Established in 1921, it is one of the oldest in India and Asia
The Department of Biochemistry of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) stepped into its centenary year in 2020. Established in 1921, it is said to be one of the oldest departments not only in India, but in all of Asia. Around 850 students have graduated from the department so far.
P.N. Rangarajan, Chairperson, Department of Biochemistry, told The Hindu that the major achievement has been its students, many of who are now leaders in industry and academia. “One of them J. Padmanabhan – alumni and faculty – became the director of IISc. M.R.S. Rao went on to become the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, and Ram Rajasekharan became the Director of CFTRI-Mysuru,” he said.
The department has planned a major conference and alumni reunion in December, as well as a centenary lecture series that will be held almost every month. On the IISc.’s Open Day on Saturday, it is organising an exhibition highlighting its past and current activities.
Prof. Rangarajan’s own research has led to the development of the hepatitis B vaccine. “At least four vaccines are currently in the market. The hepatitis B component in these vaccines came from the lab of the Department of Biochemistry,” he added.
In a recent issue of the journal Current Science, Prof. Rangarajan lists out the progression of research in the department. This includes ‘research of societal relevance’ in the early years which resulted in the development of methods for conversion of municipal waste into organic manure and fluoride removal from drinking water, to name a few.
The article makes note of key contributions in basic research such as the identification of yeast chromosomes and nuclear membrane.
Ongoing research
At present, a novel drug combination for extremely drug resistant and multi-drug resistant TB, as well as new blood-based biomarker signatures of host genes for diagnosis of tuberculosis and for detecting response to anti-tubercular therapy are being developed, he told The Hindu. “A novel inhibitor of DNA repair enzyme called SCR7 has also been developed in our laboratory. It has the potential to develop as a cancer drug,” said Prof. Rangarajan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by K.C. Deepika / February 28th, 2020
Prof. S. Shettar | File | Photo Credit: K. Gopinathan
‘He was a model for all historians because of his wide-ranging interests and his multidisciplinary approach to research’
S. Settar, 85, historian, who breathed his last early on Friday in Bengaluru, was known for his multidisciplinary work, encompassing linguistics, epigraphy, anthropology, study of religions, and art history.
Family sources said he was suffering from respiratory problems and was hospitalised for over a week. Dr. Settar is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Born in 1935 at Hampasagara, Ballari district, he went on to study at Cambridge University and started his career as a professor of History at Karnatak University, Dharwad, his alma mater.
Dr. Settar worked till the very end and never rested on his past laurels. “A day before he was hospitalised, he was proof-reading and giving final touches to a book,” said N. Ravikumar of Abhinava Prakashana, who has published several of Dr. Settar’s recent publications in Kannada. Dr. Settar had also said he would need two more years of research to finish some of the projects he had taken up recently. He leaves behind many important works ready for publication.
The cover page of S. Settar’s book ‘Modala Sahasramanada Kannada Shasanagalu’ which is ready for publication.
Early Buddhist Artisans and their Architectural Vocabulary, a result of his recent research at Kanaganahalli near Sannati, Kalaburagi district, is set to be published by Manipal University Press. For the first time, he had put together all Kannada inscriptions of the first millennium in an eight-volume work, covering 220 inscriptions. He had also compiled a dictionary of every word for over 25 classical Kannada poetry. All these works will be published this year, Mr. Ravikumar said.
Dr. Settar’s early and important works in the 1970s were in the realm of Jain philosophy and ritual death (Sallekhana), with critically acclaimed books such as Inviting Death: Historical Experiments on Sepulchral Hill.
He also wrote extensively on Hoysala and Vijayanagar sculptural heritage. He edited several scholarly volumes on various epochs of Indian and Karnataka’s history. He served as director of the National Museum Institute of the History of Art, Conservation and Museology in 1978 and as chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research in 1996. He was also a visiting professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru.
