Haage Summane... ಹಾಗೆ ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ

The government’s focus on manufacturing through program’s such as ‘Make in India’ and policies such as the National Policy for Advanced Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 could play a key role in boosting the manufacturing sector’s share in the country’s GDP to 25 per cent by 2022 from the current 17 per cent, stated Mahendra Nath Pandey minister for heavy industries and public enterprises at an ASSOCHAM event. Addressing a virtual conference on 'Global Value Chains - Backward and Forward integration' in the session - Smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 - Delivering the next generation of manufacturing organized by the ASSOCHAM, Pandey said a lmost a decade ago, for every  ₹ 1 that the government would spend, only 15 per cent would reach to the ultimate target group due to corruption from the middlemen.  “These things are not possible now due to digital technology. Even during the challenging Covid times, the government managed to directly credit the accounts of the lakhs of impover...

India presently operates at the lower end of the value chain in the steel sector. Value-added steel grades are largely imported in India. This is because of the disabilities faced by the steel industry to the tune of $80-100 per ton, on account of higher logistics and infra cost, higher power and capital cost, taxes and duties. The PLI scheme with a budgetary outlay of ₹6,322 crores will provide the necessary impetus to the Indian steel sector, noted  Faggan Singh Kulaste, minister of state for steel. Addressing the session “Value creation through Supply Chain for the Steel Industry” at ASSOCHAM’s five-day-long virtual conference on 'Global Value Chain – Backward and Forward Integration', Kulaste said t he steel industry is one of the most traditional and fundamental industries supporting many others, like oil and gas, power generation, construction.  "We are looking forward to industry support towards the Prime Minister's vision for ‘Local Goes Global’ and Make in Ind...

Ten-year-old Madhav Gopal Kamath, a Mangaluru origin boy, has made India proud by securing second place in the 2021 Scrabble World Youth Cup on August 22. The event, which is normally held in different parts of the world, was this time held online due to the pandemic. Madhav’s second-place finish in the main under-18 event is the best performance by an Indian scrabble player in the history of the World Youth Cup. The prize comprises a trophy and cash award. Equally impressive was 12-year-old Suyash Manchali from Bengaluru, a class VII student at MESKKPS, Vidyaranyapura, who finished eighth and was named as the best under-14 player. This was the first time India had two players in the top ten. The Indian team also received the ‘Spirit of Scrabble’ award for being the team that best played in the true spirit of the game. Madhav Kamath Madhav narrowly lost out on the top spot to defending champion 15-year-old Syed Imaad Ali of Pakistan. Madhav and Imaad both had nine wins from 13 games, b...

Skymet Weather Services Pvt Ltd, India’s leading weather analytics firm, had released its monsoon foreshadow for 2021 on April 13, 2021, and is now updating the forecast. Skymet believes that there is a 60% chance of below normal, forecasting monsoon to be at 94% of the long period average with an error margin of +/- 4% (LPA= 880.6mm for the 4 month period from June to September. The Southwest Monsoon had a timely onset and made a good start with June ending above normal at 110% of the long period average (LPA). July started on a weak note and the month was marred with a pronged break till 11th July. Therefore the month finished with below normal rainfall at 93% of LPA.  June and July ended with 110% and 93% of LPA against Skymet’s forecast of 106% and 97% respectively. The Southwest Monsoon encountered a second ‘break monsoon’ phase during the first fortnight of August. Extended weak monsoon conditions resulted in Pan-India seasonal rainfall deficiency settling at 9% till the midd...

In continuation to an announcement made by the Government of Karnataka for students of higher education and professional colleges to return to campus, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) has paved the way for all its students to make this transition seamless. MAHE has drawn up a plan on how all the institutions under it will function as per the protocols. This adherence to protocols will ensure the students are safe and continue their learning in the shadow of the pandemic. In addition, since the announcement of NEP 2020, MAHE is aligning all its courses across its colleges in line with the proposed guidelines by the Government of India last year. The aim is to mitigate the massive challenges that the pandemic has posed to the education sector.   Dr HS Ballal, pro-chancellor, MAHE said, “At MAHE we want the best for our students, starting from proving Covid vaccination or financial aid to Covid impacted students. During these challenging times, we have been resilient and...

