Category Archives: Analysis
India has a right to noise
Excerpt from ‘More light, less sound: On firecrackers and a festival of light’, an editorial in The Hindu on November 7, 2023: The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules 2000 stipulate that firecrackers cannot be burst in ‘silence zones’, designated … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis
Tagged Deepavali, firecrackers, Justice Amit Rawal, noise pollution, Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules 2000, right to life, right to religion
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On Somanath withdrawing his autobiography
Excerpt from The Hindu, November 4, 2023: S. Somanath, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told The Hindu that he’s withdrawing the publication of his memoir, Nilavu Kudicha Simhangal, penned in Malayalam. The decision followed a report in the Malayala … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Scicomm
Tagged Current Science, Indian Space Research Organisation, K Sivan, S Somanath, science communication, science writing
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Gaganyaan: The ingredient is not the recipe
For all the hoopla over indigeneity – from ISRO chairman S. Somanath exalting the vast wisdom of ancient Indians to political and ideological efforts to cast modern India as the world’s ‘vishwaguru’ – the pressure vessel of the crew module … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Culture, Science
Tagged crew module, Gaganyaan, Indian Space Research Organisation, S Somanath, The Hindu
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An EIA process just for the Himalaya?
In The Hindu today, lawyers Archana Vaidya and Vikram Hegde have written an article asking for a separate environment impact assessment (EIA) process for the Indian Himalayan region. The article begins with a brief history of the EIA, its origins … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis
Tagged Char Dham highway, ecosystem services, EIA notification 1994, EIA notification 2006, EIA notification 2020, environmental impact assessment, Indian Himalayan region, Kalahandi, public hearing, Rayagada, Sikkim floods
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Marginalia: On NewsClick, NYT, toolkits, etc.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in power in India knows that the process is the punishment, that the amount of punishment imposed depends on the law invoked in the chargesheet, and that no law is as ripe for misuse in this … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis
Tagged Bharatiya Janata Party, Kavita Krishnan, Neville Roy Singham, NewsClick, parachute journalism, Prabir Purkayastha, The New York Times, The Wire, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
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“Why has no Indian won a science Nobel this year?”
For all their flaws, the science Nobel Prizes – at the time they’re announced, in the first week of October every year – provide a good opportunity to learn about some obscure part of the scientific endeavour with far-reaching consequences … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Alfred Nobel, attosecond physics, Big Science, in-vitro transcribed mRNA, Large Hadron Collider, LIGO India, Nobel Prize, quantum dots
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Scientists’ conduct affects science
Nature News has published an excellent feature by Edwin Cartlidge on the “wall of scepticism” that arose in response to the latest superconductivity claim from Ranga Dias et al., purportedly in a compound called nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride. It seems the … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Douglas Natelson, Majorana zero modes, Microsoft Research, Mikhail Eremets, Nature journal, objectivity, Paul Feyerabend, Ranga Dias, rationalism, Russell Hemley, self-correcting
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The UAE’s hacks for international prominence
The UAE seems to be making a sincere attempt to whitewash itself, according to a New York Times report on September 1, by hosting the COP28 climate talks. This is both unsurprising and fascinating – both because we’ve seen this … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hope probe, interplanetary mission, Rahul Menon, Sharjah, space programme, The Hindu, United Arab Emirates
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Checking the validity of a ‘valid’ ISRO question
The question of whether resources directed to space programmes are a diversion from pressing development needs, however, is a valid one. As an answer, one can uphold the importance of these programmes in material and scientific terms. The knowledge gleaned … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Science
Tagged Department of Space, Indian Space Programme, Indian Space Research Organisation, NewSpace India, Rahul Menon, The Hindu
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