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OCEAN FLOOR mining System |
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‘Potential gain far outweighs expense’
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TOUCHSTONES
PROFILE: Dr Rao Panieni On record
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OCEAN FLOOR mining System In the 12th Plan, India has decided to take up on priority mining of ocean beds for precious rare earth metals and other minerals of strategic importance. But the world is already in the race, and China’s in the lead Vibha Sharma
With
the International Seabed Authority accepting China’s application for deep-sea mining in the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge, India may have lost out on the first-mover advantage in exploiting the untold potential. The country, however, has decided to make up for that by going all out in exploring the underwater world to establish strategic supremacy in its extended neighbourhood. Deep-sea mining is about exploring and removing from the seabed precious metals and materials of strategic importance. There was a time when prospectors in the US and Canada sifted through earth and water for signs of gold. Today, nearly all land resources have been charted out, with most also being exploited. As oceans cover more than 70 per cent of the earth’s surface, they offer a whole new territory for new-age prospectors — a 21st century ‘Gold Rush’. Across the world, countries are thus developing technologies to dig into the unclaimed wealth of rare earth metals and other materials on ocean beds — the no man’s land.
Acquiring capability
India, under the 12th Five-Year Plan, is acquiring new ships and capabilities to retrieve rare materials such as like titanium, platinum, gold, manganese, copper, cobalt and nickel, besides drugs and food, from mining sites — large areas of polymetallic nodules below the ocean’s surface — venturing beyond its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ: 200 nautical miles from the coast) in international waters. Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Ashwani Kumar says deep-sea mining is critical for strategic needs of the country. The ocean bed could also be a source of ocean thermal energy. Defence strategists are happy that the International Seabed Authority’s approval to the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) for exploring polymetallic sulphides in the Indian Ocean last year has jolted the country’s planners into action on this front.
Polymetallic
nodules
Dr Satish R. Shetye, head of India’s premier National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, explains that “polymetallic nodules”, also called manganese nodules, are usually potato-sized rocks formed from concentric layers of iron and manganese hydroxides. They also contain copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals of strategic importance. They grow on the ocean floor, or a few centimetres below, at a rate of 1-3 mm per million years. A nodule with 5 cm radius would thus have a history of over 30 million years. Many such interesting nuggets of information have been recorded in a booklet called “Sagar”, available at www.nio.org, Dr Shetye says. Many of these minerals are located around hydrothermal vents, similar to terrestrial hot springs.
It’s a scramble
Developments in seabed mining over the past decade are now leading to global worries. With increasing commodity prices and regional struggle for resources, rival countries are busy securing International Seabed Authority (ISA) mineral rights in rich maritime areas. India is as yet at a developing stage. This is largely because the Ministry of Earth Sciences has so far remained under-funded and starved of attention. India’s planners realised the deficiency only after the wakeup call from China getting the ISA approval for mining and exploration in the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge. India’s Naval Intelligence has expressed concern over the matter. Strategists in the country’s defence establishment had long been urging the government to utilise mining rights in the Indian Ocean before China. The issue also figured in Parliament, where Defence Minister A.K. Antony assured the members that the government was keeping a constant watch on all developments concerning national security and commercial interest, and necessary measures to safeguard those were being taken. Officials say China — or any country — has the right to apply for access to international waters. China and Russia have secured permits to explore for polymetallic sulphide deposits not only in the Indian Ocean but also in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Advantage China
Anticipating shortage, China is moving fast toward building capacity in rare earth metals. It already has made tactical gains on mineral riches of Africa, announcing plans for strategic stockpiling. It is enhancing technological capacities to hunt for copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold and oil in the deep seas. The Chinese government is also awarding interest-free loans for strategic buying of heavy rare earth oxides amidst concerns that its reserves are running low. Reports suggest a Chinese company recently proposed an underwater deep-sea mobile mining station powered by a nuclear reactor in the Western Pacific area. China accounts for 90 per cent of the world’s supply of rare earths — a group of 17 metals vital for manufacturing high-tech products, including wind turbines, solar panels and touch phones. The race for rights to mine ocean beds is leading to questions over how the ISA will tackle overlapping claims. In the no man’s land — which is what deep seas are — the only regulations come from the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The ISA was established by UNCLOS to regulate mining in territorial waters beyond a country’s EEZ. As per international law, seabed is the common inherited property of mankind. So the ISA asks nations interested in mining to explore two equal mining sites, and turn one over to the ISA, along with transfer of mining technology over a 10-20 year period.
