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IIM-A Ranks 24 in FT’s Global MBA Ranking. 2 Other B-Schools Also Make the List.

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The annual Global MBA Ranking of the Financial Times has been released, and three Indian universities have made it to the list of top 100. The annual ranking features the best full-time MBA programmes in the world. The Indian universities include:

1. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad: 24th rank

iim-a
Source: Wikimedia
IIM-A ranked 26 in the 2015 list. It has also been ranked number one for the career progress of its alumni.

2. Indian School of Business, Hyderabad: 29th rank

isb
Source: Bindaas Madhavi/Flickr
ISB was at the 33rd position in the list last year.

3. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore: 62nd rank

iimb
Source: Wikimedia
IIM-B was at the 82nd position in 2015. 157 business schools were considered for the survey for this ranking, and about 9800 alumni members from the listed schools were interviewed three years after their graduation. The institutes were ranked on several categories including weighted salary, salary increase, value for money, career progress, aims achieved, placement success, employed at three months, alumni recommend, female faculty, female students, women on board, international faculty, international students, international board, international mobility, international course experience, languages, faculty with doctorates, PhD graduates, and FT research rank. Globally, Fontainebleau-based INSEAD topped the 2016 ranking. It is followed by Harvard Business School, London Business School, the Wharton School and Stanford Graduate School of Business, which made it to the top five.

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Girls in Nashik Schools Don’t Quit School after Puberty Any More. Thanks to One Australian!

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An Australian man, Mark Balla, has been raising funds for the construction of toilets in Indian schools since 2013. After making an eye-opening visit to a school in Dharavi, Mumbai, he decided to set up a charity that aims to build 20,000 toilets in schools so that teenage girls never have to leave their education midway.
“On one of my visits to India about four years ago, I met a couple of young men who took me to a school in Dharavi, Mumbai. I was shocked to see that many teenage girls had dropped out of school because there were no toilets there. My own daughter was a young teenager at the time, and I remember thinking that such a situation is simply not acceptable,” says Mark Balla, a resident of Melbourne, who has been contributing towards the construction of toilets in Indian schools.

For about a year and half after his trip to Dharavi, Mark talked to several people in Australia about what he had observed.

[caption id="attachment_43998" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Mark Ball in the centre Mark Balla (centre)[/caption] Other than wanting to understand this reality in depth himself, he also wanted to make others aware about it. And finally in 2013, after getting some of his friends on board, he started a charity named We Can’t Wait to help raise money and awareness about the lack of toilets in schools in India.
“We started writing and speaking about it widely, so as to raise awareness as well as some funds. I also started working with Rotary International at that time, and my charity continues to work closely with Rotary even today,” he says.

Rotary International is a group of individuals and community leaders, who come together to create positive change.

[caption id="attachment_43993" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]toilet7 Mark Balla (third from left) with his team and members of a rotary club[/caption] Members of different Rotary clubs around the world work to solve several challenges in their communities, like fighting disease, providing clean water, enhancing educational opportunities, and more. Rotary International provides them support as per their requirements. Mark’s idea was to raise funds in Australia by conducting special fund raising events in schools, colleges and corporate organizations. Then Rotary International would help him transfer these funds to other Rotary clubs in India, which would collaborate to construct toilets.

The plan worked.

[caption id="attachment_43996" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]toilet4 Completed toilets[/caption] We Can’t Wait has raised more than Rs. 75 lakh till now. The organization’s first project was in New English School located in Nashik, Maharashtra, which had no toilets. Mark’s charity built 15 toilets there, impacting the lives of over 500 children.
“My charity selects the schools and ensures that the whole process is followed. There are a lot of schools in need and we can’t help all of them. So we carefully select those where the likelihood of a successful project is high. The number one issue for us is that the headmaster, teachers and school board must be genuinely focused on bringing improved hygiene and sanitation to the children. The school must be willing to contribute financially if possible and must take overall responsibility for cleaning and maintenance. It must also agree to incorporate hygiene and sanitation education in the curriculum. If we see signs of disinterest in these issues, we will probably choose to work with a different school,” Mark explains.
We Can’t Wait does not take on the entire responsibility for funding the toilets. Rotary clubs in India also contribute and the schools pitch in as much as they can. The charity helps in the background, providing additional funding and technical expertise.

