Page 50

World’s first specific bacterial biosensor developed at IIT Roorkee

By
newspost
-
0

Dateline Roorkee: A five-member team of researchers at IIT Roorkee have developed the world’s first specific reliable bacterial biosensor to detect the presence of common environmental pollutant- Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate /Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SDS).

Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate is extensively used in soaps, toothpaste, creams, shampoos, laundry detergents in households, agricultural operations, laboratories, and industries. Its subsequent disposal in waterways causes harmful effects on aquatic organisms, environmental microcosms, and associated living organisms besides deteriorating the quality of drinking water. The objective of the study was to develop a novel biosensor for the detection of a detergent Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate /Sodium Lauryl Sulfate in environmental samples.

IIT Roorkee team developed a whole-cell biosensor using Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 strain as a framework (chassis). The system involves a highly specific regulator along with a fluorescent protein that is produced only when SDS is present in the sample. The system can even detect 0.1 ppm of SDS in aquatic samples. This biosensor is highly specific for SDS and has minimal interference from other detergents, metals, and inorganic ions present in the environment.

Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate has harmful effects on the survival and breeding of organisms in the aquatic ecosystem as it hampers their biological processes such as solubilization of phosphate, reduction of ammonia, nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis. It can cause dermal and ocular irritation, cardiac anomaly, hemolysis, tachycardia, kidney failure, and even death.

“Pseudomonads have an inherent capability to be used as an optimal destination framework for synthetic biology applications. The selected species of Pseudomonas can be engineered to detect various chemicals owing to their resilient nature to survive and adapt to harsh environmental conditions. The highlight of this research is the development of the world’s first whole-cell bacterial biosensor for the direct, specific and efficient detection of SDS without involving sample preparation steps, toxic chemicals, sophisticated polymers and sensor development steps” said Sourik Dey, Final year MSc student at IIT Roorkee

“If untreated, Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate, can harm the marine biodiversity and cause pollution of land and water-bodies. The highlight of this biosensor is its sensitivity to even minute quantities of SDS in the environment and its ability to distinguish between SDS and SDBS” said Prof. Naveen Kumar Navani, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Roorkee

The biosensor showed a satisfactory and reproducible recovery rate for the detection of SDS in real samples of sewage water, river water, and pond water.

The lead author of the study is Sourik Dey, Prof. Naveen K Navani and Shahnawaz Ahmad Baba, Ankita Bhatt, Rajat Dhyani.

Tibetan Youth hold bike rally with a pertinent message

By
Tania Saili Bakshi
-
0

Dateline Dehradun: Today morning, RTYC (Regional Tibetan Youth Congress), Dekyiling chapter embarked on a Motorcycle Rally to Gangotri in Uttarakhand. The riders were flagged off by Dehradun Mayor making their way to Gangotri in collaboration with Indo – Tibetan Cooperation Forum.

Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Dekyiling founded in 1983, is amongst the 87 chapters of Tibetan Youth Congress, in Dehradun. Since its regional inception, RTYC as its otherwise known, has been  the voice of Tibetan youth in Dehradun area, committed and involved in a united struggle for free Tibet.  

The team includes fourteen members of the RTYC who are 2nd generation Tibetans born in exile along with Bharat Tibbat Sahyog Manch whose ten members of BTSM Uttarakhand Chapter, will be lead by President Shree Harish Semwal and General Sec.Inderpal Singh Kohli. The RTYC participants include RTYC President Mr.Tenzin Jinpa and Vice President Tsering Phuntsok. 

A four day round trip, covering a distance of 500 kms, the team will make their way through the picturesque route of Mussoorie-Uttarkashi-Hursil enroute to Gangotri, a destination chosen for it close proximity to the Indo – Tibetan border. The rally’s primary objective is to interact with the locals, garner support for free Tibet movement and also an appeal to boycott Chinese products. The team will hold two programmes one at Uttarkashi and the other at Hursil.

Talking to Newspost, Tsering Tobgay, General Secretary, RTYC, Dehradun added, “And since we are still in midst of a pandemic we all agreed to travel within the state. We have all undergone rapid antigen test to make sure locals in the mountains are safe while they interact with us.”

Not new to organising rallies, RTYC has organised innumerable motorcycle and cycle rallies in the past to further their cause of highlighting their protest against China and demand for Tibet’s freedom.

‘The Pickup Artist’ wows audience nation-wide

By
Tania Saili Bakshi
-
0

Dateline Dehradun: The winner of international film awards, ‘The Pickup Artist,’ released nation-wide on the silver screen on 16th of October 2020, when cinema-halls flung open their door for the audience.

The thriller movie has two Remi Awards instantly placing Rohit Arora the Director in the league of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ang Lee, Coen Brothers, Francis Ford Coppola and David Lynch. The Plot Summary on IMDB reads: “The Curious case of missing girls investigated by a Maniac Cop“.

