Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 27 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday attended the wedding ceremony of Doctor Brijendra whose education he had financed when he was an impoverished and talented child years ago.
Back in 2002, when Rajnath Singh was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he had adopted Brijendra. Today, after nearly two decades, Defence Minister attended Brijendra’s wedding as a father figure.
“I took the responsibility for his education when I was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. I am happy he is a doctor today,” said Union Minister. Meanwhile, an elated Dr Brijendra said, “It is unexpected. I am happy.”

Brijendra, who has since come a long way, is currently a physician at Gosaiganj Community Health Center, in Faizabad, Ayodhya.
Dr Brijendra and his wife were grateful for Rajnath Singh’s attendance, saying that “Defence Minister has come here in spite of a busy schedule.”
Rajnath Singh, who was there at the event, took part in several wedding rituals and blessed both Brijendra and his wife. Rajnath Singh said that people should help poor and meritorious children by adopting them.
“When I was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, I took up the responsibility of the education of a child. That child became a doctor after studying and writing exams. Today, I attended the wedding ceremony of the same Dr Brijendra at his home and offered him my best wishes. It is definitely a moment of great satisfaction and joy for me,” Defence Minister tweeted.
Besides Rajnath Singh, Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey was also present on the occasion. (ANI)

Margao (Goa) [India], February 27 (ANI): Leader of Opposition of Goa Legislative Assembly Digambar Kamat on Saturday slammed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant-led government alleging that the schedule of the state Assembly session is fixed with the ulterior motive to avoid questions on several important issues.
“The Schedule of the thirteen days Goa Legislative Assembly Session commencing on March 24 is fixed with the ulterior motive to avoid questions on the core issues like Mhadei, Coal Transportation, Railway Double Tracking, Three Linear Projects and Coastal Zone Management Plan,” said Kamat.
As per the revised schedule declared by the Legislature Secretariat on Friday, only two days are allotted for Question Hour of the key departments like Environment and Climate Change, Ports, Water Resource, Power, Public Health, River Navigation, Tourism, Waste Management, Industries, Social Welfare and others.
Kamat claimed that the government is afraid to face questions from the Opposition on contentious issues like Mhadei, Railway double tracking, Coastal Zone Management Plan, effect of major ports bill passed by the BJP government at the Centre, marina project at Nauxi, failure of the government on garbage management.
“The tabling of the Legislative Assembly Questions (LAQ’S) is fixed between March 1 to March 17. This is the time when the MLA’S will remain busy with the canvassing of Municipal Elections and Zilla Panchayat by-polls which are scheduled on March 20. This is an attempt by the BJP Government to keep the Opposition MLA’S engaged in election campaigning and divert their attention from tabling questions which will ultimately cause embarrassment to the government and expose their failures and lies,” he said. (ANI)

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], February 27 (ANI): As part of ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ celebration commemorating 50 years of the 1971 war triumph against Pakistan, the victory flame was received on Saturday at Air Force Station Jalahalli in Bengaluru.
The Victory Flame was lit by the Prime Minister in National War Memorial in New Delhi on December 16 last year.
As per an official release, the chief guest on the occasion former Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, presented souvenirs to the war heroes and their next of kin.
As a mark of gratitude to the war veterans, soil was collected from their residences and this will be used for tree plantation at the National War Memorial.
Air Marshal HB Rajaram, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd.), Air Marshal SP Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VM (Retd.), Air Vice Marshal PJ Walia Senior Officer-in-Charge Administration Headquarters Training Command and other distinguished guests and air veterans were present at the occasion. (ANI)

