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| << March14, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Nursing Against the Odds: The Workers' View |
March15, 2005 - India Thinkers Net >> |
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1] From: "CHROkeralam" <chro1@rediffmail.com> Date: Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:11am Subject: KERALA: FOCUSSING ON KHAKI KILLINGS New Indian Express, March 14, 2005, Monday Focussing on Khaki killings KOZHIKODE: Set against the background of the naxal leader A. Varghese??s death, ???Hounded Mind?? produced by Odessa Movies, tries to shed light on the police atrocities during the early 70??s. Odessa Movies was established by legendary film maker, the late John Abraham in 1984. The ???Hounded Mind?? brings into reel life the death of Rajan, an engineering student at a police camp at Kakkayam during the emergency days, and other mysterious deaths under the shade of the khaki. Retired constable Ramachandran Nair, who confessed to killing Varghese, is an important character in the movie. The Kozhikode leg of the shooting, held last week, focuses on the memories of Ramachandran Nair, K. Ajitha and Mandakini. The shooting at Kozhikode also witnessed a rare get together. For Ramachandran Nair, it was his first face-to-face with Mandakini. The film also captured the meeting held at Kozhikode in connection with the death anniversary of Varghese in which Ramachandran Nair, Naxal leaders A. Vasu, Balaraman and C.V. Raman were present. According to film director C.V. Sathyan, the film focuses on the hard realities of modern world. It tries to portray the real face of struggle and torture confronted by Naxalites in Kerala during the 60??s and the 70??s. He said that the movie also portrayed the trauma suffered by police constable Ramachandran Nair who was involved in the murder of Varghese. ??????Those experiences of a tumultuous period, will certainly haunt the mind of the audience,???? says Sathyan, who penned the script. Beena Paul is the editor of the movie and Anoop and Shivakumar, the cameraman. The film costing Rs 5 lakh has almost been completed. Activists of the Odessa Movies said that the film would not be sold for commercial screening. For the past 12 years, Odessa has been screening movies and documentaries in colleges, schools and at public places. Odessa is also involved in organising parallel film festivals and debates on cinema at the Media Study Centre in Kozhikode. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050314014458&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2] KERALA: How The Govt Fell For A Hoax New Indian Express, March 14, 2005, Monday How the govt fell for a hoax KOCHI: A science hoax explained in high-brow lingo and garnished by toughest jargons, promise to create more job opportunities, assurance of foreign investment and some salesmanship are all that one needs to fool the Kerala Government. The government-backing extended to Nano Tech Centre mooted by Thiruvananthapuram-based doctor brothers, with no proven record in nanotechnology, best explains this. Their claims were accepted in face-value. The Government didn??t even bother to get them scrutinised by a scientific team though the expertise was available. The project was announced by NORKA Chairman M.M.Hassan. The duo was also paraded at seminar in Thiruvananthapuram the other day. ??????Well, it all sounded a bit fishy. I??ve invited them to work in our lab for a few days, I can certify their claims only after that. But prima facie it??s unbelievable,???? a senior technologist at Technopark told this website??s newspaper after listening to the duo ?? Arunkumar and Ajithkumar. ??????It??s utter craziness. They claim to have developed a nano biophotonic chip. I??m working in this field but haven??t heard anything like that. Also their claim that it was developed in a shed near their house exposes the lie,???? pointed out C.P.Girijavallabhan, Dean Faculty of Technology, Cusat. According to Cusat students researching in similar areas, the government decision reflects lopsided approach to funding of research activities. ??????We need to run from pillar to post for a Rs 10-lakh project. Here the government commits total support to a hoax. It??s shameful,???? said Rajesh M, research scholar in School of Photonics. A quick look at the CV of the doctor brothers would??ve helped government babus to call their bluff. They started their pursuit for funding by posting a summary of their concept of ??????hi-tech innovative scheme blending bio-technology and information technology into a common single platform so that both the fields benefit enormously.???? This was posted in 2001 while they searched for promoters and sponsors through Funding Post. The summary also lists that this innovative platform would help invent vaccines, plant breeding and treat AIDS, chromosomal disorders, etc. There??s also liberal mentioning about gene mapping. Cut to 2005: The nano-concepts that the duo now moots also read similar as the same purposes find place in the end-use list. Also, none knows why their interest shifted to nanoworld from biotechnolgy in just three years. What struck the scientists first was the list of patents in their kitty: Kehlescope, helinaser, nanogeneseq chip, nanoflownoids, splashtec... ??????None of these exist in the world. Either it??s a crazy imagination or intentional plot to fool people and manage huge funds,???? said Girijavallabhan. The duo??s bluff was first called by Joshi Joseph of Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Through a series of e-mails, Joshi sought many a clarification. But the replies by Arun and Ajith show their intent to evade direct answers. Joshi has also written to the Chief Minister warning about a possible fraud. ??????We??re only being facilitators. We don??t intend direct funding,???? explained Jiji Thomson, NORKA Secretary. But the Government will have to face considerable flak if the concept bombs shattering investment dreams of NRKs. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050314020511&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ------------------------------------------------------------ New Indian Express, March 14, 2005, Monday ???We don??t want to be known as scientists?? THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Just about five hundred metres away from the residences of many state ministers at Cliff House compound is a small two-room house. This is the house of Dr V.S.Ajithkumar and Dr V.S.Arunkumar, the two medical doctors, who are the promoters behind the proposed Nanotechnology Centre, in the eye of a scientific storm. The doctors claim themselves to be experts in the new emerging scientific field of Nanotechnology. There is a small name board ???Institute of Advance Research?? fixed over the front door. What surprises those who enter the office room of the exponents of this ultra modern science is that it does not even have a computer or a microscope let alone any modern equipment needed for research in such an emerging field. When asked where they had conducted the experiments, the answer was that they had used the facility of a former scientist at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Dr V.S.Sughathan. They would also come out with some important names in the field of science like Dr B.N.Suresh and Dr Mukul Mukharjee as those who had guided them in the research. They also swiftly added that they used the library facility at VSSC for the research. ISRO sources, however, said that no special permission has been given to the duo. ??????They once wrote to us about a medical microgravity experiment. But this was found to be a very foolish claim when it was scrutinised by the Indian Institute of Science,???? top sources said. Asked about the patents they received, Arun and Ajith said that the various equipment and ideas they developed were in various phases of receiving patent. But they claimed to have bagged several patents for developing Nanogenesq chip and Herlic nano laser. ??????We approach the patent office for getting patents for the equipment we develop and also for improvements made in equipment that were earlier developed by us. We also seek patents for ideas as the new patent law have provisions for that,?? they said. Apart from approaching patent offices here, we have already taken steps for getting patents in Europe and the USA, they said. On the government support for developing a Nanotechnology Centre here, they said that the NORKA Department is not funding the centre. We had approached them for acting as facilitators only. The funds for starting the centre would be raised through private contacts, they said. In fact, if the government provides us with five acres of land we would give them equity worth the same in the project. But, the reply from the government was that they did not have the land for the purpose. They said that they did not want to be known as scientists. That was why they did not publish scientific papers, but went for patents. Companies were not interested in knowledge that was available in public domain, they said. What we intended to do was for commercially marketing the products developed by them. On the controversies surrounding their research they said that they had been appreciated by scientists worldwide. However, it was unfortunate that some Malayalis were expressing doubts on their research. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050314015657&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3] KERALA's NANOFRAUD: Govt's Clarification And A Rejoinder The Hindu, March 15, 2005, Tuesday Clarification on nanotechnology city THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 14. The State Government today clarified that the initiative to set up a nanotechnology city in the State capital was open to any scientist who could prove his credentials in the field. An official press note quoting the NORKA (Non-Residential Keralite Affairs) Secretary, Jiji Thomson, said the Government had mooted the project with the aim of harnessing the immense potential of nanotechnology in the medical field. Mr. Thomson said the research findings of the two doctors who had first mooted the proposal were recommended for follow-up in 1995 by C.R.R. Rao, the Head of the Nanotechnology Initiative under the Union Government. "The State Government feels that the young doctors deserve to be promoted. However, we will offer conditional support for any other scientist who can come up with a feasible project on the subject," he said. "The proposal is only in its initial phase. When the doctor duo approached the Government with a request, we promised to extend support, but only after studying the technical and financial feasibility. They have been asked to submit a detailed project report and conduct seminars on the subject across the State and outside. There is no budgetary allocation for the project," the press note said. Quoting experts, the press note said India and China were expected to emerge as key players in nanotechnology research. http://www.hindu.com/2005/03/15/stories/2005031508820400.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ CHRO NEWS, March 15, 2005, Tuesday Two Keralite scientists in USA, Dr. P. J. Pradeepkumar and Dr. Dr. Joshy Joseph, sent the following rejoinder on the Kerala Govt's clarification: Nanotech Centre: Changing Scenario?? The NORKA officials yesterday released a 'Press Note' saying that the government had not taken a final decision on sponsoring the Nanotech Centre at Thiruvananthapuram mooted by doctor duo Arunkumar and Ajithkumar. The note published in various news papers sounds to defend the ongoing media demands for a 'scientific level re-evaluation' of the entire proposal. Furthermore, it raises more questions than answers. Where was NORKA when nano brothers boasted about this project? In all the reported interviews with media nano brothers said that it is a Govt sponsored project, they have been appointed as promotors and would get land and grants from the Government. If those claims were not true why the NORKA did not relase a press note clarifying their role? Instead, now after falling mud on their face they are trying to confuse the public again with very vague statements and encouraging the emergence of similar hoax. When Ramar Petrol was found to be bogus Tamil Nadu Govt was playing the same game. Why Government defends the ???nano?? doctor brothers? It is really a shame for any Government to confess that they have started paper-works for such an important investment programme without even checking the scientific credibility of this doctor brothers (estimated cost for this NRK funded programme on government platform is 300 crores in various stages). Eventhough the media has exposed the scientific hollowness of their proposal, NORKA still thinks (or relectent to accept the fact ?) that these doctor brothers need to be supported for this trivial project. What are the credits of these doctor brothers? They don??t have any ???scientific publications?? or approved patents??