Science Horizon

What does Atomic Energy really mean to you ?Dramatic new developments in medicine, agriculture,and industry promise long-time benefits for us all.

4TH YEAR 8TH ISSUE AUGUST 2014

ODISHA BIGYAN ACADEMY

8TH ISSUE4TH YEAR AUGUST, 2014

Science Horizon

Editorial Board

Prof. GopendraKishore Roy

Prof. GovindChandra Sahoo

Prof.TariniCharan Panda

Prof. Arun Chandra Sahu

Prof. NirajKanti Tripathy

Prof. Satyaban Jena

Prof. Bijay Kumar Parida

Prof.Madhumita Das

CONTENTSSubject Author Page

1. Editorial :Nuclear Technology with 'Atom for Peace' - Initiative Prof. Niranjan Barik 2

2. Atom for Peace, Not for War Prof.Manashi Goswami 3

3. Radioactive Waste :AHindrance to Nuclear Power Shri Kamala Kanta Jena 8

4. Ancient Indian Astronomy and itslast Modern Heir Prof. Sudhira Panda 14

5. Developmentsin Indian Satellite Technology Prof.N. K. Mahalik 23

and its Applicat ions

6. Towards Sustainable Development with Nihar Ranjan Acharya 26

Vedic Principle of EcologicalHarmony

7. Why Sacred Groves areImportant from Prof. Madhab Chandra Dash 32

Socio-Ecological Point of View ?

8. Green Tea and its Benefits Mrs. Chitrotpala Devadarshini 37Dr. Birendra Ku Prusty

9. A Brief History of RegionalScience Centre, Bhubaneswar Dr. Jayanta Sthanapati 39

10. Medical Quiz Dr. G. C. Sahoo 47

The Cover Pag e depicts : Atom for Peace . Cover Design : Sanatan Rout

President, Odisha Bigyan AcademyProf.UmaCharan Mohanty

AdvisorProf.Sodananda Torasia

ChiefEditorProf.Niranjan Barik

EditorProf. TaraniCharan Kara

Managing EditorDr Rekha DasSecretary, Odisha Bigyan Academy

EDITORIALNUCLEAR TECHNOLOGYWITH 'ATOM FOR PEACE' - INITIATIVE

Every year on 6th and 9th August, historyreminds the World Community about the dreadfulpower of the atom that devastated Hiroshima andNagasaki of Japan on these days in 1945 during thelast phase of Second World War. As an aftermathawakeningon thisshameful act of self-destruct ion ofhumanity, theInternational Nuclear Community startedthe 'Atom for Peace' - initiative to develop appropriateNuclear Technology for harnessingpower of the atomasa toolfor the benefit of mankind.

Majo rity o f people are well aware of thecontribution of nuclear technology to the productionof electricity via commercial nuclear power plants.But most people are quite unaware about the greaterimpact of this technology through non -powerapplications.There aremany other ways, thepeacefulat om h as enter ed quietly into our lives, oft enunannounced and in many cases unappreciated andyet serving us in providingfood,clothing, comfort aswell as ensuring our health, happiness, safety andsecurity. This has been possible by harnessing thepower of the radio-isotopes and the radiations forapplications in health care, industry, agriculture andresearch as well. These newapplications continue tomake major humanitarian contributionsto the qualityof our lives.Afewsuch applications out of the myriadsof others in practice can be cited here for generalawareness and appreciation.

Radiat ion, mainly gamma radiat ion in highenough quantities, kills micro-organisms, for whichradiation treatment hasbeen thecommon practicenow-a-days to sterilize most of the medical equipments,surgical glov es, dr essin gs, bandages, syr in ges,catheters,heart valvesand other devices routinely usedduring medical procedures. Radiation being a coldprocessit also sterilizes arange of heat sensitive itemssuch as powders, ointments, solutions, face-creamsandbiological preparat ions like bone, nerve, skin etc.usedin tissue grafts. The imaging properties of radio-isotopes have proved superior to X-rays in nucleardiagnostic techniques to determineanomalies in heart ,brain, kidneys, lungs, liver, breast and thyroid glands.Bone and joint disorders along with spinal disordersalso benefit directly using radio-isotopes in modernimaging techniques such as Single Photon EmissionCom puted Tomo graph y (SPECT) and Posit ronEmission Tomography (PET). Therapeutic uses ofradio-isotopesand radiations in thetreatment ofcanceris widely known, which is improving day by day bytargeting the canceroustissueonly without killing orimpairing the healthy tissues.

In the field of agriculture, specialized radiationtechniques have been used t o produce superiorspecies of crop s and man y other m utant variet iescalled cultiv ars, which include grains such as rice,barley, wheat, bans lentils and peas; fr uit variet iessuch as ap ples, or an ges, ban an as, gr ap ef ruit ,po megran at es, grap es; crop s such as co tt on ,sunflower, soybeans etc.; ornament al flowers suchas ro ses, dah lias, bougainvilleas etc. Besides that,foodirradiation involving carefully controlledamountsof ionizing radiations such as beta particles or gammarays to break the DNA-bonds of targeted pathogenshave improved the shelf -life of many foo d andagricultural products.

In industrial sectors, radio-activeisotopes areused as tracers to study the mixing and flow-rates ofwide rangeof materials, to locate leaks andto measurethe rateof wear of engines and plant equipments.Astracersisotopesalso play an important part in detectingand analyzing pollutants in the environment. Radio-active emissions are highly p enetrat ive. On theprinciple of their attenuation property in materialmedium, level gauges are used in industries wherelevels of gases, liquids and solids must be checked.Radio-isotope thickness gauges are used in making ofcontinuous sheets of materials such as paper, plasticfilm, metal and glass sheets etc. Density gauges arealso used in detergent manufacture. By appropriateexposure to radiation,changesin molecular structurecan be cr eated fo r n ew m aterial dev elo pmen t.Radiation cross-linked poly-vinyl chlorideused for wireandcable insulations, vulcanization of rubber for tyreproduction,heat-shrink polymers used for packaging,wood-plastic composites cured by gamma radiationused as flooring materials are few such examples.Some materials are also created by altering theirmolecular structure to absorb huge amounts of liquid.Examples include air-refr esheners, t issue papers,sanitary napkins and diapers etc. Finally radiation isalso used for publicsafety, including airport screening,smokedetectors, crimesolving,archeology datingetc.Thus the list of applications of radio-isotopes andradiations can literally go on and on which enhanceour modern life stylethat we have taken for granted.During the last fifty or more years the challenge toharnesspower of atom for humanitarian applicationshas been very impressively met which is nothingshortof a wonder.

Prof. Niranjan Barike-mail : dr.nbarik@gmail.com

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ATOM FOR PEACE, NOT FOR WARProf. Manashi Goswami

ComeAugust,thewhole world rememberstwo frightfuldays ofworld history,August 6thand 9th, 1945. The atomic bombings of thecities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japanwere conducted on these days by theUnitedStates during the finalstage of World War II.These two bombings were thefirst and remainthe only use of nuclear weapons in warfare.

By August 1945, the allied Manhattanproject had successfully tested an atomicdeviceand had produced weapons based ontwo alternate designs. A uranium gun typeatomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped onHirosh ima on August 6,1945, followed by aPlutonium implosion-type bomb (Fat Man)on the city of NagasakionAugust 9. Withinthe first two to four months of the bombing,acute effect killed 90,000 - 166,000 peoplein Hiros h ima and 60,000 - 80,000 inNagasaki. During the following months largenumber of people died various radiationeffects and injuries.

On the Day

At 2.45 amonMonday,August 6,1945aB -29 bomber plane, the Enola Gay took offfrom Tinian, a north pacific island in theMarinianas ,1500 miles sou th of Japan.Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot nick namedB-29 as "Enola Gay"after his mother. Justbefore the take-off the plane's nick name waspainted on its sides. The Enola Gay wasescorted by two other bombers that carriedcameras and avarietyof measuring instruments.

Three other planes had left earlier in order toascertain the weather condition over thepossible targets. On the hookin the ceiling ofthe plane hung the ten- foot atomic bomb"Little Boy". On 6th August,1945, the firstchoice target Hiroshima, was having clearweather. At 8:15(am) local time, Enola Gay'sdoor sprangopen and itdropped the little boy.

Thebomb exploded 1,900feet abovethecity. The mushroom cloud itself was aspectacularsight.Abubbling mass of purple-gray smoke with a hot red burning coreestimated to have reached a height of 40,000feet. Such was the description of dreadfuldevastation that tookplaceon6th August1945at Hiroshima city.

Why Hiroshima

TheU.S.A. began inspring 1945studyingtargets for dropping of the atomic bomb.Toobserve accurately the effect of atomicbombing, the potentialcities required tohavean urban area of at least 5 kmin diameter. OnJuly 25,1945, an order was issued calling for

The Mushroom Cloud

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thefirst atomic bomb to be dropped on one ofthe four cities Hiroshima,Kokura,Niigata &Nagasaki. The name Hiroshima as the primetarget was issued onAugust 2 . One reason isthat Hiroshima was the only city thought tohave noAllied-prisoner-of -war camps. On6thAugust,the sky over Hiroshima city was clearhence Hiroshima's fate was destined fordestruction.

The Science Behind Atom Bomb

A nuclear explosion is an explosion thatoccurs as a result of the rapid release ofenergy from high speed nuclear fission orfusion reaction. The driving reaction may benuclearfission,nuclearfusion or a multistagecascading combination oftwo.

The immens e dest ructive power ofatomic weapons is derived from a suddenrelease of energy produced by splitting thenuclei of the fissile elements making up thebomb's core. TheU.S.developed two types offission based atomic bombs during the secondworldwar.The first"Little Boy" was aguntypeweapon with a uranium core. The secondweapon dropped onNagasakiwas called "FatMan" and was an implosion -type device witha plutonium core.

Fiss ion

The iso topes Uran ium- 235 andPlutonium-239 readily undergo fiss ion.Fissionoccurs when athermal neutronstrikesthe nucleus of either isotope splitting theisotopes into fragments and releasing a

tremendous amount of energy. For examplesplitting of one atom of uran ium producesaround 220 MeV of energy. The fiss ionprocess becomes self-sustaining as neutronsproduced by the splitting of atom strikenearby nuclei and produce more fission.This is known as chain reaction which causesnuclear explosion.

Natural uranium contains very lessamount (0.7%) of fissionable U-235isotopesand rest is U-238isotopes. Whena uranium-235atomabsorbs a neutron and splits into twonewatoms , it releases three new neutrons andthe sum total of mass lost in the processappears in the form of energy according toEinstein's famous Mass-Energyequivalence

Nuclear Chain Reaction

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formula E= mc2.Two neutrons donot continuethe chain reaction because they are lost orabsorbed by U-238 atom. However, on anaverage one neutron does collide with aneighbouring atomof U-235, which thensplitsandreleases again neutrons and someenergy.This causes a nuclear chain reaction.

Criticality

Inorder todetonateanatomic weapon, acriticalmass of fissionablematerial is needed.This means enough uranium-235or plutonium-239 is required to ensurethat neutrons releasedby fission will strike another nucleus, thusproducing a chain reaction. The morefissionable material is available the more isthechancethat suchan eventwilloccur. Criticalmass is defined as the amount of material atwhicha neutronproducedbya fissionprocesswill,on an averagecreateanother fission event.

Difference between Little Boy & Fat Man

Little Boy and Fat Man utilized differentelements and completely separatemethods ofconstruction in order to function as nuclearweapons. Little Boy detonateddue to a fissionchain reaction involving the isotope U-235ofuranium, while Fat Man used Pu-239isotopeof plutonium.

Little Boy

LittleBoy was powered by theUraniumisotope U-235.Most Uraniumfoundnaturallyin the world exist as U-238, leaving only0.7%of naturally existing Uranium as theU-235isotope. Whena neutron bombards on

U-238, the isotope often captures the neutronto become U-239,failing to fission,and thusfailing to instigate a chain reaction that woulddetonate a bomb. Hencethe first challenge oftheproject was todeterminethe most efficientway to separate and purify U-235 from theoverly abundant U-238.

Once enough Uranium-235was obtainedto power the bomb, the bomb was assembledwithagun type design.In this specialdesignanamount of U-235 is fired atanother tocombinethe two masses. This combination created acritical mass that sets off a fission chainreaction to eventually detonate a bomb. Thetwo masses of U-235had to combine quicklyto avoid the spontaneous decay of the atomwhichwould cause thebombtofizzle and thusfail to explode. Little Boy was carrying around64kg of pure U-235of which only 0.6kg wasdetonated during the explosion.

Little Boy

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Fat Man

Powered by Plutonium, Fat Man couldnot use thesamegun-typedesign that allowedLittle Boy to explode effectively. The formof Plutoniumcollected was containing tracesof Pu-240 isotope, as opposed to the desiredPu-239. Pu-240's higher decay rate wouldcausespontaneous decaybeforethe gun typedesign could bring two masses of plutoniumtogether. This process lowers the energyinvolved in theactualdetonationof the bomb.Hence, a new design was constructed at LosAlamos laboratory of U.S.A. The newdesignused conventionalexplosives arounda centralPlutonium mass to quickly squeeze andconsolidate Plutonium, increasing pressureand density of the substance. An increaseddensity allowed the Plutonium to reach itscritical mass, firing neutrons and allowingfission chain react ion to proceed. Todetonate the bomb the exp losives wereign ited, releasing a s hock wave thatcompres sed the inner Plu tonium core andled to its explosion. Fat Man was carry ing6.2kg of plutonium,of which only 20% wasdetonated during explosion.

Atom for Peace

Itwas unfortunate that the atomic energybeforebeing utilizedforthebenefit of mankindwas used for destructionof mankind. In 1950sthe attention was shifted to harnessing thepower of the atom in a controlled manner toapply the steady heat yield for generatingelectricity throughnuclear reactors.However,by 1942 the first artificial nuclear reactor,Chicago Pile -1had been already constructedat the University of Chicago bya team led byEnrico Fermi. But theprimary purpose ofthosereactors was themass production of Plutoniumisotopes for nuclear weapons. Besides themilitary use of nuclear power, there werepoliticalreasons topursue civilianuse ofatomicenergy.U.S.A. president Dwight Eisenhowermadehis famous ATOM FOR PEACEspeechto the UN general assembly on December 8,1953. This diplomacy led to the disseminationof reactor technology to all institu tionsworldwide including those in U.S.A.

