The feat was performed at Chennai Trade Center in Nandambakkam.
The feat was performed at Chennai Trade Center, Nandambakkam / Ashwin Prasath
Chennai :
In a move to spread awareness on the importance of protecting skin from the sun, VCare professionals on Tuesday created a world record for the largest skincare workshop and for most people applying sunscreen at the same time. The feat was performed at Chennai Trade Center in Nandambakkam.
As many as 2,200 beauticians working at different salons took part in the workshop that went on for 30 minutes. Later, they all applied sunscreen simultaneously to show their support for the protection of skin against skin cancer and other skin-related issues.
“Summer or winter, monsoon or spring, the need for shielding your skin from the harsh rays of the sun is essential. Sunscreen is the most important product that many people tend to ignore. It helps shield your skin from the harmful UV rays, prevents premature ageing, lowers skin cancer risks, lowers blotchiness on the face, prevents tanning and sunburns among lot other things,” said chairperson of VCare Group, E Carolin Praba.
She also said, “Despite being in the field for many years, even professionals do not understand the importance of sunscreen. We thought a world record is a perfect way to bring the community together to educate them about it.” R Priyamani, a participant, who owns a salon said, “What was new is how and when to apply it.
We were told one must apply sunscreen at least 30 minutes before stepping out in the sun for getting desirable results. Also, if you are outside, you must reapply sunscreen every two hours.”
The previous Guinness World Record for the most people applying sunscreen simultaneously was 1,822 — achieved by the Ann’s Hope Foundation (USA) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, on May18, 2014.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / August 14th, 2019
These self-professed nerds would take on topics of international relations and economics over sports and pop culture any day.
The champions of this year’s World Schools Debating Championships with PR Venketrama Raja, chairman of RAMCO and his wife PV Nirmala | D SAMPATHKUMAR
It was India all the way at the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) 2019 in Bangkok. The five-man team fielded by the country won the championship and one of the team-members, Chennai’s Tejas Subramaniam, went on to be crowned the ‘best speaker in the world’.
A proud mother Vinutha Subramaniam said she was among those who had given up debating with him as he already was the best speaker in the family.
“After one point he knew too many things. So, we couldn’t debate with him. He started speaking quite early and by the time he was 1, he could speak complete sentences. At around 2, he would speak a sentence in Tamil and be able to repeat it in English so much so that we would call him ‘Major Sundarrajan’ (after a famous Tamil actor),” Vinutha said.
The team, which also included Bhavya Shah, Manya Gupta, Saranya Ravindran and Prithvi Arun, had already prepared 140 motions before the championships with the help of their coaches Dhruva Bhat, Sayeqa Islam and Dhananjay Ashok among others.
“There was not a single topic that we were baffled by,” said Saranya, a student of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Senior Secondary School in Chennai.
The team might have made giant strides this year, but proving their mettle on the global debating circuit was an experience in itself.
“Because we are accented, sometimes I think we are not understood. Like, for example, when the judges give us our feedback, they tell us you made a new argument in your third speech when we clearly made it in our earlier speeches too,” Tejas, who like Saranya studies in Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Senior Secondary School, said.
First visually impaired speaker to debate in the final
Bhavya, a student of Rao Junior College of Science in Mumbai, the team’s ‘Funny guy’, became the first visually impaired speaker to debate in a WSDC final and to make it among the top 10 speakers.
He was named the sixth best speaker in the world.
Bhavya shared some of his most memorable moments.
When debating against Canada opposing the motion “This House would ban the practice of ‘importing brides’, Canada’s argument was that if importing brides were to be legalised, other refugees would be affected because of the opportunity cost,” Bhavya said.
“So, I argued that this was an argument against any other form of immigration. What if team Canada so decides, ‘we don’t want Indians coming into the country because they’re better at debating than we are?’,” he said.
Point made, the team went on to win defeat the Canadians 3-0.
