** Tie-up with Serum Institute of India key to mass production of COVID vaccines, say two pharma majors

British-Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca and U.S. pharmaceutical major Novavax have told lawmakers that they are ready to scale up their production of COVID-19 vaccines in partnership with the Serum Institute of India.

Located in the city of Pune in Maharashtra, the SII is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume.

** India to supply four more mobile harbour cranes to Iran’s Chabahar port

In January, India supplied a consignment of two mobile harbour cranes to the Chabahar port having a total contract value of over $25 million.

India will supply four more mobile harbour cranes to Iran’s Chabahar port by the end of June this year, a government official said on Friday

** JNCASR develops molecule that may help treat Alzheimer’s

First identified over a 100 years ago, Alzheimer’s disease has no major medication till date that can assist in permanent treatment.

However, after nearly a decade of research, scientists from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, have developed a molecule that disrupts the mechanism through which neurons become dysfunctional due to Alzheimer’s.

** Discovering a little bit of France in India

The French East India Company was established in 1664, as a part of an expedition to develop new trade routes in the East.

After establishing their first factory in Surat (Gujarat) the French continued their Indian expansion on the Eastern Coast of the peninsula, covering the Coromandel Coast, Odisha Coast, Malabar Coast and a few territories in Bengal.

However, it was Pondicherry that had the biggest cultural impact of the French, that it continues to resonate to date