Monthly Archives: April 2016

Agra set to host first national crossbow championship from tomorrow

Records, All, Sports

Agra:

The first national “desi dhanush”, crossbow, championship will be held in the city from April 29 to 30. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had inaugurated the logo for the Indian Crossbow Shooting Association in March and said the state government would extend all support to promote the sport. He had also given the sport the name of “desi dhanush”. As many 30 crossbow shooters from five states will participate in the event which will be held at the Prelude Public School grounds later this week.

The crossbow event is the brainchild of Agra-resident and national player Rajat Vij, who is also the president of the Indian Crossbow Shooting Association.

Vij told TOI, “After the inaugural of desi dhanush by the state government, we are going ahead with the first national championship in Agra. Sportspersons from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, besides Uttar Pradesh will participate in the two-day event.”

While the inaugural session will be held on April 29, the main sporting competition will take place the following day between 8am and 11.30am.

Vij said the sport is not very popular and only a handful of people know about it. The chief minister’s presence at the inauguration of the logo on March 17, has helped bring the sport to mainstream audience. He added that depending on the success of the first event, it would be held on much larger scale in the near future.

On March 17, a 18-member delegations of crossbow athletes from Japan, US, Sweden and Portugal had given a live demonstration of the crossbow event before an audience that included the CM.

Interestingly, during his address, Yadav had exhorted people to promote crossbow or “desi dhanush more than the bicycle”, referring to his party’s election symbol.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Agra / by Aditya Dev / TNN / April 27th, 2016

This 4-yr-old girl plays 8 instruments

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Agra:

She can play twice as many instruments as the candles on her birthday cake, pronounces Sanskrit words flawlessly and has the voice to become a singing sensation.

Meet Aarohi Agrawal of Mathura, all of four years old and already a tabla, harmonium, keyboards and bongo prodigy.

On Sunday, Avantika Foundation, a senior citizens’ group, awarded Aarohi the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Samman 2016 for her talent in music. She was the youngest among the 108 awardees at the event.

Sanjay Agarwal, a member of the organisation, said, “Aarohi is extremely talented. I visited Mathura and spent two hours at her residence listening to her playing, and I was astonished”.

Besides playing eight instruments with ease, Aarohi sings the National Anthem and devotional songs movingly, reflecting her musical inheritance.

Her grandfather, Dr Rajendra Krishna, is a renowned musician who runs a music school in Mathura.

Avantika Foundation chose 108 people from all walks of life, out of 600 names on its longlist. Agarwal said the organisation aims to promote and motivate talented people.

“We awarded her grandfather to motivate him to further help Aarohi, but if he does not do so, we will take back his award.”

BJP’s national vice president Purushottam Rupala was the chief guest at the function and presented the awards.

source: http;//www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Agra / TNN / April 25th, 2016

Allahabad boys’ ‘Garuda’ takes off with elan

Education, Science & Technology

Allahabad:

A six-member team of MNNIT has come up with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The drone, developed in the shape of a bird, will be launched under Startup India programme.

Led by final year student of BTech, mechanical, Aswani Singh, the team’s multi-utility UAV is part of its final year project.

Talking to TOI, Aswani said, “The UAV made by us is inspired from mythological bird ‘Garuda’. The biggest problem with traditional drones is that they can easily be spotted whereas our ‘Garuda’ looks more like a bird and is invisible to the enemy.”

With a wing span of 1.5m, the drone weighs 700 gram. It can fly up to a height of 500 meters above the ground, and once fully-charged, it can cover a distance of over 8km at a speed of 80km/hr, added Aswani.

There are three types of UAVs, including the one with fixed wings (resembling airplane), Delta plane and multi-chopper, added Aswani. Other members of his team include Harsh, Anil, Akanksha , Dhwani and Sweety.

