Bharat Rakshak

Bade

^^^ The opposition to this idea if any will be from land-owners (even if it is a small amount totaling just a thousand acres over 500km of its length) and not from political ideology at least. Wasn't it the left which started on it initially. So common ground can be found irrespective of who leads i...

Bade

They should introduce a ban on honking too and mandate that cars be fixed with a horn-lock to disable its use for 5-10 minutes after the first use...just like a password lockout period. :-) People's habit in India can be changed only by forcing it going forward. Another way is to do away with horns ...

Bade

Regarding the financial aspects from above link... In that case, about 85 per cent of the project cost and technology could be sourced from Japan, with a moratorium of ten years and repayment period of another 30 years on a low interest rate of only 0.3 per cent. Then, the investment of the Central ...

Bade

Can Kerala Afford to Postpone High-speed Train Service? by E Sreedharan Kerala has the highest road density in the country in terms of route-length per sqkm. It also has the highest vehicle density, if metropolitan cities like New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai are excluded. Meanwhile, Kerala also tops ...

Bade

It is perhaps appropriate time for Indian physicists/scientists to explore the underwater option like this one considering that they had issues siting experiments on land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KM3NeT It will have other uses too and can develop marine biology programs and support physical oc...

Bade

More on the negative news related to INO. http://www.nature.com/news/nuclear-rumours-delay-india-s-bid-for-neutrino-glory-1.19150 Meanwhile, China expects to complete the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory in 2019. To remain competitive, the INO must start construction in the next few months,...

Bade

The low profile ivy creepers (or their equivalent) are good for the pillars it also hides the effects of humidity from plain sight and has a more aesthetic value too. But one cannot have creepers near the track bed. I am yet to see posters on the pillars...which is great progress considering the ugl...

Bade

Some measures to ameliorate that can be done. Growing creepers is one. One could in principle cover the whole route with a solar paneled rooftop, though it would look butt-ugly too.

In any case, the road surface below is wider and will radiate more heat, especially when concreted.

Bade

When one has 20-30% of a city surface in roads and concrete pavements (like Houston) then it will be a gigantic heat sponge. Not with an elevated line made of concrete. In reality the well planned wider roads and paved sidewalks everywhere in major cities of the world become heat islands from the di...

Bade

^^ The segment above in the picture is part of NH-47 so I guess it will be. In the proper city roads I believe KMRL has plans to replace the surface and pavements, but there they are too narrow and not redeemable. Going forward any new construction (replacement for old structures) will have to be ha...

Bade

Another beautiful snap I could not resist from posting. I hope to see ten times this distance for Kochi metro replicated in pillars and girders for a HSRL connecting at least the two major cities and what a view it will be to ride it. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/1...

Bade

I had the same question as Kashi, then I realized there must be some deep reason why both the bridges spanning Hooghly are cantilever ones. Soil condition and flow rate could be one and the depth required for piling works. Not a civil engineer to know the exact technical reasons. There is also the b...

Bade

East-west sputters to life http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160109/jsp/calcutta/story_62976.jsp#.VpGcbFLEM0J Work on digging the tunnel on the Howrah Maidan-Sealdah stretch of East-West Metro resumed on Friday after being stuck for more than three-and-a-half years. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu signa...

Bade

The train sets finally arrive in Kochi. Nice picture with them next to the carriageway. https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlp1/v/t1.0-9/12524191_1059102154111298_9162962231964964448_n.jpg?oh=bd2eba6da4a5607fa41678293235cb01&oe=570BB9C0 There are more pics with people thronging to take...

Bade

I have not tracked the exact numbers predicted by IMD with actual amounts, but from all public channels at the time, they seem to have made the predictions right and the severity of it.

Yes, Theo is missing since the events. It is almost a month now. I too wonder why.

Bade

I think you are reading too much into it. I know the guy, well tangentially like many others who I have crossed paths and is as level headed as one can get. How do you convey the idea of science for science sake to the general public...who ask what is in it for them. Well, if some aam aadmi asked me...

Bade

:evil: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/indias-plan-to-build-colossal-science-lab-in-tami-nadu-hits-political-roadblock-1248744 Sanctioned by the central government, the lab proposes to make the world's biggest magnet and detector weighing over 52,000 tons which will be able to identify the most elusi...

Bade

Ah, the problem of plenty in India, and people still want to do study after study on feasibility, rather than build more lines in metros. Vehicular pollution will remain a problem for the foreseeable future, but even more will be the crush density of vehicles on roads making them not navigable at al...

Bade

Almost an year old news item on the local capability developed for DMRC. '90 per cent of Delhi Metro coaches are manufactured in India' The initiatives have also boost establishment of ancillary units and helped generate employment. "Delhi Metro's initiatives to indigenise manufacturing is in c...

