IISc coordinating research on security systems

Research will vary for different places like railway stations, and places of worship

 
The DST-funded project involved research on data reduction and image processing for developing “integrated embedded systems”, which will vary for different places like railway stations, places of worship and the like, he said.

Ramasami was talking to reporters after launching India’s first specialised footwear for diabetic patients that reduces the risk of ‘foot ulcers’.

‘Diastep’, the uniquely designed footwear for diabetics, a product of nearly 12 years of collaborative research between the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), a CSIR laboratory based in Chennai, and the MV Hospital For Diabetes and Diabetes Research Centre  here, is a ‘unisex and unicolour’ scientifically designed product. It “absorbs shock and ground reaction forces” when diabetics walk and thus reduces friction,” he said.

Besides the IISC-coordinated project for coming up with sophisticated security systems, Ramasami said under a Supreme Court directive “to solve India’s water problem”, the DST was in the midst of a mega-initiative. Under this, all the 20 river basins in the country have been mapped and “26 types of challenges to water availability” identified.

Water problems varied from place to place, from coastal tracts to land-locked areas. They presented a spectrum of issues, ranging from pollution, arsenic presence in water, lack of water holding structures like in Cherrapunji in Assam, the wettest spot on the earth, etc., he explained. So, necessarily, “we have to adopt a ‘disaggregated’ approach,” he said.

Based on the type of problems, 61 sites across the country have been identified,  Ramasami said. Global technology solution providers would be selected on a competitive bidding basis and invited to provide solutions to these problems on the water front, he said.

The selected solution providers will be asked to implement solutions on the ground to solve the water problems of 10,000 strong habitations to start with, he said. Then these solutions will be tested for their efficacy and “social viability” before expanding them to a 1,00,000 population habitation.

Stating that central ministries such as Water Resources, Agriculture, Industry, Urban Development, Rural Development, Environment and Ministry of Earth Sciences, have been roped in to implement this project,  Ramasami said he had to periodically report about its progress to the apex court. By August 2011, “We hope to have pilot demonstration solutions for all the 20 river basins in India,” he added.