A Bi-monthly Newsletter

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Banaras Hindu University. Information & Public Relations Office yol.03No. 03 & 0,4It Jun-Aug'06

NEHRU MEMORIAL LECTURE

From L to R : Prof Mushirul Hasan. Dr Ashok Kaul. Vice Chancellor Prof Panjab Singh

f(he Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia

l. Islamia UMI), New Delhi, Prof! Mushirul Hasan said that there was an

urgent necessity for renewing and revitalisingdialogue between religions to continue toincrease on many levels and across manydivides,

'What we need is an expanded tolerancein our approach to different religions and ourunderstanding of the Muslim, Hindu andChristian ways,' he said while deliveringNehru Memorial Lecture, at Faculty of Artsauditorium on 24 March.

~ccording to him, in the radicallychanged circumstances, the old rivalriescannot be renewed, and the past battlescannot be fought on a modern turf.' 'Theurgency is to celebrate the variety in religiousexpressions, and to reject the Christian rightagenda, and the Zionist, Islamist, andHindutva world views,' said theinternationally famous historian. The themeof his lecture was 'Pluralism in a locality:Awadh and Delhi in the 19th century.'

Prof Hasan said all one can hope is thatstudying the histories of Kasbas (localities)and the erstwhile imperialcapitalwillprove asource of knowledge of a cultural andintellectual heritage that belongs to theentirely of SouthAsia. 'When the history ofideasof the countries bordering Indiaisbetter

explored and therefore better known, thehistorian will recognise the currents ofinfluence, which, from Pakistan to

Bangladesh, constitute the very fabric of thehistory of Islam in the region.'

Noted historian added, we can providean adequate language to not onlycomprehend the 21 st century, but to decidefor ourselves the importance of livingtogether, understanding each other, andinterpreting each other's lifestyle and valuesystems.

In the beginning of the lecture, he said'Unity in Diversity' has to be everybody's goalin order to keep intact, first of all, the socialequilibrium of diverse societies and second,to contest the hegemonic or exclusivist visionof the world nurtured by the likes of SamuelHuntington and Gorge W Bush. 'The fact ofitsbeing an eminently realisable goal is illustratedby India's survival, despite the partition of thecountry on religious grounds, as an essentiallyunified cultural and civilizational entity. Amultipart democracy, fortified.by social andeconomic equality, gender justice, minorityrights ~and federal structure, is a guarantoragainst fissiparous tendencies,' added ProfHasan.

For a social historian, Prof Hasan said, it isimportant to examine, especially in terms ofintercommunity relations, the implications of

what aspects of the divinely-ordained Islamictenets people accepted and what did theyconveniently repudiate. ~n inspiring exampleof this is the Muslim salam after namaz or theChristian prayer that embraces not just acommunity but all the living souls, he said.'

Narrating several stories includingZakaullah Nazir Ahmed, Pandit Tulsi Ram andfestivals like Phoolwalon Ki Sair and the

Pankha festival from the history of Delhi, hepraised the people of Banaras holy city in themanner they had demonstrated harmonyrecently after twin blasts. He said there isonlyone principal fact of kasba living-- the ideologyof pluralism, its strength in uniting differentsections of society, and its ultimate failure inthe aftermath of partition to mediatebetween religious and political aspirations.

Presiding over the function, Vice-Chancellor Prof Panjab Singh said that theIndian Parliament is itself an example of ourcultural pluralism and supported Prof Hasan'ssuggestions that there should be moreinteraction between the teachers and

students of BHU and JMI and said that efforts

'",

...........

should be made to march towards progressthrough pluralism.

The function was conducted by Dr AshokKaul (Sociology) and the vote of thanks wasproposed by Convener of Memorial Lectures& Public Relations Officer, Dr VishwanathPandey. .

.. ....

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~_.. . .."" "'021 June-August 2006 .

A Bi-monthly Newsletter

a magazine of ideas, views & news

contentMalaviyaVani

FromVC'sDesk

MarchingAheadFacultyof law

FacultyHonours

InsideBHU

Deputation

Farewell

ResearchPerspective

Pharmacology

Overviewof Research

ConferenceI SeminarI SymposiumIWorkshop

IT.BHUsignspactfor R& D

LastColumn

FOR LIMITED CIRCULATION ONLY

Edited & Published by Dr. Vishwanath Pandey,Information & Public Relations Officer &Officer on Special Duty (Publication),Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221005, INDIAPhone I Fax: 0542 - 2368598, 2307260E-mail: vnp@bhu.ac.in.pandeyvnp@rediffmail.comwebsite: www.bhu.ac.inLayout & Graphics: Manish KhattryEditorial Assistance & Photo Composing:Jahangir Ahmed, Ram Prasad Singh, V. Misra,D. Jha and S. DubePrinted at : IShitaPrintek, Varanasi # 0 93369 05030

.'" . Fromthedeskof

VICECHANCELLOR

J t is heartening to report that the Banaras Hindu University has been rankedFirst on the basis of the data compiled by the Principal Scientific Advisor tothe Government of India. This indeed kudos to the scientists of BHU who has

succeeded to prove to the country that they are one amongst the best lot ofuniversities in the country. This was nothing new which was known to us but it isremarkable with others saying so and this has consolidated our claim made to thePrime Minister to have established an Indian Institute of Science on the campus ofthe BHU upgrading the current Faculty of Science.

It is gratifying that National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NMC)visited the University in the last April and graded the university (A). Similarly,Institute of Agriculture Sciences has been placed at par with state AgriculturalUniversities by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi (ICAR)which will substantially enhance annual grant of Institute.

The focus of the development has now to shift from the Science andTechnology, Medicine and Agriculture to the core of university Le., Social Sciences,Humanities, Performing and Visual Arts and Ayurveda. It is well founded that thesocial sciences were born with the hope that they would enlighten public opinionand inform public policy. They would contribute to epistemology. The socialscience produce ideas on the basis of logic or facts gathered to post hypotheses likenatural sciences. Likewise humanities provide semblance and meaning to life, itslogic, value system, culture and creativity and various forms of arts to aestheticsand feeling of well being. Ayurveda has been nurtured in Kashi and therefore ourlegacy to further this branch of medicine. Founder Mahamana Malaviya ji wanteddevelopment of mankind and society alongside material attainment and thus withall this very strong in BHU system to have a complete making of man. The societyhave also to accommodate a case for :A.ffirmative Action' or 'reservation' for

OBC's. We have to introspect for all these issues to develop a perspective andcome out with a strategy for balanced social engineering. The university hasforwarded a road plan for another 435 Crore to the planning Commission toaugment its strength and resources for 'affirmative action'.

