Facebook is offering guidance and mentorship to Indian engineering students aspiring to become entrepreneurs. / The Hindu
As a part of the SV.CO Startup Programme, 50 students will make a six-day trip to California where they will also get an opportunity to present their ideas to the Facebook team.
SV.CO, the digital makeover of the telecom incubator Startup Village, has joined hands with Facebook to provide access to its developer teams in Menlo Park, California, as part of a six-month entrepreneurship programme for students.
Facebook is offering guidance and mentorship to Indian engineering students aspiring to become entrepreneurs. As a part of the SV.CO Startup Programme, 50 students will make a six-day trip to California where they will also get an opportunity to present their ideas to the Facebook team and get feedback on them.
Getting to meet talented pros
“The purpose of the visit to Silicon Valley is to provide students with a priceless opportunity to absorb and learn from technology companies such as Facebook. Students will get to meet talented professionals from around the world and learn all about creating successful startups,” Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman, Startup Village, was quoted as saying in a press release.
As the “Host Startup” of the programme, students will be part of the FB Start programme and in addition to providing guidance in building products, Facebook will contribute in the course content of the SV.CO’s programme framework.
“We are pleased to join hands with SV.CO and support their goal of providing a platform to students to build sustainable startups,” said Satyajeet Singh, Product Partnerships, Facebook.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – August 10th, 2016
No more the hassles of carrying multiple ATM cards, an innovator in Kerala has developed a ‘Prime Card’ that helps customers merge savings accounts of different banks in a single card. He affirms that it can replace the US-based VISA and Master card available in India and emerge an alternative to existing Indian domestic card ‘RuPay’ with high-end security features. He has applied for an Indian patent for his innovation.
The 43-year-old innovator K Ummer Thalhath, a native of Malappuram opted out of his final year graduation in science at Farook College in Kozhikode. He went on to pursue an electronics course for three years and left that on an innovation spree.
Thalhath claims that the card has high-end security features and hence none would be able to duplicate or hack it. It will help the bank account holder draw money from any ATM. If the Prime Card is lost or stolen, the one who gets hold of it may not know which bank accounts are merged in the card and it has two pin numbers which cannot be easily cracked.
He is keen to develop it further with the support of industries here, who are willing to develop a domestic high-end electronic payment facility.
VISA and Mastercard are US-based global payments technology companies, while RuPay is an Indian domestic card scheme. He believes that his idea of ‘Prime Card’ payment technology if realized in association with Indian banks or domestic card company, will help India take a lead in floating a high-end secure card. He has held initial discussion with major banks including State Bank of India (SBI), Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and Federal Bank.
The account holder can merge existing accounts or new account to the Prime Card with different personal identification numbers (pin) for different bank accounts. On high-end security feature of the card, he said Prime Card has two pin numbers, the customer should provide one pin when the card is inserted in ATM machine and another when selecting the bank for transaction. Other security modes are Matching Number System and Number looping system. Hence the security is much higher than ordinary cards, he said.
Responding to that, Federal Bank – Digital Banking assistant general manager Sunny KP told TOI that “the idea is good as it is handled by a single payment application software, yet there are practical difficulties in its implementation. It requires infrastructure, intermediary standing between banks to merge accounts and permit from Reserve Bank of India (RBI).”
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) chief manager Dheeraj Bharadwaj said over 50 crore cards are already in the market and to replace that with one card for various bank accounts would be tedious as it requires the consent of many banks. It was NCPI that launched RuPay to fulfil RBI’s desire to have a domestic and multilateral payment system in the country.
Centre for Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development (C-STED) director Ajith Prabhu assured all possible support to take it forward in terms of exploring the commercial possibilities.
While, the innovator swears by his innovation that it can end the headache of banks over issues involving current ATM transactions. However, an electronic payment company or a financial institution with RBI permit should come forward to take it up, he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Thirvananthapuram / by Laxmi Ajai Prasanna / TNN / August 08th, 2016
With over 2,00,000 members, Sanchari is an online community that encourages people to share travelogues, provide tips and find enjoyable-yet-pocket friendly touring destinations.
