Steam Center Blog

  Every year much rice straw is burnt in the fields causing much pollution in Northern India. However rice straw can be put to good use for many products, one of then being paper. A preliminary estimate by this author suggests that a mix of half and half rice straw and Bagasse, the residue left after crushing sugarcane to extract juice can produce good quality paper for printing and writing as also for boxes and newspaper. For every ton of sugarcane crushed approximately 30% tonnes of wet bagasse is produced. Adding 10% cotton fiber to the mix will yield high quality printing and document paper whereas adding 10% polyester fiber could yield quality paper for carry bags that may be used to replace plastic bags in current use. Further research shall help verify or refine the recommendations of this brief note. The State and Central Government of India can aid this effort in the following ways: Providing research funding to universities...

Human in Khaki by Ashok Kumar As a developing country struggling to emerge from its colonial past, in the arena of public services, there is much that needs improvements in India. One of these is policing. An insidious practice has developed in India to demand long and inhumane working hours from the force. This had led to poor physical and psychological health as well as poor family life of Indian policemen. Such a force cannot be expected to provide quality service to public. While many suggestions for improving the police force have been put forth by individuals and institutions in India, few have been followed up. However, yesterday the High Court at Nainital passed a judgment that is a key element of police reforms in India. It has been mentioned in a companion blog, https://nainitalgoddess.blogspot.com how the Lovely Himalayan Town of Nainital built around the lake of the goddess Naini has been at forefront of many changes not just in India but also the world since i...

A t the outset it may be mentioned that this author, although a scientist, is not one from the nutritional area but from another from the physical sciences. Therefore, what has been written in this note is merely from common sense albeit tempered with the scientific approach. It is aided by a lifetime of experience of foods and nutrition in different parts of the globe. On the other hand, there are advantages from an expert from outside the field writing this note as shall became clear on reading it. The present note was sparked by a hugely laudable new mission launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji of India yesterday to improve child nutrition in India (Poshan Mission). Such an initiative is needed everywhere in the world but most especially in countries such as India where child mortality rates are high. While this mission unfolds, it is worth focusing on two types of dangers that exist is this area, due to lack of information, some of which are already unfoldi...

Recent data shows that there has been a slight reduction in corruption in India this year. It is because India has found a very honest Prime Minister in Narendra Modi and his cabinet. However the reduction has only been slight because at lower levels of government, born from years of habit, corruption is still widespread. An older note in this blog described how corruption can be eradicated with speed. It is presented here again with slight modification and simplification including the use of the now widely available JAM, Adhaar card number system in India. This plan is exceedingly simple to implement and cost effective. It involves just two simple steps Passing an ordnance that a bribe by the bribe giver shall not be a prosecutable crime provided the bribe giver files a complaint by post at --- or online at ----   within a month of giving the bribe. A draft design of the simple online form is included with this note. It may be modified to...

  T hey say a dog is man's best friend but an unregulated, untrained population of dogs can also become public enemy number one causing misery to both the dog and human. While street dogs have always been part of human civilization, with increasing urbanization and increased population these dogs create many problems for humans, the first being their open defecation on streets, secondly danger to humans especially children. There have been reports of mauling to death. Third is noise pollution by their persistent barking. This barking disrupts sleep and health of all, sometimes fatally in case of elderly persons. It destroys peace during day hours and hugely compromises study hours of children studying for school or exams at times leading to their failing in examinations. Along with stray dogs the problem of pet dogs has become equally huge; they too contribute to open defecation on urban streets creating a stench and health hazard. Their barking disturbs neigh...

A dulteration of food by substances dangerous to life is a fact in many parts of the world including India. Consumers have to be careful in ensuring that food they procure from markets is safe for their health and their families. Food safety inspectors exist in health departments of all countries to check food products and punish unscrupulous food sellers. In India however there is a unique dimension to this inspection that hovers between the irrational and sordid corruption that plays with the health and well being of citizens. Let us first explain what the irrational element is. On October 15 there was a report in the times of India, the prominent daily newspapers that in a village in Chomu district of India, food inspectors from the health department had unearthed a mawa (a concentrated milk product used in many Indian sweet dishes) unit that was preparing it from milk powder and edible vegetable oil products instead of just pure milk ( see here ). They destroyed 120 kg...

May God bless this sweet Child and his mother W hile much of the population in India is still poor and cannot afford private medical care, free government services are hugely limited and overburdened. The most tragic is the huge number of child deaths that are taking place in such hospitals due to inadequate care and it is here the need for improvement most urgent. What is needed now is  new large modern government run Mother and child hospitals to take care of mothers from the beginning of pregnancies as well as children up to the age of five. To begin with one such hospital may be set up in each district across India at a place the population density is highest in the district. Each district may have special departments peculiar to their area such as North Central provinces for encephalitis and meningitis or the western tribal parts for malnutrition. Each district mother and child hospital may also run extension centers and mobile care vans across the district bu...