It was in recent years that Dr. Settar shifted focus to studying the evolution of the Kannada language and literature with multidisciplinary approach and had chosen to write in Kannada. He believed that his choice of language made his work more accessible. Dr. Settar’s works in Kannada, including Shangam-Tamilagam Kannada Naadu Nudi, and Halagannada Lipi Lipikaara Lipi Vyavasaya are regarded as landmarks. His most recent work was Prakrita Jagadwalaya in 2018.
Noted historian and his student S.K. Aruni said Dr. Settar was “a model for all historians” because of his wide-ranging interests and his multidisciplinary approach to research. He drew from art history, linguistics and philosophy, and strictly followed an evidence-based approach to history, often revising popularly held notions and sometimes changing his stands when new evidence came up. For instance, his 2007 work Shangam-Tamilagam …, which won the Bhasha Samman from the Sahitya Akademi, proved many of the poets of the Sangam period in Tamil were Kannadigas.
“Using linguistics and epigraphy, he re-imagined the ancient history of Karnataka,” Dr. Aruni said.
A polymath, he had a keen interest in music, art, and cinema as well. He even wrote several short stories under the pen name ‘Priyadarshini’ through the 1970s and 1980s. He had a wide collection of art and sculpture.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by K V Aditya Bharadwaj & Aditya Bharadwaj / Bengaluru – February 28th, 2020
Students of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Chikkodi in Belagavi district have won an award instituted by the Union government for their electronics project.
Students Shreeraksha, Md. Owais and Lakshmi have designed a home security system, home appliance control and mobile phone detector project. They demonstrated this working model at the District Institute of Education and Training and won the Inspire-MANAK Award that carries a prize of ₹ 10,000.
Kendriya Vidyalaya principal Sudhir Sharma has congratulated the work experience teacher Ravi Singh who worked with the students in the project.
Kendriya Vidyalaya Chikkodi students have won the first, second and third places at the district level in India’s online science competition, Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – February 28th, 2020
Prof Murthy was born on May 10, 1931 at Hirekogalur in Channagiri taluk of Davanagere district.
Bengaluru :
Noted historian and writer Prof M Chidananda Murthy passed away in the city on Saturday morning. The 89-year old scholar was being treated at a private hospital for age-related issues. His cremation will be held with state honours on Sunday. He is survived by a daughter and a son.
“His wish was that he should not be buried, but cremated. We are just doing it,’’ Prof Murthy’s son Vinay Kumar told The New Sunday Express.
Prof Murthy had worked for protecting monuments of Hampi. He had stated that a few people had been destroying the monuments looking for treasure, believed to be hidden there.
He along with Prof L S Sheshagiri Rao (who passed away recently) had submitted a report to the government on Kannada which played an important role in according the classical language status to it in 2008. Renaming of Hyderabad-Karnataka region as Kalyana Karnataka was one of his demands, which the state government met recently.
Prof Murthy was born on May 10, 1931, at Hirekogalur in Channagiri taluk of Davanagere district. A post-graduate in Kannada from the University of Mysuru, he was greatly influenced by writers like Kuvempu and Pu Thi Narasimhachar and historians like S Srikanta Sastri. He obtained his doctorate from Bangalore University in 1964 for his thesis ‘A cultural study of Kannada inscriptions’.
He authored more than 25 books in Kannada. He is known for criticising the then-Siddaramaiah government’s decision to introduce Tipu Jayanti and accord a separate religion status for Lingayats.
Prof Murthy who had headed the Kannada department of Bengaluru University was a recipient of Kannada Rajyotsava, Nadoja and other awards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled Prof Murthy’s death. “Dr M Chidananda Murthy was a doyen of culture and literature. His passion towards Kannada language was noteworthy and so were his efforts to preserve unique aspects of our rich history. His demise is saddening. Condolences to his family and admirers,’’ Modi tweeted.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa who visited Prof Murthy’s residence on Saturday told reporters that the scholar had worked for the identity of Kannada and the state. “When I was the CM earlier, I had requested him to become an MLC, but he declined citing his old age. He was a straight forward person. Whenever he found someone twisting history, he would react,” he said.
