ELEVEN SECURITY personnel will be awarded the prestigious Ashoka Chakra, posthumously, for laying down their lives in the service of the nation. The award is the highest peacetime gallantry award of the country and will be given on the Republic in New Delhi. Delhi police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who executed the Batla House encounter will also receive the Ashoka Chakra for making the supreme sacrifice. Those included in the list include former Mumbai Anti-terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who attained martyrdom during the Mumbai attack on November 26, 2008. Assistant sub-inspector Tukaram Ombale of Mumbai police, who was responsible for the arrest of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive in the Mumbai attack. After a strong pitch was made by the Maharashtra government, the names of Mumbai police officials Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar were also added in the list of Ashoka awardees. Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Havaldar Gajender Singh Bisht from National Security Guard will also get the Ashoka Chakra. They laid down their lives while fighting the terrorists during the three day long siege in Mumbai. A number of security officials not connected with Mumbai attack will also be awarded this honour and they include Colonel Jojan Thomas, Havaldar Bahadur Singh Bohra, Delhi Police inspector MC Sharma, P Diengdoh of Meghalaya Police and Pramod Kumar Satapathy of Orissa Police. A number of security officials are also likely to get the Kirti Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra for displaying utmost bravery in the service of the nation.

Courtesy: www.merinews.com, January 23, 2009

Back to Index

Nine young scientists from different research institutions have won the prestigious Scopus Young Indian Scientists Awards for 2008. The awards are instituted by Elsevier, the world's leading research publisher of scientific information. The winners are: Govindasamy Bala of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (for Earth Sciences category), Siva Athreya of the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore (Mathematics), B.V.S. Reddy of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad (Chemistry), Bhanuprakash Reddy of the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad (Medicine), R. Raman of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi (Agriculture), S. Ganesh of IIT, Kanpur (Agriculture Biological Sciences), Suman Chakraborthy of IIT, Kharagpur, (Engineering) and Satyabrata Patnaik of JNU, Delhi, and Moulik Parikh of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune (Physics). J.J. Theo Groothuizen, Science & Technology Counsellor, Embassy of the Netherlands, on Friday presented the awards to six of them -Dr. Bala, Dr. B.V.S. Reddy, Dr. Bhanuprakash Reddy, Dr. R.Raman, Dr. Suman Chakraborthy, and Dr. Satyabrata Patnaik. The remaining three could not attend the function. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Groothuizen emphasised the need for greater science and technology collaboration between India and the Netherlands and said his country was keen on fostering such a cooperative venture, particularly in a public-private partnership mode.Eduard Cohen, Managing Director (international markets) of Elsevier, Carl Schwaz, Publication Director, and Sander Verboom, Regional Director for South Asia, emphasised the importance of scholarly information in research process and said Elsevier was keen on providing all assistance to Indian researchers. Kathy Christian, Production Manager, made a presentation on a research performance visualiser, which is proposed to be introduced by Elsevier soon. The awardees received a certificate of recognition, a cash prize and a crystal trophy. Over 200 Indian scientists and researchers under the age of 40 submitted their work for consideration in 11 disciplines - agriculture, biological sciences, chemistry, earth sciences, engineering, library and information sciences, mathematics, medicine, pharmacology, physics & social sciences. Covering the world's research literature, Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and quality web sources with smart tools to track, analyse and visualise research. Scopus was designed and developed with over 500 users and librarians internationally. Its unique database contains abstracts and references from over 15,000 peer-reviewed journals from 4,000 publishers worldwide, ensuring broad inter-disciplinary coverage. In addition, Scopus offers users citation information about the articles covered. Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, with its headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, it publishes more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books every year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as 'ScienceDirect,' 'MD Consult' and Scopus and bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, December 06, 2008

Back to Index

Indra K Nooyi, India-born chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, has been named the winner of the Chicago United 2008 Bridge. Award honouring exemplary leadership in support of advancing diversity and inclusion. Nooyi will be presented the National Bridge Award at Chicago United's Fifth Annual Changing Colour of Leadership Conference and 40th Anniversary Gala on Dec 4, the membership organisation promoting corporate diversity announced Monday. A committee of corporate and non-profit executives, entrepreneurs and academicians selected Nooyi as the Bridge Awardee based on an examination of publicly-available data along with select qualitative attributes of the company, such as supplier and workforce diversity, it said in a media release. "I am extremely honoured to be recognised as Chicago United's National Bridge Award recipient," said Nooyi. "At PepsiCo we strive to create a diverse and inclusive work environment that encourages every associate to bring his or her whole self to work - not just because it's the right thing to do, but also because diversity in the workplace unleashes creativity and the power of innovation.

"Having people with different backgrounds and experiences gives us marketplace insights that enable us to serve our consumers, retail customers and communities. Diversity and inclusion are essential to PepsiCo's growth and are a strategic priority for our business," she added. "PepsiCo exhibits the strategic value that resonates with Chicago United's mission to promote competitiveness through the use of corporate diversity and inclusion," said Gloria Castillo, president of Chicago United. "We applaud Ms. Nooyi and PepsiCo for leading by example and being champions of a new benchmark for diversity in management, and business partnerships. "Their investment in diversity and inclusion helps to foster innovative approaches to sustain continuous growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace," she said. The Bridge Award represents the first national award that honours a CEO who is an advocate for multiracial diversity in corporate governance and executive level management. It honours the exemplary practices of a Fortune 100 corporation,the organisation said. In keeping with the spirit of Chicago United's advocacy for the development of multiracial leadership at all levels in business, this award brings visibility to those who have driven change and inspire others to follow. Chicago United, the catalyst driving business leaders to maximise economic impact for all races, celebrates its milestone year under the theme "Torchbearers of the Dream: Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future", it said. The Fifth Annual Changing Colour of Leadership Conference will feature a series of six workshop sessions that will provide participants with in-depth insights of diversity and inclusion practices that are crucial to the success of an organization. Nationally recognised experts in the field of diversity will highlight current trends, best practices, and strategies for minority business enterprises to grow their businesses and for corporate professionals to develop multiracial leadership in their organisations. Created in 1968, Chicago United was the first group to bring together racially diverse CEOs with a common goal of creating a stronger social and economic climate for everyone in Chicago.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, November 11, 2008

Back to Index

PRIME MINISTER Manmohan Singh will confer the 40th Jnanpith Award on renowned Kashmiri poet Rehman Rahi in the national capital on November 6. The 83-year-old poet was selected for the award by a panel comprising of noted personalities like Mahashweta Devi, CT Indira, Sitanshu Yashaschandra, Ramakant Rath and Gopi Chand Narang. The panel was chaired by noted scholar LM Singhvi. The Jnanpith Award is the highest literary honour conferred in the Republic of India. It is presented by the Jnanpith Trust, which was found by the Sahu Jain family, publishers of The Times of India. An Indian citizen, who writes in any Indian language under VIII schedule of the Indian Constitution is eligible for the honour. The award carries a check for Rs 500,000, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Vagdevi. The award was instituted in 1961. Its first recipient was Malayalam writer G Sankara Kurup in 1965. Before 1982, the awards were given for a single work by a writer. From 1982, the award has been given for lifetime contribution to Indian literature. So far, Kannada writers have won seven awards, which is the highest for any language. Hindi writers have won six. Rehman Rahi who bagged the first Jnanpith award in Kashmir has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, which include Sahitya Akademi Award (1965), Emeritus fellowship by the Ministry of Human Resources Development and Padmashree in 2000. On getting the Jnanpith, he said, "I see the award as an honour for my poetry and above all, an honour for the language (Kashmiri), in which it was composed and for the people who use this language."

Rahi was born on May 6, 1925, in SR Gunj area of Srinagar city. After the death of his businessman father, Ghulam Mohammad, he was brought up by his maternal uncle. His uncle encouraged him to visit the only major booksellers, Ghulam Mohammad Noor Mohammad Tajiran-e-Kutub, in the locality. This exposed him early in life to the world of literature. After the partition, academic sessions had been temporarily suspended for a couple of years. Rahi had to appear as a private candidate for masters degree in Persian and Arabic. Later he joined at Baramulla as a clerk in the Public Works Department (PWD). "But I was not happy because of my literary taste and felt uncomfortable" in the job, he comments. This led him to join the Urdu daily, Khidmat, an official organ of the Congress party published from Srinagar in early 1950s. His interest in literature, particularly poetry was strengthened by two diverse factors - the philosophical poetry of Iqbal and the ideology of the Left. "I thought poetry should be creative and compact and thus, Kashmiri short poems came into existence", he said. "The modern concept of short poems in Kashmiri was at par with English poetry", he adds. "I wanted Kashmiri poetry to be in par with major languages of the world." Some of his notable creations include 'Nauroz-e-Saba' (The Morning Zephyr), 'Sanaweni Saaz' and 'Siyaah-Rooda-Jaren Manz'. Rahi's critical essays in 'Kahwat' (Touchstones) are considered to have developed an indigenous critical idiom for Kashmiri. Through his work, he has profoundly enriched and influenced Kashmiri language, thereby making significant contribution in the Indian literary field.

Courtesy: www.merinews.com, November 05, 2008

Back to Index

Celebrated vocalist Bhimsen Joshi has been honoured with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. A descendant of the Kirana gharana, Pandit Joshi is renowned for bhajans and khayals. In the past, he has also received the Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. Joshi, the son of a schoolteacher, left home at the age of 11 to pursue his passion for singing. His debut album, featuring bhajans in Kannada and Hindi, was released when he was just 20. Besides being honoured with several awards, Bhimsen Joshi is known for starting an annual classical musical festival in the memory of his guru.

Courtesy: www.google.com, November 04, 2008

Back to Index

I am more relieved than happy, says the champion
Eventually, it needed a draw to bring about Viswanthan Anand's biggest career-title and end the challenger's reign as the undefeated matchplay player in the World chess championship history. Needing to stay undefeated to touch the winning score of 6.5 points, Anand came up with an expectedly solid performance with white pieces and crossed the finish line in just 24 moves spread over just under three hours. The end was rather sedate once Anand allowed Kramnik to play Sicilian Defence with black for the first time in the match. Anand, who found his rival's queen-move on the ninth turn a little "tricky," kept control over the proceedings. Eventually, a hapless Kramnik offered a draw which Anand happily accepted. "I am more relieved than happy," said Anand soon after accepting the glass trophy that symbolised his extended stay as the champion of the world. At the post-match conference, Kramnik was most gracious in defeat. "I think I learnt a lot of things from this match. I think it was very interesting all the way. When you are playing against a player like Vishy, you can lose. "I am disappointed but not very sad. I made certain mistakes with my preparations and I will have to go back and get better." Anand said, "Yesterday's rest day came at the wrong time. When you just lose a game when you need just half-a-point from three games, it is tough. You want to get on with it. I won't say I had a very pleasant rest day. But it feels good to keep the title. I thank my wife and my team of seconds who gave all the support I needed." He brushed aside all suggestions of looking at retirement since he had won everything the game had to offer. "I am going to play on. But for now, I am going to rest for a while. The last few months have been tough," he said.

Ideal way
Anand and Kramnik agreed that the 12 to 14-game match was the most ideal way of deciding a World champion. Kramnik said, "This way, the title has a lot of value. I like the system." Anand, on his part, said, "I think 12 games are just fine. It allows you to show what you've got." Minutes after the game ended, Anand's team of 'seconds' including former champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov and National champion Surya Shekhar Ganguly made an appearance for the first time. P. Hari Krishna joined Ganguly to be among the ones to wish the champion. Indian sweets were on hand to celebrate the win with Anand eating out of the hands of Aruna and some of the Indian journalists present here.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, October 31, 32008

Back to Index

NRI entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Baxi, founder of a recycling firm that has emerged as one of the top companies in Europe, has won the prestigious 'Asian of the Year Award'. Baxi, Chairman of J and H Sales (International) Ltd, the company he founded, received the award at a glittering ceremony organised by 'Asian Who's Who International', a publication about leading Asians in the UK, at the Dorchester Hotel here last night. Matthew Amroliwala and Riz Lateef, the BBC News presentation team, handed over the award to 56-year-old Baxi, who is also President of the European Division of the World Punjabi Organisation. Lord Swraj Paul, NRI industrialist and winner of the first Asian of the Year Award in 1987-88 who was the Chief Guest at the event, lauded the achievements of the Asian community because of their family values and hard work. According to the citation, Baxi's company has grown to become one of Europe's leading fibre recycling exporters, operating across the USA, Europe and the Far East. In 2001, the company received the Queen's Award for Enterprise (International Trade). Baxi was recently appointed President of the Paper Division of the Bureau of International Recycling in Bruxelles, a trade federation representing the recycling industry in over 70 countries. Teji Singh, founder of international communications agency Sterling Media, bagged the Asian Leadership in Harmony Award while Kamel Hothi, Asian Marketing Director - Corporate Markets, Lloyds TSB Group, received the Asian Leadership in Diversity Award.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 25, 2008

Back to Index

A leading NRI Tuberculosis specialist, whose research has resulted in development of new tools for treatment and control of the disease, has been honoured with a prestigious award here. The coveted Royal College of Physician's Weber-Parkes Trust Medal was presented to Professor Ajit Lalvani at the annual Harveian Oration at the Royal College of Physicians at Regents' Park last night. Lalvani, son of the Founder-Chairman of Britain's largest Vitamin producing company 'Vitabiotics', is the Chair of Infectious Diseases and Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Lalvani's recruitment to the new Chair at Imperial College has enabled integration of his research programme with Britain's largest clinical TB service, where he has developed "a promising pipeline of new innovations to further improve global TB control," Professor Jonathan Friedland said in his citation. Lalvani's personal chair is the first new professorship of TB in the UK in 50 years reflecting the growing concern over this disease globally. Lalvani, credited to be one of the very few physician- scientists who have taken his basic science research findings into clinical practice and public health policy, became Clinical Lecturer in Medicine at Oxford University in 1997, when he founded the Tuberculosis Immunology Group and has been a Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellow since 2001. "His research programme probes the immunobiology of TB, using research findings to develop new tools to improve TB control," Friedland said. "He invented and validated the 100-year upgrade for diagnosis of TB infection, known as ELISpot (T-SPOT TB(r). The new test is the first significant advance on the century-old tuberculin skin-prick test and is significantly faster and more accurate," he added. ELISpot is now recommended by over 20 national guidelines including the European Union and North America. The doctor has received numerous international awards in recognition of his contribution to global public health, including the Scientific Prize of the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease. Other winners at the Harveian Oration and Dinner of the Royal College of Physicians were Professor Sir Bruce Ponder FRS, who received Ambuj Nath Bose Prize 2008 for medical research and Professor Paul Klenerman, who was awarded with the Graham Bull Prize 2008 for his contribution to clinical science.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 17 2008

Back to Index

Debutant novelist Aravind Adiga has bagged the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2008, for his acclaimed novel 'The White Tiger'. The book that is set against the backdrop of India's growing wealth gap was described by the jury as revealing "the dark side of India". Adiga received the GBP 50,000 (USD 87,000) prize at a glittering ceremony on Tuesday night in London's Guildhall. With Adiga walking away the much-touted prize, he has now become the fifth Indian-origin author to win the esteemed award, joining the ranks of VS Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai. Speaking at the event, the 33-year-old former journalist said his book - the story of Balram Halwai, a village boy who becomes an entrepreneur through villainous means - aimed to highlight the needs of India's poor. "It is a fact that for most of the poor people in India there are only two ways to go up - either through crime or through politics, which can be a variant of crime," Adiga, the fifth Indian-origin writer to win the prize, told the BBC. "These people at the bottom have the same aspirations as the middle class - to make it in life, to become businessmen, to create business empires. They need to be given their legitimate needs - the schooling, the education, the health care - to achieve those dreams. If not, as I said, there are only two ways up: crime or politics." But Adiga added that although India has "an extreme divide between the rich and the poor", his book wasn't a social commentary.

