VZCZCXRO6394
RR RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHNE #1599/01 1631021
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111021Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2136
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2333
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 3058
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2146
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDC/NOAA NMFS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
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RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NEW DELHI 001599 
 
STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS 
STATE FOR STAS 
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS 
HHS PASS TO NIH 
STATE PASS TO USAID 
STATE FOR SCA, OES (STAS FEDOROFF), OES/PCI STEWART; OES/IHA SINGER 
PASS TO HHS/OGHA (STEIGER/HICKEY), CDC (BLOUNT/FARRELL), NIH/FIC 
(GLASS/MAMPILLY), FDA (LUMPKIN/WELSCH, GENEVA FOR HOFMAN) 
PASS TO MAS/DAS/JESTRADA 
PASS TO MAC/DAS/HVINEYARD 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO SENV AMED CASC KSCA ECON ETRD BEXP EINV PGOV
TSPL, TRGY, TNGD, EIND, ENRG, KGHG, IN 
 
SUBJECT: NEW DELHI ESTH REPORT: JUNE 2008 FIRST WEEK 
 
REF A: NEW DELHI 1383 
REF B: STATE 49742 
 
NEW DELHI 00001599  001.2 OF 005 
 
 
¶1.  Summary: This edition of the New Delhi ESTH biweekly includes 
details about increased U.S. investment in India in High-tech 
ventures, demand for setting up 20 new Indian Institutes of 
Information Technology (IIIT) and a successful trial of indigenously 
developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft.  The environment section 
covers the details on South Asian Cooperative Environment Program 
Governing Council meeting, India's participation in the launch of 
the US Public Service Announcements on Wildlife Trafficking, and the 
Ministry of Culture sponsored event on Conservation of Natural 
Resources and Indian Culture.  The health section includes an update 
on polio cases and the social implications of frequent polio 
vaccination rounds, AI update on the first human case in Bangladesh, 
and the PEPFAR India team's representation at the HIV Implementers' 
Meeting in Uganda. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
INCREASE IN US INVESTMENTS IN HIGH-TECH VENTURES IN INDIA 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶2.  The Indian high-tech industry in areas like Information & 
Communication Technology (ICT), Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), 
embedded systems design, electronics hardware and engineering design 
are drawing considerable attention.  According to Indian 
Semiconductor Association (ISA) estimates, the semiconductor and 
electronics design and manufacturing sector is cumulatively expected 
to generate revenue of about USD 11.8 billion this year.  This high 
tech sector is growing at the rate of 20 to 25%, which is three 
times higher than the international growth rate.  Thus venture 
capital (VC) companies including those from US have increased 
investments in India.  While VC investments world-wide are 
experiencing a slow down as per Price Waterhouse Cooper (PWC) and 
the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), India along with 
Israel, China and Canada seem to be among the few countries seeing 
an increase in VC activity.  According to PWC and NVCA, U.S. VCs 
have invested USD 350 million in 38 deals in India in the first 
quarter of 2008, a 42 percent increase compared to the fourth 
quarter of 2007.  The area of focus seems to be high tech research & 
development and engineering. 
 
¶3.  Recently Silicon Media Technologies Private Limited, a 
technology media publishing and network platform providing company, 
organized a conference in Bangalore on May 24-25, 2008.  The 
conference looked at facilitating interaction between VCs, engineers 
with new ideas and start-up companies showcasing new technologies. 
When SciFSN contacted Silicon Media they mentioned that over 4000 
engineers, 300 Chief Executive Officers (CEO) and 20 VCs, working in 
areas such as VLSI and embedded system design, hardware development 
and communication technologies participated in the event.  SciFSN 
also spoke to one of the participating startup company 
Axiom-Syschip, Bangalore, which has developed a new tool for fast 
and near faultless design of the next generation System on Chip 
(SoC) and System in Package (SiP).  Their Managing Director, Mr. 
Ravishankar, said it was a very fruitful meeting and they had both 
business partnership enquiries and offers of next stage expansion 
funds.  He added that in general a bigger quantum of funds is 
available to Indian start-ups than a few years ago. 
 
¶4.  The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a leading global entrepreneurship 
nurturing organization with its origins in Silicon Valley and 44 
chapters around the world, established a special focus group for 
educating and facilitating funding in clean and green technologies 
 