This weekend, the community’s Kochi faction is organising a boat tour centred around the 3,000-year-old port town of Muziris, which, prior to being destroyed in the 14th century by a flood, was India’s lifeline to over 30 countries. “This day-long tour will appeal to both history buffs and tourists. We’ve curated a list of 10 iconic places to visit (think Paravur Synagogue and Gothuruth), after consulting with popular blogger, Manoj Ravindran aka Niraksharan, who authored India’s first augmented reality travelogue (in Malayalam) titled Muzirisiloode,” explains Unni PG, one of the organisers.
Journey back
Hop on board to explore the relics of a bygone era—some still in ruins, while others are in the process of being restored by the Kerala Government. Spot the remains of the strategically significant 493-year-old Kottapuram Fort, where the Dutch, British, Portuguese and even Tipu Sultan waged war. Or walk through the ancient secular village of Kottayil Kovilakam where a Syrian church, mosque, temple and Jewish synagogue existed in close proximity. “It’s not just monuments and museums, we will also visit the home-turned-cultural centre of famed social reformer Sahodaran Ayyappan,” concludes Ravindran, who’s currently working on the English translation of his Muziris travelogue. I700 onwards. Sunday, from Paravur Synagogue, at 9 am.
Details: 9633801068.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Anoop Menon / August 05th, 2016
As an initiative to sensitise people on available treatment for bone and joint disorders, city based Aster Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) has performed a Scoliosis surgery on a 16-year-old girl.
The surgery was conducted yesterday as an observance of “Bone and Joint Day” for the girl, who had come from Aluva, to Aster MIMS with deformity in alignment of the spine giving rise to a side-to-side curvature called ‘scoliosis’, a release from MIMS said today.
As the degree of curvature was large, it was decided to treat it surgically and a team of surgeons under Dr Suresh S Pillai , Senior Consultant Orthopaedic and Spine Surgeon conducted the surgery, the release said. Considering that the disability would affect her future, if not treated, while treatment would enable the girl live a normal life, it was decided to conduct the surgery free of cost as the family could not afford it.
Dr Pillai said the purpose of observing the Day is not only to create awareness among bone and joint problems.
The surgery was succesful and the girl was expected to be discharge after five days, he said.
On a request from Indian Orthopaedic Association in 2012, the Union Health Ministry decided to observe ‘Bone and Joint Day’ on August 4 every year to focus on treatment related issues concerning bones and joints and create awareness among people on the growing problems related to bones and joints, the release added.
KV APR APR
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kozhikode / PTI / August 05th, 2016
DEAD MAN’S TALES: The Dutch Cemetery serves as a reason for the the publication of the Hortus Malabaricus. PHOTOS: THULASI KAKKAT
The Dutch Cemetery in Fort Kochi is as an important legacy of the historical vicissitudes of our colonial past
The ancient Dutch Cemetery in Fort Kochi, the oldest European cemetery in India, is a tell-tale reminder of Dutch lives lost in their quest for trade and expansion. Every tombstone has a story of a historic past, of pride, of power.
The Dutch, through the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or the VOC) stepped on the shores of this port city in the early 1660s. In 1663 they managed to capture the fort and port from the Portuguese who had been there from 1505 onwards. In 1795, the English captured the fort from the Dutch.
The Portuguese had their hospital and cemetery on the west of the Parade Ground, writes K.L. Bernard in his History of Fort Cochin. A Catholic cemetery was taboo to the Dutch and they decided to erect a separate one for them, which is located between the Lighthouse and Bank House.
A small, square plot enclosed with high walls within which are tombs – ‘flat, dome and pyramid shaped – occasionally diversified by broken pillars, urns and sarcophagi, all more of less blackened by exposure, the grass rank and wild, here and there lost sight of among bushes of a beautiful orange flowered weed that infests these parts,’ is how Charles Allen Lawson describes the cemetery in his British and Native Cochin (1861).
