‘Many science projects being led by women in India’

 India is moving from women-specific to women-led projects in the biotech start-ups sector, Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Jitendra Singh said on Saturday.

“India is looking at a growth of the Biotech sector from $70 billion to $150 billion in the next 4 years and added that this cannot be accomplished without the active participation of women,” Singh said after releasing a book ‘Compendium of 75 Women Biotech Entrepreneurs’ at the ongoing Biotech Start-up Expo at Pragati Maidan here.

Stating that the women scientists have carved a niche for themselves in space, nuclear science, drone and nano-technology, the Minister said: “Many of the big scientific projects including the most ambitious manned mission to the moon, Gaganyaan, are being led by women scientists.”

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) launched the BioCARe programme to enhance the participation of women scientists in biotech research and for building capacities, he said, and added, BIRAC launched the Women in Entrepreneurial Research (WinER Award) in association with TiE Delhi, a non-profit, global community welcoming entrepreneurs from all over the world, to reward women in biotech entrepreneurship.

He also released another book, “75 Biotech products developed during the 75th year of Independence,” and “Compendium of 75 Women Biotech Entrepreneurs” on the occasion.

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Buddha’s relic on way to Mongolia

India has decided to display a relic of the Buddha in Mongolia from June 14 for a period of 11 days. The initiative was at the request of the Mongolian government earlier this year when they sought display of the Buddha’s relic in Mongolia. The relics, which are kept in the national museum and have very special significance, are usually not taken out of the country. However, as a special gesture it was decided to send the relic of the Buddha to Mongolia.

Mongolia is considered as a Buddhist nation with 53 per cent of the population being Buddhists. Large number of Buddhist monks, who have been keen on higher learning in Buddhism, have traditionally been travelling to India for pursuing Buddhist studies in different institutions. These individuals have formed the bulwark of Buddhist diplomacy between India and Mongolia. One of the most prominent Rinpoches from India who has also contributed significantly towards spread of Buddhism in Mongolia is Bakula Rinpoche, who was posted as the Ambassador of India to Mongolia from 1990 to 2000.

These were crucial years when the communist party’s hold on the state had come to an end in the Soviet Union with fall out effect on Mongolia too. As the country became free and people were keen to learn about different religions, Bakula Rinpoche’s presence in Mongolia was timely. He became so popular in Mongolia that large number of people visited him from different parts of the country to take his blessings. Bakula Rinpoche is revered in Mongolia till this day and his impressions would remain etched in the minds of the Buddhists of Mongolia for years to come.

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In the British House of Lords, Upendra Rai was honoured for his journalism

The Overseas Friends of India (OFI) has also recognised the Sahara India Media’s Executive Director, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Upendra Rai’s fearless journalism in a ceremony hosted in London.

In a moment of pride for Indian journalism, the Sahara News Network CEO and Editor-in-Chief Upendra Rai got felicitated for his committed and courageous journalism in the British House of Lords. The House of Lords member Lord John Beckett Taylor (Lord Taylor of Warwick) felicitated Rai in the Cholmondeley Room of the upper house of the British Parliament. Handing over the citation letter, Taylor lauded Rai’s stellar achievements in the field of journalism. The World Book of Records had also awarded Rai’s fearless work in 2019.

The group is affiliated with the House of Lords. Addressing the ceremony, Rai emphasized the importance of Hindi in reaching out to the Indian masses at the ground level. He began his speech with “Jai Hind, Jai Bharat” and shared his experiences in promoting Hindi as a language of mass media in India.

theprint.in

Kerala’s Suchetha Satish Sets World Record By Singing In 120 Languages

Suchetha Satish is a 16-year-old girl from Kerala who is making headlines today for her ability to sing in 120 languages, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. At an event hosted at the Indian Consulate in Dubai, she set the world record for singing in the most number of languages.

Satish achieved this feat at the ‘Music Beyond Borders’ performance held on August 19 in Dubai. Kesiraju Srinivas, another Indian national, held the record before her in the category in 2008, having sung in 76 different languages.

Satish is said to have achieved this feat by singing in 29 Indian languages and 91 global languages. She started at noon with Janaki Jane, a Sanskrit song from the Malayali film Dhwani. Her final song was written by her mother and produced by Bollywood musician Monty Sharma, and was in Hindi.

