VZCZCXRO0456
RR RUEHAST RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM
DE RUEHNE #3076/01 3430422
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080422Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4570
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 3188
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 3949
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 3012
RUEHNEH/AMCONSUL HYDERABAD
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDC/NOAA NMFS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
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RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NEW DELHI 003076 
 
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/PDAS/RHARNISH; OES/PCI 
STEWART; OES/IHB MURPHY; OES/GTHOMPSON 
PASS TO HHS/OGHA (STEIGER/ABDOO/VALDEZ), CDC (BLOUNT/FARRELL), 
NIH/FIC (GLASS/MAMPILLY/HANDLEY), 
FDA (LUMPKIN/WELSCH, GENEVA FOR HOFMAN) 
PASS TO MAS/DAS/JESTRADA 
PASS TO MAC/DAS/HVINEYARD 
PASS TO NSF/MLUECK 
PASS TO NASA/OER (MCINTOSH/WILLIAMS/KAMM) 
SLUG TO DOE/DAS/JMIZROCH; DOE/MGINZBERG 
SLUG TO DOE/ (TCUTLER/GBISCONTI/CGILLESPIE) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO SENV AMED CASC KSCA ECON ETRD BEXP EINV PGOV
EAGR, TSPL, TRGY, TNGD, EIND, ENRG, KGHG, IN 
 
SUBJECT: NEW DELHI BI-WEEKLY ESTH REPORT: NOVEMBER 2008 THIRD WEEK 
 
NEW DELHI 00003076  001.2 OF 005 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: This edition of the New Delhi ESTH biweekly report 
on science and technology includes an update on the recent Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman and delegation's visit to 
India, the commencing of the Indian Space Research Organization's 
(ISRO) Chandrayaan I experiments, developments on the Indian 
Supercomputer scene, ISRO and Tata Motors joint effort to develop a 
fuel cell based bus and India's opening of a new biotechnology 
research institute.  The section on environment includes inputs 
related to the influence of global warming on apple cultivation in 
India and the meeting of the Lower Colorado River Authority 
Chairperson with Delhi Jal Board CEO.  The health section includes 
inputs on consultation with the state of Manipur officials related 
to care and support for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, 
global AIDS program regional management meeting, preparations for 
the World AIDS day event and consultation with the Government of 
India (GOI) regarding the counseling tool kit for HIV/AIDS. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Delegation Visit to India 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶2. (U) The science section supported the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission Chairman and his delegation during their 11-29 November 
meetings in India. The delegation and SCI, ECON and POL officers met 
with the various GOI officials including the Foreign Secretary Mr. 
Shiv Shankar Menon, the  Prime Minister's Special Envoy Mr. Shyam 
Saran, the Principal Scientific Advisor to GOI Dr. R. Chidambaram, 
the Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Mr. Kapil 
Sibal and the Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr. Anil Kakodkar to 
discuss the path forward for US/India cooperation and to encourage 
India to expeditiously adopt the IAEA Safeguards and Convention on 
Supplementary Compensation.  In addition, the delegation attended 
the IAEA safeguards conference in Mumbai, visited the Bhaba Atomic 
Research Center and the Kaiga nuclear power plant in the state of 
Karnataka, met with US and Indian nuclear industry representatives 
and participated in a CII-sponsored conference in New Delhi at which 
Ambassador Mulford and Chairman Klein made remarks. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
"Chandrayaan I" Mission Experiments Begin 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) ISRO reported that it has successfully maneuvered 
Chandrayaan-1, India's first moon spacecraft, launched on October 
22, 2008 to its planned operational lunar orbit of 100 kms from the 
moon surface on November 12 2008.  ISRO has also reported that it 
has already switched on nine of the experimental payloads and all 
the instruments were working satisfactorily.  The data from these 
instruments were being received by antennas of Indian Deep Space 
Network (IDSN).  The spacecraft operations are being carried out 
from the Satellite Control Centre (SCC) of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking 
and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Bangalore.  Further, on November 14 
2008 ISRO also released the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 
payloads of Chandrayaan-1, which successfully hit the Moon's surface 
near the Moon's South Polar Region after a 25 minutes journey.  The 
MIP stopped functioning after impact due to hard landing.  ISRO has 
reported that it was able to successfully obtain all the information 
 
