Category: Amazing Feats

GLOBAL / NATIONAL: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION / LEADERS: 14th Infosys Prize Award’ . 6 Awarded for the understanding of Galaxy, Statute, Engineering, Social Sciences

14th edition of Infosys Prize awarded to six persons who each will get a gold medal, a citation, and a cash award of $100,000 or its rupee equivalent.

The Infosys Science Foundation on Tuesday announced the winners who include a mathematician tackling challenges in a field sometimes called “the queen of mathematics”, an economist working on governance and accountability, and a law school professor and expert on the Indian Constitution.

The winners are Suman Chakraborty at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, for engineering and computer science; Sudhir Krishnaswamy the vice-chancellor at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, for humanities; Vidita Vaidya at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, for life sciences; Mahesh Kakade at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for mathematical sciences; Nissim Kanekar at the National Centre for Radio Astronomy, Pune, for physical sciences; and Rohini Pande at Yale University in the US for social sciences, the foundation said.

This is the 14th edition of Infosys Prize. The prize for each category includes a gold medal, a citation, and a cash award of $100,000 or its rupee equivalent.

Chakraborty has studied how fluids behave in tiny channels to design novel medical devices, including low-cost tools, to detect infectious diseases and a hand-held torchlike device for early diagnosis of oral cancer.

The technology has drawn commercial interest within and outside India. Krishnaswamy was awarded the prize for “his insightful understanding of the Indian Constitution, especially his carefully argued account of the importance of the landmark ‘basic structure doctrine’ adopted by the Supreme Court in 1973 that guides and constrains efforts to amend it, while also ensuring its stability in the face of executive and legislative outcomes,” the foundation said.

Vaidya has contributed to understanding the brain mechanisms that underlie mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, including the role of a neurotransmitter called serotonin in causing persistent changes in behaviour induced by early life stress.

The foundation said Kakde has made “outstanding contributions” to algebraic number theory, often called the queen of mathematics that has practical applications in areas such as cryptography or secret communications.

“But I don’t do things with any applications in mind,” Kakde said on Tuesday. His work has yielded proofs for several key conjectures at the heart of modern numbertheory. The conjectures serve as tools to address hard math problems involving so-called polynomial equations.

Kanekar has received the award for his study of star formation in galaxies eight billion years ago and especially for his work on elusive signatures of atomic hydrogen in distant galaxies that has resolved along-standing astronomical puzzle — why have star births in galaxies declined over time?

Pande’s research on governance, accountability, women’s empowerment, the environment, and the role of credit in the lives of the poor “offer major promise and potential for policy design in emerging economies”, the foundation said.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: SOCIAL/ CHILDRENs BRAVERY: Five Children Awarded the ‘Hoysala and Keladi Chennamma Bravery Awards’ on Children’s Day by the Department of Women and Child Development

Five children were awarded for their bravery by the Department of Women and Child Development, on the occasion of Children’s Day, at Bal Bhavan.

All the five hail from rural backgrounds, and were conferred the Hoysala and Keladi Chennamma Bravery Awards for displaying various acts of bravery over the last year.

The awards are bestowed by the department on children who have shown commitment towards the rescue of others in dangerous circumstances. The four girls and one boy were honoured at the Children’s Day State Awards Ceremony on Monday.

On November 6, 2021, Namrata, from Madikeri, had saved a senior citizen from drowning in a lake on her way home from school.

Prarthana, from Shivamogga, had saved her brother’s life after he was electrocuted by a TV switch board at their home on November 7, 2021.

Koushalya Hegade, from Siddapura, saved her father following an accident. After their car overturned, she made her way to a nearby village to call for help, as her father had suffered severe injury.

Keerthi Vivek, from Davanagere, also endured a similar ordeal, when his family car fell into a trench, jamming all its doors.

He used a metal water bottle to smash a car window, and was able to pull his sister and parents to safety, following which he called for help.

Kavya Bhaskar Hegde, from Chikkamagaluru, was on her way home when she found an elderly woman lying on a railway track, and rushed in to save her after she saw a train approaching.

The five children were also presented a cash prize of Rs 10,000.