He never used a computer
In the era of Internet, Prof Chidananda Murthy preferred handwritten communication. Whenever he wanted to convey his message to an individual or organisation, he would just use a pen and a paper. Prof Murthy taught epigraphy (inscriptions) at Bangalore University. Noted writer Baraguru Ramachandrappa, one of his students, said, “Even during the typewriter era, he would prefer writing with hand. In fact, he would teach me how to make notes during my PhD. Whenever he read books, he would take notes”, he said. Prof Murthy neither owned a typewriter nor did he use a computer. Noted writer Siddalingiah said whenever there was an issue related to the state or its language, Prof Murthy would write to persons concerned. His handwriting was clear, he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ashwini M Sripad / Express News Service / January 12th, 2020
Four students from a Bengaluru school have bagged topped spots in the Cambridge Assessment International Examinations (CAIE). Their performance was based on tests conducted in the November 2018 and June 2019 Cambridge examination series, the results of which were announced on Friday.
There was celebrations at Inventure Academy as two of their students received ‘Top in the World’ awards for mathematics while two others received ‘Top in the Country’ awards in a range of subjects, including computer science, design and technology, geography, and global perspective and research.
School captain Divij Gupta has topped the world in mathematics for three consecutive years. He is a member of Inventure’s round square youth parliament and football, athletics and music teams. He aspires to pursue theoretical physics at one of the world’s leading universities. “It is a surreal feeling to have bagged three top of the world ranks. It reaffirms my interest in math and motivates me to work harder in the same stream going forward. I am grateful to my teachers, my school and my parents for their continuous support,” he said.
Omkar Ashutosh Kerkar has topped the world in AS-level mathematics. Abhishek Jain topped the country in A-level computer science and received the high achievement award in AS-level design and technology while Indika Kandwal received the high achievement award in A level geography and AS level global perspectives and research.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / November 22nd, 2019
Balkrishna Doshi speaks exclusively to Metrolife about why great Indian architecture hasn’t percolated down to our dwellings, and how technology is robbing us of our intuition.
Doshi has set up a foundation to promote affordable housing in India.
The Indian Institute of Management in Bengaluru celebrated its 46th Foundation on Monday, and unveiled a plaque in honour of its architect Dr Balkrishna Doshi. The legendary Doshi has worked closely with master architects such as Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn. His iconic design for the IIM-B campus is hailed across the world.
During his visit to Bengaluru, Doshi, 92, delivered a lecture titled ‘Between Encounters and Dreams’ at IIM-B.
The Padma Shri awardee and Pritzker Laureate has been instrumental in establishing the Vastu Shilpa Foundation for research in environmental design. The foundation has done pioneering work in low-cost housing and city planning. Metrolife caught up with him for a chat just before the celebrations.
Why do you think Bengaluru has not been able to retain its architectural charm?
Very simply, we are charmed by other cultures and technology and pursue personal interests. We don’t want to bother about environment or society. It is not just in Bengaluru but all over. When you use technology and tools, the personal rapport is reducing. When everybody is busy in their own world, then naturally the real world is not there. How many hours of the day we are using mobile phones and other technology… we really have no time to chat. We don’t talk casually. A few years ago, we would meet friends and talk about things we felt were important to us and then you carried the conversation home. But today, that world doesn’t exist. We have now found alternatives which may be technology and not human and that has become an essential part of our lives. The human values and concerns, ecological concerns, where are they? All the time we are busy.
What are your suggestions to make Bengaluru a better place in an architectural sense?
Why just architecturally, I think it should overall be a better place! How do we improve ourselves if we cut the trees, if we take the foliage, if we don’t go to the gardens and if we don’t have the time to reflect on our natural wealth but widen the roads and move around in cars? In fact, we have never taught people from childhood the real meaning of virtues like togetherness, or ponder over something that is nourishing. Why do people still go to temples? Because it is where they think there is some connection. Now we go to the temple, but our mind is not there. The trees are cut, roads are widened and landscapes are changed; are we gaining anything or losing?