Before 1950s, radiation from Radiumwas the only source for treatment of cancer.Nownuclear reactorhas opened uppossibilitiesfor making other elements radioactive. These

Fat Man

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radioactiveisotopes are nowusedextensivelyin medicine, agricultu re and indust ry.Radioactiveisotopes have helped indiagnosisand prevention of manycritical diseases. Theyare of immense use in the field of agriculturefor better production of crops, high yieldingvariety of seeds, pest control and fertilisers.Radiation alternatedvaccine has immunisedsheep fromlungwormdiseases. In India underUNDP (United Nation DevelopmentProgramme) collaboration such vaccines aregoing to be produced commercially in alaboratory located in Kashmir Valley. BhabhaAtomic Research Centre at Trombay is wellknown in the world for production of manyuseful radioisotopes.It produces near about325radioisotopes.

BhabhaAtomic Research Centre (Trombay).

Perishable food stuffs, if exposed toradiation, are found to remain fresh beyondtheir normal time. Hence radiation is used forcanningof foodandpreservation. In a tropicalcountry like India, self- life of fruits andvegetables are short.Small dose of radiationprevents sprouting ofpotatoand onion whilehigherdose can delay the ripening ofmango,apple,banana etc. BARC, Trombay has a semicommercial food processing plant.

At present 30 countries worldwide areoperating435nuclear reactors providing12.3%of the world's electricity. The use of nuclearpower in domestic and commercial purposehas become a reality in France since 1976.France has been stilldominating the world innuclear power with 73.3% share of its totalpowerconsumption.After Kudankulamreactorof India being fully operational with almost

Kudankullan Reactor Centre

1000MW power output,thenumber ofreactorsin India has been raised to 21,with nuclear

power capacity of 5308 MW and nuclearpowersharehas enhanced to 3.5%. Thewhole

world has now realised that nuclear energy isthe ultimate sourceofenergywhich can reduce

thegreenhouse gases andsave our earth fromglobal warming, which is pushing it to a big

catastrophe. So it is well justified that atomonly canbring peace to the world in truesense,

if immensely available energy from its corecan be judiciously harnessed and utilised for

the well being of the entire mankind.

Regional InstituteofEducation,Bhubaneswar-22Mob.- 9439615558

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RADIOACTIVE WASTE :A HINDRANCE TO NUCLEAR POWER

Shri Kamala Kanta Jena

Matter is made up of molecules .Molecule is composed of atoms. A watermolecule represented by H2Oconsists of twoHydrogenatoms andoneOxygen atom.Atomsare so small that a row of one lakh atoms canaccommodate within the thickness of a hair.Atomcarries protons, neutrons and electrons.Protons andneutrons are concentrated withina tinier nucleus, whereas electron cloud makesup therest of theatom's overall size. Keepingprotons and neutrons withinsuch a squashedspace is possible for the strongest nuclearforce, which is 1038 (one followed by38zeros)times the gravitational force.

nuclear reactors in nuclear power plants. Anuclear reactor is a power-generating deviceinwhichheat is derivedfroma controllednuclearreaction.The heat is used toconvert water intoits vapour which rotates turbine that produceselectricity. We deal with fission reactors toextract heat in power stations. Electricitygenerated by nuclear power constitutes 75%of the total power generated in France, 50% inSwitzerland, 30% in Germany, 20% in theUnited States and only 3% in India.

Radioactive Nuclear Waste

Thermalpower plants use coal. Nuclearpower plants use nuclear materials likeUranium. The leftovers fromtheuse ofnuclearmaterials are known as nuclear wastes,whichareradioactive. Uraniumobtained fromnaturecontains only 0.7% of Uranium-235, theelement practically needed for reactors. Theore undergoes various steps toact as enrichedfuel containing 3% Uranium-235. The fuelonce loaded in a reactor runs for 6 months ata stretch. When discharged,it is cooled underwater at the reactor site for a year or two andthen shipped in shielded barrels either topermanent storage facilities or to a chemicalreprocessing plant. Nuclear power plants donot pollute the environment by dischargingsmoke/ash as fossil fuel plants do, but theradioactive isotopes stillcontained in thespentfuelof the nuclear reactors areat stake.Spentfuels are highly radioactive, because a largenumber of radio-isotopes are present in it.

Abigger nucleus cansplitup intosmallernuclei. Splitting up of a bigger nucleus intosmaller ones as in case of atom bomb isknownas nuclear fission. Two or morelighternucleican combineto create heavier nucleus.Format ion of heav ier nucleus due tocombination of two ormore lighter nuclei asin case of Sun is known as nuclear fusion.Huge amount of energyis released in both theprocesses.The energysoobtained is knownasatomic energy.Atomicenergy is producedby

Fig 1 : Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion

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Fig2: DangerousRadioactiveWasteswithin Shielded Barrels

Types of Nuclear Radiation

(a) Alpha particles : Alpha particles arehelium nucleiconsisting of two protons andtwo neutrons. They are emitted fromnaturally-occurring heavy elements such as uraniumandradium. They are also emitted from someman-madetransuranicelements andradioactivewastes.They cannotpenetrate theskin, but aredangerous only if emitted inside the body.

(b) Beta particles : Beta particles are fast-movingelectrons emitted bymanyradioactiveelements including radioactive wastes. Theyare more penetrating than alpha particles, buteasily shielded. The most energetic Betaparticles can be stopped by a fewmillimetresof wood or aluminum. They can penetrate alittle deep into human flesh but are generallyless dangerous to human beings thangammaradiation.Exposure to Beta radiations producesan effect like sunburn,but which is slower toheal.The weakest ofthem,such as fromtritium,can be stoppedby skin or cellophane.

(c) Gamma rays : Gamma rays are high-energy beams muchthe same as X-rays. Theyareemitted inmanyradioactivedecays andmaybe highly penetrating. So they require more

substantialshielding. Gamma rays are the mainhazard to peopledealingwith sealed radioactivematerials us ed in industrial gauges andradiotherapymachines.Radiation dose badgesare worn byworkers in exposed situations todetect them and hencemonitor exposure.Allof us receive about 1mSv per year of gammaradiation from cosmic rays and from rocks.

(d) Neutrons : Neutrons may be emittedfrom nuclear fis sion and fusion. They aremostly released by nuclear fission. They arealso found from radioactive decay, cosmicrays or particle accelerato rs. Large neutronsources are rare, and are usually limited tolarge-sized devices like nuclear reactors andpart icle accelerators. They are seldomencountered outs ide the core of a nuclearreactor. Thus normally they do not make anyproblem outside the nuclear plants. Fastneutrons can be very destructive to humantissue.Neutrons are the only type of radiationwhichcan transform non-radioactive materialsinto radioactive materials.

Dangers of Nuclear Radiations

When atoms are split, a lot of energy isreleased.It sounds innocentenough, butnuclearprocesses produce dangerous radioactivematerials having serious long termbiologicaleffects. They emit penetrating radiations thatcan cause damage to the molecules of livingcells. The radiat ions d issociate complexmolecules ofliving tissues throughionization.Cellular function(s) may be temporarily orpermanently impaired and the cell may bekilled by the effect of nuclearradiations.They

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Fig 3 : Effect of Nuclear Radiations on Fish,Butterfly and Frog

induce cancerous growth, cause severe skinburns, leukaemia and disorders in thereproductive, immune, cardiovascular andendocrine systemsofthehumanbody.Exposureto radiation has been linked to geneticmutations and birth defects even upto fivegenerat ions . Harmfu l radiations can killvegetation,fishes andanimals.

Radiation-Doses

The severity of theinjurydepends on thetype of radiation, the dose, the rate at whichthedose was absorbed,and theradio-sensitivityofthe tissues involved.Inorderto quantify theradiation exposure in our daily lives and toassess its potential health impacts, it isnecessary to establisha unit of measurement.The basic unit of radiation dose absorbed inliving tissue is known as gray(Gy). Onegrayrepresents the deposition of one joule ofenergy per kilogram of tissue.

Doses are also measured in rad, 100rads being equal to 1 gray. Rad is defined asthe dose when 1 kg of matter absorbs 0.01joule ofradiation energy. However,neutronsand alpha particles cause more damage pergray than gamma or beta radiation. Thereforeanother unit, the sievert (Sv)is used in settingradiologicalprotectionstandards. This unitof

measurement takes into account biologicaleffects of different types of radiation. Sincethe sievert is a relatively large value, dose tohumans is normally measured in millisieverts(mSv),which is one-thousandth of a sievert.

One grayofbeta or gamma radiationhasone sievert (1 Sv) of biological effect.

One grayof alpha particles has 20Sv ofbiological effect.

One gray of neutrons is equivalent toaround10 Sv.

Dose of more than 40 grays severelydamages the humanvascularsystemandcausesdeath. A dose of 1.5 to 10 grays causesdestructionof human bone marrow, leading toinfection and hemorrhage. The injury mayinclude degeneration or destruction of theirradiated tissue and the initiation of cancer.A human body exposed to nuclear radiationsmayhave late effects. Themost important lateeffect of radiation exposure is an increasedincidence of leukemia and/or other types ofcancers. Statistically significant increases inleukemia and cancers of the thyroid, lung,and the female breast have beendemonstratedin populations exposed to radiation dosesgreater than 1gray. Currently only the lowerdoses of radiation are effectively used in themedicalpract ices.

Fig 4 : Effect of Nu clear Radiation s onHuman Child and Fruit

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Radiation Doses (mSv/yr) and Effects(Source : World Nuclear Association)

mSv/yr Effects2.4 Typicalbackgroundradiation experienced byeveryone

1.5 to 2.5 Average dose toAustralian uraniumminers and US nuclear industry workersUp to 5 Typical incremental dose foraircrew in middle latitudes.

9 Exposure by airline crew flying the New York - Tokyo polar route.10 Maximumactual dose toAustralian uraniumminers.10 Effective dose fromoneabdomen & pelvis CT scan.20 Current limit (averaged) for nuclear industry employees and uraniumminers.50 Former routine limit for nuclear industry employees, now maximum allowable

for a single year (average to be 20 mSv/yr max). It is also the dose rate whicharises fromnatural background levels in several places in Iran, India and Europe.

50 Allowable short-term dose for emergency workers100 Lowest annual levelat which increase in cancerrisk is evident

Allowableshort-termdoseforemergencyworkers takingvitalremedialactions (IAEA).130 Long-term safe level for public after radiological incident170 7-day provisionally safe level for public after radiological incident250 Allowableshort-termdose for workers controlling the 2011Fukushimaaccident.250 Naturalbackground levelat Ramsar in Iran, with no identified health effects350 Criterion for relocating people after Chernobyl accident (for lifetime).500 Allowable short-termdose for emergency workers taking life-saving actions680 Tolerance dose level allowable to 1955700 Suggested minimumdose for maintaining evacuation after nuclear accident800 Highest level of naturalbackground radiation recorded, on a Brazilian beach.

1000 Short-termexposure may causeafatalcancer many years later in about5%people5000 Short-term exposurewould kill about half those receiving it within a month.

10000 Short-term exposure is fatalwithin a few weeks

Radioactive Waste Management

Nuclear wastebeing radioactive cannotbe disposed anywhere unlikeother industrialwastes.Very lowlevelwaste (VLLW) containsradioactive materials at a level which is notcons idered harmful to people or thesurrounding environment. Low level waste

(LLW)generated fromhospitals and industryis suitable for shallowland burial.Intermediate-levelwaste (ILW) contains higher amounts ofradioactivityandrequires shielding.High levelwaste (HLW) arising from the burning ofuraniumfuel in a reactor is highly radioactiveand hot. It requires cooling and shielding.

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Nuclear power is the fourth-largestsource of electricity in India after thermal,hydroelectric and renewable sources ofelectricity. India has 20 nuclear power plantsin operation with 6 nuclear power plantsgenerating 4780 MW electricity. With thisnumberof reactors Indiaproduces 5,000cubicmetres of HLW every year, in addition tothousands of cubicmeters of intermediateandlow-level nuclear wastes. As on 1st January2014, there were 430 nuclear reactorsconsidered to be in operation in the worldcontribu ting 16% of the world's to talelectricity production. With this statistics,thehugeness of the nuclear waste generatedglobally every year can be understood. Eachyear, nuclear power generation facilitiesworldwide produce about 2,00,000 cubicmetres of low-level and intermediate-levelradioactive waste, and about 10,000 cubicmetres of high-levelwaste including used fueldesignated as waste. Used fuel stillcontainssomeof theoriginalUranium-235and variousplutonium is otopes. Th is uran ium andplutoniumfromthe wastes can be separatedbyprocessingand recycled for re-use in a nuclearreactor. It lessens the risk of wastes. Majorcommercial reprocessing plants operate inFrance,UK, andRussia.Belgium, China,France,

Germany,India,Japan, Russia,Switzerland andUKusually disposethewastes afterreprocessing.

Radioactive wastes remain biologicallyhazardous for thousands ofyears, beyond thespanof anyhumaninstitution.The wastes needalong-term safe storage.Thus thetechnologyfor waste management should be adequateenoughfor thepresentand the futuregenerationsas well. Permanent but potentially retrievablestorage in deep stable geologic formations isthe best solution.The wastes should be storedin well shielded,guarded repositories for laterdisposition or may beconverted to verystablecompounds, fixed in ceramics or glass,encapsulated in stainless steel canisters, andburied far underground invery stablegeologicformations. The life span of radiation may bereduced using laser.Some nations likeSwedenhave startedburying wastecontaining ceramiccylinders under sea for better result.

Public OppositionNo country in the world has found a

permanent solution for proper disposal ofthenuclear wastes. Building newplants means theproduction of more waste with nowhere for itto go . Storing rad ioact ive was tes farundergroundmaynot put thedangers to anend.The phenomenalike earthquakeand volcaniceruptions could jeopardize the safety of anuclear waste repository. The safety of suchrepositories is the s ubject of publiccontroversy, especially in the geographicregion in which the repository is located or isproposed to be built. For example, oppositionfromstate residents and questions about thegeologicstability of the proposed repository

Fig 5 : Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Repository

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at Yucca Mountain site have helped prolonggovernment studies. Similarly, a $2 b illionrepository built in underground salt cavernsnear Carlsbad, New Mexico, is designed tostoreradioactivewaste fromthe manufactureofnuclear weapons during theCold War. Thisrepository, located 655 meters underground,is designed toslowly collapse andencapsulatethe plutonium-contaminatedwaste in the saltbeds. For the time being, the dispos al iswithin our control. But this may put us in hotwater in future, if the world would primarilydependuponnuclear power. Our Kudankulamnuclear power plant in TamilNadu has facedlocal opposition for a quarter of the centuryand witnessed violentprotests in 2012 by thelocalvillagers.

