Washington, Dec 4. (PTI): Two Indian agriculturists were today presented with the outstanding scientists award for 2006 by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for their contribution towards the field.

The awards were presented to Ram P Thakur, a plant pathologist with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and Bir Bahadur Singh, a plant breeder at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture at the CGIAR's annual meeting here.

Thakur has been conferred with the award for his work on managing major diseases in pearl millet and sorghum, key cereal grain crops grown in arid regions, which provide food, feed, fodder, fuel, as well as temporary construction material.

His research on the devastating and widespread millet disease known as downy mildew has led to the development of new disease-resistant hybrids, including the first-ever product of molecular marker-assisted selection breeding that was released for cultivation in India in 2005, CGIAR said.

Singh, widely known as Mr Cowpea, has many contributions to his credit, including a fast-maturing '60-day' cowpea variety for the tropics, seeds with resistance to more than 10 diseases and drought and heat-tolerant varieties of legumes.

"This year's awardees are applying innovative science and technology to these and other challenges to make a difference in the lives of millions of poor farm families," CGIAR Director Francisco Reifschneider said announcing the awards.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200612042010.htm

The park itself is to be set up through public-private enterprise, Sibal said.

New Delhi, Dec 5 - Canada will help India set up a knowledge city at Mohali in Punjab as part of a pact the two countries signed Tuesday to step up their cooperation in the field of science and technology.

The knowledge city is to be set up over an area of 350 acres, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said after signing a memorandum of understanding by Canada's Deputy Minister of Agriculture and M.K. Bhan, secretary, Department of Biotechnology -.

The pact would seek to promote cooperation between India's DBT and the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food of Canada - and the National Research Council, - Canada.

Sibal said the knowledge city would have a National Institute of Nanotechnology, an Indian Institute of Science Education and Research as well as an agri-food cluster.

The DBT is involved in planning the agri-food cluster spread over 150 acres. It will have the National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute - and a bioprocessing unit - to provide scale-up facilities.

Both NABI and BPU are planned to come up as autonomous institutions under DBT in the agri-food biotech park designed to house start-up companies.

The park itself is to be set up through public-private enterprise, Sibal said.

Canadian experts have been involved in the concept and planning of the projects right from the beginning. Several of them are likely to be on the advisory board of the knowledge city and agri-food cluster.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/india/Canada-to-partner-India-in
-knowledge-city-project_7408.shtml

New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS) Indian pharma major Dr. Reddy's Laboratories will launch a first-of-its-kind pill to tackle heart diseases in the second half of 2007, it was announced Thursday.

The company has teamed up with researchers at University of Auckland, New Zealand, for trials of the groundbreaking 'polypill' that combines four medicines including aspirin and statin, commonly used to treat heart ailments.

India records nearly 2.8 million deaths a year due to cardio-vascular diseases.

'Trials in India are underway. We are conducting trials on 220 patients and after testing on 440 more cases, the product will be launched in the Indian market,' said Satish Reddy, managing director of Dr. Reddy's Lab.

'We have already received the necessary approval from the government for conducting the trails. We hope the product will be available to masses in the second quarter of 2007,' he told reporters at the New Zealand High Commission here.

'This is first-of-its-kind drug in the world to tackle heart problem and will open newer vistas to handle such ailments,' Reddy told IANS, adding it will cost Rs.100 for 30 tablets.
New Zealand's High Commissioner to India Graeme Waters said: 'This project holds open the possibility of revolutionising an important aspect of healthcare in both developing and developed countries.'

The new drug will be cheaper to administer and more effective in preventing strokes and heart attacks, said Anthony Rodgers, a researcher at Auckland University.

The trial aims to confirm that the polypill is effective in lowering cholesterol and blood pressure - known causes of heart attacks and strokes.

The Health Research Council of New Zealand invested NZ$350,000 to support the overall co-ordination of the trial and recruitment in New Zealand. Dr. Reddy's will invest NZ$ 7.5 million in developing the polypill and providing supplies for clinical trials globally.

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Dr._Reddys_to_launch_polypill_for_treating_heart_disease