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National Film Awards: Actors Ajay, Suriya and Apa

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday conferred National Film Awards for the year 2020 under various categories at a ceremony held in the national capital. The prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award was conferred on veteran actor Asha Parekh.

Congratulating Parekh for her special contribution to the field of cinema, Murmu said that our sisters of that generation made their mark in various fields despite many constraints and the award given to the actor is also an honour for the indomitable female power.

Speaking on the occasion, the President further said that the film industry plays a major role in building a better society and nation. “Being an audio-visual medium, the influence of films is wider than other mediums of art. Cinema is not only an industry but also a medium of artistic expression of our culture and values. It is also a medium for connecting our society and for nation-building.”

Present on the occasion were Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for I&B Dr L Murugan, and secretary Apurva Chandra. Murmu presented more than 100 awards under the features and non-features film categories including most film-friendly state award which was jointly given to UP and Uttarakhand for their support of film shooting.

Hindu film Actor Ajay Devgn and Tamil actor Suriya Shivakumar shared the Best Actor Award while Aparna Balamurali was conferred the award for Best Actress. Sachidanandan KR was given the Best Director award for Malayalam movie AK Ayyappanum Koshiyum and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior received the Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

Thakur said that cinema is poetry in pictures mirroring the magic, marvel and madness of all that which makes us feel alive and human. “Cinema has captured and carved the conscience, community and culture of our country,” said the minister on the occasion. 

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IAF retires MiG-21 ‘Swordarm’ Squadron

Indian Air Force has decommissioned one of the four remaining squadrons of the MiG 21 fighters on Friday. 51 Squadron, known as ‘Swordarms’, was raised at Chandigarh on February 1, 1985 under the command of Wg Cdr VK Chawla. The Squadron moved to its present location at Srinagar on May 1, 1986. 

The Indian Air Force After a long and meritorious tenure in the Kashmir valley, the ‘Swordarms’ pass on the baton of being ‘Guardian of the Valley’. The Squadron has stopped operations from 30 Jun this year. The IAF has three more MiG squadrons remaining now. 

It is the Squadron which not only thwarted Pakistan’s air strike on India on February 27, 2019 but the aircraft flown by Wing Commander (now Group Captain) Abhinandan Varthaman had shot down a Pakistan Air Force’s F-16. 

It is part of the process as per which the IAF is “Number Plating” (decommissioning) the remaining MiG fighter’s fleet. Number Plating a Squadron means it is placed in reserve, post phasing out of existing aircraft, until it is re-operationalised with new aircraft in future. Such squadrons can be raised afresh with modern aircraft and equipment in future.

The 17-squadron “Golden Arrows” is one which was resurrected in September 2019 with the induction of Rafale Fighter jets at Ambala Air Base. 

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PM Modi launches 5G services at 6th India Mobile Congress

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the 5G telephony services that promise to provide ultra high-speed internet on mobile phones, saying it marks the beginning of a new era and presents a sea of opportunities.

The Prime Minister launched 5G services in select cities at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 conference. The services will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years.

“5G marks the dawn of a new era and presents a sea of opportunities,” he said. While the nation was dependent on foreign countries for technology for 2G, 3G and 4G telecom services, India has created history with 5G, he said.

The Prime Minister said his government’s vision for ‘Digital India’ was founded on four pillars — the cost of devices, digital connectivity, data cost and digital-first approach. This approach has led to mobile manufacturing units in India increasing from just two in 2014 to over 200 now, bringing down the cost of handsets.

Stating that India now has the world’s lowest data charges, he said from Rs 300 per 1 GB of data in 2014, tariffs have come down to Rs 10 per GB. Going by the average consumption of 14 GB of data per month, the data cost has come down from Rs 4,200 to Rs 125-150, he said.

From zero exports, the country is now shipping phones worth crores of rupees. Also, digital payments have increased, he pointed out. Technology has truly now become democratised, he said.

Taking a dig at the previous Congress-led UPA government, he said this was possible because of the right intentions of his government.

“2G ki niyat and 5G ki niyat mein yehi farak hai (this is the difference between the intentions during 2G era and 5G era now),” he said in reference to the alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Capable of supporting ultra-high-speed internet, the fifth generation or 5G service is expected to unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits, serving as a transformational force for Indian society.