Karnataka has a record of great architecture, right from Badami to Belur – with temples that are beautifully structured. Why didn’t this sense of architecture come down to ordinary folks? Why do you think our cities and homes are so miserably designed ?
When we look at a temple, it is the intangible, an inner calling that we look at. One tries to connect from the inside. Now there is a disconnect. Today, we have become materialistic and technologically oriented. Technology has taken over our spiritual content – the intangible one – where there was reverence, inquiry and an attitude to do things. What is our focus today, what are we searching for and what would it be that would make us the happiest? These are things we don’t want to ask now. We want to do greater and faster production but what about our villages and towns that are gradually shrinking? Ecologically, the natural resources also have depleted, where is the place to remain ourselves? We think it is progress but we are forgetting that progress is connected to something higher and not just restricted to material progress. This is a major problem in planning and architecture.
Which city do you think is architecturally the most pleasing?
Well, the cities in the south are better. Of course, Varanasi is there, but that’s also dying. I did a project there, so I visited it often. Suddenly, there is a wedding procession and the public is still; then after some time, in some other place, the procession of a dead body is making its way and people stop and give way. I have always wondered how Varanasi never had a problem. That city has an underlying meaning to it.
His design vision for IIM-B
‘One of the things that I tried to do at IIM-B was to reverse the order. The IIM campus talks about nature, leisure, casual walks and one’s relationship with nature and the cosmos all the time.’
Quick takes
On what cities are losing:
One of the essentials we had was the gift of intuition, thinking about reverence, togetherness, humility and concern for others… I don’t think they are there anymore.
On being celebrated in films like ‘Ok Kanmani’:
That was by chance (laughs). It was Mani Ratnam who did this and it had nothing to do with me. The more time passes the more reflective you become, so I wonder.
But what I try to do is to find a way to look at time as one of the major elements and energy as another. So, if I can find a way to fuse time and energy and look at production as a meaningful thing, then those projects become important. So, everywhere, I would like to save, recycle, readjust.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> MetroLife / by Surupasree Sarmmah / DH News Service / Bengaluru – October 29th, 2019
Researchers, geologists, environmental scientists, civil engineers, architects and representatives of government establishments will soon be able to analyse geographical data with ease.
Bengaluru :
Researchers, geologists, environmental scientists, civil engineers, architects and representatives of government establishments will soon be able to analyse geographical data with ease.
ISRO will be organising a workshop at Bangalore University on November 18, that will train 20 people on how to use GIS, IRNSS and remote sensing technologies. “The aim is to take these technologies to rural areas,” said ISRO training programme director Dr Ashok D Hanjagi, in a letter recently.
Customised maps of taluks, using GPS, will soon be a reality. With this, one can map the land and even analyse water availability. These tools will help analyse the amount of water available, by amalgamating the data from the water in streams, lakes and wells, according to Hanjagi. In one instance, he remembered how the lake authority benefitted from these tools to analyse catchment areas and watershed areas.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Pearl Maria D’Souza / Express News Service / October 07th, 2019
The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIMB) has retained the number one spot in the full-time two-year Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme in the country in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Masters in Management (MiM) Rankings – 2020 released on Thursday.
Globally, it was in the top 50, with a rank of 26.
In the one-year full-time MBA programme, IIMB has improved its ranking from 71 in 2019 to 44 in 2020 globally in the QS rankings.
“The QS rankings prove that the various initiatives that we have undertaken at IIMB, in terms of graduate employability, entrepreneurship and alumni outcomes, and thought leadership are in the right direction,” said IIMB Director G. Raghuram in a press release.
QS, which conducted the rankings, has featured 250 business schools across the world for rankings.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / September 27th, 2019
These cadets, from the Karnataka and Goa directorate of the NCC, placed eighth in the All India Thal Sainik Camp.
