Memorial meeting in honour of Dr. Srikumar Banerjee

 

CHANDIGARH, MAY 30

Society for Promotion of Science and Technology in India (SPSTI) in association with Chandigarh Chapters of NASI, INSA and INYAS organized an online memorial meeting to pay tributes to Dr. Srikumar Banerjee on Sunday at 11.00 am. The meeting was attended online on zoom by more than 60 attendees and about 189 viewed the same on Facebook page of SPSTI.

Attendees included a wide spectrum of mentors, colleagues, collaborators, mentees and admirers of Dr. Srikumar Banerjee from India and abroad. 

The meeting was steered by Prof. Keya Dharamvir, General Secretary, SPSTI, who welcomed the attendees. Shri Dharam Vir, IAS (Retd.) & President SPSTI shared that it was the first Haryana Science Conclave where Dr. Banerjee and several other distinguished scientists interacted with the teachers and students. Prof. Arun K. Grover, former Vice Chancellor, Panjab University, Chandigarh and Vice President of SPSTI said that Dr. Srikumar Banerjee had a wide range of contributions and achievements during his over five decades of association with the Department of Atomic Energy and other national bodies and institutions.  Dr. Banerjee was scheduled to deliver the TIFR Foundation day lecture in the commemorative Platinum Jubilee Year on June 1, 2021. 

Dr. Ashish K Ray, former Head, Beam Technology development group, BARC and classmate of Dr. Banerjee at IIT Kharagpur and BARC Training School talked about his family stating him as a very generous person who also had love for literature apart from sciences. Dr. J.V. Yakhmi, former Head, Chemistry Group, BARC talked about Dr. Banerjee’s accomplishments as a professional who not only learned from his talented colleagues, but also to did several things by interacting with them and acknowledged his accomplishments as the fruits of hard work contributed by each of his co-workers and his tireless work for promoting science education at all three levels, school, college, and research.

Dr. Anil Kakodkar, former Chairperson, AEC also called Dr. Banerjee as the most distinguished physical metallurgist. He always encouraged making a connection between basic research and the translating them to technologies to actual applications, which would benefit the nation and its economy. Dr. Sur remembered Dr Bannerjee as a gifted metallurgist, nuclear scientist, and a visionary leader who rekindled the flame of friendship and nuclear cooperation between India and Canada. Prof. S Ramakrishnan talked about research activities that flourished in TIFR during his tenure as the chairman while he was holding the position as a director of BARC. Dr. P.R. Vasudeva Rao called Dr. Banerjee as a great scholar who deeply thought about every difference in the house, always ready to share his knowledge and ideas. He was also an avid reader and learner and a great mentor for students. The meeting was attended by many other eminent persons including Prof. N Sathyamurthy, founder Director, IISER, Mohali; Dr. S M Yusuf, Director, Physics Group and former President, IPA; Dr. Ajay Sood, FRS, former President INSA and IASc., Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Dr. Kanjilal, former Director, IUAC, New Delhi and former President, IPA; Dr. Manjit Singh, former Director, TBRL, Chandigarh and Ramgarh; Prof. Ajit Kembhavi, former Director, IUCAA, Pune; Prof. Arvind, Vice Chancellor, Panjabi University, Patiala; Dr. Rakesh Kapoor, Director, Homi Bhabha Cancer Research Institute, Chandigarh; Prof. Archana Sharma, CERN, Switzerland; Dr. Shekhar Mishra, Fermi Lab, Chicago, USA; Dr. S. Anantha Ramakrishna, Director, CSIO, Chandigarh; Dr. Amitava Patra, Director, INST, Mohali; Prof. Sunil Mukhi, Co-convenor, Bhabha Centenary Symposium (2009), IISER, Pune; Prof. Vivek Datar, TIFR and BARC; Prof. R.G. Pillay, Raja Ramanna Fellow, IIT Ropar; Dr. Hiren Ghosh, INST, Mohali.  Everyone invariably talked about his passion for work and understanding of linkage of basic sciences to eventual technology. It is a void that cannot be replaced. He would always be remembered as an extraordinary person who would put his heart into completing every task he took and has inspired many.

=====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

SPSTI organizes Expository Lectures on current state of COVID pandemic

 

CHANDIGARH, MAY 28

 The Society for Promotion of Science of Science & Technology in India (SPSTI), jointly with Chandigarh Chapter of the National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), Chandigarh Chapter of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS) with support from Haryana State Council for Science, Innovation and Technology, Government of Haryana have organized another series of Expository Lectures on current state of COVID pandemic to spread awareness on issues involved so as to enhance the confidence of the general public in facing this pandemic.

