Bihari scientist settled in US offers his services in the state for developing Nano sciences

Professor RatneshwarLal , who hails from a remote village in Darbhanga district, currently at the university of CaliforniaSan Diego (UCSD) has earned abig name in Nano medicine. Lal is positive about state's potentials for developing Nano sciences. "During my brief stay in Bihar I got an opportunities to meet some of the bureaucrats. I am willing to share my experiences in Bihar if the government needs my services and expertise", Lal told.

Lal was in India week-long visit to deliver key note lectures at the 13th international conference of the Controlled Release Society (CRS) India Branch in Hyderabad and National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore. While in Bihar he gave a public lecture at LN Mithila university, department of Physics. In Patna he made his presentation before a select group of academics and bureaucrats at the Aryabhatt knowledge university, Magadh Mahila College and NIT Patna. Lal is married to an US PhD scholar in Sociology Debby Sherman. He said that he is more willing to pay back to the society.

There are many diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (with progressive memory loss as we grow older), Parkinson disease (muscle tremors), tuberculosis, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and some kinds of cancer are linked to defective arrangements of proteins" he added.

Talking about his latest research on nano medicine, he said : "When proteins are not properly arranged (the process commonly known as protein misfolding), they make structures that are usually toxic to cells and tissues in our body. Above mentioned diseases and many more diseases are linked to such protein misfolding".

According to Lal, misfolded proteins have disordered structures and often appear as clumps (commonly called plaques) in the pathological samples from diseased patients. All Alzheimer's patients' brain samples have such plaques. Interestingly, all different diseases have plaques but they are made of different proteins.

"Ratnakar leads a simple life at home and work and enjoys strong ethical standards. He does not miss to visit his relatives and friends whenever he visits India and abroad. For him achievements in professional life should not be at the cost of social bonding", recall his two social scientists friends Pramodanand Das and Rajeshwar Mishra .

Lal born in a small village, Balour in Darbhanga district did his early education in Balour, Patna and Muzaffarpur, graduating in BSc Physics (Hons) in 1976. He then moved to JNU in New Delhi for higher education.

He then moved to USA and received his PhD in 1987 in neurobiology from the university of Alabama. After postdoctoral training at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), he was a faculty member at the university of Chicago and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Before assuming his current position at University of California San Diego (UCSD), he was a professor and the director of the newly established Centre of Nanomedicine at the University of Chicago.

Bihar to focus on electronics equipment manufacturing

After success in food processing, the information technology (IT) and telecom hardware manufacturing has caught the eyes of Bihar government. The state has now decided to give special attention to this sector and plans to declare it as a "thrust area".

"We may have missed the BPO bus," said Naveen Verma, principal secretary of the Industries Department, "but we do not want to miss this opportunity. The central government has already announced, in its National Policy on Electronics, that use of locally made component will be encouraged. The policy makes the use of local component mandatory for electronics manufacturers. It is a huge opportunity for us as the policy offers fiscal incentives." The policy, which was introduced last year, aims to boost indigenous manufacturing of electronic goods, so that it can fill the gap between domestic demand and supply in electronics goods.

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajpaksa arrives at Bodh Gaya

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajpaksa, accompanied by his wife Shiranthi Rajpaksa and a 70-member delegation, on Friday arrived at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya for pilgrimage.

Rajpaksa was received at the Gaya International Airport by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Education Minister PK Shahi and senior state government civil and police officials, official sources said. He was accorded a guard of honour by the state police.

From the airport, the cavalcade of the Sri Lankan President and members of his delegation drove straight to the Mahabodhi temple where they will perform religious rituals, the sources said.

Rajpaksa would meditate before a peepal tree where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment and visit the Sri Lankan Buddhist Vihar in the temple town. The Chief Minister will host a lunch for the Sri Lankan President and his delegation, the sources said.

Meanwhile, CPI(M-L) Liberation workers raised slogans against the Sri Lankan President from some distance as his cavalcade drove towards the Mahabodhi temple.

The protesters, who had mingled in the crowd that gathered to welcome the visiting dignitaries, shouted slogans like the 'Killer of Tamils go back'. Two of the protesters have been detained for questioning, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Law and Order), Rakesh Kumar Dube said.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made in Bodh Gaya town in view of the Sri Lankan president's visit, police sources said.

Rapist gets death sentence within four days of trial at fast-track court

A rapist at Katihar has been sentenced to death within four days of being produced before a fast-track court. The accused had been charged with raping his 3-year-old niece. He had also allegedly strangled her to death.

Police provided the court with evidence within 24 hours of arresting the man, speeding up the process further. However, his lawyer says he will take up the matter to high court.

"We are going to appeal the decision in the high court because the sentence has been given based only on circumstantial evidence. There are no witnesses," defence lawyer, DK Jha said.

