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The father of the Indian nuclear programme celebrates his birth centenary today – October 30.

He laid the foundation of India’s huge atomic energy establishment almost singlehandedly, nurturing and expanding it with his dynamic vision. Thanks in no small measure to Homi J. Bhabha’s dream, India’s atomic energy programme has acquired global stature today, capable of designing and testing nuclear weapons and aspiring to meet its growing demands for nuclear energy.

Born to Jehangir Hormusji Bhabha and Meherbai on Oct 30, 1909, in Bombay (now Mumbai), the young Bhabha led a sheltered and emotionally secure childhood. The very first glimmerings of a keen and inquisitive mind became apparent when a specialist told his very worried parents why he slept little — a hyperactive brain that kept him awake at nights.

Excellent family ties with the Tatas and their association with national leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru and also with the British imbued the sensitive boy with a sense of nationalism and perspective.

In 1924, Homi Bhabha passed the Senior Cambridge exam at the age of 15. But by then he had grasped the complexities of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity as well as the intricacies of classical painting.

His arrival in Cambridge, a fount of nuclear physics, three years later in 1927, permitted his native genius to bloom for the next 12 years, where he obtained his PhD in physics with specialisation in cosmic rays, in 1934. He was just 25 then.

Bhabha met many of the greatest physicists of the time, namely Niels Bohr, James Franck, and Enrico Fermi, who played key roles in the Anglo-American atomic weapon programmes.

In March 1944, even before the world acquired a nodding acquaintance with the mighty potential of nuclear energy, Bhabha, then a professor, wrote to Sir Dorab J. Tata, who headed the Tata Trust, proposing an institute for nuclear physics in India.

“When nuclear energy has been successfully applied to power production in, say, a couple of decades from now,” Bhabha wrote with remarkable prescience, “India will not have to look abroad for its experts but will find them ready at hand.”

Thus the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) came into being on Dec 19, 1945, just four months after Hiroshima and three years before Indian independence.

Bhabha served as its first director, which placed him at the commanding heights of the country’s nuclear future, until his premature death in a plane crash in the Swiss Alps on Jan 24, 1966.

Bhabha was very particular about maintaining excellence. Addressing the then National Institute of Sciences, Bhabha said: “This is a field in which a large number of mediocre or second rate workers cannot make up for a few outstanding ones, and the few outstanding ones always take at least 10-15 years to grow.”

As the new nation’s prime minister, Nehru entrusted Bhabha with complete authority over all nuclear-related affairs and programmes. Both of them shared a close rapport. In April 1948 at Bhabha’s bidding, Nehru agreed to legislate the Atomic Energy Act in the Constituent Assembly, creating the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC).

On Jan 3, 1954, the IAEC decided to set up a new facility, the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET). In August the same year, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) came into being with Bhabha as its secretary. Till date, it remains answerable only to the prime minister. Prime minister Indira Gandhi renamed AEET the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

Full article here

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Too many exercises and co-operation in the defence field happening between the US and India these days.  Close on the heels of the armies of the two countries taking part in Yudh Abhyas 2009 at Babina near Jhansi, its time for the Air Force of the two countries to take part in Cope India 2009 at Agra.

Is it just co-incidence or is there too much that is not being read into it?  With Pakistan fast spiralling into a deep abyss, are India and US practising for the time when the threat of the Pakistani govt being run over by the Taliban comes true?

Is the close co-operation a signal that the governments of both sides accept the fact that Pakistan is fast losing its fight against the Taliban and the ISI propped up terrorists.  Maybe the governments know something that people in general dont know. Maybe its an exercise to practise how to decamp with Pakistani nuclear weapons in case of a runover of the Pakistani government by terrorists.

Finally the monster created, nurtured and propped up by successive Pakistani governments against India is coming back to bite the master itself.

Like the saying, “the one who digs a hole for the other falls into it himself first”. How true.  Not a good sign for India to see its neighbour descend into chaos, but there is nothing much India can do other than exasperate at the happenings in the neighbourhood.  The chickens have come home to roost.

How long the Pakistani government and its army will bury its head in the sand like an Ostrich before they understand that the monster they created is finally too big for them to control and is hell bent on destroying their own country.

It was Pakistan’s Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who declared that Pakistan will eat grass, but will make a nuclear bomb.  Looks like the time to eat grass has come.  Finally.

All pictures source:  LiveFist Visit that website for lots of pictures, videos of the Indo-US exercises.

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Other countries are taking benefits of all the hardwork done by the Bush government in signing the nuclear deal with India.  After US, France, Russia, Kazhakstan, Namibia, its the turn of Mongolia to sign the nuclear deal with India.

More deals with countries would mean that India wouldnt need to depend on a select group of countries for its demand of uranium to power its energy sector.

India on Monday signed a civil nuclear pact with uranium-rich Mongolia that will help it source uranium for its power plants.

According to a joint declaration signed by the two countries, participation of Indian companies through joint ventures and investments in the mining sector in Mongolia is on the cards. “A delegation from India has been invited to Mongolia to discuss the prospects for such a cooperation,” the declaration said.

