Thursday, June 29, 2017

New Book | Patent Politics: Life Forms, Markets, and the Public Interest in the United States and Europe | by Shobita Parthasarathy

Patent Politics: Life Forms, Markets, and the Public Interest in the United States and Europe
by Shobita Parthasarathy, University of Chicago Press, 2017, 304 pages, ISBN: 9780226437859. 

Summary: Over the past thirty years, the world's patent systems have experienced pressure from civil society like never before. From farmers to patient advocates, new voices are arguing that patents impact public health, economic inequality, morality—and democracy. These challenges, to domains that we usually consider technical and legal, may seem surprising. But in Patent Politics, Shobita Parthasarathy argues that patent systems have always been deeply political and social.
To demonstrate this, Parthasarathy takes readers through a particularly fierce and prolonged set of controversies over patents on life forms linked to important advances in biology and agriculture and potentially life-saving medicines. Comparing battles over patents on animals, human embryonic stem cells, human genes, and plants in the United States and Europe, she shows how political culture, ideology, and history shape patent system politics. Clashes over whose voices and which values matter in the patent system, as well as what counts as knowledge and whose expertise is important, look quite different in these two places. And through these debates, the United States and Europe are developing very different approaches to patent and innovation governance. Not just the first comprehensive look at the controversies swirling around biotechnology patents, Patent Politics is also the first in-depth analysis of the political underpinnings and implications of modern patent systems, and provides a timely analysis of how we can reform these systems around the world to maximize the public interest.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One: Defining the Public Interest in the US and European Patent Systems
Chapter Two: Confronting the Questions of Life-Form Patentability
Chapter Three: Commodification, Animal Dignity, and Patent-System Publics
Chapter Four: Forging New Patent Politics Through the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debates
Chapter Five: Human Genes, Plants, and the Distributive Implications of Patents
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Major Events Related to the US and European Life-Form Patent Controversies
Appendix 2: Methodological Note

Current Science article | Plagiarism, Research Publications and Law

Plagiarism, Research Publications and Law
by R. Saha, Current Science, June 2017, 112(12): 2375-78. 
AbstractPlagiarism in scientific research has, in recent times, become a topic of discussion and concern in India. The core level of discussion has largely been driven by ethical considerations rather than by the relevant laws existing in the country such as the Copyright Act. Ethics can mean different things to different people and therefore issues related to legitimacy of one point of view as against another will always remain debatable. Punitive actions purely based on ethics may not be acceptable to all and may be difficult to implement, unless supported by law. Plagiarism is stealing someone's intellectual property, which is legally and morally untenable. In addition, it can cause economic disadvantage to the original author. The issue of plagiarism needs to be handled at a much higher level of academic, legal, political and social debate for enhancing the image of Indian research.
Keywords: Copyright, intellectual property, law and ethics, plagiarism, scientific research. 

Call for Participation: 1st International Conference on Large-Scale Grid Integration of Renewable Energy in India | 6-8 September | New Delhi, India

1st International Conference on Large-Scale Grid Integration of Renewable Energy in India

6-8 September 2017 | New Delhi, India

Organized by: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germany | MNRE, India; Ministry of Power, India| Energynautics GmbH, Germany

The 1st International Conference on Large-Scale Grid Integration of Renewable Energy in India is endorsed by the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and organized by Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Energynautics, Germany.
The Government of India has set the very ambitious goal to install 175 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022. Grid integration thus becomes a very critical challenge to successfully accomplish this target. This international conference aims to connect international experts and Indian stakeholders to jointly discuss the latest technological, regulatory and conceptual developments in this field.