The ceremony included awards distributed to four organisations and four individuals for their services rendered in the field of children’s welfare.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: SPORTS/ CRICKET: History Created. 16-yr-old Tanmay Manjunath Creates History, Scores Record 407 in a one-day match Breaking Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma’s Record in a Club Cricket encounter.

Tanmay Manjunath, 16, has scored 407 runs of 165 balls in a 50-over limited overs match held here at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Grounds of PES Institute of Technology.

Tanmay Manjunath who played for Sagar Cricket Club hit 48 boundaries and 24 sixes in his knock of 407.

Tanmay, who is coached by Nagendra Pandit, helped Sagar Cricket Club reach a total of 583 runs in the stipulated 50 overs. The opponents Bhadravathi team could manage to score only 73 runs as the team lost all its wickets.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma holds the record for maximum runs of 264 in a one-day international against Sri Lanka.The Indian skipper had slammed 33 boundaries and 9 sixes in his knock.

Rohit is also the only batsman to score three double centuries in ODIs.

Sachin Tendulkar was the first batsman to score a double century when he hit 200 against South Africa in Gwalior.

Although the Shivamogga boy Tanmay has not scored in an international match, he has broken Rohit Sharma’s record in a club cricket encounter.

Last year, Tanmay Manjunath had got selected into the Karnataka state team. But, Covid-19 put paid to his dreams as the KSCA cancelled the under-16 tournament.

Tanmay’s knock has raised eyebrows of cricket selectors and the spectators who watched him play were awestruck. 

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICAL SERVICES: Karnataka comes 2nd in the ‘Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana’ Scheme by the Dept of Pharmaceuticals. A Scheme to make Generic Medicines at Affordable Prices. About 1,052 Shops Opened, 540 More Stores on Anvil

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that Karnataka has ranked second in the Prime Minister’s Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi scheme, and the government plans to set up 540 new stores across the state. 

The scheme has been working well, and 1,052 shops have been opened so far.

A proposal has been sent by the health department to the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Bureau of India for opening 500 new stores in the state, and around 40 new stores in government hospitals.

Since February 2022, 300 new stores have been opened in Karnataka.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: POSITIVE / BRAVERY: 13-year-old Girl Kaushalya V Hegde to Receive the Kelada Chennamma Shaurya Award for Bravery

Kaushalya Venkataramana Hegde (13) is all set to  receive the Keladi Chennamma Shaurya Award on November 14. She deserves every bit of it.

After all, it was because of her presence of mind, a fighting spirit and love for her father that saved his life. On March 15, 2021, Venkata­ramana Hegde, a cook, was on his way back home from a nearby village.

The jeep he was driving suddenly lost control and turned turtle. Hegde, who was travelling along with Kaushalya and her five-old-year brother, found himself under the jeep, crying and screaming in pain.

After a brief struggle to help her father, Kaushalya ran to get help which was 2 km away. People came and rescued Hegde. “I am really proud of my daughter. She saved my life on that day. It was a re-birth to me,” Hegde said.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL (SOUTH INDIA): TRANSPORT / TRAVEL / BUSINESS & ECONOMY: INDIGENOUS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION: PM flags off South India’s First Vande Bharat Express in Bengaluru making it the 5th in the Country

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off the inaugural special of south India’s first Vande Bharat Express at Krantiveera Sangolli Railway station here.

The train connects Mysuru and Chennai via Bengaluru. This is the fifth Vande Bharat Express train in the country.

It will enhance connectivity between the industrial hub of Chennai, the tech-cum-startup hub of Bengaluru and the famous tourist city of Mysuru, officials said.

The Prime Minister said, “The Chennai-Mysuru Vande Bharat Express will boost connectivity as well as commercial activities. It will also enhance ‘Ease of Living’.”

According to Railway officials, Vande Bharat Express is equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features including an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System – KAVACH.

It can pick up a speed of 0 to 100 kilometres per hour in just 52 seconds, and a maximum speed of up to 180 kilometres per hour.

The country’s first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off in 2019 on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route.

On Friday, the Prime Minister also flagged off the ‘Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan’ train, which is operated by Karnataka’s Muzrai Department, under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ train policy of Railways.

“It (Bharat Gaurav train) will fulfil the dream of numerous travellers intending to undertake Kashi Yatra,” according to the South Western Railway. The train offers an eight-day tour package at discounted rates for pilgrims.

