Cutting Edge Research Proposals ?

Business Line carries following news report :

New scheme will fund cutting-edge research  

Highlights :

#   Called Supra, the initiative is one of PM Modi’s 100-day transformative ideas

#   As part of the Modi government’s 100-day transformative ideas, the   Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)    plans to announce a new scheme with the sole objective of funding exploration of new scientific and engineering breakthroughs with global impact.

#   “The idea is to fund disruptive ideas that can lead to new areas of study, new scientific concepts, new products and technologies.   The focus is not incremental or short-term advances in the understanding, but new science or truly disruptive technologies,” SERB Secretary Sandeep Verma told BusinessLine.

#   Called Scientific and Useful Profound Research Advancement, or Supra, the scheme is designed to attract high quality research proposals consisting of new hypotheses or challenge existing ones and provide ‘out-of-box’ solutions.

“The proposals have to be extremely bold and the outcome should be really cutting edge. The principal investigators (PIs) should be able to convince the reviewers about its long-term impact on our fundamental scientific understanding or the disruptive nature of the technology that is being pursued, Verma said.

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Dear Dr Sandeep Vermaji ,

Secretary.serb@nic.in   /  sverma@iitk.ac.in  /  cpio@serb.gov.in

Nearly a year ago, Shri Modiji set up,

PM – STIAC  [  Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council  ]

The committee was to advise the Prime Minister on all matters related to S&T, innovation and monitor the implementation of PM’s vision on the same.

Encouraged by PM’s vision, I submitted, a set of problems which required some “ out-of-the-box “ thinking and “ cutting edge research “

You will find their details at the following blogs ( each sent as email to the Cabinet Ministers ).

Dear Shri Vermaji,

I fully appreciate that you will get inundated with hundreds of proposals , which, I believe you will “ EVALUATE “ using some “ Rating / Ranking “ system

 

And I do hope , you will publish on your web site, not only the rating mechanism but also list the final selection of the proposals in the descending order

You may wish to consider “ Rating / Ranking “ of the proposals by a panel of eminent Scientists / Technocrats

Acknowledging each proposal will go a long way to encourage citizens to send in their own proposals

With regards,

Hemen Parekh 

 Mumbai  

hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 

www.hemenparekh.in 

18  Aug  2019

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Problem :      

[ Source :  Man who sees Future /  28 Aug 2018 ]

Unavailability of clean drinking water in drought / famine affected areas

Pollution thru Plastic Bottles / Mountains of Land Fills – Garbage Dumps

Tech from :

Prof  Omar  Yaghi ( Uni of California ) / Skipping Rock Labs ( UK )

Details at :

Water , Water Everywhere ?

-----------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

Problem :

Loss of Forest cover / Rampant Desertification

Tech from :

Zhong Zhihua, Chinese Scientist (Chongqing Jiaotong University ).

Details at :

Garbage is Green Gold ( G3 )

===========================

Problem :

Millions sleeping in Streets / Slums, for want of affordable houses

Tech from :

Chris Kelsey ( Cazza )

 / WinSun ( China ) / Formwerkz ( Singapore )

Details at :

Plastic Skyscrapers 

   Future Home is here !

   From Waste to Wealth

   A Roof  over  every  head  ?

   Quantum Jump of 50 million houses ?

=========================

Problem :

Traffic Jams on City Roads / Hours to reach Office-Home

Tech from :

Electric Front Wheel for Bicycle from Geo-Orbital ( Cambridge – USA )

Details at :

A Radical Radial Revolution

==========================

Problem :

Charging of Batteries of Electric Vehicles takes hours !

Tech from :

Flash Battery Charger from Stores-Dot ( Israel )

Details at :

     A Radical Radial Revolution

     All Charged Up ?

===========================

Problem :

No transmission lines for taking electricity to far-flung villages

Tech from :

Bicycle Generated Power from Manoj Bhargava ( BillionsinChange )

Details at :

Manoj Bhargava : My Hero !