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], Feb 27 (ANI): A team of Bengaluru-based scientists led by T Govindaraju a Professor of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research has discovered a possible cure for Alzheimer’s disease, the leading cause of dementia worldwide.
The breakthrough is a small molecule, named TGR 63 that has shown the ability to disrupt the mechanism through which neurons become dysfunctional in Alzheimer’s disease.
Govindaraju and scientists from JNCASR and an Indian-origin scientist at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, the molecule, called TGR63, has been shown in animal studies to to not only halt the progress of the disease but even reverse it.
The research has been ongoing for the past 10 years, the result of which was published recently in the journal ‘Advanced Therapeutics’.
“After identifying the molecule we started with a test tube experiment, then tested the molecules in cellular models. We treated an Alzheimer’s affected animal model and a healthy mouse with the same drug. We detected that the molecule is significantly reducing amyloid aggregates which resulted in a reversal of the cognitive decline in the animal,” said Govindaraju.
“Under some adverse physiological conditions, amyloid-beta a peptide clumps into toxic aggregates in the brain which results in volume and mass of the brain decreasing significantly disrupting the neural connections causing cognitive decline,” he explained.
“Trials on animal model is over. We have also done toxicology studies. Minimal and advanced toxicology studies are pending before moving on to the human trials,” he added.
Govindaraju said, “We are looking for a big pharmaceutical company or investors to partner with us”.
He also thanked the government for the financial support it has lent.
“It was with the Government’s funding that we have reached so far. We received Swarnajayanti fellowship 5 years ago which was a very huge financial support to the research,” he said
Govindaraju said early diagnosis and therapy are among the methods to tackle Alzheimer’s.
“In the US and Europe heavy funding is going into the research for a drug for Alzheimer’s but one drug is failing clinical trials every month due to side effects of those drugs,” he said.
“Some researchers have done immunotherapy using antibodies but they got mixed results that could not pass clinical trials,” he added.
“Alzheimer’s disease was discovered in 1906, Still the world has not found a way for detection of the disease and no treatment is available. The disease is detected at a very late stage after daily life gets disrupted,” he said.
The disease has genetic connections but mostly caused by lifestyles such as the amount of physical work and food habits.
Govindaraju said that Alzheimer’s cases has gone by 71 per cent as of 2013.
According to estimates, Alzheimer’s contributes to 70 to 80 per cent of all dementia cases worldwide. (ANI)

Chandigarh (Haryana) [India], February 27 (ANI): Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday announced that the first phase of Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana will begin on April 1.
The Chief Minister, while addressing an event at his residence on the occasion of 644th birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas, said, “Under the scheme, efforts will be made to uplift one lakh families with low family income in the state.”
On the occasion, the Khattar announced to increase financial assistance under the Dr BR Ambedkar Awas Navinikarn Yojna to Rs 80,000 from Rs 50,000 for the repair of houses belonging to the Scheduled Caste families living below the poverty line (BPL).
He also announced that the BPL families belonging to any category will be able to avail the benefits of Dr BR Ambedkar Awas Navinikarn Yojna.
“Also, the legal aid given to the Scheduled Caste has been increased to Rs 21,000 from Rs 11, 000,” Khattar said.
Under the Sant Mahapurush Vichar Samman and Prasaar Yojana, a financial assistance from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh will be provided to the social and religious organisations for holding programmes on the birth anniversaries of the saint at the block and gram levels. (ANI)

Hyderabad (Telangana), February 27 (ANI): Hyderabad City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar on Saturday inaugurated ‘Exclusive Job Mela for Women’ organised by the ‘She Team Hyderabad city’ under its initiative ‘Empower her’ in partnership with the TMI Foundation.
The Job Mela aims to provide job opportunities to over 3,000 women job seekers in over 35 companies.
“Empowerher is an initiative to provide job opportunities to women job seekers organised by ‘She Team Hyderabad City’ under Hyderabad City Police in partner with TMI Foundation’s Job Connect initiative,” Kumar said.
“The Job Connect initiative, exclusively for women job seekers, that is taking place here in Hyderabad is first of its kind in India. This programme is being held on the Osmania University campus. Nearly 35 companies have taken part in the job mela offering job opportunities to students. About 6,000 women job seekers have registered themselves for jobs,” he said.
The police commissioner said the TMI foundation and Hyderabad City Police have been working together for the past few years to create job opportunities.
“So far we have been able to create job opportunities to over 17,000 to 18,000 students and job seekers,” he said.
Addressing the gathering, Kumar said: “This initiative is for the better future. People must understand that it took a lot of effort by generations to make India what it is today. This is the power that the youth has. They have the power to bring change. I appeal to the students to give their best in their new jobs and work hard for a better future.” (ANI)