We Can’t Wait is currently working on the construction of 150 toilets in seven schools in Nashik; these projects will be completed in a few months and impact about 5,000 students.

toilet6 Other than raising funds in Australia, Mark is also getting help from different organizations in the UK and the US. This has helped the charity plan three more projects in the near future. Some organizations in Kolkata are willing to collaborate with him and Mark wanted to expand to South India as well.
“Our aim is to help, just to help – we want to show people in India, particularly those in schools, that this is something the whole world is interested in. The whole world wants to help the country tackle its sanitation problem successfully,” he says.

Mark wants to contribute towards the construction of 600-700 toilets by the end of 2016. The final goal is to construct 20,000 toilets by 2019, the year of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birthday.

toilet8 The results until now have been very exciting for Mark. The absentee rate in New English School has gone down because children have stopped taking leave if they have stomach problems. The girls attend classes even during their periods. Sanitary napkin bins installed in the school are being used without any hesitation.

A number of school children have had toilets constructed in their homes as well, by pressurizing their parents and getting help from Rotary clubs.

toilet3
“After we completed the first 15 toilets, the school’s headmaster called me and said ‘Mark, we have a problem. The boys are complaining.’ I couldn’t imagine why the boys would be complaining. He said it was because the line for drinking water has become longer since the girls had started drinking water during the day. Earlier, they used to stay without water the whole day, fearing they might need to go to the toilet. We didn’t know about this before. It was a complete surprise. I was extremely excited to see such immediate impact,” he concludes proudly.

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In Pictures: Mumbai Stations Got a Colourful Makeover. And They Look Smashing!

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The Borivali and Khar stations in Mumbai have got a brilliant makeover – from the staircases and walls to overhead bridges and ticket windows, everything is covered in vibrant colours. There are paintings of animals, trees, soldiers, and so much more, giving a very cheerful aura to the otherwise gloomy looking stations. It has all been done by about 500 volunteers of the NGO, Making a Difference (MAD) Foundation.

Here is a look at the revamped stations:

mad7 mad6 mad1 mad9 mad2 mad5 mad8 mad12 mad11 mad13 mad14 mad15 mad16 mad18 mad19 mad20 mad21 mad22 mad23 mad25 The MAD Foundation started this work in December 2015, with the aim to paint 30 staircases at the Borivali station and seven at Khar, along with 54 pillars on the platforms at Borivali and 12 at Khar.
"The idea is also to lighten the mood of commuters. We want commuters to have a feeling of ownership, so that they stop littering the stations as well as persuade others from doing so. We are looking at contributions from corporate houses, and our volunteers are also reaching out to residential colonies across Borivali to seek help," Haresh Shah, the secretary of the foundation had told DNA in December last year.
They had started as an experiment for the project with Matunga railway station in October, 2015.
All Pictures: Twitter

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In Pictures: This Is How the Rashtrapati Bhavan Gets Ready for the Beating of the Retreat

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Culminating the four-day long Republic Day celebrations, the Beating of the Retreat ceremony will be held at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi today. 15 military bands, 18 pipes and drums bands from regimental centres and battalions, and one band each from the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force are participating in the ceremony this year. Additionally, bands from the State Police and Central Armed Police Force will also perform for the first time. The ceremony will begin at 4:45 pm and can be viewed live here. The Vijay Chowk will remain closed for general traffic from 3:30 to 9:30 pm.

Yesterday, the Rashtrapati Bhavan was illuminated in preparation for the ceremony. Have a look:

r6 br16 br13 br12 br11 br9 br8 br7 br5 br3 br2 br1
All Pictures: Twitter

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This Man Grew up Among the Adivasis. Today, He Is Changing Their World with Mobile Phones.

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This article on using mobile technology for social good is part of the #Mobile4Good series & is made possible by Vodafone India.

This is the story of one man who decided to democratise communication and create a media platform where everybody can become a reporter – with just a mobile phone. A tribe called Pahari Korwa is found in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh. People of this tribe live in villages located in hilly areas. A few years ago, villagers witnessed the death of two pregnant women in two consecutive months. They couldn’t reach the hospital in time because of the lack of proper roads. Someone in the tribe came to know about CGNet Swara – a voice-based news portal that allows anyone to report and listen to stories on local issues. He called the number and recorded a message. “If you are listening to this, please call up our collector and tell him about this problem. His name is Mukesh Bansal and this is his number…” he said. Fortunately, someone in New Jersey came across this message on the website of CGNet Swara and called the collector. He was very surprised. How was somebody in the US calling him up to inform him about a village that he had never heard of?

