Coming soon: the Indian museum of natural history

Jurassic find: An excavated ichthyosaur fossil found near Lodai village in Kutch district of Gujarat in 2017.   | Photo Credit: HANDOUT

It will house the country’s geological wealth in one location

From dinosaur fossils to pre-human skulls, India is home to a vast treasury of geological and palaeontological specimens that contain a wealth of scientific information about the planet and its history. But these rare specimens are scattered in different labs all over the country. So, to better conserve this prehistoric heritage, the government is planning to house them in one place — an ‘Earth Museum’.

This museum will be modelled on the American Museum of Natural History, or the Smithsonian museum in the U.S. The museum, which will be set up as a public-private partnership, would be located somewhere in Delhi, Noida or Gurugram, said G.V.R Prasad, head of the Department of Geology, University of Delhi.

K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Prime Minister, said at a press conference on Wednesday that such a repository was necessary to make people aware of India’s palaeontological and geological wealth. “There is a lot of history here, but somehow it hasn’t been communicated well,” he said. Another concern, he added, was that several collections of fossils and important geological specimens weren’t properly organised, and they survived only due to the efforts of individual researchers who maintained them within their labs. A single site, accessible to the public as well as researchers wanting to investigate rare and important finds, was necessary, Mr. VijayRaghavan said.

The PSA led a meeting of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) last November, where the need for such a museum was endorsed. A meeting of experts from the U.S., the U.K, and South Korea is scheduled to be held in Delhi in early April, Mr. Prasad told The Hindu.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coming-soon-the-indian-museum-of-natural-history/article26450838.ece (Accessed on 7 March, 2019)

ISRO space education programme for school students

The selection will be based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched from this year a ‘Young Scientist Programme’.

Called ‘YUva VIgyani KAryakram’, the Programme aims to impart basic knowledge on space technology, space science and space applications to youngsters to arouse their interest in this emerging area.

ISRO has chalked out this programme to “Catch them young”. The residential training programme will run for two weeks during the summer holidays. Three students from each State/Union Territory will be selected to participate in this programme every year. Those who have finished VIII standard and are in IX standard will be eligible.

The selection will be based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities. Students belonging to the rural area will get a special weightage. ISRO is in touch with Chief Secretaries of States/UTs, and the list of selected candidates is expected by the March end.

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/education/isro-space-education-programme-for-school-students/article26431523.ece (Accessed on 7 March, 2019)

A-list hires of India’s B-schools

Another year, and further proof that India's leading B-schools are almost immune to the business cycle. Job markets are up or down in various ...

To read the full article, visit:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/a-list-hires-of-indias-b-schools/printarticle/68263315.cms (Accessed on 7 March, 2019)

Google launches 'Bolo' to tutor children to read Hindi, English

Google's Bolo app, which is being launched in India first, uses speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.
Bolo will be available on Google Play Store in India for all smartphones running Android 4.4 (Kit Kat) and higher

NEW DELHI: Tech giant Google Wednesday unveiled a new app 'Bolo' that aims to help children in primary school learn to read in Hindi and English.

The free app, which is being launched in India first, uses Google's speech recognition and text-to-speech technology.

The app features an animated character 'Diya', who encourages children to read stories aloud and helps if the child is unable to pronounce a word. It also lauds the reader when he/she completes the reading.

"We have designed the app to work offline, so users need to just download the under 50MB app once and then they have access to close to 100 stories in Hindi and English that the children can read out loud and improve their reading skills," Google India Product Manager Nitin Kashyap told PTI.

Bolo will be available on Google Play Store in India for all smartphones running Android 4.4 (Kit Kat) and higher, he added.

Citing the annual ASER 2018 report, Kashyap said, it was found that only half of students enrolled in grade 5 in rural India can confidently read a grade 2 level textbook.

"Lack of reading ability can significantly impact further education, and ultimately children's ability to realise their full potential. Limited access to quality material, under-resourced infrastructure, and barriers to learning outside the classroom are some of the challenges that children often face," he added.

Google piloted the 'Bolo' app in about 200 villages in Uttar Pradesh and the early results are very encouraging with 64 per cent of children showing an improvement in reading proficiency in just three months, Kashyap said.