~(Panjab Singh)

VICE-CHANCELLOR

June-August2006 G3

A Bi-monthly Newsletter

IFACULTY OF LAW

~~~ ]~ he faculty of Law was the earliest

(. -~~ Faculty to be instituted in 1916~~~ under the deanship of the well-known legal luminary Sir Rash Behari Gosh.Arrangements were made for the regularteaching in 1923. It was one of the few lawcolleges in the country which opted for full-timelaw teachers, a tradition which blossomed fully

later on. Initially, the classes were held in theCentral Hindu College of the University as therewas no separate building of the Law College. TheCollege had, indeed, a very interesting infancywith the classes being held on Saturday eveningsand Sunday morning. Such an arrangement wasdevised in view of the fact that the part-timeProfessors, who were leading members of theAllabahad Bar, had to commute between

Allahabad and Varanasi for delivering lectures tothe students. The teaching shifted from the handof the Allahabad lawyers to a small group ofdistinguished full time teachers under the ableleadership of Prof GB Joshi. This is a matter ofgreat pride that Prof GB Joshi had been invitedtwice to deliver the Tagore Law Lectures, anachievement which has not been accomplishedby any other law teacher in this country. Thegreat founder of this University Mahamana PanditMadan Mohan Malaviya and great scholar ofeminence like Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru had alsoserved as Deans of this Law Faculty.

Due to untiring efforts of Prof. Anandjee andgrants made available by the Ford Foundation, anew building of the Law School was constructedin the year 1967. The foundation stone of theLaw School was laid by the former Prime Ministerof India,ShriLalBahadur Shastri.

The Banaras Law School, unlike most of

other institution teaching law, occupies a pre-eminent position in this country. This indeed isnot a self-proclaimed platitude normally found inreports, but a reflection of eminent jurists andjudges of this country including the Ex-ChiefJustice of India.

During the first forty years of existence, theLaw School like its sister institutions elsewhere in

the country, merely provided for the teaching ofLaw for preparing students to acquire a basicdegree in law. It isonly after 1960, the Law Schoolheralded a great innovation in the field of legaleducation under the able leadership of Prof.Anand jee. Despite the inhibitivetendencies that

prevailed in the sphere of law, the Law Schoolprepared a novel scheme for introducing a three-year full-time course in law, with courses whichwere a complete departure from thestereotyped law subjects taught all over the

country. Most of the courses were designedkeeping in view the socio-economic changestaking place in the country. With aview to furtherthe process of reorientation of legal educationand to provide sufficient opportunity forspecialization in selected field of study as well asto develop research facilities, the Law Schoolreorganized the post graduate studies, wherethrust areas of research included modern legalproblems and research methodology.

It rebounds to the innovative genius of theLaw School that the Bar Council of India adoptedschemeat the national level and affected changesin the pattern of legal education all over thecountry. Duringthis period, the Law School apartfrom launching new courses also experimentedwith new techniques of pedagogy which was atotal departure from the transfer of informationof knowledge taking place in the classesall overthe country. First in the country to introduce thecase-method/ problem-method in the teachingboth at the LLB and LLM levels, perhaps First inthis country to prepare case materials for thestudents of LLB classes.It was in early I970s thatthe Law School could reach the top slot in thecountry and other institutions acknowledged itsleadership.

During the next thirty-five years, the LawSchool witnessed a period of innovation andconsolidation, followed by struggle. However,challenging courses like: Law and Society, Lawand Environment, Law and Women, Law and

Population and Criminology just to mention few

of the innovative ones provided in curriculum.Some of teachersput in tremendous efforts todevelop these courses whileonthe onehandtheLLM dissertations have been exceptionallyof highorder; it also affected consequently the quality ofPhD thesis.

One of the landmarks of this period hasbeenthe introduction of the Clinical Legal EducationProgramme. It was the year 1978, that the LLBcourses were restructured and clinical

component was included in it. The Banaras LawSchool was one of the six universities in India to

start clinical legal service. The Law Schoolintroduced an optional paper "Clinical LegalEducation" for LLB Final year students and alsolaunched a programme combining Legal Aid &Advice, Legal Literacy and practical training tostudents; thus the service-oriented course wasdivided into four major parts: (a) Lectures onpractical aspects, (b) Development ofprofessional skills, (c) Socio-Iegal service, and(d) Community education programme. It isperhaps the first institution in India to make legalaid as a part of curriculum. The model had beenadjudged as the best model by the Hon'ble Mr.Justice PN Bhagwati,the former Chief Justice ofthe Supreme Court of India. The programmemade a considerable progress in legal aid to theneighborhood community, legal literacy andawareness among rural masses and practicaltraining to 30 students. For this purpose, legal aidand service clinic has been established with

~ June-August 2006

. Faculty has introduced semestersystem in LL.M. Courses from theacademic Session 2006-2007.

Law School has been ranked 6th

amongst top ten Law Colleges inIndia.

However, the faculty is at the topamongst the law colleges workingunder the University system.

Mr. Sanjay Kumar Chowdhari, lawgraduate of this Law School hastopped the list of Entrance Test forLL.M. Human Rights conducted bythe National Law School of IndiaUniversity, Bangalore. His excellentperformance has been honoured bythe Hon'ble Chief Minister of Bihar,Mr. Nitish Kumar, who has grantedhim Rs.79,370/- from the ChiefMinister's Relief Fund for his furtherstudies.

About IS students of the LawSchool have been selected in theJudicial Services of U.P. and oneeach in the Judicial Services inAssam and Chattishgarh.

.

.

.

.

teachers and lawyers working in the Clin,;. and inthe Court premises once in a week. Variousworkshops on the legal aid legal service a5 wellvarious legal camps had been organized in thevillages. Thus the law School paid due attentiontowards the third dimension of HigherEducation, Le. Extension activities. In 1988, Law

School organized orientation course for lawteachers of Up, Bihar and MP associated with the

legal aid work.

The Law School publishes a first rateresearch periodical under the title of "BanarasLaw Journal" which is a regular publication onyearly basis. This journal contains researcharticles from teachers inside and outside the

