Arun has been associated with India International Times since 2018 and he has been a key reporter in covering science and space related stories. He can be reached at arunKnn@indiainternationaltimes.com.
The President of India, Droupadi Murmu presented the National Service Scheme Awards for the year 2020-2021 at Rashtrapati Bhavan today.Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Anurag Thakur and Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Nisith Pramanik attended the awards ceremony. Secretary, Youth Affairs, Shri Sanjay Kumar and Secretary, Sports, Smt. Sujata Chaturvedi and senior officers of the Ministry and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.
Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Department of Youth Affairs confers every year the National Service Scheme Award to recognize and reward outstanding contributions towards voluntary community service made by the Universities/ +2 Council, Programme Officers/NSS Units and NSS Volunteers, with a view to further promote NSS in the country. At Present, NSS has about 40 lakh volunteers on its rolls spread over the country.The details of National Service Scheme (NSS) Award for the year 2020-21 in 3 different categories are as under:
S. No.
Categories
No. of Awards
Value of Award
1
University/ +2 Council
2
First Award: Rs.5,00,000/- (for NSS Programme Development) with a Trophy to the University/ +2 Council.
A Certificate and a Silver Medal to the Programme Coordinator.
Second Award: Rs.3,00,000 lakh (for NSS Programme Development) with a Trophy to the University/ +2 Council.
A Certificate and a Silver Medal to the Programme Coordinator.
2
NSS Units and their Programme Officers
10+10
Rs.2,00,000/- to each NSS Unit (For NSS Programme Development), with a Trophy.
Rs. 1,50,000/- to each Programme Officer with a Certificate and a Silver Medal.
3
NSS Volunteers
30
Rs. 1,00,000/- to each Volunteer, with a Certificate and a Silver Medal.
NSS is a Centrally Sector Scheme which was launched in the year 1969 with the primary objective of developing the personality and character of the student youth through voluntary community service. The ideological orientation of the NSS is inspired by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. Very appropriately, the motto of NSS is “NOT ME, BUT YOU”(‘स्वयं से पहले आप’).
Briefly, the NSS volunteers work on issues of social relevance, which keep evolving in response to the needs of the community, through regular and special camping activities. Such issues include (i) literacy and education, (ii) health, family welfare and nutrition, (iii) environment conservation, (iv) social service programmes, (v) programmes for empowerment of women, (vi) programmes connected with economic development activities, (vii) rescue and relief during calamities, (viii) Swachhata activities, etc.
The Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) in association with Indian mission in the Guatemala (Latin America) is organizing a Made in India – Trade Show Exhibition on Indian arts & crafts and other products of Indian Handicrafts Manufacturers & Exporters from 22 – 24 September, 2022 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Ten National master craft persons and exporters from all parts of India are displaying the wide range of variety of handcrafted products like home décor, home furnishing, carpets, furniture, lamps, fashion jewellery & accessories, incense, aroma and wellness products.
Shri Rakesh Kumar, Executive Director, EPCH informed that H.E. Mr. Guillermo Castillo, Vice President of Guatemala & acting President and H.E. Ambassador of India to Guatemala, Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra inaugurated the Made in India Trade Show in Guatemala and have extended their full cooperation and support to EPCH for organizing Made in India – Trade Show Exhibition in their Region reflecting the indomitable spirit of the handicraft exporting fraternity to continue furthering the efforts to strengthen the Handicrafts Sector.
Mr.Guillermo Castillo, Vice President of Guatemala & acting President and H.E. Ambassador of India to Guatemala Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra along with other dignitaries inaugurating Made in India – Trade Show Exhibition on Indian arts & crafts at Cayala, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Shri Raj Kumar Malhotra, Chairman, EPCH informed that this Made in India – Trade Show Exhibition on Indian arts & crafts will provide a viable business option to the exhibitors and buyers. It is expected that the Made in India – Trade Show Exhibition on Indian arts & crafts in association with Indian Missions will lead to enhance trade and people to people relations in the Latin American region.
His Excellency H.E. Ambassador of India to Guatemala, Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra informed that the Made in India – Trade Show Exhibition is an opportunity to portray diversity of India, which the world is appreciative of. This will also be an opportunity to present to the world India’s abundant skills, competitive edge and adherence to quality compliances to the world.
EPCH being a nodal agency, promoting exports of handicrafts from the Country to various destinations of the world and projecting India’s image abroad as a reliable supplier of high quality handicrafts goods & services. The Handicrafts exports during the year 2021-22 was Rs. 33253.00 Crores (US $ 4459.76 Million) registering a growth of 29.49% in rupee term & 28.90% in dollar terms over previous year. However, exports of Handicrafts to Latin America is Rs. 682 crores (USD 92 million) in year 2021-22.
Mr.Guillermo Castillo, Vice President of Guatemala & acting President and H.E. Ambassador of India to Guatemala Dr. Manoj Kumar Mohapatra along with participating national awardees and master craft persons during Made in India – Trade Show Exhibition on Indian arts & crafts at Cayala, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he will deploy citizens to fight Ukraine on Wednesday, long queues were witnessed at border with citizens flocking the borders to flee the country, which is finding huge manpower shortage to continue the Ukrainian war.
In an address, President Putin and military officials said 300,000 reservists would immediately be conscripted to fight in the unprovoked invasion after the warring country had lost significant ground in Ukraine amid recent counterattacks, said the report.
Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia’s first mobilisation since World War Two and warned the West he was not bluffing when he said he’d be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. He gave the citizens just four hours to pack their bags and say goodbyes to their families, said a report in Metro.
How to break an arm at home?
Soon after Putin’s announcement, the Google Search is inundated with the search string “how to break an arm at home”. It became the top search in Russia as Google Trends data showed a dramatic rise in the search term from 0 to 38 on a scale of 100, within 24 hours after the announcement.
On the other hand, the plane tickets out of Russia peaked $5,000 for one-way to neighbouring countries. Tens of thousands of Russians sought to flee the country, with five-hour long queues at the borders to Finland, Georgia, and Mongolia. Those who were lucky got the flight, but many others were blocked from departing despite a valid tickets or visa.
Social media groups started a variety of ideas and advice on how to get out of Russia while one news site in Russian gave a list of “where to run away right now from Russia.” But breaking the arm remains the best option for many who could not afford the above.
They are now searching for “how to break an arm at home” so they can be exempted from participating in the war, if aged between 18 and 65.
However, some Russian nationalists are adamant and have renewed calls for some kind of mobilisation to send more troops into the war campaign.
To provide a boost to the growing indigenous drone industry, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri had launched the “MEHAR BABA COMPETITION-II” on 06 April 2022 at Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan). The competition is aimed at developing technology for a “Swarm Drone Based System to Detect Foreign Objects on Aircraft Operating Surfaces”. The competition is named after the legendary Air Commodore Mehar Singh, MVC, DSO – affectionately also known as Mehar Baba. The first edition of the competition was launched in October 2018 and had culminated in October 2021.
All aircraft operators face a challenge in keeping the aircraft operating surfaces clean and clear of Foreign Object Debris (FOD). Very often, this is a labour-intensive task that needs to be repeated over a day. This manpower could be more gainfully employed if personnel could focus solely on their core tasks. Furthermore, visual spotting of FOD in low light conditions becomes rather challenging.
MEHAR BABA COMPETITION -II
Hence, the IAF is seeking innovative solutions towards detection of FOD without physical employment of manpower on the aircraft operating surfaces.
Registration for this competition is open to Indian citizens and Indian registered entities only.
The last date for registration is 02 October 2022. All relevant details regarding this competition have been placed at https:/lndianairforce.nic.in/mehar-baba/#.
Lunar enthusiasts of all ages are challenged to help identify features on the Moon that might pose a hazard to rovers or astronauts exploring the surface.
The 2022 EXPLORE Lunar Data Challenge is focused on the Archytas Dome region, close to the Apollo 17 landing site where the last humans set foot on the Moon 50 years ago this December.
The Machine Learning Lunar Data Challenge is open to students, researchers and professionals in areas related to planetary sciences, but also to anyone with expertise in data processing. There is also a Public Lunar Data Challenge to plot the safe traverse of a lunar rover across the surface of the Moon, open to anyone who wants to ‘have a go’, as well as a Classroom Lunar Data Challenge for schools, with hands-on activities about lunar exploration and machine learning.
Announcing the EXPLORE Machine Learning Lunar Data Challenge during the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2022 in Granada, Spain, this week Giacomo Nodjoumi said: “The Challenge uses data of the Archytas Dome taken by the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. This area of the Moon is packed craters of different ages, boulders, mounds, and a long, sinuous depression, or rille. The wide variety of features in this zone makes it a very interesting area for exploration and the perfect scenario for this Data Challenge.”
The Archytas Dome region of the lunar surface is the target area for the EXPLORE Lunar Data Challenges 2022./CREDIT: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/EXPLORE/Jacobs University. https://exploredatachallenges.space/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Archytas2.png
The Machine Learning Lunar Data Challenge is in three steps:
Participants should train and test a model capable of recognising craters and boulders on the lunar surface.
They should use their model to label craters and boulders in a set of images of the Archytas zone.
Finally, they should use the outputs of their models to create a map of an optimal traverse across the lunar surface to visit defined sites of scientific interest and avoid hazards, such as heavily cratered zones.
The public and schools are also invited to use lunar images to identify features and plot a journey for a rover. Prizes for the challenges include vouchers totalling 1500 Euros, as well as pieces of real Moon rock from lunar meteorites.
The EXPLORE project, which is funded through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme, gathers experts from different fields of science and technical expertise to develop new tools that will promote the exploitation of space science data.
This composite image of the moon using Clementine data from 1994 is the view we are most likely to see when the moon is full. Credit: NASA
“Through the EXPLORE Data Challenges, we aim to raise awareness of the scientific tools that we are developing, improve their accuracy by bringing in expertise from other communities, and involve schools and the public in space science research,” said Nick Cox, the Coordinator of the EXPLORE project.
The deadline for entries closes on 21 November 2022 and winners will be announced in mid-December on the anniversaries of the Apollo 17 mission milestones.
Plastics, now ubiquitous in the modern world, have become a rising threat to human and environmental health. Around the planet, evidence of plastic pollution stretches from grocery bags in the deep sea to microplastics in our food supplies and even in our blood.
Seeking solutions to counteract the rise in plastic trash, scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed new biodegradable materials that are designed to replace conventionally used plastic. After proving their polyurethane foams biodegrade in land-based composts, an interdisciplinary team of scientists including UC San Diego biologist Stephen Mayfield and chemists Michael Burkart and Robert “Skip” Pomeroy have now shown that the material biodegrades in seawater. The results are published in the journalScience of the Total Environment.
