Actress Yami Gautam, who was last seen alongside Hrithik Roshan in Kaabil, set the stage on fire with her dance moves on some of the peppy chart buster songs.

The Vicky Donor actress performed on tracks like Gala Goodiyan , Move Your Lakk, Guru Randhawa’s song Suit Suit and the popular song Rum Rum from Yami’s debut Bollywood film Vicky Donor. Not forgetting her groove to the popular party number, Nachange Saari Raat from her film Junooniyat

"Was enthralled to another level when the entire crowd cheered in the stadium!! Witnessing such a humongous response from them gives you a such high ! Will always remember this moment since it was my first live performance & could express my love for dance as well, " the actress was quoted as saying by sources close to her.

Yami will be next seen in Sarkar 3, which is slated to release later this year.

A day after exempting media persons from paying toll tax on state highways, the Punjab government on Sunday announced a similar exemption for freedom fighters, implementing another one of its poll promises.

A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said a notification, exempting both media persons and freedom fighters from paying toll tax, has been issued by the state Public Works Department (PWD) following a decision to this effect by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

The exemption for media persons, announced by the government on Saturday, is in line with a key promise of the Congress government to provide an enabling environment for journalists to function in a free and fair manner.

As per the notification formally issued on Sunday, all freedom fighters holding a certificate issued by the Punjab government would be exempted from paying toll tax while moving through state highways.

Accredited media persons or media persons holding a yellow identity card issued by the Punjab government have also been exempted from paying toll tax on the state highways, by the notification issued under the Punjab Mechanical Vehicles (Bridges and Roads Tolls) Act 1998.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals on Monday said no observations were issued by US health regulator USFDA after inspection of its Baroda facility.

The bio-equivalence facility was inspected by US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) from March 6-10; March 13-17 and April 10-12, Alembic said in a filing to BSE.

“There were no 483s issued by USFDA at the end of the inspection,” it added.

USFDA issues Form 483 observations to a firm's management at the conclusion of an inspection to notify it of objectionable conditions at the facility.

It is issued when investigator(s) has observed any conditions that in their judgement may constitute violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act and related Acts.

Alembic stock was trading at Rs.626.80, up 0.35 per cent, in the afternoon trade on BSE.

People who possess a greater understanding of finance tend to accumulate more assets and income during their lifetime, and therefore they are less likely to fret about life in their twilight years, suggests new research.

Financial literacy increases our awareness about financial products, builds a capacity to compare all available financial options, and changes our financial behaviour – all which bodes well for our perceptions of, and actual experiences during our seniority, said one of the researchers Yoshihiko Kadoya, Associate Professor at Hiroshima University in Japan.

For the study, researchers asked people from across Japan to answer questions assessing their calculation skills, understanding of pricing behaviour, and financial securities such as bonds and stocks.

Respondents were also asked about their accumulated wealth, assets, and lifestyle – and to rate the level of anxiety they felt about life beyond 65.

Men, and those with a higher level of education are more financially clued-in than women, and those with less education respectively, the findings, published in Journal of Risk Research, showed.

The researchers also found that more financially literate earn and accumulate more during their lifetime — and thus worry less about growing old.

It also appears that financial literacy helps shape people's perception towards risk and uncertainty – making them more capable and confident in tackling whatever problems life throws at them.
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday hailed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for redrawing the Indian map after independence "to give us what it (country) is today".

"If we live in India with pride and our heads held high, it is because of him," Modi said after inaugurating a diamond manufacturing unit in Surat. 

The Prime Minister, who arrived here on Sunday evening, also saluted former Prime Minister Morarji Desai for strengthening the country's economy.

Desai, Modi said, would rejoice to see how the Indian economy was faring now.

"Years ago, this region gave us Morarji Desai, who focused his energies in strengthening the Indian economy. His soul must be celebrating today at the state of the economy," Modi said. 

Morarji Desai, who headed the Janata Party government in 1977-79, hailed from south Gujarat.

Similarly, Modi said, Sardar Patel "re-drew the map of the country after independence to give us what it is today".

Referring to the diamond unit he opened, Modi said the country was a leader in diamond polishing industry and it had the potential to be the numero uno in the gems and jewellery sector.

"The artisan in India has the knack to develop jewellery according to the season and for every section of the society.

