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
APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University will confer honoris causa on Indian Science and Research Organisation chairman A S Kiran Kumar on its convocation slated on January 22. An accomplished space scientist, Kumar was instrumental in evolving the successful strategy for steering the Mars Orbiter Spacecraft towards planet Mars as well as its Mars Orbit Insertion.
As many as 47 students, gold, silver and bronze in streams like engineering, management, fashion designing and pharmacy will be awarded medals. In the medal tally, girls rule the roost once again. Close to 80% of the medals to be awarded on the convocation ceremony are in the girls’ kitty. Out of 47 medals, 38 will be awarded to girls.
For the first time, graduating students of AKTU will wear a cream-coloured ‘angvastra’ over their traditional dress. Boys will wear white-coloured shirt and dark coloured trousers. Girls will wear saree. Printed on the angvastra will be Lucknow’s heritage and famous historical monuments of UP. In addition, it will also have sermons of former APJ Abdul Kalam. It is also decided that the dignitaries will wear a maroon angvastra and a cream-colour pagadi.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh will be the chief guest at the function.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / December 16th, 20154
Here is a proud moment, not only for the city but the entire country. Nineteen-year-old Lucknow girl, Yugratna Srivastava, has been selected to interview UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon at the ongoing climate summit Conference of Parties, COP21 in Paris. Yugratna will interview him at the `Earth to Paris’ event slated on December 7 at Petit Palais.
“I am the only youth to have got the opportunity to interview the UN secretary-general. The best part was a mail (from UN secretary-general’s office in New York) which said they can’t imagine a better person than me to do this interview,” an elated Yugratna told TOI from Paris via social media. The interview, said Yugratna, would be on the Ban’s views on climate change and about negotiations taking place at COP21 and related issues.
“I will be soon briefed on the topics which I should cover in my interview from the secretary-general’s office,”she said. On the opening day at COP21, Yugratna made a presentation to world leaders, including PM Narendra Modi and US president Barack Obama. Prior to COP21, she attended the conference of youths, held from November 26 to 28. Here, her job was to prepare youth from 66 countries to talk about climate change before the world leaders at COP21.
“Youths participating in the conference gave presentations on `climate crisis’ and concerns about environment conservation,” said Yugratna. So, how did she made it to COP21? “I have work experience at the world-level programme, ‘climate strike’. This programme is to put a check on economical and ecological destruction, and to promote green alternatives. I was one of the eight in the core team. I guess this helped me to be part of COP21,” said she. Six years ago, Yugratna became the youngest person to address as many as 100 world leaders at the 2009 United Nation summit on climate change in New York.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailvee Sharma, TNN / December 07th, 2015
After spending decades in the circus, Mia and Sita were rescued by wildlife SOS under their circus elephant rescue mission, coordinated by union government, on Sunday. The two female jumbos are currently traveling in India’s first modern custom designed elephant ambulance and will be sent to Elephant Conservation & Care Center in Mathura.
The female elephants, “Mia” and “Sita” are the 6th and 7th circus elephants to be rescued in the year since the Centre has teamed up with animal rescue organization Wildlife SOS to rescue captive elephants being illegally used for circus performances, as part of its project to check maltreatment of wild animals. Wildlife SOS was instrumental in the release of Raju, the elephant who cried after being released from a life of chains after 50 years, and has collaborated with the government against the practice of using bears for dance performances. The organization is partner with the government to save 67 captive elephants from across the country, starting with 17 in the first phase that started in November, 2014.
This rescue also marks the inaugural trip of the Wildlife SOS’s new elephant ambulance – the first modern elephant ambulance in India with automatic electric hydraulic ramp, showers, dual power supply, dedicated room for the veterinary team with washing and treatment preparation area. This vehicle was designed to make transporting rescued elephants safer and more comfortable for the elephants.
Geeta Seshamani, Co-founder of Wildlife SOS, said, “With the addition of Mia and Sita to the herd, we have now rescued more than 10% of all the elephants that remained in India’s circuses when our circus elephant campaign began about one year ago. We are proud of this progress, but are committed to see this campaign through to the end, when we can say that no more elephants are suffering in India’s circuses.”
Earlier rescue operations required Wildlife SOS to hire trucks that were not specially equipped to deal with elephant rescues which made transport unsafe, challenging and inefficient.