The two lectures were conducted on consecutive days on May 27-28, 2021. The first lecture was delivered by Prof. Arunaloke Chakrabarty, Head of Medical Microbiology Department, PGIMER, Chandigarh on “Recent Epidemic of COVID Associated Mucormycosis”. One hundred sixty eight people on Zoom and many of Facebook attended the session.

There are several questions emerging in respect of Post Covid-19 pathological conditions due to Mucormycosis which is taking an epidemic form leading to many rumors among masses. Prof. Chakrabarti in his talk deliberated on facts and cleared myths associated with it. He began his lecture saying that calling Mucormycosis as black fungi is making mockery of scientific perception of our country. Mucormycosis and not a black fungi disease but occurs due to new Mucorales, while black fungus is due to dematiaceous fungi, having melanin on its surface.

He said the neglected discipline of fungi has been the first time recognised in India. He shared there have been 11717 reported cases of Mucormycosis, with 2800 from Gujrat and 119 from PGIMER, which has led fungal diseases to become a notable disease in India. He explained Mucormycosis is classified on basis of anatomical localization like pulmonary Mucormycosis affects lungs, gastrointestinal Mucormycosis affects gut, etc. He also talked about number of increasing cases of Gastrointestinal Mucormycosis and Renal Mucormycosis cases where actual reasons for its occurrences are still unknown.

The second lecture on May 28 was delivered by Dr. Javed N. Agrewala, Professor, Immunology Laboratory and Dean Research, IIT Ropar. He delivered the talk on “COVID-19: Infection and Immunity” which was attended by 193 on Zoom. The talk emphasized on how to prevent infection and bolster immunity against COVID-19, which is an extremely contagious virus that infects chiefly through the nasal route by aerosols. The best protection provided against any infection to the majority of the population is by the body's own immune system, which comprises natural and acquired immunity. He explains there are various microorganisms in our environment which have been affecting us continuously but our innate immunity provides defence against these. 

He also explained in detail the complete life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 in the human body and how the human body reacts against it. He says viruses have a tendency to hyper-activate the immune system. The immune system activates the first line of defence and when it proves inefficient the adaptive immunity comes to play but in order to destroy the virus, being hyper-activated it does more damage to the immune system. He further explained about various types of vaccines like inactivate, subunit, mRNA, etc., explaining the differences in various vaccines against Covid-19. He finally wrapped up the session explaining how a Covid-19 infected cell expresses different receptors. The vaccine binds to these receptors, initiating a cascade of reactions by the immune system, releasing cytokines that recognize viruses and kill them.

The series of lectures were coordinated by Prof. R.K. Kohli, Chairman of Chandigarh Chapter of NASI, Prof. Arun K. Grover, former Vice Chancellor of Panjab University Chandigarh, Prof. K.K. Bhasin, Secretary NASI, Prof. Keya Dharamvir, General Secretary of SPSTI and Mr Dharam Vir, IAS (Retd.) and President, SPSTI.

====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Special vaccination campaign for journalists

 CHANDIGARH, MAY 18

The  Haryana Government is conducting a special vaccination campaign for journalists in view of the COVID-19 Pandemic.  Under this, the first dose of the COVID vaccine has been administered to journalists in most districts so far.  Journalists will be vaccinated on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 in four districts.

Giving this information, an official spokesperson said that journalists will be vaccinated in the four districts of Sirsa, Rewari, Panipat and Panchkula on Wednesday.  Apart from this, journalists in Narnaul will be vaccinated on May 20 and 21, while those in Kurukshetra will be vaccinated on May 21. Journalists were also vaccinated on May 6 in Kurukshetra.

The spokesperson said that the responsibility of coordinating the vaccine campaign in the respective districts is being carried out by the concerned Public Relations Officers.

Distribution of Injection Amphotericin-B: The Haryana government has constituted an expert committee to decide on the distribution of Injection Amphotericin-B available in the state to individual patients admitted in public and private hospitals.

Giving this information in this regard, an official spokesperson said that in this expert committee comprises of Professor Ophthalmology, PGIMS, Rohtak, Dr. R.S. Chouhan, ENT Surgeon, CH, Panchkula, Dr. Sukhdeep Kaur, Haryana Opthalmological Society, General Secretary, Dr. Indermohan Rustagi and General Director Health Services Office's DD (Blindness), Dr. Jagdeep Singh Basur.