NEW DELHI 00003076  002.2 OF 005 
 
 
gathered by MIP during its descent. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Indian Supercomputers Slip Down in Ranking, Even as India Emerges as 
One of the Fastest Growing High Performance Computing Market 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶4.  (U) The recently released rankings of the top 500 super 
computers in the world included two Indian supercomputers namely the 
Eka (120 Teraflop) from the Tata's Computer Research Laboratory 
(CRL) and the Param NG (54 Teraflop) from Centre for Development of 
Advanced Computing (C-DAC).  They were ranked thirteenth and sixty 
ninth, respectively.  Last year Eka from CRL was ranked fourth. 
When SciFSN spoke to Dr. Sunil Sherlekar, Founder and Head of CRL, 
he said that CRL expected this result, as they had no space for 
expanding the present system and any higher speed system meant 
developing a completely new super computer.  He said that the 
current focus was on developing more real life applications in 
various domains including weather forecasting, aerospace, 
automobile, digital entertainment, nanotechnology, biotechnology, 
agriculture, space exploration, financial services and 
bioinformatics.  In the case of C-DAC, the Eleventh five year plan 
(2007 - 2012) has already set the goal of developing a Pentaflop 
(1000 Teraflop) system and this was confirmed by C-DAC personnel 
when contacted. 
 
¶5. (U) It may be mentioned here that both CRL and CDAC already have 
40 to 50 customers each.  This includes academic institutes, R&D 
labs and industries from India and abroad.  CRL customers include US 
companies like Boeing and Yahoo.  CRL supercomputers were also used 
for the recent "Chandrayaan I" launch related activities and India's 
first three dimensional animation movie "Roadside Romeo" released 
last month.  This increasing activity in the High Performance 
Computing (HPC) in India is also reflected in the recent 
International Data Corporation (IDC) report on IT hardware in Asia. 
The IDC report says that the HPC market is expected to be USD 12 
billion for 2008 and India with a nearly 100 percent growth per year 
in this segment is expected to be a key driver.  The report further 
adds that this growth is fuelled by the R&D segments across the 
spectrum including government, academia and industry.  However it is 
not restricted to R&D and even businesses of different sizes are 
using HPC-based modeling and simulation to remain at the top in 
their respective areas of operation. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
ISRO and Tata to Launch a Hydrogen Powered Electric Bus 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶6. (U) ISRO and the Tata Motors have been working jointly towards 
developing a hydrogen based fuel cell driven electric bus. The 
design specifications were jointly developed. ISRO has already 
developed the fuel cell and is also contributing to the development 
of the liquid hydrogen flow system based on its expertise of working 
with cryogenic systems for the rockets.  The Tatas are developing 
the locomotive transmission and the hydrogen flow systems.  The fuel 
cell is designed to generate 80 KW power to drive the vehicle.  The 
bus will have the hydrogen cylinders on the rooftop (40 liters 
 
NEW DELHI 00003076  003.2 OF 005 
 
 
capacity) and cover about 560 km in one filling.  It is designed to 
carry 60 passengers.  As per current estimates the vehicle is 
expected to cost INR 8 million (USD 160,000) and the hydrogen fuel 
is expected to cost USD 2.4 per liter.  The completely integrated 
system was originally scheduled to be ready by the end of 2008; it 
is now expected to be ready by the first quarter of 2009.  The green 
and environment friendly buses are expected to be used during the 
Commonwealth games in Delhi in 2010.  The Tatas have invested INR 50 
million (USD 1 million) and ISRO has invested INR 10 million (USD 
0.2 million) towards this project. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
GOI to Set Up a New International Center for Biotechnology 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶7. (U) The GOI has approved the establishment of a new international 
center for biotechnology in collaboration with the United Nations 
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  The 
center called as UNESCO Regional Centre for Training and Education 
in Biotechnology will be set up at Faridabad, Haryana with an 
initial budget of INR 995.5 million (USD 20 million).  The centre 
will be governed by a Board of Governors with representations from 
India, UNESCO and other member countries from Asia.  The 
collaboration with UNESCO is expected to facilitate greater 
interaction with other international agencies including the European 
Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and International Union of 
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (IUBMB).  The centre is expected to 
act as the focal point for cooperation amongst the member countries 
of Asia.  It is planned to be a regional hub for interdisciplinary 
education and training in biotechnology with emphasis on novel 
education programs relevant to industry.  The proposed areas of 
focus include bio-drug discovery science, nano-science & medicine, 
imaging techniques, designer crops, bioengineering and biomaterials, 
intellectual property, technology transfer and regulation to 
mitigate the shortage of skilled human resources in India and the 
neighboring countries. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Warming Impact on Apple Cultivators 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) Increasing temperatures are forcing apple cultivators to 
move to higher altitudes in the Indian State of Himachal Pradesh, as 
per a study by the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University.  The 
findings are being studied under the Mission on Sustainable 
Agriculture, one of the eight missions outlined in the National 
Action Plan on Climate Change, India's national policy document on 
climate change released by the Prime Minister in June 2008. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Lower Colorado River Authority Chairperson Meets with Delhi Jal 
Board CEO 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶9.  (U) In a meeting with the Chairperson of the Lower Colorado 
River authority, the Delhi Jal (Water) Board (DJB) Chief Executive 
Officer Mr.Ramesh Negi outlined DJB's challenges in providing clean 
 