It was Canada whom they defeated in the final also, proposing the motion “This house regrets the glorification of soldiers as heroes”.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Express News Service / August 03rd, 2019
Students of Buchireddy Palli Government School with their invention — a walking stick with sensors. | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
The students of Buchireddy Palli Government School have been winning accolades for their clever innovations aimed at saving lives
It is morning in Maddur, a little village nestled in the valley of the lush Tiruttani hills in Tamil Nadu. I make my way past the railway crossing that looks straight out of an R.K. Narayan story and climb into a rickshaw. It takes me past houses with decorative pillars and thinnais(porches) of old-fashioned houses. As the auto sputters down, I hear the rattle of power looms — the main occupation in Maddur is weaving.
Maddur, of late, has earned a new distinction. The students of Buchireddy Palli Government School have been winning accolades for their clever innovations aimed at saving lives and improving the lives of people with disability. Maddur has few streetlights, and many pedestrians fall prey to road accidents. So Class X students S. Parthiban and V.M. Akashwaran came up with ‘e-slippers’.
The footwear operates on the principle of piezo-electricity and has LED strips that light up when the user walks. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which charge devices like mobile phones, are connected to the slippers.
The duo has also come up with a multi-purpose walking stick with sensors that can detect hazards such as fires or floods.
The Buchireddy Palli Government School is an austere, three-storied building that houses both English and Tamil medium departments from classes VI to XII. When I get there just before lunch break, I spot some bright-eyed children sneaking out of their classrooms. Science teacher R. Dharmalingam, has nothing but appreciation for his students. “They are self-driven, curious and never afraid to ask questions,” he says.
“Most of their projects are self-funded, but the headmaster has also helped. I have sat with them after school hours to encourage them.” The school’s involvement is obvious. Dharmalingam accompanied Akashwaran and Parthiban when they showcased their work at the Southern India Science and Technology Fair in Bengaluru.
Out of the box
At Akashwaran’s house, we are greeted with effusive hospitality. Akashwaran and his friend Gunasekaran, still in their uniforms, are poring over a cardboard model. I ask them what they are working on. “This is a gliding platform meant for people with disability or the elderly so that they can cross railway platforms without having to use the overbridge,” Akashwaran tells me. The two then demonstrate the working model.
Students with a model of a gliding platform for the elderly cross tracks | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam
Akash thought of this when I complained about the climb at the station. Since then he’s been trying to figure out a workable solution,” beams his mother Vatsala.
“It used to be based on hydraulic motion but I changed it to a motor-based system. The platform will move forward when the switch is pressed. IR sensors will detect approaching trains and the platform will then retreat,” Gunasekaran explains. They have even thought about warning systems — a buzzer sound to alert the blind and a flashing red light for the deaf.
M.N. Haripratap is in Class IX in the same school. He has designed a bridge model where the structure opens up during high tide to allow ships to pass and then folds back again. It won him a district-level prize from the Chief Education Officer of Thiruvallur district.
The students’ love for science and innovation is apparent. “Akash took part in a science exhibition at Sri Krishna Polytechnic and was fascinated by what he saw,” says Vatsala. Interested in electronics, programming and robotics, he recently received a special prize for excellence in science from Anna University, Chennai, during its tech fest, ‘Kurukshetra’. He was also awarded a token of appreciation by former ISRO director Mylswamy Annadurai.
“I want to be a scientist,” says Akash. “Abdul Kalam has always been a role model for me.” I ask him what’s next on the agenda. His small, serious face lights up as he talks of solar-powered cycles, ambulance-sensitive speed-breakers, and earthquake-sensing fences.
Whatever the students of this special school do next, I know they will put Maddur on the map with their thoughtful, people-focused innovations.
The writer is a civil engineer and dog lover with a nose for music and art.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Environment – Young Minds / by Gayatri Ramdas / August 03rd, 2019
She was also one of the first women doctors in India and the first woman house surgeon in the Government Maternity Hospital, Madras
Today’s Google Doodle celebrated Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi, a surgeon, educator, lawmaker and social reformer, on her 133rd birth anniversary. Dr. Reddi devoted her life to public health and fought the battle against gender inequality. The Government of Tamil Nadu announced on Monday that government hospitals in the State will celebrate her birth anniversary as ‘ Hospital Day ‘ every year .