A line-up of talented theatre performers like Dev Chauhan (Sonchiriya fame),Siddharth Bharadwaj (Delhi Crime and Paatal Lok fame),Aanchal Chauhan (Kabir Singh fame), Lokesh Mittal (Brij Mohan Amar Rahe fame), Gandharv Dewan (Zoya Factor Fame), Vijay Kumar Dogra (Sonchiriya fame) and newcomers Samapti Patra, Jasneet Kooner, Saasha Aery, Anahita Bhooshan and Smriti Sahni, bring alive their well-sketched characters alive on the silver-screen.

The movie has received great reviews online with some calling it, ‘Awesome new age cinema, breaking barriers,’ while others call it, “out of the box! Picture Perfect.”

‘The Pickup Artist’ also marks the movie debut of Director Rohit Arora along with Casting Director Dhruv Khurana.  Bonnie Chakraborty and co-produced by writer Pankaj Uniyal a resident of Dehradun have lent music to the movie, which is in

Produced under the banner of Roar Picture Company,  Ashok Purang, Creative Producer of Filmistaan was the Consultant for ‘The Pickup Artist.’

Making women “SAKSHAM” : Varidhi Singh

By
newspost
-
0
SAKSHAM

During Covid times, a number of businesses have suffered and the economy is dragging. There has been call from the Prime Minister for youth to come forward and develop entrepreneurial skills. Putting the PM’s words into action and taking her family tradition of Philanthropy ahead, Varidhi Singh has set an example for many to follow. Varidihi is the founder of “SAKSHAM”, a project empowering the less privileged women residing in a village about 30 km from the city of Kanpur.

Through SAKSHAM, these women are being trained to stitch and make beautiful garments from Indian Khadi fabric. Khadi is a natural handwoven natural breathable fabric which is apt for clothing in the high temperatures in India. Khadi is known as the ‘Wonder Fabric of India’

SAKSHAM

Traditional gender norms in India suggest that the husband/ man of the family should bear the complete financial burden of supporting the family. In this initiative, Saksham hopes to break that mindset by empowering women and creating an opportunity for women to be employed by training them in the art of stitching uniforms and workwear using khadi fabric.

SAKSHAM has partnered up with schools/colleges/organizations that require uniforms and encouraged them to buy products made by these women. These days the women at SAKSHAM are producing masks to help keep people safe during the current pandemic.

Chocobean: Mussoorie’s rising dough

By
Tania Saili Bakshi
-
0

Dateline Mussoorie: Baking is a hobby devoured by many, but for some it is therapeutic, a creative outlet as well as a means to livelihood.

Six years ago, Smriti Sarin Hari a Mussoorie resident, won accolades for her customized cakes baked for family and friends. This was the beginning of her maiden venture ‘Chocobean.’ Looking back, Smriti tells me, “Baking means the world to me. It is the only thing that supports me. My life revolves around it.”

For someone who enjoyed cooking from a very young age, Smriti honed her cooking and baking skills even further when she participated in Master Chef India, 2014. “It was like I was born to create magic from flour and sugar. Each time I bake something, I feel a spark in my soul.”

From baking customized cakes and other confectionaries without a fuss, positive feedback from the community instilled her to do much more. Today, Amitash Chocobean is into serious confectionary business baking cookies, donuts, burger buns, pastries, multigrain breads, croissants, banana loaf, pizzas, pineapple upside down cake slices, apple strudel, pies, Chinese and continental cuisine as well. “The fact that I make fresh, hygienic and healthy products with no margarine gives me an edge over my competitors,” Smriti adds.

Smriti’s mouth-watering items are on display at Amitash ‘Chocobean’ bakery situated in the heart of Mall road, where one can grab freshly baked goodies throughout the day.

As another autumn day comes to an end in the hills, Smriti is busy finishing next days order. I ask her what her personal favorites are and pat comes the reply, “I love baking traditional recipes: Dry fruit cake, plum cakes, anything that challenges my creativity.”

Baking, I guess gives everyone an opportunity to rise above their starting position, and the way Chocobean is moving up the ladder, we are sure there is no stopping it either.

Introducing it’s new and decorative FESTIVE HAMPERS for Diwali this season, get  customised hampers made with scrumptious sweets like:
COOKIES
DRY CAKES
BROWNIES
CHOCOLATES
TRUFFLES
MUFFINS
CROISSANTS and many more delicacies.
Add dry fruits, candles and any other celebratory items to the mix.