NEW DELHI 00003076  004.2 OF 005 
 
 
water to its citizens.  He elaborated on the DJB's plans to treat 
water and reduce water losses due to pilferage and poor maintenance 
of water pipes.  Negi agreed that the DJB has not been efficiently 
run which has encouraged the water mafia to pilfer ground water 
sources to supply water to households that receive little and 
contaminated water.  The DJB is in the process of announcing global 
tenders to design, build and operate waste water treatment 
facilities on a profit sharing basis. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
State Level Consultations on Care and Support for Women and 
Children, Imphal, Manipur 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶10. (U) State government invited USG to the northeastern state of 
Manipur to help in rolling out the first level training for their 
District AIDS Officers across the state. Manipur has the highest HIV 
prevalence rates in India with a median prevalence rate of 1.58% 
against a national average of 0.34% (NACO, sentinel surveillance, 
2008).  HHS/CDC helped to provide the epidemiological perspective 
for the different districts to suitably modify the control 
activities in line with the national AIDS control program.  Also, 
during the same visit technical assistance was provided to the state 
planning and key areas of care and support for people living with 
HIV/AIDS. 
 
¶11.  (U) HHS/CDC also collaborated with various UN agencies 
including UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS and other stakeholders like Bill and 
Melinda Gates Foundation and Clinton Foundation, to assess the road 
map for control activities especially for women and children. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Global AIDS Program Regional Management Meeting: Asia and the 
Americas, Nov 17 - 21, 2008 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶12. (U) HHS/CDC organized a Global AIDS program regional management 
meeting at CDC, Atlanta from November 17 - 21, 2008, to orient the 
field programs on critical management issues.  CDC Country Director 
and financial specialist are in attendance and will be bringing out 
the field level perspectives and challenges.  The consultations are 
expected to streamline the challenges faced by the field programs 
while addressing the local issues of management and finances. 
 
---------------------------- 
World AIDS Day Events - 2008 
---------------------------- 
¶13.  (U) December 1, 2008 marks the twentieth anniversary of World 
AIDS Day.  US mission in India was pioneer among the foreign 
missions in India to come out with HIV/AIDS workplace policy on 1 
December 2004.  The mission has a strong band of trained peer 
educators who constantly provide support to HIV/AIDS activities in 
the mission as well as in their own community levels.  The US 
mission in India has elaborate plans for the World AIDS Day with the 
embassy and the consulates all hosting and participating in various 
events in their area. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
NEW DELHI 00003076  005.2 OF 005 
 
 
Follow Up Counseling Toolkit: Consultations with GOI 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶14.  (U) Counseling in HIV/AIDS is an important component of care 
and prevention.  HHS/CDC has supported WHO and National AIDS Control 
Organization (NACO) to develop an India specific module on 
counseling and testing in HIV.  Based on the needs assessment and 
request, HHS/CDC further piloted a follow-up counseling toolkit in 
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.  The toolkit aims to build skills of 
counselors (particularly those in ART centers) to encourage HIV+ 
people to practice "positive prevention" behaviors, such as 
addressing depression and stigma, safer sex, partner notification, 
partner testing and adherence.  Behavioral scientist from HHS/CDC is 
in consultation with the national program to scale up this effort. 
 
 
MULFORD