About the Conference
The Conference provides an International Forum to:
  • Discuss technical and economic issues of the large-scale integration of solar and wind power including the recent advances in transmission technologies (AC and DC)
  • Discuss worldwide project experiences
  • Discuss innovative ideas and present results from ongoing research
  • Stimulate interdisciplinary thinking between renewable energy and power transmission and distribution industries, as well as universities
  • Identify subjects requiring more research efforts
Proposed Preferential Topics
  • Project experience related to wind/PV/CSP/storage grid connection
  • Innovative Smart Grid solutions with wind/solar power and storage
  • Experience with large-scale integration of wind/PV/CSP/storage power into power systems
  • IT technology for the integration of wind/solar power and storage
  • Wind/PV/CSP/storage power monitoring and prediction systems
  • Wind/PV/CSP integration study experience
  • Wind/PV/CSP/storage power plant performance for plant operation and interconnection with the grid
  • Protection aspects of wind/PV/CSP/storage
  • Wind/PV and storage in distribution grids (distributed generation)
  • Wind/solar integration study methodologies and data requirements
  • Modelling of inverters and wind/solar power plants for system inte-gration studies including methods of testing and verification of compliance with requirements, and technologies (on grid side and power plant side) to facilitate integration
  • Wind/PV/CSP/storage system models for interconnection and planning studies
  • Design and operation of hybrid systems with wind/PV/CSP/storage
  • Modelling wind/PV/CSP/storage plants output variability and assessing the impacts
  • Power balancing methods and solutions, e.g. balance markets, to manage wind/solar power variability in power systems
  • Evaluation of rules and mechanisms for integrating of wind/PV/CSP/storage in electricity markets
  • Demand forecast with distributed wind/PV and storage
  • State-of-the-art wind/solar resources forecasting and opportunities for improvement
  • Interconnection standards for wind turbines, wind power plants, solar systems, solar system models for system planning and interconnection studies
  • Market design and regulatory issues related to Variable Renewable Energy (VRE)
  • Power system balancing with high share of VRE
  • Solar/wind power generation forecasting, scheduling and related applications
  • Load/demand forecasting
  • Power system balancing with high share of VRE
  • Ancillary services from RE and Non-RE sources
  • Flexibility of the conventional power plants
  • Grid codes and interconnection guidelines related to wind and solar power plants
  • Compliance testing for grid codes
  • Demand response in smart grid context
  • Virtual power plants
  • Communication, control and coordination between control centres
  • New and emerging features of power systems with high share of VRE





Dr. Anup Kumar Das 
Centre for Studies in Science Policy 
School of Social Sciences
Jawaharlal Nehru University 
New Delhi - 110067, India 

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Call for Applications: ERPI Small Grants Call to Launch Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative

Small Grants Call to Launch Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative

Steps-centre.org | May 11th, 2017 | Nathan Oxley

 

The new Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI) has launched with a call for small grants applications. The grants will fund working papers and fieldwork to generate new, empirical reflections and analysis on authoritarian populism and the rural world.

 

About ERPI

ERPI logoDeepening inequalities, failed livelihoods, mass (under)employment, climate chaos and racist anti-immigrant attacks characterise many settings across the world. Forms of 'progressive neoliberalism' — peddled inaccurately as social democracy — have failed to stem disillusionment, disenfranchisement and marginalisation. The rise of populist, nationalist movements — with racist, misogynist and isolationist characteristics — has been one very visible response. Such exclusionary politics are unravelling protections for women, racial minorities, disabled people, LGBTQ communities and many others. This type of populism depicts politics as a struggle between 'the people' and some combination of malevolent elites and racialized, unfairly advantaged 'Others'.

Yet the reactions to authoritarian populism are incredibly diverse, across and indeed within countries. In this Initiative, we are interested in changes ongoing in and in relation to rural areas that both give rise to a particular form of politics, but also offer alternatives. Whether in the US, across Europe, Turkey, India, the Philippines, Brazil or South Africa – and many other countries besides – various forms of reactionary nationalism have entrenched a narrow, sometimes violent, conflictual, exclusionary politics. This may be in the name of 'taking back control' in favour of 'the people', or putting one ideology and position 'first', while excluding others, generating tensions across society. All are responses to crises in contemporary capitalism, yet they are rooted in specific histories, institutional and social structures and political dynamics. Responses may be contradictory: for example shoring up a certain style of political power, while selectively offering progressive policies, whether free education, land reform or investment in rural communities.

The Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI) is focused on the social and political processes across rural spaces that are giving rise to such political reactions today. We seek to understand – but not judge – the characteristics of the social base that give rise to such political dynamics. We also aim to explore how alternatives are being actively generated to regressive, authoritarian politics.  We seek to create the space for a debate about alternatives, documenting, analysing and theorising these in order to begin to outline new emancipatory politics that challenge narrow, exclusionary, violent and populist visions, analysing, sharing, supporting, deepening and scaling up alternatives.

 

Activities

With this call we seek to engage scholars, activists, and practitioners from across the world who are both concerned about the current conjuncture, but also hopeful about alternatives. As outlined below, we will initiate a Working Paper series, supported by a limited number of small grants, to allow for the writing up of original research. In parallel we are inviting other, shorter contributions in a variety of media, helping to map out responses and alternatives.

The Initiative will hold a major conference in early 2018, bringing this work together, with the aim of thinking together about new directions, both for academic research and practical action. We will be encouraging publication of a series of papers in the Journal of Peasant Studies, as well as other popular and media outlets, as a focus for an intense, informed and radical engagement around this theme. We hope others in social movements, political formations, policy institutions, and elsewhere will participate, developing new visions that respond to the current moment.

 

1. Core Themes

We propose three core themes for the Initiative:

(i) The current conjuncture: rural roots and consequences

(ii) Resisting, organising and mobilising for an emancipatory rural politics

(iii) Alternatives: understanding, supporting, creating, deepening and scaling

 

2. What is to be Done? A Challenge for Scholar-Activists

The urgent tasks are numerous. Given the challenges, resistance must be big, wide and insurgent. Yet, the ranks of scholar-activists within academic institutions are relatively thin. However modest our capabilities and resources, we can nevertheless do something that can make an important contribution to wider, global resistance. Our contribution has two important characteristics. It is coordinated by a network of scholar-activists/activist-scholars largely working in academic and independent research institutions, in both the global North and South, and it brings insights to our analysis of and political action around the current conjuncture from longstanding work with a rural perspective. By doing this we hope that we can make a small contribution in sharpening our analysis of the global situation, and by doing so, help inspire more people to join in peoples' movements, community conversations and local innovations and experiments, wherever these may be.

 

3. Provisional Questions

Under our three core themes, some possible questions for further exploration are outlined here. These are indicative, and not restrictive. There are many, many more, so please do frame and explore them, as long as they broadly link to our core themes and wider political project.

 

4. What Are We Proposing?

Our initial aim is to kick-start a wide, informed conversation on the themes outlined above, creating a platform for onward debate and action. In this context, we are inviting both short contributions in a range of formats and research-based papers for a new Working Paper series that addresses the themes above. All contributions must be rooted in recent engagements in rural transformation and politics, speaking to particular contexts and experiences, from anywhere in the world. We encourage in particular collaborations between academics and activists/practitioners.

 

Call For Applications: Small Grants

We have a limited number of $2000 small grants available for those aiming to produce Working Papers, allowing perhaps additional fieldwork to supplement work already done. If you wish to apply for one of these grants, the deadline is 30 June 2017. Final papers are due at the latest on 1 January 2018. Please send a short application, including a one-page abstract, a half-page-word statement on a how you will spend the funds, and a half-page short bio of all proposed authors, including name, background, affiliation and country of residence – all these in one Word file. Applications should be sent to the email address emancipatoryruralpolitics@gmail.com, with the subject line marked ERPI SMALL GRANT APPLICATION.

Beyond those contributing directly, we invite any researchers and activists interested in this area of work and keen to keep in touch to sign up, via social media and email. Please let people know about this Initiative!