Shreekant Upadhyay, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, UPFD said, “I am very happy that Wildlife SOS’s dedicated team is travelling across India to Tamil Nadu to save these elephants. Our Forest department congratulates Wildlife SOS with the success of this operation. ”
Initiatives to protect the elephant are not recent. In 1992, the ministry of environment and forests launched Project Elephant, designed to help elephants both wild and captive. In 1998, the central ministry banned the use of wild animals like tigers, bears, leopards, lions and monkeys in circuses. The elephant joined that list recently. The Animal Welfare Board of India has issued show-cause notices to circuses found lacking in animal welfare and documented maltreatment of elephants.
Both Mia and Sita, in their 50s will reach to elephant care and conservation centre Mathura on Wednesday. While Mia, the more spirited of the two, is developing a cataract in her eyes. She has significant, painful inflammation in both hind feet, as well as abscesses in her toenails – all of which contribute to making her gait severely abnormal.
Sita, the one who is more mild and mannered is also no less in need of veterinary intervention. Her right front leg never healed properly from an old fracture and is fused so she cannot bend it. Her left front leg is hyper extended, putting pressure on her foot, which has led to nail cracks and abscesses. Because of these problems, she has likely not been able to lie down and rest properly in more than a year.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Environment> Flora & Fauna / by Ishita Mishra, TNN / November 23rd, 2015
City girl Yugratna Srivastava, the first Indian child to make it to the junior board of Tunza, a United Nations Environment protection program, and represent Asia and pacific region is all set to participate in the International conference of parties organized in Paris from November 30 to December 11.
Yugratna, a student of Btech at Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, has done remarkable work for creating a sustainable environment; she uses social media as an effective tool to add people in the noble job. She has also delivered rousing speeches in and outside India about the inevitable need of spreading awareness about environmental issues and ways to tackle it. The aim of Tunza Junior board is to build ecological sensitivity, equip members of the society to tackle local environmental issues and make people aware about the preservation of bio-diversity.
Yugratna, an alumnus of St Fidelis College, has participated in several International conferences and talked about the importance of environment preservation as also her ideas to take the issue forward. “Deposit Green Gold to Enrich Oxy Bank,” a slogan launched by her in Nairobi stirred the social media for a long time.
During her visit to France this year, she will also give a representation in United Nation foundation on December 7 and at the Unesco Headquarters in Paris the next day
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / November 19th, 2015
This foundation day, on November 25, Lucknow University alumnae society will confer `Lifetime Achievement Award’ to Lord (Dr) Khalid Hameed. Hameed is the chairman and CEO of London International Hospital and chairman of Alpha Hospital Group. Lord Hameed completed his MBBS from Lucknow University in 1967.
LU alumni society will felicitate eight other illustrious former students who have brought laurels to their alma mater by doing exceptionally well in their respective professions.
Among those who will be felicitated this year are Justice SS Chauhan of the Allahabad high court; IAS officer Lov Verma; director general, Archaeological Survey of India Rakesh Tewari; CEO Biotechnology Park Prof Pramod Tandon; senior journalist Rahul Dev; eminent theatre personality SM Kulshreshtha; chairman-cum-managing director, Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd Gopal Dhawan and noted Awadh historian Yogesh Praveen.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Isha Jain, TNN / November 16th, 2015
Rinku and Dinesh cracked Major League Baseball, a story that inspired a Disney film
Sports and drama are inseparable, and when they combine on the screen, it becomes an irresistible watch. Million Dollar Arm , which premiered on Indian television recently, was a film waiting to be made. The real-life events that inspired it were a gripping saga of grit and determination, a striking David and Goliath plot.
Rinku Singh
Two boys from rural Uttar Pradesh win the “Million Dollar Arm” talent show and go to the U.S to train in, and eventually to play, professional baseball. After rigorous training, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel performed in front of talent scouts from 20 Major League Baseball teams in November 2008. The Pittsburgh Pirates signed them, becoming the first Indians to win American Major League Baseball contracts.
Dinesh Patel (above) and Rinku Singh showed immense grit.— Photos: Special Arrangement
In a telephone interview, the pair discusses the challenges and joys of their unusual journey.
“Dinesh and I were javelin players. We went to a small college in Lucknow and trained there and played a couple of international events and represented India. But our life took a complete turn and we have got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Singh said.
The talent show is the brainchild of a sports agent, Jeff Bernstein, who was inspired by Yao Ming, a Chinese athlete and basketball player with major success in American sports.