country. The journal has exchange arrangementswith many valuable periodicals from India andabroad. This arrangement saves foreignexchange. It is one of the authoritative journals inlaw and is cited by research scholars and thejudges of the Supreme Court~nd High Courts. In1982, the Law School published first series of"Banaras Law Studies" as a maiden effort to

project legal research and writings oncontemporary socio-Iegal problems. In allhumility and with all modesty, the Law Schoolundertook this publication and it probably, wasthe fist in the country to bring out such series. Butthe publication of "Banaras Law Studies" wasstopped after 1982 due to shortage offund.

During the years, the teaching staff membersof the Faculty published several research articlesin national and international journals and guided

LLM dissertations an PhD thesis. A number of

teachers of the faculty were invited to attendnational and international seminars. To getinvitation to attend international conference in

law is rare privilege for the law teachers and thisbrings name and fame to the Banaras Law School.One of our staff was nominated by the UGC toparticipate in the Indo-USSR Cultural ExchangeProgramme and lectures on "InternationalEconomic Laws" which delivered in the Instituteof State and Law and other academic institutionsin Moscow. Our staff members were invited tovarious academic and research institutions inIndia and abroad.

It is to be noted that the Banaras Law School

is the first Institution and perhaps the onlyinstitution in India which has been running a fulltime 2 year LLM Course on "HUMAN RIGHTS,DUTIES AND EDUCATION".

ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

In addition to traditional subjects beingtaught in other law schools of the country, theLaw School, BHU has also provisions for theCourses on Criminology and Penology.International Economic Law, Law ofCooperation and PublicControl, Law RelatingtoRural Development, Law Relating to RentControl; MilitaryLaw; Hindu Jurisprudence andMuslim Jurisprudence. Similarly it has alsoprovisions for a number of Seminar Courses likeLaw and Society, Law And Poverty, Law andEducation, Law and Religion,Law and Women,Law and Child, Law and Planning, Law andConsumer, and Lawand Medicineof which mostof them are being taught in the Faculty for the lastseveral years.

In addition to LLM(General), being taught inother lawschools of the country, the LawSchool,BHU has also the provision for LLMcourse ofstudy in Human Rights and Duties Education,where the subjects like Human RightsJurisprudence, Human Rights and India,International Law of Human Rights, HumanRightsand CriminalJustice, International RefugeeLaw, International Humanitarian Law, HumanRight and Environment, Human Rights andWomen, and Human Rights and Children areoffered. The students are required to writedissertation in partial fulfillmentof the Degree ofLLM.

ADMISSION PROCEDURE

There is a provision for supernumerary"PAIDSEATS"(not exceeding 10% of the totalno. of seats) inthe lawcourse.

Applications of Foreign Nationals nominated bythe Govt. of Indiaunder scholarship scheme andself-financingForeign Nationals are entertainedfor this course. They shall to be subject.to theEntrance Test provided they have passed theequivalent QualifyingExaminationfrom an Indian

or Foreign University/Institution.Provision to the extent of 15% of the seats

on supernumerary basis for Foreign Nationals isavailable. Preference may be given to foreignnationals of Indian origin, for admission to thelaw course.

RESEARCH POTENTIAL

The research articles of the members of the

Law School appeared in leading law journals ofthe country. Specific mention may be made ofpublication of research articles inthe "Delhi LawReview", "Sri Lanka Journal of InternationalLaw", All India Reporter", Indian Journal ofInternational Law", "Current Tax Reporter""Banaras Law Journal", "Journal of the IndianLaw Institute", "Law and Environment" and"Punjab Law Review", while a number ofresearch articles were contributed in bookspublished in India and abroad. A book on StateLiability,written by one of faculty member waspublished, while one teacher analyzed the workof International LawCommission in his research

project on the Law of State Responsibility,andthe report was submitted to the IndianSocietyofInternational Law. One of faculty memberspresented a thematic research paper in jointauthorship with scholars of Italy,the Philippines,Thailand, and Bangladesh on the topic of"Exploitation of Children" Child Labour andSexual Exploitation of Children" at theInternational Institute of Human Rights inFrance.

Research guidance to the students at theLLMand PhD levels of study continues alongwith teaching and independent researchcommitments of the facultymembers. About 40Ph.D. researches have been produced by theFaculty of Law so far. The area of researchincluded, Administrative Law, ConstitutionalLaw, Law of Consumer, Law of Insurance,Company Law, Labour Law, Taxation, PublicInternational Law and Law of Human Rights.Similarlynearly 200 LLMdissertations have beenguided.

The Law School library,with a floor area of18,000 square feet, caters the reading andresearch requirements of more than 1000users,includingthe teachers, research scholars as wellas students of LLB and LLM courses. The

numbers of books and journals are 41,000 and24,000 respectively, which totals the number oflibraryholdingsto be 65,000.

CONTACT NUMBERS:

Contact Person & Dean of the Law SchoolProfessor MNP Srivastava

Telephone No (s)

(Off)230-7630,7631 (Resi)2575821,23080 IITelefaxNo. :0542-2369018

June-August2006~

[B[XJQDOO[M~ A Bi-monthly Newsletter

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National AwardGovernment of India,Department of Science &Technology, Rashtriya VigyanEvam Prdyogiki San charParishad, presented NationalAward of Rs I Lac foroutstanding efforts in Scienceand TechnologyCommunication through Booksand Magazines for 2005 to Dr Bhola NathDwivedi, Reader,Applied Physics, IT,BHU, whohas published numerous research papers andarticles for various globally prestigious journalsand several popular articles on difficultscientifictopics in an interesting manner and easy languageto inspire even a lay reader. The award wasconferred by Prof V S Ramamurthy, Secretary,Department of Science & Technology, andChairman, Executive committee, RashtriyaVigyanEvamProdyogikiSanchar Parishad.

Award for her bookProfessor Rafat Jamal, Department of Urdu,MahilaMahaVidyalaya,was conferred an awardby Uttar Pradesh Urdu Adademy for her book"Shakiste-Saaz."

Invited for the symposiumDr Ashok Kumar Kaul, Reader, Department ofSociologywas invited for the symposium on the'conflicts generation and resolutions' by the AllIndia Sociological Society in the 3 Ist All IndiaSociologicalconferences held in the UniversityofJammu, October 2005. Recently he has beennominated a member of the Editorial Advisorycommittee of the SociologicalBulletin,the officialJournal of the IndianSociologicalSociety. Dr Kaulfor the last fiveyears has been invited as a VisitingFellowby the Department of Sociology,the DelhiSchool of Economics, Delhi, school of the SocialSystems,JawaharlalNehru University,New Delhiand also by the Department of Sociology,

