Monday, January 31, 2011

Government procures over 15.82 lakh MT paddy

Raipur, December 25, 2011

The government had procured 1582761 MT paddy from 1587 procurement centres under 1333 primary cooperative societies of the state by far under minimum support price (MSP) in the current Kharif season 2010-11. The government has procured about 817747 MT common paddy and 740282 MT grade-A paddy of the total procured paddy.
The common paddy is being been procured at the rate of Rs 1000 per quintal and grade-A paddy at the rate of Rs 1030 per quintal.
The procurement began from November 1, 2010 and it would continue till January 31, 2011. However, paddy purchase would be continued through linking from only those farmers with balance loan to adjust their loan amount by February 15, 2010.
The officials of Food and Civic Supplies Department informed that the highest amount of paddy has been procured from Raipur district, i.e. 383159 MT through 276 cooperative committees followed by Durg that has purchased 277261 MT paddy.
Similarly, the amounts of paddy purchased in other districts are – Mahasamund – 195588 MT, Dhamtari – 171526 MT, Rajnandgaon – 97945 MT, Raigarh – 114910 MT, Bilaspur – 79754 MT, Kabeerdham – 24445 MT, Kanker – 49493 MT, Korba – 9802 MT, Sarguja – 13051 MT, Janjgir-Champa – 87589 MT, Jagdalpur – 17245 MT, Koria (Baikunthpur) – 3700 MT, Jashpur – 3441 MT, Dantewada – 854 MT, Narayanpur – 632 MT and Bijapur – 478 MT.



Chemistry’s role vital in cancer research: Prof Rama Pandey

3rd day of 47th Annual Convention of Chemists 2010 and International Conference on Recent Advances in Chemistry at RSU

Raipur, December 25, 2011

Chemistry plays crucial role in research and development (R&D) on diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer. When the base present in the DNA is oxidised or alkalised, it converts into oncogene (a gene that disposes normal cells to change into cancerous tumor cells). The information on - ‘chemistry behind cancer’ was given by Professor Rama Pandey, HoD School of Studies in Chemistry (SOSC) and convenor of 47th Annual Convention of Chemists 2010 and International Conference on Recent Advances in Chemistry organised by Indian Chemical Society (ICS) Kolkata while she was imparting lecture during the convention’s organic and biochemistry session on the third day at Pt Ravishankar Shukla University (RSU) on Saturday.
“There are about 20000-25000 protein-coded genes 20000-25000 genes in human body and 291 cancer causing genes. Usually, the cancer causing genes get activated due to ultra violet (UV) rays, carcinogenic compounds, smoking, etc and the symptoms of caner appear in an individual,” Professor Pandey said.
“If a person leaves his broken teeth untreated or unattended then it can gradually form oral cavity which can eventually cause cancer,” she added.
On research works on medicines for cancer, she said, “The medicines of cancer are indeed very expensive. In fact, such research works on cancerous medicine require lot of money, manpower and time,” she said.
“Hence, a new methodology was formed back in 1972 by the US-based scientists Professor C Hansch which is known as Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR),” she said.
“The methods of QSAR and molecular modeling are nowadays widely applied to describe the relationships between chemical structures of molecules and their biological activities in a quantitative manner,” she said.
“Even in cancer researches, many attempts have been made to understand structure-activity relationships and to design new anti-tumor drugs on a more rational basis,” she added.
“The computational methods improve in their predictive ability, thus leading to more reliable results. However, the quantitative description of structure-activity relationships, as well as the modeling of drug-receptor interactions, are still (and will remain for the near future) very difficult,” she further informed.
“The transport and the distribution of a drug in a biological system is a function of its lipophilicity and its degree of dissociation or ionisation at the pH value of the aqueous phases of the system. The interaction of the drug with its binding site at the receptor is determined by the lipophilicity pattern, the charge distribution, the electron density, and the polarisable pattern at the surface of the molecule,” she added.
In the physical chemistry session, Professor Amlendu Pal from Kurukshetra informed about ionic liquids while Professor Jyotiranjan Acharya from Defence Research and development Organisation (DRDO) Gwalior imparted lecture on discovery of new antidote for treatment of chemical gases.
In environmental and analytical chemistry session, Professor Ashutosh Ghosh from Kolkata University spoke on – ‘polynuclear combination and Professor Vivekanand Mitra from Bhagalpur University on – ‘bentonites’ that are distributed widely in the Rajmahal Hills of eastern India, usually in association with volcaniclastic deposits, informed the secretary of organising committee for the convention Professor Kallol Ghosh.



