Archive for December 2011
Coconut Board nod for Neera
31 December 2011
KOCHI:The Project Approval Committee meeting of the Technology Mission on Coconut held at Coconut Development Board, Kochi, has cleared a project for setting up a Neera demonstration unit in Karnataka. The project is to be set up at Horticulture Farm, Thumbe. The project to manufacture and preserve Neera, the sap extracted from inflorescence of coconut palm, involves an investment of Rs.1.15 crore. The share of the Coconut Development Board (CDB) for the project is Rs.28.75 lakh.
The project was submitted by the Department of Horticulture, Karnataka Government, under the Technology Mission. The technology developed by the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysore, are available for preservation of the natural drink for periods ranging from three days to two months, CDB officials said….
Read more: http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/article2761208.ece
Agriculture Univ to recycle sewage water
30 December 2011
NAGPUR: While Nagpur Municipal Corporationsleeps over it, Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) has already readied sewage waste water treatment plant on nullah passing through Maharajbagh zoo. The unit, installed with the help of NEERI, will be commissioned on January 26.
TOI, on December 6, 2010, had reported PDKV’s plans to set up such a plant. It is based on NEERI’s phytorid technology. “The basic idea was to tide over water crisis in the garden and the zoo, especially after the British system to supply water from Futala lake collapsed,” said P G Ingole, associate dean, College of Agriculture……
NALs Drishti to help pilots in fog
29 December 2011
BANGALORE: Pilots at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi, often engaged in fog-fight during take-offs and landings, will have some respite now. Drishti – a visibility measuring system – developed by a small group of scientists of Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a premier institute under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), have gone live at the IGI Airport from December 14….
Read more: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/nals-drishti-to-help-pilots-in-fog/215957-60-115.html
‘The small projects can be converted into workable ones’
29 December 2011
NAGPUR: ‘In the film 3 Idiots, it was shown that salt water is a good conductor of electricity. Then why can’t sea water be utilized for conducting electricity?’ ‘Despite being made up of dead cells, how do our hair and nails grow?’ ‘Why does hot water freeze before cold water?’
These were just some of the serious deliberations that school children were engaged in at Raman Science Centre and Planetarium on Wednesday. The occasion was the beginning of the three-day celebration of the International Year of Chemistry and Forests. Several models made by students as well as teachers will be on display through the three days.
As a start, the centre had arranged an interaction between the students and some eminent science professionals from the city. National Environment Engineering Research Institute (Neeri) scientist Nitin Labhsethwar encouraged the children to chose a profession based on what they love doing. He also introduced them to the pleasure of pursuing a career in pure sciences……
Parliament Gives Nod to AcSIR Bill
27 December 2011
Parliament today passed a bill that would enable the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to start an academy to award post-graduate and doctoral degrees after making certain amendments.
The Lok Sabha agreed to the amendments made by the Rajya Sabha last week to the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) Bill, 2011, which makes it clear that the Academy would not invoke central laws to deny reservation to SC/ST students.
Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh moved the amendments made by the Rajya Sabha for consideration of the Lok Sabha, which were agreed to after a brief discussion…..
Read more: http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=745638
Read more: http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/par-nod-to-acsir-bill/943157.html
Soon, database on Indian bio-resources
27 December 2011
PUNE: The Unit for Research and Development of Information Products (URDIP) here has prepared a database of patents granted world-wide to Indian bio-resources, including food crops, forest trees, marine organisms, microbial resources, livestock, other animals and agro-resources.
The database is expected to help monitor patenting of bio-resources, detection of bio-piracy, commercial exploitation and benefit sharing. The database is created with an emphasis on technologies and applications for multiplication, harvesting, processing and utilisation of bio-resources…..
Biotech firms go after smart enzymes to fuel energy sector
23 December 2011
AHMEDABAD: BIOTECH companies producing industrial enzymes are gradually moving to cellulosic enzymes that help in bio-fuel generation. Enzymes are biological catalysts and when added to agriculture residue speed up the process of producing bio-fuel.
The companies say, there is a spurt of enquiries for these energy converting enzymes as conventional energy sources are getting expensive.
In last one year, at least four enzymes makers in India are flooded with enquires for cellulosic enzymes.
Ahmedabad-based Maps Enzymes is busier after its recent foray into enzymes for renewable energy sector. Mapz Enzymes entered into an agreement with National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science & Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, for preparing two cellulosic enzymes – P Janthinellum and Beta Glucosidase. The enzymes when used with biomass or agricultural residues, can produce bio-fuel and bio-gas, usually methane gas…..
Now, everything about country’s bio-resources in a web portal
23 December 2011
PUNE: Soon, detailed information on biological resources, vegetation cover and biological diversity of the country will be available at the click of the mouse, with a web portal being developed for Indian Bio-resource Information Network (IBIN).
The IBIN is a national database infrastructure that offers information in diverse aspects of bio-resources (plants, fishes, water, soil, vegetation, forest, microbial resources) of the country. Now, the portal is being developed to gather more information from the public domain.
Students, researchers, scientists and biologists can now post their feedback on the kind of information they expect on bio-resources that can be incorporated in the portal. Scientists and experts from several organisations across the country, including CSIR’s Unit for Research and Development of Information Products (URDIP) and Abasaheb Garware College from Pune are contributing to this database.
Raj R Hirwani, head, URDIP, Pune, told TOI that the IBIN portal is an inventory of all bio-resources of the country. It is a single stop for anyone trying to locate the information about occurrence, population and exploitation of any bio-resource of the country. “Till now, the individual research institutes and agencies of the government had done surveys and prepared reports and most of them were available in the print form. This is for the first time an inventory of all bio-resources in an integrated manner has been put over the web,” he said…..
Tadoba, Nagzira to develop waste water disposal system
22 December 2011
NAGPUR: The Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur and the Nagzira wildlife sanctuary in Gondia are developing an environment-friendly system for disposal of waste water for rest houses and staff quarters.
The ‘Phytorid’ wastewater treatment technology will be procured from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur…..
RS nod to AcSIR Bill with amendments
21 December 2011
The Rajya Sabha today passed a bill that would enable the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to start an academy to award post-graduate and doctoral degrees after making certain amendments. The amendments to the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR) Bill, 2011, moved by Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh, makes it clear that the Academy would not invoke central laws to deny reservation to SC/ST students. The Lok Sabha has passed the Bill in September, but with the Rajya Sabha making amendments to it, the draft legislation has to go back to the Lower House for approval…..
Read more: http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/rs-nod-to-acsir-bill-with-amendments/940724.html
CSIR in the news.. 