Baibhav Agarwal; Author; The Cost of Ambition receives the prestigious Kalinga Literary Youth Award 2017 (Special Citation)

Bhubaneswar: Baibhav Agarwal; Author; The Cost of Ambition receives the prestigious Kalinga Literary Youth Award 2017 (Special Citation); now in its 4th year. The Kolkata based entrepreneur said, ‘There is a price you need to pay for everything. I paid for pursuing my dreams too. I’m glad that the book has received global acclaim and is gaining recognition; it being my first stint at writing.’ The highly coveted award was conferred onto him by the ace writer-author Anand Neelakantan; The Rise of Sivagami; Book 1 of Baahubali – Before the Beginning, who was also at the festival to receive an award.

About Baibhav Agarwal :

At twenty-nine, when most of us are trying to fit in the corporate milieu, trying to defy this world which is in a flux, Baibhav Agrawal shines from a distant horizon, steady on his feet. Baibhav, a Chartered Accountant par excellence is seen ably managing an empire of conglomerates. A youth icon in the making, Baibhav dared to dream and soared high like an Eagle, taking the world in his stride.

Success came early to Baibhav, who meticulously and industriously chalked out his plan; to make a difference in the society by becoming a social entrepreneur. His passion to excel combined with his value systems ensured that he was here to stay; an indelible mark in this fast-fading world. ‘I look at productivity each hour and hence, I have a firm and dedicated time-management system. I compartmentalize my weeks into number of hours and then divide them into various verticals, i.e. – Social, Personal, Work and Society’. This is his mantra that time needs to be valued.

Born into a family of Chartered Accountants, It is noteworthy that he leveraged his limited means and modest family background into creating and curating a magnificent empire in the making.

A Calcuttan at heart, the intelligentsia bug bit him in his formative days, with Baibhav aspiring to become an author. A go-getter, his maiden book, tiled ‘The Cost of Ambition’ provides an insight into his life and his pining for scaling up against all odds. A graduate from St. Xavier’s College; Kolkata, Baibhav crafted his dream by launching a consultancy and mentoring house in 2007. The year 2010 witnessed him joining his family business; the venerated CA firm. A stickler for innovation and expansion, the visionary in him prompted him to lay the foundation for coal and energy trading organizations. By 2012, he had commenced a shipping Company which was soon followed by mining operations. The same year, an industrious Baibhav was also seen purchasing cotton farms in Ethiopia; Africa.

If International and heavy industries didn’t fuel his passion enough, he forayed into real-estate in 2014, adding to the cityscape. 2015, he decided to venture in a start-up. Baibhav today is a globe-trotter, having offices at Singapore, Dubai and the United Kingdom. With an iron-fist and the soul of a seeker, he keeps an eagle eye on the transpiring of his global corporate kingdom. Solace for him is in the hours he dedicates to his Trust – Dor; Rukmini Devi Shivchandram Foundation, after his grand-parents. As people say, when passion meets perfection, master-pieces are born … so is the epitome of excellence, Baibhav himself. After all, one who draws inspiration from legends and stalwarts like Ratan Tata and Elon Musk, cannot be an ordinary man with average life goals! Can he?

Source: Indiaeducationdiary, 19-06-2017

Kalinga International Literary Award to Anand Neelakantan, Kalinga Literary Award to Haraprasad Das, KLF2017 to start from June 10

. Hon’ble Union Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan will grace the festival as the Chief Guest. Hon’ble Union Minister of State HRD, Shri Mahendranath Pandey will join as the chief key Note Speaker.
2. “Literature for Peace and Harmony” is the central theme for 2017
3. Over 200 international and national speakers to join the Largest Monsson Literary Festival
4. 30 leading district level Odia Writers will be felicitated
5. Creative Attractions: Kalinga Art Festival and Mystic Kalinga
6. Mystic Kalinga, dedicated poetry session, at Chilika

Bhubaneswar: Fourth Kalinga Literary Festival is here. Around 200 celebrities from the worlds of literature, cinema, media and politics will assemble in the temple city of Odisha to deliberate on the theme of ‘Literature for Peace and Harmony’, at the Kalinga Literature Festival in Bhubaneswar, from 10th-12th June, 2017.

Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) has emerged as one of the leading literary platforms in India and number one in the Eastern part of India, attracting both experienced and young litterateurs. Bigger than ever before, the fourth edition of the festival will bring nationally and internationally acclaimed names on one platform to discuss, debate and explore commonalities in the diverse voices in literature, peace and harmony.

This year’s festival will be inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Hon’ble Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan. Hon’ble Union HRD Minister of State Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey will be guest of honour and Chief Key note speaker. Other speakers in the inaugural session include Guest of Honour, Eminent writer and poet Dr. Kedarnath Singh as a key note speaker and renowned writer and academic Dr. H.S. Shivprakash will also join as Guest of Honour and second key note speaker.