"We should concentrate on crafting jewellery not only according to what the consumer wants but also create material that attracts them to the new design," the Prime Minister added.

He inaugurated a diamond manufacturing facility, Hare Krishna Exports.
 

The government awarded 49 port projects with an investment of Rs.8,341 crore in the previous fiscal, which will result in capacity addition of 104 MT.

This was against a target of 102 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity augmentation.

“In respect of development of port infrastructure, 49 projects have been awarded with a capacity of 103.52 MTPA against a target of 102 MTPA with an investment of Rs.8,341.12 crore during the last fiscal,” Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

He said concerted efforts to improve port infrastructure have resulted in the highest ever capacity addition of 100.59 MT in major ports during the last fiscal.

“Major ports capacity during 2015-16 was 965.36 MTPA. This crossed 1,065 MTPA during 2016-17,” the minister said.
India has 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) which handle approximately 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.

Boosted by a slew of steps, the major ports surpassed private players by handling a record 647.43 million tonnes of cargo in 2016-17.

They registered an annual growth rate of 6.79 per cent in cargo handling against 4.32 per cent in 2015-16, whereas private ports annual growth rate stood around 4 per cent in the just-concluded fiscal.

It's a real life scene right out of reel life.

Hindi films Karma and Do Aankhen Barah Haath showed convicts being taken out of prison to be reformed. Now, in Shimla's first Book Cafe inmates of a sub-jail near here are trained by a renowned hotel to serve cookies and pizza they have baked.

The cafe, with a seating capacity of 40 and constructed at a cost of Rs.20 lakh, was opened by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh last week.

It is located right above the Ridge — once the promenade for the British colonial rulers when this city was their summer capital — and on the way to the famed Jakhu temple.

The four who run the cafe are Jai Chand, Yog Raj, Ram Lal and Raj Kumar, all of whom are serving life imprisonment at the Kaithu jail near Shimla, Director General (Prisons) Somesh Goyal said.

The first-of-its-kind cafe in the country is funded by the state's Tourism Department. It is open daily from 10 am until 9 pm At night, the prisoners return to the jail.

Goyal, who has also been credited with reforming prisoners through music, said employing prisoners at the cafe was an attempt to rehabilitate them.

"This cafe has given us the chance to connect to the world," Jai Chand said.

Another beaming jail inmate, Yog Raj, said this cafe had given them a chance to get employment once they walk out of the prison.

"This is being run by four of us independently. Even the visitors, the locals, don't show any apprehension while interacting with us. Indeed, they are keen to know more about our radical transformation," he added.

Most of the time, the cafe, which offers free Wi-Fi access, is occupied by visitors reading books on wildlife, environment, tourism and Shimla's history while sipping coffee.

It has books of authors like Chetan Bhagat, Nikita Singh, and French novelist Jules Verne, besides educational books, magazines and newspapers.

"The cafe has a good collection of books of national and international authors," Shimla Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar said.

For tourist Rewti Menon and her husband John Philip, it was a unique experience to interact with the prisoners.

"This cafe has given them another opportunity to live with dignity. Such experiments with an extensive support network will deter them from returning to crime," Philip said.

Last year, 10 inmates of the Central Jail in Nahan in Sirmaur district performed at the Gaiety Theatre here at a public function.

And the Chief Minister was among those who enjoyed their performance.

According to jail authorities, five of the 10 prisoners are undergoing life sentence for murder and two are facing trial under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Special music classes were organised by prison authorities for almost a month to train the inmates in singing and playing instruments.

They sang Himachali folk songs, qawwali and Sufiana songs of Bollywood movies.

Nepal's President Bidhya Devi Bhandari arrived here on Monday on her first overseas tour during which she will hold talks with top Indian leadership to strengthen bilateral ties.

"Neighbourhood first. Bidhya Devi Bhandari, President of Nepal, arrives in New Delhi on State Visit to India," the external affairs ministry spokesperson tweeted.

She will hold talks with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, exploring ways to expand cooperation between the two close neighbours whose ties faced some strains following the agitation by the Madhesi community last year.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will also call on the Nepalese President.

Bhandari was scheduled to visit India in May last year, but the trip was cancelled after the then cabinet did not endorse the visit, citing lack of preparations on the part of the government.

