April 23: World Book and Copyright Day

World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books - a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. On this occasion, UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry - publishers, booksellers and libraries, select the World Book Capital for a year to maintain, through its own initiatives, the impetus of the Day’s celebrations. 

23 April is a symbolic date in world literature. It is the date on which several prominent authors, William Shakespeare, Miguel Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. This date was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone to access books.

By championing books and copyright, UNESCO stands up for creativity, diversity and equal access to knowledge, with the work across the board – from the Creative Cities of Literature network to promoting literacy and mobile learning and advancing Open Access to scientific knowledge and educational resources. With the active involvement of all stakeholders: authors, publishers, teachers, librarians, public and private institutions, humanitarian NGOs and the mass media, and all those who feel motivated to work together in this world celebration of books and authors, World Book and Copyright Day has become a platform to rally together millions of people all around the world.

At SFIT LIRC:

To commemorate the authors and celebrate "Reading", the SFIT LIRC arranged an in-house exhibition of classics.

We also displayed the information of Gyanpeeth Award Winners.

Year	Recipient(s)	Language(s)
1965 (1st)	G. Sankara Kurup	Malayalam
1966 (2nd)	Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay	Bengali
1967 (3rd) †	Umashankar Joshi	Gujarati
1967 (3rd) †	Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa 'Kuvempu'	Kannada
1968 (4th)	Sumitranandan Pant	Hindi
1969 (5th)	Firaq Gorakhpuri	Urdu
1970 (6th)	Viswanatha Satyanarayana	Telugu
1971 (7th)	Bishnu Dey	Bengali
1972 (8th)	Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'	Hindi
1973 (9th) †	D. R. Bendre	Kannada
1973 (9th) †	Gopinath Mohanty	Odia
1974 (10th)	Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar	Marathi
1975 (11th)	Akilan	Tamil
1976 (12th)	Ashapoorna Devi	Bengali
1977 (13th)	K. Shivaram Karanth	Kannada
1978 (14th)	Sachchidananda Vatsyayan	Hindi
1979 (15th)	Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya	Assamese
1980 (16th)	S. K. Pottekkatt	Malayalam
1981 (17th)	Amrita Pritam	Punjabi
1982 (18th)	Mahadevi Varma	Hindi
1983 (19th)	Masti Venkatesha Iyengar	Kannada
1984 (20th)	Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai	Malayalam
1985 (21st)	Pannalal Patel	Gujarati
1986 (22nd)	Sachidananda Routray	Odia
1987 (23rd)	Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar 'Kusumagraj'	Marathi
1988 (24th)	C. Narayana Reddy	Telugu
1989 (25th)	Qurratulain Hyder	Urdu
1990 (26th)	Vinayaka Krishna Gokak	Kannada
1991 (27th)	Subhash Mukhopadhyay	Bengali
1992 (28th)	Naresh Mehta	Hindi
1993 (29th)	Sitakant Mahapatra	Odia
1994 (30th)	U. R. Ananthamurthy	Kannada
1995 (31st)	M. T. Vasudevan Nair	Malayalam
1996 (32nd)	Mahasweta Devi	Bengali
1997 (33rd)	Ali Sardar Jafri	Urdu
1998 (34th)	Girish Karnad	Kannada
1999 (35th) †	Nirmal Verma	Hindi
1999 (35th) †	Gurdial Singh	Punjabi
2000 (36th)	Mamoni Raisom Goswami	Assamese
2001 (37th)	Rajendra Shah	Gujarati
2002 (38th)	Jayakanthan	Tamil
2003 (39th)	Vinda Karandikar	Marathi
2004 (40th)	Rehman Rahi	Kashmiri
2005 (41st)	Kunwar Narayan	Hindi
2006 (42nd) †	Ravindra Kelekar	Konkani
2006 (42nd) †	Satya Vrat Shastri	Sanskrit
2007 (43rd)	O. N. V. Kurup	Malayalam
2008 (44th)	Akhlaq Mohammed Khan 'Shahryar'	Urdu
2009 (45th) †	Amarkant	Hindi
2009 (45th) †	Sri Lal Sukla	Hindi
2010 (46th)	Chandrashekhara Kambara	Kannada
2011 (47th)	Pratibha Ray	Odia
2012 (48th)	Ravuri Bharadhwaja	Telugu
2013 (49th)	Kedarnath Singh	Hindi
2014 (50th)	Bhalchandra Nemade	Marathi
2015 (51st)	Raghuveer Chaudhari	Gujarati
2016 (52nd)	Shankha Ghosh	Bengali
2017 (53rd)	Krishna Sobti	Hindi
2018 (54th)	Amitav Ghosh	English

References:

https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldbookday

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jnanpith_Award

More IT companies could have faced cyber attack, says blog

Cyber attackers may have targeted IT majors Infosys, Capgemini and Cognizant to access data of third-party company resources, according to cyber security blog KrebsOnSecurity, with Capgemini confirming to ET that it faced a pattern of attack similar to Wipro’s, but took quick remedial action.

KrebsOnSecurity founder Brian Krebs wrote on Friday that the “crooks responsible for launching phishing campaigns” in computer systems of Wipro last month “appear to have targeted” a number of other competing providers.
The blog first reported on Tuesday that Wipro was subject to a systematic attack “over months”, which the company said was a ‘zero-day attack’ that was thwarted and a forensic investigation launched to look into it.

A zero-day attack refers to any cyber attack conducted on the same day that a software vulnerability has been discovered and for which a patch had not been set up to counter effectively.
Capgemini’s internal security centre detected and monitored suspicious activity that showed similar patterns to the attack faced by Wipro, a company spokesperson confirmed in an email to ET.  

