Lee Kuan Yew passed away

First Prime Minister (PM) of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew passed away on 23 March 2015. He was 91.

Mr. Lee is described as the ‘founding father’ and ‘architect’ of modern Singapore. He is also considered as pioneer for transforming the island country from a small port city into a wealthy global hub after its independence from United Kingdom and separation from Malaysia.

About Lee Kuan Yew

• He was born in Singapore on 16 September 1923 as a British subject.
• Lee Kuan Yew had studied law at Cambridge University and had graduated with double First Class Honours.
• In 1954, Mr. Lee co-founded the People’s Action Party (PAP) and was its first Secretary-General. He had led the party to eight victories from 1959 to 1990. 
• He was elected as First Prime Minister of Singapore in 1959. Since then he had served as PM of country for 31 years and had stepped down in 1990. He also had overseen the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965.

Section 66 A of IT Act unconstitutional and untenable: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court (SC) on 24 March 2015 struck down the Section 66A of the Information and Technology Act 2000 calling it unconstitutional and untenable.

SC in its ruling held that Section 66A interferes with freedom of speech and expression envisaged under Article 19 of Constitution of India and also hit the root of two cardinal pillars of democracy liberty and freedom of expression.

This verdict was given by SC bench comprising of Justices J. Chelameswar and R.F. Nariman on bunch of petitions filed in the wake of misuse of the penal provision by government authorities.

Supreme Court held that

• Section 66 A is unconstitutional because it failed two major tests, the clear and present danger test and the tendency to create public disorder test.
• Language used in this section is vague and nebulous does not properly define words like offensive or even persistent.

SC also rejected the assurance given by NDA government during the hearing defending certain procedures of the law so it cannot be question and abused.

However in this ruling SC did not strike down two other provisions in sections 69A and 79 of the IT Act and mentioned that they can remain enforced with certain restrictions.

Background

• The first petition in this regard was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal who had challenged the Section after two young women were arrested for posting comments Facebook in Thane district.
• In the comments they had criticized shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackray’s death.

About Section 66A of IT Act 2000

• It gives power to government authorities to issue directions to block public access of any information through any computer resource.
• It also allows authorities to arrest a person for posting allegedly offensive content on websites and imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine

RNTCP is the Largest and Fastest Growing Public Health Program in the World Today

Tuberculosis continues to be major public health problem throughout the world, more so in developing countries and India in particular. India has the largest number of cases of TB and around one-fourth of the world TB cases are in India. Every year there are approximately two million (2.2 million) new cases of TB (incidence) occur in the country.  To tackle this problem, Govt. of India introduced and launched the Revised National TB control Programme or RNTCP in 1992-93 replacing the earlier NTP, and this is now the largest and fastest growing public Health Program not only in India but also in the world today.  

RNTPC

The goals of RNTCP are to decrease mortality and morbidity due to TB and cut transmission of infection until TB ceases to be a major public health problem in India. The objectives are to achieve and maintain a case detection of at least 70% of new sputum positive TB patients and to achieve and maintain a cure rate of at least 85% in newly detected smear positive cases. Further, the program has made its national strategic plan (2012-17) with new goals to decrease mortality and morbidity due to TB and stop transmission of infection until TB ceases to be a major public health problem in India in line with the Millennium Development Goals and Stop-TB partnership targets. The new objectives are to achieve 90% notification rate for all forms to TB cases, to achieve 90% success rate for all new and 85% for re-treatment cases, to significantly improve the successful outcomes of treatment of Drug Resistant TB Cases, to achieve decreased morbidity & mortality of HIV associated TB and to improve outcomes of TB care in the private sector.

DOTS

The basic strategy is DOTS (Directly Observed treatment – short course) through which treatment completion is ensured. Diagnosis and treatment is provided free of cost to all individuals. The program operates through 3644 Tuberculosis Units (TUs) and 13,306 designated microscopy centres (DMCs) throughout the country. So far under the programme, and  since implementation  > 60 million TB suspects have been examined,  > 17 million patients have been  placed on treatment and  > 3 million  lives have been saved. India’s TB control programme is on track as far as reduction in disease burden is concerned. There is 42% reduction in TB mortality rate by 2012 as compared to 1990 level. Similarly there is 51% reduction in TB prevalence rate by 2012 as compared to 1990 level.