Green concern
Environmentalists fear the race for supremacy on the seabed would destroy oceans’ biodiversity and as yet many undiscovered plant and animal species could be lost forever because of mining. The full consequences are yet unknown, as removal of parts of the sea floor could result in serious disturbances to the underwater world. Leakages, spills and corrosion could alter a mining area’s chemical makeup, leading to toxicity of the water. However, scientists defend the activity, saying it is of prime importance to mankind because of the rising demand for precious elements and food. Phosphorus nodule mining could be a great source for artificial fertiliser for agriculture.
Tech challenge
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‘Potential gain far outweighs expense’
It
is an expensive proposition, but the country has decided to have a long-term perspective on exploitation of under-sea materials. Dr Satish R. Shetye, Director, National Institute of Oceanography (Goa) explains the ongoing deep-sea mining research by India's geological oceanographers is for exploring and mining (on a pilot scale) of metals and materials that are of interest to the country and which may not be available in the future due to over-exploitation of existing land resources, embargoes by other countries, etc. The CSIR-NIO has during the past three decades been associated with two crucial aspects of deep-sea mining: exploration and mapping of mineral deposits on the ocean floors in the central Indian Ocean. The depth at which these deposits are found is about 4 km. The institute also has research programmes that examine deposits on seamounts (mountain-like structures that rise from the ocean floor) and on the continental
shelf of the country. “During the past decade, we have also been associated with environment impact assessment of mining the deep sea,” Dr Shetye says. Scientists have worked on the genesis and occurrence of deep-sea mineral deposits, where they are likely to find them, and in what concentration and quantity. Once the nature of deposits is known (whether they occur in the form of nodules, crusts, etc.), the next challenge is to extract them, bring them to the surface and then to land to process them. These aspects are being studied by a network of laboratories. For example, extraction and bringing the deposits to the surface is studied by the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology, laboratory of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, which is spearheading the programme. The processing, i.e., the metallurgy, is studied by the CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory with some other laboratories. The most difficult and expensive part is the extraction of the material and bringing it to the surface for loading on to a waiting ship. Developing technologies for these expensive operations will be the challenge. In view of the challenges, what if India sourced such materials from countries where these are available, and stored them for future use? Dr Shetye believes all options should be kept open. Buying could be an option, provided we know how much material will be required in future and the associated economics. “The investments we are making on technology development are small in comparison to the value of the materials the country will need in the future,” he says. He does not see any basis in the criticism that India has lost out to China by not taking the first-mover's advantage in the Indian Ocean. India has been a pioneer in deep-sea mining, having initiated research about three decades ago, Dr Shetye says. Every country has its own way of doings things. China is today perceived as a country that acts with scales of operation that have magnitude much larger than other countries. They follow a system of governance that is different from India's. “Hence, we have to do things our way,” he says. India has a 7,000-km long coastline and a rather special oceanic regime due to the occurrence of monsoons. “We have a long way to go in studying mineral deposits on the floor of the ocean near us.” The country has plans to develop infrastructure that includes laboratories, research vessels, satellite-based sensors, etc. It is in the process of expanding its fleet of research vessels. Construction of new research vessels includes a Rs-550 crore vessel from a Korean shipyard by September 2013 and a Rs-200 crore vessel from a shipyard at Surat, which should join CSIR-NIO earlier. The existing facilities include research vessel Sagar Nidhi. As for the environmental impact of deep-sea mining, Dr Shetye believes it is very much a research problem at this stage. First results from the studies carried out at the institute suggest that the ocean floor recovers quite rapidly from the perturbation induced by sea floor mining. However, marine ecosystems are complex, and jumping to a conclusion based on short-term data can be premature. — VS
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Early
