The app, which will be available on Android to begin with, has online training modules for voice artistes and people who will benefit from voice improvement/ development training.
Bengaluru :
Shakiness of voice, weakness of sound or pitch, or volume-related issues… If you’ve faced these but have not dealt with them hands-on, voice artiste and therapist Divya RT (36) is providing tools to do so, through her app VoxCoach, which will be released this week. A former Chemistry lecturer at Mount Carmel College, Divya has been running Voxcoach, a venture dedicated to professional voice training, since 2017.
“I’m hoping that users will understand the science and exercises applied to singing, speech and voice therapy. People who suffer from vocal nodules, or have lost their voices for a period of time, etc can come to us for direction on how to get their voices back,” says Divya, adding that among the advisors is Sridhar Ranganathan, CEO and founder, Shankar Mahadevan Academy.
The app, which will be available on Android to begin with, has online training modules for voice artistes and people who will benefit from voice improvement/ development training. “Training is delivered through a series of voice exercises,” she says. But it’s not just for singers and voice artistes. “It is for anybody who wishes to get past their voice-related roadblocks, with issues like running out of breath while speaking and singing.
It is for anybody who wishes to learn about how voice behaves and which parts of the body are involved,” explains Divya. This will be done through exercises that will make the voice flow better and stronger. “The first part of our three-part course is about breath control and vocal flow,” she adds.
The existent format on the website is live online and has full certificate courses. The app includes recorded courses and subscription material voice tools. “The target audience is kids, teenagers experiencing voice changes, adults, people with voice disorders, singers, voice-over artistes, and actors, etc,” says Divya.
Besides Divya, the coaches are singer Madhura Gowda and rapper Karthik Gubbi. In-app subscription models are being worked on. Incidentally, the idea for the app was brewing before the pandemic hit. While there are other such apps too, Divya feels hers differentiates itself by not providing self-help tools. “We do a lot of handholding, and at the end of it, a user can check if, for instance, if his pitch has improved,” she says.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / September 12th, 2020
France and India, according to Consul General of France, Dr Marjorie Vanbaelinghem, have had an intense and fruitful strategic partnership in space programmes since the ’60s.
Bengaluru :
Then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with then French President Francois Mitterrand in 1981
France and India, according to Consul General of France, Dr Marjorie Vanbaelinghem, have had an intense and fruitful strategic partnership in space programmes since the ’60s. And now, an online exhibition on Indo-French partnership in space will highlight the major joint breakthroughs. Hosted by Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), it is being showcased at the International Space Conference and Exhibition from Sept. 15 to Oct. 10 and will be available on the virtual stand of CNES/France.
Vanbaelinghem points out, “It is a lesser-known part of our bilateral relationship and common history. The exhibition, which features beautiful photos, is in itself an illustration of this bond of friendship as it is a collaboration between the Alliance Francaise Hyderabad, the CNES bureau of Bangalore and the Space Museum in Hyderabad, whose curator, Pranav Sharma, gives a fascinating account of the more humane side of this enterprise.” For instance, the Ariane Passenger PayLoad Experiment (APPLE) – the experimental communication satellite successfully launched by Ariane-1 – from Kourou, French Guiana, on June 19, 1981, marked an important milestone in India’s space programme.
APPLE was designed and built as a sandwich passenger-carrying Meteosat on top and Capsule Ariane Technologique. VIKRAM engine was developed by India by learning from liquid propulsion technology developed by CNES and shared with India after Societe Europeenne de Propulsion (SEP)-ISRO Agreement signed in 1974.
According to Sharma, who has curated India’s first interdisciplinary Space Museum in Hyderabad and is passionate about sharing the Indian history of science, the exhibition is an attempt to explore friendship between the two countries. “This exhibition is an extension to its predecessor that was hosted at WINGS-India 2020 in Hyderabad as a travelling exhibition.