ACSM

 The program has a well-defined ACSM (Advocacy, communication, and social mobilization) strategy based on Communication needs, Target Groups and Communication tools/Media options to reach target groups. Roles and responsibilities are defined at the central, state and district level. The ACSM strategy is modified for addressing newer initiatives like MDR- TB and TB HIV co-infection and is supported under the project Axshaya wherein 374 districts in 23 states are involved.

TB-HIV

Other strategies of RNTCP include TB-HIV management in collaboration with NACO. It is a well-known fact that TB is more common in HIV cases and is one of the most common causes of infection and mortality. TB patients are regularly tested for HIV and vice versa. Patient with this dual infection receive co-trimoxazole chemoprophylaxis. Both anti-TB drugs as well as antiretroviral drug therapy are given to patients with both infections and disease.    CB-NAAT (Cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification) test is done in priority basis to detect TB   in Presumptive TB cases among People living with HIV / AIDS in all CB-NAAT sites. Pilot projects are operating in 30 sites in five high burden states (Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra).

Paediatric TB

Paediatric tuberculosis is also covered by the program which is unique in the world. About 6-7% of all TB cases occur in children as per the program reports.  Revised Paediatric TB Guidelines have been released, wherein a  newer diagnostic algorithm was developed with newer six weight bands are available according to the weight of the child, there is provision for flexibility in extending intensive and continuation phase for selected conditions, also increased dose for INH chemoprophylaxis is given to these cases. Drug resistant TB in children has some inherent problems like difficult to diagnose, getting an appropriate sample for testing, and clinical diagnosis predominates without laboratory confirmation. Treatment in these situations is challenging. Paediatric formulations of treating these MDR-TB cases in children are not available in the market. Administering drugs by crushing & breaking to meet body weight requirements affects bio-availability. Monitoring progress on treatment is also difficult. Malnutrition, co-morbidity, adverse drug reactions adds on to the challenge of treatment adherence. Also there are other issues like availability of expertise to manage paediatric MDR TB is limited. Some of the initiatives taken are the establishment of CB NAAT labs at Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad, identification of key hospitals and private clinics catering to pediatric populations and establish referral network for pediatric, identification of Engaging more number of pediatricians for referrals and sensitization meeting for identified key personnel.

Urban TB Control

Although RNTCP is being implemented in every part of country either through the State government or through the local self- government wherever there is a separate health system in corporations, focus is given for urban TB control. Exclusive resources for urban areas included in RNTCP in terms of TB health visitors for every 1 lakh aggregate urban population, additional funding norms in ACSM in urban areas, Urban / pubic private mix Coordinators, NGO/Private Practitioner (PP) schemes are specially oriented with urban areas. These provisions are made because there are inadequate diagnostics, insufficient treatment facilities, enormous, unregulated, distinctly divided private sector, intense transmission due to congregate settings/poor Airborne Infection control (AIC) measures and poor TB risk perception and inadequate efforts for advocacy and social mobilization. Through themission mode Slum TB Control, there are provisions for identification of high risk wards, line listing of all health care providers segregated by AYUSH and others, house to house survey for active case finding and training of all health care providers in Standards for TB care in India.

Drug-resistant TB (DR-TB)

India is world’s highest MDR-TB burden country with 64,000 cases emerging annually in notified Pulmonary TB cases. To get an exact picture national drug resistance survey underway since July 2014. Diagnosis and treatment of MDR TB and XDR TB (Extensively drug resistant TB) are difficult, costly, takes minimum of 2 years of treatment and the drugs have a lot of side effects. The program manages these cases through PMDT (Programmatic management of Drug resistant TB).  The program (earlier known as DOTS-PLUS) was started in July 2007 and is now available throughout the country. Under this all investigations and treatment are provided free. At present the country has 58 Culture and Drug Susceptibility Testing (DST) Laboratories.  There are 122 DR-TB Centers mainly in Medical Colleges and other larger hospitals. There are 50 Linked DR-TB Centers and 89 CB-NAAT (X’pert) Sites to give quick diagnosis within 2 hours. So far over 15, 000 cases of MDR TB are undergoing treatment or are being treated.  Newer initiatives in this area include formation of Expert Committee on Regulation of newer anti-TB drug e.g. bedaquiline study, counselling project to enhance treatment adherence among DR-TB patients and piloting of DST Guided Treatment in selected districts. 

