Old is gold

MODERNITY meets tradition at the General Informations Service Terminal-National Informatics Centre (gistnic) -- a database on traditional science and technologies of India -- located at the National Informatics Centre (NIC), New Delhi. Here, information on disciplines, ranging from Indian medicine to ancient agricultural practices, can be accessed. This knowledge has been gleaned from literature, field surveys, research by scholars, and artisans.

Patent prospects

ARE you an inventive genius worried about copyright? You could patent your well-honed skills or products. The Patent Information System (PIS) of the Government of India, located in all the metropolitan cities, grants patent rights for an invention for a limited number of years. A patent right is a property right which may be bought, sold, hired or licensed.

Eco liaisoning

THE South can now begin challenging the stereotypes about itself that had been sold so enticingly till now. The Environmental Liaison Centre International (ELCI), in Nairobi has launched a project to assist Kenyan non-governmental organisations to gain access to electronic communication.

Building green citizens

HIGHBROW colleges can seek to catalyse changes in the communities they are rooted in. The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) is a national voluntary membership organisation based at Ontario in Canada. The accc acts as an interface between colleges and institutes to the government and industry.

Listing legume benefits

A COMPREHENSIVE database on legumes, the first of its kind in South Asia is being set up by Sudershan Kumar, a researcher at the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow.

Treasure tapping

THE Environmental Resources Research Centre (ERRC) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, seeks to promote research and studies in identification of natural resources, and their use by developing required technologies.

Gossamer research

A pox on pests

INSECTS destroy a major part of standing crop, damaging the predominantly agrarian economy of the developing countries. That traditional pesticides are indisputably environmentally detrimental is an established fact. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), in Nairobi, Kenya, directed by scientists from the developing world was founded in 1970 to curb the depredations of the pest.

Feverish inactivity

WHILE the Indian government appears to be a lame duck in the face of the recent spurt in malaria in the country, a joint research team of the University of Western Australia and Murdhoch University has developed a new drug capable of killing one of the most virulent forms of malaria. Today, when the deadly malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, has developed a remarkable resistance to many existing anti-malarial drugs, this discovery comes as a great relief.

Livestock largesse

RAM Chandra Tokas, a 48-year-old rich Haryana farmer of village Chochran, bought 4 ungainly buffalos 7 years ago to start a dairy business. Today, he makes a fat profit: a single buffalo fetches him about Rs 7,000 annually. Tokas owns 9 animals and does brisk business every year in Haryana's famous Hisar buffalo fair.