For now, we can remain in touch via the Initiative's email address: emancipatoryruralpolitics@gmail.com. You can also follow the ERPI on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Coordinating Collective

Ian Scoones (STEPS Centre/IDS Sussex), Wendy Wolford (Cornell University), Marc Edelman (City University of New York), (Ruth Hall, PLAAS University of the Western Cape), Ben White (ISS, The Hague), Jun Borras (ISS, The Hague), Agrarian & Environmental Justice Program of the Transnational Institute (Lyda Fernanda, Pietje Vervest and Jennifer Franco), ICAS: Alberto Alonso-Fradejas, Zoe Brent, Liu Juan, Natalia Mamonova, Elyse Mills, Tsegaye Moreda, Salena Tramel).

 

Source: https://steps-centre.org/news/small-grants-call-launch-emancipatory-rural-politics-initiative/

STEPS Centre launches free online course on Pathways to Sustainability


Announcing a new learning website from the ESRC STEPS Centre

STEPS launches free online course on Pathways to Sustainability

STEPS LearningThe ESRC STEPS Centre has launched a new online learning website for self-study and use in teaching.

The STEPS Learning site features a course on Pathways to Sustainability with video lectures, reading lists and questions, and a guide to linking research & activism.

Explore the site

Course: Pathways to Sustainability

This course introduces the STEPS Centre's core conceptual approach, the Pathways Approach to sustainability, and how it can be applied in research and practice.

In six parts, it covers uncertainty and knowledge, policy processes, technology & innovation, planetary boundaries, resource politics and methodologies for sustainability appraisal.

It is fully open access and designed for users to study at their own pace, or as a resource for teachers.

Take the course

Guide: Research & Activism

How do scholars and activists understand and address the opportunities and challenges of linking research and activism? What are some of the approaches and platforms that can help? This guide was developed in collaboration with participants at the 2016 Summer School on Pathways to Sustainability.
 
Explore the guide

Video: About STEPS Learning

Ian Scoones, director of the STEPS Centre, introduces our learning website.
 
Watch the video

Creating a new generation of sustainability professionals

The latest in our series of impact stories shows how, since its launch in 2006, STEPS has worked in various ways to connect research, action and training to foster the new skills and alliances needed to address the challenges of sustainability.
Read the story

Confronting authoritarian populism

A new open access paper in the Journal of Peasant Studies explores the rise of 'authoritarian populism' in rural areas, emerging in response to poverty, inequality and marginalisation. The paper also examines the potential for more emancipatory rural politics, based on collaboration, mutualism and solidarity across boundaries and social divides.
 
Written by Ian Scoones, Marc Edelman, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ruth Hall, Wendy Wolford & Ben White, the paper marks the launch of the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI). This is a new initiative from the STEPS Centre, the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), PLAAS (UWC, Cape Town), Cornell University, City University of New York (CUNY), the Transnational Institute and Initiatives in Critical Agrarian Studies (ICAS).
Read the paper

Small grants: call for applications

A small grants call for fieldwork and working papers is currently live, with a closing date of 30 June. Researchers around the world are invited to join ERPI in exploring the current conjuncture, examining how authoritarian populism flourishes in diverse rural settings, and how resistance and alternatives to it are being generated for more emancipatory futures.
 
Small grants: apply

What drives infectious animal-to-human diseases?

A Tanzanian woman carrying firewood, accompanied by a goat

Infectious diseases traceable to animals are driven by climate change, land-use change and the massive expansion of towns and cities, according to contributors to a paper in a major new output from the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium, a STEPS Centre-led project.

One Health for a Changing World: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being is a Special Issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. It is co-edited by Professor Ian Scoones, Director of the STEPS Centre, Professor Andrew Cunningham of ZSL (Zoological Society of London) and Professor James Wood of the University of Cambridge.

