To encourage management students to take up entrepreneurship, Hubballi-based Institute of Management Studies and Research has organised a two-day ‘StartUp Fest-15’ on Friday and Saturday.
According to a release issued by director of KLE Society’s IMSR Prasad Roodagi, the event took shape after the ‘Make In India’ call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and developed keeping in mind the subsequent economic development and emerging opportunities in the field of entrepreneurship in the country.
As many as 25 teams are participating in the event.
Prof. Roodagi has said that the event was exclusively for students from undergraduate courses who are on the verge of completion of their degree exams and looking for building a successful career.
While each event would have three prizes, teams with highest score in all the events will be adjudge as general champion.
Registrar (Evaluation) of Karnatak University M. Basavanna will inaugurate the management festival on Friday at 9.30 a.m.
Event is only for undergraduates about to complete their degree exams
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Girish Pattanashetti / Hubballi – March 27th, 2015
R. Shashishekar, Deputy Project Director of MOM, H.S. Venkatesh and R. Narayan, Group Directors, who were felicitated during the valedictory of techNIEks-2015 at the NIE Diamond Jubilee Indoor Sports Complex on Manandavadi road here yesterday, are seen with other dignitaries.
Mysuru :
Three scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), who are the alumni of The National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysuru, were felicitated by the Institute for their significant role in the launching of Mangalyan as part of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM).
Deputy Project Director MOM R. Shashishekar, Group Directors SR SPS H.S. Venkatesh and R. Narayan are the alumni who were honoured by NIE during the valedictory programme of techNIEks-2015 held at the NIE Diamond Jubilee Indoor Sports Complex, Manandavadi Road here yesterday.
The three scientists graduated from NIE with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. The institution has provided many professionals to ISRO of whom 5 are working on the MOM.
During a technical session on MOM, Shashishekar said that India has sufficient resources in space technology and delved on the benefits of MOM. He also said that space projects were highly expensive and hence they can’t afford to do any mistakes. He also added that the propellants used are very risky while containing them is a challenge. He further added that the job they do is hazardous and that they accept the challenge without any fear. Venkatesh went down the memory lane and recalled his days in the college.
NIE Principal G.L. Shekar addressed the gathering and said that the institute is proud of its alumni for contributing to the nation’s success and added that felicitating them would motivate budding engineers.
President of NIE Managing Committee Srinath Batni presided over the function.
Secretary NIE Managing Committee S.K. Lakshminarayana was present.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / March 15th, 2015
Shaun D’Souza, a final-year student of forensic science at Jain University, had a penchant for multiple forms of expression — be it prose, poetry or performing arts — ever since he was a child. Now, he is trying to perfect slam poetry with relentless vigour.
It was after attending a few workshops organised by ‘Airplane Poetry Movement’ last year that he got interested in it. “Slam poetry is one which expresses a personal story or struggle in a very intense form. The idea of slam poetry is simple — have something to say, write it down and be brave enough to recite. The poem will turn out sincere and moving and the poet’s writing and presentation skills improve as you go along,” he says.
He has taken part in a number of slams, shared stage with many artistes and won a number of slams conducted by the ‘Airplane Poetry Movement’ as part of their workshops and at college fests like META in St Joseph’s Pre-University College and the cultural fest at RV College of Engineering. He is also part of a project of ‘Armed WithThe Arts’ called ‘Poetry Slam for Peace’, which involves individuals from around the globe writing works related to peace and sharing them online.
Though slam poetry faces many challenges here as it attracts a niche audience, Shaun is trying to promote the art in a big way. “People generally come for workshops if they are under the banner of theatre, hip hop, or stage/public talk but poetry itself is considered as boring and abstract. One has to find a way to make performance poetry fun and at the same time, not lose the essence of poetry itself.” To improve on his slam poetry further, he is working with an Australian poet, Tim Lo Surdo, and is also propagating ‘Open Sky Slam’, a project which aims to convert dead spaces to performative spaces.
“Slam poetry is still growing in the City and it hasn’t caught the attention that it deserves. I’m looking forward to be a part of a giant community of performing artistes, who, co-dependently, encourage slam for art and peace. As this form still remains under-rated in India, Tim and I are working towards decentralising the concept of ‘Open Sky Slam’ so that every performing artistes throughout the world is encouraged to come and present their skill,” says Shaun.
