22 children to get bravery awards

15-year-old Ramdinthara from Mizoram, who sacrificed his life while trying to save his friend from drowning, is the only child to get the National Bravery Award posthumously this year.

Twenty-one others, including four girls, will receive their awards from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of 63rd Republic Day.

The youngest among them is seven-year-old Koroungamba Kuman from Manipur, who showed outstanding bravery and saved his younger sister from devastating fire which broke out in his house.

The names of 22 bravehearts were announced by Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) in New Delhi on Friday. The award is given every year to children who show exemplary courage in difficult situations.

This year, 17-year-old Tarang Atulbhai Mistry from Gujarat has been chosen for the coveted 'Bharat Award' for saving the lives of four people who were drowning in the 20-25 feet deep waters of Narmada river after being swept away in the current while taking bath on the occasion of Dhuelti.

The prestigious 'Geeta Chopra' award has been conferred on a 17-year-old girl who was instrumental in exposing the physical and sexual abuse of the inmates of a children's home in Delhiby the owner and staff.

Unable to take on more abuse, she managed to escape and approached an NGO, who presented her before the Child Welfare Committee.

Her plight forced the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to send a team which learnt of the physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children, selling of babies, forced labour and other inhumane acts inflicted upon the hapless destitute children.

11-year-old Gajendra Ram from Chhattisgarh is being felicitated with 'Sanjay Chopra' award, for saving a child from drowning in a 22-feet deep well.

Vijay Kumar Saini (17) of Uttar Pradesh, Akanksha Gaute (16.5) of Chhattisgarh and Hali Raghunath Baraf (16.5) ofMaharashtra have been given the 'Bapu Gaidhani' Award.

Saini saved three persons from drowning in the Ganges. Gaute, a black belt holder in Karate with nine years of martial arts training, valiantly fought three of the four miscreants who attacked her and her father when they were returning home, while Baraf saved her sister from the jaws of a tiger by attacking it with an iron rod when they had gone in jungle to collect firewood.

Sapna Kumari Meena (14) from Rajasthan is being felicitated for protesting against her father, who was forcing her to get married like her minor sisters.

She wrote to District Magistrate and appealed him to stop her wedding. Taking prompt action, the District Magistrate directed the Sub Divisional Magistrate to stop her family members and prevent her marriage.

The other awardees include Devansh Tiwari and Mukesh Nishad (Chhattisgarh), Lalrinhlua (Mizoram), E Suganthan (Tamil Nadu), Ramith K, Mebin Cyriac and Vishnu M V (Kerala), Koroungamba Kuman (Manipur), Samip Anil Pandit (Maharashtra), Vishwendra Lohkna, Satendra Lohkna and Pawan Kumar Kanaujiya (Uttar Pradesh), Stripleaseman Mylliem (Meghalaya) and Suhai K M (Karnataka).

Kasturi Mohapatra, Secretary General of ICCW while introducing the children to media, said they were selected by a high powered committee comprising representatives of various Ministries and Departments, non-governmental organisations as well as members of ICCW.

SSPI to honour Prof. U R Rao by inducting him as a Member to the Satellite Hall of Fame

The Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) would honour, the Former Chairman of ISRO and Secretary Department of Space, Professor U R Rao by inducting him as the member of the prestigious Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington. 

His induction to the Satellite Hall of Fame is scheduled for 19 March 2013 in a gala function that is to be organised at Washington, D.C. USA. After being inducted into the hall of fame, Prof. Rao would be joining the list of illustrious space scientists like Dr. James A. Van Allen, Dr. William Pritchard, Dr. Harold Rosen, Dr. Joseph V. Charyk, Arthur C Clarke, Santiago Astrain and others. 

58th Idea Filmfare Awards

58th Idea Filmfare Awards were given away on 20 January 2013 at YRF Studio, Andheri, marking 100 years of the Indian Cinema. At the 58th Idea Filmfare Awards, Barfi!, the much-acclaimed film grabbed seven Black Lady awards while, Kahaani bagged five awards. The award for the Best Actor was given to Ranbir Kapoor for his deaf-mute performance in Barfi.

Vidya Balan, on the other hand was adjudged as the Best Actress for Kahaani. Barfi! was awarded with the Best Film award, while Kahaani’s director Sujoy Ghosh won the Black Lady for the Best Director. Thelifetime achievement award was given away to Yash Chopraposthumously. Yash Chopra’s wife Pamela collected this award on his behalf. 