The three-day festival will cover several dimensions of the interconnections between Literature, Peace and Harmony. The key sessions will be on topics such as ‘Literature for Peace and Harmony’, resurgence of nationalism, literature beyond class privilege, democracy in the age of social media, Odissi, Branding of Odia literature beyond classical status, Indian films and the grassroots reality, transformative Dalit literature: voice and the margins, youth, women, media, sports, folk and regional literature, etc. Apart from this, more than 20 new books will be released during the three-day festival. The delegates and speakers of KLF will have a unique opportunity to participate in Ekamra Heritage Walk.
This year KLF is introducing special sessions for poets and artists. ‘Mystic Kalinga’, is dedicated for the poets and Kalinga Art Festival is for the artists. From this year onwards, KLF will showcase art exhibitions of international artists at the KLF venue. Another crucial addition to the festival are the establishment of literary awards including the Kalinga International Literary Award, Kalinga Literary Youth Award and the Kalinga Karubaki Award.

Awardees, 2017
Mr. Haraprasad Das: 4th Kalinga Literary Award
Mr. Anand Nilakantan- Kalinga International Award
Ms. Paramita Satapathy- Kalinga Karubaki Award
Kalinga Literary Youth Award: 30 young minds selected from Odisha

Highlighting the need to go international, KLF Founder and Director Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Parida said, “Three years of KLF have seen great voices in literature. This year, we got several suggestions to expand the festival to reach out to global voices. This certainly will be a great value addition for our young writers.” Mr. Parida strongly believes that Kalinga International Awards will expand the horizon of the KLF and Odisha literary scenario by translating the maxim of think global and act local. “Indian literature is rich in imagery and encompasses diverse human experiences. KLF has also been a platform to explore Odisha’s rich variety of literature and human experience,” he further added.

Some of the leading names who will be a part of the festival include
Ajit Sharma, Amrendra Khatua, Anand Neelakantan, Ananya Chatterjee, Anurag Saxena, Aruna Mohanty, Arundhati Subramanium, Ashok Maheshwari, Ashwini Kumar Pankaj, Asit Mohanty, Baqir Shameem, Bhalchandra Vanaji Nemade, Bibhuti Pattnaik, Bijayananda Singh, Deba Prasad Dash, Debasis Panigrahi, Dipak Samantarai, Diksha Tiwari, Dillip Tirkey, Dr. Sigma Satish, Dr. Yashodhara Mishra, Dr. Ranjan Ku. Mallik, Dr. Subhas Pani, Dr. Perugu Ramkrishna, Girindra Nath Jha, Dr. Gourhari Das, Haraprasad Das, Hindol Sengupta, Hiranmayee Mishra, Jacob Isaac, Jatin Nayak, Jayanta Mohapatra, Jaydeep Sarangi, Joie Bose, Kedar Mishra, Kedar Nath Singh, Lt. General Charanjit Singh Chima, Lt General Zameer Uddin Shah, Maitreyi Pushpa, Manohar Mouli Biswas, Meera Das, Meera Nair, Mona Mohanty, Mrinal Chaterjee, Munideepa Sahu, Nandini Sahoo, Paramita Satapathy, Paresh Pattanaik, Piyush Mishra, Pratibha Ray, Prof. H.S Shivprakash, R.K. Dash, Rahul Bose, Rabi Swain, Rajendra P Gupta, Ramakant Rath, Ravi Mantha, Ruchhita Kazaria, Saira Shah Halim, Sandeep Mohapatra, Sanjay Baru, Santanu Ganguly, Satyanand Nirupam, Sitakanta Mohapatra, Soubhagya Mishra, Soumendra Padhi, Sudarsan Pattnaik, Sudipti Satyanand, Suhasini Haidar, Sujit Mohapatra, Sumanyu Satapathy, Sundeep Bhutoria, Tarun Vijay, Vineet Kumar and more.

KLF hosting Kalinga Art Festival this year
This year KLF is organizing Kalinga Art Festival. Over 35 Internationally acclaimed artists to exhibit their painting during KLF at the KLF venue. Kalinga Art Festival has been curated by Dr Ranjan Kumar Mallik, Artist and Head of the Department, Amity University Gurgaon, New Delhi.

Participating artists are Mr. Gajendra Padhi , Mr. Sidharth P Betejebrgi , Mr. Manash Ranjan Jena, Mr. Gajendra Kumar Sahoo, Mr. Meenaketan Pattnaik, Mr. Nigamanda Swain, Mr. Pradipta Patra, Mr. Chandra Shekher, Mr. Chintamani Biswal, Mr. Subrat Mullick, Mr. Lalatendu Rath, Dr. Anup Kumar Chand, Mr Pradosh Swain,Artist, Mr Rakesh Kumar Chaudhury, Mr. Priya Ranjan Behera, Dr. Gyanesh Mishra , Mrs. Sonia Mallik, Dr. Ranjan Mallik, Lipsha Pattnaik Mohanty, Chakradhara Behera, Mr. Panchanan Samal, Mr. Tarakanta Parida, Mr. Bipin Martha, Mrs. Subhra Chand, Mrs. Nibedita Pattnaik, Mr. Stitadhi Rath, Mr Smrurti Nayak, Mr Aasutosh Panigrahi, Mr Susant Nayak, Rohit Supakar, Ms. Suhani Jain, artist, Nagpur, Amarendra Moharana, Surat Choudary .

