A new human atlas initiative has been launched to create a unified database of a molecular network of all the tissues in the human body and to derive a holistic picture of working of the human body. The project named Manav has been launched by the Department of Biotechnology and Persistent Systems, a biotechnology company.

This mega project will collate and integrate molecular information on human tissues and organs that currently lies hidden in research articles in an unstructured and disorganized form. The project would utilize large biological community, both students and scientists, for extracting and adding the information from scientific literature at the level of cells and organs. The database would eventually help researchers in identifying gaps in current knowledge and help in future projects in diagnostics and disease biology.

The idea emerged from the success of “Smart India hackathon”, a nationwide contest in which large number of engineering students are being encouraged to find solutions to the pressing problems. In the same way, Manav will engage biology students to build their skills in reading scientific literature and deepen their understanding of biological system. 

“On one hand, we have large amount of published literature and on the other hand we have few lakhs students involved in biological courses. The thought process behind Manav was to orient our students towards an aim that will train them to read scientific literature, analyze it and also the knowledge on how to design experiments,” explained Dr. Abhay Jere, national coordinator of the project, while talking to India Science Wire.

In this public-private venture, DBT and Persistent Systems will invest Rs 13 crore and Rs 7 crore respectively. The project will be executed by Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and National Center for Cell Sciences (NCCS) based at Pune. While the institutes will train students, the technology platform and data management will be provided by the private partner. Students and faculty from DBT Star colleges and Biotechnology Information network system (BTIS) network will also be involved.

The project team is in talks with other scientific agencies such as the All India Council of Technical Education, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), University Grants Commission and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for possible collaboration.

This initiative will not only seal the gaps in knowledge on human body but will also create a trained population of biologists. 

With the data curation and analysis skills imparted during this project, students will have better opportunities for the job in life science sector. The undergraduates and postgraduates from the various distinct fields of biology such as zoology, biotechnology, botany, biochemistry, pharmacology and medical sciences can register and contribute to this project.

A similar Human Cell Atlas project was launched in 2016 as a collaborative effort between scientists. This project is designed to generate data pertaining to cellular and molecular activities of various cell types in the body in both its normal and disease state using techniques such as single cell genomics. The Indian project, on the other hand, depends on the knowledge already available in scientific literature to derive information on cellular network.

The project will be executed in four steps. First will be creation of a robust online data annotation platform. Second step would involve data annotation and curation by students on the platform. Evaluation of generated data and model by faculty and then senior scientists for quality check would constitute third step. Finally, integration of data, model building and visualization. 

Currently the project is in its beta testing mode where students are being trained at NCCS, Pune campus to annotate and curate the molecular data related to research on human skin and assign them to various cells, tissues and organs via the newly created annotation platform. The information obtained will be checked by teachers and scientists. The team says that the feedback from students and faculty would help in fine-tuning the system. The training in the future will be conducted through webinars which will ensure the involvement of the larger student community from across the country can contribute to this project.

“The general methodology of acquiring and visualizing data methodology and technical platform developed during this project can be extrapolated to do other science project on biodiversity, ecology, environment etc. which may be relevant nationally or globally,” added Dr. Jere.

The information gathered in the project will help scientists to understand the differential molecular factors which vary between diseased states versus a healthy state of an organ. Further, it will bring out the cross-talk of molecular factors in various organs helping in understanding the networking between organs in a better way. (India Science Wire) 

Junaid Shahid Butt now known as musical artist ‘Jay Kadn’ formerly known as ‘Junai Kaden’ born 16th April 1990 is a Pakistani singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist who was fresh to the music scene in 2011 where he signed to Tiffin Beats Records as Award winning urban setion Mumzy Stranger very own prodigy. Where the UK Bhangra music of 2011 was concerned, Jay Kadn aka Junai Kaden at the time seemed to the be only name on everyone’s lips and thoughts after a teaser of his first single ‘Aaja Meri Naal’ featuring Mumzy Stranger was released.

Born and raised in Essex, Jay Kadn first begun singing since the age of 14 but didn’t believe he would be given the chance ever to pursue this dream so he went into DJ’ing and soon after learnt to play instruments like the piano and dhol. Already possessing great talent, Jay used to fly back and fourth from the UK to Pakistan where he picked up various traditional styles of singing and learnt to play the harmonium. Jay is no stranger to stage as he held’s the experience of performing at mela’s across the UK as a musician with different acts & artists.

