Category Archives: Business & Economy

INTERNATIONAL: JOURNALISM: Upendra Rai – Sahara India Media was Honoured for his Journalism by Lord John Beckett Taylor (Lord Taylor of Warwick) in the British House of Lords

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.

source/content: theprint.in (edited)

WORLD RECORDS: CONSTRUCTION : ROADS & HIGHWAYS : NHAI Enters Guinness World Record for Laying 75 km Highway in 105 Hours: Nitin Gadkari

Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that State-owned National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Consultants & Concessionaire, Rajpath Infracon Pvt Ltd & Jagdish Kadam has created a Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous lane of 75 kilometres in 105 hours and 33 minutes on the national highway between Amravati and Akola districts in Maharashtra.

Mentioning about the record, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the project was implemented by 720 workers including a team of independent consultants who worked day and night.

The total length of the 75 kilometres of single lane continuous bituminous concrete road is equivalent to 37.5 kilometres of two-lane paved shoulder road and the work started on June 3, at 7:27 am and was completed on June 7, at 5 pm, the minister said in a video message.

The previous Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous was for building 25.275 kilometres of road that was achieved in Doha, Qatar in February 2019 and that task was completed in 10 days, Mr. Gadkari said.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: HEALTH & MEDICAL SCIENCES, COVID: Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Scientists Develop Mini Proteins that may Prevent COVID Infection

The mini proteins can not only block the entry of viruses like SARS-CoV-2 into our cells but also clump virus particles together, reducing their ability to infect.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore have designed a new class of artificial peptides or mini proteins that they say can render viruses like SARS-CoV-2 inactive.

According to the study, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the mini proteins can not only block virus entry into our cells but also clump virus particles together, reducing their ability to infect.

The researchers noted that protein-protein interaction is often like that of a lock and a key.

Preventing entry

The team used this approach to design mini proteins that can bind to, and block the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which helps it to enter and infect the human cells.

This binding was further characterised extensively by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and other biophysical methods.

These mini proteins are helical, hairpin-shaped peptides, each capable of pairing up with another of its kind, forming what is known as a dimer. Each dimeric ‘bundle’ presents two ‘faces’ to interact with two target molecules.

The researchers hypothesised that the two faces would bind to two separate target proteins locking all four in a complex and blocking the targets’ action.

“But we needed proof of principle,” said Jayanta Chatterjee, Associate Professor in the Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU), IISc, and the lead author of the study.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS : SPACE – SATELLITE & LAUNCH VEHICLES: Ananth Technologies Opens the Spacecraft Manufacturing unit at KIADB Aerospace Park in Bengaluru. First Facility in Private Sector.

Ananth Technologies which designs and produces systems for Indian aerospace has set up a 15,000 square metre spacecraft manufacturing unit at KIADB Aerospace Park, Bengaluru, said to be the country’s first such facility in the private sector.

The manufacturing unit would be able to conduct assembly, integration and testing of four large spacecraft simultaneously, the company said in a statement.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Subba Rao Pavuluri, Chairman & Managing Director, Ananth Technologies, said, “India is on the cusp of revolutionising the spacecraft industry. As a nation, we are capable of manufacturing world-class spacecrafts.’‘

“Over the years, Ananth Technologies has successfully contributed to major launches of ISRO. Our technology acumen is such that none of the sub-systems supplied by Ananth Technologies has ever failed in orbit,’‘ he claimed.

Since its inception in 1992, Ananth Technologies has contributed to the manufacturing of 89 satellites and 69 launch vehicles built/launched by ISRO, including two satellites for European customers that ISRO had built in collaboration with Airbus, France.

source/content: thehindu.com (edited)

GLOBAL RECORDS: FIRST INDIAN: Michelin Star Celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna First Indian to make Gazette Review’s Top 10 Global Chefs

Indian celebrity chef Vikas Khanna was ranked sixth in Gazette Review’s rankings of the top 10 global chefs. The list is topped by Gordon Ramsay.

Michelin star celebrity chef Vikas Khanna has been ranked among the top 10 global chefs in the world by Gazette Review, becoming the only Indian chef who has made it to the prestigious list. Gazette Review ranked Mr. Khanna sixth, with British chef Gordon Ramsay leading the list.

The 50-year-old Amritsar-born and New York-based Khanna is known for taking Indian cuisine across the globe and on the world food map. He is the only Indian origin chef who has made it to the list along with great names in the industry.

Mr. Khanna, who also wears other caps including that of being a writer, filmmaker and philanthropist, took to social media on Tuesday and shared his joy on being listed.

In elite company

Others on the list include Anthony Bourdain, Paul Bocuse, Alain Ducasse, Emeril Lagasse, Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal, Wolfgang Puck and Jamie Oliver.

Mr. Khanna is one of the first Indian chefs to receive international acclaim. Since 2011, his main restaurant Junoon in New York City has received a Michelin star, a hallmark of fine dining.