"We are now actively working with a number of non-profit partners to take the app to more people across the country who could benefit from it," he said.

Kashyap said the company is also looking at expanding the app to other Indic languages like Bengali, soon.

To ensure safety of the child, all personal information always stays on device. The users are also not asked for details like email ID and gender for logging into the app.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/ (Accessed on March 7, 2019)

Mehak Mirza Prabhu: I am no one to select my story, the story selects me

Mehak Mirza Prabhu is a Mumbai based storyteller, full-time writer, voice-over artist, performer, mentor, blogger, scriptwriter and social enthusiast. She creates fictional stories in multiple languages. She also runs an online story telling school, ‘Jhumritaliaya’. She has a huge fan following both online and offline. Her TEDx talk, “How Story Telling Saved Me,” is a true account of her life experiences. It has been highly appreciated online. Many of her stories are widely accessed on YouTube.

Open Interview features Mehak Mirza Prabhu’s interview with Satish Bendre and Santosh C Hulagabali. In this interview, you will notice how natural, honest and gifted storyteller she is. Her answers are not studded with academic theories of art of storytelling but are full of wisdom and commonsense replete with deep understanding of what she does and how she does. You will also feel how different, simple and clear she is in her thoughts and actions.

To read the full interview, visit: https://openinterview.org/2019/02/20/i-am-no-one-to-select-my-story-the-story-selects-me-mehak-mirza-prabhu/ (Accessed on March 6, 2019)

List of Best BE Project Reports: Update 1

The list of Best B.E. Project Reports of the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 has now been updated with the abstracts and names of the respective project guides.

Please scan the QR Code below to view the list:

Rainmakers of engg services boost biz: Indian Tech’s Fastest Growing Segment Runs On Execs Whom Customers Trust

When former chief digital officer at Rolls-Royce Neil Crockett wanted to identify a service provider to accelerate its IoT (internet-of-things) capabilities three years ago, he floated a request for proposal (RFP). The company wanted to use IoT to get a lot more data from customers and use that to provide long-term service contracts.

Ayyaswamy presented TCS’s IoT platform, called Connected Universe Platform (TCUP), that helps develop and deploy IoT applications. Having worked with Rolls-Royce, TCS had a deep knowledge of its engines, blades, compressors and exhaust. “We were able to characterise what we could do for them. Our strength was contextual knowledge, digital platforms, information security, core engineering, capability around services. We were able to bring the might of TCS into making their business goal a reality,” Ayyaswamy says.Reguraman Ayyaswamy, global head of IoT & engineering and industrial services at TCS, saw it as a great opportunity for the company, and he knew he had his task cut out. Roll-Royce specialises in highperformance power systems engineering and aircraft engines. It was a decade-old-customer for TCS. But this was a different kind of engagement, one that impacted the core operations of Rolls-Royce, and TCS would really have to prove its capabilities. Other IT players too were participating in the RFP.

TCS won the deal. Ayyaswamy declined to mention the deal value, but independent sources estimate it is around $20 million annually. The platform today captures and analyses data to reduce the cycle time for Rolls-Royce to develop new products and services.

Getting customers to outsource core engineering work is very difficult, but Indian IT companies today have built significant expertise in the field, and it has become the fastest growing business for them. Deals above $10 million are considered large in this space. It is also a high-margin business. Industry body Nasscom in its 2018 strategic review called out engineering and R&D and product development as the fastest growing segment in IT services, growing at 12.8%, led by demand for connected cars, mobility and connectivity.

Pareekh Jain, founder of Pareekh Consulting, says the growth in engineering services is not a demand problem, as much as a supply problem. “Of the over $1-trillion R&D spend, only $60 billion or 6% is currently outsourced. There is a huge market but someone needs to go out and make it happen. That’s why the role of key executives and rainmakers are important,” he says.

L&T Technology Services, Persistent and HCL each won an over $50-million deal in the last two years, signalling a psychological threshold that would open up upstream, high-end engineering opportunities.

Source: The Times of India dated 6 March, 2019