Highlights of KLF 2017:
· 200 Speakers, poets, musicians, artists, performers
· 20 sessions and 22 awards represented
· Kalinga Sahitya Sanman, Kalinga International Literary Award, Kalinga Literary Youth Award (30 Districts), Kalinga Karubaki Literary Award
· Mystic Kalinga – Poetry session for 50 poets
· Art Exhibition- 35 Internationally acclaimed artists
· Ekamra Heritage Walk
· Over 20 books to be launched
· Book Stalls
· Cultural Evening

For Schedule and Online Registration, please visit: www.kalingaliteraryfest.com

Source: Indiaeducationdiary, 4-06-2017

Prof. Vikram Vishal from IIT Bombay wins INSA Young Scientist Award – 2017

Mumbai: Assistant professor in the department of Earth Sciences in IIT Bombay Prof. Vikram Vishal has won the prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) medal for Young Scientist (2017). The award is considered to be the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in young scientists, and awarded annually by INSA for research conducted by scientists in India. It carries a bronze medal and a cash prize of Rs 25,000. Till 2015, 737 young scientists have been recognised by INSA.

While conveying the selection of the award to Prof. Vishal, INSA President Prof. Ajay K Sood stated, “He has shown great potential to be a leader in research. I sincerely hope he will continue to strive hard to reach his potential and to prove leadership in the coming years”.

Prof. Vishal, while thanking INSA for this recognition and honour, also remembered his PhD advisers Prof. T. N. Singh (IIT Bombay) and Prof. Ranjith P. G. (Monash University) and his post-doctoral mentor Prof. Jennifer Wilcox (Stanford University). Prof. Vishal is currently working on a research which attempts to reduce carbondioxide emissions and their environmental impact by capturing the natural gases. His research looks at “geologic sequestration” or capturing the carbon dioxide that is released when coal is burnt (or created as a by-product in other industries) and injecting it back into the rock deep underground so that it is not released into the atmosphere.
Prof. Vishal explained his research work by stating, “Natural gases have remained trapped in deep underground rock structures for several million years. This provides an analogy to inject and store the greenhouse gases in rocks and prevent their release into the atmosphere. Realising India’s vast geological diversity, she offers ample opportunities for the storage of carbon dioxide. Injection of carbon dioxide will not only help develop a long sustainable earth, but also lead to enhanced recovery of methane to partly meet our growing energy demands”.
The true beneficiary of this process will be the life-system on Earth. Through the enhanced recovery of an otherwise non-recoverable resource, India will also benefit from energy security. Prof. Vikram Vishal is the first graduate from the IIT Bombay Monash Research Academy, which is a joint venture between IIT Bombay and Monash University, Australia. Research scholars study for a dual-badged PhD from both institutions, and enrich their research and build collaborative relationships by spending time in Australia and India over the course of their degree.

Source: Indiaeducationdiary, 8-05-2017

Effort not wasted as city ragpicker bags UN award

Nitisha Kashyap

New Delhi:





For him it was just a means of livelihood and he had never thought that collecting ewaste from households would have its rewards. But this 35-year-old waste picker from Hazrat Nizamuddin area was pleasantly surprised to get a call to attend COP21 in Paris. Mohammad Khokhan Hamid is going to receive the UN Climate Solutions Award for keeping the environment clean.Hamid, who lives with his wife and two children, started picking waste when he was 14. He would collect it from households and then dump it in Jahangirpuri and Azadpur. Now, he collects waste from 90odd houses on Pandara Road in central Delhi.
“Three years ago, I got in touch with Chintan, an NGO collecting ewaste and recycling it. They explained that burning electronic waste was hazardous not just for people but even the environment.The toxic metals and flame retardants result in severe environmental problems,“ Hamid said.
Chintan had started a project `From Toxic to Green' under which e-waste is channelised safely . They discourage waste pickers to burn them and give incentives on recycling. The NGO works with Safai Sena, which has 12,000 members including waste pickers, doorstep waste collectors, junk dealers and other recyclers.
The organisation has trained around 2,000 waste pickers, including Hamid, on how to deal with ewaste and solid waste. “These people play a key role in mitigating ewaste related carbon emissions in Delhi,“ said Chitra Mukherjee, head of programmes at NGO Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group.
The prospect of receiving the award has given Hamid a great sense of pride in his work and himself. He was initially apprehensive about going to Paris, but his wife, Ayesha, asked him not to step back.“Language would be an issue and I may not be able to speak to my family till the time I will be there. But my wife assured me that she will handle everything here,“ he said.
Three months ago, when Chintan broke the news to him no one believed him and he had to show his passport to prove it. He has since safely kept his passport inside a suitcase. This is the first time he would be going anywhere outside Delhi. “I am yet to shop for my Paris visit. I have been told that it is going to be colder than Delhi so I have to buy warm clothes,“ he said excitedly .