Others

The cases are now registered through Nikshay, a case Based Web Based recording and reporting system. TB now is a notifiable disease under Government notification and the Govt. of India has banned the use of serology in the diagnosis of TB. The program is trying to bring all private sectors through case notification, persuading the private sector to follow standardized treatment guidelines.

Medical college faculty, who are academicians are seldom directly involved in the implementation of national public health programmes. More than a decade ago for the first time in the global history of tuberculosis (TB) control, medical colleges of India are involved in the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) of Government of India (GOI). Till the time involvement of medical colleges in the RNTCP was conceived, the interaction between the academicians in the medical colleges and the Programme managers was sparse and on many occasions discordant. The young doctors in training seldom got an opportunity to practice what was preached to them. As a result, the facilities available under the RNTCP were seldom utilized to the full extent possible. Keeping in mind the needs of the country, a future “5-Star” doctor who would take up the responsibilities as a care provider, decision maker, communicator, community leader, and a manager was visualized and such a future doctor would not only serve the patients and the community but would also gain their respect.

A substantial proportion of patients with TB are managed at medical colleges across the country. From the TB control point of view, medical colleges, in both the government and private sectors are recognized to occupy a key position with a unique potential for involvement with the RNTCP. To widen access and improving the quality of TB services, involvement of medical colleges and their hospitals is of paramount importance. Being tertiary care medical centres, large numbers of patients seek care from the medical colleges. In addition, the role of medical college faculty in TB control as key opinion leaders and role models for practicing physicians and as teachers imparting knowledge, skills and shaping the attitude of medical students cannot be underestimated. There is a pressing need for all medical colleges to advocate and practice DOTS strategy which provides the best opportunity for cure of TB patients. In addition, medical colleges have the diagnostic facilities for extra-pulmonary TB (EPTB), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-TB co-infection, multidrug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB (M/XDR-TB). Recognizing the potential of involving medical colleges in TB control a decade ago, the RNTCP of GOI, for the first time in the world conceived and implemented the unique experiment of involving the academicians who constitute the faculty in the public health programme for TB control. A mechanism of National, Zonal and State level Task Forces was conceived for the involvement of medical colleges, wherein the sole responsibility of participation of medical colleges in DOTS strategy lies with the faculty of medical colleges, which perhaps made them more responsive.

The involvement of medical colleges in TB control envisaged and successfully implemented by the RNTCP for more than a decade in India is an extraordinary effort. The Task Force mechanism has entrusted the responsibility to medical colleges to ensure their effective contribution to the efforts of GOI in TB control. The successful amalgamation of the public health approach and the expertise of academicians has immensely benefited the RNTCP and TB control in India and facilitated the emergence of the “future doctor” from among the medical students.

# March 24^th is World Tuberculosis Day

17 New Mega Food Parks Sanctioned

To give a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage and loss at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Food Mega Food Parks Scheme in the country since the year 2008. Financial Assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore is provided for setting up Mega Food Parks for creation of modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market. A Mega Food Park located in the area of a minimum of 50 acres work in a cluster based approach based on a hub and spokes model.  Infrastructure is created for primary processing and storage near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centres (PPCs), Collection Centres (CCs) located in production areas. Common facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre like modern warehousing, cold storage, IQF, sorting, grading, packaging, pulping, ripening chambers and tetra packaging units roads, electricity, water, ETP facilities etc. This helps in reducing the cost of individual units significantly and makes them more viable. Induction of latest technology, quality assurance of processed food products through better process control and meeting of environmental and safety standards are other major benefits of Mega Food Parks. Total 42 Mega Food Parks have been sanctioned by the Government for setting-up in the country. Currently, 25 projects are under implementation, Expression of Interest (EoI) was invited on all India basis on 10.02.2014 with the last date of 31.07.2014 to fill up vacancies. Ministry received 72 proposals and after going through a stringent and transparent process of scrutiny, 17 suitable proposals from 11 States of the country have been selected and approved for implementation. This step of the Government will create huge modern infrastructure for food processing sector and provide impetus to the growth of the sector. These 17 newly selected Mega Food Parks are likely to attract investment of around Rs. 2000 crore in modern infrastructure, additional collective investment of around Rs. 4000 crore in 500 food processing units in the Parks and an annual turn-overof Rs. 8000 crore.These Parks,when fully functional, will create employment for about 80000 persons and benefit about 5 lakh farmers directly and indirectly. The timely completion of these Mega Food Park will provide a big boost to the growth of the food processing sector in the concerned state, help in providing better price to farmers, reduce wastage of perishables, add value to the agricultural produce and create huge employment opportunities especially in rural areas. These will also help in stabilizing prices of food products and contain inflation in the country.

