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NRI scientist finds molecule to fight AIDS |
| Arun Ghosh, an NRI scientist from Kolkata, currently working in Purdue University in Canada, has developed the world’s first molecule that helps fight drug resistant HIV. The molecule, TMC 114 or Darunavir, was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Authority for pill-based therapy. Ghosh obtained his masters in chemistry from IIT Kanpur and has been working on HIV for the last 12 years. |
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Row over Hindu complex in New Jersey |
Plans to set up a $142 million Hindu cultural centre in New Jersey have run into rough weather with local residents calling for a scaling down in size of the project. Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a non-profit Indian organisation, is planning to construct 17 massive buildings and a 120-foot-tall monument on 20 acres of land near East Windsor, Mercer County. Local residents say the complex will create traffic problems and want it to be scaled down. NRIs comprise six percent of East Windsor’s population of around 25,000.
Controversies are not new to BAPS which in 2000 turned a nightclub into a house of worship in North Bergen, New Jersey, after a long court tussle. More recently it got clearance for a temple in Paripanny, also in New Jersey, fighting concerns over traffic problems and the smell of Indian food. Founded by Bhagwan Swaminarayan in the last 18th century, BAPS boasts one million members today. |
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NRI author in Man Booker list |
Writer Kiran Desai’s novel The Inheritance of Loss has made it to the long list for the 2006 Man Booker fiction prize along with 18 other works. Her novel, with a teenaged girl as the protagonist, explores contemporary issues like multiculturalism, fundamentalism and terrorist violence. The five judges took more than six hours to pick 19 authors-longer than that taken by previous judges, said a report in The Guardian.
She is the daughter of Anita Desai, the Indian writer shortlisted thrice in the 1980s for the Booker. This makes it possibly the first time that a family member of another nominee has been on the list. |
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North American Keralites to build airport back home |
The Federation of Kerala Associations in North America (Fokana), an apex grouping of Malayalee associations in North America and Canada is to build a domestic airport in Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district. Fokana president Sasidharan Nair said he had detailed discussion with the state chief minister who promised all support. It has identified 250 acres of land at Aranmula for the airport to be built on the model of the Cochin International Airport, where the state government also has a stake.
In Pathanamthitta district, almost every household has at least one member either in the US or in the Middle East. The only district that has more NRIs would be Malappuram in north Kerala. Set up in 1983, Fokana has emerged as the biggest socio-cultural organisation of Malayalees outside
Kerala. |
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