news bytes
postgraduates jittery across the country. There is widespread resentment among Medical M. Sc. postgraduates, whose grouse is that hundreds of them will either lose jobs or be demoted to the role of laboratory technicians if the new rules are implemented by all state governments. However, the Union Health Ministry is firm on its stand.
Mr Sridhar Rao, NMMTA president, mentioned,“ NMMTA protests this unjust exclusion and demands that the National Council for Clinical Establishment modifies its guidelines to accommodate medical M. Sc degree( irrespective of Ph. D) as a qualification to interpret and sign diagnostic test reports in Microbiology and Biochemistry. Since medical M. Sc is included in the first schedule of Indian Medical Council Act, 1956,
the health ministry is implored that medical M. Sc degree holders be registered in the central or state medical councils. Laboratory testing services are not the practice of medicine, therefore health ministry must not restrict the role of interpretation & signing laboratory reports to doctors only”.
India, UK to establish joint crop science centre for research & training
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed for establishing a joint India-UK collaborative centre in crop-science. Aims and objectives of the centre are establishment of a Research Centre located in India and a joint fellowship programme in plant sciences to facilitate the exchange of PhD students and Postdoctoral researchers between the partnering UK and Indian institutions.
Besides that integration with continuing DBT- UK activities, such as the DBT-Cambridge
Lectureships and the UK-India Virtual Joint Centres in Agricultural Nitrogen. Capacity building, leadership development and developing robust farmer outreach components.
The aim of the MoU is to develop a long term partnership between India and UK in Plant Sciences. Steps have been initiated and joint activities have commenced which includes the Joint Faculty Programme: The Department of Biotechnology in partnership with University of Cambridge, UK have initiated research-oriented lectureship programme at Cambridge University and a partner institute in India. The duration of lectureship is for a fixed term of five year of which three year of this will be in India and two year will be in
86 BioVoiceNews | April 2017