Sunday morning, Indian-born NASA astronaut Sunita Williams will blast off into space along with two other crew members aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) hovering 400 km above the earth. It would begin her second odyssey in the multi-national space laboratory that has been in orbit around the earth since 1998. In the first sojourn in 2007, Sunita set a new record for females by being 195 days in space. She also briefly held the world record for females with four space walks totalling 29 hours and 17 minutes. For Sunita it has been a truly incredible run. When she returned from her first journey in space in 2007, I met her on her trip to India and joked that in the land of Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, she was the “real Miss Universe”. She laughed and said, “I think a ‘citizen of the universe’ is a lot better than a ‘Miss’. I have been trying to get across to people who haven’t been up in space that we are citizens of a bigger place than just our planet.” Her answer triggered memories of what the late Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-born woman in space, told me after she returned from her first extraterrestrial journey in 1997. Kalpana, who grew up in Karnal before she migrated to the US, said that up in space she didn’t feel either Indian or American, and said, “When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel you are not just from any particular piece of land but from the solar system. You are a resident of the Milky Way.” When I asked what her strangest experience in space was, she said it was when she went to bed and had to strap herself in the sleeping zone so that she wouldn’t float around. She told me, “Because of weightlessness, I couldn’t feel my body. The only way I knew I existed was because of my thoughts. For the first time I felt as if my thoughts had weight. It was then I realised that I was just pure intelligence.” Kalpana had a truly yogic experience, what astronauts call a “1G moment” or a revelation. Tragically, she would perish in 2003 in her second stint in orbit when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry, killing all seven astronauts on board, including Kalpana. Both Kalpana and Sunita talked of how amazing the earth looked from space. On one of her four space walks, Sunita said, “When you look down you see how incredibly beautiful it looks with its blue oceans, brown mountains and vast stretches of green land. You see continents but not borders. You don’t see countries. It’s hard to imagine people arguing down there, not to mention fighting. Everything looks so calm. The earth looks very peaceful.” Kalpana’s advice to young children: “Take care of our planet – it’s fragile.” As Sunita sets of on her second space odyssey, there is much that we down on earth can learn from the inspiring experiences of these two space heroines. Send your comments to
eicoffice@tribunemail.com
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TOUCHSTONES IRA PANDE
The first was a beautiful documentary on Rabindranath Tagore by Satyajit Ray, himself a student of Shanti Niketan and an ardent admirer of this great Renaissance man. Screened at INTACH, it was a sharp, digitally restored print, done by the finest technicians in Hollywood after Ray’s son, Sandip, gave the Ray Archives to his American admirers for restoration. While Ray’s feature films are available in DVDs and often screened in retrospectives held by film clubs from time to time, his documentaries are hard to see. Last year, the IIC screened for the first time his documentary on Sikkim, which was banned by the government for some obscure reason, and the hall was full to bursting. An added treat in the Tagore documentary was Ray’s famous baritone in the commentary that he wrote and gave for the film. The short film begins with Tagore’s funeral procession and then traces the Tagore family’s remarkable history and the crucial role it played in the history of Bengal and India. Old etchings, photographs, atmospheric shots of the Thakur-bari (as their family home Jorasanko was known), archival footage of Tagore and Santiniketan itself brought alive the life and times of Tagore through a commentary that is respectful without being hagiographic and is brilliantly highlighted by the background score of the best Rabindra Sangeet compositions, chosen by Ray, whose own knowledge of music was formidable.
The only flaw lay in the dreadful sub-titles, with typos and grammatical goofs that reduced the audience to helpless laughter even at the most moving episodes in the film. “Wayward son” became “wavered son”, “Moliere” was mutated into “Muller” and Curzon was spelt as “Karjon”. This last boo-boo nailed the offender as a Bengali and a wag commented that the speeches of India’s next President will be interesting, to say the least. On a more serious note, however, all of us who saw the mango groves of the Amra Kunj in Santiniketan, where teachers held open-air classes, and the happy children of Patha Bhawan, the children’s section of his famed Abode of Peace, could not help remembering the recent incident that has brought such notoriety to this once-hallowed institution. What