Source: Times of India, 02-12-2015

First Jamaican author wins Booker prize

Kounteya Sinha





Reggae king Bob Marley was to perform at the Smile Jamaica concert on December 3, 1976, to ease political tensions ahead of the country's general elections when seven men stormed his house with machine guns. He survived and went on to perform at the concert, but left the country the next day and didn't return for two years.Jamaican novelist Marlon James wove this plot to explore the country's politics, gang wars and drug trafficking for his 686-page novel ` A Brief History of Seven Killings', which on Tuesday won him the Man Booker Prize.
James, the first Jamaican born author to win the Booker, said he was so certain that he would not win that he did not prepare an acceptance speech. “I'm not an easy writer to like,“ he said, referring to his experimental style.
Michael Wood -chair of the five judges who selected the five judges who selected James's book from a shortlist of six titles -praised the 44year-old's stylistic range and his unflinching exploration of violence, cronyism and corruption. “It's a crime novel that moves beyond the world of crime and takes us deep into a recent history we know far too little about,“ he said.The short-list included `The Year of the Runaways' by UK-based Indian origin writer Sunjeev Sahota.
James was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He worked in advertising for more than a decade. He inherited his father's love of literature -the two of them often reci ted Shakespearean soliloquies to each other. His first no vel, `John Crow's Devil' was published in 2005 and second `The Book of Night Women' came in 2009. His first novel was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. and his second book won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award.
James, who spent four years working on `A Brief History of Seven Killings', said he first envisioned it as a short crime novel. Instead, the story morphed into an epic tale retelling the near mythic assassination attempt of Marley , who is referred as `The Singer', through witnesses, FBI and CIA agents to killers, ghosts, beauty queens and Keith Richards' drug dealer. Crediting Charles Dickens as one of his formative influences, James, now a resident of Minneapolis, said, “I still consider myself a Dickensian. I still believe in--plot, surprise, cliff hangers.“
(With inputs from agencies)

Source: Times of India, 15-102015

Work on India helped Brit bag Eco Nobel

Kounteya Sinha

London:





He has spent a considerable amount of time working on the connection between `stunting' among Indian children due to abysmally low calorie consumption and its connection with poverty in the country.He later concluded that widespread `growth faltering' was a human development disaster as height reflected early life nutrition which helps brains to grow.
On Monday , the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics to British economist Angus Deaton, who teaches at Princeton University , “for his analysis of consumption, poverty , and welfare“. He stud ied if the consumption of adult goods such as clothes, tobacco or alcohol diminish when a family has kids, and whether this reduction is greater when the child is a boy rather than a girl -an important correlation for India.

Source: Times of India, 13-10-2015

Honouring a robust civil society

The award of the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize to the National Dialogue Quartet comprising the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers, is richly deserved. This quartet of civil society institutions, that came together in 2013, had managed tortuous political negotiations for a consensus-based Constitution and a transition to a robust democracy in Tunisia. The UGTT in particular played a pivotal role, after massive protests erupted in 2013 against the Ennahda-led government. These followed the political assassination of left-wing dissidents and moves by the government to pack the independent bureaucracy with members of the ancien régime. The transition in Tunisia has been unique among the countries that experienced similar change. Tunisia was the site of the first set of popular uprisings in 2011, which came to be known as the Jasmine Revolution and triggered similar protests across the Arab world in what was termed the Arab Spring. Egypt saw the return of a “managed democracy” with a military leader coming to power following a political coup against the popularly elected but increasingly authoritarian Muslim Brotherhood-led government. Libya’s uprising threatened to turn bloody, leading to the intervention of NATO, and following the death of Muammar Qadhafi that country descended into anarchy. Syria’s woes have been well-documented.

Democratisation, as India’s own history shows, is invariably a slow and tortuous process. Its success is predicated by the strength of civil society organisations, the legitimacy of political organisations, and the forbearance and foresight of exceptional individuals who are willing to look beyond the immediate and the expedient. The UGTT has a long history, having been formed in 1946. Its members constitute five per cent of the country’s population. Its clout as an economic bargaining entity, its widespread presence in Tunisia and its leaders’ extensive experience in the art of negotiations, helped bring political parties to agree to a new political road map in 2013. This led to the creation of a largely progressive Constitution in January 2014 and to parliamentary elections in October 2014. Legitimacy was accorded to the UGTT’s negotiating role by the other members of the Quartet, which have also had a historical presence. The lesson from the story of Tunisia’s unique success in the post-Arab Spring set of events in the Arab world is that a robust civil society with organised labour power as a pivot has an important role to play in any process of democratisation. Neither external intervention nor sporadic outbursts of street protests would do for that. The Nobel Committee must be commended for recognising this fact.