Apple, Google, and Netflix don't require employees to have 4-year degrees, and this could soon become an industry norm

Students assume getting a four-year degree - and taking on the thousands of student loan debt that comes along with it - is the only way to get your foot in the door at top companies like Apple, Google, and Netflix.

But that isn't always true.

To read the full article, please visit:

https://www.businessinsider.in/apple-google-and-netflix-dont-require-employees-to-have-4-year-degrees-and-this-could-soon-become-an-industry-norm/articleshow/68819464.cms?utm_source=social_Facebook&utm_medium=social_sharing&utm_campaign=Click_through_social_share&fbclid=IwAR1C9rxJE3p0bKUbfUXoGOqE-2tsfSRXdRB6BjGJ23lG_eMx_1uY9OnRlnU (Accessed on April 22, 2019)

IT's raining jobs: TCS, Infosys, Wipro added 7 times more staff in FY19

Aggregate employee addition by the top three Indian IT services companies jumped close to seven times in FY19 as these firms went into an overdrive hiring fresh talent as well as rebadging employees of client organisations. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro together did a net addition of 64,805 (after taking into account the attrition) in the financial year ended March 31, 2019, when compared to an addition of 9,864 in FY18 and 48,350 in FY17.

While industry leader TCS added the highest number, 29,287, in FY19, it was 24,016 for Infosys and 11,502 for Wipro. In ...

To read the full article, please visit:

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/it-s-raining-jobs-tcs-infosys-wipro-added-7-times-more-staff-in-fy19-119041900904_1.html (Accessed on April 22, 2019)

'Pharmacy' to be used in place of 'chemists and druggists' on signboards

Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, the description “chemists and druggists” is displayed by licencees who employ registered pharmacists but do not have a pharmacy for compounding – preparing personalised medication for patients -- against prescriptions.x

The Drug and Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) has approved changing the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to bring uniformity to medical store signboards.(HT Photo/Representative Image )

The words “chemists and druggists” appearing on the signboards of medical shops will soon have to be replaced with the word “pharmacy” following an order by the government’s top advisory body on drugs.

Dr S Eswara Reddy, drugs controller general of India, said, “Stores are using different nomenclatures and there was a need to bring in uniformity. Globally, the word pharmacy is used and widely accepted, so we decided to do the same.”

The Drug and Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) has approved changing the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules to bring uniformity to medical store signboards. According to the minutes of the DTAB meeting where the proposal was discussed, “the term ‘chemists and druggists’ was coined in 1945 and is quite old and has lost relevance and also, at present, the word ‘drug’ is looked upon as more clandestine and as addiction for chemicals, hence, not suitable to refer a professional pharmacist.”

Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, the description “chemists and druggists” is displayed by licencees who employ registered pharmacists but do not have a pharmacy for compounding – preparing personalised medication for patients -- against prescriptions. The terms “pharmacy”, “pharmacist”, “dispensing chemist” or “pharmaceutical chemist” can be used only by licencees who employ the services of a registered pharmacist and run a pharmacy for compounding against prescription.

Registered pharmacists no longer practise compounding of medicines because the pharmaceutical industry sells formulations in different dosages and potencies. “There was need for this [renaming] as the concept of druggists is outdated. Earlier, there were not so many formulations available, so druggists themselves used to prepare medicines with relevant dosage etc, but now the pharmaceutical companies are doing the job. Everywhere pharmacy is used; so should we,” Sandeep Nangia, president, Retailers and Distributors Chemist Association in Delhi.

The matter was discussed in the 55th Drugs Consultative Committee meeting held in January this year, which recommended the renaming. The proposal was then placed before the 82nd DTAB meeting held on April 2, and the board agreed to amend the rules.

“We will have to update our database and add the changed names of stores that are registered with us. The final notification will provide a time frame to apply for name change with our licencing division,” said Dr Reddy, drugs controller general of India.

After the Union ministry of health and family welfare formally notifies the amendments, chemists will be given a time frame to make the necessary changes.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pharmacy-to-be-used-in-place-of-chemists-druggists/story-U3aS8umKeXUh1Q9benQx3H.html (Accessed on April 22, 2019)

NASA Airborne Telescope Spots Universe's First Molecule

India, April 19 -- NASA's airborne observatory has detected the first type of molecule ever formed in the universe.This is the first time helium hydride has been found in the modern universe.Scientists discovered the molecule in our own galaxy using NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), as the aircraft flew high above the Earth's surface and pointed its sensitive instruments out into the cosmos.SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 106-inch diameter telescope. It found modern helium hydride in a planetary nebula, a remnant of what was once a Sun-like star.Located 3,000 light-years away near the constellation Cygnus, this planetary nebula, called NGC 7027, has conditions that allow this mystery molec...

To read the entire article, please visit:
https://www.ndtv.com/science/nasa-airborne-telescope-stratospheric-observatory-for-infrared-astronomy-spots-universes-first-molec-2025482 (Accessed on April 22, 2019)

IIT Kharagpur researchers create algorithm for marketing & sales on social media

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IITKgp) have developed an algorithm that tracks marketing and sales activities on social media. This low-cost solution would especially benefit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), according to the researchers.
The solution is a model based on a computerised algorithm to identify social media influencers (with large contacts and followers) who have more reach and impact on social media.
The algorithm is applied to the data derived from select social media pages of test products. This is a great way to optimise marketing for companies with fewer resources, said professor MK Tiwari, who is leading the research at IIT Kharagpur.

To read the full article, please visit:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/iit-kharagpur-researchers-create-algorithm-for-marketing-sales-on-social-media/articleshow/68898061.cms (Accessed on April 22, 2019)