He reached there with his entire team and studied the condition and requirements, deciding to transform the village. Today, a school is being constructed there and a road is coming up – all because of one phone call.

[caption id="attachment_44311" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]cgnetswara2 Shubhranshu Choudhary[/caption]
“If we use technology creatively, the outcome will definitely be good. Hawa ke jaisa media agar ban gaya (if we make media like the air), many problems will be solved. We can actually bring peace if the media is democratised,” says Shubhranshu Choudhary, the founder of CGNet Swara (CGNet stands for Central Gondwana Net. And swara means ‘voice’ in Sanskrit).
The platform works on a very simple technology involving an internet connection, a phone number, and an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

Any user who calls the number - 8050068000, gets connected to the internet.

[caption id="attachment_44308" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]cgnetswara5 Reporting issues - just a phone call away[/caption] The IVR system gives the callers two options – record a message or listen to the reports. As soon as the recording is completed, a team of moderators gets a notification. They listen to the message, check the facts, verify the report, and publish the story if found suitable. Most of the reports are in Gondi language - spoken by around two million people of the Gond tribe, living in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and so on. They are translated into Hindi and English, and published on the website where journalists, NGOs, and other organisations can listen to them and help resolve these issues. Ask 47-year-old Shubhranshu about how it all started, and he smiles, “It’s a very long story. Tell me when to stop.” Shubhranshu’s parents came from Bangladesh and settled in a small town in Koriya district of Chhattisgarh (Madhya Pradesh at the time). His father got a job with the Railways in a tribal area. “So I grew up with Adivasis. I was studying in a school where all my classmates were Adivasi boys and girls,” he remembers. After completing school, dropping out of Engineering in the first year, and spending more time in the library than in classes while pursuing BSc, Shubhranshu became a journalist. He was associated with several organisations before starting work as the South Asia producer for BBC TV and Radio during the 1990s. His job was to cover wars and natural disasters. So he would hop from one troubled area to another. Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan – his work took him to many places. But at one point of time, the war started in his hometown itself. He had to return to MP to cover the Maoist insurgency that was making headlines. The situation was slightly different for Shubhranshu this time, because many of them were known to him.

Some of his classmates were within the Maoist ranks and he got a chance to communicate with them at a very personal level.

[caption id="attachment_44307" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]An awareness session about CGNet Swara An awareness session about CGNet Swara[/caption]
He remember what they told him – “You need to know the problem if you really want to solve it…The journalism you do is the problem. Right now, we are using a democratic medium to communicate – that’s the air. Unlike today’s media, nature has given us this medium… Nobody owns it. But when the media is controlled by someone, when someone sits and decides whose news is news, whose problem is problem, whose issues should be highlighted, then many problems remain unresolved. And that’s when people are left with no option, but to do what we are doing.”
It didn’t make much sense to Shubhranshu at that time, but he understood that the real need here was a democratic media, because many people involved in the insurgency were there only because they were frustrated of remaining unheard and their issues remaining unresolved.

“Hawa ke jaisa media banao, they would tell me. And that’s the genesis of CGNet.”

cgnetswara3 So he began with radio as it was the only source of communication at that time. But it didn’t work out as planned. Then he started an e-discussion forum called CGNet, where anyone with an internet connection could write about their issues. It worked well, but very few people had internet access.

Finally, after many visits and several months of living with those people, CGNet Swara was launched in February 2010 as a phone-based platform.

[caption id="attachment_44306" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Puppets used for spreading awareness about CGNet Swara Puppets used for spreading awareness about CGNet Swara[/caption] In 2008, Shubhranshu met Bill Thies, who was working as a researcher with Microsoft Research, India. He was working on an MIT-sponsored project called Audio Wiki, a user-generated platform for publishing audio content. They worked on CGNet together. CGNet Swara is now operational in the Adivasi areas of Maharashtra, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. They get calls from around 1,500-2,000 listeners in a day and 150-200 calls of people who want to record. Five to ten stories are published each day. Their headquarters are located in Bhopal and all the reports are reviewed by a team of moderators. An SMS is sent out to users to notify when a new story is posted.

Along with reports, other news items from major newspapers are also translated into Gondi and added to the list. The calls also include stories, poems, songs, etc.

CGNet Swara mobile Currently, Shubhranshu and his team are trying to train people to become community reporters and moderators.