After the launch, all three major telecom operators demonstrated one use case to show the potential of 5G technology in India.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio connected a teacher from a school in Mumbai with students in three different locations in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha. This demonstrated how 5G will facilitate education by bringing teachers closer to students, obliviating the physical distance between them.

It also demonstrated the power of Augmented Reality (AR) on screen and how that is being used to teach children across the country, remotely, without the need of an AR device.

Modi interacted with school children in the demo case, asking them about their favourite subject and how the use of technology has helped in learning.

The Vodafone Idea test case demonstrated the safety of workers in an under-construction tunnel of Delhi Metro through the creation of a ‘digital twin’ of the tunnel on the dias. The digital twin will help give safety alerts to workers in real-time from a remote location. Modi interacted with Lt Governor of Delhi V K Saxena as well as the workers in the tunnel.

In the Airtel demo, a girl from Uttar Pradesh witnessed a lively and immersive education experience to learn about the solar system with the help of virtual reality and augmented reality. The girl shared her experience of learning with the Prime Minister by appearing on the dias through a hologram.

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World Cadets Chess: India’s Shubi Gupta, Charvi emerge champs in U-12 and U-8 section

India’s Shubi Gupta and A Charvi emerged winners in the girls under-12 and under-8 sections respectively in the FIDE World Cadets Chess Championship here on Tuesday

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Shubhi Gupta, who hails from Ghaziabad, scored 8.5 points from 11 rounds to claim the top prize in the under-12 event. In the girls under-8 section, Charvi finished first with 9.5 points from 11 rounds.

Charvi was trailing Bodhana Sivanandan (England), who finished second for the last three rounds, but managed to catch and overtake her, thanks to a better tie-break score after both ended up with 9.5 points. Samhita Pungavanam finished 10th with 7.5 points.

In the under-10 category, India’s Hanya Shah took the eighth spot with 7.5 points while compatriots Aadya Ranganath (7 points) and V Tirupurambika (7 points) finished 14th and 19th respectively.

In the open events, India’s Ethan Vaz scored eight points to take the sixth spot in the under-12 category while the next best was Arjun Adireddy (7 points) in 20th place.

In the under-10 section, Vivaan Vishal Shah (8 points) settled for 9th place while France’s Lacan Rus David took the first prize scoring nine points.

India’s Safin Safarullakhan claimed a bronze medal in the under-8 category with nine points. The Kerala boy ended up half a point behind France’s Marc Llari and Russian Sav Shogdzhiev Roman, who finished first and second respectively after the tie-breaks.

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National Games 2022: Bhavani Devi wins hat-trick of gold medals

Tokyo Olympic fencer Bhavani Devi won the women’s sabre competition at the National Games 2022 in Gandhinagar’s Mahatma Mandir on Friday, earning her the third consecutive gold medal.

Tamil Nadu’s Bhavani Devi beat Jagmeet Kaur of Punjab 15-3 in the final. She also won gold medals in the 2011 and 2015 editions. Kerala’s Christy Jose Josna and Manipuri Laishram Abi Devi won the bronze medals.

Fellow Olympian Elavenil Valarivan won the gold medal in the women’s rifle shooting, edging out Karnataka’s Tillotama Sen 16-10. West Bengal’s Mehuli Ghosh took the bronze.

Gujarat’s star Elavanil Valarivan began the final rather slowly and moved to the top spot after the second series. The leader board kept changing till the last shot in the fifth series and Elavenil managed to pip Mehuli Ghosh by 0.3 points to set up a gold medal match with top-ranked Tilottama Sen.

In the final, Elavenil Valarivan took an early 4-0 lead. Tilottama tried to keep pace by winning a couple of points at regular intervals but lost nevertheless.

In athletics at IIT, Gandhinagar, nine National Games records fell during the day.

Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh), daughter of a construction labourer, and 17-year-old Parvej Khan (Services) took centre stage. Munita set the first record of this edition in the women’s 20km walk, clocking a commendable 1:38.20.

Parvej Khan then broke the renowned Bahadur Prasad’s 28-year-old National Games record in the men’s 1500m to the delight of the fraternity. He slashed nearly two seconds off his personal best time to win the metric mile gold in 3:40.89.