UniversityofJammu. .~ June-August 2006

I Prestigious Fellowship and Gold MedalDr Pras Nath, Reader in Entomology & Agricultural Zoology, Institute of Agricultural Scienceshas been honoured by the Bioved Research Society, India by conferring its prestigious FellowshipAward-2006 during 8th Indian Agricultural Scientists and Farmers Congress held duringFebruary 21-22, 2006 by Shri Ujjawal Raman Singh, Hon'ble Minister of Environment,

Government of Uttar Pradesh. Dr. Nath has also been awarded a prestigious Dr M R SiddiqiGold Medal-2006 by the society. This gold medal is established in the Honour of a GreatParasitologist, UK. Dr Nath was one of the invited speakers during the congress.

Dr Nath has made significantcontribution in the field of ecological management of insect pests oflegume, tomato and cucurbit crops. He has supervised six major and one minor researchprojects funded by ICAR,UGC, UPCARand UPCST.

He ismember of a dozen of ScientificSocieties and editorial boards of Scientificjournals. He hasbeen admitted to the Fellowship of six distinguished Scientific Societies and honoured byconferring their prestigious fellowships.

Marquis Who's WhoThe exemplary achievemel)ts al)d distinguishedcontributi.ons tothe scientific community at a global level, have earned a place inthree publication titles of Marquis Who's Who for Dr Vikas Kumar,Reader in Pharmacology, Department of Pharmaceutic~,lnstitute ofTechnology (IT), Banaras Hindu University (BHU). This honor hasbeen bestowed to him with the selection of his biography in MarquisWho's Who in the World, in its 23rd Edition (2006); Who's Who inMedicine and Healthcare (2006~07 edition) and Who's Who inScience and Engineering (2006-07 edition). In this selection,Dr Vikashad to compete very hard with the leading personalities of the world. Inclusionof biography. in Marquis Who's Who is I?aseg.on a\(eryrigorous review of nominations,multistage screening and on-line interactive procedure. This is highlyesteemed sourcesfor current biographical information audience.

Dr Vikas holds doctorate degreein Pharmacy from the IT-BHUbeside holding basicdegrees in Pharmacy viz. MPharm, B Pharm and D Pharm from elsewhere. Dr Vikasalso worked with R&D Centre of Indian Herbs Ltd, Saharan pur as Scientist-C where hewas instrumental in setting up of laboratory devoted to behaviour and otherneuropharmacological studies in rodents. After working with Indian Herbs, Dr Vikasjoined Lupin Research Park based at Pune. There, Dr. Vikaswas one of the active teammembers responsible for performing efficacy studies and documenting the reports forfiling Investigational New Drug (IND) Application 01'\ LL~4218 (an isolated herbalfraction for the treatment of Psoriasis). Dr Vikas has published more that 30 papers inpeer reviewed national and international journals. Dr Vikas has also published onechapter in an international book 'Hypericum' unger a.series 'Medicinal and AromaticPlants-Industrial Profile' published by Taylor & Francis, London; simultaneouslypublished byTaylor & Francis Inc., New York, USAand Canada (ISBN0415369541). Dr

Vikas isalso member of various reputed professional organisations in Indiaand abroad aswell. Dr Vikas is recipient of Semi Khatib Gdld Medal and "ServierYoung Investigators'Award" (1999) instituted by Institutet de Researches Internationales Servier, France.

His academic pursuits have taken. him .inyear 2004 to his post doc mentor Dr jochenKlein atTex'\S Tech UniversitY,SchooldfPharmacy, United States with an objective toinvestigate the active constituents of St. John's wort and Ginkgo biloba for elucidatingtheir mechanism of action(s) related to neurodegenerative diseases. Dr Vikasat the ageof 33 years is feeling proud on his.lifetimed~cisi!?n fe).tservJng his Alma Mater sinceMarch 2006!

I

A Bi-monthly Newsletter 0[]JQ9 [l.J~§%

~IBHU GETS TOP SLOT AMONG UNIVERSITIES

Summary of Research a.nd Developmel1t workResearch projects completed and their total outlay (last three years) 165

Rs.37 CroreTeachers who have received national recognition for teaching!research/consultancy (last three years)Teachers who have attended international seminars (last three years)Teachers who were resource persons at national seminars/workshops (last three years)Number of ongoing research projects and outlay

480964927

141,Rs.22 Crore

Total number of research students currently registered for Ph. D.FullTimePart Time

Fulltime research scholars havingfellowshipsNumber of Post Doctoral Fellows

Research Publicationsby the faculty(last three years)International JournalsNational Journals

Patents (last three years)Number of Books published (last 3 years)Number of Ph. D. awarded (last 3 years)

22166319546

1674171433

278729

June-August2006~

UNIVERSITY ornpoite Index Rank

BHU 2.25 I

Jadavpur 1.87 2

Hyderabad 1.74 3

Delhi 1.37 4

JNU 1.34 5

Diploma / Certificate

M F T M F T M F T M F T M F TM F T M F T M F T M F T M F T

No. of students 39B5 1401 53B6 1577 9B7 2564 535 227 562 45B 251 709 105 125 230from the statewhere the university;s located

No. of students 2756 651 3407 /3BB 441 IB29 155 97 252 306 105 4/1 7B 92 170from other states

No. of 5B IB 76 59 9 6B 29 5 34 IS 21 36 - - -overseasstudents

M - Male, F-Female,T-Total Total Students: '5290The figures shown above are in respect of year 2005-06. However, the number of research scholars registered for Ph.D. is currently 2252 (M: 1404, F:848).

Trauma cases causing urethra stricture

King George's Medical University, Lucknow,Vice-Chancellor Prof Mahendra Bhandari said

that growing cases of trauma were causingurethra stricture among the youths in the ruraland urban areas. He was delivering the HimadriSarkar Memorial Oration on 'Management ofUrethra stricture' at the 39th Annual Conference

of the Urological Society of India, titledUSICON-06, at the Swatantrata Bhawan in

Banaras Hindu University on 3rd February.Department of Urology at the Institute ofMedical Sciencesorganized the conference.

Prof Bhandari said narrowing of the urethra(urinal vein) was aserious problem asit could alsodamage the kidney. Cases of narrowing of theurethra were reported among those who eitherfell from a tree or wall in the rural areas. In the

urban areas, it was mostly reported among roadaccident victims, he said.

Prof Bhandari showed ways of operating onurethra stricture to improve the life of children asthey grow. He saidthe puccal-mucosatechnique

was quite popular these days.

A panel discussion on 'Surgery in Renal Failure'was also held on the occasion. Dr Mahesh Desai