Born in 1886 in Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu, Dr. Reddi was the first Indian girl student in the Department of Surgery at Madras Medical College. This was just one of her many firsts. She became one of the first women doctors in India in 1912, and the first woman house surgeon in the Government Maternity Hospital, Madras.
She co-founded the Women’s Indian Association in 1918, and as the first woman member (and vice president) of the Madras Legislative Council — making her the first woman legislator in India — she helped raise the minimum age for marriage for girls and pushed the Council to pass the Immoral Traffic Control Act, and the Devadasi system abolishment Bill.
She resigned from the Council to support the Salt Satyagraha. When three young devadasi girls knocked on her door in 1930, she established the Avvai Home to shelter and educate girls like them.
In 1954, she opened the Cancer Institute in Chennai and in 1956 was awarded the Padma Bhushan. She passed away in 1968 at the age of 81.
Here is Dr. Reddi herself on the role of women in an article published in the August 15, 1947 Independence Day edition of The Hindu:
“Indian women have a great role to play in the modern world, with its chaos and rumblings of another war. With their background of philosophy and religion, with their apprenticeship under Gandhian leadership, with the sense of motherhood strong in them they can be and should be the ambassadors of love, peace and unity. It is the Gandhian concept of non-violence alone that can save the world from a cataclysm. And it is the women of India alone who can carry the message best so that the world may come together in unity and peace.”
The Doodle showing Dr. Reddi guiding young girls and women was created by Bangalore-based guest artist Archana Sreenivasan. The Doodle page also displays other early concepts drawn by the artist for this occasion.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News / The Hindu Net Desk / July 30th, 2019
Various measures by forest officials helped this tiger reserve to consistently recorded more than 30 percent annual increment in tiger population, which is highest for a tiger landscape in India.
Chennai :
Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), which is created in 2013, is adjudged as the best performer in the country for its ability to increase more tigers between 2014-18 compared to any other tiger reserve in the country.
The award, instituted by National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), was received by STR Field Director V Naganathan from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday during the release of 4th cycle of All India Tiger Estimation results, which coincides with the Global Tiger Day.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by S. V. Krishna Chaityana / Express News Service / July 29th, 2019
Elon Musk with the students team from IIT-Madras’ Avishkar Hyperloop
Avishkar Hyperloop from IIT-Madras met the SpaceX founder at this year’s hyperloop pod competition
Student innovators from IIT-Madras won tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s admiration with their design of a hyperloop pod at a SpaceX organised competition in Los Angeles.
Avishkar Hyperloop, which was incubated at the Centre For Innovation at IIT-M, was the lone Asian team selected to enter the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition 2019 last month. Hyperloop is a proposed transportation concept of a network of vacuum-sealed tubes which can, theoretically, ferry people at great speeds sans air friction. The competition was held in Los Angeles last weekend with team members of Avishkar earning the opportunity to interact with Musk, founder-CEO of Space X, and Josh Geigel, co-founder of Virgin Hyperloop One.
One of the team members, Pranit Mehta, took to Twitter to share their experience. “Pleasure to have met and interacted with @elonmusk at the @SpaceX @Hyperloop Pod Competition 2019! Also, a wonderful experience for Team @avishkar_loop , the only Asian Finalist there! (sic),” he tweeted.
Avishkar was tasked with developing an indigenous design to build the first-ever self-propelled, autonomous Hyperloop Pod in India. They were among the 21 teams selected from a total of 1,600 applicants globally to participate in the competition.
Prior to the competition, team Avishkar was invited to visit the Los Angeles headquarters of Virgin Hyperloop One. “The @iitmadras @avishkar_loop student hyperloop team stopped by our Los Angeles headquarters to learn more about our progress in India. Always encouraging to see the next generation of thinkers embracing this transformative technology! (sic),” read a tweet by Virgin Hyperloop One.
The competition was, however, won by the team from Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich), whose pod set a speed record of 463 kilometres per hour.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Science / by Pradeep Kumar / July 24th, 2019
These students devote three-four hours every day after college and now their work has come to fruition as they have raised `1 crore from sponsors and finally built a pod and a 40-metre test track.