Asian Games 2018 decathlon champion Swapna Barman, competing in Madhya Pradesh colours, claimed the women’s high jump record with a clearance of 1.83m while Praveen Chithravel (Tamil Nadu) made light of a depleted triple jump field to win gold with a Games record effort of 16.68m.

Damneet Singh (Punjab) in the men’s hammer throw and Kiran Baliyan (Uttar Pradesh) in women’s shot put also entered the record books.

In the men’s 100m semi-finals, yet-to-be-ratified Amlan Borgohain (Assam) also broke the National Games record, set at 10.45 seconds by Haryana’s Dharambir Singh in Thiruvananthapuram in 2015.

Amlan Borgohain, who has been in good form this season, stopped the clock at 10.28 seconds, two-hundredths of a second outside the National Record held by Amiya Kumar Mallick since 2016.

Elsewhere, powered by Ankita Raina, Gujarat women booked their final berth with an easy win over Karnataka. They will start favourites in the gold medal match against Maharashtra at the Riverside Sports Complex on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Divya Kakran (Uttar Pradesh) stopped a Haryana sweep of all six gold medals at stake on the opening day of wrestling. She won the women’s 76kg class title, beating Haryana’s Reetika in the quarter-finals and Rohini Satya Shivani (Telangana) and Rani (Himachal Pradesh) with a measure of comfort in the subsequent bouts.

Haryana men and Odisha women claimed the Rugby 7s gold medals respectively with victories over the Maharashtra teams.

Haryana men played a better second half to sprint away from 7-7 at the break to a 19-7 win. Odisha women, who stunned national champions Bihar in the semi-finals, dominated their title clash, opening up a 15-0 lead in the first half in a 22-0 win.

Haryana scored a golden double in netball, their men’s team defeated Telangana 75-73 in a thriller that went to the wire and their women quelled Punjab’s challenge 53-49.

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Bharti Airtel launches 5G in eight cities, to cover entire country by March 2024 

 Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal on Saturday said Airtel will launch its 5G services in eight cities from today. These cities include Mumbai, Varanasi, Bangalore and Mumbai. 

Sunil Bharti Mittal said, Airtel will cover most parts by March 2023 and the entire country by March 2024.

While speaking at the launch of 5G technology in the county at the India Mobile Congress, Mittal said that Airtel would roll out 5G services in most cities by March 2023 and the entire county by March 2023.

“Airtel will deploy 5G services across most cities by March 2023 and across the country by March 2024,” said Mittal.

Mittal further said Airtel started 4G in India, but Mukesh’s (Jio) gave tremendous speed to countrywide 4G proliferation and forced us to run fast to catch up.

Weeks back, in a letter to the customer, CEO of Airtel  Gopal Vittal said the telco is expected to cover all of urban India by 2023. “We expect to launch our 5G services within a month.

By December, we should have coverage in the key metros. After that, we will expand rapidly to cover the entire country. We expect to cover all of urban India by the end of 2023,” said Vittal in a letter.

India’s second-largest telco, Airtel spent Rs. 43,040 crores in a 5G spectrum auction to acquire a 19867.8 MHz spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands.

Unlike its competitor Reliance Jio, Airtel gave a miss to the coveted 700 MHz airwaves, which can provide 6-10 kilometres of signal range with one tower, and forms a good base for 5G. 

The country’s largest telco, Reliance Jio will roll out its 5G services in India by Diwali. The company pledged to invest 2 Lakh crore for 5G services. The debt-laden Vodafone Idea Limited is yet to spell its 5G plans.

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Goan lad sports Qatar colours

15-year-old set to spearhead Gulf Nation’s challenge in the AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualifiers in Oman.

This Goan lad will take the pitch in the AFC U-17 Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers in Muscat, Oman, that commenced on Saturday.

But not in the blue strip of India. Instead, he will wear the maroon of Qatar in which he is expected to sparkle at the centre of the attack.

Meet Justin Fernandes, all of 15, a strapping 5-foot- 11-inches tall and endowed with the qualities of an aggressive centre-forward.