They want to reach a stage where people can choose the moderators from amongst themselves and maintain a responsible platform.

CGNet Swara mobile The one impact story which always stays with Shubhranshu is that of the Baiga tribe in Chhattisgarh.
“People from that tribe were applying for the Forest Rights Act, but they didn’t get the lease. There were 33 families in the village. An officer came in and asked for Rs. 3,000 from each family in return for the patta (lease). They gave it to him. Some of the villagers knew about CGNet. They reported the incident, and one fine morning this officer came knocking at their doors. He wanted to return all their money. The villagers made him record a message in which he apologised.”

The platform has not reached a revenue-generating stage yet, but the system is free for the users. CGNet operates majorly on grants.

CGNet Swara mobile
“This needs to be done… We can bring back some hope by connecting the saner elements of society. I see tremendous potential and it is the future that keeps us going. This thing can change the world for good,” concludes Shubhranshu.

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One Man in Gujarat Broke a Taboo by Inviting 18,000 Widows to His Son’s Wedding

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A widow’s presence at a wedding is considered a taboo at many places in India. It is believed that they bring bad luck, and are no invited to festivals and other celebrations.

But when a businessman in Gujarat was organising his son’s wedding, he decided to crush this superstitious belief and invited about 18,000 widows to bless the bride and groom.

marriage
Picture for representation only. Source: Natesh Ramasamy/Flickr
Jitendra Patel, a resident of Mehsana, invited the widows from five districts of Gujarat, including Banaskantha, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Patan and Aravalli.
"It was my heartfelt desire that the couple should be blessed by widows, who are mostly neglected by the society. Their presence is considered a bad omen at auspicious functions but I wanted to prove that all these beliefs are nothing but superstitions," Jitendra Patel told The Times of India.
To make them feel even more special, every widow was presented with a blanket and a sapling. They promised to nurture the plants back home. Additionally, 500 widows coming from financially weaker backgrounds were presented with a milking cow each, to help them earn a living. 55-year-old Hansa Thakore told TOI that she has never expected such honour and so much importance after she became a widow.
Featured image for representation only. Source (R): pixabay

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Kolkata Girl Makes It to Forbes 30 Under 30 List for Developing Pathbreaking Underwater Drones

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28-year-old Sampriti Bhattacharyya, a PhD scholar from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has designed an underwater drone that can map ocean floors at places where GPS does not work. She is the founder of Hydroswarm – a startup that designs and markets small, autonomous drones for ocean exploration and maritime big data. These drones are shaped like an egg and are roughly the size of a football.

Sampriti, who hails from Kolkata, has been featured among Forbes' top 30 most powerful young change agents of the world.

drone She pursued engineering from St. Thomas' College of Engineering & Technology in Kolkata and then went to Ohio State University to study aerospace engineering. She later switched to robotics at MIT. The absence of any easy way to study ocean floors inspired her to create an underwater robot. As of now, remotely operated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) are used to explore the deep sea. They are deployed for missions like studying oil spills, environmental monitoring, search operations, etc. But AUVs are very costly and mission-oriented. They are not used to study the ocean on a day-to-day basis to understand the underwater environment better.

This is what Sampriti wants to change with Hydroswarm, by developing drones that can roam the oceans and collect data all the time.

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"Underwater navigation has been a reality for many years but for advanced searches you need maps that are as refined as, say, the Google map. This is where my drone comes in. It can map the ocean, sitting on its bed, and you can zero in on the minutest objects, living or non-living. You can even map underwater pollution with the help of his drone," she told The Times of India when she was in Kolkata for some time recently.
These drones can withstand the immense pressure in deep oceans, can cover up to 100 square meters in one hour, and can swim across the ocean floors mapping the topography, studying aquatic life, etc. To commercialize her drone by starting a company, Sampriti joined a business programme at Harvard Business School. She was one of the top eight contenders to reach the finals of MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, winning $15,000.
All pictures: Twitter

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IN PICTURES: An Indian Artist Portrays Train Engines in a Way They Were Never Seen Before!