Dubbing the Bill hiking reservation for Muslims in Telangana as a "trash paper", the BJP on Monday said it has no legal and constitutional sanctity and would be "quashed" at the central government level.

The BJP also made it clear it would utilise this issue to politically "rise" in the state and project the ruling TRS in "bad light".

"At the party level, we are going to utilise this as a great opportunity for the rise of BJP in Telangana. And at the (central) government level, this will be quashed right at the beginning," party spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said.

The Bill, passed by both houses of Telangana Legislature on Sunday, has no legal and constitutional sanctity, as the state government did not follow due process and system, according to him.

"Religion cannot be a basis for reservations, and legally its not viable as both High Court and Supreme Court has capped reservation at 50 per cent," Rao said.

The local BJP unit would go to court challenging the Bill. "They (the government) haven't followed process and so the Bill is just like a trash paper, it does not have any validity," he said.

"It will not stand the scrutiny of courts."

In the just-concluded BJP national executive in Bhubaneswar, this issue (the Bill) has been raised and discussed, he said. The Bill would go "no further" as the government has not followed due process.

"It has given us a great opportunity to project TRS in bad light because it's been irresponsible as a government, and it has undermined the rightful constitutional reservation for Backward Classes," he said.

The party would launch a "massive agitation" against reservation for Muslims, Rao said. "It (the agitation) is not going to be reactive one…one day or two days. We are going to expose TRS duplicity through one to one-and-half years leading up to elections".

He said the BJP is okay with increasing reservation for Scheduled Tribes.

Both the houses of Telangana Legislature yesterday passed a Bill which increases the reservations for Scheduled Tribes and backward sections among the Muslim community in government jobs and educational institutions.

Under the Bill, quota for STs would be increased to 10 per cent from the existing six per cent, while that for BC-E category (the backward sections among the Muslim community) would go up to 12 per cent from the existing four.

The total reservations in the state, consequently, would go up to 62 per cent from the existing 50 per cent.

Police detained leaders of Telangana unit of Congress party on Monday as the opposition intensified its protest over shifting of 'Dharna Chowk', a popular venue of protests in Hyderabad.

Tension prevailed at Tank Bund in the heart of the city as several leaders sat on satyagraha at the state of B.R. Ambedkar but police evicted them on the ground that there is no permission for the protest.

Telangana state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy, former ministers Bhatti Vikramarka, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, D. Nagender and former MPs V. Hanumantha Rao and Anjan Kumar Yadav were among those detained and shifted to different police stations.

The Congress party had called for the protest to demand Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government to revive 'Dharna Chowk' at Indira Park in the heart of the city.

Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that TRS government is suppressing the voice of opposition by shifting 'Dharna Chowk' to the city outskirts. "This move is undemocratic. The government is not ready to tolerate the voice of dissent," he told reporters.

The Congress leaders said TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who organised many protests in the city including Million March during Telangana movement, was not snatching the rights of the opposition parties.

The protest by the Congress came a day after leaders of Dharna Chowk Protection Committee launched a month long relay hunger strike at the Communist Party of India (CPI) headquarters, Mukhdoom Bhavan here.

The committee comprising leaders of CPI, CPI-M, other Left parties and mass organisations denounced the attitude of the Chief Minister and said the government was denying the democratic rights of the people to protest.

Noted educationalist and former Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Chukka Ramaiah said that it was unfortunate that Chandrasekhar Rao, who participated in many agitations programmes and meetings at Indira Park during the Telangana movement, now does not want that very Chowk to exist.

'Dharna Chowk' had been the venue of thousands of protests by political parties, people's organisations, students' groups, employees' unions and others for over two decades.

Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao had last week defended the police move to shift 'Dharna Chowk' to the city outskirts saying that that some parties were deliberately creating problems in the name of protests. He also stated that the venue doesn't make any difference as the opposition will still be able to highlight the issues and bring them to the government's notice thanks to the coverage by the media.

Last month, leaders of all opposition parties had come together to meet Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan Rao and submit a memorandum protesting the government's move.

Advocating implementation of the union civil code, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday called for an end to the practice of triple talaq.

"The implementation of a common civil code in the country will end triple talaq," the chief minister said, adding, "People who are silent on the issue of triple talaq are equally guilty."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Sunday termed triple talaq a bad social practice.