The drone can be carried in bag and assembled within a minute. It can fly for 20 minutes at a stretch, and once the power goes off, the drone gets charged in five minutes and is ready to fly again, he said. Flying at the top speed, the UAV takes perfect pictures as it is also fitted with vibration dampers, he added.

Currently, the UAV is controlled from a laptop, but the team is working on its mechanism so that the device can be operated from a tab or smartphone in future. We are working to increase the flying time as well as the range of the UAV, so that its utility increases, Singh said.

The drone would cost around Rs 50,000, he said, adding that we will be imparting training to our customers so that they can repair the UAV themselves. This will help reduce the cost of maintenance.
The team had recently trained 29 schoolkids.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / April 29th, 2016

MSc students adopt village, give it a lesson in development

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features
Allahabad University (File Photo)
Allahabad University (File Photo)

Allahabad :

It started as another MSc course in September last year at the botany department of Allahabad University but has grown into something bigger. Since 14 students of this innocuous PG course in rural technology and development adopted it, Ramapura village of Bahadurpur block hasn’t looked back.

The course, a brainchild of head of the department Prof Anupam Dikshit, includes adoption of a village to give practical experience to the students. When Ramapura was picked, the idea was to develop it along the lines of of Punsiyari village, the state-of-the-art village in Gujarat’s Samarkata district.

“Our students visit this village at least twice a month and their efforts in making the lives of the villagers easier are showing results,” said Dikshit. For one, the students, alongwith active participation of village folks and Sri Satya Sai Seva organization, UP, are ensuring cleanliness and better roads in the village.

With their work, the village which had just two toilets has been sanctioned funds for 50 more. It has also been given 10 solar lights.

“We plan to design a mobile lab for soil, water and pathological tests,” Dikshit added.

“Our aim is to use this course to develop villages of Allahabad using latest technology and techniques. The course will help in promoting rural entrepreneurship which would, in turn, check migration of rural populace to urban areas,” he said.

Village head Ram Murti Yadav is all praises for the team. “Students’ efforts are commendable as they haven’t only helped us with basic amenities but are also educating our women and children on several issues that would go a long way in developing the village further,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Allahabad / by Rajeev Mani / TNN / April 28th, 2016

Budding entrepreneurs get green stage at CIMAP

Business & Economy

Lucknow:

Technology, Business and Incubation Center (TBIC) at Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) will be the first incubation center for herbal products amongst the 38 CSIR laboratories in the country.

“It will be the first incubation center for manufacturing of herbal products, which will provide hand-holding facility to new entrepreneurs, who want to start new business without running the risk of investing in machinery, infrastructure and technology,” said director CIMAP Anil Kumar Tripathi.

He added that an entrepreneur will be given marketing rights and no licence fee for CIMAP herbal products technology would be charged. “They will have the right to decide the MRP of the product.”

New entrepreneurs will have the option to select from CIMAP herbal products or they can come up with a new idea to develop herbal products, he said. After testing market potential of the product, if entrepreneurs want to go for production in bulk, then they have to purchase the technology of the institute as limited quantity can be manufactured at the center, he added.

“Besides generating employment under ‘start up India Programme’, it will help popularize CIMAP products by increasing their penetration in the market,” said senior scientist and in charge of TBIC, Dinesh Kumar.

Two production units and three laboratories, including microbial, analytical and quality assurance, have been set up at the center. The institute is framing the guidelines and the facility will shortly be made available.

Kumar said the first production unit will be used in manufacturing liquid and semi-liquid products. Semi-liquid products like herbal face washes and shampoo and liquid products like hair and pain relief oil will be manufactured in production unit I.

Production unit I has special machines installed for manufacturing products like liquid mixer, automatic liquid filling and automatic cap sealing.

The second production unit would manufacture herbal creams, balms and gels. A multi-mix plant has been installed at the unit for making creams and gels along with tube filling, sealing and coding unit for product’s packaging, he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / April 26th, 2016

From NIFT to village panchayat, Priyanka Yadav knits with ease

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Lucknow :

For Priyanka Yadav, the 7th National Panchayati Raj Day celebrations held at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan would certainly be a special one, as the 24-year-old village pradhan from Etawah’s Sarsai Nawar (village panchayat) and a pass out of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru was felicitated by the State Election Commission.

Priayanka who seeks inspiration from Chhavi Rajawat, the woman sarpanch from Rajasthan’s Soda village (60 kilometres from Jaipur), says, “I first came to know about Chhavi Rajawat from my elder sister, who reposed faith in me that I have the attributes of leading a village.” She further stated that initially, she was apprehensive of stepping into politics, but after persuasion from her father (Jairaj Singh alias Pappu Yadav), who is also the kshetra panchayat chairman from Takha.

Elaborating her plan of action to empower the villagers, Priyanka, who is currently pursuing master in fashion business from NIFT, said, “I obtained knowledge in knitwear designing from NIFT-Bengaluru, while studying there from 2010 to 2014, and I want to empower the people of village by giving them the latest innovations in knitting techniques and designing, so that they can prosper, while staying in the village itself.” She further stated that gradually, women could start their own business and support their families.

When asked whether she would move ahead electorally, Priyanka said that if the women voters of my village start showing signs of self-reliance and self-confidence, “then I will move on, else, I would continue to work at the village panchayat level.”

Smriti Singh (23), who has done post-graduation in management (HR), and won the polls from Ratsarkala in Ballia wanted to have a word with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, and said, “I wanted CM sir to make the entire village like me.” Singh who was attached to KGMU for two-and-half years as a research associate said that she did not want to join the politics, but it was only after her siblings convinced her that she eventually decided to contest the panchayat polls.

Similarly, a couple of other elected village pradhans also wanted to use the opportunity to narrate their woes to the chief minister, but could not do so, as CM did not turn up in the event. Woman entrepreneur Pooja Kumari, who won from Majra Jatpatiyaali in Kasganj district was so overwhelmed by the award that she was unable to speak out of excitement.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / Arunav Sinha / TNN / April 25th, 2016

Son may take forward legacy of man who guided Queen Elizabeth, Diana

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion
Princess Diana at Deewan-e-Aam at Agra Fort in 1992. (File Photo)
Princess Diana at Deewan-e-Aam at Agra Fort in 1992. (File Photo)

Two guides in Agra have been contacted by British High Commission for the royal couple’s visit on April 16. However, there is still no confirmation as to who will be deputed to guide the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
One of them is Varun Rawat, whose father Mukund Mohan Rawat was the official guide to Queen Elizabeth (II) who visited the Taj Mahal in 1961, and Lady Diana in 1992. He was contacted by British embassy about six days ago.

Princess Diana signs the visitor book at Taj Mahal in 1992. (File Photo)
Princess Diana signs the visitor book at Taj Mahal in 1992. (File Photo)

The other guide contacted by British High Commission is Shamsuddin, who is the former president of Approved Guides’ Association.

“My father was the official guide to Queen Elizabeth (II) in 1961 and her daughter-in-law Lady Diana who visited the Taj Mahal in 1992,” Varun said.

“My father used to talk about Lady Diana being a down to earth person with immense interest in the history and architecture of Taj Mahal,” he recollected. “He would tell me how Lady Diana interacted politely with the Taj Mahal ‘khadim’,” Varun said.

Varun had guided former US President Bill Clinton when he visited the Taj Mahal in 2000 and again in 2003.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home / Hemendra Chaturvedi, Hindustan Times,Agra / April 15th, 2016

Lavanya Ladies Club organises a party in Kanpur

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

LavanyaLadiesLUCKNOW25apr2016

It was fun all the way when members of Lavanya Ladies Club in the city organised a party.

“It’s very hot these days and to beat the heat we all dressed in green colour,” said Ritu Lord, the president of the club. Aman and Jyoti were the early birds at the do, who were soon joined by Neeta, Manit, and Amita.

The ladies played a few games and Kanchan, Nandini and Payal easily won the game of antakshari with their excellent singing.

Payal, Richa and Timkin won a gift hamper each in tambola.

We also spotted Rashmi and Shruti enjoying the party. The do concluded on a high note with all the ladies enjoying a lavish dinner. Also present in the party were Rakhi, Abhilasha, Niti, Simriti and Manjari.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kanpur / Sumit Jha / TNN / April 23rd, 2016

Conquering male bastion: City girls man petrol pump

Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Allahabad:

Fairer sex in Sangam city are now taking up jobs in areas once considered a man’s domain. Defying standard gender stereotypes, for the first time in Allahabad, a petrol pump boasts of as many as three girls working as attendants.

The girls, Meghna Srivastava (B.Com), Poonam Kumari (class X ) and Sarita Tyagi (BA), believe it’s only hard work that counts.

Working at a city-based petrol pump, they say they’ve never had second thoughts about their choice of profession. Working the 10 am-5 pm shift, Meghna also looks after the account work.

“I have been working here for past year and a half and I’ve never faced any gender discrimination,” she said.

On being asked whether they have ever been teased or stalked, the girls say they’ve always conducted themselves with dignity and have never faced any such problems. The number of women customers has also increased, they said.

Poonam and Sarita, who started working here two months ago say they have their family support which makes work a lot easy.

Manager of the petrol pump, Prakash Chandra, says, “Lucknow was the first city where a petrol pump had girls as attendants. But the exercise could not go on for long. Later, another petrol pump in Allahabad also tried but failed.”

However, he says, people have appreciated their effort to promote women.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / April 25th, 2016

Kashi lad to represent UP in Japan-Asia youth exchange prog

Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, World Opinion

Varanasi:

A class X student of Bangali Tola intermediate college of the city, Gaurav Patel is among the students selected for ‘Inspire’ award scheme (under the department of science and technology) who will represent UP in the Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science (SAKURA Exchange Program in Science) in Japan from April 17 to 23. He is the only student from the state to have been selected for the scheme.

Gaurav secured sixth position at the national level on the basis of his science model aimed at conservation of energy by incorporating optical fibre. He was among the 60 students selected for the award scheme held at IIT-Delhi last year aimed at promoting scientific talent among children. The district inspector of schools (DIOS) Awadh Kishore Singh had recently informed the principal of Bangali Tola intermediate college about Gaurav’s selection for the programme along with a letter from ministry of science and technology, GOI on April 2.

Gaurav had participated in the science exhibition organized as a part of ‘Inspire’ award scheme last year. His model on ‘energy conservation by optical fibre’ ranked first in district and he finally bagged sixth rank at national level thus making his place among top 10. “We are all happy and proud of him,” said principal of BTIC, Jai Prakash Pandey.

When TOI contacted Gaurav, who will leave for Japan from Delhi on Saturday night, said, “I am looking forward to this visit as it will not only introduce me to some of the brilliant young minds but also expose me to the eminent people associated with field of science.”

Talking about his model, he said, “Energy conservation is one of the concerns of our government much is being done to reduce the energy consumption. I had been reading about renewable energy and upon realizing its importance, decided to prepare a model on the same by incorporating optical fibre, which consumes far less energy.”

“He is a very hardworking and it was because of his interest in science that his model has been selected. The teachers of his college have also been very supportive and I hope he gets to learn more about his subject from his abroad visit and make our country proud”, his father, Munna Lal Patel,said who works as a textile designer with a private firm.

Notably, Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is an innovative programme sponsored and managed by the department of science and technology. The basic objective is to communicate to the youth of the country the creative pursuit of science, attract talent to the study of science at an early age and thus build the required human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the science and technology system.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Varanasi / Punkhuri Kapoor / TNN / April 17th, 2016