SCIENCE AND

CULTURE MARCH-APRIL 2020/ VOLUME 86/NO. 3–4

A JOURNAL OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL SCIENCES

PUBLISHED BY THE EDITORIAL INDIAN SCIENCE COVID-19: Contemporary Challenges NEWS ASSOCIATION — S. C. Roy ... 77

EDITORIAL BOARD ARTICLE

Professor S. C. Roy Editor-in-Chief Ayurveda, Our Traditional System of Medicine, and Its Shri Biman Basu Importance in Today’s Drug Development Dr. Satyabrata Chakrabarti — Julie Banerji, Anupam Nayak and Saswati Tarafdar ... 79 Professor Syamal Chakrabarti Professor Manas Chakrabarty A Glimpse of the Geometrical Works of Indian Professor Barun Kumar Chatterjee Mathematician Syamadas Mukhopadhyaya Dr. Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay — Sabitri Ray Chaudhuri ... 85

Dr. Amit Krishna De Bibha Chowdhuri – From an Unsung Heroine Professor Sudhendu Mandal to a Star in Heaven Professor Vasant Natarajan — Rajinder Singh and S.C. Roy ... 90

COLLABORATORS Air Conditioning and Local Heating Amiya Kumar Bagchi Irfan Habib (Delhi) — R N Misra ... 96 (Kolkata) A. K. Hati (Kolkata) D. Balasubramanian Mridul Hazarika Value of Education (Hyderabad) (Guwahati) — Basudeb Barman ... 99 Indrani Bose (Kolkata) S. Kailas (Mumbai) Science and Technology in Vedic Literature S Chandrasekhar Punam Kakkar — Asok Kumar Sinha ... 102 (Hyderabad) (Lucknow) D. P. Chattopadhyaya Abhijit Lahiri (Delhi) OPINION (Kolkata) A. N. Lahiri Majumder Samit Chattopadhyaya (Kolkata) Plasma Gasification – A Sustainable Solution (Kolkata) B. K. Pattnaik (Kanpur) for Municipal Solid Waste — Vasant Natarajan ... 107 Mihir Kanti Choudhuri V. Ravichandran (Tejpur) (Kolkata) Mrinal K. Dewanjee Ashoke Sen (Allahabad) FOCUS (U.S.A.) Rajinder Singh(Germany) From Dirt to Art R. Gadagkar (Bangalore) Srinivasan Srikanthan — Michael Gallant ... 108 Ajoy Ghatak (Delhi) (Chennai)

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President Safari through South Africa - I Dr. K. Muraleedharan — Antonia Hoogewerf ... 110 Vice-Presidents Professor S. K. Talapatra RESEARCH COMMUNICATION Professor Amalendu Bandyopadhyay Allelopathic Effect of Fagopyrum Plant Professor Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay Extracts on Crop Seed Species Professor Biswapati Mukherjee — Subhojiy Ojhai, Chandan Kumar Pari Professor (Mrs.) Julie Banerji and Mousumi Sen ... 113 Professor Bikas. K. Chakrabarti BOOK REVIEW Honorary Secretaries 'Paper Lioness' : Margaret Noble Professor Sudhendu Mandal – Kanishka Chaudhury ... 116 Professor Manas Chakrabarty

Honorary Treasurer NOTES AND NEWS ... 119 Professor Barun Kumar Chatterjee Members Shri Biman Basu Shri Prasanta K. Bose Dr. Manoj Kumar Chakrabarti Dr. Satyabrata Chakrabarti Prof. Syamal Chakrabarti Professor Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay Dr. Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay Dr. Manas Pratim Das Dr. Amit Krishna De Shri Pathik Guha Professor Dipak Kumar Kar Dr. Sisir Kumar Majumdar Dr. Balaram Majumder Dr. Hemanta Kumar Majumder Professor Partha P. Majumder Dr. Shankarashis Mukherjee Professor Vasant Natarajan Cover : (Top Left) Bibha Chowhuri (1913-1991); (Top Right) Professor Sajal Ray The Star HD 86081 named 'Bibha' after the name of the Professor S. C. Roy pioneering high energy physicist Bibha Chowdhuri; Professor Devdatta Sinha (Bottom) Participating in the 'IAU 100 Name ExoWorlds' competition, India named the Star 'Bibha' and its Exoplanet Dr. D. K. Srivastava 'Santamasa' which was globally accepted (for more details, Professor (Mrs.) Bani Talapatra see page 90). Members of the Advisory Committee TO OUR READERS of Your appreciation of the journal makes us Indian Science News Association bold to suppose that some of your friends would Professor Padmanabham Balaram Bangalore also like to read SCIENCE AND CULTURE, the Professor D. Balasubramanian Hyderabad premier scientific bi-monthly of India devoted to the publication of the progress in pure and applied Professor Basudeb Barman Kolkata sciences. The Indian Science News Association has Professor A. K. Barua Kolkata been conducting the journal for 85 years with the Professor Ashok Nath Basu Kolkata editorial co-operation of eminent scientists of India Dr. M. K. Bhan New Delhi with the object of promoting and diffusing knowledge Professor Samir Kumar Brahmachari New Delhi laying special stress on the progress of scientific Professor (Mrs.) Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee Kolkata studies here and abroad, and advocating methodical Dr. Purnendu Chatterjee Kolkata application of science to problems of national Professor Basab Chaudhuri Kolkata regeneration. Professor Suranjan Das Kolkata Editorial correspondence should be sent to Professor Asis Datta New Delhi the Editor-in-Chief, Science and Culture, 92, Professor P. N. Ghosh Kolkata Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata : 700 009. Dr. N. K. Ganguly New Delhi Manuscripts prepared in accordance with the Dr. H. K. Gupta Hyderabad Instruction to Authors should be submitted in Triplicate and will not be returned unless Dr. K. Kasturirangan Bangalore accompanied with return postage. Dr. R. A. Mashelkar New Delhi Correspondence relating to subscription, Professor Goverdhan Mehta Hyderabad advertisement and other matters should be Dr. T. Ramasami New Delhi addressed to the Honorary. Secretary, Indian Dr. T. V. Venkateswaran New Delhi Science News Association, 92, Acharya Dr. Bikash Chandra Sinha Kolkata Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata : 700 009, Professor M. S. Swaminathan Chennai Phone : 2350-2224. E-mail : [email protected], SCIENCE & CULTURE Website : www.scienceandculture-isna.org ADVERTISEMENT MEMBERSHIP FEE Life Member (India) Rs.5,000.00*+ RATE Life Member (Foreign) $ 600.00 Single Insertion Ordinary Member (without journal) Rs. 100.00 (Full Page) (Half Page) Ordinary Member (with journal) Rs. 500.00

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