Bengaluru :
At an event hosted by Atria Institute of Technology on Tuesday, aerospace engineering student from IIT Madras, Sai Madhav, presented his team’s prototype pod for the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod competition to his audience.
Avikshar Hyperloop is one of the 22 teams out of the 1,600 teams worldwide and also the only team from Asia that has qualified to the finals. It is a group of about 30 students from inter-disciplinary backgrounds who have been working on creating their own pod since September 2017. These students devote three-four hours every day after college and now their work has come to fruition as they have raised `1 crore from sponsors and finally built a pod and a 40-metre test track.
SAE India, a member-driven organisation which acts as a knowledge partner for students and faculty in automotive and aerospace engineering, hosted its second event in its lecture series that deals with aerospace engineering. It also functions as a think-tank and a policy maker. The second lecture was specifically about the Hyperloop, an almost too-good-to-be-true transportation service proposed by Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. The Hyperloop, if installed, seeks to reduce travel time drastically. It is supposed to be a land-based transportation service where pods, that house passengers, can levitate and zoom through tunnels by having the air pumped out of them in order to create a near-perfect vacuum for greater speed. It boasts of a travel time of just 30 minutes from Bengaluru to Chennai.
Being the main speaker at the event, Madhav’s presentation and video of the only Indian team to qualify for this competition impressed a mixture of faculty, students and heads of the SAE group. He also talked about how the plan for building their pod looked solid on paper but when it came to the actuality of making it, they faced a lot of discrepancies. Being in the stability team, he deals with a lot of mechanical aspects of the pod. During the question-and-answer session, the question of the safety of the passengers was raised as the Hyperloop project has bragged about reaching speeds up to 500-600 km/hour. “Yes, passengers will feel major deceleration effects. All this is new and I can only hope that newer research yields positive results,” he said. J Munirathnam, who is on the Board of SAE India for aerospace, also said the project will have to be built after taking into consideration the degree of g-force that the human body can withstand.
“This is completely new. We have the freedom to explore it. If you look at building a car, parameters have already been established for it. That is not the case here,” Madhav said.
The hype about hyperloop
The Hyperloop, if installed, seeks to reduce travel time drastically. It is supposed to be a land-based transportation service where pods, that house passengers, can levitate and zoom through tunnels by having the air pumped out of them in order to create a near-perfect vacuum for greater speed.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Chinmay Manoj / Express News Service / July 11th, 2019
This home in Kilpauk has managed to generate its own power, water and gas, shrugging off the dependence on government and private agencies that usually provide these utilities.
While the rest of the city has been sweating it out, running hither and thither in search of water and power, one household in the heart of the city remains blissfully as an island, all resources available in abundance. Whether it is water, power or cooking gas, all these resources, tapped through natural means, are available in plenty in the house of D. Suresh.
Known as ‘Solar’ Suresh, this 72-year old resident of Kilpauk, despite living in the midst of the concrete jungle, has created a sustainable model house independent of basic amenities usually provided by the civic authorities.
The Hindu, which has been tracking Mr. Suresh regularly since the installation of roof top solar power plant in January 2012, revisited him to find that his progress towards sustainable living now includes a bio gas plant, fed by a terrace garden, and even a machine that literally produces drinking water out of thin air.
The mechanical engineer-cum-management graduate has a simple philosophy: “Everything is available in nature and one only has to make an attempt to use simple technology to tap the natural resources.”
His house in Vasu Street is fully powered with the 3 Kw rooftop solar plant that provides round-the-clock electricity. His well has never dried up, even when the city is facing a dire water shortage, and drinking water available just by pressing a button. The vegetables and greens harvested from his terrace garden are organically grown, and besides consuming it, the family also distributes the produce to neighbours.
Mr. Suresh said the budget required for installing all these equipments to make one’s house to be abundant with resources is also very low. With a 3-kilo watt (KW) rooftop power plant yielding, on an average, 12 units per day, he has been able to power 2 inverter air-conditioners, 23 lights, 15 fans, one double-door refrigerator, one hp motor pump and a washing machine.
