RECORDS, INDIA (National) – Page 28

India’s missile woman Tessy Thomas to receive APJ Award 2022

The selection committee, headed by AP Majeed Khan, Chancellor of Noorul Islam University in association with NINS Medicity, announced the award recently.

Dr Tessy Thomas, Scientist and Director General (Aero Systems) at Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), also known as India’s missile woman, will be awarded APJ Award 2022.

A release said that Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education at Kumarakovil in Kanniyakumari district and NIMS Medicity have been jointly organising the award since 2019 to recognise government officials who have achieved excellence and achievements in their respective field of work.

Governor of Kerala Arif Mohammad Khan will present the award at a ceremony which will be held at NIMS Medicity, Neyyartinkarai on Tuesday (July 19) at 11 am.

The awardee will be receiving a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a certificate of appreciation and a commemorative trophy, the release added. It is to be noted that Tessy Thomas is the first woman scientist to head India’s missile programme.

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France has delivered all 36 Rafale jets to India: French envoy

35 jets have arrived in India, while one remains in France

France has delivered all 36 Rafale fighter jets to India, said the French Envoy in India, Emmanuel Lenain, speaking on the sidelines of the French National Day celebrations on Thursday.

However, while 35 jets have arrived in India, one jet still remains in France, official sources said.

One Rafale jet, which is the instrumented aircraft on which the 13 India specific enhancements (ISE) are being tested, is still in France, an official source said on Friday.

This is also the Rafale built for India and designated RB008. RB stands for former Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal R.K.S. Bhadauria who, as then Deputy Chief of IAF, led the Indian negotiation team and had a major role in the contract negotiations.

The last batch of three Rafale jets had arrived in India in February, taking the total Rafales in inventory of the Indian Air Force to 35. As reported by The Hindu earlier, work on upgrading all the Rafale jets in service to the Indian standard configuration with the 13 ISE is currently underway in India. All ISE have already been qualified and certified.

Varanasi to be first ‘Cultural and Tourism Capital’ of SCO: Secretary General Zhang Ming

Under this initiative, each year, a city of the cultural heritage of a member country that will take over the rotating Presidency of the organisation will get the title to highlight its prominence.

The holy city of Varanasi, showcasing India’s culture and traditions over the ages, will be declared the first “Cultural and Tourism Capital” of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Secretary-General of the bloc Zhang Ming said here on Friday.

The Beijing-headquartered Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an eight-member economic and security alliance comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

Mr. Ming said Varanasi will become the “Cultural and Tourism Capital” of the SCO for 2022-23 under a new rotating initiative by the eight-member organisation to promote people-to-people contacts and tourism among the member states.

“We are about to implement a rotating mechanism. We will rotate the title of ‘Cultural and Tourism Capital’ among the member states,” he said, adding that Varanasi, India’s ancient city, will be the first to be granted the title.

Under this initiative, each year, a city of the cultural heritage of a member country that will take over the rotating Presidency of the organisation will get the title to highlight its prominence, Mr. Ming told presspersons.

PM Modi inaugurates Bundelkhand Expressway in U.P.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, July 16, 2022 inaugurated the 296-km-long Bundelkhand Expressway, which passes through seven districts of Uttar Pradesh and has been constructed at a cost of around ₹14,850 crore.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath welcomed Mr. Modi by offering him a local ‘Bundeli’ stole at the inauguration ceremony at Kaitheri village in Orai tehsil of Jalaun district.

t extends from NH-35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

Boost to development in 7 districts

The four-lane expressway, which can be later expanded into six lanes, passes through seven districts —Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah.

From media to medicine to Apple Health V-P: Sumbul Desai’s Indian roots is common strand

If the rebel within her had prevailed, Dr Sumbul Desai would have been a journalist or a media honcho. But after many pivots in her career, the Sweden-born with Indian roots is now one of the most influential women in global tech — as Apple’s VP-Health.

