A Nation on the March

ASPuar · Post by **ASPuar** » 09 Apr 2010 16:39

ramana wrote:Rajaram and SSridhar, Can you find out more about his operation in Madurai and lets raise some funds for his work.

I dont know who else is in TN area. If any one else can help do this please jump in.

Agree. In fact, it doesnt even have to be a huge deal. If someone will post an address here, and someone to whom a check can be made out, I would be happy just to send him one.

negi · Post by **negi** » 09 Apr 2010 19:42

Don't know where this belongs but inspiring and a good read nonetheless.

From Chidambaram to Cambridge: a life in science (Excerpt from Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan's Bio-I)

From Chidambaram to Cambridge: solving the 30S subunit structure of the ribosome (Excerpt from Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan's Bio-II)

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 14 Apr 2010 01:05

Backward Bihar goes for the smartest cards

This state has just completed a pilot project for smart cards in Patna district, called e-shakti (meaning power from electronic governance). These cards use not just fingerprints but biometric matching of the human iris, which is state-ofthe-art technology.

E-shakti has covered 13.5 lakh people in Patna district. It is now being expanded to cover the whole state. This bids fair to be the biggest biometric card scheme in the world.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Apr 2010 02:48

India making progress on reducing maternal child birth deaths

This is a critical step as death of mother during child birth ruptures and shatters the family unit.

....
India had the largest number of maternal deaths worldwide in 1980, according to the report. But significant change has been observed -there were 408 to 1,080 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 1980. In 2008, there were 154 to 395.

Last year, the UN report presented a far gloomier picture by reporting that around 500,000 women died at child birth.

...
"We are here because too many women die around the world from pregnancy or childbirth-related injuries. We are here because one preventable maternal death is still too many," Ban said. "Hundreds of thousands of deaths are a disgrace, a disgrace we need not tolerate."

Noting that women were the medium for progress in society, Ban pointed out that the least progress had been made in achieving the Millennium Development Goal that dealt with securing maternal health.

"In the poorest societies of the world, it is women who care for the children. They grow the crops, hold societies together. Women deliver - and not just babies. And if we deliver for women, we can change the world for the better," Ban said.

"Yet of all the MDGs – Millennium Development Goals - maternal health has advanced the least, and it is a key to all the rest," he added.

The UN chief underlined that instead of getting countries to give more money for the cause instead the focus should be for governments to fulfill pledges that have already been made.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Apr 2010 02:59

Indian students map the TB genome in a distributed manner.

How the young brigade mapped the TB genome

How the young brigade mapped the TB genome
R. PRASAD

AP NEW IMPETUS: Mapping of the TB gene may expedite the discovery of a new drub for the disease. Photo: AP

Indian students can perform like students from any developed country if given the same encouragement, says Dr. Samik Ghosh

When nearly 400 motivated students, with the help of a few faculty and scientists, get together voluntarily and work single-mindedly, solving any complex problem can turn out to be child's play.

These students, with a few exceptions, were trying to solve a complex problem during their free time after attending classes or studying for an exam. They spent more than six hours every day for four months to achieve their goal.

That the entire exercise was done through online interaction did not in any way cause any problems. They succeeded though some of them had never studied bioinformatics, so essential for such work. What is significant is that some were only doing their under-graduation.

The fact that there would be no monetary gain from solving the mega scientific puzzle had little bearing. Many of the students had never read a peer-reviewed paper published in journals like Science and Nature.

That, in a nutshell, is the story of how the young brigade went about mapping the TB genome in just four months despite many limitations.

The TB genome contains nearly 4,000 genes. The functions of nearly 1,500 genes were not known. And a flood of information contained in hundreds of published peer-reviewed papers was to be culled out. And for those genes that were not annotated (functions not known), the predicted functions were computationally extrapolated by them.

Quality checks were done onsite by students and their Principal Investigators (PI). The TB gene map was finally produced by combining the already annotated genes and those that were computationally extrapolated.

“Within two days of giving an open call to students to join the Connect 2 Decode (C2D) project, we got about 850 applications. Most of them were from students,” said Mr. Zakir Thomas, Project Co-ordinator. C2D is a part of a large Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) project, and Mr. Thomas is the Project Director of OSDD.

“The students were given a small exercise to solve. It was a kind of screening,” said Dr. Anshu Bhardwaj, one of the Principal Investigators of the project. She is a scientist at the Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB). About 400 students were selected.