would Tagore have made of his Santiniketan where a child was forced to drink urine by a warden as punishment for bed-wetting? As the wag commented, “The Abode of Peace has been converted into an Abode of Piss”. I want to pay a tribute to another great Indian and a man who has been described as a gentle giant: the beloved wrestler-turned actor Dara Singh. Younger readers will remember him as the stern grandfather in Imtiaz Ali’s cult film, “Jab We Met”, and as Hanuman in Ramanand Sagar’s famous teleserial “Ramayana”. My memory of him goes back to the Sixties, when Dara Singh was the he-man of some terrific B-grade films with names such as “Jawan Mard” (where he ripped apart a tiger with his bare hands), “Fauladi Mukka” (where he romanced Mumtaz with a song, ‘Dil hai hamara phool se komal/Bazu hamari fauladi’). Such films were our version of spaghetti westerns where Dara Singh could decimate whole gangs of ruffians by just picking them up and hurling them away in what became famous as his ‘helicopter throw’. I accompanied all my boy cousins when they went to see these films and believed them when they told me how many goats and eggs Dara Singh could consume and how many buckets of buffalo milk he could glug in one go. The ultimate Dara Singh film was called “Trip to Moon”, where he tells his mother, ‘Ma, main chand par ja raha hoon. Kuch chahiye to thaila de de.’ Dara Singh remained a gentleman despite all these dhishoom-dhishoom films. His co-actors and friends have recalled how his mere presence evoked such respect that no one smoked in his presence or used offensive swear words. I have among our old photographs a delightful black and white print from 1973 where Dara Singh is standing in a wrestling ring in the market town of Khanna in Punjab, flanked by two brawny wrestlers. In the picture, looking extremely ill-at-ease and sheepish, is my husband, then a young sub-divisional officer of Samrala. He reaches Dara Singh’s waist. The occasion was a ‘dangal’ — a rural wrestling match — and huge crowds had come from neighbouring villages to see not just the two wrestlers but their great hero, Dara Singh. In those days, Dara Singh was the pride of Punjab, he was the brand name that sold Milkfood Desi Ghee and promoted a healthy lifestyle that believed in eating well and hard physical exercise. Decorated with titles like Rustam-e-Hind, his reputation as a gentleman wrestler was unassailable. Never in the long years after that time in the Seventies did he ever do anything to besmirch that reputation. Till the end, he remained the unquestioned Lord of the Ring. He was a true hero in every sense of the word. |
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PROFILE: Dr Rao Panieni Nano-technology — a tool to design new ways of treating cancer without affecting healthy cells — has helped develop an image-guided procedure to deliver large loads of drugs to cancer cells. Dr Rao and his team of doctors plan to use it to treat prostate cancer patients first, and then other types of cancer. Dr Rao has indeed done India proud with his innovation, which may even pave the way for finding a definitive cure for the dreaded disease. He is currently working as chief scientist and senior principal investigator at Care-Stream Health Inc, USA. Last month, Dr Rao received approval for his patent application for cancer treatment. The patent is titled “High Capacity Non-Viral Vectors”. It will help nano particles show the drug to be released inside diseased cells. This will improve the effectiveness of the drug. Dr Rao’s team says the patent will potentially change the way radiation is administered. It will improve the localisation and monitoring of tumours through highly targeted delivery of drugs to cancer cells. Dr Rao and his team have also worked on oesophageal cancer. Given the small size of the tumour in the early stage, this cancer does not show any symptoms. But over time the tumour becomes so large that it may partially block the oesophagus, making it difficult to swallow food. The treatment depends on the stage of the cancer, and the overall health of the patient. If the cancer is localised and has not spread beyond the oesophagus, then the treatment usually comprises surgery. In case the cancer has spread to other organs, patients are treated with chemotherapy and/or radiation to slow down the progress of the cancer and relieve the symptoms. Dr Rao and his team have invented a system that is being considered a significant breakthrough in the treatment of cancer. According to him, this system uses nanotechnology to carry anti-cancer drugs to the cancerous site without affecting the healthy cells of the body. Cancer cells are thereby eliminated with precision, without causing any collateral damage to other tissues. The team strongly advises people to take certain steps to reduce the risk of cancer: do not smoke or use any tobacco products; take alcohol only in moderation; add more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet than meat or dairy products; prefer whole grains; and work diligently to keep your weight in check.