“You’d never think that all of those stops you are going to make are going to help you with your ultimate role. All that learning ends up putting you exactly where you should be,” Desai told The Indian Express on video call from California.

Desai joined Apple five years ago to strengthen the Cupertino-based tech giant’s foray into personal health technologies. Before that, she was Vice Chair of Strategy and Innovation in the Department of Medicine at Stanford Medicine as well as Associate Chief Medical Officer at Stanford Healthcare.

And yet, those early stints with the Walt Disney Company and ABC News still stand out in her impressive resume. “My parents wanted me to be either a doctor or an engineer,” says Desai. Echoing millions of Indians across the world, her parents, who moved from India to Sweden and then the US, were no different when it came to their children, she points out.

Former Kerala MLA MJ Jacob hurdles age, wins medal at World Masters Athletics Championship

At 82, when his peers are leading a retired life playing with grandchildren or reading books at home, former MLA MJ Jacob refuses to be cowed down by age, and is vying with the best in the world. And winning too.

He has won medals for India at the World Masters Athletics Championship (WMAC) 2022 that concluded in Finland on Sunday.

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India hands 44,000 MT of urea to crisis-hit Sri Lanka

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay met Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to inform him about the arrival of the shipment

India on Sunday handed more than 44,000 metric tonnes of urea under a credit line extended to crisis-ridden Sri Lanka, as part of New Delhi’s ongoing efforts to support the island nation’s farmers and help bolster bilateral cooperation for food security, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said.

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay met Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to inform him about the arrival of more than 44,000 metric tonnes of urea.

New York gallery showcases the work of Kerala artist Tom Vattakuzhy

Tom Vattakuzhy’s solo show ‘Song of the Dusk’ on at a gallery in New York captures the loneliness and uncertainty of the pandemic times

A gradual sense of disquiet begins to build as you gaze into artist Tom Vattakuzy’s stunning painting,‘Song of the Dusk’. A burial is underway — a mound of soil occupies the centre of the frame with a wreath laid beneath it. The church looms behind, its imposing white walls contrasting the tangerine tones of a setting sun. People, wearing masks pulled down to their chins, stand around in sepulchral silence.

The 2020 oil-on-canvas work pits the staggering beauty of life against the transience of it. It captures the fear, the uncertainty and the festering sadness of pandemic deaths. Though he does not usually paint a series on a preset theme, he is moved by situations and experiences that he encounters. Tom’s works often carry untold emotional resonances of such experiences. This particular work could have originated from a sense of personal loss, says Tom, who lost his father around the time, though not to COVID-19.

AT&T inaugurates India Development Centre in Chennai

Company building a dedicated digital operations centre

The U.S.-based telecommunications giant AT&T has opened its new development centre in Chennai. The new facility was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology T. Mano Thangaraj with Bala Subramanian, Chief Digital Officer, AT&T.

The new centre at the RMZ Millenia Campus Phase 2 on MGR Salai has capacity to accommodate around 300 employees and will focus on building digital capabilities. “We recognise the talent and potential in Chennai and are excited about offering an environment where teams can work on features that have a direct impact on AT&T customers and employees,” Mr. Bala Subramanian said in a statement.

“In addition, we are building a dedicated digital operations centre (DoC) that will act as a beachhead for our customer-centric operations transformation,” he added.

PM Modi inaugurates Deoghar airport, unveils ₹16,800-crore projects in Jharkhand

He also flagged off the Deoghar-Kolkata IndiGo flight from the new airport

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the 657-acre Deoghar airport, constructed at a cost of ₹401 crore.

He also flagged off the Deoghar-Kolkata IndiGo flight from the new airport.

The airport has a 2,500-metre-long runway, which can handle the landing and takeoff of Airbus A320 planes.

Mr. Modi had laid the foundation stone of the Deoghar airport on May 25, 2018, as a key step towards providing direct connectivity to Baba Baidyanath Dham, which is an important religious destination for devotees from all over the country.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, on the occasion, said the airport will be linked to Ranchi, Patna and Delhi in the days to come.