Monthly Archives: June 2018

Thomas Antony, caricaturist, honoured

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion

Caricaturist Thomas Antony, who innovatively draws striking abstract caricatures, was honoured at an event jointly organised by the Kerala Media Academy and the Kerala Lalitha Kala Akademi at Durbar Hall on Monday.

Self-taught, the media caricaturist devised his own style in which he deftly mixes visages of animals with those of the people he intends to portray.

Mr. Antony, who secured World Press Cartoon’s third prize in caricature for his unusual caricature of former president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, said his cartoons had appeared in the book brought out by WPC nine times, but this was the first time he had won an award.

“Then there are abstractions, like the yesteryear Brazilian star Ronaldo, identified by certain prominent feature of theirs,” he points to a caricature on display at Durbar Hall Art Gallery. The exhibition, ending tomorrow, also has a section on soccer greats.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – June 12th, 2018

Story of a fiery, forest goddess

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel

Dance drama exploring a famous myth of Palakkad to soon hit stage

Kalladikode Karineeli is Palakkad’s own goddess who evokes both devotion and fear in the people here. Legends surrounding her are spread across the district, though her permanent abode is deep inside the Siruvani forests in Muthikulam village.

Her myth has been subject of many tales and hearsays but probably for the first time in art history, the stories surrounding her are now turning the subject for a theatre experiment initiated by a set of artistes from Palakkad.

Scripted and directed by award-winning playwright Ravi Thycaud, the dance drama lasting for about two-and-a-half hours also contains chilling details of the life and times of Thevanasan, a celebrated sorcerer who invoked the ferocious deity.

“Going by the legends, the district had a number of black magicians who considered her as their preferred deity. However, the drama attempts to give a contemporary twist to the legend in a way freeing the myths from obscurantism and exploring the rich cultural traditions of Palakkad,’’ said Mr Thycaud.

In addition, the drama also tries to resurge Karineeliyattom, a traditional ritual dance that was performed across the district till a few decades ago to appease Karineeli and to exorcise evil spirits. Households in Palakkad would hold the ritual dance lasting for the whole night. The upcoming play hopes to bring in elements of Karineeliyattom by using the expertise of surviving exponent Kalamandalam Chandran to give background music to the dance drama.

The theatre interpretation also attempts to tell the history of Paraya community members, the traditional invokers of Karineeli. “It took a lot of research for scripting. The traditional worshippers of Karineeli continues to remain a neglected lot and their history remains unrecorded,” he said.

Drama activist K.A. Nandajan is controlling the light and sound of the dance drama. About 40 artists are appearing on the stage in the dance drama, which would be staged for the public on the occasion of Onam festival.

It was only two months ago, Mr. Thycaud and his team staged a drama on Pulikadu Ratnavelu Chettiar, the first assistant collector of Indian origin for Palakkad region, who committed suicide in protest against racial discrimination shown by his British bosses under the Madras Presidency.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Palakkad – June 12th, 2018

Fresh water fish seed farm opened at Neyyar

Agriculture, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature

Thiruvananthapuram:

The state will soon turn self-sufficient in freshwater fish seed production, said fisheries minister J Mercykutty Amma. She was speaking after inaugurating the freshwater fish seed farm and fish hatchery training centre near Neyyar dam on Friday.

“Having freshwater lakes in the state, Kerala has immense potential in freshwater fish farming,” minister opined. “The challenge is to produce quality juvenile fish. Against the demand for 12 crore juvenile fish, the state could produce only 2 crore,” the minister said.

The freshwater fish hatchery was constructed spending Rs 3.44 crore. Six concrete feeding tanks having 24.6m length and 9.6m width, a pool platform having 12m width and 7m length and an FRP tank platform which is 9m long and 8m wide are arranged at the hatchery, besides a 158 square metre hatchery office building.

A fisheries training centre of 1,008 square metres has been constructed using Rs 3.2 crore. This two-storey building can accommodate 32 persons and the training hall has the capacity to house 75 persons.

The fisheries minister said that administrative sanction for Rs 7.46 lakh has been given for the third phase of development of the Farm.

MLA C K Hareendran presided over the function which was attended by Perumkadavila block panchayat president Sujathakumar, Kallikkad

Grama panchayat vice-president Shyamlal, district panchayat member Ansajitha Russal, block panchayat member M K Kumar, grama panchayat member R Latha of and assistant director of fisheries department Sheeja attended the event.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News / Thiruvananthapuram – June 10th, 2018

The smallest sea cucumber in India

Agriculture, Green Initiatives & Environment, Nature, Records, All, World Opinion
The smallest sea cucumber Thyonina bijui

Vizhinjam Bay is home to the animal which grows to a size of just 2 cm

The Vizhinjam Bay, a busy fishing ground noted for its biodiversity-rich marine ecosystem, is home to the smallest sea cucumber in India, scientists have reported.

Biju Kumar of the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala, and his student Deepa Pillai stumbled upon the species while scouring the rocky coast during a biodiversity study in 2015.