"It's an attempt to dramatise this and get it into literature. It's meant to be a fun book and to engage its readers," said Adiga, who beat off competition from five other authors, including fellow Indian Amitav Ghosh, nominated for his "Sea of Poppies". Chairman of the jury, Michael Portillo said that Adiga - only the third debutant to claim the award in its 40-year-history - won because judges felt that his book "shocked and entertained in equal measure". "The novel undertakes the extraordinarily difficult task of gaining and holding the reader's sympathy for a thoroughgoing villain. The book gains from dealing with pressing social issues and significant global developments with astonishing humour." The other shortlisted authors were Steve Toltz of Australia ("A Fraction of the Whole"), Sebastian Barry of Ireland ("The Secret Scripture"), and British writers Linda Grant and Philip Hensher ("The Clothes on Their Backs" and "The Northern Clemency" respectively). Chennai-born Adiga is the third debut writer to win the award after DBC Pierre in 2003 for his "Vernon God Little" and Arundhati Roy in 1997 for "The God of Small Things". Adiga, when asked about winning the prize in the midst of a financial crisis, said: "India and China have come into their own and the fiction that comes from these countries should reflect the fact." "What that means is writers from those countries need to be more critical in looking at those countries because they no longer need protection. As they step out into the world stage and potentially rule the world, it is even more important." Born and bought up in Delhi, the writer dedicated the prize to the city. "It's a city that I love and a city that's going to determine India's future and the future of a large part of the world. It's a book about Delhi, so I dedicate it to the people that made it happen," he said.

Courtesy: www.zeenews.com, October 15, 2008

Back to Index

Indian conductor of Western classical music Zubin Mehta was named on Tuesday a recipient of Japan's Praemium Imperiale, one of art's richest awards, for his lifetime work with orchestras around the world. Mehta, 72, one of the leading Asians in Western classical music, has led philharmonic orchestras in Berlin, New York, Tel Aviv and Vienna. As executive director and president of the New York Philharmonic, Mehta led a landmark performance of the 106-member orchestra in Pyongyang in February. Japan each year awards the Praemium Imperiale, which is backed by the imperial family, for accomplishments in painting, sculpture, music, architecture and theatre or film. The others awarded this year are British pop artist Richard Hamilton, Russian conceptual sculptors Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and Japanese "kabuki" theatre actor Tojuro Sakata. Each winner receives $143,000, making it one of the world's most lucrative art prizes. They will receive the prize at a ceremony on October 15. Past winners include Jasper Johns, Leonard Bernstein, Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa and, last year, Daniel Barenboim.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, September 16, 2008

Back to Index

India has thrown up its first Internet billionaires. Three Indians, including Indiabulls' Sameer Gehlaut and Party Gaming founder Anurag Dikshit, have been named among the 34 innovators in the Web Billionaires list by US magazine Forbes. Kavitark Ram Shriram, is the other India-born innovator on the list, with a net worth of $ 1.8 billion (Rs 8,220 crore) and co-owns Indian job site Naukri.Com, said Forbes. Young Turks of India's Internet business feel that the prospects are stronger for entrepreneurs in new media, mobile, online and social media space. India currently ranks 4th as far as Internet users are concerned and second in the number of mobile users. "It's the turn of new media, social networking, Internet and mobile space to create successful billionaires," said Vishal Gondal, founder and CEO, Indiagames. Indian industry leaders feel that though it is a matter of pride for India, Indiabulls' unique business model means that it would be very difficult for others to come up. "Indiabulls started as a website, but its ability to quickly scale up to financial services, and strong implementation skills has made it what it is. That is unique," said Vimal Bhandari, India country manager, Aegon, the Dutch insurance company. Indiabulls' Sameer Gehlaut, the youngest self-made billionaire in India, with a net worth of $ 1.2 billion (Rs 5,480 crore), has featured in the list. Gehlaut had started online brokerage firm Indiabulls with two college friends in 1999 and still heads the company and is the largest shareholder. The group has moved into real estate business and is further looking to expand into the power sector, the magazine stated. Online gambling firm Party Gaming's Anurag Dikshit is the third Indian on the list, with $1.6 billion (Rs 7,307 crore) of wealth. Forbes described him as 'developmental engineer turned online gambling mogul.' Dikshit holds a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He had joined Party Gaming a year after its founder, American Ruth Parasol, had launched Starluck Casino on the Internet in 1997. The Internet boom has put 34 innovators the list of world's richest, with a total net worth of $ 109.7 billion (Rs 5,00,999 crore), Forbes said. The list includes Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page with the highest net worth of $ 18.7 billion (Rs 85,402 crore) each.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, September 12, 2008

Back to Index

Calcutta: India one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the ODI Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday. Yuvraj Singh became the inaugural winner of the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year award in recognition of his amazing six sixes in one over during the World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007. Dhoni also found a berth in the ODI Team of the Year along with Sachin Tendulkar. Virender Sehwag was the sole Indian representative in the Test Team of the Year. Dhoni beat off tough competition from teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Australia fast bowler Nathan Bracken and Pakistan batsman Mohammed Yousuf. During the voting period, Dhoni played 39 ODIs and scored 1,298 runs at an average of 49.92 and at a rate of 82.46 runs per 100 balls faced. He also hit a century and nine fifties, making sure he led his team from the front during this period. He is currently ranked No.1 in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen. "I would like to thank the voting academy for considering me to be deserving of this award. I am really happy to get this - it's a great privilege," Dhoni said. According to the awards voting academy, Yuvraj's effort was the most impressive performance in the past 12 months. He beat off competition from teammate Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led his team to victory at World Twenty20 in South Africa, Chris Gayle who scored 117 off just 57 balls against South Africa in the opening match of the competition and Australia's Brett Lee, who became the first bowler to take a hattrick in the event against Bangladesh in Cape Town. "For me it was very important just to get nominated. There were other great performances during the past year. For example, Gayle's innings in the World Twenty20 was fantastic. I am very happy to collect this award and I would like to congratulate the other players who were nominated alongside me," Yuvraj said after collecting the award from Arjuna Ranatunga. Significantly, Andrew Symonds has been included in the ODI Team of the Year. Ricky Ponting has been named captain of the ODI side while Graeme Smith will lead the Test team. The selection panel was chaired by Clive Lloyd and included former Australia captain Greg Chappell, recently retired South Africa allrounder Shaun Pollock, former Sri Lanka opener Sidath Wettimuny and former Bangladesh batsman Athar Ali Khan.

Courtesy: www.telegraphindia.com, September 11, 2008

Back to Index

The American Physical Society (APS) has awarded the prestigious Lars Onsager prize for 2009 to physicist Sriram Shastry of India, who is currently a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) in the US. The Lars Onsager prize was established in 1993 to recognise outstanding work in statistical physics and is open to scientists of all nations regardless of geographical location. Shastry, who earned his first physics degree from Nagpur University, is the first Indian scientist to win this award. Shastry studies the complicated interactions of strongly correlated systems, of which the best known are high-temperature superconductors. High-temperature superconductors are easier to cool and may eventually replace the low-temperature superconductors currently used to create the magnetic fields for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines in hospitals and magnetic levitation trains. A UCSC press release said that 'in addition to explaining these superconductors, Shastry's work has advanced the understanding of thermoelectric materials, which may someday be used to capture waste heat and convert it to useable energy'. In its citation, the American Physical Society said the Onsager prize recognises Shastry 'for pioneering work in developing and solving models of strongly correlated systems and for wide-ranging contributions to phenomenological many-body theory, which have advanced the analysis of experiments on strongly correlated materials'. Shastry earned his B.Sc. in physics from Nagpur University, his M.Sc. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and his Ph.D. from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. He joined the UCSC faculty in 2003 and was elected an APS fellow in 2006. In 2000, he was elected a fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World. Shastry will receive the $15,000 prize amount and a certificate at the APS meeting in Pittsburgh in March 2009.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, October 10, 2008

Back to Index

The American Physical Society (APS) has awarded the prestigious Lars Onsager prize for 2009 to physicist Sriram Shastry of India, who is currently a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) in the US. The Lars Onsager prize was established in 1993 to recognise outstanding work in statistical physics and is open to scientists of all nations regardless of geographical location. Shastry, who earned his first physics degree from Nagpur University, is the first Indian scientist to win this award. Shastry studies the complicated interactions of strongly correlated systems, of which the best known are high-temperature superconductors. High-temperature superconductors are easier to cool and may eventually replace the low-temperature superconductors currently used to create the magnetic fields for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines in hospitals and magnetic levitation trains. A UCSC press release said that 'in addition to explaining these superconductors, Shastry's work has advanced the understanding of thermoelectric materials, which may someday be used to capture waste heat and convert it to useable energy'. In its citation, the American Physical Society said the Onsager prize recognises Shastry 'for pioneering work in developing and solving models of strongly correlated systems and for wide-ranging contributions to phenomenological many-body theory, which have advanced the analysis of experiments on strongly correlated materials'. Shastry earned his B.Sc. in physics from Nagpur University, his M.Sc. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and his Ph.D. from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. He joined the UCSC faculty in 2003 and was elected an APS fellow in 2006. In 2000, he was elected a fellow of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World. Shastry will receive the $15,000 prize amount and a certificate at the APS meeting in Pittsburgh in March 2009.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, October 10, 2008

Back to Index

American business magazine Forbes said on Monday that India-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal is being conferred the third Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award, which honours heroes of entrepreneurial capitalism and free enterprise. Mittal will get the award tonight at Forbes Global CEO Conference, being held in Singapore and expected to be attended by more than 450 business leaders with a combined net worth of more than $160 billion from across the world. Earlier in March this year, Forbes had named Mittal as fourth richest with a net worth of $45 billion in its annual ranking of the world's richest billionaires. "Mittal will receive the third Malcolm S Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award at the opening dinner tonight from Steve Forbes, Chairman & CEO of Forbes, and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine," Forbes said in a statement. "The award honours heroes of entrepreneurial capitalism and those who embody and exemplify the ideals of free enterprise," it added. Born in Rajasthan, Mittal founded Mittal Steel Company (formerly LNM Group) in 1976. It later acquired numerous steel companies around the world, including the International Steel Group in the US, to become the world's largest steel producer following merger with Arcelor in 2006. Forbes said that this year's theme at the three-day conference is "The Winning Hand" and would discuss strategies in dealing with the global uncertainty and issues such as US elections, real estate, China, India and entrepreneurship. Those speaking at the conference include TCS [Get Quote] CEO and MD S Ramadorai, Sajjan Jindal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JSW Steel [Get Quote], Tulsi Tanti, Chairman and Managing Director of Suzlon Energy [Get Quote]. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will deliver the keynote address.

Courtesy: www.rediff.com, September 08, 2008

Back to Index

Six Indians, including Ranbaxy promoter family's Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, Suzlon's Girish Tanti and Indiabulls' Sameer Gehlaut, have made it to a list of 15 youngest Asian billionaires, compiled by business magazine Forbes. "The country's millionaires jumped 23 per cent last year. The billionaire count soared to 53 from 36 the previous year," Forbes said, adding that India has maintained its pace in the money race. India, which boasts of a competitive demographic advantage of young population, was represented by six people that are under 40 with a cumulative worth of 8.3 billion dollars. Other Indians on the list include real estate firm Oberoi Constructions' Vikas Oberoi and online gambling entity PartyGaming's founder Anurag Dikshit. China dominated the list with as many as eight representations, with a combined wealth of 20 billion dollars. South Korea and Hong Kong have one each person on the list.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, September 04, 2008

Back to Index

UNESCO 2008 Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards have been announced and the Archiepiscopal Palace, standing between Se Cathedral and Church of St Francis of Assisi at Old Goa, has been selected for 'honourable mention' for conservation efforts undertaken by the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for culture heritage conservation have been instituted to recognise the achievement of individuals and organisations within the private sector, and the public-private initiatives, in successfully restoring structures of heritage value in the region. UNESCO announced six 'honourable mentions', three awards of 'merit', three awards of 'distinction ' and two awards of 'excellence'. The Archiepiscopal Palace is the oldest Western style civil building in India, where formerly the archbishops resided. The ground floor was allotted to the subordinate staff and for storage. The Archdiocese of Goa and Daman took the initiative and made available funds for the conservation of the building which has been described with vivid details by Pyrard de Laval in his Voyages, during the tenure of Archbishop Raul Gonsalves and the conservation works were completed during the tenure of Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao. The scientific conservation of the building was undertaken under a committee appointed by the archbishop with the financial administrator of the archdiocese, Fr Victor Rodrigues/Fr Arlino de Melo as chairperson. UNESCO's mandate is to promote the stewardship of the world's cultural resources, including the built heritage that constitutes collective cultural memory, and the foundation upon which communities can construct their future. In Asia and the Pacific, UNESCO supports conservation activists at all levels, and particularly seeks to encourage the role of the private sector in preserving the region's cultural heritage.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, September 03, 2008

Back to Index

Saleem Khan drew bemused looks from fishermen whenever he took walks through the slush in the mangroves at Ururkuppam near Besant Nagar beach, scooping up soil. There was a method to his muddiness. The United Nations has acknowledged it. Khan, who completed M.Sc. in Biotechnology from New College in April 2007, has received the Outstanding Youth Campaign Award from the fifth Annual Youth Assembly of the UN for his campaign on preserving and planting mangroves at Urur kuppam. The award recognises 24-year-old Khan's contribution to one of the Millenniu m Development Goals of the UN. "This soul should work only for world peace" is the prayer Khan lives by. The award is an answer to the prayer, he says. He was chosen for the award - signed by Secretary General Dr Elaine Valdor and the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation Executive Director, Patrick Sciarratta - from among 70 contestants worldwide. This is the first Youth Campaign Award and the lone award for India is Khan's. However, his visa to the United States was not approved and he could not make it to the awards function in Manhattan on August 12. His brother, in New Jersey, received the award and delivered the acceptance speech on his behalf. Khan said the UN had seven thematic goals for the millennium and one was to ensure environmental sustainability. His study on the role of mangroves, particularly in the context of the tsunami came under environmental sustainability. He focussed on a highly endangered species of mangroves known as Avicinnia Marina. Khan's research involved taking soil samples to study the microbiology aspect at the Ururk uppam. His vision was to take his biotechnology knowledge to the people and his desire was to unite his work with the UN bo dy. He came across the announ cement of the submissions for the awards and participated. Khan thanks his parents, teachers for his success. He doesn't forget to make a special mention of fisherman Karuna karan of Ururkuppam, without whose help he couldn't have nav igated through the slush in the mangroves.

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, August 18, 2008

Back to Index

GVK Biosciences, a leading contract research organization, Tuesday announced the appointment of Tarun Khanna, a Harvard Business School (HBS) professor, to its board of directors. Khanna is the Jorge Paulo Lemann professor at the HBS, where he has been a member of the strategy group since 1993, said a company statement here. Serving on the advisory boards of several multinational and emerging market companies in the financial services, automotive, life sciences and agribusiness sectors, Khanna has experience in a wide variety of industries. He was nominated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2007. "We are very excited that Tarun has joined our board of directors. His vast experience in global strategy and understanding of the emerging markets will facilitate GVK Bio to grow to the next level," said D.S.Brar, chairman of GVK Biosciences. "I am pleased to join the GVK Biosciences board of directors at this exciting time of the company and industry and I look forward to this association," said Khanna. GVK Biosciences delivers integrated research services to big pharma and biotech companies globally. The company has more than 1,300 employees in its facilities in Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Gurgaon.

