New Delhi

Sibal unveils five new technology products

NEW DELHI: Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal has unveiled a set of five technology products, including a CD-ROM of district-wise daily normal of rainfall, temperature and other meteorological parameters, and an atlas of dolphins, whales and other marine mammals off the Indian coastline, particularly in the country’s exclusive economic zone.

The CD-ROM on climatological normals contains daily normal for several meteorological parameters – the possibility and the quantum of rainfall, maximum, minimum and mean temperatures, relative humidity, total cloud amount and wind speed. The data could be browsed using normal personal computers with Microsoft operating system.

The data could be used by a wide range of users – from policy makers to the lay public. For instance, it could be used as a reference against which conditions like climate change or the intensities of heat or cold waves could be assessed, for predicting weather conditions likely to be experienced in a given location, for planning with regard to agricultural operations, power generation and maintenance of dams.

The CD-ROM provides the normals for the rainfall for 524 districts. It has been prepared using 50 years of data, from 1941 to 1990. The normals for the other parameters are available for 441 districts. They have been prepared using 30 years of data, from 1971 to 2000.

A senior Ministry official said the Pune-based National Climate Centre of the India Meteorological Department, which has prepared the CD-ROM, was presently working on two more climatological data products – a high resolution gridded rainfall data set for 150 years, from 1901 to 2005, and high resolution daily temperature data set for 1969-2005. The two products would be released by June. They would be very useful for studies related to climate change and for validation of weather forecast models, he added.

The atlas of marine mammals, which depicts the pattern of their distribution and species composition, was prepared under a programme coordinated by the Kochi-based Centre for marine Living Resources and Ecology. The programme, which involved 750 days of cruising between 2003 and 2005, had, for the first time, provided conclusive evidence on the existence of six species of whales, nine species of dolphins and one species each of sea cow and porpoise in the Indian EEZ.

It also showed that the areas around Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the Kochi-Kozhikode belt in Kerala and the seas off Vishakapatnam were very rich in marine mammals. The study has recommended that these areas could be developed as sites for “profitable, but benign” eco-tourism ventures.

Mr. Sibal also released easy to use zinc tablets, for management of diarrohea in infants and children and unveiled a rapid diagnostic kit for detection of genetically modified traits in food products and another such kit for detecting food-borne pathogens in milk and milk products.

The diagnostic kit for genetically modified traits can detect specific transgenes not only in Bt cotton, but also Bt Brinjal, cauliflower, mustard and tomato, which are presently under development. It is expected to be of immense use to meet regulatory obligations, legal requirements and address consumer concerns.

Further, the Minister announced the introduction of integrated M.Sc/ M.Tech and Ph.D programmes in the area of food science and technology in four institutions – Anna University, Chennai, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and University of Kashmir, Srinagar from the coming academic year.

The initiative has been taken to overcome the lack of researchers in the Indian food industry. Anna University will have an annual intake of 15 M.Tech and five Ph.D students while IIT Kharagpur 20 M.Tech and 10 Ph.D students, BHU 15 M.Sc (Food Sciences), 15 M.Sc. (Food process Engineering and Management) and five Ph.D (food science and technology) students and the University of Srinagar 20 M.Sc and five Ph.D students.

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