Business & Economy – Page 19 – Global Records India

WHO approves Hyderabad firm to make vaccines for Johnson & Johnson

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved India based manufacturing site in Hyderabad, Biological E Limited, to make Covid vaccines for Jansen/Johnson & Johnson.

“This is a great progress for Quad Vaccine and the US India Health partnership,” said a US Embassy spokesperson.

This manufacturing would be done through US technical support and DFC financing. DFC is a US International Development Finance Corporation that invests in the development and advancing US Foreign Policy.

“Quad partners have collectively committed $524 million to the next phase of CEPI’s (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness) which is an innovative global partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats) work, accounting for about 50 per cent of total public investors,” according to the joint statement released by Quad members after the Summit last month.

nie

India’s newest airline Akasa Air’s first aircraft lands at Delhi airport after long ride from Seattle

Flying all the way from Seattle in the United States, India’s newest airline Akasa Air’s first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Tuesday.(June 21).

“The arrival of our first aircraft is a very happy moment for all of us & marks an important milestone, bringing us closer to our vision of building India’s greenest, most dependable, and most affordable airline,” said Vinay Dube, founder, managing director & chief executive officer, Akasa Air.

It was only last week the airline took delivery of its first 737 Max aircraft from Boeing in Seattle. In November 2021, Akasa had inked a $9 billion deal with the US-based aircraft major to purchase 72 MAX planes, which includes an initial delivery of 18 aircraft by March 2023 and the remaining 54 aeroplanes in the next four years. These planes will be powered by the fuel-efficient CFM LEAP B engine.

nie

India ranks fourth in global gold recycling; recycled 75 tonnes in 2021: WGC

India has emerged as the fourth largest recycler in the world and the country has recycled 75 tonnes in 2021, according to a World Gold Council (WGC) report.

According to the WGC report titled ‘Gold refining and recycling’, China topped the global gold recycling chart as it recycled 168 tonnes of the yellow metal, followed by Italy in the second position with 80 tonnes and the US at the third rank with 78 tonnes in 2021.

India was ranked fourth in the list as the country recycled 75 tonnes in 2021.

According to the WGC report titled ‘Gold refining and recycling’ from 300 tonnes in 2013, India’s gold refining capacity increased by 1,500 tonnes (500%) in 2021.

The report further noted that the gold refining landscape in the country has changed over the last decade, with the number of formal operations increasing from less than five in 2013 to 33 in 2021.

While the informal sector accounts for as much as an additional 300-500 tonnes, it is worth noting that the scale of unorganised refining has fallen, largely due to the government’s tightening of pollution regulations.

PM Modi flags off first-ever torch relay for Chess Olympiad

In nearly 100 years of the history of the Chess Olympiad, it’s the first time that India will be hosting the prestigious event.

The international chess body, FIDE, for the very first time has instituted the torch relay, which is part of the Olympic tradition, but was never done in the Chess Olympiad.

FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the torch to the prime minister who gave it to the legendary Viswanathan Anand.

The torch will be taken to 75 cities in a span of 40 days before arriving in Mahabalipuram near Chennai. At every location, chess grandmasters of the state will receive the torch.

Leh, Srinagar, Jaipur, Surat, Mumbai, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata, Gangtok, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thrissur, Port Blair and Kanyakumari are among the 75 cities.

In nearly 100 years of the history of the Chess Olympiad, it’s the first time that India will be hosting the prestigious event. With 188 countries registered for the upcoming Olympiad, the country is set to witness a huge congregation of nations for a sporting event for the first time on Indian soil.

ie/first

NLCIL chief gets award

Rakesh Kumar, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NLC India Ltd (NLCIL), was recently conferred with the ‘Top Rankers Excellence – CEO of the Year Award’, according to a press release issued by NLCIL.

The award is instituted by a private agency – Top Rankers Management Club. He was also given the ‘CEO Leadership Excellence Award’, the release said.

Quantum diamond microscope to image magnetic fields

Researchers tap fluorescence changes in special, diamond sensors to image time-varying fields

Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai and Kharagpur have built a microscope that can image magnetic fields within microscopic two-dimensional samples that change over milliseconds. This has a huge potential for scientific applications, such as in measuring biological activity of neurons and dynamics of vortices in superconductors. The work, led by IIT Bombay professor Kasturi Saha, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, has been published in Scientific Reports. This is the first time that such a tool has been built to image magnetic fields that change within milliseconds.

he team had started a collaboration with IIT Kharagpur in 2017 with the ambitious target of building a novel system to image the brain. They collaborated with Sharba Bandopadhyay, who brought in an expertise in neurobiology and bioengineering to complement the knowledge of quantum optics, quantum computing and quantum sensing that was Prof. Saha’s forte.

“We have, along with PhD student Madhur Parashar, developed an algorithm to image neurons in 3D using NV quantum sensors,” says Prof. Saha.

This work was published in Communications Physics in 2020. We have jointly filed a patent for the present work, she adds.

Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai and Kharagpur have built a microscope that can image magnetic fields within microscopic two-dimensional samples that change over milliseconds.
Prof. Saha explains that the ideal frame rate to capture a changing magnetic field is one that captures data at twice the frequency of the changing field.
The key aspect of this sensor is a “nitrogen vacancy (NV) defect centre” in a diamond crystal. Such NV centres act as pseudo atoms with electronic states that are sensitive to the fields and gradients around them (magnetic fields, temperature, electric field and strain).

Guwahati: IIT prosthetic leg that allows deep squatting

Research for developing artificial limb is funded by Union ministry of education and the department of biotechnology.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) have developed an affordable prosthetic leg with advanced features, specifically designed for Indian conditions.

The IIT Guwahati said on Monday that the artificial limb allows its user to sit cross-legged and squat deep and is suitable for uneven terrain.

“Affordable prosthetics that are available in the market have many functional limitations. In addition, the Indian lifestyle and uneven terrain require prosthetics with specifications unique to India, which are not widely available in the market. The leg developed by us is state-of-the-art technology, affordable, light weight, stable and capable of mimicking most of the human joint’s motion, the IIT-G said, adding cost of around Rs 25,000 is ensured using the technology.

IIT Guwahati researchers collaborated with 151 Army Base Hospital, Guwahati, Tolaram Bafna Kamrup District Civil Hospital, Guwahati Neurological Research Centre (GNRC), North Guwahati, and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGHRIMS), Shillong, to develop the leg.

A team led by professor S. Kanagaraj, department of mechanical Engineering, IITG, set out to tackle these issues. Prototypes of their models developed by this research team are currently undergoing trials.

Professor Bhaskar Borgohain, head of department (Orthopaedic) at NEIGHRIMS told The Telegraph that work on the project started in 2013 with the objective of developing a “user-friendly and light weight” limb.

He has been associated with the project from the beginning.

“The legs developed by us will not only help cut down on imports of prosthetic legs, especially from Germany and UK, but will also be a huge relief to those in need of such legs. An imported artificial limb will cost anywhere between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh. Our legs would cost much less. It will be launched soon,” Borgohain said.

IPL media rights: Star India bags TV rights; Viacom18 digital rights

At the end of intense bidding over three days through e-auction, BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced the winning bidders.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has fetched a total revenue of ₹48,390 crore through Indian Premier League’s (IPL’s) media rights.

At the end of intense bidding over three days through e-auction, BCCI secretary Jay Shah announced on Tuesday evening the winning bidders.

IMF Managing Director Appoints Krishna Srinivasan as Director of the Asia and Pacific Department

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), announced today her intention to appoint Krishna Srinivasan as Director of the Asia and Pacific Department (APD). Mr. Srinivasan’s appointment as APD Director becomes effective on June 22, 2022. He will succeed Changyong Rhee, whose retirement from the Fund was announced on March 23, 2022.

Mr. Srinivasan, an Indian national, has more than 27 years of Fund experience, starting in the Economist Program in 1994. He is currently a Deputy Director in APD, where he oversees the department’s surveillance work on a number of large and systemically important countries such as China and Korea, and smaller states in the Pacific such as Fiji and Vanuatu. He also oversees APD’s work on key ASEAN countries, namely Malaysia and Singapore, as well-advanced economies, including Australia and New Zealand. During the Global Financial Crisis, while in the Research Department (RES), Mr. Srinivasan led the Fund’s work on the G20 including the preparation of analytical notes for the meetings of the G20 Ministers and Leaders.

“Krishna is a highly regarded member of our Fund family and has made many important and innovative contributions to our mission throughout his career at the Fund. His appointment to the Director position is a culmination of his superior record of leadership across a wide range of departments, including African Department (AFR), European Department (EUR), Monetary and Capital Market Department (MCM), RES, Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPR), and West Hemisphere Department (WHD). This range of work and experiences is reflective of his career during which he has worked on the full spectrum of the Fund’s membership from low-income countries, to emerging markets, and advanced economies,” said Ms. Georgieva.

Prior to joining the Fund, Mr. Srinivasan was an Assistant Professor of Economics and International Finance at Indiana-Purdue University and a consultant at the World Bank in DC and the Center for Policy Research and Planning Commission in New Delhi. His wide research on Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and on climate and other economic and development issues has appeared in books, academic journals, and media publications.

Mr. Srinivasan holds a PhD (Honors) in Economics from Indiana University, a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and a Bachelor’s (Honors) in Economics from the University of Delhi.

imf.org

Hyderabad: Coin Museum inaugurated; free entry from June 8 to 13

The Saifabad Mint, which dates back to 1903 and excelled in producing coins, notes, stamps, and other engineering goods, is a source of pride for the Deccan heritage.

The Coin Museum at the city’s Mint Compound at Lakdikapul was inaugurated on Tuesday, with the collection displaying a wide range of currency notes, coinage collections, and old handheld tools used to make coins, and other materials like counterweights.

siasat/hyd/first