Phasing Out Nuclear Power

In 1950's when people were thinking toreduce air pollution, nuclear energy wasperceivedas acheap,plentifuland cleanenergyofthe future. Even theutility industry believedthat nuclear power would rep lace theincreasingly scarce fossil fuels and lower thecost of electricity. People also favoured themissionhoping at least thetransition ofnuclearpower from the field of war to peaceful uses.But the calculations went wrong. Highconstructioncosts,strict buildingandoperatingregulations, and heavy expenditure towardspermanentand safewastedisposalmakenuclearpower plants much more expensive than thepowerplants thatburn fossilfuels. Thenuclearpower industry has come under growingpressureto cutoperatingexpenses andbecomemoreeffective. Many countries have plannedtophase out nuclear powercompletely.Sweden

committed to phase out nuclear power verysoon. France cancelled s everal plannedreactors and was considering the replacementof aging nuclear plants with environmentallysaferplants. Germanyannouncedplans in1998to phase out nuclear energy. No orders fornuclear plants have been placed in the U.S.since1978. The number of operating reactorsworldwide has been reduced to 430 this yearfrom 439 in the last five years.

Conclusion

Global warming and energy insecuritypromote nuclearpower as acleanand safe wayto curb emissions of greenhouse gases andreduce dependence on foreign energyresources. But nuclear power generationprocess reveals nuclear power to be adangerous and expensive formof energy thatposes serious risks tohumanhealth andnationalsecurity. We have double-crossed the nature.Often we forget that nature could supportourneed but not our greedand do injustice withnature.We have pollutedour abodewe livein,because of our impatience and lack ofenvironmental cons cious nes s beforeimplementinga newtechnology. Even today,ifwe stop all the emissions completely, it willtake not less than1000years to get a pollutionfree environment back. Therefore, we shouldlook ten times before we leap a step forward.Wemust think oftenfeasiblesafe methods forsustainabledisposalof radioactivewastebeforesettingup anuclear power plant. Otherwise,wemayhoist with our own petard one day.

OES(A), Lecturerin Physics,

Bhadrak Autonomous College, Bhadrak, Odisha- 756100Email: kkjena1@gmail.com

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ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMYAND ITS LAST MODERN HEIRProf.Sudhira Panda

Our beautiful Earth and unending bluesky are always with us, since birth till death,and surprisinglywe neverget fedup with them.

Rathertheyremain withus as source ofmysteryand wonderment forever. Fromthe beginning

of the civilization people tried to unveil thismysteryofthe Earth, the sky and the heavenlybodies including Sun. Inheriting the oldest

civilization of the Earth, many ancient greatsouls of Indiaresearchedon them and passed

their knowledge to the common people. Thehall o f fame includes luminaries likeAryabhatta, Barahamihir, Bhaskaracharya,

Brahmagupta, Ganesh, Sudhakar Dwibedi,Satananda,Kamalakar Bhatta, Kutanacharya,

Ellacharya,BapudevSastriandMadhabMishra.Theyhad their own Siddhants. Besides those

many more might have contributedsignificantly to astronomy whose names werenot recorded in the his tory, s ince their

Siddhantas were notpublished.

Hindu astronomy is as old as the Vedas.The name of the great astronomers and their

Siddhants are mentioned in history. Mainlyfive Siddhants arewell-knowninIndia, namely,Surya Siddhanta, Brahma Siddhanta, Soma

Siddhanta, Lomasha Siddhanta and AryaSiddhanta. There is a myth about Surya

Siddhanta,whichsays that theSiddhantaswerethe advices of the Surya vanshi to the demonMaya. So also the myth goes that Brahma

Siddhanta was written by Brahma andpublis hed by Narada. Similarly "SomaSiddhanta" was written bySoma (Moon)andpublished by some unknown ancient sage.However, Lomasha Siddhanta was writtenand

published by the great sage Lomasha himselfand AryaSiddhanta was writtenandpublishedbythegreat astronomerAryabhatta.

Aryabhattathe inhabitant of Pataliputra(formerly Kusumapur and presently Patna inBihar) wrote Arya Siddhanta at the age of 23

in 476 A.D. For the first t ime he discoveredthat theday andnight takes place as the effectof the earth's ro tation around its own axis.However, he couldn't prove it with s tronglogic. As a resu lt he was insulted by the

common people. He could establis h hisequat ion through experiment and theory.However, he is recognized as the firstastronomical experimentalist in India.

Barahamihira was one among thenabaratna(nine Gems) in thecourtof the GreatKing Bikramaditya. In505A.D. he published

his works Brihat Sanhita, PanchaSidhantikaetc. He was respected as a writer and uniquecollector. In Brihat Sanhita he comparedSiddhantas withhis ownobservation regardingSun's movement in ecliptic. He for the first

time fabricated instruments for celest ialobservation. He also gave a mathematicalinterpretation to thoseobservations.

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Brahmaguptaof Rewarin 628A.D. wrote

Brahmasphuta Siddhanta at the age of 30. Inthis bookhe made some corrections to theold

Siddhantas.The Hindu astronomy onlycamefromBrahmasphutaSiddhanta.Brahmagupta

was also a famous algebraist and algebra wasspread to Europe through Arabic countries

later on.

Pandit SudhakarDwibedi wrote GanakTarangini or Manjala Grantha in tenth

century. Satananda, the great mathematicianfrom (Jagannath) Puri, wrote the scripture

Vaswati in 1099 A.D.. He for the first timeintroduced decimals in his as tronomical

calculation. The advent of Bhaskara fromSahyadri (some place in Western mountain

range), marks an watershade in the history ofancientastronomy.His greatwork, Siddhanta

Siromoni is one of the standard treatises ofthe Differential Calculus. Karnakutuhala is

another important work of Bhaskara inastronomy. With the death of Bhaskara, the

living breath of mathematical science andastronomy parted fromIndia.

In seventeenthcentury King Jayasinghof Jayporeestablished many observatories in

north India by taking the help of EuclidGeometry and it is he who translated Euclid

Geometry into Sanskrit.

KamalakarBhatta, the grandsonofPanditSrikrushna Daibabit a courtier of Samrat

Jahangirhailed in thesixteenth century.However,his scripture "Siddhanta -Tatwa-Bibeka" is

justa supporting workto "Surya Siddhanta".

It rejects the idea of Bhaskarachary in"Siddhanta Siromoni". Because of many

complicacies this scripture didn't becomepopular. However, among allscriptures in the

history only Surya Siddhanta, SiddhantaSiromoni and Brahma Siddhanta were

referred to for the astronomical calculations.

Thenext 400yearswas the dark age of

Indian astronomy. Thevacuum was filled by a

person fromthe remotecorner of Odisha who

for a long time was notknown evenin his own

nativestate. Khandapada,his birth place was a backward hilly feudal

s tate in the then Odis ha province.Mahamahopdhaya Samanta Chandrasekhar

Singha Harichandan Mohapatra was born in1835A.D. of Lunar Pousa Krushnaastami.

The Political Background of Odisha

Before 1947 A.D. Odisha was underBrit is h Rule. It was divided into two

categories, namely Khasmahal and Gadajat.Khasmahal consis ted of the coastal region

while Gadajat, consisted of 24feudalstates.Khasmahals were directly ruled by the British

while Gadajat regions were ruled by the localchieftains directly res ponsible to the British

government. Khandapada was one amongthose 24 Gadajats.

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Chandrasekhar was the only son ofShyamabandhu Singha, the youngest son ofseventhkingNarasingha MardarajaBhramarbaraRay. As a member of the royal family he was

known as Samanta. He was named ChandraSekharas his parents got theson byworshipingLordSiva after the death of their two daughtersanda son.As per superstition his parents soldhim to a Muslim (pathan) priest to save him

fromdeath for which he is popularly knownasPathaniSamanta.

The interest in the sky was almost aninborn quality with Pathani Samanta. In hischildhood days hewas interested in observingthe vultures flying and hovering in the sky.With passage of time, his interest shifted to

the astronomical observation of stars andplanets.He got the preliminary knowledge ofastronomyfromhis father SyamabandhuSinghSamanta. The astronomical scriptures he

referred to were mostly written in Sanskrit.ThereforeChandrasekhar learnt Sanskrit fromhis guru Ananda Khadenga and studied theworks on algebra, trigonometry and lilabati(one chapter on algebra in the scripture

Siddhanta Siromoni of Bhaskara) written bythe ancient mathematicians.At the age of 15,he could master all the theories behind thecalculation of the movement of the heavenlybodies.Hestarted calculations to predetermine

the time of sunrise, sunset, solar eclipse andlunar eclipse and its time span. For theseobservations he mostly used his self-madeinstrument Gola Yantra (Armilary Sphere).

Samanta was observing the stars and

planets of clear autumn night sky, sometimesfrom his courtyard or by making holes and

setting bamboo pipes in the thatched roof.

While observing the position and movementof pole star, Ursha measures, Cashiyopia,

Constellions, Venus,Jupiter, Mars, Mercury

and their respective rising and setting times,henoticed that there wereerrors in calculations

in old sidhantas. He decided to make the

correction, for which he worked from age

fifteen to twenty-three. In those days, he usedtoobservethe heavenlybodies in the night sky

and were recordinghis findings on palmleaves

in the daytime. He alsoverified the statementinAtharva Veda that the distance fromsun to

earth is one hundredfifty four times more than

the distance frommoon to earth.

Samanta's findings contradict those old

geocentric planetary models followed by all

Indian astronomers, the models given byPtolemy and the Helicentricmodernplanetary

model of Newton-Kepler. According to

Samanta, all the planets except Earth arerevolving around the Sun and the Sun with

otherplanets revolves around stationary Earth.

The model is smilar to that of Tycho Brahe.Surprisingly all thefindings are almost similar,

since all of themused the relative co-ordinates

in their respective calculations.

He has recorded his findings in his

scripture Sidhanta Darpan. The important

corrections are mentioned in Tables 1 & 2.

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Table - 1 : Sidereal Periods in mean Solar Days

Eurpoean Surya-Siddhanta Siddhatna-Siromani SidhantaDarpanAstronomy Difference Difference Difference

Sun 365.25637 356.25875+.00238 365.254843+.000206 365.25875+.00238

Moon 27.32166 27.32114+.00001 27.32114-.00052 27.32167+.00001

Mars 686.9794 689.9975+.0181 686.9979+.0185 686.9857.0063

Mercury 87.9692 87.9585+.0107 87.9699+.0007 87.9701+.0009

Jupiter 4332.5848 4332.3206-.2642 4332.2408-.3440 4333.6278+.0430

Venus 224.7007 224.6985-.0022 224.9679-.0028 224.7023+.0016

Saturn 10759.2197 10765.7730+6.5533 10765.8152+6.5955 10759.7605+.5408

Table - 2 : Comparison of the Mean Inclinations of the Orbits of the Planets to the Ecliptic

Eng. Ast. Surya-5 Siromani Darpana

Mercury 7 0' 8" 5 25 6 55 7 2

Venus 3 53 35 2 46 3 6 3 23

Mars 1 51 2 1 30 1 50 1 51

Jupiter 1 18 41 1 0 1 16 1 18

Saturn 2 29 40 2 0 2 40 2 29

Moon 5 8 48 4 30 4 30 5 9

Oliquity of the Ecliptic 23 27 24 0 24 0 23 30

Samanta discovered three irregularitiesinMoon's motion.Hehad mademeasurementsandmade threecorrections to the oldsiddhantsas regards the motionof the Moon. He namedthose irregularities as (i) Tungantar(Eviction),(ii) Paksh ika (Variat ion) , (iii) Digamsa(Annualequation).

Samanta recommended variouscorrections to be incorporatedas to themeanposition of planets for obtaining their truepositions and accordingly had prescribed forthecomputations of astronomicalpredictionswhich are supposed to remain valid for

thousands of years.

Planet Venus moves over the solar diskseen as small pebble during a transit . Lasttransit of venus was in 1882 which was notvis ible to India. According to samant'sprediction next transit ofVenus was due on 8thJune 2004.

It is interesting to know that theinstruments whichSamanta Chandrasekharwasusing to observe the heavenly bodies or tomeasurethe height and distance of thedistantobjects, were improvis ed using cheaplyavailable natural materials such as bamboochipsand woodensticks.Theywere sodisarminglysimple in construction that the modern man

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can hardly accept those as instruments.Thoseinstruments are locally knownasManaYantra,Golayantra, Dhanuryantra, Shanku, SuryaGhadi , Chapayantra, Golardhayantra,Chakrayantra and Swayangwaha Yantra.These instruments are briefly introducedbelow.

Mana Yantra: It is aT-shaped instrumentmade of two sticks, one standing vertical tothe other. Formerone got holes ormarks in each unit.The observer candetermine theheightand distanceof a distant objectsimultaneouslybyobserving the object insidethose holes takingtwo readings fromdifferent positions. This isthe instrument whichmade Samanta popularamong the commonpeople ofOdisha sinceitsworking principle is very simple based onrudimentary geometry.

Golayantra : It is a replica of earthsurrounded by the sky. In other words itrepresents a globesurrounded by the celestials phere. As weknowthe globe isused to locate aplace on the earththroughimaginarylat itude andlongitudelines onit. Similarlyimag inary lines

aredrawn across celestialsphere to determineposition, motion and their respective risingandsetting times ofheavenly bodies throughoutthe year.

Dhanuryantra: It is an instrument whichwas fabricated bySamantaChandraSekhar inafewminutes by the help of coconut strings.Heimprovised it impromptu to prove his point inwayof an answerto the question "What's theangular distance betweenMars and Venus ?"The gentleman (Prof Roy), well- versed inastronomy, was actually testinghim. Pat camethe reply from Samanta, "6°".

Sanku: It is difficult to believe in thisage of highly sophisticated machines andinstruments, that this is an instrument. It is asingle stick standing vertically upward ontheplane ground. Fromthepositionand lengthofits shadow wecandeterminethe exactdirectionsoftheplace, latitudeoftheplace anddeclinationand longitude of Sun throughout the year.

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Surya Ghadi: It was fabricated bySamanta Chandra Sekhar and established byProf, Jogesh Chandra Roy in RavenshawCollege (nowRavenshaw University). It hasbeen showing correct local time since 1902.

