Category: Amazing Feats

** This Kerala ISRO official has spent three decades space-bound

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).

nie/first

** IIT-M researchers develop zinc-air batteries

It is an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras are developing mechanically rechargeable zinc-air batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries to power electric vehicles (EV). They have filed for patents for their technology and are collaborating with major industries to develop the batteries.

As zinc-air batteries are economical and have longer shelf-life, they can be used in two and three-wheel EVs, the researchers say.

Aravind Kumar Chandiran, assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Institute, and his team is working on zinc-air batteries as zinc is a widely available resource in the country. Currently India imports lithium-ion batteries from China. “Our research team is developing a futuristic model for zinc-air batteries for EVs. The team has developed zinc-air cells and is working to develop zinc-air packs for EVs,” he said

th

Prabhakar Kore receives honorary degree of PhD from USA’s Thomas Jefferson University

Philadelphia, USA-based Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Science to Prabhakar Kore, KLE society chairman.

Richard Haverstick Jr. Interim President and CEO, Thomas Jefferson University and Mark L. Tykocinski, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Vice Chancellor gave the honorary degree at the University Convocation held on May 25.

It is a matter of pride for India as such an award is the first for any Indian, said a release by KLE society.

KLE has multiple academic collaborations with international institutes like Thomas Jefferson University, University of North Carolina, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Kings college and others.

The key focus of the TJU collaboration has been on reduction in the burden of mortality/morbidity during pregnancy, childbirth and early childhood development. The TJU-JNMC Research Unit funded by NICHD Global Network, has led community-based, multi-centre, multi-country trials for prevention of pre-term birth and mortality during childbirth. The results have had far reaching impact at the grassroot levels and have been incorporated in the guidelines by the Ministry of Health, Govt of India and the World Health Organization. Furthermore it is now a “WHO Collaborating Centre for Research in Maternal and Perinatal Health”.

The Academic and Research collaboration between KAHER and TJU in the areas of Public Health, Urology and Integrative Medicine commenced in July 2017 and has been expanded to include specialties of Neurology, Radiology, Neonatology, Psychiatry, Nursing and Physiotherapy. The Faculty and student exchange, research grants as well as the upcoming establishment of the India Centre at Thomas Jefferson University on 26th May 2022 is a testimony of the strong academic bond between KLE and TJU, said the release.

First/th

** Massachusetts hosts America’s first-ever Dalit art exhibition

Boston, Massachusetts :

Massachusetts’s Somerville city hosted the first-ever art exhibition in the United States, exclusively featuring Dalit and Bahujan artists on April 30. Titled ‘Where Art Belongs’, over 40 artists’ work was displayed, including visual art, poetry, and music.

Organized by Adavi Myah, an art collective led by Dalit and Bahujan women, the exhibition will run for four weeks until May 30, 2022.

Adavi Myah was founded in 2018 and is an amalgamation of words from Telugu and Chhattisgarhi, translated as “Love of the Forest.” It was formed to reflect the oppressed caste community struggles and stories of resilience through art.  

tcn/First

** Jharkhand to get WHO award for tobacco control

National Tobacco Control Programme was launched in Jharkhand in 2012 when the tobacco prevalence rate in the State was 51.1 per cent

Recognising its efforts in controlling tobacco consumption, the World Health Organization (WHO) has selected Jharkhand for the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Award-2022, an official said on Sunday.

Stata Tobacco Control Cell of the Health Department will receive the award on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day in New Delhi on May 31, Jharkhand’s nodal officer of National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) Lalit Ranjan Pathak told PTI.

th

** From Jharkhand to Singapore, Chandradev Sharma’s fairytale journey . Restaurant Entrepreneur.

Chandradev shared his story with IANS. He said that because of his family’s poor financial condition, he started distributing newspapers at the age of 15-16. In those days the undeclared rule of the Maoists was prevailing in their village and the surrounding areas. He used to give news and information of the area to a newspaper office in Hazaribagh district headquarters. Due to this people also started recognising him as a reporter in the rural areas.

During the year and a half, the company’s director Mahadevan got very impressed with Chandradev’s dedication, hard work and honesty. In those days, the company decided to open a restaurant in Singapore. Mahadevan sent some people, including Chandradev to Singapore. There also, Chandradev started working as a waiter, but his salary increased to Rs 30,000. After a few months, seeing his efficiency, he was made the manager of the restaurant.

