The four-day National Teachers Science Congress concluded at the Swatantrata Bhavan in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on
Addressing the function Professor Singh said he had been trying his best to make BHU one of the best universities of the world. He said he wanted to organize International Science Festival in BHU.
Dr BP Singh, head of National Council for Science Teachers,
Photo: PPP Cell-BHU
Thousands took holy dip in Ganga on the auspices occasion of Kartik Purnima in Varanasi on November 10, 2011.
A minaret laced with thousand earthen lamps, traditionally called Hazara, was seen illuminated on the occasion of Dev Deepawali at Panchganga Ghat in Varanasi on November 10, 2011.
Dev Deepawali was celebrated at Dashaswamedh Ghat with Vedic rituals in Varanasi on November 10, 2011. Only earthen lamps with ghee or oil inside were used to illuminate the entire ghat. 
Four-day Ganga Mahotsav concluded at Rajendra Prasad Ghat in Varanasi on November 9, 2011. UP Minister of State for Culture Subhash Pandey was the chief guest at the closing function.
Photo: Samrat
Internationally renowned Santoor exponent Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma added extra charm to the four-day Ganga Mahotsav from November 6 to 9 at Rajendra Prasad Ghat in Varanasi .
The four-day Ganga Mahotsav at Rajendra Prasad Ghat in Varanasi from November 6 to 9 was a treat to watch. Artistes from different states of the country presented attractive and mesmerising cultural programmes to mark the occasion. 
The four-day Ganga Mahotsav began at Rajendra Prasad Ghat in Varanasi on November 6, 2011. Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) Vinod Singh inaugurated the festival.Varanasi, November 4, 2011: A group of thirty-one Indian scientists from ICAR Institutes, State Agricultural Universities and Banaras Hindu University, led by Prof. Nagendra Kumar Singh from ICAR’s National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology in New Delhi have decoded the genome of 'Arhar', the second most important pulse crop of India. This is the first plant genome sequenced entirely through a network of Indian institutions and it will provide highly valuable resource for variety improvement of pigeonpea.
Average pulse crop productivity in
The genome of popular Arhar variety ‘Asha’ was assembled using long sequence reads of 454-FLXsecond generation sequencing technology resulting in 511 million base pairs of high quality genome sequence information. The scientists have identified 47,004 protein coding genes in the Arhar genome, of which 1,213 genes are for disease resistance and 152 genes for tolerance to drought, heat and salinity that make it a hardy crop. In contrast to soybean, Arhar has fewer number of genes for oil biosynthesis and larger number of genes for cellulose biosynthesis which make it an oil-free woody plant. The genome sequence was used to develop a large number of ‘Arhar’ DNA markers which were experimentally validated for high rate of variation among the pigeonpea varieties. These markers will be useful for DNA fingerprinting and diversity analysis of pigeonpea germplasm and molecular breeding applications.
Until a couple of years ago pigeonpea was considered an orphan legume crop because developed countries would not invest in the research due to the crop being cultivated mainly in the tropical and subtropical countries but now substantial amount of genomic resources have been generated, largely due to the efforts of Indo-US Agricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI) and Network Project on Transgenics in Crops (NPTC) both with funding support from the ICAR.
Pigeonpea or red gram (‘Arhar’ or ‘Tur’) is an important grain legume (Pulse) crop of
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How is Arhar genome going to benefit the Indian farmers and general public?
Presently,
What is the Arhar genome project about?
The Arhar genome project was initiated under Indo-US AKI to generate all kinds of genomic resources in pigeonpea including EST sequences, trait mapping populations, mutant lines, BAC libraries, information databases and finally the complete physical map of the genome. Knowledge of location of each and every gene in the genome will help faster discovery of genes for important agronomic traits such as yield, disease resistance, insect resistance, water logging tolerance and breeding of improved variety of Arhar similar to rice and wheat.
Who funded the Arhar genome project?
The project was supported for four years (2005-06 to 2009-10) through the Education Division of ICAR. For the last two years (2010-11 and 2011-12) the project is being supported by the Crop Science Division of ICAR under NPTC project (Functional Genomics Component). The total cost of generating the first draft of Arhar genome sequence, including the support to AKI partners for arhar genomics resources has been about Rs. 11 crores over the last six years. ICAR is now putting heavy emphasis on the genomics of important indigenous crop plants untouched by the global genomics research.
What was the role of ICRISAT and
Dr. R.K. Varshney from ICRISAT Hyderabad supported by ICAR and GCP projects and Prof. Dough Cook from University of California, Davis USA, supported by an NSF grant were involved in the first phase of the Indo-US AKI project in generating EST resources and BAC-end sequences and SSR markers but after the conclusion of Indo-US AKI in 2009-10, they have not been associated with the Indian Arhar genome sequencing network.
Number of chromosomes: 11 pairs
Genome size (Physical): 858 Mb (million base pairs)
Genome size (Genetic): 1057 cM (centi Morgan)
How are plants different from animals in terms of total number of genes?
Plants seem to have higher number of genes than animals mainly due to genome duplications (polyploidy), but they also perform additional biological functions of converting solar energy to chemical energy and non-living matter into organic compounds. Also they need a large number of defense genes to survive in the open nature as they cannot run away. Animals on the other hand have more number of genes for highly developed senses and locomotion related functions. For defense they are able created more proteins from less number of genes due to post transcriptional processing of antibody genes.
Four-day Chhath puja festival was celebrated with traditional gaiety and fervour in Varanasi. Thousands offered "Arghya" to the rising sun at different ghats of the city on November 2, 2011.
Devotees waited for the Sun God to rise in the East on the auspices occasion of the Chhath puja festival at Dashaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi on November 2, 2o11.
Thousands of devotees headed towards Dashaswamedh and other ghats of Varanasi to offer "Arghya" (prayers) to Sun God in the evening of November 1, 2011 on the auspices occasion of Chhath.
Uttar Pradesh Police jawans and commandos kept strict vigil on devotees at Dashaswamedh and other ghats of Varanasi on the auspices occasion of Chhath festival on November 1, 2011.
Devotees offered "Arghya" to Sun God on the auspices occasion of Chhath Puja at Dashaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi on November 1, 2011.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi visited Baburi area in Chandauli district on November 1, 2011and interacted with local people.
Talking to media persons here, Singh said that he had visited the
Professor Singh said the university will improve its facilities to obtain AIIMS status for
He also stressed importance upon the need of DNA based therapy and diagnostic services in
The diseases should be targeted to be controlled by predictive and preventive medicine based on DNA Technology rather that going for cure after occurrence of the disease, he added.
He mentioned about gene responsible for sudden cardiac arrest is Myocine Binding Protein C-3. He said that Yoga and Gym facilities would be provided as post treatment for the patients. He expressed his intention to open the Paid and Evening OPD in the hospital once again.
He said he likes transparency in every field and wish to have a very transparent system of examination, academics, research and administration. He expected every body to be frank and bold in pointing out any lapses in the administration. He said he likes his critics more than ‘yes man’.
He wished to develop international facilities like Centralized Cafeteria which can cater to about 5000 students and should also have provision for teachers to have their club near such cafeteria so that the multidisciplinary scientific interaction may take place among the students and between teacher and students.
He also wished to have centralized instrumentation facilities of world class. The vice chancellor mentioned about his dream project of translational research.
“These all facilities will improve the scientific environment and output of international standard and also will attract international faculty”, he said.
Photo and News: PPP Cell-BHU
The oath taking ceremony of the 5th Students Council was held at Students Council building in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on
Photo: PPP Cell-BHU
