Interviews telecast in August 2015

1.8.2015:
C. Venkatamohan: CSIR. Developed technology to produce hydrogen from waste water - using biological methods involving anaerobic bacteria. Hydrogen gets used for energy and water gets (partially?) treated in this process. Received an international award for this recently. His father was a chemical engineer (??) and he had experience working with electrodes/electrolytes as a child.

8.8.2015:
Abhishek?? Kumar Sarangi: UCIL - Uranium Corporation of India limited?. Uranium ore in India limited and of lower grade, but says India must still get the best out of this limited resource to improve its energy security. Improvements in uranium extraction methods as well as in fission technology are important.

22.8.2015:
Y.M.Dimri: Internationally acclaimed geophysicist. Hails from Uttarakhand which is known for its natural beauty of mountains and forests and known for its spectacular weather phenomenon, which made him curious to understand natural phenomenon. Childhood experience with cloudburst - purohit warning a group of children to quickly move away from a stream saying a cloudburst was about to flood the stream after seeing some clouds; amazed by people's ability to predict based on their observation and experience. Talks about prediction of earthquales and tsunamis and warning systems for these. Predicting earthquakes still very difficult but a warning system can be put in place to alert people in Delhi soon after tremors are detected in Nepal - takes only about 60 seconds for quake to travel between these 2 places, yet many lives can be saved if emergency safety measures are taken within that duration - traffic can be halted, trains can be stopped, people can be evacuated or moved to safety shelters within buildings. Better position with tsunamis originating in Malay/Indone region since they take a few hours to reach Indian coast (reaches A & N islands earlier) and more time available to take action. Asked about an interesting incident where Indian media created a panic when earthquake ocurred in Indonesia region some years ago - he asked a TV channel to put him on air and said that the quake posed no tsunami threat to India, which turned out to be right.

29.8.2015:
Dr. Sibaji Raha: Theoretical/quantum physicist, currently based in Bose Institute. Worked under stalwarts like fynman and miller (?). He and wife decided to move back to India after several years in Europe/US - says it was not because of patriotism but because they felt it was best to raise family in India. Mentions he identified some gaps/shortcomings in a well-known theory and it motivated him to come up with mathematical models to explain the missing pieces. Feels scientists based in India aren't getting due recognition worldwide as the scientific community abroad gives attention and credit to a very limited number of journals/publications/conferences and it is far more easier for US/EU-based scientists to get their research work on these forums than scientists from other regions even if their quality of work is on par.