This version brings interesting insights and personal memoirs of people and their families involved during the transfer of liquid propulsion technology,” he says, adding that it’s meant for anyone, but may particularly be of interest to students and those interested in the history of science.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / September 13th, 2020
KIA has the largest air cargo terminal in south India, with a handling capacity of 570,000 MT and an average travel time of nine hours from major manufacturing clusters across south India. | Photo Credit: K_MURALI_KUMAR
The facility will help re-export of goods, long-term storage of bonded cargo, assist in partial clearances and allow value-added services
With an aim to make Kempegowda International Airport (KAI) a cargo hub, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) recently opened what is said to be India’s first on-Airport Public Bonded Warehouse, which is expected to reduce supply chain costs and facilitate trade in and around Bengaluru.
According to BIAL, the facility will help re-export of goods, long-term storage of bonded cargo, assist in partial clearances and allow value-added services such as labelling, packing and re-packing services.
The 10,000 sq.ft. warehouse facility will be operated by Cargo Service Centre (CSC) and fall under the jurisdiction of the City Commissionerate, Bengaluru Customs.
A BIAL spokesperson said that KIA was the third busiest cargo airport in the country and the busiest in south India. “The new facility will play a significant role in boosting the economy of the region by improving trade and connecting markets around the world,” the spokesperson said.
KIA processed 99,154 MT of cargo between April and August 2020, recording a 92% growth in Cargo Air Traffic Movements. KIA has the largest air cargo terminal in south India, with a handling capacity of 570,000 MT and an average travel time of nine hours from major manufacturing clusters across south India.
To bring further efficiencies into cargo operations, BIAL has announced implementation of the Air Cargo Community System to streamline the air logistics supply chain.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / September 11th, 2020
Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar has said that the Kadechur-Badiyal Industrial Area in Yadgir district will shortly get a Bulk Drug Farm Park on 1,000 acres of land.
He was addressing reporters after visiting the industrial area on Tuesday.
He said that the proposed Bulk Drug Farm Park will come up on 1,000 acres of land as Raichur MP Raja Amareshwar Naik has shown special interest in bringing such a park to the region. He has also submitted a proposal to Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D.V. Sadananda Gowda.
“We have reserved the required 1,000 acres of land out of the 3,300 acres that has been acquired in the industrial area. A delegation will be taken to Delhi to discuss the proposal with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Sadananda Gowda,” Mr. Shettar said and added that this industry will help develop the district.
Recalling Invest Karnataka-Hubballi that was held in Hubballi, the Minister said that nearly a 1,000 industrialist-delegates participated and 43 memorandums of understanding had been signed.
“As many as 15 companies have shown interest in establishing factories in the Kadechur-Badiyal Industrial Area. After the Invest meet, ₹ 31,000 crore was proposed to be invested to develop industries in the State,” he added.
Mr. Shettar said that remarkable changes had been brought in by the industrial policy, and an authority has been constituted to give a boost to tier 2 and tier 3 cities. A Special Investment Region Area has been adopted in the policy covering Dharwad, Kalaburagi and Shivamogga and these areas will see considerable growth, he added.
The Karnataka Industries (Facilitation) Act 2002 has been amended giving certain relaxations to industrialists and the required land will be allotted to them. According to the amendment, industries with less than ₹ 15 crore capital will get the necessary approvals from the district administrations and those with more than ₹ 15 crore capital will get approvals from a committee headed by the Chief Minister and himself. “Industrialists can start their industries immediately after applying for permission without any waiting period. This was the first such reforms in the country,” Mr. Shettar said.
‘Meaningless remarks’
Reacting sharply to Monday’s remarks by the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Mr. Shetter said that “his remarks are meaningless. Initially, he was saying that the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress had toppled the coalition government. Now, he is saying that it was the drug mafia. He will change his versions according to the circumstances he is in. He could have instead revealed the right reason why the coalition government collapsed.”
Mr. Raja Amareshwar Naik, Chairman of Nijasharana Ambigara Chowdayya Development Board Baburao Chinchansur, MLA Shivaraj Patil, MLC B.G. Patil, BJP district president Sharanabhupal Reddy and Chandrashekhargouda Maganur and others were present.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Yadgir – September 01st, 2020
Picking up the thread of my last week’s narration about the historic Lushington Bridge at Shivanasamudra and my dismay at its botched up restoration in the present era, I would like to take you back by two centuries and give you some refreshingly different and very interesting information from its glorious past.
