READ ON POLICE REFORMS

It is tragic that as India is marching ahead in numerous indicators of human development index, the police as the key institution of internal security, far from being democratised and responsive to the needs of the common man in the country, stands deinstitutionalised, discredited and delegitimised. It carries the image of being a repressive instrument of the state that functions only to protect and for the interest of politicians, many of whom are criminalised.
The existing police systems in India is a legacy of colonial rule that have been shaped by post-colonial histories. The consequences of poor policing include brutality and torture, extra-judicial executions, a lack of due process, impunity, corruption, bias and discrimination and public fear, anger and resentment
Those who have visited a police station any time can tell the tales of horror and disgust. It is a truth that a majority of law-abiding Indians would like to avoid stepping into a police station. Nor would they like to be visited by a policeman in public view. It is unfortunate that this is so even five decades after we became free from alien rule.
In year 2006, the mystery of missing children, unravelled in Uttar Pradesh’s industrial-residential suburb to Delhi, Noida, underlined some known facts about the police. First, the police in India are inefficient, irresponsible, insensitive and corrupt and the maladies now affect not only the cutting edge level, for long touted as the problematic core of the organisation, but it has spread across the organisational ladder to the top, despite some shining examples of excellence and probity. Second, the need for organisational and systemic reforms for this crucial institution of governance, urgent for decades, has now become emergent. Third, the political class running the machinery of the Indian state at different levels is least interested in police reforms for known and obvious reasons.
Besides,the police across the country has been known to avoid registering cases in order to keep the crime rate and work load low for decades; it is the poor who invariably bear the brunt of their inefficiency, corruption and brutality. The registration of the First Information Report (FIR), the initial complaint by affected persons before the police take cognizance of an unlawful incident or crime, has for long been used by the police as an instrument to extort money from and harass the complainants. It is, therefore, not surprising that the police turned away the poor complaining about their missing children from the police station with characteristic disdain. Starkly, a high-profile kidnapping in the posh Sector 15A of Noida in 2006 witnessed an unprecedented police (and the media) mobilisation, while the series of disappearance of children during the past two years in the impoverished part of this urban village drew apathy, scorn (for the poor victim families) and negligence from the police. Considering that Noida is a district town with seats of the District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police not very far away from the scene of the occurrence, the incident also clearly brings out the complete absence for the citizens of channels of appeal to the senior officers in cases of negligence and dereliction of duty at the lower levels. Clearly, the class bias of the police, nay the entire administrative structure, always there, has been perpetuated over the decades and has become a systemic feature even as Indian democracy matures.
apart from it,the pervasiveness of dereliction of the basic duty by the police has recently been revealed also during the trials of Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lal cases in the nation’s Capital. In both the cases the Delhi High Court passed heavy strictures against the Delhi Police. The police was found deficient in taking cognisance of and investigating both the cases. In fact, the involvement of a senior police officer’s son in the former prompted the police to not only ignore the complaint of the victim, but also to resort to shoddy investigation, which in any case has become the soft underbelly of policing in India. The organisational rot is visible also from the rising cases of recorded custodial crime—death as well as rape—by the police. It has risen by 50 per cent in the country between 2004 and 2005. Abdul Karim Telgi’s stamp scam cast its shadow even over the hallowed chair of the Mumbai Police Commissioner. Inspector General rank police officers are facing trial in heinous crimes like murder. Obviously, the Indian Police Service, one of the two prestigious all-India services, has lost its sheen both in probity and efficiency. The pressure of and unpreparedness for facing challenges like terrorism and armed crime in a systematic and organised fashion has led to encounter deaths. The most glaring result of such a pressure was visible in Delhi nearly a decade ago when an innocent person was shot dead after a chase in the busy commercial hub, Connaught Place. Obviously, the pervasively deep rot necessitates comprehensive reforms at every level, incorporating every aspect of policing, though the delivery level deserves urgent and immediate attention.
Thus Police reforms are the crying need of the time which aims to realise increased demand for and achievement of police accountability and reform throughout the country.There is near unanimity among a cross-section of our opinion leaders, be they politicians, administrators, academics or members of the press, that there is something rotten with the system, and that the police will have to change radically in order to become people-friendly. The specific charges hurled by the common man are that the police are corrupt, brutal and insensitive to the poor. Perhaps the most damaging accusation is that the police are biased in favour of the majority community and do not protect the minorities when there is religious tension. The reports of a number of inquiry commissions will bear this out. We are aware of what happened in Gujarat and how the police there have been squarely charged with looking the other way when fundamentalists were indulging in savage behaviour. Against this backdrop, there is a widespread feeling that all the ills of the police are due to the acute politicisation of the system, and that no reform exercise will ever succeed till politicians agree not to interfere with the day-to-day operations of the police. Autonomy for the police without loss of accountability is the slogan that is raised in chorus by a chunk of the pro-reform lobby.
EARLIER EFFORTS FOR REFORMING POLICING IN INDIA
SEVERAL aspects of the police administration— organisational structure, work culture, training, politicisation, accountability structures, magisterial control, corruption, brutality, etc.— have been discussed and reviewed in order to bring about reforms since independence. Interestingly the government of United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh after independence) appointed a Police Reorganisation Committee on January 23, 1947, which reviewed the ills plaguing the police organisation, like corruption, misuse of authority, brutality and so on, and also discussed the reasons behind ills like non-registration of First Information Report (FIR), poor investigation, fabrication of evidence etc.
While recommending some organisational rearrangements, the Committee laid great emphasis on recruitment policy, better salary and service conditions, training ,professionalisation and specialisation of the personnel and various units of the police, inculcation of scientific methods of investigation and creation of a special unit for it.
However, the discourse on police reform began after independence at the State level in the 1960s, when several States appointed Police Commi-ssions to look at police reforms within the framework of the 1861 Police Act. The Union Government obviously adopted a textbook constitutional position by leaving this matter of the List II of the Seventh Schedule (state list) entirely to the States, though given the political atmosphere of the time and the prevailing ‘Congress system’, to use Rajni Kothari’s famous formulation on India’s one-party dominant system, it was possible for the Union Government to undertake a leader’s role in guiding and coordinating police reforms. For, the Centre alone could have contemplated replacing the Indian Police Act 1861 that designed and founded the present police ‘force’ in the aftermath of the events of 1857 with one drawn in accordance with the new republican Constitution enacted in 1950. Anyway, the State governments appear to have been governed by their own political imperatives to set up Police Commissions and accordingly defined their terms of reference. Thus, throughout the 1960s and 1970s one State after the other reviewed its police system (some did it even more than once), but none of the States authorised its Commission to question the Act of 1861 in any way. Naturally, solutions were suggested within the existing framework. The recommendations of these Commissions were mainly concerned with details of the administrative set up, the strength of the police force in different wings of the system, pay and allowances of the police in different ranks, qualifications for recruitment to various ranks, the set-up for training centres, curricula for training and the like.
However, the Union Government too felt the need to review the functioning of the police in the context of the administrative reforms. Hence, without meddling with the State realm, the Centre reviewed administrative structures and training in the 1970s, but the recommendations remained on paper. The Dharam Vira headed National Police Commission in 1977 came after three decades of inaction to reform this vital institution of governance and its growing decadence under political patronage. Its appointment however, was under the shadow of the misuse of the police machinery and the police behaviour during the Emergency imposed by Mrs Gandhi. In severe indictment of the police the Shah Commission of Inquiry appointed to look into excesses committed during the Emergency said:
"The police was used and allowed themselves to be used for purposes, some of which were, to say the least, questionable. Some police officers behaved as if they were not accountable at all to any public authority. The decision to arrest and release certain persons were entirely on political considerations, which were intended to be favourable to the ruling party. Employing the police to the advantage of any political party is a sure source of subverting the rule of law. The government must seriously consider the feasibility and desirability of insulating the police from the politics of the country and employing it scrupulously on duties for which alone it is by law intended."
Obviously, despite a stupendous task accomplished by the NPC, the shadow of the Emergency and the observations against the police and the Indira Gandhi regime during the Emergency was likely to fall on its recommendations. The defeat and fragmentation of the Janata Party regime and return of Mrs Indira Gandhi in 1980, when the report of the Commission was eventually presented, created a negative political atmosphere for the NPC report, making the new regime look at the report with politically coloured glasses.
If we ask for a status report on the NPC reports, we will get impressive but deceptive statistics. You will be told that more than 90 per cent of the NPC recommendations have been implemented. What you will not be told is that three of the most crucial ones are yet to see the light of day. The first of these relates to the setting up of a State Security Commission that will not only evaluate the performance of the police but also entertain representations from officers of the rank of Superintendent of Police and above against being subjected to illegal or irregular orders. Such a Commission - headed by the Minister in charge of the police and in which one of the six members will be from the Opposition in the legislature - could greatly reduce the frequency of wrongful and unethical directions to officers, either by the police leadership or by the political executive. The second is choosing the Director-General of Police of a State through a clinical process and conferring on him a mandatory tenure of four years. Finally, the NPC recommended the replacement of the Police Act, 1861, with a new Act that takes care of the current times when we need a swift-acting police that is not hampered by an obstructive Executive Magistrate, especially during major law and order situations. The NPC actually went to the extent of drafting a model Police Act, which plugged several lacunae in the old Act and submitted it for government acceptance. The mandarins in North Block have been dragging their feet over this since 1981, obviously because the new Act makes the police mostly free from the Executive Magistrate and the political executive. While the first two recommendations need action by State Chief Ministers, in respect of the third, both Parliament and the State legislatures are competent to bring forward a Bill that could become the new Police Act applicable to the whole country.
Yet, despite being jettisoned, the NPC report has led the urge and quest for police reforms amidst strong political, bureaucratic and internal resistance. It indeed set an agenda for all the future discourses on police reforms.
The successive committees—Rebeiro (1998), Padmanabhaiah (2000), Malimath (2000), which situated the police reforms in the Criminal Justice System framework and Soli Sorabji (2005), appointed to draft a new Police Act—have used the NPC report and recommendations therein as the reference point. The Rebeiro, Padmanabhaiah Committees were appointed to honour the directive of the Supreme Court of India to the Government of India in response to the petition for police reforms by Prakash Singh to identify action points for the implementation of the recommendations of the NPC. The Rebeiro Committee laid great emphasis on introducing institutional and scientific approaches to streamline the affairs in police departments across the country. It did not claim to make a major departure from the NPC recommendations, for many of its suggestions referred to the NPC report for a detailed reference; it updated the report keeping in view nearly two decades of developments since the NPC made its recommendations. This committee too followed the institutional approach of the NPC and the Rebeiro Committee. There were minor variations such as the two-year minimum term for a State Police chief as compared to three years preferred by the Rebeiro Committee and so on. Some of its recommendations, such as recruitment of more Sub-Inspectors than constables, without a comprehensive view of the entire organisational structure, were debatable, to say the least. However, the Committee did emphasise the fact that without a comprehensive criminal justice reforms, no police reforms would be meaningful.
Not surprisingly, almost around the time that the Padmanabhaiah Committee was appointed, the Malimath Committee for the review and reform of the Criminal Justice System was also appointed. The Malimath Committee addressed the principles of the Criminal Justice System, investigation, prosecution, judiciary, crime and punishment and made 158 observations and recommendations. There are 55 major recommendations of which 42 have to be implemented by the Union Government and 26 by the State governments. The report has been heavily criticised by human rights organisation and legal experts for its suggestion of changing the burden of proof.
