Karnataka First

The source of Cauvery is also among the most ideal locations to gaze at the sky.

Talacauvery in Kodagu district, which is the source of Cauvery river, has emerged as South India’s Hanle, as astronomers have been hosting “star parties” there for some time now. Hanle, located in Ladakh, and known for its pristine skies and minimal light pollution, is also India’s first Dark Sky Reserve.

A Dark Sky Reserve is a designation given to a place that has policies in place to ensure that a tract of land or region has minimal artificial light interference.

In south India, most dark sky locations are in the Western Ghats or some hill ranges nearby, and according to astronomers, Talacauvery is the most ideal location to gaze at the sky and have a star party.

Voluntary work

The Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS), a group of volunteers working for the promotion of astronomy as a hobby as well as a science, is now hosting star parties at Talacauvery. IT professionals Sudhash Natarajan, Vishwanath S.K. and Keerthi Kiran have been volunteering to conduct the star parties for BAS.

“We at BAS usually arrange star parties on New Moon weekends (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) format as it is the ideal time to observe the celestial objects which we are looking for. We inform people who are interested in joining us for the star party eight to days in advance. Members of the sky party after arriving at the dark sky location set up their equipment like telescopes, binacolours etc and the observation goes on until 4.45 am,” said Sudhash Natarajan.

Mr. Natarajan said that the group which attends the star parties are of all walks of life and that they are a mix of experienced astronomers as well as students and newbies to astronomy. He added that star parties have also been conducted in Koratagere, Hoshalli, Kavalur, and Yercaud in the past.

Less light pollution

“However, Talacauvery is possibly the best dark night location in south India due to less light pollution. In astronomy, there is something called the Bortle scale which measures the night sky’s brightness of a location on a nine level numerical scale. The lesser the numerical scale it qualifies for a better dark sky location. For example, Hanle skies would qualify as Bortle one skies, Talacauvery as Bortle two, and Bengaluru as Bortle nine,” he added.

The star parties are usually conducted in the winter months between December to March as the skies are clearer during these months which is very important for stargazing.

Mr. Natarajan said a star party was conducted between December 23 and 27, 2022, and the next one would be between January 20 and 24.

thehindu.com

Seven Indian scientists have received the IndiaBioscience Outreach Grants (IOG) awards for taking science out of the lab.

IndiaBioscience, which is housed and supported by the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, had initiated the awards to bridge the gap between scientists and society.

The IOG awards were launched under two schemes: First time grants and Extension Grants.

The first-time awards were for young scientists who haven’t been awarded the IOG award last year, while the extension grant enabled second IOG awardees to re-apply for another year of funding.

“The researchers were encouraged to team up with one or more professional science communicators and come up with project ideas that have the potential to extend beyond English and incorporate regional languages,” IndiaBioscience said.

The seven winners ( five first-time awardees, two extension grant awardees) were selected from within a pool of over 98 proposals, and cover a variety of areas and niches including citizen science initiatives, educational webinars, stakeholder awareness programs, as well as interactive videos and graphics.

The winners of IOG first time grant are: Bittu K Rajaraman, (Ashoka University) for Discover Learning – scientific ways of learning and critical thinking, Chandana Basu (Banaras Hindu University) for GENETIKS4U project which aims to help students in grades 9-12 understand genetic concepts through colorful illustrations, infographics, comics, story-telling, and hands-on activities, Ishwariya Venkatesh (CSIR – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) for Let’s Talk Life – An integrated online platform to drive up student engagement in Life Sciences in India, Mayuri Rege (Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College) for Aamchi Prayogshaala a project which aims at giving hands-on lab experiences to disadvantaged students and lab visits to ensure early exposure to careers in science and teaching and Tuli Dey (Savitribai Phule Pune University) for Back to the Future which focuses on virtual lab sessions, meeting scientists, online quizzes for school and college students.

The winners of IOG Extension Grant are Megha Kumar (CSIR – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) for the project IndiaAsksWhy a science podcast promoting curiosity-based learning by observation and asking life science related questions about the world around them and Neha Jain (Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur) for the project engaging youth to fight against antimicrobial resistance.

thehindu.com

Citizens of Philippines, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Togolese Republic will enroll on the platform.

Around 70 million citizens in Philippines (80% of the population) have enrolled themselves on their national digital identity programme rolled out by Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), a digital identity platform developed by a team at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB).

Upon the request of World Bank to initiate research and development, the project provides digital identities similar to Aadhaar to underdeveloped and developing countries. So far, 16 lakh lines of codes have been developed and used by countries, free of cost.