You may recall that I had said last week that I had written about this bridge once before some years ago. Yes I had and very soon after I wrote about it I received a phone call from Mrs. Tara Ravikumar, a seventh generation descendant of Ramaswami Mudaliar, an officer under the British Government who nearly two centuries ago had almost rebuilt and restored the bridge across the Cauvery River with the expertise and skills of the local stone masons. She had called up to say that her family still had in its possession the Sanad or endowment document that gave Ramaswami Mudaliar a large Jagir or permanent endowment of many villages and vast stretches of land as a reward for the good act of public service that he did in his time, now making him a Jagirdar. She had added that she also had in her possession a medal of honour given on behalf of the then British Governor General.
Although I had told her that I was most eager to see these two extremely valuable artefacts, I somehow never got around to doing it. Though the two of us would occasionally meet each other at functions like weddings and book releases and she would always remind me about my pending visit to her place, my visit itself had never materialised. That was until last Thursday when it had to materialise if I had to write about the bridge the next day! So my wife and I hurriedly dropped in on her to see the two objects which have been preserved remarkably, in mint condition even as they have travelled through six generations!
1. The inscription on the obverse of the medal. 2. The image of the bridge engraved on the face of the medal. 3. The idols of Ramaswami Mudaliar and his wife at Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple.
The Sanad written in a most beautiful and flawless longhand, without a single correction whatsoever is an imposingly large scroll of crisp parchment which I was scared to touch or handle for fear of spoiling its pristine condition, although Tara most graciously asked me to go ahead and take a closer look! But I did not have the courage and decided that I would just quickly click a few photographs of it while she and my wife carefully held it open.
It places on record not only the grant of the absolute rights and the title of the Jagir granted to Ramaswami Mudaliar by the Governor General at Madras but it also extensively lists in great detail the names and locations of the villages and the extents of the lands around them with their survey numbers!
The document is authenticated by an impressive wax seal of authority which although naturally a little cracked by the passage of the two centuries it has silently seen, is still completely intact! Just to safeguard the two of her most priceless possessions I told Tara to desist from showing them to the many eager people who may naturally approach her for the favour after reading my article about them. I only hope she will be able to do it!
The golden medal too is no less impressive, being a large and heavy nugget, hand crafted and hand engraved painstakingly, with a synopsis on one side of what the document says in much greater detail. On its other side it has an engraving of the curved bridge itself with the towers of the two temples that still stand with it even to this day.
The curve is crucial here because the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society places on record the fact that Ramaswami while writing to his superiors about the design of the bridge has made a mention of it as a feature he has incorporated in its design to enable it to better resist and withstand the onslaught of floodwaters during the peak of the monsoon. A really marvellous incorporation indeed in a bygone era of an engineering technique that we now find in almost every one of our dams built in the modern era which happen to be invariably curved rather than straight!
The inscription on the medal reads: “Political Department, Bangalore, 9th, October, 1834. His Excellency the Rt Honourable Govr GENERAL of India in council Being desirous of testifying his sense of the public spirit manifested by Ramasawmy Moodelliar at having at a great Expense restored the ancient Bridges across the Cauvery River at Siva Samoodram has been pleased to resolve that the Individual & his lineal descendants shall be permitted to be eligible to affix to their names the TITLE of “Iunapacara Curtas” signifying One who Confers a Benefit on the public. In COMMEMORATION of which this Medal has been struck and is presented to RAMASAWMY MOODELLIAR by his sincere friend John Sullivan during whose official charge of the province of Coimbatoor these useful works were undertaken.”
Now my friends, that is not all. This was what an appreciative and grateful administration did to recognise and place on record the services of a sincere and hard-working officer for going beyond the call of his duty and doing much good to his people. But I feel that the way in which the humble inhabitants of the Island of Shivanasamudra to whom he provided some much needed connectivity with the rest of the world, went a step further and honoured the man merits a mention here.
