project is set to receive a strong boost as part of a climate change deal in Copenhagen at the end of the year, a senior British minister has revealed.

British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliand’s comments, made to IANS, came ahead of a Major Economies Forum (MEF) meeting in London Oct 1819, set to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Special Envoy Shyam Saran.

Although the prospects of India being offered free green technology have receded in favour of what is being described as a “collaborative and cooperative” approach to technology development and sharing, India’s technology needs will be at the top of the agenda at the Copenhagen summit this December.

Miliband said he and Saran have held discussions about how to expand India’s solar energy programme as part of an overall financing deal in Copenhagen.

“India have a strong ambition on going solar,” Miliband told IANS, describing Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh as a “visionary person”.

Miliband said solar energy will deliver electricity to 20 million new households as part of an overall financing agreement in Copenhagen. Currently 450 million Indians do not have access to electricity.

British negotiators say current thinking on technology transfer - in New Delhi and London - has shifted to favour “horizontal cooperation” on technologies like carbon capture storage, knowledge sharing, and “getting our scientists and engineers to learn form each other”.

This shift is an acknowledgement of changed ground realities, with India and China leading on the development of many green technologies and even exporting them to developed countries, negotiators said.

“The long-standing discourse of [free] technology transfer fails to recognise how far India already is down the route of developing its own technologies,” one senior negotiator said.

Miliband had strong praise for domestic actions taken by China and India to lower their carbon emissions, and said it was up to developed countries now to respond.

“What’s changed in the past couple of months is that India have said ‘we will also pass domestic laws’,” Miliband said. “The new Indian environment minister is frankly an incredibly visionary and imaginative person, who has come into his job and said, ‘Right, we’re going to pass a domestic law to help get an agreement and it’s going to be clear and domestically binding on India’.”

The MEF comprises Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the US.

Sweden as the president of the EU, Denmark as host of the December summit and the UNFCCC - the UN’s climate change agency - will also participate.

The London MEF meeting is to be followed by a High Level Conference on Technology Development and Transfer in New Delhi Oct 22-23 aimed at advancing the “international policy dialogue on technologies needed to address climate change”.

More Bollywood, less couture at India Couture Week

WITH TOP NOTCH Bollywood celebrities sashaying down the ramp or making for a dazzling audience, the second edition of the HDIL India Couture Week (HDIL-ICW) was high on glamour and less on couture.

Despite the inaugural show by designer duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla - where the Bachchan family was expected to walk the ramp - being cancelled, the HDIL-ICW week was still a star studded affair.

All the Khans of Bollywood - Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan, Zaayed Khan and Imran Khan - sashayed down the ramp. Giving them company were other Bollywood newsmakers Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Akshay Kumar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Sridevi, Gauri Khan and Shruti Hasan.

Sitting in front rows and cheering for their friends were Bollywood stars Preity Zinta, Kajol, Dia Mirza, Amisha Patel, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Farhan Akhtar, Malaika Arora Khan, Amrita Arora, Dino Morea, Farah Khan, Uday Chopra, Anupam Kher, Rishi and Neetu Kapoor among others.

The Bollywood presence definitely took attention away from the designers and their clothes.

This was clearly indicated when a journalist pointed out at one particular show that made an exception: “There are no celebrities walking the ramp or sitting in the front row at all. Huge disappointment!” Fashion critic Sathya Saran said: “When stars become the highlight of the show, designs take a backstage and the focus gets shifted to celebrities and not on clothes. We should get rid of this star struck frenzy, otherwise it’s the designers’ loss.”

The second edition of the HDIL-ICW was by all means better than its first edition in terms of arrangement and decor. With couturiers like Pallavi Jaikishen, Manish Malhotra, Varun Bahl, Manav Gangwani, Suneet Varma and Monisha Bajaj participating in it, one couldn’t have asked for a better line-up. There too, filmmaker Karan Johar made his presence felt. Lotus-like cutouts hanging from the ceiling and three lounges went well with the ambience. The only drawback was the lack of waiting area.

The lounges took up most of the space leading to a cramped waiting area. So there were crowds before the start and after the end of every show, resulting in a lot of pushing and shoving.

Also, one thing universal to fashion shows in India - which was true at this event toois that they start fashionably late.

Despite having two shows every day and one main show area (MSA) being allocated to each designer 24 hours prior to the show, giving enough time to deck up the ramp according to his or her theme, the shows always started late.

Unlike the previous year when designers had given special emphasis to ramp decor, this time except Suneet Varma, all others failed to impress with their catwalk creativity.

