Researching the specks of froth on our polluted lakes has led to a city girl getting her name etched in immortality on the night sky.
Sahithi Pingali, a Class 12 student of Inventure Academy, Bengaluru, joins an elite league of people to have a minor planet in the Milky Way named after them. The honour comes after she excelled in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world’s largest pre-college science competition. As one of the 2,000 finalists, Ms. Pingali presented her paper, — “An Innovative Crowdsourcing Approach to Monitoring Freshwater Bodies”— based on her experiences after having developed an integrated mobile phone app and lake monitoring kit that obtains data through crowdsourcing.
It wasn’t just an award at ISEF that she won. The Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which has the right to name minor planets, decided to name a planet after her after she came within the top 3% of ISEF. While the Indian contingent took home 21 awards in all, Ms. Pingali won three special awards and was awarded “overall second place” in the Earth and Environment Sciences category. “I definitely didn’t see this coming. I was expecting one special award at most. I haven’t yet digested the fact that I have a planet named after me,” she told The Hindu.
Currently, she is pursuing an internship at the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department of the University of Michigan to further improve her method to detect water pollution. “I want to make it more accurate and expand it to detect arsenic,” she said.
Her work on Varthur Lake has already seen her get a Gold Medal at ISWEEEP (The International Sustainable World Engineering Energy Environment Project) Olympiad at Houston (U.S.), earlier this year.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – June 07th, 2017
The scientific landscape in India must move in an organic way towards an environment that encourages multi-disciplinary research so as to address the challenges that the country and the world face, scientists say.
G Mugesh from the department of inorganic and physical chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), said: “There is no doubt that people working with different interfaces need to be encouraged. The challenges before us have shown that just one discipline is not enough, for example, to tackle several diseases that the world at large and India face.”
Mugesh was conferred the National Prizes for Interfaces between Chemistry and Biology (2017), instituted by the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, in collaboration with CNR Rao Education Foundation. The award is donated by AVRA Laboratories, Hyderabad.
This year’s award is also being conferred on Sandeep Verma of Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur.
“Compared to 20 years ago, when I joined IIT-Kanpur after my PhD and postdoctoral research in the US, there is a lot of change. All my training in the US was on how to do multi-disciplinary research and when I returned I found that the scientific landscape in India was still very puritan. Researchers like working in their respective areas and seldom interacted with other disciplines.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City News> Bangalore News / TNN / June 06th, 2017
Available in K.C. General Hospital, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Bengaluru and Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru
Working towards a ‘Deafness Free Karnataka’, the State Health Department will launch a Cochlear Implant Project under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakrama (RSBK) in K.C. General Hospital on Tuesday.
The project, announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the 2016-2017 budget, is aimed at identifying deafness in newborns and treating it. The project will be implemented through the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust.
As per the 2011 census of Karnataka, there are 1,939 children in the age group of 0-6 years effected with hearing impairment. Most of these children are deaf since birth. As per experts’ opinion, cochlear implant surgery offers the best results when the patient is between the ages of 8 months and 6 years.
Apart from K.C. General Hospital, the Health Department has empanelled Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health and Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru for the project. Expert surgeons will conduct the surgeries, said a release.
Children aged between 8 months and 6 years, who have been screened and diagnosed with severe profound hearing loss (if hearing aids are of no help) will be eligible for surgeries under thus project. “RBSK teams will screen children enrolled in anganwadis, government and government aided schools for hearing problems and refer such children to the jurisdictional district hospital for further evaluation and management,” the release said.
A District Cochlear Committee (set up in every district) headed by the District Surgeon and comprising a ENT surgeon, audiologist, pediatrician, speech therapist, psychiatrist and Reproductive Child Health Officer (RCHO) will evaluate the children referred by the RBSK teams. If the child is found eligible for surgery, it will be referred to the nearest empanelled hospital (K.C. General, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health or Wenlock Hospital).
“The pre-operative evaluation, implant surgery and post-operative audio verbal therapy for one year will be free of cost under this project. The total cost of the package is ₹5.1 lakhs per child,” the release added.
What is cochlear implant?
