Monthly Coverage Dossier April 2020

IIT Madras is a research focused institute

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The Economic Times Edition: Bangalore Page No: 5 Journalist: NA Headline: IIT-M Develops Algorithms

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Headline: IIT-M team develops fresh algorithm to study genes diseases

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: Business Standard Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Headline: IIT-M develops algorithms to detect diseases causing dysfunctional proteins and genes URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/iit-m-develops-algorithms- to-detect-diseases-causing-dysfunctional-proteins-and-genes-120040601029_1.html

IIT Madras researchers have developed algorithms to detect disease causing dysfunctional proteins and genes in biological networks.

Through their initiative, they hope to develop detailed maps of tissue and disease specific networks that can help in better understanding of the connections among genes and proteins, a press release said on Monday.

The faculty are working with researchers across the world to develop computational algorithms which not only detects gene groups causing diseases, but also the links between diseases and gene groups.

The team has comprehensively analysed existing module identification algorithms and developed an improved system to achieve 50 per cent improvement in identifying disease- relevant modules over existing approaches.

The research was led by professor B Ravindran, Head of Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Aritificial Intelligence, IIT Madras and faculty members Karthik Raman and Himanshu Sinha.

"All biological processes are a result of complex interactions among genes and proteins and diseases are often caused by perturbations in them", Ravindran said.

The recent work by the team at IIT Madras was part of the DREAM challenge, an open science approach involving researchers from industry, academia and non-profit organisations across the world, the release said.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The Times of India - Education Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Headline: IIT Madras researchers develop algorithms to identify genetic and protein links between similar diseases URL: https://educationtimes.com/article/newsroom/75007684/iit-madras- researchers-develop-algorithms-to-identify-genetic-and-protein-links-between- similar-diseases.html

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras has developed computational algorithms to link diseases to underlying genes. The algorithms not only detect gene groups that cause diseases but also the links between various related diseases and gene groups.

The team comprehensively analysed existing module identification algorithms and developed an improved system that achieved performance improvement in identifying disease-relevant modules over existing approaches.

The team consists of B Ravindran, head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, (RBC DSAI), IIT Madras, Karthik Raman and Himanshu Sinha, faculty members, RBC DSAI. They hope to develop detailed maps of disease-specific networks that can help in better understanding of the connections among genes, proteins and diseases, and thus contribute towards the field of disease network biology.

Elaborating on the fundamentals of this research, Ravindran said, “All biological processes are a result of complex interactions among genes, proteins and diseases are often caused by perturbations in them. Genes are seldom isolated and occur as connected groups called disease modules. The ability to identify and automatically extract these modules can help in understanding the root causes of several diseases and the functional roles of different protein/genetic modules in disease.”

Using the ‘overlapping’ community detection algorithms, the team has shown the overlaps in disease modules in related diseases. “We know from real life that diabetes, cardiovascular problems and cholesterol issues are interrelated; our algorithm simply captures the link,” added Ravindran.

The research work was conducted as part of the DREAM Challenge, an open science approach involving researchers from industry, academia and non-profit organisations across the world. The results have recently been published in Frontiers in Genetics and have been included in a compendium paper that has been published by the DREAM Challenge Consortium in the peer-review journal Nature Methods.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Anisha Kumari Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras Researchers Develop Algorithms To Detect Disease-Causing Dysfunctional Proteins, Genes URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/iit-madras-researchers-develop-algorithms- to-detect-disease-causing-dysfunctional-proteins-genes-2206982

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The New Indian Express - EDEX Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras researchers develop algorithms to detect disease-causing dysfunctional proteins, genes in biological networks URL: https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/apr/06/iit-madras-researchers-develop- algorithms-to-detect-disease-causing-dysfunctional-proteins-11134.html

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: BW Education Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras Researchers Develop Algorithms To Detect Disease-Causing Dysfunctional Proteins URL: http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/IIT-Madras-Researchers-Develop- Algorithms-To-Detect-Disease-Causing-Dysfunctional-Proteins-/06-04-2020-188366/

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: Aysha Aman Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras researchers develop algorithms to study diseases URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/iit-madras-researchers- develop-algorithms-to-study-diseases-1663903-2020-04-06

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: Outlook Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Headline: IIT-M develops algorithms to detect diseases causing dysfunctional proteins and genes URL: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/iitm-develops-algorithms-to-detect- diseases-causing-dysfunctional-proteins-and-genes/1793285

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The Week Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Headline: IIT-M develops algorithms to detect diseases causing dysfunctional proteins and genes URL: https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/business/2020/04/06/mes6-tn-diseases- iitm.html

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: Daily Hunt Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras researchers develop algorithms to study diseases URL: https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/india+today-epaper- indiatoday/iit+madras+researchers+develop+algorithms+to+study+diseases-newsid- 176443108 The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras has developed computational algorithms to link diseases to underlying genes. The algorithms not only detect gene groups that cause diseases but also the links between various related diseases and gene groups.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: Edu Advise Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT M develop Algorithms to detect Disease-causing Dysfunctional URL: http://eduadvice.in/home/NewsDetail?pid=22231

Indian Institute of Technology Madras Faculty are working with researchers across the world have developed computational algorithms to link diseases to underlying genes. Their algorithms not only detects gene groups that cause diseases but also the links between various related diseases and these gene groups.

The IIT Madras team comprehensively analysed existing module identification algorithms and developed an improved system that achieved 50% performance improvement in identifying disease-relevant modules over existing approaches.

The team hopes to develop detailed maps of tissue- and disease-specific networks in future that can help in better understanding of the connections among genes, proteins and diseases, and thus contribute towards the cutting-edge field of disease network biology.

The research was led by Prof. B. Ravindran, Head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, (RBC DSAI), IIT Madras, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha, Faculty Members, RBC DSAI, IIT Madras, and Coordinators, Initiative for Biological Systems Engineering (IBSE), IIT Madras

Their recent work was conducted as part of the DREAM Challenge, an open science approach involving researchers from industry, academia and non-profit organizations throughout the world.

The results have recently been published in Frontiers in Genetics and have been included in a compendium paper that has been published by the DREAM Challenge Consortium in the prestigious peer-review journal Nature Methods. These papers have been co-authored by the above researchers with Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy, Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Biomedical Informatics, Ohio State University, who is also a VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research) Visiting Professor at IIT Madras, and Research Student Ms. Beethika Tripathi.

Elaborating on the fundamentals of this research, Dr. Ravindran said, “All biological processes are a result of complex interactions among genes and proteins, and diseases are often caused by perturbations in them. Genes are seldom isolated and occur as connected groups called disease modules. The ability to identify and automatically extract these modules can help in understanding the root causes of several diseases and the functional roles of different protein/genetic modules in disease.”

Using the ‘overlapping’ community detection algorithms, the team has successfully shown overlaps in disease modules in related diseases. “We know from real life that diabetes, cardiovascular problems and cholesterol issues are interrelated; our algorithm captures the link,” added Dr. Ravindran on the efficacy of their system.

The international DREAM challenge, run by a community of researchers from a variety of organizations, encourages researchers from all over the world to solve fundamental biomedical problems. One of the recent DREAM challenges was the development of algorithms to extract disease modules from six different networks of proteins/genes. This challenge was taken up by 400 participants from all over the world, including the IIT Madras team.

Highlighting the performance of the Algorithm developed by IIT Madras Research, Dr. Karthik Raman, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, IIT Madras, said, “One of our algorithms ranked fifth in one of the challenge categories. Our team refined the algorithm further and now it is comparable to the one that won the first place in the challenge, and even better in terms of the ‘hit ratio’ than the winner.”

“Given that several genes participate in multiple biological functions, it is important that the algorithms consider module overlaps. This is what we have done in our algorithm”, added Dr. Sinha, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras Researchers develop Algorithms to detect Disease-causing Dysfunctional Proteins & Genes in Biological Networks URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/iit-madras-researchers-develop-algorithms-to- detect-disease-causing-dysfunctional-proteins-genes-in-biological-networks/

Their recent work was conducted as part of the DREAM Challenge, an open science approach involving researchers from industry, academia and non-profit organizations throughout the world.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: Devdiscourse Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT-M develops algorithms to detect diseases causing dysfunctional proteins and genes URL: https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/business/995290-iit-m-develops- algorithms-to-detect-diseases-causing-dysfunctional-proteins-and-genes

IIT Madras researchers have developed algorithms to detect disease causing dysfunctional proteins and genes in biological networks. Through their initiative, they hope to develop detailed maps of tissue and disease specific networks that can help in better understanding of the connections among genes and proteins, a press release said on Monday.

The faculty are working with researchers across the world to develop computational algorithms which not only detects gene groups causing diseases, but also the links between diseases and gene groups. The team has comprehensively analysed existing module identification algorithms and developed an improved system to achieve 50 per cent improvement in identifying disease- relevant modules over existing approaches.

The research was led by professor B Ravindran, Head of Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Aritificial Intelligence, IIT Madras and faculty members Karthik Raman and Himanshu Sinha. "All biological processes are a result of complex interactions among genes and proteins and diseases are often caused by perturbations in them", Ravindran said.

"Genes are seldom isolated and occur as connected groups called disease modules. The ability to identify and automatically extract these modules can help in understanding the root causes of several diseases", he added. The recent work by the team at IIT Madras was part of the DREAM challenge, an open science approach involving researchers from industry, academia and non-profit organisations across the world, the release said.

Date: 8th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Headline: Tool powering online search can help find root cause of diseases

Date: 9th April 2020 Media: Biospectrum Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras develops computational algorithms to link diseases to underlying genes URL: https://www.biospectrumindia.com/news/58/16170/iit-madras-develops- computational-algorithms-to-link-diseases-to-underlying-genes.html

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT M) Faculty are working with researchers across the world and have developed computational algorithms to link diseases to underlying genes. Their algorithms not only detect gene groups that cause diseases but also the links between various related diseases and these gene groups.

Their recent work was conducted as part of the DREAM Challenge, an open science approach involving researchers from industry, academia and non-profit organizations throughout the world.

"Given that several genes participate in multiple biological functions, it is important that the algorithms consider module overlaps. This is what we have done in our algorithm”, added Dr. Sinha, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences.

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: The Financial Express Edition: Chennai / Hyderabad / Bangalore / Kolkata Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Sachin S. Gunthe Headline: IIT-Madras research reveals rising threat of air-borne fungus attack on crops URL: https://www.financialexpress.com/market/commodities/iit-madras-research- reveals-rising-threat-of-air-borne-fungus-attack-on-crops/1928363/

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Sachin S. Gunthe Headline: IIT-M study probes fungal crop diseases

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: Roshni Professor: Dr. Sachin S. Gunthe Co-Authors: Ms. Shweta Yadav, Mr. Navin Gettu, Mr. Basudev Swain, Ms. Kiran Kumari and Mr. Narendra Ojha, Headline: IIT Madras researchers show how air-borne fungus affect crop health and ecosystem in India URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/iit-madras-researchers- how-air-borne-fungus-affect-crop-health-and-ecosystem-in-india-1666882-2020-04-14

IIT Madras researchers have analysed the occurrence of fungal crop diseases in India over the past twenty years using a large set of data and have shown interesting trends.

While there appears to be no well-defined relationship between the fungal species and the type of crop affected, the analysis shows that certain species seem to consistently affect specific types of crops.

It has also been observed that around 69 species of fungi have affected 39 types of crops repeatedly in two decades. For example, Puccinia striiformis affected the wheat crop more than twelve times in the last 20 years.

Most fungal attacks of crops happen in January Another interesting observation by IIT Madras researchers was that most fungal attacks on crops seem to occur during January.

Researchers attribute this to three factors:

Rabi crops are full grown in January, which makes them susceptible to fungal attacks Mixing of surface air with upper boundary layer air results in the increase in bioaerosol concentration Relatively higher atmospheric humidity during the winter months Fungal crop diseases also seem to increase with increasing temperatures, but this warrants further studies.

What is new about this study by IIT Madras? Microorganisms, often spread as suspended particles in the air, are called bioaerosols or aerobes.

While diseases and ecosystem damages caused by aerosol-borne bacteria and viruses are widely studied, the effect of aerosolised fungal spread on human and ecosystem health is less understood.

The researchers at IIT Madras studied the spread of fungi as aerosols and resultant crop diseases in India.

Who carried out the IIT Madras research? The research was led by Dr. Sachin S Gunthe, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, in partnership with the Central University of Jammu at Samba, and Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad.

The team's work has recently been published in a paper in peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

It was co-authored by Shweta Yadav, Navin Gettu, Basudev Swain, Kiran Kumari and Narendra Ojha, along with Dr. Sachin Gunthe. The Irish potato famine and how we shouldn't forget fungal pathogens Speaking about this research, Dr. Sachin S Gunthe, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, said, "Not all air-borne fungi cause diseases and eco- damage but fungal pathogens are just as prevalent and serious as bacteria and virus."

In fact, the threat to plant species by fungal aerobes is not a new phenomenon. In the past, it has resulted in the Irish potato famine that led to starvation, economic ruin and the downfall of English government in the 19th century.

Periodic fungal epidemics across lifeforms are being reported all over the world, with lasting impacts on health, economy and ecology.

How IIT Madras conducted the study on air-borne pathogens Stressing on the importance of understanding the origin and spread of Emerging Fungal Diseases (EFD) in India, Dr. Sachin Gunthe added, "Air-borne fungi such as Magnaporthe oryzae affect the rice paddy and Puccinia graminis affects wheat, which could have serious implications for an agrarian-based country such as India."

Towards understanding the spread of Emerging Fungal Diseases in India from the viewpoint of agriculture and crop health, Dr. Sachin Gunthe's team analysed the changes in the pattern of fungal disease alerts for crops across India, which was recorded by the ProMED monitoring program, a community-based online reporting system.

The researchers culled data from media reports, official reports, online summaries, and local observers between 1998 and 2018.

In the process, they compiled a dataset of more than 4,000 records of fungal-related alerts.

Analyses of the compiled data show disturbing trends: "Based on the date of the alerts against crop affected, species of fungi reported, concerned states, and economic implications, we see that fungi pose a serious threat to the agricultural output in the country," said Dr. Sachin Gunthe.

How climate change in future can increase the damage of fungal species on crops Dr. Sachin Gunthe believes that future increase in temperature and changes key climate variables, including extreme weather events, be responsible for changing patterns of fungal phenology, which would, in turn, result in damaging interaction between fungal species and crops.

Beyond structured agriculture, such a threat is likely to extend to sensitive and fragile ecosystems like the Himalayan region and the Western Ghats in India, that house rare and important plant species.

How this research by IIT Madras opens up pathways to find out more about bioaerosols Dr. Sachin Gunthe's assessment and implication of fungal bioaerosols on ecosystem open up a unique opportunity for researchers cutting across various fields including atmospheric science, meteorology, microbiology, and agricultural science to collaborate and devise the effective roadmap based on the knowledge about the type and diversity of the fungal bioaerosols over the Indian regions.

Such collaboration would foster public and political awareness and formulation of effective policy decisions to protect agriculture and the natural ecosystem of our country.

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Sachin S. Gunthe Headline: Study throws light on crop fungal diseases URL: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/apr/15/study-throws- light-on-crop-fungal-diseases-2130251.html

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have analysed the occurrence of fungal crop diseases in India and found that 69 species of fungi have affected 39 types of crops repeatedly in two decades, said a statement from the institution on Tuesday.

The research was led by Sachin S Gunthe, Associate Professor, IIT Madras, in partnership with the Central University of Jammu, and Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad. The work was recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research, the statement said.

Sachin Gunthe believes that future increase in temperature and changes in climate will be responsible for changing patterns of fungal phenology.

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: Yahoo.com Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Sachin S. Gunthe Headline: IIT-Madras research reveals rising threat of air-borne fungus attack on crops URL: https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/iit-madras-research-reveals-rising- 191500554.html Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have analysed the occurrence of fungal crop diseases in India and found that 69 species of fungi have affected 39 types of crops repeatedly in two decades, said a statement from the institution on Tuesday.

Sachin Gunthe believes that future increase in temperature and changes in climate will be responsible for changing patterns of fungal phenology.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Hyderabad / Delhi / Mumbai / Chennai Page No: 6 Journalist: U Tejonmayam Professor: Prof. Sachin S Gunthe Headline: ‘Fewer Covid-19 cases in hotter regions’ URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/fewer-covid-19-cases-in- hotter-regions/articleshow/75384992.cms

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Dinamalar Edition: Chennai Page No: 5 Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Sachin S Gunthe Headline: Lower COVID-19 cases in hotter regions, reveals IIT-Madras study

IIT Madras is an industry focused institute

Date: 1st April 2020 Publication: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Headline: IIT collaboration

Date: 1st April 2020 Publication: Sakshi Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT Madras Collaborates With Two Industry Partners For Research Projects URL: https://www.sakshieducation.com/CA/Story.aspx?cid=1&nid=262259

he partnership aims for research in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and magnetic nanoparticles-based products.

MagGenome Technologies is a Chennai-based nano-biotechnology start-up. It focuses on developing magnetic nanoparticles-based technologies for application in life science, chemical, pharmaceutical, and engineering industries.

Under the collaboration, IIT-Madar and MagGenome Technologies will develop magnetic nanoparticles-based products including developing advanced nucleic acid extraction kits.

It will also focus on many other applications of magnetic nanoparticles for providing solutions in the areas of diagnostics, therapeutics, and environmental remediation.

BUDDI Healthcare Technologies:

BUDDI Health is a US-based cloud-based patent-pending deep learning platform for Healthcare.

With BUDDI Healthcare Technologies, IIT-Madras will develop AI-based software products for the Healthcare industry.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 3 Journalist: Aditi R Professor: Prof. Satya Chakravarty Student: Mr. Hari Ramchandaran, Pranit Mehta, Anuj Khandalkar and Denil Chawda Alumni: Mr. Ravi Santhanam and Mr. Suyash Singh Headline: Covid-19: IIT-Madras team gives free shields to doctors, cops URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/iit-madras-team-gives-free- face-shields-to-doctors-cops/articleshow/74958425.cms

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: Apoorva Anand Professor: Prof. Satya Chakravarty Student: Mr. Hari Ramchandaran, Pranit Mehta, Anuj Khandalkar and Denil Chawda Alumni: Mr. Ravi Santhanam and Mr. Suyash Singh Headline: IIT Madras incubated startup donates 25,000 masks for doctors, other medical professionals URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/iit-madras-incubated- startup-donates-25-000-masks-for-doctors-other-medical-professionals-1662717-2020- 04-03

IIT-Madras incubated cleantech startup -- Air Ok Technologies -- has extended a helping hand to the frontline warriors in the ongoing battle against the coronavirus by donating 25,000 masks for doctors and other medical professionals at two of the biggest hospitals in the NCR -- Indraprastha Apollo Hospital at Jasola and Medanta, The Medicity in Gurugram.

Apollo Hospital received 10,000 masks while Medanta got 15,000 masks. Notably, both hospitals are among the leading healthcare centres in the country. This comes as a significant step in the wake of the shortage of essential items such as masks and sanitisers, which people have been scrambling for since the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.

In the prevailing scenario, anyone venturing out of home even to get grocery can be seen sporting a mask, which has led to a scarcity of masks even for medical professionals. The basic benefit of using a mask is that it prevents droplets, which is the primary mode of transmission of coronavirus, from getting transmitted. It also prevents one from repeatedly touching nose, mouth and faces directly with fingers.

According to an advisory issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorically mentioned that "once 80 per cent of the population wears a mask, the outbreak can be stopped immediately."

Taking cognizance of the information by the WHO, the Health Ministry also issued an illustrative manual on how the people could make masks at home. The manual further mentions that wearing masks is especially recommended for people living in densely populated areas.

Founder and CEO of Air Ok Technologies V Deekshith Vara Prasad shared his views on the noble act and said, "A doctor or nurse without a mask is like a warrior without a weapon in the battlefield. We are happy that our small initiative will aid them in the fight against COVID-19."

Managing Director of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals P Shivakumar appreciated the move of Air Ok: "We thank Air Ok for the decision to donate the masks. It would benefit us a great deal in the current situation and the pandemic has triggered a huge disparity in the demand and the supply."

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: ANI Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Air Ok empowers frontline corona warriors URL: https://www.aninews.in/news/health/air-ok-empowers-frontline-corona- warriors20200402210124/

Dr Pankaj Saini, CEO, Medanta - The Medicity, said "the whole medical fraternity is engaged in a fierce battle against coronavirus, and masks are our prime shield. At this point in time, no amount of it can be enough. We are thankful to Air Ok for the initiative. Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Business Standard Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Air Ok empowers frontline corona warriors URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/air-ok-empowers-frontline- corona-warriors-120040201568_1.html

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Deccan Chronicle Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi Headline: IIT-M launches cybersecurity course

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: Be a ‘certified cyber warrior’ with IIT Madras’ new online course URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iit-madras-launches-certified- cyber-warrior-course-6343623/

With the new course in cyber security by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, you can be a ‘certified cyber warrior’. The Digital Skills Academy at IIT Madras launched a comprehensive cybersecurity course —‘Certified Cyber Warriors (CCW) v3.0’. This course is imparted online through live classes over the weekend.

Additionally, candidates will also have to attend a practical sessions at the IIT Madras campus where they will made to practice over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp. VDO.AI

Prof V Kamakoti, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, is the advisor for this programme. He is also a member of National Security Advisory Board, Government of India. The experts in the field of network security will be teaching in these classes.

C Mohan Ram, Chief Mission Integrator and Innovator, Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST), said, “The CCW v3.0 will be covering basic functions of security set-up with tools and settings for prevention of attacks as well as fixing the breach as quickly as possible using internal resources. Registration for the course has commenced on March 16 2020 and the courses will be conducted by practicing Infosec experts blended with faculties from IIT-M as well as IIITDM- Kancheepuram.”

The institute claims that the course can train people in industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications. The course, claims the institute will be for general public as well as those in law enforcement, network administration etc.

The Digital Skills Academy at IIT Madras also has already started other courses on the other subjects including AI/ML, data science, software engineering with programming, among others, at various levels for students and other working professionals. These courses are in association with NASSCOM and in partnership with training companies incubated at IIT Madras Research Park and industry partners.

The IIT Madras Digital Skills Academy has already partnered with the government and industry to conduct education in cyber security. It is collaborating with Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST), Chennai, an industry player in the field to bring industry experts.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: Aysha Anam Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: Education in times of coronavirus: IIT Madras Digital Skills Academy launches Cybersecurity and other courses URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/education-in-times-of- coronavirus-iit-madras-digital-skills-academy-launches-cybersecurity-and-other- courses-1662537-2020-04-02

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras Digital Skills Academy has launched a comprehensive cybersecurity course for the benefit of law enforcement, network administration by network security experts in private and public sector and security professionals as well as the general public. Called 'Certified Cyber Warriors (CCW) v3.0', this is a 120-hour course in which 'live' online classes will be conducted over the weekends, IIT Madras said in a statement.

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Prof V Kamakoti of Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, who is also a Member, National Security Advisory Board, Government of India and has been playing a key role in improving national IT Security and Technology, especially on cybersecurity and prevention of cyber-crimes, is the advisor for this programme.

Launching the cybersecurity course, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, said, "The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre has classified the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) infrastructure into multiple sectors, namely, transport, power and energy, telecom, governance, banking and financial services, insurance, and strategic public enterprises. Any breach into these sectors would not only carry a heavy financial cost but also impact human lives. There is an urgent need for qualified manpower to handle information security issues in each of these sectors."

The IIT Madras Digital Skills Academy has already partnered with the government and industry to conduct education in Cyber Security. It is collaborating with Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST), Chennai, which is an expert private company bringing together experts from both academia and industry.

Publication: NDTV - Hindi Edition: Online Journalist: Babita Pant Headline: आईआईटी मद्रास ने लॉꅍ‍च किया साइबर कस啍‍योररटी िोसस, जाकनए किटेल (IIT Madras Digital Skills Academy Launches New Comprehensive Cybersecurity Course) URL: https://khabar.ndtv.com/news/career/iit-madras-launches-online- cybersecurity-course-know-details-2205101

इंडियन इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नोलॉजी (IIT) मद्रास ने साइबर डसक्योररटी के डलए एक नया कोसस लॉन्च डकया है, डजसका नाम ‘Certified Cyber Warriors (CCW) v3.0’ है.

ये कॉसस ऑनलाइन होगा, डजसकी क्लास वीकेंि में चलेगी. इसक अलावा उम्मीदवारों को आईआईटी मद्रास कℂपस में एक प्रैक्टिकल सीजन में भाग लेना होगा, जहां वे 52 से अडिक लडनिंग टूल्स और 30 घंटे के intensive boot camp की प्रैक्टिस करेंगे.

आईआईटी मद्रास के इस कायसक्रम के सलाहकार, कंप्यूटर डवज्ञान और इंजीडनयररंग डवभाग के प्रोफेसर वी कामकोटी, जोडक भारत सरकार के राष्ट्र ीय सुरक्षा सलाहकार बोिस के सदस्य भी हℂ. नेटवकस सुरक्षा के क्षेत्र में डवशेषज्ञ इन कक्षाओं में डशक्षण करेंगे.

फॉरेंडसक इंटेडलजेंस सडवसलांस एंि डसक्योररटी टेक्नोलॉजीज (FISST) के चीफ डमशन इंटीग्रेटर और इनोवेटर सी मोहन राम ने कहा, “CCW v3.0 कोसस में हमलों की रोकथाम के डलए टू ल और सेडटंग्स के साथ सुरक्षा सेट-बेडसक कायⴂ को कवर करने के साथ-साथ डफक्टसंग भी करेगा. इस कोसस के डलए पंजीकरण 16 माचस 2020 से शु셂 हो गया है है.

संस्थान ने कहा है डक कोसस उद्योग में लोगों को प्रडशडक्षत कर सकता है ताडक वे स्वयं को िेटा ब्ांच से सुरडक्षत रख सकें , संवेदनशील जानकारी के आकक्टिक भेजने और आडिकाररक संचार के डलए डनजी ईमेल का उपयोग कर सकें . ये कोसस आम जनता के लाभ के साथ-साथ कानून प्रवतसन, नेटवकस प्रशासन आडद के डलए भी होगा

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: The New Indian Express - EDEX Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras' Digital Skills Academy launches new cybersecurity course to help secure companies, professionals from data breaches URL: https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/apr/02/iit-madras-digital-skills-academy- launches-new-cybersecurity-course-to-secure-oneself-against-data-breaches- 11056.html

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Careers360 Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras Digital Skills Academy launches a cybersecurity course URL: https://news.careers360.com/iit-madras-digital-skills-academy-launches- cybersecurity-course

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Shihabudeen Kunju S Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras Launches Online Cybersecurity Course URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/iit-madras-launches-online-cybersecurity- course-2204960

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Aaj Tak Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT मद्रास ने लॉन्च किया साइबर कसक्योररटी िा नया िोसस, ऑनलाइन होगी क्लास (IIT Madras Digital Skills Academy Launches New Comprehensive Cybersecurity Course) URL: https://aajtak.intoday.in/education/story/iit-madras-digital-skills-academy- launches-a-cyber-security-course-tedu-1-1177018.html

फॉरेंडसक इंटेडलजेंस सडवसलांस एंि डसक्योररटी टेक्नोलॉजीज (FISST) के चीफ डमशन इंटीग्रेटर और इनोवेटर सी मोहन राम ने कहा, “CCW v3.0 कोसस में हमलों की रोकथाम के डलए टूल और सेडटंग्स के साथ सुरक्षा सेट-बेडसक कायⴂ को कवर करने के साथ-साथ डफक्टसंग भी करेगा. इस कोसस के डलए पंजीकरण 16 माचस 2020 से शु셂 हो गया है है.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras Digital Skills Academy Launches New Comprehensive Cybersecurity Course URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/iit-madras-digital-skills-academy-launches-new- comprehensive-cybersecurity-course/

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: NDTV - Tamil Edition: Online Journalist: Musthak Professor: Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi Headline: சென்னன ஐஐ羿 நடத்鏁ம் ஆன்னைன் னெபர் செக்뿂ரிட்羿 ககோர்ஸ் !! 120 மணிகநர வ埁ப்ꯁகள் (Online cyber security course run by IIT Madras totalling 120 hours of classes) URL: https://www.ndtv.com/tamil/iit-madras-launches-online-cybersecurity-course- 2205142

நாட்羿ன் உயர் கல்ힿ நிலலயங்களில் ஒன்றான சென்லன ஐஐ羿뾿ல் ஆன்லலன் 믂லம் லெபர் செக்뿂ரிட்羿 பாடம் நடத்தப்படퟁள்ள鏁. வார இ쟁鎿 நாட்களில் நடத்தப்ப翁ம் இந்த வ埁ப்ꯁகளின் சமாத்த கால அளퟁ 120 மணி நநரமா埁ம்.

அத்鏁டன் 52 லெபர் செக்뿂ரிட்羿 ꏁ迁க்கங்கள் மற்쟁ம் ஐஐ羿 சமட்ராஸ் வளாகத்鎿ற்埁ள் 30 மணி நநர செயல்믁லறப் ப뾿ற்殿뿁ம் இந்த பாடத்鎿ட்டத்鎿ன் 埀ழ் வழங்கப்படퟁள்ள鏁.

இலணய பயன்பா翁 எண்ணிப்பார்க்க 믁羿யாத அளퟁக்埁 அ鎿கரித்鏁ள்ள鏁. 믁ன்லப ힿட ஆன்லலன் பண பரிவர்த்தலன뾿ல் மக்கள் அ鎿க ஆர்வம் காட்羿 வ쏁垿ன்றனர். அலனத்鏁ம் 羿玿ட்டல் மயமாக்கப்பட்翁 வ쏁வதால், நம鏁 அந்தரங்க ힿஷயங்கலள뿁ம், ஆவணங்கலள뿁ம் பா鏁காப்ப鏁 ெவாலாக இ쏁ந்鏁 வ쏁垿ற鏁.

அநத நநரத்鎿ல், ஏ.羿.எம். சகாள்லள, சடꮿட் கார்翁 நமாெ羿, தகவல் 鎿쏁ட்翁 நபான்ற லெபர் 埁ற்றங்கள் பல்垿ப் சப쏁垿뿁ள்ளதால், லெபர் செக்뿂ரிட்羿 வல்쯁னர்களின் நதலவ அ鎿கரித்鏁ள்ள鏁. இந்த நிலல뾿ல் இ鏁சதாடர்பான ஆன்லலன் நகார்லஸ சென்லன ஐஐ羿 ஆரம்ꮿத்鏁ள்ள鏁.

'Certified Cyber Warriors (CCW) v3.0' என்쟁 அலழக்கப்ப翁ம் இ鏁 120 மணி நநர பாடமா埁ம், இ鎿ல் வார இ쟁鎿களில் 'நநர羿' ஆன்லலன் வ埁ப்ꯁகள் நடத்தப்ப翁ம் என்쟁 ஐ.ஐ.羿 சமட்ராஸ் ஒ쏁 அ잿க்லக뾿ல் சதரிힿத்鏁ள்ள鏁.

லெபர் 埁ற்றங்கள் , தகவல் 鎿쏁ட்翁, நேக் செய்யப்ப翁வதல் நபான்ற லெபர் ꮿரெ்லனகளில் இ쏁ந்鏁 믁க்垿ய 鏁லறகள் மற்쟁ம் சதா펿ல்鏁லறக்埁 உதவ இந்த பாடம் ஆரம்ꮿக்கப்படퟁள்ள鏁.

லெபர் செக்뿂ரிட்羿 பாடம் 埁잿த்鏁, ஐ.ஐ.羿 சமட்ராஸ் இயக்埁நர் நபரா殿ரியர் பாஸ்கர் ராம믂ர்த்鎿埂쟁லக뾿ல், “வங்垿 மற்쟁ம் நி鎿 நெலவகள் , காப்ꯀ翁 மற்쟁ம் சபா鏁 நி쟁வன 鏁லறகளில் எந்தசவா쏁 므ற쯁ம் ஒ쏁 சப쏁ம் நி鎿ெ் செலலவ மட்翁மல்லாமல், மனித வாழ்க்லகலய뿁ம் பா鎿க்埁ம். இந்த ஒவ்சவா쏁 鏁லறகளி쯁ம் தகவல் பா鏁காப்ꯁ 殿க்கல்கலளக் லகயாள த埁鎿யான லெபர் செக்뿂ரிட்羿 வல்쯁னர்களின் நதலவ தற்நபா鏁 அவ殿யமாக உள்ள鏁.'' என்쟁 சதரிힿததார்.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Live Chennai Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT-Madras launches Certified Cyber Warrior course! URL: https://www.livechennai.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=52623

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Scoop Whoop Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT-Madras launches ‘certified cyber warrior’ course URL: https://scoopwhoop.in/iit-madras-launches-certified-cyber-warrior-course/

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: News Dig Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras Launches Online Cybersecurity Course URL: https://newsdig.in/news/2204960/IIT-Madras-Launches-Online-Cybersecurity- Course

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Yahoo News Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: Be a ‘certified cyber warrior’ with IIT Madras’ new online course URL: https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/iit-madras-launches-certified-cyber- 074542387.html

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: Edu Advise Edition: Online Journalist: Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. Mangala Sunder and Prof. V Kamakoti Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras Launches New Comprehensive Cybersecurity Course URL: http://eduadvice.in/home/NewsDetail?pid=21212

The highlight is that it is a hands-on course with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

This course aims to help critical sectors and the industry to secure themselves from data breaches, accidental sending of sensitive information and use of private emails for official communications.

