The Western Ghats of Maharashtra have yielded a carnivorous land snail new to the world of science.
The Haploptychius sahyadriensis, recorded from the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra, is the third member of the genus Haploptychius. The other two – H. andamanicus and H. pfeifferi – were recorded in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the 1860s.
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Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced today her intention to appoint Krishna Srinivasan as Director of the Asia and Pacific Department (APD). Mr. Srinivasan’s appointment as APD Director becomes effective on June 22, 2022. He will succeed Changyong Rhee, whose retirement from the Fund was announced on March 23, 2022.
Mr. Srinivasan, an Indian national, has more than 27 years of Fund experience, starting in the Economist Program in 1994. He is currently a Deputy Director in APD, where he oversees the department’s surveillance work on a number of large and systemically important countries such as China and Korea, and smaller states in the Pacific such as Fiji and Vanuatu. He also oversees APD’s work on key ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia and Singapore, as well-advanced economies, including Australia and New Zealand. During the Global Financial Crisis, while in the Research Department (RES), Mr. Srinivasan led the Fund’s work on the G20 including the preparation of analytical notes for the meetings of the G20 Ministers and Leaders.
“Krishna is a highly regarded member of our Fund family and has made many important and innovative contributions to our mission throughout his career at the Fund. His appointment to the Director position is a culmination of his superior record of leadership across a wide range of departments, including African Department (AFR), European Department (EUR), Monetary and Capital Market Department (MCM), RES, Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR), and West Hemisphere Department (WHD). This range of work and experiences is reflective of his career during which he has worked on the full spectrum of the Fund’s membership from low-income countries, to emerging markets, and advanced economies,” said Ms. Georgieva.
Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Srinivasan was an Assistant Professor of Economics and International Finance at Indiana-Purdue University and a consultant at the World Bank in DC and the Center for Policy Research and Planning Commission in New Delhi. His wide research on Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and on climate and other economic and development issues has appeared in books, academic journals, and media publications.
Mr. Srinivasan holds a PhD (Honors) in Economics from Indiana University, a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and a Bachelor’s (Honors) in Economics from the University of Delhi.
imf.org
Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan beat Vladyslav Manafov and Oleg Prihodko of Ukraine 7-6(6), 6-4 in the doubles final of the €67,960 Challenger tennis tournament in Bratislava.
It was the first Challenger title together as a pair for Balaji and Jeevan. Balaji has eight Challenger doubles titles, while Jeevan has won 10 Challenger titles apart from the tour title with Rohan Bopanna.
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The Saifabad Mint, which dates back to 1903 and excelled in producing coins, notes, stamps, and other engineering goods, is a source of pride for the Deccan heritage.
The Coin Museum at the city’s Mint Compound at Lakdikapul was inaugurated on Tuesday, with the collection displaying a wide range of currency notes, coinage collections, and old handheld tools used to make coins, and other materials like counterweights.
siasat/hyd/first
On Wednesday, Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart, Gen. Phan Van Giang, agreed for early finalisation of the $ 500 million Defence Line of Credit extended to Vietnam.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday handed over 12 high-speed guard boats to Vietnam during his visit to Hong Ha Shipyard in Hai Phong. The boats have been constructed under the India’s $ 100 million Defence Line of Credit to Vietnam.
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Having studied at AIISH Mysuru, Dr. Bopanna Ballachanda becomes the first Indian-American to occupy the top post.
Dr. Bopanna Ballachanda is a Professor (Adjunct) at Texas Tech Health Sciences and Chief Audiology Officer at National Hearing and Balance centres in Albuquerque, New Mexico. With more than 30 years of experience, he is now the President-Elect of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) and he will have a three-year term from October 1, 2022.
Hailing from Kodagu and coming from a humble background, he did his B.Sc. in Speech and Hearing from the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH – 1970 batch), then under the University of Mysore. By becoming the first person of colour to head AAA, Dr. Bopanna has become a role model for many.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appointed former Indian diplomat Amandeep Singh Gill as his envoy on technology to coordinate programmes for international digital cooperation.
Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced the appointment calling Gill a “thought leader on digital technology”.
Gill, who graduated from the Panjab University in Chandigarh in BTech in electronics, has a doctorate in nuclear learning in multilateral forums from the King’s College in London.
According to the UN, the envoy on technology “coordinates the implementation of the Secretary-General’s roadmap on digital cooperation and will advance work towards the global digital compact proposed in the common agenda, in close consultation with the member states, technology industry, private companies, civil society, and other stakeholders”.
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India is moving from women-specific to women-led projects in the biotech start-ups sector, Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Jitendra Singh said on Saturday.
“India is looking at a growth of the Biotech sector from $70 billion to $150 billion in the next 4 years and added that this cannot be accomplished without the active participation of women,” Singh said after releasing a book ‘Compendium of 75 Women Biotech Entrepreneurs’ at the ongoing Biotech Start-up Expo at Pragati Maidan here.
Stating that the women scientists have carved a niche for themselves in space, nuclear science, drone and nano-technology, the Minister said: “Many of the big scientific projects including the most ambitious manned mission to the moon, Gaganyaan, are being led by women scientists.”
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) launched the BioCARe programme to enhance the participation of women scientists in biotech research and for building capacities, he said, and added, BIRAC launched the Women in Entrepreneurial Research (WinER Award) in association with TiE Delhi, a non-profit, global community welcoming entrepreneurs from all over the world, to reward women in biotech entrepreneurship.
He also released another book, “75 Biotech products developed during the 75th year of Independence,” and “Compendium of 75 Women Biotech Entrepreneurs” on the occasion.
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India has decided to display a relic of the Buddha in Mongolia from June 14 for a period of 11 days. The initiative was at the request of the Mongolian government earlier this year when they sought display of the Buddha’s relic in Mongolia. The relics, which are kept in the national museum and have very special significance, are usually not taken out of the country. However, as a special gesture it was decided to send the relic of the Buddha to Mongolia.
Mongolia is considered as a Buddhist nation with 53 per cent of the population being Buddhists. Large number of Buddhist monks, who have been keen on higher learning in Buddhism, have traditionally been travelling to India for pursuing Buddhist studies in different institutions. These individuals have formed the bulwark of Buddhist diplomacy between India and Mongolia. One of the most prominent Rinpoches from India who has also contributed significantly towards spread of Buddhism in Mongolia is Bakula Rinpoche, who was posted as the Ambassador of India to Mongolia from 1990 to 2000.
These were crucial years when the communist party’s hold on the state had come to an end in the Soviet Union with fall out effect on Mongolia too. As the country became free and people were keen to learn about different religions, Bakula Rinpoche’s presence in Mongolia was timely. He became so popular in Mongolia that large number of people visited him from different parts of the country to take his blessings. Bakula Rinpoche is revered in Mongolia till this day and his impressions would remain etched in the minds of the Buddhists of Mongolia for years to come.
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The Overseas Friends of India (OFI) has also recognised the Sahara India Media’s Executive Director, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Upendra Rai’s fearless journalism in a ceremony hosted in London.
In a moment of pride for Indian journalism, the Sahara News Network CEO and Editor-in-Chief Upendra Rai got felicitated for his committed and courageous journalism in the British House of Lords. The House of Lords member Lord John Beckett Taylor (Lord Taylor of Warwick) felicitated Rai in the Cholmondeley Room of the upper house of the British Parliament. Handing over the citation letter, Taylor lauded Rai’s stellar achievements in the field of journalism. The World Book of Records had also awarded Rai’s fearless work in 2019.
The group is affiliated with the House of Lords. Addressing the ceremony, Rai emphasized the importance of Hindi in reaching out to the Indian masses at the ground level. He began his speech with “Jai Hind, Jai Bharat” and shared his experiences in promoting Hindi as a language of mass media in India.
theprint.in