Shillong Mar 28 PTI Living Root Bridges found in over 70 villages in Meghalaya highlighting the socio-cultural social and botanical links among people and nature has been included in the tentative list of World Heritage sites of the UNESCO officials said on MondayDelighted to share that Jingkieng Jri Living Root Bridge Cultural Landscapes of Meghalaya has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site tentative list Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma posted on his social media accountsI congratulate all community members and stakeholders in this ongoing journey he addedVillagers grow the living root-bridges by training the ficus elastica tree on both sides of water bodies and over a period of about 10 to 15 years where the roots form the bridgeAt present there are about 100 known living root bridges spread across 72 villages in the statePrincipal Scientific Advisor to Government of India Prof K Vijay Raghavan said that the Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya which highlights the socio-cultural social and botanical links among people and nature is well deserving of the tag of UNESCO World Heritage SiteLast year a National Convention on the root-bridges was held here where scientists presented their findings of unique species of orchids amphibians and mammals which can be found on these root-bridges PTI JOP JRC JRC

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 19 (ANI): With the aim to map human brains at the cellular level, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras launched a state-of-the-art research centre on Saturday.

New Delhi Nov 18 PTI Synergy between industry and academia has enhanced after the COVID-19 pandemic in India and it is now time to embed this interaction by scaling it up for new development and research at a higher level said Professor K Vijay Raghavan Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India Addressing the Global Innovation Summit on the pharmaceutical sector on Thursday he said India is playing at a scale in the innovation space and this will not only help the country but also create a source of sustainable revenue bringing new solutions to unmet healthcare needs Synergy between industry and academia is an area which the COVID 19 pandemic has enhanced and shown really well in India and we want to see more of that happening Weve seen that in developing test kits vaccines PPE and so on Its now time to embed this interaction on a scale so that new developments and research can go on at a higher level he said Raghavan asserted that India will lead not only in the creation of new jobs but also reducing disease burden here and all over the world such as the development of drugs for both India-specific concerns like tuberculosis and leprosy which do not get global attention Affordable innovation is the way forward and India has a unique opportunity to deliver to global markets by building excellence across the innovation chain from discovery to development he said Regulatory hoops have been developed not so much to improve regulation alone but also the wrong assumption that more regulation somehow improves the quality of regulation Now the pandemic has allowed a re-examination of that and we need to go to a situation where highest quality regulations of safety privacy rigour and science are combined with speed he added The PSA said the Indian pharmaceutical industry has evolved to become a major facet of our healthcare ecosystem over the last few decades It has moved from being a importer to a manufacturer and now into a developer of pharma and multiple ways And it has done this against extraordinary global odds The global odds can be seen just by looking at the extent of RD investment each of the big pharma companies make and each of them you know the big ones make more investment than the entire US National Science Foundation So it is against these odds that innovation has taken place Now on the back of strong capabilities our need now is to grab our kinds of opportunities and move forward he said He said India has the ability now to move into new kinds of drug development in both biologics and biosimilars new kinds of therapies using biological molecules and new kinds of chemistry relatively rapidly Raghavan said there is a need for expansion of the fundamental research ecosystem and link that to industry and start-ups There are two important components which policy has now addressed and will open up the doors One is academia industry collaboration of various types and also facilitating as much as and institutions to start companies and become entrepreneurs themselves These two aspects are going to be very important game changers as we go ahead he added PTI UZM HDA HDA

New Delhi [India], October 31 (ANI): India's pharma industry should gear up to address challenges arising out of climate change, biodiversity and environmental impacts, said Professor K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.