Though the numerous recommendations of various police reforms commissions are not a panacea for all the ills of the police. Police leaders, present and past have no doubt failed to bring about an ambience in which the executive could have been convinced of the need for reforms. The gulf of a lack of trust between the two remains unbridged. But this is no argument for stalling reforms. The silent majority in the country needs the reforms badly.
THE DIRECTIVES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
It is a matter of coincidence that when the Soli Sorabji Committee has been at work to draft a new Police Act, the Apex Court judgment compelled the Union Government to speak to the States for implementing the guidelines for police reforms.
The Supreme Court has acted on the petition of Prakash Singh, former DGP and directed the Centre and all states to implement police reforms that have been in the cold storage for almost 25 years now when the National Police Commission recommended reforms for the police force between 1977 and 1981.
The Supreme Court judgment of September 22, 2006, has sparked a national debate on police reforms aimed at removing any scope of political or other extraneous interference and influence in discharging its functions.
In directing the Government of India to bring about police reforms within a time frame, the Apex Court has taken into account the suggestions made by the Sorabji Committee too. Based on the exercises carried on by various committees, it made a seven-fold recommen-dation aimed at ensuring accountability, responsiveness and loosening of political control in order to spur depoliticisation of the police organisation as follows:
First, appointment of a State Security Commission ‘to ensure that the State Government does not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the State Police and for laying down the broad policy guidelines so that the State Police always acts according to the laws of the land and the Constitution of the country’.
Second, it recommended selection of the Director General of Police of the State from amongst the three seniormost officers of the Department who have been empanelled for promotion to that rank by the Union Public Service Commission on the basis of their length of service, very good record and range of experience for heading the police force with a minimum tenure of at least two years irrespective of his date of superannuating. The State Government can take disciplinary action, if required, acting in consultation with the State Security Commission and under the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules.
Third, the Apex Court also recommended a fixed tenure of two years for police officers on operational duties in the field like the Inspector General of Police in-charge of a Zone, Deputy Inspector General of Police in-charge of a Range, Superintendent of Police in-charge of a district, and Station House Officer in-charge of a Police Station unless it was found necessary to remove them prematurely following disciplinary proceedings against them or their conviction in a criminal offence or in a case of corruption or if the incumbent is otherwise incapacitated from discharging his responsibilities.
Fourth, the Court recommended phased separation of the investigating police from the law and order police to ensure speedier investigation, better expertise and improved rapport with the people, but with full coordination between the two wings.
Fifth, establishment of a Police Establishment Board, a departmental body comprising the Director General of Police and four other senior officers of the Department, in each State was recommended to decide on all transfers, postings, promotions and other service related mattes of officers of and below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. Apart from making appropriate recommendations to the State Government regarding the posting and transfers of officers of and above the rank of Superintendent of Police, which the government would be expected to give due weight to, it would also function as a forum of appeal for disposing of representations from officers of the rank of Superintendent of Police and above regarding their promotion/ transfer/ disciplinary proceedings or their being subjected to illegal or irregular orders and generally reviewing the functioning of the police in the State.
The sixth recommendation was to constitute a Police Complaints Authority each at the district level, to look into complaints against police officers of and up to the rank of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, and at the State level, to look into complaints against officers of the rank of Superintendent of Police and above. Even the composition of these bodies has been suggested by the Apex Court in its directives.
Finally a National Security Commission at the Union level, headed by the Union Home Minister and comprising heads of the Central Police Organisations (CPOs) and a couple of security experts as members with the Union Home Secretary as its Secretary, was suggested to prepare a panel for being placed before the appropriate Appointing Authority, for selection and placement of Chiefs of the CPOs, who should also be given a minimum tenure of two years and for reviewing the service conditions of the CPO personnel.
These are long over-due measures. The requirement contained in the judgment that the SCB's report should be placed before the State legislature is highly salutary, and will enable the elected representatives to play an effective role as the people's watchdogs. The Government should accept the recommendations of the PEB as final without any further meddling. To strengthen the hands of the PCA, it should be empowered to launch disciplinary proceedings and criminal cases straightaway without having to refer its findings to Government for further action. The stipulations for providing for a minimum tenure of service for the DGP and other top officials in the police hierarchy and for separating the law and order responsibilities from crime investigation are also unexceptionable.
Despite general agreement on the urgency for police reform, the opinion has been divided on the directive given by the Supreme Court. Some experts have raised objection to the multi-level accountability structure, which might not make the police so much efficient and apolitical, as tied up in too many knots for functional autonomy. Would it be possible to find so many apolitical and non-partisan persons at different levels? Would it not create another set of interests that would like to be benefited from the proximity with the police? Would the politicians not find ways of getting around such persons by providing them with certain sets of benefits? There has been an agreement for a fixed tenure for the State Police chief for some time. However, a fixed tenure at each level, particularly at the thana level, could be questioned from the perspective of principles of public administration. These are only some of the questions being asked on the directive of the Supreme Court which appears to have been taken in by its crusade against decades of role abdication by the executive in several fields due to political considerations.
SAFEGUARDS AND CONTROLS
However, freeing the police from political interference and manipulation should be subject to appropriate safeguards and controls. Otherwise, any uniformed service, apt to be on a short fuse, can become an engine of oppression. Some of the suggested steps to inculcate the needed degree of accountability and spirit of public service are given below:
The practice of the annual performance evaluation reports on the SPs/DSPs being written by Collectors and on the DGP/IGP/DIGs by the Chief Secretary should be revived.
Taking stringent action on strictures by Courts on deficiencies and omissions in investigation and conduct of cases should be made the special responsibility of the Chief Secretary who should send his report to the SCB.
Other than the PCA, there should be a separate high-power Authority to deal specially with brutalities, use of excessive force, custodial deaths and other misuse of authority by the police.
Departmental proceedings and criminal cases involving the police should be akin to court martial procedures, completed within the shortest possible time of, say, four to six months.
Civil society organisations and individuals should be free to organise meetings, demonstrations and the like in public places after informing the police (to avoid duplication, possibility of clashes and the like), without any need to take prior permission.
A special squad should be constituted for dealing with offences pertaining to social ills (dowry, marriage disputes, untouchability, public nuisance and so on) taking them out of the purview of regular police
WHAT ELSE NEEDS TO BE DONE ?
The first ever National Police Commission (NPC) in independent India (1979-81) went into the role of the constabulary in its very first volume. Its recommendations are yet to receive official attention.Nearly 90 per cent of the police forces in the country is comprised of the constabulary. Unlike in the past, more and more educated men and women are voluntarily joining the police at this entry level, in expectation of a satisfying career. This precious resource will have to be protected. This is not possible under the existing state of affairs, where obedience and servility to the senior officers and the political masters are the main criteria for advancement and placement in meaningful jobs within the police. If professional excellence has to be nurtured, even at the level of the much-maligned constabulary, we owe them the right working conditions in which they can give of their best. Such an ambience cannot come about without implementing the most crucial NPC recommendations that are gathering dust in North Block and in State Secretariats. Meanwhile, we have had a report on the subject, prepared by Julio Ribeiro, that has been submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Supreme Court, which is looking into a public interest petition demanding implementation of the NPC recommendations.
Besides,Police leaders will have to make criminal investigation more science-aided so as to bring down the incidence of third degree methods during interrogations. DNA testing is the new tool that has revolutionised crime investigation in most parts of the West. While such testing is a costly proposition, funds should not stand in the way of expanding the facility available for this. We have only a few laboratories in the country undertaking this work. In the area of communication, the ambitious project of linking all police stations through the Polnet is still to be implemented in full. Like these, there are several other projects that can transform policing and render it a really state-of-the art professional service.
What we now need is a vision and a new level of dedication to the task of upgrading police skills and morale. A brainstorming session chaired by the president of India, in the presence of the Home Minister and past and present police leaders, should help generate ideas that could impart new dimensions to police reforms. This is the best thing that can happen to the Indian Police.
The police is a neglected area where the stranglehold of past practices and the executive's unconcealed desire to use it against political opponents stifle the germination of new ideas. The stock of the police is so low that new experiments can only improve its image and not cause any further damage. A strong political will power to implement police reforms will be hailed by all sections of society if it can, even marginally, make the police more people friendly.
OBSTACLES
MANY of the States predictably objected to the Apex Court directive. The States felt that it was too simplistic to blame political interference for decline in working of the police. They appeared opposed to any move, like the role of the UPSC in the selection of the DGs, that would undermine their authority and bring in the influence of the Union Government. They were also against fixed tenures for the police officers on operational duties like the SHO, which they felt would create ‘monsters’ in police stations. They also claimed to have accountability structures and fresh ones would add to the cost. Some non-Congress Chief Ministers even accused the Union Home Minister of playing politics with police reforms.
This has created a situation of contest and confrontation on the issue of police reforms, with the hardening of attitudes of the Apex Court and of the State governments. India’s federalised polity has weakened Central initiatives in national politics and policy arenas and, therefore, it also creates contestation between the Union Government and some of the States on this crucial issue. While the State governments could have a valid point or two on the recommendations made by the Supreme Court, it is imperative that they need to be circumspect on their objections. This situation has come because once the State initiatives failed by mid-1970s, the main discourse on police reforms has been located on the turf of the Union Government. The Supreme Court too did not find it anomalous to direct the Union Government, rather than the State governments, to implement police reforms, though it did stress that the recommendations were binding on the State governments too.
Therefore, the resistance of some of the Chief Ministers during their meeting with the Union Home Minister on January 2, 2007 on federal grounds is constitutionally and politically untenable. The States were given the initiative to initiate police reforms in the 1960s and 1970s, but the exercise remained fruitless or mechanical exercises despite some of the State Police Commissions giving useful recommendations from social and political perspectives, limitations imposed by the 1861 Act notwithstanding, which they could not alter. Though some of the States appointed two Commissions between the 1960s and 1980s, most of them ignored a large part of the recommendations by their respective Commissions. Moreover, the NPC as well as all the post-1998 initiatives were taken by non-Congress governments and most of the leaders and parties, objecting to the Apex Court directed UPA initiative, have been part of it. Given the urgent need for it, they all need to put police reforms above their political compulsions and come to a national political consensus on the nature of police reforms.
A careful look at the Constitution of India suggests that entries 1 and 2 of List II read with Entry 2A of List I (Union List) in the Seventh Schedule do not preclude the role of the Union Government in internal security, of which the police is just an instrument. Entry 2A was inserted by the controversial 42nd Amendment by Mrs Indira Gandhi during the Emergency, but it was not undone by the 44th Amendment authored by the Janata Government. Indeed, the argument that the Centre must not interfere with the day-to-day maintenance of law and order is unexceptionable. But the need for a new Police Act and the place of the police in the larger criminal justice system creates a leader’s role for the Union Government in this exercise, which must be accepted by all the States, beyond partisanship. Indeed, it is equally unexceptionable that the Union Government too needs to look at its leadership role in a coordination mode.
The Supreme Court’s directives on police reforms has met with serious opposition. Several states, including Gujarat, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and those from the North-East, have said that they may move the apex court before its December 31 deadline for implementation.