Courtesy: www.thaindian.com, July 22, 2008

Back to Index

Tina Ambani and Usha Mittal are among the 10 billionaires' wives who have impressive credentials of their own, according to a list prepared by the Forbes magazine. Tina Ambani is married to world's sixth wealthiest person, Anil Ambani, who is negotiating his firm Reliance Communications' possible amalgamation with South African telecom major MTN. Usha Mittal is married to the world's fourth richest person, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal. But the 'Wives of Billionaires' list is not about trophy wives, the US magazine said in a report accompanying the list. Tina Ambani was famous even before she married Anil Ambani. "Former Bollywood actress made her name in the 1978 Indian blockbuster 'Des Pardes'. She went on to star in 30 more films," the Forbes noted, adding that the 53-year-old is a patron of contemporary Indian art and mother of two sons. Usha, married to Laxmi Mittal when she was 21, has clearly earned his trust, the magazine said. Last year, his steel company ArcelorMittal passed a resolution that entrusted her with temporary responsibility of managing the world's largest steel company if the managing board of directors is permanently absent or prevented from handling duties. "She apparently worked in the steel business for 15 years, at one time reportedly running a plant in Indonesia," the magazine said. Others in the billionaires' wives list include a novelist, a famous fashion designer, actresses and a doctoral student of biomedical informatics. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's wife Melanie Craft is a novelist. Lucy Southworth, who is married to Google co-founder Larry Page, is studying biomedical informatics. Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's wife Kate Capshaw is a former Ford model and now is seen on television. Media baron Rupert Murdoch's spouse Wendi Deng met him when she was working as vice-president of the company's Star TV in Hong Kong. Susan Dell, married to Michael Dell, is chairperson of Phi, a well-known fashion label. The magazine concludes that to gain membership to the billionaire wives' club, looks are great - but brains are even better, and then goes on to say that there are just 110 eligible 10-figure bachelors, including divorced men, in the world.

Courtesy: www.thaindian.com, July 13, 2008

Back to Index

Indian judokas won six medals, including one gold, in the just concluded 4th Children of Asia Games at Yakutsk in the Republic of Saka. Pooja Dhanda (57 Kg) won the gold medal. Sandhya Devi (48kg), Ichal Devi (63kg), Romen Singh (60kg) and Jawswinder Singh (55kg) bagged the silver medals while the bronze went to Neha Thakur (40kg) in the five-day event that concluded Thursday. Pooja had also won a gold in the Asian Youth Championships last week in Yemen. It was an improved performance by the Indian judokas this time compared to the last edition when they could get only one silver and a bronze.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, July 11, 2008

Back to Index

Eminent painter Paritosh Sen was conferred the Legends of India Lifetime Achievement Award for Fine Arts 2008 by West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi here Friday evening. Painter Shuvaprasanna accepted the award at the ICCR Centre on behalf of Sen, who could not be present on the occasion for health reasons. 'The honour that has been conferred to me is the ultimate award a painter can wish for in his lifetime. I can't describe my feelings in words. I am already 90 years old but there is a long way to go to be able to literally live up to this honour,' Sen told IANS. 'Legends of India' Lifetime Achievement Award was introduced with the objective of honouring accomplished artists or organisations for their efforts in promoting traditional art forms like music, theatre or fine arts. The award carries a gold plaque, an angavastra (a shawl) and a cash reward of Rs.25,000. A pioneer of the modern art movement in India, Sen has excelled in using the human figure set against a two-dimensional picture plane to express his views on contemporary life. His works have been exhibited in India and abroad. Also a prolific writer, Sen has published many works in both Bengali and English. Legends of India is an independent society whose prime objective is to promote and nurture traditional Indian art forms. The previous recipients of the Legends of India Lifetime Achievement Award include renowned names like Mrinalini Sarabhai, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Buddhadev Dasgupta, Yamini Krishnamurthy and Chandralekha.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, June 27, 2008

Back to Index

A Lucknow University teacher, Madhurima Lall, has made it to the Limca Book of Records 2008 as the 'highest qualified woman'. She has two D.Litt degrees. With that, Uttar Pradesh too would for the first time find a mention in the Limca Book of Records. 'The Limca Book of Records has acknowledged me for my two D.Litt (Doctorate of Literature) degrees in applied economics and business administration,' an elated Lall told IANS Thursday. A person with two D.Litt is very rare. Normally after Ph.D, a student stakes a minimum of five years to complete D.Litt, added Lall. Lall has been teaching in the Lucknow Univesity's commerce department for the last twenty years. It is for the first time that Uttar Pradesh has found a place in the Limca Book of Records, an official added.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, June 26, 2008

Back to Index

Fourteen-year-old Akash Gupta Tuesday set a new world record by playing his guitar for 45 hours here, Guinness World Records judge Ralph Hana said. Akash began playing the instrument at the 162-year-old St. Peter's College Sunday and broke American Brian Engelhart's 2005 record of 44 hours at about 7 a.m. Tuesday. However, the teenager continued playing, with the aim of breaking his own record of 52 hours and 48 minutes that earned him a place in the Limca Book of Records last year. Guiness does not recognise the Limca record. A large crowd cheered Akash as he strummed his guitar. Hanna said an increasing number of Indians were queuing up to set records, which earlier attracted mostly Europeans and Americans. 'Such activities get the people of the town together as they encourage and cheer their hero to scale new heights. As you can see in Agra, people are very involved,' he said. Two other residents of the city of Taj hold world records. Parthasarthy Sharma, a homeopath, holds the record for examining the highest number of patients in a year and Shandilya for playing the longest flute -- six feet. 'The spirit of adventure is crucial for human progress. Ever higher, better than before - these thoughts fuelled man's urge to compete and set new records,' Hanna said.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, June 24, 2008

Back to Index

xMontek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of India's Planning Commission, was Wednesday conferred an honorary doctorate by Britain's premier Oxford University. Ahluwalia, 64, was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law at the at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. He was among six experts who were honoured at the Encaenia, the ceremony at which the university awards honorary degrees to distinguished men and women and commemorates its benefactors. "Learned and brilliant counsellor, who have explained economic growth in your writings and promoted it in your career, I, on my own authority and that of the whole university admit you to the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law," declared Oxford Chancellor Lord Patten to the thumping of desks while conferring the degree on Ahluwalia. Ahluwalia, who is in Britain to attend a seminar on globalisation, was considered by the university as among the prime shakers of the Indian economy. Considered as one of the architects of India's economic reforms along with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Ahluwalia gained MA and MPhil degrees as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. Referring to his education at Oxford, the chancellor was all praise for Ahluwalia and said: "I trust that we may be forgiven a touch of self-congratulation at the fact that so distinguished a man acquired some part of his expertise in this place. 'He worked at the World Bank for a number of years before being summoned to India by his prime minister. He came back to America for a second stint, and then once more returned home, again at the prime minister's request. One can readily see from this how highly his judgement and experience are valued."

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, June 18, 2008

Back to Index

Queen Elizabeth II was born in April some 82 years ago, but she celebrated her official birthday on Saturday with all the pomp and pageantry her position commands. Leading NRI entrepreneur Raj Loomba, campaigner of widows' rights, Surina Narula, champion of street children in India, and 16 others were chosen for the Queen's Birthday Honours this year. Born in Dhilwan in Punjab and educated at DAV College in Jalandhar, sixty-four-year-old Loomba, founder of the Loomba Trust has been made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for "charitable services to poor widows and their children overseas, particularly in India, and to UK-India interests more widely." Narula, has been chosen for an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in recognition of her "charitable services in India." A tireless campaigner for improving the plight of widows and their children all over the world, Raj and his wife Veena Loomba set up the Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba Trust in 1997, of which Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is the President. In the ensuing ten years it has concentrated on building a programme to educate the children of poor widows in India. Today, the Trust educates over 3,600 children throughout India, including 500 in Tamil Nadu who lost their father or both parents in the tsunami.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, Jun 14, 2008

Back to Index

Orissa sand artist Sudarsan Patnaik has won the first prize for his sculpture on global warming at the United Sand Festivals (USF) World Double Championship in Berlin. 'I created a 25 feet high sand sculpture depicting a polar bear on top of a globe. The bear was shown praying for the safety of his family. While my sculpture won the first prize, the second prize went to an artist from the US and the third to the Netherlands,' Patnaik told IANS over phone from Berlin. Artists from 12 countries including Denmark, Germany, Britain, Spain, Holland, Japan, Belgium, Morocco, Italy, France and the US participated in the championship, which began June 5 and ended Thursday. The sculptures will be kept for public display for a few weeks in Berlin. Patnaik was the first Indian to have won the top prize at the competition in 2005 by creating a 15-foot-high sculpture on world peace, which showed Mahatma Gandhi with three monkeys. He has also won the public's choice award twice. Patnaik, who lives in Puri, has participated in over 35 international sand sculpture championships.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, June 13, 2008

Back to Index

Aligarh Muslim University professor Zuber Ahmad has bagged the prestigious fellowship of the American College of Chest Physicians, a university official said Wednesday. Ahmad teaches in the department of tuberculosis and respiratory diseases. 'Ahmad will be honoured at the Chest Conference 2008, to be held in October in Philadelphia, US,' AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar told IANS by phone. He said that the fellowship is given to physicians for their outstanding contribution to the field of respiratory medicine. Ahmad, who heads the department, has been conducting research on treatment of lung cancer for the last few years, AMU officials said. Ahmad has published about 75 research papers in various medical and scientific journals of international and national repute, officials added. The physician would be presenting his research work on the treatment of bronchial asthma at the Chest Conference in the US.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, June 11, 2008

Back to Index

Mumbai-based organization Sanghamitra, working with female sex workers in the city's red light area of Kamathipura, has bagged the prestigious UN Red Ribbon Award 2008. Presented every two years at the International AIDS Conference by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the award seeks to recognise community initiatives that help in reducing the spread and impact of AIDS. The award, given to only 25 from a pool of over 560 organisations, will be presented during the UN general assembly special session for HIV/AIDS, scheduled June 11. Sanghamitra was formed in 2005 with support from Population Services International (PSI) and has been working in Mumbai with over 6,500 female sex workers, their husbands as well as clients. 'The prime aim was to provide sex workers with a platform for expressing their angst, dissent, anger - both independently as well as collectively,' said Shilpa Merchant, head of PSI. 'The main goal of Sanghamitra was to bring about a change within as well as in society at large. The women hoped to alleviate daily oppression and stigmatisation and the collective has helped them to quite an extent to fight the exploitative power structures,' she added.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, June 06, 2008

Back to Index

Indian and Brazilian have the most environmentally-friendly lifestyles, according to a new global survey. American customers scored lowest in the survey from the National Geographic Society, and the international polling firm GlobeScan, which was aimed at examining the impact of individual consumer behaviour. 'The Greendex gives us an unprecedented, meaningful look at how consumers across the globe are behaving,' National Geographic quoted Terry Garcia, its executive vice president of mission programs, as saying. 'We hope people will be inspired to look at how their own behaviour is affecting the environment and take steps to minimize their environmental footprint,' Terry added. The findings are based on Internet surveys of consumers in 14 countries, which together represent more than half of the world's population and use about 75 per cent of its energy. The behaviours of individuals were compared in four key areas: housing, transportation, food, and consumer goods. Indian and Brazilian consumers scored 60 each on the sustainable-consumption scale, followed by China (56.1). Customers in the US were found to be the most wasteful with a score of 44.9 on the sustainable-consumption scale. Mexico, Hungary, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Spain, Japan, France, and Canada were the other countries involved in the study. The researchers also conducted face-to-face studies in Egypt and Nigeria, but the two countries were not scored because of their differing methodology. While Indians were found to have the greenest food habits on account of less meat consumption and high consumption of fruits and vegetables, Brazilian topped in the category of housing because they typically have smaller homes, rarely use air conditioning or heating, and rely heavily on on-demand, tankless water-heating systems. Chinese, who heavily rely on bicycles or walking, scored highest on transportation behaviours. Nick Nuttall, a spokesperson for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), welcomed the index results. 'It is certainly illuminating and perhaps overturns the common perception that it is only consumers in the rich countries who are environmentally aware and eco-active on the High Street and in their purchasing habits,' he said. He hopes that the survey can help spur governments to develop in less wasteful and more environmentally conscious ways. 'Thus there is an urgent need to ensure that this economic growth does not echo the 20th century growth of North America, Europe, and Japan and that developing economies are given the technologies and the creative financing needed to avoid the mistakes of the past,' he said.

Courtesy: www.rediff.com, May 09, 2008

Back to Index

fIndia-born Lord Khalid Hameed was felicitated with the Pride of India award for 2007 for his contributions to medicine and inter-faith activities. The acting High Commissioner of India, Asoke Mukerji presented the award, instituted by The India International Federation at its fourth award function in London this weekend. The distinguished gathering at the occasion included NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, Deputy Leader of Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Lord Mohammed Sheikh, Gurdip S Gujral, CBE and Viscount Slim, OBE, and Madhav Chandra, Minister (Political) in the Indian High Commission. Lord Hameed is the chairman of Alpha Hospitals and former Chief Executive of the Cromwell Hospital. Other recipients of the award included NRI entrepreneur Rami Ranger, MBE, who is founder of Sun Oil Ltd for his services to Industry, Chief Inspector Parm Sandhu, the first Asian woman to rise to this position and actor Ayesha Dharkar for Best Artistic contribution. Ayesha, daughter of Indian journalist Anil Dharkar, won three national awards in India for her much acclaimed film, The Terrorist. Lord Sheikh was honoured for his outstanding achievement in business, while Anant B Parekh, the youngest Professor of Medicine in Oxford University, was chosen for the award in the category of medicine. C B Patel, publisher of Asian Voice, won the Literature and Media award and Ritu Sethi, founder of The Sethi Partnership, a solicitors' firm, bagged the award in law category.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, May 04, 2008

Back to Index

Mumbaikar Gautam Dantas has done it again. The former St Mary's student, who went to the United States for research, has created the world's first completely new biomolecule (protein), using a computer-based design. Dantas' spectacular work for his PhD won him a prize for the best scientific paper of 2004. Four years later in April 2008, his first paper from his post-doctoral work, describing the unexpected finding of bacteria that eat antibiotics, has been published in the highly-respected magazine, Science. The discovery, published in the latest edition of the journal, came about almost by accident. A team, led by Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church, had a Department of Energy grant to develop ways to create biofuels from agriculture waste. Dantas was in the forefront of the researchers who discovered hundreds of germs in soil that literally gobble up antibiotics andare able to thrive with the potent drugs as their sole source of nutrition. These bacteria outwit antibiotics in a disturbingly novel way. Would germs that sicken people develop the same ability? The finding comes amid increasing concern that many infections could soon become untreatable, as more bacteria become immune to today's antibiotics even as few new drugs are being discovered. But the medical impact of the new work isn't yet clear. Germs in soil aren't big human threats, and no human pathogen has been spotted with the same ability. The next step would be to identify the actual genes that let these bacteria devour and degrade antibiotics and figure out if it really poses a threat.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, April 22, 2008

Back to Index

India-born internationally acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair has been honoured with the 'Person of the Year' award by a leading ethnic newspaper in the US in recognition of her work. The award by the newspaper was presented last evening to the Oscar-nominated director by PespiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, who herself received the honour the previous year, at a gala dinner attended by a large number of community leaders at the Gotham Hall in New York City. Taking note of the contributions made by Nair to cinema and the community, Nooyi said she has captured the popular imagination through her excellence. In her acceptance speech, 50-year-old Nair paid rich tributes to her mother and all those women who had been a source of inspiration to her. Among Nair's highly successful movies are award winning Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake. The producer-director-writer is to shoot her next film Amelia starring leading Hollywood actress Hillary Swank in locations in Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Canada. Also honoured at the event were legendary economists Padma Desai and her husband Jagdish Bhagwati. The couple, distinguished professors at Columbia University, received the India Abroad Lifetime Achievement Award.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, March 29, 2008

Back to Index

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has named 17 Indians, including budget carrier GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia and market regulator SEBI's executive director Sandeep Parekh, in its annual list of Young Global Leaders for 2008. However, India has scored below China in terms of total presence in the list of 245 leaders from across the world. There are as many as 31 Chinese individuals on the list against the 17 from India. The chosen ones are from all walks of life, including business and politics. WEF said that the honour is bestowed each year to recognize the top 200-300 young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. Other Indians on the list include Lok Sabha MP Sachin Pilot, SKS Microfinance's CEO and founder Vikram K Akula, chairman of Bhatia Enterprises Sabeer Bhatia, managing director of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Anurag Behar, senior NDTV journalist Barkha Dutt, Global ITeS' CEO and president Suhas Gopinath, director of PRS Legislative Research C V Madhukar and Thermax Ltd chairperson Meher Pudumjee. Besides, music composer Allah Rakha Rahman and sitar player Anoushka Shankar also find a place in the list. The World Economic Forum is a true multi-stakeholder community of global decision-makers. We need the Young Global Leaders to be a voice for the future in the global thought process and as a catalyst for initiatives in the global public interest, Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum said. The list also includes Moser Baer India's executive director Ratul Puri, Adlabs Films' director Pooja Shetty, OfficeTiger founder and president Joseph Sigelman, DLF Universal and DLF Retail's managing director Pia Singh and founder and director of Association for Democratic Reform & Centre for Collective Development, Trilochan Sastry. The young global leaders represents over 60 countries and includes the like of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, co-founders of search engine Google, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Hiroshi Nakada, Mayor of Yokohama, Japan, and Jack Ma Yun, chairman and chief executive officer, Alibaba Group, People's Republic of China. All the individuals named are aged 40 years or younger. From about 5,000 candidates, the young global leaders for this year were chosen by a selection committee of 31 eminent international media leaders, including Arthur Sulzberger, chairman and publisher of The New York Times, and Robert Thomson, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal. The committee is chaired by H M Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Among the names are 121 business leaders, as well as leaders from government, academia, the media and society at large from 65 countries. Further, the new class represents all regions, including East Asia (64), Europe (58), the Middle East and North Africa (12), North America (45), South Asia (24), sub-Saharan Africa (21) and Latin America (21).