Rest of the awards was as follows:

•Critics’ Award for Best Actor: Irrfan Khan for Paan Singh Tomar
•Critics’ Award for Best Film: Gangs of Wasseypur 
•Critics’ Award for Best Actor (Female): Richa Chadda for Gangs of Wasseypur
•Best Lyricist: Gulzar for Challa (Jab Tak Hai Jaan)
•Best Music Director: Pritam for Barfi!
•Best Background Score: Pritam for Barfi! 
•Best Production Design: Rajat Podar for Barfi! 
•Best Playback (Female): Shalmali Kholgade for the song ‘Pareshaan’
•Best Playback (Male): Ayushmann Khurrana for the song ‘Pani da Rang’
•Lifetime Achievement Award -Yash Chopra
•Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female): Anushka Sharma (Jab Tak Hai Jaan) 
•Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male): Annu Kapoor (Vicky Donor)

BJP okays nine candidates for Meghalaya elections

Shillong: BJP on Saturday approved the list of nine candidates out of 30 names sent for central leadership's approval for the February 23 elections in Meghalaya, officials said in Shillong.

"Chaired by Nitin Gadkari, the Central Election Committee of the party which met today in the national capital approved the names of nine candidates," state BJP Secretary D Chakraborty said.

"BJP is fielding candidates for city constituencies of East Shillong, West Shillong, Nongthymmai and Pynthorumkhrah segments," Mr Chakraborty said.

According to the party officials, BJP has approved Andy Lyngwa as its candidate to contest against Water Resources Minister A L Hek, who joined the Congress even as he was elected on party tickets in the 2008 poll.

In keeping with the reservation for women, the party has also allotted ticket to a female candidate, Veecare Nicia Lamare, who is contesting from Nartiang constituency in Jaintia Hills district.

Romeo Phira Rani is contesting against two cabinet ministers- Deputy CM B M Lanong (UDP) and Urban Affairs Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh whose constituencies were delimitated.

Augustine Lakiang would be the party candidate from Shillong South constituency and he would have to compete with Deputy Speaker Sanbor Shullai (NCP) and journalist-turned politician Manas Choudhury (Congress).

The party has also approved the names of Ehkupar Nongrum (Nongthymmai), Fairly Bert Kharrngi (Nongkrem), Philip Sangma (Rajabala), Bhupendra B Hajong (Salmanpara) and Sisir Marak from Dalu.

Among those who attended the party meet today were L K Advani, Chairman, BJP Parliamentary Party, Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha), Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha) and all the members of the Central Election Committee of the BJP.

Melt ponds cause the Artic sea ice to melt more rapidly

Alfred Wegener Institute: The Arctic sea ice has not only declined over the past decade but has also become distinctly thinner and younger. Researchers are now observing mainly thin, first-year ice floes which are extensively covered with melt ponds in the summer months where once metre-thick, multi-year ice used to float. Sea ice physicists at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), have now measured the light transmission through the Arctic sea ice for the first time on a large scale, enabling them to quantify consequences of this change. They come to the conclusion that in places where melt water collects on the ice, far more sunlight and therefore energy is able to penetrate the ice than is the case for white ice without ponds. The consequence is that the ice is absorbing more solar heat, is melting faster, and more light is available for the ecosystems in and below the ice. The researchers have now published these new findings in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Melt ponds count among the favourite motifs for ice and landscape photographers in the Arctic. They are captured glistening in a seductive Caribbean sea blue or dark as a stormy sea on the ice floe. “Their colour depends entirely on how thick the remaining ice below the melt pond is and the extent to which the dark ocean beneath can be seen through this ice. Melt ponds on thicker ice tend to be turquoise and those on thin ice dark blue to black”, explains Dr. Marcel Nicolaus, sea ice physicist and melt pond expert at the Alfred Wegener Institute.

In recent years he and his team have observed a strikingly large number of melt ponds during summer expeditions to the central Arctic. Virtually half of the one-year ice was covered with melt ponds. Scientists attribute this observation to climate change. “The ice cover of the Arctic Ocean has been undergoing fundamental change for some years. Thick, multi-year ice is virtually nowhere to be found any more. Instead, more than 50 per cent of the ice cover now consists of thin one-year ice on which the melt water is particularly widespread. The decisive aspect here is the smoother surface of this young ice, permitting the melt water to spread over large areas and form a network of many individual melt ponds”, explains Marcel Nicolaus. By contrast, the older ice has a rougher surface which has been formed over the years by the constant motion of the floe and innumerable collisions. Far fewer and smaller ponds formed on this uneven surface which were, however, considerably deeper than the flat ponds on the younger ice.

