Author: wellnmed@gmail.com

The ashes (asthi) of John Merwin Fritz, an 83-year-old London-based archaeologist and anthropologist, who died in London on January 23 this year, were, as per his wishes, immersed in the Tungabhadra waters at Hampi on Sunday.

Fritz was an internationally acclaimed archaeological researcher who made notable contribution to research on the great imperial city of Vijayanagara.

As per his wishes, his cremation was carried out according to Hindu rituals in London and the ashes were immersed in the Tungabhadra waters. His grandson Williams performed the ash-immersion rituals at Hampi.

Fritz’s daughter Alice Chandra Fritz and his friends John Gollings and George Michell were among those present at the Hampi ceremony.

“Fritz was very fond of India, especially Hampi. As per his wishes, his ashes were submerged in the Tungabhadra waters. His other wish was to complete the Vijayanagara Research Project which he started 30 years ago. I am also part of the project with a specific assignment of mapping surface archaeological features and I have finished it. We will try to complete the entire project,” Surendra Kumar, a Hampi-based researcher, told The Hindu.

Born on December 29, 1939 at Glendale of California in the United States, Fritz had settled down in London.

His work, Paleo-Psychology Today (1978), anticipated not only new directions in archaeology but also what would become the core of his research and publications regarding the symbolic features of past architectural monuments and structures, including aspects of both the Chaco site in New Mexico and, most substantively, the grand imperial city of Vijayanagara at Hampi in India.

In April 1981, Fritz joined George Michell, an architect from Australia, for archaeological research of Hampi. Over the next 20 years, he and George Michell ran an independent field camp in the middle of the ruins in Hampi. Together with the many scholars who became involved in what came to be known as the Vijayanagara Research Project, Fritz published extensively, editing the two-volume “Vijayanagara: Archaeological Exploration, 1990-2000”, and, together with George Michell, issued a popular guidebook on the site.

Their jointly authored “City of Victory” published in 1991 by Aperture in New York was the first of the several superbly illustrated volumes. They gifted much of the project’s maps and drawings to the British Library. Before his death, Fritz made a bequest to the American Trust for the British Library to fund a one-year cataloguing post for the collections.

thehindu.com

The National Horticulture Fair 2023 (NHF2023), which will be held between February 22 and 25 in Hesaraghatta on the outskirts of the city under the theme of ‘Innovative horticulture for self-reliance’, will be inaugurated by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar virtually on Wednesday at 12 p.m., said Sanjay Kumar Singh, Director of ICAR-IIHR and chairman of the organising committee NHF 2023.

The fair, being organised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), will showcase latest technologies such as vegetable, flower and medicinal crop varieties for import substitution, pollination in protected cultivation, leaf curl virus resistant chilli varieties, carotenoid content rich marigold varieties, flower waste utilisation, terrace gardening solutions for urban horticulture, production technologies for exotic fruits such as dragon fruit and avocado and cost-effective traps for management of invasive pests, etc. for the benefit of horticulturists and other stakeholders during the NHF2023 at ICAR-IIHR.

The NHF-2023 will have 250 hi-tech stalls on various products and 50 nursery stalls, according to ICAR-IIHR officials. Apart from this, officials said that special workshops and conferences on horticulture development on various aspects, including value added millet products, composting of bio-waste, urban horticulture, mushroom production and value addition, safe use of pesticides, preparation of incense sticks from floral waste and tribal horticulture, will be organised during the four-day fair. Last year, the event was cancelled due to the pandemic, and in 2021, the fair was in a hybrid mode because of the pandemic. The institute is expecting about 50,000 farmers from various States of the country.

Hopcoms fair at Lalbagh

The Horticultural Producers’ Cooperative Marketing and Processing Society (Hopcoms) will oragnise grapes and watermelon mela at Lalbagh from Wednesday. Three to four varieties of watermelon and 13 to 15 varieties of grapes will be sold at the fair, according to a Hopcoms release.

thehindu.com

700 participants from 15 States are likely to participate in the races till February 26. The event will be held at Swarna river in Heroor.

The 11th national dragon boat championship will begin in Udupi for four days from Thursday, with about 700 participants from 15 States expected to participate.

Organised by the Udupi district administration, in association with the Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association, the competitions will be held on the Swarna near Heroor in Udupi.

Those selected in this championship will be eligible to participate in Asian Games to be held in September/October, 2023.

Arrangements like two access roads, space for viewers have been organised in Heroor.

