Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09NEWDELHI661
2009-04-03 10:33:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy New Delhi
Cable title:  

NEW DELHI WEEKLY EST OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF

Tags:  SENV TSPA TRGY TNGD ECON SOCI KGHG IN 
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RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000661 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS
STATE FOR STAS
DOE FOR INTERNATIONAL
INTERIOR FOR FWS RILEY
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV TSPA TRGY TNGD ECON SOCI KGHG IN
SUBJECT: NEW DELHI WEEKLY EST OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF
MARCH 30 TO APRIL 03, 2009

REF: 08 New Delhi 614

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000661

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS
STATE FOR STAS
DOE FOR INTERNATIONAL
INTERIOR FOR FWS RILEY
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV TSPA TRGY TNGD ECON SOCI KGHG IN
SUBJECT: NEW DELHI WEEKLY EST OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF
MARCH 30 TO APRIL 03, 2009

REF: 08 New Delhi 614


1. (SBU) Below is a compilation of Environment, Science, and
Technology highlights from Embassy New Delhi for the week of March
30 to April 03, 2009, including the following:

-- India to Conduct Next Tiger Census in October 2009
-- Maoist Attack in Orissa's Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary Surprises
Forest Officials

-- Weather Gods Help Make Earth Hour a Success in Delhi
-- Media Reports Sighting of Tiger Pug Marks at 10,000 Feet
-- CLRI Develops Process for Growing Silver Nanoparticles
-- Overhauling Indian University Science Education
-- DRDO to Commercialize Defense Technologies
-- ISRO Prepares to Test Reusable Launch Vehicle

--------------
ENVIRONMENT
--------------

India to Conduct Next Tiger Census in October 2009


2. (SBU) The Wildlife Institute of India, in conjunction with the
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) National Tiger
Conservation Authority, are training India's front line forest staff
to carry out a new scientific assessment of India's tiger
population. The census is slated to start in October 2009 and the
MoEF claims it will be completed by April 2010. An EST section
contact within MoEF was skeptical regarding the completion date
stating the last scientific tiger census took two years to complete.
The most recent census was carried out between 2006 and 2008 and
marked the first time the MoEF used scientific methodology to assess
India's tiger population. The 2008 census estimated that only 1,411
wild tigers remained in India and caused popular uproar as the
numbers were less than half of the 2002 census estimate of 3600
(reftel).

Maoist Attack in Orissa's Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary Surprises
Forest Officials


3. (SBU) Media report Maoist insurgents targeted Orissa's Similipal
Wildlife Sanctuary on March 29 in an attack on forest service

property and personnel. The Maoists reportedly set forest
department vehicles and offices ablaze and beat-up tourists they
mistook for forest officials although no deaths were reported.
While Maoist activity in Orissa's national parks is nothing new, the
Similipal attack appears to be the first time the forest service was
specifically targeted. Citing personal experience, Samir Sinha, an
Indian Forest Service Officer, informed ESTFSN he had been advised
on various occasions that if he entered Similipal park with police
escorts, he would be risking an attack but would be left alone if he
traveled unaccompanied by police. In other forest reserves with a
large Maoist presence, forest guards are told not to wear their
uniforms in order to ensure they are not mistaken for police. Sinha
was surprised by the Similipal attack and commented that while many
Maoists use forests as safe-havens, they have not targeted forest
service personnel in the past.

Weather Gods Help Make Earth Hour a Success in Delhi


4. (U) Earth Hour, coupled with mild showers on the evening of
March 28, reduced electricity demand in Delhi by approximately 1000
MW, according to Delhi's electrical utilities. Power experts are
publicly calling the dip in electricity usage remarkable, even after
factoring in the effect of the rain. WWF - India and the Delhi
government's Environment Department had urged residential welfare
associations, schools, colleges, and hotels to participate in Earth
Hour. An EST section contact at WWF - India said he was pleasantly
surprised at the turn out at WWF's Earth Hour celebration and noted

NEW DELHI 00000661 002 OF 003


the participants stayed despite the rain.

Media Reports Unusual Sighting of Tiger Pug Marks at 10,000 Feet


5. (SBU) A national daily reported tiger pug marks in snow at an
altitude of 10,000 feet in the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary in the
Eastern Himalayan State of Sikkim. The report went on to claim
there had been no such sightings in the last 18 years. ESTFSN spoke
to the Sikkim Forest Department's Senior Research Officer, Ms. Usha
Lachungpa, who stated tiger pug marks have been observed at that
altitude for many years and that she has personally seen them in the
same region after domestic livestock were killed. Lachungpa noted
the local Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) quoted in the news report
is young and more than likely overstated the facts. In addition,
she stated there was a good chance the pugmark reported in the story
was actually that of a bear as pug marks in snow are notoriously
unreliable as they tend to change shape through expansion and
contraction due to changes in temperature.

--------------
SCIENCE
--------------

CLRI Develops Process for Growing Silver Nanoparticles


6. (U) The Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Chennai
reported in the Bulletin of Material Science that they have
developed a simple, fast and environmentally friendly process for
growing silver nanoparticles. The key features of the process are
the use of starch as both a template and reducing agent as well as
microwave irradiation during chemical synthesis. CLRI claims that
the microwave assisted process reduces formation time by tenfold and
the presence of the starch template leads to agglomeration-free
silver nanoparticles of an average size of 12 nanometers. CLRI
plans to use particles produced by this method for medical and
industrial applications.

MHRD Offers USD 2 Million Grants to Advance Science Education


7. (U) The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Department
of Higher Education announced grants of INR 100 million (USD 2
million) each for the establishment of 50 centers of excellence for
advanced science training and research at universities in India.
This initiative is part of an MHRD effort to overhaul and rejuvenate
India's Higher Education system.

--------------
TECHNOLOGY
--------------

DRDO to Commercialize Defense Technologies


8. (SBU) India's Defense Research and Development Organization
(DRDO) is partnering with the Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI),with technical assistance from the
IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, on a program to
spin out DRDO technologies for national and international commercial
markets. Twenty-six DRDO labs are putting forth more than 200
technologies in the fields of electronics, robotics, advanced
computing and simulation, avionics, optronics, precision
engineering, special materials, engineering systems,
instrumentation, acoustics, life sciences and disaster management to
be assessed by FICCI during the first year. In addition to
producing high-quality affordable products, head of DRDO M.
Natarajan suggested this program would also attract young talented
personnel to fill DRDO's aging and shrinking scientific ranks. On
April 2, Chandrika Kaushik, DRDO Additional Director for
International Cooperation, told ESTOff that DRDO did not intend to
open the program to international companies, though joint ventures
with FICCI members might be possible.

NEW DELHI 00000661 003 OF 003



ISRO Announces Preparations to Test Reusable Launch Vehicle

9. (U) The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced
plans to begin re-entry flight tests of a prototype Reusable Launch
Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) in 2010. The booster
rocket for the RLV-TD was successfully ground tested at ISRO's
Sriharikota facility in December 2008. The RLV-TD flight tests will
focus on filling gaps in ISRO's understanding of re-entry
aerodynamics, control systems, and heat shielding. ISRO intends to
gather telemetery data from the RLV-TD re-entry tests but has no
plans to recover the RLV-TD from the sea after the flight test
claiming it would not be cost-effective. Although the RLV-TD is
another step in India's development of a manned space shuttle, Dr.

K. Radhakrishnan, Directr of ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in
Thiruvananthapuram, was quoted in a national daily saying ISRO had a
long way to go before it could build an operational RLV.
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