-Millennium Post New Delhi: Despite a strong opposition of environmental clearance to GM mustard by Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, which is an affiliate of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and other activists, the government has 'decided' to go ahead with the field trial of the transgenic crop and make India self-reliant in oilseed production.  According to a senior official in the Environment Ministry, the government has decided to provide all the needed support to the...

-The Telegraph With the funds blocked, I’ve been unable to pay some suppliers who want to be paid before they supply again, says a scientist Dozens of scientists who had been invited from positions abroad to join academic institutions across India under a prestigious government fellowship have not received research grants or salaries for months, the fellows and other scientists have said. The delay in the release of funds for the Ramalingaswami Fellowships,...

-Mongabay/ Scroll.in Grasses can boost mangrove restoration by strengthening erosion-riddled and nutrient-deficient patches in the region. Baby mangroves with leathery leaves peep out through lush meadows of grass that greet the Bay of Bengal. Soon enough these densely clumped blades and tufts of salt-tolerant grasses, in a degraded patch in the Indian Sundarbans, will fix the erosion-riddled saltmarsh to aid mangroves to expand their turf. “As they change the sea-soaked soil for the better...

-The Telegraph The health ministry, ICMR and DBT said they have not received any share of the Rs 100 crore pledged from the PM CARES Fund The department of Biotechnology in the Union science ministry has spent only 13 per cent of the Rs 900 crore earmarked for Covid-19 vaccine development 14 months ago and multiple government departments have not received money for jabs pledged by the Prime Minister’s Office 20 months...

-The Hindu The findings will play a key role in developing drought and salt-tolerant food crops for the 7,500 km long Indian coastline. CUDDALORE: A group of researchers from the Department of Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai; Centre for Advanced Studies in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University and Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar, have for the first time identified a reference-grade whole genome sequence of...