Chakrayantra: It is alsoaSundialfabricated bySamantafollowing the similar principleof parallel axis to axis ofrotation of earth and planeparallelto the equatorialplane.

Swayambahayantra : It is an instrumentconsisting of a containerfilled with water and anindicatorplate connectingwith apot floatingon thewater. Cont inuousevacuation of water witha constant rate indicatesconstant time interval inthe indicator p late.Samanta was keeping this instrument all thetime with him, since it can work in both dayandnight time independent of skyconditions(whether cloudy or clear, sunny or night).

PathaniSamanta, the rare genius wouldhave been lost to the world had he not beendiscoveredbyRadhanath Roy.Radhanath Roywas then a school inspector. He was visitingtheschools ofKhandapada. Inpassing itmaybe ment ioned that Radhanath Roy isconsidered as the founder of modern odialiterature.Before his discussion with Samanta,likethe localpeople,Roy mistook Samanta asa mere ast rologer. After retu rning fromKhandapada Radhanath Roy talked toMadhusudan Rao (another precurs or ofmodernism in Odia literature), and theytogether wroteto MaheshChandra Nyaratna

Surya Ghadi

Chapayantra: It gives informations ontime,date andmonth with equalaccuracy likethe highlycomplexandexpensive Jantarmantarobservatory located at New Delhi.

Golardhayantra : It was designed bySamanta by using thelower part of the circularwater pot and a stick oflength equivalent to theradius of the pot insertedvertically upward at itscenter.This shows equallyaccuratetimeas the othersundials.

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theprincipal ofSanskrit College, Calcuttaand

invitedhimto Odisha to test the knowledgeofPathaniSamanta. After long discussion withPathaniSamanta at Cuttack M. C. Nayaratna

was convinced about Samanta's soundknowledge in Sanskrit. He assigned Prof.

JogeshChandra Roy 'the professor of science'in Ravenshaw College, Cuttack the task oftesting thescientific authenticityof Samanta's

work. Prof. Roy not only tested Samanta'sknowledgebut hebecame adisciple ofSamanta

to learn astronomy. SamantaChandra Sekhar'sachievements written in palm leaf scripturetook the form of a book by the combined

effort of RadhanathRoy, Madhusudan Rao,Mahesh Chandra Nyaratna and Prof. Jogesh

ChandraRoy. Itwas published with the financialsupport from the king of Athamallik SriMahendraDeo and thekingof MayurbhanjSri

Ramachandra Deva in 1894A.D. All total Rs1250/- had been spent to get 5000 copies of

SidhantaDarpan printed in Debanagariscript.The introduction to the Siddhanta Darpanrunning into 61pages was written in English

byProf. Jogesh ChandraRoy. The copies weredistributed in England (700 copies), France

(300 copies), Germany (1000 copies) andAmerica (800 copies) in 1899 A.D. The titleMahamahopdhyawas conferred upon himby

the British Government on 28th Sept. 1993A.D. in aDarabar speciallyarranged at Cuttack

(thethen state capitalof Odisha)as SamantaanorthodoxHindu refused on religious groundto travel to Calcutta to receive the award.

Siddhanta Darpan

Siddhanta Darpana contains 24chapterswith 2506 slokas , out of which 2290 versescomposed by Samanta and 216 citations fromearlier authors. It contains 55 tables, eachtables contains morethan50numberssometimesgiven up to five places in sexagesimalsystem.Allthis shows his amazing computationalskillandability to carry out enormous calculationsusing largenumbers without anyaid.

Two articles were published in theinternational journals, Nature Vol-59, March1899,No.l532, pp. 436-437 and KnowledgeVol-XXII, January-December 1899, pp. 256-258 regarding Samanta Chandra Sekhar andSiddhanta Darpan . Excerpts from Nature andKnowledge (above mentioned is sues )respectivelyare given in following tables andparagraphs.

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Anyone who reads the very interestingintroduction of sixty one pages that Prof.Royhas attached to this Sanskrit workwill regretvery much his inability to fathomthe work thatfollows.For therein is contained the results ofthe patient and industrious inquiryof one whounaided by the accumulated knowledge ofwestern astronomers, resolutely set himselfto solve the problems of celestial mechanicsby the aid of such instruments as he could

fashion himself and where the time honoredclepsydra supplied the place of the siderealclock. The only assistance he seems to havehad were the similar rough observations ofBhaskara (born 1114 A.D.) and some stillolderobservers. Prof.Roycompares the authorveryproperly to Tycho.Butwe should imaginehimtobe greater thanTycho, for without sameassistance, without encouragement of king andthe applause of his fellows, he has advanced

Summary of contents of Siddhanta Darpan

Chapter Name of the section Contents No. ofNo. slokas1 Madhyamadhikara Description of time 552 Description of Bhaganaetc. 253 Mean planet position 774 Various corrections 575 Spastadhikara True planet position 2216 Finer corrections 1617 Triprasnadhikara Gnomos etc. 958 Lunar eclipse 879 Solar eclipse 7810 Parilekhadescription 13711 Transitof planets 11112 Alignments of planets 9313 Rising and setting of planets 8514 Phases of Moon 6815 Descriptionof Mahapata 7116 Goladhikara A set of question onSun andEarth 8017 Description of earth 16018 Description of earth (contd.) 17619 The celestial sphere 12420 Description of instruments 11221 Some deeper questions 25122 Kaladhikara Description of year etc. 7723 Prayer to Purusottam(Lord Jagannath of Puri) 5624 Conclusion 15425 Additions Transitof venus 5

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his favorite sciencequite as effectively as didtheDanish astronomer. It is especiallycurioustonote that thesystemat whichChandrasekharultimately arrived, and the explanations heoffers of it, bears a very considerab leresemblanceto that Tycho taught. The authorhas never been able toconvince himself thatthe Earth turns on its axis, or that goes roundthe Sun, but to the planet, he assignedheliocentric motion, much as Tycho did.

Knowledge: " The ephemeridescomputed from his elements are seldommorethan a few minutes of arc in error, whilst theBengali almanac may be in error as much asfour degrees. To Hindus, for whom theirreligious obs ervances are regulated byastronomicalconfigurations,this work,bynoneof themselves, a strict follower of the secretlaws of their re ligion , and conductedth roughout so lely by trad itional Hindumethods, is of the highest importance, as itremoves the confusions which had crept intotheirsystem, without in theleast drawinguponthe sources of western science. But the workis of importance and interest to us and to thewesterners as well. It demonstrates thedegreeofaccuracy whichwas possible inastronomicalobservation before the invention of thetelescope,and it enables us to watch ,as itwereone of the astronomers of hoary, forgottenantiquity actually as his workbefore us today.

It will not be out of context to mentionthe opinion of Prof. Jogesh Chandra Roy inthe last paragraph of his introduction toSiddhanta Darpan . That is " And whatdidourIndian Tycho receive ? He met with sneers

fromhis equals in positions,becausehe shockoff the aristocraticprejudiceagainst star gazersand fortune-tellers. Hehadnoone toencouragehimin his pursuit, andno notice was taken ofhis work. Our Government could only conferupon him an empty title which he had nevercoveted. Geniuses are like delicate plants,never plentiful anywhere, and depend upontender care for growth and development andfertility. Let me therefore hope that the pastneg lect of his count rymen may yet becompensatedand that betterdaymay yetdownupon our old dandy crippled observer ofheavenly body.{KATAK, 1889}"

However, Prof. Roy's wish and effortwas agreed by the Government to givepensionRs . 50/- per month to Chandras ekhar.Unfortunately the firstand the last instalmentofthe pension was spent for his funeralat Purion 11th June 1904.

Acknowledgement:

The author is thankful to SriSailaj Rabifor the critical reading of the manuscript andvaluablesuggestions.

References:1. P. C. Naik, Pathani Samanta Instrument Kiits, The

Book Point, Bhubaneswar, (2008).2. Pandit C. S . Mishra, Samanta Chandra Sekhar

(Jibani), {Odia}, Pravati Press, Cuttack (1932)3. Mahamohopdhaya Samant Chandra Sekhar

Singha Harichandan Mohapatra, Siddhanta Darpan,Girish Bidyaratna Press, Calcutta, (1899).

4. J. C. Roy, IntroductiontoSiddhanta Darpan, SiddhantaDarpan, Girish Bidyaratna press, Calcutta (1899).

5. Orissa Bigyan Academy, Poster set on Life andwork ofPathani Samanta, Bhubaneswar, (2004).

Department of Mathematics,

Ravenshaw University, Cuttack-751003

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DEVELOPMENTS IN INDIAN SATELLITE TECHNOLOGYAND ITS APPLICATIONS

Prof N. K. Mahalik

Introduction

Twenty-firs t century is an age ofsatellites. All modern activities depend onsatellites of one typeor other. They provideinformation on earth resources (forests, water,agricu lture, mineral resources , terraincondition etc) at the shortest possible timeandata lower cost.Theygive informations onweatherconditions,naturalandother hazards.Anythinghappening on Earth and beyond theEarth are quickly transmitted to the humansociety by communication satellites. Most ofthe human activities are now conducted on-line. With the development of satellite theEarth has become a small place and easilyaccessible to all. With a computer at hand,most things can be done, sitting at home.

What is Remote Sensing

In a broader sense it is sensing naturalresources, meteorologicalevents and humanand other events and activities froma distancewithout going to the place where the actualthings occur or happen. The simplest modelofremote sensing is observation of things byhuman beings shown in Fig.1.

The figure shows how a human beingsenses everything before him.He sees forests,water bodies, human settlements,cloudcover,rainfall,congregationof people, theiractivities,and temperature effects, though his vision is

limited to a smallarea. What is the mechanism

of all these? He has threesensors, the eyes tosee, the ears to hear and the skin to feel theheator cold. For seeing things he needs somelight such as solar energy or some artificiallight.Thus some sortof radiation is necessary.Human eyes can see the objects within thevisible range of the spectral band of theelectromagnetic radiation i.e. within the wavelengths of 0.04 micron to 0.07 micron. Insatellite remote sensing the same model isfollowed where the electromagnetic radiation(EMR) in all the spectral bands are used byartificial eyes (sensors , radiometers andtransponders) placed aboard the satellite

Fig.1

Fig.2

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moving in the space. A more generalizedremote sensing model is shown in Fig.2.

In this case the human is replaced by asatellitewith sensingdevices such as sensors,radiometers and transponders placed high upin thespace. Its higherposition in spaceenablesit to see large areas ofthe earth's surface andcan monitor temporalchanges. The varioussensing devices (sensors, radiometers andtransponders)operate indifferentbands of theEMR. (Fig.3 & 4).

Type of Sensors

There are different types of sensors orpayloads to serve different purposes such as

remote sensing of natural resources,measuringweather conditions and trans mit t inginformation from one place to another.

Resource sensing sensors: These are avariety of cameras andscanners (multispectralscanners, line imaging scanners and thematic-mappers) operating in visible and infraredsegment of the EMR. The weather sensingdevices are radiometers which operate ininfrared and microwave segments of the EMR.The communication payloads, known astransponders, operate in different microwavebands e.g., L, S, C,X, Ku and Ka bands.

Type of Satellites

There are three type of satellites basedon their applications and two types based ontheir orbital positions.

(1) Satellites based on their applications:Theyare three types:Remote sensingsatelliteswhich exclusively sense earth resources suchas water, forest, mineral, terrain features etc.They map the resources and also monitorchanges with time. TheIndian remotesensingsatellites are: IRS series, cartosat series, andradar imaging satellites (Raisat). The othertwo categories are weatherandcommunicationsatellites.Initially the INSATseries of satelliteswere join tly serving both weather andcommunication but later developmentalchanges brought in independent weatherandcommunication satellites such as metsat, andmeghatropics for weatherandGsat and Edusatfor communication. The weather satellitescarried a variety of radiometers while the

Fig. 3 sh ows the total electromagnetic radiation withdifferent wave lengths beginning with Gamma-Rays,X-rays, Ultra-violet Rays, Visible Ray, Infrared, Microwaveand Radio waves.

Fig.4 shows the different frequencies in themicro-wavewhich are used for radiometers and transponders etc.

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communication satellites carried a variety oftransponders workingon manyfrequencybandsof the Microwave radiation.

(2) Satellites based on orbit: These aretwo types : Polar orbiting Sun synchronouss atellites and equatorial o rb it inggeosynchronous satellites.The polarorbitingsatellites are placed at a relatively loweraltitude (500 to 1500 km above the Earth'ssurface) which move round the globe andrepeatedly see a particular region in each orbitat the same sun angle. So while it maps aregion, it also monitors the changes in theregion with time. This is good for mapping offorest areas, agriculture and water resourcesand monitoring their changes with time. TheGeosynchronous satellites are equatorialrotatingand placed ata higheraltitude ofabout36000kmabovethe Earth.It constantly focuseson aparticular regionof theEarth and recordscontinuous changes with time such as weatherchanges in aregion.WhileIRS series,Cartosatseries are polar orbiting Sun synchronoussatellites, INSAT, Gsat and Edus at aregeosynchronous satellites.

Satellite Launch Vehicles

In all variet ies of satellite sens ingoperations, rockets are needed to lift thesatellites to the rightorbitalpositions. Fromamodest beginning of small rockets carryingabout 10kg materials, India has advancedthrough time to produce rockets to lift heavyweight satellites in to space. There are twoprincipal types of launch vehicles: the Polar

Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and theGeosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle

(GSLV). Recently India had the privilege ofjoining the elite club of five (USA, Russia,France,Japan andChina)with it ownCryogenicengines to lift heavy geostationary rockets.The successful launch of the communication

satellite, GSAT-14by indigenously developedGSLV-D5 with its own cryogenic engine is abig milestone in the developmental history ofsatellite technology of India.

Establishment of Launch Pad atSriharikota

Earlier theIndian satellites werelaunchedfromforeign base in the absence oflaunching

station and suitable launch vehicles. ButwithtimeIndia has achievedgreatsuccess in launchvehicles such as PSLV and GSLV and anin ternational clas s launch ing stat ion atSriharikotainAndhraPradesh.All the satellites

are now launched from Sriharikota launchstationwhich has beennamedas SatishDhawanSpace Centre. Manyforeignsatellites arenowlaunched fromthis center.