The researchers are working to address a plastic pollution problem now described as a global environmental crisis. In 2010, researchers estimated that 8 billion kilograms of plastic enter the ocean in a single year, with a steep escalation predicted by 2025. Upon entering the ocean, plastic waste disrupts marine ecosystems, migrates to central locations and forms trash gyres such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which covers an area more than 1.6 million square kilometers. These plastics never degrade, but rather break up into ever-smaller particles, eventually becoming microplastics that persist in the environment for centuries.
A sustainable Blueview shoe biodegrades in ocean water after 11 weeks./CREDIT:Daniel Zhen, Algenesis Inc.
Working with study coauthor Samantha Clements, a marine biologist and scientific diver at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the UC San Diego researchers conducted a series of tests of their biodegradable polyurethane materials—currently used as foams in the first commercially available biodegradable shoes (sold by a spinoff company called Blueview)—at Scripps’ Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier and Experimental Aquarium. The pier’s location provided scientists the access and a unique opportunity to test materials in the natural nearshore ecosystem, which is the exact environment where rogue plastics are most likely to end up.
The team found that an assortment of marine organisms colonizes on the polyurethane foam and biodegrades the material back to their starting chemicals, which are consumed as nutrients by these microorganisms, in the ocean environment. Data from the study suggest that the microorganisms, a mix of bacteria and fungi, live throughout the natural marine environment.
Plastic/Ians
“Improper disposal of plastic in the ocean breaks down into microplastics and has become an enormous environmental problem,” said Mayfield, a professor in the School of Biological Sciences and director of the California Center for Algae Biotechnology. “We’ve shown that it’s absolutely possible to make high performance plastic products that also can degrade in the ocean. Plastics should not be going into the ocean in the first place, but if they do, this material becomes food for microorganisms and not plastic trash and microplastics that harm aquatic life.”
Shoes, including flip-flops, the world’s most popular shoe, make up a large percentage of plastic waste that ends up in the world’s oceans and landfills. To fully test and analyze their polyurethane materials, developed at UC San Diego over the last eight years, the study joined experts in biology, polymer and synthetic chemistry and marine science. Foam samples were exposed to tidal and wave dynamics and tracked for molecular and physical changes using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the material started to degraded in as little as four weeks. The researchers then identified microorganisms from six marine sites around San Diego that are capable of breaking down and consuming the polyurethane material.
“No single discipline can address these universal environmental problems but we’ve developed an integrated solution that works on land—and now we know also biodegrades in the ocean,” said Mayfield. “I was surprised to see just how many organisms colonize on these foams in the ocean. It becomes something like a microbial reef.”
Though expected a little later, Indian rupee has plunged to its lowest today touching Rs.81 per US dollar, amid gloomy prospects of markets around the world in view of a steep rise in interest rates by the US Federal reserve by 0.75 percentage points, vowing to further hike in the future.
On Thursday, experts expected the Indian rupee to hit 82 levels in a month’s time but it has been precipitated on Friday to Rs. 80.71 and per US dollar by afternoon, it plummeted to Rs.81 level.
In fact, since August, the Indian rupee has been touching Rs.80 level before trying to emerge stronger against the American dollar.
Researchers have used the mathematical equations of chaos theory to analyse the data from long-term monitoring of an electronically tagged narwhal. They have extracted previously undetected diurnal patterns within what initially appeared to be irregular diving and surface resting behavior, using records extending across 83 days.
“While animal-borne ocean sensors continue to advance and collect more data, there is a lack of adequate methods to analyse records of irregular behavior,” says Hokkaido University geophysicist Evgeny A. Podolskiy, first author of the research published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology.
Podolskiy developed the procedure to find behavioral patterns in seemingly intractable complexity with Mads Peter Heide‐Jørgensen at the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.
Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are relatively small whales found in Arctic seas, famous for their long single tusks and called the unicorns of the sea. They are one of the most endangered Arctic species due to climate change, human activity, and predation by such invasive species as killer whales. The narwhals are notable for undertaking dives to extreme depths of more than 1,800 metres. Their life cycle is tightly coupled with sea ice, which is rapidly declining.
A pod of adult male narwhals, Greenland, September 2019 (Photo: Carsten Egevang; This image may exclusively be used in relation to this press release. The image can not be included in media archives for use apart from the above and not be handed over to third parties, without prior acceptance by the photographer)./CREDIT: Carsten Egevang
Podolskiy and Heide‐Jørgensen combined their expertises in signal processing and biologging to understand the full diversity of behaviors of a satellite-tagged narwhal. Mathematical techniques developed as part of chaos theory can interpret complicated and seemingly chaotic behavior in dynamic systems to reveal states called ‘attractors’, which the systems tend to develop towards. In essence, the approach identifies significant patterns that would otherwise be difficult to detect.
The analysis of the behavior of the electronically tagged narwhal, inspired by Podolskiy’s previous work on turbulence, revealed a daily pattern of activity and how it was affected by changing seasons, features of narwhal behavior that were previously unrecognised. The animal rested nearer to the surface around noon, but when they did dive at that time the dives were very deep. During twilight and at night the dives became more shallow but also more intense, possibly due to hunting for squid, which is known for diurnal vertical migration. It was also found that increased sea ice constrains the narwhal’s surface activity, and is correlated with more intense diving.
“Our approach is relatively simple to implement and can map and label long term data, identifying differences between the behavior of individual animals and different species, and also detecting perturbations in behavior caused by changing influences,” the authors suggest.