The cost worked out to only ₹1.80 lakh for installing the rooftop plant. “I don’t really use the electricity connection, but I have retained it just for old times’ sake, and pay the minimum – ₹500 every two months.”
Mr. Suresh carefully considered his next addition to the house and zeroed in on a bio gas plant. The idea behind going for a bio gas plant was to make use of the kitchen and food wastes profitably. The bio gas plant of one cubic meter capacity was installed at a cost of ₹ 35,000 by sourcing plastic water tanks. He said: “All one has to do is feed the plant regularly and it would be supply gas with no need for maintenance of any sort.” The byproduct which is organic manure generated from bio gas forced me to go in for a terrace garden where we farmed vegetables and greens. Mr. Suresh said the only cost invested for terrace garden was minimal, to buy 150 pots.
Finally, Mr. Suresh shows off, with pride, his latest showpiece – the ‘Air to water’ machine which produces drinking water from atmospheric air and possibly the most valuable possession in a water starved city. He said the machine generates 25 litres of drinking water per day and costs only ₹40,000.
While normally the cost of running this air to water machine is ₹ 3 per litre (in terms of electricity charges to run the machine), for him it does not cost anything because the solar plant powers it.
Above all, a working, regularly-maintained rain water harvesting system, and recharge pits installed 25 years ago still keeps the well and bore well in his house flush with water.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by R. Srikanth / Chennai – May 31st, 2019
The visitors at Express Avenue mall curiously peered down to the central atrium from the above floors.
The event was held at Express Avenue Mall Debadatta Mallick
Chennai :
The visitors at Express Avenue mall curiously peered down to the central atrium from the above floors. On a blue stage set up between the two lifts, four people sit on the dais. Above them, the words ‘Mukti’ is printed on the stage in bold letters. The Mukti Foundation held an awareness event at the mall to educate the public on the organisation’s work in the field of disability, on Sunday.
Started in 1986, Mukti Foundation provides artificial limbs and ciphers free of cost for amputees. Thus far, the organisation has given away three lakh limbs, all produced at their centre in Meenambakkam. They also conduct camps across the state to provide limbs to the needy.
The chief guests for the event were Letika Saran, former Director General of Police, Varadha Kutti, state president for Tamilnadu Udavakaram Association for the Welfare of the differently abled, and T Ramakrishna, director of DD News. “For those so-called able-bodied people, we also need props, if not physical, to carry on with our lives. Not only mental support, but physical support is very important for everyone, especially people with disability,” said Saran.
The chief guests provided 15 customised limbs made by the Mukti Foundation’s team of highly trained technicians to 15 people. Their centre in Meenambakkam also employs people with disability (PwDs), and offers skill training and vocational programmes for PwDs to assist them in being independent in their lives.
In his speech, Ramakrishna said, “Most buildings are inaccessible. Even the language is prejudiced against PwDs. Children with disability in villages, especially girls, live in a vegetative state, without education or employment. I look forward to the day when people with disability are accepted into society.”
Mukti’s staff members were presented awards by the chief guests for their support and assistance. The evening ended with a karaoke performance.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / May 27th, 2019
Former Health Minister of Tamil Nadu H.V. Hande being presented the award on Monday
Former Health Minister stresses on importance of voting
The Rotary Club of Anna Nagar Madras conferred the “For the Sake of Honour Award” to former Health Minister of Tamil Nadu, H.V. Hande, on Monday.
The award is given to individuals who have rendered exemplary service to society. Addressing the gathering, Dr. Hande highlighted the role played by the Rotary in the Pulse Polio campaign.
Appeal to members
He appealed to Rotary members to educate the masses on the importance of casting a vote and stressed on the need to abstain from taking money to swear allegiance to a party.
He also recalled his confrontation with the British police while he was involved in India’s freedom movement as a student.
J. Radhakrishnan, Transport Secretary, felicitated Dr. Hande and said he was a guiding light and mentor to him. He also lauded his efforts in creating awareness about leprosy and treating patients, even at a time when there was no social media and technology.
Former district governor of Rotary Krishnan V. Chari and president of the club Vrinda Deepak were among those who took part in the event.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – May 15th, 2019