==========================

Problem :

No way to store ( for use at night ), billions of KWH of Solar Power

Tech from :

PowerPack Batteries from Elon Musk ( TESLA )

Details at :

India : the NEW land of Rising Sun !

==============================

Problem :

Fossil Fuel Power killing millions / Urgent need to generate Solar Power

Tech from :

All over the World

Details at :

Tony Seba stands vindicated !

===============================

Problem :

Dependence on import for Li-ion batteries / Fast charging button batteries

Tech from :

Venkataraman Thangadurai and colleagues ( University of Calgary / Canada )

Thangadurai  [ vthangad@ucalgary.ca  ] says :

 “ The technology we have developed would enable absolutely stable, robust, safe, high-powered, all solid state lithium batteries for future energy storage , which have many potential applications , including charging of electric vehicles “

And then there is Israeli firm  Stores-Dot , which claims to be developing a car battery  that can be charged in 5 minutes and give a range of 300 miles !

A research group at the University of California (UCR), Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering has developed nano silicon anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries, by simply using a low-cost chemical process and waste glass bottles.

The batteries will not only extend the range of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles, but also provide extra power with fewer charges to laptops, cell phones, and similar personal electronics.

===========================

Problem :

High value currency notes facilitating generation of BLACK MONEY

Tech from :

RFID technology from Sanjay Sarma ( MIT ) [ SESARMA@MIT.EDU  ]

Details at :

Oracle has spoken !

Tech from :

TERAHERTZ Camera developed by Ramesh Raskar ( MIT )

Details at :

To Catch Black Money , ask Google ?

Tech from :

Birmingham City University ( Internet of Clothes )

Details at :

Help ! Please , Rescue Me !

============================

Problem :

Making available high speed Internet to entire India ( remotest corner )

Tech from :

GoogleLoons  ( from Google ) / Drones ( from Facebook )

A  Welcome  Initiative

==============================================

Problem :

Poor road construction methods resulting in perennial pot-holes

Tech from :

Cold Asphalt technology from COLAS ( France )

Details at :

Cold Asphalt is the answer

Pot holes are for ever !

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Some of the other Sources ( listing Research Concepts )- this is not a comprehensive list :

Water above our heads                                                          [  29 Mar 2019  ]

Health Data Vault                                                                    [  16 July 2019  ]

The Biggest , FREE , Desalination Plant : Sun + Sea             [  09  July  2019  ]

Traffic Congestion ? Finally, a solution in sight ?                     [   31  May  2019  ]

Census 2021 : an Unprecedented Opportunity                         [  11  April  2019  ]

100 % verification of VVPAT ? No problem !                             [  02  April 2019  ]

VVPAT ?   How about EVBAT ?                                                  [  28  Mar  2019  ]

The Future of TV Viewing ?                                                          [  26 Mar 2019  ]

RBI : how about an audible note ?                                               [   23 Mar 2019  ]

E – Car Extrapolation : a Wishful Thinking ?                                [   20 Mar 2019  ]

Anti – Pollution Towers                                                                  [  14  Mar  2019  ]

A Grass-Root Revolution                                                                [  11  Mar  2019  ]

Ray , a drop of golden Sun                                                             [  18  Feb  2019  ]

Digital Dividend from Demographic Data [ 4 D ]                              [   14  Feb  2019  ]

SARAL                                                                                              [  10  Feb  2019  ]

Organizing the Unorganized                                                              [  04  Feb  2019  ]

National Clean Air Tax ? – a Pigovian tax ?                                        [  11  Jan 2019  ]

Thank You Madam Maneka Gandhiji                                                   [  21 Dec 2018  ]

Trans-portability Theory                                                                       [  10  Dec  2019  ]

Transport : an Integrated Logistic Plan ?                                             [   20  Nov  2019  ]

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Ready to revolutionize Retail [ 3R ] ?

