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** Times Group chairperson Indu Jain dies

Indu Jain was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the third highest civilian honour in the country, in 2016.

She set up The Times Foundation in 2000, with sustainable development and transformational change as its key goals. One of India’s most respected non-profits, it provides community services and runs the Times Relief Fund to offer assistance during cyclones, earthquakes, floods, epidemics and other crises.

She was the founder president of FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), established in 1983 to promote entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women in India. From 1999, she also served as chairperson of Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust, founded in 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, her father-in-law, to promote literature in Indian languages.

** Forum of Telugu NRI doctors joins fight against COVID-19

Besides donating essential equipment, it offers virtual guidance in critical cases

A U.S.-based forum of Telugu NRIs – Telugu Covid Task Force – USA (TCTF-USA) – has come forward to donate essential equipment such as pulse oxymeters, sanitisers, gloves, facemasks, PPE kits, and medicines for the COVID Care Centres (CCCs), besides adopting some of the mandals in Andhra Pradesh.

** Nehru Planetarium director is dead

Director of the Nehru Planetarium N. Rathnasree passed away on Sunday, the Culture Ministry said on Tuesday.

In a statement on Twitter and Facebook, the Ministry, under which the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) and planetarium function, said: “Extremely saddened to learn about the unfortunate demise of Dr. N. Rathnasree, Director of Nehru Planetarium under @_NMML_ passed away on Sunday

** India-born Ivy League alumni and students come together to raise funds to fight COVID-19

Make a donation to a cause fighting COVID-19 and get a one-on-one counselling session with industry professionals and alumni of top institutions across the world

Rather than feel helpless when the second wave of COVID-19 hit the country, US-based Princeton alumni Shreyas Lakhtakia and Julu Beth Katticaran turned “the negative emotion of being away from India into a positive one by offering help”. This eventually led to the formation of Students Fight COVID (studentsfightcovid.in), a fund-raiser for COVID-hit in India.

** Using tyres, this Indian architect has built 250-plus playgrounds across the country

Pooja Rai’s NGO, Anthill Creations, builds sustainable playgrounds for kids

Two little boys were engrossed in a game of badminton: their slippers served as racquets. Nearby, two other kids played atop broken sewer pipes. This sight made Pooja Rai think: “Playgrounds should not be a luxury. It is something every child should have access to for free.”

And that is when the then 23-year-old student of architecture in IIT-Kharagpur made her first playground for children within her institution’s campus, using colourful tyres from cars and two wheelers re-purposed as play equipment.

** Sukh-Dukh, a helpline by Pallium India, provides counselling in eight Indian languages

The Kerala-based NGO provides grief counselling for those who have lost a family member due to COVID-19 through the helpline

The calls for help from all over India are from those trying to come to terms with the loss of a family member due to COVID-19. And Pallium India, a non-Governmental organisation headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram, is helping them overcome the numbing grief with the help of Sukh-Dukh, a helpline that provides counselling in eight Indian languages.

** Snapdeal creates platform to connect patients with plasma donors

E-commerce firm Snapdeal on Monday launched a new platform which can be used to connect COVID-19 patients with potential plasma donors.

The platform, called ‘Sanjeevani’, is accessible via website as well as mobile application. Patients and donors can register themselves with their mobile numbers/email ids and provide relevant information like blood group, location, age and donor recovery date.

** Ranchi girl to study at Harvard University

17-year-old Seema Kumari bags full scholarship for undergraduate course.

A girl from a Jharkhand village is preparing for study at Harvard University unlike many of her contemporaries in the area who are usually married off early.

Seema Kumari, aged 17, from Dahu village under Ormanjhi block of Ranchi district, has earned a full scholarship for pursuing an undergraduate course at Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and plans to leave for the US in August.

“Not only that, Seema also got selected in some other well known universities and institutions like Ashoka University, Middlebury College and Trinity College,” said Franz Gastler, who along 
with some friends had established Yuva School at Hutup village in Ormanjhi about a decade ago that groomed girls like Seema.