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, March 13, 2008

Back to Index

A legendary Indian-American tech guru and a teenage Indian-American science prodigy won high recognition in the United States this week in yet more vindication of the ethnic group's growing reputation for producing science and technology 'brainiacs'. Amar Bose's induction into the National Inventors' Hall of Fame came as no surprise considering his long-hailed contribution to acoustics technology. This year, he joins inventors who gave the world the television remote control (Robert Adler), electrocardiograph (Willem Einthoven), hip replacement surgery (John Charnley), and Containerized Shipping (Malcolm McLean) in the national scroll. The only other Indian in the Inventors' Hall of Fame is Rangaswamy Srinivasan, a former IBM scientist named for his pioneering work on excimer laser surgery. The list has storied names like Thomas Edison and Wright Brothers. Meanwhile, a teenage Indian-American student from North Carolina who began to take interest in cancer research when she was six won the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search, annual competition often termed the "junior Nobel Prize". Shivani Sud, 17, a Durham high school student, was awarded a $100,000 college scholarship during a ceremony in Washington on Tuesday for her research to improve colon cancer treatment. Sud's interest in the subject began as a child when an immediate family member was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She would lug heavy books to her mother, a former cytogeneticist, and ask her to explain the science, according to accounts in the local News and Observer. In middle school, she began working in laboratories through programs at Temple University, Duke University and the National Institutes of Health. Sud's most recent work focuses on early-stage colon cancer, an illness in which as many as 30 per cent of patients relapse after treatment. By identifying a predictor that would determine which patients are likely to suffer relapses, she hopes to prevent patients who are unlikely to benefit from chemotherapy from going through the expensive and painful treatment. Looking at genetic predictors may also help doctors choose the best medications for cancer patients. Sud was among the seven high school students of Indian origin who made the list of 40 finalists in the annual Intel competition that attracted some 1600 high school seniors nationwide. The others, who each get $ 5000 scholarship and a laptop, are Avanthi Raghavan of Florida, Shravani Mikkilineni of Michigan, Hamsa Sridhar and Ashok Chandran of New York, Isha Jain of Pennsylvania, and Vinay Ramasesh of Texas. The recognitions came at a time when the Indian government boasted, on the basis of dubious, unsubstantiated numbers, that its education system was responsible for the large number of Indian scientists and engineers across the world. Neither Bose, whose mother was German, nor Sud and the other students are products of the Indian system, although in the case of the latter, some experts have suggested that Indian parental attention to education may have had a role in their success.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, Mar 13, 2008

Back to Index

An Indian-American High School girl has bagged a whopping USD 100,000 Intel scholarship for developing a model to identify early stage colon cancer patients with a high risk for recurrence, beating competition from 1,600 others. Shivani Sud, 17, of North Carolina won the the Intel Foundation's top award aimed at honouring the next generation of scientists and innovators in the US. For her research project, Sud developed a model that analysed the specific "molecular signatures" of tumors from patients with stage II colon cancer. She then used this information to identify those at higher risk for tumor recurrence and propose potentially effective drugs for treatment, Intel said in a media release. "That proud feeling comes from doing what I do and not just the acknowledgment of it," Sud, who attends Jordan High School, was quoted as saying by The News and Observer of Durham. Sud said her interest in cancer research started very early on as a result of a relative developing cancer. "I saw how hard that was for my family. "I saw how that kind of changed my outlook on life, because when you're 6 years old, you don't think about topics such as death or dying from this type of cancer -- having your life change drastically," she said. This year's Intel Science Talent Search finalists came from 19 states and represented 35 high schools throughout the United States.

Courtesy: www.yahoo.com, Mar 12, 2008

Back to Index

Mumbai gynaecologist Dr Prakash Trivedi gets the National Award for major breakthrough research in 'Fibroids and Infertility', involving reduction of size, arresting of growth and removal of growth surgically of fibroids. TODAY, INDIANS are aware that fibroids are on the rise and are affecting around 25 million women in India. The Indian research, which Dr Prakash Trivedi has done, has revealed the cause for fibroids, which no one in the world knew before. This is a breakthrough research done for the first time in the world for which Trivedi recently was acknowledged by the national award. Trivedi's research has been acknowledged in United States and Australia. Along with Dr Kumud Tamaskar, National Award winner for original research in infertility, he has released a book on 'Infertility Dilemma's Expert's Final Verdict' given to the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Society of India (FOGSI) as a publication for all gynaecologists. The surgical techniques used for laparoscopic removal of fibroids is usually as follows: Trivedi's laparoscopic technique of small five mm ports makes separation of fibroids of big size and multiple in number can be separated easily. With less bleeding, a dilute vasopressin is infiltrated as 20 units in 100 ml of saline to achieve a vascular plane. Most important is the fact that Trivedi's endosuturing technique from same side, like in open surgery, is now being followed at more than 157 centres in the world making suturing safe and meticulous for next pregnancy. The new promising research study suggests that incidence of fibroids can be increased in first degree female relative having fibroids, type of diet, excess weight, excess blood pressure etc. New unknown facts surfaced for the first time in world, found by an Indian gynaec endoscopist and In-vitro Fertility (IVF) consultant and showing a strong relation of fibroids contributing to infertility, especially by production of prolactin and aromatase locally leading to local hyper estrogenaemia. A strong relation was found between infertility in patients having fibroids more than five centimetres in size and more than three years of no conception. Apart from direct obstruction of tubal ostia, distortion of the tubo-ovarian anatomy and artificial of lengthening distance sperm has to travel to fertilise the oocytes. Laparoscopic removal of fibroids increased the pregnancy rate to 42 per cent and decreased the abortion rate to five per cent without increasing the rate of uterine scar rupture on pregnancy, but increasing the need of doing elective caesarean section, especially due to removal of large and multiple myomas. In the IVF-ICSI group laparoscopic myomectomy of more than five centimetres in size prior increased the pregnancy rate to 38 per cent and specially, in the donor oocyte IVF to 50 per cent. Also, the unnecessary feared uterine scar rupture after the laparoscopic myomectomy is disproved in the hands of experts. The future probably holds a promise in drugs, which are good aromatase inhibitors, which may further be extremely useful to reduce the size of the fibroid, arrest the growth and may even reduce a incidence of surgical removal of fibroids.

Courtesy: www.merinews.com, March 10, 2008

Back to Index

SOS- India has been felicitated as The NGO of the Year 2007 in Northern India at the India NGO Award ceremony held at Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi. The award was conferred by the Resource Alliance for setting and promoting best practices in resource mobilisation, accountability and transparency by SOS-India towards disabled and differently abled children. Mr. S. Sandilya, President, SOS India, received the award on behalf of the entire SOS - India family from chief guest Mr. P Chidambaram, Hon'ble Minister of Finance, Govt of India and guest of honor Mr. N. R Narayana Murthy, Chairman & Chief Mentor- Infosys Technologies Ltd. SOS- India was honoured as the Regional Awardee in the Large category. The India NGO Award is an initiative of The Resource Alliance in partnership with The Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation. Launched in 2006, it seeks to acknowledge and felicitate organisations that are setting and promoting best practices in resource mobilisation, accountability and transparency. 131 NGOs from across the country participated in the India NGO Award under three different categories- Small, Medium, and Large based on their annual budget for 2006-7. Entries were evaluated on the effective and sustainable mobilisation of resources, the demonstration of efficient management of resources, good governance practices, transparency, accountability, and the impact of the services it provides to the community they aim to serve. The process for applying for the award included two stages of information gathering and a field study, which was undertaken at SOS Greenfield's. Mr. P Chidambaram appreciated the most deserving winners and said, " It is a delight to see such selfless devoted people who don't look at monetary awards but serves the humanity and create a better place for the people." Overwhelmed with this recognition, Mr. S. Sandilya, President of SOS Children's Villages of India said, "This award is recognition of our working ethics and culture. SOS- India has always tried to fulfill its purpose with the optimum utilization of resources available at its disposal. I take this platform to thank all our friends and co workers who have supported us in this endeavour over these years." Adding to this Mr. Pradeep Singh, National Director, SOS India said, " Such awards are an acknowledgement of works and efforts of hundreds of people for over almost half a decade."

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, March 06, 2008

Back to Index

Renowned Kuchipudi dancers Raja and Radha Reddy's daughter Yamini is among the 30 young Indian artists who will be honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi's award for making a mark in the field of performing arts. Apart from Yamini, eight other dancers, including Sharvari Ashok Jamenis (Kathak) and C. Lavanya Ananth (Bharatanatyam), will be awarded. Sohini Sengupta, Rajinder Sharma 'Nanu' and Anoop Trivedi are among the eight who will be recognised for their work in the field of theatre. Eight musicians, including Sandeep Harish Deshmukh and Meeta Pandit for Hindustani vocal and Sikkil C. Gurucharan for Carnatic vocal, will be honoured for their contributions to the field. The award carries a cash award of Rs.25,000. The Akademi, the apex state-run organisation for music, dance and drama in the country, Monday announced the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar 2007 to honour artists below the age of 35 for their contributions. Named after late Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, who was honoured with the country's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, the Akademi instituted the awards in 2006 with the aim of identifying and encouraging outstanding young talents in diverse fields of performing arts. The award also seeks to give young artists national recognition so that they may work with greater commitment and dedication in their chosen fields.

Courtesy: www.indiaenews.com, March 03, 2008

Back to Index

Four Indian managers at Convergys' Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a global leader in relationship management, have been selected to participate in Convergys' Emerging Leaders Program at Cincinnati, Ohio in USA. Amit Garg, Business Analysis Consultant, Ashish Garg, Senior HR Manager and Varun Dhamija, Senior Operations Manager, all located at Convergys' Atria facility in Gurgaon, and Sharmila Hiranandani, a Project Manager Level II located in Hyderabad, were chosen by Convergys to participate in the program based on their potential to succeed at higher levels of responsibility and performance, as well as their love of learning and commitment to development. The purpose of the innovative Convergys program is to create a diverse pipeline of leaders by providing a dynamic, high-impact leadership development experience for a diverse group of top talent manager-level employees from around the globe and across the company. For the participants, the Convergys Emerging Leaders Program is a powerful catalyst for growth as they gain exposure to the thinking of talented peers from across the company and are challenged to deliberately and choicefully define who they are and who they are becoming, as influential leaders at Convergys. Amit, Ashish, Varun and Sharmila are part of an elite group of 32 participants who gathered in Convergys' headquarters city for a 5-day seminar. Currently, the emerging leaders are participating in six monthly teleconferences that follow the seminar. The participants have been encouraged to explore outside their comfort zones, challenge their own assumptions and adopt new habits and practices. All of these practices will bring them closer to whom they want to be as leaders at Convergys. "We are proud to offer innovative leadership development opportunities, such as the Emerging Leaders Program, to our employees," said Sukant Srivastava, Managing Director and Country Manager for Convergys' Customer Management business in India. Convergys is the world leader in relationship management. Convergys employs 13,000 men and women in 9 state-of-the-art facilities throughout India. "This program in particular gives talented individuals from India the opportunity to meet and learn from their peers from across the company and around the world," added Paresh Shah, General Manager of Convergys' Information Management business in India.

Courtesy: www.headlinesindia.com, March 01, 2008

Back to Index

Sir Edmund Hillary has posthumously been awarded one of India's highest awards as part of the country's Republic Day celebrations. The Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, is awarded to recognise exceptional service to the nation in any field. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil.

Courtesy: www.nzherald.co.nz, January 28, 2008

Back to Index

The Indian Americans chosen for the Padma awards feel proud to be honoured by their home country and ascribe a large number of the civilian awards for NRIs this year to the increased visibility of the diaspora in India. In a record of sorts, the award list announced by the Indian government Friday has nine people living in the US. They account for five Padma Bhushan and four Padma Shri awardees. Padma Desai, an economics professor at Columbia University in New York who has been nominated for Padma Bhushan, told: "I am delighted to be honoured by India and also feel proud to have broken into what I thought was a male preserve in my husband's family." Her husband and fellow Columbia don, Jagdish Bhagwati, and brother-in-law, former chief justice P N Bhagwati, both have been honoured with Padma Vibhushans. Kaushik Basu, an economist at Cornell University and author who has been named for Padma Bhushan, said: "It feels extra good to be honoured by one's own country. I feel very connected as I visit India every three months or so." On the large number of NRIs in the Padma awards list this year, Basu said: "It is a recognition for Indians doing good work no matter where there are located."

Srinivasa S R Varadhan, a mathematician with New York University who is to receive the Padma Bhushan, said: "The Indian diaspora is becoming more visible back home. "The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (an annual conclave of Indian diaspora organised by the Indian government) has helped in this regard," added Varadhan, a 2007 laureate of the prestigious Abel prize, given to a mathematician annually by Norway. Nirupam Bajpai, named among the Padma Shri awardees, is director of the South Asia Programme, Centre on Globalisation and Sustainable Development at The Earth Institute, Columbia University. "The honour is an encouragement for us at Columbia focussing on India's economy and economic reforms," he said. An economic adviser to the Indian prime minister and other cabinet ministers, Bajpai said so many Indians in the US and elsewhere are doing extraordinary work and making a name for themselves as well as for India. Two other Indian Americans on the Padma Bhushan list this year are astronaut Sunita Williams and Vikram Pandit, who took over as Citigroup's chief executive last month. There are three more on the Padma Shri list. Manoj Night Shyamalan is a Hollywood scriptwriter and director. Madhuri Dixit, former Bollywood queen who made a comeback last year with Aaja Nachle, lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband Shriram Nene, a cardiothoracic surgeon, and two children. Sant Singh Virmani is a renowned rice scientist who retired in 2005 after a long innings as senior scientist with the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and has worked with the Washington-based Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, January, 27, 2008

Back to Index

M. Natarajan, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, received the Sir C.V. Raman birth centenary award-2008 and a gold medal from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the inaugural function of the 95th Indian Science Congress held in Visakhapatnam on January 3. Mr. Natarajan, who is also Secretary, Defence Research and Development, was selected for the award for his outstanding achievements in defence research and development, and strategic systems. The citation says he has been instrumental in the progress and realisation of various defence technologies and products in combat vehicles' engineering, armaments, missiles, aeronautics, naval systems and life sciences. He made important contributions to the development of state-of-the-art defence systems, encompassing highly complex technologies, making India self-reliant. According to a communiqué, Mr. Natarajan was given the Best Scientist Award for 1994 for his contribution to the success of the main battle tank, Arjun. Earlier, as Chief Controller, R and D, at the DRDO headquarters, looking after armaments, combat vehicles and engineering equipment, he ensured the acceptance of the Pinaka multibarrel rocket launching system (MBRLS) by the Army after exhaustive field tests. It was developed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment, Pune. Mr. Natarajan was given the Technology Leadership Award for 2003 for his contribution to the design and development of combat vehicles, and mechanical systems for the Light Combat Aircraft.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, January 13, 2008

Back to Index

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) is launching a scientific exchange programme with India in honour of Nobel laureate Har Gobind Khorana. The launch will coincide with the 40th anniversary of Dr Khorana winning the Nobel Prize in 1968 for his pioneering work in synthesis of the gene and for helping decipher the genetic code. At the time he was a member of the university's faculty. The Khorana Programme for Scientific Exchange will "foster and expand interaction between the Indian and US scientific communities and prove to be transformative for both American and Indian students," Aseem Zoe Ansari, professor of biochemistry who is the director of the programme, said. Although the programme is expected to become effective from June,2008, it is being formally launched in the first week of January in New Delhi. Kenneth Shapiro, professor of agricultural and applied economics and associate dean, along with Ansari will visit New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai from Jan 4 onwards.