Speaking about the importance of this course, C Mohan Ram, Chief Mission Integrator and Innovator, Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST), said, "The CCW v3.0 will be covering basic functions of security set-up with tools and settings for prevention of attacks as well as fixing the breach as quickly as possible using internal resources. Registration for the course has commenced on 16th March 2020 and the courses will be conducted by practicing Infosec experts blended with faculties from IIT-M as well as IIITDM-Kancheepuram." Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: The Times of India Edition: Kochi Page No: 3 Journalist: Aditi R Professor: Prof. Satya Chakravarty Student: Mr. Hari Ramchandaran, Pranit Mehta, Anuj Khandalkar and Denil Chawda Alumni: Mr. Ravi Santhanam and Mr. Suyash Singh Headline: Covid-19: IIT-Madras team gives free shields to doctors, cops

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: Trinity Mirror Edition: Chennai Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Satya Chakravarty Student: Mr. Hari Ramchandaran, Pranit Mehta, Anuj Khandalkar and Denil Chawda Alumni: Mr. Ravi Santhanam and Mr. Suyash Singh Headline: IIT develops face shield, distributing it for free to police, doctors

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: News 18 Hindi Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT मद्रास ने शु셂 किया साइबर कस啍‍योररटी िोसस, वीिएंि पर होंगी ऑनलाइन 啍‍लास (IIT Madras launches cyber security course, to be online class on weekend) URL: https://hindi.news18.com/news/career/iit-madras-launches-cyber-security- course-online-classes-to-be-held-on-weekend-2984413.html

देश में लॉकिाउन के दौरान इंडियन इंस्‍टीट्यूट ऑफ टे啍‍नोलॉजी (आईआईटी) मद्रास ने साइबर डस啍‍योर‍टी कोसस लॉꅍ‍च डकया है. इंस्‍टीट्यूट के डिडजटल क्टि쥍‍स एकेिमी के इस कोसस का फायदा कानून डवभाग, नेटवकस एिडमडनस्‍टरेशन, प्राइवेट और पक्ट‍‍लक से啍‍टर के नेटवकस डस啍‍योररटी ए啍‍सपटस, डस啍‍यूररटी प्रोफेशनल के साथ ही आम जनता को भी डमलेगा. 'सडटसफाइि साइबर वॉररयसस (सीसीिब्ल्यू) 3.0' नामक यह कोसस 120 घंटे का होगा, डजसके डलए वीकएंि में लाइव ऑनलाइन 啍‍लासेज कराई जाएंगी.

िोसस िा मिसद क्या है? इस कोसस का मकसद िेटा चोरी और संवेदनशील सूचनाओं को लीक होने से रोकना है. इसकी मह配‍ता के बारे में फोरेंडसक इंटेडलजेंस सडवसलांस और डस啍‍योररटी टे啍‍नोलॉजी (एफआईएसएसटी) के चीफ डमशन इंटीग्रेटर और इनोवेटर सी. मोहन राम ने कहा डक सीसीि‍‍쥍‍यू 3.0 कोसस के तहत डस啍‍योररटी सेट-अप टूल के बारे में जानकारी दी जाएगी. साथ ही डकसी भी तरह के हमले को ज쥍‍दी कैसे ठीक डकया जाए, इसके बारे में भी बताया जाएगा'.

कोसस के डलए 16 माचस से ही रडजस्‍टरेशन प्रोसेस शु셂 हो चुकी है. आईआईटी-एम और आईआईआईिीएम- कांचीपुरम की डवशेषज्ञ फै啍‍लटी इस कोसस को पढ़ाएंगी. वहीं, केंद्रीय मानव संसािन डवकास मंत्री रमेश पोखररयाल डनशंक ने इंडियन इंस्‍टीट्यूट ऑफ टे啍‍नोलॉजी के डनदेशकों के साथ बैठक कर ऑनलाइन डशक्षण के डलए सभी उ डशक्षण संस्थानों को प्रडशडक्षत करने के डलए कहा है.

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: Patrika Edition: Online Journalist: Surendra Kumar Samaria Headline: IIT मद्रास ने शु셂 किया साइबर कस啍‍योररटी िोसस, वीिएंि पर होंगी ऑनलाइन 啍‍लास (IIT Madras launches cyber security course, to be online class on weekend) URL: https://www.patrika.com/jaipur-news/iit-madras-cyber-security-course-online- live-jaipur-5964046/

Date: 5th April 2020 Publication: Dainik Bhaskar Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: आईआईटी मद्रास साइबर कसक्योररटी वीिᴂि िोसस शु셂 (IIT Madras Cyber Security Weekend Course Starts) URL: https://www.bhaskar.com/news/mp-news-iit-madras-cyber-security-weekend- course-starts-072022-6972820.html

इंडियन इंक्टस्टट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नोलॉजी (आईआईटी) मद्रास ने साइबर डसक्योररटी कोसस लॉन्च डकया है। इंक्टस्टट्यूट की डिडजटल क्टिल्स एकेिमी में शु셂 ए इस कोसस का फायदा कानून, नेटवकस एिडमडनस्टरेशन, प्राइवेट और पक्टिक सेिर के नेटवकस डसक्योररटी एसपटस, डसक्योररटी प्रोफेशनल के साथ ही आम जनता को भी डमलेगा। ‘सडटसफाइि साइबर वॉररयसस 3.0’ कोसस 120 घंटे का होगा, डजसके डलए वीकेंि में लाइव ऑनलाइन क्लासेज होंगी।

Date: 6th April 2020 Publication: The News Minutes Edition: Online Journalist: Anjana Sekhar Student: Mr. Hari Ramachandran Headline: IIT-M students and Chennai group 3D-prints face shields for COVID-19 responders URL: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/iit-m-students-and-chennai-group-3d- prints-face-shields-covid-19-responders-121917

Thousands of sanitation workers, police officials, health care workers who knock on every door in containment areas, corporation workers, nurses, doctors, lab technicians and more are working day and night to fight the spread of novel coronavirus across the world. The frontline workers are putting their lives at risk when they step out every day to do their duty in this time of a pandemic. While most use safety gear like face masks and hand gloves to protect themselves, there is always a demand for extra protective gear that can guarantee the safety of these warriors.

A small group of engineering students from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) along with a Chennai-based 3D printing company are now 3D printing face shields that can be used by those who interact with infected patients and in containment zones. The face shield comes with two principal components - an acrylic sheet and a headband to hold it in place. The sheet ensures the user is not put at risk of contracting the virus from infected patients by accidental contact with bodily fluids (blood, saliva, etc).

A quick fix

22-year-old final year engineering student from IIT-M Hari Ramachandran was talking to his father, who is the Head Of the Department at paediatric ICU at Child Trust Hospital, when he was struck with the need for such gear in a country like India and the absence of it.

“I was having a conversation with my father when I got to know that many health care workers like nurses, ward boys, ambulance drivers, etc. are not turning up for work because they do not have access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). And they have a right to do so. There is a demand for it right now,” he begins.

Hari immediately thought of 3D printing face shields that were already in use in countries like the United States of America. “I met with Professor Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at IIT Madras with whom I have worked in the past on social projects and I knew he had access to 5 3D printers,” says Hari.

With it he planned on making and supplying face shields on a low scale to those he could reach out to with help from his father. “However, Professor Chakravarthy led me to Mr Ravi Santhanam, an alumnus of IIT-M. He believed that this could be done on a bigger scale. Mr Ravi put me in touch with Avishkar Hyperloop team and also with Mr Rosu Reddy of NexGen 3D,” Hari shares.

Ravi Santhanam is a leadership coach and a business advisor. Avishkar Hyperloop is a student team from the Centre For Innovation at IIT-M and four students from this team - two from Chennai, one from Bengaluru and another from Pune - came forward to be a part of this initiative.

Speaking to TNM, Padmaja, co-founder of NexGen 3D and Rosu Reddy’s daughter explains, “The Hazmats suits do not actually help doctors because it is very restrictive. They can’t use stethoscopes. Face shields, on the other hand, protect them in addition to making it possible for them to treat patients with some comfort.”

The process of 3D printing face shields - that comes with an acrylic sheet and a headband - began about 10 days ago. “At any time five to seven employees work on it day and night in shifts to make 1000 shields a day,” Padmaja adds. The team currently prints two pieces simultaneously every 40 minutes using a single 3D printer. Over 35 3D printers are being used for the purpose right now.

Orders pour in

With help from his father, Hari reached out to doctors organically. “JIPMER in Pondicherry just took 200 pieces from us. Egmore Children’s hospital has asked for 1000 pieces which we will deliver next week. Kilpauk Medical College Hospital will take 1000 pieces. HAL has asked for 50 pieces,” says Hari.

The private hospitals that have bought face shields from them include Vijaya Hospital and Apollo Hospital. “We prove these face shields free of cost to the government hospitals and for the private hospitals we give it to them at manufacturing cost,” says Padmaja. Manufacturing cost per piece is Rs 100. The team has initiated crowdfunding to supply to government hospitals. If you would like to contribute, you can click here.

Padmaja walked up to Kotturpuram police station with some shields as samples following which they are now providing to the police department too, free of cost. Hari also adds that they are supplying 200 pieces to government hospitals in the district of Krishnagiri and 5000 to hospitals across Kancheepuram.

TNM reached out to Dr Abhishek Menon, Casualty Medical Officer at Government Royapettah General Hospital for his opinion on the face shield. “I have used it for a day and I think it is a good protective gear. What we are concerned at this point is the virus transmitting through the aerosol route. This face shield makes sure that does not happen. And it is also cheap so it makes good sense to use it,” he says.

Why 3D printing?

3D printing -- a technique that is usually used to make prototypes -- can be the immediate solution to cater to this demand for PPE explains Hari. Bigger companies like Mahindra have said that they will start producing face shields to help first responders and doctors.

“And when they do, there will be no need for us. However, it would take at least 10 days for the product to come to the shelf. Meanwhile, 3D printing is our best answer,” says Padmaja.

“We know this demand will be short-lived once a big player such as Mahindra comes to the market. However, we want people to understand that it can be made right now. We are hoping that people across the country can adopt this method elsewhere. All they need is access to a 3D printer,” adds Hari.

“Our target is to provide 10,000 to 20,000 pieces within the next 10 days. Our mission is to augment the safety of health care workers and the police force to ensure that they can keep our local community safe and to serve as a model for others to implement locally,” Hari shares.

Padmaja hopes to be able to take it to first responders, especially corporation and sanitation workers who interact with 30 new people on an average daily. “If we can cross over red tape and acknowledge the need for this safety gear, it would help a lot the frontline workers like corporation workers, sanitation workers, etc. They interact with at least 30 people on an average daily. It is a huge risk for them and they need the protection,” she points out.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The Times of India - Education Times Edition: Online Journalist: Rajlakshmi Ghosh Professor: Prof. K Ramesh, Prof. Mangala Sundar Headline: IIT Madras faculty develops e-books to raise the bar of teaching in engineering URL: https://www.educationtimes.com/article/campus-beat-college- life/75010876/IIT-Madras-faculty-develops-e-books-to-raise-the-bar-of-teaching-in- engineering

The biggest challenge an institute faces is when a faculty retires. In most cases, the teachers with an experimental background take with them the entire content and notes which vanish from the curriculum because teaching such experimental methods needs special expertise, says K Ramesh, professor in the Department of Applied Mechanics, IIT Madras, who has recently been elected as the institute’s first K Mahesh Institute Chair. What defines Ramesh’s 31 years of teaching are the innovative e-books which have set a new benchmark in engineering education. While struggling with multimedia tools and technology and with no models to fall back on, Ramesh used audio, video and animations judiciously for simplifying complex subjects. Today, his e-books which are now available as MOOCs have benefitted over 50,000 students globally. “They can be tweaked by the faculty for their classroom lectures or inspire them to develop their course content,” Ramesh says.

His own years as a faculty first at IIT Kanpur and later at IIT Madras began in the conventional chalk and board style, until the year 2000 when there was an impetus to record faculty lectures at the IITs for wider dissemination of knowledge. “It meant delivering lectures through PowerPoint presentations (PPTs) which were still at a nascent stage. One of the common complaints was that faculty members would cut and paste data from several sources and pump information into these PPTs which made comprehension of concepts difficult for the students.”

Given his knowledge of multimedia, Ramesh developed two e-Books on Engineering Fracture Mechanics and Experimental Stress Analysis. “It was professor Mangala Sundar of IIT Madras’ Chemistry department who encouraged faculty to create animation and develop web-based courses using multimedia technology,” recalls Ramesh. With MHRD providing huge funding for setting up the National Programme for Technology Enhanced Learning, Ramesh developed e-Books based on the courses he was teaching.

“What made these books easy to grasp was the comparison of theoretical knowledge with experimental inputs to help reinforce the concepts.” Both the books offer multidisciplinary approach - teachers can pick and choose topics to suit their requirements. Available on Swayam portal for wider reach, the e-books cater to students from aerospace, mechanical, metallurgy and civil engineering. These are interactive and encourages learners to ask questions and clarify their doubts, besides inviting their inputs and guiding them on the right derivations.

“The textual matter is presented point-wise and synchronised with a diagram or animation. This form of presentation helps provide a semblance of classroom teaching while viewing it on one’s PC. The mathematical derivations are developed such that the slides pause at predefined steps allowing the student to think and answer or help the teacher to make the class participate while using the e-book for teaching,” Ramesh informs.

In the future, as part of his new role as Chair professor, Ramesh hopes to come up with another e-book and video on the ‘Mechanics of Solids’ while a third e-book on ‘Engineering Mechanics’ is already underway on the Swayam portal.

What gives the academician the utmost satisfaction, is the fact that 60-70% IIT faculty have switched from the blackboard to multimedia books, a stark contrast to the only 10% who were willing to make the switch in 2000. “There has to be greater involvement from the teachers to apply such technology in their teaching and go beyond the mere presentation of power point slides,” Ramesh adds.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: Analytics India Magazine Edition: Online Journalist: Sejuti Das Professor: Prof. V Kamakoti Headline: IIT Madras to launch online 'Certified Cyber worrior' course URL: https://analyticsindiamag.com/iit-madras-to-launch-online-certified-cyber- warrior-course/

The Digital Skills Academy at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has announced the launch of a comprehensive cybersecurity course — ‘Certified Cyber Warriors (CCW) v3.0’ — in order to aid the law enforcement, network administration by network security experts in the private and public sector and the security professionals along with the general public.

The ‘Certified Cyber Warriors (CCW) v3.0’ course has been designed as a 120-hour course, which will include live online classes conducted over the weekends. The critical aspect of the course will be the hands-on experience with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus.

Prof V Kamakoti from the department of computer science and engineering of IIT Madras is going to work as the advisor for this programme, who is also a member of National Security Advisory Board, Government of India. The cybersecurity course has been designed in order to help critical sectors in various aspects, such as data breach, misuse of private information and emails. The institute claims that, through this course, enough knowledge will be shared on the maintenance of robust servers with minimal to zero scopes for data breach or hacking.

W3Schools Although the registration process for this online cybersecurity course is underway, IIT Madras has urged interested aspirants to enrol through the official website of the institute, once prepared. According to C Mohan Ram, Chief Mission Integrator and Innovator, Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies, the course will be delivered by the industry experts blended with practising Infosec experts and the faculties of IIITDM Kanchipuram and IIT Madras.

Also Read After Liv.ai, Flipkart Snaps Up Israeli Retail Analytics Startup Upstream Commerce He said, “The online cybersecurity course will be covering basic functions of security set-up with tools and settings for prevention of attacks as well as fixing the breach as quickly as possible using internal resources.”

He further stated that the registration for the course has commenced on March 16, of this year.

In a recent Facebook post, IIT Madras confirmed the news by stating — “#IITMadras Digital Skills Academy in association with the Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST) launches ‘Career Back 2 Women (CB2Women)’ initiative to skill/reskill women who aspire to return to a technical profession after a career break.”

The Digital Skills Academy at IIT Madras also has already started other courses on subjects like AI/ML, data science, software engineering with programming, at various levels for students and other working professionals. These courses are in association with NASSCOM and with training companies incubated at IIT Madras Research Park and industry partners.

The Digital Skills Academy of IIT Madras has already collaborated with the government and industry to promote education and knowledge in the field of cybersecurity.

Date: 8th April 2020 Media: The Quint Edition: Online Journalist: Smitha Tharur Professor: Prof Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy Student: Mr. Hari Ramakrishnan and Mr. Pranit Mehta Headline: COVID-19: IIT-M 3D Prints Face Shields to Counter PPE Shortage URL: https://www.thequint.com/coronavirus/students-iit-madras-3d-printing-faceshield-ppe-doctors-police-sanitation-workers

While the country is dealing with a shortage of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for doctors and frontline medical staff during the coronavirus pandemic, a few students of IIT-Madras, along with a Chennai-based 3D printing company, NexGen3D Printers, have designed and manufactured 3D face shields. These face shields made with an acrylic sheet and a headband to hold it in place can be used by health professionals, sanitation workers, police officials, corporation workers etc who are on the front lines during the COVID-19 crisis.

A Shield to Counter the PPE Shortage The team has already distributed about 1,000 shields and are planning to distribute 1,800 more in the next two days.

The cost of printing one mask is Rs 100. There are seven employees working on shift for 20 hours to keep the printers running and to assemble the product. In a day, 1,200- 1,500 shields are being produced, which they plan on increasing once they partner with more manufacturers.

Students of IIT-Madras have designed and manufactured 3-D face shields. Students of IIT-Madras have designed and manufactured 3-D face shields. (Photo: Accessed by The Quint) With the guidance of Professor Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at IIT-Madras, 22-year-old Hari Ramachandran, a final-year engineering student, got in touch with the Avishkar Hyperloop team and the NexGen 3D printers to bring this idea to fruition.

Avishkar Hyperloop is a student team from the Centre For Innovation at IIT-M and four students from this team – two from Chennai, one from Bengaluru and another from Pune – came forward to be a part of this initiative. Hari understood the need for these shields after talking to his father, who is the Head Of the Department at the paediatric ICU at Child Trust Hospital. “My father pointed out that PPE is in serious short supply,” he said.

Pranit, another IIT-M student working on the project, said:

“It is the nurses, ward boys, ambulance drivers, other health care workers apart from the doctors and nurses who are also equally important. Some of them have not been turning up at work because of the risk of contracting the virus. So we hope this will help that disparity.” fbtw Also Read : COVID-19: Aurangabad Doctors Stage Protest to Demand PPE, Masks

Face Shield: A Better Substitute for Hazmat Head Gear Explaining the challenges of working with a hazmat suit, Padmaja, co-founder of NexGen3D Printers said:

“Doctors feel this is a perfect replacement to a hazmat suit and helmet as that restricts the doctors from using stethoscopes. While treating viral patients, using a stethoscope is very vital. They felt with normal PPE, these shields will be an additional protection from accidental blood splatters and if patients cough into their faces directly.” fbtw “Also, the PPEs become very suffocating as there is no ventilation, which is the case even with policemen who use helmets as protective gear,” said Pranit.

Dr Abhishek Menon, Casualty Medical Officer at Government Royapettah General Hospital, told The News Minute that he approves of the gear. “What we are concerned at this point is the virus transmitting through the aerosol route. This face shield makes sure that does not happen. And it is also cheap so it makes good sense to use it,” he said.

Some doctors feel this is a perfect replacement to a hazmat suit and helmet as that restricts the doctors from using stethoscopes. Some doctors feel this is a perfect replacement to a hazmat suit and helmet as that restricts the doctors from using stethoscopes. (Photo: Accessed by The Quint) So far, they have received over 11,000 orders, out of which 9,300 orders will be sent out by end of this week. fbtw

They have already distributed to government hospitals in Chennai, Krishnagiri, Kancheepuram, Puducherry and Chidambaram and even police personnel. Hari explained how logistics has been a challenge but they have been spreading the message through word of mouth.

“The dean of the Krishnagiri government hospital is coming to Chennai this weekend. The MLA of Kancheepuram wanted 5,000 shields to be distributed in the district,” he said.

“We have been seeing policemen wearing riot helmets to serve the same purpose as these shields could. We are now reaching out to different stations to ask for their needs.”

Date: 8th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras launches ‘Cyber-Warrior’ course URL: https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital-india/iit- madras-launches-cyber-warrior-course/75021372

To strengthen law enforcement around the cybersecurity domain, the Digital Skills Academy at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, has announced the launch of a comprehensive cybersecurity course - ‘Certified Cyber Warriors v3.

“The course will not only benefit the law enforcement officials into the government sector but also network administration by network security experts in the private and public sector,” said a statement issued by IIT-Madras.

The ‘Certified Cyber Warriors v3.0’ course has been designed as a 120-hour course that includes live online classes conducted over the weekends. Also, the course will provide hands-on experience with practical sessions with over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp in the IIT Madras campus, the statement informed.

The institute claims that the course will help critical sectors in various aspects, such as data breach, misuse of private information and emails. Through this course, enough knowledge will be shared on the maintenance of robust servers with minimal to zero scopes for data breach or hacking.

The Digital Skills Academy at IIT, Madras has already partnered with Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST), Chennai, to conduct education in cybersecurity.

C Mohan Ram, chief mission integrator and innovator, FISST, said, “The CCW v3.0 will be covering basic functions of security set-up with tools and settings for prevention of attacks as well as fixing the breach as quickly as possible using internal resources. The courses will be conducted by practicing Infosec experts blended with faculties from IIT-M as well as IIITDM-Kancheepuram.”

Date: 26th March 2020 Publication: Careers360 Edition: Magazine Page No: 218 & 219 Journalist: Abhay Anand Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi and Prof. Umakant Dash Headline: Beyond Tech: A fresh start for humanities, social sciences at IITs URL: https://news.careers360.com/beyond-tech-fresh-start-for-humanities-social- sciences-at-iits

Date: 9th April 2020 Media: Amar Ujala Edition: Delhi Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Prof. V Kamakoti, and Prof K. Mangala Sundar Headline: IIT Madras launches New Comprehensive Cybersecurity Course URL: amarujala.com/delhi-ncr/campus/in-coronavirus-lockdown-timepass-with- online-short-term-course-in-certified-cyber-warriors

Date: 9th April 2020 Media: BW Business World Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. C Mohan Ram Headline: IIT Madras launches 'Cyber-Warrior' Course URL: http://bwsmartcities.businessworld.in/article/IIT-Madras-launches-Cyber-Warrior- Course/08-04-2020-188570/

The Digital Skills Academy at IIT, Madras has already partnered with Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST), Chennai, to conduct education in cybersecurity.

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 6 Journalist: NA Headline: Course for kids with learning difficulties

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Deccan Chronicle Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Free online courses for special children

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT-Madras offers free online courses for caregivers to teach students with special needs URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iit-madras-offers-free-online- courses-for-caregivers-to-teach-students-with-special-needs-dyslexia-nptel-6354552/

Madras Dyslexia Association and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)-IIT Madras are offering online teaching courses that provide remedial support to children with Specific Learning Difficulties. The teaching courses are available free of cost. The courses are targeted towards teachers of primary school children (Classes I-V) and professionals such as occupational therapists, counsellors and speech pathologist. It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia.

Multiple-Intelligences approach in these methods, not only makes learning more effective, but also hones innate talents of children with dyslexia. Within a classroom, these methods enhance the learning of the entire class and hence they do not have to be administered selectively. The infrastructure required (at trainee's end) for this program is minimal - a computer with speakers and an average Internet connection.

Speaking about this course, Mr. D. Chandrasekhar, President, Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA), said, "The learning process of a child with dyslexia is supported by an eco-system made of school, teachers, parents, and other supportive therapists like counsellors, occupational therapists and speech therapists. Each one of them needs to understand the difficulties faced by a child with dyslexia, the strengths and needs of this child. This profile should be used to nurture the child-using the strengths to cope with the needs. Through 'e-shikshanam,' MDA is working towards disseminating information on what is dyslexia and basic remedial methods that a child with dyslexia can use to cope with difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and/or mathematics."

The e-shikshanam course has been produced by NPTEL, IIT Madras for MDA and is being hosted on the institute's platform. The course is split into short segments which are delivered through videos and transcripts. Every week a new module is made available and can be completed at a convenient time and place.

Quizzes at the end of each segment allow self-evaluation. After completion of the course, trainees can earn a certificate after taking an examination, viewing case studies and analysing them, and answer questions related to them.

Highlighting the impact of this course, which was launched a year ago on April 2019, Prof Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT Madras, said, "We are glad that this technological leverage is making such a positive impact in the lives of the children with dyslexia and their caregivers. We hope to continue partnering with Madras Dyslexia Association, to help provide support to even larger number of children through newer programs."

The course is hosted on NPTEL web portal (https://onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in/), which has enabled MDA to offer the course free of cost to anybody who is interested in equipping themselves with strategies to cope with difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and mathematics.

The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level. This course consists of the following modules:

The MDA 'e-shikshanam' is enabling timely remedial help to many more children with learning difficulties. Through this, MDA is striving to achieve its mission of facilitating a Dyslexia-sensitive society. Production of a similar course for teachers teaching in Tamil is in progress. This would help to reach-out to children across Tamil Nadu.

Dyslexia is a neurological life-long condition which displays no physical manifestations. These children have average to above-average IQ with unique potentials and abilities for out-of-box thinking. Yet, they exhibit significant disparity between their actual performance and their expected class-level performance.

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Anisha Singh Professor: Prof Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: IIT Madras, MDA Offer Free Online Basic Course To Remediate Children With Dyslexia URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/iit-madras-mda-offer-free-online-basic- course-to-remediate-children-with-dyslexia-2208776

The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level. This course consists of the following modules:

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: The Times of India - Education Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: IIT Madras to offer online course e-shikshanam for dyslexic children URL: https://educationtimes.com/article/newsroom/75062383/iit-madras-to-offer- online-course-e-shikshanam-for-dyslexic-children.html

The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level. This course consists of the following modules:

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Online Journalist: Manash Pratim Gohain Professor: Prof Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Madras Dyslexia Association & NPTEL-IIT Madras offer a free online basic course to remediate children with dyslexia URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/madras-dyslexia- association-nptel-iit-madras-offer-free-online-basic-course-to-remediate-children- with-dyslexia/articleshow/75063547.cms

The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level. This course consists of the following modules:

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: BW Business World Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Madras Dyslexia Association And NPTEL-IIT Madras Offer Free Online Basic Course To Remediate Children With Dyslexia URL: http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/Madras-Dyslexia-Association-And- NPTEL-IIT-Madras-Offer-Free-Online-Basic-Course-To-Remediate-Children-With- Dyslexia/09-04-2020-188755/

The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level. This course consists of the following modules:

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Careers360 Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Free online course for dyslexic children from NPTEL-IIT Madras URL: https://news.careers360.com/free-online-course-for-dyslexic-children-from- nptel-iit-madras

The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level. This course consists of the following modules:

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Online courses for primary teachers of dyslexia students URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/online-courses-for-primary- teachers-of-dyslexia-students/story-mWzJd0LOISw3w4S5gvziBM.html

The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level. This course consists of the following modules:

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Outlook Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Online courses for primary teachers of dyslexia students URL: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/online-courses-for-primary-teachers- of-dyslexia-students/1796923

The Madras Dyslexia Association and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)-IIT Madras are offering online teaching courses that provide remedial support to children with Specific Learning Difficulties, free of cost.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) said the courses are targeted towards teachers of primary school children (Classes I-V) and professionals such as occupational therapists, counsellors and speech pathologists.

It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia.

Multiple-Intelligences approach in these methods, not only makes learning more effective, but also hones the innate talents of children with dyslexia.

Within a classroom, these methods enhance the learning of the entire class and hence they do not have to be administered selectively. The infrastructure required (at trainee''s end) for this programme is minimal - a computer with speakers and an average Internet connection, the statement said.

"The learning process of a child with dyslexia is supported by an eco-system made of school, teachers, parents, and other supportive therapists like counsellors, occupational therapists and speech therapists," said D.Chandrasekhar, President, Madras Dyslexia Association.

"Each one of them needs to understand the difficulties faced by a child with dyslexia, the strengths and needs of this child. This profile should be used to nurture the child using the strengths to cope with the needs," he said.

Through ''e-shikshanam,'' the Madras Dyslexia Association is working towards disseminating information on what is dyslexia and basic remedial methods that a child with dyslexia can use to cope with difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and/or mathematics.

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Bhaskar Live Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Online courses for primary teachers of dyslexia students URL: https://www.bhaskarlive.in/online-courses-for-primary-teachers-of-dyslexia- students/

It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia.

Multiple-Intelligences approach in these methods, not only makes learning more effective, but also hones the innate talents of children with dyslexia.

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Lokmat Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Online courses for primary teachers of dyslexia students URL: https://english.lokmat.com/national/online-courses-for-primary-teachers-of- dyslexia-students/

It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia.

Multiple-Intelligences approach in these methods, not only makes learning more effective, but also hones the innate talents of children with dyslexia.

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: Madras Dyslexia Association and NPTEL-IIT Madras offer free Online Basic Course to Remediate Children with Dyslexia URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/madras-dyslexia-association-and-nptel-iit- madras-offer-free-online-basic-course-to-remediate-children-with-dyslexia/

It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia.

Multiple-Intelligences approach in these methods, not only makes learning more effective, but also hones the innate talents of children with dyslexia.

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: The News Minutes Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. C S Shankar Ram Headline: Job offer in hand, but nowhere to go: Indian graduates fear unemployment URL: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/job-offer-hand-nowhere-go-indian- graduates-fear-unemployment-122195

Professional networking platform LinkedIn is flooded with soon-to-be graduates seeking internships and job opportunities. While this is common around the month of April, just before students and graduates finish a school year, this year, nearly all these posts have one common theme – an initial internship or job offer that has now been rescinded.

“I was initially offered a role at a leading company, which has been rescinded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. let me know if your company has suitable openings or if could connect me with a potential recruiter,” most messages roughly read.

Rescinded jobs and internships in hand, several students, including those from reputed institutes such as IITs and IIMs are now staring at an uncertain future as the global pandemic casts a dark cloud over the economy, not just in India, but globally.

An MBA graduate from IIM, who received a pre-placement offer from research and advisory firm Gartner, is now desperately looking for a job as the company withdrew all its placement offers across colleges. Some of these students were offered the job as early as August and were supposed to start work once they graduated.

“Most companies fulfil their requirements from campus placements itself. No decent company is even considering us and most have stopped hiring. Even those who are, are not hiring fresh MBA graduates. Gartner comes on the very first day of placements in one of the earliest slots and has taken students with good academic records and past experience and performance,” the student told TNM.

Gartner had recruited 12 IIM graduates, including three from IIM Ahmedabad, six from IIM Calcutta.

A student from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune too, had an offer from a large MNC rescinded and is currently in search of other opportunities.

Another aeronautical engineer from Chennai is anxious about the job he was offered on campus. Companies only offer a letter of intent before the final exams and the final job offer is subject to the student passing his exams with the required marks. With exams not taking place yet, there has been no further word from the company. The student says that he is very afraid they may not keep the offer because of COVID-19.

While professors in some placement cells of IITs and IIMs told TNM that only one company has rescinded its placement offers so far, many posts of students on LinkedIn talk of rescinded offers from ‘leading manufacturing company’ in India, an ‘industry- leading’ company in India, a UAE-based Finance Service company, among others.

Global oilfield services company Schlumberger too, rescinded its job offers. “… as I am sure you are aware, many industries, including ours, have been impacted by the unfavourable economic climate, and as a service company, we must adapt to the sudden reduction in our customer spend.