August is a great month for amateur astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts in 2021. In this month, one has the two most beautiful planets, which are also the two largest planets of our solar system in opposition and the best meteor shower of the year in this month as well. In 1992, when Comet Swift-Tuttle visited the Sun, it left behind a trail of debris (rock and ice particles) along its path. As Earth moves around the Sun, it passes through this trail of debris and these particles enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up to form the long trail of light which we call a meteor.  The Perseids Map When these meteors appear large in number in a short period of time, it is called a meteor shower.  The Perseids meteor shower is the best meteor shower which will produce up to 150 meteors per hour under clear sky conditions. One can expect as much as 60 meteors visible per hour this year. There is not one spot in the sky from where the meteors will appear to come from. The meteors will ap...

KIOCL Limited, a CPSU under the ministry of steel reported a 139% increase in revenue from operations at ₹1042.05 crores and profit before tax (PBT) of ₹295.22 crores and profit after tax (PAT) of ₹215.92 crores for the first quarter of FY 2021-22. The board of directors of the company approved the un-audited financial results for the first quarter ended on June 30 in its meeting held through video conference.           The company reported 18% higher pellet production at 6.03Lakh tonnes compared to 5.11 lakh tonnes in the first quarter of the previous year. The total revenue earned is ₹1059.50 crores as against ₹460.58 crores, up by 130%. The profit before tax is ₹295.22 crores as against ₹18.97 crores, up by 1456 %. The profit after tax at ₹215.92 crores is up by 1696% as against ₹12.02 crores. The company achieved pellet production of 6.03 lakh tonnes as against 5.11 lakh tonnes in the previous FY, up by18% Swapan Kumar Gorai, CMD, KIOCL Ltd The company ...

The/Nudge Forum announced Charcha2021, a convening with over 300 global leaders and key stakeholders coming together for India’s development. As the world continues to grapple with the effects of Covid-19, it is clear that the pandemic has sprouted unprecedented economic and social challenges for the nation.  It is time now to retrospect and reflect on our collective response to the crisis and to reaffirm our commitment to building resilient and just systems that leave no Indian behind. Culminating in India's 75th Independence day, Charcha2021 promises to be a convening worthy of this milestone. The/Nudge Forum, with charcha, has been growing into India’s largest development sector platform for bringing together the foremost thinkers, researchers, practitioners, enablers, policymakers, communicators, philanthropists and community leaders to chart out India’s growth.  From August 13-15, Charcha2021 will host 9 plenary sessions and 11 parallel events covering a broad range of to...

CropIn has witnessed phenomenal growth over the last few years fuelled by a combination of new product introductions, entry into international markets and creation of new target customer segments in the Ag value chain. CropIn started with an initial investment of $10,000, which was raised from friends & family, Seed investors and early employees who believed in the vision of the founders. These early employees and investors became early shareholders in the company.  In the recently concluded Series C funding, the company raised $20 million of primary capital, taking the overall investment into the company to $33 million. This was followed by a secondary sale of $4.3 Mn and was open to the company’s employees and investors holding stocks. Several early investors and employees who sold their stocks realized nearly 70x returns on their investment.  Early Employees, Investors Get Good Returns From CropIn In the first of its kind move in the agtech space, this is huge value cre...

AK Rai, commissioner of railway safety conducted a statutory inspection of the newly electrified Alnavar- Londa section on August 1. Electrification of 33.16 route KM section of Alnavar-Londa is a part of Hosapete-Hubballi-Londa-Vasco Da Gama electrification project. Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL) is executing this work. Rai inspected the electrified section and checked various safety parameters.  He inspected the OHE depot at Alnavar, sub-sectioning and paralleling Posts (SSPs) at Tavaragatti and Devarayi, foot overbridges, level crossing gates, bridges, curves in the section. He also inspected Tavaragatti, Devarayi, Shivathan and Londa stations. A speed trial with an electric loco was conducted from Londa to Alnavar during the inspection.   Electrification will significantly improve the mobility of trains on SWR and strengthen the rail network in Karnataka. In addition to the reduction in pollution, the efficiency of the Railway will improve due to the shift from fossil...