Category Archives: Science & Technology

7 startups visit IIT-BHU campus

Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Varanasi :

Startup companies dominated the 6th day of placement season at the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (IIT-BHU) on Saturday.

According to in charge, Training and Placement Cell, IIT-BHU Anil Kumar Agarwal, seven startup companies, including Clavileno Capital, Sygmoid Analytics, Lexinnova, Spytech and Pentium, visited the campus for placement. Mainly software companies visited the campus in first four days but the fifth day was dominated by core engineering companies for hiring technocrats in the field of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.

In first five days, 400 students of IIT-BHU were offered jobs with the highest compensation of Rs 2.02 crore to a student by Oracle US.

On the 5th day, Reliance, Vodafone, Orbees Medical, Freescale Semiconductor and Career UTS visited the campus on Friday, while 10 companies including Fire Eye, Oyo rooms, and Tata Motors had turned up on the fourth day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, after a strong 650 hirings in just five days, the placement drive at IIT-Kanpur slowed down on the weekend with some 25 students receiving job offer letters on Saturday.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / TNN / December 07th, 2014

Allahabad artists go online to sell their painting

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Allahabad :

Confident brush strokes, bright colors, a creative theme and days of hard work, that’s what it takes to make a good painting. But it becomes quite disappointing to see if that piece of brilliant artwork doesn’t get the deserving appreciation. That’s precisely what most young painters have been facing for years in the city now. Exhibitions are held, paintings are put on display, but these brilliant piece of work fail to find buyers. But thanks to the advent of technology and boom in the online market, their plights seemed to have got ended. Unable to sell paintings in the local markets, these artists are resorting to social networking and online platforms to sell their stuff.

Happy with the change

Talk to the painters in the city and ask them how their lives have got changed since they started using online platforms and they answer enthusiastically. Dheeraj Yadav, a graduate from the department of Visual Arts who started marketing his paintings on facebook some times ago, adds, “The problem with this city is, people hardly buy paintings. You invite them over to your exhibition, they will come over, appreciate your work and go back. It’s not that the quality of paintings put on display is bad or the price is too high, the buying culture is just not there. Even if you price a painting as low as 1000 rupees, people rarely buy,” shares the budding painter who manages to sell a few paintings monthly using facebook these days, adding, “But now I have changed my approach. I have joined various forums on the facebook and I market my paintings there. I get to sell 3-4 paintings monthly.”

Drill these youngsters further to know more about this issue and the picture gets clearer. Dharmendra Kumar, another budding painter of the city who also resorted to online platforms recently, shares his story. “To a great extent the tag matters. More than how good a painting is, people focus on who has made it. They feel that unless a painting has been made by renowned painter, it is not worth buying, so even if they like our paintings, they would not buy it for the tag factor,” claims the youngster who recently started approaching online galleries and is getting good response from them now. “Because these online galleries are managed by professionals who have good network, they are able to arrange buyers. How they manage to sell them is something I don’t know, but in the past 3 months, I have been able to sell 7-8 paintings. Although the galleries take a 30-40% cut, given the fact they manage buyers for us, I feel it’s ok. Nothing comes for free,” adds the painter without divulging the details of the money he managed to earn from these sales.

At what price a painting gets sold is a very important factor and it seems these budding painters are quite satisfied with the returns they are getting by selling these paintings online. Adding to Dharmendra’s point, another painter Amreesh Kumar avers, “Best part of selling paintings online despite the presence of middle men is that nobody is there to haggle. You can price it as per your whims and fancies and it will be sold on your listed price. Locally that is the worst problem we face,” claims Amreesh, who managed to sell 3 of his paintings in the last couple of weeks,” adding, “Online platforms actually give us options of buyers. If somebody is unwilling to pay what we want, we can always look for other. Aaj nahi to kal bik hi jaegi and wo bhi achche rate par.”

This trend has been able to motivate these youngsters so much that a few of them are even thinking of starting their own pages and blogs. Painter Ankit Pandey, who graduated from University of Allahabad a few years ago, is one of them. “So far I was a member of a number of forums in facebook, but given the kind of response my paintings are getting, I have decided to make own page and blog. I will put some of my best paintings on display. Some of my painter friends have advised me that this will help in increasing my brand value,” claims the painter who managed to sell 4 of his paintings in the past one and half months using these platforms.