According to Udupi MLA K. Raghupathi Bhat, dragon boat race has evolved into a competitive global sport.

‘‘Udupi got an opportunity to host this championship. The prospects of Udupi in organising water sports championships can be explored further. The championship will have 200 metres, 500 metres, and 2 km race,” he told presspersons.

In each category, 25 participants will get selected to participate in the Asian Games, Mr. Bhat said, adding that the dragon boats have already arrived at the venue.

The boats have been designed to look like a dragon’s head, while the rear is carved to look like a tail.

thehindu.com

In this event, 22 persons sit on the narrow boat, while the rest of the team works the oars and one person sitting in the front will beat a drum to egg them on and a coxswain steers the boat. There will be three more persons on reserve.

The 10th national dragon boat championship was held in Bhopal last year.

The Vishwa Sanskrit Sammelana, a world conference on ‘Contribution of Indian Knowledge and Sanskrit to Humanity’, will begin at Srinivas University, Mukka campus, Surathkal, on February 24 for three days.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Pro-Chancellor of the university A. Srinivas Rao said that the university will organise the conference in association with the Central Sanskrit University, Delhi, National Mission for the Manuscript of the Union government, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi, and Morarji Desai National Institute of YOGA, Ministry of Ayush.

It will be an attempt to bring together scholars and practitioners of Sanskrit, Indian philosophy, and culture under one umbrella. A souvenir will be released on the occasion, he said.

Mr. Rao said that the university will open a Sanskrit Research Centre dedicated to the study of the Vedas and general philosophical approaches to the status of Vedic scripture. Its building will also have a museum of Indian classical Vedic literature, among others.

The centre will be a hub of activities on Indian thought and culture.

Ancient Vedic India held a lot of mystic writings and highly classified knowledge which yielded extraordinary results in various fields such as astronomy, trigonometry, astrology and spirituality to name a few. The Vedas, Upanishads, Brahma Sutras etc. are layered with such profound and incredible knowledge. One needs to dive deep into it to relish the depth of its knowledge and understand the hidden secret meanings.

In the conference there will be in-depth discussions on various topics such as Ayurveda, Yoga, science in Sanskrit, Astrology, and Indian philosophy.

A.S. Rajeev, Managing Director & CEO, Bank of Maharashtra, Pune, will inaugurate the conference.

thehindu.com

The JSS College of Pharmacy will host the 52 ^nd annual conference of Indian Pharmacological Society to be held in the city from February 23 to 25 and will showcase the developments in the field of pharmacology in India.

M Pramod Kumar, Organising Chairman of 52nd IPSCON 2023, and Principal, G.V. Pujar, to media persons here on Tuesday that the theme will be latest technologies and better strategies to discover new drugs and the conference will also highlight several crucial and contemporary issues in pharmacology.

In all, 110 talks are planned by scientists from across the globe and experts as part of the conference and there will be a pre-conference workshop on Wednesday. More than 1,000 delegates are participating from across the country and there will be 17 scientific sessions comprising symposiums, plenary lectures, distinguished lecture series, current scientific updates, brainstorming sessions and panel discussions

The conference will also feature an exhibition of scientific equipment while a walkathon will be held on February 24 to create awareness about health. The walkathon will be led by former Indian cricketer Javagal Srinath, according to the organisers.

During the inauguration three eminent pharmacologists will receive ‘’Lifetime Achievements Awards” for the contribution to drug discovery and development; 10 teachers will be awarded as “Best Teachers Awards”; 4 eminent pharmacologists will be given “Fellow of Indian Pharmacological Society-FIPS”; and eight researchers will be delivering the ‘orations’ talk during the conference.

Vice-Principal K.L. Krishna, Organizing Secretary of 52nd IPSCON 2023, B.R. Prashantha Kumar, Associate Professor, and other officials of JSS AHER and JSS College of Pharmacy faculty were present.

thehindu.com

CBR is uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of tackling this impending healthcare and socioeconomic crisis.”

The Pratiksha Trust signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and Centre for Brain Research (CBR), an autonomous centre of IISC, to accelerate breakthrough discoveries and translational research on neurodegenerative diseases.

Under this MoU, the charitable trust, founded by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalkrishnan, has agreed to provide support to CBR in perpetuity with an initial outlay to the tune of Rs 450.27 crore over the next 10 years, for research, innovation and translation.