It is a small electronic device that helps children with profound hearing loss. It is placed behind the ear. Once the implant is in place, the hearing apparatus conveys audio signals to the brain.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / June 05th, 2017
Dr Shashi Kant Tiwari, director, Dr Tiwari Homeo Clinic , Bejai will present a scientific paper in the largest homeopathic conference scheduled to be held in Leipzig, Germany on June 14 and 15. The conference is being organized by world’s largest organisation of Homoeopaths, Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis (lmhi).
Dr Tiwari will deliver his lecture on strategies of prescription, wherein he will discuss the methodology of treating acute, chronic and pathological problems affecting different age group and demonstrate genuineness and efficacy of his methodology through treated cases in his own clinic at Mangalore.
He is the only person from Karnataka to get this opportunity to present and discuss his views in world homoeopathic conference wherein the dais will be shared by other two well-known authors on this special topic (prescription strategies). Dr Tiwari is well known in homoeopathic circle of Germany because of his famous book on prescribing and a book on child care.
Former principal of Fr Muller Homoeopathic Medical College, Dr Tiwari is also the former director of National Institute of Homoeopathy, Kolkata.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News > City News> Mangalore News / by Jaideep Shenoy, TNN / June 03rd, 2017
There was a festive atmosphere at the residence of Dhyanachandra H M at Vinobnagar in the city on Wednesday evening as he bagged the 47th rank in UPSC examinations of 2016.
He is the son of S L Haleshappa, an engineer with Karnataka Housing Board and Mamata K, a teacher at a government school in Shivamogga. Speaking to DH over the phone, Dhyanachandra said that though he was hopeful of bagging a good rank in the exam, he had not anticipated the 47th rank as it is a competition among ‘intelligent people.’
“I know that I have to work with politicians in our democratic set up. I am prepared for it. I am committed to working within the framework of law.”
Dhaynachandra who is currently working as an assistant engineer with Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department in Bengaluru, said that Insight Institute based in Bengaluru helped him do well in the UPSC exam.
He took personal guidance from Vinay, who runs the institute. His father motivated him to become an IAS officer. He had selected Kannada as an optional for the exam. He couldn’t clear the preliminary exam in his first attempt. Having studied the pattern of the exam thoroughly, he came out with flying colours in his second attempt.
A gold medallist
He studied at Swamy Vivekananda School at Ravindranagar in Shivamogga and PUC at Expert PU College in Mangaluru. He had bagged a gold medal in BE Civilfrom Manipal Institute of Technology.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State / DH News Service , Shivamogga / June 01st, 2017
Vineet Alva, managing trustee, AEF (right) hands over report of asset mapping of 55 GPs of Mangaluru taluk carried out by AIET staff/students to M R Ravi, CEO, DK ZP in Mangaluru on Saturday / Pic: Jaideep Shenoy
Mangaluru :
A tripartite agreement involving NRSC-Isro, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat and Alva’s Institute of Engineering and Technology (AIET) has seen students of AIET carry out asset mapping of 5,000 assets in Mangaluru taluk. The effort saw 55 faculty and 330 students undertake the mapping work in 25 days after AIET team trained gram panchayat members in 55 GPs in the taluk and panchayat development officers (PDOs) helped them in the endeavour.
With M R Ravi, chief executive officer of DK ZP, responding positively to the proposal from AIET, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and AIET team, trained PDOs of Mangaluru taluk about Bhuvan Panchayat android application at an orientation programme. The 55 GPs were divided in 11 clusters. Each cluster comprised 5 GPs, ans was allotted five faculty and 30 students from AIET. The cluster-level training was held on May 3 and 4.
Vivek Alva, managing trustee, Alva’s Education Foundation , who handed over the asset mapping report of the taluk to Ravi on Saturday, said that the work was an excellent learning process for both students and faculty of AIET. “This not only gave much needed rural exposure to students of AIET, but also encouraged them to carry out projects for villages,” he said, adding that the project has effectively used the application created by NRSC-Isro.
Ravi said such projects expose students to rural India and problems people face in urban areas. Noting that he had personally visited some of the gram panchayats where the asset mapping was going on, Ravi said that the report will help planners like him refix their priorities and work towards filling the critical gaps in local infrastructure. “The report helps the administrators draw critical inferences which can help people at large,” he claimed.
