Category: Amazing Feats

** IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath to leave job and return to Harvard University

She had joined the IMF as the Chief Economist in January 2019

IMF’s Chief Economist Gita Gopinath will leave her job in January next year and return to the prestigious Harvard University, according to the global financial institution.

The 49-year-old prominent Indian-American economist had joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the Chief Economist in January 2019.

She was the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University when she joined the Washington-based global lender.

Mysuru-born Gopinath is the first-ever woman Chief Economist of the IMF.

** Flying mobile towers may up India’s broadband penetration

Bengaluru start-up, VFLYX India, the drone tech arm of e-com platform for electronic/tech gadgets, XBOOM Utilities, is now doing R&D to introduce such drones. A proof of concept is expected to be ready in a year, as per the firm.

A swarm of long-flying drones, powered either by solar, electric, gasoline or hybrid engines have to be used to create a mobile tower environment (they become both receivers and repeaters) to ensure seamless Internet and mobile access to people in no-connectivity areas, said Rohit Dey, CTO, UAV/Drones at VFLYX.

** India’s Tallest Lord Subramanyeshwara Swamy Statue To Be Installed At Gattevadi Near Nanjangud

Plans have materialised to install India’s tallest Lord Subramanyeshwara statue (54-ft) at Gattevadi village under Doddakavalande hobli in Nanjangud taluk. The 18-ft statue of the Snake God will be placed on a 36-ft stone pedestal and the initiative has been taken by Thapobhoomi Trust.

** Singing her way to success

This 10-year-old singing sensation is releasing her new single for which she will collaborate with Grammy nominee, Shontelle Layne

 Megan Rakesh, the little Bengaluru-based pop sensation has had a flurry of a month with the formation of her band, the release of her first single, and Grammy-nominated artiste Shontelle Layne, one of her role models and inspirations, announcing a remix of her single. All this just days before her 10th birthday.

** ‘No Presents Please’ wins American translation award

Tejaswini Niranjana had translated the original Kannada short stories collection written by Jayant Kaikini to English

No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories, a collection of short stories by Jayant Kaikini translated from Kannada by Tejaswini Niranjana, has won American Literary Translators Association’s National Translation Award for 2021 for prose.

** Mangaluru: LiveStream Studio inaugurated at World Konkani Centre

Nirupama G Shenoy inaugurated the new LiveStream Studio donated by Nandakumar Shenoy in memory of his parents Lakshmi and V Nandagopal Shenoy at the World Konkani Centre on Friday October 15.

In his inaugural address, Nandakumar Shenoy stressed the need for means of communication to reach out to the community without facing the hindrances of dialects and regions. “Our ancestors did many good things for us. Now with the same spirit, we have to hand over some good things to our future generation. The legacy of our culture and language should be continued. I hope this facility will turn into a knowledge enrichment center.”

** Progressive Karnataka farmer generates power from pond

Suresh Balnad, a resident of Bayar in Balnad village of Puttur taluk, uses water from a pond that is above 60 feet to generate power. He has fixed a wind turbine with a pipe to generate electricity. For the last 17 years, Suresh has been producing 2 kilowatt (KV) of power as water flows via canal.

** JEE Advanced results: Two from Bengaluru get high all-India ranks

Veeresh B. Patil, from Oxford Independent PU College, Ullal, and Premankur C., a student of National Public School, Yelahanka, Bengaluru, bagged the first and second ranks at the State level, with the 39th and 54th ranks at the all-India level, respectively.

** A gecko named Jackie Chan in the Western Ghats

A new revision of Cnemaspis gecko in the Western Ghats has described 12 new species

A new revision of Cnemaspis geckos (day gecko) in the Western Ghats has described 12 new species, including ones named, among others, after Jackie Chan and dragons from Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. Of the 12 species, 10 were found in southern Western Ghats.

The paper, ‘Diversifying on the Ark: multiple new endemic lineages of dwarf geckos from the Western Ghats provide insights into the systematics and biogeography of South Asian Cnemaspis (Reptilia: Squamata)’, authored by Saunak Pal, from the Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, Princia D’Souza and Kartik Shanker from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Bengaluru; and Zeeshan A. Mirza from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, was published in Zoological Research recently.

** Mangaluru: Ullal municipality bags award for solid waste management

From the last two years, Ullal municipality has been encouraging people to sort out solid waste at source, and use wet waste for growing vegetables etc after preparing manure at homes. As reward for its successful use of solid waste by creating awareness, the municipality has bagged the state government award.