Growing up in the UK, Jay was surrounded by various genres of music. His mother’s side of family was pumping the sounds of the likes of Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Westlife and many more. In a major cost to this he’s father’s side of family was highly into classical hardcore Bhangra and Kawali style music. This need not to be told as ‘Aaja Meri Naal’ was a clear indication to the type of music Jay is influenced by.

In March 2010 he put in an application to the Rishi Rich Academy where director of Tiffin Beats Records & Super Producer Rishi Rich spotted the young talent, who since introduced Jay to Mumzy Stranger. After hearing Jays breath taking vocals, Mumzy decided he wanted to take him on under his own wings to showcase Jay to the world via Mumzy’s very own original production.

The young singer and star blossomed in front of the eyes of the fans and media. Already grabbing Mumzy’s fan-base he dropped 4 singles called  ‘Aaja Mere Naal’ ‘Nai Chaida Tera Pyar’ ‘ Jabbi Teri Yaad’ & ‘Ghetto Refix’ and a 10 Track album called ‘From Me To You’ all charting at the NO.1 spot  on the BBC Asian Network & iTunes Official Download Chart with TV networks and critiques alike hot on this talented boys tail.

Since then Jay Has toured all over world performing in Different cities in the UK, EUROPE, USA, CANADA and the MIDDLE EAST till date. 

In 2016 Jay teamed up with Indian Global Powerhouse Film Production Company ‘YASH RAJ FILMS’. It is every actor and musician’s dream to work with Yash Raj Films and for him as as a singer from the UK this dream became a reality. Just days after announcing his collaboration with the global Indian film company Yash Raj Films and his signing with UK label ‘Kiss Records’ announces his first release as part of the new project. ‘Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai’ the official remix of the track from the blockbuster movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi starring Mega stars ‘Shah Rukh Khan’ & ‘Anushka Sharma’ and is accompanied by a spectacular video shot on location in Pakistan. 

The official clip was released on the official platforms and channels of YRF for the world to see. Since then Jay has carried out a Bhangra dance remix to the hit classic tune ‘ Tujhe Dekha Tou Yeh Jana Sanam’ and also teamed up with another Indian Global Film & Music Distribution company called T-Series.

Under T-Series Jay released a Punjabi dance track called ‘Gabru’ which was released in India via T-Series Apna Punjab.

At only 28 years old, and certainly no stranger to success Kadn has already built up a strong fan base over the years.

After having great success with his current single GABRU released on world-renowned Indian Music Label T-SERIES Jay Kadn is returned with another crazy Urban Punjabi Dance Tune named ‘Killer’ which shows the edgy yet cool side to Jay in his look and sound.

As we are in an era streaming Jays current release ‘Killer’ has been added into Spotify’s World Heritage Month with the song being placed into the biggest Playlists and being streamed over thousands and thousands of times.

With the Summer Of UK Melas 2019 about to kick in Jay is about to embark on a 8 date tour of Melas starting from the main city of London to Cardiff, Leicester, Luton, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Newcastle & Birmingham. All which are being announced all over his socials and official Mela platforms.

Along this tour he will be filming shooting for his next music video releasing within the coming month.

Jay Kadn is a popular recording artist based in the UK. With a huge growing fan base in the UK and abroad in other countries is a public figure looked upto by many. He’s an ambassador and champion to the youth and young upcoming emerging musical talents and artists of today within the Asian music scene. He has worked with credible and reknown recording labels, distribution label, PR & Marketing companies and Radio Companies across the globe. He is a true professional and is recognised for his achievements in music locally, nationally and worldwide.

Mr. Mondol said ”Dr Kalam” never forget to appreciate our works, always I remember his keenness for our welfare….

Jobs in India are fundamentally meant to chase your livelihood or to chase your dreams. Sometimes your sheer dedication and commitment for tasks give you a big leap in life that exposes your different variants, soiled with immense hardships and adversity. Such is the story of Mr. Samar Mondol who hails from the outskirts of Kolkata, West Bengal. He took one of the most hectic and responsible jobs in this world to serve as the President’s official photographer. 

Samar Mondol was the man behind the plethora of still photographs of former Indian presidents. He served as the official photographer for 8 former Indian Presidents. Taking his first big assignment for the then President Gyani Zail Singh, he retired during the current regime of honourable President Shri Ram Nath Kovind. After Zail Singh, he worked for R. Venkataraman, Shankar Dayal Sharma, KR Naraynan, APJ Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee. 