In this context, it is not always possible to provide students with valuable work experience or job opportunities. Consequently, we have taken the difficult decision to adjust our job offers in line with business activity. This means that we will have to reduce and withdraw some internship and graduate job opportunities due to the challenging condition in which we find ourselves,” the company wrote to colleges. TNM has seen a copy of the letter.

Meanwhile, placement cells of colleges are working in full steam to ensure recruiters honour their job offers.

Professor CS Shankar Ram, part of placement cell at IIT Madras and the convener of the All IIT’s Placement Committee (AIPC) has written to companies requesting them not to rescind any offer made for students graduating in 2020.

“I have requested them not to cancel any offers and stay with the current joining date and if there is any request from the student’s end to change the joining date due to the current uncertainties, I have requested them to consider those. Some companies have reached out and said that their offers still stand and that they would be willing to accommodate any requests to change the joining date,” Shankar told TNM.

Once the institute reopens, IIT-M will undertake efforts to enable students whose offers were rescinded get other opportunities.

“I am optimistic that everyone will honour job offers and release offer letters to students (some companies yet to do so). But we will have a better picture in mid-April once the lockdown is lifted as to how the institute can help. We would also work to expedite finishing the academic requirement of graduating students,” Shankar added.

Amit Karna, who chairs the placement cell at IIM Ahmedabad, is also of the opinion that recruiters will honour offers.

“April is usually when companies decide on the joining date, which is usually in May or June. Right now, we haven’t heard of too many cancellations. We will know better in May,” he says.

Amit says that the college is constantly in touch with recruiters to understand their plans. “The major ones have assured us they are going ahead with offers. The only thing they’re asking for is some time,” Amit adds.

The larger issue for the placement cell and recruiters right now, Amit says, is summer internships, since they are time-sensitive.

“They have to finish internships and come back to college and April and May is the only window they have. We are focusing on figuring that out right now,” Amit adds.

For most students pursuing their MBA, or even graduation courses, they are required to do a summer internship (usually for 8 weeks) as part of their curriculum.

A student of FLAME University in Pune says that while they haven’t yet heard of companies rescinding offers, those who didn’t yet get an internship are worried given the situation, especially because it is a requirement.

“For our course, doing an internship with a reputed company really matters, even later in our career. We have been hearing of many internship offers, but there are hardly any from large reputed companies. So, a lot of students who haven’t already secured an internship are worried,” she adds.

The bright side is that on LinkedIn too, several companies and startups are coming forward to offer internships to these students.

But students are anxious. Shankar and Amit also say that they have been receiving worried calls from students. However, colleges are going out of their way to assure students that they will support them in whatever way they can.

“Students with the Gartner offers have been told that we will do something for you once May-June comes. I have written to students to please be patient and expect a delay in communication and on the joining date. Most recruiters have not told us anything unwarranted. We have told recruiters also that it would be nice if they are directly in touch with students and assure them and they are doing that,” Amit adds.

Date: 11th April 2020 Media: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: Vaishnavi Sinha Professor: Prof Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: IIT Madras and MDA join hands to offer free online courses to children with dyslexia URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/iit-madras-and-mda- join-hands-to-offer-free-online-courses-to-children-with-dyslexia-1665550-2020-04-10

Madras Dyslexia Association and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)-IIT Madras are offering online teaching courses that provide remedial support to children with Specific Learning Difficulties, free of cost. The courses are targeted towards teachers of primary school children (Classes I-V) and professionals such as occupational therapists, counsellors and speech pathologist. It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia.

Multiple-Intelligences approach in these methods, not only makes learning more effective, but also hones innate talents of children with dyslexia. Within a classroom, these methods enhance the learning of the entire class and hence they do not have to be administered selectively. The infrastructure required (at trainee’s end) for this program is minimal - a computer with speakers and an average Internet connection.

Speaking about this course, Mr. D. Chandrasekhar, President, Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA), said, “The learning process of a child with dyslexia is supported by an eco-system made of school, teachers, parents, and other supportive therapists like counsellors, occupational therapists and speech therapists. Each one of them needs to understand the difficulties faced by a child with dyslexia, the strengths and needs of this child.” He also added that this profile should be used to nurture the child-using the strengths to cope with the needs. Through ‘e-shikshanam,’ MDA is working towards disseminating information on what is dyslexia and basic remedial methods that a child with dyslexia can use to cope with difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and/or mathematics.

Key features of this course: It has been produced by NPTEL, IIT Madras for MDA and is hosted on their platform. It is available free of cost through a user-friendly interface. It is modular and split into short segments delivered using videos and transcripts. Every week a new module is made available and can be completed at a convenient time and place. End-of-segment quiz enables self-evaluation. On completion of the course, to earn certification a trainee needs to take an examination, view case studies, analyse them and answer related questions. The trainee gains from this experiential learning of a real time situation so that they can practice applying the appropriate strategies. Highlighting the impact of this course, which was launched a year ago on April 2019, Prof Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT Madras, said, “NPTEL IIT Madras is happy to be a part of this initiative. We are glad that this technological leverage is making such a positive impact in the lives of the children with dyslexia and their caregivers. We hope to continue partnering with Madras Dyslexia Association, to help provide support to even larger number of children through newer programs.” The course is hosted on NPTEL web portal, which has enabled MDA to offer the course free of cost to anybody who is interested in equipping themselves with strategies to cope with difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and mathematics.

The NPTEL portal (https://onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in/) is the channel that is taking this course to a wide audience. The ongoing course aims to help mainstream teachers and parents who teach children at the primary school level.

A snapshot of the online classes This course consists of the following modules: Introduction to dyslexia Child development Screening Reading Writing Spelling Math Study skills Multiple Intelligence (MI) What is dyslexia? It is a neurological life-long condition which displays no physical manifestations. These children have average to above-average IQ with unique potentials and abilities for out-of-box thinking. Yet, they exhibit significant disparity between their actual performance and their expected class-level performance.

Dyslexia has been identified as one of the reasons for dropouts in schools. Such school dropouts could turn into social delinquents.

Children with dyslexia are educable. Structured multi-sensory teaching, done in the way the child learns, is the best way forward to enable these children to bridge the gap between their potential and their actual performance.

These strategies can be imparted to the children with learning difficulties in the course of their regular classroom learning process. Parental support which is aligned with this methodology provides the necessary scaffold to reinforce the learnings.

Date: 11th April 2020 Media: Bio Voice Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. B. Ravindran, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha Visiting Professor: Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy Student: Ms. Beethika Tripathi Headline: IIT Madras researchers develop algorithms to detect disease-causing dysfunctional proteins & genes URL: https://www.biovoicenews.com/iit-madras-researchers-develop-algorithms-to- detect-disease-causing-dysfunctional-proteins-genes/

Indian Institute of Technology Madras faculty is working with researchers across the world who have developed computational algorithms to link diseases to underlying genes. Their algorithms not only detects gene groups that cause diseases but also the links between various related diseases and these gene groups. The IIT Madras team comprehensively analyzed existing module identification algorithms and developed an improved system that achieved 50% performance improvement in identifying disease-relevant modules over existing approaches. The team hopes to develop detailed maps of tissue- and disease-specific networks in future that can help in better understanding of the connections among genes, proteins and diseases, and thus contribute towards the cutting-edge field of disease network biology. The research was led by Prof. B. Ravindran, Head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, (RBC DSAI), IIT Madras, Dr. Karthik Raman and Dr. Himanshu Sinha, Faculty Members, RBC DSAI, IIT Madras, and Coordinators, Initiative for Biological Systems Engineering (IBSE), IIT Madras Their recent work was conducted as part of the DREAM Challenge, an open science approach involving researchers from industry, academia and non-profit organizations throughout the world. The results have recently been published in Frontiers in Genetics and have been included in a compendium paper that has been published by the DREAM Challenge Consortium in the prestigious peer-review journal Nature Methods. These papers have been co-authored by the above researchers with Prof Srinivasan Parthasarathy, Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Biomedical Informatics, Ohio State University, who is also a VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research) Visiting Professor at IIT Madras, and Research Student Ms. Beethika Tripathi. Elaborating on the fundamentals of this research, Dr. Ravindran said, “All biological processes are a result of complex interactions among genes and proteins, and diseases are often caused by perturbations in them. Genes are seldom isolated and occur as connected groups called disease modules. The ability to identify and automatically extract these modules can help in understanding the root causes of several diseases and the functional roles of different protein/genetic modules in disease.” Using the ‘overlapping’ community detection algorithms, the team has successfully shown overlaps in disease modules in related diseases. “We know from real life that diabetes, cardiovascular problems and cholesterol issues are interrelated; our algorithm captures the link,” added Dr. Ravindran on the efficacy of their system. The international DREAM challenge, run by a community of researchers from a variety of organizations, encourages researchers from all over the world to solve fundamental biomedical problems. One of the recent DREAM challenges was the development of algorithms to extract disease modules from six different networks of proteins/genes. This challenge was taken up by 400 participants from all over the world, including the IIT Madras team. Highlighting the performance of the Algorithm developed by IIT Madras Research, Dr Karthik Raman, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, IIT Madras, said, “One of our algorithms ranked fifth in one of the challenge categories. Our team refined the algorithm further and now it is comparable to the one that won the first place in the challenge, and even better in terms of the ‘hit ratio’ than the winner.” “Given that several genes participate in multiple biological functions, it is important that the algorithms consider module overlaps. This is what we have done in our algorithm”, added Dr Sinha, Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences.

Date: 13th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: Ritika Chopra Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi Headline: As classes move online, IITs find 10% students can’t access lessons from home URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/covid19-as-classes-move-online- iits-find-10-students-cant-access-lessons-from-home-coronavirus-6349708/

As the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) gradually migrate classes online, many institutes have discovered that about 10 per cent of their students are not equipped to access such instruction from home. All schools and higher education institutions are closed in the country in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Except IIT-Kharagpur, all older IITs have sent students home.

IITs in Kanpur, Guwahati, Delhi and Mumbai had recently sought feedback from students on the quality of internet access available with them to ascertain whether everyone will be able to participate in the online learning exercise. Officials of the above institutes told The Indian Express that about 10 per cent to 15 per cent had reported issues ranging from poor connectivity to insufficient data plan for downloading video lectures.

Read | IIT, IIM class of 2020: Job offers in hand but up in the air alarm bells on campus

The Board for Student Publication at IIT-Delhi, for instance, asked students on March 24 to fill up a survey form on the quality of internet connection at their disposal and the material size that students can download every day. About 2,600 unique responses were received, and the results were shared with the administration to help them plan online lessons.

The IIT-Kanpur survey found that 9.3 per cent of its 2,789 students, who responded to the survey, cannot download any material or study online. And only 34.1 per cent of the respondents have internet connection good enough for streaming real-time lectures.

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The results weren’t unexpected for the administration as the IITs admit a significant chunk of students from families with an annual income of less than Rs 1,00,000 per year (Rs 8,333 per month). In 2018, 26 per cent of the roughly 32,000 candidates who qualified JEE (Advanced) were from this income category.

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Each of the older institutes, therefore, is trying to upload content that consumes less data, with some even stepping up to help students financially to buy better internet data plans to access resources online.

IIT-Roorkee and IIT-Bombay will reimburse Rs 500 and Rs 250 per student, respectively, towards the cost of purchasing better internet data plans. “We have about 2,500 students in our students who receive some kind of tuition fee waiver. We apportioned a budget of Rs 500 for each of these students, in case they want to buy a better plan,” said IIT-Roorkee director Ajit Chaturvedi.

Professor Shantanu Roy, IIT-Delhi’s dean of academics, said “We are not doing anything that will demand a lot of bandwidth. There will be lecture notes in the shape of PDF files. In case the course content is such that it requires lecturing, then teachers have been asked to record voice notes which can be transferred easily on WhatsApp. In case there are video lectures, then we are providing the alternative to convert it into an audio only file.”

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IIT-Madras too is not asking teachers to teach real-time on the presumption that some students may have weak internet connectivity. “It really doesn’t matter if the percentage (of students with irregular internet access) is 5 or 10 per cent. We cannot leave anyone out. Hence, we are not presuming live classes are possible. We are depending on recordings,” said IIT-Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi.

But what if there’s still one student who cannot access anything at all?

“Well, in that case, we are not trying to complete the semester through online learning. We are trying out the flipped classroom model in which online resources will only aid full-time teaching on campus when the institute reopens. When the students come back, they will have three to four weeks to access this content on campus with the institute’s internet connection,” Roy added.

Date: 14th March 2020 Media: The New Indian Express - EDEX Edition: Online Journalist: Shreesha Ghosh Professor: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson quoted: Mr. D. Chandrasekhar Headline: MDA makes online course on handling special children for teachers free on IIT-M's NPTEL platform. Details inside

URL: https://www.edexlive.com/campus/2020/apr/14/mda-makes-online-course-on- handling-special-children-for-teachers-free-on-iit-ms-nptel-platform-details-here- 11295.html

The Madras Dyslexia Association and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) at IIT Madras have made their online teaching courses that provide remedial support to children with Specific Learning Difficulties, free of cost, during this lockdown. The courses launched a year ago, are targeted towards teachers of primary school children (Classes I-V) and professionals such as occupational therapists, counsellors, speech pathologist and also parents of children with special needs.

It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia. Called e-shikshanam, the online courses use the multiple-intelligences approach, which not only makes learning more effective but also hones innate talents of children with dyslexia. Within a classroom, these methods enhance the learning of the entire class and hence they do not have to be administered selectively. The infrastructure required (at the trainee’s end) for this programme is minimal - a computer with speakers and an average Internet connection.

Speaking about the current course, D Chandrasekhar, President, Madras Dyslexia Association (MDA), said, “The learning process of a child with dyslexia is supported by an ecosystem made of school, teachers, parents, and other supportive therapists like counsellors, occupational therapists and speech therapists. Each one of them needs to understand the difficulties faced by a child with dyslexia, the strengths and needs of this child. Through e-shikshanam, MDA is working towards disseminating information on what dyslexia is and basic remedial methods that a child with dyslexia can use to cope with difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and/or mathematics.”

He explains that dyslexia affects one in six school-going children and sadly there are no great facilities available to help them. And that their nearest help is their teachers so, he adds, "We are on a mission to empower the teachers and also the parents. We have put together remedial content that also has a checklist with which you can identify the difficulty of the child. There is at least 29 hours of content on the platform that we have put up with the help of NPTEL and it's extremely useful for teacher training," adds Chandrashekhar.

Lectures by experts

The key features of this course include:

-Available through a user-friendly interface.

-It is modular and split into short segments delivered using videos and transcripts.

-Every week a new module is made available and can be completed at a convenient time and place.

-End-of-segment quiz enables self-evaluation.

-On completion of the course, to earn certification a trainee might opt for an examination

-View Case studies, analyse them and answer related questions. The trainees gain from this experiential learning of a real-time situation so that they could practice applying the appropriate strategies

Highlighting the impact of this course, Professor Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL Coordinator, IIT Madras, said, “NPTEL IIT Madras is happy to be a part of this initiative. We are glad that this technological leverage is making such a positive impact in the lives of the children with dyslexia and their caregivers. We hope to continue partnering with Madras Dyslexia Association, to help provide support to even larger number of children through newer programmes.”

The courses are hosted on NPTEL web portal, which has enabled MDA to offer it free of cost to anybody who is interested in equipping themselves with strategies to cope with difficulties in reading, spelling, writing and mathematics. These courses were first launched a year ago in April 2019 and the most recent ongoing course was launched on Monday, April 13. Already at least 400 people have registered on the platform for the ongoing course.

The current course consists of the following modules:

-Introduction to dyslexia

-Child Development

-Screening

-Reading

-Spelling

-Writing -Math

-Study Skills

-Multiple Intelligence (MI)

Production of a similar course for teachers teaching in Tamil is in progress. This would help to reach out to children across Tamil Nadu. "We could easily come up with the English and Tamil versions of the course, however, the Tamil one will be available sometime in the next few months as its content is still in the recording stage. It will cater to teachers who are comfortable in learning these in the Tamil language," concludes Chandrashekhar.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Deccan Chronicle Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj Headline: IIT-M launches free online lecture series

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Dinamani Edition: Chennai Page No: 12 Journalist: NA Headline: Online lectures begin at IIT Madras

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Dinamalar Edition: Chennai Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Headline: Career guidance, Technology: Experts give online lectures; IIT Madras- NPTEL Arrangement

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT-Madras launches special online lecture series for students affected by coronavirus lockdown URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iit-madras-launches-special- lecture-series-online-for-students-affected-by-coronavirus-lockdown-6363584/

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched a special lecture series online for students affected by the nation-wide lockdown. The lecture series is available on NPTEL-IIT Madras Youtube channel and will continue till the lockdown is lifted.

The one-hour interactive lectures deal with topics ranging from career guidance to the latest updates on technology to topics of general interest to all. During the live- streaming, a chat box is available through which viewers can ask questions in real- time. Each lecture is of around 45 minutes and is followed by 15 minutes of the question-and-answer round.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to extend the lockdown till May 3. Educational institutes are going to be shut till the lockdown is lifted. To make up for the losses, several institutes are enabling education online. However, a report states that students from economically weaker section of society are unable to match up with the digital shift due to lack of infrastructure and technical know-how.

The institute had earlier launched a course in cybersecurity called ‘certified cyber warrior’. It is offered by Digital Skills Academy at IIT Madras. It consists of over 52 learning tools and a 30-hour intensive boot camp.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: Aysha Anam Professor: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Ms. Bharathi Headline: Free lecture series for students organised by IIT Madras-NPTEL amid coronavirus lockdown URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/free-lecture-series-for- students-organised-by-iit-madras-nptel-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-1667204-2020- 04-15

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) - IIT Madras has launched a special lecture series online to engage students in career guidance, technology and general topics while they are under COVID-19 lockdown. The country is currently under a nationwide lockdown till May 3 to prevent the spread of coronavirus and the students are required to stay at home. The free lecture series started on April 13 and will continue till the lockdown ends. After that one or two lectures may continue for a week, based on the response and feedback received. “The response to the lecture series has been commendable with the first session in this series on ‘film sense’ garnering more than 11,000 views,” said Bharathi, senior project officer, NPTEL-IIT Madras. Careers, skills, life The one-hour interactive lectures will deal with topics ranging from career and job opportunities to the latest updates on technology. They will also cover general interest issues such as time management, joy of teaching, soft skills, film sense and entrepreneurship, among others. These lectures will be delivered by eminent speakers from various domains including musics, sports, banking and finance and medicine. “These talks by industry professionals provide the students first-hand insights into the aspects of the courses to be pursued, the work life balance in the career described. There is no better time than now to offer this series as it would benefit students and faculty members who have to remain in their homes for their safety,” said Andrew Thangaraj, faculty in-charge, NPTEL-IIT Madras. The sessions will be live-streamed on NPTEL-IIT Madras’ YouTube channel. During the lectures, a chat box will be available through which viewers can ask questions in real-time. The lectures will also be archived on the NPTEL website and will remain open for everyone.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express - EDEX Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Ms. Bharathi Headline: NPTEL-IIT Madras launches special lecture series online for students affected by COVID-19 lockdown URL: https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/apr/15/nptel-iit-madras-launches- special-lecture-series-online-for-students-affected-by-covid-19-lockdown-11326.html

Careers, skills, life The one-hour interactive lectures will deal with topics ranging from career and job opportunities to the latest updates on technology. They will also cover general interest issues such as time management, joy of teaching, soft skills, film sense and entrepreneurship, among others. These lectures will be delivered by eminent speakers from various domains including musics, sports, banking and finance and medicine. “These talks by industry professionals provide the students first-hand insights into the aspects of the courses to be pursued, the work life balance in the career described. There is no better time than now to offer this series as it would benefit students and faculty members who have to remain in their homes for their safety,” said Andrew Thangaraj, faculty in-charge, NPTEL-IIT Madras.

The sessions will be live-streamed on NPTEL-IIT Madras’ YouTube channel. During the lectures, a chat box will be available through which viewers can ask questions in real- time. The lectures will also be archived on the NPTEL website and will remain open for everyone.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Careers360 Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Ms. Bharathi Headline: Lockdown 2: IIT Madras starts free lectures series online URL: https://news.careers360.com/lockdown-2-iit-madras-starts-free-lectures-series- online

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Amar Ujala Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: लॉििाउन: आईआईटी-मद्रास ने कवद्याकथसयों िे कलए शु셂 किया ऑनलाइन लेक्चर सीरीज, यूट्यूब िे जररए होगी पढाई (Lockdown: IIT Madras started online lecture series for student through you tube) URL: https://www.amarujala.com/education/iit-madras-launches-special-online- lecture-series-for-students-affected-by-coronavirus-lockdown

आईआईटी मद्रास ने डवद्याडथसयों के डलए ऑनलाइन लेक्चर सीरीज शु셂 डकया है। ये लेक्चर सीरीज उन डवद्याडथसयों के डलए शु셂 डकया गया है डजनको लॉकिाउन की वजह से पढ़ाई करने में डदक्कत हो रही है। डवद्याडथसयों के डलए ये लेक्चर सीरीज एनपीटीईएल-आईआईटी मद्रास के यूट्यूब चैनल पर उपलब्ध होंगे और लॉकिाउन खत्म होने तक लगातार जारी रहेंगे। खास बात है डक इन एक घंटे के लेक्चर सीरीज में डवडभन्न डवषयों पर ऑनलाइन लेक्चर होंगे और डवद्याथी लाइव स्टरीडमंग के जररए इन लेक्चसस से जुड़ पाएंगे। चैट बॉस के जररए डवद्याथी पूछ पाएंगे सवाल अगर डकसी डवद्याथी को कोई सवाल पूछना है तो वो लेक्चर के दौरान चैट बॉस पर एसपटस से सवाल पूछ सकता है। डवद्याथी अपने सवाल ररयल टाइम में एसपटस से पूछ सकते हℂ। हर लेक्चर एक घंटे का होगा डजसमें 45 डमनट एसपटस डकसी टॉडपक पर व्याख्यान देंगे और 15 डमनट डवद्याथी अपने सवाल पूछ सकेंगे।

गौरतलब है डक इस वक्त देश में कोरोना वायरस से बचाव के डलए लॉकिाउन की अवडि को तीन मई तक बढ़ा डदया गया है। प्रिानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने 14 अप्रैल को लॉकिाउन बढ़ाए जाने की घोषणा की थी। लॉकिाउन को देखते ए कई संस्थानों और कॉलेजों ने ऑनलाइन कक्षाएं शु셂 कर दी हℂ। डवद्याडथसयों को डवडभन्न ई-प्लेटफॉमस के जररए ऑनलाइन डशक्षा दी जा रही है। खुद मानव संसािन डवकास मंत्रालय भी लॉकिाउन के दौरान ऑनलाइन डशक्षा को बढ़ावा दे रहा है।

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Ms. Bharathi Headline: NPTEL-IIT Madras launches Special Lecture Series Online for Students affected by COVID-19 lockdown URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/nptel-iit-madras-launches-special-lecture-series- online-for-students-affected-by-covid-19-lockdown/

National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)-IIT Madras has launched a Special Lecture Series online for the benefit of students affected by the nation-wide lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Lecture Series is from 13th April 2020 to when the lockdown ends, and one or two lectures will continue for a week thereafter. It is available free of cost to everyone.

The one-hour interactive lectures deal with topics ranging from career guidance to the latest updates on technology to topics of general interest to all. They are live- streamed on NPTEL-IIT Madras YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE4XxsWyoii6hx3zU_TB2mw).

A chat box will be available during the sessions through which viewers can ask questions in real-time during these lectures. Each lecture is around 45 minutes and is followed by 15 minutes of Question-and-Answer session.

Highlighting the objectives behind launching this lecture series, Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, Faculty In-Charge, NPTEL-IIT Madras, said, “These lectures provide students an exposure to listen to eminent speakers from various domains. They can go a long way in motivating students to aspire higher and learn better. NPTEL- IIT Madras was always keen to launch such a full-fledged lecture series on career options available to students. These talks by industry professionals provide the students first-hand insights into the aspects of the courses to be pursued, the work life balance in the career described. There is no better time than now to offer this series as it would benefit students and faculty members who have to remain in their homes for their safety.”

The Lecture Series are conducted on the following topics:

Ø Careers and job opportunities

Ø Technology and Research

Ø General topics of interest like time management, joy of teaching, soft skills, film sense, entrepreneurship, among others

Ø The Inside stories and Inspiring journeys of successful people Speaking about the reception to the lectures held so far, Ms. Bharathi, Senior Project Officer, NPTEL-IIT Madras, said, “The response to the lecture series has been commendable with the first session in this series on ‘Film Sense’ garnering more than 11,000 views. Viewers are asking for full-fledged course on this subject in addition to requesting for more such talks and inputs on how to get into films! We would be very happy to have IIT Madras alumni in the industry who wish to be a part of this series and speak on a topic that fit into any of the above genres. We plan to invite people from varied walks of lives such as musicians, sports people, people from banking/finance sector, medical doctors, etc to come in and share their experiences to enthuse the young blood to dream big and achieve the impossible.”

NPTEL-IIT Madras is actively reaching out to major technology companies such as IBM, Google, CapGemini, Infosys and GE Healthcare to have their heads participate in this lecture series. The lectures will also be archived on nptel.ac.in and will remain open for everyone.

NPTEL-IIT Madras is also planning to conduct up to two sessions a day (5 pm to 8 pm on weekdays and 5 pm to 9 pm on weekends). Keep checking the website nptel.ac.in for updates on lectures in the upcoming weeks. There are also plans to continue this lecture series even after the lockdown based on the response and feedback received.

The schedule of the lecture series for the next two weeks is as follows:

SL NAME DESIGNATION GENRE TOPIC FOR THE SESSION DATE TIME DAY NO

Senior Developer and How to be a good software April 6:00 1 Thejesh GN Career Wednesday Architect developer 15 PM

Prof Kushal April 6:00 2 Faculty Technology Biology and AI Thursday Kumar Shah 16 PM

April 6:00 3 Ms. Pratima Trainer Soft skills Time Management Friday 17 PM

Use of additive April 5:00 4 Prof Murugaiyan Faculty, IITM Technology manufacturing for Disaster Saturday 18 PM Management

April 5:00 5 Prof C. Balaji Faculty, IITM General The Joy of teaching Sunday 19 PM Entrepreneurship – what you Dr. Sundararajan April 6:00 6 Entrepreneurship General should know before you take Monday Krishnan (PK) 20 PM the plunge

Prof. Srinivas April 6:00 7 Faculty, IITM General Popularization of science Tuesday Chakravarthy 21 PM

Faculty, IIT April 6:00 8 Prof Vineeth Technology Towards Explainable AI Wednesday Hyderabad 22 PM

Prof Overview of 5G technology April 6:00 9 Radhakrishna Faculty, IITM Technology and 5G testbed work at IIT Thursday 23 PM Ganti Madras

Prof. Srinivas April 6:00 10 Faculty, IITM General Bharati script Friday Chakravarthy 24 PM

Controller of Defence April 5:00 11 Ms. Yogitha Career Civil service as a career Saturday Accounts,South 25 PM

Lies, damn lies and statistics: Prof Gautham April 6:30 12 Faculty,Texas Univ Technology lessons on consuming and Saturday Natarajan 25 PM interpreting data

Rise of AI and Machines: How Ganesh Director, LatentView to start a career in the April 5:00 13 Career Sunday Sankaralingam Analytics emerging post Covid Digital 26 PM World?

Surgeon and Integration of Technology April 6:00 14 Dr.Kanagavel Researcher, General Sunday and Medicine 26 PM St.Isabel’s hospital

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: The Print Edition: Online Journalist: Kritika Sharma Professor: Prof. C S Shankar Ram Headline: Foreign dream will have to wait as Covid-19 layoffs in US cast shadow on IIT, IIM placements URL: https://theprint.in/india/education/foreign-dream-will-have-to-wait-as-covid-19- layoffs-in-us-cast-shadow-on-iit-iim-placements/402265/

IIT and IIM graduates with foreign dreams might find themselves in a fix as the economic fallout of the Covid-19 lockdown threatens the job prospects of H-1B visa holders in the US.

Thousands of Indians work in the US on the prized H-1B, a non-immigration visa that allows American companies to hire foreign workers for roles that require a certain level of expertise. However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown has spawned a crisis of layoffs that has already affected millions in the US, which currently has the highest number of coronavirus cases.

Reports suggest a large number of H-1B holders have been laid off too, and experts predict the impact will reflect in job offers at IITs and IIMs, where campus placement seasons are known to draw plum packages from leading international players.

Also Read: H-1B row: Will Covid, recession dampen Indian students’ desire to study and work abroad?

‘Foreign job market looks weak’ Campus placements at IITs and IIMs are generally held between December and April every year. Speaking about the impact of the pandemic on placements, Siddharth Verma, who deals with hiring at Bengaluru-based staffing firm Xpheno said the “first level of trouble could come for people who have just graduated, as their joining may be deferred in view of the travel restrictions”.

“Those who had already left for the respective countries and joined are sorted, but others are stuck now. Then there is a possibility that some offers may be withdrawn, but it is possible only in certain sectors,” he added.

Late last month, US-based research firm Gartner rescinded job offers made to multiple students at IITs and IIMs.

“There is a discussion going on… that international hiring can be affected because the bulk of the recruiters used to be from the United States… With the ongoing situation around the world, especially in the US, it is difficult that international recruitment will happen,” said Verma.

According to Verma, jobs in the finance and consulting sectors are more likely to be affected, while tech companies are expected to continue hiring.

A former IIM-Ahmedabad placement cell representative who now works for an international firm said the “international job market looks weak this year”.

“If the institutes are able to retain their existing base of companies, that is good enough. There is no expectation of adding new recruiters,” he added.

Also Read: India Covid-19 death rate lower than Italy, UK, but can’t play down virus impact: NIV chief

‘Too early to comment’ While at least two branches of IIMs said they expected the pandemic to hit placements in different ways, two IITs — whose crop of tech pundits is expected to ride out the slump — claimed it was too early to comment.

“As of today, we have not had any cancellations of job offers, we need to see how the current situation with Covid-19 progresses in the country and around the world,” said C.S. Shankar Ram, adviser for training and placement IIT-Madras.

“We would like to wait until December to see if international placements would be affected. However, given the quality of students at IITs and IIMs, any foreign recruiter would want to hire their students,” he added.

IIT-Delhi also said they would like to wait before making any assumptions. “It’s too early to comment on this,” the IIT-Delhi said in its official response to queries from ThePrint.

IIM-Udaipur, meanwhile, said they were not expecting any international job offers for the next one year.

“Due to mobility challenges, it is unlikely that we will have any international placements in the next one year. It would also have implications on the summer internships,” said Janat Shah, director, IIM-Udaipur.

“Even after the pandemic subsides, most countries may implement quarantine regulations for international travellers. So, I believe, at least for a year we would mostly rely on domestic recruiters,” he added.

IIM-Bengaluru said they expected a drop in salary packages in the coming times. However, Dinesh Kumar, the chairperson of Career Development Services at IIM- Bengaluru, added that it was too early to make predictions on whether job offers will reduce.

“It is too early to make predictions. One of the primary reasons why international companies visit India is that they find it difficult to recruit certain types of skills in their respective countries,” he said. “As long as demand for such skills exists, I do not see any drop.”

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Money Control Edition: Online Journalist: M Saraswathy Headline: Coronavirus lockdown | From photography to fitness -- check out free online courses to keep you busy URL: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/coronavirus-lockdown-from- photography-to-fitness-check-out-free-online-courses-to-keep-you-busy- 5149391.html

Madras Dyslexia Association and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)-IIT Madras are offering free online teaching courses providing remedial support to children with Specific Learning Difficulties. The courses are targeted towards primary school teachers (Classes I-V), and professionals such as occupational therapists, counsellors, and speech pathologist. It contains simple methods of identifying and remediating young children with dyslexia. Details are available on swayam.gov.in/NPTEL (Image: IIT Madras)

Date: 18th April 2020 Media: ABP Live Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT Madras: आईआईटी मद्रास ने छा配ों िे कलए शु셂 किया ऑनलाइन लेक्चर सीरीज (IIT Madras: IIT Madras launches online lecture series for students)

URL: https://www.abplive.com/education/iit-madras-has-launched-a-special- lecture-series-online-1353585

इंडियन इंक्टस्टट्यूट ऑफ़ टेक्नोलॉजी -मद्रास (आईआईटी –मद्रास) ने लॉक िाउन में भी छात्रों की पढ़ाई डबना डकसी अवरोि के चलती रहे इसके डलए उसने अपने छात्रों के डलए एक डवशेष प्रकार की ऑनलाइन व्याख्यान (लेक्चर) सीरीज की शु셁आत की है. ये लेक्चर सीरीज उन सभी छात्रों की पढ़ाई में मददगार साडबत होगी जो छात्र लॉक िाउन के कारण घर में बंद हℂ और अपनी पढ़ाई को लेकर परेशान हℂ.