They made him a demi-God and placed him alongside their principal presiding deity, whom they all worshipped, day in and day out. That is why if you happen to visit the imposing Ranganathaswamy Temple at Shivanasamudra you will still find the images of Ramaswami Mudaliar and his wife, both carved from a single stone, standing there, draped in silken attire. The villagers adorn them with fragrant flowers and worship them too, even to this day, just like they have been worshipping their God over the centuries, with bowed heads, trembling lips and folded hands! That is the kind of simple and humble gratitude that dwells unchanged over the centuries in our rustic souls!
e-mail: kjnmysore@rediffmail.com
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Columns – Over A Cup of Evening Tea / by Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem M.D. / August 28th, 2020
Under the guidance of textile expert Pavithra Muddaya, 40 women have tried their hands at needlework on furnishings, which will be up for sale online
Vimor founder Pavithra Muddaya
Bengaluru :
In February, when Pavithra Muddaya, founder of Vimor, identified marginalised women in Gadag who would be trained for three months, she hadn’t imagined that the works by “raw hands” would be up for sale six months down the line.
Forty women worked their magic of English hand embroidery on the dead stock bought from weavers. Cushion covers, runners, curtains, stoles, quilts, and masks will be up on the virtual pop-up on September 12. It is organised by make up artist Dipthi Aashok and image evangelist Bia Sandhu Taneja.
It all started with Muddaya wanting to help women affected by the flood in North Karnataka. One thing led to another and she finally zeroed-in on a marginalised group in Gadag.
In February, two experienced trainers, Robert and Kairul, started teaching these women, and despite the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, one of the trainers continued with the classes as and when it was possible.
“A second batch was also started during the lockdown, because we simply couldn’t say no to a group which was so enthusiastic to learn. Next, we plan to hold a similar session with the differently-abled,” says Muddaya, who has just been informed that the Department of Women and Child Development has given them a building, Strishakti Bhavan, where classes can be conducted.
While everyone has been asking about sarees, which Vimor has been known for considering that even former prime minister Indira Gandhi bought sarees here, Muddaya didn’t want to overwhelm women who were newly introduced to this art.
“The weavers, though, worked through the lockdown with whatever yarn they had. In fact, they now call them ‘corona sarees’,” she says with a laugh. But back to training women, Muddaya had hoped that it would create a ripple effect.
“In fact, our initial idea was to hold three-month training sessions where women would be trained for second month and the third would be a teacher training programme which would enable them to go to other villages and teach others,” she says.
Finding that the pandemic has put lot of people on the back foot, both financially and morally, Aashok points out that this is an attempt to step up the morale. “A part of the proceeds will be going to the Vimor Foundation, because we want to empower weavers through training, mentorship,and support,” she says, adding that the biggest challenge is curating this pop up, which will feature clothes and lifestyle products. They are doing it on Zoom, which is a first for the team.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Vidya Iyengar / Express News Service / August 24th, 2020
As a student and young professional, Saveen Hegde always assumed that oration is an inherent skill.
Saveen Hegde
Bengaluru :
As a student and young professional, Saveen Hegde always assumed that oration is an inherent skill. That was until he was one of two persons to represent India at the 86th Annual International Convention which was held at Vancouver, Canada in August 2017. Now on August 27, Hegde will address a gathering from around the world at the International Convention of Toastmasters’ first-ever Virtual Convention, where he will talk about design thinking in the 30-minute slot. The 34-year old is the only person to represent South Asia and South East Asia region (Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Mynamar, Bhutan, Vietnam and Malaysia). While it was supposed to be held in Paris, the pandemic has led to the summit going virtual.
In his upcoming talk, Hegde, who has a certification from Harvard Business School, will delve into design thinking as a way of life. “It’s important to incorporate creativity and flexibility in the work space. Design thinking combines creative and critical thinking that allows information and ideas to be organised, decisions to be made and situations to be improved. It’s about looking at a business from an artist’s point of view,” says Hegde, who decided to start his own firm, unboxexperience.com, after leaving an automobile design company in 2011.
Around the same time, Hegde felt the need to hone his public speaking skills. “I then came across Toastmasters’ clubs and felt that a platform where feedback is provided would help,” he says. Hegde is also an improvisational theatre artiste who performed over 300 live performances in four countries for over 2,00,000 people. He is the founder of the Indian Improv Tribe and learned improv theatre at the UCB Theatre in New York, and has played a cameo in two South Indian movies – Humble Politician Nograj and the upcoming Ten.