Mr. Khanna has served food to the former U. S. President Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, Pope Francis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and many other world leaders and celebrities.

Mr. Khanna is known for creating the most expensive cookbook in the world.

From 2011, Khanna hosted five seasons of Master Chef India, a series based on the original British version.

source/content: thehindu.com (edited)

INDIA RECORDS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLGOY : SPACE : S. Geetha, Female Scientist the First Woman Programme Director of Space Transportation Systems at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

S Geetha, the first woman programme director of space transportation systems at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, will retire after 33 years of service on Tuesday.

She was heading 64 engineers at the centre across seven teams.

Geetha is an alumnus of Vattiyoorkavu Government High School, Thiruvananthapuram, where she studied in the Malayalam medium.

Back then, a young Geetha would have never thought she would be one of the best space scientists in the country years later.

She vividly remembers coming to know about Valentina Tereshkova, the first and youngest woman to fly a solo mission to space on the Vostok 6 in 1963. Valentina was Geetha’s inspiration to pursue bachelors degree in electrical and electronics engineering from College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET).

source/content: thehindu.com (edited)

WORLD RECORDS : INDIA : India becomes Largest Producer of Sugar in the World edging out Brazil. And Second Largest Exporter of Sugar

The government on Wednesday claimed that India has become the largest producer of sugar in the world in the year 2022-23, more than Brazil, while it would be the second largest exporter of sugar.

Sugar production in 2018-19 was 332 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) after discounting diversion of 3 LMT for ethanol; in 2019-20, it was 274 LMT (after discounting diversion of 9 LMT for ethanol); in 2020-21, the production increased to 310 LMT (after discounting diversion of 22 LMT for ethanol) and for 2021-22, it is 335 LMT (after discounting diversion of 35 LMT for ethanol).

The production of sugar has increased and so has sugar exports. In sugar seasons 2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20, only about 6.2 LMT, 38 LMT & 59.60 LMT of sugar was exported. “In sugar season 2020-21 against target of 60 LMT, about 70 LMT have been exported. In the current sugar season 2021-22, against the projected 100 LMT exports, contracts for export of about 90 LMT have been signed, about 82 LMT sugar has been dispatched from sugar mills for export and approximately 78 LMT have been exported. Export of sugar in current sugar season 2021-22 is the historically highest,” Subodh Singh, Joint Secretary, Food, told media persons.

About 80 per cent of sugar is produced in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka and because the two states south of Narmada are nearer to the ports, export takes place more from these states.

source/content: daijiworld.com (edited)

INDIA RECORDS : SOFTWARE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, SECURITY : IISc Develops Device to Improve Data Encryption

A team at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a true random number generator (TRNG), which, the team says, can improve data encryption and provide improved security for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords and other personal information. The study describing the device has been published in the journal  ACS Nano.

“Almost everything we do on the internet is encrypted for security. The strength of this encryption depends on the quality of random number generation,” explained Nithin Abraham, a PhD student who is a part of a team led by Kausik Majumdar, Associate Professor at ECE, which has developed the device.

Encrypted information can be decoded only by authorised users who have access to a cryptographic ‘key’. But the key needs to be unpredictable and, therefore, randomly generated to resist hacking. Cryptographic keys are typically generated in computers using pseudorandom number generators, which rely on mathematical formulae or pre-programmed tables to produce numbers that appear random but are not. In contrast, a TRNG extracts random numbers from inherently random physical processes, making it more secure, the IISc release explained.

source/content: thehindu.com (edited)

GLOBAL RECORDS: INDIA RECORDS: Gautam Adani, Advocate Karuna Nundy, Activist Khurram Parvez and Indian American Bela Bajaria in TIME’s 100 Most Influential List

Apart from them, Indian American Bela Bajaria, the head of Global TV at OTT platform, Netflix, is also part of TIME’s list.

TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2022 includes billionaire Gautam Adani, advocate Karuna Nundy, who has been championing the cause of the criminalisation of marital rape in India, and human rights activist Khurram Parvez, who is currently in jail as part of an investigation in a terror-funding case in Kashmir.

Apart from them, Indian American Bela Bajaria, the head of Global TV at OTT platform, Netflix, is also part of TIME’s list.

source/content: indianexpress.com (edited)

GLOBAL RECORDS: INDIAN PARTICIPATION : World Economic Forum forms New ‘Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders India’ an Alliance to Supercharge Race to Net-Zero

Davos

The World Economic Forum on Monday announced a new ‘Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders India’ that will work towards fast-tracking decarbonisation pathways along India’s net-zero journey.

A collaboration between Kearney and Observer Research Foundation, the Alliance brings together chief executives from India’s leading businesses.

The Alliance is part of the Forum’s Climate Action Platform and will build upon learnings from global projects such as the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders and the First Movers Coalition.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (edited)