Wednesday, December 26, 2018

26th December,2018 Daily Global Regional Local Rice E-Newsletter





INDIA’S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIELDS OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
India made headlines in fields ranging from nanotechnology to space weather during the year.


DINESH C SHARMA DEC 24, 2018 18:55 PM IST
The year 2018 is ending with the spectacular success of Indian scientists and technologists in space and defence sectors, with a series of high impact missions. But that’s not all Indian scientists achieved in 2018. Several scientific developments, new techniques and promising technologies  in fields ranging from nanotechnology to space weather  made headlines during the year. Here is a collection of 15 such stories that give a glimpse of important developments reported by Indian scientists during the year.
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A glimpse of important developments reported by Indian scientists during the year.
A gel that can protect farmers from toxic pesticides
Most farmers do not wear any protective gear while spraying chemicals in fields, which often leads to pesticide exposure and toxicity. Scientists at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore have developed a protective gel  poly-Oxime  that can be applied on the skin and can break down toxic chemicals into safe substances, preventing them from going deep into the skin and organs like the brain and the lungs. The research group plans to develop a mask that can deactivate pesticides.
Description: Farmers are exposed — their bodies and the air they breathe — to pesticides they spray. Image courtesy: InStem
Farmers are exposed — their bodies and the air they breathe — to pesticides they spray. Image courtesy: InStem
World’s thinnest material with novel technique
Pushing the envelope in nanotechnology, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar have developed a material that is 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper. They synthesized a two-dimensional material of just one-nanometer thickness (a human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide) using Magnesium diboride  a compound of boron. This is said to be the world’s thinnest material. It can find a range of applications – from next-generation batteries to ultraviolet absorbing films.
Gene editing applied to banana genome
Using the gene editing technique  CRISPR/Cas9  researchers at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali have edited the banana genome. This is the first such work in any fruit crop in India. Banana is the fourth most important food crop after wheat, rice and corn in terms of gross value of production. Gene editing could be deployed for improving nutritional quality, agronomically important traits as well as pathogen resistance in banana.
Description: A labourer carries a basket of bananas inside a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Bengaluru, India, August 22, 2016. REUTERS/ Abhishek N. Chinnappa - S1BETWWQYUAA
Representational image. Reuters
Discoveries to tackle Zika, dengue, JE and chikungunya
The National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) at Manesar has figured out cellular and molecular mechanisms that show how the Zika virus causes microcephaly or small head size in babies. Researchers discovered that envelop protein of zika virus affects proliferation rates of human neural stem cells and promotes premature but faulty neuron formation. Another study led by a scientist at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad has identified a key protein which helps dengue as well as Japanese Encephalitis viruses replication inside human body by inhibiting anti-viral cytokines. This finding could pave way for the development of targeted drugs for dengue and JE. For detecting Chikungunya, a group of researchers from Amity University, Noida, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi and Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, have developed a biosensor using molybdenum disulphide nanosheets.
Faster diagnostic tests for tuberculosis
Scientists at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi have jointly developed highly sensitive and rapid tests for detection of tuberculosis infection in lungs and surrounding membranes. Unlike current tests that use antibodies for detection of bacterial proteins in sputum samples, new tests use Aptamer Linked Immobilized Sorbent Assay (ALISA) and Electrochemical Sensor (ECS) for detection of a bacterial protein in the sputum.
Arsenic found in Punjab groundwater
Till now arsenic was a major problem in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. It was also known that there is arsenic contamination in groundwater in Punjab. Now a new study done by New Delhi-based TERI School of Advanced Studies has found that that Punjab's floodplains are severely affected by arsenic contamination. In some wells, arsenic levels were found to be 20 to 50 times higher than WHO prescribed limit.
Description: Onsite testing of samples during the study. Image: India Science Wire
Onsite testing of samples during the study. Image: India Science Wire
Space weather warning model rules out ‘mini ice age’
A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata have dismissed the speculation that the upcoming sunspot cycle is going to be stronger, based on calculations using a model developed by them. The near-Earth and inter-planetary space environmental conditions and solar radiative forcing of climate over the upcoming sunspot cycle 25 will likely be similar or marginally more extreme relative to what has been observed during the past decade over the current solar cycle. The method makes it possible to make predictions almost a decade before the next sunspot cycle activity peaks in strength.
New tool developed for autism screening
In many cases, autism is misdiagnosed as mental retardation and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Early identification and interventions may help children with autistic disorders. To help this process, scientists at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, have developed an Indian tool for screening children for autism. The Chandigarh Autism Screening Instrument (CASI) is designed to help community health workers to carry out initial screening for autism.
Hope for Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s
Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have figured out the way memory deficit develops in early stages, resulting in Alzheimer’s disease. They have found that early breaking down of a protein, fibrillar actin or F-actin, in the brain leads to disruption in communication among nerve cells and consequently memory deficits. This knowledge can be used to develop early diagnosis test in future. In another study done in fruit flies, researchers at Department of Genetics at Delhi University South Campus found that it was possible to restrict the progression of Huntington’s disease by increasing insulin signalling in the brain neuronal cells.
Description: Representational image. Maxpixel
Representational image. Maxpixel
Green technique can address Plaster of Paris pollution
A team of scientists at Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) has developed a technique that helps recycle Plaster of Paris waste from hospitals in an eco-friendly and economical way. The new technique disinfects waste and converts it into useful products like ammonium sulphate and calcium bicarbonate. The technique can also be used to disintegrate PoP waste from idols immersed in water bodies.
Stone Age tools, genetic studies throw new light on peopling of India
The Stone Age tools discovered in a village near Chennaisuggest that a Middle Palaeolithic culture was present in India around 385,000 years ago — roughly the same time that it is known to have developed in Africa and in Europe. The discovery pushes back the period when populations with a Middle Palaeolithic culture may have inhabited India, and challenges popular theory that the Middle Palaeolithic was brought to India by modern humans dispersing from Africa only around 125,000 years ago or later. In the North, a population genetic study has revealed that the Rors who inhabit modern Haryana came to the Indus Valley when it was flourishing during the Bronze Age and inducted West Eurasian genetic ancestry.
Sikkim gets a real-time landslide warning system
A real-time landslide warning system has been set up in the Sikkim-Darjeeling belt of the north-eastern Himalayas which is highly vulnerable to landslides. The warning system consists of over 200 sensors that can measure geophysical and hydrological parameters like rainfall, pore pressure and seismic activities. The system is capable of warning about 24 hours in advance. It has been deployed by researchers of Kerala-based Amrita University and Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority.
Description: A real-time landslide warning system. Image: India Science Wire
A real-time landslide warning system. Image: India Science Wire
Computing capacity for weather forecasting gets a boost
During the year, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) upgraded its computing capacity for weather forecasting and climate monitoring, taking its total high-performance computing (HPC) power to as high as 6.8 Petaflop. With this, India rose to the fourth position, next only to the United Kingdom, Japan and USA in terms of dedicated capacity for HPC resources for weather and climate propose.
Scientists use silk polymer to develop artificial vertebral disc
Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati developed a silk-based bioartificial disc that may find use in disc replacement therapy in future. The group has developed a fabrication procedure for a silk-based bioartificial disc adopting a “directional freezing technique”. The disc mimics internal intricacy of a human disc and its mechanical properties too are similar to those of the native ones. The use of a silk biopolymer to fabricate a biocompatible disc can reduce the cost of artificial discs in future.
Transgenic rice with reduced arsenic accumulation, flowering mustard
To address the problem of arsenic accumulation in rice grains, researchers at Lucknow- based CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute developed transgenic rice by inserting a novel fungal gene, which results in reduced arsenic accumulation in rice grain. They cloned Arsenic methyltransferase (WaarsM) gene from a soil fungus and inserted it into rice genome. In another study, TERI School of Advanced Studies has developed an early flowering transgenic variety of mustard.
Description: Representational image. Flickr
Representational image. Flickr
In other significant developments, the Department of Science and Technology launched a national mission on Cyber-Physical Systems with an outlay of Rs 3660 crore for five years. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore commissioned India’s first robotic telescope to keep an eye on the dynamic cosmos, while the ambitious India Neutrino Observatory (INO) project got a go-ahead from the National Green Tribunal.

