Monthly Archives: December 2015

Man who cycled 20,000 km across India suggests recycling waste is way forward

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology, Sports, Travel
Abhishek Kumar Sharma has submitted his findings with the Centre (TOI Photo)
Abhishek Kumar Sharma has submitted his findings with the Centre (TOI Photo)

Aligarh :

The year will end on a “clean” note for 28-year-old Abhishek Kumar Sharma, a research student of environment at Kanpur University, who began a journey on bicycle in November 2014 to endorse Prime Minister Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Sharma completed the trip on December 22 and has staggering numbers and remarkable insights to talk about.

Sharma covered 20,000 km across 25 states, met chief ministers of 18 (Kerala was the best experience as CM Chandy was readily available), interacted with 402 district magistrates and addressed lakhs of students in over 200 lectures on environment and cleanliness.

Sharma submitted his findings with the Union urban development ministry on ‘How to Make Waste our Wealth’. The first seven days were tough: starting from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, he battled cold in December, January and faced extreme heat in May-June in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

In Sharma’s opinion, with sensible solid waste management one can make wealth out of waste. “Mysore is the cleanest city. They have a self-sustainable model of waste management wherein they segregate waste as organic, inorganic, and recyclable. Kachra or junk goes to kabadiwallahs, organic waste is used for bio-fertilizers. I think South India is cleaner than North India,” he said.

Also, on his journey around India he found villages cleaner than cities. “This means educated people litter their surroundings expecting someone to pick it up,” he said. A village in Punjab, which has the same sarpanch for the past 15 years, is mentioned by him because the sarpanch invented interesting ways to keep his surroundings clean and healthy. “He made a biogas plant for all to use free of cost,” Sharma said.

The Smart Cities plan can only be successful if surroundings are clean and waste is managed effectively. “Municipal corporations should go beyond dumping waste – from one site to another, honestly that is all they do. To be able to make wealth out of waste they should segregate waste as organic, inorganic, recyclable and so on and put them to use accordingly.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Agra / by Eram Agha, TNN / December 28th, 2015

Engg student’s app makes marking attendance easier

Education, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

He was often marked absent despite having signed the sheet, a thin lined-piece of paper used for recording students’ attendance in college. Tired of getting the error rectified, 19-year-old computer science engineering student Manav Akela developed a mobile-based Android application, ‘IRegister’ that would help teachers record students’ attendance without mistakes and in a much simpler way using their smart phones.

“The attendance sheet is circulated and every student, one by one, is asked to write his/her name on it,” said Manav who spent almost three hours every day for three months in developing this app. “Sometimes, while circulating it, the paper tears off, or sometimes the teacher misplaces the paper. The app will prevent all such problems and errors,” he added.

Based on the concept of paperless operation, the app will free teachers of the burden of entering data and heavy calculations which take hours. “The app will not only save time but also paper,” said Manav, who lives beyond Rajajipuram and cycles 30 kilometres everyday to and from his engineering college.

One can download the app from Google Play Store or register with iregister.tk to begin. Once the app is downloaded, users will have to get a code by clicking the ‘Get Code’. This will take the user to the ‘Iregister’ website from where the code is generated. On entering the code, users will be shown five different rooms. In these rooms, a user can assign five different classes like CSE for computer science engineering, or ME for mechanical engineering. A user can navigate to the attendance sheet after assigning a class for each room.

Suppose a user has assigned room 1 as CSE class, he will be able to access seven features of the app. Here, he can mark a student present or absent. The app also allows exporting data saved on the app to the Excel sheet. The user can also make modifications like change student details as and when required. The most interesting feature is of sending a SMS to the parent in case a student is absent for three consecutive days. “Teachers can track attendance record of students in several classes,” he said.

The app, said Manav, is also beneficial for home-makers who take the pain of jotting down attendance details of milkman and newspaper vendor on the calendar. It can also be used to record attendance of convicts in jails.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / December 31st, 2015

Jhansi honours its Rani’s descendents

Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All

Jhansi :

Mixed emotions gripped 70-year-old Arun Krishna Rao ‘Jhansi Wale’, the great grandson of Damodar Rao, the foster son of Rani Laxmibai, when he stepped into Jhansi Fort. He was here with his son for a felicitation ceremony on the inaugural function of Jhansi Jan Mahotsav on Sunday.

After Laxmibai’s death in 1858 in the battle against the British forces and the subsequent surrender of her foster son Damodar Rao two years later, her descendants were gradually forgotten. Damodar’s family too chose to lead a life in isolation and had hardly enough money to make ends meet. Arun, a retired junior engineer from Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board, did not wish to divulge details of what travails the family went through.

“My father Krishna Rao and grandfather Laxman Rao worked as freelance typists in front of the courthouse in Indore. After the death of Rani Laxmibai, everyone thought that her son Damodar Rao too had died and no one spoke of him. However, he was brought to Indore and settled there by the British government. He was given a monthly pension of Rs 200 by them.”

A photographer by passion, Damodar could not do much professionally. His son Laxman became a typist but the income was hardly anything. After Damodar’s death, his pension was halved and later on, stopped.

As the fifth generation of Rani Laxmibai, Arun says, “My ancestors fought for the sovereignty of this country and if given a chance, I too am ready for the same. I do not expect anything from anyone for myself.”

When asked whether he had any hope or expectation that the government would recognize them as part of a royal family, he said, “How does it matter what I think? It has got no value and no one is going to hear you, especially when you are poor. My ancestors and I are more worried to feed their families. In such circumstances, how can we fight for our rights?

The entire Rao family lived in isolation till 2007 till local journalist and historian Mohan Nepali located them in Indore and felicitated them at a private function in Jhansi.

“It is really very sad that today the descendants of the great warrior, who is still worshiped no less than a God, are leading such a life and there is no one to take note of them,” said Nepali, adding that the government should recognise them.

Arun’s son, the sixth generation of Rani Laxmibai, is 37-year-old Yogesh Arun Rao ‘Jhansi Wale’ (as they love to call themselves). A software engineer in Nagpur, Yogesh said, “It is a matter of pride for me that I belong to the family of the great Rani who had shaken the entire British and the world still remembers her valour.” However, he also has a grudge that maximum people tend to disbelieve his claim after seeing their moderate living conditions which are quite unlike a royal family’s.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Arindam Ghosh, TNN / December 28th, 2015