"We should not allow conflict in the society. We don't want any conflict in Muslim society over the issue. We need to end such bad practices by awakening the society," the prime minister said.

On March 30, the Supreme Court had said that a Constitution bench will hear a plea challenging the validity of triple talaq, nikah halala and polygamy among Muslims from 11 May this year.

Triple talaq comes under the Sharia law that gives a man the right to end a marriage by verbally saying 'Talaq' thrice to his wife.

Former Brazil striker Luis Fabiano was on target as Vasco da Gama claimed their 10th Rio Cup football title, defeating Botafogo 2-0 at the Olympic stadium here.

It took until the 86th minute for Vasco to open the scoring through midfielder Douglas before Fabiano put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Botafogo were forced to play the final half hour with 10 men after full-back Marcelo was shown a second yellow card for a rash challenge on Guilherme Costa.

His teammate Bruno Silva was also shown a red card after the final whistle for dissent towards referee Bruno Araujo.

The result made Vasco the most successful team in the history of the Rio Cup, surpassing Flamengo's tally of nine titles.

Kim Kum-Pyoung has been the Director of the Korean Cultural Centre in India since 2011. During the last six years,he has truly acted as the cultural ambassador of his country in India. He has held important positions in the past also. Prior to his posting in India, he was the Cultural Attache in Japan and First Secretary (Culture & Press) to the European Union (EU).

In this interview to Ashok Tuteja, he talks about the activities of the Korean Cultural Centre and how it is playing an important role in promoting India-Korea cultural links. Excerpts:

What role does the Korean Cultural Centre play in promoting cultural exchanges?

As the press and culture department of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Korean Cultural Centre, India organises various cultural and educational workshops and events about culture, sports and youth exchange. Our core projects focus on Korean pop cultures, Korean language and student exchange programmes aiming at encouraging young generations of both countries to understand each other mutually.

K-Pop Contest and Korea Festival, which have been annually held with the enthusiastic participation of young generation in India since 2012, are examples of such events.

How many students are currently studying the Korean language at the Korean Cultural Centre?

Currently, we have 200 students studying for nine hours per week in the weekend and weekday classes, which are conducted by highly skilled Korean teachers. There are three semesters in a year.

How keen are Indian students to look for job opportunities in South Korean after learning the Korean language?

Most students at the King Sejong Institute focus on further studies in Korea and getting a job in India through their Korean language skills. The King Sejong Institute has classes for the Korean language proficiency test 'TOPIK', which is a pre-requisite to placements in Korean universities and companies. Korean Cultural Centre holds regular job fair events for them in collaboration with corporations such as Samsung and Concentrix India.

Many Koreans trace their origins to Suriratna, a princess from Ayodhya who married the Korean King Kim Suro. Could you give us some details on this facet of India-Korea relationship?

Princess Heo (Suriratna) is said to have married King Kim Suro of the Gaya Kingdom in AD 48, and their descendants became the biggest clan in Korea. Korean clans 'Kimhae Kim', 'Kimhae Heo', and 'Incheon Lee' comprise roughly 8 per cent of the Korean population.

I also belong to the Kimhae Kim clan and consider myself as a descendant of Princess Heo. Feeling a deep connection with India because of the legend of Princess Heo, many Koreans have an interest in India and recognise India as a cultural, political and economic partner for future.

How popular are Hindi movies in South Korea and who are the most popular Indian actors?

Bollywood movies have gotten lots of attention after being highlighted multiple times in international film events, such as Busan International Film Festival. Three Idiots attracted over 400,000 Korean audiences in 2011 when it was officially screened in Korea. Rave reviews led to rescreening in 2016. My Name is Khan had 380,000 viewers… so you could say that Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan are well known stars in Korea.

With the recent International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa held in 2016, which featured Korea as the focus country, we expect to expand mutual exchange in the film industries.

What steps are you taking to further strengthen cultural links between India and South Korea?

Starting this year, we will support a field trip to Korea during school vacation. KPop contests will be held at 11 places in India: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Patna, Bengaluru, Odisha, Hyderabad, Mizoram, Nagaland and Guwahati from April to July.

A significant digital gap exists between the best and worst performing brands in India and the country needs 'Digital Business Leaders' who can address the digital experience that businesses provide to their customers, a new report said on Monday.