In terms of clothes, while most designers stuck to heavy bridal wear as their couture collection, designer Monisha Jaising came up with a fresh collection of bustier dresses and fishnet gowns for her couture line.

Also, this was the first time HDIL-ICW had a couture jewellery show by designers Farah Khan, Maheep Kapoor and Queenie Dhody.

“Jewellery is an important aspect of couture wear. One can’t ignore the importance of high-end jewellery. This show gave everyone an idea of what high-end jewellery is all about,” said Sunil Sethi, president of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), which organised the event. HDIL-ICW had a lot of bling and high-end couture - but what really dazzled in the end was star power.

Half of India’s children malnourished, says NGO report

AS THE WORLD observes World Food Day, India, with 47 percent of its children under the age of six malnourished, ranks below countries like Bangladesh and Nepal on the state of hunger, a report says.

According to the report by ActionAid, an international NGO, India stood at the 22nd spot amongst a list of 51 countries, like Australia, Britain, the US, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Anne Jellema, ActionAid’s international policy director, talking about the report, said: “It is the role of the state and not the level of wealth, that determines progress on hunger.”

India’s case showed a lot of contrasts. While the country ranked amongst the first three developing countries on the indicator for social protection, because of poor implementation over 30 million Indians have joined the ranks of hungry since mid1990s, the study revealed.

Babu Matthew, country director for ActionAid India, said: “The dark side of India’s economic growth has been that the excluded social groups have been further marginalised, compounding their hunger, malnutrition and even leading to starvation deaths.”

Meanwhile, China has been able to cut numbers of its hungry people by 58 million in ten years through strong state support for small farmers, the report said.

India ranks sixth among developing nations in terms of legal framework for addressing hunger and food rights. Brazil is ranked first under this parameter.

The ActionAid report said that India has some of the best legislations for social protection amongst the developing nations on nutrition, free school meals, employment guarantee, and food subsidy for the poor and pension for vulnerable groups. However, talking about poor implementation of laws and schemes which results in them becoming futile for the common man, Amar Joyti Nayak, food rights head of the NGO, said: “Implementation remains a massive challenge in the absence of recognition of rights of the poor”.

“Entitlements have to be delivered on the ground by empowering the communities and enforced earnestly with greater political will by the government,” he said.

“In a year when poor are reeling under crop loss due to droughts and floods in India, focus must be on supporting agriculture, especially subsistence and women farmers,” Nayak added.

The report said that although the farm loan waiver enabled a boost in investment to agriculture in 2008, longer term interventions are required. Delay in payment of wages through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) further ails those who have been already starving.

Jellema said: “Massive and urgent support to poor farmers, and social welfare programmes for vulnerable groups, are needed to reverse growing global hunger. At the World Food Summit next month, donor countries need to announce an additional 23 billion dollars to support these measures.”

Karnataka on austerity drive to aid flood-hit people

KARNATAKA CHIEF Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced a blanket ban on foreign jaunts by ministers and officials and directed them to fly only economy class in a move to mobilise funds for flood relief.

“As an austerity measure, there will be a blanket ban on foreign jaunts by ministers and officials during this fiscal. Ministers and top officials will fly in only economy class hereafter,” Yeddyurappa told reporters after a high-level meeting here.

The state government decided to cut nonplan expenditure by 10 percent this fiscal (2009-10) to mobilise resources for relief and rehabilitation work in the flood-affected districts.

Yeddyurappa also requested the prime minister to waive farm loans and enhance crop insurance amount to the affected farmers in the flood-hit areas.

“I have also written to the prime minister to sanction about 200,000 houses under the Indira Awas Yojana central scheme and central assistance to shift and rehabilitate the people living in the 220 low-lying villages that were worst affected in the floods,” Yeddyurappa said.

Rain havoc and flash floods Sep 29-Oct 2 in 15 districts of north Karnataka claimed 226 lives, destroyed about 501,400 houses, 7,800 head of cattle were lost, 4,290 villages were affected and 1.13 million hectares of crop land damaged.

In a related development, contributions to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund from various social, religious and private organisations and individuals have crossed the Rs.1,000 crore mark.

“The state government employees have donated Rs.160 crore to the relief fund, comprising four months of dearness allowance and a day’s salary,” Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy said.

Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa has decided to visit the flood-hit Raichur district Saturday to monitor relief and rehab works and spend a day or two during the Deepavali festival with the affected people.

“The chief minister will visit the relief camps in the district and issue relief cheques to the affected people personally,” Reddy added.