He elaborated that this Committee will also take opinion if required on case-to-case basis, from PGIMS, Rohtak, Assistant Professor Neurosurgery, Dr. Amarnath, Senior Dental Surgeon, Civil Hospital, Panchkula, Dr. Shivani Hooda, and ENT Surgeon Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula, Dr. Prachi Jain.

The spokesperson said that the Committee will ensure to formulate an objective criterion to decide these cases, will decide the requests on first-come-first-served basis and will also devise a prompt mechanism for entertaining the requests through e-mail i.e.,amphobharyana@gmail.com and ensure decision on urgent basis. Dr. Jagdeep Singh Basur DD (Blindness) of Director General Health Services Office will also coordinate with the Committee.

He further added that the request for allocation of medicines from the Health institutions through the Director/ MS / Head of ICU of respective Health facility shall be submitted to the Expert Committee on e-mail. amphobharyana@gmail.com alongwith the details as required by the Committee. The injection will be provided free of cost to patients admitted to Government Medical College and Government Hospital. He said that Government and Private Medical Colleges will get the said injection from PGIMS, Rohtak and Private Medical Colleges will deposit the required amount (actual cost of injection) of said injection into the SKS account of concerned Civil Surgeon of District. He further added that the Government and Private Hospitals will get the said injection from concerned Civil Surgeon and Private Hospitals will deposit the requisite amount (actual cost of injection) of said injection into the SKS account of Concerned Civil Surgeon of District.

He specified that the supply to private institutions would be on the actual cost, as procured and informed by HMSCL. The amount will be reimbursed and deposited in SKS account of concerned Civil Surgeon. The drug will be indented by Civil Surgeon and issued to the concerned health facility after the approval of the Committee.

===balbirsingh227@gmail.com 

Haryana goes cracking on Covid in rural areas

  Chandigarh, May 18 

 The Haryana Government has launched a concerted campaign to contain any spike in Covid cases in villages.

Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal, after taking stock of the situation, has directed all Deputy Commissioners to undertake the campaign on a war footing. While directing the administration to mop up all resources to take the challenge head-on, the Chief Minister said in no case the pandemic would be allowed to spread its wings in villages. 

He said that an atmosphere of positivity needs to be fostered in villages and the State Government in any case must not fall short of contributing to it. 

While directing that there should be absolutely no slackness in the door-to-door screening of Covid patients,  the Chief Minister directed that adequate infrastructure must be in place well in time not only to treat the patients but to prevent further spreading of the virus.

The Chief Minister, who has been personally monitoring the day-to-day situation,  has also directed strict adherence to the "Test, Track and Treat" strategy to combat the threat under which patients with mild to moderate symptoms are put under home isolation for which the state government would provide "home isolation kit" containing oximeters and essential medicines.

Besides, multi-disciplinary teams comprising trainee doctors, Asha and Anganwadi workers have been rushed to the ground to make sure that every villager is taken care of.

The Chief Minister has also directed that every village should have an isolation centre for which the dharmashalas, government schools or Ayush centres could be used and equipped with all essential infrastructure.

Every gram panchayat with a population of up to 10,000 would be given Rs 30,000 each whereas those above 10,000 population would receive Rs 50,000 each for making basic arrangements.

While more than 1.5 lakh Rapid Antigen Test kits have been distributed the Chief Minister has directed that the supply of kits must continue uninterrupted so that the medical teams could go cracking with the remedial steps.                 

Under the Haryana Villlagers General Health Check-up scheme, yesterday 2095 villages across the state were covered under the Rapid Antigen Test and  2958 persons were found positive. 

Up till now 10 lakh people have been checked in the State.

====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Red Panthers double up against USA

  ANTWERP, MAY 16

Belgium’s women claimed a maximum six points from their two meetings against USA, adding to Saturday’s 3-0 triumph with a 6-1 success against the Americans here on Sunday, reports FIH. 

 

It was Belgium’s third win from 11 FIH Hockey Pro League matches, further boosting their win percentage to 33.39. USA remain bottom of the Pro League standings. 

 

USA made a positive start to the game and more than held their own against the hosts in an evenly contested first quarter. However, the Red Panthers took the game firmly by the scruff of the neck in the second period, with Ambre Ballenghien, Stephanie Vanden Borre and Shaunda Ikegwuondu all hitting the target to establish a 3-0 lead at half time. 

 

Belgium exploded out of the blocks in the third quarter, scoring three goals in the opening five minutes. Ballenghien and Vanden Borre both netted their second goals of the match ahead of Lucie Breyne netting Belgium’s sixth before Linnea Gonzales scored a consolation goal for the Americans. 