People of 9 nations to enroll

Although the project was first aimed at providing MOSIP to five countries, it has now been extended to nine countries. Philippines, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Togolese Republic are the countries whose citizens will enroll on the platform. A team of 30 people, comprising top designers and others from software, database design, security and privacy departments, are working on the project at IIITB.

“Along with technical know-how, we will also help the countries with technological training. Data, privacy, and security will all be within their own country and their policy, we will not interfere with it. We are providing digital identity for the world in a modular nature so that it can be customised to their needs. For instance, in Philippines, English, and Filipino are the languages which used, while in Morocco, it is French and Arabic. Different countries have separate biometric needs and accordingly, the modular biometrics will be used,” explained Debabrata Das, Director, IIITB, who is also the Chairman of Executive Committee for the project.

Scalable. secure

Prof. Rajagopalan, President of MOSIP project, added that the project is highly scalable and secure. The developers have also figured out a way to operate in 5,000+ habitable islands of Philippines where there is no good internet connection.

“We have developed a new technology to identify people where there is no internet or low bandwidth connection. A lot of research went into it and we developed a secure QR code which can be stored in local servers and mobiles and can be used to authenticate each other. Later, when they get internet connection, the information can be exchanged and authenticated,” he further said.

The project is also being funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norad, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Pratiksha Trust and Omidyar Network.

thehindu.com

The award is considered prestigious and very competitive given to Indian scientists below the age of 35.

Dr. Hrishikesh Tavanandi has been awarded the Medal for Young Scientist of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi. He is serving as Training Coordinator on temporary basis in the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) programme at CSIR-CFTRI, Mysuru.

INSA is a body of Indian scientists founded in 1935 with the aim of promoting science in India and harnessing scientific knowledge for the cause of humanity and national welfare.

One of the activities of INSA is to encourage and motivate young talent in Indian science. INSA awards the Young Scientist Medal each year. The award is a prestigious and a very competitive award given to Indian scientists below the age of 35 and is considered to be ‘the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist’.

It is given annually to those who distinguish themselves through these attributes as evidenced by their research work carried out in India. In selecting Dr. Hrishikesh Tavanandi, INSA President Prof. Chandrima Shaha wrote, “You have shown great potential to be a leader in research. I sincerely hope that you will continue to strive hard to reach your potential and to prove your leadership in the coming years.”

Dr. Tavanandi has carried out his research work under the guidance of Prof. K.S.M.S. Raghavarao, professor-IIT Tirupati and former Director, CSIR-CFTRI.

He has developed innovative and translatable hybrid and integrated separation processes to achieve gains in yield and quality of extractable, economically useful phytochemicals from biomass.

The noteworthy processes developed by him include, high quality bioactives from Spirulina and quality drying of micro-organisms and biomolecules by methods alternative to freeze drying.

Dr. Tavanandi received the award from INSA President Prof. Chandrima Shaha at the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, RC Visakhapatnam during the 88th annual general meeting of INSA.

thehindu.com

This ongoing festival will feature a variety of classical music concerts and dance performances.

It was a musical beginning to the year as the 13th Nirantharam National Music and Dance Festival kick-started on January 1 and will continue till January 5. This five-day festival, happening at Seva Sadan, Malleswaram, will feature a variety of classical music concerts and dance performances.

P Ramaa, trustee of Sangeetha Sambhrama, which organised the festival says on January 2 there is a lineup of NRI artists. “It’s an internationally-known music drama and dance festival. Artists from the US and UK  are participating. There is a strong lineup of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi performances,” says Ramaa. The festival has many performers who have been looking forward to being part of live shows. “Performers are eagerly waiting to perform live, as before it was largely online. Even regular attendees of the festival, are awaiting this,” says Ramaa.

Ramaa adds on January 4 there is a dance ballet of Sri Ramanuja Vaibhavam, and suggests not missing it. It will be presented in the presence of  Yadugiri Yathiraja Narayana Ramanuja Jeeyar Swamy and Karnataka Higher Education Minister C N Ashwath Narayan. Apart from that, there will be a presentation of Sambhrama Puraskar Awards 2023 to eminent artists like R A Ramamani,  Sujatha Sreenivasan,  Sai Venkatesh,  Prasanna Kasthuri,  Praveen D Rao,  Padmaja Srinivas and V Murali Nadaswara.

“We are felicitating all the artists who were bestowed with the Sangeet Nataka Academy Award from the President of India in Delhi. Around 50 people are coming for the award function and some are being awarded posthumously,” concludes Ramaa.

newindianexpress.com

The ISC is the only international non-governmental organisation that brings together prominent members of different natural sciences and social sciences around the world.