Keywords: Nobel Prize 2015, Nobel Peace Prize 2015, National Dialogue Quartet, Jasmine Revolution

Source: The Hindu, 12-10-2015

Author Svetlana Alexievich wins 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature

Author Svetlana Alexievich of Belarus has been selected for prestigious 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy has selected Svetlana for her polyphonic writings, courage and a monument to suffering. With this she became 14th women Literature Laureate and she is also the first writer from Belarus to receive this award. About Svetlana Alexievich She was born on 31 May 1948 in the Ukrainian town of Ivano-Frankivsk. She had studied journalism at the University of Minsk between 1967 and 1972. Later she worked as a journalist for several years and published her first book War’s Unwomanly Face in 1985. Using her journalistic skills, she has created a literature chronicling the great tragedies of World War II, Soviet Union and its collapse, Soviet war in Afghanistan and 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Her best-known works: Voices from Chernobyl (2005), Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War (1992), Awards: reviously, she had won the Swedish PEN prize in 2007 for her courage and dignity as a writer.

Revolutionary therapies

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 has been awarded to three scientists for the “revolutionary treatments” they developed for devastating diseases that predominantly affect people in the developing countries. The discovery of the drug ivermectin, a derivative of avermectin, by William Campbell of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and by Satoshi Ômura of Kitasato University in Tokyo, nearly eradicated river blindness and radically reduced the incidence of lymphatic filariasis. The discovery of artemisinin by Tu Youyou of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing in the early-1970s was a decisive step in the battle against severe cases of malaria. Unlike the quest by the two Laureates for a remedy for roundworm infestation, Dr. Tu’s hunt for a potent anti-malarial drug turned out to be as dramatic as the drug itself. “In keeping with Mao Zedong’s urgings to explore and further improve the great treasure house” of Chinese medicine, she pored through ancient texts for leads. The secret operation, named Project 523 and announced on May 23, 1967, investigated more than 2,000 preparations before an extract fromArtemisia annua (sweet wormwood) showed promise. Deftly combining traditional knowledge with modern science, she redesigned the extraction process, and purified the extract to make it both potent and safe. She was involved in isolating the active ingredient, conducting clinical trials and publishing the results. In 1973, she modified artemisinin to generate a powerful drug.

The miracle drug has prevented millions of malarial deaths. Yet, in 2013 there were 198 million cases of malaria and an estimated 584,000 deaths worldwide, over 90 per cent of them in Africa. As in the case of many other wonder drugs, resistance to artemisinin is fast emerging. As of February 2015, artemisinin resistance has been confirmed in five countries of the Greater Mekong subregion — Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. What is alarming is that artemisinin-resistant Plasmodium falciparum has been found to occur across much of Upper Myanmar “including regions close to the Indian border in the Northwest”. In fact, the zone where resistance to artemisinin exists has come to within 25 km of the Indian border. Since the Myanmar-India boundary was a “path followed by resistance to chloroquine” to spread from South East Asia to the Indian subcontinent, a recurrence in the case of artemisinin-resistant malaria has to be averted at any cost. Already over 40,000 people in India die each year, and according to the World Malaria Report 2011, over 70 per cent of India’s population is at risk of malaria infection. The tasks and the challenges thus remain.

Keywords: Nobel Prize 2015, William C. Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura, Youyou Tu

Source: The Hindu, 8-10-2015

Trio Wins Chemistry Nobel for DNA Repair Work

AFP





Sweden's Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich of the US and Aziz Sancar, a Turkish-American, won the 2015 Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for work on how cells repair damaged DNA.The three opened a dazzling frontier in medicine by unveiling how the body repairs DNA mutations that can cause sickness and contribute to ageing, the Nobel jury said. “Their systematic work has made a decisive contribution to the understanding of how the living cell functions as well as providing knowledge about the molecular causes of several heredi tary diseases and about mechanisms behind both cancer development and ageing,“ the panel said.
DNA is the chemical code for making and sustaining life. When cells divide, molecular machines seek to replicate the code perfectly , but random slipups in their work can cause the daughter cells to die or malfunction. DNA can also be damaged by strong sunlight and other environmental factors. But there is a swarm of proteins a molecular repair kit ­ designed to monitor the process. It proof-reads the code and repairs damage.
The three were lauded for mapping these processes, starting with Lindahl, who identified so-called repair enzymes ­ the basics in the toolbox. Sancar, born in Savur, Turkey, discovered the mechanisms used by cells to fix damage by ultraviolet radiation. Modrich laid bare a complex DNA-mending process called mismatch repair.
Source: Economic Times, 8-10-2010

5 things to know about the Nobel Prizes

The beginning of October means Nobel Prize time, when committees in Stockholm and Oslo announce the winners of what many consider the most prestigious awards in the world.

This year’s Nobel season kicks off on Monday with the medicine award being announced for the 106th time.