Mapping the TB genome was done by splitting it into five themes, and students were free to choose any of them. Each theme had one Principal Investigator. “All the 400 students made some contribution, but significant contributions came from about 250 students,” said Dr. Bhardwaj.

{Wow! Puts Pareto prinicple at shame!}

The students were first trained for a month. And the project began in full earnest in January this year.

The road block

But two weeks into the project, the PIs had to make a midcourse correction. The initial structure was to have for each theme a Principal Investigator and a faculty co-ordinator who would work closely with the students. But no inputs were coming in for a few days, and the reason soon became apparent. The faculty co-ordinators were choking the system!

“So we asked the students to get in touch with the PIs directly,” said Mr. Thomas. And there was no stopping since then.

Trepidation
“I am an experimental scientist, and it is easier for me to have students before me and monitor them. But in this case they were spread out and everything was to be done online. I was nervous in the beginning,” said Dr. Sulagna Banerjee, PI for one of the five themes. She is a Scientist at AU-KBC Research Centre, Anna University, Chennai.

“Initially, I was not sure if it would work as I had not met them. I was sceptical. Initially, there was a big learning curve as the students were not used to reading [journal] papers.

“But they soon learnt after going through a few papers,” said Dr. Samik Ghosh, PI of one of the five themes. Dr. Ghosh is a scientist at The Systems Biology Institute, Tokyo.

The initial reaction was no different with Dr. Bhardwaj either, who was a PI of another theme of the genome mapping project.

Gained confidence
But the scepticism soon gave way to confidence. “Happy to tell, I got a feeling that I was wrong. I was gaining more confidence. Students could quickly get the essence of building the network,” Dr. Ghosh said. “I was really swept off my feet when I met them. completely surprised at a girl's confidence to learn.”

Dr. Banerjee said: “I really did not realise students' potential would be like that. It was really amazing.” The proof of the pudding came at the end. One part of the project was considered very difficult and was kept aside to be taken during onsite (where it was a face to face interaction). “20 students completed it in seven hours straight,” she added.

What surprised many PIs was that students managed to work during their free time. “That surprised me a lot. I was amazed as they had classes and exams when they were doing this work. They were working on this even during their holidays,” Dr. Banerjee said.

The volunteers

Harsha Rohira of Acharya Narendra Dev College, Delhi University, though the youngest member in her group, was a mentor for others in her group. This, despite having no background in bioinformatics, which is so essential for this kind of work. She is doing her second year under-graduation in Biomedical Sciences.

For Harsha, after college hours meant working on the TB project. “I was doing the entire work from 7.30 pm till 4 am, every day,” she said. It only got more gruelling during the onsite work at Ghaziabad. “We used to work from 9 in the morning to 3 am [the next day]. I would then study for my exams for 2 hours,” Harsha said.

“I got exposed to bioinformatics and learnt how to use very large databases,” she added.

For Prabhakar Munusamy, a final year year B.Tech student of PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, the diffidence gave way to confidence very soon. “I was not very confident that I could do it. I did not know what it was all about but I soon got interested.” he said. “But now I can do annotation for other organisms. I am happy now. At last, I am part of a big work.”

Working in an office did not stop Rajdeep Poddar based in Pune from working on this project. “I used to work three hours every day. Missed a few days, but made it up during weekends,” he said. “The project gave me a big exposure. Working on a large project and doing it online was interesting.”

Though Poddar has learnt the various bioinformatics tools during his post graduation, this was the first time he used them. “It gave me hands- on experience working on real data that would be used for drug discovery,” he said.

For J. Laxmanan who is doing his Ph.D under the guidance of Dr. Banerjee, at Anna University, Chennai, working on this project was a wonderful experience. He had worked for three years after his post-graduation. “Whatever I learnt while working helped me; it was a wonderful experience,” he said. He has gone one step ahead. “Have identified some very good drug targets,” he noted. He would be doubly benefited by this project. His Ph.D work is about validating the predicted functions of the genome.

Dr. Ghosh has the last word. With an international exposure in the U.S. and now in Japan, his impressions about Indian students have changed drastically. “From my experience, if these students are given the same encouragement, they can perform like any other student from any developed country,” he said. “It is essential for India to provide the environment and motivation for students to excel.”

So they should give other diseases specific to India as targets.

EG. Filaria, Malaria etc...

SaraLax · Post by **SaraLax** » 16 Apr 2010 15:01

ASPuar wrote:
ramana wrote:Rajaram and SSridhar, Can you find out more about his operation in Madurai and lets raise some funds for his work.