Official sources said the Karnataka government gives cash assistance of Rs 5,000 to the Kashi Vishwanath Yatra pilgrims. This train covers holy places including Varanasi, Ayodhya and Prayagraj.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Karnataka is the first state to take up this train under the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ scheme in which the state government and the Ministry of Railways are working together to send pilgrims from Karnataka to Varanasi (Kashi).

The pilgrims will be provided with comfortable stay and guidance for visiting Kashi, Ayodhya and Prayagraj, the statement read.

After flagging off the pilgrims’ train Bharat Gaurav Kashi Darshan, Modi tweeted, “I would like to compliment Karnataka for being the first state to take up the Bharat Gaurav Kashi Yatra train. This train brings Kashi and Karnataka closer. Pilgrims and tourists will be able to visit Kashi, Ayodhya and Prayagraj with ease.”

Indian Railways launched the operation of the theme-based Bharat Gaurav train in November last year to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and historical places to the people of India and the world.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: HISTORY /ARTS & CULTURE / LANDMARK: PM Modi Unveils 108-feet Bronze Statue of Bengaluru Founder ‘Nadaprabhu’ Kempegowda making it the Tallest Bronze Statue of a Founder of a City

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday unveiled the 108-feet tall statue of the city’s founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, which is the “first and the tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city”, as per the ‘World Book of Records’.

Called the “Statue of Prosperity”, it has been built to commemorate the contribution of Kempegowda towards the growth of Bengaluru.

The statue weighing 218 tonnes (98 tonnes of bronze and 120 tonnes of steel) has been installed at the Kempegowda International Airport here.

It has a sword weighing four tonnes.

The project, besides the statue, has a heritage theme park in an area covering 23 acres dedicated to the 16th century chieftain, together costing about Rs 84 crore to the government.

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and several of his cabinet colleagues, Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji of Adichunchanagiri Math, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, BJP Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa, former Chief Minister S M Krishna, BJP legislators, officials, among others were present at the event.

Kempegowda, a feudatory ruler under the erstwhile Vijayanagara Empire founded Bengaluru in 1537.

He is revered, especially by the Vokkaliga community that is dominant in Old Mysuru and other parts of southern Karnataka.

Renowned sculptor and Padma Bhushan awardee Ram Vanji Sutar has designed the statue.

Sutar had built the ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat and the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Bengaluru’s ‘Vidhana Soudha’.

As a precursor to the unveiling, ‘Mruthike’ (sacred mud) was collected from over 22,000 locations across the state, which was mixed symbolically with the mud beneath one of the four towers of the statue.

Twenty-one special vehicles collected the sacred mud in villages, towns and cities during the last two weeks.

With the installation of the statue ahead of the Assembly polls next year, a competition of sorts seems to have erupted between political parties to claim credit for the legacy of Kempegowda, aimed at garnering electoral support from the politically dominant Vokkaliga community.

Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah had earlier said the Congress government led by him was the one which had first planned to install the statue of Kempegowda at the airport.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICAL SCIENCES / SCIENCE: Dr. Lekha Pandit Neurologist at K S Hegde Medical Academy receives National Honor – Awarded Fellowship of the National Academy of Sciences (NASI), Dept of Science & Technology, Government of India

Dr Lekha Pandit, professor of Neurology and director of the Center for Advanced Neurological Science at K S Hegde Medical Academy, Nitte (deemed to be university) has been awarded the prestigious fellowship of the National Academy of Science India (NASI), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Since its inception in 1930, NASI has selected nearly 2000 fellows from various fields of science for their path breaking research in Science and Technology and for furthering societal education in science.

Dr Lekha Pandit is a clinician and basic science researcher whose three decades long work on demyelinating disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica, has remarkably improved the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of these severe diseases in India.

She has through her pioneering work shown the increasing prevalence of these diseases among Indians, determined the genetic and environmental factors related and developed and patented the first diagnostic assay for these conditions in India.

At K S Hegde Hospital in Mangaluru, she runs one of the largest registries for these diseases in the Indian subcontinent visited by patients from different parts of India and abroad.