They are expected to meet officials of the ministry of science and technology, department of science and technology and department of biotechnology apart from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). Ansari said the programme was a "fitting way to honour this great scientist on the 40th anniversary of his award." Khorana, 85, who remained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was said to be happy with the launch of the programme in his name. Under the programme, Khorana Scholars from India will spend 8-10 weeks in research laboratories at UW, mentored by its faculty. They will have the opportunity to become part of major research programmes and join international teams of scholars under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. "In exchange, Khorana Scholars from UW would be placed in laboratories of Indian partner institutions for similarly enriching and scholarly experiences," Shapiro said. The new programme is expected to generate benefits for the rural-agricultural sector in India through its applied research. The university's agricultural programmes are considered among the best in the world. The 2006/7 US Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index rankings show Wisconsin first in animal sciences, plant science, and food science; second in entomology, and third in plant pathology, according to an official release from the university. The Khorana Programme will build teams of UW and Indian faculty and students to address the challenges of Indian rural development. The University of Wisconsin-Madison continues has a strong research tradition to which Dr. Khorana contributed immensely during his tenure. The discovery of the first vitamins in the Enzyme Institute was one of the highlights. More recently, UW scientists were the first to isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells, from which they developed the stem cell lines that form the basis for most of the world's stem cell research. UW was selected by the US government to be home to the only national stem cell bank. Last month, university announced that they had been able to reprogramme human skin cells to become indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells. This is regarded as a major breakthrough which tides over ethical questions and the challenges of organ rejection. In 2007 the US Department of Energy selected UW to start one of three new national bioenergy research centres that will be at the core of America's alternative energy strategy.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, December 25, 2007

Back to Index

The International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) has selected PAU Additional Director of Research (Agriculture) Dr Milkha Singh Aulakh as the winner of the 2007 IPNI Science Award. The award carries a plaque and 5,000 US dollars. The award is being given to Dr Aulakh for his contribution in the field of soil science. Dr Aulakh did his doctorate from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He was a post-doctoral Research Fellow and Fulbright Scholar at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has served at prestigious posts in various countries. According to a statement issued here, Dr Aulakh is currently Chief Scientific Investigator of the FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Project on integrated soil, water and nutrient management for conservation agriculture. The statement added that Dr Aulakh worked on balanced and integrated nutrient management for optimum yields and quality of field crops, nutrient transformation and loss in soils, and associated environmental impacts. Dr Aulakh has published 90 research papers, 40 book chapters/scientific reviews, and 80 conference proceedings and technology transfer publications. He is a recipient of the Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship (1980-83), Plant Nutrient Sulphur Research Award by the Sulphur Institute of Washington, D.C. (1990), International Crop Nutrition Award by International Fertilizer Industry Association, Paris, (2001), Alumni Honour Award by the University of Saskatchewan, Canada (2002), and Pierre Becker Memorial Award by Fertilizer International and British Sulphur, (2005). He is also decorated with several prestigious Indian awards, including the Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Memorial Prize of ICAR, and the Silver Jubilee Award by the FAI in 1987.

Courtesy: www.expressindia.com, December 18, 2007

Back to Index

The United States has honoured a Sri Lankan parliamentarian of Indian origin, Mano Ganesan, for defending human rights in the island nation. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Ganesan as a runner-up for the first Freedom Defenders Award 2007 at a ceremony to mark the Human Rights Day. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, an NGO, got the award on December 10. "On several occasions, when the threats to his life and safety became acute, Ganesan and his family were forced to flee Sri Lanka and seek temporary refuge in India," the US Information Department said in a statement on the occasion. The award, part of President Bush's Freedom Agenda aimed at advancing freedom and democracy around the world, was set up to honour foreign activists and non-governmental organisations that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to advancing liberty and courage in the face of adversity. "I am happy at being honoured and will continue to work for human rights," Ganesan told reporters. In 2006, Ganesan founded Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) and now serves as its convener. He established the Western People's Front in 2000 to represent Tamils of the greater Colombo area, which he continues to lead.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, December 12, 2007

Back to Index

Delhi University professor Shah Abdus Salam has been awarded the the 2007 Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture. The award which comprises a cash prize of USD 25,000 honours individuals, groups or institutions that have contributed in a significant way to the development, diffusion and promotion of Arab culture in the world, as well as to the preservation and revitalization of Arab heritage. Aladine Lolah, a professor at Aleppo University (Syria) and an architect, is the other awardee. Abdus Salam directs research on literature and Arab culture at the University of Delhi. His numerous publications are centered on the topics of Islamic culture and inter-faith dialogue. His work is already well-known in India, the United States, Canada, England, France and Saudi Arabia. The award was presented by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, and Sharjah Culture and Information Department General Abdullah Al Owaisat a ceremony organized at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on Thursday, the UAE news agency said. Initially awarded every two years, the prize is given away annually since 2003.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, December 11, 2007

Back to Index

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden area here, which attracts visitors from all over the world, has won the 'UK Pride of Place' award in an online poll, the results of which were declared on Wednesday. The temple, the first traditional Hindu mandir constructed in Europe, not only took the most votes in London, but came out on top in the national poll, with 2,344 people going online to register their pride. The Pride of Place poll is part of the British government's 'Connect to your Council' campaign, which aims to encourage citizens to access their local authority services online -- anytime, anywhere. In the London vote, Firepower - the visitor attraction at the Royal Artillery Museum in Greenwich - and the Horniman Museum at Forest Hill in Lewisham, came second and third respectively behind the temple in Neasden in the borough of Brent. A spokesman for the Board of Trustees of the mandir said on Wednesday, "We are delighted that the Bochsanawasi Aksar Purushottam Shri Swaminarayan Mandir has won the UK Pride of Place Award." Nine local authorities across London took part in the Pride of Place poll by inviting visitors to click and vote for one of ten locally nominated top spots on their websites. In all, 36,800 people went online to vote for their favourite place in this first national council-led poll.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com December 05, 2007

Back to Index

Jain Irrigation Systems Limited's founder chairman, B H Jain, has been conferred with the UNESCO & West Net-instituted 'Water Conserver of India' award for work in the area of water conservation. The award was presented by Union Minister of Water Resources Saif-Ud-Din Soz in New Delhi on November 29. Till date, the company has received 46 state awards, 85 national awards and three international awards for outstanding export performance, R&D achievements, entrepreneurship and fair trade practices, a company press release said.

Courtesy: www.sify.com, December 02, 2007

Back to Index

The CEO of India's ICICI Bank, KV Kamath, has been named Businessman of the Year for 2007 by Forbes Asia , for his steadiness at steering ICICI into one of Asia's top banks. Under Kamath's watch since 1996, ICICI's market capitalisation has risen to 31 billion dollars, placing it among the region's top 10 banks. "By this measure, it is bigger than Singapore's DBS Group and Korea's Kookmin Bank, and has attracted big stakeholders such as Singapore's Temasek Holdings and CLSA and Merrill Lynch funds," a press release issued by Forbes said. Sixty-year old Kamath's win puts him in the company of fellow countrymen Nandan Nilekani of Infosys Technologies, last year's winner, and Ratan Tata, the 2004 businessman of the year. His addition means three Indian executives have won the accolade in the last four years. Tim Ferguson, Editor, Forbes Asia, said: "Kamath's leadership has been outstanding. His focus on serving India's growing middle class by providing First World banking service at affordable prices is largely the reason behind the phenomenal growth of ICICI." The bank's assets have grown 40 per cent annually in the last three years to 93 billion dollar, propelled by a boom in Indian consumer credit where ICICI has a dominant one-third market share. Last year, the bank earned USD 790 million on net revenues of 3.2 billion dollar. By the end of this fiscal year, net revenues will swell to 4.3 billion dollar and net profit to 1.3 billion dollar, estimates research firm Macquarie Securities (India). The bank has a foothold in 18 countries, including the UK, Canada, Russia, Singapore and the UAE.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, November 29, 2007

Back to Index

Nisha Dogra, a senior NRI Lecturer at the University of Leicester, won a Leaders for Change award from the independent charity, The Health Foundation. Nisha is one of only 12 health-care professionals to receive the competitive award which will help her achieve lasting improvements in the quality of health for people in her area. During the 12-month scheme, Nisha will be working on her winning self-designed project, implementing assessment and outcome standards to improve the quality of child and adolescent mental health service provision. In addition, Nisha and her fellow award winners will work together on a structured learning programme in change management at Lancaster University Management School, about 100 km from here, fully funded by The Health Foundation. Nisha's project aims to improve the quality of the clinical service provided by the Leicestershire partnership Child and Adolescent Mental Health service. She aims to do this by having clear assessment and treatment standards and written outcomes of the assessment process. Nisha will involve young persons and their family in the improvement project in order to positively enhance the patient experience. Nisha said: "Within the National Health Service there is an ever increasing pressure to use limited resources more efficiently and effectively. The challenge is to do this without reducing the quality of clinical care or the quality of patient experience. I believe the Leaders for Change award will help me to do this by providing strategies to try in the work context. It will give me the unique opportunity to apply the academic theory to the improvement project."

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.comm, November 27, 2007

Back to Index

Washington, 28 Nov. Sam Pitroda, chairman of India's Knowledge Commission, has been given a prestigious industry leader award for public welfare service by IEEE, a leading professional association for the advancement of technology. The award, "for exceptional contribution in developing indigenous system and telecommunications infrastructure in India", was presented to the noted technocrat by Nim Cheung, the president of the IEEE Communications Society, at an event here Tuesday. Credited with having laid the foundation for and ushered India's technology and telecommunications revolution in the 1980s, Pitroda accepted the "award on behalf of thousands and thousands of Indian engineers and scientists who have worked hard for the benefit of all the professionals". A leading campaigner to help bridge the digital divide, Pitroda headed six technology missions related to telecommunications, water, literacy, immunisation, dairy and oil seeds during his tenure as advisor to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s. He was also the founder and first chairman of India's Telecom Commission. The IEEE Communications Society, now celebrating the 50th Anniversary of its annual IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference (IEEE GLOBECOM 2007), has prepared a special support package for India called Industry Now. The package is aimed at bringing greater participation of Indian industry into the society's efforts to bridge the academia and industry gap and give more visibility to Indian talent, said Shri Goyal, a member of the society's board of governors. Goyal, who is just back after a trip to India with Cheung, said the society had reached an understanding with four industries for its first pilot project in India aimed at making research and innovation more practical for end users. The global society, which has 180 chapters worldwide including half a dozen in India, also plans to hold its International Communications Conference in Mumbai in 2011.

Courtesy: www.jansamachar.net, November 27, 2007

Back to Index

Critically acclaimed US based film-maker Mira Nair would receive the Gotham Awards Tribute for her contribution to independent cinema, at New York at the 17th annual film tribute awards on Tuesday Nov 27, 2007. Interestingly, Tabu who worked with the director in her film The Namesake would be presenting the award at a function to be held in Brooklyn, New York. The Gotham Awards recognise the work of independent filmmakers who work with small budgets but produce high quality movies. Besides making movies like Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding , Vanity Fair and The Namesake on themes which most people shun , Nair founded a film laboratory in 2003 dedicated to support visionary screen writers in East and South East Asia. Currently, Nair's company, Mirabai films, is producing a series of four short films to raise awareness about AIDS in India. Depp too expenisve for Nair: Casting Hollywood star Johhny Depp in a film is a luxury that director Mira Nair cannot afford, perhaps. According to our sources, Nair's ambitious project, Shantaram has been shelved because the actor demanded a huge price. Casting Hollywood star Johnny Depp is too expensive for director Mira Nair's film. Also, the amount quoted by Johnny Depp is very huge. The producers don't see how they will be able to complete the film with such big money involved." "Mira Nair will be unable to go ahead with the film because Warner Productions has decided to back out of the project. Source said that deals with all the other actors had fallen into place but things did not somehow work out with Depp. Everything was going fine until Depp quoted his price! All activity related to Shantaram came to a screeching halt after that."It is being officially announced that the film is being shelved. A source said, "Warner Productions will hold a press conference announcing the cancellation of their Shantaram project in the second week of December." Agencies

Courtesy: www.dailytimes.com., November 25, 2007

Back to Index

Three Indian American students, part of a group of 40 finalists in "Discovery Channel's Young Scientist Challenge", were among the winners of special prizes, even though they missed out on the top prize, which went to the event's youngest competitor. Gokul Krishnan of Illinois won the "Build It Bigger" Prize, allowing him to join Build It Bigger host Danny Forster on a tour of Manhattan's skyline. Prem Thottumkara, also of Illinois, won the "Emerging Networks' US Space and Rocket Center" Prize, allowing him to attend Space Camp or the Aviation Challenge in Huntsville, Alabama. Rohit Kamat of Texas won the "Discovery Commerce" Prize, earning him a USD 1,000 gift card to Discoverystore.com and a 5-DVD gift set of Planet Earth. Out of an original field of more than 79,000 middle school students across the United States, 11 year-old Erik Gustafson was chosen as "America's Top Young Scientist of the Year" by a panel of judges at the 9th annual Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge (DCYSC). He is the youngest student in this year's competition. "These are tremendously bright and talented students," said Head Judge Steven Jacobs. "They undertook experiments in the past few days to address some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our day -- from using alternative energies for transportation to mitigating global warming. I hope they continue to pursue their love of science and we look forward to hearing about their successes in the future." The DCYSC is the nation's premier science contest for students in grades 5-8.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, November 01, 2007

Back to Index

A record number of 1,730 guitarists played to the tune of Knocking on Heaven's Door for more than five minutes, thus edging the old Guinness record of 1,721 guitarists in Kansas City, USA, in September 2006. Indians, it's time to cheer up again! Shillong (Meghalaya), known as the Scotland of the East has entered into the Guinness Book of World Records by breaking the world record of the largest guitar ensemble on earth, on Friday. A record number of 1730 guitarists strummed persistently for five minutes to Bob Dylan's classic "Knocking on Heaven's door" and broke the previous record set by 1721 guitarists from Kansas City, US who strummed Deep Purple's "Smoke on the water" in September 2006. With such an achievement it becomes clear that the North East part of India has got many things to offer to the country's pride. Particularly Shillong, the place of Lou Majaw, the hill town's premier rocker-poet-troubadour and Mermaid, the first ever-female professional rock band in India will definitely emerge as a musical state if necessary grooming being implemented. Another participant in the concert, Subhas Arangbam of Royal Riders said: "This is to prove that the North-east has more than insurgency, which the outside world thinks."

Courtesy: www.merinews.com, October 27, 2007

Back to Index

Delhi girl Tannishtha Chatterjee has been nominated for best actress in the British Independent Film Awards for her leading role in the controversial movie Brick Lane, pitting her against established stars like Dame Judi Dench and Anne Hathaway. Chatterjee, a 29-year-old graduate from the National School of Drama in Delhi, plays the role of Nazneen in Brick Lane - an adaptation of the best-selling novel by Bangladesh-born author Monica Ali. An overjoyed Chatterjee said on Tuesday: "It's my first British film and I've been nominated - you can't get better than this." The nominations also include Dame Judi Dench (Notes from a Scandal), Anne Hathaway (Becoming Jane) and Sophya Myles (Hallam Foe).

