Indo-US technical ties dip as Indian scientists are sent home
INDIAN jawans who've endured subzero Siachen owe it to two obscure organisations for their sanguine fitness. The Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore, which helps them cook steaming hot sabzidal in two minutes, make rotis that last six months. And the Defence Bio-Engineering and Electro-medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bangalore, which supplies battle fatigues to hold frostbite and hi-altitude sickness at bay. Neither has anything to do with nuclear bombs or missiles.
Yet, in the eyes of Uncle Sam, these two and 61 other organisations ought to be castigated in the light of the May 11 and 13 tests. And were last week. But for the moment, the sanctions against these institutes by the US Department of Energy and the Clinton administration's decision to turn back scientists, and deny or delay visas to them, have sparked more confusion than panic in the Indian scientific establishment.
"Terminating the fellowships of seven scientists and suspending interactions with 63 institutes doesn't look like concerted action on the part of the US government. It looks more like the over-enthusiasm of a busybody," says Dr P.V. Indiresan, ex-director, IIT, Madras. "The Americans are probably trying to test the waters to see how public opinion evolves and how the government reacts."
Who is affected? Virtually every outfit under the DRDO and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has been blacklisted, including harmless ones as the Agriculture Research Unit in Almora, the Directorate of Purchase and Stores in Mumbai. The state department says only scientists who belonged to organisations that have some link with the nuclear and missile programmes are being sent home. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Maryland, sent back those from BARC, TIFR and IIT. An NIST spokesman says they were working on semiconductors and ceramics and had nothing to do with nuclear or missile technology. NIST itself isn't into matters nuclear. Moreover, 23 other Indians at NIST were left undisturbed. The flip side is that hundreds of Indians who've gone to US universities from government labs here, or gone to government and private labs like Bell have been spared.
What will happen? Dr A. Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, says Indian scientists will miss the direct exposure to the latest in techniques, technology and thinking, and above all the chance to bounce them off a large collective of the best brains that is absent in the dog-eat-dog Indian academia. Adds a young ISRO scientist: "America is the best place to gain experience. If we have no exposure to frontier areas of science, that'll have a direct impact on upgradation of technology in the institutes."
To that extent, scientists will miss the junkets and person-to-person meetings with peers that's such a bone of contention in the Indian science setup—and the dollars that come with it. "We have a large number of informal exchange or collaboration programmes and if restrictions are put on equipment or if scientists are not allowed to use facilities in these institutions, it will have an impact on Indian science," says AEC member Prof C.N.R. Rao. But, unlike the poetry the expulsions have provoked. There was never any chance of Indian scientists sneaking into US establishments, cracking all the secrets and bringing them home. "A very tough screening system allows few Indians—few from DRDO and DAE—into really hot weapons labs like Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia," says Business India science editor Dr R. Ramachandran.
What will it cost us? At a macrolevel, the sanctions will delay space and defence projects and cause cost-escalation because crucial components will now have to be sourced from costlier Europe. According to ISRO chairman Dr K. Kasturirangan, costs could go up by 20-30 per cent. If the Clinton administration holds back electronic components or materials, ISRO's plans to launch sophisticated communications satellites in INSAT III series would have to be postponed. At a time when ISRO is jostling with major players for a foothold in the multi-billion dollar market to put together and launch satellites at nearly a fourth of the price of US and European companies, this could have quite grave economic implications.
Is everybody targeted? Certainly, the sanctions are harsher than in 1974. "When India first exploded a bomb," says Dr Gopalakrishnan, "even those who were in the nuclear technology divisions of the Argonne Research Laboratory in Illinois were allowed to stay, but only asked to move to other harmless branches."
This time, the US has not cracked down on R&D centres which would hurt its interests. Post-Pokhran, Lockheed Martin threw out a dozen scientists developing the flight control software for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). But the US has not denied a visa to Dr Kota Harinarayan, LCA's project director, because the Aeronautical Development Agency has offered to market a software to design light, but sturdy aircraft.
Co-operation between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and ISRO on weather analysis and exchange of meteorological data of the Indian Ocean in order to forecast changes in the weather in various parts of the world also continues.
What next? The sanctions have forced a divide between Indian scientists who're carrying out basic research and those working on technologies. For instance, DFRL head Dr Arya is convinced his organisation could continue without any support from the US.
In fact, says he, the sanctions would only turn into a hurdle for exports from the US and the instrumentation industry could lose lucrative orders. "If they don't want to sell, we'll get it from elsewhere." DEBEL head Dr T. Lazar Mathew feels the "answer to sanctions is to work harder and come out with our own technology".
The Indian National Science Academy has not spoken out against the sanctions or denial of visas. INSA president Dr S. Varadarajan would rather that the executive committee of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) take up the issue.
But Prof M.G.K. Menon, co-chairperson of the Task Force on Information Technology, is irked over how the US could treat ICSU guidelines on issuing visas to scientists. A Committee of Concerned Scientists has written to Clinton resenting the visa denials.
바카라 웹사이트"I know many scientists are frustrated because we've been denied visas and some equipment or computers, but the same country is giving satellite technology to China. This discrimination is very unfortunate," says Prof Rao. The discrimination shows. The US has a blacklist of 63 Indian organisations against Pakistan's four.
The end of the road? Thankfully, most of the exchange and debate that drives science moved on to the Internet long years ago, and to the age of e-mail and chat-sites. So there's nothing that could halt exchanges between scientists. But instead of smugly relying on technology to do our bidding, Prof Rao says we must use all kinds of channels to see that relations become normal.
Dr Indiresan suggests that the government send a Christmas card to every Congressman whose constituency exports goods to India to make him realise how vital Indo-US cooperation is—and to see that such sanctions aren't imposed again.
Every nation is an island? The BJP government says Indian scientists who're turned back would be accommodated in research centres here. HRD minister M.M. Joshi talks of a cell to take care of these scientists although Indian research centres can't even dream of matching facilities offered by those of the US.
As Prof Rao says, it's impossible to remain independent in science: "It's a very foolish way to say that we'll continue on our own. In science, you learn by meeting and talking, and working with others. If India has to grow, we need the support of others."