The X-ray polarimetry method used by Indian scientists has opened up new dimensions to investigate and understand the nature of astrophysical black hole sources.

In a major breakthrough for space science, four researchers from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) for the first time in 52 years, have detected polarized emissions from a black hole source that exists beyond our Milky Way Galaxy using a technique called X-ray polarimetry. 

This feat has been achieved for the first time since the discovery in 1971 of the Large Magellanic Cloud X-3 (LMC X3) star system which is binary in nature and consists of a black hole and a ‘normal’ star that is much hotter, bigger, and more massive than the Sun.

For over half a century the star system was observed by many satellites but there has been a gap in understanding the polarization properties of X-rays emitted by highly energetic objects like stellar mass black holes in the universe.  The LMC X3 is located in a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, nearly 200,000 light-years away from Earth. 

The X-ray polarimetry method used by Indian scientists has opened up new dimensions to investigate and understand the nature of astrophysical black hole sources. The researchers studied LMC X-3 using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), the first mission of NASA to study the polarization of X-rays from celestial objects. They also made use of the simultaneous broad-band coverage of the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) Mission and Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission to constrain the spin of LMC X-3. 

Reflecting on the importance of this research, Professor Santabrata Das, Department of Physics, IIT Guwahati, said, “X-ray polarimetry is a unique observational technique to identify where radiation comes from near black holes. LMC X-3 emits X-rays that are 10,000 times more powerful than those from the Sun. When these X-rays interact with the material around black holes, specifically when they scatter, it changes the polarization characteristics, that is degree and angle.” He added that this helps in understanding how matter is drawn toward black holes in the presence of intense gravitational forces.”  

Dr Anuj Nandi, Scientist, UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), ISRO, explained that the intense gravitational fields can cause the emitted light from black holes to become polarized. “Our observations indicate that LMC X-3 likely harbors a black hole with a low rotation rate, surrounded by a slim disc structure that gives rise to the polarized emissions,” he added. 

The study was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters and was funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, India. The research team was led by Santabrata Das from IIT Guwahati and Nandi from URSC, including research scholars, Seshadri Majumder (IIT Guwahati), and  Ankur Kushwaha (URSC).

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

Rakesh Roy said he was able to bring the project to fruition with the support of his six other friends who graduated with him from FISAT Engineering College in Angamaly some years ago.

IDUKKI: Rakesh Roy grew up seeing a picturesque mountain stream flowing down a hill near his house at Kambilikandam in this mountainous district, but only once he became an engineer years later did he comprehend the height of that nondescript hill and realise the potential of ‘Parathodu’, the water body.

This realisation by the young engineer has made Mukkudam Small Hydroelectric Project, Kerala’s first self-identified private small hydroelectric project, a reality in Idukki.

The private hydel plant began supplying power to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) Limited late last month.

Roy said he was able to bring the project to fruition with the support of his six other friends who graduated with him from FISAT Engineering College in Angamaly some years ago.

Mukkudam is the 12th private small hydel power project in Kerala and the fifth such initiative in Idukki, Roy, who is the CMD of the company, said.

“We are proud to be the first self-identified private small hydroelectric project in the state. The uniqueness of the project is that it was identified by private persons like us in our own land,” he told PTI.

He said though there was a provision for such projects in the ‘Kerala Small Hydro Power Policy 2012’ rolled out in October 2012, he and his partners were the first to submit such a proposal to the government.

Even officials and government departments were initially apprehensive when they were approached with the project proposal as there was no precedence, he said.

When asked how he identified the power sector for their first entrepreneurial venture, he said he and his friends were aware that power was a potential area since their college days.

“Power cuts and electricity crunch had always been in the news in Kerala. So, even during our college days, we knew that it was a potential area,” he said.

After realising the potential of the mountain stream, he discussed it with his friends who offered him all support to go ahead.

Thirty-nine-year-old Roy, a native of Kambilikandam here, quit his corporate career when he decided to go ahead with the power project in 2014.

His six collegemates have been with him as pillars of support throughout these years and invested their hard-earned money in it.