Daily announcements will follow during the week with physics on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and probably, though the date has not been confirmed, literature on Thursday. The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and, finally, the economics award on October 12, 2015.

Each prize is worth 8 million Swedish kronor ($960,000) and will be handed out with a diploma and gold medal on December 10.

Who created the Nobel Prizes?

The prizes in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, a wealthy Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite. The first awards were handed out in 1901, five years after Nobel’s death.

The economics award officially known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel wasn’t created by Nobel, but by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.

Though it’s handed out along with the other prizes and the criteria for selecting winners are the same, it’s not a Nobel Prize in the same sense.

Secrecy

The Nobel statutes prohibit the judges from discussing their deliberations for 50 years. So it’s probably going to be a while before we know for sure how judges made their picks for 2015 and who was on their short lists.

The judges try hard to avoid dropping hints about the winners before the announcements, but sometimes word gets out. Last year, there was a sudden surge in betting on literature winner Patrick Modiano in the days leading up to the announcement.

The peace prize committee has accused its former secretary of breaching the code of silence in a new book, which describes some of the discussions leading up to the awards during his 25-year tenure.

Who can nominate?

Thousands of people around the world are eligible to submit nominations for the Nobel Prizes. They include university professors, lawmakers, previous Nobel laureates and the committee members themselves.

Though the nominations are kept secret for 50 years, those who submit them sometimes announce their suggestions publicly, particularly for the Nobel Peace Prize.

That’s how we know that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Francis, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi are among this year’s 273 nominees.

The Norwegian connection

The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Norway while the other awards are handed out in Sweden. That’s how Alfred Nobel wanted it.

Sometimes relations have been tense between the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, which manages the prize money, and the fiercely independent peace prize committee in Oslo.

What does it take to win a Nobel?

Patience, for one. Scientists often have to wait decades to have their work recognized by the Nobel judges, who want to make sure that any breakthrough withstands the test of time.

That’s a departure from Nobel’s will, which states that the awards should endow “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind”.

The peace prize committee is the only one that regularly rewards achievements made in the previous year. According to Nobel’s wishes, that prize should go to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.

Keywords: Nobel Prizes 2015, Alfred Nobel, Nobel season

Source: The Hindu, 5-10-2015

Indian-American professor wins $625,000 MacArthur ‘Genius’ grant

Kartik Chandran, an Indian-American associate professor of earth and environmental engineering at Columbia Engineering, has been named a 2015 MacArthur Fellow with a “genius grant” of $625,000 with no strings attached.

Chandran, an IIT Roorkee graduate, has won the fellowship for his work in “transforming wastewater from a pollutant requiring disposal to a resource for useful products, such as commodity chemicals, energy sources, and fertilisers.”

He joins a distinguished group of 24 talented people who have all demonstrated exceptional originality and dedication to their creative pursuits, as well as a marked capacity for self-direction. The fellows may use the $625,000 stipend as they see fit.

“When I received the call telling me that I had been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, I was rather overwhelmed,” Chandran said.

“I’d just returned to New York from India after a 24-hour flight and couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”

He called the fellowship a “great honour which carries with it immense responsibility and provides ever more motivation to continue expanding my scientific horizons and boundaries and help solve global societal and human challenges.”

Chandran’s research on the global nitrogen cycle and engineered wastewater treatment has been widely recognized.

In 2011 he received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a transformative new model in water and sanitation in Africa.

His work is focused on integrating microbial ecology, molecular biology, and engineering to transform wastewater, sewage, and other “waste” streams from problematic pollutants to valuable resources in addition to clean water.

Chandran’s approach to transform wastewater into fertilisers, chemicals, and energy sources also takes into account today’s climate, energy, and nutrient challenges.

Chandran, who joined the Engineering School in 2005, has also won the Water Environment Research Foundation Paul L. Busch Award (2010), a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2009), and a National Academies of Science Fellowship (2007).

His appointments prior to joining Columbia include his role as a senior technical specialist (2001-2004) with the private engineering firm Metcalf and Eddy of New York, where he contributed to New York City’s efforts to achieve significant improvements to its water quality.

Chandran earned a BS (1995) from the Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee (formerly University of Roorkee) and a PhD (1999) from the University of Connecticut.

The MacArthur Fellowship grants are awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Source: Hindustan Times, 1-10-2015

Meet Sneha Khaund, selected for Commonwealth Scholarship in UK

A young student from Assam has recently been selected for the prestigious commonwealth scholarship in United Kingdom. Sneha Khaund, a 22-year-old from Jorhat district, is an english graduate from St Stephen’s College in Delhi. She was recently selected for the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in United Kingdom for the year 2015-2016.

She is one among 22 Indian students selected for the scholarship this year and will now be pursuing her Masters degree in Comparative Literature at London University. Expressing delight over her selection, Sneha said that she looks forward to study the subject she loves.

“I am very happy that I have been chosen for this scholarship and I feel honoured. I look upon it as an opportunity for me to study something that I love. There will be world class facilities available there so I feel very grateful and I think it is a great opportunity,” she said.

