Category: RECORDS, INDIA (National)

** Techies, MBA grads in Kochi queue up for onion farming job in South Korea

The onion farms are located in the Sinan and Muan islands in the southern part of South Korea. The salary promised is $1,500 monthly (around Rs 1,12,500 going by today’s exchange rate).

Kiran KS, 32, an MBA graduate who lost his job during the first wave of the pandemic, has been desperately looking for a means to survive. A native of North Paravoor, Kiran was one of the 800 applicants who thronged the Ernakulam Town Hall to attend a recruitment seminar for an onion farming job at South Korea organised by Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultant (ODEPC) — a state agency. 

** DRDO, IAF jointly test long range bomb

The bomb has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad in coordination with other DRDO laboratories.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday, October 29, 2021, jointly flight-tested an indigenously developed Long Range Bomb (LRB) from an aerial platform.

** New abortion rules recognise minors as vulnerable, seek to make services more accessible to them

The new abortion rules notified by the Government recently recognise minors as a vulnerable category and seek to make services more accessible to them. But social stigma and conflict with POCSO Act, 2012, or the law against child sexual abuse, pose hurdles.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Rules, 2021, define new categories of vulnerable women who are allowed termination up to 24 weeks upon meeting certain conditions and with the permission of two doctors. These include minors, survivors of sexual assault and those with foetal malformation among others. Others may seek abortion up to 20 weeks with the permission of one doctor upon meeting certain criteria — earlier you needed the permission of one doctor for termination up to 12 weeks, and two doctors for 12 to 20 weeks. The amended law provides for setting up of State-level medical boards to decide if a pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities.

** 260 ITBP personnel awarded special operation medal for service during eastern Ladakh standoff

The award was given in recognition of the “indomitable courage and devotion to duty” shown by them in eastern Ladakh between May, 2020 and February this year.

As many as 260 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel were awarded the Union Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal on Sunday for rendering exceptional service during the ongoing military standoff with the Chinese PLA in eastern Ladakh.

** Gajanan Upadhyaya: The father of Indian furniture design

In 1966, he left for Copenhagen to train in furniture design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, worked with Poul Kjærholm, and a host of other designers during the golden period of Danish design.

In 2018, when I last met Gajanan Upadhyaya, he was as full of enthusiastic energy as in the 1980s when I was a student at the institute. He quizzed me in that inimitable way of his, ‘But you are not a furniture designer, you are a communication designer, why have you come to ask me about my chairs?’. As quickly and without waiting for my reply, he proceeded to explain the details of the particular chair he was holding up.

** 65 Indian artists will get together in Italy for a groundbreaking exhibition in November

The Hub India art show in Turin marks what one hopes will be the re-emergence of physical art viewing worldwide

Sometimes art is the best catharsis. Even as India emerges into what seems like the beginning of the end of the pandemic, a major project featuring more than 65 Indian artists will open in Turin, Italy, in the coming days, signalling the relaunch of public and overseas engagements for art. Coming in these fractured times, the Hub India exhibition seems like a testament to the irrepressible quality of the humane and artistic spirit.

** An Economist at Home and Abroad: A personal Journey’ review: A ringside view of India’s path to tax reforms and liberalisation

Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser, gently looks back at his time in the government, without revealing any secrets

When economist Shankar Acharya returned to India in 1982, after studying and working abroad for 23 years, he had a job waiting for him in the newly set up National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) in Delhi. He was to head a study commissioned by the Finance Ministry on the dimensions of India’s black money problem. He and his team submitted the report in early 1985 and it made quite a splash. Among other things it was sceptical about demonetisation and voluntary disclosure schemes to deal with the problem. Anecdotes like this are strewn all over An Economist at Home and Abroad.

** First in Telugu States, gay couple to announce their wedding in December

The couple plan to hold a celebration of their relationship without any marriage formalities, as the law still does not permit same gender marriages.

It is just a normal story of two people living together next door, but in this story there are two men, says Hyderabad-based hotel management school lecture Supriyo Chakraborty, who along with his partner Abhay Dang, will announce their wedding to be celebrated on December 18th, making it the first gay wedding in the Telugu States.

** HAL delivers 200th Gun Bay Door for Boeing Super Hornet

This partnership is a testimony to the world class capability of our industrial partners in the country’, Salil Gupte, the president of Boeing India, said.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on Friday delivered the 200th gun bay door for Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet. HAL has been supplying the aero-structure to Boeing for the last 10 years. 

“Our partnership with HAL is an example of our commitment to Atmanirbhar Bharat and to the growth of India’s aerospace and defence ecosystem. We see tremendous potential for India to contribute to the global aerospace industry as an industrial and technology partner. This partnership is a testimony to the world class capability of our industrial partners in the country”, Salil Gupte, the president of Boeing India, said.