Dates for the closure of the Chardham shrines announced

By
Tania Saili Bakshi
-
0

Dateline Dehradun: The announcement of the dates for the closure of the Chardham was announced on Vijayadashami. Kedarnath will be the first to close its portal on the auspicious occasion of Bhaiyuduj on 16th November at 8:30 am, followed by Badrinath, Vishnu’s abode, on 19th November at 3.35 pm.

Media in-charge, Devasthanam Board, Harish Gaur further elaborated that while Gangotri would close its portal a day after Diwali i.e. on the 15th of November, Yamnotri will follow a day later i.e. on 16th November coinciding with the closing of Kedarnath, Shiva’s abode.

Traditionally, the world-famous Chardham pilgrimage comes to a halt just before winter sets in and the shrines become inaccessible due to snow. Along with the famous-four i.e. Gangotri, Yamnotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath, the first to close its portals was the Sikh place of worship Hemkund Sahib. Close to a whooping six thousand five hundred pilgrims came visiting in just under a month that Hemkund Sahib was made accessible for. Situated at an elevation of 15,197 feet in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand, Hemkund sahib has special reverence for the Sikh community.

Annually, the Chardham pilgrimage in Uttarakhand kick offs in the month of April/May and works in a west to east direction in a clockwise manner. It begins from Yamunotri onto Gangotri and then proceeds to Kedarnath, terminating at Badrinath.

Compared to last year, when the portals re-opened in the month of March a whooping seven lakh pilgrims made their way to the four-shrines including, Hemkund Sahib. This year, Covid-19 pandemic played spoil sport as due to the nation wide lockdown, not many pilgrims could make their way to the shrines situated in the inner Himalaya. Yet close to One Lakh Sixty Three Thousand pilgrims made the pilgrimage in 2020.

Following spring, on Basant Panchami the dates for the re-opening of the shrines will be announced as per ancient rites and rituals.

Modelling and Simulation of Energy System receives enthusiastic response

By
newspost
-
0

Roorkee:  Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee organized a five-day virtual faculty development program on Modelling and Simulation of Energy System that received an enthusiastic response from about 160 members of various AICTE-approved engineering colleges across India. It was the joint initiative of the Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy, IIT Roorkee, in association with AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy. The initiative aimed at sensitizing the participants towards research in renewable energy technologies along with imparting them hands-on training for their modelling and simulation in line with “Energy Swaraj”- self-sufficiency in energy through enhanced use of renewable energy technologies.

The workshop was graced by Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director of IIT Roorkee, in the presence of Prof. S. K. Singal, Head of the Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy (HRED), IIT Roorkee, along with senior faculty members, Prof. R. P. Saini and Prof.Arun Kumar from HRED, IIT Roorkee, and Prof.Rangan Banerjee from IIT Bombay.

“Adoption of renewable energy will play a pivotal role in mitigating the adverse impact of climate change and also improve decentralised generation of energy. It will help improve consumption of locally generated energy thus improving self reliance” said Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee

The programme presented the benefits of modelling and simulation at different levels of process development ranging from design to process economics and life cycle assessment. Furthermore, different renewable energy sources such as biomass, solar and hydro provided a comprehensive experience to the faculty members. The workshop was attended by more than 160.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for sustainability and secure and resilient energy systems to achieve environmental and social equity. Robust technology infrastructure along with skilling the workforce is the need of the hour to scale up renewable energy generation and penetration” said Prof. S. K. Singal, Head of the Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy (HRED), IIT Roorkee

The workshop was managed by Prof. Rhythm Singh and Prof. Pratham Arora from the Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy, IIT Roorkee.

Newspost Impact: Landour’s dead-letter day

By
Tania Saili
-
0
Pic Courtesy: Robert Hutchison

Dateline Mussoorie: There is good news for Mussoorie and its residents. The closure proposal by the Postal Department for the town’s two raj-era post offices has been put on hold. Sharing this bit of good news, “ Ansuya Prasad, Senior Superintendent Post Offices, Dehradun, told Newspost, “For now any closure proposal for both the town’s posts offices have been put on hold. The Savoy Post Office will continue where it is, but for the Landour Post Office, the landlord had asked us to vacate the premises to renovate the old building,” adding, “for that period, we will shift elsewhere in the vicinity and post-renovation put in a request to the landlord to sublet the same.”

If you were to go by news-reports, then in early august plans were afoot to close down three Sub-Post Offices in Dehradun’s Dakra, Nashvilla Road, Dilaram Chowk and two in Mussoorie: Landour and Savoy Hotel.

The last two are an inseparable part of the hill-station’s tangible past  and linked to its rich history. In 1837, when the Post Office Act XVII was enacted, the Landour Sub-Post Office came up under the keen eye of Captain Young, Mussoorie’s founder. For the past two hundred years, the community has benefited from a postal service that moved well beyond a relay of runners on foot.