Sneha was one of the few students whose application was selected by the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry and forwarded to the commission. Sneha further said that she wants to remain in touch with social issues while pursuing an academic career.

“I hope to have an academic career and get a PhD I don’t want an academic career that is completely divorced from social issues that we face. Even while pursuing an academic career, I want to be involved in other aspects. I hope to write,” she said.

Sneha’s father, Devajeet Khaund, said that lack of awareness among people about scholarship opportunities available has left many eligible students deprived. “If my daughter can make it, then there are so many promising students who are eligible to get this type of scholarship. Because of lack of awareness, many of them are deprived,” he said.

Source: Hindustan Times, 28-09-2015

13-year-old Odisha girl wins prestigious Google award

A 13-year-old girl from Odisha’s backward Koraput district bagged a prestigious $10,000 award at the finals of the Google Science Fair in the United States late on Tuesday for her low-cost water purifier using corn cobs.

Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai will be supported in her research for one year by the well-known journal, Scientific American, for winning the Community Impact Award that honours projects which make a practical difference by addressing environmental, health and resources challenges.

“It is a big achievement for a student from a backward district to sparkle in a global platform. Her achievement will boost the confidence of other children to make their dreams a reality,” said Pallabi Mahapatro, Srisai’s mentor and teacher.

The class 9 student at Delhi Public School, Damanjodi, was the only Indian among the eight winners at the renowned fair. Five others are of Indian origin -- three of them are from the US and one each from the United Kingdom and Singapore.

“Lalita has made Odisha and the country proud with her achievement,” state chief minister Naveen Patnaik said.

The project used the scientific principle of adsorption – where contaminants are trapped on the surface of a material, creating an outside coating and purifying the water of the pollutants – to clean domestic waste water using corn cobs collected from farmers.

The cobs were sun-dried for a month and then cut into long and small pieces, ground to power and burnt in proper condition to form activated charcoal. The waste water was then passed through all the different layers, and it was found that most industrial effluents and chemicals were absent from the treated water.

In her project report, Srisai said a byproduct of man’s action is the severe waste burden on the earth, while rapid development in lifestyle and technology has accelerated the release of contaminants into air, water and land, rendering it unsafe for organisms.

“This study reveals a novel and cheap method of cleaning water waste from domestic and industrial sources by utilizing one of the most under-utilised agricultural wastes,” it observed.

Source: Hindustan Times, 24-09-2015

President gives Awards to best institutions

8th September has been proclaimed as the International Literacy Day by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), with aim of highlighting the importance of literacy among communities, societies and individuals.

To confer the academies, President of India, Pranab Mukherjee and Union Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani along with Minister of State for Human Resource Development Upendra Kushwaha and Dr. Ram Shankar Katheria, awarded Saakshar Bharat Awards for best performing institutions to mark the occasion of International Literacy Day.

More than 3.65 crore adult learners were certified as literates and more than one crore beneficiaries mobilised and facilitated to avail benefits of social security and financial inclusion schemes of Government of India.

On the occasion Smriti Irani “The International Literacy Day is not only an occasion to reaffirm our resolve to eradicate illiteracy but also to acknowledge the crucial role played by adult education functionaries and volunteers in helping us to move towards our ultimate goal of creation of a literate and sustainable society.”

In the last one year, efforts for propagation of literacy have been intensified. As a result a record number of 1.91 crore learners have appeared for assessment of their literacy skills in the tests held in March and August 2015.

Besides, the scope of literacy has been widened to include empowerment especially of women through special initiatives undertaken for their financial inclusion and social security. The strenuous efforts made by the literacy functionaries in undertaking mass campaigns to take these initiatives to the doorsteps of our target groups are commendable. These efforts have yielded notable results in facilitating opening of over 1 crore Bank accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna and mobilisation of around 93 lakh persons to avail benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna.

President of India to present Gandhi Peace Prize 2014 to ISRO 

 The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee will present the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2014 to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) tomorrow (September 9, 2015) at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

The Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted by the Government of India in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. This annual award is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. 

Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Zia Haider Rahman’s debut novel wins James Tait Black prize 2015

Bangladesh novelist Zia Haider Rahman has won James Tait Black award 2015, UK’s oldest literary prize for his first novel, In the Light of What We Know. His debut novel’s story is based on an investment banker in a lead role who receives a visit from an old friend and addresses a whole range of issues including Afghanistan war, the rise of Muslim fundamentalism and global banking crisis. He received this prize at the 2015 Edinburgh international book festival along with Richard Benson who had won this award for his novel The Valley: A Hundred Years in the Life of a Yorkshire Family in the biography category. Rahman was born in the Sylhet region of rural Bangladesh. Later he had migrated to United Kingdom. Prior to shifting to writing career, he had worked as an investment banker and a human rights lawyer. About James Tait Black award It is annual literary award bestowed on person for literature written in the English language in UK and is oldest literary award in the country. Establish: It was instituted in 1919 in memory James Tait Black. It is given in three categories viz. Fiction, Biography and Drama (introduced in 2012) by the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The award carries monetary prize of 10000 British pounds.

