PROF C.N.R. Rao is waiting. The former director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bangalore, is researching a new family of chemicals called fullereens. But work has been delayed for want of pure graphite rods from the UK. "They arent worth £100," he says, "but they have not reached me for months as they could also be used in nuclear reactors."
바카라 웹사이트Dual-use technologycivilian technology that could be used for nuclear or missile purposeswent scarce after Pokhran 1974. The Germans refused to export high-speed spindles to Indian textile industries as the bearings could be used to run high-speed centrifuges to enrich uranium. The Americans refused to export ammonia exchange to fertiliser companies because it could be used for heavy water production.
Twenty-four years later, after the five nuclear export control regimes failed to prevent Pokhran 1998, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are bracing for more denials, delays. The Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, is still awaiting Rs 35 lakh worth computers from Hewlett-Packard.
On the whole, requests for hi-precision, hi-accuracy, hi-performance lasers and computers, instrumentation and controls,components and materials, machining and forging systems, lathes and material handling systems can be "presumed to be denied". But as analyst Rajiv Nayan notes, the symbiosis between civilian and military technology is so strong, it is difficult to separate them without affecting either. Result:
While the DAE, ISRO, DRDO cant dream of dual-tech imports, requests from labs, industries, institutions and R&D organisations close to the "suspects" like IISc, the IITs, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bharat Electronics, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited are under scrutiny. "The US will come down hard on requests for computing power beyond the 2,000 MTOPS (million theoretical operations per second)," says a source. In the past, India managed to "work around" dual-use technology curbs by shopping around in "friendly" countries like France or Japan, or by developing the technology itself.
But the best example of dual-use technology is that of the supercomputer. The US denied the Cray X-MP for weather model-ling fearing its misuse. So the Centre for Development Advanced Computing, Pune, developed the PARAM series in doublequick time. True to the US fears, it has been used for designing the Light Combat Aircraft and for developing the synthetic aperture radarto penetrate cloud/dust cover that reconnaissance aircraft cannot.