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 25, 2007

Back to Index

Cambridge University has decided to give special emphasis to India in its expanded graduation programme for police officials and inducted former CBI director R K Raghavan in its new advisory board. The University would make special efforts to rope in police officers from across the world for the Diploma and Master of Studies programme in Applied Criminology and Police Management, with a special focus on India, Raghavan said. There would also be a six-week training programme which will be held thrice a year, he said. Raghavan would be a member of the International Advisory Board for Cambridge Police Executive Education, comprising luminaries in the world of policing. The Advisory Board, which will be headed by Lawrence W Sherman, Wolfson Professor of Criminology, would also have Christine Nixon, Commissioner, Victoria Police (Australia), Peter Neyroud, Chief Executive, National Policing Improvement Agency (UK), MI6 former Chief Sir Richard Dearlove and Executive Director of the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM), Dr Jim Hann as members. Raghavan said he was "excited" about working with the University.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 23, 2007

Back to Index

Former president A P J Abdul Kalam was on Monday presented with the King Charles II Medal for his outstanding contribution to the practice and promotion of science in India. Lord Martin Rees, president of The Royal Society, presented the medal and a scroll to Kalam in the presence of a distinguished gathering, including NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul, chief of the Cobra Beer Lord Karan Billimoria, acting high commissioner of India to the UK Asoke Mukerjee and leading economist Lord Meghnad Desai at the Royal Society here. Kalam is the second leader to receive the coveted award which was constituted in 1997, the first being Emperor Akihito of Japan in 1998. Thanking the Royal Society for bestowing the honour on him, Kalam said he considered it as a unique honour "to India and its people."

Courtesy: www.sify.com, October 22, 2007

Back to Index

Rarely do humans cry and laugh at the same time. But Saroj, the better half of Rajendra Pachauri, did exactly that, moments after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chaired by her husband was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The mystery of the lady surfacing within minutes by the side of her companion of "I don't even recall how many decades" unfolded very soon. A PhD herself, Saroj is regional director of Population Council and her office is in the block next to Teri headquarters at India Habitat Centre (IHC) where Pachauri works. The Delhi drummers trooped in much later after bottles of champagne had been popped open. The high-decibel revelry was so unlike the IHC's otherwise high-brow environs. For a change, the serious looking man set the house on instant fire. "The IPCC got it despite the students of Teri university," he said with a smile and the mob of young boys and girls pursuing their Masters cheered in frenzy." Pachauri's daughter Rashmi was with her father when the announcement came. She told TOI , "I feel I'm on the top of the world today. We were teasing him about the nomination in the morning. See, it has actually happened," said Rashmi. She had just finished talking to her husband on phone and passed on a terse one-liner: "Come here, soon." Crazily mobbed by colleagues, students and journalists, Pachauri somehow managed to take the stairs down to the ground floor. "Please call my secretary. I have something to dictate," he said to no one. The secretary was there in minutes and the climatologist passed on some instructions just as another eager crowd gate-crashed through the big glass entrance. "It is you who got it. I am only a symbol," Pachauri said with someone simply busy chanting "Teri, Teri, Teri".

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 13, 2007

Back to Index

Panel on climate change headed by Rajendra Pachauri
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change jointly won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for fighting it. Gore, who won an Academy Award earlier this year for his film on global warming, ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' had been widely tipped to win the prize. The win is also likely add further fuel to a burgeoning movement in the United States for Gore to run for president in 2008, which he has so far said he does not plan to do. The last American to win the prize, or share it, was former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who won it 2002. In its citation, the committee said that Gore ``has for a long time been one of the world's leading environmentalist politicians'' and cited his awareness at an early stage ``of the climatic challenges the world is facing. The committee cited the IPCC for its two decades of scientific reports that have ``created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming. Thousands of scientists and officials from over 100 countries have collaborated to achieve greater certainty as to the scale of the warming.''

"a sense of urgency"
Lending an Indian connection, the 2007 Nobel Peace prize was today awarded jointly to UN's top climate panel headed by eminent environmentalist R K Pachauri and former US Vice President Al Gore, giving a big boost to the international campaign for action against global warming. The IPCC set up in 1988 comprises 3,000 atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, ice specialists, economists and other experts and is the world's top scientific authority on global warming and its impact. Gore and the IPCC were cited by the Nobel Committee for "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, October 13, 2007

Back to Index

Indian scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the UN panel on climate change that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore, said on Friday he was overwhelmed by the award. "I can't believe it, overwhelmed, stunned," Pachauri told reporters and co-workers after receiving the news by telephone at his office in New Delhi. "I feel privileged sharing it with someone as distinguished as him," he added. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this year made the strongest ever link between mankind's activities and global warming -- gaining widespread publicity around the world. "I expect this will bring the subject to the fore," he said. "I'm only a symbol of a much larger organisation, the IPCC, and it's really the scientific community that contributed to the work of the IPCC. They're the real winners of this award." Asked what he would do now, he said he was going to "have a good sleep", having been travelling extensively.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 12, 2007

Back to Index

Naresh S Dalal, an Indian-American professor at Florida State University (FSU), has been selected for this year's award by American Chemical Society for his research works in the field of chemistry. The Southern Chemist Award honors "outstanding researcher who has brought recognition to the South", specifically the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. A medal and honorarium will be presented to Dalal at a meeting of the Memphis Section of the American Chemical Society in December. "It always is a great honour to be recognized by one's peers in such a manner," Dalal said of the award. "I'm particularly pleased because this award recognizes the work I have done since I moved to Florida State in 1995." Dalal has made notable contributions to spectroscopic techniques spanning frequencies from a few hertz to several terahertz over more than three decades of pioneering research in magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mainly electron magnetic resonance. The research has novel applications to a wide range of problems, ranging from free radicals in toxicology and carcinogenesis to ferroelectric and magnetic phase transitions in quantum solids, quantum dots, quantum computing and high-temperature superconductivity. Punjab-born Dalal is also a prodigious writer with his scholarly articles being published in more than 350 publications so far.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 08, 2007

Back to Index

At the ET Awards for Corporate Excellenceare, two categories that are pointers to greater things to come from the winners and always lead to a vigorous debate are the Emerging Company of the Year and the Entrepreneur of the Year. This year's winners are Glenmark for Emerging Company of the Year and GM Rao of GMR for Entrepreneur of the Year. Two new categories that were introduced last year were the Business Reformer of the Year and the Policy Change Agent of the Year. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel won hands down the award for Business Reformer of the Year for the vast change he has been able to effect in the Indian skies. The Award for Policy Change Agent of the Year went to SEBI chairman M Damodaran for his contribution to effective regulation of the capital market. The Global Indian of the Year award is an award that recognises outstanding achievements by Indians living and working outside the country. This year the award went to Rajat Gupta, senior partner, McKinsey and Co, who the jury believed has been one of Brand India's best ambassadors. The Corporate Citizen of the Year award went to Shankar Nethralaya, which was seen as a pioneer in the area as well as in the manner in which it has conducted its business. The final award, for Lifetime Achievement, was conferred upon NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys, for the outstanding contributions he has made not just to the IT industry but to India Inc at large.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 05, 2007

Back to Index

Indian American entrepreneur Raj Khera has been honoured with this year's Pride of India Gold Award by the NRI Institute of India. Khera, co-founder of leading email list management service MailerMailer, was presented the award by Raminder Singh Jassal, deputy chief of mission in the Indian embassy in US, at a gala function in Rockville, Maryland. The award recognises people of Indian origin for outstanding achievements in their chosen fields and for public service contributions toward the economic development of India and their country of residence, according to a MailerMailer press release. Khera was one of 24 people selected out of hundreds of nominations the Institute received this year. Over 400 leaders in business, government, and education from all over the world attended the function.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 03, 2007

Back to Index

Krishnaraj Rajalingam, a molecular biologist from Tamil Nadu, has won a prestigious and highly competitive award from the German Research Foundation. The 30-year-old scientist, working at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, has been chosen for the 1.3 million Euros award, it was officially stated on Monday. The German Research Foundation selects outstanding young scientists in all disciplines every year and supports them to establish their independent research teams to rapidly qualify for leading positions in science and research in Germany. With this award, Rajalingam, born in Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, can now establish a fully independent research team anywhere in Germany for the next five years. The major focus of his research is on understanding Programmed Cell Death, a special form of cell death which plays a crucial role in normal development and homeostasis of almost all multi-cellular organisms. Defects in cell death can lead to dire consequences ranging from cancer to neuro-degenerative disorders. Rajalingam and his team investigate how cell death signalling is orchestrated in normal and tumor cells and try to characterize the role of several crucial genes which play a role during programme cell death. Understanding the molecular machinery of cell death in detail will enable the scientists to develop rational drugs against various pathological conditions including cancer. Rajalingam studied Masters in Life Sciences from Bharathidasan University in Thiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. After his masters, he did his doctoral thesis in the well-known Max Planck Institute for Infections Biology in Berlin, Germany. Since 2006, Rajalingam is working as a junior group leader at the University of Wuerzburg.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October 01 2007

Back to Index

Lord Digby Jones, UK minister for trade & investment, today gave away the UK Trade & Investment India Business Awards 2007 at a glittering function in Mumbai. The awards are in recognition of path-breaking UK-India business partnerships. While the Investor of the Year award went to Tata Sons, the Business Partnership of the Year went to DLF Laing O Rourke, the Innovation of the year was HRS Process Systems and Benoy was the New market Entrant of the Year. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji was the Business Person of the Year and UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya was the Entrepreneur of the Year. Subex Azure received the award for the Successful Listing of the Year. Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata was presented a Special Recognition Award in appreciation of his contribution to the promotion of business relationships between India and the UK and to mark 100 years of Tatas collaboration with the UK. Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata was presented a Special Recognition Award in appreciation of his contribution to the promotion of business relationships between India and the UK and to mark 100 years of Tatas collaboration with the UK.

Courtesy: www.businessstandard.com, September 28, 2007

Back to Index

Immigration during the last five centuries, beginning with Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas, has forced the United States to become a melting pot of culture. Through time, especially in the United States, technology has become a major asset in everyday life. It has affected the way that immigrants assimilate compared to those of centuries ago. With this observation, University of Rhode Island photography professor Annu Palakunnathu Matthew has started her new project "The Fluid Immigrant." Matthew was born in England and stayed there until age 12 when her parents moved her to India. They wished for her to learn about her Indian culture and heritage. At age 28 she moved to America and later assumed a position at URI. In August, Matthew was one of three Rhode Island visual artists to receive a $25,000 MacColl Johnson Fellowship. She plans to use the money and her time off next semester to pursue her research on "The Fluid Immigrant." The idea of "The Fluid Immigrant" is based around the changes of immigrants in the last century compared to the immigrants today. With the existence of Skype - a computer program allowing cheap international phone calls - e-mail, and inexpensive airline tickets, communication with one's native culture has never been easier. Matthew has already begun doing research, interviewing and tracking families that are going through the immigration process. On a few occasions she has received some of the information by asking questions from customer service representatives from 1-800 numbers about their personal endeavors for immigration into the United States. However, she plans on getting most of her research done next year, which she will spend in India. "There are pluses and minuses to assimilation," she said. "There is a sense of giving up culture, but at the same time openness is essential to a fit into a society." Matthew focuses primarily on the history, culture and lifestyles of Native Americans and natives of India, although her work goes beyond these premises. She provides, through her last project, "An Indian from India," a deep contrast between the Native Americans and natives of India. She teaches spectators to avoid assumptions and stereotypes about both kinds of Indians.

Courtesy: www.ramcigar.com, September 19, 2007

Back to Index

BATA, India's largest footwear retailer received the country's most coveted Retail Award for its dynamic makeover at the 4th IMAGES Retail Awards (IRA) 2007 felicitating India's top performing companies and professionals in the business of retail at the The Grand Hyatt, Mumbai on 6th September 2007. Good popularity amongst consumers, 221% growth in net profit last year with over 1000 company owned stores, a complete turnaround with upmarket product ranges, new designs and articles and presence in "upmarket" locations helped make Bata the "Most Admired Turnaround" story in India's retail industry this year. Bata turned around last year with a Rs 40 crore profit on a turnover of around Rs 800 crore. In February 2005, the Bata balance sheet was inked in red. The losses were nearing Rs 63 crore and the company was dogged by operational problems that did not allow Bata to change with the times.

Courtesy: www.moneycontrol.com, September 19, 2007

Back to Index

United Nations: An Indian public awareness campaign designed to encourage the use of condoms with a catchy slogan "Condom Bindaas Bol" ("Say Condoms Freely") has won a UN public relations award. The campaign was created to try to overturn a decline in condom use and sales in eight states in northern India - Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand - that together comprise 45 per cent of the national condom market. It used two messages: that 'condom' is not a delicate word and it should be discussed freely, and that condoms should be used by everyone, and not just by people in high-risk groups. Celebrities endorsed the campaign in public service announcements (PSAs) for television, a campaign podcast was issued on YouTube, editorial meetings were held with 20 publications and broadcast channels to encourage them to carry reports on the issue and a "viral video" featuring the scenario of a shy customer being encouraged by a retailer to ask for condoms was mass mailed. The UN Department of Public Information (DPI) announced Friday that the campaign had won this year's UN Grand Award, an award it jointly sponsors with the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) to recognize excellence in campaigns that tackle priority issues before the world body. The award will be presented Nov 6 in London. "Condom Bindaas Bol" was created by the public relations company Weber Shandwick and is the result of a joint effort of PSP-One, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project, the Indian Government's Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and ICICI Bank. Two other campaigns received honourable mentions for the prize: Singapore's "Yellow Ribbon Project," aimed at promoting the rehabilitation back into society of ex-offenders released from jail, and "Daddy Send Me To School," which was launched by the Turkish newspaper Milliyet to improve women's access to education.

Courtesy: www.samachar.com, August 21, 2007

Back to Index

Amitabh Bachchan and Sarika walked away with the top accolades with the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry announcing the much-delayed 53rd National Film Awards on Tuesday. Bachchan won the best actor award for the film Black, his third so far, while Sarika bagged the best actress award for her role in Parzania. The film got another award for its director Rahul Dholakia. Director Budhadeb Dasgupta's Kaalpurush-Memories in the Mist (Bengali) won the best feature film award while the award for the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment went to Rang De Basanti (Hindi), directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra. The Indira Gandhi award for the best first film of a director went to Pradeep Sarkar for Parineeta while the Nargis Dutt award for the best feature film on national integration went to Jayaraj for the Malyalam film Daivanamathil. The best supporting actor award was given to Naseeruddin Shah for Iqbal that also won the best film on a social issue. Urvashi won the award for the best supporting actress for the Malyalam film Achhuvinte Amma. Anupam Kher bagged the Special Jury Award for his performance in Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara while playback singers Naresh Iyer (Roo Ba Roo, Rang De Basanti) and Shreya Goshal (Apne Asoo Peene Ke Liye, Paheli) received the Rajat Kamal. The Blue Umbrella by Vishal Bharadwaj got the Swarna Kamal for the best children's film while Kannada film Thutturi got the award for the best film on environment conservation. The best non-feature film award went to Riding Solo To the Top of the World directed by Gaurav A Jani, best film critic award went to Baradwaj Rangan while Black by Sanjay Leela Bhansali got the best feature film award in Hindi. The awards had been finalised almost a year ago but the decision was kept in abeyance because of a Bombay High Court judgment that directed DFFI to consider uncensored films for the competition. The Bombay HC finally lifted the stay on announcement of the awards last week. Documentary filmmakers Anand Patwardhan, Gautam Jani and Simantini Dhuru had filed a petition in court asking for exemption for their films from obtaining censor board certification.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, August 08, 2007

Back to Index

Well-known Indian journalist Palagummi Sainath was today named as one of the seven winners of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awards, widely regarded as Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, in recognition of his passionate reporting about the condition of India's rural poor. In electing Palagummi Sainath to receive the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts, the board of trustees recognizes his passionate commitment as a journalist to restore the rural poor to India's consciousness, moving the nation to action," the citation said.Also chosen for this year's awards was Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese activist who is serving a four-year prison term after exposing forced abortions and sterilisation in northern China in 2005. Each of the winners will also receive cash prizes of 50,000 US dollars.The Foundation, named after late Phillipines President Ramon Magsaysay who was killed in a plane crash, was set up in 1957 by the trustees of the New York-based Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Nearly 250 people and 16 groups, including the US Peace Corps and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, have been recognised by the awards body since the first awards in 1958. The awards, based on six categories, are given yearly to individuals and groups in Asia. In choosing to give the award to Sainath,50, the Foundation noted that he believes that "journalism is for people, not for shareholders," and has "doggedly covered the lives of those who have been left behind."