The 60-years-old Samar Mondol while going down the memory lanes spills some beans about his life.  His early life in Kolkata saw days filled with adversity and crises at nights. When his family couldn’t afford his primary education and he was dropped out from the school in 5^th STD, soon he decided to do some odd jobs in the streets of Kolkata. Mr. Samar Mondol was headstrong to complete his secondary education and then his intermediate and finally a diploma course in photography in Kolkata. His aspirations took him to Delhi in the year of 1987 where he was selected as the official photographer for Gyani Zail Singh. 

About his rapport with all the eight Presidents Mr. Mondol says, “Working with such learned and important people of the country opens up number of challenges in front of a person. Every President is different in his or her approach. Tuning with them is extremely important. Along with the Presidents one has to deal with the bureaucrats as well. In the last 2 decades of my service I came across various challenges.”

When asked whom do you admire the most during your service he denies commenting upon that, however, he did not hesitate to applause the missile man of Indian, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He said, “Kalam Saab was a different personality altogether. His calmness was his key. At many instances he used to ask me about my view on a particular issue. Once, the government of India initiated a scheme to educate the children who could not afford education. It was ‘Each One, Teach One’. Under this flagship program the students from finishing schools were supposed to nearby villages and help poor students. Kalam saab asked me what my view was. I suggested him that these students from rich family background will never understand the essence of the objective. Why not ask their parents to educate one of their domestic helps in every household? It will automatically serve the purpose without pushing the well-off students to visit villages on weekends. As soon as I completed my sentence he humbly accepted my suggestion and directed other authorities to do the same.”

Mr. Mondol further says..

“Apart from Kalam Saab, former President Smt. Pratibha Patil did also seek my suggestions on some instances. Sometimes I thought it was their generosity that Indian Presidents are taking a note of my aid.”

About his foreign trips with the Presidents, he said, “I have 4 passports completely filled. You can imagine how frequently I travelled abroad. This was my job. I couldn’t give much time to the family because of my foreign trips. It’s my wife who made my home a family. She handled those days with great pious and calmness.”

Mr. Samar Mondol is married to Deepika Mondol, who is the General Secretary of an NGO named as ‘Divya Jyoti Cultural Organization and Welfare Society’. She is known as an ace social worker dedicated to uplift the lives of thousands. Recently, her work was recognized when a photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral while he was greeting a woman with his folded hands. The woman was Deepika Mondol. The NGO promotes Indian art and culture, Education and Literacy vocational training to work on Tribal Affairs.

Many of you would think that post-retirement the couple would be enjoying their leisure time but as I mentioned above that ‘big leap in life opens up different variations’, Mr. Mondol and his wife are planning to launch a Gurukul in his hometown in Kolkata. Samar Mondol says that the thought of the Gurukul was inspired by a dream which he saw decades ago. Since then he has been trying to open up a Gurukul. Even in his 60s, his aspiration is inspiration for the millennial in today’s world. He lived his job enthusiastically for years where ‘Age is just a number’ for the Samar Mondol. 

Hardeepak manages celebrity presence on the Internet including their YouTube channels and other music platform related profiles. Hardeepak is only 18 years old and had started his start-up in Feb 2019. Ghaint Geet currently has over 1.5 million Spotify streams currently, which is a record high for being a new start-up providing digital distribution services.

Since a very young age, Hardeepak Singh has always had a passion for computing. His interest in this field is what drives him to do exceptional things in the field. He was born in India but at a young age had moved to the United Kingdom with his parents.

Hardeepak has confidence that his experience in computing and understanding the needs of the Punjabi music industry is going to take him far since he knows how to do things and has shown this within 6 months with his start-up Ghaint Geet.

Artists and record labels often find it difficult to find a digital distribution company, which they can trust and that will charge them an affordable price; that their music will be available on most or on all the music platforms for their fans to listen to. Therefore, Hardeepak has set out to change the industry by providing affordable solutions and that he is happy to help anyone from an artist looking to start out or work the big names like Diljit Dosanjh. Hardeepak has stated “I love helping others and will continue for the rest of my life. I have been through a lot and it is the toughest of situations, that is what has shaped me to be the person I am today. I am an ordinary Singh set out to do extraordinary things.”