I dont know who else is in TN area. If any one else can help do this please jump in.
Agree. In fact, it doesnt even have to be a huge deal. If someone will post an address here, and someone to whom a check can be made out, I would be happy just to send him one.

I am not sure if some other forum member has already followed up on the above requests....please go to the indicated website Akshaya Trust

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 16 Apr 2010 22:26

I did ICICI Money2India this morning...

Donations can be made in Indian Rupees
in any branch of ICICI Bank in India favouring

Akshaya’s Helping in H.E.L.P. Trust
ICICI Bank Ltd., Kochadai Branch, Madurai-625010
S.B.Account No.601 701 013 912
IFSC ICIC0006017 MICR 625229007

Donations exempt under 80 (G) of I.T. Act
Reg.No.108/2003-04/ITC Madurai, valid upto 31 March, 2010. ( Applied for renewal )

For Foreign Currencies

Akshaya’s Helping in H.E.L.P. Trust

Account No. 601601081471
ICICI Bank Ltd., K.K.Nagar Branch
Melur Road, Madurai - 625 020 India

Or

N.Krishnan
Account No. 601601504494
ICICI Bank Ltd., K.K.Nagar Branch
Melur Road, Madurai - 625 020 India
RTGS / IFSC / NEFT ICIC 0006016

Swift Transfers to the above accounts can be made or through money2india.com

Kindly advise details of donations, name, address when donations are made to help us follow up and sending the receipt.

Contributions can also be sent to

Akshaya's Helping in H.E.L.P. Trust
9, West 1st Main Street,
Doak Nagar Extension, Madurai – 625 010. India
Ph: +91(0)452 4353439/2587104 Cell:+91 98433 19933
E mail : ramdost@sancharnet.in www.akshayatrust.org

RamaY · Post by **RamaY** » 20 Apr 2010 20:51

Velupur mandal (Taluk?) in Nizamabad Dist, Andhra Pradesh achieved 100% school-attendance and abolition of Child Labor

"The present volume provides insights into the processes of securing hundred percent abolition of child labour and strategies to retain hundred percent enrolment of children below the age of 14 in the schools. It gives practical and ground realities as to how child labour problem can be tackled without addressing the issues of poverty and welfare. This volume depicts a unique feature which has been achieved by the collective efforts and convergence of various departments of the government of Andhra Pradesh at the Mandal/Tehsil and district levels. This volume deals with the gigantic issue of child labour which is nearly impossible to eliminate. It shows that is possible to eliminate hundred percent child labour with minimal financial support and through the existing administrative and developmental resources. It is strongly believed that the volume would definitely help all the persons, students, departments and organizations working on the issue of child labour and all those who are making all out efforts to send all the children below 14 years to schools for their future growth and development."

naren · Post by **naren** » 24 Apr 2010 09:01

Remote state in vanguard of Indian mobile phone craze

More than half the population of the tiny north-eastern Indian state of Mizoram is now using a mobile telephone, newly released figures show.

Officials say that the figures are remarkable because the state is one of the most remote in India and private industry is practically non-existent.

naren · Post by **naren** » 03 May 2010 01:46

SDRE tech pwns TFTA phoren tech

Assam tea estate goes organic

Visitors making their way along the muddy track leading to the Gossainbarie tea estate in India's north-eastern Assam state will be greeted by huge mounds of cow dung, rotting water hyacinth, as well as and fish and meat waste.

But this is no cause for alarm - the tea-estate has gone organic and is following the principles of India's ancient plant medicine Vriksh Ayurveda.

"This is our fertiliser because we don't use any chemical ones in our gardens," says Gossainbarie's owner Binod Saharia.

He has enlisted the help of a hermit-like bearded figure - former management consultant Swami Valmiki Iyengara.

Mr Iyengara says he has studied Vriksh Ayurveda, a system of traditional medicine, and evolved a concept of organic farming that is both sustainable and profitable.

"All pollutants are useful wastes and we can convert most of them into organic manure," he says.

"The ancient Indian plant medicine details processes for creating organic fertiliser from virtually anything.

"Much as poisons like mercury are used in traditional Indian medicine, pollutants diluted with other materials produce the best fertiliser," he adds.

...

Mr Iyengara and Mr Saharia say they have almost perfected the practice of organic farming.

They believe this could clean up India's - and Assam's - rural environment, which has been polluted by high use of insecticides, pest repellent and highly toxic chemical fertilisers.

