 |
|
Taksha Center for Smart Village Initiative
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| |
Takshashila
Smart Village Newsletter (TSVN)
Premiere Issue - Vol. 1, No. 1 - May 2019
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Welcome to the Takshashila Smart Village Newsletter, aka TSVN!
I am Narayanan Komerath, an aerospace engineer/researcher/teacher for 41 years, and I have the honor of serving as the Founding Editor-in-Chief of this newsletter platform for highlighting an exciting path forward for the application of innovative ideas and practices that can lead the world's most rural communities to a sustainable level of existence in the post-modern world.
I came to the issue of rural sustainability around 2006, when I saw the link between research on extraterrestrial in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies and standalone renewable power generators for remote communities. This led to the realization that rural energy self-reliance is the way to cut through the tangled web of woe that afflicts rural areas across the globe.
In February 2017, the Global Indian Business Council (GIBC) held a one-day meeting in Atlanta to set out a Smart Village Roadmap to Rural Energy Self-Reliance, going all the way from school Photovoltaic (PV) and biogas systems to a hydrogen economy. Resulting from this, a subsequent pilot project has brought 55 PV systems and 1 biogas system to village "Single Teacher Schools" in India where that is the only way the small kids can get electric lighting for education -- those systems are still working today.
This year's ambitious endeavor, described in this premiere issue of the TSVN below, is the "1AKC2019" conference, named after the pioneering Indian President and aerospace engineer Abdul Kalam (1931-2015), who argued for "Urban Amenities" in India's rural areas. We aim to further develop the roadmap to reverse urban migration, and make India's 597,000 villages good for post-modern sustainable life, and clean, advanced "cottage" enterprises. India offers both the historical/ traditional underpinnings and the government sincerity to make this happen; and when it does, to set a template to adopt and adapt all over the world.
It is the vision and wish of the Editorial Board that this newsletter will inform, inspire, and update the innovators, planners, policy managers, decision-makers, students, researchers, and other interested people along the way towards the collaboration needed to improve the sustainability of the world's disadvantaged villages. |
|
Narayanan Komerath, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology, GA USA
Founding Editor-in-Chief (EiC)
Mr. Dhirendra Shah, President-Elect, Global Indian Business Council
Founding Associate Editor-in-Chief (AEiC)
Adarsh Deepak, PhD, Taksha Institute (TI), VA USA
Founding Associate Editor & Managing Editor
Mr. Ravi A. Deepak, TI and A. Deepak Publishing (ADP), CA USA
Founding Assistant Editor & Assistant Managing Editor
|
|
|
1ST ABDUL KALAM CONFERENCE 2019 (1AKC2019)
|
July 11-14, 2019 is the week to mark on your calendars for the first Abdul Kalam Conference with a focus on "Sustainable Growth at Sustainable Cost," hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chennai, India. Sponsored by the Global Indian Business Council (GIBC) and Takshashila Institute (TI), this event promises a wealth of current thinking about innovative solutions to lift foster energy sustainability in India's rural villages.
The slate of organizers, workshop topics, and related contact information, can be viewed with other details at www.taksha.org/divisions/TCSVI/events/1AKC2019.
|
Registration is open now, with a discounted early bird fee available for a few more weeks, until June 15.
In addition to those wishing to attend the conference in person, electronic remote participation is also offered via ZOOM software, with video and audio connection to the live proceedings. Participants may post comments/questions by text, which will be recorded and if possible answered. Those wishing to participate in this manner may register under the Electronic Participation option. Registrants will receive ZOOM log-in instructions before the conference.
The fees for attending are as follows:
- Early registration fee (now extended to June 15) to attend in person: $200
- Regular fee after June 15: $250
- Payment onsite: $250
- Remote, online access with video and audio connection to live proceedings (via ZOOM): $100 (Limited to the first 50 registrants. Access code and instructions to follow closer to the event date.)
- Full-time Student fee for in-person attendance: $100 (Please indicate your institutional affiliation and degree program when registering.)
For registration within India, go to http://nccrd.in/module/Content/Content.php.
For registration outside of India, see
For logistics information about this conference, please email
contact@taksha.org or telephone the Taksha Institute administrative office (Catherine Houlahan) at 1+757-766-7880. For technical details, you may contact Prof. Narayanan Komerath at
1akc2019@gmail.com.
|
|
|
UPCOMING AND ONGOING SMART VILLAGE EVENTS TO NOTE
|
|
November 6-8, 2019
5th International Workshop on
ACCELERATOR-DRIVEN SUB-CRITICAL SYSTEMS & THORIUM UTILIZATION
Organized in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency
Please be advised that the International Symposium on Hydrogen in Matter (ISOHIM) will provide partial travel support to Grad Students and the Post Docs to encourage them to attend the workshop.
Contact: Dr. Ganapati Myneni - Virginia, USA
December 11-13, 2019
DISASTER RESILIENT SMART CITIES
JNU, New Delhi, India
Contact:
Prof. Amita Singh -
Chair, Special Centre for Disaster Research (SCDR)
Periodic Online Seminars
Global Solar Council (GSC)
1425 K St. NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC, 20006 USA
Contact:
Mr. Pranav Mehta - Chairman, GSC
If you'd like to include additional relevant events here, please contact us at
contact@taksha.org!
|
For more information about this newsletter or its contents, or permission to publish contents herein, contact A. Deepak Publishing staff at: 757-766-7880 (tel.) or
contact@taksha.org
.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
