Tag Archives: World Record India

NATIONAL: RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Sethrichem Sangtam of ‘Better Life Foundation’ gets ‘1st Rohini Nayyar Prize 2022’ for Rural Development in Nagaland

His organisation ‘Better Life Foundation’ focusses on rural livelihood security, environment sustainability and education for change.

Sethrichem Sangtam, who helped triple the incomes of 1,200 marginalised farmers in Eastern Nagaland, was awarded the first Rohini Nayyar prize for outstanding contribution to rural development.

The prize awarded to an individual 40 years or under in age, was presented by the Niti Ayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery. The winner was selected by an eminent jury from civil society consisting of Dr. Ashok Khosla, founder, Development Alternatives; Dr. Rajesh Tandon, founder, PRIA; and Ms. Renana Jhabwala, national coordinator, SEWA.

Mr. Sangtam works with 1,200 marginalised farmers in Eastern Nagaland through his organisation ‘Better Life Foundation’, which focusses on rural livelihood security, environment sustainability and education for change.

Among his many achievements were encouraging farmers in the region to abandon wasteful slash, burn cultivation and move to permanent farming. The average income of the farmers tripled as a result of his interventions.

The prize had been instituted by the family of the late Dr. Rohini Nayyar, an eminent scholar-administrator who spent much of her professional life working on issues related to rural development in India.

Dr. Nayyar, a well-known economist and former principal adviser at the erstwhile Planning Commission, was one of India’s foremost authorities on rural development. She passed away in October 2021.

Developing India’s social and economic development

The prize will be given out annually by the Nayyar Foundation for Social and Economic Purpose, set up to contribute to the social and economic development in India.

While giving away the award, Mr. Bery said many initiatives for rural India which one saw around at present, like the aspirational districts programme, the development of multi-dimensional poverty index for India, and the digitisation to create financial inclusion in rural India, were results of the efforts by Dr. Rohini Nayyar and her team, while she was in the Planning Commission.

Dr Deepak Nayyar, director of the Foundation, said that during her more than two-decades-long stint in the Planning Commission she also worked on the conceptualisation of the MGNREGA.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / RESEARCH: Global Award ‘Ben Barres Spotlight 2022’ for RGCB Scientist, Dr. Karthika Rajeeve for Study on Pathogens. She is 1 of 12 Scientists Awarded Worldwide.

She has been working on the human pathogens  Chlamydia trachomatis. Her research focuses on how these pathogens evade the host immune system.

Dr. Karthika Rajeeve, staff scientist at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), has been selected for the Ben Barres Spotlight Award, 2022.

The Ben Barres Spotlight Awards has been instituted by scientific journal eLife to perpetuate the memory of American neurobiologist Dr. Ben Barres, a transgender researcher who advocated equality in science.

Dr. Karthika is one of the 12 scientists from around the world chosen for the prestigious award this year. She has been working on the human pathogens  Chlamydia trachomatis. Her research focuses on how these pathogens evade the host immune system.

“The scientific community at RGCB is elated at the international recognition received by Dr. Karthika Rajeeve,” said Professor Chandrabhas Narayana, Director RGCB.

Money for equipment

Dr. Karthika said she would use the award to buy much-needed equipment to take forward her research, besides attending an international conference on Chlamydia biologists to increase the visibility of her work.

Chlamydia trachomatis (Ctr) is a neglected tropical disease and the infection remains asymptomatic as a silent epidemic. The bacteria persist over extended times within their host cell and thereby establish chronic infections.

Persistent and chronic infection can cause potentially fatal ectopic (outside the uterus) pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease and sterility.

Her study challenges a long-standing hypothesis and shows that interferon gamma can down regulate c-Myc, the key regulator of metabolism leading to chlamydial persistence.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: DEFENCE / INDIAN NAVY: 5th Scorpène-class Submarine, the INS Vagir Delivered to Navy by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL), Mumbai

It is scheduled to be commissioned into service in January.

The fifth Scorpène-class conventional submarine,  Vagir, was delivered to the Navy by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) Mumbai on December 20. It is scheduled to be commissioned into service next month, a Navy official said.

“It is a matter of great pride that Vagir has completed all major trials including the weapon and sensor trials in the shortest time in comparison to the earlier submarines,” the Navy said in a statement. A notable achievement is that this is the third submarine delivered to the Navy in a span of 24 months, it added.