The argument is that since police is a state subject, the Supreme Court has no locus standi to give directions. The states in their individual representations in a meeting of Chief Secretaries and DGPs of states and Union Territories chaired by Union Home Secretary said that the states are against division of policing into law and order on one side and investigations on the other.

While Meghalaya and Mizoram sad that their districts are widely scattered and thus it is not possible to divide their police team, the states of Gujarat and Bihar were critical of the suggestion to hand over the selection of a DGP to a panel. The states also read from the affidavits they had submitted before the Supreme Court and hinted that they may go for revision, according to reports. .

However, Union Home Secretary made it clear that the states have to adopt the Model Police Act, but with modifications as required. The Act is being prepared by an expert committee headed by Soli Sorabjee.

At the same time, about half-a-dozen states, mostly from south India, spoke in favour of the police reforms though they too were apprehensive about certain clauses. Almost all the states opposed inclusion of a provision whereby a policeman can be jailed for three months for non-registration of a case.

Meanwhile, the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have not even made an oral submission, nor did they send their affidavits. Jamu and Kashmir, Tripura, Uttaranchal, Chattisgarh, Delhi and Chandigarh too chose to ignore the matter.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS
The police system should revert back to IGP system and the post of D.G. Police should be abolished. The number of posts of DIGs should be increased and more powers given to them. At the same time, the rank of IGP should be elevated to the Lt. General of the Army and the DIG should wear ranks equal to the Major General of the Army, while the district superintendents of Police should wear the Brigadiers rank of the Indian Army. The district superintendents of police should have separate superintendents for law and order and separate for investigation of crime. Traffic police should also be under the district superintendent of police.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has been active in campaigning for police reforms in India and has organized many discussions across the country. CHRI held a one-day 'national consultation' in New Delhi to consider 'what must go into creating the police that we want for our country.' A large number of police officers from across the country were in attendance, though, sadly enough, one did not notice any established human rights activist, man or woman in this meeting.
The role of the IAS and IPS, the massive growth of centralized paramilitary forces, the role of police intelligence agencies involved in the management of public order, federalism and the decentralization of police and the participation of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in local law and order management and so on. The police in the USA are highly decentralized and autonomous with over 17000 police forces in action! Can we learn something from this experience?
There is need and scope for a fuller and deeper discussion by concerned citizens, scholars and activists, men and women. This discussion, however, must be organized by an independent, non-partisan agency. An agency not tied to the apron springs of the government in any way but is willing to engage it in a creative dialogue.
Conclusion
THE criminal negligence by the UP Police in Noida’s Nithari village has once again highlighted the urgent need for police reforms, which cannot be ignored either by the Union or the State governments. The strategy of the State governments and political parties should therefore be of circumspection, with contestation with the Centre positively directed on objectives and details rather than on its leadership role. The Supreme Court directive indeed has some gaping holes on administrative principles, which deserve to be countered with persuasive arguments of a detailed plan of action. Organisational autonomy of the police and the question of political control, for example, are matters that deserve serious discussion. Police reforms are imperative for a stable internal security environment which must not be lost due to political bickering which will leave no winners.