Talking to UNI from Yavatmal in Maharashtra, Sainath said it felt great being chosen for the award. ''This kind of journalism gets a boost and legitimacy and such issues get more space with such recognition. It will encourage young journalists to go after such issues,'' he said. Born in Chennai in 1957 into a distinguished family in Andhra Pradesh (he is the grandson of former President V V Giri), Sainath completed his master's degree in history from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He started his career as a journalist with the United News of India (UNI) in Delhi and in Mumbai. He later joined the weekly magazine, Blitz, and rose to become its deputy chief editor and a popular columnist.In 1993, he got a fellowship from The Times of India, which enabled him to travel to and investigate life in India's ten poorest districts, which resulted in 84 articles, many of which were reprinted later in his bestselling book, "Everybody Loves a Good Drought." The foundation said that in that book and in hundreds of subsequent articles, Sainath "presented his readers with a world that belied the giddy accounts of India's economic miracle. In this India, the harsh life of the rural poor was, in fact, growing harsher." "Sainath discovered that the acute misery of India's poorest districts was not caused by drought, as the government said. It was rooted in India's enduring structural inequalities-in poverty, illiteracy, and caste discrimination-and exacerbated by recent economic reforms favoring foreign investment and privatization. Indeed, these sweeping changes combined with endemic corruption had led small farmers and landless laborers into evermore crippling debt-with devastating consequences. "Sainath provided the evidence. He reported, for example, that the number of migrant-swollen buses leaving a single poor district for Mumbai each week had increased from one to thirty-four in less than ten years. He exposed the shocking rise in suicides among India's debt-pressed farmers, revealing that in just six hard-hit districts in 2006 alone, the number of suicides had soared to well over a thousand. He revealed that at a time when officials boasted of a national grain surplus, 250 million Indians were suffering from endemic hunger, and that in districts where government storehouses were 'stacked to the roof with food grain,' tribal children were starving to death," the citation said. It said Sainath's authoritative reporting led Indian authorities to address certain discrete abuses and to enhance relief efforts in states such as Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. But his deeper message also struck home. In 2000, nearly thirty of his articles were submitted as evidence at a national hearing on anti-dalit (untouchable) atrocities. In such ways, he has touched the conscience of the nation. Sainath currently works for The Hindu as its Rural Affairs Editor. He spends between 270 and 300 days a year in rural areas. "I felt that if the Indian press was covering the top five per cent, I should cover the bottom five per cent," he once said about his decision to write about the rural poor. Sainath has won over 30 national and international journalism awards and fellowships in his 27 years as a journalist.

Courtesy: www.newkerala.com, August 01, 2007

Back to Index

It is a matter of pride for all North-easterners that David Buhril, a young man from Churachandpur district of Manipur working as Sub-Editor in the North East Sun, a weekly magazine published from Delhi received an honour of awarding the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards 2006-07, the country's most prestigious journalism award recently. David Buhril received the award carrying the prize of Rs 50,000 from the President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at the solemn awards ceremony held at Taj Palace Hotel here on July 16 last.He won the award in Regional (North East) category in print media. This year was the second edition of the awards instituted by the Indian Express Group. Kishalay Bhattacharjee of NDTV won this year's Regional (North East) award in Broadcast media. In the last year, Ratna Bharati Talukdar, a freelance journalist won the Regional (North East) award in print media for her in-depth reports chronicling the lives and struggles of coal-mine workers in Upper Assam.

The broadcast award last year for North East category went to Sutapa Dev of NDTV for a report that ventured into the heart of unrest in Manipur and told the story of its victims. The Indian Express, in its issue dated July 22 narrated stories of this year's award winners numbering 24 who received the awards in its respective categories. About David Buhril, it quotes, "The man from Churachandpur, Manipur looks at a story in two different ways: how will his readers outside the North east relate to it? And how will those at the helm of affairs in the region respond to it? Buhril went into the hills of Manipur last year, to Tipaimukh, where activists of militant groups had unleashed a brutal campaign against ethnic groups. "We visited one village where a group of women who were raped had taken shelter and they had been given no medical facilities". Buhril arranged for their transport to the nearest town. Spending a week in the village, he saw the land-mines the militants had strewn the hills with. He saw first -hand the plight of refugees who had fled to neighbouring Mizoram. "One of the aims of my stories was to get the message across to those who ought to be responsible," David says. About Kishalay Bhattacharjee, it writes, "Kishalay Bhattacharjee came to the North east seven years ago, planning to stay for a year. He stayed on, 'the region is a great place to work; it has conflict, wildlife, rock music, diverse elements. The downside is stories from the NE do not generate much sponsorship'. In the recent past, Bhattacharjee has begun concentrating on the big picture. He says he has been lucky that the stories to whose roots he reached became bigger issues, such as narco-terrorism. For the future, though, the journalist who pays equal attention to technical details sees 'no possibility of the region' figuring prominently in TV news.

Courtesy: www.e-pao.net, July 25, 2007

Back to Index

President APJ Abdul Kalam has been chosen for the prestigious British award -- King Charles II Medal -- in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to scientific advances in India. Kalam is only the second head of State after Japanese Emperor Akihito to be honoured with the award given by the Royal Society. "President Kalam has led India at a time when science and technology investment in the country has radically increased," said Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society. "He (Kalam) has played a major part in preparing a road map for transforming India from developing status into a developed nation," Rees said, adding "as a scientist himself he (Kalam) has also made a great contribution to scientific advances in his country." A ceremony to present the medal was to slated to be held in Delhi and London on Friday but it has been postponed due to the death of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar. A fresh date will be decided for the ceremony that will now take place after the Presidential election on July 19, the society said.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, July 11, 2007

Back to Index

A young Indian American Sikh entrepreneur has been awarded the Rising Star award by a US magazine for his contribution in the area of political consulting in the country. Ravi Singh, CEO of ElectionMall, a top campaign and election technology company, was honoured June 8 by the Campaigns & Elections Magazine. "We expect great things from the 2007 Rising Stars," said Morgan E. Felchner, editor of Campaigns & Elections said. "Through their achievements, they are proving that success truly has no limits," he added. Established in 1999, ElectionMall provides candidates and political parties with the necessary online tools, services and products to help them win elections via the Internet. Currently, the firm is assisting several 2008 presidential candidates, a press release said. "This honor means a great deal as it is a recognition from my colleagues," said Singh. "It proves that anything is possible in America. Identity should not be a hindrance to anyone, even after the events of 9/11. Technology and politics are my passions and I look forward to what lies ahead." Born in Aurora, Illinois, Singh was not allowed to wear the turban at a US military academy, which prompted Senator Paul Simon and Congressman Dennis Hastert introduce legislation on his behalf that eventually was signed in 1987 by the then president Ronald Reagan. Ultimately, Singh became the first Indian American Sikh to graduate from the academy with full military honours as a second lieutenant. Singh has been described as the 'Campaign Guru' by the USA Today magazine.

Courtesy: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, June 13, 2007

Back to Index

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Friday presented the lifetime achievement award to India's top space scientist and former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman U.R. Rao at a special function here. The award, instituted by ISRO and the Astronautical Society of India (ASI), carries a cash reward of Rs.2 million and a citation. Rao was selected for the award in recognition of his distinguished service to the nation and outstanding contribution in furthering space science, technology and applications in the country. The president also gave away outstanding achievement awards to five top present and past ISRO scientists: N. Pant, S.C. Gupta, E.V. Chitnis, B.N. Suresh and P.S. Goel. The award carries a cash prize of Rs.1 million and a citation. Similarly, nine scientists were given performance excellence awards (Rs.500,000), 17 scientists and technocrats merit awards (Rs.100,000) and 18 scientists under 35 years young scientist merit awards (Rs.50,000). Team excellence awards were also presented to the respective team leaders, who were associated with space capsule recovery experiment, Cartosat-Two PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), Cape (Crop acreage) and Production Estimation and DMS (disaster management system) and Insat 2E on-orbit Management.) The team award carries a cash prize of Rs.500,000/Rs.200,000 per team and citation to individuals. Goel, secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences and chairman of the Earth Commission, was also presented the Aryabhata Award 2005 in recognition of his distinguished service to space science as director of ISRO satellite centre in Bangalore. ISRO also decided to gift a gold coin to all its employees numbering about 16,500 who were on rolls as on Jan 10, 2007. The coins weighing four grams and costing Rs.4000 each, were delivered by Indian Bank, which bagged the order in an open tender. "The coin is given to commemorate the successful launch of the space capsule recovery experiment by PSLV January 10, 2007, and its successful recovery in the Bay of Bengal January 22. Four ASI awards were given away to P. Vardaraj of the Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad, A.K. Agarwal of ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore, S.K. Shivakumar of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network, Bangalore, and R. Sridharan of Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

Courtesy: www.newkerala.com, June 08, 2007

Back to Index

Once again proving that Bihar boys were way ahead of their counterparts in other parts of the country when it came to cracking any exam - be it the Class X CBSE exam or the rigorous civil services tests, or a number of entrance tests, Patna's very own Manish Kumar was declared the topper in the CBSE Class X exams in the entire nation with a whopping aggregate of 99.4%. A student of Gyan Niketan school in Patna, Manish earned 100% in Science and Social Science while also getting 99% in Math, Information Technology, and Sanskrit, the principal of the school D. K. Mukherjee said. Son of Sanjay Kumar and Sunita Kumari, a postal employee and a homemaker respectively with a modest home in Ashok Nagar, Manish is already eyeing to crack the IIT entrance test and get himself admitted into the nation's most elite engineering school after completing his Intermediate, family members said. Prashant Suman, Robin Kumar, and Rajiv Ranjan, also of Gyan Niketan, made their teachers, parents, and state proud by earning 98.4%, 98.2%, and 98.2% each, the principal said. "We knew he would do exceptionally well in the CBSE exam but we had never imagined he would emerge as the topper in the entire country," Manish's father told the media.

Courtesy: www.patnadaily.com, May 30, 2007

Back to Index

Bikas Sanyal, who is the director of Maison de l'Inde or India House in Paris, has been honoured by the French government with its highest civilian award, the Legion d'Honneur. The award, Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur was bestowed on Sanyal on behalf of the French President by Jacques Friedmann, former minister and the Grand Officier of the Légion d'Honneur, in the presence of Indian ambassador Ranjan Mathai. At the investiture ceremony, Friedmann heaped lavish praise on Sanyal for his contribution to the field of education during his long tenure with the UNESCO. Friedmann said the French government's decision to honour Sanyal was another sign of the desire of the government to reinforce the friendly relations between the two countries and two ancient civilizations that France and India represent. Since 2000, Sanyal has been at the head of the Maison de l'Inde that serves as a home away from home for young Indian students who come to Paris for education. He revived the Maison de l'Inde, which was heavily indebted when he took charge. He wiped off the debt, undertook renovation and expansion and also converted it into the quasi-official Indian Cultural Centre in Paris, with the active participation of his writer wife, Priti, who doubles up as the honorary cultural attache of the Maison de l'Inde. As an officer of the International Institute of Education Planning (IIEP) at the UNESCO, Sanyal was responsible for developing the educational infrastructure of the newly independent countries of the world. During his tenure at the IIEP, Sanyal travelled to 75 countries around the world where he helped in building education infrastructure. He has also written nearly 40 books and a large number of articles on policies, planning and management of higher education. His latest book, 'Innovations in Management of Universities', was published by UNESCO and translated into many languages. Born on Jan 15, 1938 in what is now called Bangladesh, Sanyal moved to Kolkata in 1949 to continue his studies. After a brilliant academic career both in India and United States he joined the State University of Iowa in 1966 as an associate professor in 1968.

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, May 30, 2007

Back to Index

A HIV-positive couple in India, an indigenous group in Malaysia and nomadic children in China are the focus of stories that have won United Nations prizes for media. Rupa Jha of BBC World Service Trust, India, who follows a HIV-positive couple in India as they challenge the daily prejudices, won the runner-up award with a cash prize of $2,000 in radio category. Depicting the quest to meet UN-backed development goals in the Asia-Pacific region, the awards were announced Tuesday in Almaty, Kazakhstan, during the annual session of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), according to UN news centre. A Malaysian and two Chinese journalists won the top three of the first Asia-Pacific Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for stories on the individual dimension of the international goals to cut extreme deprivation and boost basic services by 2015 received their awards with a cash prize of $7,000. The runners-up awards were won by journalists from India, Bangladesh and the Philippines. "Through the powerful media of TV, radio, print and the internet, journalists can focus attention on the human face behind the MDGs," said Kim Hak-Su, executive secretary of UNESCAP giving the awards at a ceremony attended by representatives of the 62-member governments. "They also have an important role in holding governments accountable to the pledges they made in the Millennium Declaration - the pledge to free the world from dehumanising condition of poverty, hunger and illiteracy," he added. More than 100 entries from 23 countries were judged by an international panel of media professionals.

Courtesy: www.indianmuslims.info, May 23, 2007

Back to Index

India's first citizen journalism website has received the praise of being the "Official Honoree" at Webby Awards. Webby Awards, which is being hailed as "Oscars on the Internet" has picked up merinews among 8,000 entries over 60 countries. This brings merinews at par with CNN, AOL and CNET news, who shares the space with merinews.

The Webby Awards, the leading international honor for the Web, today recognized merinews.com as an Official Honoree, a distinction that recognizes work exhibiting remarkable achievement. Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. The awards are judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, internet inventor Vinton Cerf, and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser. "The Webby Awards honors the outstanding work that is setting the standards for the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of The Webby Awards. "merinews.com Official Honoree selection is a testament to the skill, ingenuity, and vision of its creators." "This award would encourage us to strive harder and play a bigger role in bringing the real power to the people. The fact that merinews, a newbie, shared the Honoree status with established news portals like CNN.com, AOL News, CNET news.com et al tells us that we are on the right path" says Vipul Kant Upadhyay. The 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states. Out more than 8,000 entries submitted, fewer than 15% received this honor and were deemed an Official Honoree.

About Entry:
Merinews.com is India's First Participatory Media Portal. With a registered contributor base in thousands, merinews aims at providing a platform to the citizens at large to write and report on news as they view it. Having a minimalist editing policy gives it the kind of credibility required for honestly putting across the views of the masses. Merinews is in a continuous development mode and is planning to launch a slew of new features that would enhance the visitor experience tremendously.

About The Webby Awards:
Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. Established in 1996, the 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. The Webby Awards is presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Sponsors and Partners of The Webby Awards include: Adobe; The Creative Group; Verizon; AOL Video; dotMobi; Level3; Adweek; Fortune; Reuters; Variety; Wired; IDG: Brightcove; PricewaterhouseCoopers; 2advanced.Net; KobeMail and Museum of the Moving Image.

About the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS):
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences is dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of the Internet and interactive media. The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes over 500 members consisting of leading experts in a diverse range of fields, such as musician David Bowie, Internet inventor Vinton Cerf, Naked Chef Jamie Oliver, The Body Shop president Anita Roddick, fashion designer Max Azria, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser. The Webby Awards and The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences are registered trademarks of International Data Group. For more information, visit www.iadas.net.