Students were not affected by the academic lag of three months, and were confident of completing their lessons with additional classes.
Bengaluru :
The energy was high among the 40 teenagers who represented Karnataka and Goa at the national Thal Sainik Camp in Delhi. The camp was held for 90 days.
These cadets, from the Karnataka and Goa directorate of the NCC, placed eighth in the All India Thal Sainik Camp. While some of these girls took up the rigorous 90-odd day training just for their of the NCC, others saw it as their breakthrough in to the Defence.”
I want to join the Army. We got to experience a lot in these 90 days, but the biggest takeaway was the discipline and personality grooming we were exposed to. There were times we had to wake up at 3:30 am to prepare for the line area competition,” said Aishwarya, a student of Mount Carmel College, Benglauru.
Maansi A Dixith, who won a silver medal in public speaking, judging distances and field signals, said, “More than 500 students were screened before the directorate picked us. A constant reminder of this kept me afloat. Most of my friends did not make it.”
For Sgt Soudamini Behera, who won a silver for shooting, wearing a uniform was a way to honour her father.
“Seeing my father, a railway employee, in uniform made me aspire to wear one too. With a passion for adventure, I pushed myself to hold a heavy rifle. Every moment was ‘now or never’ at the camp,” she said.
Students were not affected by the academic lag of three months, and were confident of completing their lessons with additional classes. Deputy Director General NCC Lalith Kumar assured support.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Pearl Maria D’Souza / Express News Service / September 30th, 2019
The contest was a initiative by Citizens for Sustainability (CiFoS), in association with the DULT and transport corporations. | Photo Credit: Handout E Mail
10 teams pitched their solutions at an event organised at Mount Carmel College on Saturday
More than a hundred citizens took part in the challenge to provide solutions to the problem of public transport in and around Hebbal, as part of a crowd-sourcing initiative by Citizens for Sustainability (CiFoS), in association with the DULT and transport corporations. Of the 109 registrations for the #ABetterHebbal Design Challenge, 10 shortlisted teams pitched their solutions at an event organised at Mount Carmel College on Saturday.
Hebbal was chosen for this pilot challenge as it is a fast-developing suburb with one of the worst traffic problems. A team comprising architects from Cresarc took the first place with their idea ‘Through the Park’. According to Naveen Mahantesh of Cresarc, their idea is a three-pronged approach to deal with traffic congestion: an underground route, an overhead route to dilute the traffic coming in from all sides and a park.
The park will be a space for the free movement of pedestrians. The team also pitched ideas to control traffic, increase the use of public transport and improve last-mile connectivity. “It’s a brilliant platform. You can present your ideas to people who can make a difference. As an initiative, we need such challenges for the city. We hope we can connect with the authorities to make this idea come to fruition,” said Mr. Mahantesh.
The runner-up was Suman Paul, an architect from DKP Architects, for his idea of connecting the bifurcated Hebbal lake and build a loop around it with four outlets to reduce commute time. The second runner-up was Priyanka R., an architecture student from M.S. Ramaiah College.
The jury panel included BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar, Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) Commissioner Ponnuraj, BMRCL MD Ajay Seth and urban expert Ashwin Mahesh.
Public transport
At a panel discussion, the focus was on the involvement of the public in government decisions and the popularisation of public transport. Anil Kumar said, “Agencies need to reach out, as people are always willing to make suggestions. But government agencies need to act on the suggestions.”
On road congestion, Bhaskar Rao said, “Bengaluru doesn’t have a traffic problem; it has a transportation problem. We are all victims of our urban planning. I can only regulate traffic. I cannot come up with plans to make our mobility easier. There are 13,000km of roads in the city, 44,000 intersections, 800km of arterial roads, 600km of main roads. I have 4,000 policemen to manage these junctions. The city needs a planning body to make plans every year.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Nived Uthaiah P / August 31st, 2019
