The much-awaited technology development board was finally set up by the Centre last month. The board will facilitate the development of indigenous technology. Scientist V S Ramamurthy will be the chairperson of the board.
Madhya Pradesh will have better water resources in the near future, thanks to a Rs 480 million-project aided by the World Bank. The project aims at utilising existing water resources to the optimum and finding new resources with the help of the latest technologies.
The New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) near Delhi, will soon boast of the country's first 'science city' which will facilitate sponsored research to provide new techniques for industrial development in the area.
Yet another programme has been initiated to save the fast-decreasing numbers of tigers in the country. The Worldwide Fund for Nature (India) has drawn a long term conservation plan called the Tiger Conservation Action Plan to be implemented over the next two years.
Acting under pressure from the herb-traders lobby, the government of Himachal Pradesh has lifted the ban on the plucking and export of the highly endangered medicinal herb, taxus baccata . The herb is used for making a drug, Taxol , prescribed for the treatment of cancer.
To gauge the potential of wind energy in the country, the ministry of non-conventional energy sources is planning to launch a country-wide wind resource assessment study. A combination of satellite imageries and data from various sites would be used to conduct the study over the next twelve months.
Sandeep Jaitka, a Delhi-based inventor will soon be granted a US patent for a device that detects and removes polluted air in a car by releasing fresh air from a small cylinder ( Down To Earth , Vol 5, No 6).
Two doctors, P Rose from the US and Sambhu Pal from Calcutta have developed a new software, 'Canscan', which helps women conduct self-checks for early detection of breast cancer.
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