...

The estate's annual output had plummeted from its peak 900,000 kg of green leaves to 355,000 kg a year.

One year on and things are looking up - the estate is poised to produce 600,000 kg.

Mr Saharia says he now wants other Indian tea planters to adopt his technology.

"We have no trade secrets. We want the whole of Indian tea industry to go organic all the way.

"In many estates, lazy managers routinely use chemical fertilisers even after the soil has gone dead. We want them to be creative."

...
"But we have shown the way for all tea planters to go organic on a sustainable basis because we can develop organic fertilisers from virtually all kinds of locally available material," Mr Saharia says.
...
Mr Iyengara has also used his knowledge of modern management to develop a system by which fewer labourers are needed to apply the organic manure, over a wider area and in less time.
...
"Now I know that the ancient plant medicine and the modern management concepts can work magic," he says.

Manu · Post by **Manu** » 05 May 2010 06:44

Recieved via email.

Where our Government fails, Tata's don't:

What Ratan Tata did for the Mumbai victims..

The Tata Gesture

* All category of employees including those who had completed even 1 day as casuals were treated on duty during the time the hotel was closed.
* Relief and assistance to all those who were injured and killed
* The relief and assistance was extended to all those who died at the railway station, surroundings including the “Pav- Bha ji” vendor and the pan shop owners.
* During the time the hotel was closed, the salaries were sent by money order.
* A psychiatric cell was established in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences to counsel those who needed such help.
* The thoughts and anxieties going on people’s mind was constantly tracked and where needed psychological help provided.
* Employee outreach centers were opened where all help, food, water, sanitation, first aid and counseling was provided. 1600 employees were covered by this facility.
* Every employee was assigned to one mentor and it was that person’s responsibility to act as a “single window” clearance for any help that the person required.
* Ratan Tata personally visited the families of all the 80 employees who in some manner – either through injury or getting killed – were affected.
* The dependents of the employees were flown from outside Mumbai to Mumbai and taken care off in terms of ensuring mental assurance and peace. They were all accommodated in Hotel President for 3 weeks.
* Ratan Tata himself asked the families and dependents – as to what they wanted him to do.
* In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the Tatas for the purpose of relief of employees.
* What is unique is that even the other people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians who had nothing to do with Tatas were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided subsistence allowance of Rs. 10K per month for all these people for 6 months.
* A 4 year old granddaughter of a vendor got 4 bullets in her and only one was removed in the Government hospital. She was taken to Bombay hospital and several lacs were spent by the Tatas on her to fully recover her.
* New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts.
* Tata will take responsibility of life education of 46 children of the victims of the terror.
* This was the most trying period in the life of the organisation. Senior managers including Ratan Tata were visiting funeral to funeral over the 3 days that were most horrible.
* The settlement for every deceased member ranged from Rs. 36 to 85 lacs in addition to the following benefits:
a. Full last salary for life for the family and dependents;
b. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents – anywhere in the world.
c. Full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their life.
d. All loans and advances were waived off – irrespective of the amount.
e. Counselor for life for each person

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 11 May 2010 10:16

South Asians' Growing American Clout
Wealthy and educated, Indian Americans are an increasingly influential audience
May 12, 2008
- Dan Ouellette
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_displa ... d2ebbf81aa

As a media target, South Asians represent a premium market.
Last fall in New York, at the first annual summit of the South Asians in Media and Marketing Association, Rishad Tobaccowala was one of many high-caliber media industry speakers to discuss the burgeoning and highly desirable South Asian market.

The chief innovations officer at media agency Publicis Groupe Media as well as CEO of Denuo, the Chicago-based think tank of digital advertising applications, Tobaccowala walked away from the two-day event amazed.

"I'd never been to a conference like that," he says. "Most of the time I fly in, give my speech and then leave. But I sat through every session, and instead of being bored to tears, I learned a lot. People were sharing and educating each other about the growth of the South-Asian market. Hundreds of people showed up and they all had so much pride and interest in connecting with each other for the first time."

Underlining the conference's raison d'etre is that the South-Asian population, with more than 2 million people comprising the Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali communities, was one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A growing minority

As a media target, Desis -- the colloquial term for diasporic South Asians derived from the Hindi word desh, which literally means "of the country" -- represent a premium market. It is a highly affluent, well-educated and consumer-oriented population. Sixty-four percent have a bachelor's degree or higher, and one in 10 Indian Americans is a millionaire, per the Census Bureau. The median household income of South Asians is more than $64,000, higher than any other ethnic or racial group and 50 percent higher than the national average.