NEW DELHI 00001599  002.2 OF 005 
 
 
in Bangalore on June 6, 2008.  Clean Tech focus group hopes to bring 
together VCs, expert analysts and senior executives in various areas 
such as energy generation, storage, harvesting and efficient air & 
environment monitoring and management, water & waste management to 
discuss and highlight the opportunities.  TiE believes that 
approximately USD 19 billion would be invested in clean technologies 
in India by 2010.  In February 2007, the Boston Chapter of TiE 
brought a team of 30 US-based VCs to Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and 
Mumbai to expose them to opportunities in India.  VC activity is not 
limited to semiconductors or information technology; life sciences 
are also seeing an increase in funding.  In May 2008 US-based 
Medical Portfolio Management (MPM) Capital, the world's largest 
dedicated life sciences fund, made its first investment in India. 
It provided USD 20 million to Sai Advantium Pharma Ltd, a Hyderabad 
based drug discovery and development services firm.  As Indian 
pharmacy and biotech firms move up the value chain, more 
opportunities are expected to emerge. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- TWENTY NEW 
INDIAN INSTITUTES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO BE LAUNCHED TO 
ADDRESS GROWING DEMAND 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶5.  The demand for trained personnel in the Indian Information 
Technology (IT) and IT Enabled Services (ITES) sector is growing by 
the day.  The recent slowing of US economy seems to have affected it 
only marginally, as the internal demand in India continues to grow. 
The demand in this sector is expected to be about 3 million 
personnel by 2012.  Hence the National Association of Software and 
Services Companies (NASSCOM), a consortium that represents the IT 
and ITES companies has swung into action.  NASSCOM has presented a 
model Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Ministry of Human 
Resource Development (MHRD) for accelerating the establishment of 20 
new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT) as envisaged 
in the 11th Five Year Plan. 
 
¶6.  The Model DPR is expected to serve as a template for the 
preparation of the DPR for each individual IIIT.  The institutes are 
expected to be autonomous and work on a Public-Private Partnership 
(PPP) model.  Further, NASSCOM in its report has suggested 20 
selected locations for each IIIT based on the industry clusters 
nearby that could support it.  Each IIIT has been envisioned to 
become a world class academic institute and evolve as 
technology/functional Centers of Excellence through a strong focus 
on research in frontier technology areas.  The IIIT is expected to 
be a joint effort of the MHRD, the respective state government where 
it is located and industry.  India already has 3 IIITs in Bangalore, 
Hyderabad and Gwalior.  The first new IIIT is to be established in 
Delhi as per the new model.  With the huge allocation of funds under 
the eleventh plan and also private participation, funds may not be a 
problem in starting these institutions. The biggest challenge will 
be the finding capable faculty. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
DEFENSE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, PROGRESS REPORT ON THE LIGHT 
COMBAT AIRCRAFT 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶7.  The Indian Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) 
carried out its first real time hot weather endurance trials of the 
indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), Tejas. The test 
involved evaluating through onboard monitoring and telemetry the 
functioning of the various novel avionics (hardware) and onboard 
control systems.  The flight was subjected to repeated hot soaking 
 
NEW DELHI 00001599  003.2 OF 005 
 
 
cycles of 2 to 4 hours in an ambient temperature of about 40 oC, 
leading to aircraft surface temperatures going up to 70-75 oC.  Then 
the LCA was made to fly at low altitudes (200m) at speeds of 1000 
Km/h.  The other new feature in this trial flight was the use of 
external fuel tanks (drop tanks) for the first time.  The drop tanks 
can be disposed off as soon as the fuel is empty and this enables 
the flight to increase its range.  In the current test the Tejas LCA 
flew nonstop over 1000 Kms from Bangalore to Nagpur.  Soon defense 
personnel expect to conduct trials in Rajasthan under harsher desert 
conditions, longer range and also multiple low, medium and high 
altitude flying after hot soaking.  The limited series production of 
the Tejas commenced in 2007.  It is expected to get a limited 
Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) from the Indian Air Force (IAF) 
by 2008, followed by full operational clearance (FOC) by the end of 
¶2010.  The present successful trial is part of the IOC process. 
 
¶8.  However it needs to be mentioned, as reported earlier [Reftel A] 
defense research projects in India have generally been lagging 
behind schedule and such is the case with the LCA.  The Aeronautical 
Development Agency (ADA), one of the nodal labs in DRDO coordinating 
the LCA project, is in the process of finalizing a consultancy 
agreement with Boeing Corporation US to accelerate the testing 
process and minimize the number of trial runs.  This is subject to 
USG approval.  Further the IAF is not satisfied with the present GE 
404 engine which has a thrust of about 80-85 Kilo Newton as against 
the IAF's requirements of 95-100 Kilo Newtons.  This restricts the 
maneuverability of the aircraft.  The indigenous Kaveri engine is 
not yet ready and it is also not clear if it would meet the IAF's 
requirements.  Thus the Government of India is yet to decide, 
whether it should import a new engine or jointly develop a 
customized engine in collaboration with international partners as 
per its stated new defense R&D policy [Reftel A]. 
 
¶9.  Newspapers have also reported plans for user trials of 
indigenously built heavyweight torpedoes called Varunastra.  They 
were developed by the Naval Science and Technology Labs (NSTL) at 
Vishakhapatnam.  The heavyweight torpedo is expected to undergo user 
trials from the end of this year to the start of production in 2009. 
 The NSTL had earlier developed a lightweight anti-submarine torpedo 
which is already under production.  As of now the Indian navy uses 
Italian made torpedoes for training.  The new indigenous systems are 
expected to reduce the cost to one sixth of the imported torpedoes. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
THE SOUTH ASIAN COOPERATIVE ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶10.  The South Asian Cooperative Environment Program (SACEP) 
Governing Council meeting in Jaipur, India May 20-22, 2008, was 
attended by representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, 
Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India ended highly 
successfully.  The Environmental Ministers approved the initiative 
to create a South Asian Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN), an 
initiative supported by the US and were appreciative of the State 
Department's offer to provide political and financial support to 
SAWEN (Reftel B).  India takes over as Chairmanship from Nepal for a 
year. The Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests' Joint 
Secretary, Sudhir Mital, chaired the preliminary meeting of focal 
points from each country and proved to be highly effective at 
managing the meeting and holding SACEP accountable. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
INDIA LAUNCH OF US PUBLIC SERVICE MESSAGE ON WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING 
 