Prof Ajay Jaitley, Head of the Visual Arts department at the University of Allahabad and person in-charge of Nirala Art Gallery, one of the two most important art galleries of the city, avers, “For the past over 30 years, I have seen almost all the painters of the city. There is no dearth of talent, but painting buying culture is just not there in this city. Moreover, absence of professional galleries, which can market and give platforms to budding artists, is another reason. Visitors take these budding artists’ work lightly, so we need better marketing to improve the local market,” he says before highlighting the impact of online galleries, e-commerce sites and social networking platforms further. “On an average an artist gets to sell his painting for minimum 5000 rupees online, at least that’s something I have been told by the people selling them, so youngsters are definitely getting good returns. Although, this trend is still at a nascent stage, it has given the more exposure and bigger market. Websites like fizdi.com, Indiaart.com and indiaarthub.com, besides others, are some of the websites which youngsters are sending their works to.”

But not everyone seems to be satisfied with the response of these online platforms. There are people who have been using them for quite some time, but have not been able to get good response despite all the efforts. Shobit Yadav, post graduate student at the Visual Arts department who has neither had a very good experience uploading his paintings’ pictures on facebook, nor sending these pictures to various websites, is one of them. “I have been uploading my paintings pictures on Instagram and facebook for the past 4 months, but so far have not been able to attract even a single buyer. People send queries but so far no query has got translated into business,” he says, adding, “I even sent a few pictures to Indiaart.com but so far have not got any response. So I personally do not feel that online/social networking platforms can help too much.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Shashank Tripathi, TNN / December 01st, 2014

KGMU performs first live renal transplant

Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow:

First live renal transplant surgery was performed at the Centenary hospital of King George’s Medical University in a five hours long session here on Saturday.

A team comprising 20 doctors, assistants and support staff performed the operation with the help of experts from Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences where live renal transplants which has been performing live renal transplants for the past 25 years.

The recipient in Saturday’s operation Kushiram is a 28-year-old farmer from Amethi a patient of end stage kidney disease (ESRD) and was admitted to KGMU’s transplant department. His sister Kusum donated her kidney and both of them were reported stable after the operation.

Speaking to reporters, KGMU vice chancellor Ravi Kant said, “The procedure would give hope to poor patients awaiting transplant.” A patient approaching SGPGI has to wait for at least 7-8 months for a renal transplant.

SGPGI director Rakesh Kapoor who supervised the surgery stated that incidence of kidney diseases was expected to go up considering rise in problems like diabetes and hypertension, diseases with stones, high intake of painkillers & alternative medicines like powdered heavy metal, aristolochic acid (found in herbal remedies and Chinese slimming teas), besides hereditary reasons.

“Majority of problems may be contained if addressed on time. But, poor diagnosis and lack of facilities complicate these problems and patients end up developing end stage kidney disease. Dialysis and transplant are the only options to manage ESRD and accessible to only about 2% patients,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / November 23rd, 2014

Maths whiz creates another marvel

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

After devising a calendar containing dates of over 10 lakh years, city-based mathematics enthusiast Jagrat Chatterjee has now been able to jot down multiplication tables from 1 to 2072 on a single chartpaper.

Speaking to TOI, Jagrat, said, “It took me almost 50 hours to give final shape to the multiplication tables on a chart paper. I am now planning to officially register this feat into the Limca Books of Records and subsequently in the Guinness Book of Records.” He further stated that at times, even he had to use a magnifying glass to locate a certain number on the chartpaper.

Jagrat said numbers and their games fascinate him. “Unlike other creative pursuits, number games widen various faculties of mind, and that’s why I am interested in designing new arrangements and other similar patterns using numbers,” Chatterjee added.

In 2013, Jagrat had compiled a calendar which could provide dates for 10 lakh 8 thousand years. He was honoured with Shaan-e-Shahar Samman in the 2013 edition of Lucknow Mahotsava for the achievement.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / November 25th, 2014

Prez’s doc recalls days at GSVM

Amazing Feats, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

An alumnus of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College, Padma Shri Dr Mohsin Wali needs no introduction.

He has the distinction of serving three presidents, including Pranab Mukherjee, as physician.

At the age of 33, he became the youngest ever physician to the then president R Venkataraman and later Shankar Dayal Sharma.

