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Steven Chu will be Energy Secretary

In naming Steven Chu as Energy Secretary Obama has highlighted the importance that the new administration will attach to science and a scientific temper to the whole energy question. Steven Chu is a Nobel Prize winning Physicist and has both a biology and physics background. While his nobel prize was "for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light" he is currently studying biological systems at the molecular level. 

Steven Chu is incidentally of Chinese ethnicity, and that should send a strong signal to big energy consuming countries like China,India and the rest of the world how important energy conservation and sustainability is for the globe,going forward. My guess is that energy issues will become a much higher priority with governments across the world with Nobel Laureate Steven Chu as Energy Secretary in the US.

US Senate approves India agreement for cooperation on peaceful uses of nuclear energy- a day before Gandhi's Birthday

I guess the bailout approval by the Senate eclipsed a very significant bill that was passed by the US Senate-A bill to approve the United States-India Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. Check out the official Senate announcement here - passed 50 minutes before the bailout bill. Interesting, I could not find any major US news report online on this very significant development, with all the other excitement surrounding the bailout and elections. I guess - the mainstream US media just has too many things going on.

In any case, the agreement will end India's 34 year  isolation from accessing the latest nuclear power technology and supplies. This is really special because as the Senators explained, although India is only one of the three countries that has not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty  the world's largest democracy India(with a great peace record)  and the world's oldest democracy - the USA would be able to make this agreement work.

The  co-operation between US nuclear suppliers and the booming electricity sector in India would provide business to US companies - at least 3 of the 8 initial nuclear reactors. This in turn would create  much needed jobs here - an estimated  250 000 US jobs , according to the US Chamber of Commerce.

A cause to celebrate the Mahatma's birthday today.The world seems to buy the idea that Gandhi 's India will remain peaceful and focussed on "green" nuclear energy development and not proliferate nuclear weapons.

India Happy 60th Birthday-why a great global knowledge partner

As I watched Dr. Manmohan Singh, India's Prime Minister first pay traditional tribute at the Raj Ghat, the memorial built for Mahatma Gandhi the father of modern India and then unfurl the Indian flag I was struck with a sense of awe. Awe because India has achieved the seemingly impossible, built a democratic open society with a population of over 1 Billion diverse people with multiple differences in languages,religions and culture. I guess Gandhi figured out the moral path in an absolute brilliant fashion. His model was "Ram Rajya" the Hindu ideal kingdom of Lord Rama where the king and Lord Himself is extremely careful about public opinion and carrying people along with both government and personal actions. By being able to dovetail modern western democratic notions to ancient Indian ones the Mahatma formed the foundation that allowed Dr. Manmohan Singh an Oxford Ph.D. in Economics and a minority Sikh to become Prime Minister and be acceptable to a bunch of sometimes difficult coalition partners. Awe because India's President is a woman Pratibha Patil who replaced Dr. Abdul Kalam a rocket scientist who is  also a muslim. Awed because the President of the ruling Congress Party ( the Mahatma's party) is an Italian catholic Sonia Gandhi who dresses in a saree and had given up the chance to become Prime Minister, thus striking a chord among India's masses because this is exactly what the Mahatma would recommend and Lord Rama would approve!

On the ground however, poverty is still widespread and Dr. Singh emphasized that there was no success without ensuring basic living for all. He talked about healthcare and pensions for the 65 plus who are below the poverty line. Dr. Singh referred to the need for electricity and roads that have become, with drinking water, the top priority for Indian democracy in contrast to the more basic food,clothing shelter theme of  the eighties. Dr. Singh  was silent  about controlling corruption  but then the multiple newspapers and media have a great time  doing "sting" operations to catch politicians and officials  on the wrong foot as does the vibrant Bollywood film industry.

I wonder whether it  is just the sixty years or the ability to dovetail traditional democratic values, that makes democracy work in a relatively poor and populous country. In any event , democracy does work and Dr. Singh announced opening up of many more schools and Universities to thunderous applause. The goal was to eventually provide opportunities for low cost college education to 20%  of the people. Just being able to read and write was not enough according to Dr. Singh, people needed to do better on the knowledge front to be able to contribute to the new global order.

So what has this got to do with India being a great global knowledge partner? Simply this : that an open democratic society allows other global partners to know what is going on with minimal effort.
For example,  a few emails or well placed skype calls might get you a fast "on the ground" view from an Indian partner's friends and enemies! The picture may not be always pretty but at least you get the picture - not something you can say for partners in other countries with more closed political systems.

Fall Back, NE Storms and Halloween.

Today clocks were turned back an hour in the North East ( Spring Forward Fall Back) and yesterday there were wind storms in Connecticut. They didn't appear very serious but have been deadly with two deaths reported.

For a while we didn't mind the high winds as they seemed to be blowing the fall leaves away and in fact friends who came over last evening mentioned that our electricity supplier Connecticut Light and Power was actually offering wind powered electricity in our area.  Mild winds were back today and we lost power several times and outages were being reported by the electricity company on an hourly basis.

Losing power several times on a day when you just adjusted all the clocks is interesting because you have to re-set the time on all the electronic clocks , including the microwave and VCR. Another chore is to re-set the Internet cable and VoIP phone.  Things got a bit spooky when the lights went off after dark with Halloween just round the corner. Let's hope that power is restored completely before Halloween on Tuesday.   Mild unreliability of electricity supply in the US makes you aware of most places in the world where electricity is not there or  can be routinely sporadic. Suppliers frequently have their own power generation as back-up and for larger service deliveries have supply locations in different countries.