** On 45 acres and for over 20 years: TN farmer scripts unique deer love story

A 70-year-old resident of Pudupalayam in Avinashi, R Gurusamy has left 45 acres of his land in the village for the spotted deer to graze on for over 20 years.

This has helped the deer population in the locality rise from 400 to over 1,200, according to unofficial estimates.

** Two spacetech startups get access to ISRO facilities, expertise to test rocket systems

The Department of Space (DoS) has entered into a Framework MoU with aerospace startup Agnikul Cosmos for access to ISRO facilities and expertise towards the development and testing of subsystems/systems of space launch vehicles.

The MoU will enable the company to undertake multiple tests and access facilities at various ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) centres for testing and qualification of its single piece 3D printed Semi Cryo engine and other systems.

** Veerappa Moily, Arundhathi Subramaniam, other winners receive Sahitya Akademi Award

While Moily received the prestigious award for his epic poetry ‘Sri Bahubali Ahimsadigvijayam’ in Kannada, Subramaniam won the award for her poetry collection, “When God is a Traveller”, in English.

The other winners in poetry include Harish Meenakshi (Gujarati), Anamika (Hindi), RS Bhaskar (Konkani), Irungbam Deven (Manipuri), Rupchand Hansda (Santali), and Nikhileswar (Telugu).

Nanda Khare (Marathi), Maheshchandra Sharma Gautam (Sanskrit), Imaiyam (Tamil) and Sri Hussain-ul-Haque bagged the award for their novels.

Apurba Kumar Saikia (Assamese), (late) Dharanidhar Owari (Bodo), (late) Hiday Koul Bharti (Kashmiri), Kamalkant Jha (Maithili) and Gurdev Singh Rupana (Punjabi) have received the award for short stories.

The Akademi has named Gian Singh (Dogri) and Jetho Lalwani (Sindhi) the winners for their plays, while Mani Shankar Mukhopadhyay, popularly known as Shankar received the award for memoir (Bengali).

** Harmilan, Aishwarya claim golden doubles in National Open Athletics

Harmilan Kaur Bains (Punjab) completed the women’s middle-distance double while Railway’s B. Aishwarya achieved the same feat in women’s horizontal jumps at the 60th National Open Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

** TVS acquires 80 per cent stake in Swiss e-bike company

Chennai-based TVS Motor Company has acquired 80% stake in Swiss electric bicycle and personal mobility company EGO Movement for around $18 million. 

This is also TVS’ second major acquisition in Europe after taking over Norton Motorcycles in July 2020.

** Kerala nurses win National Florence Nightingale Award for their selfless service

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the National Florence Nightingale Award 2020 to 51 nurses across the country. Adhering to Covid protocols, the presentation of the awards was held as a virtual ceremony.