Dr Lekha Pandit is one among 150 Indian women scientists and the first from Dakshina Kannada to have been bestowed this national honor.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: RESEARCH RANKING: Dr Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga of Mangalore Institute of Oncology in Top 2% Scientists for Exceptional Research in the World in a study by Stanford University and Published by Elsevier BV

Dr Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga, senior radiobiologist, in-charge of research and chief operating officer (COO) of Mangalore Institute of Oncology, has featured again in the global Top 2% for exceptional research work.

Dr Baliga’s current global ranking in all fields of research is 64,930; while in his specialized area of Cancer (Oncology & Carcinogenesis) is 2,786. In the 2019 report, Dr Baliga was also ranked in the top 2% with 3188th. Among Indian researchers working on cancer, his current ranking is 7th and second in the state of Karnataka.

The study was conducted by Prof John PA, Loannidis of Stanford University and published by Elsevier B V, and considered the contribution of 200,409 scientists from 1960 until the end of September 1, 2022 in 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields. The Stanford team focused on impact (citations) and analyzed the research citation in the “Scopus database”, considered to be the “benchmark” by the scientific community around the world.

Dr Baliga is the eldest son of popular travel’s proprietor Prabhakar Baliga and Prema Baliga. He did his schooling and undergraduate studies at St Aloysius College and Masters in Biosciences from Mangalore University. He did his doctoral studies in radiation biology from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal with research on anticancer and radio modulatory properties of novel agents in 2003. He received advanced training at Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai and post – doctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, USA and a second post doctorate from the University of Illinois, Chicago in areas of cancer prevention and metastasis.

Dr Baliga also has adjunct degrees in Masters of business administration in education management, from Alagappa University and Masters in Psychology and Psychotherapy from Kuvempu University. In addition to this Dr Baliga has been one of the founding members of the UNESCO Bioethics in India and has been active in studies on ethical issues in health care and Oncology in specific. He has done advanced research training in pharmacogenomics at University of Delhi, South Campus under the prestigious Indian National Academy of Sciences fellowship. Dr Baliga was inducted as a fellow in “The International Institute of Organizational Psychological Medicine (IIOPM), Melbourne Australia in 2019 for his work in health and work place psychology.

In his three decades long scientific career, Dr Baliga has carried out studies in the areas of cancer epidemiology, cancer prevention, radiation-modulation, Onco-psychology, cancer ethics, cancer education, health economics and pharmacovigilance. Till date he has published around 202 scientific articles and 92 text book chapters in the above said areas in national and international journals and books. Dr Baliga has mentored 61 students till date and most of his students are in premier institutes of Europe, USA and Australia.

Dr Baliga’s current research at Mangalore Institute of Oncology is focused on aspects important to local society, like cancer trends in Dakshina Kannada, effective integration of Ayurveda and Yoga in post treatment recovery and health economics in cancer care. These areas have been highly neglected and Dr Baliga’s emphasis is towards bridging the gaps for the benefit of the local society and country at large.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: ENVIRONMENT & WILDLIFE: 4 from Karnataka – Fairoz, Sunitha Dhairyam, Akhilesh Chipli, Col CM Muthanna Awarded ‘Cricketers for Wildlife Conservation’s ”Wildlife Service Award 2022” organised by the Karnataka Forest Department

All should join hands with govt for conservation: Forester in Karnataka

As there is a lot of pressure on forests due to linear projects, the forest department alone cannot safeguard them and everybody should join hands for conservation and protection, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Kumar Pushkar said.

During the distribution of the Cricketers for Wildlife Conservation’s Wildlife Service Award 2022, organised by Karnataka Forest Department, he said NGOs, conservationists and celebrities should engage with the government in conservation and protection.

Forest watcher from BRT Tiger Reserve, Fairoz, along with wildlife conservationists — Sunitha Dhairyam (Mariamma Trust, Bandipur Tiger Reserve), Akhilesh Chipli (Shivammoga) and Colonel C M Muthanna (Kodagu) — were felicitated by former Indian cricketer and National Cricket Academy director VVS Laxman in the city on Saturday.

The awardees are chosen by a team of panellists from the forest department, including conservationists, based on their work. Laxman expressed concern about climate change and asserted the need to protect forests to mitigate the effects.

There are challenges, which need to be overcome for better results, he added using the platform to encourage youth in sports, but also stressed on the need for quality education.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)