Month: January 2022

** Virudhunagar girl gets award from Modi for her invention

For her ‘floating house’ that can be used to save lives during flood

A Virudhunagar girl, N.C. Vishalini, received Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a function held through video conference mode, at the Collectorate here on Monday.

The award carries a citation and a purse of ₹ 1 lakh. The girl, daughter of M. Naresh Kumar and R. Chithrakala, has been selected for the award given to children aged under 18, for her invention – automatic functional life rescue flood house. She is a student of Delhi School of Excellence, Attapur, Hyderabad.

Her invention, a floating house contraption, can be used to save the lives of vulnerable section of people such as children, pregnant women, aged and the physically challenged, pets and important objects during flood.

TamilNadu

** Seven-year-old Jewel from Kerala, set for Guinness record in swimming

 When Jewel Mariam Basil embarked on her first swim outside a pool, little did the seven-year-old fully comprehend the scale of her potential achievement. By the end of it all, she is set to write her name into the book of Guinness World Records. Her parents, on the other hand, always believed their daughter’s love for swimming could be channelled into something special. 

** Meet Abheesh P Dominic, ‘original’ Minnal Murali

Even before the ‘Minnal Murali’ team conceived a superhero in Jaison, a Kottayam resident was quietly performing many of the superhuman acts that made Tovino Thomas’ character such a phenomenon. If Jaison acquired those superhuman powers after being hit by a bolt of lightning, in real-life, there was no such shortcut for Abheesh P Dominic. Rather hard work, dedication and perseverance helped him acquire abilities that are beyond the reach of most people.

The 38-year-old has powered his way into many record books — including the Guinness World Records — by performing daredevil acts in public. From smashing 122 coconut shells with bare hands in a minute to stopping the high-speed pedestal fan with his tongue, Abheesh’s acts often stun spectators.

A video collage of Abheesh performing his dangerous stunts juxtaposed with Minnal Murali’s superhuman acts has now gone viral on social media. 

Kerala

** TN doctor conferred MBE by UK for fight against Covid

Dr S Balachandran, a native of Uthukuli, was conferred an MBE (Member of the British Empire) on Monday. Along with two other doctors, Balachandran was given the honour for services to the nation during the pandemic. 

peaking to TNIE, Balachandran’s brother-in-law M Ravi said, “Balachandran studied at the Uthukuli Government High Secondary, and joined Thanjavur Medical College. He completed MD and Diploma in Anaesthesia there in 1989. He served in Karur Government Hospital and Ramanathapuram Government Hospital for several years before moving to the UK.” Now, he leads the board for infection control at the same university.

** New Directors appointed at 4 IITs

They are professors with strong industry links and policy experience

Signalling a new era, professors with strong industry links and policy experience have been appointed the new Directors of four of the elite Indian Institutes of Technology.

At IIT Madras, the country’s top educational institution according to domestic rankings, the next Director will be V. Kamakoti, who designed the first indigenously-developed microprocessor for use in communications and defence sectors.

The Professor of Computer Science and Engineering is currently the associate dean for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research at IIT Madras.

“Our immediate priority would be augmenting the skill set for indigenous technology development,” he said, according to an official statement.

IIT Delhi’s next director will be Rangan Banerjee, currently the Forbes Marshall Chair Professor in IIT Bombay’s Department of Energy Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay, which he helped to start in 2007.

With academic interests in energy management, planning and policy, as well as hydrogen energy and fuel cells, Professor Banerjee was a member of the Working Group on New and Renewable Energy for the Eleventh and Twelfth Five-Year Plans and a member of the Planning Commission’s Integrated Energy Policy.

IIT Bombay is also the current home of IIT Indore’s next Director Suhas S. Joshi. With a background in production engineering, he started his career as an engine development manager at Tata Motors before shifting into academia.

He currently heads the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Bombay, holds the Rahul Bajaj Chair position and is also Dean of Alumni and Corporate Relations at a time when the institution has raked in record donations from its alumni.

According to his profile on the IIT Bombay website, Dr. Joshi has undertaken 38 projects sponsored by aerospace, nuclear, defence and private organisations in India and spearheaded the establishment of an aerospace research centre in partnership with Boeing and the Central government.

Laxmidhar Behera, a Robotics professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Kanpur, has been appointed the next Director of IIT Mandi.

He heads the Intelligent Systems and Control Laboratory at IIT Kanpur and focuses on developing automation solutions to industrial and domestic problems.

Recent projects include the development of a bio-signal enabled control of a robotic wheelchair sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council and a Central government sponsored project on robotics in agriculture.

** ICHR gets new chairman

Raghuvendra Tanwar, a professor emeritus and former registrar of the Kurukshetra University, has been appointed as chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research.

“He was appointed the director of Haryana Academy of History and Culture in 2016. He also served as a UGC national fellow, a prestigious position in academia, from 2002-2005.

“Prof Tanwar is a world-renowned expert in the field of partition studies and Jammu & Kashmir and has published a large number of books and research papers in the national and international journal in these areas,” it said.

** Madhya Pradesh villagers host funerary feast for langur, over 1,500 people take part

The residents of Dalupura village in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district hosted a mass feast for some 1,500 people as part of funerary rituals of a langur that died of the cold on December 29.

They had also taken part in the funeral procession of the simian before cremating it in the traditional way amid the chanting of hymns on December 30.

A video of the ‘mrityu bhoj’ surfaced on social media on Monday.

** A youngster from Kochi hitchhiked across Russia in 27 days

Mr. Presheed travelled from Tuapse along the western coast of Russia on the Black Sea to Vladivostok on the eastern coast near the Sea of Japan.

In his 24 years, Yadukrishnan Presheed from Palarivattom probably has had more adventures than an average man could possibly dream of during a lifetime.

For the youngster doing his journalism course in the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, also known as RUDN University, in Moscow, 2021 turned out to be one of the most memorable years in his already action-packed life.

* Karnataka’s Kodagu district becomes only place in India to have three Lieutenant Generals serving in Army

Kodagu is a small and beautiful mountain district of Karnataka and is well known in the world for coffee and its ‘brave warriors’, men and women, serving in all services.

It was a proud moment for the people of Kodagu district when Lt Gen CP Cariappa took command of India’s elite 1 Strike Corps at Mathura on Friday. Lt Gen Cariappa became the Corp Commander and the District boasts of rare distinction of three Lieutenant Generals serving the army simultaneously.

Lt Gen PC Thimmaya and Lt Gen CB Ponnappa are the other two generals. Lt Gen Thimmaya is the Army Commander at the Army Training Command and Lt Gen Ponnappa is the Chief of Staff at the Northern Army Command.  All three officers are a product of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and joined the army at different times. Lt Gen Ponappa is the junior-most who joined the Army in June 1985.