¦ Then what do they have? * Applied for few patents in India, that too for patenting some ideas (which originally conceived from internet) !!! Note that till the media came with ???scientific evidence?? against their claims, they were claiming of having 100??s of patents on their important inventions such as ???nanogene seq??. They even claimed in some interviews about commercializing these products in 2-3 months time after fine tuning. Now they confess that all these are mere ideas !!! * Encouraging letters from lot of people like U. S. President George Bush, Microsoft chairman Bill Gate etc??¦In fact these brothers used to send their trivial ideas to various important personalities to get a response. Whatever response they get, are used for making such false claims of having encouragement from this big people !!! NORKA press note also say about such an encouragement letter that these doctor brothers received from Professor C. N. R. Rao , President, JNCASR Bangalore, interestingly the press note fail to write even his correct name. Note say as C.R. R. Rao!) in 1995. In 1995, these brothers are 20/21 years of old and at this time ???nanoworld?? itself was in it??s infancy in terms of ???nanotechnology??. How can NORKA officials justify or support a proposal submitted 10 years after, without any scientific support, based on this argument? This is a naive argument which sounds like it came from the mouth of nano brothers (see our letter corresopondence below where they are unnecessarily draging George Bush, Bill Gates and Dr. Abdul Kalam!) From their biodata posted 3-4 years back in Fundingpost.com, it is obvious that they don??t have any experience in the ???nano?? field till 2001. At that time their interest was in starting a firm to combine biotechnology and IT, whereas now their focus has been slightly shifted to ???nanotechnology??. What is the simplest solution to this issue? The Government can appoint a ???Scientific Committee?? to check their biodata, scientific claims and patent applications and decide on their authenticity to propose such a project. Then the whole proposal has to be re-evaluated with the help of this committee before wasting a single rupee from the state treasury. Without even listening to the demands for a ???Scientific?? level evaluation, what is NORKA doing now? They are just defending this doctor brothers and conducting meetings to honour these extra talented ???Scientists?? of Kerala !!! Is it necessary to parade this doctor duo in every NORKA press meeting to prove their talents ?!!! Norka has to explain who will be funding those seminars and travels. It is high time for a re-thinking !!! If the Government can announce, whether the arguments of this doctor brothers are genuine or not, after a ???scientific?? level enquiry, that is good enough to close all ongoing controversial discussions !!! P.I. Pradeepkumar, Ph.D Roger Adams Laboratory Department of Chemistry, Box 27-5 600 S. Mathews Avenue University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 61801, USA Tel:+1-217-3445589 (H) Email: pipkumar@u... Dr. Joshy Joseph Chemistry and Biochemistry Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30309, USAE-mail: joshyja@g... For further details on Nanofraud: http://keralananofrauds.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ New Indian Express, March 15, 2005, Tuesday No decision yet on sponsoring Nanotech Centre: NORKA KOCHI: NORKA secretary Jiji Thomson on Monday said the government had not taken a final decision on sponsoring the Nanotech Centre in Thiruvananthapuram mooted by doctor duo Arunkumar and Ajithkumar. Responding to news reports, Jiji said the government would extend support only if the promoters prove their nano theories scientifically. NORKA is planning to play only the role of a facilitator, he said. However, the government is still mum on the offer to provide land for the centre and why a decision to parade the doctor brothers with doubtable credentials before the capital's media early this month was taken. In fact, NORKA chairman M.M.Hassan and Jiji Thomson themselves were present at the media briefing where the concept was first introduced. ``It's the policy of the state government to encourage young brains. We extended support to doctor brothers only to help them prove themselves. But no final decision has been taken,'' Jiji clarified. Interestingly, the Cusat's scientific community, who first expressed doubts about the nano fraud, had to face some grilling following media reports on the doctor duo. ``The Vice-Chancellor called us up and said he had received calls from Thiruvananthapuram. He wanted to know why we were taking such a stand,'' said V.P.Nampoothiri, one of the first brains to come on record against the science hoax. The VC, however, denied this. ``I have no comments to make,'' he told this website's newspaper. In another interesting development, it has come to light that the nano-concepts tom-tomed by doctor brothers could've been pieced together from a presentation made by the holography experts at CDit. ``CDit's scientists had made a presentation on DNA holography and electron holography before a team of the Ministry of Information Technology. Very interestingly, the press conference of doctor brothers took place within a few days. This may be a coincidence. But we would appreciate if someone looks into the whole thing,'' sources said. http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IER20050314121154&Page=R&Title=Kerala&Topic=0& ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| << March14, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Nursing Against the Odds: The Workers' View |
March15, 2005 - India Thinkers Net >> |
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