Category: Uncategorized

** We’ll talk about my goals in 10 years’ time, says Chhetri after surpassing Messi

Instead of his goals, Chhetri focussed on the many lessons his team will take home from Monday’s game.

Sunil Chhetri has never liked counting his goals and he prefers to keep it that way even after surpassing the great Lionel Messi as the second highest scorer in international football.

The 36-year-old Chhetri achieved his 74th strike with his brace against Bangladesh in the joint preliminary qualifying round match for 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup on Monday night. Messi has 73 so far

** How the Cold War in Germany played a small yet significant part in establishing IIT Madras

A recently-published research paper unearths an oft-forgotten chapter in the establishment of IIT-Madras and its connection with the Cold War in Germany, which resulted in the formation of the now-revered institution.

One of the “largest and most successful educational projects” that emerged out of Indo-German relations during the Cold War, was the establishment of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) in 1959, which, when seen from the perspective of FDR, was largely driven by the Cold War foreign policy it shared with 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.

** MSD ties up with 5 Indian pharma majors for supply of oral COVID-19 drug Molnupiravir

MSD has signed agreements with Cipla Ltd., Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Hetero Labs Ltd. and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd

MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck Sharp & Dohme and known as Merck & Co., Inc., has entered into non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreements with five top Indian generic manufacturers for supply of molnupiravir, an investigational oral antiviral agent currently being studied in a Phase-3 trial for the treatment of non-hospitalised patients with confirmed COVID-19, in India.

** India connect at Oscars: win for ‘My Octopus Teacher’, Irrfan and Athaiya remembered

Indian echoes at the 93rd Academy Awards, a social distancing event held in the shadow of the pandemic, were faint but distinct.

“My Octopus Teacher”, which has Indian filmmaker Swati Thiyagarajan as associate producer and production manager, won the best documentary feature at the Oscars, which also honoured actor Irrfan Khan and costume designer Bhanu in its ‘In Memoriam’ segment.

Indian echoes at the 93rd Academy Awards, a social distancing event held in the shadow of the pandemic, were faint but distinct.

“We won!!! Best documentary feature Oscar!!!,” Thiyagarajan, who has also written “Born Wild: Journey into the Wild Hearts of India and Africa”, tweeted after “My Octopus Teacher” bagged the Oscar.