ASSAM
CSIR-NEIST research to focus on environmental care, herbal formulation
A three-day international conference on Engineering Sciences and Technologies for Environmental Care (ESTEC-2020) was held at the CSIR-NEIST at Pulibor here from February 20.
A CSIR-NEIST press note stated that participants from diverse areas of science and technology from across India and abroad attended the conference. Apart from a host of dignitaries, participants from academic and research institutes, the event was also attended by some industry bigshots.
The CSIR-NEIST Director disclosed that Advanced Computation and Data Sciences Division (ACDS), Agrotechnology and Rural Development Division, Centre for Petroleum Studies, Centre for Instrumentation and Quality Control, Centre for Knowledge Resource and Information Sciences, have been set up for catering to the needs of north-eastern region in particular and the country in general.
NORTH-EASTERN STATES
Dimapur records 938 HIV-positive cases in 2019-20
Altogether 881 persons in the general category and 57 pregnant women were found to be positive out of the 12,512 and 4,025 tested for HIV respectively, in Dimapur district during the period from April last year to January this year. This was revealed by the Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant of District AIDS Prevention and Control Committee.
According to the official, 95 per cent of those tested positive contracted the virus through sex, three per cent from parent to child, and two per cent through needle syringes.
Nagaland ranks third in HIV prevalence in India with 50 per cent of the infected people from Dimapur district. Most of the HIV-positive people in the State are in the age group of 15 to 35 years. Mizoram has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in India, followed by Manipur.
INTERNATIONAL
3, 000 kilometre long power grid from Myanmar-Thailand to India: BIMSTEC
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is working on connecting about 3,000-kilometre long power grid from Myanmar-Thailand to India.
This was announced by the Energy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Dr Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury while inaugurating the energy conference of BIMSTEC in Dhaka.
The grid connectivity would ensure better capacity utilization by complementing member country’s demand and supply situation.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are interested in investing in BIMSTEC regional power grid.
BIMSTEC countries had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for establishing a regional power grid in 2018.
BIMSTEC is a regional grouping with seven countries from South and Southeast Asia including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand , Nepal and Bhutan.
NATIONAL
National Science Day 2020: 28 February
National Science Day (NSD) is observed every year on February 28.
On this day President Ram Nath Kovind will present several awards for science communication and popularization as well as for women scientists.
The theme of this day is ‘women in science’.
NSD is celebrated every year on 28 February to commemorate the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’.
On this day, Sir C.V. Raman announced the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’ for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930.
The Government of India designated 28 February as National Science Day (NSD) in 1986.
International Conference on Standardisation of AYUSH Terminologies ‘ICoSDiTAUS-2020’ concludes in Delhi
ICoSDiTAUS-2020, the two-day International Conference on Standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies in Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine concluded in New Delhi.
It concluded with adopting the “New Delhi Declaration on Collection and Classification of Traditional Medicine (TM) Diagnostic Data”.
The sixteen countries came together for the cause of Traditional Medicine at this conference.
ICoSDiTAUS-2020 is the biggest ever international event dedicated to standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies of Traditional Medicine in terms of the broad level of participation covering virtually all the continents.
The New Delhi declaration emphasised the commitment of the countries to Traditional Medicine as a significant area of health care.
NTPC, CPCB to set up 25 CAAQMS in States and UTs
NTPC Limited has agreed to help the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to set up 25 Continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) across six States and three Union Territories (UTs) in India.
As per the agreement, NTPC will provide financial support of Rs.80 crore for the installation of CAAQMS in the States and Union Territories.
The six states are Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Patna in Bihar, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Allahabad all in Uttar Pradesh, Pimpri-Chinchwad in Maharashtra and Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
The 3 UTs where the CAAQMS will be installed are Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Silvassa in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman in Daman & Diu.
Cabinet approved the 2020 Surrogacy Regulation Bill
The Union Cabinet approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020, on 26 February. The Bill will allow widows and divorced women to be surrogate mothers. The Bill has incorporated all recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee.
The amended Bill is the reformed version of the draft legislation, which was passed by Lok Sabha in August 2019.
The Bill aims to ensure effective regulation of the surrogacy service. It bans commercial surrogacy and allow altruistic surrogacy.
Bill provisions:
The Bill aims to ensure effective regulation of the surrogacy service.
The Bill has now proposed that the surrogate mother should be a “willing” woman. Earlier it was termed and instructed as “close relative.” The Bill has recommended that not only close relatives but any woman, whether she is a widow or divorcee, who is “willing” should be allowed to act as a surrogate mother.
The Bill stated that only Indian couples (both partners being of Indian origins) could opt for surrogacy in the country.
The Cabinet decided that the insurance cover of the surrogate mother, which was proposed for 16 months, should be increased to 36 months.
As per the Bill, National Surrogacy Board at the central level and State Surrogacy Board and appropriate authorities in states and Union Territories (UT) respectively, will be established to regulate surrogacy.
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