IISc-Bengaluru, IIT-Madras top HRD ministry rankings

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

The Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru in Karnataka is the No.1 higher educational institute in the country as per NIRF rankings.

Bengaluru's IISc has also been ranked as the top university in India, as per the second edition of India Rankings under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) released on Monday. | Express File Photo
Bengaluru’s IISc has also been ranked as the top university in India, as per the second edition of India Rankings under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) released on Monday. | Express File Photo

New Delhi :

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, the first Indian institution to make it to the top 10 in a global ranking, has been ranked at the top in the annual national rankings released by the HRD ministry.

Seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have also made it to the list of the top 10 educational institutions released under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), the other two being Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

The results of the second edition of the domestic ranking were announced by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar here today.

Unlike last year, this time the ranking was released under five categories — Overall, Colleges, Universities, Management and Engineering.

IISc figured at the top in ‘Overall’ and ‘Universities’ categories.

JNU, which was at third position in the last ranking, has been ranked second this year in ‘Universities’ category.

In the ‘Overall’ ranking, the university, which has been at the centre of controversies for over a year, has been placed at the sixth position.

Last month, IISc was ranked eighth in the Times Higher Education or THE Rankings, 2017 in the “best small universities” category, joining the elite list that includes California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from the US, Ecole Normale Superieure from France and Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea.

The NIRF outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. The methodology draws from the overall recommendations and broad understanding arrived at by a core committee set up by the ministry, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.

The parameters broadly cover ‘Teaching, Learning and Resources’, ‘Research and Professional Practices’, ‘Graduation Outcomes’, ‘Outreach and Inclusivity’ and ‘Perception’.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by PTI / April 03rd, 2017

26-year-old constable leads the way in Karnataka by donating plasma

Records, All
Constable Veerabhadraiah, who recovered from COVID-19 and has donated his plasma to help other patients. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Constable Veerabhadraiah, who recovered from COVID-19 and has donated his plasma to help other patients. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Constable Veerabhadraiah, 26, who is attached to Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and who successfully battled COVID-19, became the first policeman in the State to donate his plasma on Saturday. “I hope it saves someone’s life. My senior officers also encouraged me and gave me confidence to donate my plasma,” he said.

Mr. Veerabhadraiah, who hails from Aurad, Bidar district, and lives at the police quarters in Koramangala, tested positive for the virus on June 26. He was hospitalised for over a week. While acknowledging that he was fortunate to have recovered, he said, “One need not fear the virus. In my experience at the hospital, many were suffering more from a fear psychosis than from the virus.”

Taking a cue from him, nine of his colleagues at the KSRP who similarly successfully recovered from COVID-19 have registered with the authorised plasma bank to donate their plasma. Plasma therapy for critical COVID-19 patients involves injecting plasma cells of someone who has been cured of the infection.

Karnataka State police chief Praveen Sood tweeted on Sunday, “They [policemen] are walking the extra mile for society. May their tribe increase.”

He further told The Hindu that many police personnel across the State were now keen on donating their plasma cells. “It is a voluntary process and we will not instruct anyone to do so. If someone is willing to donate their plasma cells and there is no plasma bank in their district, we will make arrangements to bring them to their nearest bank,” he said.

Meanwhile, the State police are slowly getting back on their feet after an initial wave of COVID-19 cases that had gripped the force. The recovery rate has only recently crossed 50% in the force. While the recovery rate of the department has been 56.5%, it is slightly better for the Bengaluru City Police, where 62.5% of those infected have recovered. As on Sunday morning, the State police force had seen a total of 3,002 cases, including 1,283 active cases, while the numbers for Bengaluru police were 1,377 and 506, respectively. There have been 20 deaths in the State police force, and 10 in Bengaluru police force.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – August 02nd, 2020

The write way

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Software by city-based brothers looks at helping screenwriters, with options to pen their work in regional languages.

Prashanth and Praveen Udupa
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

‘IISc. mobile labs will be handed over to Karnataka govt. shortly’

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion
The mobile RT-PCR testing laboratory created by IISc. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
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