While he previously feared acceptance, especially on a global forum, regular participation in Toastmasters’ programmes have rid those. “This summit is different from the World Championship, which I previously participated in. This is not a competition but instead it has 14 select educational speakers from across the world. Some years ago, a non-native English speaker won the World Championship, which broke the glass ceiling about how anyone can do it,” he says.
The takeaways from the session, Hedge points out, will be learning why design thinking is effective for leaders in today’s changing world; using it to develop an open, flexible mindset; and applying it to better organise ideas and improve situations.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Vidya Iyengar / Express News Service / August 19th, 2020
Through the years of its widening reach, aficionados as well as critics of social media platforms have agreed on one thing — that it has democratised expression of opinion.
Mayank Bidawatka (left) and Aprameya Radhakrisha
Bengaluru :
Through the years of its widening reach, aficionados as well as critics of social media platforms have agreed on one thing — that it has democratised expression of opinion. Turns out, there is a lot of scope left to expand the web to more users. This is what the founders of Koo App aim to do with their micro-blogging site, which enables Indians to express themselves in local languages. It was recently selected among the winners of the government’s Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge.
Koo, which was launched in March, is available in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. “Just 10 per cent of our country understands English. Over a billion speak one of the hundreds of languages and dialects that we have,” says Mayank Bidawatka, who co-founded the platform with Aprameya Radhakrishna. “Twitter largely caters to the English-speaking urban audiences.
Catering to regional audiences needs a fair amount of Indianisation of the product,” adds the city-based entrepreneur, who is upbeat about being one of the 24 winners from 7,000 entries. The innovation challenge was held to identify the best Indian apps in eight categories that are already being used by citizens and can become world-class platforms. Koo shared the second spot in the social networking category with the writing app, YourQuote, while short video app Chingari stood first.
The idea for Koo struck the founders after they came up with Vokal, an expert-based knowledge-sharing platform in Indian languages. “There was no microblog for regional Indian language speakers,” says Bidawatka, a graduate from Asian Institute of Management, Manila, and a former banker. They made the product in some months and first test-marketed it in micro-geographies. So far, Koo has had about eight lakh downloads, and the founders hope to cross 1 million by August-end.
The app has various features like a keyboard that auto-transliterates the English script to the target Indian language. Its people feed shows the top creators, and users can view who visited their profile. Creators can ‘koo’ through 400 characters of text or 1-minute audio or video. “All instructions are in Indian languages,” says Bidawatka, revealing that while he uses the platform in Hindi, Radhakrishna ‘koos’ mostly in Kannada.
“Koo already has Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Mansukh Mandaviya, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan, and celebrities like Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Sadhguru, Ashutosh Rana and Ashish Vidyarthi using it.
They have seen more traction on Koo because of the use of an Indian language,” says Bidawatka, who hopes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join soon too. “There are very few platforms that prominent Indian personalities can use,” he adds. “They’d love to use Koo because it helps connect the best of India with the rest of India.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Pallavi Srivatsava / Express News Service / August 13th, 2020
Software by city-based brothers looks at helping screenwriters, with options to pen their work in regional languages.
Prashanth and Praveen Udupa
Bengaluru :
When Covid-19 struck India, Bengaluru-based brothers Prashanth and Praveen Udupa knew it would be a long time before their venture would be allowed to open doors again. The two are co-founders of a mini theatre called TERIFLIX, which is currently shut due to safety concerns. But instead of rueing the situation, they decided to look at the other end of the spectrum, and shifted their focus from exhibiting films to helping those involved with writing them instead.
This gave birth to Scrite – a screenplay writing software that allows screenwriters to write in Hindi, Kannada, Sanskrit, Odiya, Tamil and more. So far, they have seen 500 unique installations, including from users in France, UK and USA.Prashanth, who has written the code, says the idea came from his passion of reading and writing screenplays. “When I was trying to write a screenplay, I remember thinking how I wish the app would have responded better to me. Most tools let you write in a linear format but I wanted something that would let me visually capturing the structure of the story,” explains the 38-year-old.