 

When asked her feelings about the score-line, Belgium’s Charlotte Englebert, who was named Player of the Match, said: It feels good because yesterday we felt we had a lack of efficiency in the circle, but now we can see that we had options to score the goals, which was way better.”

 

USA captain Amanda Magadan said: “It doesn’t feel great. It was out second match back in international hockey, and there are a lot of things we need to work on, like maintaining possession of the ball filling our [defensive] gaps and finding those connections. But there will come a time when we can look at the film of the game and see how we can grow from it.”   

Women
Belgium 6, USA 1 [Match 2 of 2]
Player of the Match: Charlotte Englebert (BEL)
Umpires: Michelle Meister (GER), Laurine Delforge (BEL) and Celine Martin-Schmets (BEL - video).

====balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Sixth batch of CMGGA programme from July 26

  Chandigarh, May 16 

Given the successful five years of the Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associates (CMGGA) Programme, the Haryana Government has announced a call for applications for the sixth cohort of programme commencing July 26, 2021.

The CMGGA programme is a strategic collaboration between Ashoka University and Government of Haryana since 2016 to leverage the energy, creativity and skill of the youth to work on state priorities and push good governance.

The 25 selected candidates would be placed across 22 districts of Haryana and would be directly working with the Deputy Commissioner and administration to streamline the system and provide innovative solutions to revamp existing structures for increased productivity and enhanced citizen delivery.

In 2016, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal, envisioned engaging passionate youth with out-of-the-box thinking, and get on-ground data and direct feedback from citizens themselves improving public service delivery. The CMGGAs over the last five years worked on multiple cross-cutting issues, right from transport, education, health, and nutrition, public service delivery, sanitation & COVID management to name a few, strengthening flagship schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Antyodaya Saral, eOffice, etc. across Haryana and also, innovating pilots to tackle some of the most pressing issues in their district under the leadership of their respective Deputy Commissioners. The new batch will get an opportunity to work on new and current flagship programs under Education, Health & Nutrition, Women Safety, and public service delivery in Haryana.

Speaking about the programme, Programme Director, CMGGA, Dr. Rakesh Gupta, said that despite the coronavirus outbreak, the current cohort 2020-21 of CMGGA have worked efficiently in supporting their District Administration and significant progress and achievements have been made with unique interventions. CMGGAs have been instrumental in Covid-19 crisis management and designed different interventions around Plasma donation, Ration Delivery, and mobile applications to bring citizens closer to the government. The objective of the programme is to encourage young professionals to work directly with the government in ensuring efficiency and transparency in citizen service delivery across the state. The application process for the sixth batch will start inviting applications online from across the country on May 21, 2021. Interviews will also be conducted online in June and the final selected candidates will start work from July 26, 2020.

The programme has a set structure for providing associates with first-hand experience of working with the government as well as ensuring their professional development. The programme is rightly so an amalgamation of ‘innovate, learn and grow’. This mixed approach of work led to the tremendous success amongst the youth, with over 2600 complete applications received last year from almost every state of the country. This number has only been increasing with each passing year. On an average, the final cohort selected represents more than 15 states of India.

Co-Founder and Trustee, Ashoka University, Sh. Vineet Gupta, said that CMGGA started as an experiment in 2016, the success rates and appreciation among government stakeholders as well as among the youth has been overwhelming. The number of applications received over the last five years is remarkable, thereby increasing the competition levels and resulting in a selection ratio of 100:1. After a rigorous process, 25 applicants are taken on board as part of the programme. A total of 120 associates from the last five years have made a tangible impact in Haryana across multiple domains.

----balbirsingh227@gmail.com

Chief Minister inaugurates 500 bedded Devi Lal Sanjeevani Hospital

  Chandigarh, May 16

While reiterating his commitment for expanding health facilities during this hour of crisis, Haryana Chief Minister Sh. Manohar Lal on Sunday inaugurated a 500 bedded Chaudhary Devi Lal Sanjivani hospital which is having an oxygen supply directly connected to the industry.  With the inauguration of this hospital, not only the COVID patients of Hisar district but the patients of nearby districts would also be able to get the required treatment.

The Chief Minister Manohar Lal had directed the officers concerned   to explore the possibilities of setting up such a COVID hospital in the State that would get oxygen supply directly from the industry. The newly inaugurated Chaudhary Devi Lal Sanjivani hospital is  probably the first of its kind Hospital to have this facility.

Meanwhile, it was on April 26, when the Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal had visited Hisar and identified the campus of Jindal Modern School adjoining Jindal Stainless Limited and after completing all the necessary procedures, the hospital was constructed in a record time of 17 days.