A WRITEUP ON SUPERCONDUCTIVITY

Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials at very low temperatures, characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field (this is known as Meissner effect).
The electrical resistivity of a metallic conductor decreases gradually as the temperature is lowered. However, in ordinary conductors such as copper and silver, impurities and other defects impose a lower limit. Even near absolute zero a real sample of copper shows a non-zero resistance. The resistance of a superconductor, on the other hand, drops abruptly to zero when the material is cooled below its "critical temperature". An electric current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon. It cannot be understood simply as the idealization of "perfect conductivity" in classical physics.
Superconductivity occurs in a wide variety of materials, including simple elements like tin and aluminium, various metallic alloys and some heavily-doped semiconductors. Superconductivity does not occur in noble metals like gold and silver, nor in most ferromagnetic metals.
In 1986 the discovery of a family of cuprate-perovskite ceramic materials known as high-temperature superconductors, with critical temperatures in excess of 90 Kelvin, spurred renewed interest and research in superconductivity for several reasons. As a topic of pure research, these materials represented a new phenomenon not explained by the current theory. And, because the superconducting state persists up to more manageable temperatures, past the economically-important boiling point of liquid nitrogen (77 Kelvin), more commercial applications are feasible, especially if materials with even higher critical temperatures could be discovered.
Elementary properties of superconductors
Most of the physical properties of superconductors vary from material to material, such as the heat capacity and the critical temperature, critical field, and critical current density at which superconductivity is destroyed.
On the other hand, there is a class of properties that are independent of the underlying material. For instance, all superconductors have exactly zero resistivity to low applied currents when there is no magnetic field present. The existence of these "universal" properties implies that superconductivity is a thermodynamic phase, and thus possess certain distinguishing properties which are largely independent of microscopic details.
Theories of superconductivity
Since the discovery of superconductivity, great efforts have been devoted to finding out how and why it works. During the 1950s, theoretical condensed matter physicists arrived at a solid understanding of "conventional" superconductivity, through a pair of remarkable and important theories: the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory (1950) and the microscopic BCS theory (1957). Generalizations of these theories form the basis for understanding the closely related phenomenon of superfluidity, because they fall into the Lambda transition universality class, but the extent to which similar generalizations can be applied to unconventional superconductors as well is still controversial. The four-dimensional extension of the Ginzburg-Landau theory, the Coleman-Weinberg model, is important in quantum field theory and cosmology.

Classification
There is not just one criterion to classify superconductors. The most common are:
By their physical properties: they can be Type I (if their phase transition is of first order) or Type II (if their phase transition is of second order).
By the theory to explain them: they can be conventional (if they are explained by the BCS theory or its derivates) or unconventional (if not).
By their critical temperature: they can be high temperature (generally considered if they reach the superconducting state just cooling them with liquid nitrogen, that is, if Tc > 77K), or low temperature (generally if they need other techniques to be cooled under their critical temperature).
By material: they can be chemical elements (as mercury or lead), alloys (as niobium-titanium or germanium-niobium), ceramics (as YBCO or the magnesium diboride), or organic superconductors (as fullerens or carbon nanotubes, which technically might be included between the chemical elements as they are made of carbon).

Applications
[1] Superconducting magnets are some of the most powerful electromagnets known. They are used in maglev trains, MRI and NMR machines and the beam-steering magnets used in particle accelerators.
[2] They can also be used for magnetic separation, where weakly magnetic particles are extracted from a background of less or non-magnetic particles, as in the pigment industries.
[3]Superconductors have also been used to make digital circuits (e.g. based on the Rapid Single Flux Quantum technology) and RF and microwave filters for mobile phone base stations.
[4] Superconductors are used to build Josephson junctions which are the building blocks of SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices), the most sensitive magnetometers known. Series of Josephson devices are used to define the SI volt. Depending on the particular mode of operation, a Josephson junction can be used as photon detector or as mixer. The large resistance change at the transition from the normal- to the superconducting state is used to build thermometers in cryogenic micro-calorimeter photon detectors.
[5] Other early markets are arising where the relative efficiency, size and weight advantages of devices based on HTS outweigh the additional costs involved.
[6] Promising future applications include high-performance transformers, power storage devices, electric power transmission, electric motors (e.g. for vehicle propulsion, as in vactrains or maglev trains), magnetic levitation devices, and Fault Current Limiters.
However superconductivity is sensitive to moving magnetic fields so applications that use alternating current (e.g. transformers) will be more difficult to develop than those that rely upon direct current.

MORE REQUESTS HAVE BEEN PROCESSED

As per the further requests from dear visitors on the blog, We are publishing marksheets as follows:
*******************************************8
Roll No. : 116969
Name : RAMAN GARG
RANK -375
Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 103
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 168
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 155
Optional I,Zoology Paper-VI 300 157
Paper-VII 300 176
Optional II, Medical Science Paper-VIII 300 160
Paper-IX 300 154
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1073
Interview Marks 300 165
Final Total 2300 1238
Remarks : Recommended.

************************************************************
Roll No. : 6433
Name : E VISHNU VARDHAN REDDY
RANK-87
Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 116
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 208
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 164
Optional I,Public Administration Paper-VI 300 158
Paper-VII 300 147
Optional II, Medical Science Paper-VIII 300 163
Paper-IX 300 182
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1138
Interview Marks 300 165
Final Total 2300 1303
Remarks : Recommended.

MARK SHEETS AS REQUESTED BY ONE READER

As per the message sent by Mr Sahil Khurana...I am posting the mark sheets of the following persons.
***********************************************************
Roll No. : 4727--------------
Name : AMANJEET KAUR
RANK-365

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 121
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 172
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 167
Optional I,Economics Paper-VI 300 193
Paper-VII 300 181
Optional II, Sociology Paper-VIII 300 144
Paper-IX 300 108
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1086
Interview Marks 300 155
Final Total 2300 1241
Remarks : Recommended.
**************************************************************
Roll No. : 5618--------------
Name : A ANTO ALPHONSE
RANK 42

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 150
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 164
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 110
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 178
Paper-VII 300 184
Optional II, History Paper-VIII 300 169
Paper-IX 300 173
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1128
Interview Marks 300 204
Final Total 2300 1332
Remarks : Recommended.

UPSC 2007 MARKS ARE OUT

UPSC has finally declared marks for civil services exam 2007. For some people it is a big surprise and for few it is a moment of heart broken.Luckily I got satisfactory marks except for one optional where I got a bit less than 300 marks. otherwise in general studies i got more then 300 and in other optional i got very high i.e. more than 350 marks.In interview my marks are not satisfactory. Any way this time merit list is very high.Last general candidate is at 1221. I wish a very good luck for those who have not done well this time.Don't loose hope..keep trying....We are going to upload marks of few of the finally selected aspirants selected randomly on this blog.You can have an idea about the overall marks afterwords.
************************************************************************************
Roll No. : 14954--------------------------
Name : TAFSEER IQUBAL

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 119
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 212
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 108
Optional I,History Paper-VI 300 142
Paper-VII 300 124
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 169
Paper-IX 300 192
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1066
Interview Marks 300 210
Final Total 2300 1276
Remarks : Recommended.
**********************************************************************************
Roll No. : 1434--------------------------
Name : ASHIMA JAIN

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 090
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 174
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 203
Optional I,Economics Paper-VI 300 172
Paper-VII 300 187
Optional II, Psychology Paper-VIII 300 181
Paper-IX 300 175
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1182
Interview Marks 300 204
Final Total 2300 1386
Remarks : Recommended.
*********************************************************************************
Roll No. : 40546--------------------------
Name : ASHISH SINGH

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 116
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 177
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 128
Optional I,Psychology Paper-VI 300 152
Paper-VII 300 161
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 166
Paper-IX 300 157
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1057
Interview Marks 300 132
Final Total 2300 1189
Remarks : Not Recommended.

**************************************************************************
Roll No. : 7778--------------------------
Name : CHHAVI BHARDWAJ

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 140
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 211
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 175
Optional I,Psychology Paper-VI 300 148
Paper-VII 300 158
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 163
Paper-IX 300 169
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1164
Interview Marks 300 216
Final Total 2300 1380
Remarks : Recommended.

