Category: Education

** Two new plant species discovered in Ghats

Researchers from SNM College Maliankara, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, and the Payyanur College have reported two new plant species from the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats regions in Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad districts.

They have been christened Fimbristylis sunilii and Neanotis prabhuii, and the findings by the research teams have been detailed in the November and December issues of the plant taxonomy journal Phytotaxa.

Collected from the grasslands of Ponmudi hills, Thiruvananthapuram, Fimbristylis sunilii has been named after plant taxonomist C.N. Sunil, retired professor and research guide of Botany, SNM College.

Neanotis prabhuii is a prostrate perennial herb named after K.M. Prabhukumar, Senior Scientist at CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow, in recognition of his research on flowering plants of the Western Ghats and contributions to biodiversity conservation.

** IIT Madras tops in Atal innovation rankings

Seven IITs, IISc, figure among top 10

Seven Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, are among the top 10 central institutions in promotion and support of innovation and entrepreneurship development, according to Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) announced on Wednesday.

The top rank has been bagged by IIT Madras followed by IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Roorkee.

** Ramanujan Prize 2021 winner Neena Gupta: ‘There’s a lot more to be done in mathematics field yet’

Neena Gupta is the third woman to receive the Ramanujan Prize, which was first awarded in 2005. She is the fourth Indian to win this prestigious prize. Prior to her, three of the other four winners are also associated with the ISI Kolkata.

** Urgent need to address shortage of 4.3 million nurses in India: Experts

“India has over 3 million registered nurses & midwives who are responsible for the country’s 1.3 billion population, which is grossly inadequate. This is less than the WHO norm of 3 nurses per 1,000 population and India needs to add more than 4.3 million nurses by 2024 to meet the prescribed WHO norms,” the Forum said in a statement.

Speaking during the discussion, Dr T Dileep Kumar, president, Indian Nursing Council, highlighted the need for nursing leadership and making nurses part of policy making.

* Columbia Journalism School alumni award for The Hindu Group chairperson Malini Parthasarathy

Dr. Parthasarathy, who was in the class of 1982, had earlier served separate stints as the editor and executive editor of The Hindu.

The Columbia Journalism School on Tuesday named The Hindu Group chairperson Malini Parthasarathy as one of its alumni award recipients for 2022.

* World Senior Badminton Tournament At Spain: Government School Maths Teacher Wins Bronze Medal

Sunil Gladson Varadaraj, who works as an Assistant Teacher at Hosamalangi Government High School in Kollegal taluk of Chamarajanagar, is the one who had excelled at track & field events during school days and then was part of State Kho Kho team before switching to shuttle badminton.

Now, adding feather to his cap is the Bronze Medal he won at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Senior Badminton Championship held at Carolina Marin Stadium in Huelva of Spain between Nov. 28 and Dec. 4, 2021.

* 5-yr-old in Bengaluru sets world record in coding

Five-year-old Sunvisha C Nair, a student of Christ KG at SG Palya, has emerged as the ‘world’s youngest person to code decimal and its corresponding octal, hexadecimal and binary coding of 1-15, in a number system’

** Fellowship conferred on K.S.Rangappa

K.S.Rangappa, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore, has been elected as Fellow of the Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI) for 2021, according to a release.

The fellowship is given to Indian scientists in recognition of their significant research contributions in the field of sciene and Prof. Rangappa was recognised for his work in the areas of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, the release added.

** Susanta Kumar Dash: Geneticist on a mission to register Odisha’s native livestock breeds

A professor of OUAT and animal geneticist, Susanta Kumar Dash has helped govt in registering 4 native breeds of cattle, 3 breeds of buffalo and one breed of sheep, writes Sudarsan Maharana.

In the last two decades, animal geneticist Susanta Kumar Dash has helped Odisha register eight of its native livestock breeds and secure their Intellectual Property (IP) rights. Working in the field of native livestock breed conservation since 2004, Dash – a professor in the department of animal breeding and genetics in OUAT, Bhubaneswar – has registered four breeds of cattle, three breeds of buffalo and one breed of sheep, all having their own unique features, from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources.