Thursday, July 07, 2022

UK Offers 75 Fully-Funded Scholarships For Indian Students On The Occasion Of India’s 75th Anniversary Of Independence

New Delhi: In celebration of India’s 75th anniversary of independence, the UK government has partnered with leading businesses in India to offer 75 fully-funded scholarships for Indian students to study in Britain from September. In a statement, the British High Commission (BHC) said, this is the highest number of fully-funded scholarships given for the one-year master’s programme to date.

Companies like HSBC, Pearson India, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Sons and Duolingo are supporting this special initiative to celebrate India’s 75th year of independence, the high commission said.

The programmes on offer include Chevening scholarships for a one-year master’s programme, with the opportunity to study any subject at any recognised UK university. Further to this, the British Council in India is offering at least 18 scholarships for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) covering over 12,000 courses across more than 150 UK universities.

Along with these, the British Council is also offering six English scholarships.

The announcement comes as British and Indian leaders from international business and government gather in London for the India Global Forum.

In India’s 75th year, this is a great milestone together, Alex Ellis, the British High Commissioner to India, told the India Global Forum’s UK-India Week in London.

Source: indiaeducationdiary.in, 30/06/22

What is the Fields Medal, so-called ‘Mathematics Nobel’ awarded to Ukrainian professor and three others?

Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Viazovska, chair of Number Theory at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, was on Tuesday (July 5) named as one of four recipients of the 2022 Fields Medal, an honour that is often described the Nobel Prize in mathematics.

The Fields Medal is awarded by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), an international non-governmental and non-profit scientific organisation that aims to promote international cooperation in mathematics.

The IMU recognised Viazovska’s work on the sphere-packing problem in 8 and 24 dimensions, EPFL said in an announcement. Previously, the problem had been solved for only three dimensions or fewer. The other winners were French mathematician Hugo Duminil-Copin of the University of Geneva; Korean-American June Huh of Princeton; and Briton James Maynard of the University of Oxford.

Viazovska, 37, is only the second female Fields Medalist, after the Iranian Maryam Mirzakhani in 2014.

Fields Medal

The Fields Medal is awarded every four years to one or more mathematicians under the age of 40 in recognition of “outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement”.

The winners are announced at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), which was supposed to be held in Russia this year, but was moved to Helsinki.

The honour carries a physical medal of 14K gold, 63.5 mm in diameter and weighing 169 g, and with a unit price of approximately 5,500 Canadian dollars, according to the IMU website. There is also a cash award of CAD 15,000.

The obverse of the medal is embossed with the head of Archimedes facing right, and the Latin words “Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri”, translated as “To pass beyond your understanding and make yourself master of the universe”.

The reverse has the inscription “Congregati ex toto orbe mathematici ob scripta insignia tribuere”, or “The mathematicians having congregated from the whole world awarded (this medal) because of outstanding writings”.

History of the Medal

According to the IMU website, the 1924 ICM in Toronto adopted a resolution that at each conference, two gold medals would be awarded to recognise outstanding mathematical achievement.

The Canadian mathematician Prof J C Fields, who was secretary of the 1924 Congress, later donated funds to establish the medals, which were named in his honour. In 1966, it was agreed that, in light of the great expansion of mathematical research, up to four medals could be awarded at each Congress, the IMU says.

The Fields Medal Symposium is organised by the Fields Institute, Toronto, Canada. “The goals of the program for the Fields Medal Symposium are to present the work of a Fields Medalist and its impact, to explore the potential for future directions and areas of its influence, to provide inspiration to the next generations of mathematicians and scientists, as well as to present the Medalist to a broader public,” the IMU says.

Indian-origin winners

Among the more than 60 mathematicians who have been awarded the Fields Medal since 1936, there are two of Indian origin — Akshay Venkatesh of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, who won in 2018, the last time the honour was announced, and Manjul Bhargava of the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University, in 2014.

According to the IMU, Venkatesh was awarded the Medal “for his synthesis of analytic number theory, homogeneous dynamics, topology, and representation theory, which has resolved long-standing problems in areas such as the equidistribution of arithmetic objects”.

Bhargava was honoured for “developing powerful new methods in the geometry of numbers, which he applied to count rings of small rank and to bound the average rank of elliptic curves”.

Source: Indian Express, 5/07/22

What are Nairobi flies, which are causing disease in Sikkim?

Around 100 students of an engineering college in East Sikkim have reported skin infections after coming in contact with Nairobi flies, officials said on Tuesday (June 5).

The population of Nairobi flies, a species of insect native to East Africa, is growing at a fast pace on campus of the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT) in Majhitar, officials were quoted as saying. The flies can overwhelm new areas in search of breeding grounds and food supply, Health Department officials said.

The college administration said infected students had been given medication and were recovering. One student who was recently infected had to undergo surgery in his hand.

What are Nairobi flies?