Find out more
Copyright © 2017 STEPS Centre, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
STEPS Centre
Institute of Development Studies
Library Road, Falmer
Brighton, East Sussex BN1 9RE
United Kingdom
steps-centre@ids.ac.uk



Tuesday, June 20, 2017

AJSTID Book Review | Needham’s Indian Network: The Search for a Home for the History of Science in India (1950–1970) | by Rajiv Kumar Mishra

Book Review
Needham's Indian Network: The Search for a Home for the History of Science in India (1950–1970)
by Rajiv Kumar Mishra, African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2017, DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2017.1330840. 


CfP: APO Training Course on Management Consultancy on Green Productivity Focusing on SMEs | 11-22 September | Taipei, Taiwan

No. 31123/17

National Productivity Council

Utpadakta Bhawan, 5-6 Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – 110 003, India 

Tel. 011-24607328 | Fax: 011-24615002


Sub:17-IN-33-GE-TRC-A :  Training Course on Management Consultancy on Green Productivity Focusing on SMEs from 11-22 September, 2017, Taipei, Taiwan. 


(Visit www.npcindia.gov.in/5280-2/ for detailed Project Notification)


Dear Sir/ Madam,

 

We invite your kind attention to internet link on NPC website www.npcindia.gov.in/5280-2/  with regard to above project. The project notification and bio data form are available on the above mentioned page and the same are attached herewith. The duly filled in single copy of Performa enclosed  of the suitable officers for participation as per the para (Qualifications for Participants) of the project notification may kindly be forwarded  to reach us latest by 5th July 2017. All nominations should be routed through proper channel. The nominations received after the last date will not be considered.  You are requested to send nominations by e-mail (application in pdf format) and hard copy by post. All information pertaining to nominations will be treated as confidential and classified.

The nominated officers would be under obligation to act as faculty as and when required in programs on the relevant subject, if organized by NPC.

In the case of 'not-for-profit' organization & SMEs, round trip economy class international travel fare by the most direct route between the international airport nearest to the participant's place of work at will be borne by the Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo.  Participants from other organizations will have to travel on their own account.  Hotel charges at the venue of the programme will be met by the implementing organization for all categories of participants.

It is the responsibility of the candidates to complete all the official formalities required by their organizations/department before proceeding abroad.  The nomination form may be accompanied by a draft of Rs. 1000/-+ S.T. (NON-REFUNDABLE) drawn in favour of National Productivity Council, New Delhi (Rs. 500/-+ S.T. for MSME Sector, trade unions and NGO's) for each participant.  In the absence of application fee and single copy of bio-data, the nominations will not be considered.  In case of selection by APO, NPC will charge Rs. 6,000/- + S.T.(Rs. 3,000/-+ S.T. for MSME Sector, Trade Unions and NGO's) per participant towards handling charges and membership fee for the APO Alumni Association of India (AAAI). In case of profit making organizations, the handling charges would be Rs. 12,000/-+ S.T. per participant.  

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

 

(K.D. Bhardwaj)

Director & Head (Int'l Serv.)

for Director General

e-mail: isg@npcindia.gov.in

Monday, June 19, 2017

New Books | Science, Nature and Law: Public Policy and Governance in India | Intellectual Property Rights National Policy of India: Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, etc.| by Dr. Pawan Sikka

New Books

Science, Nature and Law: Public Policy and Governance in India
by Pawan Sikka, 2017, Synergy Books India, ISBN 9789382059561. 

About the Book
This book Science, Nature and Law, Public Policy and Governance in India, towards building a better India, incorporates the original texts, in varbatim, of a select national government policies and programmes in the fields of Science and Technology, Energy and Environment, Information and Communication, Technology etc in India. For the first time, to fulfill the long-felt needs of the students, researchers, policy-planners, civil servants/administrators, Legal Professionals, NGO's Activists etc., this book is being brought out as ready reference material, to be used alongwith the existing literature on Public Policy and Administration.