When Aftab Khan started FILMYGYAN, he was clear that he wants to make it big in the media and digital platform. Today, FILMYGYAN is one of the leading social media entertainment brands which has more than 10 million followers on Instagram and Facebook together. FILMYGYAN keeps the audience updated about the latest happenings, gossips, and updates about Bollywood celebrities and movies and everything about the entertainment world.

Along with being a founder of FILMYGYAN, Aftab Khan is also a Promotional Campaign Designer. He creates content for mainstream Bollywood movies which are used for the promotions by the actors and directors. Some of his work as a promotional designer includes popular films like Fukrey 2, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, KGF, and many others.

Aftab is also an influencer and he wants to create more content that will influence and encourage people to do best in their life and work on their goals and passion. The content he wants to give out to people is not just about entertainment related but also very helpful and motivating.

Through his social media pages, Aftab Khan shares interesting stories. Understanding the psychology of people and through the art of storytelling, Aftab Khan truly knows what kind of content the audience expects and uses it to create the related promotional content for the movies.

With all this success, Aftab Khan has no stopping. He is building one of the biggest influencer networks called @fin.network. Through @fin.network, a lot of influencers and brands can integrate. Aftab’s aim to create this network is that he doesn’t want the work of influencers to look mere like sponsoring or ads. he wants to create a platform that will give a brand value to the influencers.

In an official tweet made by Facebook – “We’re aware that some people are having trouble uploading or sending images, videos and other files on our apps. We’re sorry for the trouble and are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. #facebookdown“

WhatsApp appears to have stopped working, with users unable to send some messages. While text appears to work, photos, videos and voice messages will not send through, according to various reports. Instead, users just see a message reading “download failed” and the content will not arrive. The same error message advises users to ask for the picture to be sent over again. But doing so does not seem to work.

Facebook has had problems loading images, videos, and other data across its apps today, leaving some people unable to load photos in the Facebook News Feed, view stories on Instagram, or send messages in WhatsApp. Facebook says it is aware of the issues and “working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.”

The errors aren’t affecting all images; many pictures on Facebook and Instagram still load, but others are appearing blank. DownDetector has also received reports of people being unable to load messages in Facebook Messenger.

Apps and websites are always going to experience occasional disruptions due to the complexity of the services they’re offering. But even when they’re brief, they can become a real problem due to the huge number of users many of these services have. A Facebook outage affects a suite of popular apps, and those apps collectively have billions of users who rely on them. That’s a big deal when those services have become critical for business and communications, and every hour they’re offline or acting strange can mean real inconveniences or lost money.

Content Source – The Verge

A well-designed and effective implementation of minimum wages will strengthen the trend towards decreasing wage inequality, especially at lower levels. This becomes all the more significant as women constitute the majority of the bottom rungs of the wage distribution. This was the stated in the Economic Survey 2018-19 presented by the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament today.

The Economic Survey 2018-19 states that an effective minimum wage policy that targets the vulnerable bottom rung of wage earners can help in driving up aggregate demand and building and strengthening the middle class, and thus spur a phase of sustainable and inclusive growth.

Following are the Policy recommendations for an effective design of minimum wages system as per the Economic Survey 2018-19:

• Simplification and Rationalisation: Rationalisation of minimum wages as proposed under the Code on Wages Bill needs to be supported. This code amalgamates the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 into a single piece of legislation. The definition of ‘wage’ in the new legislation should subsume the present situation of 12 different definitions of wages in different Labour Acts.
  

• Setting a National Floor Level Minimum Wage: Central Government should notify a “national floor minimum wage” that can vary broadly across five geographical regions. Thereafter, states can fix their minimum wages at levels not lower than the “floor wage”. This would bring some uniformity in minimum wages across country and would make all states almost equally attractive from the point of view of labour cost for investment as well as reduce distress migration.
  

• Criteria for setting minimum wage: The Code on Wages Bill should consider fixing minimum wages based on either of the two factors viz; (i) the skilled category i.e. unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled; and (ii) the geographical region, or else both. This Key change would substantially reduce the number of minimum wages in the country.
  

• Coverage: The proposed Code on Wages Bill should extend applicability of minimum wages to all employments/workers in all sectors and should cover both the organized as well as the unorganized sector.
  