"A lot of media business is just waiting to be created," says Rajan Shah, a co-founder of SAMMA and president and co-founder of New York-based entertainment marketing agency Phenomenon. "The number of ad pages in South-Asian print has increased to staggering levels. And within the past two years, the advertising has begun to come from outside the South-Asian marketing community. Companies like The Home Depot, The New York Times Magazine, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Delta Airlines are all advertising to this audience."

One of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in the U.S., Indian Americans, who represent 89 percent of the Desi population, increased from 815,000 in 1990 to nearly 1.9 million in 2000, a 133 percent rise, per the Census Bureau. Even so, that group makes up less than 1 percent of the total U.S. population compared to the Latino community, which made up 12.5 percent in 2000. Both figures have no doubt risen since then.

"The South-Asian and especially the Indian-American numbers will show another marked increase in the 2010 census. And even though they represent just a fraction of the Latino population, South Asians have disposable income in the area of $90 billion," says Shah, whose estimate is based on the $76 billion figure the market research firm Cultural Access Group arrived at in its 2005 report. "What the South Asians lack in size, they make up for with purchasing power."

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 11 May 2010 10:20

About Me
December 2005. I was an accountant, on long service leave from my uninspiring government job in Melbourne (Australia), and doing community work in Calcutta. My future husband was a DJ, with a residency at one of Calcutta’s biggest nightclubs. Fate drew us together one night, and transformed my life into something unrecognizable.
http://www.whiteindianhousewife.com/about/

Now, we live in Mumbai. I write and maintain About.com’s India Travel website, and am editor of the powai.info website for my suburb. For the first time in my life, I’m doing work that motivates me and that I love. After an unfulfilling stint in the family business, my husband has again joined the music industry full time.

My life lacks so many of the material things that I used to have, but I feel so much more fulfilled and free. I’ve learned to take chances, be courageous, adapt, and appreciate the little things in life that bring a smile to my face.

The path that my life has taken isn’t always easy. There are days that I feel so frustrated, uncomfortable, and homesick. But there are other days where I feel incredibly inspired as well.

There’s a saying, “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I ended up where I needed to be”. And another saying, “Our most satisfying dreams are the ones we create — not the ones we cling to”.

That just about sums up my life at the moment.

naren · Post by **naren** » 11 May 2010 12:05

Acharya wrote:
Underlining the conference's raison d'etre is that the South-Asian population, with more than 2 million people comprising the Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali communities, was one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Why the need to do India, Pakistan == ? This year's census form has a separate column for Indian and Pakistani is explicitly mentioned as an example for "Other Asian"

Check question #9

The Questions on the Form

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 11 May 2010 20:50

Looks like Anand is soon going to win the 12th game of chess world championship. He keeps his world championship!!!
Added later: He did win.

Varoon Shekhar · Post by **Varoon Shekhar** » 11 May 2010 21:54

Amber, that's great news. Because a week ago, Anand did not look in good shape, with the opponent gaining on him and equaling.

For some reason, Anand is not the household name that "Kasparov" is. Is that because of the flamboyant nature of Kasparov or something insidious. I'd hope it is the former. It is true that Anand is low key and unobtrusive, unlike Kasparov, Fisher and Karpov.

RoyG · Post by **RoyG** » 11 May 2010 23:07

Glad to hear that Anand finally won. Heard his journey to Sofia took 40 hrs!

akashganga · Post by **akashganga** » 12 May 2010 03:56

Anand retains his World Chess Champion Title:

http://sports.rediff.com/slide-show/201 ... -title.htm

Only non white to break into the top of world of chess. He is incredible.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 12 May 2010 05:05

RoyG wrote:Glad to hear that Anand finally won. Heard his journey to Sofia took 40 hrs!

Under the caption "Time trouble for Vishy" there was a cartoon..

(Reference was thata Bulgarian Cop actually stopped Anand's car for speeding (for 75 KM/hr !) while the last leg of that 40 hour journey... "time troubl"e, is of course, term used in Chess tournament ... per this cartoon....Bulgaria was quite unsportsmanlike like in this whole affair - Anand had to play after exhaustive 40 hrs journey and lost the first game. ) .. Good thing that he is known as a man having nerves of steel.

