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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000661 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/PCI, OES/STC, OES/SAT, OES/EGC, AND SCA/INS 
STATE FOR STAS 
DOE FOR INTERNATIONAL 
INTERIOR FOR FWS RILEY 
STATE PASS TO NSF FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV TSPA TRGY TNGD ECON SOCI KGHG IN
SUBJECT: NEW DELHI WEEKLY EST OFFICE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE WEEK OF 
MARCH 30 TO APRIL 03, 2009 
 
REF: 08 New Delhi 614 
 
¶1. (SBU) Below is a compilation of Environment, Science, and 
Technology highlights from Embassy New Delhi for the week of March 
30 to April 03, 2009, including the following: 
 
-- India to Conduct Next Tiger Census in October 2009 
-- Maoist Attack in Orissa's Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary Surprises 
Forest Officials 
 
-- Weather Gods Help Make Earth Hour a Success in Delhi 
-- Media Reports Sighting of Tiger Pug Marks at 10,000 Feet 
-- CLRI Develops Process for Growing Silver Nanoparticles 
-- Overhauling Indian University Science Education 
-- DRDO to Commercialize Defense Technologies 
-- ISRO Prepares to Test Reusable Launch Vehicle 
 
------------ 
ENVIRONMENT 
------------ 
 
India to Conduct Next Tiger Census in October 2009 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Wildlife Institute of India, in conjunction with the 
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) National Tiger 
Conservation Authority, are training India's front line forest staff 
to carry out a new scientific assessment of India's tiger 
population.  The census is slated to start in October 2009 and the 
MoEF claims it will be completed by April 2010.  An EST section 
contact within MoEF was skeptical regarding the completion date 
stating the last scientific tiger census took two years to complete. 
 The most recent census was carried out between 2006 and 2008 and 
marked the first time the MoEF used scientific methodology to assess 
India's tiger population.  The 2008 census estimated that only 1,411 
wild tigers remained in India and caused popular uproar as the 
numbers were less than half of the 2002 census estimate of 3600 
(reftel). 
 
Maoist Attack in Orissa's Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary Surprises 
Forest Officials 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Media report Maoist insurgents targeted Orissa's Similipal 
Wildlife Sanctuary on March 29 in an attack on forest service 
property and personnel.  The Maoists reportedly set forest 
department vehicles and offices ablaze and beat-up tourists they 
mistook for forest officials although no deaths were reported. 
While Maoist activity in Orissa's national parks is nothing new, the 
Similipal attack appears to be the first time the forest service was 
specifically targeted.  Citing personal experience, Samir Sinha, an 
Indian Forest Service Officer, informed ESTFSN he had been advised 
on various occasions that if he entered Similipal park with police 
escorts, he would be risking an attack but would be left alone if he 
traveled unaccompanied by police.  In other forest reserves with a 
large Maoist presence, forest guards are told not to wear their 
uniforms in order to ensure they are not mistaken for police.  Sinha 
was surprised by the Similipal attack and commented that while many 
Maoists use forests as safe-havens, they have not targeted forest 
service personnel in the past. 
 
Weather Gods Help Make Earth Hour a Success in Delhi 
 
¶4.  (U) Earth Hour, coupled with mild showers on the evening of 
March 28, reduced electricity demand in Delhi by approximately 1000 
MW, according to Delhi's electrical utilities.  Power experts are 
publicly calling the dip in electricity usage remarkable, even after 
factoring in the effect of the rain.  WWF - India and the Delhi 
government's Environment Department had urged residential welfare 
associations, schools, colleges, and hotels to participate in Earth 
Hour.  An EST section contact at WWF - India said he was pleasantly 
surprised at the turn out at WWF's Earth Hour celebration and noted 
 
NEW DELHI 00000661  002 OF 003 
 
 
the participants stayed despite the rain. 
 
Media Reports Unusual Sighting of Tiger Pug Marks at 10,000 Feet 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A national daily reported tiger pug marks in snow at an 
altitude of 10,000 feet in the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary in the 
Eastern Himalayan State of Sikkim.  The report went on to claim 
there had been no such sightings in the last 18 years.  ESTFSN spoke 
to the Sikkim Forest Department's Senior Research Officer, Ms. Usha 
Lachungpa, who stated tiger pug marks have been observed at that 
altitude for many years and that she has personally seen them in the 
same region after domestic livestock were killed.  Lachungpa noted 
the local Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) quoted in the news report 
is young and more than likely overstated the facts.  In addition, 
she stated there was a good chance the pugmark reported in the story 
was actually that of a bear as pug marks in snow are notoriously 
unreliable as they tend to change shape through expansion and 
contraction due to changes in temperature. 
 
-------- 
SCIENCE 
-------- 
 
CLRI Develops Process for Growing Silver Nanoparticles 
 
¶6.  (U) The Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Chennai 
reported in the Bulletin of Material Science that they have 
developed a simple, fast and environmentally friendly process for 
growing silver nanoparticles.  The key features of the process are 
the use of starch as both a template and reducing agent as well as 
microwave irradiation during chemical synthesis.  CLRI claims that 
the microwave assisted process reduces formation time by tenfold and 
the presence of the starch template leads to agglomeration-free 
silver nanoparticles of an average size of 12 nanometers.  CLRI 
plans to use particles produced by this method for medical and 
industrial applications. 
 
MHRD Offers USD 2 Million Grants to Advance Science Education 
 
¶7.  (U) The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Department 
of Higher Education announced grants of INR 100 million (USD 2 
million) each for the establishment of 50 centers of excellence for 
advanced science training and research at universities in India. 
This initiative is part of an MHRD effort to overhaul and rejuvenate 
India's Higher Education system. 
 
----------- 
TECHNOLOGY 
----------- 
 
DRDO to Commercialize Defense Technologies 
 
¶8.  (SBU) India's Defense Research and Development Organization 
(DRDO) is partnering with the Federation of Indian Chambers of 
Commerce and Industry (FICCI), with technical assistance from the 
IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, on a program to 
spin out DRDO technologies for national and international commercial 
markets.  Twenty-six DRDO labs are putting forth more than 200 
technologies in the fields of electronics, robotics, advanced 
computing and simulation, avionics, optronics, precision 
engineering, special materials, engineering systems, 
instrumentation, acoustics, life sciences and disaster management to 
be assessed by FICCI during the first year.  In addition to 
producing high-quality affordable products, head of DRDO M. 
Natarajan suggested this program would also attract young talented 
personnel to fill DRDO's aging and shrinking scientific ranks.  On 
April 2, Chandrika Kaushik, DRDO Additional Director for 
International Cooperation, told ESTOff that DRDO did not intend to 
open the program to international companies, though joint ventures 
with FICCI members might be possible. 
 
NEW DELHI 00000661  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
ISRO Announces Preparations to Test Reusable Launch Vehicle 
¶9.  (U) The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced 
plans to begin re-entry flight tests of a prototype Reusable Launch 
Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) in 2010.  The booster 
rocket for the RLV-TD was successfully ground tested at ISRO's 
Sriharikota facility in December 2008.  The RLV-TD flight tests will 
focus on filling gaps in ISRO's understanding of re-entry 
aerodynamics, control systems, and heat shielding.  ISRO intends to 
gather telemetery data from the RLV-TD re-entry tests but has no 
plans to recover the RLV-TD from the sea after the flight test 
claiming it would not be cost-effective.  Although the RLV-TD is 
another step in India's development of a manned space shuttle, Dr. 
¶K. Radhakrishnan, Directr of ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 
Thiruvananthapuram, was quoted in a national daily saying ISRO had a 
long way to go before it could build an operational RLV. 
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