Rapid fire pistol team silver for India

India tops the medals table in the shooting World Cup that ended on Wednesday

The Indian team lost the gold in a thriller in the rapid fire pistol team event, but topped the medals table in the shooting World Cup that concluded in Changwon, Korea, on Wednesday.

Anish Bhanwala, Sameer and Vijayveer Sidhu had topped the second stage to make the gold contest, and led 10-2 before the Czech Republic turned it around to make it a lively contest.

At 15-15, the Czech Republic had 11 hits out of 15 to pip India which had shot 10, with Anish’s perfect five proving inadequate.

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Pratt and Whitney to set up engineering centre in Bengaluru

To be operational in 2023, facility will be fifth globally

Aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney (PW) on Monday said it will set up an engineering centre in Bengaluru, that is slated to commence operations in January 2023.

The centre, which will be its first facility in Asia Pacific and fifth globally, will enable the firm to offer engineering services on contract to its domestic and international customers, a spokesperson said.

PW’s integrated global engineering operations currently has centres in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Poland.

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Gukesh: Super Grandmaster at a sweet 16

Gukesh has been on a winning spree, capturing four tournament titles this year and reaching No 32 in the world chess rankings based on live ELO ratings

D. Gukesh, the 16-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai, became only the sixth Indian to reach and cross the coveted 2700 ELO ratings mark in chess. Following his victory against GM Le Quang Liam from Vietnam in the Biel Chess Festival (Classic) in Switzerland on July 16 to take his point tally to 2.5 in 3 games, the young grandmaster’s Live ELO ratings went up to 2703.9.

Only two other players – China’s Wei Yi (some months before turning 16) and Iranian-born French player Alireza Firouzja achieved this earlier than the 16 years and nearly 2 months old Gukesh, even as world champion Magnus Carlsen attained a FIDE rating of 2700 when he was 16 and a half years old. Note, this is a live rating; FIDE updates its ratings list every month and Gukesh would have to avoid setbacks for the live rating to stay above 2700 in the games he will have to play in the next 15 days.

Gukesh is among a cohort of Indian grandmaster youngsters which includes GM Arjun Erigaisi, GM R Praggnanandhaa, GM Nihal Sarin and GM Raunak Sadhwani who have recently showcased their skills in their teens and have attained significant ELO ratings. While GMs Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin stole a march initially in their careers as prodigies with high ELO ratings at a tender age, GMs Arjun and Gukesh have had spectacular tournaments recently, propelling them above Nihal and Praggnanandhaa among junior GMs in the ratings tally. Gukesh in particular has been on a winning spree, capturing four tournament titles this year and reaching No 32 in the world chess rankings based on live ELO ratings.

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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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I2U2 summit: UAE to invest $2 billion to develop integrated food parks across India

The grouping is known as ‘I2U2’ with “I” standing for India and Israel and “U” for the US and the UAE.

The United Arab Emirates will invest $2 billion to develop a series of integrated food parks across India under the framework of the four-nation grouping ‘I2U2’.

The decision was announced after the leaders of the grouping — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan — held the first virtual summit.

A joint statement said the I2U2 leaders’ meeting focussed on food security crisis and clean energy and that they discussed innovative ways to ensure longer-term, more diversified food production and food delivery systems.

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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.

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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.

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J.C.Daniel Award for K.P.Kumaran

Filmmaker K.P. Kumaran has been chosen for the prestigious J.C. Daniel Award for 2021. The award, conferred by the State government annually in recognition to an individual’s contributions to Malayalam cinema, carries a purse of ₹5 lakh, a statuette, and a citation. Minister for Cultural Affairs V.N.Vasavan announced the award here on Saturday.

A jury consisting of playback singer P.Jayachandran, who was also the recipient of the award last year, filmmaker Sibi Malayil, Chalachitra Academy Chairman Ranjth and Culture Secretary Rani George chose Mr.Kumaran for the award. According to the jury, he provided Malayalam parallel cinema with a new aesthetic and visual language in a career spanning around fifty years.

They further observed that he has since his debut with the short film ‘The Rock’ in 1972 and ‘Athithi’ in 1975 to ‘Gramavrikshathile Kuyil’ made in 2020 at the year of 83, has made sincere and meaningful use of the cinematic medium. ‘Athithi’, in which the real and the surreal are entwined, was one of the pioneering works of Malayalam new wave.

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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.

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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.