The accused raped his niece on January 24 and also threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Within four days of the hearing the district and sessions court judge sentenced the accused to be hanged on the basis of the evidence.

Agriculture to go hi-tech in Bihar

But now the Government has awakened to the occasion by putting its machinery in top gear to improve productivity of the land and also to tackle the problem of labour crisis in the farm sector effectively.

Numbers themselves speak volume of the State Government’s intentions as 6,338 tractors were given to farmers, several of them small and medium scale tillers during 2012-13, enjoying benefit of huge subsidy. The Government has fixed the target of distributing 9,000 tractors among farmers during 2013-14.

The State Government has made a special mention about the farm mechanisation in its ambitious Agriculture Road Map (2012-17) too, spelling out targets to be achieved during the period.

Since small and marginal farmers constitute a huge number in the State’s farm sector, farm mechanisation suitable for small holding agriculture will be promoted. Gender friendly farm machinery will also be encouraged to reduce the drudgery in agriculture, states Agriculture Road Map document.

President Pranav Mukherjee had launched the Agriculture Road Map during his visit to the State in October last year.

State Agriculture Director M Saravanan told The Pioneer that the State Government has taken the farm mechanisation in the right earnest for varieties of reasons including enhancing the productivity of the land.

The number of power tillers distributed among farmers during 2012-13 was 5387 while 136 combined harvesters, several of them already started operating in the paddy growing areas of Rohtas and other adjoining districts in the State. The State Government grants subsidy up to `3.5 lakh to farmers for the purchase of combined harvesters.

Earlier, combined harvesters used to come from places like Varanasi and even from far away places like Haryana but now the scenario in the agricultural fields is changing for better with a comprehensive farm mechanisation drive in the State.

Bartan boy' Subodh Gupta shines at India Art Fair

The shine of a large miror and the collective gleam of bright steel utensils arranged with an artistic purpose catch visitors eye at the ongoing India Art Fair here. And, by now, the artist behind the work is a familiar enough name.

Subodh Gupta, internationally renowned artist known for fashioning signature installation art out of mundane steel and kitchen utensils is presenting another iconic art bearing his trademark. There are three other works by him showcased at the four-day fair which opened to public viewing today after a special VIP preview yesterday.

Titled, "Mirror Stage", and carried by an Italian gallery has been priced at 275,000 euros. The exhibit made out of steel glasses, bowls and cutlery juxtaposed vertically over a flat mirror, and visitors were seen admiring their reflection in it.

Asked if he'd created it especially for the fair, the artist said he doesn't work just for the fair but this is just one aspect of his creative pursuits.

"I don't work just for a fair. I have other works on which I continuously work on and art fairs like these only display a part of my collective oeuvre which is much deeper than what people see here," Gupta told.

The 49-year-old artist who is known to produce large oil painting works has exhibited smaller canvases with incidentally a Victorian frame running around it.

Two smaller-scale oil paintings depicting a breakfast table with china and cutlery, a half-sipped tea in a cup, also adorn the wall at the Galleria Continua's space at the India Art Fair, being held at the NSIC complex here.

The 'Hungry God' famed artist said he's working to develop the work into a full series.

"Yes, I'm working on this idea, the glimpse of which I have shown here but I'm doing a series soon," Gupta told.

"Subodh works with oil has always been on large scale and his choice of the Victorian frame is very deliberate to give throwback to the classic painting that were framed that way. But, if you see his subject here, its trademark Gupta," said Ananjay Bhushan, a Patna-based gallery owner and a long-time associate of Gupta.

"While the installation is priced at 275,000 euros, the two oil paintings are euros 50,000 each," Mylene Ferrand from Galleria Continua said.

Subodh's other works are being displayed by the city-based Nature Morte gallery where two of his classic steel wonders, "Still Life" and "Family Portraits" are up for sale.

Eight architectural companies keen to design Nalanda University

Eight architectural companies, including six from abroad, have shown interest in designing the upcoming Nalanda University in Bihar, the vice chancellor said Friday.

"We are happy that eight companies, including two Indian companies, have submitted their proposals for a global competition to finalize the design for the university," Gopa Sabharwal said here.

She said the short-listed firms would be called to make their presentation either this month or next month.

The university is set to come up on 446 acres in Rajgir, 10 km from the site of the ancient university in Nalanda district, southeast of Patna.

The university will be fully residential, like the ancient Nalanda university. It will offer courses in science, philosophy and spiritualism along with social sciences.

The project took shape in 2006 at the initiative of then president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

The ancient university at Nalanda was home to over 10,000 students and nearly 2,000 teachers.

It existed until 1197 and attracted students and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia (now Iran) and Turkey.