(president-elect of the Urological Society ofIndia), Dr Nitin Kekre, De PaulAbrams from UKand Dr DK Singh of BHU participated in thediscussion. Dr Mahesh Desai spoke onmanagement of various stagesof renal stone withchronic renal failure. Dr Nitin Kekre (Vellore)showed his expertise in performing prostheticsurgery on patients suffering from chronic renalfailure. Dr DK Singh of the Department ofAnesthesia at the Institute of Medical Sciences,presented anesthetic management of patients.He spoke in detail about the problem and thecare that should be taken for surgery in chronicrenal failure.

Earlier, Vice-Chancellor Prof Panjab Singhinaugurated the conference on 2nd Februaryevening. He also felicitated former presidents ofthe Urological Society of India. Presidingover theinaugural function, Urological Society of Indiapresident Prof K Sashidharan said Indian healthsector was among one of the most privatizedhealth sectors in the world. Organising Secretary,Prof PB Singh proposed the vote of thanks.Prominent among others who attended theinaugural function included IMS Director, ProfGajendra Singh, Prof VNP Tripathi, PurvanchalUniversity Vice-Chancellor Prof KPSingh.

~~

A Bi-monthly Newsletter

Prostate cancercommon

Urological Society of India secretary Dr AjayKumar said prostate cancer was the most

common cancer among men above the age of55 in India.

Talking to BHU News on 3rd February DrKumar, who is also national president-elect ofthe Indian Medical Association said cases of

prostate cancer were growing as the averageage of the people in country was alsoincreasing.

Dr Kumar said anybody above the age of 55

should go for a regular screening of prostatecancer. He said early detection of prostatecancer was imperative to check the diseaseeffectively. By the age of 90, 90% cases ofprostate become cancerous, he added.

Dr Kumar said there were various ways to

diagnose and treat urological complications.Minimal invasive surgery was the order of theday, he added. He demanded the government

to felicitate urologists in bringing latesttechnologies to remote areas. He said it wasdifficult for them to introduce advanced

techniques in remote areas, as the cost of

treatment was very high. The government andurologists find ways to make the advanced

treatment availableto even the poor, headded.

Pressure on agri land more in Indiahere on 20 April.Institute of AgriculturalSciences at BHU had organisedthe lecture. "Indiahas 17% population and 15% livestock of the entireworld whereas the land and water resource were merely 2.3 per centand 4.2 per cent therefore the need ofthe hour was to use these naturalresources in an effective manner so that sustainable growth could beachieved," he said.

He said the pressure on agricultural land was more in India that othercountries across the world.

Dr Mangla Rai, who is also Secretary of Department of AgriculturalResearch Education (DARE) of Government of India, said thatagricultural products account to of the total Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) of the country.

The investment on agricultural sector was on 7 per cent due to which theresearch and development and other such activities were beinghampered.

He termed the agriculture sector as the biggest private sector of thecountry and added that this sector was the most unorganised andneglected sector. He said that was .02 per cent agriculturalemployment growth in the country in the last 10 years.

He said India's population is increasing in an unprecedented manner and

is estimated to be 1.5 billion by the year 2050, therefore, there was anurgent need to tap other areas of agriculture such as fisheries, poultry,pigeries and processing sectors to keep a balance between the demandand supply in the country.

....

Vice Chancellor, Prof Panjab Singh felicitate Dr Mangla Rai

Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural research (tCAR) ,Dr ManglaRai,saidthere was need to usenatural resources inaAeffectivemanner to counter the challenges before the agriculture..sector of thecountry.

He was delivering a lecture on 'India's Transformation ThroughAgricultural Research and Development Efforts' at KN UdupaAuditorium

~ June-August 2006

Mass-oriented farmtech stressed

Eminent agricultural scientist and Vice chancellor

Prof Panjab Singh said here on 21st February thatthe agriculture sector was at the crossroads atpresent and sustainable agricultural growth wasneed by conserving resources.

Inaugurating the two-day 8th AgriculturalScientists and Farmers Congress at K N UdupaAuditorium, Prof Panjab Singh said that all aspectsof agriculture should be associated to get long-standing results.

The Institute of Agricultural Sciences, hasorganised the congress in collaboration withBioved Research and Communication Centre

(Allahabad).

Prof Panjab Singh, who is also former Director ofIndian Council for Agricultural Research said thatagriculture today was very different from that ofthe past and sustainable agricultural growth waspossible when various aspects of agriculture suchas modern technology, farmers participation,conservation of resources etc. were' broughttogether.

He said that with the emergence ofWTO norms,there were greater challenges before the Indianfarmers and scientists to survive in the

international scenario. Every unit of wa' Jr, landand human energy should be used optimally sothat the farmers could get better yield with lessinputs.

He also cited the example of Punjab where therewas a massive water crisis as the groundwaterlevel had declined due to unprecedented use ofagriculture. He said that here was the urgentneed to avoid such crises. He said that the

farmers should also get their due share whichwas being hijacked by the middlemen andscientists should develop mass-orientedtechnology as a large number of farmers werequitting due to inadequate atmosphere.

Director of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences,Prof Janardan Singh welcomed the guests whileformer Director, Prof OP Srivastava also

addressed the congress. Director of BiovedResearch and Communication centre

(Allabahad) Dr B KDwivedi presented the reportof the centre. Organising secretary of congressProf A P Singh proposed the vote of thanks. Dr AKJoshi conducted the programme.

Bioved Research and Communication centre,

also felicitated some agricultural scientists andawarded fellowships on the occasion. ViceChancellor of Rajarshi Tandon Open University,Prof K N S Yadav, Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma

Gandhi Chitrakoot gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya,Prof G singh and Director of Indian Institute ofAgricultural Research Dr Mathura Rai were

among other prominent persons present on theoccasion.

Risk evaluation vital in quakeresistant design

Member of RailwayBoard Sri R R Jaruhar saidhere on 19February that risk evaluation for theowner and designer was the most importantdecision for earthquake resistant design andconstruction.

