Month: May 2022

** From Jharkhand to Singapore, Chandradev Sharma’s fairytale journey . Restaurant Entrepreneur.

Chandradev shared his story with IANS. He said that because of his family’s poor financial condition, he started distributing newspapers at the age of 15-16. In those days the undeclared rule of the Maoists was prevailing in their village and the surrounding areas. He used to give news and information of the area to a newspaper office in Hazaribagh district headquarters. Due to this people also started recognising him as a reporter in the rural areas.

During the year and a half, the company’s director Mahadevan got very impressed with Chandradev’s dedication, hard work and honesty. In those days, the company decided to open a restaurant in Singapore. Mahadevan sent some people, including Chandradev to Singapore. There also, Chandradev started working as a waiter, but his salary increased to Rs 30,000. After a few months, seeing his efficiency, he was made the manager of the restaurant.

Impressed by his behaviour, a frequent customer of the restaurant offered Chandradev to open a new restaurant in partnership. By that time Chandradev had saved about Rs 3 lakh from his salary money. The estimated cost of opening the restaurant was Rs 50 lakh. The person offering the partnership said that even if he invests Rs 6 lakh, he will make him a partner in the restaurant. Chandradev raised the money by borrowing from friends and then opened the first restaurant — Tandoori Culture — in partnership in 2011.

Chandradev did not leave the job of Oriental Cuisine even after opening his restaurant. He worked there during the day and at his restaurant at night. Within a year, his restaurant got established and made a profit of about Rs 50 lakh.

In 2013, another restaurant with a capacity of 70 people with the same name was opened by him on a partnership basis. Chandradev said that as per the rules of Singapore, a person who is not a citizen there is only allowed to do business in partnership with a local citizen.

In the year 2020, on February 28 and 29, on two consecutive days, he opened two different restaurants, namely ‘Tandoori Zaika’ and ‘Salaam Mumbai’.

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** Women make their families proud as they march out of the Indian Naval Academy as officers

What makes the likes of Brahmjot Kaur tick? She holds a B.Tech degree in Electronics and Communications and could have opted for a job in the private sector. Yet, it was that attraction for the uniform that prevailed. On Saturday, she was one of 30 women who marched out of the Indian Naval Academy in Ezhimala, Kerala, as a sub lieutenant of the Indian Navy.

“It is great that the number of women opting for the Navy as a career is going up. As it is, the Navy has the largest percentage (6.2 per cent) of women officers among the three armed forces in the country. In the batch that passed out on Saturday, there were 210 men and 30 women. That means that this batch had 12.5 per cent women. We also have women pilots serving on ships now,” a senior naval officer said.

While Brahmjot is from the Naval Armament Inspectorate Cadre (NAIC), there are other women in her batch who will go on to become logistics officers, law officers, observers and naval constructors after further training at other bases. The last 5-odd months at Ezhimala have been gruelling, Brahmjot says but she is ready for more.

Her grandfather is Wing Commander Swarn Singh Birdi (retd) and her father is Group Captain Simranpal Singh Birdi. Her maternal grandfather is Lt Col K.S. Cheema (retd).

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** Ajman: Around 6000 people avail benefits of Thumbay Hospital’s Free Mega Medical, Dental camp

More than 6000 people from 40 different nationalities availed the benefits of Thumbay University Hospital’s Free Mega Medical and Dental Camp at its Al Jurf branch, Ajman held on Sunday, May 23.

The free mega health camp offered check-ups with consultant specialists and general practitioners in specialties like Cardiology, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Dental, Gynecology, Pediatrics, ENT, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Dermatology, Family Medicine, Urology, Nephrology, Gastroenterology and Pulmonology among others. In addition to this, the camp offered free medicines and free screenings such as a Blood Sugar, ECG, Ultrasound, Physiotherapy, Eye checkup, Blood pressure, BMI screening & discount on dental procedures and radiology services.

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** Geetanjali Shree’s ‘Tomb of Sand’ first Hindi novel to win International Booker Prize

Indian author Geetanjali Shree has won the prestigious International Booker Prize for her Hindi novel Ret Samadhi, translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell.

The Mainpuri-born, 65-year-old Ms. Shree follows in the footsteps of Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai, Arundhati Roy and Arvind Adiga to win the award.

