24th Prof Brahm Prakash Memorial Lecture at IISc

This was a lecture arranged at the faculty hall of IISc and attended by a large audience. I was 5 years old in 1947 when Prof Brahm Praksh obtained his Doctorate in Metallurgy from the prestigious MIT in USA. At IISc he was the first Indian to head the Department of Metallurgy.

I had arrived well in time at the faculty hall to join quite a few who were already there. I was very glad to meet my old friend Dr. Murali Madhava who had returned from USA in 2006. We both sat together for the memorial lecture.

It was a great lecture worthy of the occasion by Dr. Baldev Raj Distingushed Scientist & Director, Indiragandhi Center for Atomic Research, Kalpakam. Beautifully printed full length paper along with a CD giving the power point presentation was distributed at the end of the lecture. The lecture on the whole was really a Success Story of the Indian S&T Fast Breeder Reactors! Lot of ground has been covered in FBR and remains to be covered, under Dr. Baldev Raj's Stewardship. One of the inevitable Queries came forth in the question and answer session which was "The control of the power genie which is being invoked to safe guard our planet against"

In the USA after long Mile Island mishap Nuclear energy option has been discarded. The Chernobyl accident was a near meltdown, the effects of which would be beyond comprehension.

After the lecture we shifted to the other hall for Tea. I could meet some more lost friends and had a good time in past recollections. I some how was missing Dr. Murali Madhava whom I was not able to locate. Finally I did find him talking to one of the Metallurgy Professors. I joined them. Murali had mentioned earlier about his not able to gauge his day’s progress in his technical Endeavour day after day, after coming to India, where as his daily contribution was so much more in the USA. The point being made by Murali to the IISc Prof was some thing like his offer of Free Technical consultancy is being utilized. He went at great lengths to convince me what kind of a loosing battle it was. I could not overcome my temptation to put across a lighter vein suggestion to Dr. Murali that he should charge for his consultancy.

Now at the time of writing I went through the CD of the presentation. The first slide Talks about Energy as the Key to development. India with per capita 660 KWH is the least developed. Is it a fallacy to say this really? USA is developed because it has developed the per capita 12000 KWH’s energy not vice versa. Is it that energy comes first before development? I am afraid there is some thing wrong some where!

Now mankind is dreaming of the possibility of traveling faster than light, by shrinking space and I think why not? (TOI report I am not able to lay my hands right now)

I appreciate the present trend of meeting the challenges being extended to the limits for ever. How about simple living and high thinking?

Function honoring the distinguished Octogenarians of IISc Alumina.

To day I attended the IISc meeting honoring senior distinguished Alumni. On arrival I handed over my two photographs at the desk, before entering the IISc Senate hall. The IISc convention hall is an excellent piece of design by one of the Octogenarian Alumnae being honored. Prof Dattaguru, the President of the IISc Alumnae association and also the Director of IISc himself both were at the dais. Mr. KR Srinivasan an NAL Scientist and currently an entrepreneur was introducing the distinguished guest. I was in a different world all together listening to the intellectuals narrating their experiences with the Octogenarian Alumnae being honored. Later The Octogenarian himself got up and addressed the gathering.

I can not but narrate the story told by Prof BS Ramakrishna Octogenarian Alumnae. He and Prof Satish Dhavan were at Cubbon Park where they saw Sir CV Raman searching something on the road below a florescent lamp. The Duo went and offered their help to the Nobel laureate, Sir CV Raman, who readily accepted. He asked them to collect the wings of light fly. They collected the same and gave them to Sir CV Raman. He started staring at the florescent lamp, holding the wings to his eyes and asked them to do the same. They were amazed at the spectacle created by the light passing through the insect wing. Now Sir CV asked prof Dhavan whether he had designed any of the finest aircrafts having similar wings.

I could not but believe how lucky I was to day. I got the inspiration to take up the threads of my previous post of July 18 2008 on Traffic Optimization. Hope to make my next post, continuing the same thread of Traffic Optimization where I had left it earlier, a good one.

Indian Institute of Science Alumni meet

To day I attended the IISc Alumni meet held at "TERI" in Domlur. This venue was the first to be chosen out side the IISc campus. IISc being in the midst of celebrating its Centenary year, this Alumni meet had a greater significance. I attended the meeting as the venue was very near to the place where we live. The organizers were very happy to note that their decision brought the expected result. IISc which undoubtedly is a premium institute of its kind in our country has upgraded its view on its Alumni Association by appointing one of its serving senior faculties to head the association. The break fast was sumptuous with Rava Idli, Masala Dosa, Upma and coffee with Badam Halva to boot. The Quality was that of MTR too.
Professor Dattaguru opened the meet and gave an update on the activities. Ram Akella, Professor and Director, Centre for Knowledge, Information Systems, and Management of Technology, University of California, Silicon Valley Centre, who happened to be visiting Bangalore was very happy to share his thoughts.
The organizers in the year of centenary celebrations had a special invitee to this meet. He was V. Ravichander former member, Bangalore Agenda Task force (BATF).
Mr. Ravichander spoke on BATF which was formed in the SM Krishna days. Those were very difficult days as such, with Veerappan. After Veerappan terrorism has gone to the next dimension keeping in pace with the Internet! SM Krishna a computer savvy Chief Minister Set up BATF. As Ravichander told every CEO takes pride in one up man ship, government too is of no exception. BATF was wound up for good in no time with the change of the government.
With the brief talk which I had with Mr. Ravichander, I got the answer to my doubt as to why it was necessary to change from Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) system of Property tax to that of Capital Value System (CVS):

1. It was BATF according to him who proposed SAS, in line with Income Tax (IT) Assessment, which we file every year. We file our income tax return as per the current IT levied by the government from time to time. There are charted accountants who help us to file our Tax returns as per law. The onus is on the IT department to maximize the revenue for the government by unearthing tax evaders by working hard and honestly. It is a crime to evade taxes. This system of putting the onus on the tax payer to first file the returns as per the requirements avoids the IT department’s indulgence in colluding with the tax payer for personal gains. How this is different for the city corporation when BATF proposed SAS which is nothing different than IT returns Scheme which Citizens are following through out the country? Why should Bangalore Corporation have accepted SAS only for 5 years? Did they require 5 years to do research over and above the self appointed expert committee BATF?
   
2. This clearly shows the fallacy of the law makers, who want the corporation to be on the bargaining side by having the opportunity to collude with the public for obvious reasons.
   
3. At that time when BATF whom the then government had appointed, proposed SAS probably they were in a fix to reject. So it appears they accepted it for 5 years as a law.
   
4. After the 5th year SAS would become illegal automatically!
   
5. The % of honest to not so honest citizens is an astonishing 40:60 ratio
   
6. It requires hard work for the corporation to raise enough money.
   
7. Citizens are not averse to the fact that Government requires more money for Development.
   
8. The use principle, comes in handy for this purpose.

Ravichander also mentioned that traffic optimization was also burning issue addressed by the BATF, apart from other issues like infrastructure. He talked about the Metro rail project and Bus route optimization etc.
After the talk was over all the Alumni were so excited that the time flue without any one noticing other than the organizers.

1. There was an excellent suggestion that bus fares should be subsidized which would provide enough incentive for people to use it instead of using their own transport. There is no point in having too many vehicles and optimize the traffic.
   
2. Develop Satellite towns on the Chennai model etc.

The rain god had to intervene when the meeting abruptly ended.