इस लेक्चर सीरीज में डभन्न – डभन्न डवषयों पर डवशेषज्ञों द्वारा ऑनलाइन व्याख्यान छात्रों को उपलब्ध कराया जाएगा. छात्र इस ऑनलाइन व्याख्यान से लाइव भी जुड़ सकते हℂ और अपने प्रश्न भी पूछ सकते हℂ.

लेक्चर की अवडि

मद्रास आईआईटी द्वारा शु셂 डकये गए इस लेक्चर सीरीज में प्रत्येक लेक्चर की अवडि 01 घंटे डनडित की गयी है. इस 01 घंटे की अवडि में 45 डमनट का समय अध्यापक अथवा डवशेषज्ञ के डलए डनडित डकया गया है, डजसमें डवशेषज्ञ अपना व्याख्यान देंगे. सीरीज के शेष बचे 15 डमनट छात्रों के डलए रखा गया है. इस 15 डमनट के समय में छात्र डवशेषज्ञों से अपने प्रश्न पूछ सकते हℂ.

आईआईटी –मद्रास द्वारा यह जानकारी प्रदान की गयी है डक यह ऑनलाइन व्याख्यान सीरीज जब तक लॉक िाउन ख़त्म नहीं हो जाता तब तक छात्रों के डलए यह जारी डकया जाता रहेगा. छात्रों के डलए यह ऑनलाइन लेक्चर सीरीज एनपीटीईएल और आईआईटी –मद्रास के यूट्यूब चैनल पर डनिःशुल्क उपलब्ध रहेगा.

छात्र डवशषज्ञों से इस प्रकार प्रश्न पूछ सकते हℂ.

लेक्चर या व्याख्यान से सम्बंडित डकसी छात्र को यडद कोई प्रश्न पूछना है तो वह ऑनलाइन लेक्चर सीरीज में तय डकए गए डनडित समय सीमा में ही पूछ सकता है. इस ररयल समय में छात्र चैट बॉस के माध्यम से अपने सवाल डवशेषज्ञों से पूछ सकते हℂ.

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times (clip attached) Edition: Bhubaneswar/Kolkata/Mumbai/New Delhi/Pune/Jaipur/Ahmedabad/Bangalore/Chennai Page No: 1,6,7&8 Journalist: Ms. Malini Goyal and Ms. Ishani Duttagupta Headline: Tech vs Virus URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/can-coronavirus-crisis- change-indian-science-for-good/articleshow/75224904.cms

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: News Meter Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj Spokesperson Quoted: Ms. Bharathi Headline: IIT-Madras offers free courses during lockdown URL: https://newsmeter.in/iit-madras-offers-free-online-courses-during-lockdown/

IIT-Madras, in collaboration with the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), has launched free courses for students affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. The YouTube live classes started from 13 April and will continue till 26 April. Some classes may even extend after the lockdown ends, said an IIT-Madras faculty member. The faculty members of IIT-Madras will guide students on job- and career-related issues and also discuss time management, the joy of teaching, soft skills, film sense, entrepreneurship, and technology and research. In the hour-long classes, participants can ask doubts through the chatbox. The class will be divided into two sessions – a 45- minute lecture and a 15-minute question and answer session. A senior project officer of NPTEL-IIT Madras, Bharathi, said the first live lectures conducted on film sense got around 11,000 views. She said following this positive response they are planning to bring in more people like musicians and artists to give lectures. Apart from this, IIT-Madras is also planning to bring heads of IBM, Google, CapGemini, Infosys, and GE Healthcare to give talks. Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, faculty in-charge of NPTEL-IIT Madras, said, “These lectures provide students an exposure to listen to eminent speakers from various domains. They can go a long way in motivating students to aspire higher and learn better. NPTEL- IIT Madras was always keen to launch such a full-fledged lecture series on career options available to students.”

Students can visit NPTEL website to check out further additions to the courses and course timetable. The IIT-Madras faculty members said if they get a good response from the students they will continue the courses even after the lockdown ends.

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: The Times of India - Education Times Edition: Online Journalist: Rajlakshmi Ghosh Professor: Dr. V Vijayalakshmi, Dr. Ramesh Gardas, Dr. Nilesh Jayantilal Vasa Headline: Helping students to keep mentally strong URL: https://www.educationtimes.com/article/campus-beat-college- life/75275087/Helping-students-to-keep-mentally-strong

Anxiety and depression are the some of the few mental health problems that students, particularly those stuck in the hostel are battling. The lockdown has taken a toll on the foreign students studying in Indian institutes or those who could not make it to their hometown in time. Several institutes are initiating measures to support the students stuck in the campus to combat the long spell of loneliness and uncertainty looming over world economy.

“Mental health is one of the major concerns exacerbating pre-existing conditions in some students,” says V Vijayalakshmi, advisor-Saathi, IIT Madras. While SAATHI is the proactive front of wellness at IIT Madras to raise awareness about relevant issues of the day, MITR is the institute’s reactive front of wellness to offer emotional and other forms of support to students in their academics and campus life.

“Students are expressing their concerns over continuation of courses, job search and placement offers. Adjustment with the sudden changes in life during lockdown has further increased their apprehension, says Ramesh Gardas, co-advisor, MITR, IIT Madras. The institute, he adds, is taking up these concerns with different stakeholders. “This is also being communicated proactively to the students to help ease their stress.” Professional counsellors and psychologists are conducting counselling sessions through video call, audio call, and through chat 24/7. All academic faculty advisors are approaching the students to check in on their well-being and how they are coping with the prevailing situation.

“Currently, students at the campus are leveraging video, phones, chat platforms, Whatsapp besides reaching out to their seniors and peers for help,” says Nilesh Jayantilal Vasa, chief advisor-MITR.

The Wellness Centre at the institute has been engaging with clinical psychologists to guide and counsel with the students via mobile phone/internet (web conversation/video conference /email) counselling. A guidebook on self-exploration activities has been shared by the Centre with the students in times of the lockdown. It contains a daily thought monitoring sheet for students to use as an indicator to seek professional help.

While most of the students have been able to go back home during the pre-lockdown period, around 3% of them including foreign nationals continue to remain in the campus. The foreign students have faculty advisors to assist them in their academic activities, and should there be any mental health concerns, can be referred to professional counsellors. These students can also speak to the counsellors through helpline numbers provided by the institute.

At the University of Delhi (DU), the measures have been equally prompt with an 8- member counselling services team to cater to students in times of COVID-19. The varsity has been encouraging them to engage in online learning, indoor exercises, family time, yoga, meditation, hobbies and healthy diet. “Most students come for tele- counselling, but in the more severe cases, we may refer them to clinical counsellors/psychiatrists,” says Geeta Sahare, president, Delhi University Women’s Association. While the number of students from remote places stuck at the campus could be more prone to mental health related issues, as many as 20% students who seek counselling at DU are already in their home towns but worried over the swift transition to online learning, uncertainties surrounding syllabus completion and inadequate internet access.

“Hostel students, are the worst hit in this lockdown as the abrupt campus closings and anxiety over their examinations has led to the feelings of helplessness,” says Sahare who has counselled around 70 students in the lockdown period.

“Both foreign and outstation students stuck at the campus have been prone to feelings of restlessness and irritability,” she says. While they are able to keep in touch with their families and friends through phone calls and social media, their inability to meet them at this juncture, has heightened their insecurity. “Few female students who are compelled to stay with their far-from-cordial relatives/local guardians have inflicted self-harm or going with little or no food for 2-3 days,” says Sahare who sets a daily time table for the students she counsels.

“A consistent routine teaches them self-discipline and makes them feel safe. Students who initiate contact through email, phone call or whatsapp, are encouraged to keep busy not just through online classes and resource materials, but also through leisure activities and hobbies, including fixing their own meals to exercise their own food choices.”

While tele-counselling, says Sahare, is the most preferred option among the students, it is no substitute for face to face sessions in the more serious clinical cases. “But tele- counselling gives students the anonymity they crave specially in a country where professional counselling is still seen as taboo,” Sahare adds.

Lockdown has barred the youth from their social liberties as isolation continues to play havoc on their emotional health, says Dhananjay Joshi, dean, University School of Education, IP University, that is hosting a 7-day online workshop using ‘Web Ex’ to boost mental and emotional well-being in view of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We are motivating students to channelise their creativity, enhance confidence and engage in problem-solving. Key verticals also include optimism, mindfulness relaxation techniques, happiness and ways to maintain resilience,” Joshi adds.

He echoes IP University VC Dr Mahesh Verma’s emphasis on the need for self-discipline and moral values in these trying times, while also highlighting the bonus of digital technologies that is bringing the world together in times of COVID-19.

The workshop being attended by around 350 participants from both India and overseas, is open for all research scholars and MEd students of other universities as well. Date: 24th April 2020 Media: Mint Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 12 Journalist: Abhijit Ahaskar and Prasid Banerjee Headline: How students are assisting in the battle against covid-19 URL: https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/how-students-are-assisting-in- the-battle-against-covid-19-11587661386310.html

Date: 25th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Online Journalist: Rica Bhattacharyya and Prachi Verma Headline: IITs are helping India win the Covid battle utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/iits-are-helping-india-win- the-covid-battle/articleshow/75346292.cms

Date: 25th April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Online Journalist: R Sujatha Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: GUVI, a Chennai-based educational technology company, gets fresh funding URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/guvi-a-chennai-based- educational-technology-company-gets-fresh-funding/article31426204.ece

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The Financial Express Edition: Delhi / Bangalore / Ahmedabad / Chennai / Hyderabad / Kolkata / Mumbai Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: IIT Madras-incubated edutech startup GUVI raises Rs 6 crore URL: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sme/iit-madras-incubated-edutech- startup-guvi-raises-rs-6-crore/1939742/

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: IANS Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: Edtech startup GUVI raises Rs 6 cr in Pre-series A funding URL: http://www.ianslive.in/index.php?param=news/Edtech_startup_GUVI_raises_Rs_ 6_cr_in_Pre_series_A_funding-671647/SCI-TECH%20and%20HEALTH/36

GUVI, a startup incubated by IIT Madras and CIIE.CO-IIM Ahmedabad on Saturday said it raised Rs 6 crore in its Pre-series A Round of funding from Education Catalyst Fund, an education focused venture capital fund managed by CBA Capital.

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"We will use the capital raised in this round to scale up operations, introduce newer courses in more vernacular languages and expand our geographical presence for our blended (offline + online) learning program ''Zen class''," S.P. Balamurugan, Chief Executive Officer, GUVI, said in a statement.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

GUVI offers an online platform for students to learn in vernacular languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Bengali besides English, and provides specialised courses to upskill students and make them ''job ready'' without having to leave their house.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express - EDEX Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan, Mr. Arun Prakash, Ms. Sri Devi, and Bhavesh Hemani Headline: IIT Madras-incubated edu-tech start-up GUVI raises 6 crore funding amid COVID-19 lockdown URL: https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/apr/25/iit-madras-incubated-edu-tech- start-up-guvi-raises-6-crore-funding-amid-covid-19-lockdown-11574.html

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan, Mr. Arun Prakash, Ms. Sri Devi Headline: IIT Madras-incubated site GUVI teaches courses in mother tongue, raises Rs. 6 Crore fund for coronavirus URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/iit-madras-incubated- site-guvi-teaches-courses-in-mother-tongue-raises-rs-6-crore-fund-for-coronavirus- 1670939-2020-04-25

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: Outlook Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: Edtech startup GUVI raises Rs 6 cr in Pre-series A funding URL: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/edtech-startup-guvi-raises-rs-6-cr-in- preseries-a-funding/1814706

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Anisha Kumari Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: IIT Madras, IIM Ahmedabad Incubated Ed-Tech Startup Raises INR 6 Crore Funding URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/iit-madras-iim-ahmedabad-incubated-edtech-startup-raises-inr-6-crore-funding-2218312

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: IIT Madras-incubated ed-tech startup GUVI raises Rs 6 crore in pre-series A funding URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/iit-madras- incubated-ed-tech-startup-guvi-raises-rs-6-crore-in-pre-series-a- funding/articleshow/75381118.cms

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: Your Story Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: [Funding alert] Edtech startup Guvi raises Rs 6 Cr in pre-Series A round URL: https://yourstory.com/2020/04/funding-alert-edtech-startup-guvi-cba-capital

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: Bhaskar Live Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: Edtech startup GUVI raises Rs 6 cr in Pre-series A funding URL: https://www.bhaskarlive.in/edtech-startup-guvi-raises-rs-6-cr-in-pre-series-a- funding/

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: IIT Madras-incubated Education-Tech Startup GUVI raises Rs. 6 Crore Funding URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/iit-madras-incubated-education-tech-startup- guvi-raises-rs-6-crore-funding/

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: Can India Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: Edtech startup GUVI raises Rs 6 cr in Pre-series A funding URL: http://canindia.com/edtech-startup-guvi-raises-rs-6-cr-in-pre-series-a-funding/

CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad.

An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

"During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it."

During this current lockdown, GUVI said it attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day.

Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Online Journalist: Anjali Venugopalan Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi Headline: IIT Madras likely to start classes at the end of May, IIT Guwahati in August URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/iit-madras- likely-to-start-classes-at-the-end-of-may-iit-guwahati-in- august/articleshow/75409487.cms

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: Business World Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: GUVI an Edtech Startup Raise Rs.6 Cr URL: http://bwdisrupt.businessworld.in/article/GUVI-an-Edtech-Startup-Raise-Rs-6- Cr/28-04-2020-190475/

A vernacular language-based platform Guvi, which is owned and operated by GUVI Geek Network Private Limited, has raised Rs 6 crore. The fund was raised from Education Catalyst Fund during a pre-series A round of its funding. CBA capital manages the education-focused venture capital firm called Education Catalyst Fund. The education technology startup called Guvi was cofounded by SP Balamurugan, Arun Prakash, and Sri Devi in the year 2014. The Chennai-based company is an IIT Madras and CIIE (IIM Ahmedabad) incubated platform offering technology-based vernacular courses created by the industry. Gray Matters Capital, which is a US-based investor invested in Guvi, in Apr 2018. As per SP Balamurugan, the CEO of GUVI, the funds raised at that time were to scale up its operations by introducing new courses and expanding their geographical presence by blending their online courses with those that were offline.

There has been a great surge in a number of people opting for the online courses available at the platform, due to the ongoing lockdown. GUVIclaims that the people who are oping for their courses are not only those who are students but even some of the professionals is interested in doing the course. As per Bhavesh Hemani of CBA capital, “The business model of Guvi is the 21st-century skilling solution that the country needs right now. It offers the perfect blend of online and offline courses with rising demand and early success evidenced by high rates of employment for students.”

IIT Madras is an innovation and entrepreneurship hub

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Financial Express Edition: Kolkata / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT-M incubated start-up develops ‘Smart Bin System’ to prevent spread of coronavirus URL: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sme/iit-m-incubated-start-up- develops-smart-bin-system-to-prevent-spread-of-coronavirus/1941694/

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Tribune Edition: Delhi / Chandigarh Page No: 12 Journalist: NA Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart dustbin URL: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart- dustbin-77434

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Hans India Edition: Hyderabad Page No: 7 Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: Smart dustbin system developed by IIT Madras start-up to prevent COVID- 19 spread URL: https://www.thehansindia.com/news/national/iit-madras-startup-develops- smart-bin-system-to-prevent-corona-spread-619569

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Deccan Herald Edition: Bangalore Page No: 5 Journalist: ETB Sivapriyan Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahendra Shah Headline: IIT-supported start-up develops smart bin system to prevent coronavirus URL: https://www.deccanherald.com/business/technology/iit-supported-start-up- develops-smart-bin-system-to-prevent-coronavirus-830656.html

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Dainik Jagran Edition: Delhi Page No: 5 & 7 Journalist: NA Headline: IIT-supported start-up develops smart bin system to prevent coronavirus

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Dinakaran Edition: Bangalore Page No: 11 Journalist: NA Headline: Smart dustbin system developed

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Hindu - Tamil Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahendra Shah Headline: IIT-supported start-up develops smart bin system to prevent coronavirus

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Daily Thanthi Edition: Chennai Page No: 7 Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahendra Shah Headline: A novel way to stop Coronavirus: IIT Madras develops smartbin to check COVID-19 spread from waste

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahendra Shah Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent coronavirus spread URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/iit-madras-start-up-develops- smart-dustbin-system-to-prevent-coronavirus-spread/story- TwxSS6ddJ8W3QSLzTzv9TN.html

An IIT-incubated start-up has developed a ‘smart bin system’ to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through waste generated at hospitals, clinics, public places and quarantine zones.

Called ‘AirBin’, the system developed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras enables remote monitoring of waste accumulation levels through smart phone. The system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

According to start-up “Antariksh”, the digital waste management system can generate alerts to sanitation teams at regular intervals on fill levels and on-demand clearance requests from end-users for faster disposal of contagious waste.

“While we are dealing with the spread of COVID-19, hazardous waste is being generated in hospitals, quarantine zones or red zone areas within cities. They are potential sources of coronavirus and can cause further spread within the locality. This makes timely clean-up of bins vital along with other best practices for disinfection to prevent further spread of COVID-19,” said Mahek Mahendra Shah, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the institute.

“The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability. The product is likely to hit market in five months. We will supply first 200 AirBin devices across India in next few months with long- term plans to deliver 1,00,000 units for 100 Smart Cities in India,” he added.

The team claims that only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years. “The system will enable clearing waste bins before they overflow. Waste management processes will play a key role in containing contagion at public or private spaces. From waste collection, transport, segregation, disposal to recycling, every process needs to be overhauled quickly and technology can play a vital role in this transformation. Timely cleaning of bins will be a key priority while faced with shortage of labour,” Shah said.

“Remote waste levels monitoring, smarter pickups, skill development with good protection gear for sanitation teams, educating citizens on best sanitation practices, will be among must follow practices in coming months,” he added.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 872 and the number of cases climbed t 27,892 in the country on Monday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 20,835 while 6,184 people were cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Telangana Today Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://telanganatoday.com/iit-madras-start-up-develops-smart-dustbin- system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread

An IIT-incubated start-up has developed a ‘smart bin system’ to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through waste generated at hospitals, clinics, public places and quarantine zones.

The team claims that only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

“The system will enable clearing waste bins before they overflow. Waste management processes will play a key role in containing contagion at public or private spaces. From waste collection, transport, segregation, disposal to recycling, every process needs to be overhauled quickly and technology can play a vital role in this transformation. Timely cleaning of bins will be a key priority while faced with shortage of labour,” Shah said. “Remote waste levels monitoring, smarter pickups, skill development with good protection gear for sanitation teams, educating citizens on best sanitation practices, will be among must follow practices in coming months,” he added.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 872 and the number of cases climbed to 27,892 in the country on Monday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 20,835 while 6,184 people were cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: National herald Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/national/iit-madras-startup-develops- smart-bin-system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras-incubated Startup Antariksh Waste Ventures has developed an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled smart bin system to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Institute said on Monday.

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

"From waste collection, transport, segregation, disposal to recycling, every process needs to be overhauled quickly and technology will play a vital role in this transformation. Timely cleaning of bins will be a key priority while faced with a shortage of labour," said Mahek Mahendra Shah, Founder of Antariksh Waste Ventures.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

"IITM Incubation Cell continues to assist its startups through these challenging times and hopes that industry support will help them ramp up their efforts in a more meaningful way," said Dr Tamaswati Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer, IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: North East Now Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras develops smart bin system to prevent coronavirus spread URL: https://nenow.in/health/iit-madras-develops-smart-bin-system-to-prevent- coronavirus-spread.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent Covid19 spread URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/trend-tracking/iit-madras-startup-develops- smart-bin-system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread/articleshow/75407331.cms

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Money Control Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart devices to prevent COVID-19 spread via trash URL: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/iit-madras-startup- develops-smart-devices-to-prevent-covid-19-spread-via-trash-5193521.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: News 18 Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras Startup Develops Smart Bin System to Prevent Covid-19 Spread URL: https://www.news18.com/news/india/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart-bin- system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread-2594655.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: shihabudeen Kunju S Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras Startup Develops 'Smart Bin System' To Prevent COVID-19 Spread URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart-bin- system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread-2219059

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras-incubated startup Antariksh Waste Ventures has developed an IoT-enabled 'Smart Bin System' to prevent the spread COVID-19 through waste generated at CVPs (Contagion Vulnerable points - primarily Hospitals, Clinics, Public Bins, Quarantine Zones). Called 'AirBin,' it enables remote monitoring of waste accumulation levels and clearances through IoT systems.

This smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids, a statement from IIT Madras said.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability, the statement added.

This innovative product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply first 200 AirBin devices across India in next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 Smart cities in India.

Highlighting the requirement for Smart technologies in waste disposal, Mr. Mahek Mahendra Shah, Founder of Antariksh Waste Ventures Pvt Ltd, said, "Waste management processes will play a key role in containing contagion at public or private spaces. From waste collection, transport, segregation, disposal to recycling, every process needs to be overhauled quickly and technology will play a vital role in this transformation. Timely cleaning of bins will be a key priority while faced with shortage of labor."

Further, Mr Shah added, "Remote waste levels monitoring, smarter pickups, skill development with good protection gear for Sanitation teams, educating citizens on best sanitation practices, will be some of the key elements driving this industry forward, in the coming months."

This Digital Waste Management System can generate alerts to sanitation teams at regular intervals on fill levels and on-demand clearance requests from end-users, for faster disposal of contagious waste.

Antariksh Waste startup is supported by the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Naiduniya Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: Coronavirus: आईआईटी मद्रास ने संक्रामि िचरे से कनपटने िे कलए बनाया स्माटस िस्टकबन (IIT Madras Startup Develops 'Smart Bin System' To Prevent COVID-19 Spread) URL: https://www.naidunia.com/national-coronavirus-iit-madras-made-a-smart- dustbin-to-deal-with-waste-5524207

आईआईटी मद्रास ने कोरोना संक्रमण से उत्पन्न कचरे के उडचत डनपटारे के डलए "िाटस डबन" तैयार डकया गया

है। मोबाइल फोन से कनेिेि यह "िाटस िस्टडबन डसस्टम" अस्पतालों, क्लीडनकों, सावसजडनक स्थलों और

क्वारंटाइन जोनों में कचरे के ि녍ों में जमा संक्रामक कचरे का सही तरीके से और जल्द से जल्द डनपटारा करेगा।

ताडक इस कचरे के कारण कोरोना संक्रमण न फैले।

आईआईटी मद्रास की ओर से तैयार डकए गए इस "एयर डबन" में संक्रडमत मॉि, स्वॉब, डटश्यू और अन्य संक्रामक

कचरा िाला जाता है। इन "एयर डबन" पर डनगाह मोबाइल ऐप के जररए रखी जाएगी और "एयर डबन" भरते ही

इसके खाली करने के डलए संबंडित व्यक्टक्त उस जगह पर पंच जाएगा और उसका समुडचत तरीके से साविानी

से डनस्तारण करेगा।

आईआईटी मद्रास के मकैडनकल इंजीडनयर महेंद्र शाह ने बताया डक उनकी स्टाटसअप कंपनी अंतररक्ष ने इस डिडजटल कचरा प्रबंिन प्रणाली को बनाया है। इसके जररए शहरों के अंदर अस्पतालों, क्वारंटाइन जोनों, रेि जोनों और संक्रामक स्थलों पर संक्रामक कचरे का डनस्तारण ऑन डिमांि भी डकया जाएगा। इसके अलावा, इन एयर डबन के भरने पर इसकी जानकारी ऐप से जुड़े नेटवकस को भी हो जाएगी। इन "एयर डबन" की समय-समय पर समुडचत सफाई पूरी साविानी के साथ की जाती रहेगी।

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/apr/27/iit-madras- start-up-develops-smart-dustbin-system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread-2136031.html

This smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids, a statement from IIT Madras said.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability, the statement added.

This innovative product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply first 200 AirBin devices across India in next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 Smart cities in India.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express - EDEX Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: This IIT Madras-incubated start-up's Smart Bin System will help prevent COVID-19 spread. Here's how URL: https://www.edexlive.com/news/2020/apr/27/this-iit-madras-incubated-startups-smart-bin-system-will-help-prevent-covid-19-spread-heres-how-11602.html

This smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids, a statement from IIT Madras said.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability, the statement added.

This innovative product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply first 200 AirBin devices across India in next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 Smart cities in India.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Outlook Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart- bin-system-to-prevent-covid19-spread/1816060

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: India TOday Edition: Online Journalist: Aysha Anam Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras-incubated startup develops ‘Smart Bin System’ to prevent Covid-19 spread URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/iit-madras-incubated- startup-develops-smart-bin-system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread-1671619-2020-04-27

This smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids, a statement from IIT Madras said.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability, the statement added.

This innovative product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply first 200 AirBin devices across India in next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 Smart cities in India.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Rajasthan Patrika Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras-incubated startup develops ‘Smart Bin System’ to prevent Covid-19 spread URL: https://www.patrika.com/chennai-news/corona-virus-red-zone-corona-virus- disposed-positive-case-corona-6043941/

ताडक इस कचरे के कारण कोरोना संक्रमण न फैले।

से डनस्तारण करेगा।

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: IANS Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: http://www.ianslive.in/index.php?param=news/IIT_Madras_startup_develops_s mart_bin_system_to_prevent_COVID_19_spread-672107/SCI- TECH%20and%20HEALTH/36

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Zee Business Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.zeebiz.com/india/news-iit-madras-start-up-develops-smart-dustbin- system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread-125300

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Freedom Press Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: http://thefreedompress.in/news/2020/04/27/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart- bin-system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread/

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Week Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2020/04/27/des21-virus-iit- dustbin.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Business Standard Edition: Online Journalist: Peerzada Abrar Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: Antariksh Waste Ventures develops IoT-enabled smart bin to curb Covid- 19 URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/antariksh-waste- ventures-develops-iot-enabled-smart-bin-to-curb-covid-19-120042700876_1.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Asian Age Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: Smart dustbin system developed by IIT Madras start-up to prevent COVID- 19 spread URL: http://www.asianage.com/technology/in-other-news/270420/smart-dustbin- system-developed-by-iit-madras-start-up-to-prevent-covid-19-spread.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: ETV Bharat - English Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras-incubated startup develops 'Smart Bin System' to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.etvbharat.com/english/national/state/tamil-nadu/iit-madras- incubated-startup-develops-smart-bin-system-to-prevent-covid-19- spread/na20200427194831634

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: ETV Bharat - Hindi Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: आईआईटी मद्रास ने कविकसत किया स्माटस कबन कसस्टम, ऐसे िरेगा िाम (IIT Madras- incubated startup develops 'Smart Bin System' to prevent COVID-19 spread) URL: https://www.etvbharat.com/hindi/delhi/bharat/bharat-news/smart-bin-system- amid-covid-19-by-iit-madras/na20200427182032527

ताडक इस कचरे के कारण कोरोना संक्रमण न फैले।

से डनस्तारण करेगा।

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Times Now Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.timesnownews.com/education/article/iit-madras-start-up- develops-smart-dustbin-system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread/583683

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Dallas India Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.dallasindian.net/desi/newsdetail.asp?id=546207

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times - ET CIO Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/enterprise-services-and- applications/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart-bin-system-to-prevent-covid-19- spread/75407140

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Telegraph Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent spread of Covid-19 waste URL: https://www.telegraphindia.com/technology/iit-madras-start-up-develops- smart-dustbin-system-to-prevent-spread-of-covid-19-waste/cid/1768483

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Yahoo.com Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://in.news.yahoo.com/iit-madras-start-develops-smart-103918860.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Daily Hunt Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: Study shows that COVID 19 may affect the Central Nervous System causing loss of smell and taste URL: https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/skill+outlook-epaper- skillout/education-updates-education

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The Shillong Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: http://theshillongtimes.com/2020/04/27/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart-bin- system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread/

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Vishwa Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://vishvatimes.com/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart-bin-system-to- prevent-covid-19-spread

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: UC News Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: Study shows that COVID 19 may affect the Central Nervous System causing loss of smell and taste URL: https://www.ucnews.in/news/Smart-dustbin-system-developed-by-IIT-Madras- startup-to-prevent-COVID19-spread/3797910362731540.html

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Daily World Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.dailyworld.in/newsdetail.php?seq=19987&news=IIT%20Madras%20startup%20develops%20smart%20bin %20system%20to%20prevent%20COVID-19%20spread

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Devdiscourse Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/headlines/1025761-iit-madras-start-up- develops-smart-dustbin-system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: Business Standard Edition: Kochi Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras start-up develops smart dustbin system to prevent Covid-19 spread URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/iits-other-institutes- develop-innovative-devices-to-fight-coronavirus-120042800469_1.html

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express Edition: Hyderabad / Chennai Page No: 10 Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: 'AirBin' helps prevent spread of virus through waste from hospitals, clinics

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: News 18 Tamil Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: 埁ப்னபகள் அ鎿கம் கெ쏁வனத கண்ட잿ய ஐ.ஐ.羿 ெோர்ꮿை் நퟀன க쏁ힿ! (IIT device to detect accumulation of garbage) URL: https://tamil.news18.com/news/tamil-nadu/new-instrument-invented-by-iit-to- stop-corona-outspread-by-spotting-our-garbage-vin-283965.html

ஸ்மார்ட் 埁ப்லப த翁ப்ꯁ 믁லற என்쟁 இதன் செயல்பாட்羿ற்埁 சபயரிடப்பட்翁ள்ள鏁 இதற்காக . Air bin system என்쟁 நퟀன க쏁ힿ ஐ.ஐ.羿 சதா펿ல் 믁லனநவார் லமயம் உ쏁வாக்垿뿁ள்ள鏁

தற்நபா鏁 சகாநராநனா நநாய் பரவல் அ鎿கரித்鎿쏁க்埁ம் 毂ழ쮿ல் ம쏁த்鏁வமலனகள் , நநாய் பரவலால் தலட செய்யப்பட்ட ப埁鎿கள் , ஆய்வக ப埁鎿கள் உள்ளிட்ட இடங்களில் 埁ப்லபகள் அ鎿களퟁ நெர்ந்鏁毁காதார 毀ர்நக翁கள் ஏற்ப்பட வாய்ꯁள்ள鏁.

எனநவ 埁ப்லபகள் அ鎿கமாக நெ쏁வலத செல்நபான் செய쮿கள் 믂லம் அ잿ந்鏁埁ப்லபகலள நவகமாக அப்ꯁறப்ப翁த்鏁வநத ஸ்மார்ட் 埁ப்லப த翁ப்ꯁ 믁லற뾿ன் நநாக்கமா埁ம். இதற்காக ꮿர்த்நயகமாக உ쏁வாக்கப்பட்翁ள்ள ꮿரத்நயக air bin எனப்ப翁ம் க쏁ힿ தற்நபா鏁 ꯁழக்கத்鎿ல் உள்ள 埁ப்லப சதாட்羿களின் அ쏁காலம뾿ல் 殿쟁 கம்பங்கள் நடப்பட்翁 சபா쏁த்தப்ப翁ம்.

அதன் 믂லம் 埁ப்லபகள் அ鎿கம் நெ쏁垿ன்ற நபா鏁 செல்நபான்க쿁க்埁 தகவல் வந்鏁 நெ쏁ம் இதன் 믂லம் நதலவ뾿ல்லாமல் 埁ப்லபகள் நதங்垿க் 垿டப்பலத தힿர்க்க 믁羿뿁ம் ஐ.ஐ.羿 சதா펿ல் 믁லனநவார் லமயம் மற்쟁ம் ஐ.ஐ.羿 மாணவர்களின் அந்தாரிக்ஷ் எனப்ப翁ம் ஸ்டார்ட் அப் நி쟁வனம் ொர்ꮿல் இந்த நퟀன சதா펿ல்ꏁட்ப 믁லற கண்翁ꮿ羿க்கப்பட்翁ள்ள鏁埁잿ப்ꮿடத்தக்க鏁.

毀னாힿல் சதாடங்垿 தற்நபா鏁 உல垿ற்நக அெ்毁쟁த்தலாக இ쏁க்埁ம் சகாநரானா லவரஸ் பா鎿ப்ꯁ பற்잿ய தகவல்கள் , அர殿ன் அ잿ힿப்ꯁகள் ஆ垿யவற்லற நநரலலயாக உடꟁக்埁டன் இங்நக சதரிந்鏁 சகாள்ளலாம்.