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Kishore Pratim Biswas used to live near a locomotive workshop in Kolkata when he was a child. It was very easy for one to spot steam locomotives every now and then, and as an enthusiastic 5-year-old kid, he loved to run out and watch them go. He would then come back home and sketch what he saw. A giant locomotive surrounded by steam – the aura of that picturesque scene attracted him tremendously, and inspires him even today. The firemen and drivers at the workshop became his friends, and they would usually gather around to look at his sketches. He remembers listening to their stories and trying to sketch all their emotions on a piece of paper. Today, 42-year-old Kishore has his art studio in Mumbai and he is working on a series of paintings based on this memory. He calls the series the 'Nostalgia of Steam Locomotives'. He graduated in Fine Arts from Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata, spent a few years in his hometown, and then moved to Mumbai in 2009.

In spite of all the years that have passed, the nostalgia still lingers on. Have a look at these incredible sketches to understand his bond with locomotives.

kishor10 kishor9 kishor8 kishor7 kishor6 kishor5 kishor4 kishor3 kishor2 kishor1 kishor4

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How a Vigilant Passenger and Cops Helped Prevent a Major Bomb Blast in a Train

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Alert cops of Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF), along with a vigilant passenger, helped prevent a major accident by diffusing a bomb found in a train on Friday. A passenger aboard the Mahanagri express that was headed towards Mumbai from Varanasi, spotted an unidentified bag kept outside the bathroom of S-3 coach, when the train reached Manikpur railway station in Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh.

According to reports, he immediately informed the guard who alerted the station master.

train
Picture for representation only. Source: Flickr
KK Choudhary, the Superintendent of Police in Chitrakoot, informed The Times of India that a bomb like structure consisting of a small watch with wires and a letter in English were found in the bag. GRP and RPF cops reached the spot immediately and they took the improvised explosive device (IED) to an isolated place. A bomb disposal squad was called from Allahabad and they diffused the bomb at 3:00 am near an isolated place. They said that the IED would have destroyed three coaches of the train if it was not diffused in time.

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India Exports the First Six ‘Made in India’ Metro Coaches to Australia

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Six metro coaches made in the Bombardier Transportation Plant located in Savli, Vadodara, were shipped to Australia from Mumbai port on Friday. According to plan, 450 such coaches will be exported to Australia over a period of two and a half years.

Each coach is 75 feet long and weighs 46 tonnes. This is the first-of-its-kind export from India since the launch of the ‘Make in India’ campaign.

railcoach
Picture for representation only. Source: Wikimedia
According to a statement by Ministry of Shipping, loading these coached for export requires high degree of precision. “The entire stevedoring operation (loading into ship) of these prestigious over-sized metro coaches has been done in-house by Mumbai Port Trust unlike any other port in India where private operators carry out such operations,” the statement said.
The total value of the contract signed for the project with the Canadian firm, Bombardier Transportation, is approximately USD 4.1 billion. And Bombardier's share is valued at approximately USD 2.7 billion. The project will be executed in the company's Vadodara facility, which has been developed for export-oriented activities.

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6 Things to Know About Kalpana Chawla: The First Indian Woman in Space

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Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-American astronaut and the first Indian woman in space, was one of the seven astronauts who lost their lives in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003. A role model for many young women in India and around the world, Kalpana will always be remembered for her incredible journey from Karnal, where she was born, to NASA, where she fulfilled her dream of reaching the starts.
"On one of the night passes, I dimmed the lights in the flight deck and saw the stars. When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system," she had said after her first flight.
On her 13th death anniversary, here are six things to know about the legend:

1. Kalpana Chawla completed her early education in Punjab.

kc1
Source: Wikimedia
After finishing school from Karnal, Kalpana pursued a course in aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. She moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas. She then earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado.

2. She became a naturalized US citizen in April 1991 and applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps.

Kalpana began working at the NASA Ames Research Center in 1988, and joined the Corps in March 1995 after becoming a naturalized US citizen. kc2
Source: Wikimedia

3. In 1997, she became the first Indian-born woman and the second Indian person to fly in space.

Her first flight was on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. The mission began on November 19, 1997, and Kalpana was a part of a six-astronaut crew. kc3
Source: Wikimedia

4. Her second flight was also her last.

kc4
Source: Wikimedia 
In 2000, Kalpana was selected for her second flight as a part of the crew of STS-107. The mission got repeatedly delayed and was finally launched in 2003. On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle disintegrated over Texas while trying to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Over the course of the 16-day flight, the crew completed more than 80 experiments.