Satellite Data Receiving Center

Asatellite datareceivingcentre has beenestablishedat Sadnagar nearHyderabadwheresatellites dump their data which are initiallyprocessed there andare sent to NationalRemote

Sensing Agency at Hyderabad for furtherprocessing and distribution to different users.

Manysister organization suchas researchwings, satellite tracking centers have been

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developedunderthe masterorganizationknownas Indian SpaceResearchOrganization (ISRO)under the Dept of Space, Govt. of India.

Progress in Indian Satellite Technology

India has achieved great success in thefield of satellite technology within the last 50years. Fromnothing in1960s it is now aworldleader in the fields of satellite technology. Ithas developed its own satellites, its launchvehicles , the various payloads and theinternationalstandard launching station.It hasdonegreat research tounderstand eachsegmentof the electromagneticradiationand their usein design of different pay loads. Earlier inseventies it took all the help from foreigncountries to design, buildand lift the satellitesinto space but now it is in a position to helpdeveloped countries to lift their satellites fromits own launching center. India has verysuccessfullyaccomplished its moon mission,Chandrayan in 2008 and in 2013 it hassuccessfully launched a mission toMars by itslaunch vehicle which is likely to reach Marsorbit by Sept 2014. Very recently in Januarythis year (2014) it has successfully flown itsheavy weight GSLV-D5 rocketby domesticallyproducing its ownCryogenic engine. With theunusualsuccess in the field of remotesensingwithin the last 50 years it is really difficult topredict to what extent India can go within thecoming century. May be the Indians will beflying in deepspace.

Formerly Professorat Utkal University,Bhubaneswar, 751004

C/73,HIG Housing Board Colony,Baramunda, BhubaneswarEmail: nk.mahalik@gmail.com

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT WITHVEDIC PRINCIPLE OF

ECOLOGICAL HARMONYNihar RanjanAcharya

In the latter half o f 20th Century-Environmental Science and Ecology, thedisciplines of modern science have come up,under which thestudyof environment and itsrelated fields is done with minute details.But,their origincan beseen long back in the VedicandAncient Sanskrit literatures. The conceptof environment differs from time to time,sinceit depends uponthe conditions prevalentat that particulartime period. The Environment(Pro tect ion) Act , 1986 defines theEnvironment as - 'Environment includes waterair and land and the inter-relationship whichexists among and between water, air and landandhuman beings,otherliving creatures,plants,micro organisms and property'.

Fromthe abovedefinition, it can be wellunderstood thatEnvironment consists oftwocomponents namely biotic (living organisms)and abiotic (non-livingmaterials). The livingorganisms can be grouped into three types:those living mainly on land (terrestrial orBhuchar), in water (aquatic or Jalachar)andin air (aerial or Khechar). The non-livingmaterials of the Environment are land, air,water etc.

The word 'Paryavarana' which isfrequentlyusedfor Environmenthas originatedfrom Sanskrit literature and it carries the

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meaning"which encircles us",that is allaroundin our surroundings. InAtharva Veda, wordsequivalent to this sense such as Vritavrita,Abhivarah, Avritah, Parivrita, etc. are used.

Vedicviewon environment is well-definedinoneof the verses oftheAtharvaVeda wherethreecoverings of oursurroundings arereferredtoas Chhandansi, means coverings availableeverywhere. It teaches us to wisely utilizethethree elements which are varied, visible andfullof qualities,viz., water(Apah),Air (Vayuh)and plants and herbs (Vanaspatayah). Theyexist in the World (Prithivi) from the verybeginning.Itundoubtedly proves theknowledgeofVedic Seers about thebasics ofEnvironment.

According to one indigenous theoryestablished in the Veda and Upanishad, theUniverseconsists of five basic elements (thePancha Mahabhuta)viz.,EarthorLand(Khit),Water (Apah), Light or luster (Tej or Agnih),Air (Vayuh) and Ether (Byoma or Akash).

In Nature, there exis ts an inbuiltmechanismofbalancing thesefiveconstituentsorbasic elements andlivingcreatures onearth.A disturbance in percentage of any of theseconstituents ofthe environmentbeyond certainlimits disturbs the natural balance and anychange in the naturalbalance causes lots ofproblems to thelivingcreatures in theuniverse.All constituents of the Environment areconnectedwith a subtle web with one another.The relation of humanbeing with environmentis very natural as he cannot live without it.Fromthe verybeginning of creation manwantsto know about it for self protection and self

survival. Our Vedic Philosophy which isotherwiseknownas Sanatan (Eternal) Darshan(Philos ophy) considers Vedic Aryans aschildrenof nature.Theystudied nature closelyin sylvan surroundings - very minutely. Theverse Ritam Badisyami, Satyam Badisyamiwhich means I will tellabout the laws of natureand I will speak the truth; is the Pramana(Proof) of their study. Ritam is definedvariously by different Vedic Contexts, but ingeneralsense it has been elaborated as great'cosmic order'which is the causeof allmotionand existence, and keeps world in order. Noonecan ignoreit, evenDevatas(celestialbodies)are abided by the Ritam - the cosmic law andthey areborn ofRitam. It is the controllingandsustaining power thatacts behind allnaturalphenomenona. It sustains sun in the sky.AsUniversal Laws it governs everything. Thewhole of theuniverseis working underRitam.

Sand-s to rm and cyclone, in tens elightening,terrificthunderclaps, theheavyrushof rain in monsoon, the swift flood in thestream that comes down from the hills, thescorching heat of the sun, the cracking redflames of the fire, all witness to a supremepower i.e. beyond man's power. The Vedicsages felt the greatness of these forces.Therefore, they worshiped and prayed themdue to regard and gratitude. They realizedinstinctively that action, movement, change,creation and destruction in nature are theresults of forces beyond men's control andthus they attributed these towards divinity ofnature. The laws behind all naturalphenomenaareeternalandfreshphenomena arecontinually

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reproduced, but theprinciple of order remainsthe same. Therefore, the principle existedalreadywhen the earliestphenomenaappeared.

The main part of Rig Veda belongs toNaturalhymns, the hymns related withnaturalforces. The hymns addressed to deities(Devatas) who are under the influence of themost impressive phenomenon of nature andits aspects. The word Devatas means divineentities which is helpful to all without anyselfish gain. In thesehymns, we find prayersfor certain naturalelements such as air,water,earth, sun, rain, dawn etc. The gloriousbrightness ofthe sun,the blaze of thesacrificialfire, the sweep of the rain-storm across theskies, the recurrenceof the dawn, the steadycurrents of the winds, the violence of thetropicalstormandothersuch naturalenergies,fundamentalactivities or aspects are glorifiedand personified as divinities (Devata). Thein teract ion with nature resulted in itsappreciationand prayer ...but, indeed, after agood dealof observation.Attributes assignedto deities fit in their natural forms andactivities, as Soma is green, fire is bright, airis fastmoving andsunis dispenser ofdarkness.The characteristics of these forces describedin the verses prove that Vedic Seers weremasters of naturalscience.

Rishis - the Vedic Seers had a greatvisionabout universe.Theuniverse consists ofthree in terlinked webs, v iz., Prith ivi ,Antariksha and Dyava. Prithivi, the Earth,Antariksha, the aerial or intermediate regionwhich is betweenheavenand earth, andDyava,

the heaven or sky is very wellestablished inthe Vedic texts. Prithivi can be a scientificname - 'observer space'. It is our space, thespaceinwhich weliveanddie whatever we cansee and observe. All living creatures comeunder the universal principle of: Asti,Jayate,Bardhate, Biparinamate, Apakshiyate,Nasyati. It means, it is there (Asti), then ittakes birth (jayate) then it grows (bardhate),then it starts to turn reversely (biparinamate),then it starts to decay (apakshiyate) andat lastitdecomposes (nasyati).Dyava can be termedas 'light space'because lightpropagates in thiss pace. Antarik sha can be termed as'Intermdediate space' as this space exists inbetween observer space and light space.

The concept of theform of the earth inRig Veda is very fascinating. There is onesmallhymn addressed to Prithivi, while thereare sixhymns addressed to Dyava-Prithivi.Prithivi is considered the mother and Dyavais considered as Father and they form a pairtogether. One of the most beautiful verse ofthe RigVeda says,'Heaven is my father,brotheratmosphere is my navel, and the great earth ismy mother. Heaven and earth are parents:Matarah, Pitarah, Janitarah in union, whileseparately called as father and mother. Theysustain all creatures. They are great andwidespread. In Atharva Veda, the earth isdescribed in one hymns called as BhumiSuktaor Prithivi Sukta which indicates theenvironmentalconsciousness ofVedicRishis.Through this hymn it appears that Rishis hadadvanced knowledge about theEarth. Earth iscalled as Vasudha for containing all wealth,

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Hiranyagarva forhaving gold and treasures.The earth is called Visvambhara because it isthe representative of the universe. This wideearth supports allvarieties of herbs, oceans,rivers, mountains, hills etc. The earth is fullyresponsible for our food and prosperity. It ispraised for its strength. It serves us day andnight tirelessly.

Water is essential and precious to allforms of life.According to RigVeda, water asa part of human environment occurs in fiveforms, viz., RainWater (Dvyah),NaturalSpring(Sarvanti), Wells and Canals (Khanitrimah),Lakes (Svayamjah), Rivers and Oceans(Samudra).Thereare someotherclassificationsalso in the Taittiriya Upanishad, AranyakayYajur Veda and Atharva Veda as drinkingwater, medicinal water, stable water etc. TheChhandogya Upanishad des cribes thequalities of water. The water is the source ofjoy and for living a healthy life. It is theimmediate cause ofallorganic beings such asvegetations, insects, worms, birds, animals,human beings etc. Even the mountains, theearth,the atmosphereandheavenly bodies arewater concretized.

The cycle of water is described. Fromocean water reaches the sky and from sky itcome back to earth. (Atharva Veda, 4.27.4.)

According to Atharva Veda,Vayucannotmean air alone.Apparent meaning of Vayu isair.The Vedic seers knewthe importance ofairfor life. They understood all about the air inthe atmosphere and also about the air inside

the body. The Taittiriya Upanishad throwslight on the presence of five types of windinside the body: Prana, Vyana, Apanna,

Udanna, Samana. Rig Veda mentions - 'OhAir! You are our father, the protector.Air hasmedicinalvalues. Let windblowin the formofmedicineand bring mewelfare and happiness.Another verse describes characteristics ofair- The air is the soul of all deities. It exists inallas life-breath. Itcan move everywhere. Wecannotsee it. Only one can hear its sound.Wepray to Vayu Devata.VedicArayans,therefore,emphasized that the unpolluted, pure air is the

source of goodhealth,happiness and long andcherished life. Vayu Devata is prayed toblowwith its medicinal qualities.

ModernEnvironmentalists discuss sound

or noise pollution. There is a relation betweenetherandsound. Thesoundwaves move in thesky at various frequencies. Scientists couldseethe sky whichexists only in thevicinity ofearth. Taittiriya Upanishad throws light ontwo types of ether, i.e. Mathakash andChidakash; i.e., one inside the body and theother outside the body. The ether (Akash)insidethebody is regardedas the seat ofmind.

So, the Yajur Veda advises humanity not topollute the sky.

Decades ago, when environmentwas nota buzz word, Vedic Philosophy through Isho

Upanishadhad taughtus thatone shouldenjoyrenouncingor giving upothers their part (videits first Mantra) ... "Tena tyaktena bhunjithama gridhah kasya swid dhanam."

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Modern Scientists are astonished andatthe same time feelproud of Vedic Philosophyfor its knowledge, wisdom and views aboutenvironment. Ancient Seers knew variousaspects of environment, cosmic order, andalso the importance of co-ordination betweenallnatural laws foruniversalpeace andharmony.When they pray for peace at all level in theShanti Mantras,they express their beliefabouttheimportance of inter-relationship amongallnatural laws, people, regions. The ShantiMantra, 'Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, SarveSantu Niramayah, Sarve BhadraniPasyantuMa Kaschit DukhahBhag Bhavet' -says thatnot only regions, water, plants trees, naturallaws andenergy, butallcreatures should liveinharmony and peace. Peace should remaineverywhere.It is prettyclearthat Vedic visionto live in harmony with environment was notmerelyphysicalbutwas farwider andsensitive.TheVedic people desired to livea lifeofhundredyears (Jivema Sarad Sata, Pasyame SaradSatam...Rig. Veda)and this wish canbe fulfilledonly whenenvironment wouldbe unpolluted,clean and peaceful. The knowledge of VedicPhilosophy is meant to save the humanityfromfalling into utterdarkness of ignorance.Theunity in diversity (SaGachhadhwam, SaBadadhwam.... Rig. Veda) is the message ofVedic physical and metaphysical sciences.Essence of the environmental studies in theVedas can be put here by quoting a partialmantraofIshoupanishad, Mantra, 1(IshavasyaMidaam Sarvam.....). The message is clearthatenvironment belongs toall living beings,so it needs protection by all, for the welfare of

all. Hence, for global harmony, Vedic seersalways prayfor the welfare ofall creatures andall regions.

Challenges facing mankind on theenvironmental front have become truly globaland pressing. Apprehensions are expressedthat without remedialmeasures, we may facethe bleak prospect of the collapse of thelifestyle that different societies presentlyenjoy. On the other hand, never before in thehistory have there ever been attempts on thesame scale as we witness today, of the thirdworld countries seeking to usher in socio-economic development to providefor people,the means to realize self fulfillment andcreatea society which is genuinely harmonious andfree from want and deprivation . It isincreasingly realized that the human race isstanding at the crossroads in choosing theoptions ithas in the areas of environmentanddevelopment. The industrial countries,havingenjoyed more than theirshare ofdevelopment,haveachieved adecentstandardof living.Thishas given to the earth pollution and eco-degradation as a result of affluence andunderlying greed. Ithas now become clear thatsuch patterns ofdevelopment, life styles andqualityof lifeareunsustainable.On thecontrary,the developing countries are still strugglingfor minimumlevels of sustenance. No doubt,they too have contributed to the eco-degradationand pollution,but this is essentiallyneed and poverty based. Before we reach apoint of no return, we must take tangible stepsand follow a road that leads to sustainability.

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So,I would liketo conclude with briefingup the Vedic Philosophy of harmony andsustainability.

Since time immemorial, Indians havebeen very conscious of environment. ForIndians,the relationshipwith the nature startsevery morning, when many recite the mostpowerful GayatriMantra as invocation to theSun to the system we all belong. The VedicGods such as Agni (fire), Surya (Sun), Vayu(Air), Bhumi (Earth), Varuna (Water)andIndra(The God of Rain), together representatmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere andsunlight and energy.