Bernstein watched a cricket match on ESPN and noticed that the bowlers were delivering at high speeds, something that could work well for baseball. So he created a television show that would find the strongest throwing arm in India and the programme would offer $1 million to anyone who could throw three consecutive balls at more than 145 kmph. It came to be called the “Million Dollar Arm”.
“They went all over India and they could not find anyone who could through hard and fast, and finally Dinesh and I went to the ‘Million Dollar Arm’ competition and both of us got a speed of 145 kmph,” Mr. Rinku said.
Glitzy turn
Their story was turned into a major Disney movie, directed by Craig Gillespie and with screenplay written by Tom McCarthy. Jon Hamm, famous for his role in the television series Mad men , plays Bernstein. Suraj Sharma plays Rinku Singh and Madhur Mittal, Dinesh Patel.
As part of the competition, the two had to travel to the U.S. to train and get a chance to try out professional baseball.
“After we won the competition in India, we were taken to America, to a new country where we did not speak the language; it was a totally different world and we had to play baseball which was a sport that we had no idea about. At that point, we did not speak any English; there were times when we would try to go get food but we could not order anything,” Mr. Singh said.
“We felt like we were not cut out to play baseball because we saw the other players and they were really good. They have been playing this their whole life, ever since they were kids and here we were 18-19-year-old kids going for try-outs to play professional baseball. The experience of the life there itself was amazing. I am still on the journey and trying to make it to leagues. I want to represent India and be able to support youngsters back in India who are not able to have three meals a day. The goal is to be able to give an opportunity to India, and to open up huge doors,” he said.
While he is still in the U.S., working through an injury, to make it for the next try-outs, Mr. Patel is back in India. “I left the U.S. in 2011 and came back to teach kids in India how to play baseball. I just finished my graduation in English and Hindi and even went to China in 2012 to learn how to be a baseball coach. I am still involved with the Million Dollar Arm project and I spent some time with Gaurav, who was the second season winner and helped him train in baseball. The next season is starting as well. So I will be involved with that.”
He just had a baby girl last week and is looking forward to spending time with her, “It’s good to be back home with all this new learning, I want to help more kids to learn and love the sport to hopefully have them train and go to America. I want to teach my daughter to play javelin, I am not sure about baseball.”
Mr. Singh interrupts him and says in Hindi: “ Agar aapki beti ko baseball khelna hai tho hum use sikaenge (If your daughter wants to play baseball, we will teach her).”
The two have surely come a long way from children playing a different sport in a college ground in Lucknow.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National / by Rini Mukkath / Mumbai – October 14th, 2015
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that one needs to search his role model from the society he comes from as they can be the guiding light for the generation to come and the government on its part should honor those personalities.
“Samajwadi Party (SP) government is committed for honoring these personalities because a small encouragement could send a positive signal among the masses,” Yadav said in a function held at his official residence where different personalities who contributed for the betterment of society were honoured.
Yadav said that, he expects that people will draw inspiration from these people. “The SP government is committed to provide an opportunity to these people and the youths of state, who have the will to struggle and work for the society,” he said.
“We always try to find fault among others. We never try to see goodness among the people around us. There are many who are struggling to make both ends meet. Their success story could be inspiring for the next generation,” he said.
The Chief Minister provided a monetary cheque to many of these ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, including the 13-years-old Harendra Singh of Noida, 15-year-old girl Sushma of Lucknow and an elderly typist of Lucknow, Krishna Kumar whose typewriter was broken by a policeman during an anti-encroachment drive.
The 13-year-old boy Harendra Singh has drawn global attention for his commitment towards his studies. He studies in the morning in a school and at night earns livelihood at Noida Metro station. His commitment has gone viral in the social media. CM gave him a cheque of Rs 5 lakh.
Earlier, Yadav had honoured eight personalities that includes photo journalist Ashutosh Tripathi, whose photo of police beating up typist Krishna Kumar became viral in the social media.
Other awardees were Ramjit Yadav of Mirzapur who recently saved 10 children from drowning in Ganga and was given Rs 10 lakh. Rajkumar, Sanjay and Pintu Sahani of Ballia were awarded Rs 1 each for saving public from crocodile.
CM also honoured noted urdu shayar Wasim Bareilvi, who was present on the occasion.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Chaudhry and ICDS Minister Kailesh Chaurasi were also present in the meeting.
source: http://www.dailypioneer.com / The Pioneer / Home> State editions> Lucknow / PNS, Lucknow / Monday – September 28th, 2015
Loss of limb in the battlefield in the Indo-Pak war of 1965 at the prime of his youth could not affect his will to live and set example for others. For the past half century, Major Dhirendra Nath Singh witnessed various developments on domestic and global fronts—walking on an artificial limb. The Vir Chakra awardee, now 74-year-old, who lives in a double-storey apartment in Lucknow’s Aliganj, has successfully overpowered his disability and inspired his sons and grandson to join the Army.
On September 18, 1965, Major Singh was commanding a company of a battalion of Kumaon Regiment which was ordered to capture Keri. The assaulting platoons ran into the enemy minefield and there were many casualties. Major Singh moved in front with his men to attack the enemy and lost a leg. He was lying wounded in the mine-field, when he saw an enemy medium machine gun firing nearby and he crawled up with an LMG from one of his men and fired at the enemy MMG to silenced it. Under his able leadership, the post was captured by his men after fierce hand fighting.
“Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri came to see him while he was undergoing treatment at Military Hospital in Delhi,” Major Singh recalled. Later, he went to attend Vir Chakra award ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on artificial limb.
Major Singh, who hails from Gorakhpur, shifted to Lucknow in 1989. While age doesn’t allow him to undertake physical activities now, Singh actively cycled, drove cars and tractors, when he looked after his agricultural work in his native village and had practically no problems in adjusting to life with his artificial limb.
Recalling some of the tense moments, in which there were reports that almost 30,000 infiltrators has sneaked into India, Major Singh said, “Our stay in and around Jawahar tunnel was for almost 10 days during which we drove away infiltrators across river Chenab, and subsequently took over Doda, and then conducted a flag march. During the same period, we were also able to secure the Reasi bridge over Chenab.”
Legacy continues in the family
While Major DN Singh left the Army in 1971, he ensured that successive generations of his family join the armed forces and embrace the olive green uniform. Two of sons – Brigadier VPS Kaushik and Brigadier SP Singh are posted at Kargil and Kupwara respectively, while his grandson Digvijay Singh is a gentleman cadet and is undergoing training at College of Military Engineering, Pune. One of his sons is currently commanding a brigade, which had captured Hajipir on August 28, 1965, while another is commanding the brigade, which had captured point 13620 in May 1965.
Benevolent gesture of Dara Singh & Teji Bachchan
After the war was over Bollywood actor Dara Singh announced cash award for the gallantry award winners. As a result each PVC winner got Rs 250, while each MVC and Vir Chakra awardee got Rs 100 and Rs 50 respectively. While, Major DN Singh was undergoing treatment in Delhi, he was looked after by Teji Bachchan (mother of Amitabh Bachchan).
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Sinha, TNN / September 15th, 2015
SBI Life Insurance, a trusted private life insurer, felicitated village level entrepreneurs (VLE) in Lucknow region for taking ‘SBI Life – CSC Saral Sanchay’ life insurance plan to the doorstep of rural Uttar Pradesh. This regular premium plan would help consumers to systematically save so as to achieve their future goals in life and at the same time also supports one’s family in achieving those goals in the event of any eventuality.
Speaking on the occasion, Arijit Basu, MD and CEO, SBI Life said, “The village level entrepreneurs have set an example in taking the ‘SBI Life – CSC Saral Sanchay’ plan to the last mile of the rural hinterland. The plan is specifically aimed at the segment of the population who are largely uninsured. With this offering we are trying to give these families a relief by securing the life of their bread earner and help them save to achieve their goals in the near future.”
‘SBI Life – CSC Saral Sanchay’ life insurance plan, which was launched recently by SBI Life Insurance, is an individual, non-linked, non-participating, variable insurance plan that claims to provide a guaranteed interest rate of 1.00 percent per annum, which will be applicable throughout the policy term. In addition, an additional interest rate (AIR) of 4% pa will also be applicable during the first 5 years and an AIR of 0.5% will be applicable from the sixth year. Further, at the end of each policy year starting from the fifth policy year, residual additions may be added.
Any individual between 18- 60 years can purchase this plan from an authorised Common Service Centre (CSC) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of Government of India. The policy will be issued based on the information provided on their Adhar card and other enrolment details and the plan can be availed for a policy term of 10 years or 15 years.
The plan provides for benefits on death of the life assured or on maturity of the policy. “In addition, it also provides an option of partial withdrawals, which is the flexibility to withdraw a portion of the policy account value from 6th year onwards to cater to liquidity needs. The plan also provides tax benefits as per the prevailing tax laws”, said the company.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Priyanka Singh, TNN / September 03rd, 2015
