** With affordable bionic arm, Hyderabad startup Makers Hive on a mission to enhance human potential

Today, thanks to the Hyderabad-based startup Makers Hive and its bionic arm, life is better. The prohibitive cost of prosthetic implants prompted co-founders Harsha Reddy Ponguleti, Pranav Vempati and Suren Marumamula to develop affordable prosthetic arms. 

** Keralite entrepreneur crowned Classic Mrs Grand Universe India 2021

At a recently held virtual event of Classic Mrs Grand Universe pageant 2021, Kerala’s Dr Sasilekha Nair has won the title of Classic Mrs Grand Universe India 2021.

She will be now representing India at the Mrs Grand Universe pageant.

** Kerala farmer bags India Biodiversity Award 2021

Shaji .N.M., fondly called as ‘Tuber Man’ of Kerala has been awarded the India Biodiversity Award 2021 in the individual category of ‘Conservation of domesticated species’.

Mr. Shaji, who conserves a wide array of around 200 tuber crops including greater yam, lesser yam, elephant foot yam, arrow root, colocasia, sweet potato, cassava and Chinese potato in his farm has received State awards seven times for his efforts. He has also received the Plant Genome Savior Reward 2015, instituted by PPV&FR Authority, New Delhi.

** Journalist Rajkumar Keswani, who warned of Bhopal gas tragedy, dies of post COVID-19 complications

Keswani was associated with prominent outlets like New York Times, NDTV, Dainik Bhaskar, The Illustrated Weekly of India, Sunday, India Today and The Week

Rajkumar Keswani, an acclaimed journalist who had warned about irregularities that led to the Bhopal gas tragedy much before the world’s worst industrial disaster took place in 1984, died of post COVID-19 complications here on Friday, his son Raunaq said.

** INS Jalashwa reaches Vizag with 300 MT medical oxygen

Consignment includes more than 3,600 oxygen cylinders from Singapore and Brunei

In the largest consignment of liquid medical oxygen, Navy’s INS Jalashwa arrived in Visakhapatnam with 300 metric tonne of oxygen and more than 3,600 oxygen cylinders from Singapore and Brunei under the ongoing Operation Samudra Setu II, the Navy said on Sunday.

** Volcano eruption: Indian Army in Congo assists in evacuation

It is also passing to the U.N. real time updates of the lava flow

As the active volcano in Congo, Mount Nyaragongo, erupted again, the Indian Army contingent under the United Nations peace keeping mission (MONUSCO) assisted in protecting civilians and U.N. officials as well as assets during the evacuation, the Army said on Sunday.

** Indian English is a Prakrit, not a creole, says linguist Peggy Mohan

Her new book speaks of how Indian languages evolved via generations of migratory patterns

Migration has shaped the arc of Indian history in myriad ways, from the day the Vedic Aryans first alighted from their chariots to the arrival of Namboothiri Brahmins in Kerala to the Persianised Turkic conquerors of the Middle Ages.

For linguist Peggy Mohan, all this finds a strong echo in the evolution of the subcontinent’s languages. In her new book, Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India Through Its Languages, she delves into the often surprising sounds and structures of what we conventionally call Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages, and relates these to the deep pasts of their speakers.

** Purple sweet potatoes from Odisha trending

The sweet-scented spuds from Sanjog Sahu’s Mati Farms are a summer surprise at chefs’ tables and will soon find a prominent place in restaurant menus

Chindi Varadarajulu, chef and owner of Chennai-based Pumpkin Tales, is delighted with the purple sweet potatoes she has sourced this summer. They have brought back memories of her childhood in Singapore, she says. The potatoes, a deep purple with a sweet fragrance when cooked, are from Mati Farms, a farming enterprise in Odisha — the state leading in sweet potato production across India. “I have been actively looking for them for the past year. They are versatile and lend vibrancy to the simplest recipes,” says Varadarajulu.