Longbefore ecology became the refrainof the global song at Stockholm and Rio, inancient India - our Vedic Civilization hadalready a sacred space for the environmentalethos.The VedicTraditionhad always promotedthe principle of ecologicalharmony centuriesago -not because theworld was perceived asheading for an environmental disaster, norbecause ofany immediate utilitarianexigency,but through its questforknowledge andphysicalsymbiosis, synthesized in asystem of ethicalawareness andmoral responsibility. The VedicHymn to the Earth, the Prithivi Sukta inAtharva Veda is undoubtedly the oldest andthe most sensible environmental invocation.One of the Mantra says 'MataBhumihPutroAham Prithibyah', which means Earth is mymother, I am the Son of Earth. Earth -theMother is celebrated forallher naturalbountiesand part icu larly for her gifts of herbs(Banaspati) and vegetation.

Ishoupanishad (... Tena tyk tenabhunjltha ma gridhah kasya swid dhanam)

teaches us about 'sustainabledevelopment'.Inshort Environmentaldegradation is drawingeverybody's attention now-a-days. In the raceforgrowth, our environmenthas beensubjectedto constant damage. To sustain economic

growthand development; policies,regulationsandincentives need tobe reestablished alongwith Vedic Principle of ecological harmonywhich is a need of the hour.

Reference1) A.R. Panchamukhi, Socio-economic Ideas in Ancient

Indian Li tetature, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, Delhi,1998, P.467

2) Atharvaveda, 12.1.52

3) Ibid, 1.32.4.

4) Ibid, 10.1.30

5) Ibid. 10.8.31

6) Ibid 18.1.17

7) Srimad Bhagavat and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, VedicPhysics, S cientific Origin ofHinduism

8) Aitareya Upanisha, 3.3

9) Origin of Environmental Science by S ashi Tiwari,P.159,160

10) Taittiriya Aranyaka 1.24.1-2 1.24.1-2.

Yajurveda 22.25.

Atharvaveda 1.6.4. Chandogya Upani shad 7.10.1

11) Yajurveda 1.24; Shatapatha Bra. 8.73.10

Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.4

Rigveda10.186.2

12) Yajurveda 36.1; Atharvaveda 19.9.94; A.C. Bose, TheCal l of the Vedas, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan,Mumbai,1999, P.281

13) A Compendium of Essays, P.397:

Founder&Director,Trust,E38/3,RentalColony,Bhubaneswar-751015

Mob.-8895180621, nihar.acharya@rediffmail.com

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WHY SACRED GROVES ARE IMPORTANTFROM SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL POINT OF VIEW ?

Prof. MadhabChandraDash

The Concept

Sacred groves comprise of patches offorests or naturalvegetation consisting of afew trees to larger areas of forests- that areusually dedicated to local folk deities or treegods (Vana Devatas).

These areas are protected by localcommunities because of theirreligious beliefsand traditional rituals (Figure1) that run throughseveralgenerations. This is the socio-culturalconcept of the sacredgroves. The degree ofsanctity of the sacred groves varies fromonegrove toanother. In some groves even thedryfoliage and fallen fruits are not collected.People believe that any kind of disturbancemay offend the localdeity, causing diseases,natural calamities or failure of crops. The

sacred groves have important conservationvalues. For example, the Garo and the Khasitribes of northeastern Indiacompletelyprohibitany human interference in the sacred groves.In other sacred groves, deadwood or driedleaves may be pickedup,but thelivetree oritsbranches are never cut.For example, theGondsof central India prohibit the cutting of a tree

but allowfallen parts suchas twigs, foliage andfruits tobe used byhuman beings. The socio-cultural and environmental values of sacredgroves are immense.This concept keeps peopleunited in all occasions and the environmentprotected. The concept is prevalent now inancient communities throughout India. Inbriefa sacred grove is any groveof trees of specialsocio-religious importance to a particular

culture/community.

Sacred Groves in the world

Sacred groves were most prominent intheancientNear East, and in India but featureinvarious cultures throughout the world.Sacredgroves were important featu res of themythological landscape and cult practice of

Greek, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Near Eastern,Roman,and Slavicpolytheism. They were alsoused in India,(Templegroves in Ancient India,sacred groves of ancient sages), Japan, andWest Africa. Examples of sacred groves inEurope include the Greco-Roman temenos,

Figure 1. KalpeswarSacred Grove in Sambalpurdistrictof Odisha.Peopletie ared cloth, offer fruits,milkproductsto the deity (Shiva Lingam) and ring the bel l wishinggod's blessin gs for specific work.They protect thegrove,and the fresh water pond.

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the Norse hörgr,and the Celtic nemeton,which

was largely but notexclusively associatedwith

Druidic practice. Therewas a common practiceof building churches on the sites of sacred

groves. Ancient holy trees still exist in the

countryside of England and are mentionedoften in folklore and fairytales. There are two

mentions on this tradition in the Bible:Abraham

planteda grove inBeersheba, and called there

the name of God.-Genesis 21:33.

Classification of Sacred GrovesIn India sacred groves are us ually

classified under three categories:(i) Traditional Sacred Groves - It is the

placewhere the village deity resides, whois represented by asymbol.

(ii) TempleGroves - agrove is createdarounda temple and conserved.

(iii) Cremation Ground Groves - grovesaround the burial or cremation groundsof villages.

State Number ofSacred Groves

Names of Important Sacred groves

Arunachal Pradesh 65 Gumpa Forests (Sacred Groves attached toBuddhist monastries)

Andhra Pradesh(Simandhra & Telengana)

750

Assam 40 Madaico, ThanChhattisgarh 600 Sarna, Devlas, Mandar, BudhadevGujarat 29Haryana 248Himachal Pradesh 5,000 Deo BhumiJharkhand 21 SaranaKarnataka 1424 Devara KaduKerala 2000 KavusMadhya Pradesh 21 Devkot, Matikot, Devsthali, BudhadevMaharashtra 1600 DevraisManipur 365 Gamkhap, Mauhak (sacred bamboo reserves)Meghalaya 83 Law LyngdhohOdisha 322* Jahera, Thakuramma Ravishankar, Nrusinghnath,

Kapilas, Tara-Tarini,Andhari,KalpeswarPondicherry 108 Kovil KaduRajasthan 09 Orans, Kenkris, JogmayaSikkim 56 Gumpa ForestsTamilnadu 503 Kovil KaduUttaranchal 18 Deo Bhumi, Bugyal (sacred alpine meadows)West Bengal 670 Garamthan, Harithan, Jahera,

Sabitrithan, Santalburithan

Table 1. State-wise distribution of sacred groves in India

322* in similiguda, Koraput district, 81 in Sundergarh district, 20 in Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts. Detail data fromother districts not available.However the sacred grove of 'Nrusingnath' of Bolangir district, Harishankar of Bargarh district, 'Kapilas' of Denkanaldistrict,T ara-Tarini grove of Ganjam district are well known throughout Odisha.

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Sacred Groves in Odisha

Table 2 gives the sacred groves of fewdistricts of Odisha.This list is in addition to thealready listed sacred groves in Table1. The table lists the nameof the sacred grove,the dominantplant; the tribe/communityworships the deity and the name of the deity.

Table 2. Sacred groves (SG) in some districts of OdishaSl.No.

Name of SG District Approx.Area

Dominantplant species

Managementpattern

Tribal group Deities

1 Medha Sundergarh 23ha Shorearobusta Roth

Temple trust Dehri,Munda

Shiva

2 Papanga Bargarh 200ha CleistanthuscollinusRoxb.

Temple trust, vanaSurakhyaSamiti(vss), forest

Gond, Bhil,Bhuyan

Budharaja(Shiva)

3 Andhari Jharsuguda 1000ha Shorearobusta Roth

vss Gond Andhari

4 Dedungri Sambalpur 30ha PterocarpusmarsupiumRoxb.

Village Gond Gosein baba(Shiva)

5 Gugarpat Sambalpur 0.8ha Shorearobusta Roth

Community Gond Gugarpaat

6 Pitabali Bargarh 0.5ha Sterbulusasper Lour.

Community Gond Pitabali

7 Demul(lakarma)

Sonepur 0.5ha Anogeissuslatifolia (DC.)allich ex Guill.& err.

Community Kandha Kandrapat

8 Mukteswar Sambalpur 25ha Shorearobusta Roth

Temple trust,vss

Gond, Dehri Shiva

9 Kalpeswar Sambalpur 0.5ha Terminaliaarjuna Roxb.

Community Dehri Shiva

10 Tabdabahal Sambalpur 1000ha Shorearobusta Roth

Village, forest Gond Ganpaat(Sri Ganesh)

11 Durgeikhol Bargarh 200ha Cleistanthuscollinus oxb.

Village Gond Durga

12 Pradhanpat Deogarh Shorearobusta Roth

Forest Kandha Padhanibudhi

13 Rambhadevi Deogarh 20ha Shorearobusta Roth

Village Kandha Rambha Devi

14 Demul(Larasara)

Sambalpur 0.2ha Sterbulusasper Lour.

Community Gond Gram Devi

15 Budharaja Sambalpur 30ha Cleistanthuscollinus Roxb.

Vss Dehri Budharaja

16 Bendalpat Bargarh 30ha Shorearobusta Roth

Vss Gond Bendalpat

17 Demul(banpali)

Sundargarh 0.5ha ButeamonospermaLam.

Community Gond Banpat

18 Bandurga Sambalpur 2ha Shorearobusta Roth

Vss Common Ban Durga

19 Bindhyabasini Bargarh 0.8ha Cleistanthuscollinus Roxb.

Vss Common Bindhabasini

20 Punjipathar Bolangir 200ha Cleistanthuscollinus Roxb.

Vss Gond Dangarbudha(Shiva)

Note: The deities are lord Shiva or Goddess Durga, although names vary depending upon the locality. The tribes are Gond,Dehri, Munda, Bhil, Bhuyan and common people.

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Distribution in India

In India, sacred groves are scattered all

over the country, and occur in a variety of

places -from scrub forests in the Thar Desert

of Rajasthan maintained by the Bishnois,

deciduous fores ts in Eas ternghats ,

maintained by local tribes, Odias and Telugus,

to rain forests in the Kerala and Karnataka

of the Wes tern Ghats. Himachal Prades h in

the North and Kerala in the South are

specifically known for their large numbers

of sacred groves. TheKodavas of Karnataka

maintained over large number of sacred

groves in Kodagu alone. In Odisha, sacred

groves are scat tered all over the state and

many of themare protected by tribes. These

groves do not enjoy pro tect ion by law,

especiallyby the environmental laws enacted

by the Parliament of the country or by any

state legislation. Most ofthese sacred deities

are associated with localHindu gods. Sacred

groves of Buddhist andIslamic prayer places

are als o known. There has been no

comprehensive study on the s acred groves

of the entire country.

Around 13,270+ sacred groves have so

far been reported fromall over India, which

act as reservoirs of rare flora, and rare fauna,

amid ruraland even urban s ettings. Experts

believe that the totalnumber of sacred groves

in India could be as high as one lakh

(100,000).

Ecological Significance

(i) Biodivers ity Cons ervation - The

sacredgroves are important biodiversity

Repositories of floraandfauna that havebeen conserved by localCommunities in

a sustainable manner.Theyare often the

last refuge of Endemic species/rare

species and medicinal plants in the

geographicalregion/ land scape.

(ii) Recharge of aquifers - The groves are

usuallyassociatedwith ponds,streamsor springs, which help tomeet thewater

requirements of the local communities.

Theseaquaticecosystems actas ground

water rechargers/rain water harvesters.

Thevegetative coverhelpmaking theplace

coolbecause oftranspirationby theplants

and help in the recharging the aquifers.

(iii) Soilconservation -Thevegetationcoverof

thesacred groves protectsoil fromerosion

and brings soilstability of the area.

(iv) Aesthetic, and other Values - The

traditional and temple sacred groves

create an aesthetic atmos phere forrecreation by the local community and

have tourism potential. Sacred groves

are also places of social gathering on

specialoccasions, religious gatherings

onspecialoccasions (Figure-2)and have

social integration values. In recent times,

in some areas Vanamahochhav is also

organised in thesegroves.

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(vi) Toolfor Environmental Education- Thestudents of theareatakeadvantage ofthepresence of sacred groves to learn planttaxonomy, faunalassociations, spatialandtrophicniche segregation of biodiversity,foodchain relationships etc.

Threats to the sacred groves

Sacredgroves inmanyparts of ourcountryhavebeen destroyeddueto many reasons.

The common threats identified are:

(i) Pressures due to increasing livestock,fuel wood, medicinal herb collection,silting of water resources etc.

(ii) Rapid urbanization and developmentalinterventions suchas roads,electriclines,railways tracks , dams includ ingcommercial forestry and encroachmenthas led to the shrinkage of some of thelargest groves in the country.

(iii) Cultural invasion and disappearance ofthe traditionalbelief systems, which werefundamental to the concept of sacredgroves. These systems and their rituals

are nowconsidered mere superstition.

(iv) 'Sans kritis ation'- Many groves are

suffering due to the transformation ofthe forms of nature worship into formal

temple-idol wors hip outs ide thegroves, known as 'Sanskritisation'. New

Temple(s) and Shrines construction inthesacredgroves alsodestroys groves.

(v) Invasion by exot ic weeds such as

Eupatorium odoratum, Lantana camaraand Prosopis juliflora is a serious threat

to some groves.

(vi) Plantation of commercial species of

plants including with exotic species.

However, recently steps arebeing takento catalogue the existing sacred groves, to

carry out research and to conserve them.

Acknowledgement:

Dr. Satyendra Prasad Mishra and Prof.

Niranjan Behera of Sambalpur Universityprovided the photographs and data given in

Table 2. I wish to thank themprofusely.

References1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sacred_groves_of-India).

2. Malhotra, K.C., Gokhale,Y.,Chatterjee,S.,Srivastava,S.2001.Cultural and Ecological Dimensions of SacredGroves in India, Indian National Science Academy,New Delhi.

3. Pandey, D.N. 1998. Ethno forestry: Local KnowledgeFor Sustainable Forestry And Livelihood Security.Himanshu publications, Udaipur.