********************************************************************
Roll No. : 7451--------------------------
Name : DEVESH GUPTA

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 105
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 182
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 153
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 140
Paper-VII 300 177
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 175
Paper-IX 300 186
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1118
Interview Marks 300 120
Final Total 2300 1238
Remarks : Recommended.
*************************************************************************
Roll No. : 96359--------------------------
Name : KHUSHBOO GOEL

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 130
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 192
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 163
Optional I,Commerce & Accountancy Paper-VI 300 162
Paper-VII 300 169
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 172
Paper-IX 300 168
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1156
Interview Marks 300 225
Final Total 2300 1381
Remarks : Recommended.
**********************************************************************************
Roll No. : 126165--------------------------
Name : KINJAL SINGH

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 125
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 184
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 156
Optional I,Law Paper-VI 300 177
Paper-VII 300 185
Optional II, Philosophy Paper-VIII 300 167
Paper-IX 300 161
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1155
Interview Marks 300 195
Final Total 2300 1350
Remarks : Recommended.

*************************************************8
Roll No. : 3846--------------------------
Name : NAND KUMARUM

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 120
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 182
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 208
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 166
Paper-VII 300 177
Optional II, Psychology Paper-VIII 300 195
Paper-IX 300 157
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1205
Interview Marks 300 180
Final Total 2300 1385
Remarks : Recommended.
*********************************************88
Roll No. : 6431--------------------------
Name : NIRAJ KUMAR

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 119
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 170
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 136
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 137
Paper-VII 300 157
Optional II, Psychology Paper-VIII 300 186
Paper-IX 300 172
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1077
Interview Marks 300 120
Final Total 2300 1197
Remarks : Recommended.

*******************************************
Roll No. : 7524--------------------------
Name : RAJIV SHANKAR

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 130
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 206
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 156
Optional I,Psychology Paper-VI 300 140
Paper-VII 300 138
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 140
Paper-IX 300 161
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1071
Interview Marks 300 160
Final Total 2300 1231
Remarks : Recommended.

********************************************
Roll No. : 29222--------------------------
Name : RAM SINGH

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 124
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 204
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 155
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 145
Paper-VII 300 165
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 151
Paper-IX 300 173
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1117
Interview Marks 300 195
Final Total 2300 1312
Remarks : Recommended.

****************************************88
Roll No. : 154897--------------------------
Name : ADAPA KARTHIK

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 103
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 194
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 185
Optional I,Psychology Paper-VI 300 193
Paper-VII 300 155
Optional II, Zoology Paper-VIII 300 203
Paper-IX 300 203
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1236
Interview Marks 300 222
Final Total 2300 1458
Remarks : Recommended.

***************************************************
Roll No. : 18905--------------------------
Name : SUPREET SINGH GULATI

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 104
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 203
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 160
Optional I,Electrical Engineering Paper-VI 300 186
Paper-VII 300 166
Optional II, Physics Paper-VIII 300 208
Paper-IX 300 170
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1197
Interview Marks 300 216
Final Total 2300 1413
Remarks : Recommended.

**********************************************
Roll No. : 5999--------------------------
Name : SATYANJAL PANDEY

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 148
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 173
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 136
Optional I,Public Administration Paper-VI 300 147
Paper-VII 300 133
Optional II, Medical Science Paper-VIII 300 149
Paper-IX 300 125
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1011
Interview Marks 300 210
Final Total 2300 1221
Remarks : Recommended.
*************************************************

Roll No. : 15860--------------------------
Name : RASHMI MISHRA

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 116
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 201
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 164
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 178
Paper-VII 300 168
Optional II, History Paper-VIII 300 175
Paper-IX 300 175
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1177
Interview Marks 300 069
Final Total 2300 1246
Remarks : Recommended.

******************************Roll No. : 84559--------------------------
Name : SMITA SINGH

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 136
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 167
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 176
Optional I,Anthropology Paper-VI 300 147
Paper-VII 300 164
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 154
Paper-IX 300 167
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1111
Interview Marks 300 165
Final Total 2300 1276
Remarks : Recommended.
*******************
Roll No. : 28420--------------------------
Name : SONAL GOEL

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 116
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 210
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 195
Optional I,Commerce & Accountancy Paper-VI 300 147
Paper-VII 300 165
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 166
Paper-IX 300 190
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1189
Interview Marks 300 183
Final Total 2300 1372
Remarks : Recommended.
*************************************************************
Roll No. : 2608
Name : RAGHAVENDRA PAL SINGH

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 103
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 176
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 180
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 119
Paper-VII 300 172
Optional II, Public Administration Paper-VIII 300 167
Paper-IX 300 193
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1110
Interview Marks 300 135
Final Total 2300 1245
Remarks : Recommended.
******************************************************************
Roll No. : 168908--------------------------
Name : BEER SINGH

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 111
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 159
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 161
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 161
Paper-VII 300 186
Optional II, Sociology Paper-VIII 300 135
Paper-IX 300 168
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1081
Interview Marks 300 135
Final Total 2300 1216
Remarks : Recommended.

*************************************************************
Roll No. : 3211--------------------------
Name : VIVEK YADAV

Civil Services(Main) Examination 2007
Subject Maximum
Marks Marks
Obtained
Essay(Paper III) 200 128
General Studies (Paper-IV) 300 157
General Studies(Paper-V) 300 192
Optional I,Geography Paper-VI 300 153
Paper-VII 300 180
Optional II, Psychology Paper-VIII 300 155
Paper-IX 300 200
Penalty Marks 0
Written Total 2000 1165
Interview Marks 300 180
Final Total 2300 1345
Remarks : Recommended

UNDERSTANDING INDIA'S NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME PART-2

India drew its three-stage nuclear power programme because of insufficient uranium reserves estimated in the region of 73,000 tonnes for the overall power generation plan. Curiously, all the three are in operation, though in different stages.
To understand better the linkage between the three stages, one should know about the fuels. The materials that one comes across as fuels for atomic power plants are U235, U238, U233, plutonium and thorium.

Says Dr S M Lee, director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR): Natural uranium has two isotopes: U238 (99.27 per cent) and U235 (0.72 per cent). Only U235 can sustain a fission chain reaction and is called fissile material. Two other fissile materials that can fuel nuclear reactors are plutonium and U233, which are manmade and not available in the nature.

Plutonium is created when U238 is irradiated in a nuclear reactor where it absorbs neutrons and part of it is transmuted into plutonium. Similarly, U233 is created when thorium is irradiated in a nuclear reactor, where it absorbs neutrons, which transmutes a part of the thorium into U233.

Thus U238 and thorium are also valuable nuclear resources, called fertile materials, as they can be converted into fissile material for fuelling nuclear reactors and generate power.

With the available uranium reserves around 20,000 mw can be generated for 30 years. In order to utilise the abundance availability of thorium (3.6-lakh-tonne reserves) and to be able to generate nuclear power beyond 30 years, India drew up a three-stage atomic power programme.

The first stage is the setting up of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). India has 12 such reactors and several more are being planned. The readily-available natural uranium in India will be entirely committed to these reactors over their lifetime, says Lee. Besides generating power, PHWRs will convert a part of U238 in natural uranium into plutonium, which is separated from the spent fuel in plutonium reprocessing plants.

The second stage of fast breeder reactors (FBR), which will come into operation largely from 2020, will be fuelled by plutonium (obtained from the first stage PHWRs) and U238. The fast breeder reactors will fission plutonium for power production and at the same time breed more plutonium from the U238.

The surplus plutonium from each FBR can be used to set up additional FBRs and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with Indias needs. The uranium resource position is such that with FBRs a nuclear electric base of as much as 350 GW appears technically feasible.

Consolidation and further growth of the nuclear electric base is planned to by means of thorium breeders, which will form the third stage of the programme, which is several decades away. But this will set the stage for adequate power for the next couple of centuries. As mentioned earlier, thorium when irradiated in a nuclear reactor gets converted into U233, a fissile material.

The third stage use of thorium for power generation has already begun. A prototype 30 kv reactor at IGCAR called Kamini for thorium separation, irradiation in reactor, reprocessing for separation of U233, neutron radiography and activation analysis have been commissioned successfully.

Following the success Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is developing an advance heavy water reactor that will use both thorium U 233 and thorium plutonium-mixed oxide as fuel. It also incorporates several advanced safety features, such as heat removal by natural circulation. Thorium fuel bundles have also been successfully used in the PHWR for flux flattening. Construction is expected to start during the 10th Plan period.

