Feature Article

With the increasing stringent safety regulations, the beverage industry is now accepting UV disinfection as a versatile treatment technology against micro-organisms and pollutants.

Dinajpur district in West Bengal, India is traditionally famous for its indigenous rice biodiversity. However, this highly valuable biodiversity is under threat. The indigenous rice biodiversity of old alluvial region of North and South Dinajpur has been highlighted in this paper.

The article focuses on some of the basic aspects of UV disinfection and the selection criteria to be followed when choosing a UV system to ensure maximum efficiency.

Rice is known as the grain of life, and is synonymous with food for Asians. In addition to being a staple food and an integral part of social rites, rituals and festivals in almost all Asian countries, it has a medicinal value too, which was clearly recognized by the medicine systems of the region centuries ago. Rice is the main constituent of life-saving oral rehydration solutions (ORS) and has been used for this purpose since time immemorial.

The Aral Sea in Central Asia was the fourth-largest lake on the planet in 1960. By 2007 it had shrunk to 10 percent of its original size. Widespread, wasteful irrigation of the deserts along the Amu and Syr rivers, which feed the Aral, cut the freshwater inflow to a trickle. Nevertheless, a dam built in 2005 has helped the northernmost lake expand quickly and drop substantially in salinity.