Formerly Professor ofLife Science,

ViceChancellor, SambalpurUniversity andChairman,OdishaPollution Control Board,

45,VIP Area, AnandaVilla,Flat-101,Nayapalli,Bhubaneswar751015,

Email:mcdashh@yahoo.co.in and madhabchandra39@gmail.com

Figure 2.Religious offerings in Andharisacred grove in Jharsuguda district, Odisha

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GREEN TEA AND ITS BENEFITSMrs.ChitrotpalaDevadarshini

Dr.Birendra Ku Prusty

Introduction

The tradition of drinking tea to maintaingood health goes a long way back. In earlyBuddhist texts and Chinese manuals onhealingherbs, Camellia sinensis (tea plant) has beendescribed as a potent medicinal plant withproperties for promoting good health andlongevity,as well as keeping the mind alert andsharp and treating many ailments, fromindigestion to thecommoncold. In ourmodernsociety, we are learning that there is quite abitof scientific evidence to support many oftheseancient claims.Medicaland healthcareprofessionals agree that drinking tea has manybenefits and is ahealthy addition to anydiet.

Nutrients

Studies have shown that green teacontains severalmain components such as :catechins (textu re), caffeine (bit ternes s),theanine (flavor), as wellas various vitaminsand minerals all of which contribute to itscharacteristictasteand aroma.Catechin givesgreen tea its characteristic texture, and as apotent antioxidant, it also fights against thefreeradicals in thebody.Caffeine gives greentea its bitter taste, while increasing alertness,and relieving fatigue.Theanine,an aminoacid,gives green tea its characteristictaste and alsoacts as a mild relaxant. Theanine helps torelieve the jittery effect that caffeine cansometimes produce insensitive individuals.Thismakes it a goodalternativeto coffee whichnotonly contains a higher level of caffeine, but

does not contain theanine to regulate theunpleasant physicalside effects. Thus greentea contains a well-balanced mixof all theseuseful ingredients.

The secret of green tea lies in the factthat it is rich inphytochemicals like :catechinand polyphenols,particularly epigallocatechingallate-(EGCG) The EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant;besides inhibiting thegrowth ofcancercells, it kills cancer cells without harminghealthy tissues. It has also been effective inloweringLDL(bad cholesterol) level,inhibitingthe abnormalformationofblood clot, reductionofplatelet aggregation and lipid regulation.

Table -1 :Chemical composition of green tea leavesConsti tuent Percentage

( % of dried leaf)Polyphenols 37.0Carbohydrates 25.0Caffeine 3.5Prolein 15.0Aminoacids 4.0Ugnin 6.5Organic acids 1.5Lipids 2.0Ash 5.0Chlorophyll 0.5

Types of Tea

All types of tea are beneficial, thoughresearchhas shownthatsometypes maycontainhigherlevels ofcertainpolyphenols thanothers.It can be categorized into three types,

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depending on the levelof oxidation, i.e. green(not oxidized), oolong (partially oxidized) andblack(oxidized) tea. Oxidationmeans exposuretoair whiledrying withoutany additives duringthe process.Another formof tea is white teawhich is made from newly grown buds andyoung leaves that have been steamed toinactivatepolyphenoloxidation and then dried.For example, thecatechin content is higher ingreen tea than black tea, though black teacontains theaflavins that green tea does not,dueto the higheroxidation. Ideally, one wouldtry to consume a variety of tea to reap theunique healthbenefits of each type.

Health benefits of Green Tea

It has been reported that green tea hasamazing healing properties and a good amountofhealth benefits against anumber ofdiseasessuch as : altherosclerosis, cancer, parkinsons',alzheimers', diabetes and liver diseases bytaking green tea on bydaily basis. Apart fromthe abovementioned benefits againstdifferentdiseases, the regular intake of green tea hasalso been reported to lower the to talcholesterol,increase HDLcontent in thebloodand promote fat-loss in human body.Studieshave shown that green tea extract alsohasanti-inflammatory activity and anticoagulativeproperties.Thus ithelps inpreventing the clotformation inside the bloodvessels.

Side Effects of Green Tea

The following are some of the sideeffects of green teaintake. Generally, pregnantwomen should be cautious before starting orcontinuing the use of green tea in theirdiets asitcontains largeamount ofcaffeine.There is no

informationavailable regarding theuse of greentea by children. Green tea contains a largeamount of caffeine, which may cause anemiaandother problems in children.The other lessserious side effects of taking green tea couldbe: heartburn, stomachupset,loss ofappetite,sleeplessness etc.

Conclusion

For a long time, Japanese people areknownfor consuming green tea toaccompanytheir cuisine, which relies heavily on seafood.It is said that Japanese people have naturallyunderstood the protective properties ofdrinking green tea whileeatingsushi. Theanti-bacterialproperties of catechins,that is presentin green tea, have now been scientificallydemonstrated. It has been announced atacademic conferences throughout the worldthat green tea helps to prevent cancer. In theUnited States, The University of Texas M.D.Anderson Cancer Center is conduct ingresearch on the cancer inhibiting properties ofgreen tea's and the results of this researchmaybe revealed in near future. Focusing on theproperties of green tea, science is graduallyproving the knowledge of our ancestorsregarding the medicinal properties of tea.

References1. Graham HN. Green tea composition, consumption, and

polyphenol chemistry. Preventive Med, 1992;21:334-50.2. Kuriyama S. Green tea may do wonders for brain. Am

J Clin Nutr 2006;83:355-61.3. Pastore R L, Fratellone P. P otential health benefits of

green tea (Camellia sinensis ): a narrative review. DietNutr 2006;2:531-9.

4. The miracle of green tea.ht tp:/ / chmesefood. about . corn/ l ibrarv/weeklv/aa011400a.htm. Date of access 7 Nov 2007.

Deartpment ofFood &Nutrition,College ofHome Science,

OUAT, Bhubaneswar

39ScienceHorizon

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A BRIEF HISTORY OFREGIONAL SCIENCE CENTRE BHUBANESWAR

DrJayanta Sthanapati

Introduction

Regional Science Centre (RSC),Bhubaneswar, nowcelebrates its SilverJubilee.Inaugurated on 18th September 1989, it is thefirst endeavor in the state of Odisha, tocommunicate the message of Science to thepublic through exhibits andactivities. The RSCwas a joint venture ofthe Govt. ofOdishaandthe National Council of Science Museums(NCSM), an autonomous organ izat ionfunctioning under the aegis ofthe MinistryofCulture, Govt . o f India. I was Pro jectCoordinator of RSC from 1982 to 1994. Itagain came under my control from 2004 to2008, when I was Director of Birla IndustrialandTechnologicalMuseum (BITM),Kolkata.

The Beginning

Shri Gangadhar Mahapatra, the thenMinister of Education and Youth Serv ices,Govt. of Odisha, while addres sing theinaugural function of the 8th Eastern IndiaScience Fair, as a Guest o f Honor at BITM,on 26th February 1982, had said that hisdepartment would provide all necessarysupport to BITM or NCSM, if they set up aScience Museum in Odisha. Dr SarojGhose,DG NCSM gladly accepted the offer. As aCurator in NCSM (Hqrs), I volunteered totake up the job and he immediately declaredme its Project Coordinator.

Webegan negotiation with theEducationDepartment and they committed to provideRs. 40 lakh and suitable land to set up a statelevelscience centre. Soon we selected a plotof land measuring 8 acres adjacent to theRegionalCollege of Education, nearAcharyaVihar, but it was occupied by unauthorizeddwellers .Although there was initial delay inaction, some generous IAS officers resolvedtheissues soon. In this connection theeffortsof Shri G. C. Patnaik, Dy. Director is worthmentioning Shri S. K. Mahapatra, the thenSecretaryof Education, tookpersonalinterestto release Rs 3 lakh in favour of NCSM inMarch 1984, as an advance. Further, due tointervention of Shri S.M. Patnaik, thenSecretary, General Adminis tration, vacantposses sion of 8 acres of land was given toNCSM in November 1984. Dr N.P. Das,Reader in Science of SCERT was of greathelp in those initial years.

Formative Years

From early 1985, the Science Centreproject was coordinated bytheDepartment ofScience and Technology (DST) of the state.ShriP. Sarkar, thenSecreatry and Dr. S. Torasia,Senior Scientist, DSThelped us in allpossibleways. Prof P. K. Jena, then Director, RRLBhubaneswar andProf T.Pradhan,then DirectorInstitute of Physics, guided me on variousaspects of the project.

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By the end of 1985, I had prepared themaster plan of RSC, under the guidance ofDr Ghose. The plan envisaged erection ofmain building, creation of indoor galleries,developmentofscience park,horticultureplan,exhibition area, picnic corner, guest roomsetc. Shri K.P, Singh Deo, President of NCSM,who used to takekeen interest in our activities,approved the plan.

On 1st September 1986, I started workfroma temporary shed at sitewith an educationassistant, a junior engineer (civil), a clerkandahorticultureassistant. Acurator (mechanical),a team of eight technicians in the trades offitting, carpentry, welding, electronics andpainting, a section officer and a jun iorstenographer were alsoappointedsoon.Acivilengineer from NCSM was deputed to lookafter construction of thebuilding.

RegionalScience Centre has one of themost eye-catching buildings in Bhbaneswar.M/s Bose Brothers Architects had designed

the build ing with four modules, each

consisting of two or three floors.Aconscious

decision was taken tosee that the terrainof the

location was not effected. However, in the

first phase, only two blocks covering a floor

area of 3617sq. mt. were constructed by M/

s Engineers' Enterprise, by early 1988.

Inauguration of RSC

Shri Janaki Ballav Patnaik, then Chief

Minister of Odisha, inaugurated Regional

Science Centre on 18th September 1989 inpresence of Smt. Krishna Sahi, Union Minister

of State, Dept. of Culture, three MPs fromthe

state, Shri K.P. Singh Deo, Shri Giridhar

Gamangand Smt JayantiPatnaik; manyother

dignitaries and alargenumberof schoolchildren.

The inauguration was alsoapart of nationwide

celebration of Birth Centenary of Pandit

JawaharlalNehru.During theyear,Sachivalaya

Marg,theroad onwhich RSCwas situated got

renamed as Pt JawaharlalNehru Marg.

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Indoor Galleries

The Centre, since its inauguration has

four exhibition halls -one on the first floor of

Block-l and other three on three floors of

Block-ll. The galleries that occupied these

halls fromtime to timeare describedhereunder.

The Sun. Themainattraction ofthecentre

at the time ofinaugurationwas a uniquegalleryon The Sun'. With working and participatory50exhibits, thegalleryexplained andelucidatedtopics related to the Universe, the Sun, theEarth and their bearing on human existence.Therewere anidolof the Sun Godand a replicaof the Sun Temple of Konark, created by arenowned stone-sculptor of Bhubaneswar.Aninteresting audio-visual show called 'SpaceOdyssey' was also presented in the gallery.

Motion. In 2004, the Sun gallery wasreplaced by a refurbished galleryof 54exhibitson 'Motion' thatcame fromRSC Tirupati. Thegallerygave a clear concept about motionandits all-pervading presence in the universe. It

was inaugurated on December 9, 2004, byShri R.N. Nanda, then Minister, Science &Technology, Government of Odisha. A newgallery on 'Motion' has now been created tocelebrate the Silver Jubilee of RSC. It hasexhibits to explain various types of motion,both perceptible and imperceptible to humanbeings. Concepts of some exhibits of thegallery were adopted from the Sun and oldMotion galleries ofRSC.Shri NaveenPatnaik,Chief Minister of Odisha, inaugurated thegallery on August 23, 2014.

Mathematics : A new gallery on'Mathematics'was inaugurated byShriNaveenPatnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa, on 18thSeptember 2006, coinciding with the 17thAnniversaryof RSC. The gallery of 89exhibitsaimed at unraveling the wonderful world ofmathematics and its application.It show-casedexhib its based on arithmatic, algeb ra,trigonometry, number theory, probabilitytheory, topology, calculus, set theory, and soon. A special film on the 'Life and Works ofS. Ramanujan is also screened in the gallery.

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Fun Science: The gallery exudes fun

while spreading science education. Startingwith18exhibits, at thetime of inauguration of

the centre, it was enlarged into a largegallery

of 65exhibits by the end of 2008and renamedas 'Popular Science'. Exhibit topics include

themes like gravitation, pendulum, sound,motion, optical illusion, elect ricity, light,

magnetism and mirrors.

Outdoor Expositions

Science Park. The Science ParkatRSC,Bhubaneswar was inaugurated by Shri J.B.

Patnaik, the thenChiefMinister of Odisha, onthe occasion of nationwide celebration of the

First National Science Day, on 28th February

1987. It surrounded the main building underconstruction then, and accommodated 28

outdoor hands -on exhibits on motion,weightles sness, conventional and non-

conventionalenergy,optics, sound,oscillation,

inertia, and so on.At the time of inaugurationof RSC, the Science Park further included 3

aviaries, a mammalcorner anda rabbit corner.During next three years 40more newexhibits

were installed in the park. A cacti corner, a

picnicspot and afair ground were developedthereafter. Theexhibits, garden and pathways

in fron t of the main bu ild ing are wellmaintained. But almost everything lying

between the main buildingand the Prehistoric

Life enclave are in dilapidated conditions formany years. This vast run-down areaof RSCis

an eyesore to every visitor.

Prehistoric Life Park

This is probably the first open air 'lightand sound' presentation on the evolution of

life on our planet, in the geological time

scale, such as, the appearance of rep tiles,d inos aurs, b irds , mammals , Ice-age

mammals, apes and man, which is show-cased

through 33 animated replicas and dioramas.The Park was inaugurated on September 17,

2007, on the eve of 18thAnniversary of RSC,

by Shri Samir Dey, then Minister, Higher

Education, Govt. of Odisha.

Mobile Science Exhibition

Museobus, a mobilescience exhibition

bus with 24working and animated exhibits,on

the theme 'Light & Sight' was pressed intoservice by RSC on February 28, 1987. RSC

has changed its MSEunits many times during

last 27 years, namely, Heat & Temperature,

Electricity & Magnetis m, The Universe,Global Changes. The last two units were

developedat RSC. Mobilebuses of the centre

have s o far organized exhibitions in 1535schools of Odisha by travelling a distance of

71,303 Km.

A special exhibition

RSC had developed an exhibit ion on'Life and Works of PathaniSamanta' in 1993.