They registered a company and submitted a project report to the state government for a one MW power project in December 2015.

Though they got technical sanction for the project in March 2018, a hydraulic study they conducted at the project site later revealed that it had the potential for a four MW project.

Based on a revised project report submitted to the government, approval was guaranteed for the present project in 2021.

After fighting several challenges — from funding issues and procedural delays to Covid-19 problems — the dream project was commissioned recently and it started supplying power to the KSEB since late last month.

“The gross head available for the project is 323.7 metres (1,070 feet). The length of the penstock is 1,310 metres. We have two turbine generators of 2 MW each,” Roy explained.

The generators of the small hydel projects were linked to the KSEB’s power grid on October 21.

“We expect that 11 million (1.1 crore) units of electricity can be generated annually through this power project,” he said.

Though some state-run financial institutions were approached for a loan, they were reluctant to sanction funds as they failed to understand the potential and viability of such a project, Roy said.

But, two central government agencies gave them wholehearted support which helped them make it a reality, he added.

He also particularly mentioned the support and encouragement extended by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Energy Management Centre under the Power Department, the nodal agency for Small Hydro Power Projects in the state.

Roy said Kerala has immense potential for small hydropower projects as they are environment-friendly and more viable.

Besides Roy, Unni S Sankar, Nitish S J, Renjini M, Cyriac Jose, Faris E M and Rijo Joseph are the six other partners in the project.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

Born to a modestly wealthy family in 1898 in Bhaun village in Punjab province of Pakistan, his father worked as a front desk clerk at The Cecil (now The Oberoi Cecil), a small hotel in Shimla.

As a child, he witnessed Allied pilots use his father’s hotel in Calcutta during the second world war and six-and-half-decades later saw a dastardly terrorist attack all but destroy his flagship hotel in Mumbai.

PRS ‘Biki’ Oberoi, who died on Tuesday morning at the age of 94 years, was no less than an industry legend whose name was enough to add a touch of grandeur to any hotel property across the world.

Inheriting India’s first five-star hotel from his father, he changed the face of the Indian hospitality industry as he turned his group of the same name into one of India’s best-known luxury hotel groups.

In 1984, he took over a nine-hotel chain from his father and The Oberoi Group founder Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi.

Since then, PRS Oberoi has steered the hospitality chain through its ups and downs.

The group now has hotels, cruises and resorts spread across seven countries under three brands Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Trident Hotels and Maiden Hotel.

A hotel magnate who embodied fine living, his death brings to an end two generations of the family that built the Oberoi empire into an Indian hospitality powerhouse.

Oberoi, who was the executive chairman of EIH Limited, the flagship company of The Oberoi Group, passed on the baton of his group in May 2022.

His nephew Arjun is now the executive chairman of the group while son Vikramjit is the CEO.

The group had humble beginnings.

Born to a modestly wealthy family in 1898 in Bhaun village in Punjab province of Pakistan, his father worked as a front desk clerk at The Cecil (now The Oberoi Cecil), a small hotel in Shimla, before taking a loan against his family wealth including the wife’s jewellery, to buy his first property, Clarke’s Hotel, also in Shimla, in 1934.

Four years later, he purchased the lease for the Grand Hotel (now The Oberoi Grand) in what was then Calcutta, which was on sale after a cholera epidemic.

In 1943, he bought Associated Hotels of India, becoming the first Indian to own the country’s largest upmarket hotel chain, with properties including Shimla’s Cecil Hotel where he had worked as a clerk.

When his father was setting up the hotel business, Biki was sent to St Paul’s School in Darjeeling in 1939 and after finishing school in 1946 to London to study chartered accountancy.

He travelled to France and Switzerland and worked in hotels there to gain experience.

It was in 1942, he witnessed Allied pilots, who were fighting Japan during the second world war, make the Grand Hotel as a base.

In 1954, he was given his first hotel to run — Maidens in New Delhi and then Grand Hotel in Calcutta.

He was also given charge of four hotels in Pakistan that had come as part of the AHI acquisition.