The ‘Music Beyond Borders’ concert, held in Dubai, commemorated India’s 75th anniversary of independence and the United Arab Emirates’ 50th anniversary of freedom. The ceremony was also attended by Ajay Puri, the Consul General of India in Dubai. While Satish’s parents, dermatologist T.C. Satish and Ayilliath Sumitha, recognised her potential when she was only three years old, her love of languages developed organically after she heard a Japanese song performed by a guest at her house. She promptly looked up the words on the internet and, within a few hours, she had performed the entire song, recorded it, and sent it to the guest

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Another feather in cap for Telangana mountaineer Poorna as she climbs Mt Denali in US

Poorna, who hails from the erstwhile Nizamabad district, scaled the highest peak of Mount Everest at the age of 13 years and became the youngest Indian and the youngest girl in the world to have reached the summit.

“I am very happy to climb Mt Denali, I thank my sponsor Prof YV Gopala Krishna Murthy, Chairman of Ace Engineering Academy, Dr RS Praveen Kumar for identifying my talent and Bhukya Shoban Babu, Chairman of Bhukya Shoban Babu Foundation, Hyderabad, for supporting me,” Poorna said in a statement.

With the sponsorship of the ACE Engineering Academy for the Mt Denali expedition, she started for North America from India on May 18 and reached the starting point Anchorage in Alaska on May 19.


She was accompanied by four other Indians — Ajeet Bajaj, Padma Shri Awardee in adventure sports, Deeya Bajaj, Anmish Varma from Visakhapatnam and Varma, a mountaineer.  

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Avani Lekhara wins gold with world record in Para World Cup

The 20-year-old shooter broke her own world record of 249.6 to secure her a spot at the 2024 Paris Paralympics

Tokyo Paralympics champion Avani Lekhara won gold at the Para Shooting World Cup with a world record score of 250.6 in women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 in Chateauroux, France on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old shooter broke her own world record of 249.6 to secure her a spot at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

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FIH Hockey 5s | Indian men’s team emerges champions, beats Poland 6-4 in final

India made a stunning comeback from being three-goal down to beat Poland 6-4 to win the summit clash

A magnificent India made a stunning comeback from being three-goal down to beat Poland 6-4 in a pulsating final to clinch the inaugural FIH Hockey 5s championship here on Sunday.

India, who had topped the five-team league standings with three wins and one draw en route final, ended their campaign with an unbeaten record.

India had topped the five-team standings after the round-robin league stage with 10 points from three wins and one draw. India had beaten hosts Switzerland 4-3 and drawn with arch-rivals Pakistan 2-2 on Saturday.

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India and Vietnam sign mutual logistics agreement

The defence minister and his Vietnam counterpart General Phan Van Giang signed a joint vision statement

India and Vietnam on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual logistics support in presence of the two Defence Ministers during the ongoing visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to the Southeast Asian nation.

“In these times of increasing cooperative engagements between the defence forces of the two countries, this is a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support and is the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country,” the statement said on the logistics agreement.

India has signed several logistics agreements including all Quad countries, France, Singapore and South Korea beginning with the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. in 2016.

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IISC scientists develop miniproteins that may prevent COVID infection

The miniproteins can not only block entry of viruses like SARS-CoV-2 into our cells but also clump virus particles together, reducing their ability to infect

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore have designed a new class of artificial peptides or miniproteins that they say can render viruses like SARS-CoV-2 inactive.

According to the study, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the miniproteins can not only block virus entry into our cells but also clump virus particles together, reducing their ability to infect.

The researchers noted that a protein-protein interaction is often like that of a lock and a key.

Preventing entry

The team used this approach to design miniproteins that can bind to, and block the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which helps it to enter and infect the human cells.

This binding was further characterised extensively by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and other biophysical methods.

These miniproteins are helical, hairpin-shaped peptides, each capable of pairing up with another of its kind, forming what is known as a dimer. Each dimeric ‘bundle’ presents two ‘faces’ to interact with two target molecules.

The researchers hypothesised that the two faces would bind to two separate target proteins locking all four in a complex and blocking the targets’ action.

“But we needed proof of principle,” said Jayanta Chatterjee, Associate Professor in the Molecular Biophysics Unit (MBU), IISc, and the lead author of the study.

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QS Ranking | IISc Bengaluru fastest rising South Asian university, two IITs in top 200

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, is the fastest rising South Asian university among the coveted QS World University Rankings top 200 varsities, having gained 31 places while four IITs have also figured in the category attaining a higher rank compared to the previous edition.

Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), London based global higher education analyst, on Thursday released the 19th edition of the world’s most consulted international university ranking.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, which has bagged the 172nd position, is India’s second best institution, rising five places while IIT Delhi has risen eleven places to bag 174th rank.

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