Source :

RIL eyes $700 bn opportunity in unorganized retail with ‘new commerce’ plan 

( 12 Aug 2019 )

Highlights :

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) aims to revolutionize India’s retail industry by connecting as many as 30 million kirana or neighbourhood stores, through its offline-to-online initiative.

……….Mukesh Ambani said on Monday that the so-called ‘new commerce’ platform would connect consumers, merchants and producers across the country.

“The main purpose of new commerce is to completely transform the unorganized retail market, which accounts for 90% of India’s retail industry.

He said RIL is working towards enriching and empowering the merchants and kirana shop owners with its end-to-end digital and physical distribution stack.

“For this, we are deploying blockchain, internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies on a pan-India basis.

This tech-enabled partnership will link producers, traders, small merchants, consumer brands and consumers."

Through the differentiated business model, RIL plans to provide a technology platform for millions of small merchants across India to strengthen and grow their business.

“New commerce will transfer significant new value to consumers, producers, and merchants.

 Our merchant point of sale (PoS) solution—Jio Prime Partner PoS—is integral to our plan to create an ecosystem around small merchants," Ambani said, adding Jio Prime Partner PoS will modernize even the smallest neighborhood kirana shop to become a future-ready digitized store.

In the past year, RIL made significant progress in developing and testing its merchant technology platforms. It’s beta trials with thousands of merchants across multiple locations established the premise of new commerce with significant increase in sales and improvement in margins for the participating merchants.

Ambani said RIL is now preparing to roll out the platform at a larger scale. The new commerce platform thus represents the digital symbiosis of big and small enterprises.

“I believe that the small must not only survive, but also thrive in new India," he added.

On the business of Reliance Retail, he said the company had crossed ₹1.3 trillion in revenue last year and added that two-third of its stores were in tier-II, III and tier-IV towns.

“It is four times larger than the second-largest retail player and also larger than all the other major retailers put together," Ambani said.

=========================================================

Public got the first hint of the “ New Commerce “ , one year back, in RIL AGM of July 2018

That 2018 AGM speech by Mukesh, made me wonder :

“  What could possibly be the framework of this F – Commerce ( “ Future Commerce “ is my favorite term for NEW COMMERCE )  ?

Following aspects came to my mind , about which , I conceptualized RIL strategy :

#   Sales

#   Supply

#   Inventory

#   Delivery

#   Finance ( Working Capital )

#   Marketing

-      and Lo and Behold !

Over the past one year, the script that I wrote in the following blogs, seems to be playing out , rather accurately  :

MA = DA x 4,000,000 ?                                                                          [  17  July  2018  ]

Who needs Fulfillment Centres [ FC ] ? Not Reliance Retail                  [   23  April  2019  ]

 

Bypass E : Go from D to F                                                                       [  07  Feb  2019  ]

Weave a Wondrous World [ W3 ]                                                             [  20  Jan  2019  ]

Mukesh has the last laugh !                                                                      [   31  Dec  2018  ]

Re-defining Retail : Maini and Mukesh                                                      [   30 Oct 2018    ]

Jio Hubs : Entrepreneurs Apply                                                                  [  19  Sept  2018  ]

Reliance Juggernaut Rolls !                                                                         [  06  July  2018  ]

============================================================================

16  Aug  2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com

 

A Partial Solution ?

NDA government has taken the long overdue / bold step of scrapping Article 370


It will definitely serve the following purposes ( though, not overnight )


#  Bring economic prosperity ( VIKAS ) to the people of Kashmir


#  Give Kashmiri Children, equal opportunity, with children, all over India


#  Industry and Tourism will flourish


#  Corrupt middlemen ( elected and non-elected politicians ) will , no more be able to siphon off
   funds meant for the ordinary Kashmiri citizens


But that still leaves open, the question :


#  Can PoK ever be re-taken through peaceful negotiations with Pakistan or through an all out war ?


Abolition of Article 370, cannot solve this problem !


If anything , Pakistan will surely rake up this issue in UN and other world forums, with greater vigour !


