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Indian Post should extend system of sponsorship for issuing sponsored postal-stamps on commercial lines like is presently done in case of post-cards and Inland-Letter-Cards. Sponsored postal-stamps with some minimum stipulated number can carry advertisements or other messages desired by sponsors to be endorsed by a committee of the Department with sponsorship-charge fixed per printed stamp. System will give dual-edged enormous extra revenue-earning firstly from sponsorship and secondly by making sponsoring companies shifting from private courier-companies to premier postal-services provided by India Post. To induce newness in system and for earning extra revenue through philately, India Post should traditionally issue an altogether new definitive series of postal-stamps and postal-stati...

Presently there are only a few departments like Income Tax Department which informs online RTI applicants about disposal of their RTI applications through emails and SMS-alerts. But most public-authorities like banks do not have such a user-friendly practice requiring RTI applicants to again and again go the RTI online portal for checking status of online filed RTI applications. Rather system should be for auto email of RTI responses and orders of First appellate Authority without at all requiring to go to RTI online portal to check status. Odisha is the worst example with absolutely meaningless and useless online RTI portal which is just a show-piece wherein RTI applicants have to compulsorily send a signed copy of downloaded filled-up form to the concerned public authority along with ...

New Delhi, Mar 02 (India Science Wire): India is the third-largest producer of e-waste and has generated 3.23 MMT E-waste in 2019 alone. Paltry e-waste management makes the situation even more challenging. Notably, e-waste contains several toxic materials such as lead, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants, or polychlorinated biphenyls. Therefore, unregulated accumulation, landfilling, or inappropriate recycling processes poses a severe threat to human health and the environment. On the contrary, e-waste can also be considered an “Urban Mine” for metal recovery and energy production. Led by Professor K.K. Pant, his research group in the Catalytic Reaction Engineering Laboratory at Chemical Engineering Department, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Delhi, has developed...

नई दिल्ली, 03 मार्च (इंडिया साइंस वायर): पृथ्वी पर अलग-अलग प्रकार से जीवन का विकास हुआ है, जो मानव के अस्तित्व में आने के साथ ही उसकी आवश्यकताओं को पूरा करता रहा है और आज भी कर रहा है। प्रकृति में अनेक प्रकार के जीव-जन्तु हैं, जो पारिस्थितिक तंत्र के अनुरूप विकसित हुए हैं, और उनका जीवन तब तक सामान्य रूप से चलता रहता है, जब तक पर्यावरण अनुकूल रहता है। लेकिन, मनुष्य ने विकास के क्रम में न केवल पारिस्थितिक तंत्र को बिगाड़ा है, बल्कि वन्यजीवों और समुद्री जीवों के अस्तित्व का संकट खड़ा कर दिया है। मानवीय गतिविधियों के कारण पूरी दुनिया में वन्यजीवों की संख्या लगातार कम हो रही है। इस संकट को देखते हुए हर साल 03 मार्च को वन्यजीवों और वनस्पतियों के महत्व पर जागरूकता बढ़ाने के लिए विश्व वन्यजीव दिवस मनाया जाता है। विश्व वन्यजीव दिवस का मुख्य उद्देश्य वैश्विक स्तर पर वन्यजीवों के संरक्षण की द...