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 12 May 2010 11:58

The median household income of South Asians is more than $64,000, higher than any other ethnic or racial group and 50 percent higher than the national average.

It's Indians in the US that have that median income household. Not Pakis or BDs.

This 'South Asianitis' was putting Indian student performances down too when they were clubbed together. when they started filing Indians separate from Paki's and BDs they found Indian students to have one of the highest number A grades (IIRC 68%). Paki's and BDs did some 40%. National average was some 53%. This was IIRC 3 A's out of 5 subjects in O Level or something to that effect.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 12 May 2010 23:36

You may like to check out, Anand's Parents interview, joy in India, news stories, interviews and videos etc.. Link here:
Here

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 13 May 2010 22:35

Bulgaria PM and the Chess Champion, With world chess cup and the Bulgarian GM medal

Indian PM congratulates the Chess Champian

I am delighted to salute you at your 4th world class Chess Championship triumph within a decade. I understand that your championship game in Sofia was played under the most difficult circumstances but you proved once again that you remain the grandest of Grand Masters. You have made the country proud and I join millions of admirers of the game of chess in celebrating your magnificent triumph

And Please Check out the Video

And here

abhishek_sharma · Post by **abhishek_sharma** » 14 May 2010 07:01

EDIT.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 15 May 2010 00:56

http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/indian-s ... ke-helmet/
Indian students develop solar and wind-powered bike helmet

Eco Factor: Helmet designed to harness renewable energy while pedaling a bike.

Pragnesh Dudhaiya and Aalok Bhatt from the Nirma University in Ahmedabad, India have developed a helmet that can charge handheld devices by harnessing renewable energy. The helmet is equipped with solar panels and a small fan and is capable of charing a cellphone during the time the wearer rides to work.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 29 May 2010 23:07

13-year-old Vaibhav becomes Chess Grand Master

Delhi school boy Vaibhav Suri stole the show as he shocked Bangladesh GM Enamul Hossain to secure his maiden GM norm. He also became an IM, getting his third and final norm in the process. Showing litle nerves, Vaibhav converted a tiny advantage arising in the French game. He later gained a pawn in the minor pieces ending to defeat Enamul Hossain, gaining his maiden Grandmaster Norm.
Local star Padmini Rout she stunned Hungarian GM Zoltan Varga, making her third and final WGM Norm. Padmini becomes the second WGM of Orissa after Kiran Manisha Mohanty. Andhra lad G V Sai Krishna upset Brazilian GM Alexandr Fier making his second successive IM Norm. Also making their IM Norms were Abu Sufian Shakil and Ticia Gara.

Interesting to note that not too long ago (little before Vishy Ananad) India had no GM's.. India has come a long way in last 30-40 years in Chess.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 11 Jun 2010 01:48

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/011267.html
From Muck to Riches: Waste-Chain Innovation in India
WorldChanging Team, 10 Jun 10

cleaned, softened and sorted, the elephant dung is mixed with water again and put in a beating machine for four hours, where it is pounded into a soft, sludgy pulp. Small quantities of this pulp are then placed into a vat of water, where they are thoroughly mixed before being carefully lifted out on a square wire mesh. Ram and Babita illustrated this expertly as we stood together in their small warehouse, sheets of finished brown paper drying over our heads. Later, the sheets are compressed to make them smooth enough to write on before being sent off to Mehra, in Delhi, to be turned into her beautiful array of products.
Today, it is not just elephant-dung paper that has made it onto the market. Mehra is experimenting with camel muck, while Scandinavians are well versed in the production of elk-dung paper and an Australian company is experimenting with kangaroo waste. Haathi Chaap, which Mehra believes was India’s first company to work with this kind of paper, is now supplying 200 stores in the country as well as wholesalers around the world.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 11 Jun 2010 09:53

Ekal collects $ 420,000 for tribal schools
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/ ... chools.htm