Mongolia is the sixth country with which India signed the civil nuclear pact after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers’ Group lifted a 34-year-old ban that had prevented it from trade in the field with the international community. India has earlier signed such agreements with US, France, Russia, Kazakhstan and Namibia.

The agreement — a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of peaceful use of radioactive minerals and nuclear energy — was signed between officials of Department of Atomic energy from both sides in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj at Hyderabad House.

Four other agreements that were signed between the two countries dealt with loan assistance, health and medical science, cultural exchange programme and cooperation statistical matters.

“We have decided to update our bilateral ties to the level of a ‘Comprehensive Partnership’,” Singh said.

India has also agreed to provide Mongolia a soft loan of $ 25 million to help it stabilise its economy in the wake of the financial crisis. In the area of human resource development and capacity building, India will double the number of annual slots for Mongolia under its Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme from 60 to 120.

“I have assured the President of our readiness to assist Mongolia in the field of education, particularly in the teaching of English language, and information technology. We will assist Mongolia in the establishment of an Information Technology Centre,” the PM said. While describing the conversations with the Mongolian President as “extremely productive”, the PM said relations with Mongolia are an important pillar of our policy in the Asia-Pacific region.

The declaration also said that development of defence exchanges and cooperation on the basis of the Agreement on Cooperation in Defence Matters signed in 2001 will continue. “The fifth joint military exercise will be held in Mongolia later this month. The third meeting of the Joint Working Group on Defence Cooperation will be held in Ulaanbaatar at a mutually convenient time in 2010,” it said.

Picture source: EFTrends

News source: IndianExpress

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The US government cleared yet another high technology system for India, the ‘‘futuristic’’ shipboard Hawkeye E-2D aircraft for Airborne Early Warning (AEW) and battle management.

The clearance has been described by diplomatic sources as a fallout of the ‘‘successful’’ visit of secretary of state Hillary Clinton and the signing of the End User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) of military equipment being supplied or sold by the US to India. Like the Boeing P 8I Maritime Multi-mission Aircraft (MMA), of which the Indian Navy has already ordered eight aircraft, the Hawkeye E-2D is the very latest and is yet to be delivered to the US Navy.

India is the second country, after the UAE, to be cleared by the US state and defence departments for sale of this sophisticated system. The US navy has sanctioned $432 million for trials of the aircraft, currently underway at the naval air station Patuxent River in Maryland. The naval systems command based there provides engineering and testing support for new naval systems and weapons.

The Hawkeye E-2D has been under the US government’s consideration for India for some time. In fact, in 2007, Pentagon sources in Washington indicated the aircraft was being cleared, but apparently the previous version, Hawkeye E-2C, was eventually offered to which the Indian navy said ‘‘no’’ in informal discussions.

More here

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South Korea and India signed an ambitious free trade agreement Friday that slashes tariffs, encourages investment and promotes exchange of skills in a bid to double fast-growing commerce between two of Asia’s biggest economies over the next decade.

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma signed what the two sides formally called a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, but which in reality is a free trade deal.

Incheon International Airport, Seoul, South Korea

“This is a historic occasion,” Sharma said at a joint press conference with Kim.

Kim said it was South Korea’s first free trade accord with one of the fast-growing BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China. Sharma said it was India’s first comprehensive trade agreement with a major economy. Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $15.6 billion dollars last year, according to South Korea, and has been steadily growing. In 2002, it amounted to just $2.6 billion.

“We will be able to have access to one-sixth of the global market,” Kim said, adding the agreement “will open a significant opportunity as well as strengthen our relationship with India into the future.”

Sharma said the economic relationship between the two countries “has enormous potential to grow” and could double over the next 10 years.

“That’s what we will be aiming at,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

The deal calls for abolishing or cutting tariffs for 90 percent of Indian goods in terms of value and 85 percent of South Korean products and increases investment opportunities, Seoul’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a statement. It also allows for greater human resources exchange between the countries, the ministry said, paving the way for Indian computer and software experts as well as English teachers to gain access to the South Korean market.

“India has great competitiveness in terms of its IT professionals and so they will be able to come to Korea to contribute to the growth of the national economy in Korea,” Kim said. “English teachers from India will be able to contribute to the development of education in Korea as well. “

Lotus Temple, New Delhi

Major South Korean corporations such as Samsung Electronics Co., Hyundai Motor Co., LG Electronics Inc. and steelmaker Posco are already active investors in India. Negotiations for the deal began in February 2006.

Though the agreement has been signed, several steps remain on the South Korean side for it to take effect, such as ratification by the National Assembly, according to the ministry. India, however, has completed all necessary procedures for the deal to take effect, the ministry said. The latest deal highlights South Korea’s national strategy of aggressively pursuing free trade agreements.

Seoul signed a free trade deal with the United States in 2007, though it has yet to be ratified by legislatures in both countries amid political sensitivities and suspicions regarding free trade among some lawmakers. Seoul also has a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and said last month it has concluded negotiations with the European Union. South Korea’s biggest trading partners include China, the EU, the U.S., ASEAN and Japan.

Above news source: AFP

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