India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle

ISRO added another feather to its cap by successfully launching, on May 23, 2016, the first of four experimental versions of its Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology demonstrator (RLV-TD) programme under which a series of calibrated tests with serially upgraded versions would be tested towards the ultimate objective of developing a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) reusable launch vehicle. Once again, India joins a small group of countries working to develop an RLV, and has show-cased the vision and strengths of its multi-faceted space programme.

Oppose the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy

THE cabinet has approved the national IPRs policy on May 12 2016. It is India’s ‘first of its kind” policy which covers all the forms of intellectual property and follows a common set of principles to govern the rights of intellectual property owners without bothering to pursue the concerns of development. In the recent past, India has been under pressure from the US government under Section 301. India has been asked to strengthen the intellectual property regime beyond TRIPS Agreement to which India reluctantly acceded to in order to be member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Geospatial Bill or the Monumental Stupidity of the Home Ministry?

THE Geospatial Bill, May 2016 has been released by the ministry of home for public discussions before being placed in the parliament. The bill is not about geospatial data or applications of geospatial data for development and better governance, but only about how to “protect” India's borders on various maps, and “hide” sensitive information from its enemies. In the process, we have a throwback to the 19th century mindset, when Survey of India was the sole map making entity, maps were confidential and only paper maps existed.

Bitcoin: Has the Real Nakamoto Stepped Foward?

WHO is Satoshi Nakamoto and why should we even bother knowing who he is? Nakamoto is the pseudonym of the person who created the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, who till this week, was just a name.

WTO: The World Can Fry, But Trade Must Rule

THE world is currently smashing temperature records one after the other, with 2016 now looking very likely to be the third year in a row as the hottest year on record since 1850. Already, we have had hardly any winter anywhere in the world including the Arctic, and smashed the March all-time high temperature record by quite a margin.

BJP Government Surrenders Before The US Trade Department

EVER since the installation of the BJP government, India has gone out of its way to ingratiate itself with the United States. This trend has been particularly prominent in the case of intellectual property rights (patent rights in the case of medicines), an area where India and the US have traditionally held almost diametrically opposite views.

Will Machines Replace Human Beings? AlphaGo and DeepMind

ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) or machine intelligence has always been a little scary. We picture evil robots controlling the world and making human beings obsolete or, even worse, using us as energy sources as in the Matrix. The defeat by Google's DeepMind – a computer programme – of the world champion in Go, an ancient Chinese board game, has reinforced the apocalyptic vision of machines taking over the world in the popular media.Not that this vision is totally wrong. The more we transfer human skills to the machine, the more obsolescence in the work force.

Ravaging Yamuna Flood Plains: Art of Uncaring, Egoism and Cronyism

INDIA and the whole world has just witnessed the most horrible display of utter lack of concern for the environment by the Art of Living (AoL) foundation led by new-age guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar which organised a massive international cultural festival slap bang on the Yamuna floodplains in Delhi to commemorate 35 years of its functioning. The AOL organisers and its supporters at the highest echelons of the central government brazened out the storm of criticism by environmental groups, scientists, judicial bodies, large sections of the media and the general public.

US-WTO Shadow on India’s Solar Power Plans

IN the last week of February, a panel set up by the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body ruled against India on a complaint by the US in early 2013 that India’s Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) for some solar power projects violated WTO prohibitions on measures that result in “less favourable treatment” of international trade partners.

Are Software Patents Finally Dead?

LAST month, the Indian Patents Office released the revised Guidelines for Computer Related Invention (CRI Guidelines), which has finally aligned the Patents Office fully with the Indian Patents Act. This is the third time that software patents have been beaten back in India: the first with the Amendments to the Patents Act in 2005, the next, smuggling it in through the Patents Manual issued by the Patents Office, and this time, through the original CRI Guideline issued in August last year.

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