Besides, he was also appointed to serve the family of former president Zakir Hussain. He was in the city to deliver a talk in the national conference — Wellness Con-2014 – organized by CSJM University’s Institute of Health Sciences on Saturday. Later, he spoke at length with TOI about his days spent in the city, his selection as President’s physician in 1990 and his experiences in the Rashtrapati Bhawan. “In 1990, I was working with Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi. One day hospital CMS called me to inform that he has recommended my name as physician to the then President Venkataraman.

I was shocked. But the biggest surprise was my appointment for the same.

Even my wife Naaz did not believe me and said that I cannot be appointed to such a high post and I merely said that it is an exception,” said Dr M Wali with a broad smile on his face.

During interview, the then president Venkatraman asked him as to how would he treat him and Dr Wali replied, “Sir, I will treat you like any other patient while maintaining dignity for you in my heart.”

This clinched his selection, added Dr Wali, who also had to appear before another president Shankar Dayal Sharma for an interview before been appointed as his physician.

Dr Wali also claimed that he took care of medical problems of former prime minister VP Singh for 15 years.

Recalling his days at GSVM Medical College, Dr Wali said, “I used to stay in room number 108 on the third floor. I was interested in surgery so I used to lurk around operation theatres even at 2am. My sincerity attracted the attention of my seniors and I got a chance to get involved in operations despite being a third year MBBS student.” His hard work earned him seniors’ respect and he was allotted a hostel room with PG students despite pursuing MBBS (graduation course).

Dr Wali is the first doctor in his family. “My maternal uncle motivated me into becoming a doctor,” he said.

A meritorious student since school days, he cleared medical entrance exams of Agra and AMU medical colleges too but opted for GSVM for his MBBS and MD courses.

Dr Wali has been discharging his service since June 1980 and is known for working beyond the call of duty. He also treats staff of the Rashtrapati Bhawan which he is not entitled to. “I treat them because they come to me. That’s my duty and I cannot run away from it,” said Dr Wali.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / by Abhinav Malhotra / November 17th, 2014

Electronics manufacturers’ association chooses its new president

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

Members of the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) have recently chosen Vishnu Agarwal as the new president of the association. IEEMA is the first ISO certified industry association in India with 800 member organisations encompassing the complete value chain in power generation, transmission and distribution equipment.

IEEMA members have contributed to more than 90 percent of the power equipment installed in India. The Indian electrical equipment industry size in 2012-13 was in excess of USD 24 billion, with exports of USD 5 billion. Vishnu Agarwal, B. Tech, FIE, is the founder and CMD of Technical Associates Ltd. An electrical engineer by training, Agarwal graduated from IIT Kanpur’s second batch of B.Tech. Engineers in 1966 and started Technical Associates Ltd. in Lucknow in 1969.

Technical Associates, under the stewardship of Agarwal has grown over the years from relatively humble beginnings and today encompasses a product range starting from transformers for 11 kV/ LV applications to EHV transformers up to 400 kV class.

Agarwal will be assisted by Ajit Singh Chouhan as vice president, IEEMA who is also the managing director and CEO of Weir India. With an experience of nearly three decades in marketing and sales, he has also worked with RPG Enterprises as its president and CEO for the specialty sector and has been the management board member.

Further, the new president of IEEMA will have Babu Babel as vice president in his new team of IEEMA. Babel is the CEO of Energy SBU and Joint Managing Director for Secure Meters Ltd. Babu was part of the founding team which helped Secure Meters to pioneer electronic metering and improve Indian utility revenue completeness.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Priyanka Singh, TNN / October 22nd, 2014

When IIT-Kanpur put a Jugnu in the sky

Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

Kanpur :
Three years ago, India launched its first nano satellite, Jugnu, made by a team of 45 IIT-Kanpur students. The team, including five girls, made the accomplishment under the guidance of project director Prof NS Vyas of IIT-K. The satellite was launched by scientists of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) through a polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) into the Earth’s orbit on October 11, 2011. Three years later, the little marvel ceases to exist.

The nano satellite, a couple of months ago, had stopped sending the beacon signal to its base station in Isro. The satellite tracking centre that was raised at IIT-Kanpur for tracking the satellite three years ago has also closed down.

Talking to TOI, Prof NS Vyas, currently on deputation to Rajasthan Technical University as vice chancellor, says the nano satellite had outlived its life of six months and while sustaining in the Earth’s orbit, it had performed all necessary functions.