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On record
Minister
of State for Planning and Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Ashwani Kumar visited Washington recently to participate in the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue. In an interaction with The Tribune, he draws the contours of plans in the field as also his commitment to put Punjab on the international map of science, technology and innovation through collaboration. Excerpts of the interview: What was the vision of India on science and technology that you presented at the third Indo-US Strategic Dialogue? I spelt out India’s aim and expectations from this engagement to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — that in order to achieve our 12th Five-Year Plan objective of sustainable growth, we have to pursue science, technology and innovation as core instrumentalities, which can also impart a competitive edge to our economy. We could impact the quality of life of the aam aadmi through affordable and better products and services. I also spelt out our vision of global leadership in this sphere, for which we need to strengthen our capabilities in converting pure science research into products and services. I sought a collaborative enterprise with the US for this. I believe the frontier areas of science which will validate our global aspirations include supercomputing, synthetic biology, regenerative medicine, neuro science, genome sequencing, bio-technology, water cycles research, solar energy, and molecular biology. Secretary Clinton gave full assurance of active collaboration in projects. It is important to remember the world faces common challenges such as energy security, food security, cyber security, pandemics, affordable health care and drinking water. Therefore, we need collaborative rather than competitive science. Accordingly, the Department of Science and Technology has an extensive programme of international collaboration with many countries. While there is active engagement with the US, European Union, United Kingdom, France, Brazil and Germany, there are MoUs with 82 countries. What are your plans for Punjab in this sphere? We are engaged with MIT-Cambridge for collaboration with IIT-Ropar to ensure that the institute in Punjab becomes a centre of educational excellence in science, technology and innovation. The Provost and Dean of MIT, Prof Canazaris, has assured us of purposive follow-up. On our side, a committee will hold the talks. My aim is to ensure Punjab catches up fast with some of the other states in becoming an educational hub. What are the challenges faced by Punjab and the way forward? Punjab had missed the information revolution and lags in centres of advanced and quality education. The other important challenge relates to water management, its conservation, quality and use. Towards that end, a high-powered team under the chairmanship of Planning Commission member Mihir Shah has already visited Punjab and consulted with the state government, farmers’ bodies and other stakeholders. I have asked for a report and will be taking necessary action. What is your overview on the state of economy and what do you see as the way to address this decline? These are indeed challenging times. Our difficulties are compounded by the global economic crisis, as the Indian economy is today fully integrated with the world. Yet the India growth story is here to stay. The macro-economic fundamentals — including the democratic dividend with India being home to 20 per cent of the world’s population below the age of 25, high domestic investment and saving rate and a service sector which instils resilience in the economy to absorb external shocks — will ensure over a five-year period eight-plus GDP growth rate, making India the second fastest growing large economy. We need to build a political consensus to push through second-generation reforms in finance, insurance, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. If we fail to push ahead with this and contain rising fiscal deficit we would have missed the opportunity to foster sustainable and more inclusive growth, as aspired for in the 12 th Five-Year Plan. As one who represents the Congress, how do you react to reports about the dipping electoral fortunes of your party, especially after the rout in Punjab? Many prophets of doom in the past sought in vain to write the obituary of the Congress. We have had our ups and downs, but based on an inclusive political agenda, we are committed to the spirit of nationalism and seek inspiration from the towering moral leadership provided by the party from time to time. We have continued to receive the affection of the Indian people. I have no doubt that despite the challenges on account of organisational weaknesses in various states and pressures of caste and communal politics, the Congress will remain the premier party in the country for many years under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. What about the next generation leadership, and where do you see Rahul Gandhi in it? I believe it is necessary to invite the younger generation in the political life of the country, which can only be done by inspiring the youth through politics based on ideals and service to the people. Rahul Gandhi has sought to do just this. He is capable of assuming a larger role in the affairs of the nation. However, when and how he will do it should be best left to his
judgement.
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With
On Expedition 32, as her current mission is known, Sunita will spend four months on duty aboard the ISS and will not be back in time to vote in the US Presidential election in November. Just days before lift-off, she cut her flowing hair so that it wouldn’t float around in zero gravity and give her a constant ‘bad hair day’ look in space. She consoled herself on Twitter by writing that it would grow back in four months. On her final day she tweeted, “What do we do on the last day on earth… run one last time outside.”
On this trip to space, Sunita is reportedly taking a copy of the Upanishads, which her father, Deepak Pandya, who originally hails from Gujarat, gave her. On her first trip she told me she had taken an idol of Ganesha and a copy of Bhagavad Gita for company. When I asked her what difference it made up there, she said, “This may sound corny, but it sort of grounds you. In a little spacecraft zipping around the earth, you are doing a lot of things, sometimes it feels like work… maybe you are taking for granted where you are, what you are doing… things like Ganesh and the Gita bring you back home. It is nice to read about Arjuna’s trials and tribulations… it puts your life in perspective when you are up there.” 
In
There