Anukreethy Vas, a 19-year-old college student from Tamil Nadu, has been crowned fbb Colors Femina Miss India 2018 in an extravagant ceremony held here, hosted by filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Ayushmann Khurrana.
Meenakshi Chaudhary (21) from Harayana was declared the first runner-up while Andhra Pradesh’s Shrey Rao Kamvarapu (23) stood as the second runner-up in the beauty competition.
The crowning ceremony saw performances by actors such as Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jacqueline Farnandez and Madhuri Dixit, and also by Miss World 2017 Manushi Chillar.
The judges panel included cricketers K L Rahul and Irfan Pathan, actors Bobby Deol, Malaika Arora and Kunal Kapoor.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by PTI / Mumbai – June 20th, 2018
It is time to reshape the role of the honorary consulates of Denmark in India and to build the business-to-business relationship between the two countries, Danish Ambassador to India, Peter Taksoe-Jensen said.
He was speaking at a reception marking the appointment of Vijay Sankar, Deputy Chairman, Sanmar Group, as the Honorary Consul General of the Royal Danish Consulate in Chennai.
Mr. Sankar will be in charge of operations for South India.
Mr. Taksoe-Jensen presented a citation from the Queen of Denmark to Mr. Sankar on the occasion.
The Danish Ambassador said with the relationship between India and Denmark improving now after nearly seven years, it was time to “board the train” to the market of 1.3 billion people.
Archiving records
The Danish Embassy and the Danish National Archives department hope to digitise almost 70 metres of Danish archival records that are in Tamil Nadu.
The embassy is hoping to get funding from private enterprises in Denmark for the venture.
Efforts would also be made to maintain the Governor’s House in Tranquebar by raising funds, the Ambassador said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – July 05th, 2018
MoU signed between NIF and Dabur earlier this year
In what could give Indian indigenous medicine a boost, a herbal concoction used by a 60-year-old woman to treat early stage cataract of people in in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district may soon make its way to market shelves.
This traditional wisdom used by herbal healer Muthulakshmi for decades may be commercialised after Ahmedabad headquartered National Innovation Foundation (NIF) which supports such grassroots innovations has signed an MoU with Dabur Research Foundation earlier this year to develop and commercialise the product.
The herbal medicine which was used to treat early stage cataract patients is currently up for clinical trials and is expected to hit the markets in 6 months.
“We scouted this product with the help of Honey Bee Network, our collective a few years ago. In the past we have validated traditional knowledge and practices of people that are unavailable in classical codified texts with the help of ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research). We got excellent results with the herb that treats patients with early state cataract after preliminary tests were conducted on this herbal medicine tested with PERD (Pharmaceutical Education & Research Development) Ahmedabad.
Later we signed a co-development agreement (MoU) with Dabur Research Foundation earlier this year for testing and developing the herbal medicine. Dabur also has the first right of refusal and can pay market cost for the technology,” said Vipin Kumar, director & chief innovation Officer(CIO) of NIF-India, an autonomous body of DST, Govt of India.
Kicking off the momentum for indigenous traditional medicine made from a flower and administered by Muthulakshmi to treat cataract patients in her region, may be available commercially in an affordable format after it is developed as a viable herbal product.
“We have signed a broad-based MoU and are working with NIF to develop herbal-based products to treat humans through the non-codified herb. The flower is indigenous and grows widely in the country. However, knowledge of this traditional medicine may be lost if it is not passed on to the people. The formula needs to be checked for efficacy on cells and duplicated and made affordable to poor. Through preliminary data we are trying to see if the extract has the potential to cure and will be conducting a clinical trial on 200 subjects.
We are currently in the process of finalising a chemical centre. The money generated through the IPR or patent of this herbal medicine and its royalty will go to the inventor Muthulakshmi and not to us or the NIF. The product can be commercialised within 3 to 6 months once clinical trials are over. Once the product formulation is complete we would obviously not like to refuse it and bring it at affordable rates as our CSR and try to make it low cost for people,” said Dr Manu Jaggi, chief scientific officer, Dabur Research Foundation.
D. Jayakumar, Minister for Fisheries, giving away the first prize to R. Padmapriya at Taramani. | Photo Credit: M. Karunakaran
Padmapriya bagged first prize in The Hindu Group’s ‘Our State-Our Taste’ competition
Padmapriya Radhakrishnan’s Karuveppilai chicken curry, garlic ghee rice and wheat rava kesari won her the first prize in The Hindu Group’s ‘Our State-Our Taste’ competition on Saturday. A very excited Ms. Radhakrishnan, who hails from Coimbatore, said she wanted to try more traditional foods.
“This is a big achievement for me. I want to try out more foods using traditional ingredients. I never eat junk food and I ensure that I give healthy dishes to my son and husband,” said the homemaker who was given the title of ‘Master Chef of Tamil Nadu’ by Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar.