“Jugnu was the most challenging and complex project undertaken by any academic institution post- independence. The students who started with nothing got success in developing a complete satellite in two years’ time. At the advanced stage of the satellite’s development, the students were interacting with Isro scientists at their frequency. The scientists gave equal importance to the students. This was unique,” says Vyas. After a while, the students had started learning from each other by way of discussions and deliberations, he added.

Vyas recalls how the students used to work day and night and eat and sleep on the lab premises. “It was a massive exercise during the golden jubilee celebrations. The students not only designed and developed the satellite but also fabricated it. They had also designed the ejection system for Jugnu”.

Shantanu Agarwal, a former student head of the team of Jugnu, says the nano satellite lost its connection with the ground station and might have converted into debris in the Earth’s orbit. According to him, Jugnu was made for a period of six months but it outlived its life and till last year when its second anniversary of launch was celebrated, the satellite was alive and ticking.

“Jugnu was last tracked by a group of HAM radio professionals from Japan in 2013. Now, it has lost touch with the ground station in Isro”, says Agarwal, who now runs a two-year old start-up in aerospace sciences along with one of his team members from IIT.

Shantanu reminisces how tired students used to fall asleep in the lab while working on different components of the satellite. For all of them, it was a challenge to work on Jugnu while managing their studies.

But no student would ever regret it. Shantanu says it was an experience of a lifetime because as a student it is almost impossible to get a chance to work on a satellite and also to see its launch.

“Working with Isro scientists was a great opportunity for all of us. They never treated us like students but professionals. Our potential was given recognition by the scientists and this is how we ran high on confidence,” says Shantanu.

“At the time of Jugnu’s launch via PSLV C-18 from Sriharikota, we were present there. We had installed and integrated the satellite in the launch vehicle. We were overhwelmed and shouted at the top of our voices when the launch became a success,” says Shashank Chintalgiri with pride. He was a senior member of the student team of Jugnu.

The aim of Jugnu is to develop long-term infrastructure and human resources in IIT-K for future space research programmes in collaboration with Isro.

Vyas however, expresses concern that once technology is developed it should be passed to more users. “The concern is that technology developed dies inside a lab if not put to use. To keep it alive, we need to pass it on to more users,” says the project director for Jugnu.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Abhinav Malhotra, TNN / October 19th, 2014

IT City foundation laid, CM enlists achievements

About Uttar Pradesh, Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

Making a strong pitch for UP’s “visionary governance”, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday his Samajwadi Party government had envisioned a hi-tech city for Lucknow well before “others” launched the idea of “Smart Cities.” Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal to build 100 Smart Cities, Akhilesh said “people are talking about Smart Cities today but I don’t see the difference between them and the hi-tech cities Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) proposed years ago.”

At the ground-breaking ceremony of the ambitious IT City, for which the state has partnered with HCL Technologies, the CM said UP government has taken several path-breaking decisions to strengthen UP’s infrastructure, from building four-lane highways to distributing free laptops and bringing metro rail project to Lucknow. “SP government is doing things according to the need of the day. At the same time it has not forgotten its tradition. Apart from getting Amul to set up its plant in Lucknow, we are also making cycle tracks,” Akhilesh added.

Inaugurating three key infrastructure projects for Lucknow—two of them in the IT sector—Akhilesh inaugurated UP’s second Indian Institute of Information Technology, and UP’s first IT City project. “Besides creating job opportunities for UP’s youth, these projects will increase importance of Lucknow and UP in the country,” Akhilesh said.

On Wednesday, the CM also laid the foundation stone of Medanta Awadh, the 1000-bed super specialty cardiology hospital by Gurgaon’s Medanta group in Lucknow. Speaking at the ceremony, Medanta chairman Dr Naresh Trehan said “I am a product of King George’s Medical College and had the dream to pay back Lucknow for what I learnt here. The aim of this hospital is to be able to deliver state-of-the-art health facilities to patients at affordable rates. We hope the government ensures we get this project off the ground as soon as possible.”