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: Express Computer Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.expresscomputer.in/startup/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart-bin- system-to-prevent-covid-19-spread/54260/

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the nstitute said..

“From waste collection, transport, segregation, disposal to recycling, every process needs to be overhauled quickly and technology will play a vital role in this transformation. Timely cleaning of bins will be a key priority while faced with a shortage of labour,” said Mahek Mahendra Shah, Founder of Antariksh Waste Ventures.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

“IITM Incubation Cell continues to assist its startups through these challenging times and hopes that industry support will help them ramp up their efforts in a more meaningful way,” said Dr Tamaswati Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer, IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: The Sentinel Assam Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent the spread of COVID-19 URL: https://www.sentinelassam.com/national-news/iit-madras-startup-develops- smart-bin-system-to-prevent-the-spread-of-covid-19/

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the nstitute said..

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: ETV Bharat - Tamil Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: ககரோனோ ப埁鎿뾿ை் 埁ப்னப அகற்ற ꯁ鎿ய சதோ펿ை்ꏁட்பம் ! (New technology to remove garbage in corona-hit areas) URL: https://www.etvbharat.com/tamil/tamil-nadu/state/chennai/chennai-iit- invents-air-bin-app-for-garbage-removing/tamil-nadu20200427175011682

IIT Madras is a campus of choice for high ranking JEE students

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Trump Appoints Indian-American To Top US Science Board URL: https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/donald-trump-appoints-indian- american-sudarsanam-babu-to-top-us-science-board-2215285

US President Donald Trump on Monday appointed Indian-American Sudarsanam Babu to the country's top science board. Mr Babu, who is from the prestigious Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been appointed as a member of the National Science Board for a six-year term, the White House said on Monday, as it announced several key administrative appointments.

Mr Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT- Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986.

He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling.

Mr Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: The Week Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US science board URL: https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/international/2020/04/21/fes10-us-indian- appoint.html

US President Donald Trump on Monday appointed Indian-American Sudarsanam Babu to country's top science board. Babu, who is from the prestigious Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been appointed as a member of the National Science Board for a six-year term, the White House said on Monday, as it announced several key administrative appointments. Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT- Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986.

He holds a PhD in materials science and metallurgy from the Cambridge University, and is currently director of the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, as well as ORNL Governor's Chair of Advanced Manufacturing. In this role, he bridges ORNL expertise, including Department of Energy's manufacturing demonstration facility, to develop a collaborative research ecosystem locally and employ engineering solutions to manufacturing industries. He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling. Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: All India Radio Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: US Prez Trump appoints Indian-American to country's top science board URL: http://www.newsonair.com/News?title=US-Prez-Trump-appoints-Indian- American-to-country%26%2339%3Bs-top-science-board&id=386222

Mr Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT- Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986.

He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling.

Mr Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: Outlook Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US science board URL: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/indianamerican-appointed-to-us- science-board/1809299

Mr Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT- Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986.

He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling.

Mr Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: Business Standard Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US science board URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/indian-american- appointed-to-us-science-board-120042100150_1.html

Mr Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT- Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986.

He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling.

Mr Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: Yahoo.com Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US science board URL: https://in.news.yahoo.com/indian-american-appointed-us-science- 014619707.html

Mr Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT- Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986.

He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling.

Mr Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US science board URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/indian-american-appointed-to- us-science-board/article31393446.ece

Mr Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT- Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986.

He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling.

Mr Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: The Print Edition: Online Journalist: Kritika Sharma Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu, Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan and Dr. Suresh V Garimella Headline: Three IIT alumni part of top US science board now, Sudarsanam Babu latest to join URL: https://theprint.in/world/three-iit-alumni-part-of-top-us-science-board-now- sudarsanam-babu-latest-to-join/406181/

US President Donald Trump Monday appointed Indian-American Sudarsanam Babu, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, to the country’s top science body — National Science Board (NSB).

Babu, who currently works at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has been appointed as a member of the NSB for a six-year term, the White House said in a statement Monday as it announced several other key administrative appointments.

Today, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Aaron Dominguez of @CatholicUniv, Sudarsanam Babu of @UTKnoxville, @dariogila of @IBM (a current #PCAST member), and Roger Beachy of @WUSTL (a current NSB member): https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump- announces-intent-nominate-appoint-individuals-key-administration-posts-35/ …

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate and Appoint Individuals to Key Administrat... Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key positions in his Administration: Julie D. Fisher, of Ten One of the major roles of the NSB is to serve as a body of advisers to both the President and the US Congress on policy matters related to science and engineering and education in science and engineering. The board consists of 25 members appointed by the President.

Also read: Lav Agarwal, a ‘reticent’ IIT grad, Andhra IAS officer who’s the face of India’s Covid fight

3 Indian-Americans and IIT alumni part of NSB now With the entry of Babu, three Indian-Americans are now part of the prestigious board. The other two are Sethuraman Panchanathan from Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from the University of Vermont. All three, according to IIT Madras, are its alumni.

The latest entrant, Babu, completed his Master of Technology from IIT Madras in 1988 and a Bachelor of Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, in 1986. He completed his PhD in Materials Science and Metallurgy from the University of Cambridge.

According to reports, Babu has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modelling.

Also read: IIT-Mandi team develops magnetic RAM to enable higher data storage, faster computation

‘Great pillar of support to their alma mater’ IIT Madras Director Bhaskar Ramamurthy expressed happiness over the fact that three of the institute’s alumni are part of the US’ top science board.

“IIT Madras is delighted that all three Indian Americans currently on the National Science Board of the USA are alumni of our Institute. Our alumni have done us proud in India and abroad, and have been a great pillar of support to their alma mater,” he said in a statement.

Panchanathan, the other Indian American on the board earned his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 1986, after a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Madras in 1981 and Electronics and Communication engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in 1984, the IIT Madras statement said.

Panchanathan also has a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa. He was appointed to the board in 2019.

Another IIT alumnus, Suresh V Garimella is a B.Tech from IIT Madras who did his MS from Ohio State University and PhD from the University of California Berkeley. He is also the current president of University of Vermont — from July 1, 2019. He was appointed to the NSB in 2018.

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Delhi / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kochi Page No: 16 Journalist: R Sujatha Professor: Prof. Mahesh Panchangnula Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan and Dr. Suresh V Garimella Headline: IIT Madras alumnus appointed to National Science Board in USA URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/iit-madras-alumnus-appointed- to-national-science-board-in-usa/article31397795.ece

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Deccan Chronicle Edition: Chennai Page No: 1 Journalist: NA Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US national science board

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Rashtriya Sahara Edition: Delhi Page No: 9 Journalist: NA Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US national science board

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Naya India Edition: Delhi Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Indian-American appointed to US national science board

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Gadgets Now Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan and Dr. Suresh V Garimella Headline: Indian-American appointed to U.S. National Science Board URL: https://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/indian-american-appointed-to-us- science-board/articleshow/75264898.cms

Babu earned his master of technology (industrial metallurgy - welding) from IIT-Madras in 1988 and a bachelor of engineering (eetallurgy) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore in 1986. He holds a PhD in materials science and metallurgy from the Cambridge University, and is currently director of the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, as well as ORNL Governor's Chair of Advanced Manufacturing.

In this role, he bridges ORNL expertise, including Department of Energy's manufacturing demonstration facility, to develop a collaborative research ecosystem locally and employ engineering solutions to manufacturing industries. He has 21 years of experience in advanced manufacturing, additive manufacturing, physical metallurgy and computational materials modeling. Babu would be the third Indian American in this prestigious board. The other two being Sethuraman Panchanathan from the Arizona State University and Suresh V Garimella from University of Vermont.

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Republic World Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: US President Donald Trump Appoints Indian-American Sudarsanam Babu To US Science Board URL: https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/us-news/us-president-donald- trump-appoints-indian-american-sudarsanam-babu-to.html

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Zee News Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Dr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: अमेररिा िे टॉप साइंस बोिस मᴂ शाकमल किए गए भारतीय मूल िे ये वैज्ञाकनि ((US President Donald Trump Appoints Indian-American Sudarsanam Babu To US Science Board)) URL: https://zeenews.india.com/hindi/world/indian-american-sudarshanam-babu- appointed-to-the-usa-top-science-board/670711

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Electronic Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin Headline: IIT Madras placements URL: https://we.tl/t-iEROO8qtSh

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin and Sumana Nandy Professor: Prof. CS Shankar Ram Headline: 6 IIT Students' Job Offers Revoked: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Placements URL: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/6-iit-madras-students-job-offers-revoked- how-covid-19-is-impacting-placements-2216357

The highly contagious coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 2.5 million people worldwide, has had a massive impact on the global economy. Growth rates have plunged, millions have lost jobs and offers made in healthier and happier times are now being reconsidered. The contagion has also not spared the graduates of India's premier institutes - like IITs and IIMs - where high-paying jobs are practically guaranteed after graduation.

Jobs offered to six students of Indian Institute of Technology in Madras have been revoked by companies due to the pandemic, but the institute - ranked number one under the Education Ministry's overall institutions category and engineering institutions category – says there have been no cancellations of overseas job offers.

924 students have been offered jobs by 252 companies that have visited the campus so far, IIT Madras said, and added the recruitment process for the remaining 300 plus students will continue till the end of the academic year. This is eight jobs less than the 932 placements achieved last year.

The virus has, however, not impacted foreign jobs. 34 students have been placed abroad and there have been no cancellation of international job offers, the statement added.

"Remuneration packages have not been impacted so far although some companies have extended the date of joining," Placement Advisor of IIT-Madras, Professor CS Shankar Ram said.

Meanwhile, IIT Bombay has said there have been no cancellations of job offers, but the placement process has been postponed until the campus reopens.

The Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati has assured its students that no employment or internships offers have been withdrawn although some companies have postponed the date of joining.

"Even in the current uncertain situation, the Institute is happy to note that placements have not been impacted so far. No offers, domestic or international, have been withdrawn. However, a few companies have postponed the date of joining," the institute told its students.

IIT Guwahati said it is consulting companies to assess the feasibility of work from home model for the graduating students.

The Indian Institutes of Management, Bengaluru, has also issued a statement to reassure its graduates that companies have "promised that they will honour their commitment to students".

"IIM-B has a long standing relationship with its recruiters. Many of them have promised that they will honour their commitment to the students and the Institute even during such difficult times. IIM-B will help all its students if they face difficulties regarding their summer internship or full time employment," Professor U Dinesh Kumar, Chairperson, Career Development Services of IIM Bengaluru, said in a statement.

Speaking to NDTV in his personal capacity, Bhupendra, a fresh graduate from IIM Bangalore's postgraduate programme in public policy and management, said, "Due to the envisaged poor performance of the economy, the placements were not very bright this year. COVID-19 has added to the damage. Speaking to my batchmates, friends and following their LinkedIn posts, it seems 5 per cent to 10 per cent of internship offers have been cancelled. In terms of job offers, very few offers have been cancelled, but the joinings have been delayed, even by months. This may be due to the lockdown - things should be clearer by the end of May."

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: NDTV - Bengali Edition: Online Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin and Sumana Nandy Professor: Prof. CS Shankar Ram Headline: 6 IIT Students' Job Offers Revoked: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Placements URL: https://www.ndtv.com/bengali/6-iit-madras-students-job-offers-revoked-how- covid-19-is-impacting-placements-2216496

আশঙ্কা ছিল সংক্রমণে (Coronavirus Cases) প্রভাছিত হণি ছিশ্ব অর্ থনীছত। কম থহীন হণি লক্ষাছিক মানুষ। আইআইটি-মাদ্রাণের (IIT-Madras) ৬ িাণের কাণি সসই আশঙ্কাই সছতি হল। সসই িয় েণনর ছনণয়াগ ছনশ্চিত কণরও, পণর তা খাছরে করা হল। ফণল উণেগ সিণেণি সেণশর অনিতম প্রর্মসাছরর এই ছশক্ষাপ্রছতষ্ঠাণনর অণর। ছনণয়াগ খাছরণের সনপণর্ি সংক্রমণের মাোণক যুশ্চি ছহণসণি তুণল িরা হণয়ণি। যছেও, আইআইটি- মাদ্রাে সূণে খির ছিণেণশ চাকছরর ছনণয়াণগ সকানও প্রভাি পণেছন। োনা ছগণয়ণি, আইআইটি-মাদ্রাে কিাম্পাস সর্ণক ৯২৪ েন পেু য়ার চাকছর ছনশ্চিত হণয়ণি। ২৫২টি সংস্থা তা女ণের ছনণয়াগ কণরণি। চলছত ছশক্ষািণষ থআরও ৩০০ পেু য়ার ছনণয়াগ ছনশ্চিত হণি। গত িির ৯৩২ েণনর ছনণয়াগ ছনশ্চিত করা হণয়ছিল। ৮ েন কম থহীন ছিণলন। েলিায়ু পছরিতথন িৃহত্তম ছিপে: ছিশ্ব পছৃ র্িী ছেিণস মুখিমন্ত্রী

তণি, ছিণেণশ ছনণয়াণগর সক্ষণে সকানও প্রভাি সফণলছন এই সংক্রমে। রীছতমণতা ছিিৃছত োছর কণর িণলণি আইআইটি-মাদ্রাে। এখনও পয থন্ত ৩৪ েন পেু য়া ছিণেণশ তা女ণের চাকছর ছনশ্চিত কণরণিন। োছি করা হণয়ণি সসই ছিিৃছতণত। সসই ছশক্ষাপ্রছতষ্ঠাণনর অিিাপক ছসএস শঙ্কর রাম িণলণিন, "সিতন কাঠাণমায় সকানও পছরিতথন হয়ছন। শুিু ছকিু সংস্থা ছনণয়াণগর ছেন এছগণয় ছেণয়ণি।" আইআইটি-িণে োছনণয়ণি, তাণের সকানও ছনণয়াগ খাছরে হয়ছন। শুিু স্থছগত হণয়ণি প্রশ্চক্রয়া। .

এছেণক, িুিিার সেণশ কণরানা ভাইরাস আক্রাণন্তর সংখিা ১,৪৮৬ েন, ফণল সেণশ ভাইরাণসর কিণল ২০,৪৭১ েন। গত ২৪ ঘন্টায় সমাি কণরানা আক্রাণন্তর সংখিা ৪৯ েন, সকন্দ্রীয় ,স্বাস্থিমন্ত্রণকর তর্ি অনুযায়ী ভারণত এখনও পয থন্ত কণরানার িছল ৬৫২ েন। সসামিার ভারণত কণরানা আক্রাণন্তর সংখিাছিল ১,৫৪০ েন, সসই সময় আণরাগিপ্রাপ্তণের সংখিাও সিণেছিল িণল োছনণয়ছিল সরকার। এছেন সকাল পয থন্ত আণরাগিপ্রাপ্তণের হার ১৯.৩৬ শতাংশ, একছেণন আণরাগিপ্রাণপ্তর সংখিা ৬১৮ েন। কণরানা ভাইরাস সংক্রছমণতর সংখিা ক্রমশই িােণি, সরকাছর স্বাস্থি আছিকাছরকরা োছনণয়ণিন, ২৫ মাচথ শু쇁 কণর এিং পণর ৩ সম পয থন্ত লকডাউন িাোণনার ফণল, ভারণত সংক্রমে িোণনার হার কণমণি।

লকডাউণন ি স্কুল-কণলে! িােণি িােীণের মণিি স্কুলিুণির সংখিা: ইউণনণস্কা

সসামিার সকন্দ্রীয় স্বাস্থিমন্ত্রণকর যুগ্ম সছচি লাভ আগরওয়াল িণলন, “ছেগুে সংক্রমণের সংখিা ছেন সিণে হণয়ণি ৭.৫, আণগ অর্ থাৎ লডাউণনর আণগ ছিল ৩.৪ ছেন”। এটি “খুিই ইছতিাচক ছেক” িণলও মন্তিি কণরন ছতছন।

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: NDTV - Tamil Edition: Online Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin and Sumana Nandy Professor: Prof. CS Shankar Ram Headline: சகோகரோனோ போ鎿ப்போை் ககம்பஸ் இன்டர்ힿ뿂 கவனைனய இழந்த 6 ஐஐ羿 மோணவர்கள் !! (6 IIT Students' Job Offers Revoked: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Placements) URL: https://www.ndtv.com/tamil/6-iit-madras-students-job-offers-revoked-how- covid-19-is-impacting-placements-2216437

சகாநரானா பா鎿ப்ꯁ காரணமாக நகம்பஸ் இன்டர்ힿ뿂ힿல் நவலல வாய்ப்லப சபற்ற 6 சமட்ராஸ் ஐஐ羿 மாணவர்கலள, நி쟁வனங்கள் பணிக்埁 அமர்த்த ம쟁த்鏁ள்ளன. நல்ல நி쟁வனங்களில் நவலல 垿லடத்鏁ம், சகாநரானாவால் பணிலய இழக்埁ம் 鏁ர鎿쏁ஷ்டவாளிகளாக மாணவர்கள் மா잿뿁ள்ளனர். இ쏁ப்ꮿꟁம், சபா잿뾿யல் ꮿரிힿல் நாட்羿நலநய 믁தன்லம கல்ힿ நி쟁வனமாக சமட்ராஸ் ஐ.ஐ.羿. இ쏁ப்பதாக கல்ힿ அலமெ்ெகம் சதரிힿத்தள்ள鏁.

வளர்ந்த, வள쏁ம் நா翁கள் என பாரபட்ெம் பார்க்காமல் ஒட்翁சமாத்த உலகத்லத뿁ம் சகாநரானா லவரஸ் பா鎿த்鏁 வ쏁垿ற鏁. கடந்த 2 மாதங்க쿁க்埁ம் நமலாக இந்த லவரஸ் ஏற்ப翁த்鎿ய சகா翂ர தாக்埁தலால் வரலா쟁 காணாத பா鎿ப்ꯁ ஏற்பட்翁ள்ள鏁. 25 லட்ெம்நபர் உலகம் 믁폁வ鏁ம் சகாநரானா சதாற்쟁க்埁 ஆளா垿뿁ள்ளனர்.

உ뾿ரிழப்ꯁ ஒ쏁பக்கம் ஏற்பட்டா쯁ம், சபா쏁ளாதார பா鎿ப்ꯁகள் நகா羿க்கணக்கான மக்கலள 鏁யரத்鎿ல் ஆழ்த்鎿뿁ள்ள鏁. சகாநரானா தாக்கத்தால் லட்ெக்கணக்காநனார் நவலல뾿ழக்埁ம் அபாயம் உண்டா垿뿁ள்ள鏁.

நாட்羿நலநய அ鎿க நவலலவாய்ப்லப அளிக்埁ம் நம்ꮿக்லக 뮿க்க கல்ힿ நி쟁வனங்களாக ஐஐ羿 செயல்பட்翁 வ쏁垿ற鏁. இங்埁 ப羿ப்பவர்க쿁க்埁 100 ெதퟀதம் நவலல வாய்ப்ꯁ 垿லடக்埁ம் என உ쟁鎿யாக 埂றலாம். ஆனால் அங்埁埂ட சகாநரானா தாக்கத்லத ஏற்ப翁த்鎿뿁ள்ள鏁.

சென்லன ஐஐ羿뾿ல் ப羿த்த 6 மாணவர்கள் நகம்பஸ் இன்டர்ힿ뿂 믂லமாக நவலல வாய்ப்லப சபற்쟁ள்ளனர். ஆனால் சகாநரானா பா鎿ப்ꯁ காரணமாக அவர்கலள பணிக்埁 எ翁த்த நி쟁வனங்கள் , நவலல뾿ல் நெர்க்க ம쟁த்鏁 ힿட்டன. சகாநரானாவால் ஏற்பட்羿쏁க்埁ம் பா鎿ப்நப இதற்埁 காரணம் என்쟁 நி쟁வனங்கள் தரப்ꮿல் சதரிힿக்கப்ப翁垿ற鏁.

ஐஐ羿 믁ம்லப뾿ல் இ鏁நபான்ற நிலலலம ஏற்படힿல்லல. ஆனால் பணிக்埁 நெர்த்鏁க் சகாள்쿁ம் நடவ羿க்லக தள்ளி லவக்கப்பட்翁ள்ள鏁. ஐஐ羿 கퟁகாத்鎿뾿쯁ம் இநத நிலலலமதான் உள்ள鏁.

ஒட்翁சமாத்தமாக பார்க்埁ம்நபா鏁 ஐஐ羿뾿ல் ப羿த்த மாணவர்க쿁க்埁 உள்நா翁 மற்쟁ம் சவளி நா翁களில் நவலலவாய்ப்ꯁகள் ꮿரகாெமாக உள்ளசதன தகவல்கள் சதரிힿக்垿ன்றன.

ஐஐ羿 கퟁகாத்鎿뾿ல் நவலலக்埁 நதர்ퟁ செய்யப்பட்ட மாணவர்கள் , ퟀட்羿쮿쏁ந்鏁 பணிꯁரிய வாய்ப்ꯁ உள்ளதா என ஐஐ羿 நிர்வாகம் நி쟁வனங்களிடம் நபெ்毁வார்த்லத நடத்鎿 வ쏁垿ற鏁.

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: NDTV - Hindi Edition: Online Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin and Sumana Nandy Professor: Prof. CS Shankar Ram Headline: अथसव्यवथा पर िोरोना वायरस िी मार, IIT िे ग्रेजुएटों िे जॉब ऑफर ठंिे बस्ते मᴂ गए (IIT Students' Job Offers Revoked: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Placements) URL: https://khabar.ndtv.com/news/india/coronavirus-hits-the-economy-job-offers- of-iit-graduates-go-on-hold-2216449

अत्यडिक संक्रामक कोरोना वायरस महामारी ने दुडनया भर में 25 लाख से अडिक लोगों को संक्रडमत डकया है. इसका दुडनया की अथसव्यवस्था पर व्यापक असर पड़ा है. डवकास दर कम हो गई है, लाखों लोगों की नौकरी चली गई है. अब सामान्य खुशहाल हालात में लाए गए प्रस्तावों पर पुनडवसचार डकया जा रहा है. संक्रामक बीमारी ने भारत के प्रमुख संस्थानों - जैसे IIT और IIM के स्नातकों को भी नहीं बख्शा है. इन संस्थानों के ग्रेजुएटों को उ वेतन वाली नौकररयां डमलने की गारंटी होती है.

मद्रास के भारतीय प्रौद्योडगकी संस्थान (IIT) के छह छात्रों को नौकरी की पेशकश महामारी के चलते कंपडनयों ने डनरस्त कर दी है. इस संस्थान की रℂक डशक्षा मंत्रालय के सभी संस्थानों की श्रेणी और इंजीडनयररंग संस्थानों की श्रेणी में पहली है. कहा जाता है डक डवदेशों के डलए जॉब ऑफर रद्द नहीं ए हℂ.

आईआईटी मद्रास का कहना है डक कℂपस का डवडजट कर चुकीं 252 कंपडनयों ने 924 छात्रों को जॉब ऑफर डदए हℂ. संस्थान ने कहा है डक भती प्रडक्रया शैक्षडणक वषस के अंत तक जारी रहेगी. यह प्लेसमेंट डपछले साल ए 932 प्लेसमेंटों की तुलना में आठ कम हℂ.

इस बीच आईआईटी बॉम्बे ने यह भी कहा है डक जॉब ऑफर रद्द नहीं डकए गए हℂ, बक्टल्क कℂपस के डफर से खुलने तक प्लेसमेंट प्रडक्रया को स्थडगत कर डदया गया है.

उिर, गुवाहाटी के भारतीय प्रौद्योडगकी संस्थान ने अपने छात्रों को आश्वासन डदया है डक कोई भी रोजगार या इंटनसडशप ऑफर वापस नहीं डलया गया है, कुछ कंपडनयों ने ज्वाइडनंग की तारीख आगे बढ़ा दी है. संस्थान के छात्रों ने बताया डक "मौजूदा अडनडितता की क्टस्थडत में संस्थान इस बात से खुश है डक अब तक प्लेसमेंट पर कोई असर नहीं पड़ा है. कोई भी घरेलू या अंतरराष्ट्र ीय ऑफर वापस नहीं डलया गया है. हालांडक कुछ कंपडनयों ने ज्वाइंडनंग टाल दी है."

आईआईटी गुवाहाटी ने कहा है डक वह ग्रेजुएट छात्रों के डलए वकस फ्राम होम मॉिल पर काम करने की व्यवहाररकता का आकलन करने के डलए कंपडनयों से परामशस कर रहा है. आईआईटी बेंगलु셁 ने भी अपने ग्रेजुएटों को आश्वस्त करने के डलए एक बयान जारी डकया. उसने कहा है डक कंपडनयों ने वादा डकया है डक वे छात्रों से डकए गए अपने वादे का सम्मान करेंगी.

Date: 24th April 2020 Media: NDTV - English Edition: Electronic Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin Professor: Prof CS Shankar Ram Headline: IIT Madras placements URL: https://we.tl/t-hUR1rdaVrL

Date: 24th April 2020 Media: NDTV - Hindi Edition: Electronic Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin Professor: Prof CS Shankar Ram Headline: IIT Madras placements URL: https://we.tl/t-u7ITUfJPIl

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: NDTV - Tamil Edition: Online Journalist: J Sam Daniel Stalin Headline: IIT Madras placements URL: https://youtu.be/8fcCzvFzrdQ

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: News 18 - Bengali Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: কররোনোর থোবো! এবোর ববরেবি ককোম্পোবনর ক োটো কবতরনর চোকবর হোরোরেন ৬ আইআইটট পড য়ো (6 IIT Students' Job Offers Revoked: How COVID-19 Is Impacting Placements) URL: https://www.ndtv.com/bengali/6-iit-madras-students-job-offers-revoked-how- covid-19-is-impacting-placements-2216496

লকডাউণন ি স্কুল-কণলে! িােণি িােীণের মণিি স্কুলিুণির সংখিা: ইউণনণস্কা

Miscellaneous News

Date: 1st April 2020 Publication: The Hindu Business Line Edition: Online Journalist: N Ramakrishnan Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Tanuj Jhunjhunwala and Mr. Jagadeesh Kumar Headline: Start-ups: Dealing with disruptions is in their DNA URL: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/start-ups-dealing-with- disruptions-is-in-their-dna/article31218502.ece

Now, the nation-wide lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19 has left them fighting several battles K Ganesh is a serial entrepreneur, partner of Venture-builder platform GrowthStory and a promoter of ventures such as online grocer BigBasket, home healthcare company Portea Medical and online food delivery start-up FreshMenu. In his journey of more than two decades as an entrepreneur, he has faced several challenges and unexpected situations. But what he is facing now is unprecedented, in his own words.

The nation-wide lockdown imposed by the Centre to control the spread of coronavirus has left him fighting several battles, especially with regard to BigBasket. While the company’s operations team of the company has been busy with the day- to-day affairs, Ganesh has been the public face of BigBasket, replying to almost all consumer complaints on micro-blogging site Twitter phlegmatically. He hasn’t lost his sense of humour too.

For instance, when a customer in Chennai wanted to know when BigBasket would start operations in the city, Ganesh replied: “Yes, please. Believe me Chennai – Mylapore, Triplicane, Adayar are infested with my relatives who have hounded my 84- year old mother. Only half my problems are twitter escalations. Rest are from my wife and Chennai relatives.” He even posted pictures of himself peeling potatoes at home and added: “And for those asking, did get this from @bigbasket_com, had to wait four days for my slot, no promoters quota. Happy customer:)”

Date: 1st April 2020 Publication: The Times of India Edition: Bangalore / Hyderabad Page No: 7 Journalist: NA Headline: QNU: Using quantum physics for security

Date: 1st April 2020 Publication: Mint Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 1 & 16 Journalist: Seethalakshmi S Professor: Prof. S. Sadagopan (Former IIT-M professor) Headline: Corona impact: Chaos for class of 2020-21 as academic year likely to be delayed URL: https://www.livemint.com/education/news/corona-impact-chaos-for-class-of- 2020-21-as-academic-year-likely-to-be-delayed-11585683095700.html

Date: 1st April 2020 Publication: The Science Wire Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Indian Scientists Issue Statement on Pandemic, Call for ‘Cooperation’, ‘Humanity’ URL: https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/indian-scientists-statement-coronavirus- pandemic-government-research-vaccine-misinformation/

A group of scientists from around India have released a statement on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, outlining what they call their “considered opinion on the situation”, include “recommendations for public agencies, local authorities and the general public”, and finally “highlights how scientists are volunteering across the country to fight this pandemic”. They conclude writing, “We urge reasoned, logical planning and action, cooperation among all stakeholders and above all, compassion and humanity in dealing with one other in this time of grave humanitarian crisis.”

The statement is presented in full below, followed by the list of signatories. Some paragraphs have been broken up to render them more legible.

We, a group of scientists and members of the Indian academic community, welcome the decision of the Indian Government to implement a 21 day national lockdown to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The disease, also being referred to as COVID- 19 and spread by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), appears to have a significant mortality rate and has already afflicted close to half a million people worldwide and about 775 in India (as of March 28, 2020).

While the number of coronavirus afflicted persons in India is still relatively low, based on evidence from other countries, we believe that stringent and early mitigation strategies are key to avoid a full-scale, out-of-control pandemic in the nation – which is a distinct possibility. We urge all sections of the Indian population to respect the decisive, early action by the Indian Government, and cooperate in its implementation by diverse state government and central agencies.

Considering the possibility of an extended lockdown, disproportionate risks to certain care givers and essential service personnel, we urge the government and state agencies to introduce several measures to prepare the nation during the current lockdown phase. In the desirable situation of not having to prolong this lockdown, these measures will help the nation improve its preparedness for similar epidemics, pandemics or other natural disasters.

We recommend steps to enhance testing, contact-tracing, isolating and quarantining possible carriers. We recommend that all essential service providers, including but not limited to doctors, supporting health care personnel such as nurses, police personnel, emergency workers, supply chain personnel and government officials dealing with the pandemic in their organisations or in the field should be provided with appropriate safety gear. These personnel should be periodically tested for SARS-CoV-2 even if they are asymptomatic. We request the population to cooperate with and be compassionate towards these essential service providers to ensure these basic services are not disrupted.

There have been reports of vigilantism, misbehaviour and violence directed against essential service providers and individual citizens or families out to access emergency and essential services. We strongly discourage such vigilantism. Violence and excessive force must be shunned and compassionate action must be practiced while everyone adjusts to this unprecedented and unfamiliar situation. We, however, encourage increased vigilance by local police authorities to ensure the protection of essential supply chains and the rights of individuals to access essential services and emergency transport during the lockdown.

We thank the government for rolling out a package to daily wage earners, homeless, urban and the rural poor, etc., in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis. We recommend local government officials in different states and districts to constitute local task-forces to ensure a smooth supply chain pipeline for essential services such as food, grocery, medicine and shelter, particularly for the poorer sections of the society and stranded migrant workers.

We recommend that a national disaster-risk management plan be prepared and implemented in all states to test for the coronavirus and accommodate more patients. As already demonstrated, convention halls, empty hotels, enclosed stadiums may be quickly converted to set-up emergency isolation wards and temporary medical facilities. We recommend that testing facilities be rapidly enhanced to detect SARS-CoV-2 in every region of the country. Ideally, no primary health care centre should be more than 100 km away from a SARS-CoV-2 testing centre in the country. Maximum care must be taken to maintain large-scale water supply and sewerage systems. This will prevent the growth of other epidemics while dealing with this pandemic.

At this time when both governmental as well as individual decisions and actions must be based on well-established scientific norms, protocols, logic and reason, we urge the general public to not get influenced by any pseudoscientific proclamations about miracle cures, hoaxes and myths. We also urge individual citizens to not hoard medicines such as antibiotics. No individual should consume any controlled medicine swayed by media reports or social media messages. Medical attention and medicine must only be sought from qualified medical practitioners and authorised hospitals.

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: the Better Indian Edition: Online Journalist: Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk Headline: Testing Kits to Quarantine App: How 8 IITs Are Aiding India’s Fight Against COVID-19 URL: https://www.thebetterindia.com/222563/coronavirus-lockdown-india-covid-19- iit-innovation-ventilator-sanitiser-testing-kit-quarantine-app-ppe-nor41/

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Human Resource Development asked all the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) to prepare short and long term technological solutions that could help deal with the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic. Thus far, the various branches of the IITs have been involved in developing everything from cost- efficient hand sanitisers, testing kits, personal protective equipment to an app to monitor those violating quarantines and proposing cheaper alternatives to address real shortfalls in ventilators.