Padma Shri awardee and president of the Bengaluru-based Geological Society of India, Dr Harsh K Gupta, has been appointed as a fellow of the International Science Council (ISC).

Dr Gupta was instrumental in setting up the first permanent Indian station, Dakshin Gangotri, in Antarctica, as he led the third Indian Scientific Expedition to the icy continent. He also headed the team that set up the Indian Tsunami Warning System in 2006. Dr Gupta has been vital in the understanding of earthquakes, especially in areas around the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. His findings have been documented in over 200 research and scientific papers in both national and international journals.

The ISC is the only international non-governmental organisation that brings together prominent members of different natural sciences and social sciences around the world. The council announced the appointment of several fellows in June 2022, and an additional 57 fellows in December 2022, one of whom is Dr Gupta. Of the 57 fellows appointed in December, Dr Gupta was the only ISC Fellow appointed from India.

The renowned earth scientist was elected to the highest honour of the ISC for his contributions towards promoting science ‘as a global public good’ last year. Dr Gupta was awarded the Padma Shri in 2006, having previously been awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in 1983, the highest award in India under the science and technology category.

newindianexpress.com

Senior IPS officer Amar Kumar Pande, who played a key role in arresting and bringing back underworld dons Ravi Poojari and Bannanje Raja to India, is retiring on Saturday from the services of Karnataka Police Department.

Pande is serving as the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of State Fire Force and Emergency Services. He is 1989 cadre IPS officer from Bihar and rendered 33 years of service in various positions in the state police department.

Pande started ambulance services on highways and saved hundreds of lives during his tenure as the SP of Dharwad. When he was IGP of Central Zone, the police carried out an encounter of the notorious Bettanagere Seena in Bengaluru Rural District.

The encounter had brought down the criminal and mafia activities in the region. Pande has played an important role in the arresting of terror suspect Mehdi Biswas, who was allegedly handling the social media account of terror outfit ISIS. Pande was heading the Internal Security Division (ISD).

He was the mastermind behind the operation to bring back international dons Ravi Poojari and Bannanje Raja, who were holed up in foreign countries.

Pande was honoured with the President Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Chief Minister Medal for meritorious services and many awards. Pande has also penned four books in the English language.

daijiworld.com

Arna Rajesh, resident of the city, bagged two gold medals in the South Zone skating championship that was organized by CBSE board and B B Hamji international school, Belagavi.

In the skating competition which was held at Shivaganga skating rink of Belagavi, Arna Rajesh, second grade student of Bejai Lourdes Central School bagged two gold medals each in 500 meters and 1000 meters and brought laurels.

Arna got selected for the national level skating championship that will be held in Haryana in January. Arna is the daughter of Dr Rajesh Hukkeri and Anita Rajesh couple, residents of Kadri Hills in the city. She is a member of Kadri Rollers Skating Club.

daijiworld.com

“Konkani Journals and periodicals contributed to the immense growth of Konkani literature. Konkani journalism has a history of 110 years. The commitment of Konkani editors and publishers in shaping the careers of today’s celebrated Konkani writers is worth recognizing. By bestowing a journalism award on a senior Konkani journalist ARSO is doing a great job. Along with senior journalists young and upcoming Konkani journalists should also be recognized and honoured,“ said Ln Dr Austin Prabhu, editor-publisher of one and only digitally illustrated Konkani weekly Veez Konkani published in Chicago for the last five-and-half years.

Dr Prabhu was speaking on the occasion at Maria Jayanti Mandir, Jeppu Mangaluru conferring ARSO Journalism Award 2022 to senior Konkani journalist Avil Rasqunha.

Abu Dhabi-based NRI entrepreneur CA Valerian D’Almeida conferred Leo Rodrigues Family Kittall Youth Award 2022 on Clive D’Souza Boliye on behalf of the Leo Rodrigues Family. He lauded the committed contribution and unstinted support of NRI Entrepreneur and philanthropist Leo Rodrigues, whom he knew since his student days to the growth of the Konkani language, literature, art, music, and culture in India and abroad. CA D’Almeida stressed the need for applied media education and requested scribes to focus on villages where real talents are growing.

Senior banker Stephen Pinto and educationist Oswald Rodrigues were guests of honour.

H M Pernal, editor – publisher of Kittall.com, Wilson Kateel, editor of ARSO, and poet-thinker Titus Noronha, chairman of the award selection committee were present on the dais.

Host of Konkani writers, artists, well-wishers of Arso and Kittall, and family members of awardees were present.

daijiworld.com