Why peace on earth can’t beat the bullies

DECEMBER 25, 2018
·       WHY PEACE ON EARTH CAN’T BEAT THE BULLIES
Description: https://s14255.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/saludo1.gifRICARDO SALUDO
Before the headline topic, an urgent warning about rice. With the coming conversion of import volume restrictions into 35 percent duties with no shipment limits, the National Food Authority is said to be stopping rice imports and eventually its subsidized sales of the staple.
Thus, NFA rice would eventually be priced at P35 a kilo, well above the current P27, because, as Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol explained last week, the agency “cannot afford subsidized rice anymore.”
Soon after, however, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Cynthia Villar insisted that NFA could still sell cheap rice. “President (Rodrigo) Duterte said that even with rice tariffication and liberalization of the rice industry, the NFA shall continue to provide the public, particularly the less fortunate, with rice that is affordable and safe,” she said.
Before this issue gets waylaid in political jousting and media soundbites, to the detriment of millions of poor families, let’s get three imperatives crystal-clear:
First, making sure the poor can buy enough food, including rice, must be the paramount concern here, not NFA finances, which the state can support, if necessary.
That said, the better policy may be work-for-food, increased conditional cash transfer, and other safety-net mechanisms, which do not waste state subsidies on middle-class consumers able to buy commercial rice.
Second, NFA must still stockpile enough rice in strategic locations, so it can flood key markets with P35-a-kilo rice anytime. This would prevent undue profiteering amid calamities or cartel collusion by traders.
The latter was the cause of this year’s rice price spiral. Top-level disagreement over rice imports, and NFA’s stupid and illegal diversion of rice buying funds to debt service led to the depletion of its grain, allowing greedy traders to jack up prices. NFA must never be allowed to let its stocks fall below the level needed to fight profiteering.
Third, more than NFA selling policy, what Secretary Piñol, Senator Villar and other government leaders must define is the comprehensive food production and security program, to boost farm productivity and incomes, and make food affordable for Filipinos.
Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia raised agriculture policy concerns last year, prompting a retort from Secretary Piñol. President Duterte must get the two Cabinet members and other relevant agencies, such as the Department of Agrarian Reform, to put their heads together and present this comprehensive agriculture program yesterday. Otherwise, another food crisis will surely erupt again, escalating inflation, eroding public support and giving rebels and terrorists an issue to lure the poor.
Our violence-crazed society
Turning to the headline issue, with the expulsion of the Ateneo Junior High School bully, whose violence went viral online, many Filipinos will heave a sigh of relief, if not a harrumph of serves-him-right vindication. And a good number would think the penalty teaches would-be bullies a lesson.
While the boy’s dismissal may be warranted, rather than scaring bullies, it simply makes other violent kids stay off camera. Rightly, Ateneo plans to take other measures to better prevent, expose and address student violence. Among measures to consider is a mechanism for reporting bullies in confidence.
But the most important effort is still teaching youths that violence is wrong. And if a Catholic school turning 160 next year cannot instill that basic Christian tenet in its students, it doesn’t augur well for the rest of Filipino youth and education.
Not because Ateneo isn’t trying hard enough. Rather, the peace-making message from the classroom and even the Church is drowned out by the worldwide glorification and adulation of violence, power and me-first individualism.
From action movies and violent video games to martial arts mania and intensely competitive, often nasty reality shows, mass and social media sensationalize aggression among our youth, just as the explosion of sex in entertainment and advertising promotes promiscuity.
With all that violence and sex inundating the public consciousness, peace and wholesome family values are crowded out. And it doesn’t help that the weak criminal justice system and lawless groups have made violent force by the state as the main solution to crime, drugs, terrorism and insurgency.
Even some of those appalled by the Ateneo junior high incident have called for beating the Montes kid senseless, and challenging his father to a fight. How will such comments deliver the message that violence is not the solution?
In his Christmas message, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said: “Christmas teaches us that killing people who kill people is not human. Killing is the solution offered by jungle justice, not by civilized societies. Herod wanted to kill Goodness and Love. We must be like the angel who led the Child and his parents into safety away from murder. In solving problems by killing, we side with Herod not with Christ.”
So, are victims of violence and injustice supposed to just flee and never fight?
The former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president continues: “Christmas is a feast of joy. It must also be a feast of courage — courage to stand up for Jesus and defend what He taught us through the Christmas story. Let us stand up against vulgarity with the powerful innocence of the Christ Child. Let us defend human life by siding with Jesus and not applauding Herod. Let us stand up for womanhood best taught us by the purity of the Virgin Mary.”
Can peace on earth win?
The good archbishop is right. But again he is a lone Jeremiah railing against the violence- and sex-charged entertainment and social media shaping our young minds.
Even the Church and its schools, for all its criticism of drug war killings, says little about violent shows and games, which take up more of the youth’s attention and activity.
So, here’s a dumb idea. If the Church and other peace-loving groups really want to stand up against violence, start by listing violent movies, TV shows, and video games families should not patronize. And plug wholesome entertainment. Do this in all parishes and schools.
Can’t be done? Then the bullies will be back.

