Editorial

The recent proposal of the health ministry that all MBBS graduates should spend one year's rural stint before taking up post-graduation is one idea which will be supported by all. We had been advocating scholarships for all those who want to go for higher studies and the government could make two years military or civilian service compulsory before they Take up any job. For rural upliftment a minimum one year is necessary before the doctor can build rapport with the local people and also to build a minimum infrastructure with the help of the local people. The fact that the infrastructure is very poor in villages is exactly the reason why dynamic doctors and engineers and other graduates should be sent there. Not to send teachers to villages because they don't have good schools has the logical fallacy of 'begging the question'. The schools are not good because there are more...

The theory of evolution was given by the British Scientist Charles Darwin in 1871. Though Rome was against it, there was no difficulty for Darwin to continue his studies unlike Galileo and other European scientists of the 15th century. Indians by nature and philosophy have no problem to accept the principle of evolution. However, of late. We have started feeling whether every change can be attributed to evolution. Evolution is progress. Is it making a circular turn? We have to make a path correction, if it is true. On the human side, the physical body has adapted and changed. Our intellect has taken up challenges and the scientists are marching from one marvellous invention to another, whether it is in technology, astrophysics, biology, medicine or nuclear science. In any branch of science, more progress has been made in the twentieth century than in the past five hundred years. Even organs more...

Every year, we give the profile of the successful students because you can be one of them next year. Study our questionnaire and answers and come to your conclusions. Exams and ranking have their limitations. Otherwise there is no reason why a student is top in one exam and he is only good in other exams. However, consistent hard work, and dedication have always paid. You have to love your subject. It is not the number of hours put in that is important but how well one has studied. Learn, meditate, revise, re-revise and learn to think. NCERT and CBSE books are your texts. The concepts have to be clear. We are also proud that our decision to give high quality books and magazines at affordable prices  have made the latest information accessible to all. These books are of real help to the students in various parts of India. Encouragement more...

Recent Nobel Prizes and not so recent ones have shown that every branch of science has felt The impact of advances in other branches however remote they appear to be. Chromatography, discovered by a botanist and x-rays by a physicist have found applications from biology (this includes medicine), to nuclear physics. However, of late, medical science has catalyzed technology tremendously because of the prospects of immediate applications. EEG, £CG, CT Scan, PET, MRI, Ultra Sound Scanning, X-ray imaging and medical lasers are only a few of them. Simple determinations of potential differences in the various parts of the brain give information about which part of brain is active for which activity. Yet the mind and the will of man has to be studied more thoroughly. Studies are getting quantified. Still a lot of research needs attention. After utilizing the latest technique, do we just look at the results and study more...

Ecology is the study of the interrelationship among the units of the whole of the earth, water, air, atmosphere, and the interaction of the sun, the earth and the planets on the oceans. According to Indians we believe that the rivers and water sources are alive, sleeping at night and they are not to be disturbed. Now let us come to the scientific reality. Water sources like lakes and rivers have also to breathe. Water during day time absorb oxygen. During night when the temperature falls, due to the "anomalous density" of water, the water at cooler temperature goes down and the water from the deeper levels comes up. They contain carbon dioxide. They expel carbon dioxide at night and breathe in oxygen from the air. In rivers, there is always constant motion. However, in very deep lakes, particularly in rain forests, water at great depths are not warmed by more...

Research in biology is touching new heights. Delving deep into the secret of genes, altering the genes to cure the incurable, studies in stem cells all these show the increasing frontiers of the knowledge of mankind. However there are also causes for anxiety about some of the research that is going on. Will they be contained within the limits of ethical values? Starting with genetic doctoring to cure the patients, one is envisaging the use of genetic control for criminals. In the hands of regimes where human rights are unheared of, as much harm can be done to humanity in this century as during the second world war concentration camps. The camps are not there. But the techniques are improving. The kidney racket by a set of unscrupulous "doctors" is a crime that could not have happened in any other country. This is due to unbridled greed on one hand more...

Confluence of two or three rivers is called 'Sangam' in India. It is considered a specially sacred place. When the mainstreams of science mingle together, the output can be tremendous. When specialisation becomes unidirectional thinking, it acts as blinkers of a horse. What is important is synergetic interaction. According to Niels Bohr, one has to push the analysis of the mechanism of living organisms as far as that of atomic phenomena. According to Bohr "We should scarcely expect to find any features differing from the properties of inorganic matter". This is exactly what Francis Crick tried to do with his X-ray diffraction studies of DNA. A physicist by training and a physicist by inclination, the future Nobel laureate was rejected for graduate studies both in Harward and Caltech, It is only a reflection on the method of judgement of the abilities of a person. Perhaps, this very rejection could have more...

Recently, I happened to read a very interesting article. The berries of wild plants, which are normally not used for any purpose in India are being exported to a pharmaceutical firm. The cultivation of these plants are also being taken up seriously. The Indian pharmaceuticals are not freely tapping our potential but import raw materials. Most of the methods for the determination of the structure and identification of the molecules are available in any big laboratory in India. There are many regional agricultural colleges and research laboratories spread throughout India. The scientists are also very keen to help the farmers. People are also encouraged to grow profitable plants in their terraces and backyards. A huge collection of data of ICAR is yet to be tapped fully. There are certain well-known ayurvedic companies and institutions having their own hospitals in India. Farmers can take up cultivation of medicinal plants along with more...

If one fails to get admission to a prestigious medical college, one can just get online MBBS degrees from next year according to newspaper reports. Max health care is going to upgrade (?) the centres by adding 4000 beds within three years. Both Max-Care Centre as well as Ocenia University of U.S.A. are in touch with the Medical Council of India. But it is not sure whether the Medical Council is in touch with them. Our students have not forgotten that many Indian students from Eastern European and Eurasian Republics of Russia, were not allowed to practice because MC! has not recognised their degrees. Online teaching, internet encyclopedias and soon virtual experiments on surgery will be in vogue. What is the guaranty that the Medical Council will recognise their degrees when students in so many Medical and Engineering colleges, privately run, do not know whether their degrees will be recognised? more...

Whether it is chemistry, physics or any branch of study, the story is the same. Less people are interested in basic research which is the backbone of technology. In addition to this problem, a few brilliant students who choose the subjects like food chemistry and biochemistry make to the Indian MNC's as a stop-over to take off to the developed countries. But these problems are common even to engineering and medical students. Further, the disease of the falling standards in education is the biggest problem today. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council, whose ex- officio president, the UGC Chairperson is also the president of the council, is doing enormous work by defining what is good education, assessing the institutions to A++A+, A etc., down to C-. The better colleges do get an encouragement by this and become better. Unless it is mandatory to obtain good ranks to maintain their recognition more...