He was delivering the inaugural address at thetwo-day national seminar on 'Earthquake

Rector Prof S lele and Sri R R Jaruhar

Resistant Design Construction: Retrofitting andRehabilitation of Buildings' at SwatantrataBhawan. The Civil Engineering Department ofthe Institute of Technology had organized theseminar. Sri Jaruhar, also an eminent civilengineer, said that no structure could bedesigned to resist the ultimate calamity.

"For an important structure, the analysis has tobe as elaborate as feasible" he said, adding, "onIndian conditions, the subject of earthquakeresisting structures has to be dealt with on two

fronts," "One is : what type of approach oneshould adopt in evaluating existing structureswith considerable residual life. The second one

is about new structures to be designed andconstructed," he said and added that it was well

known that there were a large number of existingstructures today, which had successfullywithstood earth quake forces, although notspecifically designed for.

Epilepsy most common neurologicaldisorder

Emeritus Professor of Neurology at Institute ofHuman Behaviour and Allied Sciences (NewDelhi) Prof M Gourie Devi said that epilepsywas among the most common neurologicaldisorders in the society and around 6 to 8people per thousand population suffer fromthis disorder in India.

She was delivering the keynote address at theinaugural function of the two-day 'BrainAwareness Programme' at ZoologyDepartment here on 4 April., Centre ofAdvanced Study at the Zoology Department inassociation with National Brain ResearchCentre (Haryana), an autonomous Institute ofthe Biotechnology Department, Governmentof Indiahad organised the programme.Prof Gaurie Devi, also former Director ofNational Institute of' Mental Health andNeurosciences (Bangalore)said,and estimated10millionpeople were sufferingfrom epilepsyoccurs in all ages due to excessive electricaldischarge from the brain. She further addedthat epilepsy isa curable disease and around 80

cent victims of this disease can leadnormal lifeafter proper treatment.

Coordinator of the programme, Prof MKThakur, established the theme of the.programme and said that the Centre ofAdvanced Study of BHU was focusing onageingof brain. He saidthat the ageingof brainresults into several changes in its structure

a later stage leads to differentsuch as Parkinson and Alzheimer's

Prof Thakur said, as the number of old agepeople was increasing in the world there willbe more old age people infuture and thereforeintensive research was required to counterbrain related problems in old age. It is for thefirst time that brain awareness programmebeingorganised inVaranasi.

He further added that despite the enormousprogress in tools and technology, very little isunderstood about the brain the mostcomplex vital organ inthe body-and thereforesuch interaction was a must to understand thebehaviour ofthe human brain.

June-August2006~

m[X)QDOO@\~ A Bi-monthly Newsletter

Counselling skills in critical care stressedDirector of Institute of Medical Sciences, ProfGajendra Singhsaid on 19 February that skilleddoctors and other professionals working in theintensive care unit should know where to stoptheir efforts at treatment-they must be awarethat there was a time to die-because the onlysure thing after birth was death:

':A.t that point, counselling skills are of thegreatest importance as the staff helps therelatives realise that their loved one is about todie. Communications skillsand empathy are thehighest virtues in critical care which, if notlearned by the intensivists,willleave the relativesof the dyingpatient with great emotional scars,"he said.

Prof Gajendra Singhwas deliveringthe inauguraladdress at a two-day symposium on 'CriticalCare' at K N Udupa auditorium The divisionofintensive care in the Anesthesia Department ofIMS_BHUhad organised the symposium. Prof

Singh said the situation in the ICU neededexperts with knowledge over a wide area withhighly developed clinical skills as well asfamiliaritywith sophisticated equipment. "Theyprepare and practice in the ICU everyday so thattheir skillsand reaction time are of the highestorder."

He said that time was precious and decisions hadto be taken promptly in times of crisis. "Theequipment is only there to deliver data. Thedoctor has to evaluate it repeatedly and adjusttreatment from moment to moment", he said,adding this service could only be provided byclose coordination among doctors, nurses,physiotherapists and pharmacists.The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Prof S KBhattacharya expressed concern over the smallnumber of critical care experts. He said thatthere was an urgent need to increase the numberof trained and certified criticalcare specialists.

New lighton geo-mining

An effective strata control measure of the facewas one of the most important factors forsuccessful long-wall operation in given geo-miningconditions, said Prof. U K Singh,Head ofthe Mining Engineering Department in IndianSchoolMines(Dhanbad) here on 19February.

Delivering a lecture on :A.Model of DynamicLoadingEffecton Powered RoofSupport' on thesecond day of the two-day nationalworkshop on:A.pplicationof rock Mechanics in Mining' in theMining Engineering Department, Institute ofTechnology,Dr Singhsaid, "Inthe recent past, thefailures of long-wall faces in Indian geo-miningcondition are known to be related with thedifficultcaving nature of roof strata. Dynamicloading associated with the mass caving of thestrata has also been reported in a few cases," hesaid. "The experience of working in field showsthat complicacy of long-wall roof caving mainlygives rise to problems like face instability,deadclosure of powered roof support, unproductiveface maintenance, poor face performance andsometimes permanent abandonment of the face,he said.

"Unfortunately, no systematic study has beendone so far to understand the basicmechanism of

dynamics roof loading on performance of roofsupport", said Prof Singh,adding, "the review ofresearch papers shows that such incidents havebeen reported but the basic understanding of thedynamic loading mechanism and its effect is stillnot well understood." He said that proper studyof dynamic loading was very important forselection of powered roof support.

"\

~I June-August 2006

Awarenessof agri research

Vice Chancellor Prof. Panjab Singh stressed onthe need for development and dissemination ofappropriate technology, taking care of specificneed offarmers.

'Problems of farmer can be solved more

efficiently if they are involved in agriculturalresearch and there is appropriate scientist-farmers collaboration," he said whileinaugurating a three day regional workshop onparticipatory research on wheat in South AsiaatHotel Indiahere on 12February. The workshopjointly organized by International Maize andWheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT),MexicoUniversityofWales Bangor,UKand BHU.