However, the Pakistan government took over those properties after the 1965 war.

Not to be let down, Biki worked with his elder brother Tilak ‘Tikki’ Raj Singh Oberoi, moving into industrial-scale hotels with the opening of their main property in the national capital in 1965.

It was India’s first modern hotel with swimming pools, four or five restaurants and 320 rooms.

Associated Hotels of India Ltd was merged with what was then East India Hotels Ltd (now EIH Ltd) in 1968, bringing into the fold The Oberoi Grand, Calcutta; Maidens Hotel, New Delhi; and The Oberoi Cecil, Shimla.

The next landmark was the construction of a Mumbai hotel, now known as the Trident, in 1973 and its sister hotel on the same site, The Oberoi, in 1986. Tikki died in 1984.

His son Arjun is now the executive chairman of the group.

That year, their father suffered a stroke and passed on the baton of the group to Biki.

Under him, Oberoi went on an expansion sphere – entering into a contract to operate all snack bars and restaurants at Mumbai airport in 1986, and listing GDRs on the London Stock Exchange in 1994.

Cigar-smoking Biki, who was known to take his own towels and bring along cooks to cities where he did not own a hotel, in 1988 launched a new brand, Trident when a new hotel, which was five-star but not a luxury property, was opened in Chennai.

The Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur opened in 1998 and put Indian hospitality on the world luxury travel map.

A night’s stay in 1998 cost a then-unthinkable Rs 8,000 and continues to be one of the most expensive resorts in the country.

This was followed by similar iconic properties in Agra, Udaipur and Ranthambore (Amarvilas, Udaivilas and Vanyavilas, respectively).

Besides offering ultra-luxury, the chain offered unmatched service.

As these properties gained credibility, so did Oberoi’s reputation and his group was often referred to as a gold standard in the industry.

When Pakistani terrorists attacked Mumbai in 2008, Oberoi-Trident hotel was one of the properties attacked.

Two terrorists, who spent two days holed up in the Oberoi killing about 20 guests and 11 staff members, destroyed the entire interior of the hotel.

Oberoi took a personal interest in redesigning the property which opened 18 months later.

“It is with deep sadness that we inform the peaceful passing of PRS Oberoi, Chairman Emeritus of The Oberoi Group, earlier today. A luminary in the hospitality industry, Oberoi’s legacy transcends borders, leaving an indelible mark on the global landscape,” a company statement said.

PRS Oberoi was born in New Delhi on February 3, 1929.

He served as chairman of the company since 1988 until he stepped down in May last year due to ill health.

“PRS Oberoi has decided to relinquish his position as chairman and director of the EIH Associated Hotels Ltd effective May 2, 2022 due to his deteriorating health,” a press release had said at that time.

Besides son Vikramjit, he is survived by daughters Natasha and Anastasia.

A recipient of India’s second highest civilian honour — Padma Vibhushan — in 2008, PRS Oberoi was also awarded the ‘Corporate Hotelier of the World’ by HOTELS magazine in 2010.

The Oberoi brand has come to represent fine luxury hotels.

Business India magazine adjudged PRS Oberoi the Businessman of the Year 2008.

He received this award for building a world-class premium hospitality brand.

In November 2008, he was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for redefining design standards in luxury hotels.

In October 2005, the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP), which is the preeminent gathering of hotel investors, investment bankers and leading industry professionals in the region, honoured him with the Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual conference in Hong Kong.

This award was given in recognition of his contribution to the hospitality industry and his pioneering leadership in making The Oberoi Group a global brand by taking the concept of luxury to a new paradigm.

In February 2013, PRS Oberoi was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Management by The All India Management Association.

In his condolence message, Mahindra group’s Anand Mahindra said: “His many achievements were never sufficiently recognised. He made ‘Oberoi’ a global byword for the Indian luxury hospitality experience and the first to put an Indian hotel on the very top of global rankings. He also rallied the group heroically but quietly post the 26/11 attack on their Mumbai flagship. He was a class act. Period.”

Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said he was “without doubt, the man who put Indian hospitality and service on the global map.”

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)