NEW DELHI 00001599  004.2 OF 005 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶11.  India will participate in a global launch of three television 
public service announcements (PSAs) on combating wildlife 
trafficking featuring world renowned actor Harrison Ford.  The 
launch is scheduled for June 5, World Environment Day and will be 
attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Environment and 
Forests, NGO, wildlife filmmakers and members of the media. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND INDIAN CULTURE 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶12.  The Amity University, a leading private university in New Delhi 
organized a one day seminar on "Conservation of Natural Resources 
and Indian Culture."  The event sponsored by the Ministry of Culture 
and developed by the Amity School of Natural Resources and 
Sustainable Development discussed the impact of developmental 
programs and globalization on conservation and traditional 
knowledge, and focused on the reviving the ethos of conservation 
among Indians. Speakers included leading religious figures, 
Government of India officials, senior faculty from other colleges 
and NGOs. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
INDIA'S POLIO ERADICATION DRIVE, ITS SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶13.  The World Health Assembly meeting recently concluded in Geneva 
urged India to carry out large scale case response vaccination 
campaigns to eradicate the P1 strain.  India's polio update for the 
Week 22, 2008 indicates 11 new polio cases of polio virus type P3 
and the total count for 2008 at 251 with 4 cases of polio virus type 
P1, and 247 cases of P3.  In 2007, the total cases reported for Week 
22, 2008 is 873 with 80 P1 cases, 790 P3 cases and 3 of P1+P3 
combination.  Meanwhile frequent polio vaccination rounds by the 
Government of India are causing "fatigue" in vaccinators and 
"suspicion" among parents due to cash incentives provided in the 
eradication drive as reported by an expert study findings.  The 
study investigates the implementation of new strategies for polio 
eradication, such as the accelerated delivery of monovalent polio 
vaccine type 1, use of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), and 
provision of cash incentives.  Both providers and community 
stakeholders raised objections about logistical difficulties in IPV 
administration and injection safety.  In the Indian community, the 
rationale of accelerated immunization rounds is not clear to parents 
whose concern is "why focus only polio" (when other diseases are not 
similarly addressed).  In addition, the concern of parents is the 
issue of "ineffective primary health services" that continues to 
remain, in their opinion inadequately addressed. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
AI UPDATE - WHO CONFIRMS FIRST HUMAN CASE IN BANGLADESH 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶14.  India continues to monitor the situation in the Kurseong block 
of Darjeeling district of West Bengal, notified by the Ministry of 
Health and Family Welfare (MOH) on May 9, 2008 and the second 
outbreak in the same district in the Bijanbari block on May 16. 
There is no report of a suspect case of human avian influenza (AI). 
Meanwhile in India's neighbor, Bangladesh,  the Ministry of Health, 
Bangladesh has confirmed its first case of human infection with H5N1 
strain of AI.  The case was identified retrospectively as part of 
seasonal surveillance activities run by the International Centre for 
 
NEW DELHI 00001599  005.2 OF 005 
 
 
Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB).  The case is a 
16-month-old male from Komalapur, Dhaka.  He developed symptoms on 
January 27, 2008 and subsequently recovered.  The case was confirmed 
as being infected with A(H5N1) by the WHO H5 Reference Laboratory of 
CDC.  The case was exposed to live and slaughtered chickens at his 
home with specimens having been collected from his family members 
and neighbors, all of whom remain healthy to date. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
HIV IMPLEMENTERS' MEETING, KAMPALA, UGANDA 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶15.  India PEPFAR Team is attending the HIV Implementers' meeting in 
Kampala, Uganda from June 3-7, 2008 which is being hosted by the 
Government of Uganda and sponsored by the U.S. President's Emergency 
Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
Tuberculosis and Malaria; UNAIDS; UNICEF; the World Bank; the World 
Health Organization (WHO); and the Global Network of People Living 
with HIV/AIDS (GNP+). A total of 1,700 attendees are expected, 
representing governments, non-governmental organizations including 
faith- and community-based groups, multilateral organizations, the 
private sector, and groups of people living with HIV/AIDS. This 
forum will facilitate open dialogue about future directions of 
HIV/AIDS programs, with a strong emphasis on implementation best 
practices and identification of critical barriers. The meeting's 
theme is "Scaling up through Partnerships: Overcoming Obstacles to 
Implementation." Recognizing the rapid expansion of HIV/AIDS 
programs worldwide, the focus of this year's meeting is: 
- Building the capacity of local HIV prevention, treatment, and care 
programs 
- Enhancing quality 
- Promoting coordination among partners 
 
MULFORD