In this difficult time of COVID-19 Pandemic, this hospital is certainly a boon for the  COVID-19 patients as it has adequate availability of beds and oxygen.  The hospital will get about 8 metric tons of oxygen supply from Jindal Stainless Limited, which will be available at 7.1 liters per minute per bed. It is proposed that no fee would be charged from the patients who will come to get treatmnet in this hospital.

While inaugurating Chaudhary Devi Lal Sanjivani Hospital at Jindal Modern School, the Chief Minister said that Haryana Government is constantly working  to provide better health facilities to the people by making necessary arrangements required for the prevention of COVID-19 on a large scale.

He said that 12375 beds are made available in government and private hospitals of the state and now this number has been increased to 13500.   Besides  this, the quota of oxygen supply for COVID-19 patients have also been increased to 282 metric tons.  There will be no shortage of oxygen in the state now, said Sh. Manohar Lal.

The Chief Minister said that COVID-19 Pandemic has hit everyone unexpectedly. All the sections of society have to fight this Pandemic by staying united, positive, and cooperating with frontline workers.

Sh. Manohar Lal  said that the State Government has  decided to provide financial assistance of Rs 35,000  to the BPL patients. Similarly, for getting treatment of COVID-19, the notified hospitals will be given an incentive amount of Rs. 1000  per day and maximum Rs. 7000 for giving admission priority to the patients of Haryana.  In addition, the government has also decided to provide an insurance benefit of Rs 2 lakh to BPL families covered under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana by paying the premium of this scheme said Sh. Manohar Lal.

The Chief Minister said that the opposition is unnecessarily blaming the Government, which is certainly not an ethical thing to do in this hour of crisis. Instead of laying allegations on the government, the opposition should make the information available to the public about what the government has done, said Sh. Manohar Lal.  He said that the opposition should give suggestions to the government to fight this Pandemic.  This is not the right time to accuse the government, he added.

The Chief Minister also appealed to the agitating farmers to cooperate  with the government to fight this Pandemic.  He urged that understanding the need of the hour they should immediately call off their strike so as to ensure that the virus spread chain is broken.

“This is the biggest crisis of humanity, so we all have to fight together.  This Pandemic does not belong to any person, a city, or a class.  This is the fight of the whole world,” said Sh. Manohar Lal.

The Chief Minister said that the government is putting all the resources through the system.  Today's 500 bedded hospital that is being inaugurated in Hisar is also part of these efforts that are being taken by the state government. 

He said that 1000 teams have also been deputed to conduct door to door testing in rural areas and since  May 15, these teams have already started conducting   medical checkups of every family residing in villages.  In this way a total of 8000 teams will be involved in this task, he added.

The Chief Minister said that the rates of private hospitals and ambulances have also been capped by the state government and strict action will be taken against whoever charges more than the capped rates.

Sh. Manohar Lal said that the Chaudhary Devi Lal Sanjivani Hospital in Hisar is the first hospital of its kind hospital set up in Haryana, which will have all kinds of facilities for COVID-19 patients.

He informed that the hospital has four blocks A, B, C and D.  There will be  an availability of 230 beds in A block, 120 beds in B block, 16 beds in OPD hangar, 72 beds each in school building and junior wing of the school building.  Apart from this, support centres have  been set up for Police, Fire, CCTV, Helpdesk, Electricity and AC related problems.

This Civil Hospital will be a part of the expansion of Hisar, in which additional staff, local administrative support and resources will be available to support the Health Department.  Pharmacy,  Laboratory and  Canteen facilities have also been made available here.  A provision of Rs 28.88 crore has been made for setting up and functioning of this hospital.

Deputy Speaker, Sh. Ranbir Singh Gangwa thanked the Chief Minister, for inaugurating 500-bedded COVID Dedicated Hospital to the medical hub Hisar.  He said that in Hisar, people not only come from Hisar district only but also from other districts and neighboring states for treatment.

Minister of State, Archelogy, Museums and Labour, Sh.  Anoop Dhanak also thanked the state government for setting up this hospital and said that this hospital would prove to be a game-changer in the fight against  COVID-19.  He also thanked the Chief Minister for  giving the approval of 15 bedded  COVID Care Center for Uklana.

Rajya Sabha MP,  Dr. D.P Vats, MLAs, Dr. Kamal Gupta,  Sh.Vinod Bhayana, Mayor, Sh. Gautam Sardana Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Priyanka Soni, Unit Head JSL, Vijay  Bindlish and other dignities were present on the occasion.

===balbirsingh227@gmail.com