नई दिल्ली, 2 मार्च (इंडिया साइंस वायर): जैव प्रौद्योगिकी का सबसे बड़ा जलसा ग्लोबल बायो इंडिया, 2021 का नई दिल्ली में सोमवार, एक मार्च को उद्घाटन हुआ। केंद्रीय विज्ञान एवं प्रौद्योगिकी, पृथ्वी विज्ञान और स्वास्थ्य एवं परिवार कल्याण मंत्री डॉ. हर्ष वर्धन ने इसका उद्घाटन किया। इस अवसर पर केंद्रीय वित्त मंत्री निर्मला सीतारमण मुख्य अतिथि रहीं। इस तीन दिवसीय आयोजन में जैव प्रौद्योगिकी के विभिन्न पहलुओं पर चर्चा की जा रही है। इस आयोजन में, पहले सत्र की चर्चा इसी विषय पर केंद्रित थी कि कैसे भारत का 'मेक इन इंडिया' अभियान उस 'आत्मनिर्भर भारत अभियान' में बदल गया, जो देश को आत्मनिर्भरता और लचीलापन प्रदान करने का आधार बन गया है। इस सत्र में, राष्ट्रीय प्राथमिकताओं को रेखांकित किया गया। इसमें दर्शाया गया कि भारत ने कोविड महामारी से उत्पन्न चुनौती को कैसे आपदा स...

New Delhi, March 02 (India Science Wire): Data and artificial intelligence are the fastest growing clusters and these sectors need to be included in schools, colleges, and university curricula, said Director IBM Research India, and CTO, IBM India and South Asia, Dr. Gargi B Dasgupta. She was discussing the jobs that would stay for the next ten years, at a special lecture on National Science Day (NSD) on the theme ‘Future of STI: Impacts on Education, Skills and Work’. She spoke about the future of jobs and the urgency of science, highlighting the recent study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the new emerging job clusters and the skills required for tomorrow's economy. She said that the fourth industrial revolution is creating demand for new skill sets, displacing exist...

It was only after revelation through RTI application that Department of Posts discontinued postal-orders in outdated denominations like rupees 1, 2, 5 and 7 because of extremely low sale-figure and high handling cost. According to an RTI response, handling cost of a postal-order was rupees 37.45 to Department of Posts alone in the year 2011-12. Handling cost for clearing-operation of banks is even extra. It is highly illogical that public-exchequer may bear such extra-ordinary loss in handling postal-orders in denominations like rupees 10 and 20. Rather it is time that higher denominations like of rupees 100, 200 and 500 may be added to avoid purchase of demand-drafts in submitting various types of fees. Government-fees below rupees 50 may either be increased or totally abolished. Or De...

New Delhi, Mar 01 (India Science Wire): Black clam is one of the most important clam species contributing to more than 70% of clam fisheries in India. A research team in India has concluded that black clams (Villorita cyprinoides) can provide potential early warning information on marine pollution that can help environmental scientists to monitor and manage the overall fitness of the marine environment. In this integrated study involving observation of critical bio-lethal parameters coupled with a bioassay of the black clams, sensitive information could be obtained by the scientists. Results of the study revealed that information on sublethal exposure of metal lead (Pb) and its toxic effects on the black clam is an important precursor to assess pollution in a marine environment. ...

New Delhi, Mar 01 (India Science Wire): Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)’s constituent laboratories have been working relentlessly in partnership with industry to launch repurposed drugs through process development and conducting clinical trials. CSIR labs have also extensively contributed towards the launching of diagnostic kits including Feluda and Dry Swab Direct RT-PCR method for the screening of SARS-CoV-2. The indigenous vaccine for COVID-19, COVAXIN, developed by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech, is a highly purified, whole virion, inactivated SARS-CoV2. The vaccine is formulated with Algel-IMDG, which contains chemisorbed TLR7/8 agonist onto aluminium hydroxide gel to generate the requisite type of immune responses. Owing to the significant role play...

New Delhi, Mar 01 (India Science Wire): AustralaSian COVID-19 Trial (ASCOT) has been expanded into India, with the first patients recruited last week to the first two sites, Christian Medical College and Hospital Ludhiana in Punjab and Sterling Multispecialty Hospital in Pune, Maharashtra. Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand, and some neighboring islands. ASCOT has partnered with the George Institute for Global Health to oversee the trial in India given its substantial experience operating clinical trials in the country with a presence in 21 states. George Institute for Global Health is an independent medical research institute headquartered in Australia with offices in China, India and the United Kingdom. ASCOT aims to discover which existing treatments ...