The animal, which grows to a size of just 2 cm, is named Thyonina bijui, after Biju Kumar.

The specimen was identified as a new species by Professor Ahmed Thandar, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, while describing several species of sea cucumbers from the Indian Ocean.

The news about the discovery has been published in the international journal Zootaxa.

According to Dr. Kumar, this is the first species of sea cucumber endemic to the Kerala coast and is known only from Vizhinjam.

The animal inhabits shallow waters and has a barrel-shaped body.

It is reddish brown in colour, with plenty of tube feet all over the dorsal surface.

Sea cucumbers and starfish belong to the group of marine invertebrates called echinoderms.

Of the 179 sea cucumbers reported from India, 37 species have been recorded from the Kerala coast.

Culinary delicacy

The larger species of sea cucumbers are overharvested for export as they are considered one of the culinary delicacies in China and many western countries.

The Government of India has listed all species of sea cucumbers (holothurians) under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, imposing a blanket ban on their harvesting from Indian waters.

Occurring only in marine ecosystems, the sea cucumber plays a critical role in ecosystem functioning by recycling nutrients and carbonates.

Often referred to as the earthworms of the sea, these animals are responsible for extensive shifting and mixing of substrate and recycling of sediments into animal tissue and nitrogenous waste which can be taken up by algae and sea grass.

Dr. Kumar feels that detailed investigations of the marine biodiversity of the Kerala coast, especially from the rocky shores and bays, would lead to the discovery of several new species.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by T. Nandakumar / Thiruvananthapuram – June 07th, 2018

District wins award for green protocol

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives & Environment, Records, All

The district administration has been awarded for taking steps to reduce plastic waste. Sujith Karun, district co-ordinator of Haritha Keralam Mission, received the award from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on behalf of the district collector in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

At the function, awards were given to 21 institutions from Ernakulam district for activities aimed at reducing plastic. The office of the Panchayat Deputy Director, Thiruvairanikulam temple committee, SCMS Engineering College, NSS technical cell, Thurithikkara Urja Nirmala Harithagramam, and the Society for Teresians for Environment Protection, were among the institutions that won the award.

The festival at Thiruvairanikulam temple, Malayattoor pilgrimage, Aluva Sivarathri, Edappally church festival, and Moothakunnam festival were among those that followed the green protocol. Biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste were segregated during these festivals and plastics were sent for recycling.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – June 07th, 2018

IESA impressed by Maker Village

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

The Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) has offered to provide mentorship to entrepreneurs operating out of Kalamassery-based Maker Village while evincing interest in having a tie-up with the facility.

The organisation has also volunteered to extend help in promoting the products of companies being incubated out of the facility.

IESA proposes to set up a branch office in the State to facilitate these assistances and most probably the organisation would opt for Kochi, a release issued here quoted Anilkumar Muniswami, Chairman, Executive Council, IESA, as saying. He hinted at such a prospect after visiting Maker Village at Kinfra Park, Kalamassery, along with other committee members on Wednesday.

“The biggest value we can bring to Maker Village is to take product of the companies from incubation stage to commercialisation. We want to have a tie-up with Maker Village and see that all these start-up kind of companies will mature and their products are identified by the industry leaders, so that they get the right kind of funding for commercial purpose,” he said.

Mr. Muniswami hailed the functioning of Maker Village, which he said, is doing a tremendous job in association with the State government by offering facilities at par with the incubation labs in big ticket players like Japan, Taiwan and Sweden.

Madhav Nambiar, Chairman, Maker Village, said the visit of the Executive Committee members would help understand what IESA can do and how the Maker Village incubatees can closely work with the Bengaluru hardware ecosystem to move to the next level.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Staff Reporter / Kochi – June 06th, 2018

Engineering students develop robotic arm

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion
Students of Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, Arakunnam, with the Electromyography-controlled prosthetic arm that they developed.

It will meet the basic daily requirements of an amputee

Five engineering students of Toc H Institute of Science  and Technology at Arakunnam near here have come up with an Electromyography (EMG) controlled prosthetic arm.

The students – Mereena Baby, Aysha Zenab Kenza, Nikitha Sajan, Lakshmi Mohan, and Sharon Alex – are in the final year of their B.Tech Computer Science programme.

A release issued by the college claimed that the robotic arm would meet the basic daily requirements of an amputee, even though it lacked advanced features.

The prosthetic arm is priced at ₹2 lakh while those with advanced features cost anywhere between ₹15 lakh to ₹25 lakh, which is out of the reach of the common man, it said.

The students said that the Myo-armband interprets the electric signals produced as a result of the muscle movements and converts them into accurate hand gestures. They are then read by a micro-controller through a Bluetooth dongle.

Server motors

Based on those signals read, an appropriate number of server motors are rotated to move the prosthetic limb, they said.

The release said that the product could be made faster and easier by using advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence.

The students expressed the hope that they would get support from investors to take the product to users.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / June 03rd, 2018