5. She was posthumously honoured with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA Space Flight Medal and NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

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Source: Wikimedia

6. Kalpana Chawla logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space over the course of her two missions.

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Source: Wikimedia

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How a Tweet to the Railway Ministry Helped Parents Find Their 15-Year-Old Daughter

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A tweet to the Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, and the Ministry of Railways, helped the parents of a 15-year-old girl find their daughter recently. The girl, a student of class 10 in Jharkhand, had allegedly eloped with her classmate on Saturday. When her father got the information that duo had boarded a train, he decided to tweet and seek help.
"The girl's father from Jharkhand tweeted to railway minister Suresh Prabhu that the kids are on board the Geetanjali Express to Mumbai," a senior railway official told The Times of India.

He shared the girl’s picture, her name, contact number and the details of the train she was in. He also mentioned that the train was about to reach Bhusawal station.

traintweet1

The ministry took immediate action and alerted the Railway Protection Force as soon as they got this information.

They started tracking the two teenagers and finally found them at Nashik station. Their parents reached Mumbai to take them back.
Featured image credit: Flickr

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How Twitter and Police Came Together to Reunite an 80-Year-Old Woman with Her Family

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When an 80-year-old woman suffering from Alzheimer's went missing, the police officials and Twitterati collaborated in an amazing way to reunite her with her family. Kamla Gupta, a resident of Patel Nagar in New Delhi, left home to visit the temple on Sunday morning. But she lost her way back home and went in another direction. She asked somebody to drop her home, giving the address of a place in Ashok Vihar where she used to live with her husband 20 years ago. In Ashok Vihar, she again forgot her way and was found wandering by a patrolling police van. The officials took her to Ashok Vihar police station. As there was no way to find anything about her address or contact details, the North Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police, Madhur Verma, sought help on social media.

He tweeted Kamla’s picture with the information on where to find her.

Hundreds of people, including Vishal Jain, a businessman from Pitampura, shared the picture on Facebook and Twitter.

And just when Kamla’s family members were planning to check the hospitals in the neighbourhood, one of their relatives saw Vishal’s post and contacted him. Vishal immediately connected them with the DCP.

According to the family members, she has been suffering from Alzheimer's for the past three years. 

Within two hours after the first tweet, Kamla was reunited with her family. All thanks to the power of social media.

Police Commissioner BS Bassi, also came forward to thank Twitterati.

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5 Things to Know About Archana Ramasundram – the First Indian Woman to Head a Paramilitary Force

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For the first time in India, the government has appointed a woman IPS officer as the chief of a paramilitary force. 58-year-old Archana Ramasundram, a Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer, will take over as Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The former chief, B D Sharma, retired on January 31. Archana will retain the post till the date of her superannuation on September 30, 2017. Here are five things to know about her:

1. Archana Ramasundram is a 1980-batch officer. Before her appointment to SSB, she was serving as the head of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

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2. She has also served as the country's first woman Joint Director of the CBI, handling cases related to economic offences between 1999 and 2006.

3. Before becoming the Joint Director, she was the Deputy Inspector General with CBI.

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4. Prior to that she was the DGP and chairperson of Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board.

5. She was in the news in 2014 after her appointment as Additional Director of CBI.

ar3 Her appointment was challenged in the Supreme Court after which she was moved to the NCRB as its chief. The Centre approved Archana’s appointment and issued orders in February 2014, but the Tamil Nadu government did not send her relieving orders for about three months. On May 8, 2014, the officer joined CBI after informing the state chief secretary. However, the state government suspended her on charges of desertion. She was finally shifted to NCRB.
“I found her knowledgeable and extremely hardworking. More than these, she was willing to take responsibility for her decisions,” former CBI Director RK Raghavan once said about Archana.
There are five paramilitary forces – Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and Sashastra Seema Bal. The SSB is entrusted with guarding the country's frontiers with Nepal and Bhutan.
All pictures: Facebook

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A 46-Year-Old Is Filling Potholes in Mumbai. For a Heartbreaking Reason.

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On July 28, 2015, Dadarao Bilhore lost his 16-year-old son after a road accident that occurred because of a pothole. Since then, every time this Mumbai resident sees potholes on the streets, he fills them up with his bare hands – as a tribute to his son. Dadarao’s son Prakash was returning home from Navjeevan Education Society's Polytechnic College in Bhandup after finishing his admission formalities. His cousin Ram was riding the bike and they hit an uncovered pothole that was dug up on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road for some construction work.