And that’s not all. Shaun is a freestyle swimmer who has been making waves in the pool ever since he was five. He says that support from his parents and rigorous training at Basvanagudi Aquatic Centre has helped him. Shaun has swum in the national meet in 2011 and has bagged many medals. He has also represented Jain University in the All India University Meet held in 2012 at Kolkata, 2013 at Amritsar and 2014 at Bengaluru.
In 2011, he was awarded four medals at the School Nationals in Kolkata. “My biggest achievement was qualifying for the ‘Asian Age Group Championship’, Tokyo in 2009, and also winning the ‘Best Swimmer Award Championship’ at a National Meet.”
Though Shaun quit professional swimming last year, he considers it as his first love and says that it has taught him many lessons. “Swimming is a lot like doing maths as it requires a lot of practice. In India, it is hard to get to the point of qualifying for an international meet as it requires a lot of sacrifices, which my parents chose to make without hesitance, such as procuring the finances to support swimming kits. However, swimming taught me a lot of life lessons that I would not have been able to learn,” he says.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> MetroLife / by Anushka Sivakumar, Bengaluru /DHNS – March 19th, 2015
Three of the five awards bagged by the State were for projects by Indian Institute of Science students.— file Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.
The haul this year is more than all previous years combined
With five awards — including three for students of Indian Institute of Science — Karnataka occupies top position among those chosen for the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) award.
Over 1,700 nominations
The fourth edition of the science awards received over 1,700 nominations, covering more than 50 technological specialisations. Eventually, 17 projects were selected for the award for their ability to address social, environmental or technological problems, or the potential to impact a pressing national need.
Bengaluru, with four projects, emerged first when comparing cities in the list, and IISc. had the largest share when comparing institutions.
The haul this year is more than the awards given to institutions here cumulatively over the last three years. In 2014, just one project from the State was selected, while in 2013, it was two. The first edition saw no award coming the city’s way.
This year, Shiva Kumar H.R., Medical Engineering and Language Engineering Lab, IISc., was selected for developing a user-friendly tool that converts printed books in any language to Braille. A project to evaluate blood pressure and arterial compliance with a simple device won the six-member team, represented by Sharath Umesh from the Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics, IISc., the 2015 award.
Amit A. Vernekar, working at the Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, IISc., was recognised for his work on ‘Novel nanozyme technology for combating oxidative stress related disorders’ that may lead to cures for ageing-related issues, cardiac disorders and several neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
The development of a new antibiotic that fights drug-resistant bacteria won Venkateswarlu Yarlagadda and his five-member team from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) the award.
A project to monitor wounds and analysis through image processing on mobiles, proposed by Abhiraj Gupta from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, was the otheraward-winner.
The awards come with a purse of Rs. 50,000, and were recently given away at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Mohit M.Rao / Bengaluru – March 15th, 2015
The United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council (MRC) and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) have entered into a 3.5-million pound agreement, under which the Bengaluru-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) will work with the University of Cambridge to unearth the multiple causes of cancer.
While the UK’s MRC is keen on application-based research, the NCBS has also been pursuing a similar research line. All the prime research bodies from both the countries have been invited to set up their best teams on cancer research. This project will be carried out under the MRC-DBT Joint Centre for Cancer Biology and Therapeutics. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that the number of new cancer cases will rise by about 70 per cent over the next two decades.
Describing the joint effort, Prof K Vijay Raghavan, secretary, Department of Biotechnology, said, “The Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, is delighted to partner with the MRC in creating research centres that will address the vexing challenges in medicine, through quality science and collaboration.”
Dr Mark Palmer, MRC director of International Strategy, has put the collaboration in perspective. “With a 100-year history of strategic international collaboration, the MRC scientists today work with researchers in more than 100 countries. We know diseases don’t recognise international borders and that addressing health problems around the world demands a global response. These partnerships between excellent scientists in India and the UK is a key part of our international effort to pool expertise and resources, and deliver research that will make a real difference to global health.” On his NCBS page, Dr Sudhir Krishna has written that cervical cancer, a major cause of female mortality in the developing world, is caused by high-risk human papillomaviruses.
“Papillomavirus belongs to the family of small DNA tumour viruses and the study of these agents has been extraordinarily influential in driving key concepts in cancer biology. Our laboratory for over two decades has been interested in the signals that complement the function of papillomavirus oncogenes (for review see Malliekal T. et al., Oncogene 2008) and our focus has been on the role of Notch signaling.”