62nd National Film Awards 2014

The 62nd National Film Awards for year 2014 was announced on 24 March 2015.
Court directed by Chaitanya Tamhane was selected as the Best feature film. Mary Kom (Hindi) directed by Omung Kumar was selected as the Best Popular film providing wholesome entertainment.
The 62nd National Film Awards in the various categories are as follows
Best Actor- Vijay for Nanu Avanalla Avalu (Kannada).
Best Actress- Kangana Ranaut for Queen (Hindi).
Best Direction-Srijit Mukherji, Director of Chotushkone (Bengali).
Best Film on Social Issues- Chotoder Chobi (Bengali) directed by Kaushik Ganguly.
Best Supporting Actor- Bobby Simhaa for film Jigarthanda (Tamil).
Best Supporting Actress- Baljinder Kaur for film Pagdi The Honour (Haryanavi).
Best Children’s Film- Kaakkaa Muttai (Tamil) and Elizabeth Ekadashi (Marathi).
Best Child Artist- Vignesh & Ramesh for Kaakkaa Muttai (Tamil).
Special Jury Award- Bhaurao Karhade, Director of Khwada (Marathi).
Best Cinematography- Sudeep Chatterjee for film Chotushkone (Bengali).
Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director- Aditya Vikram Sengupta for Asha Jaoar Majhe (Bengali).
Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration – Chotoder Chobi (Bengali) directed by Kaushik Ganguly.
Best Writing on Cinema- Silent Cinema: (1895-1930) authored by Pasupuleti Purnachandra Rao.
About National Film Awards
The National Film Awards are most prominent most prominent film award ceremonies in India.
Established- 1954. Since then awarded annually.
Winners in different categories of these awards are selected by the nation panel of Juries appointed by Union Government.
These awards are presented by the President of India in the official ceremony.

Rajendra Singh wins Stockholm Water Prize

Rajendra Singh, environmental activist based in Rajasthan, has been conferred the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize this year for his innovative water restoration efforts and courage to empower communities in Indian villages.

Mr. Singh, popularly known as “Water Man”, was named for the global award instituted by the Stockholm International Water Institute in 1991 for his work towards improving water security in rural India and for showing extraordinary courage and determination in his quest to improve the living conditions of those most in need, a statement said.

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize, will present the prize during the World Water Week here on August 26, the statement said. The award carries $150,000 and a specially designed sculpture.

Mr. Singh, born in 1959, has dedicated himself to defeating drought and empowering communities for several decades. He won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2001 for his work on community-based water harvesting and water management.

In its citation, the Stockholm Water Prize Committee said: “He has literally brought villages back to life. We need to take Mr. Singh’s lessons and actions to heart if we are to achieve sustainable water use in our lifetime.”

On receiving the news about the prize, Mr. Singh said “this is very encouraging, energising and inspiring news.”

“When we started our work, we were only looking at the drinking water crisis and how to solve that. Today our aim is higher. This is the 21st century. This is the century of exploitation, pollution and encroachment. To stop all this, to convert the war on water into peace, that is my life’s goal,” he said.

Green” technology developed by CSIR for leather tanning

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science and Technology, today announced a breakthrough in scientific processes for the leather sector. The “paradigm shift”, in his words, is the result of efforts by scientists of the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), a unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

A novel, biodegradable dispersing agent developed by CLRI, enables the chrome tanning of leather with just half the normal usage. This ensures the saving of water by 15 million litres per day in the Indian leather sector alone –and an estimated 200 million litres per day if this revolutionary technology is applied globally.

