Category Archives: Amazing Feats

WORLD RECORDS : INDIA, POPULATION: India’s Urban Population at 2nd Highest, to Stand at 675 million in 2035, Behind China’s 1 billion: United Nations (U.N.)-Habitat’s World Cities Report 2022

By 2035, the percentage of population in India at mid-year residing in urban area will be 43.2%, the U.N. said in a report.

India’s urban population is estimated to stand at 675 million in 2035, the second-highest behind China’s one billion, the U.N. has said in a report, noting that after the COVID-19 pandemic, the global urban population is back on track to grow by another 2.2 billion by 2050.

The United Nations-Habitat’s World Cities Report 2022, released on Wednesday, said that rapid urbanisation was only temporarily delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The global urban population is back on track to grow by another 2.2 billion people by 2050, it said.

India’s urban population is projected to be 67,54,56,000 in 2035, growing from 48,30,99,000 in 2020 to 54,27,43,000 in 2025 and 60,73,42,000 in 2030, the report said.

By 2035, the percentage of population in India at mid-year residing in urban area will be 43.2%, it said.

China’s urban population in 2035 is projected at 1.05 billion while the urban population in Asia will be 2.99 billion in 2035 and that in South Asia 98,75,92,000 it said.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS : ARACHNOLOGY: New species of Jumping Spider ‘Pseudomogrus Sudhii’ from the Thar desert is named after Sudhikumar A.V., Arachnologist, Head of Dept of Zoology, Christ College, Kerala and Founder of Centre for Animal Taxonomy and Ecology (CATE).

Pseudomogrus sudhii inhabits dry glass blades of the desert.

A new species of spider discovered from the Thar desert of Rajasthan has been named after a Malayalee arachnologist.

The new species of jumping spider, Pseudomogrus sudhii, has been named after Sudhikumar A.V., Head, Department of Zoology, Christ College, Irinjalakuda, and founder of the Centre for Animal Taxonomy and Ecology (CATE) in recognition of his contributions to the field of Indian arachnology.

The jumping spider was discovered during a joint exploration by Dmitri Logunov (curator, Manchester Museum, The University of Manchester, UK), Rishikesh Balkrishna Tripathi and Ashish Kumar Jangid of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL RECORDS : ASIA, SWIMMING: India Bags 5 Medals. 4 Gold Medals in the Mens for Srihari Nataraj, Mihir Ambre, Aneesh Gowda & Sridhar Siva. In the Women’s Maana Patel Walks away with Silver at the 17th Singapore National Swimming Championships

Olympian Srihari Nataraj, Mihir Ambre and Aneesh Gowda won golds in the 17 th Singapore National swimming championships here on Thursday.

National record holder Nataraj clocked 55.32s for the 100m backstroke gold while Ambre produced a personal best 24.66s for the 50m butterfly title. Meanwhile, Gowda won the 800m freestyle gold in 8:14.08s.

In the women’s section, Olympian and national record holder Maana Patel bagged the 100m backstroke silver.

The results (Indian medallists only):

Men: 800m free: 1. Aneesh Gowda (8:14.08s). 50m butterfly: 1. Mihir Ambre (24.66s). 100m back: 1. Srihari Nataraj (55.32s), 3. Sridhar Siva (57.58).

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL RECORDS: INDIA RECORDS: HOTELS & RESTAURANTS: MasterChef Australia’s Season 10 Winner, Sashi Cheliah, Gears up to Launch his First Restaurant in India – ‘Pandan Club’ in Chennai

Sashi was the winner of MasterChef Australia Season 10. This will be his first restaurant in India, in T Nagar, serving Peranakan cuisine and lemongrass cocktails.

Police officer turned MasterChef contestant turned chef turned restaurateur Sashi Cheliah seems apologetic about his requirements for his first restaurant in India. “The thing is, we need professional chefs for this project,” he says, over filter coffee at the Leela Palace lobby, glittering with chandeliers and fragrant with vases of marigolds.

In Chennai with World On A Plate, Sashi is relaxing after cooking seven-course degustation menus, two nights in a row, for completely sold-out dinners at The Leela Palace.

Then, true to form, the Singapore-born, Adelaide-based chef headed straight from the five-star kitchen to Chennai’s popular Erode Amman Mess for his own dinner. “It was fantastic,” he says, “When it comes to flavour there are so many great places to eat in this city.”

With roots in Tamil Nadu, including grandparents who came from Madurai, he has chosen to launch his restaurant, Pandan Club, in Chennai.

A post on his Instagram profile, which has 1,29,000 followers, announcing openings for kitchen personnel resulted in a storm of resumes: many from fans and amateur cooks.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: AVIATION: First Aircraft of India’s Newest Airline ‘Akasa Air’ a Boeing 737 MAX Lands at Delhi Airport after Long Ride from Seattle. 71 More to Follow in Time.

Flying all the way from Seattle in the United States, India’s newest airline Akasa Air’s first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Tuesday.(June 21).

“The arrival of our first aircraft is a very happy moment for all of us & marks an important milestone, bringing us closer to our vision of building India’s greenest, most dependable, and most affordable airline,” said Vinay Dube, founder, managing director & chief executive officer, Akasa Air.

It was only last week the airline took delivery of its first 737 Max aircraft from Boeing in Seattle.