The researchers expect that their new method may be especially useful for assessing the challenges to narwhals and other Arctic animals posed by climate change and the loss of sea ice. Such information may prove vital in adopting policies to protect endangered species in the face of natural change and increased human activity.
Under various interventions taken up by the Ministry of Women and Child Development jointly with Ministry of Ayush, close to 4.37 lakh Anganwadi Centres have set up Poshan Vatikas. Additionally, so far, 1.10 lakh medicinal saplings have also been planted across some of the selected districts of 6 States.
Under ongoing Poshan Maah 2022, activities for setting-up nutri-gardens or retro-fitting Poshan Vatikas with backyard poultry / fishery units is being carried out in a big way across the country.
So far, more than 1.5 lakh events on retrofitting Poshan Vatikas with backyard poultry and fishery units have been reported. Also, more than 75 thousand sensitization camps have been conducted to promote millets and backyard kitchen gardens. Interestingly, to replicate the model of Poshan Vatikas at/around new AWCs, close to 40 thousand land identification drives for nutri-gardens/Poshan Vatikas have also been reported under Poshan Maah so far.
Poshan Vatikas or Nutri- gardens being set up across the country to provide easy and affordable access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants and herbs.
Launched on 8th March, 2018, by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, POSHAN Abhiyaan aims to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescents, pregnant women & lactating mothers. The Abhiyaan is a key component of Mission Poshan 2.0 which seeks to address the challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a strategic shift in nutrition content and delivery and by creation of a convergent eco-system to develop and promote practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity.
A key plank of the goal to enable the right kind of nourishment are the Poshan Vatikas or Nutri-gardens that are being set up across the country to provide easy and affordable access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants and herbs. The idea is simple; to provide a fresh and regular supply of locally produced fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants to women and children straight from a nutri-garden at or near an Anganwadi Centre.
Poshan Vatikas or Nutri- gardens being set up across the country to provide easy and affordable access to fruits, vegetables, medicinal plants and herbs.
Poshan Vatikas can play an important role in enhancing dietary diversity by providing key micronutrients through local fruits and vegetables. Poshan Vatikas are a good example of convergent action on-ground. Beyond the reward of locally available wholesome produce, it will reduce external dependency and make communities atmanirbhar for their nutritional security.
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have spotted signs of a ‘hot spot’ orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. The finding helps us better understand the enigmatic and dynamic environment of our supermassive black hole.
“We think we’re looking at a hot bubble of gas zipping around Sagittarius A* on an orbit similar in size to that of the planet Mercury, but making a full loop in just around 70 minutes. This requires a mind blowing velocity of about 30% of the speed of light!” says Maciek Wielgus of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, who led the study published today, Sept 22, 2022 in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The observations were made with ALMA in the Chilean Andes — a radio telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) — during a campaign by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration to image black holes. In April 2017 the EHT linked together eight existing radio telescopes worldwide, including ALMA, resulting in the recently released first ever image of Sagittarius A.
To calibrate the EHT data, Wielgus and his colleagues, who are members of the EHT Collaboration, used ALMA data recorded simultaneously with the EHT observations of Sagittarius A. To the team’s surprise, there were more clues to the nature of the black hole hidden in the ALMA-only measurements.
By chance, some of the observations were done shortly after a burst or flare of X-ray energy was emitted from the centre of our galaxy, which was spotted by NASA’s Chandra Space Telescope. These kinds of flares, previously observed with X-ray and infrared telescopes, are thought to be associated with so-called ‘hot spots’, hot gas bubbles that orbit very fast and close to the black hole.
The flares were long thought to originate from magnetic interactions in the very hot gas orbiting very close to Sagittarius A*, and the new findings support this idea. “Now we find strong evidence for a magnetic origin of these flares and our observations give us a clue about the geometry of the proces,” says co-author Monika Mościbrodzka from Radboud University.
The observations confirm some of the previous discoveries made by the GRAVITY instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), which observes in the infrared. The data from GRAVITY and ALMA both suggest the flare originates in a clump of gas swirling around the black hole at about 30% of the speed of light in a clockwise direction in the sky, with the orbit of the hot spot being nearly face-on.
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed microscopic robots that can swim around in the lungs, deliver medication and clear up life-threatening cases of bacterial pneumonia, according to a study published in Nature Materials..
The so-called microrobots safely eliminated pneumonia-causing bacteria in the lungs and resulted in 100% survival. By contrast, untreated mice all died within three days after infection. Made of algae cells whose surfaces are speckled with antibiotic-filled nanoparticles, the algae provide movement, which allows the microrobots to swim around and deliver antibiotics directly to more bacteria in the lungs.
The nanoparticles containing the antibiotics are made of tiny biodegradable polymer spheres that are coated with the cell membranes of neutrophils, which are a type of white blood cell. What’s special about these cell membranes is that they absorb and neutralize inflammatory molecules produced by bacteria and the body’s immune system. This gives the microrobots the ability to reduce harmful inflammation, which in turn makes them more effective at fighting lung infection.
CPAP treatment, which is often used at home to help people with sleep problems, helps to keep the lungs open and makes breathing easier / CREDIT Lancaster University
The work is a joint effort between the labs of nanoengineering professors Joseph Wang and Liangfang Zhang, both at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Wang is a world leader in the field of micro- and nanorobotics research, while Zhang is a world leader in developing cell-mimicking nanoparticles for treating infections and diseases. Together, they have pioneered the development of tiny drug-delivering robots that can be safely used in live animals to treat bacterial infections in the stomach and blood. Treating bacterial lung infections is the latest in their line of work.