After a visit to CLRI, this morning, he said, “This development is aimed at multiple benefits relating to in-process abatement of effluent problem, curtailing process steps, huge water conservation, time economy and cost saving.”

He also announced that CLRI has succeeded in fostering an “enzymatic intervention” to complete in just 30 minutes the enabled fibre opening process which till now has taken up to 72 hours.

“This is good news for the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ agenda. Our leather and leather goods industry is on the verge of unique competitiveness,” Dr Harsh Vardhan remarked.
Hon'ble Minister released the 'first copy' of the MODEUROP Colour Card for the Autumn Winter 16/17 season (eighteen months ahead of the season) in the august presence of Dr M O Garg, Director General, CSIR; Prof Dr A B Mandal, Director, CSIR-CLRI; Dr Sudeep Kumar, Head, PPD, CSIR and Team CSIR-CLRI Shoe Design & Development Centre today.
Dr Harsh Vardhan visited various laboratories in CSIR-CLRI. The laboratories were Centre for Leather Apparels/Accessories and Development (CLAD), EXCEL Lab and Shoe Design and Development Centre (SDDC), etc.  He addressed the Scientists and Staff of CSIR-CLRI and applauded their efforts to develop technologies and products in the domain of leather technology.
Dr Harsh Vardhan interacted with the industry. The industrialists present were Shri N Shafeeq Ahmed (MD, SSC Shoes), Shri K R Vijayan (President, Indian Shoe Federation), Shri P Gopalakrishnan (Sellam Chemicals), Shri R Ramesh Kumar (ED, CLE), Shri Atanu Poddar (LANXESS India), Shri J Arun (LANXESS India), Mr Tuncay Deriner (Stahl India) and Mr Gopinath (MV Health Care). He appreciated the efforts of the industry and the partnership they have with CSIR-CLRI. This unique partnership is a testimony of development of leather sector in the country. The sector is increasingly becoming green technology oriented due to the efforts of CSIR-CLRI.
Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences and Vice-President, CSIR while visiting the laboratory closely identified this lab and its achievements with the current agenda of the Government in terms of ‘Make in India’ as well as providing essentials to the common man and to provide high science based technologies to the medium, small and micro enterprises. The services have been provided by the lab to test the various chemicals in waste water, which otherwise the industry cannot afford, were identified as one area where the laboratory has made maximum impact. He also appreciated that the laboratory has helped countries like Ethiopia with their technologies and products and have made an attempt to internationalize it’s out-reach. He emphasized and motivated the scientists to use the combination of natural materials such as pine apple leaf fabric, banana fabric with leather forms, which could lead to the next generation in the fashion industry.

As the Medical Doctor, he was particularly interested in the contribution by the lab in developing of collagen based wound/burn care product.

The Hon’ble Minister was extremely impressed and congratulated the scientists for the success story of an enduring partnership among the trinity of academy, research and industry in leather sector, spun around CLRI over a period of sixty six years. He has also noted that the Institute offers B.Tech., M.Tech. and Ph.D. in leather and footwear sciences through Anna University that could set an example for other sectors to emulate to make the Prime Minister’s National Skill Development Programme for inclusive employment generation. 

Hon’ble Minister has also visited M/s India Shoes Pvt Ltd., Chennai and appreciated CSIR-CLRI efforts for providing the end-to-end technology knowledge base to the company over the years. As a result, the India Shoes has emerged as one of the major manufacturers in the country exporting leather shoes and accessories. They are poised to emerge with the help of CSIR-CLRI a front runner to contribute for make-in-India effort.