IISC Director Prof G Rangarajan said, “India’s elderly population is expected to grow rapidly to a staggering 32 crore by 2050, leading to a corresponding increase in the burden of dementia and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases. CBR is uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of tackling this impending healthcare and socioeconomic crisis.”

Gopalakrishnan said, “The human brain is one of the world’s biggest mysteries, which is yet to be fully understood. By funding this centre, we are working towards creating and sustaining a globally recognised, state-of-the-art research and innovation hub that will be at the cutting edge of research on the human brain.”

CBR has already been pursuing research in this area and this MoU will help scale up the research and activities at the centre. It is also a part of nation-wide initiative involving 20 institutions called “Genome-India” (supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India), which aims to discover India-specific genetic basis for diseases through whole genome sequencing of 10,000 samples collected from across the country.

newindianexpress.com

Legendary Yakshagana playback singer and scriptwriter Balipa Narayana Bhagawatha passed away at his residence near Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada district on Thursday. He was 84. He hailed from Maruru, near Moodbidri, and is survived by sons Madhava, Shashidhara, and Shivashankara who is also a noted Yakshagana playback singer.

His wife, Jayalakshmi, predeceased him. His another son Prasad Balipa, who was also a well-known Yakshagana playback singer, died in April, 2022.

Mr. Narayana Bhagawatha, who had a large fan following, had mastered a unique style of singing which fans had named as “Balipa shaili” (Balipa style). It was distinct from that of other singers. Though many other Yakshagana singers had tried to emulate this, none could master it. Mr. Narayana Bhagawatha had a rich voice and wrote over 30 Yakshagana “prasangas” (scripts).

Mr. Narayana Bhagawatha was born on March 19, 1938 at Padre village in Kasaragod (Kerala) district. His family later shifted to Maruru. He hailed from a family of Yakshagana artists.

thehindu.com

Jetpack suits enable personnel to fly with the aim of enhancing individual mobility in tough terrain. One possible use is crossing a mine-infested area.

A Bengaluru-based company is in the race to supply jetpacks for the armed forces of India. The Indian Army is looking at jetpack suits, which will enable its personnel to fly with the aim of enhancing individual mobility in tough terrain.

The jet suit developed by Absolute Composites in Bengaluru will be among those that will be evaluated by the Indian Army for procurement. At present, Absolute Composites is the only Indian company to make the jetpack suit.

In January, the Indian Army released a Request For Proposal for 48 jetpack suits. Jetpacks are becoming a part of armed forces worldwide for quick movement of individual personnel in emergency situations.

The jetpack developed in Bengaluru is fuelled by diesel, has a range of 10 km and is capable of flying for up to 8 minutes. The pack weighs 40 kg and can carry a payload of 80 kg. Though it is capable of flying at an altitude of 3,000 meters, the optimal height is between 10 feet and 20 feet above the ground.

Absolute Composites Managing Director Raghav Reddy told The Hindu, “The jet suit is good for scenarios where there are obstructions on the ground. Due to limited endurance, it will not be optimal to lose energy in just climbing to a high altitude.”

Who invented jetpack suit

The jetpack suit was invented by British citizen Richard Browning, who is the founder and chief test pilot of Gravity Industry. His effort inspired Absolute Composites to come up with a jetpack suit. The Indian company has modified and improvised the equipment to suit local requirements.

Among uses for jetpack suits is in the movement of personnel in mine-infested areas or for mine detection, to cross a water body when a bridge is broken, or movement from one ship to another. In civilian scenarios, it can help in a fire emergency, medical rescue and floods.

The jetpack suit developed in Bengaluru is an improvised version in terms of materials used with heat and fire-proof materials. An extra engine has been added. Provisions have been made to enable the user to carry a small quantity of medicines or other supplies. In the next version, display helmets will be added to the suit.

thehindu.com

Responding to an appeal made by Rajya Sabha MP Lahar Singh Siroya, Mandot Steels adopted 300 tuberculosis patients under the Nikshay Mitra initiative in the city on Saturday. Under this initiative, TB patients will receive essential nutritional support.

At an event held in Malleswaram, Minister and MLA of the constituency C.N. Ashwath Narayan, Mr. Siroya, and Lalit Kumar Mandot from the company distributed protein-rich nutrition kits to TB patients.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Siroya said: “To meet the target of making India TB-free by 2025, we have so far adopted 1,100 patients in the capital city.” On November 25 last year, Mr. Siroya had adopted 500 TB patients in the city under Nikshay Mitra.

thehindu.com