Most of us today in 21st Century love to go back to nature. This desire is built into our genes through evolution and wired into our brains. We no doubt are tied to our modern gadgets. But we love green plants, leaves, lawns, and colours of flowers. We are thrilled by the roaring oceans in the sea-coast. We love gushing waters. We love our pets. Of course we love to see the mountains and are awe-inspired by their immensity. Very rarely we get a chance to see the star-studded sky and are thrilled. We fall in love with full moon are afraid of total darkness!
This love for nature is irrespective of the fact that we occasionally come across the terrible face of Nature : floods, earthquakes, landslides etc. After sometime we forget it.
We tend to forget that human population has grown several  hundred  fold since those ‘good old days’!! In fact post independence, that is from mid 1940’s, developing countries including India have increased their populations five times; five hundred percent!
So the solutions for the modern human beings are very different from the ‘good old days’! They require a good understanding  of  Science, Engineering,  Biology, Neurosciences, Economics, etc.
Yes, we have to live with nature, but in modern world which will keep changing!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Contents

Foreword —Pgs. 5

Youthful Indians: What is Future? —Pgs. 11

Plastics: Boon or Bomb? —Pgs. 26

Maintenance: Mainstay of Sustainability —Pgs. 36

Identity Crisis: Learning from our Traditions —Pgs. 45

Nature and Modern Life —Pgs. 56

Precision Agriculture —Pgs. 69

Soil: Key for Sustaining Life —Pgs. 79

Chaotic Churning: What is Ahead? —Pgs. 96

Coping with Complexity: Macro Versus Micro —Pgs. 110

Agriculture in Education —Pgs. 123

Electricity from Renewable Sources —Pgs. 134

Bioprocess and Bioproducts–Emerging Trends —Pgs. 147

Invasion Biology —Pgs. 159

Earth with 10 Billion People —Pgs. 168

Swaccha Bhaarat —Pgs. 180

Education: The Key —Pgs. 191

Migration of People —Pgs. 205

E-Commerce and Virtual World —Pgs. 216

Softer Issues —Pgs. 226

Competition and Interdependence: Capital,

Technology and Society —Pgs. 255

Y.S. Rajan has a proven track record of excellence as a Scientist, Technologist, Administrator, Organisation Builder and Leader, Diplomat, Academic, Writer and Poet. He combines a unique ability for original and innovative thinking with strong implementation skills. He has made key contributions to space research, technology and applications since 1964 and continues to be an important expert on space matters.
As Principal Adviser (2004-2010) he created unique mechanism at CII for University – Industry collaboration. He has written seven books of poetry in an Indian language, Tamil and three books of English poems which have received very good reviews. He was awarded Padma Shri by the President of India during 2012.
During January 2013, he was felicitated at the India Geospatial Forum, with Lifetime Achievement Award.

Key Current Positions
Honorary Distinguished Professor, ISRO / Department of Space, Bangalore
Chairman, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Manipur

e-mail: ysrajan1944@gmail.com