“Our goal is to do targeted drug delivery into more challenging parts of the body, like the lungs. And we want to do it in a way that is safe, easy, biocompatible and long lasting,” said Zhang. “That is what we’ve demonstrated in this work.”
The team used the microrobots to treat mice with an acute and potentially fatal form of pneumonia caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This form of pneumonia commonly affects patients who receive mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit.
The researchers administered the microrobots to the lungs of the mice through a tube inserted in the windpipe. The infections fully cleared up after one week. All mice treated with the microrobots survived past 30 days, while untreated mice died within three days.
Treatment with the microrobots was also more effective than an IV injection of antibiotics into the bloodstream. The latter required a dose of antibiotics that was 3000 times higher than that used in the microrobots to achieve the same effect. For comparison, a dose of microrobots provided 500 nanograms of antibiotics per mouse, while an IV injection provided 1.644 milligrams of antibiotics per mouse.
The team’s approach is so effective because it puts the medication right where it needs to go rather than diffusing it through the rest of the body.
“These results show how targeted drug delivery combined with active movement from the microalgae improves therapeutic efficacy,” said Wang.
And if the thought of putting algae cells in your lungs makes you squeamish, the researchers say that this approach is safe. Next steps include studies to validate the microrobot treatment and scaling it up before testing it in larger animals and eventually, in humans.
Indian benchmark indice Sensex fell by 800 points as of 01:30 p.m. on Friday. which is at 58,314.78 points or 804.94 (1.36%) points down from the previus day, revealing the deep impact caused by the US Fed Reserve decision to hike interest rates steeply and its pledge to continue further to tame the inflation.
Nifty is also down to 17,407.05 or 222.75 points down (1.26%) today.
Stocks of Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), ITC, Dr. Reddy’s, Infosys, HCL Tech, Titan Company, and Maruti Suzuki were among top Sensex gainers. IndusInd Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), M&M, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank were among top index draggers.
Tata Steel is in positive zone following the board’s approval on Friday to the scheme of amalgamation between seven of its group companies and itself.
Rupee to fall further: Experts
The Indian Rupee fell to its lowest level in 20 years reaching 80.81 per US dollar on Friday. The Indian Rupee fell to its lowest level against the greenback to 80.12 in August and again on Thursday, revealing the inherent weakness to go down further in value. Experts suggest that this time the Indian Rupee may weaken up to 82.00 level in the near future.
In a move to boost exports of unique agricultural processed food products, the centre through apex export promotion body — Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Authority (APEDA) — facilitated the export of first consignment of plant-based meat products under Vegan food category from Nadiad in Kheda district in Gujarat to California,the United States of America (USA).
With the growing popularity of vegan food products in developed countries, the plant-based food products have a huge export potential in the international market due to the high nutrient value of the vegan food products. Due to its rich fiber and lesser cholesterol contents, vegan food products are becoming alternative food products across the globe.
The first shipment that was exported to the USA from Nadiad has vegan food products like momos, mini samosas, patties, nuggets, spring rolls, burgers, etc. The logistics support was provided by the Kheda district administration.
Stressing on exploring new foreign destinations, APEDA Chairman, Dr M Angamuthu said that APEDA is working towards promotion of plant-based meat products in a big way without disturbing the conventional animal-based meat export market.
Millets
On the occasion, Kheda district magistrate Shri K.L. Bachani assured all needed support to APEDA for export-related activities in future. “It has become possible with the efforts of Regional Head, APEDA Gujarat that first consignment of plant-based food products is being shipped to U.S.A from Nadiad,” Bachani said.
The APEDA has planned to promote a variety of vegan foods products, including pancake, snacks, cheese, etc, to the countries of Australia, Israel, New Zealand and others in coming months.
On the occasion, APEDA, Gujarat’s Regional Head stressed on adding more plant-based meat products in APEDA’s export basket.The first consignment of plant-based food products were exported by Greennest and Wholesome Foods.
APEDA has taken number of export promotion activities and initiatives, by way of development of virtual portals for organizing Virtual Trade Fairs, Farmer Connect Portal, e-office, HortiNet Traceability system, Buyer Seller Meets, Reverse Buyer Seller Meets, product specific campaigns etc. APEDA has been closely working with the state government for creating infrastructure and promotion of export from the state.
food
APEDA assists in upgradation and strengthening of recognized laboratories for export testing and residue monitoring plans. APEDA also provides assistance under the financial assistance schemes of infrastructure development, quality improvement and market development for boosting export of agricultural products.
APEDA organizes participation of exporters in the International Trade Fairs, which provides a platform to the exporters to market their food products in the global marketplace. APEDA also organizes national events like AAHAR, Organic World Congress, BioFach India etc. to promote agri-exports.
In order to ensure seamless quality certification of products to be exported, APEDA has recognized 220 labs across India to provide services of testing a wide range of products to exporters.
Robotic eyes on autonomous vehicles could improve pedestrian safety, according to a new study conducted at the University of Tokyo (Todai) in Japan.
Participants played out scenarios in virtual reality (VR) and had to decide whether to cross a road as the moving vehicle is there. When that vehicle was fitted with robotic eyes, which either looked at the pedestrian or away, the participants were able to make safer or more efficient choices.