Prof Singh said with change in time, theagricultural research got institutionalized andsince then research was under the custody ofresearchers and planners.

"Studies done in past few decades have shownthat a substantial proportion of researchremained confined to text books and could not

reach to needy farmers," he said. As a result, headded, farmers and the country as a whole couldnot utilizethe benefits of agricultural research toits fullerextent.

The Vice Chancellor said it was realized by manythat ifresearch was conducted in participation offarmers, not only would it be more meaningfulbut could also reach the farmers withoutdifficulty.

According to him, in the eastern part of Indo-Gangetic plains, where the workshop was beingorganized, majority of farmers were small and I ,marginal.

Even landless farmers were in substantialnumber, he said adding that such farmers werefacing problems in wheat cultivation such asinabilityto plant wheat timely, insufficientinputapplication, variable and uncertain irrigation,various forms of soil stress such as salinity,nutrient deficiencyetc.HighlightingBHU'scontribution on participatoryresearch, Prof Singhsaidthat the institute's focusso far was limited to various districts of eastern

UP and adjoining districts of Bihar such asKaimoorand Sasaram.

"Farmers have gained a lot by a propercombination of appropriate varieties (mainlywheat) and resource conservation technologies,especially the zero.till," he stated adding that inmany villages,participatory research had helpedfarmers to increase their yield by about one totwo tones without increasingexpenditure and ornegatively affecting the production of othercrops (mainlyrice):

According to him, many small and mediumfarmers were starting their own seed businesseither individuallyor ingroups thanks to societieslike KAFICO, Bhabhua (Bihar), MahamanaKrishak Society, Pidkhir (Mirzapur) and KisanVikas Samiti, Bhurkura (Mirzapur), who helpedthe farmers at that front.

''This revolution, hardly known in this part of thecountry, has brought confidence among thefarmers and now they are takingmore interest inthe participatory research," he said adding thatthe establishment of a women group forcommercial production of bio-agent at RehiyavillageinMirzapurwas a noteworthy example.The inaugural function was conducted by Dr GOrtiz Ferrara and addressed by Prof J RWitcombe, UK.

The vote of thanks was proposed by organizingsecretary of the conference Prof Ramesh Chandof Institute ofAgriculturalSciences.

Art Gallery Inaugurated

Bharat Kala Bhawan (the Museum of Banaras

Hindu University) added a feather to its cap withthe inauguration of the 'Fred Pinn Art Gallery'here on 26 April.

Dedicated to Fredrick Michael John Pinn, aGerman scholar, the gallery comprises of raremanuscripts, books, maps, paintings, colourslides of monuments, sculptures, places andpeople.

Most of the collections of Fred Pinn belong to theBritish period in India. There are more than 3200books, 29 manuscripts, 23 paintings, 164 mapsand 7800 colour slides in the Fred Pinn Gallery.

Vice Chancellor, Prof Panjab Singh inau6uratedthe gallery and said that such sorts of collectionwould further enrich the collection of Bharat

Kala Bhawan and guide the students aboutvarious new aspects of history.

Petrography's role vitalDirector of National Centre for ExperimentalMinerologyand Petrology (Allahabad),ProfAlokKumar Gupta said that petrography played animportant role in constructing the history ofrocks.

He was delivering the key note address at theinaugural function of an I I day contactprogramme on f\rt of Petrography: A Valuableguide for Petorlogists'on 17April.

The Geology Department had organised theprogramme in collaboration with theDepartment of Scienceand Technology.

Prof Gupta saidthat the art of petrography dealtwith the texture of rocks. "Since textures are asource of valuable information, carefulpetrographic studies form an extremelyimportant aspect of petrology," he said, addingpetrographic studies were pathfinders for newresearch in the field of petrology, materialsciences and nano-geology. "Rocks preserve thesignature of their early history as memory chipsthrough arrested textures," he said. The mineralconstituents of the rocks showed the source ofthe parent materials, which were formed below30 kilometers' depth from the surface, he

added. "The petrographic analysis is veryimportant for the textural relationship," headded.

Convener of the contact programme and facultymember at geology department Prof AnandMohan established the theme of the programme.

He said that the contact course aimed at revivingthe mastery of 'art of petrography' infusinggreater confidence among young earth scientists.

He said that all the analytical work on modern,highly sophisticated and expensive equipmentshould be based on the study of field geology andmicroscopic work.

Rector ProfS Lele and dean ofthe science facultyProf P Chandra also addressed the inauguralfunction.

Head of the geology department Prof RN Tiwariwelcomed the guests while Prof Anand Mohanproposed the vote of thanks. As many as 40geologists from different universities andlaboratories across the country participated inthe contact programme.

Water pollutionchallenging

Director of Institute of Technology Prof S NUpadhyay said here on 7 April that environmentwas a boon in disguise and each and every personof the society should be made aware of theimportance of environment conservation.

He was addressing the inaugural function of thethree-day 22nd 'National Convention onEnvironmental Engineering with SpecialEmphasis on Cost Recovery and Pricing ofServices' at Swatantrata Bhawan. Civil

Engineering Department of IT had organised theconvention in collaboration with Institution of

Public Health engineers.

Prof Upadhyay said that growing consumerism,an unprecedented increase in population, lack ofawareness towards environment conservation,

increasing industrial and agricultural activities etc.were the main reasons responsible for the poorenvironment scenario across the world. He said

that water contamination was the most

challenging environmental issue for crores ofpeople across the world.

':A..lthoughthere is plenty of water on the earth,drinking water is in a limited amount," he said,adding there was 6.6 per cent ground waterwhile rivers, ponds, lakes and other such sourceshad .03 per cent of total water on the earth. Hefurther expressed concern over increasingpollution in rivers such as Ganga, Yamuna andGomtietc. and arsenic contamination in groundwater. Prof Upadhayay suggested that thegovernment levy some kind of water cess or taxon waste domestic water for recycling the samewaste water for use. He said that at the same

time, the government should encouragepollution control measures.

Dean of Engineering and Technology Faculty in IT,prof JN Sinha presided over the function and saidthat there must be environment awareness in