All over the World, there are vested interests ( aka " Arms Lobbies " ), which , through their respective governments, will try their best to " keep the pot boiling " , between India-Pakistan !


Their multi-billion dollar exports of arms, are at stake !

There is only one way to settle this issue, viz :


>    Negotiate to convert LoC into an International Border  ( - even thru make-believe Mediation ! )


For over past 6 years, I have  sent following emails :

Permanent  Solution for Kashmir 

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2017/06/permanent-solution-for-kashmir.html

With a massive majority in Lok Sabha, Shri  Modiji is in a position to achieve this

 

Of Course, first of all , he will have to convince himself of,

# the futility of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan 

#  the fact that the " Powers that be "  ( USA - Russia - China ) are NOT interested in a peaceful and bilateral resolution of this problem

Then , he will need to convince his party and later on, all other parties

I hope , someone forwards this blog to Shri Imran Khan   [   imran.na56@na.gov.pk.  ]

=================================================================

08  Aug  2019

rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com

Data becomes an Air Molecule : Free to travel anywhere

Just came across following :

Apple joins Google, Facebook, and Twitter in data-sharing project  

The Data Transfer Project wants to make it easy to move data between services

Highlights :

#   Just over a year after its official launch, the Data Transfer Project is announcing a new set of partners and features.

Today, Apple announced that it will be joining the project, developing interoperable systems to bring data in and out of iCloud.

A number of alternative social networks have also joined the project, with Tim Berners-Lee’s Solid project enabling the import and export of contacts, and Mastodon allowing for the import and export of posts.

#  An open-source project aimed at making it easier to transfer data from one service to another, the Data Transfer Project has mostly consisted of back-end coding to make data export tools like Google Takeout and Facebook’s Access Your Information tool compatible with each other.

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I am tempted to reproduce from my earlier blog,

Nightmare ? #Aadhar #Privacy #DataProtection              [  04  March  2016  ] :

Extract :

#  Technology has advanced so far – and continues to accelerate even faster –

     that it is possible to treat “ Content ( personal  / private data ) “ like an air

     molecule , which keeps travelling freely around the earth and gets inhaled a

     trillion times ( content consumption ) by a billion humans . 

Introduction of 5G

     and Li-Fi technologies  will speed up this process even further

#   With the arrival of Quantum Computing , it will soon become possible for the

     same content ( personal / private data ) , to exist simultaneously at multiple

     places , but in differing formats

     A “ Text Posting “ on Facebook may well appear on different media as

     Voice  or  Image  or  Smell  or  Touch !

FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE READERS :

     Parallel to the Theory of Thermodynamics , I would like to propound the

     following  as far as the “ Theory of Information “ is concerned :

     

     “  Like Entropy , content keeps growing with each and every human

     interaction , either with other humans or with his environment , and content

     can no longer remain hidden , nor can it be destroyed  “

=========================================================

What I envisaged above 3 years ago , seems to be around the corner

What is heartening is that many respectable persons and organizations have joined together to “ release the content “ from its  various “ bondages “ of websites – apps – databases – hardware – software applications – operating systems etc

It is high time Bureaucrats in charge of drafting our own Data Protection Bill, ask :

“  At the rate at which data is getting generated / transmitted / transformed / mutated / migrated / consumed , by 7 billion citizens of the World, all without their knowledge or permission , is it at all possible to even “ define “ what is DATA ( and what is not ) , much less possible to “ protect / confine “ it in any manner  ?

Is it possible that “ indestructability “ of  Data renders futile all questions as to its “ Beginning / Origin “   or  its “ End “ ?

Will any Data Protection Law become obsolete even before the President signs it ?

Dear Shri Ravi Shankar Prasadji,

Your mobile service provider ( MSP ) has the AUDIO-LOG of each and every word that you have ever spoken in your mobile phone . And if your MSP does not want to sell it, some one is bound to steal it  !

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31 July 2019

Rsvp :  hcp@RecruitGuru.com