...To find out the extent to which Arctic sea ice permits the penetration of the sun’s rays and how large the influence of the melt ponds is on this permeability, the AWI sea ice physicists equipped a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV “Alfred”) with radiation sensors and cameras. In the summer of 2011 during an Arctic expedition of the research ice breaker POLARSTERN, they sent this robot to several stations directly under the ice. During its underwater deployments, the device recorded how much solar energy penetrated the ice at a total of 6000 individual points all with different ice properties!...

Melt pond on Arctic sea ice, Photo: Stefan Hendricks, Alfred Wegener Institute

Climate change to profoundly affect the Midwest, new report says

University of Michigan News Service: Climate change will lead to more frequent and more intense Midwest heat waves while degrading air and water quality and threatening public health. Intense rainstorms and floods will become more common, and existing risks to the Great Lakes will be exacerbated.

Those are some of the conclusions contained in the Midwest chapter of a draft report released last week by the federal government that assesses the key impacts of climate change on every region in the country and analyzes its likely effects on human health, water, energy, transportation, agriculture, forests, ecosystems and biodiversity.

...University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia was a lead convening author of the Midwest chapter. Dan Brown of the School of Natural Resources and Environment was a lead convening author of the chapter on changes in land use and land cover. Rosina Bierbaum of SNRE and the School of Public Health was a lead convening author of the chapter on climate change adaptation. Missy Stults, a research assistant with Bierbaum and a doctoral student at the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, was a contributing author on the adaptation chapter.

... The report stresses that climate change is already affecting Americans, that many of its impacts are expected to intensify in coming decades, and that the changes are primarily driven by human activity. "Climate change impacts in the Midwest are expected to be as diverse as the landscape itself. Impacts are already being felt in the forests, in agriculture, in the Great Lakes and in our urban centers," said Scavia, director of the Graham Sustainability Institute and special counsel to the U-M president on sustainability issues.

In the Midwest, extreme rainfall events and floods have become more common over the last century, and those trends are expected to continue, causing erosion, declining water quality and negative impacts on transportation, agriculture, human health and infrastructure, according to the report....

The Boone River in Iowa, shot by Tim Kiser (Malepheasant), Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license

Study provides new insights on drought predictions in East Africa

Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution: With more than 40 million people living under exceptional drought conditions in East Africa, the ability to make accurate predictions of drought has never been more important. In the aftermath of widespread famine and a humanitarian crisis caused by the 2010-2011 drought in the Horn of Africa—possibly the worst drought in 60 years— researchers are striving to determine whether drying trends will continue.

While it is clear that El Niño can affect precipitation in this region of East Africa, very little is known about the drivers of long-term shifts in rainfall. However, new research described in the journal Nature helps explain the mechanisms at work behind historical patterns of aridity in Eastern Africa over many decades, and the findings may help improve future predictions of drought and food security in the region.

“The problem is, instrumental records of temperature and rainfall, especially in East Africa, don't go far enough in time to study climate variability over decades or more, since they are generally limited to the 20th century,” explains first author Jessica Tierney, a geologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Tierney and her colleagues at WHOI and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University used what is known as the paleoclimate record, which provides information on climate in the geologic past, to study East African climate change over a span of 700 years.

The paleoclimate record in East Africa consists of indicators of moisture balance—including pollen, water isotopes, charcoal, and evidence for run-off events – measured in lake sediment cores. Tierney and her colleagues synthesized these data, revealing a clear pattern wherein the easternmost sector of East Africa was relatively dry in medieval times (from 1300 to 1400 a.d.), wet during the “Little Ice Age” from approximately 1600 to 1800 a.d., and then drier again toward the present time.

Climate model simulations analyzed as part of the study revealed that the relationship between sea surface temperatures and atmospheric convection in the Indian Ocean changes rainfall in East Africa. Specifically, wet conditions in coastal East Africa are associated with cool sea surface temperatures in the eastern Indian Ocean and warm sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean, which cause ascending atmospheric circulation over East Africa and enhanced rainfall. The opposite situation—cold sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean and warmer in the East—causes drought. Such variations in sea-surface temperatures likely caused the historical fluctuations in rainfall seen in the paleorecord...

Climate model simulations analyzed as part of the study revealed that the relationship between sea surface temperatures and atmospheric convection in the Indian Ocean changes rainfall in East Africa. Specifically, wet conditions in coastal East Africa are associated with cool sea surface temperatures in the eastern Indian Ocean and warm sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean, which cause ascending atmospheric circulation over East Africa and enhanced rainfall. The opposite situation—cold sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean and warmer in the East—causes drought. Such variations in sea-surface temperatures likely caused the historical fluctuations in rainfall seen in the paleorecord.(Courtesy Jessica Tierney, et al, 2013)