The pothole was filled with water due to the rains.

pothole
Picture for representation only. Source: Twitter
"My son would not have wanted this to happen to anyone else. He was a very good boy, smart, intelligent and full of life. I will continue my fight to ensure that the people whose negligence led to his death are punished. But I don't want others to suffer like I did. I want to make our streets safer," Dadarao Bilhore told Mumbai Mirror.
He has filled about a dozen potholes with broken paver blocks and debris collected from construction sites. 46-year-old Dadarao sells vegetables for a living and Prakash was the first person in his family to have studied in an English medium school. Inspired by Dadarao, the onlookers also try and help him every time he is filling a pothole. But even after six months of Prakash’s death, the grieving father is still awaiting justice. According to this report, the FIR states that the pothole was dug up for some construction work and no barricades or signs had been placed as a warning at the site.

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This NASA Programme Is Coming to India for the First Time and Taking Researchers to Ladakh

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On August 9, 2015, a team of scientists from NASA, Mars Society Australia and Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow, will set out for a 10 day long planetary analogue field expedition to Ladakh.

This is the first time that a planetary science field expedition is being carried out in India, in coordination with NASA's Spaceward Bound program.

ladakh
Picture for representation only. Source: Flickr
The Spaceward Bound Program is an educational program developed at NASA Ames Research Center. According to their website, the mission behind the program is to bring together researchers, educators and students to visit remote and extreme environments in different parts of the world, conduct astrogeological and biological experiments, and make observations that can be used for comparison with human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Prior to this, the expeditions were conducted in Mojave Desert, North Dakota, Idaho, Western Australia, Namibian Desert, UAE, Antarctica, high Arctic regions, and New Zealand. Ladakh was chosen because it offers cold temperatures, high altitude, less human habitation, dry ecosystem, and high altitude clear night skies for astronomy and astrophotography. Ladakh can tell a lot about the origin and evolution of Earth's topological features. The high passes, permafrost regions, glaciers, hot springs, shallow and palaeo lakes will help scientists perform several experiments. The sampling sites include Khardung La, Paleolake deposits at Khalsar, Panamik Hot Water Springs, Hunder Dunes, Tsoltak Lake and more The Spaceward Bound India science team is divided into four main groups. Each team is headed by an Indian researcher and supported by a Spaceward Bound astrobiologist along with research assistants from his/her lab. Out of the 31 participants this year, 14 people are Indians.
“The two main objectives of the project include scientific research and education. Students participating in the project will be trained by the researchers, and they will also interact with the local students in Ladakh,” says Siddharth Pandey, the project coordinator of Spaceward Bound India.
There are several ways in which students can remotely participate in the 2016 edition. More information will soon be available on their website here.

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A Hairdresser in Gujarat Is Fighting Addiction Through Haircuts

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Pravin Master, a resident of Gandhinagar, lost three friends to diseases caused by alcohol addiction. He wanted to help them but couldn’t do much because of his weak financial condition. This loss motivated Pravin to take a unique step to persuade other people to give up alcohol and tobacco. A hairdresser by profession, he now offers free haircuts to addicted customers who promise they will quit smoking and drinking. Though Gujarat is a dry state, availability of illicit liquor claims many lives in the region.

Pravin came up with the idea two years ago. He also promises that if people don't feel better three months after quitting alcohol or tobacco, he will pay for their addictions all his life.

hairdresser
Picture for representation only. Source: Sara Kolster/Flickr
According to this 35-year-old, he has helped at least 15 people fight addiction. These people call him their doctor and his salon their rehab centre.
"When a customer comes to me and gives his commitment that he will leave tobacco, I ask him to try to give it up for three months. I promise him that if he does not feel his life has improved, I will bear the expenses of his addiction for life. So far, no such case has ever come to me. Anyone who quits addiction says his life has improved as his health and financial condition had got better. This inspires people to ask other addicts to take my help," he told The Times of India.
Some of his customers who have quit alcohol include Prakash Parmar, a 34-year-old private sector employee, and Rambhai Kanojiya, a 57-year-old grocery shop owner. Both feel their lives have improved now, all thanks to Pravin who convinced them like a doctor would.
Features image credit: The Times of India

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VIDEO: They Raped His Daughter and Broke His Limbs, but They Could Not Shatter His Spirit

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Bant Singh is a Dalit singer and social activist who lives in Jhabhar village of Mansa district in Punjab. In 2000, some men belonging to upper-caste families raped his eldest daughter -- then a minor studying in Class 9. The culprits tried to bribe the family, asking them not to take the case to court. They even threatened Bant Singh, but he ignored them and pursued the path of justice. Finally, in 2004, three culprits were convicted. This was the first time a Dalit was able to achieve justice in a case against upper-caste violence.