Ekal Vidyalaya, a charitable trust engaged in one of the largest non-formal, basic education projects for underprivileged children in rural India [ Images ], raised close to half a million dollars last month during five charity shows in the mid-Atlantic region including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The trust collected $420,000, including $325,000 raised through three benefit concerts in New Jersey, with a concert in Edison raising $175,000.
Singer Sanjeevani Bhelande, the 1995 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa winner, sang melodies by famous Indian singers of yesteryear.
'We got her [Bhelande] here to do the concerts so we could attract more people. She is going to do 30 concerts throughout America in the next month,' said Prakash Waghmare, a senior official of the trust's New Jersey chapter.For $365 a year, Ekal Vidyalaya schools provide non-formal basic education and hygiene training to groups of 30 to 40 underprivileged children each in remote tribal villages in India that often lack approachable roads and basic facilities.Waghmare, an engineer who benefited from charity for his education in India, said Ekal Vidyalaya derives inspiration from Swami Vivekananda who said, 'If the child cannot come to education, let the education go to the child.''We started with 60 schools in 1986 and today thanks to efforts by Indians and Indian Americans we have 27,000 facilities in remote tribal areas. Our goal is to take it to at least 100,000,' he said. Explaining the project, Umesh Shukla, the trust's regional president, said Ekal Vidyalaya is the largest literacy movement undertaken by the Indians and the Indian Americans.Prajna Khisti, a New Jersey chapter president, in emotional appeals to the gathering, said, 'Our success in this country was due to our heavily subsidized education back home. Unknown to us, someone else paid for it. Now, by reciprocating the same helping hand to the needy children of India, we are only seeking salvation in a small way.'

lects $ 420,000 for tribal schools

Raghz · Post by **Raghz** » 11 Jun 2010 15:00

Amber G. wrote:
RoyG wrote:Glad to hear that Anand finally won. Heard his journey to Sofia took 40 hrs!
(Reference was thata Bulgarian Cop actually stopped Anand's car for speeding (for 75 KM/hr !) while the last leg of that 40 hour journey... "time troubl"e, is of course, term used in Chess tournament ... per this cartoon....Bulgaria was quite unsportsmanlike like in this whole affair - Anand had to play after exhaustive 40 hrs journey and lost the first game. ) .. Good thing that he is known as a man having nerves of steel.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=6269
Small nitpick. Here is the actual story...
With only 100 km to go, at 02.15 a.m. on Tuesday morning, April 20, the Bulgarian police noticed a dark Mercedes Sprinter with a Dutch license plate, driving a just a little too fast. You guessed right: we had to stop and the driver had to explain why he was speeding (74 km instead of the allowed 50) – and what he was doing in Bulgaria. However, when the driver told the very friendly police officer that Vishy Anand and his team were on board, the officer smiled and said: “Ok, take him to Sofia, but not too fast, ok?!“

Without a fine we continued the last leg of the journey to Sofia, although we were stopped again by the police, this time just for a routine traffic check.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 13 Jun 2010 03:09

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2 ... contentTop

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam called him a 'true scientist'. Mitticool, a clay refrigerator that works without electricity had turned the world's attention to its creator Mansukhbhai Prajapati, a craftsman based in Gujarat.

Presenting the national award to Mansukhbhai in 2009, President Pratibha Patil appreciated his work and asked him for a Mitticool.

Mitticool is an eco-friendly product which has no maintenance costs. It also retains the original taste of vegetables, "I failed in the tenth standard. But I was not disappointed as I knew that I was capable of making something new," says Mansukhbhai who holds a patent for Mitticool.

He has been popularising earthen products since 1988. The only drawback for him is the lack of stores to sell them.
The products are mostly available in Gujarat and in some stores in Mumbai and Pune only. Besides, the low-cost fridge, he has developed a water filter, non-stick tava and a pressure cooker all made of clay. And he has many more innovative ideas.

His only regret is that because of poor marketing his products are not reaching out to many people

If you wish to contact him dial: 02828 221156;OR 0-9825177249 (M).
E-mail: info@mitticool.in

May his tribe increase. Hope some SDRE with bill gates/steve jobs acumen help in marketing.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 13 Jun 2010 23:22

An old video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQrr4KhP4Dc

Bio-gas: Renewable Energy in the Himalaya

Ameet · Post by **Ameet** » 16 Jun 2010 21:54

India's marriage bureau for people living with HIV

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/au ... evelopment

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 17 Jun 2010 21:45

I guess its a march...

RSS cow urine drug gets US patent

PTI | Nagpur

An anti-cancer drug extracted from cow urine and developed by an affiliate of the RSS has got a third US patent for its anti-genotoxicity properties.

The same extract, developed by RSS backed Go Vigyan Anusandhan Kendra, had earlier got the US patent as a bio- enhancer with antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs.

Research for the drug, whose brand name is `Kamdhenu Ark', was carried out jointly by the Kendra and National Environmental Engineer Research Institute (NEERI), Tapan Chakraborty, Acting Director of NEERI, said while giving details about the patent received recently.

