M V Ramana, a physicist by training, currently working with the Nuclear Futures Laboratory and the Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University discusses with Newsclick the current nuclear scenario in India. He speaks on how, in terms of cost and in terms of safety, dependence on nuclear energy is not feasible. He cautions that imported light water reactors are problematic and India should not rely on them.

A change of regime is often dangerous. After 1947, the Congress party had ruled the country for the most part.

The blocking instructions issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) of 78 url's and a further 55 Facebook pages have created a storm of protests.

A Gopalakrishnan, in the second part of the Newsclick interview, says there is a de-emphasis on the nuclear energy programme all over the world, mainly due to the rising costs and concerns over public safety. He says there is a growing interest in the renewable sources of energy, specially the wind and solar energy.

A Gopalakrishnan, former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) reveals that US Nuclear Experts & General Electric officials had advised the shutting down of the Tarapur 1 and 2 units, 17 years back in 1996, as they are unsafe. The Tarapur reactors are older than the Fukushima reactors. They are faced with many problems. Referring to Tarapur, Gopalakrishnan cautions that we are sitting on the brink of a disaster. In a discussion with Newsclick on the current Nuclear energy programme in India, Gopalakrishnan talks about the escalating costs and the feasibility of nuclear power.

The last fifty years is witness to a virtual explosion in the creation of new knowledge. Capitalism has used this characteristic of modern science and technology to constantly create products and tools to constantly revolutionize the productive forces.

Strangely enough, the more lawyers a government has, the more poor are the draft laws it produces.

PM Manmohan Singh has announced a new S&T and Innovation Policy with ambitious goals and a "new paradigm" to synergize global competitiveness and developmental challenges. But critics say the new STI Policy does not address ground realities, institutional weaknesses and structural problems in Indian science, and does not indicate how the chronic gap between goals and achievement will be bridged.

Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh last week unveiled a new Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (henceforth STI for short) at the centenary-year Indian Science Congress in Kolkata.

The recent World Conference on International Telecommunications – WCIT 12 – in Dubai on revising the International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR's) ended quite acrimoniously, with 89 countries signing the new ITR's while the US, Canada, EU and Japan walking out.