17-18.10.21

Centre exploring new technologies to overcome geographical barrier in NE, expand telecom network: Minister

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Union minister Devusinh Chauhan on Saturday said the Centre is exploring new technologies to overcome challenges of geographical barrier in northeastern states to strengthen Telecommunication Services in the region.

Chauhan, the minister of state for communications, said the government is keen to bring all villages under the telecom Network.

There is no dearth of funds for strengthening the telecom sector. Coverage of the telecom network will be enhanced in the state and also in the northeast region,” Chauhan said.

Assam eighth in unorganised sector registration on portal

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With nearly 10-lakh strong unorganised workforce, Assam features in the top-10 list of states where the highest number of unorganised workers is registered.

More than 4 crore unorganised workers have been registered at e-Shram Portal, Indias first national Database on unorganised workers to make government facilities easily available for them.

Union minister for labour and EMPLOYMENT Bhupender Yadav said by registering themselves, the unorganised workers will be able to get the benefits of government schemes easily.

The exercise is the first of its kind to recognise a huge number of unorganised sector workers who are engaged in diverse sectors like construction, transport, Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture, apparel manufacturing, fishing, gig and platform work, street vending, agriculture and allied as well as domestic workers.

Odisha plans drone cameras for jail security, set to start prisoner calling system

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The Odisha prisons directorate is planning to procure drone cameras for aerial surveillance in sensitive jails. Besides, a prisoner calling system will be launched in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

“The proposed drone service will help us keep tabs on the sprawling premises of jails that are not covered under the CCTV cameras. The drone cameras can also detect illegal activities in jails and keep a watch on the activities of the prisoners,” DG (prisons and correctional Services) Santosh Upadhyay said.

The new system is aimed at curbing the misuse of the existing phone system where some criminals have allegedly been making unauthorized calls to their gang members and running crime syndicates from jails.

IIT-Madras team makes white light emitting crystal in lab

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A research team from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has synthesized a white Light emitting crystal in the laboratory that can be used for energy saving and long-lasting LED (light emitting diode) lights and display. The team synthesized a crystalline material called halide-perovskites, which emitted an intense white light when its structure was distorted.

This indigenously developed bright white light emitter can potentially replace the conventional highcost material and phenomenally save the energy cost per lumens.

According to the researchers, halide-perovskites have extraordinary optoelectronic (light-emitting) properties and high light-to-current conversion efficiencies. The researchers said the distorted perovskite can be used independently as a white light emitter or as a phosphor, a solid material that emits light, in combination with blue LEDs to produce white light.

The distorted material also showed high stability under ambient conditions. The emission of intense light and stability make them useful in long-lasting, energy-saving lighting applications. Besides general lighting, white LEDs can be used in liquid crystal display backlights, display mobile lighting, and medical and Communication equipment.

Energy-efficient LEDs, which replaced energy-inefficient incandescent lamps, are available in almost all colours, but white LEDS are a recent development where specialised techniques were used to produce white light. Blue LED is coated with yellow phosphor, a light emitting solid material, and blue, green and red LEDs are combined to produce white light. The use of such indirect techniques can cause a loss of efficiency forcing researchers to look for material that can directly emit white light.

Senna Hegdes film wins big at Kerala State Film awards

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Senna, who had earlier made Katheyondu Shuruvagide in Kannada, chose to make his second directorial outing in Malayalam. The film is based in Kanhangad where I grew up and now live. Talking about characters I know and have experienced came most naturally, Senna.

Thinkalazcha Nischayam is a slice-of-life comedy that showcases events that occur just before an engagement in a family. Relatives and extended family members come for the function and during the course of it, their dynamics and interpersonal relationships are revealed, making for some hilarious moments, points out Senna.

The film was previously chosen for the International Film Festival of Kerala and the latest laurel to come Sennas way are the two big Awards at the 51st Kerala State Film awards. Thinkalazcha Nischayam has won Second Best Film and Best Story.