Nothing seems to have changed. The date 1724 is engraved on an entrance pillar, the gates seem to be locked forever, the tombs are overrun by wild growth, and the thick walls plead for a whitewash.
The 104 tombs, records say, are constructed in typical Dutch architectural style with inscriptions in ancient Dutch script.
“Sadly, this cemetery is not a monument under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It is still managed by the Church of South India (CSI), which also manages the historic St. Francis Church near by. The cemetery is one of the few surviving Dutch structures, a footprint of their presence in Fort Kochi. Once in a while, when grants are doled out some cleaning up is done. It is then left to the mercy of the elements,” says K.J. Sohan, former Mayor of Kochi and member, INTACH.
In the cemetery lay buried many Dutch governors, commanders, officials, gents and ladies who died in Cochin.
In fact, the British preserved this as a monument for the Dutch. According to T. W. Venn, who published the book St. Francis Church, Cochin, the last person who was laid to rest in this cemetery was Captain Joseph Ethelbert Winckler. His burial took place in 1913.
“The cemetery is the graveyard of war heroes and a memorial in tears for the brave hearts that came here in their sailing boats. Many are the soldiers and officers that lay buried here,” says M.A. Aboobacker, cultural activist.
When the British took over Fort Cochin, arrangements were made twice for the Dutch to leave Cochin, but they refused, preferring to stay on under British rule. “Their gravestones in the cemetery stand testimony to this. Stories have been added to history through ages; for example the Cochin Raja’s palace in Mattancherry is called ‘Dutch Palace’ when it has nothing to do with the Dutch, in terms of architecture or occupation, except that the VOC gave the Raja some fund for its renovation,” informs Dr. Anjana Singh, whose research on Fort Cochin’s Dutch connection is the premise of her book Fort Cochin in India (1750-1830): The Social Condition of a Dutch Community in an Indian Milieu.
But for Bernard this ‘chivalry yard’ was always uncared for and a safe haven for anti-socials. According to him the Dutch were ‘vandals, plunderers and destructors’ who did nothing for the cultural progress of the natives. They did not construct anything new in Fort Cochin, as most of the buildings were empty when they came as the people had left the town in fear. Their only interest was to amass wealth, which they did ruthlessly. So, Bernard writes, the sole remembrance is gate and the cemetery where the leaders lay buried. And ‘a mausoleum is unwarranted’.
“Bernard is right and wrong,” feels Sohan. “Right because all that the Dutch did was to pull down structures, churches, monasteries and converted them into warehouses. They brought down Fort Manuel and built a small fort in its place. The cemetery was inside the fort, close to the Holland Bastion, one of the eight bastions in the fort. And till recently when the boat landing place was close to the cemetery it reeked of rotten fish, it was dirty and refuge for anti-socials.”
However, Sohan considers it as an important monument that needs to be preserved. “One of the lasting contributions of the Dutch was the Hortus Malabaricus. I find a link between the need for the publication of this work and the cemetery. A large number of Dutch people lost their lives to tropical diseases and were buried in this cemetery. Looking around they found that it was only their people who fell prey to these diseases, while the natives survived. That’s what prompted the Dutch to call Itti Achuthan, a well-known Ayurveda physician who authenticated the contents of this classic work prepared with the assistance of European and native scholars.”
The few visible tombs show that the layers of plaster on the laterite stones of the tombs have withered off. The church authorities are finding it tough getting it rid of weeds and keeping the place clean.
“There should be a concerted effort to maintain this heritage. The place needs a facelift. The walls of the fort, which is now buried, needs to be dug out and re-built. After all Fort Kochi gets its name from this fort. The tombs must be plastered, a pathway, proper landscaping can all be done to turn this into a tourist attraction. The inscriptions and other information on the tombstones can reveal a lot more on the history of the Dutch in Fort Kochi,” feels Sohan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus / K. Pradeep / Kochi – August 05th, 2016