The research found that Re-distilled Cow Urine Distillate (RCUD) was useful for protecting and repairing DNA from oxidative damage, Chakraborty and Sunil Mansinghka of Kendra told reporters here yesterday.

Oxidative DNA damage is a leading cause of ageing, cancer and other diseases.

RCUD works against genotoxicity, a harmful action on a cell's genetic material, they said, adding research has strengthened the efficacy of kamdhenu ark as anti-cancer drug.

The research was carried out on three patients, two of them having throat and uterus cancer, Mansinghka said.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 19 Jun 2010 00:16

A passion for learning results in a school for India's poorest children
Babar Ali, just a teenager himself, has started a free school in his parents' backyard for the poorest children in his village in India's West Bengal region

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Sou ... t-children

,

the school's 17-year-old headmaster, walks from class to class. He squats in the dirt next to 5-year-olds singing their ABCs and checks the work of eighth-graders immersed in Indian history. A slim boy in shorts and rubber sandals, Babar offers a stern look that seems more to befit someone four times his age.Despite the many responsibilities that come with running a grade school, Babar says he feels burdened by only one: "If I don't do it," he asks in Bengali, "who will?"

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 23 Jun 2010 08:12

An old documentary

Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha - Scientist in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JavOEJiyJf8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVGM1DzGvE0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWAYmZJo9AE

Ameet · Post by **Ameet** » 23 Jun 2010 22:21

Andhra gives nod for India's first BPO in jail

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 083321.cms

India's first Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) facility in jail will become a reality with the Andhra Pradesh government Wednesday giving its nod to the proposal.

As part of jail reforms and to provide income generating opportunities to prisoners, the government decided to allow private industry including BPOs to set up their units in prisons.

Since the convicts will have no access to internet as per the jail rules, they will handle data entry, data processing and data transmission jobs for which they will be paid Rs. 4,500 per month.

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 24 Jun 2010 01:15

Bringing A Different Meaning To Air Travel

....Bharat Raj Singh and Onkar Singh, who detail their work in the May issue of the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, have developed a mathematical model of a small air turbine that would run on compressed air.

The use of compressed air for running an air turbine is more environmentally friendly than typical engines because there is no combustion involved in producing shaft work. Additionally, the abundance of air makes the resource readily available when needed.

The researchers analyzed a small capacity air turbine with vane type rotor. The air turbine is designed to receive compressed air through an inlet port. Once air enters into the turbine and creates impact, it expands inside the rotor vanes and develops rotational torque causing the rotor to rotate with a series of impingement and expansions with each revolution. Expanded air is then released into the atmosphere through an exit port.....

Their paper

Study of the influence of vane angle on shaft output of a multivane air turbine

paramu · Post by **paramu** » 24 Jun 2010 01:19

Hiten wrote:The use of compressed air for running an air turbine is more environmentally friendly than typical engines because there is no combustion involved in producing shaft work. Additionally, the abundance of air makes the resource readily available when needed.

I didn't read the paper. Anybody who makes claim that this kind methods are clean forget the fact that you need energy to compress the air and you also depend on the efficiency of the whole system.

Hiten · Post by **Hiten** » 24 Jun 2010 01:33

^^^
the tanks of compressed air could be prepared using a prime mover powered by a clean source of energy. The efficiency of the entire system - from the compression of to re-conversion at the turbine is most definitely going to be lesser than an IC engine - but then it is a trade-off. Hopefully with improving technologies the losses can be reduced.

My query - proposals of vehicle powered by compressed air have been put forth earlier by others. How is this any different? IIRC the other vehicles were 4-wheeled ones while this 1 claims to power a 2-wheeler. Is this the reason for the inclusion?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 24 Jun 2010 22:09

But how do they hope to be within the Laws of Thermodamnics? You cant get enough work from compressed air! Not enough entropy.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 26 Jun 2010 00:50

A blip on some newspapers about Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting.
Indians to interact with Nobel laureates

New Delhi: A group of young researchers from India will interact with 60 Nobel laureates during an annual meeting in Germany from June 27 to July 2.

About 20 students nominated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) will meet the Nobel prize winners at the 60th Annual Meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students to be held in Lindau, Germany, an official statement said Wednesday.

BTW, from US too, some of the " Nation’s brightest graduate students are chosen to meet with Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany" .. according to local news report here. (Among them is a son of one of the BRFite

.. and the US group is on their way to Germany..