3.5% agri growth target for 2019 doable

DECEMBER 26, 2018
·       3.5% AGRI GROWTH TARGET FOR 2019 DOABLE
The 3.5 percent growth eyed by the Department of Agriculture (DA) for next year is doable, an agriculture expert said, despite the various challenges faced by the sector this year that could hamper a recovery in the first few months of 2019.
Description: https://s14255.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/050314_rice-farmer06.jpg
This, however, can only be made possible if the DA doubles its efforts to implement programs that directly benefit all stakeholders, said former Agriculture Secretary William Dar.
“[The target] is achievable if they double work and [be] more directed towards helping the farming communities. What we really lack is the delivery system,” Dar told The Manila Times in an interview.
Dar, who is also president of InangLupa Movement Inc., said one of the drivers of the agriculture sector’s 2019 growth would be the rice tariffication bill, which is considered by economic managers as vital to lowering the price of rice and tempering inflation, which peaked at a nine-year high of 6.7 percent in October.
“The rice tariffication bill will be one of the drivers of the growth but I would like to see a more focused programs that are properly offered to all stakeholders,” Dar said.
“Implementation is the key. [The DA] should give focus and inspire the change agents and the like. They should also coordinate with the local government units working with the colleges and universities in agriculture.”
The bill, which is awaiting President Duterte’s signature before turning into law, seeks to replace quantitative restrictions on rice imports with tariffs. It imposes a 35-percent tariff on rice imports from neighboring members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Earlier, Dar said the DA, under the leadership of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, should invest heavily in the country’s top 10 rice-producing provinces, to adequately feed the increasing population, and compete well with its Asean counterparts, particularly Thailand and Vietnam.
“Much-needed funds should be poured to mechanize rice farming, and putting up of more post-harvest and milling facilities, construction of more irrigation systems, and empowering small farmers’ groups to be entrepreneurs, among other imperatives,” Dar said.
There are 30 provinces producing roughly 75 percent of the country’s annual palay (unhusked rice) harvest, Dar said, citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
He said the government should roll out massive promotion on the proper use of hybrid and inbred rice varieties, and water resource conservation technology and practices which can increase farmers’ yields.
According to Piñol, the DA has been advised by economic managers to maintain a two percent annual growth to keep pace with the 1.7 percent population growth,. But the DA is hoping to hit a 2.5 percent growth this year and 3.5 percent in 2019.

SUCCESSFUL SOS RICE
BY PATTAYA
DECEMBER 25, 2018
Description: http://pattayapeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/S20103197-web-660x400@2x.jpg
SUCCESSFUL SOS RICE
This project has been going on ever since a small group of foreigners for more than 20 years ago met with the legendary Father Raymond Brennan, a Catholic priest who started the Pattaya Orphanage and many other institutions for under privileged people. The foreigners wanted to help the priest and asked him what he needed the most. Father Ray answered “My children need rice”. Later the Thai community got involved in the project and it mushroomed into what it is today.
During the month of December every year collection points are set up around Pattaya at many retail store like 7-11, Tops Marked, Big C, Big C Extra, Foodland, Friendship Supermarked, Villa Marked, Central Festival Shopping Mall, Makro, Tesco Lotus, Central Marina and other places. People can buy rice and present it to the collection points. The Father Ray Foundation is taking care of 850 orphans and people with disabilities. In one year the foundation cooks 75 tons of rice. On Tuesday 27. November a press conference took place at the foundation with VIP guests attending nd each explaining the significance of this worthwhile project that this year yielded more than3 tons of rice and one million baht in cash as well as a lot of other food products.