Tumours
Krishna has also said that in recent times, it has been found that unique sub-sets of cells with enhanced tumorigenic functions and resistance to conventional therapy, drive many tumours. “The origin and nature of such cellular heterogeneity is of enormous clinical significance. However, even in extensively characterised tumours like human breast cancers, no clear consensus has emerged on the biological features including plasticity, differentiation status, mechanism of induction or evolution of metastatic characteristics in such subsets.”
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / by Prashant GN / DHNS – Bengaluru , March 15th, 2015
Geetha N, who secured 13 gold medals, and Kunduru Bharath, who got 7 gold medals, at the 49th convocation of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru on Saturday.— Photo: V Sreenivasa Murthy
Geetha N. graduated with a record 13 gold medals
All that this poor farming family from Doddaballapur taluk has is one acre of land which fetches them just Rs. 11,000 a year.
But, they have a ‘golden daughter’. Geetha N., daughter of Narasimha Murthy and Chikkathayamma, graduated with a record number of 13 gold medals at the convocation of the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bangalore here on Saturday.
“My parents were not in a position to bear my educational expenses when I got a seat for an agricultural course. So I took an educational loan to support my studies,” says Geetha, who is now pursuing her post-graduate studies in Agricultural Genetics and Plant Breeding with a fellowship from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
Excitedly showing her parents the box of gold medals, Geetha said, “Though my parents did not have money, they did everything for me to excel in studies and I owe my success to them.”
Having experienced the difficulties of a marginal farming family, her dream is to become a researcher in the field of genetics and plant breeding in a bid to do something good for farmers in distress. “I am pained to see farmers in distress, especially owing to crash in prices. I want to do something for them,” she said.
Geetha also has plans to set up a non-governmental organisation to help farmers. “Please do not quit farming as that is our backbone,” is her plea to youth who quit agriculture to move to cities in search of menial jobs. Similarly, A.P.-based Kundur Bharath, who graduated with seven gold medals, also hails from a farming family. He too wants to serve the farming community by becoming a researcher.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by B.S. Satish Kumar / Bengaluru – March 15th, 2015
Vedic scholars, who were felicitated at a function organised by Vedashastra Poshini Sabha at Sarada Vilas Centenary Hall in city yesterday, are seen with Saraswathi Samman awardee Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa, Sabha President B.N. Nagaraj Bhat, Vice-President A.N. Venkatakrishna, Secretary A.M. Chandrashekar and others.
Mysuru :
“To eradicate the caste system in India, the social, economic, educational and intellectual levels of people should improve,” said novelist, Saraswathi Samman awardee and National Professor Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa.
He was speaking at a function organised by Vedashastra Poshini Sabha at Sarada Vilas Centenary Hall in Krishnamurthypuram here yesterday to felicitate the Vedic scholars with awards.
Dr. Bhyrappa pointed out that casteism was absent among NRIs in the US but it was rampant in India. He said that during ancient times, caste symbolised the race and profession of a person but gradually casteism became an evil in society. He advised people to encourage inter-caste marriages to improve the health of society.
Veda Vidyanidhi award
Veda Vidyanidhi awards were presented to Vid. M. Venkatakrishna Jois of Shivamogga, Vid. K.N. Markandeya Avadhani of Mathur, Vid. N. Narasimha Shastri of Mandya and Vid. Lakshminarayana Bhat of Shivamogga.
Shastra Vidyanidhi award
Shastra Vidyanidhi awards were presented to Vid. K. Parameshwar Aithal, Vid. K.P. Shankar Somayyaji and Vid. D.V. Harikrishna Tantri from Udupi; Vid. D. Prahlad Acharya and Vid. K.G. Subraya Sharma of Bengaluru and Vid. S. Srinivas Adiga of Saligrama.
Dr. Bhyrappa and his wife too were felicitated on the occasion.
Former Governor of Bihar and retired High Court Judge Rama Jois, MLC G. Madhusudhan, Sabha President B.N. Nagaraj Bhat, Vice-Presidnet A.N. Venkatakrishna and Secretary A.M. Chandrashekar were present on the occasion.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Monday ,March 09th, 2015
Sridhar S (22), a visually challenged degree student from Shivamogga, was good at academics. But he couldn’t study for his final-year BA or take the exam simply because no textbooks were available in Braille.