About CSIR-CLRI Achievements  

Created just a few months after independence, the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) is a unique research laboratory of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), one of its kinds in the world. Created to provide affordable footwear to our large mass of population, given the fact that our country has the largest cattle population in the world, this Institute has not only developed leather processing technologies and transferred them to the medium and small scale industry but also helped this industry to control the pollution which this industry is known for. Right from inception, the Institute made an initiative with foresight to link technology system with academia and industry. CSIR-CLRI, today, is a central hub in Indian leather sector with the direct role in education, research, training, testing, designing, forecasting, planning, social empowerment. CSIR-CLRI leads in pursuing science and technology relating to leather and delivering desired knowledge base.
CSIR-CLRI has achieved significant milestones in recent years in enhancing the domestic leather sector’s “green image”. These include:

Ø  Providing end of pipe or in-process control measures to ensure eco-benign leather processing for the sustainability of the sector. This has significant strengths in the treatment of waste water emerging from any processing industry, such as leather and textile, chemicals. Through its range of technologies (CAACO, FACCO, FICCO, ENICO), where there is no sludge generation. Treatment cost is in the range of around Rs. 10-30 per m3.

Ø  Water conservation has been a focus area of CLRI’s work. Its scientists have provided techno-enabled solutions to treat solid wastes, whereby value added products emerge, leading to multidimensional benefits on economy, employment and environmental cleanliness.

Ø  Composting from leather waste is being explored to ensure economic utilization of wastes for value addition.

Ø  Natural fibre based materials from a variety of sources such as pine apple leaf fabric, banana fabric, soya fabric, endi and muga silks have been evaluated for their potential to fabricate consumer products.

Ø  Considering India’s diabetes burden, CSIR-CLRI has collaborated with M/s Diabetic Research Centre, Chennai and M/s Novo Nordisk Education Foundation, Bangalore to develop novel diabetic footwear. The technology has successfully been transferred to M/s MV Diabetic Health Care Pvt. Ltd. Chennai. The product is presently being marketed as DIASTEP.

Ø  CLRI has built core strength in collagen based wound care products and a range of products has been developed in this direction. Some of these products are already adequately proven in the market. Newer directions in the product range has are being provided by this Institute towards strengthening the product profile. Many of these technologies have been transferred to user industries in India and abroad.

Ø  The Institute caters to the significant share of Intellectual properties generated by the global leather sector. The rate of translation of knowledge lead to the user industry is significantly higher than the global average.          

Ø  Several training programmes of varying focus and duration are conducted for the benefit of a wide range of target groups from leather industry. Alumini of this Institute contributes to around 60% of industry’s manpower employment.  Tailor made training programmes are also undertaken depending on the requests received from the industry. Trainings are also offered to operators / technicians / supervisors in CETPs, ETP and tanneries for operation and maintenance of treatment system and chrome recovery system.

Ø  Considering the importance of the technological intervention in MSME sector for the overall benefit of the people at the base of Economic pyramid, CSIR-CLRI has launched an innovative initiative by identifying fourteen socially relevant knowledge leads for possible transfer on ‘as is where is basis’ to potential micro and small scale beneficiaries without any license fee under CSIR 800 scheme.

Ø  The institute has significantly been contributing towards the growth and development of the rural sector by skill upgradation and empowerment of the rural artisans and women workforce. Empowering the SME sector in leather compliant to environmental regulations and requirements and restoring operations in closed tanneries in semi-urban and rural population in Tamil Nadu has led to the saving of 2.5 lakhs jobs.

Ø  Success stories of the Institute on international platform have enhanced the image of the Institute immensely on a global platform. The Institute has served the Govt of Ethiopia by the successful benchmarking programme of the tanneries in Ethiopia. Moreover, it has helped in the capacity building of the Leather Industry Development Institute, Ethiopia on a twinning mode. The programmes have helped the Ethiopian industry to have more capacity as well as export earnings.

Ø  CSIR-CLRI has presently been executing a project to assess the feasibility of establishing a Leather Park in Botswana. A research collaborative project is also underway with Vietnam. The Institute has in fact served many countries including Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan Kenya, Sri Lanka etc. from time to time to enhance its image further.

Ø  Based on the immense success of the salt free tanning technology, developed by this Institute, in India and abroad, UNIDO, Vienna has come forward to join hands with CSIR-CLRI to establish UNIDO-CLRI Centre for Salt Free Tanning in order to disseminate the technology across the Indian Leather Sector. Based on the outcome, a major initiative will be taken up by UNIDO and CSIR-CLRI for dissemination of the technology at global level.