every person. Vice-President of Institution ofPublic Health Engineers (India), engineer B KSengupta expressed concern over arseniccontamination of water in different parts of thecountry.

Executive Engineer of Housing and UrbanDevelopment Corporation of India Sri MalayChatterjee was guest of honour on the occasion.

The Annual day function

The annual day function of MahilaMahavidyalyawas organized on 5th Februaryevening. Principal of MMVProf. Sushila Singhpresented the annual report of the college.Vice- Chancellor Prof Panjab Singh was thechief guest at the function who gave awayawards to the students. Dr Meena Aroraannounced the names of the awardees. Prof

PanjabSinghalso released the college magazine'Jyoti.'and the books authored by the facultymembers. Dr.Padmini Ravindranathconducted the programme, while Prof KumudPrabha Srivastavaextended the vote of thanks.The evening concluded with a culturalprogramme titled 'Sangeet Vividha.'

June-August2006~

[BGQQO[lJ~ A Bi-monthly Newsletter

Diabetes count:Three crore patients in India now

There are nearly2.5 crore to 3crore patients ofdiabetes in India. Itusuallyaffects people abovethe age 40 years, but even younger persons canbe affected (juvenile diabetes). It is morecommon in males," said Institute of MedicalSciences.Facultymember Dr Madhukar Rai.He was deliveringa lecture on "ComplicatiOns,Prevention and Treatment of Diabetes" as partof the ongoing "Public Awareness LectureSeries on Health' at K N Udupa atlditoriumon13April.afternoon. He saidthat diabetes cOtlldbe diagnosed bya simpleblood sugartest."Ifthe after-meals blood sugar ismore than 180mgldL,than a diagnosisof diabetes is made," hesaid, adding that it was important to consult adoctor at the earliest.

"In addition to medicines, which should betaken only on the advice of a doctor, lifestylemodificationsare also important. These includeregular exercise, avoidance of smoking,alcohol, cholesterol-rich and junk food," hesaid. All persons above the age of 40 shouldundergo ayearly blood sugartest, he added.

Head of Endocrinology Department Prof S KSingh delivered a lecture on complications ofdiabetes, which included diabetic nephropathy

(kidney diseases) and retinopathy (visualdisturbances). He emphasised that regularmonitoril'1g of blood sugar level and strictcontrol of blood sugar were the mostimportant preventive measures."These patients should also undergo checkupsat regular intervals, so that complications bedetected early andtreated promptly," he said.

Dr. S K Gupta, Reader in General SurgeryDepartment, spoke about. in diabetic foot."Foot ulcers are very common diabeticpatients. As many as one in seven diabeticsdevelop foot ulcers during their Iife-tii1'1e.Footulcers can become infected and lead to life-

threatening complications," he said."It isone of the most common causes of lowerlimb amputation. Foot ulcers generally occurdue to ignorance and carelessness. Alldiabetics must inspect their feet daily to lookfor any cots or wounds. They should not walkbare foot and should wear comfortable shoes.

If any cut or injury occurs, it should beimmediatelyshown to a doctor," he suggested.BHU Finance Officer Smt Smita S Chaudharyinaugurated the programme.

Maths used inall spheres of life

Prof. S P Singh of the University of Ontario(Canada) said mathematics was applicable in allspheres of life.

Delivering a lecture on 'Application ofMathematics' at Science Block, MahilaMahavidyalaya here on 16 February, Prof Singhsaid if a person was not interested inmathematics, he or she was losing 100jobs.He said mathematics was applied in varioussubjects, such as economics, finance, insurance,legal profession, biology, ecology, sociology,physics and even philosophy. Its applicationwould increase inother fieldsas well infuture, headded.

Analumnusofthe BanarasHinduUniversity,ProfSingh said a mathematician stood out in thecrowd.

Mathematics was the only subject thatguaranteed cent per cent marks, therefore,students of different streams were required tostudy mathematics in North America, he said. Healso spoke on the significance of zero inmathematics and said most of the theories had

been developed on the basis of zero.

"If your want to learn mathematics you should domathematics," he told the students.

He said most of the scientists could not

understand whatever Ramanujandid in histimes,but his observations and research were usefulnowadays. Rector Prof S Lele presided over thelecture.

Principal of Mahila MahavidyalayaProf SushilaSinghwelcomed the guests and introduced ProfS PSinghto the audience.

Dr. Swati proposed the vote of thanks while DrPadmini Ravindranath conducted theprogramme.

Catalysis Controlshuman activities

PadmaVibhushanProf MMSharma said catalysiswas the key to life and lifestyle. The humansystem would not function without the catalyticprocess, he added.

Prof Sharmawas deliveringthe Inauguraladdressat a three-day national workshop on 'Catalysisfor Energy' at the Department of ChemicalEngineering and Technology, Institute ofTechnology,on 23 February.

The Department of Chemical Engineering andTechnology in collaboration with the CatalysisSocietyof India,organised the workshop.

Also emeritus professor at the Institute ofChemical technology in Mumbai University,Sharma saidallhuman activities,such as digestion

walking, running etc., were controlled, by thecatalyticprocess.He further said catalysiswas a multi-disciplinaryfield and everything was linked to the catalyticprocess. Catalysis was a fine example of thesubject in which scientists from different fieldsworked together, he added.

Prof sharma further said catalysisalso played animportant role in checking environmentpollution by reducing the amount of sulphur.However, he added that more efficient catalysiswas required to purifypetrochemicals.

Eminent scientist Prof ON Srivastava presidedover the function and discussed the role ofcatalysisinhydrogen energy.

Play depicts Mauritiusfreedom struggle

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Depicring the freedom struggle in Mauritius, atheatre group of Mauritius"TriveniKalaMandir"staged a play kadi Vatan Ki' at SwatantrataBhawan on I9 April. The story of the play wasbased on the viewsof former MauritiusPresidentShivSagar Ramgulam.BalrajRamphool directedthe play,which depicted the freedom struggle ofMauritiusinan appealingand impressive manner.Banaras Hindu University in collaboration withIndian Council for Cultural Relations hadorganised the programme.

Sir Shiv Sagar Ram Gulam, who returned toMauritius after getting higher education inBritain, told fellow countrymen about thesignificanceof education. Ram Gulam believedthat the development of any country lieson theunityof itscitizens.

Ram Gulam believed that people could getsuccess infreedom struggle and save the nationalproud iftheywereeducated.This was the theme of the entire play,which wasstaged by the artists. The play also showcasedthe plightof labours and coolies taken from Indiato Mauritius.

~ June-August 2006