Vaideki Rammohan, 39, of Rajapalayam, who made ‘varagu arisi saadham’, ‘keerai masiyal’ and ‘paasi parupu payasam’ came in second and the third place went to S. Bagamperiyal, 72, of Thoothukudi, who made ‘iral gravy’, ‘vanjara meen kuzhambu’ and ‘paal payasam’.
Speaking at the finals of the contest that was conducted in 10 districts in the State, Mr. Jayakumar said that food played a major role in shaping the personality of a person. He stressed the need to maintain health and consume healthy foods, especially millets. “Regular exercise and a balanced diet keeps the body fit,” he said, while congratulating The Hindu group for conducting the contest.
Chef Damu, the knowledge partner for the contest, said that among the 10 cities where the contest was held, contestants from Thanjavur, Madurai and Puducherry really did well. “We got to see dishes like ‘Kayiru gola’ (minced meat wound and cooked), ‘takadi’ (rice balls in minced meat gravy) and ‘ukkarai’ being made by participants. These are dishes that have medicinal values but many have forgotten,” he said. Mr. Damu suggested that The Hindu bring out a book of such recipes.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – June 30th, 2018
Vijay Anand has invested the past two years in sourcing the best possible images for each page
Chennai :
The first edition of the Constitution of India is a rare piece of art. Professionals from Shantiniketan decorated with exquisite designs the sides of each page of that handwritten publication of what is the world’s longest Constitution. Survey of India offices photolithographed the original on handmade paper but few copies now exist.
But they are making a return. Two years ago, Vijay Anand, an entrepreneur and a member of Chennai Tricolour Initiative, embarked on a journey to recreate the first edition.
“The original is enclosed in a helium-filled case in the Parliament library,” Anand said. “Some copies were handed down from generation to generation and have been lost over the years.”
His search took him to a family in Hosur whose ancestor was part of the constituent assembly in 1950. “They were kind of enough to share the copy they had,” he said. “The book survived through such a long time, albeit with some wear and tear.”
Several years of research told him that sourcing one of the first copies would be nearly impossible. “One of the original copies was auctioned by Sotheby’s for 35 lakh in 2012,” Anand said. “This book is valuable not just because it enshrines the foundations of the republic, but also because of the work that has gone into creating it.”
India’s Constitution has won recognition as one of the rare books of the world and found a place in the Library of Congress in the United States, said historian and Constitution enthusiast Vikram Raghavan. The tome, with all its artwork, commands a tremendous sense of awe and nostalgia for lawyers and students, he added.
Anand has invested the past two years in sourcing the best possible images for each page. A family from Ahmedabad sent him scanned images of a copy that they have. He then had each page hand drawn to recreate the original art. The work has not been easy. Every inch of the illustration and design is manually traced, digitally blown up and coloured. Each page took close to a week to recreate.
“The original is not accessible and it’s as good as gone,” Anand said. “We need one that we can preserve for at least another 100 years.”
He plans to make two versions – one will be a hardcover, the other a leather-bound edition for collectors. The 234-page volume will be published on specialty paper by Chennai Tricolor Initiative Trust. The copies will be available by September, Anand said. Besides limited copies that will be given to those contribute to the Chennai Tricolour Initiative Trust, Anand intends to give copies to schools at a nominal price so they can preserve them in their libraries.
“We want to spur healthy debate in government schools. The idea is to initiate a conversation on the foundation of today’s India, how the government functions. Healthy debates are not just about finding fault but being aware of both sides of the coin,” he said.
Download a remastered version of the preamble at http://bit.ly/2HnNKmN.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Chennai News / TNN / July 02nd, 2018
This work by Prof. Bakthavathsalu is aimed at a young readership and has therefore been kept simple
After teaching history at the college level for four decades, N. Bakthavathsalu has taken to the written word to tell youngsters the stories of the land and its people.
Former Professor of History at Pachaiyappa’s College, Bakthavathsalu recently published Five Great Leaders of Tamil Nadu, a 43-page book that focusses on the lives and political achievements of C. Rajagopalachari, Periyar E.V.R., K. Kamaraj, C.N. AnnaDurai and M. Karunanidhi.
Prof. Bakthavathsalu, a resident of D Sector, Anna Nagar West Extension, said that keeping the young readership in mind the book was kept slim and its message as crisp and lucid as possible.
“I consider the four the greatest leaders of this era. It is important for students to know about the political history of the State,” said Prof. Bakthavathsalu.
He clarifies that he is not affiliated to any political party.
“Rajaji opposed Mahatma Gandhi and even stayed out of Congress for a few years. Kamaraj was responsible for an increase in the literacy rate and built many dams across the State. The book throws light on many such contributions from these leaders,” he said.
Prof. Bhathavatsalu has also authored school books published under the aegies of Tamil Nadu Textbook Society and contributed to Tamil Encyclopedia brought out by Thanjavur Tamil University.
The appendix lists out the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu from 1920 to 2018. The book is priced at ₹50.
For more details, contact Prof. Bakthavathsalu at 044-2615 0110.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by K. Lakshmi / June 29th, 2018