The IT City project, rechristened by the state government as CG City, will come up in Lucknow on a total of 830 acres of land. About 530 acres of this land pocket will be developed for residential purposed by the Lucknow Development Authority. As part of the state’s affordable housing policy, the government also plans to build low cost housing facilities on 10-acre plots to be given to beneficiaries with monthly income of Rs 8,000 per month.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / October 16th, 2014

IIT-Kanpur adds hope to Moonj craft revival dream

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Science & Technology

Kanpur :

Nineteen-year-old Meena Kumari can now make a moonj basket on her own. She also dreams to be an entrepreneur and revive the dying art of weaving Moonj baskets from grass. Sahana, a moonj craftsperson, wants awareness about this form though her children do not wish to follow the family tradition.

Meena and Sahana’s dreams are fired by a bunch of students of IIT-Kanpur students who are helping them in various ways under an MHRD initiative to revive this famous craft form of Uttar Pradesh, products made of wild grass called “moonj.”

And, as the institute gets immersed in its annual fest – Antaragni – Meena and many practitioners of the art proudly display their skills at a stall on the campus.

Meena was trained in less than three months by students associated with the research lab under IIT-K’s master of design programme.

“Moonj products are simple but attractive and eco-friendly,” said Meena, who studied computer science from an ITI, as she sat knotting the grass in spirals at the stall on Friday.

Naini, a village on the banks of Yamuna in Allahabad, is a major producer of moonj. Moonj and kasa are types of wild grass that grow on the banks of the Yamuna. The grass are found in abundance along the air strip in Kanpur too.

“Moonj is the outer layer of a type of grass called ‘sarpat.’ This layer is peeled off and knotted as it is easy to store and dry. These knots are locally known as ‘balla’. Kaasa grass is dried and wrapped with moonj grass by rolling around kaasa. The motifs of basketry are created by adding colored grass (after dyeing the original grass) in between,” said trainers Pooja Mishra and Jyoti Bahadur of IIT-K.

Nearly 90% of womenfolk in Naini are involved in moonj basket making. “I am making moonj products since four decades. But, my kids do not want to do this as they do not find this lucrative. I am happy that awareness about this craft is growing which will lead to people coming forward to get this form into the mainstream,” said Sahana, a moonj craftsperson from Naini.

Textile designer Neelam Gupta (28) left her job in Delhi to learn moonj craft. “I have seen my mother work on moonj craft since I was six. However, she could not continue as she had myopia and nobody from our family took interest in this craft form. When I got to know about this project, I decided to leave my job and work for reviving moonj craft,” said Neelam.

Moonj coiled grass products are used as containers, food storage devices, coasters and wall decorators. “Moonj craft also has traditional significance as the products are gifted to women in ritual functions and weddings,” said Pooja. Recent additions are cooker cover, bowl stand, glass cover, and cutlery box.

Project in-charge, Koumudi Patil who is a faculty of humanities and social sciences at IIT-K, said: “We are working to develop the community by looking into their frugal technology to promote moonj craft right at the grassroot level. The project aims to take the craft to the mainstream. Artisans will be engaged with the design process as well as entrepreneurship training so that they can earn their own livelihood.”

Besides, students at IIT-K who are part of the project are devising a mechanism to upgrade the technology in order to increase production. “The manual process is time consuming. At times, it takes weeks to design a moonj product. We are trying methods, which can be used in needle movement for knotting the spirals so that the products are masterly crafted. To create a space in the market, we need to increase production without affecting employment,” said Mohit Soni, final year mechanical engineering student involved in the project.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Isha Jain, TNN / October 11th, 2014

‘Fellow of Academy’ award to BHU prof in plastic surgery

Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

Varanasi:

Head of the department of plastic surgery, Institute of Medical Sciences of Banaras Hindu University, Prof V Bhattacharya was awarded with the ‘Fellow of Academy’ by National Academy of Medical Sciences for his immense contribution in the field of medicine along with the new inventions in plastic surgeries.

Every year, National Academy of Medical Sciences awards the diligent plastic surgeons for their contribution in the field of medicine and this year, Prof V Bhattacharya has been chosen and would be honoured at the 54th National Convention on October 18 in Hrishikesh.

Prof V Bhattacharya is known for the invention of new technologies and contribution in the field of plastic and cosmetic surgeries and has also received various accolades like Kilner Prize, HariOm Ashram Award for his work and contribution in the field of medicine. For the holistic development of the world of medicine, he has also created two short films of which ‘Sushrut – The Father of Plastic Surgery’ holds a significant place on an international level.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / TNN / October 09th, 2014