His consistent appearances in the top bracket of the goal scorers’ list through age group tournaments evidence his prowess and the ensuing rare honour of an expatriate being bestowed the coveted Qatari colours.

Son of Camilo who hails from Murida village in Cuncolim and Abigail, from Assolna, Justin was born and raised in Qatar.

A bright student, now studying in Class XI, science stream, Justin has what it takes to be a thinking player – vital for success in any sport.

His inspiration? “Lionel Messi,” says the lad, who he follows keenly – even to the extent of locking on to Paris-St Germain, the French giants for whom the Argentinean superstar turns out these days.

 That might seem to be a paradox of sorts. Justin, you see, is an English Premier League ‘freak’, soaking up the action on television seemingly incessantly.

So much so that his great big ambition is “to play in the EPL!”

 Justin’s precocious talent earned him the privilege of representing the Gulf nation which he has done with aplomb for more than a year.

First taking to the sport as a seven-year-old, his natural talent and abilities caught the eye of scouts and he was duly invited to the Absolute Sports  academy to hone his fast-growing skills.

He moved to the Aspire academy in 2019 and sustained the promise he revealed by excelling in the QFA U-13 and U-15 leagues with Al Ahli.

His influence in the club’s fortunes is unmistakable. In 2020 he was among the leading scorers in the U-13 league while assisting Al Ahli to third place.

In 2021, Al Ahli took the top podium, with Justin inevitably finding the net prolifically.

Even before his exploits propelled Al Ahli to the top, he was accorded the 2018 Qatar Foundation’s best U-13 player accolade.

 And, as an U-11 and turning out for Absolute Sports in Armenia at a summer camp in Yeravan, Justin was adjudged best forward.

 Justin also inspired his academy to a tournament win in Georgia as an U-12.

 It was only a matter of time that the lad would earn the rare privilege of turning out in Qatari colours.

 The summon duly arrived and off went Justin in the revered maroon shirt to do national duty in Slovenia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as an U-16, proving to be a menace to rival defenders.

 With his control, scoring prowess and speed, Justin’s presence in the team was a foregone conclusion as Qatar gear up for U-17 continental honours.

 Camilo played a bit of football himself but attributes his son’s sporting genes to his grandmother, Abigail’s mother, Jovina, who played hockey for Mumbai in the 1970s.

 Given the Indian, and particularly Goan, diaspora in the Gulf region, one wagers that Justin will be among the players closely watched in Muscat.

And, on the pitch one suspects, even more closely by defenders in the ranks of Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain and hosts Oman who make up the field.

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Dubai’s Kay Godkhindi creates history in all-female chair umpire team at Sofia Open

In a first, supervisor, tournament director, referee and chief of umpires are all women who have been assigned to an ATP tour event.

There’s a strong Dubai connection to the ongoing Sofia Open in Bulgaria run by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the governing body of the men’s professional tennis circuits.

This is for the first time, an all-female chair umpire team, including the ATP supervisor, tournament director, referee and chief of umpires, was assigned to an ATP Tour event.

Tournament Director Kay Godkhindi, who is of Indian origin and holds an Australian passport, grew up in Dubai and went to college in the USA.

She told Khaleej Times from Sofia about the exciting aspect of the event.

“Truth be told, we had no clue about history being made in front of our eyes. At the end of the day, it’s a sport where gender is of little consequence. Besides, gender doesn’t define an individual’s capabilities. However, it’s a wonderful concept to have equal opportunity in both the ATP and the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) and empowering women as and when possible is a step towards the right direction,” she said while lavishing praise on ATP for championing the gender cause.

Tennis has had several prominent female officials, including those officiating in men’s matches, for several decades.

Anne Lasserre, who is the ATP Supervisor for the ATP 250 in Sofia, is the gender-bender pioneer.

“I think it’s an honour as well to be the first female. I worked as a chair umpire for the ATP a long time ago,” Lasserre said.

“I think things and the situation are evolving, which I think is a good thing. It’s an honour, I’m proud of it…

“It’s good to think about the future and being able to break this glass ceiling and give this opportunity to other females to do the same job as we do in every sport,” she told atptour.com.

