Steam Center Blog

Photo of Himalayan foot hills by Ashok Malhotra   C urrently in India, a heated debate is taking place on the subject of Land acquisition by government. This debate takes place with a history and background in which ever since colonial times, land has been acquired in India by government, not always in fair and just manner i.e. inadequate compensations were paid for the acquisition or land was acquired not so much for public good as for private benefit without paying a just compensation to the land owner. Therefore, there are strong emotional under currents to the debate, some of which were reflected in an earlier note in this blog here . At the heart of the debate are two opposing needs, F irst is the right of a private owner to hold on to his land and use it in any legally permissible manner and have the assurance that it shall not be taken away from him without his consent by any private or public entity. s econd is the opposing need of governments to ac...

A mix of Ben oil produced by the drumstick trees and ethyl alcohol from molasses, corn or other sources appears to be a promising bio-fuel  for the future of mankind when it runs out of fossil fuels, for use in internal combustion engines. More research on Benoline is encouraged by researchers working on bio fuels.  It has been named Benoline by the author, feel free to use the term, just credit this blog please. More on the drumstick tree can be found here: http://someitemshave.blogspot.in/2013/08/tree-of-life-moringa-or-drumstick.html The best way to obtain Ben oil is from forestry plantations of drumstick that are very easy to develop on arid lands of the warmer parts of the planet. However in order to maintain bio-diversity and soil health such forests are best mixed with other food producing trees such as mulberry to the extent of about 33 percent. These forests would then not only yield bio fuel but also food. The potential of such plantations to imp...

Lahore Railway Station   Y esterday in the newspaper there were reports of a blast and deaths in a church in Lahore and subsequent mayhem. It took my mind back to pre 1947 Lahore then governed at the apex by the British. Both of my parents went to college in Lahore and have described it numerous times to me. It was a leading city of India then where lived Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians of many hues, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims as well as others from many different religions and races. They all lived in harmony and the city was a great education and cultural center of Asia. The current film industry in India was located there then. The city was well maintained in those days with regular electricity and water supply unlike now, clean low cost or free hospitals and schools where teachers took their jobs seriously, courts that pronounced judgments in months and years not decades as now. Sadly the city has sunk into hell like conditions bit by bit since the British left. ...