RSTV: SCIENCE MONITOR 3.10.2020

• The VAIBHAV Summit is a global virtual summit of overseas and resident Indian Researchers and Academicians, and is being organized from 2nd October to 31st October 2020.
• The aim of the summit is to bring Indian origin luminaries in academic institutes and R&D organizations across the world and resident counterparts on a single platform to debate upon collaboration mechanisms to strengthen academic and S&T base in India for global development.
• The inauguration will be followed by online deliberation sessions. The initiative involves multiple levels of interactions among overseas experts and Indian counterparts over a month-long series of webinars, video conferences etc. More than 3000 overseas Indian origin academicians and scientists from 55 countries and more than 10,000 resident academicians and scientists are taking part in the summit. About 200 academic institutes and S&T departments, led by Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India, are organizing the summit running through the month of October.
• Over 1500 panelists from 40 countries, 200 leading Indian R&D and academic institutions will virtually deliberate in 18 different areas and 80 topics in more than 200 deliberation sessions.  Concluding session is planned on 31st October 2020, on the occasion of Sardar Patel Jayanti.
• Innovation culture acts as a catalyst to remain contemporary in product development by creating a vibrant ecosystem. To boost the innovation ecosystem in India, Vaibhav will add a new dimension to Atal Innovation Mission. Summit aims to give an impetus to the objectives of Atal Innovation Mission by leveraging the collaborative experience and deep expertise of International and Indian subject experts. Vaibhav summit seeks active support and ideation from Indian Diaspora for developing skills of Indian aspirants in alignment with the New Educational Policy.
• In the current scenario of global growth of science, technology and academics the key factors to boost R&D are:
  • Cooperative Development
  • Complementary Expansion
  • Inter-disciplinary Extension
• To strengthen “AatmaNirbhar Bharat” initiative for High End Research in Science and Technology, promulgated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

CSIR Foundation Day 2020:

• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) celebrated its 79^th Foundation Day.
• Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Health and Family Welfare and Vice President, CSIR presided over the event.
• The Minister appreciated the work done by entire CSIR during this current Covid-19 crisis. He said under the times of needs CSIR labs have risen to the occasion and delivered diagnostics, drugs and ventilators among many others. Dr Harsh Vardhan also released a digital book and a short film on the CSIR’s COVID-19 efforts, which highlighted the people behind the various initiatives of CSIR in its fight against Covid-19.
• At the occasion, various CSIR Awards were announced virtually, including CSIR  Innovation Awards for School Children-2020,  CSIR Young Scientist Awards-2020, CSIR  Technology Awards-2020, CSIR Award for S&T Innovation for Rural Development (CAIRD) – 2017, 2018, 2019, CSIR Diamond Jubilee Technology Award -2019 and G N Ramachandran Gold Medal for Excellence in Biological S&T-2020.

NDRI Karnal’s new cloning calf ‘TEJAS’:

• The National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal has developed a high yield breed buffalo calf “Tejas” which will help in increasing milk production and farmers’ income across the country.
• The National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal is progressing further in animal cloning. Recently, NDRI has developed a buffalo calf using the hand guided cloning technology. The male calf named ‘Tejas’ is the clone of the high yield buffalo breed.
• This will help in increasing milk production of buffaloes in the country.
• Country’s largest dairy research centre was working to increase the milk production in the country as part of the national effort to increase the income of farmers.
• The new clone Tejas is of the Murra breed of buffaloes which are known for their high milk yield.
• By 2021-22, there would be a requirement of 140 million doses of semen in the country for artificial insemination whereas the current availability is of 85 million doses only.
• In the last ten years, 16 clones of buffaloes have been developed in the country using cells from their milk, ears, urine, blood and semen.
• In 2009, the NDRI had produced the first female buffalo clone named Garima at the institute. Garima then gave birth to Mahima and Karishma in 2013 and 2014 through normal birth.

Astrosat:

• India’s first multi-wavelength space-based observatory, Astrosat, completed five successful years of operation on September 28.
• The observatory has provided access to a number of young students and professors, apart from seasoned astronomers, to dig into scientific data for carrying out advanced research in this field.
• Until a decade ago, there were barely 50 users of astronomical data, of the kind that Astrosat generates, in India. But today, the registered users of Astrosat data in India alone are close to 700, a majority of them from universities. In all, there are about 1,500 registered users from across 43 countries.