From the President’s Desk

It is a great honour for me to greet all the members of the Society wishing a very happy and prosperous New Year.  I know that this News letter will reach you after the New Year celebrations (March or April as the case may be) and hence I do hope you all will find time to go through it more leisurely.

For the benefit of new members and younger colleagues, I would like to present a few bare facts and current status of our society.  Founded in 1930, with a major emphasis to coordinate the research of biological chemists and to hold meetings and symposia on important topics in different parts of India, the Society has grown from strength to strength in the last 80 years.  Currently we have 2500 life members in addition to regular and student members representing the nook and corner of India.

The branches of the society are located all over India.  At present we have 41 branches.  Needless to say the society has grown by the active participation of the branches in the way of  conducting meetings and workshops. We are optimistic that the branches which are not so active now, take the cue from those which are very active to rejuvenate themselves.  A new branch of the Society will start in Bhubaneswar soon and a few others are likely to come up in the near future.

One of the major flag ship activities of the society is to hold the annual scientific meeting.  The last year’s annual meeting held in HQ was a grand success by any standards. Prof. Ram Rajsekaran, Director, CIMAP has taken the responsibility of organizing 2011 annual meeting at Lucknow.  We thank him for this and look forward to an excellent conference.  You will find the details of the meeting elsewhere in this News Letter.  I hope that all of you participate and I look forward to seeing you all in Lucknow.

The Society has instituted several awards from time to time to recognize the outstanding contributions of its members to science and technology.  With the growth of the society, the number of annual awards has also increased.  Every year a few of these awards are given out.  Society web site provides all the details.  While we keep getting requests to initiate new awards, we are also looking into ways to deal with the awards instituted long time ago, some which are no longer administratively tenable.  In parallel, there is a serious concern regarding the lack of adequate nominations for the existing awards.  I take this opportunity to urge the members to nominate deserving members from their respective branches/areas for the awards to be given this year.

Over the last few years, the frequency and content of News letter which use to be an important medium of communication between the HQ, branches and members is reduced.  One reason for this could be attributed to the presence of the Society web page (www.iisc.ernet.in/sbci) which provides a lot of information.  However, a vibrant News letter can have its important role for more communications and interactions. I fervently hope the current office bearers make serious efforts to improve the standard of News letter and its frequency.  We welcome suggestions and participations from the members to make the News letter very attractive.

Finally, I would like to sign off thanking you all for your whole hearted participation in the growth of SBC(I).  I do hope in the years to come, the Society will grow and reach newer heights.

With best wishes
V. Nagaraja