UNDERSTANDING INDIA'S NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME PART-1

India's
Nuclear Power
ASSISTING ENERGY INDEPENDENCEOR A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT?
by Avilash Roul
Narora Atomic Power Station, Units 1 & 2220 Megawatts each, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh(map of all India's nuclear installations)
Editor's Note: According to the World Nuclear Association, nuclear power is now used in 37 countries. As a huge, technologically advanced country, soon to be the most populous nation on Earth, it should be no surprise that India has a long-standing nuclear power industry.
In 1954, India's First Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, said "It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes," as India even then was developing nuclear technology. In 1969 after years of effort, India's first atomic power station went critical, in Tarapur, Maharashtra. Five years later, India tested an atomic bomb (list of nuclear club members).
There are 440 land-based nuclear power reactors today in the world (table of world's reactors). They produce 16% of the world's electricity, or put another way, at capacity world nuclear power generates an impressive 370 gigawatts of electric output. In the world today there are another 232 nuclear power stations either under construction or proposed, which in sum would add another 186 gigawatts to world output.
But as a share of total world energy consumption, of which electricity is only a part, that's still small potatoes. What isn't generally acknowledged is the proportion nuclear power stations contribute to overall world energy production is minute. If every current and proposed nuclear power station on earth operated at maximum output for an entire year (impossible), they would generate an estimated 556 gigawatt years of energy. Since it takes 33.5 gigawatt-years to equal the same amount of energy as one quadrillion BTU's - these "quads" are how energy economists measure all energy production on earth - this means nuclear power, using a totally unrealistic best case, will eventually add 17 quadrillion BTU's of energy per year to total world output. This is barely 4% of the energy we use now, since all of human civilization in 2006 will produce about 400 quadrillion BTU's of energy.
In reality, nuclear power today provides barely 2% of the world's total energy. This means nuclear fuel will remain relatively abundant unless nuclear power plants are constructed at a rate many times current production, and the economics of incrementally adding nuclear capacity will continue to appeal to nations that have already invested in a nuclear infrastructure. Obviously the French, with 59 operating reactors providing over 80% of their electricity, have decided nuclear power works for them.
What powers the world, overwhelmingly, is coal and petroleum. The fondest imaginings of nuclear power advocates will not change that proportion through nuclear power. Should nuclear power still be used? It can be economical and technically it is safer now than it has ever been. There is reason to believe nuclear technology will continue to advance. India has invested decades in nuclear industry, and with these massive investments made, can now develop nuclear power at a cost lower than ever before. Is it worth it? What's worse, hydro-electric or nuclear? And aren't both of those energy sources emissions-free?
Still usually missing from today's energy production projections is any major ascendancy for renewables. For example, India's photovoltaic industrial potential could be significant. Even if nuclear power continues to be developed in India, renewables are still going to be the only way off the coal & oil treadmill. - Ed "Redwood" Ring
India's Nuclear Power - Assisting Energy Independence or a Dangerous Experiment? by Avilash Roul, September 9, 2006
Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, Units 3 & 4220 Megawatts each, Chittorgarh, Uttar Pradesh(map of all India's nuclear installations)
With a growing economy, an increasing population, mounting energy demand, limited availability of conventional sources, and a strong consensus for environmental protection, India is harnessing energy ranging from jatropha biodiesel to atomic power.
Efficient, reliable and environmentally sustainable energy supplied to each household at the least possible cost is a dream of India's government. While successive federal governments have been seeking energy security by 2012 for India, the current Scientist-President Abdul Kalam goes further to prescribe "Energy Independence" by 2032.
Energy independence is now India's first and highest priority. To address this critical challenge, the base of the country's energy supply system has steadily shifted from non-renewable to renewable sources as well as towards development of nuclear energy sources. Is India taking the right path to meet the energy requirements by emphasizing nuclear energy? Without nuclear energy, are there enough alternative energy sources to limited fossil fuels to meet future demand?
India, hosting fifteen percent of the world population and on track to replace China as the most populous country on Earth, ranks sixth in the world in terms of energy production. Experts believe demand for energy will soon surely be a defining characteristic of Indias life in the new millennium as India's economy continues to grow at an average of 8 percent per year.
Though commercial primary energy consumption in India has grown by about 700 percent in the last four decades, India's present level of energy consumption, by world standards, remains very low. The current per capita commercial primary energy consumption in India is about 350 Kilograms of Oil Equivalents per year (kgeo/yr) which is well below that of world average of 1,690 kgeo/yr. By 2010 per capita energy consumption is expected to increase around 450 kgoe/yr. Compared to this, the energy consumption in China is 1,200 kgeo/yr, Japan is over 4,050 kgeo/yr, South Korea is 4,275 kgeo/yr, the US is 7,850, and the OECD countries together average 4,670.
INDIA'S PRESENT ENERGY BASE
Coal has been and is the primary energy source in India as it accounts for 55 percent of India's energy production (see Table-1). This abundant fossil fuel, which within India accounts for 247.85 billion tonnes of reserves as of 2005, can last for some 80 years at the current level of consumption. If domestic coal production continues to grow at the current rate of 5 percent per year, however, India's total extractable coal reserves would run out in around 40 years.
Table 1: INDIA'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION (HISTORY)
(Data units "million tons equivalent in oil" or "MTEO")Source: BP Statistical Year Review 2005
With only half a percent of global reserves within India, oil nonetheless constitutes over 35 percent of the primary energy consumption in India. India's present level of oil consumption is about 114 million metric tons of oil equivalent out of which India produces 25 percent i.e., 29 million metric Tons (MMT). India's per capita consumption of oil and gas is one-third the global average. The reserves of crude oil are merely 739 MMT, which can sustain the current level of production for 22 years.
India's Production of natural gas, which was almost negligible at the time of independence in 1949, in 2006 is at the level of around 87 million standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD). Natural gas constitutes about 9 percent of India's energy production, as compared to about 25 percent in the world. India already imports 20 per cent of its natural gas and this is predicted to go up to about 75 per cent by 2020.
INDIA'S ENERGY FUTURE
To encourage next generation fuels and increased use of renewable sources of energy, India is probably the only country in the world with a full-fledged ministry dedicated to the production of energy from renewable energy sources, the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (http://mnes.nic.in/). As prescribed by the President of India, power generated through renewable energy technologies is targeted to reach 20 to 25 percent of total energy generated compared to the present 5 percent (See Table-2). The government is promoting the use of ethanol made from sugar cane and bio-diesel extracted from trees that are common in many parts of India, such as Jatropha, Karanja and Mahua. India's Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources has put forward a goal for the nation to produce 60 million tons per year of bio-fuel.
Table 2: INDIA'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION (PROJECTION)
(Data units "million tons equivalent in oil" or "MTEO")Source: Draft Report of the Expert Committee on IntegratedEnergy Policy, Planning Commission, Government of India
India to-date has a total installed capacity of 870 megawatts based on biomass combustion, gasification and biomass cogeneration. Over 55 megawatts of the total was set up in the country just in 2005. India's government is already promoting biomass based technologies in selected villages for meeting energy requirements, such as cooking, motive power and electricity generation under various schemes. Biomass gasifier based electricity generation projects adding a total capacity of 423 megawatts were sanctioned during 2005-06 to states like Tamil Nadu, Arunachal Paradesh, and Pondicherry under the Biomass Gasification Programme.
By mid-2005, India's installed capacity of wind power had reached 3,740 megawatts. The present exploitable potential has been estimated at 14.5 gigawatts, when taking into consideration the grid constraints in the potential states. India's wind power projects are mostly set up as commercial projects through private investments. According to a report by the American Wind Energy Association (http://www.awea.org/) India currently ranks fifth in wind energy production, which is first place among developing countries. Under the wind resource assessment programme of the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources, so far a total of 211 sites have been identified in 13 States and Union Territories that are considered suitable for setting up wind power projects.
India is endowed with enormous economically exploitable hydro potential, assessed at about 84 gigawatts. To-date only around 18 percent of India's hydro-electric potential has been harnessed. The sharply falling share of hydro in total energy production - from 46 percent in the 1970s to about 25 percent today - is cited as a serious problem confronting future development of hydro power. Opposition to large hydro infrastructure projects has been intensified because of the Indian government's poor track record of resettlement and rehabilitation of the people displaced by these projects. Currently this opposition has effectively put a halt to future projects.
Rajasthan Atomic Power StationNew Units Under Construction
NUCLEAR POWERIN INDIA
While India is amongst the top 10 countries of the world in terms of production of electricity by hydro, coal, oil and gas, it is nowhere near the top 10 with respect to nuclear power generation.
In spite of India becoming the sixth nation to become armed with nuclear weapons, after the 1998 nuclear tests, the contribution of nuclear power to India's overall power generation is negligible, even less than what wind energy generates.
Since the much debated high profile July 18 2005 Indo-US Joint Statement on civilian nuclear cooperation in Washington last year, there has been a renewed interest on nuclear energy put forward by the pro-nuclear lobby in India.
From the perspective of India's government, Indo-US cooperation will give new life to its nuclear program that has been handicapped by limitations of technology and fuel. While Western countries - with the exception of France which is unabashedly pro-nuclear power - are hesitantly moving towards further development of nuclear energy, the developing countries, especially India and China, are quickly gearing up to add nuclear energy to feed their rapidly growing economies. According to official announcements, China will be adding 40 gigawatts of nuclear power in the next 20 years while India adds 20 gigawatts.
"It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes."Jawaharlal Nehru (on right), 1954
Historically, development of India's nuclear technology has treaded carefully between the elusive thin line of civilian and military purposes.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India said in Lok Sabha (India's Lower House of Parliament) on May 10, 1954, "It is perfectly clear that atomic energy can be used for peaceful purposes...it may take some years before it can be used more or less economically." Experts believe that nuclear power, theoretically, offers India the most potent means to achieve long-term energy security. In practical terms, however, nuclear power may lack the logical preconditions, at least for India, to become their major source of independent energy.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), (http://www.dae.gov.in/) under the direct control of the Prime Minister of India has formulated an approach and perspective on the nuclear energy resource. Their three stage nuclear program calls for setting up of natural uranium fuelled Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) in the first stage, Fast Breeder Reactors utilizing a uranium-plutonium fuel cycle in the second stage, and Breeder Reactors utilizing thorium fuel in the third stage. India's natural uranium deficiency has resulted in a commitment to this ambitious, technically challenging three-stage program designed to exploit the country's thorium reserves, which at an estimated 290,000 metric tons are the second largest in the world.