Given below is a quick round-up of some of things they have done so far:

IIT-Guwahati: PCR Machines, Hand Sanitisers, Robot Units, Drones

In the first few weeks of the global COVID-19 epidemic, the institute prepared hand sanitisers to its various departments and centres. It is currently on the verge of preparing around 5,000 bottles of sanitiser for the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and the Assam government. More importantly, the institute claims to have provided “two real-time PCR machines to GMCH for the diagnosis of the Coronavirus”.

These machines can analyse 2,000 samples over the course of 24 hours. “Furthermore, faculty members also have developed a PCR machine in-house which has been patented and is ready for commercialization whereas portable OFET sensors fabricated at the Institute could be integrated for COVID diagnosis,” claims the institute in a recently issued press release.

Going further, the institute is currently working on developing “robot-based drug/food carrying unit to work in isolation wards and robot-based screening units, large and high capacity autoclave machine, handheld temperature measuring units, full face shields, hospital beds, ventilators, medical waste disposal in the isolation wards, shower for disinfection…prototype protective gears with antiviral and superhydrophobic coatings.”

Meanwhile a group of students have developed a drone with an automated sprayer to sanitise large public spaces like parks, roads and footpaths to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This student group runs a startup called “Racerfly”, and they have approached the Assam and Uttarakhand government. What would otherwise take a day of work, this sprayer system can accomplish it in less than 15 minutes.

They are also on the verge of setting up an advanced BSL-III/IV laboratory for COVID- 19 analysis, which would help the entire Northeast region to test for the virus.

IIT-Delhi: Testing Kit, Infection Proof Fabric, Ventilator

At IIT-Delhi, researchers have developed a ‘probe-free detection assay’ for COVID- 19, which they believe can significantly bring down the cost of testing for COVID-19 and make it affordable for many citizens. At present, the National Institute of Virology in Pune is in the midst of validating this test kit on clinical samples.

Although the Centre has capped the price of COVID-19 tests by private laboratories at Rs 4,500, the researchers claim that they can perform the test at a much cheaper cost, although they have refused to comment on the cost difference at this juncture.

Speaking to the press, Professor Vivekanandan Permula, the lead member of the team, said, “Using comparative sequence analysis, we have identified unique regions in COVID-19. These unique regions are not present in other human coronaviruses providing an opportunity to specifically detect COVID-19. Once the NIV validates the assay, it can be quickly scaled up to meet the increasing need in our country.”

“This assay can be used as a qualitative (yes or no) assay without the need for extensive instrumentation. In addition, it can also quantitatively assess virus loads. We propose the use of this assay for specific and affordable high throughput screening of COVID 19,” added Parul Gupta and Prashant Pradhan, members of the team.

An IIT-Delhi incubated startup ‘Fabiosys Innovations’, has developed an infection- proof fabric that doctors and nurses could use to prevent hospital-acquired infections. “We take rolls of cotton fabric and treat it with a set of proprietary-developed chemicals under a set of particular reaction conditions, using the machinery already commonly available in textile industries. The fabric, after undergoing these processes, gains the powerful antimicrobial functionality,” Samrat Mukhopadhyay, a professor at the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering in IIT-Delhi, told PTI. This washable fabric can be stitched into uniforms for patients, doctors and nurses, besides bed sheets and curtains. The institute has collaborated with AIIMS-Delhi for a pilot run of this product.

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: Spotboye.com Edition: Online Journalist: Vicky Lalwani Student: Breasha Gupta Headline: Suniel Shetty: 'Super Excited To Mentor IITians Movement For Fitness And Positive Mind In These Testing Times'- EXCLUSIVE URL: https://www.spotboye.com/bollywood/news/suniel-shetty-super-excited-to- mentor-iitians-movement-for-fitness-and-positive-mind-in-these-testing-times- exclusive/5e846b066f059e6606af6c89

Suniel Shetty has always set fitness goals and worked for the betterment of the society. During this tough phase, when the world is hit by pandemic, the actor has found a way to encourage fitness and positive thinking staying indoors. Here's what he is up to.

Initiated by the IITs and supported by other ace Management institutes as well - the WIN India movement (Wellness Indoors NOW) aims to set goals and challenges on a daily, ongoing basis to not only exercise the mind but India’s physical fitness and nutritional needs as well. And Suniel has come forward to mentor the movement.

To tackle any situation from within the home using brain and body power and tackling daily fitness exercises, quizzes and more are the primary objective of the WIN India initiative - while simultaneously keeping us mentally fresh and reducing stress. It also aims to keep the mind and body happy and healthy.

This novel Indoor Wellness Campaign, unites the youth and the country to stay fit and fabulous.

“I am super excited to be part of an unbelievable movement initiated by the IITs across the country. A movement to stay fit & stay positive through these testing times,” said Suniel.

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: Bloomberg Quint Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: upGrad Appoints Former Byju’s Exec Arjun Mohan As India CEO URL: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/upgrad-appoints-former-byju-s- exec-arjun-mohan-as-india-ceo

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: Your Story Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Edtech startup upGrad appoints former BYJU's executive Arjun Mohan as India CEO URL: https://yourstory.com/2020/04/upgrad-appoints-former-byjus-exec-arjun- mohan-ceo

A former Chief Business Officer (CBO) of BYJU's, Mohan brings over a decade of experience in the edtech sector, and was one of the early employees of Think and Learn (which runs BYJU's), the statement said. Prior to BYJU's, he has worked with Titan Industries, Tata Motors, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd (TRIL), and Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts. "The current environment (because of COVID-19) is a net positive for online education. We have witnessed a rise in our leads with a spike of 50 percent, more than the usual. As we march forward and create new business benchmarks, we are excited to introduce the dynamic changes into our system to revitalise our success story," Kumar said. Founded in early 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh, upGrad offers online programmes in the areas of Data Science, Technology, Management, and MBA to working professionals. It has over 21,500 paid learners. Its programmes are designed and delivered in collaboration with universities like IIT Madras, IIIT-B, BITS Pilani, MICA, NMIMS Global Access, Duke CE, Deakin University, Liverpool John Moores University, among others. Earlier the company has also brought in Kushal Dev Kashyap from BYJU’s to head Direct Sales. As of May 2019, the company has a strength of over 400 employees, and plans to add 100+ employees in FY20.

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: The Times of India Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: upGrad appoints former Byju's exec Arjun Mohan as India CEO URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/upgrad-appoints- former-byjus-exec-arjun-mohan-as-india-ceo/articleshow/74931030.cms

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: The Statesman Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala Headline: Low-Cost Ventilator: PGIMER doctor accuses Mahindra & Mahindra of intellectual theft, breach of Patent Law URL: https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/chandigarh/low-cost-ventilator-pgimer- doctor-accuses-mahindra-mahindra-of-intellectual-theft-breach-of-patent-law- 1502872716.html

“We got revert mail from Anand Mahindra, the owner of Mahindra and Mahindra on the same day. He constituted a team of Mr. Goenka Pawan, Anish Shah, Rajesh Jejurikar and Ashok Jhunjhunwala (IIT Chennai) and they kept us in loop on email,” he said. (Image: Facebook/@deven.bhatt.31)

A doctor, Rajeev Chauhan, working with the government sector, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), on Wednesday alleged intellectual theft and breach of Patent Law by Mahindra & Mahindra by making a low-cost ventilator.

In an appeal to all the doctors, Dr Rajeev Chauhan, working as Assistant Professor in Department Of Anaesthesia, PGIMER Chandigarh, claimed he has been working on innovation since last one year and filed a patent for the same on 22 December 2019 to Indian Patent Authority. The Institute Ethics Committee has already given approval for this device on 15 October 2019 which is a sort of low-end ventilator.

He alleged Mahindra’s approached in the name of national emergency of COVID 19 (through emails) and patriotism and copied the innovation in 48 hours.

Date: 2nd April 2020 Publication: Quartz Edition: Online Journalist:Ananya Bhattacharya Headline: The IITs are stepping up to help India battle coronavirus URL: https://qz.com/india/1829905/the-iits-are-stepping-up-to-help-india-battle- coronavirus/

India’s hospitals are deprived of adequate resources to deal with a rapidly increasing number of Covid-19 cases. And trying to bridge this gap are the country’s top technology institutes.

Students and faculty at the many Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have joined the fight against coronavirus as the number of positive cases in the country surpassed 1,900 and the death toll, 50.

Some are producing personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers who have been forced to the frontlines with raincoats and helmets in the absence of proper protective gear. Up to 90 tonnes of PPE have been shipped to Serbia from India.

Meanwhile, others are developing low-cost ventilators, which is in short supply. The nation has only 30,000-50,000 ventilators which are “wholly inadequate,” according to the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP). Buying 10,000 units from China is not nearly enough. “We will need upwards of 700,000 and up to a million ventilators to address the peak (demand),” the health research organisation said.

Cheaper Covid-19 testing kits, alcohol-based sanitisers, and other solutions, small and big, are also in the works.

With a bunch of prototypes ready, these institutes are seeking the government’s help to tie up with public sector undertakings for large-scale manufacturing.

Date: 3rd April 2020 Publication: The Hindu Business Line Edition: Online Authored by: Mr. Ketan Yadava and Mr. Subhash S Headline: Business ethics during Covid-19 URL: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/business-ethics-during-covid- 19/article31237008.ece#

Even as governments, civil societies and businesses are trying their best to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, some sellers are not shying away from making money out of the suffering. Sample this: even though the Centre rightly banned the export of masks by mid-February, the country ran into a shortage of masks as the corona scare started peaking. There were reports that a few companies withdrew hand sanitizers from the market citing quality issues to create supply shortage and a spike in demand.

The demand for hand sanitizers saw a 10-fold jump last month, and prices increased almost three-fold. The rise in rates forced authorities to declare masks and sanitizers essential commodities for the next 100 days and invoke the Disaster Management Act to ensure price regulation and availability. Skyrocketing prices of hand-sanitizers on its website forced Amazon India to take a tough stand against predatory sellers. It sent a notice to sellers, citing its fair pricing policy: “Sell the largest section at the lowest price".

Similar incidents were reported from other sectors as well. When some private airport operators wanted to levy an additional fee on the flyers to make up for the loss during the outbreak, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) had to intervene to keep them at check. The stand by Amazon and IATA highlights the importance of having high moral and ethical business standards during a crisis.

For greater common good

A famous case study from Merck & Co, which is taught across business schools, offers a great example of business ethics. When the company found a cure for river blindness — an eye and skin disease caused by a worm — at a development cost of more than $100 million, it was evident that the market for this medicine existed in poor countries where patients could not afford it. But greater common good outweighed profits and Merck gave the drugs away for free.

Covid-19 offers such an opportunity. We have seen some businesses giving back to their employees during these difficult times. Darden Restaurants extended sick leave protection to 190,000 workers, including those paid by the hour. Unicharm, a healthcare products maker from Japan, ordered remote working for all its employees except the production factory workers so that masks could be produced. In India, the Tata Group has promised all its temporary and daily-wage earners full pay for March and April.

The gig economy has taken a big hit during the Covid-19 outbreak. Gig workers — food delivery personnel, etc. — enjoy no safety nets. Given that these workers work very close to the line, without sick leaves, earning low-wages and interacting with strangers at greater levels, they are more vulnerable to Covid-19. Most of these ‘delivery partners’ of multinational gig giants do not get medical coverage or health insurance. So, it is imperative for these companies to step up efforts to ensure the safety and health of their ‘partners’. The corporates must come forward now and be seen responsible.

In this context, the government’s recent move to consider the healthcare spends of private companies as CSR is a welcome move. Given the gravity of the situation, it does not matter whether such initiatives are done as a brand-building exercise or for social good. What matters is that more such efforts are needed to help the society and the needy to stay safe during the pandemic.

Ethics, not capitalism, will yield profits in the long run. When Roy Vagelos, CEO of Merck, was asked why the company invested so much into a project that makes no money, he responded: “People will remember” and will reciprocate. The world needs more such companies today to fight the global pandemic.

The writers are with IIT-Madras. The views are personal

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: The Indian Express Edition: Delhi/Mumbai/Faridabad/Gurgaon/Noida/Kolkata/Ahmedabad Page No: 1&4 Journalist: Ritika Chopra Headline: IIT, IIM class of 2020: Job offers in hand but up in the air, alarm bells on campus URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/iit-iim-job-offers-placement-season- coronavirus-outbreak-lockdown-6346524/

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: Yahoo India News Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT, IIM class of 2020: Job offers in hand but up in the air, alarm bells on campus URL: https://in.news.yahoo.com/iit-iim-class-2020-job-223937151.html

On Friday, IIT-Delhi director Ramgopal Rao issued a public appeal to all recruiters. Rao argued that since all IITs strictly follow the equal opportunity principle (one candidate, one job), withdrawing an offer would mean students “will end up not having any job right now”.

By March this year, the country’s top three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), had secured job offers for almost 4,000 students. Placement season is usually celebration time on campus but this year is different — than any other in recent history.

Earlier this week, a leading US-based consultancy rescinded its offer to 11 students across IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Madras and six at IIM-Calcutta this week. This is being seen as an early warning sign across campuses, putting as it does a question mark over jobs secured by the graduating batch of these top engineering and business schools. The COVID-19 lockdown and the looming economic distress, the IITs and IIMs fear, could force many more companies to rethink their placement offers.

The All IITs’ Placement Committee (AIPC), in anticipation of problems, has reached out to all companies (that visited for campus recruitment) requesting them not to rescind placement offers made for the academic year 2019-20.

“We all understand these are difficult times. But please be considerate to keep your promises. A few months of delay may be fine. Please do not complicate the lives of these brightest children in an already complex environment. If at all, they are capable of getting you out of recession faster than you can imagine,” he wrote in his appeal shared on social media.

On March 30, IIT-Kanpur director Abhay Karandikar assured support to graduating students affected by rescinded offers. “I understand that some companies have withdrawn job offers. We will arrange a special placement drive in July/August time frame once the situation returns to normal. We will also tap our vast network of IITK alumni, who, I am sure, will come forward to help all of you,” Karandikar wrote in his email to all students.

Whether Rao’s appeal and Karandikar’s assurance translates into anything substantive isn’t clear. Both IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur have decided to conduct an exclusive placement drive for students who have lost their job offers. “We are watchful of the situation and are aware of the possibility that because of COVID-19 (outbreak) some (companies) may withdraw their offers. A few companies have already come back to our placement office to discuss offers made by them. Given the (economic) situation, these companies don’t know what they should do,” said a senior professor of IIM-Bangalore.

To help students affected by the last-minute withdrawals, IIM-Bangalore will reach out to recruiters, who were interested in participating in the placement drive this year but were turned away, to check if they are still keen on hiring.

Incidentally, the US consulting firm that withdrew offers this week, was among the companies that participated in the placement drive at IIM-Bangalore this year.

“All of us are worried. It will be chaotic,” said the director of a second-generation IIM on the condition on anonymity, when asked whether he expects the pandemic to affect the final placement offers. “Moreover, if companies start cutting salaries (of existing employees), we’ll be fooling ourselves to think that our students will not be affected by those decisions.”

“In my experience, international companies, especially those based in the US, take such decisions (on withdrawing offers) faster. I am sure we will see an impact. Indian companies take a little longer to decide (on such matters). Some of our best students are picked up first by global forms. It will be ironic if such students are left behind,” this director added.

While the IITs have taken preemptive action and reached our to the employers requesting them not to withdraw offers, the IIMs are being more cautious. “I think it will be an overreach on our part to speak to companies at this moment,” said a senior officer in the administration of IIM-Ahmedabad.

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: The New Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: SV Krishna Chaitanya Alumni: Mr. Nikhil Gupta Headline: Over 600 volunteers from Research Scholars of India offer to join fight against COVID-19 URL: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/apr/03/over-600- volunteers-from-research-scholars-of-india-offer-to-join-fight-against-covid-19- 2125345.html

Over 600 volunteers from Research Scholars of India (RSI), a group representing the interests of research scholars, are offering to join the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Based on their experience working in prestigious scientific institutions across the country, the volunteers said they are willing to take part in research activities pertaining to the pandemic.

These scholars have expertise in many useful and highly demanding areas like molecular diagnosis, clinical sample handling, RNA isolation, cDNA preparation, RT- PCR, data analysis, synthesis of drugs and instrumental analysis etc.

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"Many of us are working actively on virology and coronaviruses as well. We have been handling complicated experiments on a very regular basis in our laboratories and are trained to handle the protocols and safety measures to handle viral cultures/isolates. It is our humble request to the government to allow our contribution towards finding remedies and measures to contain the viral infection of COVID-19. We also strongly believe that the contribution and experience gained herein will be beneficial towards the control and remediation of future microbial/viral outbreaks," said RSI National Representative and Coordinator Nikhil Gupta, who is also an alumnus of IIT Madras, to The New Indian Express.

Gupta said the RSI has written to Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Balram Bhargava, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan and Principal Scientific Adviser K Vijay Raghavan. "We are expecting a positive response. The health minister has responded saying ICMR was getting involved in an international research initiative."

"Since our scholars are distributed throughout the nation from north to south, we believe a truly coordinated effort can be instrumental towards early identification, prognosis and remediation of this virus. Meanwhile, research scholars from backgrounds other than chemistry/life sciences/medical sciences are also willing to provide their services in terms of mathematical modelling and statistical analysis, as well as ground report and field studies on vectors of transmission and community level studies," Gupta said. Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: The News Minute Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: CRED members to donate surgical masks to over 500,000 frontline professionals URL: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/cred-members-donate-surgical- masks-over-500000-frontline-professionals-121749

Members of credit-card payment platform CRED from across India have come together to contribute surgical masks to over 500,000 frontline professionals in the battle against COVID-19.

This effort, CRED says, will protect healthcare workers at primary health centres (PHCs), the first line of defence for vulnerable sections of society, including pharmacists, MHWs, and ASHA workers.

In the past two days, over 15,000 CRED members have come forward for this initiative by spending CRED coins that have gone towards protecting more than 100,000 frontliners. Their contributions will be channelled through online platform GiveIndia to Child Rights and You (CRY), which will distribute the masks on ground.

“We are humbled that all the members of CRED want to partner with us during this unprecedented emergency. Wanting to help those who are helping us by doing their job, highlights the strength of humanity. We hope by joining forces with organisations like CRED, we can make a real difference,” GiveIndia CEO Atul Satija said.

During the first phase of this project, CRY will work in four blocks to donate masks which include Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad and Panchkula covering 450 primary healthcare centres. As the movement grows, the initiative will expand to other locations in India.

“Currently, our country is going through an overwhelming crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, and we are committed to do everything to prevent and delay further spreading of the virus. Responding to the emerging needs of the hour, we would support healthcare workers like the ANMs, AWC workers, MHWs and ASHAs with an adequate supply of masks and gloves, to ensure that they are safe and well- protected while reaching out to serve children, expecting and lactating mothers in our intervention areas,” Puja Marwaha, CEO at CRY said.

“It’s truly reassuring to join hands with CRED as they come on board through GiveIndia initiative, with an aim to support healthcare workers. We do believe that, together, we will be able to address the challenge of limited supplies of personal protective equipment for the health workers in the worst affected of our intervention areas,” she added.

Several companies have been coming forward to donate masks, protective equipment and even sanitisers for those who need it the most.

IIT Madras incubated cleantech startup Air Ok Technologies too, has donated as many as 25,000 masks for doctors and other medical professionals at two of the biggest hospitals in the National Capital Region – Indraprastha Apollo Hospital at Jasola and Medanta – The Medicity in Gurugram. As part of the drive, Apollo hospital received 10,000 masks while Medanta got 15,000 masks.

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: Dainik Jagran Edition: Delhi Page No: 10 Journalist: NA Headline: Artificial intelligence: a great career option

Date: 4th April 2020 Publication: Jagran Josh Edition: Online Journalist: Arfa Javaid Alumni: Mr. Bob Balaram Headline: sitive India: IIT Madras alumnus Bob Balaram created chopper that will fly over Mars this Summer URL: https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/bob-balaram-1585923949-1

Indian Institute of Technology's alumnus Bob Balaram has created a space chopper which will fly over the Martian skies. This summer, the helicopter created by him will fly over Mars with NASA's Perseverance rover.

Bob Balaram, a robotics technologist, attended a knowledgeable conference, where Stanford professor Ilan Kroo spoke about a "mesicopter," a miniature airborne vehicle for Earth applications that was funded as a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts proposal.

Super Pink Moon 2020: What is April full moon, timings, how to watch Supermoon in India and more

After this proposal, Balaram with 35 years of experience in robotics technology, suggested a joint proposal with Stanford for a NASA Research Announcement submission and recruited AeroVironment, a little company in Simi Valley, California. Though the proposal got positive reviews, it wasn't selected for funding. However, it did yield a blade-rotor test under Mars conditions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.

Charles Elachi, the then director of JPL, attended a conference on the use of drones and helicopters. When Balaram returned to JPL, he inquired whether drones and helicopters could be used on Mars. Balaram's colleague mentioned his previous work in that area of research.

Elachi asked him to write down a replacement one for the competitive call for Mars 2020 investigation payloads. However, his helicopter idea wasn't selected as an instrument, but it was funded for technology development and risk reduction.

Balaram described the construction of the chopper as a wonderfully blank canvas, but it had numerous restrictions too. However, with the knowledge of Physics, he is very close to the mission.

Date: 5th April 2020 Publication: News D Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT, IIM class of 2020: Job offers in hand but up in the air, alarm bells on campus URL: https://newsd.in/iit-iim-2020-placements-how-covid-19-outbreak-and-looming- economy-affects-campus-job-offers/

A leading U.S. consulting firm cancelled its offer for 11 students at IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur, and IIT-Madras, as well as its offer for 6 students at IIM-Calcutta in the month of April 2020. This is regarded as an early warning for the entire campus because it is indeed a question mark for the work offered by the fresh graduates of these top engineering and business schools.

IIT and IIM are concerned that the COVID-19 lockdown and imminent economic difficulties may force more companies to reconsider their placement proposals. As of March this year, the country ’s top three Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have provided jobs for nearly 4,000 students. Usually, the employment season is a celebration time on campus, but this year is different from recent history.

All IITs’ Placement Committee (AIPC) has contacted all companies (visitors recruiting on-campus) to ask them not to cancel the placement offers for the 2019-20 school year.

On Friday, Ramgopal Rao, director of IIT-Delhi, issued a public appeal to all recruiters. Rao argues that since all IITs strictly follow the principle of equal opportunities (one candidate, one job), withdrawing an offer would mean students “will end up not having any job right now”.

On March 30, IIT-Kanpur director Abhay Karandikar assured support to graduating students affected by the cancelling of the placement offers. “I understand that some companies have withdrawn job offers. We will arrange a special placement drive in July/August time frame once the situation returns to normal. We will also tap our vast network of IITK alumni, who, I am sure, will come forward to help all of you,” Karandikar wrote in his email to all students.

To help students affected by last-minute dropouts, IIM-Bangalore will contact recruiters who are interested in participating in job placement activities this year but are turned away to check whether they are still keen to recruit.

By the way, the US consulting firm that withdrew offers this week is one of the companies participating in the IIM-Bangalore placement this year. “All of us are worried. It will be chaotic,” said the director of a second-generation IIM on the condition on anonymity, when asked if he hoped that the pandemic would affect the final placement. “Moreover, if companies start cutting salaries (of existing employees), we’ll be fooling ourselves to think that our students will not be affected by those decisions.”

Date: 5th April 2020 Publication: Business Standard Edition: Online Journalist: Virendra Singh Rawat Headline: IIT Kanpur developing 'swadeshi' face mask amid coronavirus outbreak URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/iit-kanpur- developing-swadeshi-face-mask-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-120040400739_1.html

Amid a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against the spreading coronavirus, a team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K), is developing a protective mask for frontline medical staff and common man alike.

The team is working on developing an indigenous face mask, which is equivalent to the most commonly used N95 mask.

Professor Tarun Gupta, IIT Kanpur, Civil Engineering department, said there was high demand for the N95 masks leading to its shortage for doctors, nurses and other health workers.

“Our team is developing the material for the ‘swadeshi’ face mask, which is better than N95 and is made available for mass scale production in the country to cater the high demand,” he said.

Gupta said N95 masks were largely being imported at steep prices, while there was challenge for ensuring their availability in the current circumstances.

The team of researchers comprises Prof Gupta, Prof J Ramkumar, Prof Saumyen Guha and IIT alumnus Sandip Patil.

The non-woven polypropylene mask based on 3-4 layer material is expected to offer the most effective protection against coronavirus and offering much lower resistance to air passage.

The researches have set up a filter testing rig, which is equipped with aerosol laser spectrometer. Gupta said the testing facility had been set up with limited resources, yet the results so far had been encouraging.

“We will be testing 10-15 different types of materials, some of which have been developed by our researchers, for the face mask and the final results would be known in a couple of days,” he added.

Recently, the central government had turned to the premier research institutions, including the IITs, for tech-enabled solutions to deal with the outbreak.

On March 30, union HRD secretary Amit Khare held a video conference with the directors of the various IITs and urged them to come up with roadmaps to combat the coronavirus and related medical exigencies related to the pandemic.

Last month, IIT Kanpur had announced that it would provide free online tutorials in Python to universities worldwide. Python is an interpreted high-level general-purpose programming language. The free online support would be provided through Prutor.ai, a proprietary suite developed at IIT-K.

Prutor, which offers specialised online courses, has already been adopted by IIT Mumbai, IIT Goa, IIT Madras and other leading institutions for teaching coding.

“Prutor.ai is a technology that is not available anywhere else, and IIT Kanpur would be happy to provide it to any university and college willing to adopt it. We want to teach coding to as many students as possible. If any company can share CSR funds then we can help accelerate this,” Dr Amey, who developed Prutor, said.

The Institute offered to make available lectures in indi and English to any college or university on request.

Date: 6th April 2020 Publication: Business Standard Edition: Mumbai / Delhi / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 1 & 5 Journalist: Gireesh Babu, Arnab Dutta, Samreen Ahmed and Avishek Rakshit Headline: Covid-19: Gartner revokes job offers at IIMs; IITs too witness cancellation URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/covid-19-gartner- revokes-job-offers-at-iims-iits-too-witness-cancellation-120040500850_1.html

Date: 6th April 2020 Publication: Business Standard - Hindi Edition: Delhi Page No: 3 Journalist: Gireesh Babu, Arnab Dutta, Samreen Ahmed and Avishek Rakshit Headline: Covid-19: Gartner revokes job offers at IIMs; IITs too witness cancellation

Date: 6th April 2020 Publication: Trinity Mirror Edition: Chennai Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Headline: 3D faceshield to protect from corona

Date: 6th April 2020 Publication: The Economic Times Edition: Delhi / Kolkata / Kochi Page No: 4 Journalist: Sreeradha Basu and Prachi Verma Headline: Job offers in hand, IIM & IIT grads stare at hazy future URL: https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/corporate/job-offers-in- hand-iim-iit-gr x

Date: 6th April 2020 Publication: The Economic Times - ET tech Edition: Online Journalist: Sreeradha Basu and Prachi Verma Headline: Job offers in hand, IIM & IIT grads stare at hazy future URL: https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/corporate/job-offers-in- hand-iim-iit-grads-stare-at-hazy-future/7 5001410

Weeks, and in some cases months, after landing lucrative offers on campus, students of the elite Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management are suddenly looking at an uncertain future ahead.

Institutes say while most companies till now have assured them about honouring job commitments and are looking at options like virtual onboarding or even moving foreign jobs to Indian locations temporarily, matters may take a more serious turn should the lockdown get extended.

Placement cells across top IITs and IIMs that ET spoke to said they are apprehensive that fallout could include postponement of joining dates, cut in salaries or in the worst- case scenario, even job offers being revoked. So far though, placement sources say, only Gartner, an US-headquartered research and advisory firm has revoked offers, but institutes are working on back-up plans.

Gartner did not reply to email queries sent by ET.

IIMs at Bangalore, Kozhikode, Ahmedabad and Indore among others said most companies so far have reassured them that offers would be honoured. "Even some companies with data privacy issues have agreed to get laptops couriered across; that will be done once the lockdown is lifted. We have even had a few big consulting firms offer to help students who might find themselves at a loose end," says U Dinesh Kumar, chair, career development services, IIM Bangalore.

Some companies have said they will try out work from home; some in the BFSI space have moved their positions back to India temporarily. Many are trying to onboard new hires virtually.

"We also understand the plight of companies considering the uncertainty now... there could be some delays too," said a placement official at IIM Indore.

At some IIMs that ET spoke to, some students are expecting more companies, apart from Gartner, to revoke offers.

"Many companies have communicated that they will honour the offers but have asked for some time," said Amit Karna,chair of placements committee at IIM Ahmedabad. IIM Kozhikode director Debashis Chatterjee says he does not expect to see a drastic shift in placements that have already happened. "Some offers may be deferred. But the planning for upcoming placements will be very different as jobs will shrink," he said.

While IIM Kozhikode, among others is in multiple scenario planning mode, IITs too are considering special placement drives in July/August for students who may have their offers revoked. IIT Delhi director V Ramgopal Rao recently shared a post on LinkedIn requesting corporates to be considerate while thinking of withdrawing job offers already made.

IIT Madras is trying to place students whose offers have been revoked by one company in other firms, said an institute placement source. Another old IIT confirmed that it would be reaching out to alumni and companies from less-affected sectors to place students who may be left without a job.

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The Times of India (clip attached) Edition: Chennai Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Headline: 792 register for Covid-19 ideathon URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/792-register-for-covid-19- ideathon/articleshow/75015698.cms

Date: 7th April 2020 Publication: The Indian Express Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Faridabad / Gurgaon / Noida Page No: 6 Journalist: Ritika Chopra Headline: COVID-19: Don’t withdraw job offers, HRD Minister appeals to campus recruiters URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/dont-withdraw-job-offers-hrd- minister-appeals-to-campus-recruiters-coronavirus-6350440/

Date: 8th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Career in Data Science in India: Courses, certifications, salary & future growth URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/career-in-data- science-in-india-courses-certification-salary-future-growth/articleshow/75023624.cms

Date: 8th April 2020 Media: Orissa Post Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Saurabh Sanyal Headline: Saurabh Sanyal takes over as the new Secretary General of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry URL: https://orissadiary.com/saurabh-sanyal-takes-over-as-the-new-secretary- general-of-phd-chamber-of-commerce-and-industry/

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomes Mr Saurabh Sanyal, as the new Secretary General. Mr Sanyal has taken over the charge from 6th April, 2020 and this will be his second stint serving as the Secretary General of the esteemed organisation, where he served from May 2013 till October 2018.

Prior to taking over as the SG of PHD Chamber, Mr Sanyal was serving as the Deputy Secretary General at ASSOCHAM from February 2019 till date.

Col Saurabh Sanyal (retd) is a professional with over 39 years of diverse experience in Armed forces ( Corps of Engineers) and corporate sector. Mr Sanyal is a Mechanical Engineer and a post graduate from IIT Madras along with an MSc in Disaster Mitigation and MBA from IMT Gaziabad.

He has participated in active service in Counter Insurgency Operations Rakshak, Parakram (Kargill), Bajrang and Rhino at J&K and Northeast. He is the recipient of the Chief of the Army Staff Commendation in 1994 while serving at Kupwara ( J&K) and again in 2005 at Tezpur (Assam) for distinguished Service of the highest order. He is a keen sportsman and an avid golfer.

SG’s Leadership cultivates the foundation of culture to empower employees to achieve the Chamber’s mission and realize how vital each of their contributions is to furthering these goals.

During his last stint with PHDCCI, Col Sanyal, took various progressive measures for the growth of PHDCCI and established new departments and committees to strengthen the policy advocacy role of PHDCCI not only at Centre of State level but also at international level such as he organised delegations to enhance India’s trade and investments trajectory towards East Asian economies and Middle East countries, said Dr. D K Aggarwal, President PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Under the dynamic leadership of Mr Saurabh Sanyal, we are assured to forge ahead together as a team towards a brighter future, once again, said Dr. Aggarwal

Date: 8th April 2020 Media: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam Headline: Health-tech Startup HELYXON’s Digital Solutions Can Help in Effective Monitoring of COVID 19 Patients & Better Manage the Pandemic URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/health-tech-startup-helyxons-digital-solutions- can-help-in-effective-monitoring-of-covid-19-patients-better-manage-the- pandemic/

OXY 2, a real time temperature, heart rate and oxygen saturation monitoring device can be used to monitor thousands of patients – at home or hospital – without the need for regular physical monitoring at one tenth of the cost. AI-based biosensor device ’98.6 Fever Watch’ performs continuous temperature monitoring digitally and alerts doctors or attendants about any abnormal spike in temperature. The devices can be effectively used to remotely monitor COVID 19 patients, & are being actively sought by healthcare providers in North America, Middle East and Far East countries New Delhi, April 7, 2020: With the COVID 19 outbreak overwhelming healthcare systems across the globe and creating an acute need for effective new age technologies for constant monitoring of patients, Indian IoT startup HELYXON’s AI- enabled devices are garnering attention as viable solutions for better management of the pandemic.

