INDIA
India's first agro-industrial park will set up in Tapukara -village in jasthan. The park, to be set up der the aegis of the Delhi-based ant group will be utilised to grow ,dicinal plants and herbal extraction units.
A Forest Research centre under the WorId Bank-aided Forest Research Education and Extension project would come up in the Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh. The centre will mainly involve itself in eco-restoration of the mined area of the Eastern Ghats, man- groves, and afforestation of semi-arid zones.
Traditional medkine is set to receive a boost as a national institute for siddha medicine is proposed in the state of Tamil Nadu. The Ayurveda and the Unani medical systems already have national-level institutes at Jaipur and Hyderabad respectively.
The beginning of the year 1996 will see India free from the menace of guinea worm disease. India will become the 6th Asian country after Bangladesh, Burma, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, to reach the zero-guineaworm status. While most of the Indian states have eradicated guinea worm from their zones, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan still remain on the list.
The setting up of a Wetland Conservation Fund was one of the issues discussed in a recent 2-day Asian meeting of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands. Afi6,4t 30 countries and representatives 'of various institutions attended the meeting.
The World Health Organization has dedicated this year to Polio eradication. On April 7, the World Health Day, the Delhi government will focus its activities on Polio eradicatio and rehabilitation.
The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad was host to a 7-day workshop on gem expression, held between March 28 and April 2.
In Gujarat, non-agriculturists cm now buy farmlands@ thanks to the T1w Bombay Tenancy and Agriculturd Lands (Gujarat Amendment) Act passed by the state government March 31.