Ebonyi govt, millers, debunk news of fire razing Abakaliki rice mill

Last Monday at 10:05 AM
The commissioner said that the fire outbreak was caused by negligence as efforts would be intensified to enlighten the millers on safety practices.
Description: Ebonyi govt, millers, debunk news of fire razing Abakaliki rice mill Ebonyi govt, millers, debunk news of fire razing Abakaliki rice mill

The Ebonyi Government and rice millers at the popular Abakaliki Rice Mill, have debunked reports that the entire mill was razed by fire which damaged several property.

Chief Moses Nome, State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday that the news about the fire was mischievous.
The entire mill was not engulfed by the fire but one milling line, which burnt about six shops and destroyed property.
“The Abakaliki rice mill contains over 100 milling lines and it was only the line ‘13’ that was affected by the fire outbreak.
“It is then unfortunate for anyone to conclude or report that the rice mill was engulfed by fire and this shows that the fight against fake news should be intensified in the country,” he said.
The commissioner said that the fire outbreak was caused by negligence as efforts would be intensified to enlighten the millers on safety practices.
One of the millers did not switch off the electrical appliance in his shop and the harmattan increased the damage experienced.
“We urge the public to disregard the reports as the rice mill is booming with business activities to meet the demands of the yuletide,’’ he said.
Chief Joseph Ununu, Chairman of the rice mill, confirmed the commissioner’s statement, saying that only one milling line was destroyed.
The fire started around 9 p.m. on that day and the attention of the mill’s leadership was drawn to it.
“We immediately alerted the state fire service which responded quickly, put off the fire and still salvaged some property.
“We are urging the public to disregard the information that the mill was gutted by fire as we are ready to meet the rice-milling needs of the people,” he said.
One of the affected shop owners, Jim Ibe, rued his ordeal but insisted that the incident did not affect the entire mill as being publicised.
I lost several property worth millions of naira to the fire but I am appealing to the government and well-meaning individuals for assistance.
“My life has been shattered because I use the proceeds from my burnt shop to take care of my family,’’ he said.
A NAN correspondent who visited the mill reports that business activities were in top gear as people from several parts of the country were there to process and purchase rice. 

Afraid of potential EU tariffs, exporters and millers buy less rice

Sok Chan / Khmer Times  Share:    

Local rice exporter and millers will buy significantly less paddy rice this year as they await the European Union’s final decision on whether or not to impose tariffs on Cambodian rice, industry insiders say.
Chan Sokheang, chairman and CEO of Signatures of Asia, told Khmer Times that his company will purchase between 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of organic and fragrant paddy rice from Cambodian farmers from now until April, a sharp decrease from previous years, when it bought between 40,000 to 45,000 over the same months.
He said his firm is not the only one reluctant to buy as per usual, with many exporters and rice millers fearing the effect on the market of an EU decision to activate the safeguard clause that would enable bloc members to tax Cambodia’s and Myanmar’s rice.
“We don’t know what to do with regards to exporting rice to the EU,” he said. “We don’t know whether they will impose the tariffs on our rice or not. We don’t know how to prepare for this scenario,” Mr Sokheang said.
“Sales thus far are normal, but we are not purchasing paddy as before. Last year, we bought a lot of paddy rice for processing, as we rely mainly on the EU and the Chinese market, but now we don’t know what’s happening with the European market, so we are hesitant about buying too much.
“On top of that, some commercial banks have cut lending to rice exporters by about 60 percent,” he said, adding that, “All rice millers and rice exporters are facing the same issues, so it affects the whole production and value chain.”
In March, the European Commission launched an investigation to see if imports of semi-milled and milled Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar resulted in serious difficulties to EU producers of similar or competing products.
On December 4, a vote on whether to impose tariffs on Cambodian and Burmese rice was held, with EU members failing to come to a consensus. As a result, the European Commission was task with issuing a final decision on the subject by early next month.
The EU is looking at imposing tariffs over the next three years: 175 euros ($199.5) per ton during the first year, 150 euros ($171) in the second year, and 125 euros ($142.5) in the last.
CRF secretary-general Moul Sarith told Khmer Times that Cambodian exports of milled rice will experience a significant drop in 2018 due to this issue.
“From October to December, rice exports, particularly to the EU, will drop because exporters are waiting on the EC’s decision.
“Our exporters are reluctant to buy rice until they hear the decision,” Mr Sarith said.
“We ask the EC to consider their decision carefully, and call on our members to continue exporting and strengthening the quality of our paddy rice,” he added.
Kann Kunthy, vice president and managing director of Amru Rice, posted on his Facebook profile that rice exports in 2018 will amount to just 560,000 tonnes, a 12 percent drop compared to last year.
He blamed the decrease on the potential EU’s tariffs as well as Vietnam’s decision to put more stringent customs measures in place for transshipments that go through Vietnamese ports.
From January to November this year, China bought 137,866 tonnes of Cambodian rice, making it the biggest buyer. It was followed by France (73,669 tonnes), Malaysia (37,289 tonnes), Gabon (25,335 tonnes), and the Netherlands (23,643 tonnes), according to data from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export Formality.

