Spotlight

New Delhi, 9 June 2007

INDIA-EU COOPERATION IN SCIENCE RESEARCH

NEW DELHI, June 10 (INFA): India-European Union (EU) cooperation in science research has reached a new high, following the recent agreement here between the two.

The details of the agreement were worked out between India’s Minister for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal and the German Federal Minister for Education and Research, Annette Sebavan.

The Science Ministerial was attended by ministers or their designated high-level representatives from the 27 EU Member States, many of which have also signed bilateral agreements with India.

The participants discussed ways to further strengthen the scope and quality of scientific cooperation with India and ended with the ‘New Delhi Communique’.

Nobel laureates and eminent scientists from Germany and India have already interacted with some 1,000 Indian science students from all over India at this function.

In October last year, the EU-India Summit had highlighted the importance of the field of science in the EU-India relationship. It also saw a ‘window of opportunity’ for EU-India cooperation in science and technology.

The Joint Statement of the Heads of Government gave a strong and clear impetus for strengthening the cooperation in this field.

India has also joined the EU in major projects such as the 1.2 billion euro FAIR (Facility for Anti-Proton and Ion Research) and the 4-57 billion euro IETR (the International Experimental Thermonuclera Reactor).

India has a 3 per cent and 10 per cent share, respectively. Indian participation in the Galileo satellite project is in the process of agreement.

A recent bibliometric analysis conducted by Research Centre Julich, Helmholtz Association, which lists all Indian co-publications of research papers with international partners in all major areas of natural sciences, shows that in all but two categories Indo-EU co-publications are more substantial in extent.---INFA

CLOSURE ORDER TO POLLUTING UNITS

HYDERABAD, June 10 (INFA): The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board recently issued closure orders to nine industrial units located on the outskirts of Hyderabad city.

This decision was taken by the task force committee. The industrial units are said to have causing air pollution and operating without the consent of the Board, as required by statutory rules and regulations.---INFA