India's Coalition for NuclearDisarmament & Peace
According to the Indian government's official view, nuclear power for civil use is well established in India. Its civil nuclear strategy has been directed towards complete independence in the nuclear fuel cycle. This self-sufficiency extends from uranium exploration and mining through fuel fabrication, heavy water production, reactor design and construction, to reprocessing and waste management. The Atomic Energy Establishment was set up at Trombay in 1957 and renamed as Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) (http://www.barc.ernet.in/) ten years later. The first PHWR, the Rawatbhata-1 that had Canada's Douglas Point reactor as a reference unit, was built as a collaborative venture between Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (http://www.aecl.ca/site3.aspx) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) (http://www.npcil.nic.in/). It commissioned in 1973 and was duplicated Subsequent indigenous PHWR development has been based on these units. The Rawatbhata-2 that commissioned in 1981 was also built by Canada. The NPCIL is responsible for design, construction, commissioning and operation of thermal nuclear power plants. The ten 220 MWe PHWRs (202 MWe each) were indigenously designed and constructed by NPCIL, based on Canadian design.
Table 3: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORS - CURRENTLY OPERATING
Today 3,360 megawatts of India's electricity capacity is nuclear.Source: Nuclear Power Corporation of India
There are 15 nuclear power reactors in operation in India, 13 of which are PHWRs (See Table-3). Since 1969, when India's first nuclear reactor was commissioned for power generation, the total amount of power generation till 2005 is peeked at 3,360 megawatts. Among these PHWRs, the RAPS-1 reactor in Rajasthan has been virtually non-operational since its commissioning in December 1973. In addition, eight nuclear power reactors are currently under construction, five of which are PHWRs (See Table-4). Their total amount of power generation is expected to be 3,920 megawatts. There are 8 reactors to be established in the near future adding another 6,800 megawatts of capacity (See Table-5). Between 2010 and 2020, construction of four 220 megawatt PHWRs, ten 700 megawatt PHWRs, three 500 megawatt FBRs and up to six 1,000 megawatt VVERs is projected, adding about 20,000 megawatts, half from PHWRs. India has achieved maturity in the first stage of this program, construction of PHWRs. The beginning of the second stage of the program has been made with the commencement of construction of a 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu in 2003. The third stage of the program will be launched after a sizeable base capacity has been built of the second stage reactors.
The two Tarapur 150 megawatt Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) built by GE on a turnkey contract before the advent of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty were originally 200 megawatts but were de-rated due to recurrent problems. They have been using imported enriched uranium. However, late in 2004 Russia deferred to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and declined to supply further uranium for them. Then in March 2006 Russia agreed to resume providing a fuel supply.
Table 4: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORS - UNDER CONSTRUCTION 2006
India is adding 3,128 megawatts of nuclear power, nearly doubling their output.Source: Nuclear Power Corporation of India
Russia is supplying the country's first large nuclear power plant, comprising two VVER-1000 (V-392) reactors, under a Russian-financed US$ 3 billion contract. The units are being built by NPCIL. Russia will supply all the enriched fuel, though India will reprocess it and keep the plutonium. The first unit is due to be commissioned late in 2007. These are apart from India's 3-stage plan for nuclear power and are simply to increase generating capacity more rapidly.
In 2005 four sites were approved for eight new reactors. Two of the sites - Kakrapar and Rawatbhata, are to have 700 megawatt indigenous PHWR units, another is to have imported 1,000 megawatt light water reactors alongside the two being constructed by Russia at Kudankulam, and the fourth site is greenfield for 1,000 megawatt LWR units - Jaitapur in the Konkan region. Acquisition of any further light water reactors depends upon international political approvals.
Table 5: INDIA'S NUCLEAR REACTORSNEW SITES APPROVED 2006
India has already approved construction of newnuclear reactors adding another 6.8 gigawatts.Source: Nuclear Power Corp., India
India's long-standing civilian nuclear plans call for extensive reprocessing of spent fuel from current reactors to harvest plutonium. The plutonium would then be used in a new generation of reactors to breed uranium-233 from blankets of thorium that would surround the plutonium fuel. Many decades into the future, the dream is to have a thorium-based fuel cycle that would ensure India's energy independence into the distant future. However, anti nuclear experts believe that the long-term nuclear energy strategy is so technologically and economically dubious that no outside observers think it is viable.
Despite concerns against nuclear energy coming from the anti-nuclear establishment as well as civil society organizations in India, today there is a consensus across the major political parties that given India's existing and future energy needs, nuclear power provides a potentially attractive alternative. But nearly 60 years after its inception, the nuclear establishment in India has failed to deliver what the pro-nuclear lobby had promised. At this point, even if a 20-fold increase takes place in India's nuclear power capacity by 2031-32, the contribution of nuclear energy to India's energy mix is, at best, expected to be 5-6 percent.
In 1954, India's Atomic Energy Commission declared that nuclear plants would provide 8,000 megawatts of electricity by 1980-81. Yet by 1970, only 420 megawatts of electricity were coming from nuclear plants. In 1971, Vikram Sarabhai, the chairman of India's Atomic Energy Committee sought to bring Indian nuclear planning down to earth and scaled back projections, saying that by 1980-81, India would be producing 2,700 megawatts of electricity from nuclear plants. Thirty-five years later Indian nuclear plants are producing roughly 3,360 MW of electricity. But undaunted, the Indian pro-nuclear lobby now proclaims that India will produce 24,000 MW of nuclear power by 2010 and 50,000 MW of electricity from nuclear plants by the year 2030!
Nuclear Fuel Bundles
The fact remains that despite its great size, India has the misfortune to have been poorly endowed with natural uranium. It has been estimated that these modest reserves of about 70,000 metric tons will suffice to produce no more than approximately 420 gigawatt-years of electric power, if used in the PHWRs currently operating or under construction. On the other hand people won't let the government dig new uranium mines, so even these modest reserves may never be fully exploited.
India still faces severe challenges regarding the operational safety of all kinds of nuclear installations, from uranium mines to nuclear power stations. While the government boasts that the management and disposal of waste has been carried out fairly satisfactorily, there remain severe criticisms on the over all activities of nuclear energy. Public protests against Uranium Corporation of India Ltd's (UCIL) (http://www.ucil.gov.in/) have prevented it from opening up any new mine since 1985.
In last six months in 2004, UCIL has tried thrice to set up new uranium mines in Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya and Jharkhand but hasn't got permission anywhere.

The Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya governments have agreed to UCIL's proposal in principle, but have withheld permission because of public pressure and nuclear activist campaigns focusing on UCIL's poor safety record in Jaduguda in Jharkhand.
Independent studies have alleged that irresponsible handling of uranium ore had put some 50,000 people in Jaduguda at risk and caused genetic deformities in the area. Though Domiasat village in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills contains India's largest and richest uranium reserve, UCIL officials are not welcomed by the indigenous communities in the Domiasat.

There are also serious problems to do with treating and disposing of the large volumes of highly radioactive waste generated not only by nuclear reactors but also by plants that extract plutonium or produce nuclear fuel. There is also the question of cost of decommissioning nuclear reactors after their useful life. Safety of nuclear reactors has also become an issue of concern.
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) (http://www.aerb.gov.in/) had revealed about 130 incidents where safety had been compromised in various nuclear reactors, particularly Narora 1 and 2 and Kaiga. Also, there is a tremendous pressure on nuclear reactors safety from outside like terrorists attacks.
The Coalition of Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) (http://www.cndpindia.org/), a coalition of scientists, educationists, human rights activists, civil society organizations and so on, constituted in 2000 in response to nuclear weaponisation by India and Pakistan, calls for total nuclear disarmament in India as well as in the rest of the world. The CNDP does not accept the argument for nuclear energy put forward by atomic scientists as well as decision makers. While the option for nuclear energy is very expensive, the Indian government has restored faith in the DAE by allocating huge investment by ignoring various social issues like education, health etc.
President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (2nd from left),visiting an IITF exhibit in New Delhi in 2003.
Developing nuclear energy will be a slow, expensive and uncertain challenge at best. To increase the potential of nuclear energy, India has to look into outside help. Foreign involvement in nuclear power plant construction will diminish India's ambition of energy independence if India takes the path of nuclear.
The real solution to India's energy needs can come only when opting for energy sources that have low-impacts on the environment, low costs, and are easily available. Renewable energy has the potential to fulfill these critera. Renewable energy has the potential to bring true energy independence to India.
About the Author: Avilash Roul has been writing, advocating, researching, and creating knowledge on Environment and Development in various English Daily media since 2000. He has worked with Down To Earth (fortnightly magazine published in New Delhi, India) for the last three years. He has also contributed a Sunday column in New India Express on the environment and development. Right now Mr. Roul is working as an Assistant Coordinator for the Bank Information Center (www.bicusa.org), an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection of rights, participation, transparency, and public accountability in the governance and operations of the World Bank, regional development banks, and the International Monetary Fund.

SAVE THE KIDS FROM EXAM PRESSURE

WILL WE EVER HAVE IT IN OUR COUNTRY??

READ THE MESSAGE OF THIS GREAT PERSON CAREFULLY AND THEN COMPARE AND CONTRAST

COMPARE REVISED LIST WITH THE OLD LIST OF IAS EXAM-2007

As we all are aware that UPSC has revised the final list of selected candidates in CSE-2007 exam by following the stay order of the honourable Supreme Court of India.Few hardworking guys on orkut has made tremendous effort to prepare a list to compare and contrast the two lists.Kindly have a look by a click on this link.
http://rapidshare.com/files/125341695/CSE_2007_old_and_new_lists.zip

ऊपर वाला जब भी देता देता छप्पर फाड़ के

This is an old saying in my area.I, sometime doubt in this old saying but today I feel that this is true at least in my life.Since,now I qualified in Civil Services Examination with good rank I don't require anything on the job front which can offer more then this job.But I am getting continuously numerous offer from myriad of organisations.When I required those offers, not a single offer was coming to me but now offers from all sides are just entering in my home.Recently I got a call for Group discussion and Interview from Steel Authority of India Limited [SAIL].When I applied for this post I was not at all prepared in my branch as I forgot everything during this gruesome preparation for IAS.Though I know that there is a little bit of SAIL in every body's life but today I even don't want this small bit of SAIL in my life.Anyway I thank God for this unexpected gift which will further add in to my list of achievements.I am planning to drop the idea to join for GD and Interview for this post as it will give someone really needy an opportunity..[though I feel I am not capable to pass the Interview as I completely forgot the Branch].Now I urge to all that please have a faith in this old saying that ऊपर वाला जब भी देता देता छापर फाड़ कें

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Scene 1: Today I went to AIIMS to meet one of my friend.I took 725 bus no and reached to the boys hostel.I saw lot of air conditioners in almost all the rooms in this hostel.When I entered in my friend's room,room temperature was 10 degree below outside temperature.I thanked him for this luxury and enquired about this phenomena.He told me that electricity is free of cost for the students here..so everybody can afford one AC in his/her room. After a good chat I returned to my place and found myself full of sweat.When I went to my dingy room,there was no power.
Scene 2 : When I entered to my room,it was very hot and poor cooler was unable to reduce the temperature substantially.I visualised the conditions at AIIMS and thought about the privileges they are enjoying.
When most of our villages are lack of adequate power supply,the enclaves like AIIMS are enjoying 24hr power with no bill. Even my small town is getting 6hr power supply in this hot summer.We can easily understand the plight and living standard of millions of our country man.Government must frame a long term policy to ensure 24 * 7 power supply in near future.

QUESTIONS FROM A READER AND THEIR ANSWERS

QUESTIONS:
Thanks Manmauji Ji...(BTW is it ur real name...or a pseudo name ;))Well to begin with u can share ur experiences while preparing for this examination...with ur kind of experience freshers like us can learn a lot and also avoid certain mistakes that might have been committed....as in leaving a portion of syllabus etc.also if u can share ur strategy for pub ad, geog and GS preparation it will be of immense help as these r the most common optionals and u will be helping a huge section of aspirants (including me :))Well I have certain queries:
1. What is the role of coaching institute in op and GS prep...is it mandatory...which r the recommended coachings for geog and pub ad according to u?
2. What shud be the structure of an answer....what all u shud right?
3. How is pub ad as an optional...lately the qn pattern is shifted towards more opinion based qns and level of objectivity is reduced.....can a person from engg background with decent writing skills master the subject over ,say , a period of few months....and how important will be additional guidance in terms of coachings?
4. Is coaching for GS compulsary...or can one do it on own..with std books and material from market...(say Vajiram and all)?I know I have asked quite a few qns..u may chose to answer me in person or reflect on them in ur blogs...I will be following ur blogs keenly...In anticipation of a quick response...
**************************************************************************************
POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
Thank you for your intrest in this blog.Ofcourse Manmauji is not my real name. For the strategy first of all read whole syllabus.Sit with past year question papers and try to generate answers.If feel comfortable thne no need of any coaching.After completion of full syllabus you can avoid few units at the examinationn time for e.g inGeo optional-Thinker unit,world economy unit [few topic you must cover for short notes],biogeography,etc and in PA-financial adm,personnel ad[few topics],etc.
[1] It is not at all mandatory to go through coaching.It depends on you and your confidence level.You can do without it. Regarding coaching institutes...you can attend at anyone from Interaction,Jains,Direction for Geography and for Public Ad- VajiRam,Synergy or uniyals.
[2] First have a command over subject then start writing.You must write according to question.No need of Intro and conclusion in short notes...you can even write in points and paragraph in same answer.
[3]For me,PA is a good subject because it gives you space to express your opinion...here 'mugga' has little role [4 engg it is a huge problem]....you can master it within few months.If you face any problem then attend the coaching.
[4]Look,I have not attended any class for GS...so you can do without it....it is upto you how confident you feel in certain optional.....just take zerox of Vaji and mug it.Read few standard books several times.For eg histroy-Spectrum,polity-Vaji and DD Basu,Sc & Tech-Vaji,Geo-MNM series book,Stat-NCERT,Current-Vaji and Wizard,Eco-Vaji and PD special issue...I think this will be suffice and sail you through....."mugga' is must in GS....... But I will suggest you that first read whole syllabus by your own and then if requires attend the classes.In this way you can maximise your coaching.
For anyother query write to me....your views are welcome here.

HELP REQUIRED FOR SETTING UP A LIBRARY

we all are aware about the poor educational conditions in our countryside.The schools don't have appropriate facility e.g. play grounds,teaching material,toilet facility for girls,library etc.To resolve few of these problems few energetic and proactive civil service qualified people are going to form an umbrella organisation for Creation of libraries across the country.
For this ,we requires a lot of fund,personnel,suggestions,books,etc.Kindly come forward to build a strong India by helping in all possible directions to make this project a huge success.
The suggestions are also invited for this noble cause to make this project effective,transparent and efficient.Interested candidates can write to this blog at neutralviews@gmail.com. Their views shall be incorporated.