by rakesh | Feb 24, 2008 | Rajasthan
The Defence Minister, Shri AK Antony, visited the forward Areas of the desert sector today. He was accompanied by the Chief of the Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, Lieutenant General Noble Thamburaj, GOC-in-C, Southern Command and Lieutenant General SN Handa, GOC of the Desert Corps.
During his visit, the Raksha Mantri visited the border area in Tanot Sector and was briefed by Lieutenant General SN Handa on operational and border management aspects. Thereafter, he witnessed a demonstration of the ‘Battle of Laungewala’ fought in 1971, during which the Pakistani onslaught with armour and infantry was stopped dead in its tracks by a company of 23 PUNJAB and the Indian Air Force. The grit and determination exhibited by the Indian Army during the Battle of Laungewala is a shining example of valour and sacrifice of our soldiers in the face of the enemy. In addition to his interaction with Senior Commanders and officers of the Desert Corps, he addressed a large gathering of troops of the Desert Corps. In his address, Mr Antony commended the troops for their high state of operational readiness to meet any eventuality and called upon all ranks to continue their good work. Mr. Antony exhorted the troops of the Desert Corps to emulate the valiant acts of bravery displayed by those defending Laungwala Post and called upon them to persevere in their efforts in defending the territorial integrity of the nation.
Shri AK Antony joined the troops for a barakhana and had an informal interaction with them.
by rakesh | Feb 22, 2008 | Env & Geography
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh chaired a meeting here today to review Tiger conservation status in the country and the functioning of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. While expressing concern about the decline in Tiger population, Prime Minister noted that recent estimates of Tiger population, arrived at on the basis of a new methodology, cannot be compared with earlier estimates.
Stating that the Government of India is fully committed to Tiger conservation, the Prime Minister said the Central Government will further enhance financial and organizational support for efforts in this direction. Prime Minister directed that the Centre should fund modernization of Tiger Reserves management, including recruitment of staff from local population and providing them adequate equipment. He sought a State-specific strategy for such central assistance.
Government has recently approved an enhanced relocation package of up to Rs. 10 lakhs per family for families living in Tiger Reserves. Schemes for rehabilitation of traditional hunters; for supporting new Tiger Reserves; for supporting eco-tourism benefitting local communities; for deployment of anti-poaching staff; and, for improving service conditions of forest officers have also been taken up.
Noting that some States have a better record of Tiger conservation than others, the meeting stressed the importance of concerned State Governments paying focused attention. Chief Ministers have been asked to take personal charge of Tiger conservation and forest management. The Prime Minister will convene a Conference of Chief Ministers of States with Tiger Reserves to put in place a coordinated response to the challenge of Tiger conservation.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of State for Forests, Shri Regupathy, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office and ministry of environment and forests, and Director, National Tiger Conservation Authority.
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PIB/SH/MK
by rakesh | Feb 22, 2008 | Health & Fitness
Demand for new and more effective antibiotics continues to grow particularly as bacterial resistance to existing antibiotics spreads. The market for antibiotic drugs is huge. In 2005, worldwide sales of oral antibiotics totaled USD 25 Billion including US sales of $8.5 billion ($7.0 billion for adults and $1.5 billion for children). Apart from being huge, the market is also growing at a significant rate, with adult and pediatric prescriptions growing in 2005 at 8.5% and 10.8% respectively.
Department of Biotechnology has recently initiated a network project called “Screening for Bio-molecules from microbial diversity collected from different ecological niches”. The project involves nine institutes, with NPIL Research & Development Limited (NRDL) as an industrial partner. The total cost of the project is Rs.24.86 crores with DBT contribution of Rs.17.98 Crores. Rs. 6.88 Crores is being contributed by NRDL. The participating institutes are:-
Ø National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur
Ø National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune
Ø Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi
Ø University of Delhi, South Campus (UDSC), Delhi
Ø Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar
Ø M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai
Ø Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar
Ø Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD), Imphal
Ø National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Panjim
The project envisages a mega scale screening programme for various environmental isolates. This is the first project in the country where industry and academia will work together to screen such a large number of bacterial isolates. Different academic institutes will isolate organisms specific to diverse ecological niches. For each sample, isolation of bacteria will be carried out on 30 different growth media.
This multi-institutional effort will generate approximately 7000 isolates/month (~1000/institute), which will be regularly sent to NRDL, the industrial partner of the project. Screening will be carried out for anti-cancer, anti-infective, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammation properties. In addition to culture dependent method, the culture independent approach will also be taken up for a few selected samples.
The project will lead to selection of potential candidate molecules, which will be taken to process scale-up strategies with appropriate partners. The credit sharing in this project amongst the PI and industry has been mutually worked out and an agreement has been signed on 22nd February 2008 in the presence of Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Kapil Sibal.
A separate Microbial Repository is being set up at National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune to maintain the 2,00,000 isolates generated under this project. This would be the largest such facility in the country and would confirm to International Depository Authority (IDA) standards.
PIB/PRA/SKK
by rakesh | Feb 15, 2008 | Business
NTPC Limited and Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) signed a bipartite JV Agreement to promote a Joint Venture Company to establish, operate and maintain a 1980 MW (3X660MW) coal based power station at Nabinagar, Distt. Aurangabad, Bihar. NTPC and BSEB shall have equal shareholding of 50:50 in the JV.
The JV agreement was signed by Shri T. Sankaralingam, CMD, NTPC Limited and Shri Swapan Mukherjee, Chairman, BSEB in the presence of Shri Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar.
NTPC presently has an installed capacity of 28644 MW (including 1794 MW JVs). It is diversifying into hydro power, coal mining, power distribution, power trading, power equipment manufacturing, EPC etc. The Navratna Company plans to be a 75000 MW company by the year 2017.
by rakesh | Feb 13, 2008 | India News
Incidents of piracy on the high seas have declined considerably since India ratified a regional agreement one-and-a-half years ago. This was pointed out in talks between Brigadier General (NS) Tay Lim Heng, Chairman of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against ships in Asia (ReCAAP), and Vice Admiral RF Contractor, Director General, Indian Coast Guard (DGICG) and Vice Chairman of ReCAAP, here yesterday. Brig. General Tay Heng is leading a four member ReCAAP delegation on a visit to India to discuss steps to enhance cooperation and force building.
India acceded to the ReCAAP on June 6, 2006. The agreement aims at enhancing cooperation amongst its 16 member countries, including the ASEAN, China, Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It enables the maritime forces to seize ships or aircraft involved in piracy and armed robbery besides information sharing, capacity building and cooperation for extradition and mutual legal assistance. In the ASEAN only Malaysia and Indonesia have not ratified the treaty. The ReCAAP achieved a distinction when it concluded an agreement with the International Maritime Organisation in December last year.
During his stay in New Delhi, Brig. General Tay Heng also held discussions with Shri PK Rastogi, Special Secretary, Ministry of Defence. The four-member ReCAAP delegation will visit the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), which is also the Piracy Reporting Centre in India, and participate in a table top exercise on piracy control during their visit to Mumbai over the next two days.
The Coast Guard is India’s nodal agency for the ReCAAP. The role of the Indian Coast Guard shot into fame when it tackled the 1999 piracy incident of MV Alondra Rainbow.
PK-PIB
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