Allahabad, Sept 26 (ANI): Scores of people in Allahabad participated in a procession to sing praise of Ravana, the mythological demon-king representing evil on Thursday.

A number of tableaux depicting Ravana's strength and the grandeur of his court formed a part of the procession. Many people participated in the procession dressed up as Ravana, his wife Mandodari, his brother Kumbhakaran and his son Meghnath.

They said although the demon-king Ravana represented evil in Hindu mythology, he was a learned Brahmin and is worshiped for that reason.

"Today, we are worshiping the king of Lanka, Ravana. A big procession is also being taken out in the city. Since he (Ravana) was a Brahmin by caste, he is worshipped just like any Brahmin," said Jitendra Prasad Chaudhary, a resident.

Locals claimed that this procession has been traditionally taken out every year for more than 500 years.

"This tradition has been going on for years. I have come here to see this procession. The world can see this. This does not take place anywhere else," said Hamendra Nath Goswami, a spectator.

Local priests said the city was the location of Sage Bharadwaj's hermitage and as per his preaching upper caste Brahmins are to be worshiped and Ravana was also a Brahmin.

But after about 13 days on 'Dussahara', which symbolizes the triumph of good over evil, the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakaran and Meghnath would be burnt amid great fanfare and religious devotion, marking the end of the nine day long Hindu festival of "Navratri".

According to Hindu epic Ramayana, Ravana abducted warrior king Ram's consort Sita. Rama then waged a war against Ravana to release Sita from demon-king's captivity. He defeated Ravana on Dussehra day. Rama's victory over Ravana is depicted as the triumph of good over evil. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Sept 26 (ANI): Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) today celebrated its 66th Foundation Day with great enthusiasm.

Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal gave away the CSIR Young Scientist Awards 2008 and the CSIR Technology Awards 2008 at a function organized in New Delhi today to mark the occasion.

In his address, the Minister called upon the scientific community to bring science out of laboratories in the form of solutions to the day-to-day problems of the people.

Observing that India is the third most attractive nation for R and D, Sibal reiterated the commitment of the government to provide world-class environment for scientists to pursue their research.

Lauding the recent launch of an open source platform by CSIR the Minister strongly advocated a system of free flow of information. He also praised the Project 800 of the CSIR, which aims at bringing solutions to 800 million people in the country in the areas of agriculture, energy and health.

Prof. Bartha Maria Knoppfers of the University of Montreal, Canada delivered the CSIR Foundation Day lecture on Investments in Health Research and International Interoperability.

He also named the winners of the CSIR Award for S and T Innovation in Rural Development.

On the occasion, Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari, Director General, CSIR also announced the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes for 2008.

Name of ten scientists have been selected for the prize in different categories. Winners of science and technology prize in the field of Biological Sciences are Dr. G. P. S. Raghava, Institute of Micobial Technology, CSIR, Chandigarh, Dr. L. S. Shashidhara, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, CSIR, Hyderabad.

In the field of Chemical Sciences the name of the prizewinners are Dr. Pradeep Thalappil, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Dr. Jarugu Narasimha Moorthy, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Dr. P. N. Vinayachandran, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore is the winner in the category of Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences.

Dr. Ranjan Kumar Mallik, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi is the winner in Engineering Sciences category.

Dr. Jaikumar Radhakrishnan, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai is winner of Mathematical Sciences category.

In Medical Sciences category Dr. Ravinder Goswami, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi is the prizewinner.

Dr. Raghunathan Srianand, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune and Dr. Srikanth Sastry, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore for Physical Sciences category.

The Bhatnagar prizes are given to scientists below 45 years of age, for their outstanding scientific contributions made primarily in India during the last five years preceding the year of the prize.

The prize comprising a citation, a plaque and a cash award of Rs. five lakh would be given to the recipients by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at a later date. (ANI)

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Washington, Sept 26 (ANI): Researches have shown TV programming is highly saturated with sexual content and risky sexual behavior. Now, a new study has shown that people with direct experience with such behavior are not influenced by its portrayal on TV.

However, those without direct experience are more likely to participate in the unsafe behavior in the future. Two separate studies conducted by Robin L. Nabi and Shannon Clark of the University of California assessed whether or not televised depictions of risky sexual behaviours alter viewers' expectations of their own future sexual behaviours, regardless of their consequences.

In the first study, researchers examined the contents of TV programming schemas and found that viewers expect main characters to ultimately survive and thrive despite the adversity they face.

In the second study, college women were exposed to various portrayals of promiscuous sexual behavior, such as one night stands, that were edited to display more or less positive or negative outcomes.

The researchers revealed that portrayals of the risky behaviour were likely to affect only those without direct experience with the target behaviour, while people with direct experience with such behaviour are not influenced.

The portrayal of outcomes, good or bad, did not affect attitudes or intentions regarding that behaviour.

Specifically, for those who had not previously had a one night stand, viewing fictional depictions of this behaviour significantly increased expectations of the likelihood of having one in the future, regardless of the positive or negative outcomes portrayed.

"Even when behaviours are negatively portrayed, audiences may be motivated to model them anyways," the authors said.

"We hope this research stimulates greater care in the application and testing of psychological theories to the study of media content and effects," they added.

The study appears in the Journal of Communication. (ANI)

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Washington, Sept 26 (ANI): Women are not confined to kitchen anymore as they are gaining ground in family decision making, according to a new US survey.

The survey conducted by Pew Research Centre has shown that 21st century American couples have been sharing decision-making in many aspects of family life, with 43 percent admitting that women had the most to say.

"I think the big story over time is the rise in shared decision making," Washington Post quoted Andrew Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University, as saying.

"It's not the same as the '50s and '60s, where 'father knew best,' " he added.

In the poll conducted over 1,260 people who were married or living together as a couple, in 43 percent of couples, women had the most to say in decision making in finances, weekend activities, television choices and big-ticket purchases.

The decision-making was divided equally among 31 percent of couples, and men took the lead in 26 percent of couples.

Cherlin said that he was impressed that so many people who were polled said that their household decisions were jointly made, even though they were not given that choice as an answer to the poll's questions. They volunteered it.

"I'm struck by the fact that, overall, 31 percent of the people said the decision was shared, even though that option was not read to them," he said.

"Clearly, there is more sharing than there used to be. There is more variation in who makes the decisions and less of a sense that the home is the man's castle," he added.

The survey also revealed that among men, 37 percent said they controlled finances, with 30 percent saying their partner did and 28 percent saying finances were handled jointly.

"I think that's a big change from 50 years ago," Cherlin said. Back then, he said, "some wives didn't even know what their husbands were making."

Less surprising, he said, was that women took charge of weekend activities and major household purchases, many of which he said are related to home life. (ANI)

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