Nairobi flies, also called Kenyan flies or dragon bugs, are small, beetle-like insects that belong to two species, Paederus eximius and Paederus sabaeus. They are orange and black in colour, and thrive in areas with high rainfall, as has been witnessed in Sikkim in the past few weeks.

Like most insects, the beetles are attracted by bright light.

How are humans affected by them?

Usually, the insects attack pests that consume crops and are beneficial for humans — but at times, they come in contact with humans directly are cause harm. Health officials say these flies do not bite, but if disturbed while sitting on anyone’s skin, they release a potent acidic substance that causes burns.

This substance is called pederin, and can cause irritation if it comes in contact with the skin, leading to lesions or unusual marks or colouring on the skin. The skin begins to heal in a week or two, but some secondary infections can occur, especially if the victim scratches the irritated skin.

Have there been outbreaks of the disease?

Major outbreaks have happened in Kenya and other parts of eastern Africa. In 1998, unusually heavy rain caused a large number of insects to come into the region, reported the Associated Press.

Outside Africa, outbreaks have happened in India, Japan, Israel, and Paraguay in the past.

What is the way to protect oneself against Nairobi flies?

Sleeping under mosquito nets can help. If a fly lands on a person, it should be gently brushed off, and should not be disturbed or touched to reduce the chances of it releasing pederin.

The area where the flies sits should be washed with soap and water. If they are squelched and end up leaving toxic fluids on the skin, care should be taken that unwashed hands do not touch any other part of the body, particularly the eyes.

Written by Rishika Singh

Source: Indian Express, 5/07/22

How the Vice President of India is elected, what the Constitution says about the post

The Election Commission of India on Tuesday (July 5) issued the notification for the election of the Vice President of India. The term of office of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu comes to an end on August 10. The election is scheduled for August 6, and July 19 is the last date for filing nominations.

Neither the NDA nor the Opposition have announced their candidate yet, but Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Steel Minister RCP Singh resigned from their posts on Wednesday (July 6), triggering speculation that Naqvi, in particular, could be the government’s nominee for the election. Another name doing the rounds is that of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan.

Office of the Vice President

Article 63 of the Constitution states that “there shall be a Vice-President of India”. Under Article 64, the Vice-President “shall be ex officio Chairman of the Council of the States” (Rajya Sabha). Article 65 says that “in the event of the occurrence of any vacancy in the office of the President by reason of his death, resignation or removal, or otherwise, the Vice-President shall act as President until the date on which a new President…enters upon his office”.

The Vice-President shall also discharge the functions of the President when the latter is unable to do so “owing to absence, illness or any other cause”.

During this period, the Vice-President shall “have all the powers and immunities of the President and be entitled to… (the) emoluments, allowances and privileges” that are due to the President. The office of the Vice-President of India is the second-highest constitutional office after that of the President, and ranks second in the order of precedence.

Election of the Vice-President

Article 66 lays down the process of the election of the Vice-President.

It says the Vice-President “shall be elected by the members of an electoral college consisting of the members of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot”.

For the 16th Vice-Presidential Election, 2022, the Electoral College consists of 233 elected members of Rajya Sabha, 12 nominated members of Rajya Sabha, and 543 elected members of Lok Sabha, adding up to 788 members. In the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote, the elector has to mark preferences against the names of the candidates.

“Preference can be marked in the international form of Indian numerals, in Roman form, or in the form in any recognised Indian languages… The elector can mark as many preferences as the number of candidates. While the marking of the first preference is compulsory for the ballot paper to be valid, other preferences are optional,” the Election Commission of India said in a release issued on June 29.

Under the Constitution, the Vice-President “shall not be a member of either House of Parliament or of a House of the Legislature of any State”. If a member of any of these Houses is elected to the post, “he shall be deemed to have vacated his seat in that House on the date on which he enters upon his office as Vice-President”.

Eligibility and term of office

Article 66(3) says “No person shall be eligible for election as Vice-President unless he — (a) is a citizen of India; (b) has completed the age of thirty-five years; and (c) is qualified for election as a member of the Council of States”.

Under Article 66(4), “A person shall not be eligible for election as Vice-President if he holds any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any State or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said Governments.”

Article 67 lays down that the “Vice-President shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office”. However, the Vice-President “shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term, continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office”.

The Vice-President may leave office before the end of his term by resigning to the President, or he “may be removed…by a resolution of the Council of States passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People”.

What if the election is disputed?

Article 71 of the Constitution deals with “Matters relating to, or connected with, the election of a President or Vice-President”. It says that “all doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with the election of a President or Vice-President shall be inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court whose decision shall be final”.

Should the Supreme Court declare the election of the President or Vice-President void however, “acts done by him in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of the office of President or Vice-President,…on or before the date of the decision of the Supreme Court shall not be invalidated by reason of that declaration”.

Also, “Parliament may by law regulate any matter relating to or connected with the election of a President or Vice-President”.

Source: Indian Express, 7/07/22