ATP Senior Director of Officiating Administration Ali Nili told atptour.com: “The ATP Officiating Department prioritises high performance and a diverse officiating team. The tournament in Sofia is an example of our successful efforts in that direction. While the road to progress is long, we are proud of the direction we are heading, and the future seems bright.

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A new ball game for Malayali expatriates in Italy

Adlers Lombard, a Keralites-run football club, will become the first of its kind to compete in an Italian soccer league on Sunday

They moved from Kerala to Italy for higher studies, work and seeking better lives. But for these soccer maniacs, there was no better life without football. Moving from a football-crazy State to a country where soccer is almost a religion, they took their game to a new level.

Come Sunday, Adlers Lombard, a Keralites-run football club in Italy, will begin its journey in the Italian football system by competing in the CSI (Centro Sportivo Italiano) Regione Bergamo, a lower-division football league competition consisting of 12 teams. The club formed in 2019 plays the 7-a-side football format. It is the first of its kind, with 15 Keralites among its 20-member roster, to play in an Italian league. The CSI Regione Bergamo season lasts 10 months.

“Before moving to Italy from Kerala, one thing we all liked doing most was playing football. We came to Italy from different parts of Kerala at different times. But football has brought us together. After launching Adlers Lombard (Eagles from Lombardy), the team initially participated in some local tournaments. In the last 12 months or so, we have won five tournaments organised by the Kerala European Football Federation in Italy and Germany. The victories prompted the team management to register the club with the CSI and participate in the league,” says club vice-captain Mohammed Naseef C.P. who hails from Malappuram and works as a teacher in Italy. According to him, Adlers Lombard is the first ‘Indian Club’ to compete in an Italian football league.

The team is captained by Muhammed Abir P.T., also from Malappuram. The rest of the Keralite players are from Thrissur, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and so on. Two other Indians and a couple of Italian players are part of the team. The club has spent around €20,000 (approximately ₹15.84 lakhs) to prepare the team for competing in the league. They raised the money through sponsorships from several funders including an Italy-based automobile giant.

For Adlers Lombard, competing in CSI Regione Bergamo is just a start. “We are currently plying our trade in a lower division. But we are ambitious and have a long-term goal. Our aim is to play professional football in Italy in Serie D, Serie C, Serie B and Serie A and compete against top teams like Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan. We hope to recruit Indian players and provide them with a chance to play in the Italian league. It will help the growth of football in India,” says Smento Joseph, president, Adlers Lombard who hails from Angamaly in Kerala.

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Natural remedy for fatty liver disease found, claims CMFRI 

Continuing its research on developing natural remedies from marine organisms against lifestyle diseases, the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) on Tuesday claimed it had developed a nutraceutical product from select seaweeds to treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).  

Named Cadalmin TM LivCure extract, the product is a blend of 100% natural bioactive ingredients extracted from seaweed with an eco-friendly green technology to improve liver health, according to a press release from the CMFRI. 

This is the ninth such product from marine organisms developed by the CMFRI which had previously brought out nutraceuticals to combat a series of lifestyle diseases, such as Type-2 diabetes, arthritis, cholesterol, hypertension, hypothyroidism, and osteoporosis, and to improve immunity. Out of these nutraceuticals, eight products are from seaweed and one from green mussel, the release said.

Dr. Kajal Chakraborty, Principal Scientist at the Marine Biotechnology, Fish Nutrition and Health Division of the CMFRI, led the research works to develop the product. He said bioactive pharmacophore leads from seaweeds were used to develop the nutraceutical product. 

“Pre-clinical trials showed that LivCure extract proved to have the potential to inhibit different enzymes and various target receptors associated with dyslipidemia and pathophysiology leading to NAFLD. This helps improve liver health, reduce the disposition of fatty substances, and maintain other liver/lipid parameters within the clinically acceptable limits,” he added. 

The nutraceutical does not have any side effects as established by detailed preclinical trials. “It has proved that long-term oral administration of this product will not lead to general organ or systemic toxicity,” Dr. Chakraborty added. The technology will be out-licensed soon to those in the pharmaceutical industry for commercial production of the nutraceutical. 

For the past few years, the CMFRI has intensively focused on research on seaweed mainly for developing natural products beneficial to improving human health, said Dr. A. Gopalakrishnan, Director, CMFRI.  

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