Beginning in Landour Chowk, it was shifted to Rorleston House on the Mall in 1909. It is almost as if our hill station grew around the Sub-Post Offices of Landour, Library, Charleville, Barlowganj and Jharipani.

Today, the Landour Sub-Post Office not only sustains international clients from Mussoorie Language School and the Woodstock School, which together account for students from some 26 countries. More importantly, it caters to the folks from the abutting villages of Mussoorie from Kimoee, Kolti, Kanda, Matholi, Maudh, Khatapani, Tuneta, Judi, Sainji, Ludur, Ginsey and many others.

At the other end of town, the iconic Savoy Sub-Post Office has been associated with the historical hotel Savoy, since 1902. Jim Corbett the famous British tracker, hunter and naturalist’s father worked as a Post Master. To this day, the Sub-Post Office famous seal bears the imprint of the place that is intricately linked with the history of the hill station.

Local legislators, ward members and residents registered their protest. Media, both print and electronic rose to the occasion and wrote against the closure proposal and for once, history, tradition and heritage have been saved from being shelved in the name of progress.

Unprecedented footfall post unlock5 in Uttarakhand

By
Tania Saili
-
0

Dateline Mussoorie: Unlock-5 saw an unprecedented rise in tourist movement across the hill-state of Uttarakhand this past weekend.

Close to eight thousand tourists visited the Queen of Hills between 2-4th of October bringing a smile to the faces of local hoteliers and businessmen. Though there were initial hiccups in the way of traffic snarls, water scarcity, and also under-staffed hotels.

Sandeep Sahni, President, Uttarakhand Hoteliers Association, who in the recent past had stated that the tourism industry is in a coma, called the weekend business, “a fresh doze of much-required oxygen,” adding, ” if we talk about Mussoorie specifically then amongst 70% hotels which have opened, all recorded 90% occupancy, especially over the weekend. We are hoping that this will build confidence in both the tourists and the local community.”

As the cars inched forward there were traffic jams all over. Adjoining areas of Dhanolti, Kanatal, Tehri, and Chamba witnessed a surge in tourists after being close for close to seven months. SDM Mussoorie, Manish Kumar updated that, “Random COVID tests were carried out at Gandhi Chowk and Shaheed Sthal. Wearing masks and mandatory social distancing norms were enforced. Additional force both from CRD and Police force were brought in to ease traffic influx and maintain law and order.

Unprecedented tourists making a beeline to Mussoorie made most residents uneasy who decided to stay home during the weekend.

From the look of it, the tourism sector definitely got its much-awaited boost and business promises to get better over the next month or two.

Back to The Roots with Ashish Bhandari

By
Tania Saili Bakshi
-
0

Dateline Pauri: This lockdown has brought a lot of things to the foreground. One such being Podcast: an episodic series of the spoken word.

These days, from experts to industry leaders are using digital audio files or Podcasts, a portmanteau of IPod and Broadcast to woo listeners. Joining this long list of Podcast hosts is Uttarakhand’s Ashish Bhandari whose, ‘Back to The Roots’ Hindi Podcast, a five-month-old venture, already has a growing number of loyal followers.

Giving us a glimpse into his pahadi heritage, Ashish tell us, “My grandfather migrated to Delhi in the early 70s. Visiting my native village in summer vacations was how I always stayed connected to my roots. For the longest time, Village Khuir, Patti Kafolysun, District Pauri was my permanent address.”

No stranger to the world of media, Ashish has an illustrious background working for the biggest Media Houses in the country for over ten years. “Intrigued by the idea of story telling, I finally took a plunge into the world of freelancers in August, 2019. I started going back to my passion for voice-overs and voice acting. I got back to the dubbing circuit of Delhi and worked on some of the finest documentaries for National Geographic,” he adds.

A skilled storyteller with a mellow voice, Ashish has successfully belted out eighteen episodes from ‘Back to The Roots.’ Each episode is different to the norm as the host has aced the art of fishing unheard, hidden anecdotes, stories and tales from the treasure trove that Indian History and our mythology is, “Upcoming festivals, auspicious days, millions of untold stories. This is an attempt to bridge the gap between young minds and our culture. In the months that don’t have an upcoming major festival, we go back to pertinent topics like Char Dham, Banyan Tree, story of Tilak etc,” he adds. 

‘Back to The Roots’ podcast is definitely entertains us as well as educates us, captivating all age groups. The audio episodes are easy-to-consume and last from anywhere between five to six minutes. “Usually an episode takes around two days of research, writing, recording and editing.”

In the near future, ‘Back to The Roots’ plans to have an English version of the audio episodes as well as short video clips regaling us with tales from our history and culture.

To know more, tune in to:

https://audioboom.com/channels/5023047

1...495051...934Page 50 of 934

Editor's Choice

Popular Posts

©