Bade

^^^ More on this from an earlier ToI article... The SKA is an international effort to build the largest and the most sensitive radio telescope in the world. At present, 10 countries — Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and United Kingdom — are invo...

Bade

I thought Hyderabad metro was a PPP model, so private players would have a say in any case. Earlier Sreedharan was not in favor of this model, it will be interesting to see how this works out to see if it can be replicated. Regarding the local make for train-sets, in most of the ones which have gone...

Bade

Also in one the Hindu articles on Kochi metro, Alstom claims 70-80% local components used to build the train sets. Still they were ahead of schedule. This indicates that local industries are as good as anyone, or Alstom has low orders on the books, or both. What is the situation with BEML orders ? W...

Bade

If it were a one-off buy then it would have made sense to source it from China. But more than three different metros are sourcing it from this company. So why cannot we have them make it in India. This shows lack of a uniform policy keeping the future needs in mind. Hopefully when Mumbai and other c...

Bade

What about Make in India ? No such clause when we have BEML and Alstom factories ? Why buy Chinese if they cannot make them locally.

Bade

It could be just the wrapper in plastic giving that illusion.

But the tracks are not ready yet for the trial runs... :-( KMRL is falling behind their promised timelines.

Bade

VT, I am not the one accusing him. As I said he has done enough, but the second rung in their 40s and 50s (not the co-founders) need to do innovate with different ideas.

Bade

That is the Infosys prize you are talking about...for fundamental researchers...and a fair amount of money.

Bade

There are many alphabet soup companies doing Government work in the US as an example. None of them make large amounts of money either and most of them last a decade or so before they fold up. But they sustain an ecosystem in the process. That is what India lacks perhaps and what I was trying to get ...

Bade

To add to what was said by you above, it is not just the IT honchos that I was targeting as the group to lead change, but even those on the payroll of these companies in the upper echelons. Just spatting at a Murthy is not going to achieve something in the long run. But having acquired wealth and kn...

Bade

Western Indian Ocean phytoplankton hit by warming The study says that the main reason for the decline in the phytoplankton is increased sea surface temperatures which suppress the mixing of surface and subsurface waters. The increased sea surface temperatures result in less dense water in the surfa...

Bade

One way for the biggies from India to trigger a change is to start funding IITs/IISc centers/labs so they can get more bang for the buck, without affecting their bottom lines. Research staff in Univs do not seek Rs20Lakh pay packets with benefits etc.

Bade

Why are not senior IT wallahs from the big-5 in India willing to get out from the existing IT model and do Indian projects. They must have made enough to not feel 'insecure' in case their new ventures fail as they have a fallback option. Or maybe it will take one more generation to become huge risk ...

Bade

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlt1/v/t1.0-9/10155315_1052821031406077_2528932205660206602_n.jpg?oh=229692d67f0833a347ccdc9d65952111&oe=571EAE24 This picture from Kochi, is good enough proof that an underground section is not really necessary even along ORR in Bengaluru. Look at t...

Bade

I will have a 6 hr layover in Doobai in one leg, that is the only down side. I do not think I can get out, visa itself is more than $50 and the trouble of getting it all done...though I have cousins to visit if needed. Last i was in that airport was like 10 yrs back, and even then it was like in a f...

Bade

Here is a nice write-up from one of the current masters of the field...

http://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0004005v1.pdf

http://cgpg.gravity.psu.edu/people/Asht ... icles.html

Specifically this from Ashtekar is short and lucid.
http://cgpg.gravity.psu.edu/people/Asht ... ndtime.pdf

Bade

Right now the Arabs govts are providing the back-stop. Enjoy the spoils while it lasts !

Bade

AI to serve hot veg meals again even on short haul flights. No wonder I like AI, though I have not used it in a long time. Meanwhile, got my X'mas gift the cheapest fare ever I flew to India. $920+ in early Feb. For metros it is even cheaper $799 ! What is happening ? When oil was $20 a barrel more ...

Bade

Had a Merry X'mas with banana flower 'thoran' and rice for lunch.

Bade

I beg to differ. It is for what it is, a scatterometer in technical parlance. NASA/JAXA missions had QuikSCAT as an example. Previous payload was called OSCAT as in Scatterometer on OCEANSAT-2.

Bade

This does belong here as it caters to Indian education after all. :rotfl: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/University-of-Manavallu-In-Silicon-Valley-a-dodgy-Chinese-Telugu-alliance/articleshow/50295648.cms Over the past decade or so, there has been an explosion of engineering colleges in the...

Search found 3774 matches