Gov’t has to intervene on behalf of struggling rice farmers

I am aware that APNU+AFC are busy licking their wounds right now. But they lost the No-Confidence vote in Parliament because they have consistently ignored the injustices perpetuated on citizens around the country every single day. Among people who have endured gross injustices are the rice farmers, the men and women who have ensured that Guyana’s economy since 2015 remained positive. In the midst of an economy that has remained stubbornly stagnated since May 2015, the rice farmers have represented the one bright spot in the economic architecture of our country. Yet APNU+AFC have wholly abandoned the rice farmers, left them to wallow in injustice.   
While quite understandably everyone’s attention is focused on the no-confidence motion that has now resulted in APNU+AFC forced to hold elections by March 21st, 2019, I am obligated to highlight the dire circumstances hundreds of rice farmers and their families are experiencing. Just last Saturday, a few days before Christmas, as highlighted in the Guyana Times of December 23, about 300 farmers stormed the gates of a rice mill complex demanding to meet the owner for their payments. These farmers not only have Christmas on their minds and hoping their family could enjoy the holidays, they have bank loans and expenses for their children they must provide for.
In fact, hundreds of rice farmers have not been paid for paddy sold to millers. Some of them are owed for paddy sold since the first crop of 2018 and others are owed for paddy from the second crop. There are some farmers who are owed for paddy sold since 2017. The Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, has been largely silent on this issue since he assumed the position in May 2015. The only times he has spoken on this matter, he dismissed the problem as a private transaction between millers and farmers. He absolutely disowned the problem. But there is a law, the Rice Factory Act, that clearly assigns the government with responsibility in these transactions. The law makes the government a party to these transactions, even if the government was not at the table.   
The government itself, at its highest level, has reiterated the Minister’s position, insisting that the non-payment of farmers for paddy sold is not any business of the government since the transactions are squarely private arrangements between private people, in this case, millers and farmers. The President has affirmed this position and so have other people, like the Prime Minister. But an injustice being endured by any citizen is the business of government. In refusing to intervene, the government is abrogating its responsibility to uphold justice in our country, abdicating its responsibility as laid out in the laws of the country.
The law of the land provides leverage for the government. As Minister of Agriculture, I never caused anyone to lose their licence for operating a rice factory. This does not mean I never used the law; I used the law as leverage and worked in partnership with the millers and farmers to ensure farmers were paid fairly and on time. Government often paid the farmers some or all of what the millers owed them and then forced the millers to pay to the government, through the GRDB. We were not silent then. The government is silent now.
The hands-off posture of APNU+AFC, such as the silence on non-payment of farmers, is totally responsible for Guyana having failed to reach the target of 700,000 tons of rice. After the first crop of 2015, when we reached production of 398,000 tons, Guyana was on target to reach 700,000 tons. But there was a sizeable drop in production in the second crop and Guyana failed to reach the 700,000 tons target. Similar failure was experienced for 2016, 2017 and now 2018.  Government has also been silent when farmers experienced problems with irrigation, floods, pests etc.
Guyana has the capacity to reach 1,000,000 tons whenever it chooses to. Guyana has the market to significantly increase its export. But the only way these goals can be achieved is Government by playing a strong role, together with farmers and millers.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

Farmers Allege Harassment By Millers In Dhenkanal

Edited By Surya Narayan Pradhan |  Last updated Dec 26, 2018 - 13:15:56
Dhenkanal: Farmers of Jagannathpur village in the district are facing a tough time during the paddy procurement process owing to a dispute with rice millers over fair average quality (FAQ) norms.
During the last two days tonnes of paddy brought for sale by farmers from distant villages are lying outside the mandis. Moreover, farmers are spending sleepless nights to guard the sacks of paddy.
As per allegations, millers are demanding cuts/concessions of at least 10 kgs during the procurement citing fair average quality (FAQ) norms. “The millers are demanding 10-15 kg cut per quintal. Apart from this, there are major inaccuracies in the weighing machine of millers,” rued a farmer Srinivas Sahu.
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“Millers are demanding 260-kg of cuts for purchasing 50 bags of paddy. When we asked millers to cut less, they are not willing to procure paddy,” alleged another farmer Basudeb Mallick.
On the other hand, Arun Kumar, secretary of the cooperative society, which procured paddy from farmers, said that he is not aware of the allegations.
“I don’t know of any such cuts/concessions or dispute between farmers and millers” said Kumar.

Ex-SPDA officials cleared of graft

Published 
By Czarina Nicole Ong
The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division has cleared former officials of the Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) of two graft charges in relation to the allegedly anomalous purchase of P20 million worth of agriculture equipment.
Former SPDA administrator Sultan Ali Mindalano, deputy administrator Esa Bayani, legal officer III Tomas Ballesteros, administrative department officer in charge (OIC) Sultan Dic Kah Manalundung, operations and planning division Chief Rodolfo De Asis Sudario, general services division chief James Cautivar, and, Kidapawan Mercantile Inc. & Major Tractors & Equipment contractor Loreto Nicolas were initially accused of violating Section 3(e) and (g) of R.A. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Supply officer III Reynaldo Tech and accounting division OIC Charlene Damuy were only accused of violating Section 3(g) of the said law.
In October 2000, the accused reportedly conspired with one another and gave unwarranted benefits to Nicolas when they rigged the bidding for the purchase of 10 tractors amounting to P26,775,000, 10 rice millers amounting to P2,934,700, 10 rice threshers amounting to P1,517,250, 10 power tillers amounting to P1,758,750, and 10 turtle power tillers costing P819,000.
On the other hand, the contract for the procurement of 10 corn shellers costing P1,520,400 was awarded to Rubbar Marketing Center.
The prosecution claimed that the accused officials rigged the bidding in favor of Nicolas and a John Doe, adding that there was no delivery despite the payment made by the SPDA.
However, the anti-graft court found their evidence lacking. For one thing, the court said the prosecution failed to prove how the accused rigged the bidding.
The only thing the prosecution presented was the testimony of state auditor IV Lilia Maglana, who presumed that there was only a single publication of the invitation to bid. Her testimony was even refuted by the defense when they shared the invitation to bid published in the Metropolitan Gazette and Gold Star Daily.
The prosecution’s evidence also does not support its claim that there was no delivery of the purchased equipment. The deficiencies in the sales invoice and delivery receipts, according to the court, only prove that there were deficiencies in SPDA’s documentation and nothing more.
“Clearly, the deficiencies in SPDA’s documentation and the notice of suspension do not conclusively prove the non-delivery of the subject tractors, especially in the absence of any evidence,” the court’s decision read.