Vagir was launched into water on November 12, 2020 and commenced sea trials on February 1, 2022.

The sixth and last of the Scorpène-class submarines,  Vagsheer, was launched into water in April 2022 and is expected to be delivered to the Navy by end 2023.

Six Scorpene submarines are being built under Project-75 by MDL under technology transfer from Naval Group of France under a $3.75 billion deal signed in October 2005. The project is about four years behind schedule.

The first submarine INS  Kalvari was commissioned in December 2017, second submarine INS  Khanderi in September 2019, third one INS  Karanj in March 2021 and the fourth one INS  Vela joined service in November 2021.

Parallelly, the tender to build six more advanced conventional submarines under Project-75I is in the Request For Proposal (RFP) stage but has suffered delays.

With delays in submarine induction, the SSKs – 209s (German HDWs) and EKMs (Russian Kilo’s), are being put through the Medium Refit Life Certification (MRLC) process which will give them additional life of 10 to 15 years.

The Navy currently has 15 conventional and one nuclear submarine in service. It includes seven Russian Kilo class submarines, four German HDW submarines, four Scorpene class submarines and the indigenous nuclear ballistic missile submarine INS  Arihant.

The Navy has drawn up plans to install Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) modules on all Scorpene submarines as they go for their refit beginning with INS Kalvari in the next couple of years to enhance their endurance. Development of an indigenous AIP module developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is in advanced stages.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: RANKING / SCHOLARLY RESEARCH: India Jumps from 7th to 3rd Global Ranking in Scientific Publications

India has jumped from 7th to 3rd global ranking in scientific publications. This was informed by the Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh on Sunday after a review meeting with the senior official of Department of Science & Technology in New Delhi.

Lauding the consistent efforts of India’s scientific fraternity, Dr Jitendra Singh gave all credit to an enabling milieu and freedom of working provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said, the very fact that such quantum leaps in India’s scientific pursuits are happening only in the last few years is a testimony to the push given by PM Modi both in terms of the ease of policy as well as his personal indulgence and prioritisation.

Quoting the report of National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Science & Engineering Indicators 2022 of the United States, the Minister said India’s scholarly output has also increased from 60,555 papers in 2010 to 1,49,213 papers in 2020.

Dr Jitendra Singh also took pride that India now ranks 3rd in terms of number of PhDs in science and engineering.

He was also apprised that the number of patents granted to Indian scientists at India Patent Office (IPO) during the last three years has also increased from 2511 in 2018-19 to 4003 in 2019-20 and 5629 in 2020-21.

The National Science Foundation is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering.

Mr Singh added that India’s research performance in science and technology has improved significantly over the past few years which is visible through a large amount of scientific knowledge in terms of research publications, development of technologies and innovations contributing to overall development.

source/content: newsonair.gov.in (headline edited)

GLOBAL: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / MACHINE LEARNING : Rishi Rajpopat, Indian PhD student at Cambridge University solves 2,500-year-old Sanskrit puzzle making it possible, for the first time, to accurately use Panini’s so-called “language machine”.

Rishi Rajpopat solved the 2,500-year-old Sanskrit puzzle by decoding a rule taught by Panini, known as the father of linguistics.

A grammatical problem that has defeated Sanskrit scholars since the 5th Century BC has finally been solved by an Indian PhD student at the University of Cambridge, it emerged as his thesis was published on Thursday.

Rishi Rajpopat made the breakthrough by decoding a rule taught by Panini, known as the father of linguistics, and is now encapsulated in his thesis entitled ‘In Panini, We Trust: Discovering the Algorithm for Rule Conflict Resolution in the Astadhyayi’.

According to the university, leading Sanskrit experts have described Rajpopat’s discovery as “revolutionary” and it could now mean that Panini’s grammar can also be taught to computers for the first time.

“I had a eureka moment in Cambridge,” recalls Rajpopat.

“After nine months of trying to crack this problem, I was almost ready to quit, I was getting nowhere. So, I closed the books for a month and just enjoyed the summer, swimming, cycling, cooking, praying and meditating. Then, begrudgingly I went back to work, and, within minutes, as I turned the pages, these patterns started emerging, and it all started to make sense. There was a lot more work to do but I’d found the biggest part of the puzzle,” said the 27-year-old scholar.