Courtesy: www.prweb.com, May 23, 2007

Back to Index

It is a matter of pride for our country that Indian students bagged the second and third place in an international level aeronautics essay contest organised by NASA recently and the fourth prize in the group category of Intel ISEF 2007. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, USA) recently awarded Yashraj Khaitan of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai the second prize in the aeronautics essay contest to describe 'Air Transportation in 2057'. Khaitan is pursuing the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and his essay was on the 'influence of successful implementation of supersonic and hypersonic technologies, 50 years down the line, on space and air travel.' As per a press note released by NASA on May 10, "Teens from across the United States and six foreign countries submitted 88 essays in four categories. These were US individual, US team, international individual and international team. In all, 14 teams and 75 individual students submitted essays to NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program, which sponsored the contest." "The essays were reviewed by 24 NASA managers and engineers from four NASA centers: Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif; Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif; Glenn Research Center, Cleveland and Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. They based their scores on how well students focused their essays and how well they addressed four basic criteria: informed content, creativity and imagination, organisation and writing." "The second and third place individual international awards went to senior level students from India. Second place went to Yashraj Khaitan from the Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai, and third place was awarded to Ketan Sharma from the Amity International School in Haryana." Khaitan has been a star performer all along both in academics and co-curricular activities. He participated in a number of technology festivals and exhibited his scientific and technological acumen. He has also participated in National Level Squash tournaments.

The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007:

In the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007 (Intel ISEF) held in Alberque, New Mexico during May 13-19, 2007, two students of Dhirubhai Ambani International School - Tanay Delima and Nikhil Khosla - have won the 4th prize in the 'Group Projects' category of this prestigious prize. These IGCSE class nine students were representing India, after they won the best prize in Physics Group Category of the Intel India Science Fair 2006 for their projects titled: A Novel Advanced Brake Light Warning System to prevent Vehicular Tailgating Accidents. There were 1,400 students participating from around the world and the awards were given in individual as well as group categories. The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) is the world's largest pre-college science competition that provides an opportunity to the best young scientists from around the globe to share ideas, showcase cutting-edge science projects, and compete for a number of awards in scholarships, tuition grants and scientific field trips. Students that compete in Intel ISEF emerge from a worldwide field of several million science fair participants. They compete with more than 65,000 students at more than 500 regional Intel ISEF affiliated science fairs around the world to win the right to attend the Intel ISEF. The Intel India Science Fair 2006 received a total of 1,240 project synopses from across the country. Upon evaluation of the synopses by its Scientific Review Committee, projects that were innovative and met IRIS criteria were short-listed and selected for the National Fair. A total of 185 projects were short-listed this year, of which two from Dhirubhai Ambani International School eventually made to the final rounds of selection. It is one of these two projects that won the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007 prize. The Dhirubhai Ambani International School encourages its students to participate in a variety of competitions and scientific fairs within India and worldwide, which helps foster their versatile interests and their urge to excel in many ways.

Courtesy: www.merinews.com, May 22, 2007

Back to Index

A nine-year-old-girl from Kerala who moved to Liverpool with her family three years ago has won a community award for her special efforts to look after new Asian children joining her school. Lesley Justin joined the Sacred Heart School three years ago. She has now won the Kensington Regeneration's BME (black and minority ethnic) Award. Until recently, Lesley could not speak English and found her new school strange and frightening. "When I started at Sacred Heart I was scared because I couldn't speak English very well, but there was a girl who was English who helped me and was kind to me. After that I wanted to help other children who came here from India. "I show them around the school, introduce them to the teachers and if they need help with anything I will ask the teachers for them," she said. Lesley, who speaks Hindi and Malalayam, is one of the school's peer mediators, stepping in to any upset or conflict in the playground to help clear up any misunderstandings, reports from Liverpool said. Sacred Heart learning mentor Anne Edwards, who nominated Lesley for the award, said: "Lesley was one of our first Indian children. She really goes out of her way to help other children and I know she's also very active in her church. She's a very special girl and the award is well deserved."

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, May 14, 2007

Back to Index

Amid the hue and cry over reservation for other backward classes in higher educational institutions, an OBC candidate, M Raju Revo, has topped the civil services examination, 2006. And 21 per cent of the successful candidates are women. The civil services results were declared today, unfolding the fate of 2,00,000 candidates who appeared for the exam. The number of applicants was double at 4,00,000. The number of students who have been able to clear the exam are 474 out of which 373 are men and 101 are women. The second rank was bagged by Amit Saini and Alok Tiwari was placed third. The number of students who have been selected in Indian Administrative Service (IAS) are 89, Indian Police Services (IPS) are 103 and Indian Foreign Services (IFS) 20. The topper M Raju, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, has done his masters in engineering and is currently an IPS trainee. The female topper is Anindita Mitra who has achieved eighth rank and the second placed is Juhi Mukherjee who has got 10th rank. Of the top 20 candidates, 12 are male and eight are female. Fourteen candidates come from a background of commerce, humanities and social sciences, five from engineering and one from medical sciences. Only 18 physically challenged candidates have cleared the examination this year out of which one is visually impaired and four are hearing impaired. The maximum number of successful candidates are from Jawaharlal Nehru University every year. Last year, 26 Jawaharlal Nehru University students cleared the exam and this year around 30 to 40 students are expected to have passed the exam.

Courtesy: www.thestatesman.net, May 14, 2007

Back to Index

Major General Shashi Bala of Army's Nursing Services was awarded the prestigious Florence Nightingale award for nursing services by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Saturday. She is presently the Additional Director General of Military Nursing Services (MNS) at the Army Headquarters, New Delhi. Shashi Bala belongs to New Delhi and had her early nursing education in Mumbai. She holds a Masters degree in Nursing and immediately after joining MNS, she rendered services to the battle casualties of 1971 Indo-Pak War. She has 37 years nursing experience and has been awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in the past. She is an eminent researcher.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, May 14, 2007

Back to Index

UNEP Risoe Centre (URC) has received the 2007 Energy Globe Fire Award for its India solar home systems project. The award goes to projects that make careful and economical use of resources and employ alternative sources of energy. The award was received by Jyoti Painuly, URC project manager, on behalf of partners. Launched in 2003 with support from the UN Foundation and Shell Foundation, the project is a partnership among UNEP, UNEP Risoe Centre, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank. Mumbai-based Crestar Capital provides local project management. The project is aimed at establishing a consumer credit market for financing solar home systems in southern India. This involves an interest rate reduction, direct support to develop the market, and a process to qualify suppliers. The project does not provide subsidy for buying the solar systems. Nearly 18,000 middle-class households in southern India have used the project's innovative credit to buy a solar photovoltaic system to power lights and small appliances.

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, May 05, 2007

Back to Index

Five Indian American high school students are among eight people selected to represent the US in the J8 summit, a parallel youth event to the G8 Summit. Kavitha Narra, Rohit Nalamasu, Kritika Kailash, Aarthi Minisandram and Sudha Gollapudi will represent the US at the next G8 summit to be held in Germany in June. The team calls itself Aquilones ('Eagles' in Latin). Its other members are Rachel Peterson, Kelly O'Reilly and David Kastleman. The final team was selected from 63 teams across the US through an international selection process developed by Morgan Stanley and UNICEF, ethnic Indian newspaper Indiawest reports. To get selected, each team comes up with its own ideas on how to tackle the key issues being discussed by the G8 leaders. They submit these ideas online through the J8 website. The entries are then judged by a specially selected panel in each country. The team with the best entry from each country is chosen to take part in the J8 Summit and gets an opportunity to meet leaders of the G8.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, May 04, 2007

Back to Index

A group of women farmer- filmmakers from a remote Dalit-dominated village of Andhra Pradesh has won the prestigious UGC-CEC National Award for "Best Educational Video Film". The winning film was one of 246 entries to the competition held recently by University Grants Commission- Consortium of Educational Communication, an inter-university body that promotes educational television for Indian varsities by running an educational TV channel, Countrywide Classroom. The Dalit women-farmers of Pastapur village in Medak district were provided an opportunity to make the film by the Deccan Development Society (DDS)'s Community Media Trust. "The Trust provided microphones and cameras to these marginalised rural women. They produced their own images and voices," P V Satish of DDS said on Tuesday. The group also bagged the citation for `Best Programme on Environment and Development', a DDS statement said. "Over the last six years the DDS's Trust has produced over 75 films covering a wide range of issues including, agriculture, local healthcare system and those related to women," Satish said.

Courtesy: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, April 18, 2007

Back to Index

Balu Shankaran, surgeon, receiving the Padma Vibhushan award from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam during the civil investiture ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday. The others receiving the Padma Vibhushan are (top row, from left): Raja Jesudoss Chelliah, economist; Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan, international physicist; and Prafulla Chandra Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India. Receiving the Padma Bhushan are: Indra K. Nooyi, president and chief executive of?cer of PepsiCo; Javed Akhtar, writer and poet; (middle row) Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director of Bharti Enterprises; K.T. Thomas, former Supreme Court Judge; and Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, playwright and theatre director. The Padma Shri recipients are: Pannuru Sripathy, traditional painting artist; P. Gopinathan, handloom weaver; (bottom row) Bakul Harshadrai Dholakia, academician; Astad Aderbad Deboo, contemporary dancer; Mushirul Hasan, historian; P.R. Thilagam, musician; and Naina Lal Kidwai, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC India.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, April 6, 2007

Back to Index

India-born Srinivasa S R Varadhan has been named winner of the Norwegian Abel Prize, known as the Nobel Prize for mathematics. Varadhan was cited for his "fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular for a unified theory of large deviations", the jury said. The award is worth 6 million kroner ($920,000). In mathematics, probability theory is the tool used to analyse situations governed by chance, while his theory of large deviations was said to have provided explanations applicable in "fields as diverse as quantum field theory, statistical physics, population dynamics, econometrics and finance, traffic engineering". Varadhan, born in 1940 in Chennai, has since 1963 worked at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York, where he is a professor of mathematics and currently Frank J Gould Professor of Science. He is now a US citizen. "I come from south India, and Ramanujan`s name is extremely well known there. Even in high school our teachers talked about him, as somebody from a different generation of course, but who reached exalted heights. He was a role model for me," Varadhan said.

Courtesy: www.zeenews, March 28, 2007

Back to Index

Nobel Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai was today presented the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by President A P J Abdul Kalam who called the Kenyan a symbol of empowered women of the world. At a Rashtrapati Bhavan ceremony attended by Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Kalam praised Maathai for her accomplishments in environmental conservation and human rights activities. "We are, therefore, indeed privileged to honour you today as a true friend of India, an outstanding leader of Kenya, a symbol of empowered women of the world and a great environmentalist," he remarked. Maathai became the first woman from Africa to receive the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for international understanding. The other recipients of the award include South African leader Nelson Mandela, Germany's Helmut Kohl and India's Indira Gandhi and Mother Teresa. "Professor Maathai gives a new meaning to the important act of planting a tree, by extending it to the whole life, when she says "the planting of trees is the planting of idea.' "She highlights the qualities of patience, persistence and commitment in planning and realising a future, which is what we learn when we plant trees and wait for them to yield fruits for the next generation," the President said. Kalam, who noted that India's power-generation capacity has to increase to 400,000 mw from the existing 130,000 mw, cited hydel, nuclear and non-conventional sources as key to achieving energy interdependence.

Courtesy: www.zeenews.com, March 22, 2007

Back to Index

NRI industrialist and founder of Cobra Beer, Lord Karan Bilimoria has won the 2006 India International Foundation Annual Award for excellence in industry. Executive Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan here, M N Nandakumara has bagged the award for promoting Indian Art and Culture in the UK. Lord Bilimoria, who founded the Cobra Beer in 1989 with a loan of 20,000 pounds when he was 28 years old, has turned it into a global beer brand with an annual turnover of 145 million pounds. Recipient of many awards and CBE from the Queen in 2004, Lord Bilimoria is also Chancellor of Thames Valley University, London. Nandakumara, who did his Ph.D from university of London and a post-graduation in Sanskrit, is the main force behind bhavan's activities of promoting Indian culture and running the classes of music and dance up to degree level. The awards were presented by Baroness Usha Prashar, chairperson of the judicial appointments commission of the UK at a gala function here last night. The function was attended, among others, by Lord Navnit Dholakia, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, Keith Vaz, NRI MP and former Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Madhav Chandra, Minister (Politics) in the High Commission of India in the UK, Hardyal's Luther, Foundation President, Rami Ranger, MBE NRI industrialist, Judge Mota Singh QC and Kartar Lalvani, NRI industrialist.

Courtesy: www.zeenews.com, March 20, 2007

Back to Index

A college student in the city completed a feat of 30-hour non-stop writing in a bid to gain a coveted entry into the Guinness book of world records. The teenager, Lakshmi, completed writing 400 pages in Tamil on the topic 'This society' comprising various chapters on love, women, education and god. She accomplished the task before a panel of judges, which included her college principal, on Wednesday night. Writing at a speed of 17 to 20 pages an hour, she took just a five-minute break on the whole. Lakshmi said she drew inspiration to write non-stop from the current record holder, who had completed the task in 26 hours. Stating that she had not taken any special training to achieve the feat, the teenager said intake of nutritious diet at regular intervals was the secret of her.

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, March 2, 2007

Back to Index

Humanitarian organisation CARE India has bagged the Commonwealth Education Good Practice Award for its innovative primary education initiatives. Minister of State for Human Resource Development D Puandeswari yesterday handed over the award to programme director, girls education, CARE, Kokila Gulati, an official release said today. CARE was selected for the award from nine finalists from seven Commonwealth countries. The award was given at the 16th Conference of Commonwealth held in Cape Town on December 16 last year which was attended by Purandeswari.

Courtesy: www.zeenews.com, March 2, 2007

Back to Index

A tribal organisation from Orissa's Koraput district has been chosen for the Genome Saviour Award of the protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Authority (PPVFR) of the Central government.The award, instituted under the PPV FR act to recognise and reward communities and farmers for contributions to conservation and improvement of genetic resources, will go to Panchavati Gramya Unnayana Samiti, a body of tribal farming communities of Koraput district. A release issued by the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation at Jeypore said the tribal community was selected for its outstanding and seminal contribution to conservation of plant genetic resources, particularly rice, in biodiversity-rich southern Orissa. The community's representatives are scheduled to receive the award from Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at a function to be held in Delhi. The M S Swaminathan Foundation of Chennai has been assisting tribal communities of Koraput in conserving traditional rice varieties of the region and linking it with livelihood improvement, the release said.

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, February 20, 2007

Back to Index

The T.S. Srinivasan Centre for Clinical Neurosciences presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Nobel Laureate Stanley Prusiner and three other eminent neuroscientists in Chennai on Sunday. Prof. Prusiner and Professors Charles Warlow, David Bates and Anthony Schapiro have been lecturing at the annual courses in Clinical Neurosciences 2007 organised by the centre over the last two days. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras director M.S. Ananth presented the awards and TVS Motors chief executive and managing director Venu Srinivasan, son of T.S. Srinivasan in whose memory the centre was established, presided over the function. Mr. Srinivasan hoped that with neuroscience emerging as one of the key frontiers of scientific endeavour, these annual courses would lead to a flourishing neuroscience community in India. The professors were honoured for their contributions to neuroscience research. While Prof. Prusiner is responsible for ground-breaking research on prions, infectious agents made of proteins which cause spongiform encephalopathy such as that found in Mad Cow disease, Prof. Schapira is interested in mitochondrial disorders. Prof. Bates is involved in clinical trials of novel therapy for multiple sclerosis, and Prof. Warlow does clinical research on strokes and functional symptoms. In a lecture on the neurogenetic aspects of prion disease, Prof. Prusiner said that ongoing and future research into the nature and atomic structure of prions could provide insights into the development of neurogenetic Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease as well. This is important as Alzheimer's is the fourth leading cause of death in developed nations and is spreading through the developing world as better healthcare increases life expectancy. "There's a dementia epidemic. By 2050, we could have more people with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in China than the entire population of California. I would imagine the same situation will be seen in India," said Prof. Prusiner.

Courtesy: www.hindu.com, February 19, 2007

Back to Index

The Jawaharlal Award for International Understanding for 2005 and 2006 will be given to noted human rights and pro-democracy Activist Prof Wangari M Maathai of Kenya and Brazil President Luiz Nacio Lula Da Silva. A decision to this effect was taken by the jury for the award chaired by Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, according to an official release here. Maathai had become the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and is internationally recognised for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. Besides being a leading world leader, Lula has contributed immensely towards the strengthening of bilateral relations between India and Brazil, the release said.

Courtesy: www.zeenews.com, February 08, 2007

Back to Index