The awardees included IAS officer Dr Lakshmanan S, presently the mission director of the National Health Mission (NHM); Munindra Nath Ngatey, director of health services (family welfare); Dr Basanta Hazarika, professor, pulmonary medicine, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH); ASHA worker Bornita Momin and ANM Namita Kalita.
Category: Amazing Feats
** Indian Navy’s ‘Killers’ squadron, that sunk Pak warships, to get President’s Standard
This year also marks 50 years of inception of the Missile Vessel Squadron, also known as the ‘Killers’, which over the past five decades has maintained the capability of delivering a credible offensive punch from the sea, a Navy official said on Sunday.
** Out of 17,726 registered pilots in India, 2,764 are women; the highest percentage in the world
India has a total of 17,726 registered pilots out of which the number of women pilots is 2,764.
Globally, according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, around 5 percent of pilots are women. In India, the share of women pilots is significantly higher – at over 15 percent, Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation VK Singh said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Monday.
** Uttar Pradesh: Plastic surgeon performs 37,000 free surgeries to make kids smile
Plastic surgeon Dr Subodh Kumar Singh struggled in his childhood days to become a doctor; he now offers free corrective surgeries to kids born with cleft lip/palate.
He was a meritorious student, who along with his studies also sold goggles and washed soaps to support his family in Varanasi in 1979. Today, Dr Subodh Singh has earned fame as a plastic surgeon by performing free corrective surgeries (under the worldwide initiative Smile Train) on kids born with cleft lip/palate. Till date, he has brought back smiles in the lives of 25,000 families through 37,000 free cleft-palate surgeries.
** India has supplied over 723 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 94 countries, two UN entities: Government
** Fellowship conferred on K.S.Rangappa
K.S.Rangappa, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore, has been elected as Fellow of the Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI) for 2021, according to a release.
The fellowship is given to Indian scientists in recognition of their significant research contributions in the field of sciene and Prof. Rangappa was recognised for his work in the areas of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, the release added.
** Indian wheat to feed Afghans on the brink of starvation
This is the first time India does not have its feet on the ground in Afghanistan, as it evacuated all diplomats in August.
India’s decision to send 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and life-saving medicines to Afghanistan through the Wagah border in Pakistan without conditionalities marks the first tangible engagement with the Taliban ever since it captured Kabul in August last.
By doing so, India is walking the talk on providing humanitarian aid to the nation that became a basket case following crippling sanctions and an international freeze on its assets. UN estimates suggest about 55% of the Afghan population, which would work out to about 22.8 million people, face food insecurity this winter.
** Susanta Kumar Dash: Geneticist on a mission to register Odisha’s native livestock breeds
A professor of OUAT and animal geneticist, Susanta Kumar Dash has helped govt in registering 4 native breeds of cattle, 3 breeds of buffalo and one breed of sheep, writes Sudarsan Maharana.
In the last two decades, animal geneticist Susanta Kumar Dash has helped Odisha register eight of its native livestock breeds and secure their Intellectual Property (IP) rights. Working in the field of native livestock breed conservation since 2004, Dash – a professor in the department of animal breeding and genetics in OUAT, Bhubaneswar – has registered four breeds of cattle, three breeds of buffalo and one breed of sheep, all having their own unique features, from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources.
** Indian-American mathematician Nikhil Srivastava among 3 selected for inaugural Ciprian Foias Prize
Along with Prof. Srivastava, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, the two other awardees are Adam Marcus and Daniel Spielman
Eminent Indian-American mathematician Nikhil Srivastava, has been jointly selected for the inaugural $5,000 Ciprian Foias Prize for the “highly original work” in Operator Theory by the American Mathematical Society (AMS).
** An innovation that can better protect power grids
High current surges, if unchecked, cause heating of the wires and perhaps melting and consequent short-circuits and fire accidents
Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur have come up with an innovation that can help protect power grids against sudden, unexpected current surges.
Over a period of about three years, Prof. Banerjee and his PhD scholars have developed this “smart” SFCL device which deploys an array of Hall sensors around a basic SFCL. The array of Hall sensors placed around the SFCL constantly “measure and monitor as well as map” the current flowing inside the superconductor.