NIAS-Annual-Report-2017-2018.Pdf
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NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES Bengaluru, India ANNUAL REPORT 2017 - 2018 JRD Tata Founding Chairman The Vision and Mission of NIAS To integrate the findings of scholarship in the natural and social sciences with technology and the arts through multi-disciplinary research on the complex issues that face Indian and global society. To assist in the creation of new leadership with broad horizons in all sectors of society by disseminating the conclusions of such research through appropriate publications and courses as well as dialogues with leaders and the public. TABLE OF CONTENTS From the Director 5 Acknowledgement 8 Tribute 9 Executive Summary 11 School of Conflict and Security Studies 20 School of Humanities 38 School of Natural Sciences and Engineering 60 School of Social Sciences 86 Collaborative Projects on Healthcare 111 Invited Visiting Chair Professors 112 Training Programmes 116 Doctoral Programme 125 NIAS Foundation Day and JRD Tata's Birthday 131 Annual Memorial Lectures 132 Public Programmes 134 Wednesday Discussion Meetings 140 Associates’ Programme 144 Literary, Arts and Heritage Forum 145 Library 146 Publications 147 Administration 162 Financial Reports 167 NIAS Council of Management 172 NIAS Society 173 NIAS Staff 174 NIAS Adjunct Professors and Adjunct Faculty 176 CONTENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR The National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) has been engaged in promoting multi-disciplinary approaches to address impacts of scientific and technological advances on today’s society in the historical, social, cultural, political and economic contexts. During last thirty years, NIAS has made outstanding contributions by discovering new and innovative approaches to understand various societal issues. NIAS has provided a platform to interact with leaders in science, technology, social sciences and humanities from the academia, industry, government and voluntary organizations. During the 2017-18, NIAS has made significant progress in all major programmes. Some of the highlights of the research programmes provided below. Under the Education Programme, a curriculum was designed for school teachers to identify the gifted and talented children as well as an approach to mentor them. The pilot project for identifying such children from the rural areas of the Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts was accomplished. This approach has been now submitted to the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) to be included into 4-year Integrated Programme for Pre-Service Teacher Training Programme. Inputs on women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; gaps in vocational and higher education and nurturing gifted and talented children, were also provided to the Dr K Kasturirangan Committee for drafting new Education Policy. The Energy and Environment Programme looks at how to balance the energy requirement for improved living standards and accelerating industrial growth while meeting stringent environmental standards. The documentation about emerging technologies in the field of renewable energy and required policy to ensure growth of such technologies was provided to the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The key findings in the renewable energy were presented at the COP23 Summit in Bonn, Germany to showcase the Indian Government initiations to renewable energy. Inputs were provided for the development of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Simulation System (NFCSS) for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). NFCSS can be used for illustrative scenario planning for research, education and policy purposes. The Inequality and Human Development Programme focuses on different form of inequalities and their interactions. Efforts are being made to understand the nature of agrarian transition in the country and its impact on the inequities that are generated. Nation-wide surveys have been conducted and are being analyzed to get insight into this issue. An econometric model is being developed to understand macro picture of causes of farmers’ suicides on basis of in-depth studies in selected villages in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. Inputs on ‘fiscal space’ were provided for the 6th Pay Commission of the Karnataka government. The recommendations provided on the identification of specific areas of creating fiscal space were included as one of the chapter in the Sixth Pay Commission report. 5 The Heritage, Science and Society Programme explored linkages of science and technology with culture, society and civilization. A book on Digital Hampi: Preserving Indian Cultural Heritage presented technologies for digital archiving and representation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Hampi. A monograph on Chola and Vijayanagara Bronzes: Archeometallurgical Mapping of Shifting Iconographies was published. Two books on ‘Inviting Death: Historical Experiments on Sepulchral Hill’ and ‘Perusing Death: Philosophy and Practice of Voluntary Termination of Life have been republished. These books provided significant input on the case where the ritual death practiced by the Jain community is not same as suicide was successfully argued in the Rajasthan High Court. The Supreme Court has also approved as selective euthanasia under medical supervision. The space images have been used to identify archeological mounds of Buddhism sites like Nalanda, Bodhgaya and Vikramsila. Various photogrammetry techniques have been used to measure orientation of sacred structures and their astronomical association have been established. An edited book on ‘Self, Consciousness and Culture: Interdisciplinary Converges on Knowing and Being’ was published by the Consciousness Studies Programme through Springer Nature. Theoretical information from 22 primary Sanskrit poetics about three emotions, envy/jealousy, pride, shame/guilt/embarrassment, have been documented and 3 models that facilitates understanding of mental state have been studied. A novel concept has been proposed Compression-Complexity-Causality (CCC) for causality testing for noisy and asynchronous measurements. The CCC will be useful for developing a usability based scientific measures of consciousness in Neuroscience. The study about bacterial communication and pattern formation has been undertaken to understand human cognitive system and consciousness research. The Urban and Mobility Studies Programme analyzed the social and economic consequences of the policy and urban governance which leads to social transformation in cities, towns and rural areas. Field work has been carried out in Bangalore and Jakarta to undertake comparative studies in changes in land use, property relations, livelihoods and urban ecologies in the context of rapid urban growth and circulation of financial capital into real estate sector. The linkages between migration, skilling, livelihoods and social mobility among construction and low-end service sectors in two cities Bangalore and Raichur in Karnataka are being examined. The Animal Behaviour and Conservation Programme addressed issues related to social behavior and communication, especially of primates and elephants. Research findings on human-elephant conflict helped to develop mitigation strategies and now being adopted by the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments. In another study, it was observed that during the ancient times, sacredness was not a defining characteristic of human- primate relations. The deification of monkeys occurred much later as popularity of Ramayana grew. Based on understanding of human-primate conflict, the Forestry Department of the Himachal Government was advised various field-based methods to reduce crop raiding. Studies were undertaken to understand and predict interactions between natural systems through dynamical modelling. The effect of human intervention and land use changes such as change in forest cover, increase in grassland, etc. on larch budmoth insect outbreak cycle was modelled to predict future outbreaks. The Conflict Resolution Programme engaged in the developing inclusive knowledge data base about conflicts that affect India. In one such study, it was observed that skewed natural resources distribution led to conflicts in Maoists affected areas in Orissa. The volunteerism is an another area of conflict. India has long tradition of volunteerism and the Gandhian concept of volunteerism was shared with the German collaborators who wanted to shift from permanent system of volunteerism to spontaneous system of volunteerism. Based on these interactions, a curriculum for training of the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services, was developed. A book on ‘Reasoning Indian Politics: Philosopher Politicians to Politicians Seeking Philosophy’ has been published through Routledge. The International Strategic and Security Studies Programme addressed issues related to promoting and ensuring national security. Based on the aeronautical research in few leading countries, it was inferred that the lack of indigenous aircraft development has hampered the research initiatives in India. We need to prioritize research 6 related to aviation safety and unmanned air systems. A comprehensive study on the China’s space capabilities and North Korea’s missile and nuclear capabilities has been completed. Software tools for assessing performance of the missile capabilities of selected Asian countries and target identification have been developed. Studies related to Weapon Systems and Deterrence Strategies as well as technological aspects of aerial, submarine- based weapon systems, space-based and high-energy weapon systems have been undertaken.