But on the evening of January 7, 2006, he was assaulted by seven men who beat him and broke both his arms and legs. He was barely alive when the villagers found him. While he survived, both his lower arms and a leg had to be amputated.

bant singh But nothing could hamper this brave man's spirit to fight against injustice. Even today, he continues to demand justice for the way Dalits are treated – and for that, he uses music. Bant Singh has been singing since he was a 10-year-old boy. Today, his songs of revolution and change have reached far and wide, inspiring many in different parts of India. Bant Singh has emerged as an agricultural labour activist who fights against the wrong-doings of landowners, and spreads his message through his songs.

Recently, in the first episode of 'Chords of Change', a new online series by Ditto TV, Bant Singh spoke about his amazing journey.

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In Pictures: The Colourful and Magnificent Truck Art of India

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‘Horn Please, Blow Horn, India is Great, Use Dipper at Night, Wait for Side...’ – these are some of the many messages we find painted on the rear end of Indian trucks. But if you pay attention to more than just the rear, you will be delighted to see the brilliant art on those magnificent trucks – the slogans, precautionary traffic messages, colourful paintings, attractive calligraphy, beautiful sceneries, pictures of gods, goddesses and Bollywood stars, names of children and family members. Truck exteriors say a lot about their drivers who spend several months on the road, and the vehicle is more like home that they want to decorate. From religious beliefs to humorous punchlines, trucks are turned into magnificent canvases and artists use them to the fullest. Have a look at some from around the country:

1. Seen in Delhi

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2. In Pondicherry - the text speaks of "advantages in education"

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3. That ubiquitous instruction to blow horn

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4. Why leave any place vacant on this huge canvas!

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5. Even the important details are painted

truck5 t5

6. Seen in Raikhad, Gujarat

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7. Such attractive colours!

truck10 [caption id="attachment_44397" align="aligncenter" width="879"]Gujarati text roughly reads "Be Happy" Gujarati text roughly reads "Be Happy"[/caption] t4

8. And designs:

truck20 truck15

9. The best place to advertise business

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10. Ankita and Akshay in this one are the driver's children

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11. Meet the artists - From Wadi Bunder region in Mumbai

[caption id="attachment_44407" align="aligncenter" width="1020"]He has been decorating trucks since he was 15 He has been decorating trucks since he was 15[/caption] truck22 truck21

12. And finally the ornaments - the icing on the cake

t1 t2 The culture of hand-painted trucks is slowly taking a backseat, and ready-made stickers are replacing the art. But whatever be the source of those colours, the end result is always extraordinary.
All Pictures: Meena Kadri/Flickr

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A Helicopter Made of Metal Sheets, Car Seats & SUV Engines – Designed by a School Dropout in Assam

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Chandra Siwakoti Sharma, a resident of Shyamjuli village in Assam, has built a ‘jugaad’ helicopter and named it Pawan Putra. An automobile mechanic by profession, Chandra Siwakoti decided to spend Rs. 15 lakh from his savings to design the helicopter because it is not very easy for vehicles to reach his village located in Dhemaji district, 450 km northeast of Guwahati.

Chandra Siwakoti is a school dropout who could not study after Class 3 because of his family’s weak financial condition. But he used all his savings and also sold his land to fulfil his dream of designing a helicopter.

helicopter1
Source: Twitter
According to him, the helicopter can carry two people and fly at a height of 30-50 feet above the ground. Made out of metal sheets, car seats and two SUV engines, Pawan Putra is Chandra’s idea of providing an innovative fix for a faster mode of transport in his village.
“My helicopter can fly, though not as fast as the ones in operation for civil or military duty. It can easily move at 50 kmph,” he told The Hindustan Times.
He is awaiting clearance from the concerned authorities to find out if his aircraft really works. Victor Carpenter, the district’s Deputy Commissioner, said that he wants to encourage Chandra who made a helicopter without a degree in aviation, but he also has to follow the rules. He will write to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and others who deal with such cases, to facilitate a trial for the helicopter. The locals have also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Chandra’s innovation. Even the local officials and officers from an army camp nearby have promised the innovator that they will come to see the trial. According to the report, Chandra tried to run the engine once, but stopped it to avoid breaking any rules.

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