Over the next few weeks, he was so excited that he couldn’t sleep and would spend hours in the library, including in the middle of the night, to check what he’d found and solve related problems. It would take another two and half years before he would get to the finish line.

“Panini had an extraordinary mind and he built a machine unrivalled in human history. He didn’t expect us to add new ideas to his rules. The more we fiddle with Panini’s grammar, the more it eludes us,” says Rajpopat.

The 2,500-year-old algorithm decoded by him makes it possible, for the first time, to accurately use Panini’s so-called “language machine”.

Rajpopat’s discovery makes it possible to “derive” any Sanskrit word, to construct millions of grammatically correct words, using Panini’s revered language machine, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest intellectual achievements in history.

Panini’s system – 4,000 rules detailed in his renowned work, the Astadhyayi, which is thought to have been written around 500 BC – is meant to work like a machine. Feed in the base and suffix of a word and it should turn them into grammatically correct words and sentences through a step-by-step process.

Until now, however, there has been a big problem. Often, two or more of Panini’s rules are simultaneously applicable at the same step leaving scholars to agonise over which one to choose. Solving so-called “rule conflicts”, which affect millions of Sanskrit words including certain forms of “mantra” and “guru”, requires an algorithm. Rajpopat’s research shows that Panini’s so-called language machine is also self-sufficient.

“My student Rishi has cracked it – he has found an extraordinarily elegant solution to a problem that has perplexed scholars for centuries. This discovery will revolutionise the study of Sanskrit at a time when interest in the language is on the rise,” said Professor Vincenzo Vergiani, Sanskrit professor and Rajpopat’s PhD supervisor.

Six months before Rajpopat made his discovery, Professor Vergiani gave him some prescient advice: “If the solution is complicated, you are probably wrong”. A major implication of Rajpopat’s discovery is that now there is the algorithm that runs Panini’s grammar, it could potentially teach this grammar to computers.

“Computer scientists working on Natural Language Processing gave up on rule-based approaches over 50 years ago. So teaching computers how to combine the speaker’s intention with Panini’s rule-based grammar to produce human speech would be a major milestone in the history of human interaction with machines, as well as in India’s intellectual history,” said Rajpopat.

Sanskrit is an ancient and classical Indo-European language from South Asia. While only spoken in India by an estimated 25,000 people today, it has influenced many other languages and cultures around the world.

“Some of the most ancient wisdom of India has been produced in Sanskrit and we still don’t fully understand what our ancestors achieved. We’ve often been led to believe that we’re not important, that we haven’t brought enough to the table. I hope this discovery will infuse students in India with confidence, pride, and hope that they too can achieve great things,” added Rajpopat.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: ARTS & CULTURE / OVERSEAS: India Restoring Angkor Wat Temple in Cambodia: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar

‘Today, we are restoring and renovating the temples in Angkor Wat. These are contributions which we are making outside because the civilisation of India has gone beyond India’.

The Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia is being restored by India because our civilisation is not limited to India, but is spread across countries, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Sunday said.

Addressing the Kashi Tamil Sangamam on the subject ‘contribution of temples in society and nation building’ being held here, Mr. Jaishankar said, “There are temples not only in India, not only in the Indian subcontinent, but in many regions beyond.”

“I had gone with the Vice President to see the biggest temple in the world—the Angkor Wat temple complex. Today, we are restoring and renovating the temples in Angkor Wat. These are contributions which we are making outside because the civilisation of India has gone beyond India,” he said.

“So, today when we are restoring, rebuilding, and re-energising Indian civilisation, our task is not only in India. Our task is all over the world. But, it is not only where our civilisation went, it is also where our travellers went, our traders went, our people of faith went,” he said.

Recalling his days as India’s ambassador to China, the minister said, “Some of you know that for many years, I have been an ambassador to China. I have seen the remnants of Hindu temples even in China on the east coast.” He said that there is a very special connection between Ayodhya and Korea, whose people want to be associated with the developments in Ayodhya, he said.

He also mentioned that Shrinath jee temple in Bahrain, and said, “All these were established by our people, when they went out. It is a matter of pride for us that we are building a temple in UAE, that we got approval to built a temple in Bahrain. We have done a lot of work in Vietnam.”