Only eight per cent of Indian customers who are unsatisfied with their digital experience would continue to remain loyal to the brand, added the "India Digital Experience" report by SAP, a leader in enterprise application software.

It is found that 59 per cent of consumers were delighted and 15 per cent unsatisfied with their digital experience. 

On average, consumers delighted with the digital experience are five times more likely to disclose information with organisations across industry.

"Digital transformation will be crucial for accelerating the growth of India's economy. The report corroborates the need for the industry to identify 'Digital Business Leaders' who can address the digital experience that businesses provide to their customers," said Deb Deep Sengupta, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent.

It said that India achieved a digital experience score of 44 per cent and automotive is the top performing sector when it comes to delivering best digital experience followed by banking sector.

"Telcos, utilities and government are laggards in providing good digital experience," the report said.

Former actress and now writer Twinkle Khanna says her father and late legendary actor Rajesh Khanna wanted her to be a writer.

"Dad always said I should be a writer — was proud of my maggot filled poetry — would've been beaming that I got that paper in my hand eventually," Twinkle posted on Twitter on Monday while sharing one of her articles.

Twinkle started her career as an actress with 1995 film Barsaat, for which she received the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

However, after her marriage to actor Akshay Kumar in 2001, she went on to become an interior designer and columnist.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday indicated that his government may bring in a legal framework under which doctors will have to prescribe generic medicines, which are cheaper than equivalent branded drugs, to patients.

Modi said his government brought in a health policy after 15 years and capped the prices of medicines and stents, which has angered some pharmaceutical companies.

Speaking at the inauguration of a charitable hospital here, he exhorted the wealthy people to come forward and contribute towards health care of the needy people.

This country has not been built by the kings and leaders alone but by the power of the people, he said.

"Doctors write prescriptions in such a way that poor people do not understand the handwriting, and he has to buy that medicine from private stores at high prices," Modi said.

"We will bring in a legal framework by which if a doctor writes a prescription, he has to write in it that it will be enough for patients to buy generic medicine and he need not buy any other medicine," he said.

"In our country doctors are less, hospitals are less and medicines are expensive. If one person falls ill in a middle class family, then the financial health of the family gets wrecked. He cannot buy a house, cannot conduct the marriage of daughter," he pointed out.

"It is the government's responsibility that everybody should get health services at minimal price," the PM said.

"We have recently declared a health policy. The health policy has been brought in after 15 years," he said.

"Earlier, the health policy was brought when Atalji (A B Vajpayee) was the Prime Minister. Nothing happened in between (in health sector), which I have to do (now)," Modi said targeting the previous UPA government led by the Congress.

"When I was in Gujarat, I used to attract the wrath of many (by my decisions). Now when I have gone to Delhi, I have been instrumental in making many people angry, everyday I do some work which makes some or other person sulk," he said.

"See these companies which are manufacturing medicines, they used to charge Rs 1,200 for an injection. We called everyone (pharma companies) and ensured that the prices are reduced.

"The prices of 700 medicines were capped so that poor people get medicines at reasonable rates when they face grave diseases," Modi said.

"We have also capped the prices of stents used in heart ailments," he said.

"We have done this work, and you can imagine how angry the manufacturers of medicines will be. Despite the wrath of a very powerful lobby, the government is taking one step after another so that poor people and middle class get quality health services," the Prime Minister said.

He said the government has implemented the 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojna', where people get generic medicines from stores at reasonable rates.

Modi also stressed on preventive health care saying if people adopt it, they will not have to visit hospitals.

"Preventive health care is very important. My Swachhta Abhiyan (cleanliness campaign) is aimed at preventive healthcare as it has been proved that many diseases are contracted if we live in an unclean environment," he said.

"Yoga is also very important for wellness and I am running a campaign to make it popular across the world," he said.

He exhorted the well-off people to come forward and provide health care to the poor and middle class people.

"We require a jan andolan, jan shakti to provide effective healthcare to every person in the country," he said.

"Our country has a different mentality, our country was not made by governments, our country was not made by kings, neither by leaders, our country was built by the service- oriented approach of our countrymen," he said.

"'Seva permo dharma' has been the motto of our people," the PM said.

"You tell me the dharmshalas outside every important pilgrim town, were they built by the government? Who used to build wells and lakes in villages? Did the government build it? he asked.

