SciTech Medical and Envirnoment

Infosys Executive Co-chairman S. Gopalakrishnan has urged the Central Government to come out with the right policy for cloud computing in the context of confusion over data ownership and regulatory mechanism.
Mr. Gopalakrishnan identified cloud computing and mobile technology as the main drivers for the information technology (IT) industry in the future.
- Services to citizens such as banking, insurance, health care and education were moving to the cloud, mainly because it was cheaper, had infinite storage capacities and ensured mobility.
- Cloud computing is a marketing term for technologies that provide computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services.
- A parallel to this concept can be drawn with the electricity grid, wherein end-users consume power without needing to understand the component devices or infrastructure required to provide the service.

Ketamine hydrochloride, an intravenously administered anaesthetic used by veterinarians to perform surgeries on pets, is converted to powder form in backyard laboratories in south India and smuggled through airports in bulk quantities to holiday destinations in Malaysia and Thailand where it is widely abused as a recreational drug, according to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).
They said that an international racket, headed mostly by Malaysian citizens of Indian origin, controlled the Ketamine smuggling racket.
Drug enforcers said the abuse of Ketamine (known as Special K, Ketalar, Ketaject, Ketaset, Super-K, “K”, Ket Kat, Cat Valium or Vitamin K among peddlers and users) was relatively less in India.
- In countries where its abuse was widespread, the drug was smoked mixed with marijuana or tobacco or inhaled.
- The odourless and tasteless preparation had gained international notoriety as the “date rape drug” because it was often used by sex offenders to drug their victims, mostly unsuspecting women party-goers.

Agriculturists at a nondescript village of Rajasthan have harnessed the rich potential of environmentally sustainable pea crop, replacing traditional farming with high-cost inputs, and brought prosperity to the rural community by bringing 70 per cent of the agricultural land under pea cultivation during the past two years.
The leguminous crop, Pea ( Pisum sativum ), has turned out to be a blessing for the backward region that is faced with a perennial shortage of water.
It was held with the support from Lupin Foundation — functioning as the corporate social responsibility wing of pharmaceutical major Lupin — which had selected the village for its all-round development and prepared an action plan for starting self-employment ventures, besides testing soil and water to find better avenues for farmers.
- Farmers, who usually sow pea seeds in the last week of October every year, start getting the pea pods by December-end.
- The pea crop needs full irrigation only three to four times during its entire duration and is nourished by chemical fertilisers as well as manure.
- In addition to the processing methods for green pea seeds, farmers will also be trained in packaging techniques to send the produce to big cities and get remunerative prices.
The pea farming has evidently brought affluence to the region and raised the standard of living of farmers, besides enabling them to send their children for of higher education outside the village.

Indian Council of Agriculture Research scientists have succeeded in developing a technique for field cultivation of Makhana or gorgon nut, a kind of dry fruit produced from an aquatic plant ( Euryle ferox ).
Normally grown in lowland ponds in parts of Bihar, Orissa, Assam and West Bengal, it will now be possible to grow the nutritional plant in low farmland and inter-crop it with rice, wheat and green fodder.
- India exports Makhana to the Middle-East, the United States and some European countries.
- The seeds are collected in the late summer and early autumn, and may be eaten raw or cooked.
- In the northeast , unripe Makhana fruit is used as a vegetable.
The plant, also cultivated in China and Japan, produces starchy, white seeds, which are edible.
It is an excellent organic food with great medicinal value. It's seed is analgesic with aphrodisiac properties.

To encourage industries to take up projects in nano technology, the Nano Mission launched by the Government of India in May, 2007, plans to provide loans to start-up firms up to Rs.10 crore from April 2012.
Chairman, Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Nano Mission's Chairman, C.N.R. Rao has also said that:
- A regulatory framework was also being worked out with other Departments, including Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
- While the Government of India had sanctioned Rs.1,000 crore in 2007 under Nano Mission, an umbrella programme to promote R & D in nano science and technology, so far, only Rs.500 crore was spent on various components of the mission, including creation of research facilities, infrastructure, HRD, institution-industry linked projects and international collaborations.
- Pointing out that what was spent by India in the field of nano science and technology was miniscule by world standards, he said India, however, was ranked in sixth/ seventh position in performance in nano science.
- He said India should get into manufacturing in the field of nano technology and expressed optimism that products in agriculture, textiles and energy sectors could be expected in the next five years.

Taking a serious note of the increasing silicosis-related deaths in the country, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended that silicosis be made a notifiable disease. Once notified, all government and private health facilities will have to report confirmed as well as suspected silicosis cases to the government.
- The governments often adopted a strange attitude by saying that those employed in such hazardous jobs were migrant labourers and under the unorganised sector of employment, and hence not much could be done.
- This is a grievous violation of human rights because laws should be equal for organised and unorganised sector workers, keeping in mind the fact that a majority of workers in the country fall in the category of unemployed sector
Silicosis is an incurable lung disease caused by inhaling of dust containing free crystalline silica.
The potential victims of silicosis are poor migrant workers employed in quarries, mines, gem cutting and other hazardous occupations such as construction sites, a majority of whom are likely to die for lack of specialised treatment.