“So, how do we today take our culture out, take our values, our philosophy, our way of life and share it with the rest of the world through activities outside. We are very committed in the foreign ministry to doing that. We also support what people of India are doing outside … There are more than 1,000 temples in the US,” he said.

He said that there are 3.5 crore Indians and people of Indian origin abroad, who have taken Indian culture with them abroad. “So, it is also our efforts today to support them, and we do it in different ways.” Mr. Jaishankar also informed the audience that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged ₹200 crore to build a Ramayan Circuit into Nepal, “so that all of us will have an opportunity to visit our heritage in close quarters.”

“Even in Sri Lanka, we restored the Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar. This temple was closed for 12 years. So the fact that we took interest, made efforts, has made it possible for the revival of that temple,” he said.

Thiruketheeswaram Temple, one of the five sacred Ishwarams dedicated to Lord Shiva, is venerated by Shaivites throughout the subcontinent and the temple was testimony to the most difficult period in the history of Sri Lanka as it was closed for 12 years during the armed conflict and reopened in 2002.

The minister also said that in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake, many temples were damaged because they were old. “We have committed $50 million for restoration of cultural heritage in Nepal.”

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICAL SCIENCES / ALTERNATIVE: 9th World Ayurveda Congress 2022: Experts pitch for Innovations and Research in Ayurveda

Anirudha Joshi said he was envisaging developing wearable devices that could provide vital information about anatomy.

Ayurveda has an enormous potential for innovation but that requires an extensive technology-based research and a concrete roadmap to make it a global brand and its products effective and successful, said experts at the 9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) here.

“There are great possibilities of innovations in Ayurveda. There are challenges to develop techniques more advanced than supercomputers. We will have to work on those areas of computing which have not been heard of,” Padma Bhushan Vijay Bhatkar said, while chairing a plenary session on ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurs in Ayurveda’.

Anirudha Joshi, who is credited with developing award-winning ‘Nadi Tarangini’, an Artificial Intelligence-based instrument for pulse-reading, said he was envisaging developing wearable devices that could provide vital information about the human body.

“It will be very helpful if we can develop wearables which can do ‘Astha-vidha-pariksha’. Our vision is to go into prediction of different stages of a disease so that we can defer a disease if we cannot prevent it,” he explained.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Bhatkar said, “There is a need to develop new devices like `Nadi Tarangini’. We will have to think of ways of marketing, packaging, advertising our products and how they can be shown to the world.’‘ According to Kartikeya Baldva, CEO, Ixoreal Biomed Inc, Ayurveda, a traditional wellness system, had finally arrived but there was still a long way to go.

“It is very important to ensure the success of products but that would require quality, efficacy, branding, marketing and innovation,” he emphasised.

Ajit Kolatkar, Founder- Director of Pune- based Gastrolab India Pvt Ltd, said Ayurveda had to move in such a fashion that a doctor could diagnose the ailments of a patient by using minimum devices.

”We will have to start with fundamental research from Ayurvedic perspective. There has to be a concrete roadmap. There is a need to revisit Ayurveda in the context of contemporary science,” he said, adding there were many key areas where Ayurveda could contribute significantly.

Rishabh Chopra, founder of Ayurveda Experience, an Ayurvedic health and wellness platform, said ‘Ashwagandha’ had now become a popular product in the West.

However, there were several challenges to make Ayurvedic products globally acceptable. He also said Ashwagandha, turmeric and Yoga were some of the most online searched words in the West.

“Our vision is to go into prediction of different stages of a disease so that we can defer a disease if we cannot prevent it”Anirudha Joshi,Inventor,  ‘Nadi Tarangini’

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SECURITY: New Delhi Hosts ‘1st India-Central Asia Meeting of National Security Advisers (NSAs) 2022’ ; Asserts Connectivity with Central Asian Countries remains Key Priority for India

National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval on Tuesday said that connectivity with Central Asian countries remains India’s key priority.

Speaking at the first India-Central Asia meeting of the National Security Advisers, in New Delhi, Mr Doval said, peaceful, secure and prosperous Central Asia is in our common interest.

He added that countering terror financing should be everyone’s equal priority and urged all UN members to refrain from providing support to entities involved in terrorist acts.

He also spoke on the security situation in Afghanistan and said that it is an important issue concerning us all.

This is the first time India is hosting a conclave of top security officials from Central Asian countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan focussing on the evolving security situation in Afghanistan and ways to deal with the threat of terrorism emanating from that country.