While one would think that all you need to write a screenplay is a blank writing document, Prashanth explains how a screenwriting software doesn’t just provide you a canvas to pen down your story, but also gives you tools that help planning the production and pre-production stages of a project. “For example, we have tools like character report – which when chosen for a particular actor, compiles all the scenes he or she appears in, while highlighting the particular dialogues for them,” adds Prashanth.
Other features that Scrite, for which filmmaker Surya Vasishta contributed towards UI/UX, offers: Location reports (that compiles the number of day and night scenes in a particular setting, which could help in scheduling), character screen matrix reports (which chart out all the characters present in a particular scene) and more.
Currently in beta phase, the duo is seeking feedback for the open source code software, which was developed in three weeks during the first lockdown. New features are currently in the works, including one that allows for more collaboration. “Sometimes, the people who write the dialogues are not the same as the person who writes the screenplay. Multiple writers can be involved with a script so the new feature will look at making it easier for them,” he says.
The tool offers samples of screenplays of Bhinna, animated film Punyakoti, The Matrix and more, so as to help students as well. “The idea was never about making a revenue. We just want to add value to different aspects of filmmaking – be it writing or exhibiting,” says Praveen. Currently, the software (available on Scrite.io) is free to run.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Simran Ahuja / Express News Service / July 30th, 2020
The mobile RT-PCR testing laboratory created by IISc. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The first set of mobile laboratories designed by a team at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) is ready to be deployed and will be handed over to the State government shortly.
Speaking to The Hindu days after being appointed, IISc. director Govindan Rangarajan said the faculty members were engaged in many areas of research on COVID-19. “One of our labs is working on an indigenous vaccine in collaboration with an IISc.-incubated startup. We are also developing test kits that are less expensive and yield faster results. A research team has designed mobile labs for RT-PCR testing that can be dispatched to remote areas, and these are ready to be deployed and will be handed over to the State government shortly. A COVID-19 test centre has also been set up on campus. Our researchers have built prototypes of low-cost scalable ventilators made with locally available components,” he said.
The team developing the mobile labs said one sample collection, sample processing, and sample testing lab each was being handed over to the State government this week. Together, these three labs will enable the processing of up to 200 samples a day — from collection to final RT-PCR test report. “With the flexibility of deployment anywhere in the State, MITR Labs enable a critical tool in the COVID-19 response in the State by reducing the turnaround time for test results. Depending on where the Health Department sees the most need for testing and the longest delay in getting test results, MITR Labs can be deployed near that location,” said Sai Siva Gorthi, associate professor, Instrumentation and Applied Physics, IISc.
The team at ShanMukha Innovations, a company incubated at the Society for Innovation and Development, IISc., is geared up to produce additional units of MITR Labs through their network of vehicle, fabrication, and equipment suppliers. It has started working with the State government to share the benefits of the solution and generate demand to drive the scale-up plans.
Predictions
Prof. Rangarajan also said that another important line of research being carried out was predicting the future course of this pandemic and the effects of various containment measures, which could be of immediate use to policymakers and public health experts. An app that can help identify people who may have crossed paths with COVID-19 patients is also being deployed, he said.
Stressing the need for institutions and governments to learn to work together during these unprecedented times, he said the pandemic was a reminder of the importance of coming together to work on scientific and technological solutions to society’s most pressing problems. “We will continue working on such solutions and will engage with industry and government agencies to ensure that they are rapidly deployed to tackle this crisis,” he added.
Asked about the challenges ahead administratively and academically, the IISc. director said the first priority was ensuring the safety of students, faculty and staff as they start working towards resuming normal teaching and research activities. “The other pressing need is to ensure the mental well-being of our students and to help them navigate through these difficult times. We are currently making plans for the next academic year and are discussing issues related to providing further support for COVID-19 research.”
For the coming academic year, admission interviews were conducted online. “We will also have to do the same for comprehensive exams and thesis defence. Discussions are on about how to hold classes, although they are also likely to be conducted remotely. The same is true for placement interviews,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by K.C.Deepika / Bengaluru – July 26th, 2020