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 December 24, 2018
By ANN 

Senator representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani said if not for the National Bureau of Statistics the All Progressive Congress and Peoples Democratic Party could have been churning out unverifiable figures.
The 51-year old stated this via his official twitter handle. He said without the NBS, PDP could have been importing figures from China and APC could have been locally manufacturing their own figures too.
The civil rights activist acknowledged the good job NBS is doing; keeping Nigerians informed with useful statistics.
He tweet reads: NBS has been doing a good job, keeping Nigerians informed with useful statistics. Without the NBS, the main opposition could have been importing figures from China in containers & the ruling party could have been locally milling, bagging & churning their figures along with rice.
NBS has been doing a good job,keeping Nigerians informed with useful statistics.Without the NBS,the main opposition could have been importing figures from China in containers & the ruling party could have been locally milling,bagging & churning their figures along with rice.


Nigeria Will Stop Importing Rice In 2019 – Osinbajo

Description: FG urges Nigerians to buy and eat local rice

FG Boosts Local Food Production Through Anchor Borrowers Programme

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has declared that by next year, Nigeria will stop importing rice as there will be enough local production to cater for the need of Nigerians.
Osinbajo made the submission on Sunday at the palace of Musa Dogonkadai, the Seriki of the Hausa community in Agege, Lagos as confirmed by Mr. Laolu Akande, his senior special assistant on media and publicity.
The Vice President added that the federal government, through its anchor borrowers programme, had made soft loans available to over 760,000 farmers to produce rice, millet and sorghum.
This Osinbajo said, is in line with the federal government’s efforts in improving the welfare of all Nigerians.
“Look at what is happening in the north now because of the Anchor Borrowers Programme. We gave many of the farmers, over 760,000 farmers, soft loans. So, now they are producing rice, producing millet, producing sorghum,” Osinbajo said.
“We are not importing rice now. We are bringing rice from Kebbi, from Sokoto, from all over the country. By next year, we will not import rice. All our rice will be produced here. When you do that farmers will be rich. Farmers in other countries they are rich people. They are not poor. I’ve been to a country where farmers own airplanes. Why? Because their leaders are not thieves. Their leaders help them so that they can farm; they can expand their farms and they can earn money.
“I went to speak to them in Kebbi. Two of the farmers came to me and said, since this our government (came into power), they have been doing very well. One of them said, “now I have my money, I can pay for my hajj.” Another one even told me that he has married a second wife and I said no, no. I said don’t do that because one wife is enough. He said since he is getting some money be can marry a second wife
“But the truth of the matter is that there is enough money for us in this country. I believe that we must give President Muhammadu Buhari enough votes to lead this country for four more years. If he leads this country for four more years, you will see the difference.”
Gov’t has to intervene on behalf of struggling rice farmers
I am aware that APNU+AFC are busy licking their wounds right now. But they lost the No-Confidence vote in Parliament because they have consistently ignored the injustices perpetuated on citizens around the country every single day. Among people who have endured gross injustices are the rice farmers, the men and women who have ensured that Guyana’s economy since 2015 remained positive. In the midst of an economy that has remained stubbornly stagnated since May 2015, the rice farmers have represented the one bright spot in the economic architecture of our country.
Yet APNU+AFC have wholly abandoned the rice farmers, left them to wallow in injustice.  While quite understandably everyone’s attention is focused on the no-confidence motion that has now resulted in APNU+AFC forced to hold elections by March 21st, 2019, I am obligated to highlight the dire circumstances hundreds of rice farmers and their families are experiencing. Just last Saturday, a few days before Christmas, as highlighted in the Guyana Times of December 23, about 300 farmers stormed the gates of a rice mill complex demanding to meet the owner for their payments.
 These farmers not only have Christmas on their minds and hoping their family could enjoy the holidays, they have bank loans and expenses for their children they must provide for. In fact, hundreds of rice farmers have not been paid for paddy sold to millers. Some of them are owed for paddy sold since the first crop of 2018 and others are owed for paddy from the second crop. There are some farmers who are owed for paddy sold since 2017. The Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, has been largely silent on this issue since he assumed the position in May 2015. The only times he has spoken on this matter, he dismissed the problem as a private transaction between millers and farmers.
 He absolutely disowned the problem. But there is a law, the Rice Factory Act, that clearly assigns the government with responsibility in these transactions. The law makes the government a party to these transactions, even if the government was not at the table.    The government itself, at its highest level, has reiterated the Minister’s position, insisting that the non-payment of farmers for paddy sold is not any business of the government since the transactions are squarely private arrangements between private people, in this case, millers and farmers.
The President has affirmed this position and so have other people, like the Prime Minister. But an injustice being endured by any citizen is the business of government. In refusing to intervene, the government is abrogating its responsibility to uphold justice in our country, abdicating its responsibility as laid out in the laws of the country. The law of the land provides leverage for the government. As Minister of Agriculture, I never caused anyone to lose their licence for operating a rice factory.
This does not mean I never used the law; I used the law as leverage and worked in partnership with the millers and farmers to ensure farmers were paid fairly and on time. Government often paid the farmers some or all of what the millers owed them and then forced the millers to pay to the government, through the GRDB. We were not silent then. The government is silent now. The hands-off posture of APNU+AFC, such as the silence on non-payment of farmers, is totally responsible for Guyana having failed to reach the target of 700,000 tons of rice.
After the first crop of 2015, when we reached production of 398,000 tons, Guyana was on target to reach 700,000 tons. But there was a sizeable drop in production in the second crop and Guyana failed to reach the 700,000 tons target. Similar failure was experienced for 2016, 2017 and now 2018.  Government has also been silent when farmers experienced problems with irrigation, floods, pests etc. Guyana has the capacity to reach 1,000,000 tons whenever it chooses to. Guyana has the market to significantly increase its export. But the only way these goals can be achieved is Government by playing a strong role, together with farmers and millers.