The Gazing Car
The cart was fitted with robotic eyes which could be moved in any direction, controlled by one of the research team. The windshield was covered to give the impression that there was no driver inside. Self-driving vehicles seem to be just around the corner. Whether they’ll be delivering packages, plowing fields or busing kids to school, a lot of research is underway to turn a once futuristic idea into reality.
While the main concern for many is the practical side of creating vehicles that can autonomously navigate the world, researchers at Todai have turned their attention to a more “human” concern of self-driving technology.
“There is not enough investigation into the interaction between self-driving cars and the people around them, such as pedestrians. So, we need more investigation and effort into such interaction to bring safety and assurance to society regarding self-driving cars,” said Professor Takeo Igarashi from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology.
The four scenarios. In the experiment, participants had to decide whether or not the cart had noticed them and was going to stop. The images show the first-person view of a participant. In (a) the cart is paying attention to the participant (safe to cross); in (b) the cart is not paying attention to the participant (unsafe to cross); and in (c) and (d) the participant doesn’t know.
One key difference with self-driving vehicles is that drivers may become more of a passenger, so they may not be paying full attention to the road, or there may be nobody at the wheel at all. This makes it difficult for pedestrians to gauge whether a vehicle has registered their presence or not, as there might be no eye contact or indications from the people inside it.
So, how could pedestrians be made aware of when an autonomous vehicle has noticed them and is intending to stop? Like a character from the Pixar movie Cars, a self-driving golf cart was fitted with two large, remote-controlled robotic eyes. The researchers called it the “gazing car.” They wanted to test whether putting moving eyes on the cart would affect people’s more risky behavior, in this case, whether people would still cross the road in front of a moving vehicle when in a hurry.
The team set up four scenarios, two where the cart had eyes and two without. The cart had either noticed the pedestrian and was intending to stop or had not noticed them and was going to keep driving. When the cart had eyes, the eyes would either be looking towards the pedestrian (going to stop) or looking away (not going to stop).
Video of VR experience:
Participants played out the scenario 40 times each, as if they were crossing a road on the University of Tokyo campus.
As it would obviously be dangerous to ask volunteers to choose whether or not to walk in front of a moving vehicle in real life (though for this experiment there was a hidden driver), the team recorded the scenarios using 360-degree video cameras and the 18 participants (nine women and nine men, aged 18-49 years, all Japanese) played through the experiment in VR.
They experienced the scenarios multiple times in random order and were given three seconds each time to decide whether or not they would cross the road in front of the cart. The researchers recorded their choices and measured the error rates of their decisions, that is, how often they chose to stop when they could have crossed and how often they crossed when they should have waited.
“The results suggested a clear difference between genders, which was very surprising and unexpected,” said Project Lecturer Chia-Ming Chang, a member of the research team. “While other factors like age and background might have also influenced the participants’ reactions, we believe this is an important point, as it shows that different road users may have different behaviors and needs, that require different communication ways in our future self-driving world.
“In this study, the male participants made many dangerous road-crossing decisions (i.e., choosing to cross when the car was not stopping), but these errors were reduced by the cart’s eye gaze. However, there was not much difference in safe situations for them (i.e., choosing to cross when the car was going to stop),” explained Chang. “On the other hand, the female participants made more inefficient decisions (i.e., choosing not to cross when the car was intending to stop) and these errors were reduced by the cart’s eye gaze. However, there was not much difference in unsafe situations for them.”
Ultimately the experiment showed that the eyes resulted in a smoother or safer crossing for everyone.
Real life role-play
The researchers imagined the scenario of someone wanting to cross the road in a hurry when not at a traffic light or crosswalk.
But how did the eyes make the participants feel? Some thought they were cute, while others saw them as creepy or scary. For many male participants, when the eyes were looking away, they reported feeling that the situation was more dangerous. For female participants, when the eyes looked at them, many said they felt safer.
“We focused on the movement of the eyes but did not pay too much attention to their visual design in this particular study. We just built the simplest one to minimize the cost of design and construction because of budget constraints,” explained Igarashi. “In the future, it would be better to have a professional product designer find the best design, but it would probably still be difficult to satisfy everybody. I personally like it. It is kind of cute.”
The team recognizes that this study is limited by the small number of participants playing out just one scenario. It is also possible that people might make different choices in VR compared to real life. However, “Moving from manual driving to auto driving is a huge change. If eyes can actually contribute to safety and reduce traffic accidents, we should seriously consider adding them. In the future, we would like to develop automatic control of the robotic eyes connected to the self-driving AI, which could accommodate different situations,” said Igarashi.
In a significant achievement and recognition to country’s efforts against hypertension, India has won an UN award for its “India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI)”, a large-scale hypertension intervention under National Health Mission. IHCI has been recognized for its exceptional work within India’s existing primary healthcare system.
Complimenting the healthcare initiative, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare stated in a tweet: “IHCI has strengthened PM @NarendraModi Ji’s mission to ensure health & wellness for all”. We are committed to building a healthy & fit India, he further noted.
A collaborative initiative of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), State Governments and World Health Organization-India, IHCI has won the ‘2022 UN Interagency Task Force, and WHO Special Programme on Primary Health Care Award’ at the UN General Assembly side event held on 21st September 2022 at New York, USA. The award recognizes outstanding commitment and action of India to: (i) prevent and control Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and (ii) deliver integrated people-centric primary care. The UN Task Force has identified organisation which has multisectoral approach in prevention and control of NCDs and multisectoral action with demonstrated results at primary care for prevention and control of NCDs and related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Significance of the initiative can be adjudged from the fact that one in four adults in India has high blood pressure. The control of hypertension at primary care system level will contribute to reducing deaths due to heart attacks, stroke and kidney failures.