"PROF AL NAGAR AWARD SCHEME-2015" AND "PROF AL NAGAR VISITING FELLOWSHIP”

With the financial support from the family and friends of Prof AL Nagar, the TIES has instituted the following schemes to commemorate the contributions of Prof. Nagar. 

1. “Prof AL Nagar Fellow”: This is an annual award to be given to an outstanding Indian scholar between the age of 45 to 65 years. Under this award, the selected scholar shall give a minimum of two lectures during the year in any of the reputed Indian institutes/universities chosen by the TIES/TIES Trust and one lecture during the annual TIES conference.
The selected scholar would be honored with a citation and a suitable cash prize during the annual conference.
The TIES Trust has constituted a high level expert Committee, under the Chairmanship of Prof. V.R.Panchamukhi, Chairman, TIES Trust, to identify suitable scholars for this award.
The Committee hereby invites nominations for the Award on the basis of which recommendations will be made to the President, TIES. Kindly note the following:

A. Eligibility requirement:
1.The candidate for the Award should be between 45 and 65 years of age as on January 1, 2015;
2.Research Work should be of high quality, in the area of quantitative economics and should have been largelycarried out in India.

B.Nomination should have full CV of the nominee which should include the following information about the nominee:
a. Name in full;
b. Date of birth;
c. Educational Qualification;
d. Present position and earlier institutional affiliations;
e. A list of major publications, with focus on the significant contributions;
f. Copies of some select Publications;
g. Any other relevant information; Incomplete information will not be entertained.

All the nominations must be received by 31st August 2015 and sent to Dr N R  Bhanumurthy, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Delhi, and Secretary, TIES, (e-mail: nrbmurthy@gmail.com) who will co-ordinate with the selection

 co2. “Prof AL Nagar Visiting Fellowship”: This is an annual fellowship to be given to a maximum of two young research scholars in a year who are pursuing their Ph.d in India. Under this fellowship, the research scholar would spend one to two months with an expert/institution/university within India that can contribute substantially to the thesis work. The TIES/TIES Trust would provide travel and moderate living expenses to the selected scholars and also a token honorarium to the host expert.

The research scholars who are below the age of 30 years as on 1st January 2015 are eligible to apply. The application should consist of a brief CV, date of birth, institutional affiliation, recommendation letter from the research supervisor and a letter of confirmation from the host expert/institute/university. In case if research scholars are unable to identify the expert/institute/university, the TIES could also help in identifying suitable experts/ Institute/university, if the scholar is shortlisted for the fellowship. A selection committee constituted by TIES Trust would shortlist the research scholar for the fellowship. The applications should reach the Secretary, TIES (e-mail:nrbmurthy@gmail.com) by 31^st August, 2015.

Source: Indian Econometric Society Website (03/06/2015).mmittee. 

Slum' tour operator bags global award

Himanshi Dhawan

Madrid





Does poverty sell?
Ask one-time waiter Krishna Pujari. On Wednesday night, Mumbai-based Pujari's Reality Tours and Travels was honoured by the global travel body for running a sustainable tourism business while contributing to the community .Reality tours received the “Tourism for Tomorrow“ award instituted by the World Travel and Tourism Council for its controversial slum tourism, “showcasing“ Asia's largest slum Dharavi for tourists.
The tour, which has completed 10 years, has a Delhi edition in Okhla's Sanjay Colony . An ecstatic Pujari said, “This was a totally unexpected win. We faced so much hostility when we started. But thanks to the people of Dharavi, their spirit, we have been able to do so much.“
Reality Tours runs a school, youth empowerment and vocational training classes and boasts of 2500 beneficiaries in Dharavi where 80% of the company's profits go. Films like Slumdog Millionaire haven't hurt either and business is doing well with over 18000 tourists taking the “slum tour“ in a year. But Pujari has come in for criticism from several quarters for “marketing poverty“.

Hindol Sengupta’s book shortlisted for prestigious Hayek Prize

ndian Journalist-writer Hindol Sengupta’s book Recasting India: How Entrepreneurship is Revolutionizing the World’s Largest Democracy, has been shortlisted for the U.S.’ prestigious Hayek Prize, 2015.

His book on entrepreneurial ventures in India is among the six books in race for this prestigious award.

Other shortlisted books include The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash that Cured Itself by James Grant; The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government by Philip K. Howard; The Market and Other Orders (The Collected Works of F A Hayek) by F.A. Hayek, edited by Bruce Caldwell; Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia by Karen Dawisha; and The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor by William Easterly.

About Hayek Prize

It is awarded each year to writers whose work best celebrates the principles of Austro-Hungarian Nobel laureate in economics, Friedrich von Hayek.

This prize is awarded by Manhattan Institute and carries monetary prize of $50,000.