Afraid of potential EU tariffs, exporters and millers buy less rice

Sok Chan / Khmer Times  

Local rice exporter and millers will buy significantly less paddy rice this year as they await the European Union’s final decision on whether or not to impose tariffs on Cambodian rice, industry insiders say.
Chan Sokheang, chairman and CEO of Signatures of Asia, told Khmer Times that his company will purchase between 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes of organic and fragrant paddy rice from Cambodian farmers from now until April, a sharp decrease from previous years, when it bought between 40,000 to 45,000 over the same months.
He said his firm is not the only one reluctant to buy as per usual, with many exporters and rice millers fearing the effect on the market of an EU decision to activate the safeguard clause that would enable bloc members to tax Cambodia’s and Myanmar’s rice.
“We don’t know what to do with regards to exporting rice to the EU,” he said. “We don’t know whether they will impose the tariffs on our rice or not. We don’t know how to prepare for this scenario,” Mr Sokheang said.
“Sales thus far are normal, but we are not purchasing paddy as before. Last year, we bought a lot of paddy rice for processing, as we rely mainly on the EU and the Chinese market, but now we don’t know what’s happening with the European market, so we are hesitant about buying too much.
“On top of that, some commercial banks have cut lending to rice exporters by about 60 percent,” he said, adding that, “All rice millers and rice exporters are facing the same issues, so it affects the whole production and value chain.”
In March, the European Commission launched an investigation to see if imports of semi-milled and milled Indica rice from Cambodia and Myanmar resulted in serious difficulties to EU producers of similar or competing products.
On December 4, a vote on whether to impose tariffs on Cambodian and Burmese rice was held, with EU members failing to come to a consensus. As a result, the European Commission was task with issuing a final decision on the subject by early next month.
The EU is looking at imposing tariffs over the next three years: 175 euros ($199.5) per ton during the first year, 150 euros ($171) in the second year, and 125 euros ($142.5) in the last.
CRF secretary-general Moul Sarith told Khmer Times that Cambodian exports of milled rice will experience a significant drop in 2018 due to this issue.
“From October to December, rice exports, particularly to the EU, will drop because exporters are waiting on the EC’s decision.
“Our exporters are reluctant to buy rice until they hear the decision,” Mr Sarith said.
“We ask the EC to consider their decision carefully, and call on our members to continue exporting and strengthening the quality of our paddy rice,” he added.
Kann Kunthy, vice president and managing director of Amru Rice, posted on his Facebook profile that rice exports in 2018 will amount to just 560,000 tonnes, a 12 percent drop compared to last year.
He blamed the decrease on the potential EU’s tariffs as well as Vietnam’s decision to put more stringent customs measures in place for transshipments that go through Vietnamese ports.
From January to November this year, China bought 137,866 tonnes of Cambodian rice, making it the biggest buyer. It was followed by France (73,669 tonnes), Malaysia (37,289 tonnes), Gabon (25,335 tonnes), and the Netherlands (23,643 tonnes), according to data from the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export Formality.

What Indian scientists achieved in 2018 beyond ISRO and its rocket launches

DINESH C SHARMA
Description: https://cdn-live.theprint.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Research.jpg
A scientist at work in a research lab in Bengaluru | Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg
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New and promising scientific technologies in fields ranging from nanotechnology to space weather made headlines this year.
The year 2018 is ending with spectacular success of Indian scientists and technologists in space and defence sectors, with a series of high impact missions. But that’s not all Indian scientists achieved in 2018. Several scientific developments, new techniques and promising technologies – in fields ranging from nanotechnology to space weather – made headlines during the year. Here is a collection of 15 such stories that gives a glimpse of important developments reported by Indian scientists during the year.

A gel that can protect farmers from toxic pesticides

Most farmers do not wear any protective gear while spraying chemicals in fields, which often leads to pesticide exposure and toxicity. Scientists at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Bengaluru have developed a protective gel — poly-Oxime — that can be applied on skin and can break down toxic chemicals into safe substances, preventing them from going deep into the skin and organs like the brain and the lungs. The research group plans to develop a mask that can deactivate pesticides.

World’s thinnest material with novel technique

Pushing the envelope in nanotechnology, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar have developed a material that is 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper. They synthesized a two-dimensional material of just one-nanometer thickness (a human hair is about 80,000 nanometer wide) using Magnesium diboride — a compound of boron. This is said to be the world’s thinnest material. It can find a range of applications — from next-generation batteries to ultraviolet absorbing films.

Gene editing applied to banana genome

Using the gene editing technique — CRISPR/Cas9 — researchers at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali have edited the banana genome. This is the first such work in any fruit crop in India. Banana is the fourth most important food crop after wheat, rice and corn in terms of gross value of production. Gene editing could be deployed for improving nutritional quality, agronomical important traits as well as pathogen resistance in banana.


Discoveries to tackle zika, dengue, JE and chikungunya

The National Brain Research Centre (NBRC) at Manesar has figured out cellular and molecular mechanisms that show how Zika virus causes microcephaly or small head size in babies. Researchers discovered that envelop protein of zika virus affects proliferation rates of human neural stem cells and promotes premature but faulty neuron formation. Another study led by scientists at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, has identified a key protein which helps dengue as well as Japanese Encephalitis viruses replication inside human body by inhibiting anti-viral cytokines. This finding could pave way for development of targeted drugs for dengue and JE. For detecting Chikungunya, a group of researchers from Amity University, Noida, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi and Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak, have developed a biosensor using molybdenum disulphide nanosheets.

Faster diagnostic tests for tuberculosis

Scientists at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi have jointly developed highly sensitive and rapid tests for detection of tuberculosis infection in lungs and surrounding membranes. Unlike current tests that use antibodies for detection of bacterial proteins in sputum samples, new tests use Aptamer Linked Immobilized Sorbent Assay (ALISA) and Electrochemical Sensor (ECS) for detection of a bacterial protein in the sputum.


Arsenic found in Punjab groundwater

Till now arsenic was a major problem in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. It was also known that there is arsenic contamination in groundwater in Punjab. Now a new study done by New Delhi-based TERI School of Advanced Studies has found that that Punjab’s floodplains are severely affected by arsenic contamination. In some wells, arsenic levels were found to be 20 to 50 times higher than WHO prescribed limit.

Space weather warning model rules out ‘mini ice age’

A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata have dismissed the speculation that the upcoming sunspot cycle is going to be stronger, based on calculations using a model developed by them. The near-Earth and inter-planetary space environmental conditions and solar radiative forcing of climate over the upcoming sunspot cycle 25 will likely be similar or marginally more extreme relative to what has been observed during the past decade over the current solar cycle. The method makes it possible to make predictions almost a decade before the next sunspot cycle activity peaks in strength.

New tool developed for autism screening

In many cases, autism is misdiagnosed as mental retardation and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Early identification and interventions may help children with autistic disorders. To help this process, scientists at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, have developed an Indian tool for screening children for autism. The Chandigarh Autism Screening Instrument (CASI) is designed to help community health workers to carry out initial screening for autism.

Hope for Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have figured out the way memory deficit develops in early stages, resulting in Alzheimer’s disease. They have found that early breaking down of a protein, fibrillar actin or F-actin, in the brain leads to disruption in communication among nerve cells and consequently memory deficits. This knowledge can be used to develop early diagnosis test in future. In another study done in fruit flies, researchers at Department of Genetics at Delhi University South Campus found that it was possible to restrict the progression of Huntington’s disease by increasing insulin signaling in the brain neuronal cells.

Green technique can address Plaster of Paris pollution

A team of scientists at Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) has developed a technique that helps recycle Plaster of Paris waste from hospitals in an eco-friendly and economical way. The new technique disinfects waste and converts it into useful products like ammonium sulphate and calcium bicarbonate. The technique can also be used to disintegrate PoP waste from idols immersed in water bodies.

Stone Age tools, genetic studies throw new light on peopling of India

The Stone Age tools discovered in a village near Chennai suggest that a Middle Palaeolithic culture was present in India around 385,000 years ago — roughly the same time that it is known to have developed in Africa and in Europe. The discovery pushes back the period when populations with a Middle Palaeolithic culture may have inhabited India, and challenges popular theory that the Middle Palaeolithic was brought to India by modern humans dispersing from Africa only around 125,000 years ago or later. In the North, population genetic study has revealed that the Rors who inhabit modern Haryana came to the Indus Valley when it was flourishing during the Bronze Age and inducted West Eurasian genetic ancestry.

Sikkim gets real-time landslide warning system

A real-time landslide warning system has been set up in the Sikkim-Darjeeling belt of north-eastern Himalayas which is highly vulnerable to landslides. The warning system consists of over 200 sensors that can measure geophysical and hydrological parameters like rainfall, pore pressure and seismic activities. The system is capable of warning about 24 hours in advance. It has been deployed by researchers of Kerala-based Amrita University and Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority.

Computing capacity for weather forecasting gets a boost

During the year, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) upgraded its computing capacity for weather forecasting and climate monitoring, taking its total high performance computing (HPC) power to as high as 6.8 Petaflop. With this, India rose to the fourth position, next only to United Kingdom, Japan and US in terms of dedicated capacity for HPC resources for weather and climate proposes.

Scientists use silk polymer to develop artificial vertebral disc

Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, developed a silk-based bioartificial disc that may find use in disc replacement therapy in future. The group has developed a fabrication procedure for a silk-based bioartificial disc adopting a “directional freezing technique”. The disc mimics internal intricacy of human disc and its mechanical properties too are similar to those of the native ones. The use of a silk biopolymer to fabricate a biocompatible disc can reduce the cost of artificial discs in future.

Transgenic rice with reduced arsenic accumulation, flowering mustard

To address the problem of arsenic accumulation in rice grains, researchers at Lucknow- based CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute developed transgenic rice by inserting a novel fungal gene, which results in reduced arsenic accumulation in rice grain. They cloned Arsenic methyltransferase (WaarsM) gene from a soil fungus and inserted it into rice genome. In another study, TERI School of Advanced Studies has developed an early flowering transgenic variety of mustard.
In other significant developments, the Department of Science and Technology launched a national mission on Cyber-Physical Systems with an outlay of Rs 3,660 crore for five years. The Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru commissioned India’s first robotic telescope to keep an eye on the dynamic cosmos, while the ambitious India Neutrino Observatory (INO) project got a go ahead from the National Green Tribunal.
This article was originally published on Indian Science Wire.
https://theprint.in/science/what-indian-scientists-achieved-in-2018-beyond-isro-and-its-rocket-launches/169125/