Referring to one such inference, he said that the mapping has identified presence of 34 churches, 131 mosques and 374 temples in the taluk. “This is an indicator of the religious harmony and peaceful coexistence of people,” he said. The presence of 111 bank branches gives one the inference that the taluk is commercially urban oriented society. It also throws light on shortcomings in administrative initiatives such as failure to promote rainwater harvesting and surfeit of borewells.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Mangalore News / TNN / May 28th, 2017
Ridhima Kumar obliterates 18-year-old 100 freestyle record en route to gold.
big splash Srihari Natraj of GSC en route to the 100M backstroke gold at BAC in Bengaluru on Tuesday. DH photo
On a day when the evening session was delayed due to persistent rain, it rained records at the State Junior and Sub-junior Aquatic Championships at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre (BAC) here on Tuesday.
Srihari Natraj, Prasidha Krishna and Ridhima Kumar were the pick of the lot on the opening day of the four-day meet as they set new State records while bettering existing national marks.
In Group I, Srihari was the fastest in the 100M backstroke, touching the pad in 57.85 seconds. He obliterated the previous State best of 1:01.46 set by Aravind Mani of BAC in 2013 in the heats. His time was also faster than the national mark of 59.87 seconds held by Vedant Seth of Delhi.
In Group II, Prasidha Krishna stole the limelight with his fine swim in the 200M butterfly final. The Global Swim Centre’s trainee won the gold in 2:11.32, a new meet record. He bettered the previous best of 2:16.02 by BAC’s Aaron D’ Souza in 2006. His timing was also better than the national best of 2:12.09, another mark set by Aaron in 2006.
Later in Group IV, Ridhima set the pool ablaze with a record gold in the 100M freestyle. The BAC swimmer won the top prize in 1:09.20, obliterating an 18-year-old the record of Shivaranjini, set at 1:14.46 in 1999.
Later, BAC’s Khushi Dinesh created a new meet record en route to her gold in Group II, 800M freestyle. Khushi touched the pad in 9:48.95, six seconds faster than the previous best of 9:55.51, set by Sreelakshmi G in 2008.
DH News Service
Results: Boys: Group I: 1500M freestyle: Saif Chandan KS (BAC) 17:08.40, 1; Yatish S Gowda (BAC) 17:09.70, 2; Om Kumar TK (BAC) 17:34.23, 3.
100M backstroke: Srihari Nataraj (Global) 57.85 (NMR; Old: Aravind Mani, BAC, 1:01.46, 2013), 1; Nishant Kumar (Global) 1:02.37, 2; Siva S (BAC) 1:02.86, 3.
100M breaststroke: Pruthvik DS (BAC) 1:08.40, 1; Manav Dileep (Global) 1:09.09, 2; Pranav G Mitra (BAC) 1:16.80, 3.
200M butterfly: Rahul M (BAC) 2:09.85, 1; Saif Chandan K S (BAC) 2:14.09, 2; Om Kumar T K (BAC) 2:18.36, 3.
Saumya Ahuja of WeSchool, Bengaluru, has been conferred with the Global Swede award by the Swedish government. She will be the ambassador for Sweden, Malardalen University and higher education, in India.
Saumya is now studying about Sweden as a cashless nation and demonetization in comparison to India on a oneyear exchange programme at Malardalen University (MDH) under the LinnaeusPalme scholarship.
Sweden is the first European nation to issue bank notes and 80% of the transactions are done by cards. “It’s important to give people a choice and allow them to switch to living cash free gradually. Parallelism between cash and digital money is probably impossible to achieve, yet strategic moves like making cash more expensive and better enforcement may result in a positive outcome to get closer to being cashless,” Saumya said.
The study involves inter actions with executives and common people of Sweden.Linnaeus-Palme, a Swedish exchange programme, offers students an opportunity to showcase talent through innovation and design thinking in keeping with global trends. Saumya was presented the award by minister for EU Affairs and Trade Ann Linde and general director of Swedish Institute Annika Rembe.