IHCI has been able to leverage and strengthen the existing healthcare delivery system, hypertension control interventions under National Health Mission and improve the linkages between populations-based screening initiative with health care. The initiative was launched in 2017 and expanded in a phased manner to cover more than 130 districts across 23 states. Under the initiative, more than 34 lakh people with hypertension are taking treatment in government health facilities, including Ayushman Bharat Health Wellness Centres (HWCs). The project strategies are easily scalable within the health system. The strategies include a simple drug-dose-specific standard treatment protocol, ensuring adequate quantity of protocol medications, decentralization of care with follow-up and refills of medicines at Health Wellness Centres, task sharing involving all health staff and a powerful real-time information system which can track every patient for follow-up and blood pressure control. Under IHCI, nearly half of those who were treated had blood pressure under control.
The IHCI complements the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke (NPCDCS) of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. IHCI accelerates the achievement of targets of the Government of India by ensuring a continuum of care and giving a boost to the ongoing “Ayushman Bharat” programme.
Following uproar among IT companies on many workers indulging in moonlighting, Wipro had warned against it and now took stern action firing 300 employees for moonlighting with its key rivals at the same time.
Wipro Chairman Rishad Premji said in Wednesday that the “reality is that there are people today working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors and we have actually discovered 300 people in the last few months who are doing exactly that.”
Speaking at the All India Management Association (AIMA) National Management Convention, Premji reiterated that moonlighting is a complete violation of integrity “in its deepest form.” Wipro has now terminated their employment for “act of integrity violation”.
Premji recently said that the concept of a second job to the regular job is “plain and simple” cheating. “There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating — plain and simple,” he had tweeted.
There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating – plain and simple.
As the issue of moonlighting or working elsewhere to make extra money in India is plaguing many tech giants after the Work From Home concession that entailed them work remotely, several Indian tech giants are facing the challenge to keep their workforce committed and focused.
The ethical issue has been raised by tech services giant Infosys first, followed by cloud Major IBM last Wednesday. Infosys has already made it clear that the practice is not ethical and the company may fire those who are moonlighting.
Rishad Premji
However, Wipro has become the first to fire its employees who are moonlighting. Infosys, IBM are still pondering the issue though they are with the industry against moonlighting.
IBM Managing Director Sandip Patel said, “All of our workers when they are employed, they sign an agreement which says that they are going to be working full-time for IBM. So moonlighting is not ethically right for them to get into.”
However, some startups are encouraging employees to opt for moonlighting or work outside their primary working hours. Swiggy has encouraged the practice but the traditional companies are calling it cheating and unethical and issued warning to employees from practising Moonlighting even in extra hours.
In one case, a techie who was interviewed by a Hyderabad-based company and hired in turn hired another techie to work on his behalf, while he is engaged in working on other projects. He has been summarily fired now but the issue has brought to light the glaring anomaly in misuse of a pact with the company.
Infosys has already warned employees that involvement in such practice can result in “disciplinary action including termination of employment”. “No two-timing, no moonlighting”, the company said in an internal memo.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the PM CARES Fund on Tuesday in which new member Sudha Murthy from Bengaluru was appointed recently.
A presentation was made on the various initiatives undertaken with the help of PM CARES Fund, including the PM CARES for Children scheme which is supporting 4345 children. Trustees appreciated the role played by the fund at a crucial time for the country. PM Shri Narendra Modi appreciated the people of the country for contributing wholeheartedly to PM CARES Fund.
It was discussed that PM CARES has a larger vision on effectively responding to emergency and distress situations, not only through relief assistance, but also taking mitigation measures and capacity building.
Prime Minister welcomed the Trustees for becoming an integral part of the PM CARES Fund.
The meeting was attended by Trustees of the PM CARES Fund, i.e. Union Home Minister and Union Finance Minister as also, the newly nominated trustees of the PM CARES Fund:
Justice K.T. Thomas, Former Judge, Supreme Court,
Kariya Munda, Former Deputy Speaker,
Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons.
The Trust further decided to nominate following eminent persons for constitution of Advisory Board to PM CARES Fund:
Rajiv Mehrishi, Former Comptroller and Auditor General of India
Sudha Murthy, Former Chairperson, Infosys Foundation
Anand Shah, Co-founder of Teach for India and Former CEO of Indicorps and Piramal Foundation.
Prime Minister said that participation of new Trustees and Advisors will provide wider perspectives to the functioning of the PM CARES Fund. Their vast experience of public life would impart further vigour in making the fund more responsive to various public needs.
The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has condoled the demise of renowned comedian Raju Srivastava.
The Prime Minister tweeted;
“Raju Srivastava brightened our lives with laughter, humour and positivity. He leaves us too soon but he will continue to live in the hearts of countless people thanks to his rich work over the years. His demise is saddening. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.”
US investigating agency FBI’s agent Ashley T. Johnson is warning the public about a Technical Support Fraud currently targeting older Americans in the Chicago area.
Technical Support Fraud involves a criminal posing as technical support to defraud unwitting individuals. Criminals may offer support to resolve issues such as compromised email or bank accounts, computer viruses, or software renewals. In this scam currently affecting Illinois residents, it begins with a computer intrusion.