As books were part of old literature, they were not available in digital version either. His father Srinath would read out from the printed textbooks whenever he had time. But that didn’t help Sridhar much as he found it tough to memorize and recall the portions.
Now, an innovation by Shiva Kumar HR, a student at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has made life easier for the likes of Sridhar. Shiva’s innovation helps scan printed books and instantly makes them text compliant for the visually challenged.
Shiva has deservedly bagged the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award for 2015.
The young scientist, who is pursuing his PhD under the guidance of Prof AG Ramakrishnan at the Medical Intelligence and Language Engineering (MILE) Laboratory, department of electrical engineering, IISc, has developed high-accuracy optical character recognizers (OCR) for Kannada and Tamil languages. This converts scanned pages of a printed documentbook into e-text.
By using the OCR along with the Printto-Braille tool, it is easy to scan any printed bookdocument and convert it into Unicode text in a short span of time.The visually challenged person can listen to that e-text through any text to speech (TTS) synthesis software. The etext can also be converted into Braille codes and printed using a Braille embosser. Shiva said the study substance for English and European languages were available in digital and Braille versions for visually challenged. “But not so with Indic languages (classical literature, novels and even school and college books). Here, much of the printed material e-text is not available and hence inaccessible to visually challenged. Converting books into Unicode text by manual typing takes time and is costly,” he added.
It reduces time, cost
Shiva said the high-accuracy OCR cuts down on time and cost. “We have demonstrated it already and found it is possible to convert more books in a short span of time and make them accessible to the visually challenged. The Worth Trust in Chennai has opened a facility using our product.Family members or friends of visually challenged students come and get digitalized or Braille versions of printed textbooks in minutes. The number of the visually challenged in India is over 18 million and the product goes a long way in helping them,” he added.
Applications aplenty
Shiva and team have also developed an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) called Print-to-Braille tool that enables even non technical people to quickly use their OCR and make corrections to the mistakes, if any, in the text output by the OCR. Hundreds of Tamil books, including textbooks, story and general books, have been converted into Braille format, and distributed to the needy.A Kannada version of the software has been given to some voluntary organizations and individuals in Karnataka associated with visually challenged students. Apart from pursuing PhD, Shiva is a software engineer at IBM Software Labs.
Awarded for its social relevance
The award to Shiva has been given by the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) and aims to recognize student projects that have social relevance. Shiva’s work, Gift of New Abilities, was chosen for the award in the Computer Science, Information Technology and Related Fields category. The award was given at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on March 8.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN / March 12th, 2015
There was a special award waiting for Krishnappa at the 15th Annual Convocation of KSOU held here on Thursday. Seventy-eight-year-old Krishnappa, a resident of Kanavanaghatta in Channarayapatna taluk of Hassan district had appeared for MA Sanskrit examination and has passed with 57 per cent and also received a cash prize.
A relentless learner, Krishnappa says that his age never hindered him from appearing for the exam and added that he engaged himself in reading spiritual books after his retirement. Krishnappa also said that Sanskrit was an ocean of knowledge and this had inspired him to take up Master’s in the subject.
Krishnappa says that he wanted to attain spiritual knowledge and hence, read a number of books and added that he would continue to read and acquire knowledge till his last breath.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Thursday – March 05th, 2015
It was a dream come true situation for Suresh Padmukhi, hailing from a family of marginal farmers fighting to make both ends meet, when he went up to the dais to receive five gold medals for his excellent performance in the final year B.Sc in Agriculture from the Governor Vajubhai R. Vala, during the annual convocation of the University at Raichur on Wednesday.
“The support from my parents despite their economic hardships and my hard work made it possible, ” Mr. Padmukhi, hailing from Rukmapur village in Surpur taluk, said. He is now pursuing his post graduation in Genetics and Plant Breeding at the Gandhi Krishi Vignyan Kendra at Bengaluru.
Mr. Padmukhi completed his graduation from the Agriculture College at Bheemarayanagudi in Shahapur taluk. He received five gold medals for scoring the highest marks in Agriculture Entomology, Agriculture Microbiology, Horticulture, Agriculture Economics and for his overall performance in the UAS, Raichur.
He said that he wanted to dedicate the five gold medals and all the honour and praise he received from his teachers and well-wishers to his parents Ashok Padmukhi and Basamma Padmukhi, who were primarily responsible for shaping his academic career.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Correspondent / Yadgir – March 07th, 2015