“Acting as a link between India and Sweden, I’m expected to strengthen the relationship India and Sweden share not only in education field but also to be able to contribute to a culturally better world,” she said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Bangalore News / TNN / May 31st, 2017
They are among the 43 chosen from across the country
Seven eminent artistes from Karnataka have been chosen for the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for 2016 for their contribution to the fields of music, theatre and puppetry. They are among the 43 awardees from various parts of the country.
The artistes are: Neela Ramgopal (Carnatic vocal), Mysore M. Manjunath (Carnatic instrumental-Violin), Ratnamala Prakash (Sugama Sangeet), Koushik Aithal (Yuva Purasksar-Hindustani Vocal), Ashwin Anand (Yuva Puraskar-Carnatic Instrumental-Veena), K. Govind Bhat (Yakshagana), and Dattatreya Aralikatte (Puppetry).
The Academy awards carry a purse of ₹1 lakh, a tamrapatra and an angavastram.
For the first time, the Sugama Sangeeta music form from Karnataka has been identified for the award and Ms. Prakash is the first recipient of the honour. Apart from numerous Bhavageethas (Sugama Sangeet), she has sung many film songs over four decades. Ms. Prakash was the recipient of the Santa Shishunala Sharif award in 2016. “I dedicate the award to my illustrious father R.K. Srikantan and my mentor C. Ashwath,” she said.
Neela Ramgopal at 82 is among the senior-most Carnatic vocalists of Karnataka and a sought-after music teacher. A student of Sadagopalachari, N.M. Narayanan and T.K. Rangachary, she is the recipient of many awards, including one from Madras Music Academy.
From Royal Albert Hall to Sydney Opera House, violinist Mysore M. Manjunath has performed across the globe. According to music critics, his style is marked by strict adherence to classicism, and a perfect blend of emotive appeal and intellectual sophistication.
Recipient of the Yuva Puraskar award, Koushik Aithal, is a promising young artiste from the State. He is the recipient of the prestigious Pt. Basavaraja Rajguru Yuva Puraskar from the Government of Karnataka. “The award has increased my responsibility in terms of practice and performance,” he told The Hindu.
Octogenarian K. Govind Bhat started his career in Thenku Thittu School of Yakshagana in 1951, and continues as a professional artiste in the Dharmasthala mela. Popularly known as Datta, Mr. Aralikatte is a puppeteer and teacher. He heads Puthali Kalaranga (Puppet Theatre), a well-known traditional puppet theatre group.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – May 31st, 2017
Despite missing two months of school after an open heart surgery, he scored 95% in class 12 board exams
Parmeet Baweja knew 2016 would be a crucial year. He was in class 12 after all and was fully aware of the importance of that academic year. But it was a different sort of a report that delivered a jolt to him. The Delhi Public School, Bengaluru (East) student was diagnosed with a hole in the heart, a defect that went unnoticed since his birth.
Although he was initially terrified and missed two months of school after undergoing an open heart surgery, his score card for the Class 12 board exams did not reflect any of that: instead, it has a proud 95% written on it. There was a celebratory mood at his house on Sunday. Recollecting his preparation strategy, Parmeet said: “When I got back to school after two months, I panicked. But I was prepared for working twice as hard to ace the race. Ultimately, with the help of my parents and the unending support of my teachers, I managed to score well.” Initially, home tuitions helped him, but the day he was given the all clear by his doctors, he turned to his books to make up for lost time. Parmeet credits his school teachers who made time from their busy schedules to conduct special classes for him.
His mother, a businesswoman, played a vital role too. She was not only a big support during his recovery process, but also helped him cope with his academic schedule. “My mother helped me unconditionally to come to terms with my health – physically as well as mentally,” he said.
Thrilled with his scores, he now plans to prepare for the CPT Exam to be held in December. He plans to become a chartered accountant someday.
While his parents knew that Parmeet would do well as he had secured a perfect 10 Cumulative Grade Point Achievement in class 10, they are thrilled with his scores. “My son was extremely brave and studied for almost 10 hours a day during the last four months,” said his father Harpal Baweja.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Roli Agarwal / Bengaluru – May 29th, 2017