Impressed by his behaviour, a frequent customer of the restaurant offered Chandradev to open a new restaurant in partnership. By that time Chandradev had saved about Rs 3 lakh from his salary money. The estimated cost of opening the restaurant was Rs 50 lakh. The person offering the partnership said that even if he invests Rs 6 lakh, he will make him a partner in the restaurant. Chandradev raised the money by borrowing from friends and then opened the first restaurant — Tandoori Culture — in partnership in 2011.

Chandradev did not leave the job of Oriental Cuisine even after opening his restaurant. He worked there during the day and at his restaurant at night. Within a year, his restaurant got established and made a profit of about Rs 50 lakh.

In 2013, another restaurant with a capacity of 70 people with the same name was opened by him on a partnership basis. Chandradev said that as per the rules of Singapore, a person who is not a citizen there is only allowed to do business in partnership with a local citizen.

In the year 2020, on February 28 and 29, on two consecutive days, he opened two different restaurants, namely ‘Tandoori Zaika’ and ‘Salaam Mumbai’.

dw/nri-pio

** Women make their families proud as they march out of the Indian Naval Academy as officers

What makes the likes of Brahmjot Kaur tick? She holds a B.Tech degree in Electronics and Communications and could have opted for a job in the private sector. Yet, it was that attraction for the uniform that prevailed. On Saturday, she was one of 30 women who marched out of the Indian Naval Academy in Ezhimala, Kerala, as a sub lieutenant of the Indian Navy.

“It is great that the number of women opting for the Navy as a career is going up. As it is, the Navy has the largest percentage (6.2 per cent) of women officers among the three armed forces in the country. In the batch that passed out on Saturday, there were 210 men and 30 women. That means that this batch had 12.5 per cent women. We also have women pilots serving on ships now,” a senior naval officer said.

While Brahmjot is from the Naval Armament Inspectorate Cadre (NAIC), there are other women in her batch who will go on to become logistics officers, law officers, observers and naval constructors after further training at other bases. The last 5-odd months at Ezhimala have been gruelling, Brahmjot says but she is ready for more.

Her grandfather is Wing Commander Swarn Singh Birdi (retd) and her father is Group Captain Simranpal Singh Birdi. Her maternal grandfather is Lt Col K.S. Cheema (retd).

dw/first

** Ajman: Around 6000 people avail benefits of Thumbay Hospital’s Free Mega Medical, Dental camp

More than 6000 people from 40 different nationalities availed the benefits of Thumbay University Hospital’s Free Mega Medical and Dental Camp at its Al Jurf branch, Ajman held on Sunday, May 23.

The free mega health camp offered check-ups with consultant specialists and general practitioners in specialties like Cardiology, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Dental, Gynecology, Pediatrics, ENT, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Dermatology, Family Medicine, Urology, Nephrology, Gastroenterology and Pulmonology among others. In addition to this, the camp offered free medicines and free screenings such as a Blood Sugar, ECG, Ultrasound, Physiotherapy, Eye checkup, Blood pressure, BMI screening & discount on dental procedures and radiology services.

dw

** Geetanjali Shree’s ‘Tomb of Sand’ first Hindi novel to win International Booker Prize

Indian author Geetanjali Shree has won the prestigious International Booker Prize for her Hindi novel Ret Samadhi, translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell.

The Mainpuri-born, 65-year-old Ms. Shree follows in the footsteps of Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Arundhati Roy and Arvind Adiga to win the award.

The book was chosen among 135 longlisted ones.

The Hindi original was published in 2018 while the English translation hit the stores in India in March this year. “This rather chunky text,” as Ms. Rockwell said at the award ceremony, “is the first time the translation of a Hindi language book had been nominated for the award”.

“Shortlisting from 135 books was daunting. Choosing a single one from them has been agonising,” as the compere said before the announcement.

First / th

** Nilima Jogalekar goes down memory lane

The former India player, who is a match referee now, recalls the country’s first women’s National tournament in 1973

A smile flashes across Nilima Jogalekar’s face as she recalls that cricket match from half-a-century ago. “I received my first prize for cricket in that game, you know,” she says. “A Glucose biscuit from the umpire; I got it for scoring a boundary, from the only shot I had at that time: the swing to the leg-side.”

She was just 12 then. She was so small, she was nearly dwarfed by her pads. It was no ordinary match, that one. It was the first match in India’s first National tournament. It was held at the Nehru Stadium here in the summer of 1973.

First/th