A newspaper report today in Times of India described how the problem of stray dogs has become huge in India even in previously pristine places like Nainital. Children face the gravest threats from them and some are killed from time to time in an attack. These dogs roam free and fearless in cities and enter all public areas including hospitals. Recently one was found feasting on a dead body in a hospital in Lucknow the capital city of the largest province of India. In Nainital the municipal body said that they had caught hold of some and sterilized them. Municipal bodies have said that for the last thirty years and the problem has only increased. Not only are these dogs a danger and nuisance in urban areas they also create a huge noise problem when they get into long barking matches. They are disrupting the sleep and therefore also the health of hundreds of millions of Indians. The simple question that needs to be answered is that are stray dogs compatible with human li...

Today the daily newspaper - Times of India - described an excellent plan to revive India’s rivers by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev of the Isha Foundation. The plan involves planting trees for up to one kilometer on either side of rivers. Applying an engineers mind to the proposal, this author is adding some more suggestions and clarifications for consideration and debate in this note in brief bullet form: The center-line of the river may be used to measure the one kilometer distance, and demarcation pillars similar to road distance signs at similar spacing may be put at this one kilometer point with a twenty feet wide paved road running along the length on either side. The road will help to make the demarcation permanent as well as serve to maintain the area and facilitate movement for villagers and others living nearby. As suggested by Isha foundation, existing farms falling within these limit may plant fruit orchards only whereas in v...

F rom time to time, irrational fears of supernatural spread through human society. There is one going around presently in northern India about a demon that cuts of the hair of women in secret without their knowledge and indeed many such cases have been reported from several northern states of India. One can only guess how this is happening short of an actual demon playing a prank or some weird ritual of their own. It is likely that women are cutting their own hair to adapt the look of some fashion models on TV and using this rumor as a pretext. Most families would not approve the short hair look otherwise or it may be to get attention. Whatever is the reason, the fear is widespread and newspapers report some women going to bed with helmets on. In time the demon will get tired and go away as other such have before in history. In the meantime the possibility of utilizing this fear for public good arises. While the women are busy at prayers to keep the hair loving demons ...

N ews reports have been highlighting the growing problem of use of illegal drugs among youth of India. It is a serious problem that in its worst form can become primary cause of compromising present and future well being of the nation. Once caught in its grip, a human finds it difficult to overcome the problem, even unto death, so pervasive is its influence on human biology. It would be wishful thinking on part of India that it can control this problem through its law and order machinery, when even the strict legal forces of US or the guns and blazes of Duterte of Philippines is facing a hard time controlling it. Against this backdrop, many have suggested that one of the illegal drugs, cannabis be legalized. As compared to synthetic chemical drugs, it is a herbal substance that has been present in India as a wild weed for thousands of years, for the most part as legal as spinach or onions without having caused any notable problem while problems created by the other herb...

W hile due to annual fluctuations some years enjoy a good rainfall in Northern India, the overall trend over the last fifty years as deduced by the India Meteorological department is a falling rain fall. This finding was revealed in newspaper report today http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/imd-analysis-reveals-falling-rainfall-trend-in-north-india/articleshow/59827995.cms This is worrisome all the more since requirements of fresh water has increased greatly in the same period due to a huge rise of population in the last fifty years. The report further says that they cannot pinpoint the cause hence also not a solution. However, a recent NASA study provides both the cause and the solution. According to it, trees and forest help to create rain. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2608/new-study-shows-the-amazon-makes-its-own-rainy-season/ Declining rainfall has followed the pattern of reducing trees due to increasing urbanization, farming and deforestation in the ...

http://richmondvale.org/effects-of-poverty/ An older article on Inequality by the author has been popular in this blog. It talked of rising wealth and income inequality over the last forty years, primarily in the richest country of the world, US. Suggestions were given as to how the problem may be overcome. This year, 2017, OXFAM carried out a study of inequality in 152 countries of the world including both rich and poor countries. According to a report in times of India   based on the study, India has been ranked 132 out of 152 countries on the basis of inequality. Sweden ranked the highest while Nigeria was at the bottom. The US had the highest level of inequality among developed countries, though it is the wealthiest country in the world. However, most of its budget goes on military spending and maintaining wars and military bases around the world. In India, the new Narendra Modi government has been seized of the problem and his approval rating is one...

Countries that have low levels of corruption have a high quality of life and much beauty I t is widely recognized that corruption is a major cause that holds back development in India and perpetuates poverty. More than ten years ago, this author published a note that described a mathematical relationship between levels of corruption and levels of poverty that prevail in different parts of the world. It is in the public domain online. The new Government of Shri Narendra Modi has been seized of the problem. One of its achievements has been elimination of big ticket top level corruption. While this is sure to have an impact over the long term, in the immediate future it seems that at lower levels corruption shall continue to increase as it has over the last several decades. Today a report in the Times of India described that it has increased by 5% in 2015. Corrupt officials at the lower level are like carnivorous animals that once having tasted human blood cannot live withou...