Karnataka: Nearly 24 lakh tele-counselling sessions held since outbreak

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The Health and family welfare department conducted 23.8 lakh tele-counselling sessions including 15 lakh Covid-19 patients and eight lakh people who were in quarantine since the pandemic hit in March 2020.

Of the total sessions, seven lakh were during the peak of the second wave in May this year, when most patients worried about securing hospital beds. Besides Covid patients and those in quarantine and isolation, those counselled included Covid patients who required treatment and therapy for anxiety and depression, healthcare workers and migrant labourers.

When the pandemic hit Karnataka, the decided to proactively get in touch with those testing positive and those who were required to stay in isolation or quarantine and offer psychological support. Migrant labourers too were counselled when they were stuck during the nationwide lockdown. Multiple calls were made to patients requiring follow ups.

IIIT-Hyderabad data collection to aid Ego4D project

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International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), the only Indian institute in Facebook AIs ambitious Ego4D project, has collected data from people across 25 locations in the country. A global consortium of 13 universities and labs are participating in Facebooks Ego4D project, which collected first-person footage from around the world to train next-generation (AI) models.

The researchers said that the data set has a wide variety of scenes, people, and activities. Initially, we wanted to have a team that could travel across the country and participate in data collection. But with the pandemic, we had to find multiple local teams and ship cameras as well as data. We had to train people over Videos, said CV Jawahar of Centre for Visual Information Technology, IIITH.

Andhra Pradesh begins budget preparation from village panchayat level

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As the process of formation of all local bodies is over, the has begun the budget planning from the village panchayat level. The exercise, which has started six months ahead of the state budget, will have three stages before it is considered for inclusion in the state budget 2022-2023.

According to sources, the state government has sent Communication to the gram panchayats asking them to prepare their budget plan. The panchayats, which were formed after the Elections early this year, would consider the requirements in the villages including roads and drinking water while preparing plans.

The budgets prepared at the village panchayat, would be sent to the mandal parishad, where the budgets of all villages will be considered. The mandal parishad would then prepare its own budget, consolidating the budgets received, from the village panchayats.

The budgets prepared at the mandal level would then be sent to the zilla parishad which, under the guidance of the district collector, would consolidate and prepare a budget for the district and then send it to the state with department-wise expenditure and plans.

The state government is planning to take the budget proposals received from the districts before giving a shape to the state budget. The government plans to have an inclusive budget taking into consideration the aspirations of the people represented from the grassroots level.

Goa sees highest sex trafficking: Report

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The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report for 2020 has highlighted that sex trafficking in Goa is 1.1%, which is the highest (per capita Population) in the country.

In a bid to reduce the demand for commercial sexual activities, the Goa State Legal Service Authority (GSLSA), in collaboration with Arz (Anyay Rahit Zindagi), is organising an awareness programme at Calangute beach aimed at educating tourists and members of the hospitality .

As per the NCRB report in 2020, there were 17 cases of sex trafficking registered in Goa. There were 30 girls rescued and chargesheet was filed in 95.2% cases. Cases acquitted were only two and cases convicted were zero.

Mumbais built-up area doubled in 27 years, 81% open land lost: Study

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The citys built-up area doubled between 1991 and 2018, indicating frenzied construction activity, according to a study by some researchers. In 1991, the built-up area covered roughly 173 sq km; but by 2018, it increased to 346 sq km.

Changing land use patterns and urban heat island effect created has led to a 2 degree Celsius increase in Average temperatures during this period.

The study, done using satellite imagery, found Mumbai lost 81% of its open land (barren spaces without vegetation), 40% green cover (forests and scrublands) and approximately 30% of its water bodies (lakes, ponds and floodplains).

The study used satellite imagery (USA-NASA Landsat datasets freely available) and the authors studied 603 sq km of Mumbai region (city and suburbs) to understand landuse and land-cover changes, difference in maximum, minimum and average temperatures (for urban heat island intensity), land surface temperatures, changes in vegetation cover versus urban built-up density between 1991 and 2018. The findings were represented in the form of high resolution maps and attempted to enhance urban planning and policy decisions by mitigating the Urban Heat Island effect.