In November 2021, Akasa had inked a $9 billion deal with the US-based aircraft major to purchase 72 MAX planes, which includes an initial delivery of 18 aircraft by March 2023 and the remaining 54 aeroplanes in the next four years.

These planes will be powered by the fuel-efficient CFM LEAP B engine.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL RECORDS: INDIA RECORDS, MEDICAL & HEALTH SCIENCES – VACCINES: The World Health Organisation (WHO) Approves Hyderabad-based Biological E Ltd, to Manufacture Vaccines for Johnson & Johnson

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved India based manufacturing site in Hyderabad, Biological E Limited, to make Covid vaccines for Jansen/Johnson & Johnson.

“This is a great progress for Quad Vaccine and the US India Health partnership,” said a US Embassy spokesperson.

This manufacturing would be done through US technical support and DFC financing. DFC is a US International Development Finance Corporation that invests in the development and advancing US Foreign Policy.

“Quad partners have collectively committed $524 million to the next phase of CEPI’s (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness) which is an innovative global partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats) work, accounting for about 50 per cent of total public investors,” according to the joint statement released by Quad members after the Summit last month.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Diplomat Ruchira Kamboj Appointed as India’s Permanent Representative to U.N.

Ruchira Kamboj, who is currently serving as India’s envoy to Bhutan, will succeed T.S. Tirumurti as the Indian ambassador to the U.N

Senior diplomat Ruchira Kamboj was on Tuesday appointed India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

Ms. Kamboj, a 1987-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, is presently serving as India’s envoy to Bhutan.

During 2011-2014, she became the first woman diplomat to hold the position of India’s Chief of Protocol.

She will succeed T.S. Tirumurti as the Indian ambassador to the U.N.

source/content: thehindu.com (edited)

GLOBAL RECORDS: INDIA, PRECIOUS METALS: India Ranks the Fourth-Largest in Global Gold Recycling according to World Gold Council (WGC).

India has emerged as the fourth largest recycler in the world and the country has recycled 75 tonnes in 2021, according to a World Gold Council (WGC) report.

According to the WGC report titled ‘Gold refining and recycling’, China topped the global gold recycling chart as it recycled 168 tonnes of the yellow metal, followed by Italy in the second position with 80 tonnes and the US at the third rank with 78 tonnes in 2021.

India was ranked fourth in the list as the country recycled 75 tonnes in 2021.

According to the WGC report titled ‘Gold refining and recycling’ from 300 tonnes in 2013, India’s gold refining capacity increased by 1,500 tonnes (500%) in 2021.

The report further noted that the gold refining landscape in the country has changed over the last decade, with the number of formal operations increasing from less than five in 2013 to 33 in 2021.

While the informal sector accounts for as much as an additional 300-500 tonnes, it is worth noting that the scale of unorganised refining has fallen, largely due to the government’s tightening of pollution regulations.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL RECORDS: SPORTS, ROWING: Indian Army’s Duo of Narayana Konganapalle and Kuldeep Singh Won a Bronze Medal in Para-Rowing Men’s Coxless Pair Event at ‘2022 World Rowing Cup 2’, Poznan, Poland

India won a bronze medal in the para-rowing competitions at the 2022 World Rowing Cup 2 at Poznan, Poland, finishing third in Final A of the PR3 Men’s Coxless Pair event.

The Indian duo of Narayana Konganapalle and Kuldeep Singh won the bronze medal with a timing of 7 minutes 33.35 seconds in the event held in Poznan’s Lake Malta on Saturday.

They finished third behind the pairs from France, who finished in 6:52.08 and set a World Best time, and Ukraine 7:29.20, according to information provided by the Rowing Federation of India.

source/content: news18.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: For the First Time both IIT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur jointly build a ‘Quantum Diamond Microscope to Image Magnetic Fields’ that Change within Milliseconds.

Researchers tap fluorescence changes in special, diamond sensors to image time-varying fields.

Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai and Kharagpur have built a microscope that can image magnetic fields within microscopic two-dimensional samples that change over milliseconds.

This has a huge potential for scientific applications, such as in measuring the biological activity of neurons and the dynamics of vortices in superconductors.

The work, led by IIT Bombay professor Kasturi Saha, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, has been published in  Scientific Reports. 

This is the first time that such a tool has been built to image magnetic fields that change within milliseconds. 

The team had started a collaboration with IIT Kharagpur in 2017 with the ambitious target of building a novel system to image the brain. They collaborated with Sharba Bandopadhyay, who brought in an expertise in neurobiology and bioengineering to complement the knowledge of quantum optics, quantum computing and quantum sensing that was Prof. Saha’s forte.

“We have, along with PhD student Madhur Parashar, developed an algorithm to image neurons in 3D using NV quantum sensors,” says Prof. Saha.

This work was published in  Communications Physics in 2020. We have jointly filed a patent for the present work, she adds.

  • Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai and Kharagpur have built a microscope that can image magnetic fields within microscopic two-dimensional samples that change over milliseconds.
  • Prof. Saha explains that the ideal frame rate to capture a changing magnetic field is one that captures data at twice the frequency of the changing field.
  • The key aspect of this sensor is a “nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centre” in a diamond crystal. Such NV centres act as pseudo atoms with electronic states that are sensitive to the fields and gradients around them (magnetic fields, temperature, electric field and strain).

source/content: thehindu.com(headline edited)