Cong regains momentum, eyes Sanjari-Balod seat

Political Analysis

Raipur, December 25, 2011

In politics, celebration is transitory. The BJP has somehow negated this adage in the state and rather managed to uphold its habit to win elections in recent years except few setbacks. However, the BJP could script its success saga not due to its increasing mandate, but because of fragmented Congress that failed to defend its stronghold constituencies. Comprehending that its fifty years of experience would not help it in divesting the BJP from power, the Congress is gradually adopting practical approach to increase its own stature in the state that could dwarf the ruling party.
The Opposition first displayed its astuteness in the civic polls that held in seven nagar panchayats, five municipal councils and one municipal corporation on December 21, 2010. Anticipating that the elections for these civic bodies would be announced in December, the Congress intensified its activities and consistently raised burning issues of the state. Its poll strategy was simple – to make inroads in BJP’s both urban and tribal bastions.
The result was outstanding. The Congress won Bhilai Municipal Corporation mayoral seat and Birgaon Municipal council chairperson seat. Besides, it posted victory over BJP in tribal areas like Bhairamgarh and Bhopalpatnam. The senior party leaders say that their success apparently indicates BJP’s reducing popularity graph in the state.
“Enough is enough. You cannot deceive people by misusing their money. The gimmicks rice distribution at Rs two per kg do not appeal the poor any more as they know they would never get benefit of all the schemes launched for them,” said the Congress leaders.
They also allege that the BJP won majority of the nagar panchayat seats because it had misused government machinery. “But how long will the BJP misuse its power? We are increasing our magnitude,” they added.
Some innocent party workers think that the Congress had taken revenge from BJP after it lost the Bhatgaon legislative seat to the latter. However, whether the result of Bhatgaon by-poll was a quid pro quo or merely another election outcome would always remain a debatable subject for political analysts.
With the prime seats Bhilai Municipal Corporation and Birgaon Municipal council in its kitty, the effervescing Congress is eying for next battle – by-election for Sanjari-Balod legislative Assembly area so that it could fully retain its lost strength and prepare to spoilsport the BJP’s mission 2013 (Vidhan Sabha polls) and 2014 (general elections) dreams.
Four senior party leaders have benefited from December 21 elections – PCC president Dhanendra Sahu, leader of the Opposition at Vidhan Sabha Ravindra Choubey and PCC working president Satyanarayan Sharma.
Where AICC is yet to decide the next PCC president, Dhanendra Sahu would certainly wish delay in announcement and would rather attempt to reclaim the top post by winning the Sanjari-Balod seat under his stewardship.
Similarly, except having rank and profile, Satyanarayan Sharma was being termed as ‘politician of the past’ among his own party workers. He had become soft target among his fellow partymen. However, by succeeding in getting ticket for his supporter Dr Om Prakash Dewangan for Birgaon Municipal Council chairman seat and winning the election, Sharma proved his political acumen again and would hope appreciation from the high command.
The story of Ravindra Choubey is different. Ever since he became leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, he had faced tough challenge from his party legislators. Due to factions, only few followed his instructions and the others kept on opposing his proposals. However, at times, the party had displayed unity in the House, but the Congress legislators did not let any stone unturned in demeaning Choubey. Many of the party MLAs had even demanded from the high command to change the leader of the Opposition.
The Bhilai legislator Badruddin Quraishi is a party pal, but an old foe. Quraishi had recently launched offensive against Choubey on ticket distribution for Bhilai Municipal Corporation, but his attitude was considered as indiscipline by the senior leadership which is now planning to shot notice on him. So Choubey can smile. Moreover, he is laughing because he had successfully conducted poll campaigning of Bhilai Municipal Corporation. Since Choubey was accompanied by Vaishalinagar legislator Bhajan Singh Nirankari, the latter has won applause from the party.
The exulted Congress leaders now seriously want to consolidate the party from top to bottom. They credited one of their senior leaders for too many factions in the party and said if that leader would cease to play internal politics, the Congress would once again become strong.

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