Constant and accurate monitoring of vital parameters of patients or suspects are critical components of managing coronavirus patients. Vital health parameters such as temperature, oxygen saturation as well as heart rate offer critical clues to the health condition of the patient and any aberration demands medical intervention. However, when the outbreak grows requiring remote monitoring of huge number of suspected people, people at home or in isolation, monitoring and updating these parameters for all patients becomes a challenge. Here is where HELYXON’s digital solutions – ‘OXY- 2’ and ‘98.6 Fever Watch’ offer an effective way to manage the outbreak.

HELYXON is a health tech startup that works in close collaboration with IITM’s Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC) in IIT Madras Research Park, which works under the leadership of Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam. Oxy-2 and 98.6 FeverWatch are two deep tech innovations developed by HELYXON jointly with HTIC.

Helyxon is a pioneer in innovating such as devices and is best placed to provide this technology to India and the world ineffectively combating this health crisis. In fact, health authorities in North America, Middle East and Far East countries are actively seeking to deploy HELYXON’s technology in a major way in combating the COVID 19 pandemic.

“With number of patients increasing exponentially and flooding hospitals, this is an overwhelming time for healthcare providers across the globe. What they need are appropriate technological interventions to help ease processes by automating as many mundane, critical and high-risk tasks, as possible. COVID 19 patients, particularly those deemed high risk, need continuous monitoring of temperature, heart rate as well as oxygen saturation as these parameters can oscillate suddenly and dangerously. Our AI-backed biosensor devices reliably captures trend of such parameters and alerts the remote medical staff or an attendant in case of any anomaly. This allows immediate intervention when needed; plus it also cuts down the work of regular manual monitoring which is in any case impossible for thousands of patients,” says Mr. Vijai Shankar Raja, Founder, HELYXON.

Headquartered in Chennai, HELYXON was founded by serial entrepreneur Vijai in 2014. HELYXON’s biosensor devices are designed in such a way that they enable the user to place them at the right places of the body and connect to a mobile device through Bluetooth. And the stream of data is further pushed to a cloud computer server through GSM or Wifi. The data from the server can be accessed by any authorized person especially the care providers across the globe easily using a mobile device or a Laptop. Similar path is used for the escalation of alerts raised out of breaches to reach the other end live.

Date: 9th April 2020 Media: APN News Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam Headline: National News_1 million and counting – COVID cases surge worldwide: Need for technology to overcome physical barriers URL: https://www.apnnews.com/national-news_1-million-and-counting-covid-cases- surge-worldwide-need-for-technology-to-overcome-physical-barriers/

With the COVID 19 outbreak overwhelming healthcare systems across the globe and creating an acute need for effective new age technologies for constant monitoring of patients, Indian IoT startup HELYXON’s AI-enabled devices are garnering attention as viable solutions for better management of the pandemic.

Helyxon is a pioneer in innovating such as devices and is best placed to provide this technology to India and the world in effectively combating this health crisis. In fact, health authorities in the North America, Middle East and Far East countries are actively seeking to deploy HELYXON’s technology in a major way in combating the COVID 19 pandemic.

“The digital solutions are very useful for intensive care settings as well as for monitoring at- home patients suffering from not just Covid 19 but also conditions as serious as IMR and MMR and as simple as seasonal flu, which require constant support through sustained engagement. As India prepares for a surge in Covid-19 cases, it is important that hospitals and healthcare systems adopt technology-backed solutions to better manage the outbreak. Our digital systems OXY-2 and 98.6 Fever Watch offer viable solutions to manage large numbers of patients in both hospital and home settings. They can also be very helpful in helping effectively manage quarantined patients of Covid 19,” said Sridhar Ranganathan, CEO, Helyxon.

The devices keep a track of the spikes and aberrations and whenever an anomaly is observed a system generated call alert is made to the user while an automatic escalation to the local provider is done. The devices are equipped with Geo-fencing tracking alerts to keep a track of patients’ movements and ensure isolated patients do not violate the provisions of quarantine.

The 98.6 Fever Watch is particularly useful for unwell children in whom continuous monitoring of temperature is a vital parameter in disease management. The compact watch weighs 5 gm and is 1.5 inches in diameter. It connects to hospital systems or personal systems or devices and keeps transferring patient information to a central dashboard.

Globally, hospitals and healthcare providers are co-opting such technologies to improve healthcare efficiency in these testing times. To cite an instance, the Hong Kong Health Authority has recommended that all people who test positive as well as those under quarantine must wear a biosensor device that constantly measures oxygen levels, respiratory patterns, heart rate and temperature. Indian hospitals treating patients must also incorporate such technologies to boost their preparedness and efficiency.

Date: 9th April 2020 Media: Express Health Care Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam Headline: Helyxon’s digital solutions – ‘OXY-2’ and ‘98.6 Fever Watch’ offer effective way to manage COVID-19 URL: https://www.expresshealthcare.in/news/helyxons-digital-solutions-oxy-2-and-98- 6-fever-watch-offer-effective-way-to-manage-covid-19/418362/

Helyxon’s AI-enabled devices keep track of spikes, aberrations and whenever anomaly is observed system generated call alert is made to user while automatic escalation to local provider is done

With the COVID-19 outbreak overwhelming healthcare systems across the globe and creating an acute need for effective new age technologies for constant monitoring of patients, Helyxon’s AI-enabled devices are viable solutions for better management of the pandemic.

However, when the outbreak grows requiring remote monitoring of huge number of suspected people, people at home or in isolation, monitoring and updating these parameters for all patients becomes a challenge. Helyxon’s digital solutions – ‘OXY-2’ and ‘98.6 Fever Watch’ offer an effective way to manage the outbreak.

Helyxon works in close collaboration with IITM’s Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre (HTIC) in IIT Madras Research Park, which works under the leadership of Prof Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam. Oxy-2 and 98.6 FeverWatch are two deep tech innovations developed by Helyxon jointly with HTIC.

“With number of patients increasing exponentially and flooding hospitals, this is an overwhelming time for healthcare providers across the globe. What they need are appropriate technological interventions to help ease processes by automating as many mundane, critical and high-risk tasks, as possible. COVID-19 patients, particularly those deemed high risk, need continuous monitoring of temperature, heart rate as well as oxygen saturation as these parameters can oscillate suddenly and dangerously. Our AI-backed biosensor devices reliably captures trend of such parameters and alerts the remote medical staff or an attendant in case of any anomaly. This allows immediate intervention when needed; plus it also cuts down the work of regular manual monitoring which is in any case impossible for thousands of patients,” says Vijai Shankar Raja, Founder, Helyxon.

“The digital solutions are very useful for intensive care settings as well as for monitoring at- home patients suffering from not just COVID-19 but also conditions as serious as IMR and MMR and as simple as seasonal flu, which require constant support through sustained engagement. As India prepares for a surge in COVID-19 cases, it is important that hospitals and healthcare systems adopt technology-backed solutions to better manage the outbreak. Our digital systems OXY-2 and 98.6 Fever Watch offer viable solutions to manage large numbers of patients in both hospital and home settings. They can also be very helpful in helping effectively manage quarantined patients of COVID-19,” said Sridhar Ranganathan, CEO, Helyxon.

Date: 9th April 2020 Media: The Quint Edition: Online Journalist: Meghnad Bose Headline: Corona Fallout: IITs & IIMs Worried Job Offers May Be Revoked URL: https://www.thequint.com/news/education/coronavirus-fallout-iits-and-iims- worried-that-more-job-offers-may-be-revoked

Till just a few months ago, job placements at India’s premier tech and business schools seemed to be defying the economic slowdown.

A falling GDP growth rate, rising levels of unemployment and other economic woes did on impact the generous job offers at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). News reports referred to the institutes as ‘slowdown-proof’.

Yet, just months later, the coronavirus crisis has risked upending things in an unprecedented manner. fbtw The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought in uncertainty about the placement offers which were handed out to students over the past few months. IIT and IIM administrations are now frantically appealing to companies to not withdraw the job offers they had made.

The economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis has raised concerns about whether companies will follow through on placement offers made to students at IITs and IIMs. The economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis has raised concerns about whether companies will follow through on placement offers made to students at IITs and IIMs. (Photo: Altered by The Quint) Also Read : ‘1.5 Million Jobs Could Be Lost’: Restaurant Owners Seek Govt Aid

The First Signs of Worry In what is being seen as possibly the first signs of a greater impending crisis, Gartner, a US-based research and advisory firm, has revoked its job offers to several IIM students. The firm has rescinded internship offers as well.

Prof Amit Karna, Chairperson of Placements at IIM Ahmedabad, confirmed the revocations by Gartner in a conversation with The Quint, “Jobs offers made to three students were revoked by the firm.” IIM Calcutta has also reportedly confirmed Gartner withdrawing its offers. fbtw IIT Delhi, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur have seen at least one recruiter revoking job offers, reported Business Standard. “We will try to create new opportunities for affected students after the lockdown period,” said C S Shankar Ram, convener of the All IITs Placement Committee (AIPC) and placement advisor to IIT Madras.

Date: 8th April 2020 Media: Malaimurasu TV Edition: Electronic Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. SR Chakravarthy Headline: சென்னன ககோட்翂ர்ꯁரம் மோர்சகட் ப埁鎿뾿ை் ஐ.ஐ.羿 மோணவர்களின் உதힿ뿁டன் 垿쏁뮿 நோ殿னி 毁ரங்கப்போனத ('Disinfectant Tunnel' set up at Kotturpuram with IIT Madras' students help) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMFc-QcwYZM&feature=youtu.be

Date: 9th April 2020 Media: Aadhan TV Edition: Electronic Journalist: NA Headline: ம쮿ퟁ ힿனை மோஸ்க் தயோரிக்埁ம் ஐஐ羿 மோணவர்கள் (IIT students produce affordable price mask) URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMLMcrj47T8

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Trinity Mirror Edition: Chennai Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Satya Chakravarthy Headline: IVRS on corona info launched

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: ANI Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Combating COVID-19 : Centre, TN govt launch Aarogya Setu IVRS URL: https://www.aninews.in/news/national/general-news/combating-covid-19- centre-tn-govt-launch-aarogya-setu-ivrs20200409163230/

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Business Standard Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Combating COVID-19 : Centre, TN govt launch Aarogya Setu IVRS URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/combating-covid-19- centre-tn-govt-launch-aarogya-setu-ivrs-120040901012_1.html

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said that an initiative named "Aarogya Setu IVRS" was launched today in association with Tamil Nadu government to provide all assistance, including healthcare and guidance, to the citizens for tackling COVID- 19.

"Today, an initiative has been launched by the government of India and Tamil Nadu- - Aarogya Setu IVRS. It will activate once you give a missed call and identify your location. All options for assistance, healthcare and guidance will be available," Prasad told ANI here.

He said that this was set up in association with Centre, Tamil Nadu government and IIT Madras.

"Other states will also launch the initiative soon. Arogya Setu and Arogya Setu IVRS will run in combination to help affected and those with symptoms of coronavirus," Prasad said.

The Central government had earlier also launched the Aarogya Setu app to connect health services with the people of the country to fight against the menace of coronavirus.

Date: 11th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh / Kolkata / Ahmedabad Page No: 1 & 2 Journalist: Karishma Mehrotra Professor: Prof. V Kamakoti Headline: Behind Aarogya Setu app push At least 50 people must download for impact URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/coronavirus/behind-aarogya-setu-app-push- at-least-50-people-must-download-for-impact-6357121/

Date: 11th April 2020 Media: The Financial Express Edition: Online Journalist: Karishma Mehrotra Headline: Behind Aarogya Setu app push: ‘At least 50% people must download for impact’ URL: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/behind-aarogya-setu- app-push-at-least-50-people-must-download-for-impact/1925379/

WITH 2.1 crore downloads, the Aarogya Setu mobile app — to track and alert those who physically come close to COVID-19 cases — is being aggressively promoted by the government at the highest level because its effectiveness depends on at least half the population registering as users, according to its developers and experts.

RELATED NEWS Techsplained @FE: What is edge computing? How it works and why we need itTechsplained @FE: What is edge computing? How it works and why we need itHow Edge computing is fast becoming a base for most IoT devicesHow Edge computing is fast becoming a base for most IoT devices On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers, including Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal, were part of a high-level group that attended a presentation by the app’s developers. Since then, the Prime Minister and Union Ministers have tweeted about the app. The HRD and Rail Ministries have sent out advisories urging students, teachers and employees, and their family members, to download it. And banks are sending alerts to account-holders.

The app, which is owned by the government and supported by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), was developed by a joint team of official entities such as NITI Aayog and tech industry volunteers, who also help manage it. The first line of code was written by March 19, and the app launched on April 2 after a security audit conducted by IIT-Madras and a tech consulting firm.

Date: 11th April 2020 Media: Deccan Herald Edition: Bangalore Page No: 5 Journalist: ETB Sivapriyan Headline: Chennai hostels to be converted into quarantine facilities URL: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/south/chennai-hostels-to-be- converted-into-quarantine-facilities-823647.html

Date: 11th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Delhi / Noida / Faridabad Page No: 15 Journalist: Aprajita Sharad Student: Mr. Pranav Pawar Headline: Covid-19 puts placements in limbo

Date: 10th April 2020 Media: Dinamani Edition: Chennai Page: No 2 Journalist: NA Headline: Low cost testing equipment and masks for COVID-19

Date: 11th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: Vaishali Vijaykumar Headline: Beat the boredom URL: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/apr/11/beat-the- boredom-2128478.html

Technical skills Several online platforms have made their courses and webinars, free and available to all. Pluralsight is one such. Free interactive video sessions will be offered until this month-end. Some of the courses offered are python, JavaScript, Java, C#, web development and mobile development. There are multiple sub-courses within each course and the number of hours is mentioned on the website.For details, visit: pluralsight.com

Academic allure It’s not often that you get to take up courses in an array of subjects from top schools abroad for free. The Ivy League Schools — Penn, Columbia, Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, Cornell, Brown and Princeton — has made around 450 certificate courses available free of cost. The topics are categorised under personal development, health and medicine, humanities, education and training, social science and art. For details,visit:class central.com

Kids’ corner Learn from home’ has been the new catchphrase since schools and colleges shut down. BYJU’s is simplifying your daily lessons by offering free online classes on its learning app. All you have to do is pick a topic and reserve a seat. The classes are available for students from classes 4-12. There are video lessons, live sessions and revision sessions. For details, visit: byjus.com

Life skills Udemy has released the Udemy Free Resource Center — a curated collection of more than 150 free courses to help students learn new skills during the lockdown. Here, individual learners and leaders can find key resources about adapting to working from home, hunting for a job, staying active and maintainingbalance while spending time at home. For details, visit: Udemy.com

For the joy of baking This is the perfect time to don your apron and the chef hat, and step into the kitchen. Smriti’s Special, started by Smriti Iyer, is offering online baking classes. Expect egg-free, traditional, diabeticfriendly, cream cakes, jams and spreads. Each category has a syllabus and flavours covered under that. The price differs based on the topic. Five out of the 14 courses are being offered for free during the lockdown. These courses are easy and require minimum ingredients. Check out their website for more. For details, visit: smritisspecial.in

Get tech smart Guvi, an incubated company by IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad is offering free webinars for 30 days until April 15. There will be two sessions — 11 am and 3 pm. The idea behind this is to help students and professionals add soft skills to their resumes. The video sessions address topics such as how to build your LinkedIn profile and increase your reach, blockchain and cryptocurrency, building blogs and other digital marketing skills. From April 1, they also have 10 paid courses on language and programming that’s available at an offer price. There is also plenty of video content on their YouTube channel in regional languages. For details, visit: www.guvi.io/ webinar

Corona check Scientists who’re part of AACC Learning have come up with a course on COVID- 19. With rumours floating about the Internet, it is easy for anyone to be misinformed. This free course will cover aspects such as the origin of the disease, how it is transmitted, complications, diagnosis and prevention. The module is available for healthcare and non-healthcare professionals. According to the website, more than 70,000 people have received their certificates after the completion of course. For details, visit: aacc.org

Drawing delights Colours have the ability to transport us to another world. Deep Blue Stories is organising a 20-day art course with Bhagwan Shankar Chavan, an abstract artist who lives and works out of Cholamandal Artists Village. There will be 10-15 sessions. The first batch started on April 5 and the next one is expected to start by April 13. “There will be only 10-15 members per session to ensure quality learning. They will be taught the basics of drawing, intermediate drawing, and watercolours. We feel art can help us cope with the current situation. Participants can always practice during free time,” says, Deepthi Chavan, founder of Deep Blue Stories. The classes will be held daily from 4 pm-5 pm. Fee is Rs 10,000. For details, call: 9488672158/ 9449055647

Mind matters One Future Collective, a Mumbai-based NGO has put together online certificate courses to help people cope with various aspects of the pandemic and other mental health problems. There are weekly and monthly courses. The topics include mental health and crisis management, queer sexual health and pleasure, and introduction to feminist lawyering among many. “These are our regular courses that have been moved online. About 25 per cent of the fee we receive will be donated to relief funds. We’re ready to help applicants with scholarship,” says Vandita Morarka, founder. Timing depends on the course. The fee per course is `3,500. For details, visit: bit.ly/events_ofc or onefuturecollective.org

Play it write Crea-Shakthi believes that creating art is the best way to fight the boredom that comes with the lockdown. The theatre club is organising a free online playwright workshop for children aged 5-14. The oneon- one classes began on March 27 and is expected to go on till April 20. “We have around 100 registrations. Assignments are sent through e-mail. Kids are encouraged to come up with interesting characters and stories. We attend to their doubts through WhatsApp and video calls if need be. The original stories penned by kids will be compiled into a book by the end of the session. They’ve been actively participating and giving the best,” says Yugesh RV, head of contents, Crea-Shakthi. For details, call 9940865718 or visit: books@ creashakthi.com Date: 12th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 3 Journalist: Ragu Raman Professor: Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi and Prof. M S Shivakumar Headline: Corpn seeks to use classrooms, hostels as isolation facilities

Date: 12th April 2020 Media: The Pioneer Edition: Online Journalist: Shalini Saxena Headline: GADGETS go viral URL: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/sunday-edition/gadgets-go-viral.html

A tunnel that disinfects people before they enter a market, a locket that beeps if a person breaches the six-foot Lakshman rekha of the wearer, a UVC LED mop to sanitise homes, a robot to minimise doctor-patient contact and a surveillance system to track the infected — the non-medical community is just as busy trying to save lives from Coronavirus. A report by SHALINI SAKSENA

The doctors and nurses are busy treating COVID-19 patients. Away from hospitals, entrepreneurs, IITs and even school students are busy giving their ideas wings to come up with gadgets that will keep people safe and healthy during and after the epidemic. Their motto: Prevention is better than cure.

D Venkatesh, an entrepreneur from Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, who runs a water treatment business (WTT Technology Services India Pvt Ltd), is one such person. Even though Venkatesh was staying home because his factory is shut, it didn’t stop him and his friends from talking about the Coronavirus impact. Long phone chats led him to explore options through which he could contribute. It was not until March 29, 2020 that he finally decided to do something about it.

“It was a Sunday. I had not stepped out of the house since the lockdown was announced. We needed some household items and went to the market. The scene shocked me. It looked like a mela. There must have been over 1,000 people at the farmers’ market in total disregard to social distancing. I had seen a tunnel structure on YouTube spraying people in Turkey with a disinfectant using the humidifying method. That fascinated me and got me thinking. Next day, on Monday, I opened my factory and worked on a tunnel that suited us. On March 31, 2020, the 16-foot tunnel was ready,” Venkatesh says.

Making the structure was easy but what came next, to figure out how to spray the disinfectant on the people was tricky. The tunnel uses one of the two disinfectants — hypochlorite and Chlorine. “I had started my career working with an Italian company and hence the attitude that human safety comes first. I had to ensure that the spray didn’t affect the eyes, nose and skin. This meant that no water droplets touched the skin. I made a system with a pump of 70 bar pressure with tiny holes of three microns. With such high pressure and tiny holes, the solution of water and hypochlorite becomes a mist. Another challenge was to ensure that the mist covered the entire human body — from hands to feet,” Venkatesh tells you.

The test was done in the local market after Venkatesh managed to speak with the Collector who gave him the go-ahead. He used hypochlorite with a PPM of 0.5, what is used in swimming pools. Venkatesh also had to ensure that this misty disinfectant actually killed the virus and people didn’t carry it with them. So, people needed to raise their hands with palms out when they walked through the tunnel. Just like one has to take a shower after a swim, a shower after the tunnel walk is also must after one gets home. But Venkatesh was not sure how many people would actually do so, hence the low PPM.

“It is judicious to shower once you are home. The contact time inside the tunnel is three seconds —enough to kill the virus but not harmful to humans if they don’t shower. There is also a reason why I kept the tunnel that long. I know that people don’t have the time or patience to stand in a queue. The 16-foot tunnel means that there is a steady flow of people doing away with long queues,” Venkatesh explains.

Since his test run on April 1, 2020, Venkatesh has been busy and has sold 50 such tunnels that cost Rs 85,000 each to various cities, including Bengaluru, Kochi, Calicut and Hyderabad. His idea was to make five such tunnels and donate them. But the overwhelming response that his invention got ensured that he is working long hours to make many more. He is getting queries from mall owners, the Railways and cinema hall owners. He is also getting calls from Ministers, Collectors and MLAs.

Up North, 2,845 km away, a team at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Phagwara, Punjab, has been busy trying to find answers on how to ensure social distancing. Prabin Kumar Das, a BTech student (Electronics Communication and Engineering) at the university, along with his professors, has developed an IoT device — Kawachh — to promote safe social distancing. The device, a pendant, vibrates and glows in case someone breaches the user’s safe space of a metre. Not only that, the device is equipped with a handwash reminder that beeps every 30 minutes as well as a temperature sensor that alerts via an SMS in case their body temperature crosses the prescribed limit.

Dr Lovi Raj Gupta, Executive Dean of Science and Technology, LPU, tells you that, at present, there are three pressing issues to COVID-19. First, to maintain distance. Second, to wash and sanitise hands. Third, and most important, to monitor one’s health.

“People forget to maintain social distancing with family and friends. The battery- operated device helps on all three counts. It gives an alert after a specific time to wash hands and beeps if the one-metre distance is breached. The device also keeps a record of one’s health because we know it is not possible for people to monitor their temperature every few hours. To get an alert on one’s health, one needs to pair it with a device like one would do with a Fitbit,” Gupta explains.

He also tells you that they realised the Coronavirus doesn’t discriminate and it was necessary to keep the cost low. Building the prototype cost the team approximately Rs 500. Gupta and his team hope once the lockdown opens, they will be able to introduce this locket at a cost of Rs 400.

It is not just the safety of masses that is in question here. Several doctors too, who had been working with COVID-19 cases, fell prey to the virus. In order to keep the medical staff safe, three students — two from KIIT World School in Pitampura and one from Modern School, Barakhamba Road in the Capital, have come up with an innovative idea.

Saurav Maheshkar of Class XII, Nishant Chandna of Class X and Aditya Dubey have conceptualised, designed and built the robot — Prithvi — a battery operated prototype, a programmable board and basic motors at a cost less than Rs 5,000. Due to the lockdown, the trio had to make the bot with cardboard. However, when it goes for mass production, the bot would require a sturdier built. The aim here is to reduce contact between healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients.

Maheshkar tells you that the idea came after their principal asked students to come up Corona fighters. “The robot is meant to deliver food and medicine to those in quarantine. It can be programmed to go to the patient deliver food, medicine and if the person under quarantine wants, he can speak with his family via video conferencing. We have used — arduino controller — openly available chips that people use to make codes with motors to run the bot with a 25-volt battery that can run for an hour of continuous work. One can increase the battery volt to increase the working hours,” Maheshkar says. The three are now looking for help from universities to better their bot. Interestingly, Maheshkar and Chandna met Dubey at an activist meet to protest against the rising air pollution levels in New Delhi, last year.

Chandna tells you that there were some challenges even though this was not the first bot they had built for the healthcare sector. “The challenge came when I had to make the body. I had to use cardboard. We have been working on robotics for the last two-three years. Our team had won the nationals — we had earlier made a bot for the physically challenged. But this bot has been modified keeping in mind the virus patients. It took me around two weeks to complete the bot,” Chandna says.

Then there is the problem of keeping track of those people who have recovered from COVID-19 but their movement needs to be restricted. To meet this challenge, start-ups and entrepreneurs from IIT Roorkee have come up with a surveillance system. Raven Eye, an incubated start-up founded by Professor Kamal Jain, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee, has developed a system to fight COVID-19 through a tracking mobile application. Using geo-fencing technology, the system generates alerts if any individual violates quarantine.

There are some in-built guards against hacking. In case the network is not available, the app will send an alert through SMS. In case the phone is switched off, it will send a message to the main server. If the person steps beyond the Lakshman rekha, it will send a message. If the person tries to delete the app, it will send a message. “In no case can the person try to side-step the system which we have been using in tracking vehicles even before GPS came to India. So, tracking COVID-19 patients will not be a big task. The surveillance system is a plug-and-play device which allows tracking with an accuracy of +/- 5 metres through notifications at two, 10 or 20 seconds. Besides live tracking, the administrator can view the entire movement history of an individual,” Jain says.

The IIT Roorkee has also developed a low-cost portable ventilator. Named Prana- vayu, the closed-loop ventilator has been developed in collaboration with AIIMS, Rishikesh, and is equipped with state-of-the-art features. The manufacturing cost per ventilator is estimated at Rs 25,000.

Helyxon, a health tech start-up that works in close collaboration with IIT Madras Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre, has come with AI-enabled devices for better management of the pandemic. Vital health parametres like temperature, oxygen saturation as well as heart rate offer critical clues to the health condition of the patient and this can be done via two digital solutions – OXY-2 and 98.6 Fever Watch priced at Rs 5,799 and Rs 2,499, respectively. “The AI-backed biosensor devices reliably capture trend of parametres like temperature and alerts the remote medical staff or an attendant in case of anomaly. This allows immediate intervention when needed. It also cuts down the work of regular manual monitoring which is, in any case, impossible for thousands of patients,” Vijai Shankar Raja, founder, Helyxon, says.

In the North-East, the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati has developed a low- cost UVC LED-based disinfectant system for surfaces. Dr Senthilmurugan Subbiah, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, says that the aim is to disinfect surfaces — be it homes, hospitals or malls and even water. “This system works the same way a vacuum cleaner works. It has wheels at the bottom and one needs to move it to clean the floor. There is a velocity at which it needs to move. Anything faster and it won’t work. A certain area needs to be exposed for 30 seconds for the UVC LED light to kill the virus at the dosage that has been pre-set,” explains Subbiah whose team had started working on the mop back in mid-February.

The normal UV rays can damage the eyes, but this device will stop working the minute one lifts it from the floor. The idea is to protect people from the harmful rays. The rechargeable in-built battery-operated system will have variants depending on where it has to be used. Unlike for home where the mop will be manual, the ones for commercial areas will be automated and programmed to go wherever necessary. The team is also in the process of making a device that can be used to clean doorknobs. The team ains at ensuring that the device is not expensive by keeping the cost under Rs 1,000.

“The COVID-19 is protein-based with RNA and DNA. The UVC LED system interchanges the structure of the protein. Once its changed, it is more or less dead. If 36 Joules of a dose is given to a certain surface, it kills 90 per cent of the virus sitting on it. This mop gives 4-log dose killing 99.99 per cent of the virus. Whatever is left will not harm,” Subbiah says.

HACK THE CRISIS

It was one of its kind online hackathon in India to discover non-medical solutions to stop the spread of tOVID-19. It saw huge participation with over 2,300 registrations and close to 15,000 participants from across India and overseas. Over 300 top teams presented their innovative ideas with a pre-recorded video pitch via webinar. Out of the 300 submissions, 30 of them topped the Mentor Board and top 10 Leader Jury Board.

Gayatri Chhabria, Pune FLO member tells you that they aim to strengthen and bolster fight against COVID-19 for India. "It inspired by an event in the second week of March 2020 where a hackathon was organised and invited non-medical staff to come up with ideas to tackle COVID-19. Payal Rajpal, South Asia head Robotex International and I approached Ritu Prakash Chhabria, chairperson, FLO Pune Chapter who gave us go ahead. We partnered with Garage 48 a private company based out of Europe which handled the backend of the hackathon for us. We also support of many ministries like Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Make in India, MyGov, MEITY Start-up Hub, Maharashtra State Innovation Society and Ministry of Skill and Entrepreneurship, Science and Technology Park to name a few. We have now been invited for a global hackathon to represent India," Chhabria says.

The kill zone

It has become imperative to identify technological opportunities and find unique solutions to contain or at least mitigate the chances of spread of COVID-19. Log 9 Materials Pvt Ltd., a Bengaluru-headquartered nanotechnology start-up, has come up with an innovative, first-of-its-kind product -- CoronaOven -- that makes use of UVC light (having wavelength of 253.7 nm) in order to disinfect surfaces from germs including bacteria and viruses.

The system is lightweight and portable disinfection chamber (20 litres volume) designed to kill Coronovirus. What makes the product stand out is its ability to kill virus/pathogens within 10 minutes from the time the object is placed inside the chamber for undergoing disinfection.

Akshay Singhal, founder-CEO, Log9 Materials tells you that that the product has been specifically designed keeping in mind the cell structure and characteristics of the Coronavirus. "We were able to create this product and conduct simulations for the same within a couple weeks. Not only does the CoronaOven provide accurate and necessary energy via multi-focal UVC radiation on each point on the surface on an object to be disinfected/sterilised, but also guarantees 100 per cent destruction of the Coronovirus and other harmful microorganisms. It is a scalable and cost-effective solution built with easily available materials, and is as simple to use like a normal microwave," Singhal says.

The principle on which it works is simple. Once a specific intensity of UVC light is exposed to Covid-19 virus, it penetrates the virus shell, reaches its RNA strand making a permanent alteration in its RNA structure, which renders the virus incapable of infecting or replicating inside a live cell.

Date: 13th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Bangalore / Kolkata / Kochi Page No: 9 Journalist: Kritika Suneja Headline: IITs to Help extiles Get Back on Track URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/garments-/- textiles/iits-to-help-textiles-get-back-on-track/articleshow/75112217.cms

Date: 13th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: Pushpa Narayan Headline: Why TN has to do more with less URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/why-tamil-nadu-has-to-do- more-with-less/articleshow/75114082.cms

Date: 13th April 2020 Media: DT Next Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Hurdles aplenty for Indian contact tracing app URL: https://www.dtnext.in/News/National/2020/04/13065840/1224816/Hurdles- aplenty-for-Indian-contact-tracing-app.vpf

The government-owned app is supported by the National Informatics Centre and developed by a team of organisations, including NITI Aayog, volunteers from the technology sector (the Ibibo group) and IIT-Madras, which helped conduct a security audit on the app. The Centre has been putting its collective might behind promoting the app, as its efficacy can bear fruit only if at least half of India’s population gets on board and registers as users.

The scope and challenges lying ahead of this exercise are nothing short of gargantuan. For starters, 50 per cent of the country’s 1.3 bn strong population, i.e. 650 mn people need to be onboarded, either in the smartphone avatar of the app or in its feature phone variant, which is on the anvil. As per industry estimates, India’s smartphone user base currently stands at about 500 mn users. This means the app needs to be downloaded by 50 times as many people, as those who have downloaded it over the past two weeks since it was launched. There is also the question of the speed at which the masses adopt the app and consequentially help build the contact tracing network that the government has set its sights on.

The World Health Organization had only last week corrected its report saying there was no community transmission in India and that the country came under the ‘cluster of cases’ category. With the lockdown likely to be extended till the end of the month, and colour codes being assigned to various zones, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hinted at the possibility of using the app as an e-pass to facilitate travel during this time. China has a similar model in place where users scan codes before boarding buses, trains or entering airports, offices and housing complexes.

But there are concerns regarding state surveillance, privacy, and even human rights violations that are now being raised as countries adopt desperate measures to deal with the pandemic. Last Saturday, South Korea’s Prime Minister said people who violate quarantine orders will be required to wear tracking wristbands. Security experts have also cautioned against using the data collected, for any other purpose apart from health monitoring or COVID-19 contact tracing. Only a few months ago, India’s Personal Data Protection Bill had come under fire for permitting law enforcement agencies to access personal data of users without consent for ‘reasonable purposes.’

