Laying emphasis on basic sciences, he said, ``There is a need to enhance capacity building in this, as that alone will provide the foundation on which we can build specialised institutions for academic excellence and research.'' He pointed out that thousands of talented young scientists would be required to give a push to knowledge based industries in the coming decade.

Hedgerows control soil erosion
HEDGEROW farming is the best way to control soil erosion in the hilly north eastern region, feels Dr R C Sundrial, a leading scientist at the G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development (GBPIHED). Speaking at a three-day training programme in `Appropriate Technology for a Soil-Conserving Farming System', Sundrial said that the GBPIHED was trying to popularise a technology known as `sloping agriculture land technology' (SALT) in the country's Himalayan region. It was a package technology on soil conservation and food production. Crops could be grown in between contoured rows of nitrogen fixing trees, which would be planted in double rows to make hedgerows.

These hedgerows would help in maintaining and improving soil fertility, minimising soil erosion and providing food and income for the farmers. The system would also help in water conservation in rain-fed areas, Sundrial said. SALT has already been tried in China, Burma, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India successfully, Sundrial noted and appealed to farmers of the north eastern states to accept this technique.

Countdown begins for satellite launch
INDIA'S space programme is all set to achieve yet another milestone when the INSAT-3B satellite is placed in orbit mid-March after being launched from the Kourou space port at French Guyana in Latin America, according to officials from the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO). The satellite is likely to be launched on March 21 by the latest European launch vehicle, ARIANE-5, said officials from the space transportation company, Arianespace, which is launching the Indian satellite along with another satellite, ASIASTAR, owned by Worldspace of the United States.

The INSAT M Aster Control Facility (MCF), at Hassan in Karnataka, will be the Prime Control Centre for the launch phase and on-orbit operations of the satellite. The transponders will also provide communications network for the Swaran Jayanti Vidya Vikas Yojna and Antariksh Upgraha Yojana. At present, India is extensively using the transponders of INSAT-2B and INSAT-2C.

Bamboo reserves endangered
Bamboo resources in the Western Ghat forest ranges of Karnataka face the threat of extinction due to over-exploitation and government policies, according to Panduranga Hegde of the environmental protection organisation, Parisara Samrakshna Kendra. He said that thousands of tonnes of bamboo in the forest ranges of Uttar Kannada, Shimoga, Chikmagalur and Kodau districts find their way to paper mills and bamboo artisan cooperatives at concessional rates. This created an additional demand leading to over-extraction every year. However, in actual practice, bamboo provided at concessional rates ends up in the open market and is sold at higher prices, he claimed. This had resulted in a loss of revenue to the tune of Rs 25-30 lakh to the Haliyal forest division in Uttara Kannada district alone, he said, quoting an independent survey of the Western Ghats carried out by a forestry expert, Dr Saxena, in 1997.