FBI response team in action
Victims of this scam experience a frozen computer followed by a pop-up on their screen advising that their computer has been hacked. The pop-up contains a number claimed to be for a well-known computer software company; however, this number really belongs to the scammers. Once the number is called, the scammer(s):
Answer the phone pretending to be an employee of the computer software company. The “employee” claims that the victim’s bank accounts and social security account number have been compromised and connects the victims with other scammers impersonating bank representatives and Social Security Administration employees.
Direct victims to download an application that allows remote computer access.
Convince victims to withdraw money from bank/investment accounts to avoid “hackers.” Victims are told their money will be transferred to the Social Security Administration where it will be converted to Bitcoin for safekeeping and returned once they are assigned a new social security account number.
Tips to avoid this scam:
Avoid installing apps or programs that allow strangers remote access to your computer.
Never call the number in a pop-up window.
Always disconnect your device from the Internet immediately if you see a scam-related pop-up screen. Do not turn your computer off or reboot.
Always be skeptical if someone tells you not to talk to your family about a money transfer.
Always be skeptical if a “government agency” asks you to conduct business in Bitcoin.
Always call companies, banks, or government agencies directly with numbers you have independently verified.
Always contact the FBI at ic3.gov to make a report.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) celebrated its 38th Raising Day on 20th September 2022 by organizing a parade for the first time at the central level at Jag Jeewan Ram RPF Academy, Lucknow. This is the first time that a National Level Parade of RPF was organized outside New Delhi. The choice of venue at the Jagjivan Ram RPF Academy at Lucknow – the Centralized Training Institute of RPF and the alma mater of the officers of the Force recruited through the civil service exam, assumes notable significance.
Railway Protection Force (RPF) celebrated its 38th Raising Day
The Union Minister of State for Railways and Textiles, Smt. Darshana Vikram Jardosh, graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and took the salute of the Parade. The programme was attended by Shri Brij Lal, MP, Rajyasabha, senior officers of Central Armed Police Forces, State Police, various Government Departments, Railways and other dignitaries.
The Minister of State for Railways presented the ‘President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service’, ‘Indian Police Medal for Meritorious Service’, ‘Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak’, ‘Uttam JeevanRaksha Padak’ and ‘ Jeevan Raksha Padak’ to 23 RPF personnel, including award of Sarwottam Jeewan Raksha Padak posthumously to Late Shri Gyan Chand, Head Constable RPF NCR who laid down his life at the altar of duty while saving a lady who had jumped in front of a moving train with intention to commit suicide. The force remembered Shri Gyan Chand with tearful eyes and chest swelling with pride.
The Chief Guest inaugurated and hoisted a 100 feet high Monumental National Flag at the Academy Campus and unveiled and dedicated the installation of a Railway Coach with Engine for train intervention training. The renovated main-hall of the Academy, which has now been air-conditioned was also inaugurated by the Minister. A Special “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” Edition of the “Rail Sainik”, the quarterly e-magazine of RPF was released on the occasion.
Railway Protection Force (RPF) celebrated its 38th Raising Day
The Minister of State for Railways praised the poise, turnout and march of the contingent. In her speech, she appreciated the role of RPF in ensuring safe travel for women passengers. She heaped fulsome praise on Meri Saheli teams for providing security to women traveling alone in long distance trains. She outlined the prominent role of training and skill up gradation in improving the performance of any organization and announced sanction of Rs 55 Crores for enhancing training facilities in RPF.
Smt. Jardosh also announced setting up of a skill up-gradation training centre in the premises of 3rd Battalion RPSF, Lucknow for up-gradation of skills of family members of RPF personnel, especially ladies at the cost of Rs 3 Crores. Further, she announced construction of rest shelters cum mobilization halls for lady RPF train escorting personnel at 75 locations across the country.
The Director General, RPF, Shri Sanjay Chander, welcomed the Minister and outlined the various new initiatives taken by the force to provide a safe and secure train travel to the passengers. He stated that the RPF is making use of technology in various spheres of its working to ensure an optimal utilization of the manpower. The force has been on the forefront in providing assistance to the needy passengers, the elderly and the children. The RPF has been doing commendable work in preventing Human Trafficking, Transport of Narcotics, Hawala Money, Prohibited Wildlife and other illegal activities on trains and stations. He pointed out that we have entered the Amrit Kaal which would last till 2047 during which we have to work with our heart and soul to take India to the pinnacle of glory that she deserves. The vision 2047 is the roadmap towards such a lofty ideal. He mentioned the vision 2047 of the force which will include innovation, use of technology, optimum utilization of resource to increase the response, reach and effectiveness of the force. He underlined that the goal of the force is Sewa Hi Sankalp and all members of the force, from Constable to DG, have to work towards reinforcing its service commitment.
The Railway Protection Force was constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1957 for providing security to Railway property. Subsequently, the force was empowered to enquire, arrest and prosecute the offenders involved in unlawful possession of railway property in 1966. Over the years, it was felt that the force needed to be given the status of “An Armed Force of the Union” and finally the status was bestowed upon the force on 20th September 1985 by amending the RPF Act by the Parliament. Therefore, 20th September is celebrated every year as the Raising Day of RPF by members of the force and their families.
The Raising Day is an important milestone in the growth of a force and celebrated with festive spirit by members of the force where they share their happiness with the public and reaffirm their commitment to serve them and work for the overall public good.
Earlier the Raising day was celebrated by organizing parades and other functions at the zonal, divisional and battalion levels. However, from this year it has been decided to organize only one parade at the central level to symbolize the national character of the force.