"The cow shelters in villages are not built by the government, libraries are not built by government," he said asking people to come forward to build and run hospitals in the rural areas.

Prior to his speech, Modi inaugurated the Rs 400 crore Kiran Multi Super Speciality Hospital and Research Centre, built by Samast Patidar Arogya Trust in Katargam area here.

He had also laid the foundation stone of the hospital when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
 

A "snapshot" of the muga silkworm genome decoded by Indian scientists offers vital clues for imparting disease-resistance to help conserve the economically important insect which spins the distinctive golden yellow fabric synonymous with Assam.

Bioengineering Research Laboratory (BERL) at IIT-Guwahati, in collaboration with the Central Silk Board (CSB) has, for the first time, dug inside the transcriptome-genetic blueprints that are needed to translate the information stored in the DNA into functional gene products such as proteins.

In the muga silkworm's case, components that shield it against diseases and provide immunity, were deciphered.

"We have for the first time decoded the comprehensive transcriptome of muga silkworm using next-generation sequencing. Information obtained by transcriptomic studies along with full genome sequence will help draw research strategies for protection of muga silkworm from the vagaries of nature," Utpal Bora, team leader at BERL, told IANS about the latest study.

Transcriptomes (collection of messenger RNA molecules in a tissue or cell) are indicative of gene activity and can vary with external environmental conditions.

So, analysing transcriptome provides an idea about how environmental factors drive gene activity and influence immunity in the silkworm.

"Once the full molecular information is decoded, advanced technologies like 'genome editing' and 'genome engineering' can help immensely in conservation and development of new muga silkworm varieties in future," Bora said.

A. assamensis, popularly known as the muga silkworm, is the most important component of the Assamese silk industry and it hugely contributes towards employment generation in northeastern India, having great socio-economic and cultural significance for several tribes and communities of the region.

Around 60,000 families are engaged in the muga silk industry in Assam. A little amount of muga silk is also produced in Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.

It is also a source for novel biomaterials that have applications in skincare, tissue engineering and the like.

Despite acquisition of a Geographical Indication tag, this silkworm and the associated industry remains vulnerable.

For one, the insect's habitat preferences are restricted to northeast India, adding to its vulnerability.

"In addition, widespread use of pesticides in tea gardens, jhum cultivation and deforestation threaten its survivability. With global warming, increased urbanisation and lack of awareness among youths with respect to sericulture as a profession, the scenario is very discouraging for the muga-culture in the region," said Hasnahana Chetia, a research scholar and lead author of the study.

Disease and pest infestation also ravage the rearing of the seed crop (silkworm eggs). It is subjected to viral, bacterial, fungal and protozoan diseases that result in heavy crop losses up to 40 per cent for individual diseases.

Chetia also pointed to the fact that governments across the world have invested heavily during the last two decades and scientists have doggedly led studies to understand and experimentally engineer the genetic make-up of the mulberry silkworm.

However, very little has been done for conservation of the muga variety of Assam, she lamented.

As early as 1900, Japan had initiated research on the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori).

Recently, Chinese scientists claimed to have found a way to turn silkworms into virus killers, a technology they say will not only increase worldwide silk production but can also fight human viruses such as HIV.

In fact, mulberry silkworm is one of the most researched insects after fruit flies and has contributed to developments and discoveries in other disciplines as well, said study co-author Deepika Singh.

According to P. Jayaprakash, former Director of the National Silkworm Seed Organisation (under CSB), only two per cent of the total silk produced in the country is of the muga variety.

The northeastern states generate about 170 tonnes of muga annually, he said.

"Though they are all northeastern states, the microclimate differs. There is a gulf between production and productivity. I hope within a few years the scientists will supply disease-resistant worms, so we can produce muga in different seasons and different zones. The target is 200 tonnes for 2016-2017. In the days to come there is scope for enhancing production because this is the beginning of a study," Jayaprakash told IANS.

"The construction of a transcriptome database is under way at our laboratory to facilitate better dissemination and usage of the information generated in this study," added co-researcher Debajyoti Kabiraj.

Ponnala Vimal Mosahari, Suradip Das, Pragya Sharma, Kartik Neog, Swagata Sharma and P. Jayaprakash are the other authors of the study, published in February in the Gene journal.