In an apparent message to Pakistan, Doval said that India should appeal to all UN members to fulfill obligations enshrined in relevant counter-terror conventions. 

source/content: newsonair.gov.in (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SPORTS/ POWER LIFTING: Steel City’s Powerlifters M Durga Prasad & B Anil Kumar make Nation Proud, Securing 4 Gold Medals at the ‘Commonwealth Powerlifting & Bench Press Championship 2022’ New Zealand

Secure four gold medals each at Commonwealth C’ship held from Nov 28 to Dec 4.

Two powerlifters from Visakhapatnam made the country proud as they won four gold medals each during the Commonwealth Powerlifting and Bench Press Championship held in New Zealand from November 28 to December 4.

M Durga Prasad, a final year BA student, and B Anil Kumar, a first-year MBA student, won gold in bench press, squat, deadlift and overall championship in the 93 kg and 83 kg categories, respectively. Both the champions’ journeys may be different, but the feeling of joy they felt while representing their country on a foreign land and acing at it was the same.

Hailing from a farmer’s family, Anil never dreamt of becoming a powerlifter until his college lecturer encouraged him.  Summing up his journey, Anil said, “The last four years have been really difficult in terms of training and recovering from injuries. I did not realise that winning the medals in New Zealand was a great feat until I returned home and was welcomed by overwhelming appreciation and encouragement.”

In 2019, Anil had injured his wrists during training and was on bed rest for three months.Speaking about his international win, he said, “I have won several medals at the national level, but nothing matches the feeling of representing the country and winning medals on a foreign land.”

South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, North America, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Canada, England, Scotland, and Sri Lanka were among the other countries that took part in the powerlifting championship.


In the case of Durga Prasad, he watched his uncle powerlift and always wanted to try his luck at it. He started training at the age of 16.

“The weight of the bars seem nothing when compared to the happiness of representing my country amongst a number of foreign countries. I always wanted to succeed in the sport, but never expected it to be this big. We fail a lot of times in this journey, but that should not stop or create a negative impact on our willpower,” Prasad said and added, “To excel in powerlifting, one must have the zeal and patience. It is not something that can be achieved over night. It comes with practise, patience, and a proper diet. Frequent injuries should not discourage one from quitting in between.”

“I come from a marginalised background. A single training kit costs nearly `2 lakh. Spending lakhs of rupees to compete in such competitions is a burden for me and my family. Gaining international recognition brings happiness, but it should not be at the expense of incurring debt,” Anil rued.

Both Anil and Prasad aim to take part in the World Junior Powerlifting Championships scheduled to be held next year.

In recognition of their achievements, Dr Lankapalli Bullayya College is supporting the two powerlifters by providing them with free education until they complete their post-graduation.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: OLYMPICS: P.T. Usha creates History, becomes First Woman President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOC). Making her the 1st Indian Olympian and 1st International Medallist Heading the IOA.

P.T. Usha, fondly known as the ‘Payyoli Express’, is being seen as a candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which had nominated her as a Rajya Sabha member in July.

Ushering in a new era in the country’s sports administration, the legendary P.T. Usha was on December 10 elected as the first woman president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

The 58-year-old Ms. Usha, a multiple Asian Games gold medallist and fourth-place finisher in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m hurdles final, was declared elected unopposed for the top post in the polls.

The elections were held under the supervision of Supreme Court-appointed retired SC judge L Nageswara Rao.

The election of Ms. Usha to the top job marked an end to the long drawn crisis in the faction-ridden IOA, which was warned of a possible suspension by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if elections are not held this month.

The polls were originally due to be held in December 2021.

Ms. Usha’s anointment to the top post was a forgone conclusion late last month after she emerged as the lone candidate for the top post.

Nobody was willing to fight against Ms. Usha, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in July.

Ms. Usha, fondly known as the ‘Payyoli Express’, is being seen as a candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which had nominated her as a Rajya Sabha member in July.

She also became the first Olympian and first international medallist to head the IOA in its 95-year-old history, adding another feather in her cap after dominating Indian and Asian athletics for two decades before retiring in 2000 with a bagful of international medals.

Ms. Usha is the first sportsperson to have represented the country and also become IOA chief since Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, who played a Test match in 1934. Singh was the third IOA president who held office from 1938 to 1960.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)