About the Author
Dr. Pawan Sikka (b. 1944) is a former Scientist-G/ Adviser, Government of India, Ministry/Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi, where he served in various senior positions, during 1974-2004. He received his M.Sc., PhD as well as D.Sc. degrees in Physics and Fellowship (Science Policy Studies), University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. He is also a recipient of UNESCO, Italian, German and Swiss government scholarships for pursuing further studies there. He is best known for his contributions to Science Policy studies, in India and abroad. He is a life member of the Semiconductor Society of India, Materials Research Society of India, Association of British Scholars, and Oxford and Cambridge Society of India.

Intellectual Property Rights National Policy of India: Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, etc.
by Pawan Sikka, 2017, Synergy Books India, ISBN 9789382059554. 

About the Book
India unveiled its first a comprehensive, National Intellectual Property Rights (NIPRs) Policy-2016, on 13 May 2016, aimed at fostering innovation, cutting delays in clearing patent, trademark and copyright applications; protecting traditional knowledge and encouraging entrepreneurship. It is likely to bring India's IP regime in line with global standards and help improve its ranking in the World Banks Ease of Doing Business Index. The new NIPRs Policy-2016 will speed up the entire registration of patents and trade-marks, etc. The NIPRs Policy-2016 has generated unprecedented responses within and outside India. A critical review of the said NIPRs Policy-2016 has been made by various scholars, published elsewhere and these are compiled and included in this book for the benefit of researchers, policy planners, academicians, legal professionals, etc.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Call for Participation: International Forum on Productivity | 12-14 September | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

National Productivity Council

Utpadakta Bhawan

5-6 Institutional Area

Lodhi Road

New Delhi – 110 003

Tel. 011-24607328

Fax: 011-24615002

 No. 31411/17

                                                                                                                 

 

 

Sub:17-RP-34-GE-CON-B:  International Forum on Productivity from 12-14 September, 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

(Visit www.npcindia.gov.in/5280-2/ for detailed Project Notification)


Dear Sir,

 

We invite your kind attention to internet link on NPC website  www.npcindia.gov.in/5280-2/ with regard to above project. The project notification and the APO bio data form are available on the above mentioned page and the same are attached herewith. The duly filled in single copy of Performa enclosed of the suitable officers for participation as per the para (Qualifications for Participants) of the project notification may kindly be forwarded to reach us latest by 1st July 2017. All nominations should be routed through proper channel. The nominations received after the last date will not be considered.  You are requested to send nominations by e-mail (application in pdf format) and hard copy by post. All information pertaining to nominations will be treated as confidential and classified.

 

The nominated officers would be under obligation to act as faculty as and when required in programs on the relevant subject, if organized by NPC.

APO would meet round trip economy class international airfare by the most direct route from the international airport nearest to the participant's place of work.  Hotel charges at the venue of the programme will be met by the implementing organization.

It is the responsibility of the candidates to complete all the official formalities required by their organizations/department before proceeding abroad.  The nomination form may be accompanied by a draft of Rs. 1000/-+ S.T. (NON-REFUNDABLE) drawn in favour of National Productivity Council, New Delhi (Rs. 500/-+ S.T. for MSME Sector, trade unions and NGO's) for each participant.  In the absence of application fee and single copy of bio-data, the nominations will not be considered.  In case of selection by APO, NPC will charge Rs. 6,000/- + S.T.(Rs. 3,000/-+ S.T. for MSME Sector, Trade Unions and NGO's) per participant towards handling charges and membership fee for the APO Alumni Association of India (AAAI). In case of profit making organizations, the handling charges would be Rs. 12,000/-+ S.T. per participant.  

 

Thanking you,

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

(K.D. Bhardwaj)

Director & Head (Int'l Serv.)

for Director General

e-mail: isg@npcindia.gov.in

 

Sent by: Raj Kumar Rawat <rk.rawat@npcindia.gov.in>