The book was chosen among 135 longlisted ones.

The Hindi original was published in 2018 while the English translation hit the stores in India in March this year. “This rather chunky text,” as Ms. Rockwell said at the award ceremony, “is the first time the translation of a Hindi language book had been nominated for the award”.

“Shortlisting from 135 books was daunting. Choosing a single one from them has been agonising,” as the compere said before the announcement.

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** Nilima Jogalekar goes down memory lane

The former India player, who is a match referee now, recalls the country’s first women’s National tournament in 1973

A smile flashes across Nilima Jogalekar’s face as she recalls that cricket match from half-a-century ago. “I received my first prize for cricket in that game, you know,” she says. “A Glucose biscuit from the umpire; I got it for scoring a boundary, from the only shot I had at that time: the swing to the leg-side.”

She was just 12 then. She was so small, she was nearly dwarfed by her pads. It was no ordinary match, that one. It was the first match in India’s first National tournament. It was held at the Nehru Stadium here in the summer of 1973.

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** IISc develops device to improve data encryption

‘This will provide better protection for digital data such as credit card details, passwords etc.’

A team at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a true random number generator (TRNG), which, the team says, can improve data encryption and provide improved security for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords and other personal information. The study describing the device has been published in the journal  ACS Nano.

“Almost everything we do on the internet is encrypted for security. The strength of this encryption depends on the quality of random number generation,” explained Nithin Abraham, a PhD student who is a part of a team led by Kausik Majumdar, Associate Professor at ECE, which has developed the device.

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India becomes largest producer, second largest exporter of sugar

The government on Wednesday claimed that India has become the largest producer of sugar in the world in the year 2022-23, more than Brazil, while it would be the second largest exporter of sugar.

Sugar production in 2018-19 was 332 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) after discounting diversion of 3 LMT for ethanol; in 2019-20, it was 274 LMT (after discounting diversion of 9 LMT for ethanol); in 2020-21, the production increased to 310 LMT (after discounting diversion of 22 LMT for ethanol) and for 2021-22, it is 335 LMT (after discounting diversion of 35 LMT for ethanol).

The production of sugar has increased and so has sugar exports. In sugar seasons 2017-18, 2018-19 & 2019-20, only about 6.2 LMT, 38 LMT & 59.60 LMT of sugar was exported. “In sugar season 2020-21 against target of 60 LMT, about 70 LMT have been exported. In the current sugar season 2021-22, against the projected 100 LMT exports, contracts for export of about 90 LMT have been signed, about 82 LMT sugar has been dispatched from sugar mills for export and approximately 78 LMT have been exported. Export of sugar in current sugar season 2021-22 is the historically highest,” Subodh Singh, Joint Secretary, Food, told media persons.

About 80 per cent of sugar is produced in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka and because the two states south of Narmada are nearer to the ports, export takes place more from these states.

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** New plant species of the genus Ophiorrhiza spotted in State

Researchers have come across a new plant species of the genus Ophiorrhiza, a group of plants valued for their medicinal uses, in the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats region.

Researchers spotted the new species from the Adichilthotty colony, near Malakkapara, in Thrissur district during a plant exploration trip. It has been named Ophiorrhiza sasidharaniana after Prof. A. Sasidharan, former Botany Department head of the University College, Thiruvananthapuram.

The journal Annales Botanici Fennici, brought out by the Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board, has published a paper on the discovery by researchers from the University of Kerala and the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI), Palode.

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** Money spider, ant-mimicking spider discovered at Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary

Discovery by researchers of Christ College, Irinjalakuda

Money spiders, commonly found in European meadows, have been reported for the first time in the country from the Muthanga range of the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. The species is called so as it is “believed to bring luck” to the person who comes in contact with it.

Researchers of Christ College, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, have discovered the spider that belongs to the family of dwarf spiders ( Linyphiidae) under the genus  Prosoponoides. It has been given the name  Prosoponoides biflectogynus.

“Only six species of spiders belonging to this genus have been identified from across the world so far. It is the first report of this genus from India and hence no extensive studies have been conducted on this species of spiders in the country,” said Dr. Sudhikumar A.V., Head, Department of Zoology, Christ College.

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