Month: January 2022

** Made in Odisha RAT kit gets ICMR nod   

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has approved ImCOV-Ag, a Covid-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) kit developed in Odisha. The high sensitivity kit that can detect infection of all variants of the novel coronavirus will be available in the market in one to two months.

Developed by Imgenex India Pvt Ltd in collaboration with the ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar, the kit is the first to be developed in the eastern zone of the country. Director RMRC Dr Sanghamitra Pati said based on the internal validation here, Imgenex submitted the report to ICMR central office in November, 2021. The ICMR validated the kit through a third party and gave approval for its use at laboratory testing facilities on January 27. 

Odisha

** ‘Crorepati fakir’ is a crusader for girls’ education

At 95, Mathematician Dr Ghasiram Verma is full of enthusiasm. The nonagenarian, originally hailing from Sidi village of Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, is called a ‘crorepati fakir’ because he spent almost everything on girl child education. 

Today, thousands of girls have access to good education with his help and many school buildings have come up with his donations. Dr Ghasiram Verma has settled in America, but visits India for three months every year and spends Rs 50 lakh — half of his pension funds—on educating girls. So far, he has spent over Rs 10 crore on educating girls in his area. 

Rajasthan / USA

** This Tamil Nadu daily wage labourer woman is learning from loads to lift life’s bars high

Biceps of S Sangeetha do not waver as she loads 50 kgs of skins, de-haired and processed, onto trucks lining Vainyambadi’s tanneries. The 35-year-old woman loader is off carrying 50-kg drums of various chemicals around the industry. She is also no stranger to uncharacteristically silent markets at midnight, her muscles don’t get a fraction of rest as she unloads vegetables at Vellore.

It is almost dawn when Sangeetha heads home with Rs 200 after a long day of lifting heavy goods. But this experience and hard work have come handy as she is now the first woman bodybuilding champion in her area.

** ‘AirVaidya’ dhoopa can be effective in preventing air-borne infections, including COVID, say researchers

Prepared by AIMIL Pharmaceuticals, ‘AirVaidya’ contains phytochemicals from 19 medicinal which are known for their potential therapeutic effects to combat the coronavirus.

Researchers at Banaras Hindu University have found that anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of the fumes of ‘AirVaidya’ herbal incense sticks can be effective in preventing air-borne infections.

Prepared by AIMIL Pharmaceuticals, ‘AirVaidya’ contains phytochemicals from 19 medicinal which are known for their potential therapeutic effects to combat the coronavirus.

Benares, Uttar Pradesh

* Bengaluru-based biotech lab develops tabletop papaya variety ‘Dawn Delight’

Developed by Thomas Biotech Lab, the papaya variety, christened ‘Dawn Delight’, grows only up to three or four feet and is best for cultivation on the terrace, balconies, and kitchen gardens.

** Maharashtra has highest number of SC entrepreneurs

Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan occupy second and third slots
Maharashtra tops India’s list in the number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) owned by entrepreneurs from the Scheduled Castes with as many as 96,805 enterprises.

Tamil Nadu with 42,997 enterprises and Rajasthan with 38,517 units occupy the second and third slots, according to the data furnished by the Office of the Development Commissioner in the Union Ministry of MSME exclusively to The Hindu regarding the number of SC-owned enterprises covered under the Udyam system of registration.

The fourth, fifth and sixth slots belong to Uttar Pradesh (36,913 units), Karnataka (28,803 enterprises) and Punjab (24,503 units) respectively. As on January 23, 2022, the number of SC-owned enterprises at the all-India level was 4,53,972, of which micro enterprises accounted for 4,50,835, small – 3,004 and medium – 133.

** India delivers 3 tonnes of medical assistance to Afghanistan

Prior to this, India has supplied three shipments of medical assistance, consisting of 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine and essential life-saving medicines to Afghanistan.

India has supplied three tonnes of essential life-saving medicines to Afghanistan in the fourth batch of medical assistance to the war-torn country and will provide further humanitarian help to the people there in form of medicines and foodgrains in coming weeks, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday.

** India’s largest electric vehicle charging station set up in Gurugram

It will be able to charge 100 EVs round the clock

India’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging station, with 100 charging points for four-wheelers, was commissioned in Sector 52 here on Friday. Before this, the country’s largest EV charging station was in Navi Mumbai, with 16 AC and 4 DC charging ports for such vehicles.

The EV charging station in Gurugram, with 72 AC slow-chargers and 24 DC fast-chargers, has been installed and is operated by a partner company of National Highways for Electric Vehicle (NHEV), as part of a pilot project to install charging stations on the Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Agra highways, and turn them into e-highways.

** Decommissioned INS Khukri to be converted into museum

The ship is planned to be developed as a full-scale museum, the Navy said in a statement.

INS Khukri, the lead ship of the Indian Navy’s Khukri class missile corvettes which was decommissioned last December, was on Wednesday handed over to the Diu administration to be converted into a museum.

The ship is planned to be developed as a full-scale museum, the Navy said in a statement.

As part of developing and revitalising the Khukri Memorial, the Diu administration had approached the Defence Ministry in 2019 for gifting to it, for public display, a decommissioned naval vessel, the Navy said. “The ship commenced her last journey under tow by Navy ships from Visakhapatnam and arrived at Diu on January 14, it stated.