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Time of India
11 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Himanta hands over job letters to 481 candidates
Guwahati: Assam chief minister on Thursday distributed appointment letters to 481 candidates in the animal husbandry and veterinary, tourism, and education departments. About another 40,000 appointments in the offing and will be distributed in a single recruitment drive scheduled for Oct 10. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now With the inclusion of these 481 appointments, the total number of govt jobs secured under the present administration now stands at 1,20,840. Speaking on the occasion, Sarma expressed confidence that the state govt is well on course to reach a total of 1.60 lakh appointments by 10 Oct and emphasised that the transparent nature of this recruitment process has not only upheld merit, but also played a vital role in fostering a more robust educational ecosystem across the state. He said the animal husbandry sector has increasingly become a pillar of the rural economy, but Assam still lags behind other states in fully realising its potential. "To address this, the govt has partnered with the National Dairy Development Board to establish the North East Dairy and Foods Limited, which aims at producing, processing, and distributing 10 lakh litres of milk daily," he said. He added that the College of Veterinary Science, in collaboration with the National Dairy Development Board, is working to develop a new breed by crossbreeding Assam's indigenous Lakhimi cows with Gujarat's high-yielding Gir breed. Alongside livestock development, the chief minister emphasised the state's renewed focus on poultry and duck farming, noting that 90% of Assam's daily egg demand is currently met through imports. He also highlighted a national campaign to promote biogas and bio-CNG production, adding that efforts are underway to enable dairy enterprises to generate these from cattle dung — an initiative poised to offer farmers a valuable supplementary income stream. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now With a marked rise in both religious and nature-based tourism, Sarma underscored the sector's economic significance and called for greater innovation to enhance its appeal. Citing Dima Hasao's natural splendour, he said that the region has the potential to emerge as one of the country's premier tourist destinations. To this end, he added, govt has sanctioned Rs 4,000 crores for road and infrastructure development.
Time of India
02-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Assam college develops ASF rapid detection kit
Guwahati: The College of Veterinary Science (CVSc) under Assam Agricultural University (AAU) in Khanapara has achieved a significant breakthrough in veterinary diagnostics by developing a rapid detection kit for African Swine Fever (ASF), a devastating disease that has plagued the region's pig farming industry since 2020. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Head of veterinary microbiology at CVSc, Narendra Nath Barman, said, "The innovative ASF virus antigen detection kit represents a major advancement in field-level veterinary diagnostics, capable of detecting the virus in pig samples within minutes." This development comes as a crucial tool for farmers and veterinarians who have struggled with the disease that kill pigs within 48 hours after being infected. It was first detected in Arunachal Pradesh in 2020 during the covid-19 lockdown. The initial study on the virus was funded by govt of India's department of biotechnology. "This rapid detection kit is a game-changer for our pig farming community as traditional laboratory testing often takes days. This tool provides immediate results, enabling farmers to take swift action to prevent the spread of the disease," Barman added. Barman said ASF virus antigen detection kits are very easy to use, a single drop of a pig's blood is needed to be dropped on the testing kit and if two lines appear on the kit then it is considered to be ASF positive. The ASF is not a zoonotic disease, it can only spread across animals, so humans have no threat from it. "Building on this success, AAU is now developing an even more comprehensive solution — a Lab-in-a-Suitcase — that will have an inbuilt battery for power supply. This will help detect multiple important pig diseases on-site," said Barman. The development has been made possible through collaboration with GeNext Genomics Pvt. Ltd, bringing together academic expertise and commercial innovation. This partnership has accelerated the translation of research into practical, market-ready solutions.