The exhibition used graphics, replicas and

working models to portray the life of the

great ast ronomer and exhib it importantinstruments he designed like, Mana Yantra,

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AUGUST, 2014

ChakraYantra, Gola yantra, GolarardhaYantra,Shanku (The Gnomon) etc. The exhib ition

was subsequently installed at the PathaniSamanta Planetarium(PSP) in Bhubaneswar

on 21.8.2004.

Educational Programmes

The centreorganizes various educational

programs for general visitors, students andteachers,suchas, Skyobservation,Taramandal

(inflatable dome planetarium) shows,3D Filmshows,PopularLectures, ScienceDemonstration

Lectures, Public Demonstration Lectures,Science Magic Miracle Shows, Teachers

TrainingProgramme, Creative AbilityCentre,Science Quiz, Vacation Hobby Programme,

Science Seminar, Science Drama, ComputerFair and CommemorativeEvents.

Inaddition ithas organised manyactivities

in collaboration with PSP including aTelescopeMakingWorkshop andprogrammes

with Orissa EnvironmentalSociety.

Foot fall of Visitors

RSC received 39,85,166 vis ito rs

between 1989-90 and 2013-14, or in otherwords, it was seen by 1,59,406 visito rs per

year. The centre had lowest foot fall of1,06,149 in 1999-2000. Number of vis itors

in RSC in 1990-91 was 1,90,666 and evenafter 20 years, in 2010-11 the number

remained almos t same, 1,90,561. However,population of Bhubaneswar city during the

same period had increased 1.9 times -4,23,465 in 1991 to 8,37,737 in 2011. Is

RSClosing popularity ?

Financial Outlay

The centre was completed by NCSM in1989 at an expenditure of Rs 85 lakh, out of

which Rs 40 lakh was contributed by the StateGovt. Initially, the project was under Plan for

3 years. The graphs show Plan expenditure(new exhibitions,facilities etc.) and Non-plan

expenditure (salary, electricity, contingency

etc.) made by NCSM for RSC from 1990-91to 2007-08. W hile non-plan expenses

increased every year, plan investment variedgreatly.One can possiblyobserve thatdecrease

in plan allocation had directly affected thevisitors' foot fall in RSC.

4,K.K. MajumdarRoad, Santoshpur,Kolkata 700075

Mobile-08902232432,Email- dr.jayanta.sthanapati@gmail.com

ScienceHorizon44

AUGUST, 2014

3. It improves the microclimate by

moderating temperature.

4. It reduces evaporation fromfarmlands,

alsochecks transpiration.

5. It prevents grass fire.

6. It provides fencing and boundary

demarcation.

7. It increases overall farmproductivity.

Design and Management

Thebasic design ofa windbreakshould

includepermeability,the appropriateorientation,

placement,length andheight,number of rows,spacing, density and continuity of the wind

breakers to provide effective protection.

Permeability : The effectiveness of the

windbreak is influencedby its permeability. If

it is dense, like a solid wall, the airflow will

pass overthe top ofitand causeturbulenceonthe leeward side due to thelower pressure on

that side. This gives a comparatively limited

zone of effective protection on the leewardside compared to the zone that creates a

moderately permeab le s helter. Ideally

windbreaks must be semi-permeable, filtering50-60percentof the wind to reduce its strength.

The desired permeability can be obtained by

carefull selection tree species. Tree species

suchas Eucalyptus andCasuarina (Jhaun) canform effective windbreakers. Permeability of

densewindbreaks canbeimproved bypruning

lower branches at 0.5-0.8 m height from theground level.

WINDBREAKSDr.Alok KumarPatra

Windbreaks are narrow strips of trees,shrubs and/or grass planted to protect cropfields, homes, canals and areas from windandblowing sand. Regions or places, wherewindis a major cause of soil erosion and moistureloss, windbreaks can make a sign ificantcontribution to sustainable production.Fromthe farmer's point of view, gentle winds areadvantageous as they can contribute topollination of crops and seed dispersal.Strongwinds, on the other hand, are damaging andcould be detrimental to agricultural crops,human life and properties.

Majoreffects of strong winds oncrops are:

1. Wind may increase transpiration rate,and this maylead to soilmoisture deficits.

2. Itcan spreadpests and diseases becausedisease causing spores and insects aredroppedwheneverwind speed is reduced.

3. Itcancausecrop lodgingand deformplants.

4. It can increase loss of topsoil throughwind erosionespecially insemiaridareas.

5. It can cause drifts during herbicide andinsecticide spray, hence leading towastefulapplication and ecotoxicity,

Benefits from windbreaks

1 . It protects crops and pastures fromhotdry wind, cold wind and frost.

2. It reduces/prevents soilerosion.

45ScienceHorizon

AUGUST, 2014

Orientation : While des ign ing awindbreak, the direction of the wind must beconsidered. A barrier should be establishedperpendicularto the directionof theprevailingwind for maximum effect. To protect largeareas, a number of separate barriers can becreated as parts of an overall system. Whentheprevailing winds are mainly in onedirection,a series of parallel shelterbelts perpendicularto that direction should be established.Beforeestablishing windbreaks or shelterbelts, it isimportant to make a thorough study of thelocalwinds and to plot on a map the directionandstrengthof the winds.

Height and length : While selectingplant species for their use as windbreakersmore emphasis shouldbe given to the heightthan the thickness of the tree. It is generallyaccepted that a windbreak protects an areaover a distance up to 3-5 times of its ownheighton the windwardside and up to20timesof its height on the leeward side. Thus, thespecies selected shouldbe erect, tallgrowing,hardyand drought resistant,and shouldoccupyless space as far as possible. Windbreaks aremoreeffective whenthey stretch withoutmajorgaps for distances exceeding 12 times themature heightof the trees.

Tree rows andspacing : In reducing thewind speed, narrow barriers canbe as effectiveas wide ones. Although in theory, one-rowbarriershould suffice,but in practice three tofiverows are always more effective.If a singlerow windbreak is to be planted, tree species

that retain their foliage to theground and givea fairly dense growth should be selected.Eucalyptus trees are generally unsuitable assingle rowwindbreaks because of their habitof losing the lower branches . The maindisadvantage of a singlerowis that if onetreeis lost, gap is created which reduces theefficiency of the entire windbreak. Distancebetween t rees varies with the relativeimportanceofthe protectiveversus productivepurposes of the windbreak.Initialspacing of 3meters between therows, with trees 1-2metersapart in the rows is desirable.

Species : In general, tree or shrubspecies selected for windbreaks should havethe characteristics of rapid growth, straightstems,wind firmness, good crown formation,deep tap rootsystemand resistance todrought.Some of the tree genera used for windbreaksare Cassia (chakunda/rain tree), Acacia(acacia/ mangium), Casuarina (jhaun),Leucaena (subabul), Pinus (pine), Dalbergia(siss oo), Syzyg ium (jamu), Erythrina(paladhua), Mangifera (mango), Bambusa(bamboo), etc.

Windbreak for fruit orchards

Fruit orchards when exposed to strongwindusually incurheavy losses. Heavywindincreases the losses of moisture both byincreas ing t ransp irat ion and surfaceevaporation.The highwinds also causedamageto fruit trees by breaking of branches,dest ruction of b looms and dropping ofimmature fruits. The growth and yield in

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AUGUST, 2014

protected orchard is definitely better than theexposed orchard. Hence, establishment of atallgrowing windbreak is necessary toprotectan orchard. Planting of windbreaks should bedone at least two years after planting of fruittrees. The first row of it should be planted10maway from fruit plants at a close spacingto form a thick screen. The windbreak treessometimes may compete with the fruit treesfor water and nutrient. To prevent thiscompetition, a trench may be dug about 1 mdeepand 5 maway fromthe rowof windbreaktrees and all the roots of windbreak treesexposedin the trencharetobe cutoffperiodically.

Multipurpose windbreaks

Although planting windbreaks is aninvestment that takes some land out ofproduction,welldesigned windbreaks protectthe health andproductivityofcrops enoughtomakethe overallreturnpositive.Amultipurposewindbreak is designed to provide multiplefunctions and/or products,in addition to windprotection. Multiple products fromawindbreakcan include yields such as fruit, timber,fodder,mulch, wildlife habitat and other economicfarm products. Addingmultiple functions orproducts to a windbreak plan can make theinstallation and management more satisfyingand economically viable for the farmer.Multipurpose windbreaks require specialcarein planning and management to maintain theprimary function of wind protection whilemaximizing the secondary yields. Once theform and position are carefully determined,

thenmultiple functionsorproducts can beadded.

Since planting trees for a windbreakinvolves a long terminvestment, trees havingtimber value may alsobe included. The maindrawback of having timber as a secondaryyield from a windbreak is that wind damagemay lead to the production timber of poorquality. Further, windbreak trees require verylittle or no pruning, the lack of pruning mayreduce timber qualityand quantity in certainspecies that require alotofpruning foroptimaltimberproduction. Planning for timberharvestrequires the most careful effort as the entiretrees are removed. The planting, harvestingand replanting must be coordinated to avoidthecreationof gaps in thetree rows.Integratingtimber trees with permanent rows of non-timber windbreak trees will help to maintainthe effectiveness of the windbreak.

Nitrogen fixing trees (NFTs) can also beintegrated in amulti-row windbreakand prunedregularly to provide anutrient-rich mulch forcrops,or a nutritious fodderto supplement thefoodof farmanimals.Although pruning shouldbe avoided for most windbreak trees, thepractice of cutting back NFTs and allowingthem to resprout can be integrated withwindbreakmanagement.Pruned NFTs aremuchmore susceptible to wind damage if they areallowed to regrow to a large size, but if theyare cut regularly and the regrowth kept smalltheywillbe effectiveas ashort row.Tomaintainthe windbreak's primary function with thispractice, it is essential to prune the NFTs

regularly. These species are planted on themost sheltered side of the windbreak. The

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MEDICAL QUIZDr.G. C. Sahoo

1. HIPPOCRATES , the father of medicine

was born in 460 B.C. on the island of -

a) COS b) Corsica

c) Canary d) Caladonia

2. The famous medical quote "I dressed

him, and God healed him" originated from-

a) Susrut b) Charak

c) Hippocrates d) Ambrois Pare

3. William Harvey dis covered blood

circulation in whichcentury?

a) 15th b) 16th

c) 17th d) 18th

4. Stethoscopewas invented by-

a) Rene Laennec b) Robert Liston

c) Louis Pasteur d) Joseph Lister

5. Thefirstsuccessfulpublicdemonstration

ofAnaesthesia in 1846 was by

a) James simpson b) Horace Wells

c) Crawford Long d) William Morton

6. William Einthoven, a Dutch physician

won NobelPrize in 1924, for the invention of-

a) EMG b) ENG

c) ECG d) EEC

7. The s ound frequency used for

ULTRASONOGRAPHY(USG) is between

a) 1 to 5 KHz b) 5 to 10 KHz

c) 10 to 15 KHz d) Above 20 KHz

important species for this purpose areLeucaena leucocephala (subabul), Sesbaniasesban (dhanicha), Calliandra calothyrsus(calliandra), and Gliricidia septum (gliricidia).

Guidelines for multipurpose windbreak design

1. The species usedshouldbe selectedfirstfortheirwind toleranceandappropriatenessfor the site (climate, soils, etc). Theproducts s hould be a secondaryconsideration in selecting species.

2. Windbreaks des igned for mult ip leproducts should comprise of multiplerows. It enab les more flexib ility inmanagement and harvest of productswithout compromising wind protectionbycreating gaps.

3. Trees yielding products such as fruit,food,fodder ormulch should be ideallylocated in the interior or wind-shelteredrows of the windbreak for maximumprotection.

4. A diversity of species should be usedtohave greaterflexibility in management andbetter resistance from insects or other

diseases.

References1. http://www.fao.org/forestry2. http:/ /www.worldagroforest ry.org3. Nair,P.K.R. 2008. An Introduction to Agroforestry.

Springer (India) Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.4. Patra,A.K. 2013. Agrofores try : Theory & P ractices,

New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi.

Associate Professor,AICRP on IFS, DirectorateofResearch,

OUAT,Bhubaneswar -751 003Email: alokpatra2000@yahoo.co.in

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15. Breakbone feveris otherwise knownas-a) Malaria b) Filariac) KalaAzar d) Dengue

16. The human equivalent of Mad CowDisease is known as-a) BSE b) CJDc) KURU d) KFD

17. Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveryof the role of Papilloma Virus in cervixcancerwas awarded in theyear-a) 2007 b) 2008c) 2009 d) 2010

18. The first Medicalpractionerto be madea peer, who developed the techniques ofmodern antiseptic surgerywas-a) Joseph Lister b) William Crawfordc) John Hunter d) William Osier

19. Bloodgroup (type) was discovered by-a) Philip Levine b) Rufus Stetsonc) Robert Good d) KarlLandsteiner

20. Swine Flu is caused by the virus-

a) H1N1 b) H2N1

c) H1N2 d) H5N1

ANSWERS

1. (a) 2. (d) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5. (d)

6. (c) 7. (d) 8. (b) 9. (b) 10. (b)

11. (d) 12. (a) 13. (b) 14. (c) 15. (d)16. (b) 17. (b) 18. (a) 19. (d) 20. (a)

D-69,"KetakiBhavan",Maitri Vihar, Chandrashekharpur,Bhubaneshwar- 751023 Tel: 0674-2302121

Mob.-7735010437,Email- gcsent99(5)gmail.com

8. Nobel Prize in Medicine for 1979 wasawarded to Godfrey Hounsfield for hisinventionofa) MRI b) CTScanc) NMR d) PET Scan

9. Thefirsthuman heart transplantation wasdone by Christian Bernard in 1967 in-a) England b) SouthAfricac) USA d) France

10. At the young age of 27, Louis Pasteurbecame professor in-a) Physics b) Chemistryc) Medicine d) Microbiology

11. Banting & Best discovered Insulin in1922 by experimenting with-a) Guinea Pig b) Ratc) Rabbit d) Dog

12. The very first Nobel Prize in Medicinewas awarded to Emil Von Behring for thediscovery of-a) DiptheriaAntitoxinb) Tetanus antitoxinc) Polio vaccined) AntiRabies vaccine

13. Thefirstantibiotic against Tuberculosiswas discovered by-a) Alexander Fleming b) Waksmanc) Robert Koch d) Louis Pasteur

14. Hargobind Khurana, an Indo-AmericanMolecular Biologist, got Nobel Prize inMedicine for the discovery of-a) DNA Model b) Cancer genec) Genetic Code d) Mobile gene

Kudankullan Reactor Centre