In precursor to Modi visit, Cabinet clears five agreements with US

The clearances are for a global telescope project, on education, gas hydrates, clean energy and climate change

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, the Cabinet on Wednesday cleared five agreements with that country's government.

These are for a global telescope project, on education, gas hydrates, clean energy and climate change.

In the deal to be signed in gas hydrates, US and Indian scientists will carry out a second and third phase of expeditions under the National Gas Hydrate Programme (NGHP) in the deepwater areas of the eastern and western coasts and the Andaman Sea.

The ministry of petroleum formulated NGHP in 2000. NGHP Expedition-1, launched in 2006, had established the presence of gas hydrates in the Krishna-Godavari and Mahanadi basins and the Andaman deep waters. NGHP Expeditions-2 and 3 are due in 2014-2017. Twenty sand-prone sites are planned to be cored and 40 wells to be drilled. Based on this data, sites for pilot production testing will be identified and carried out. The cabinet also approved India's participation in the 30-metre telescope (TMT) project at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, at a total cost of Rs 1,300 crore over 2014-23. The TMT will be constructed for $1.47 billion by an international consortium from USA, Canada, Japan, India and China. From the Indian side, this will be a joint project of the departments of science & technology and atomic energy.

With its contributions, India will be a 10 per cent partner in the project and 70 per cent of its contributions will be "in kind". This will translate into 25-30 observing nights on the telescope for Indian scientists yearly, enabling them to gets answers to some fundamental questions in modern science.

In another agreement, a joint declaration of intent will be signed for cooperation in higher education for implementation of a Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme. It will be signed between between India's ministry of human resource development and the National Science Foundation there. GIAN aims to tap a pool of scientists and entrepreneurs to engage with institutes of higher education in India.

The cabinet also gave a nod to a joint declaration of intent for an online education programme. The platform server will be based in India and US universities will be invited to offer post-graduate academic programmes, with certification.