• Regular Adjustment and Role of Technology: A mechanism should be developed to adjust minimum wages regularly and more frequently. A national level dashboard can be created at the Centre with access to the state governments whereby the states can regularly update the notifications regarding minimum wages. This portal must be made available at Common Service Centres (CSCs), rural haats etc., with the required mass media coverage so that the workers are well-informed their bargaining skills and decision-making power are strengthened.
  

• Grievance Redressal: There should be an easy to remember toll-free number to register grievance on non-payment of the statutory minimum wages should be given wide-publicity to provide low-paid workers a forum to voice their grievance.
  

The Economic Survey further states that establishing an effective minimum wage system that will have a beneficial impact on multiple dimensions of growth is, therefore, an urgent necessity.

Content Source – PIB

Warming induced by changes in land use and land cover is contributing to rise in temperature in Eastern India, according to a new study.

Over three decades (1981-2010), the mean temperature in Odisha has recorded an increase of about 0.3 degree Celsius. 

The highest temperature rise of 0.9 degrees Celsius has been recorded during the years 2001 to 2010. 

Change in land use and land cover is responsible for half of this rise in temperature, according to the study done by researchers from Indian Institutes of Technology at Bhubaneswar and Kharagpur, along with those from Southampton University. Researchers analyzed satellite data on land use, land cover as well as temperature in various parts of the state. 

The temperature in big cities is greater than in smaller cities. The mean temperature rise in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, which have seen high urbanization in the past three decades, has been 40 and 50 percent respectively in three decades. Other cities where temperature increase has been recorded are Angul, Dhenkanal and Jajapur.

“We have found that regions having largest land use and land cover induced warming coincided with those regions where cropping patterns are altered. Mostly a shift from kharif to rabi has led to warming of up to 30 percent,” explained Dr V. Vinoj, researcher at IIT Bhubaneswar, while speaking to India Science Wire. 

Rabi crop cultivation has increased by 97 percent in Odisha between 2004 and 2010. There has been a decrease in Kharif crops, reflecting agricultural diversification and changing cropping patterns. Changes in soil moisture content affects land surface temperature.

“Between 25 to 50 percent of warming is due to change in land use as a consequence of both changing cropping patterns and urbanization. In addition, urban areas show warming that is double that of the rural areas”, added Dr. Vinoj.  

The rise in temperature in any location is a combination of effects that are local in origin such as deforestation and urbanization and those that are forced externally as part of global or regional changes. Emission reduction must be the main goal, but planned and sustainable agricultural and forestry management too are very critical, according to the researchers. 

The study team included Partha Pratim Gogoi, Dr. V. Vinoj, D. Swain, G. Roberts, J. Dash, and S. Tripathy. The research results have been published in journal Scientific Reports. (India Science Wire) 

According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report entitled “India: Health of the Nation’s  States”, Contribution of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) to total death in the Country was 61.8% in 2016, as compared to 37.9% in 1990. Tuberculosis is a Communicable Disease.

In the States of Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu, due to epidemiological transition, fewer deaths are recorded for Communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases, thereby raising the share of NCDs in total deaths.

Risk factors for NCDs inter alia include ageing, unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, high blood pressure, , high blood sugar, high cholesterol and overweight.

Though public health is a State subject, Central Government supplements the efforts of the State Governments. National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) is being implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM). The objectives of the programme include health promotion activities and opportunistic screening for common Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) including cancer.

Population based screening of common NCDs, i.e. diabetes, hypertension and cancers (Oral, Breast and Cervical cancer) has also been initiated under National Health Mission (NHM). Key components of population based screening include community based risk assessment, screening, referral, and follow up of all individuals of 30 years and above for common NCDs (hypertension, diabetes, oral cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer). The initiative will help in early diagnosis and will generate awareness on risk factors of NCDs.

To enhance the facilities for tertiary care of cancer, the Central Government is implementing Strengthening of Tertiary Care Cancer facilities scheme to support setting up of State Cancer Institutes (SCI) and Tertiary Care Centres (TCCC) in different parts of the country.

Oncology in its various aspects has focus in case of new AIIMS and many upgraded institutions under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksh Yojna (PMSSY)

Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) Deendayal outlets have been opened at 159 Institutions/Hospitals with an objective to make available Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases drugs and implants at discounted prices to the patients. Jan Aushadhi stores are set up by Department of Pharmaceuticals to provide generic medicines at affordable prices.

Today Minister of State Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.