For a nation, where arguably more than half the population falls beyond the margins of contact tracing, what the app needs to accomplish must be done in a breathless race against time.

Date: 13th April 2020 Media: The Financial Express Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 11 Journalist: Sajan C Kumar Headline: Helyxon: Combating the Covid-19 pandemic, digitally URL: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/technology/helyxon-combating- the-covid-19-pandemic-digitally/1926176/

Date: 13th April 2020 Media: Yahoo.com Edition: Online Journalist: Arnab Mitra Headline: As IITs, IIMs focus more on professional courses, drop-out rate declines URL: https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/iits-iims-focus-more-professional- 065356195.html

The drop-out rates in IITs declined significantly

In the last five years, there was a significant decline in the drop-out rates at national institutes like Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs), Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs). The drop-out rates in IITs in 2015-16 was 1626 (2.25 per cent) which went down to 910 (0.68 per cent) in 2019-20.

While in IIMs, it was 1.04 per cent in 2015-16, which was reduced to 0.78 per cent in 2019-20, as per the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) data. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in his written reply to Lok Sabha stated, "This has been achieved by taking a number of corrective measures to minimise dropouts, which includes the appointment of advisors to monitor the academic progress of students and peer assisted learning."

According to IIT-Delhi director V Ramgopal Rao, the improvement in the dropout rate is due to various measures taken by them including classes on professional courses, English language, peer-supported learning, better campus placements. "Of the dropouts, most left as they could not follow classes as teachers teach in English. Keeping that in mind, IITs started classes on English language in 2019 for students who lack fluency. This helped them and many scored better in the second year than their first semester," the director commented.

Explained | In higher education, dropout rates decline in last five years

The institute also approached the senior students to conduct sessions, which included doubt clearance classes by various batches for those who could not perform well in the classes. Meanwhile, when it comes to the postgraduate (PG) level, the dropout rate -- which is always higher than undergraduate (UG) -- is due to candidates getting better placements and not having co-ordination with GATE-based recruitment system, the director mentioned.

To combat this, the institute has suggested the formation of a Common Offer Acceptance Portal (COAP), to centralise the GATE-based recruitment process. The common window (COAP) will connect the PSUs, candidates and the institute; this system helped institutes like IIT-Madras to reduce the dropout rate in postgraduate level, the official informed.

Every year 15-20 per cent of M.Tech seats across Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) go vacant. The IITs blame the unsynchronised admission process by the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) as the major reason behind the dropouts.

In the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-Madras), where there were no dropouts since 2018, the institute's scenario changed when it started providing professional courses to students which benefited them in getting jobs. "We provide classes on various topics related to industries, and language skills. The students update themselves with various pros and cons of the industries, and English"," said the official from IIT-Madras admission cell.

The university has also started the Common Offer Acceptance Portal (COAP) to check the dropout rates among MTech students. "The COAP portal provides a common platform which connects students, the institute and recruiters. The recruiters get the opportunity to submit the offer letter, and the candidates get the opportunity to revert in a timely manner," the official noted.

Date: 13th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: Arnab Mitra Headline: As IITs, IIMs focus more on professional courses, drop-out rate declines URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/as-iits-iims-focuses-more-on- professional-courses-drop-out-rates-declined-iitd-ac-in-iitm-ac-in-6355263/

The drop-out rates in IITs declined significantly

Date: 14th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Delhi / Faridabad / Gurgaon / Noida / Pune Page No: 5 Journalist: Arun Janardhanan Professor: Prof. M Suresh Babu Headline: Let people go to work in limited way: Tamil Nadu industry, farm sectors URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/coronavirus-let-people-go-to-work-in- limited-way-tamil-nadu-industry-farm-sectors-6361252/

Date: 14th April 2020 Media: News Yahoo Edition: Online Journalist: Arun Janardhanan Professor: Prof. M Suresh Babu Headline: Let people go to work in limited way: Tamil Nadu industry, farm sectors URL: https://in.news.yahoo.com/let-people-limited-way-tamil-195317271.html

Health secretary Beela Rajesh said that of the 98 cases, seven patients are on ventilator support. (File Photo/Representational)

With Tamil Nadu confirming 98 COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the total number in the state to 1,173, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced an extension of the lockdown until April 30.

Health secretary Beela Rajesh said that of the 98 cases, seven patients are on ventilator support.

As part of the decision to extend the lockdown, the government said all card holders and migrant workers would be eligible for free ration. The government has also assured a second instalment of Rs 1,000 for unorganised workers, including construction labourers.

While the government's position on the lockdown is in tune with that of most other states, farmers and small-time industrialists The Indian Express spoke to said the shutdown in the state should have been combined with measures to protect livelihoods.

"While the government has promised Rs 20 extra for a day's work for NREGA workers, it won't reach too many people as there is no work," said P R Pandian, leader of the Tamil Nadu Federation of All Farmers' Association, one of the largest farm collectives. https://youtu.be/bZlG3Z0_hPw

While the government has been taking measures to ensure the supply of essentials, including vegetables and fruits, to major neighbourhoods in the state, experts say the horticulture sector needs more attention.

Manjai V Mohan, leader of the South India Tea Cultivators' Association based in Nilgiris, said that while fruits and vegetables cultivated in March have been sold, "what about next month? Where are the workers? The government says that people shouldn't step out of their homes. Unless you let farm workers reach their workplaces, you will not get anything to eat next month".

Mohan said the tea industry has suffered an estimated Rs 200 crore in losses in the last 15 days. "Leaves had been plucked, processed in factories and were ready for auction when the lockdown was declared. Now tea export has been stopped too. Unless the state procures and sells tea products through PDS shops and allows our workers to work in whatever restricted way in the estates, there is going to be a huge crisis," he said.

M Suresh Babu, who teaches economics at IIT-Madras, said any extension of lockdown should address harvesting and post-harvesting issues.

Proposing an arrangement of letting farm and industries work "on alternate days with restricted number of people", he said, "The government can come out a plan like, say, a team works for nine days, with three such groups in a farm or factory taking turns to work."

Saying the government must pay attention to smaller towns, Babu said, "The government has taken several measures to ensure supplies reach big cities like Coimbatore and Chennai. Rural parts also have a way of sustaining themselves. It's the smaller towns like Dindigul and Namakkal that need a helping hand." He added that Namakkal's poultry industry can be given a boost if the government distributes eggs through PDS.

Theni, one of the prominent hubs for banana cultivation, has been hit too.

"Over four lakh hectares of banana cultivation is going through a crisis. After all, it is a perishable commodity," said L Abbas, a banana farmer in Theni.

The fisheries sector also faces a huge crisis with operations at major harbours such as Kasimedu in Chennai coming to a halt.

While Tamil Nadu has allowed meat shops to stay open, though with restrictions, meat prices have skyrocketed due to limited supply from neighbouring states.

"We used to get meat from Andhra. Due to the lockdown, trucks are stuck and prices have gone up," said R Anbu Devan, a meat merchant in Chennai.

Representatives of two prominent automobile players, with factories in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, said they have approached the government for permission to open factories for three days a week.

"Unless we are able to reopen all ancillary units and factories in a phased manner, a comeback may be difficult after a month-long gap," said one of the sources.

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Chennai / Hyderabad Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Headline: Safe quarantine spaces created to accommodate 10,000 across city URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/safe-quarantine-spaces- created-to-accommodate-10000-across-city/article31342369.ece

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Online Journalist: Sanchita Mishra Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Arnab Kumar Headline: Aarogya Setu has 50 million users in 13 days, beats ‘Pokémon GO’ record URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/aarogya-setu-has-50-million-users- in-13-days-beats-pokemon-go-record/story-4Q25vLRuezSuzPA8jboLEL.html

India’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu (health bridge) became the world’s fastest growing mobile app on Tuesday night with 50 million users in 13 days. Of these, 11 million were in a single day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to download the application in his third televised address to the nation, according to the Niti Aayog team lead.

With 99% downloads on Android, Aarogya Setu overtook Nintendo’s popular augmented reality game ‘Pokémon GO’s’ record of 50 million downloads on Google Play in 19 days in 2016.

The downloads surged from 39 million to a peak of 100,000 per minute on Tuesday morning following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 10 am address.

By midnight, 50 million people had downloaded the mobile app launched on April 2 to alert users who are at risk of exposure to Covid-19 infection over the past two weeks.

“We expected to touch 50 million users by April 15, but reached it a day before. There were 11 million downloads on Tuesday, which is the sharpest single-day surge in installations since the app was launched. PM Modi’s announcement led to a spike that peaked at 100,000 registrations per minute in the afternoon, at around 20,000 downloads per minute on average over the rest of the day,” said Arnab Kumar, programme director of frontier technologies, Niti Aayog. He is part of the team that developed the app.

Apart from reaching out and informing users about their potential risk of infection, this “privacy-first by design” app also shares safe behaviours and updated medical advisories about Covid-19 containment in 11 languages.

Singapore has a similar mobile app called TraceTogether for contact tracing. It was launched three weeks ago, and Google and Apple are collaborating to launch a similar contact-tracing initiative.

All these apps convert personal and location data into a random anonymous device identification that is saved for two weeks in your phone and the phones of other users within bluetooth range. That usually comes to around 10 metres for most smartphones.

The data is uploaded on the server and shared with health authorities only when either the user tests positive or is at high risk of infection. It then alerts all other users in the contact chain.

How it works is fairly simple.

“Imagine someone, say Person A, leaves by train to work and then comes back home again. All is well. The next day this person reports symptoms and requires a test, which turns out to be positive, then there is an instant signal which goes to all those people who were close to that person during commuting, at work or at home. And the people who were a little far away are warned,” said Dr K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific adviser to the central government.

This is important because one should not only consider those who are showing symptoms.

“If we do nothing, then this is what happens. A person who is asymptomatic but positive becomes symptomatic, infects other people who also later on become symptomatic and the epidemic spreads. Now if you quarantine everyone who has symptoms and nothing else, then you will be quarantining only some of the suspects. There will always be the asymptomatic people who will still be spreading the disease. You don’t know who they are and it’s not possible to test the entire population,” he said.

“You need to have a way of focusing as this asymptomatic person travels over various distances, over time. We need to find out who all were close to that person and warn the others after the person is identified as positive. This is what Aarogya Setu also does. It will find the symptomatic person and also identify all the asymptomatic people around them in the past few days and advise them too,” said Dr VijayRaghavan.

“Aarogya Setu gives each user a unique anonymous device identification on registration. The linking of the device identification to a mobile number is a one-time process and is then encrypted and secured in a server,” said Kumar.

All future interactions from device to server are done through encrypted device identification detail and no personal information is exchanged after the one-time registration.

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: Rupashree Mishra and Apoorva Abhay Uzagare Headline: Sharpen your skills online URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/sharpen-your-skills-online-1666857- 2020-04-14

Work from home is here to stay, longer than predicted. Thus, as experts advise, it is prudent to explore learning opportunities in digital classrooms, which are otherwise not feasible during work days. Several institutes and web portals are offering digital courses across disciplines that can be looked at for skill enhancement. From business development, IT and software to design and photography, there is a plethora of options. For instance, one of the most reliable sources for digital learning is the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), a project funded by the Government of India’s MHRD. Initiated by seven IITs (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee) along with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2003, the portal aims to provide quality education by creating web and video courses in all major branches of engineering and physical sciences at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and management courses at the postgraduate level.

Date: 15th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Time for IITs to pay back to nation, they are on the job URL: https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/technology/time-for- iits-to-pay-back-to-nation-they-are-on-the-job/75134199

Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), India's premier academic institutions, spend around Rs5.2 lakh per student per annum to impart the best of the education and the graduates are always in high demand both in the country as well as abroad. They hit headlines quite often for the fat packages they are offered and most of them, over 70 percent, always prefer landing a job in the USA or UK and a majority are inclined to settle there forever.

However, the coronavirus pandemic must have made them think about the country and now they are on a 'giving back mode'.

With a lot of research and development taking place to find solutions to the various problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic, 10 IITs are working in seven areas surrounding coronavirus on 190 research projects. Of these, IIT-Hyderabad is working on projects in six problem areas, with an aim to find effective remedy to any of the problems related to coronavirus. The projects are aimed to be completed in a timeframe ranging from one week to a year.

Of the total 23 IITs across the country, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Roorkie, IIT-Guahati, IIT-Varanasi and IIT-Hyderabad are playing key role in the current research. While some projects are funded by the institutions themselves, other major projects are being funded by the science and technology department of the union government.

The central government's medical and health department has assigned some of the projects which are aimed at finding medical remedies.

Though Hyderabad IIT was established only 10 years ago, it has been actively involved in research and development right from the beginning. The institution has developed a portable ventilator named Jeevan Light, which is being used on an experimental basis on Covid-19 patients.

The ongoing projects include - development of DC motor to run ventilators, thermal scanners, lithium batteries to run various medical equipment, efficient drug manufacturing process, study of women's problems that came up due to changed working conditions during the lockdown, and the study and analysis of the pattern of spread of coronavirus using data analytics.

Warangal NIT professors get role in Coronavirus research

Two professors from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Warangal got key roles in national level research to find solutions to coronavirus.

Biotechnology professors Dr. Sowmya Lipsarat and Dr. Kishant Kumar have been included in a project on computing consortium aimed at finding solutions to curb the spread of coronavirus in different temperature levels. A global committee of scientists has selected researchers on the basis of their proven merit in their respective areas of study.

"We are elated and feel privileged for being included in this research team," said Kishant. We will give our best to add to the team's contribution and this is an opportunity to give back to the country, he said.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: The Statesman Edition: Delhi / Kolkata Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Headline: With 38 new +ve cases No. rises to 1242 in TN

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: The Quint Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Chennai’s Trade Centre Turned Into a COVID-19 Quarantine Ward URL: https://www.thequint.com/coronavirus/nandambakkam-trade-alandur- chennai-550-bed-quarantine-facility-coronavirus-covid

Rows and rows of white cubicles edged with fluorescent tube lights - These are not office cubicles in a large tech firm but isolation beds at a quarantine facility opened newly in Chennai. A large convention hall in Chennai that has hosted several trade fairs so far has now been converted into a quarantine facility in the city.

Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Commissioner G Prakash on Tuesday launched a 550-bed institutional quarantine ward at Nandambakkam Trade Centre Complex in Alandur neighbourhood of the city. Reportedly, the biggest in the country is a facility in Jaisalmer that has 700-bedded capacity.

Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner launched a 550-bed institutional quarantine ward at Nandambakkam Trade Centre Complex in Alandur neighbourhood of the city. Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner launched a 550-bed institutional quarantine ward at Nandambakkam Trade Centre Complex in Alandur neighbourhood of the city. The exhibit hall has been modified into a quarantine ward with isolated cubicles to treat patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. As on 14 April, Chennai has 211 COVID-19 cases, the highest in the state. These makeshift cubicles come equipped with steel- framed beds, electrical fittings, a table and a couple of plastic chairs.

Speaking to reporters, Prakash said that at places like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, Anna University and other major government institutions in the city, 10,000-bed facilities will be set up. Those with fever and cough will be isolated at these facilities, he added.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: The News Minutes Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Trade centre in Chennai converted into a 550-bed COVID-19 quarantine ward URL: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/trade-centre-chennai-converted-550- bed-covid-19-quarantine-ward-122629

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Gadgets 360 - NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Prabhakar Thakur Professor: Prof. V Kamakoti Headline: Aarogya Setu App: PMO Forms Committee to Upgrade COVID-19 Tracker App URL: https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/aarogya-setu-app-pmo-forms- committee-to-upgrade-covid-19-tracker-app-2212215

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has reportedly constituted a high-level committee comprising of tech leaders and officials to upgrade the Aarogya Setu app that is India's official contract tracing app meant to help fight the coronavirus crisis. The committee has already begun meeting 3-4 times a week and the PMO is also involved, PTI reported citing sources. The app that was launched on April 2 helps users in checking if they have been in contact with a coronavirus infected person. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other members of his cabinet have been regularly asking citizens to download this app.

According to PTI, Principal Scientific Advisor Vijay Raghavan is leading the committee. Its members include both officials and tech leaders. Some of the members are IT secretary Ajay Sawhney, TRAI chairman R S Sharma, Telecom secretary Anshu Prakash, Tata Group chairperson N Chandrasekaran, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra, Tech Mahindra Group CEO CP Gurnani, IIT Madras professor V Kamakoti, and Google Maps India's Lalitesh Katragadda.

The committee set up by PMO is aiming to trace and restrict the movement of patients and those under quarantine using artificial intelligence and GPS. The updated app will also inform the needy about daily needs distribution centres in their locality. Remote healthcare facility will be made available on the app as well.

Aarogya Setu App Hits 5 Crore Users in 13 Days of Launch The committee is also working to make the app available not just on smartphones but on all types of phones.

Aarogya Setu app has witnessed over 5 crore downloads within 2 weeks of launch. It has been promoted aggressively by the government as a means to fight the spread of COVID-19 disease.

However, the app has also raised some privacy concerns as the contact tracing app not only uses Bluetooth data but also asks for GPS data that may reveal users' precise location.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Daily Hunt Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. V Kamakoti Headline: Aarogya Setu App: PMO Forms Committee to Upgrade COVID-19 Tracker App URL: https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/live+uttarpradesh+english-epaper- liveupen/aarogya+setu+app+pmo+forms+committee+to+upgrade+covid+19+track er+app-newsid-178418032

Aarogya Setu App Hits 5 Crore Users in 13 Days of Launch The committee is also working to make the app available not just on smartphones but on all types of phones.

Aarogya Setu app has witnessed over 5 crore downloads within 2 weeks of launch. It has been promoted aggressively by the government as a means to fight the spread of COVID-19 disease.

However, the app has also raised some privacy concerns as the contact tracing app not only uses Bluetooth data but also asks for GPS data that may reveal users' precise location.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: India Times Post Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: PMO Forms Committee to Upgrade Aarogya Setu App URL: https://indiatimespost.com/pmo-forms-committee-to-upgrade-aarogya-setu- app/

Aarogya Setu App Hits 5 Crore Users in 13 Days of Launch The committee is also working to make the app available not just on smartphones but on all types of phones.

Aarogya Setu app has witnessed over 5 crore downloads within 2 weeks of launch. It has been promoted aggressively by the government as a means to fight the spread of COVID-19 disease.

However, the app has also raised some privacy concerns as the contact tracing app not only uses Bluetooth data but also asks for GPS data that may reveal users' precise location.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Your Story Edition: Online Journalist: Vishal Krishna Headline: As doors open for online education amid coronavirus lockdown, upGrad prepares for growth URL: https://yourstory.com/2020/04/online-education-learning-coronavirus- lockdown-upgrad

Mayank: upGrad has a longstanding relationship with its renowned national and international university partners like NMIMS, IIT-B, IIT-Madras, Duke CE, and LJMU to name a few. To impart transnational education opportunities to Indian working professionals, we recently brought Global MBA programmes to India, in association with Australia’s Deakin University and UK’s Liverpool Business School. The given programmes eventually got popular in the following month, and around 50,000 working professionals and individuals have shown interest so far. (Edited by Kanishk Singh)

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Shihabudeen Kunju S. Headline: Top IITs, Including IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai, IIT Madras, To Boycott Times Rankings This Year URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/leading-iits-not-to-participate-in-times- higher-education-world-university-rankings-this-year-2212973

Leading Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have decided to not to participate in any of the Times Higher Education (THE) rankings this year. IITs including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee have decided not to participate in any of the THE World University Rankings this year (2020), according to an official release from premier engineering and technological institutes. The release says the decision has been made after the THE failed to convince the IITs of the parameters and transparency in their ranking process.

"These IITs will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," the release said.

According to sources, the premier IITs like IIT Mumbai, IIT Delhi and IIT Madras have decided to withdraw from the ranking after some “much younger IITs have been ranked higher recently” in THE rankings.

“This is one of the issues we cited with the discussions happened with THE officials. There should also be clarity on ratio and the calculation being used for the ranking.

“With the THE, there are a lot of grey areas. While, QS and NIRF are using latest data regarding research, students and other parameters, the THE is asking for two year old data,” the source told NDTV.

“The IITs are yet to get convincing answers from the THE and until then we have decided to not to participate in the process,” an IIT official said.

THE is one of the leading provider of higher education data for the world's research- led institutions.

For the World University Rankings, THE's in-house data team ranks more than 2,000 institutions worldwide, with one million data points analysed across 2,600 institutions in 93 countries.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Outlook Edition: Online Journalist: PTI Headline: 7 IITs to boycott Times Higher Education World University Rankings, say not satisfied with transparency of process URL: https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/7-iits-to-boycott-times-higher- education-world-university-rankings-say-not-satisfied-with-transparency-of- process/1804560

"These IITs will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," the release said.

“This is one of the issues we cited with the discussions happened with THE officials. There should also be clarity on ratio and the calculation being used for the ranking.

“The IITs are yet to get convincing answers from the THE and until then we have decided to not to participate in the process,” an IIT official said.

THE is one of the leading provider of higher education data for the world's research- led institutions.

For the World University Rankings, THE's in-house data team ranks more than 2,000 institutions worldwide, with one million data points analysed across 2,600 institutions in 93 countries.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: 7 IITs to boycott Times Higher Education World University Rankings, say not satisfied with transparency of process URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/7-iits-to-boycott-times-higher- education-world-university-rankings-say-not-satisfied-with-transparency-of- process/story-QfBObRL9SpIy2wa5PtphxK.html

"These IITs will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," the release said.

“This is one of the issues we cited with the discussions happened with THE officials. There should also be clarity on ratio and the calculation being used for the ranking.

“With the THE, there are a lot of grey areas. While, QS and NIRF are using latest data regarding research, students and other parameters, the THE is asking for two year old data,” the source told

“The IITs are yet to get convincing answers from the THE and until then we have decided to not to participate in the process,” an IIT official said.

THE is one of the leading provider of higher education data for the world's research- led institutions.

For the World University Rankings, THE's in-house data team ranks more than 2,000 institutions worldwide, with one million data points analysed across 2,600 institutions in 93 countries.

Date: 17th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: Ritika Chopra Headline: 7 IITs to boycott THE World University Rankings this year URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/iits-not-to-participate-in-the-world- university-rankings-iitd-ac-in-6365540/

"These IITs will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," the release said.

“This is one of the issues we cited with the discussions happened with THE officials. There should also be clarity on ratio and the calculation being used for the ranking.

“The IITs are yet to get convincing answers from the THE and until then we have decided to not to participate in the process,” an IIT official said.

THE is one of the leading provider of higher education data for the world's research- led institutions.

For the World University Rankings, THE's in-house data team ranks more than 2,000 institutions worldwide, with one million data points analysed across 2,600 institutions in 93 countries.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: India Today Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: The seven IITs will not participate in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in this year. URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/news/story/7-iits-to-boycott-times- higher-education-world-university-rankings-here-s-why-1667801-2020-04-17

"These IITs will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," the release said.

“This is one of the issues we cited with the discussions happened with THE officials. There should also be clarity on ratio and the calculation being used for the ranking.

“The IITs are yet to get convincing answers from the THE and until then we have decided to not to participate in the process,” an IIT official said.

THE is one of the leading provider of higher education data for the world's research- led institutions.

For the World University Rankings, THE's in-house data team ranks more than 2,000 institutions worldwide, with one million data points analysed across 2,600 institutions in 93 countries.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Money control Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Seven IITs drop out of participation in Times Higher Education Rankings 2020 URL: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/seven-iits-drop-out- of-participation-in-times-higher-education-rankings-2020-5155441.html

"These IITs will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," the release said.

“This is one of the issues we cited with the discussions happened with THE officials. There should also be clarity on ratio and the calculation being used for the ranking. “With the THE, there are a lot of grey areas. While, QS and NIRF are using latest data regarding research, students and other parameters, the THE is asking for two year old data,” the source told NDTV. “The IITs are yet to get convincing answers from the THE and until then we have decided to not to participate in the process,” an IIT official said. THE is one of the leading provider of higher education data for the world's research- led institutions. For the World University Rankings, THE's in-house data team ranks more than 2,000 institutions worldwide, with one million data points analysed across 2,600 institutions in 93 countries.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: The Print Edition: Online Journalist: Tarun Krishna Headline: 7 IITs won’t take part in Times world rankings this year, raise ‘transparency’ issue URL: https://theprint.in/india/education/7-iits-wont-take-part-in-times-world-rankings- this-year-raise-transparency-issue/403296/

Seven leading IITs, including Delhi, Kharagpur and Madras, have decided not to participate in Times Higher Education (THE) world rankings, a list to qualify educational excellence, this year.

“Leading IITs i.e. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee have decided not to participate in any of the Times Higher Education (THE) — World University Rankings this year,” according to a joint statement by the IITs, a copy of which has been accessed by ThePrint, issued Thursday.

The institutes said they will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education “is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process”.

Last year, no Indian institute made it to the top 200 of THE rankings and the older IITs, like Delhi and Bombay, were beaten by newcomers.

Upset over the rankings, the older IITs informed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) about their disappointment. They even said they would approach the government to officially complain against the authorities that compile the list.

Last year, IIT-Indore (351-400) was ahead of its older counterparts like IIT-Bombay, IIT- Delhi and IIT-Kharagpur (401-500).

IIT-Delhi director Ramagopal Rao had said the methodology of the ranking process was unclear and non-transparent.

The IITs were, however, told by the HRD ministry officials to look at the ranking parameters and improve themselves.

Also read: IIT Bombay & Delhi break into top 50 engineering colleges in QS World Rankings by Subject

Parameters for rankings Times Higher Education world rankings take into account 13 parameters that “measure an institution’s performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook”.

While the first 200 institutes are individually ranked, the others are placed in brackets, for example, 251-300 and 401-500.

However, an IIT-Delhi study last year had concluded that the Modi government’s ranking system — the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) — for higher educational institutes is far more accurate and transparent than the surveys conducted by QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) and THE.

QS and THE, both of which are based in London, are two of the most prominent higher-education surveys in the world.

The NIRF was launched in 2015 to rank educational institutes. It is part of a larger push by the administration to develop “institutes of eminence” that are recognised alongside the world’s finest.

Govt keen to boost Indian institutes’ global rankings The government has been keen to raise the rankings of Indian institutes in the international surveys.

An HRD ministry official told ThePrint the government had launched a programme in 2018, Study in India, under which foreign students and teachers can join Indian institutes.

This programme can help boost Indian institutes’ global rankings as some international organisations such as the QS accords 5 per cent each for international faculty ratio and international student ratio while assessing an institute.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Mint Edition: Online Journalist: Prashant K. Nanda Headline: Seven top IITs boycott THE World University Rankings URL: https://www.livemint.com/education/news/seven-top-iits-boycott-the-world- university-rankings-11587051969147.html

Seven marque Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) including those at Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai Thursday announced that they are boycotting the World University Rankings by British ranking agency Times Higher Education (THE). The older IITs said they doubt the transparency of the THE rankings.

“Leading IITs i.e. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee have decided to not participate in any of the Times Higher Education (THE) - World University Rankings this year," the IITs said in a joint statement.

These IITs said they will reconsider their decision next year “if THE is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process."

THE publishes several multi-country rankings including world university ranking, young university ranking and emerging economies university rankings. In 2019, the IITs started doubting their transparency after none of them find a place among the best 300 universities in the world.

While IIT Bombay had said that they were ranked despite not giving any information, IIT Delhi had said that such rankings were a black box. IIT Delhi director last year had said that “In my humble opinion, institutions become great by positively impacting the ecosystem around it by imparting the highest quality education and training to the students who go through its portals. If Delhi NCR has the highest number of tech startups/Unicorns in India, IIT Delhi has played a role in it. If 14 of the 24 Unicorns created by Indians are by the alumni of one single institution-- IIT Delhi, (then) IIT Delhi is surely doing something right."

The top Indian schools doubt also stems from the fact that another World University Ranking by another global agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has placed three Indian institutions within top 200, six institutions among top 300 and nine among top 500 best universities in the world. In the top 300 except Indian Institute of Science (IISc), others are IITs.

In the last edition of the QS World University Ranking, while IIT Bombay was ranked 152, IIT Delhi was 182 and IISc was 184th best in the world. Whereas THE World University Ranking last time placed IIT-Bombay and IIT Delhi in the top 401 to 500 band much below the second generation IIT Ropar which was placed in the 301-350 band along with IISc Bangalore. After top 200 individual ranks, THE places universities in bands.

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Mint Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IITs to boycott THE World University Rankings citing transparency issue URL: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/iits-to-boycott-the-world-university- rankings-citing-transparency-issue-11587046542250.html

Seven leading Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on Thursday announced that they will boycott the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings in 2020 saying they are not satisfied with the transparency of the process. These seven institutes are IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee. "The seven IITs will not participate in the ranking this year. They will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," the institutes said in a joint statement. The THE and QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), both of which are based in London, are two of the most prominent higher-education surveys in the world. No Indian university had figured in the top 300 universities of the world last year in THE- World University Ranking. The Indian Institute of Science (IISC) in Bengaluru - the only Indian entry in the top 300 since 2012 - dropped into the 301-350 group due to "a significant fall in its citation impact score offsetting improvements in research environment, teaching environment and industry income". Released by the London-based THE magazine, the rankings take into account 13 parameters that "measure an institution's performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook". While the first 200 institutes are individually ranked, the others are placed in brackets, for example, 251-300 and 401- 500. Talking about the dismal performance of Indian institutions in the world ranking, Ellie Bothwell, THE rankings editor, had said last year, "India has a huge amount of potential in global higher education, given its rapidly growing youth population and economy and use of English-language instruction. However, it is disappointing to see the country fall out of the top 300 of the rankings this year, with only a small number of institutions registering progress." "The Indian government has strong ambitions to boost the global standing of its top universities and attract foreign students, academics and research collaboration. It now needs to back up these aspirations with high levels of investment - or risk declining further amid increasing global competition, especially from other parts of Asia," Bothwell had said. Several top institutions in the country have raised questions about methodology of the ranking adopted by THE. In QS Rankings, last year, three Indian institutes -- IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and IISc- Bangalore -- had found spots among the top 200. The HRD Ministry had also called a review meeting with officials at QS to examine the reasons behind several prestigious Indian varsities, including JNU and the Hyderabad University, not finding top spots ranking. The ministry also comes out with its own rankings annually based on the National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF).

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Amar Ujala Edition: Delhi Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Headline: Seven IITs of the country will boycott Times Higher Education ranking, said - are not satisfied with the transparency URL: https://www.amarujala.com/education/7-iits-to-boycott-times-higher- education-world-university-rankings

Date: 16th April 2020 Media: Jagran Josh Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: 7 IITs including IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras decide to Boycott Times Higher Education Ranking over transparency issues URL: https://www.jagranjosh.com/news/7-iits-including-iit-delhi-iit-bombay-iit-madras- decide-to-boycott-times-higher-education-ranking-over-transparency-issues-153675

As per the latest update, 7 IITs i.e. premier technology schools of India, have decided to boycott The Times Higher Education Ranking (THE Ranking) over issues concerning transparency and parameters for ranking. According to reports, leading Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee, have decided that they will not be participating in THE World University Rankings this year (2020). The news has been confirmed by the technology institutes through an official release issued by them. The decision has been taken jointly by these institutes after Times Higher Education failed to convince them about the transparency and ranking process for the technology institutes.

Decision triggered by lack of clarify on transparency, ranking parameters

According to sources close to the institutes, the decision to not participate in the THE World Ranking 2020 for technology institutes was taken after last year, few younger IITs and private technology institutes were ranked higher than the older ones including IIT Mumbai, IIT Delhi and IIT Madras. Last year, none of the top 7 IITs i.e. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Roorkee, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras, were ranked in the top 300 engineering institutes.

Following this, there was a lot of backlash from the institutes, some even expressing their displeasure with the ranking system. However, in other global ranking including QS World University Rankings as well as in the national-level NIRF Rankings, these 7 IITs continue to dominate the rankings. This had raised serious questions about the ranking process and the parameters followed by the institute for the same.

Grey Areas in Ranking Need to be Addressed

Officially, the press release says that there are several ‘grey areas’ that needs to be addressed in terms of ranking matrix and clarity is needed on ratio and the calculation being used for the ranking. This issue was cited and discussed in detail with THE officials who couldn’t convince the institutes about their ranking parameters. As per Times Now report, a senior official has said that “the institutes will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process." Date: 17th April 2020 Media: News 18 Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: 7 IITs to Boycott Times Higher Education World University Rankings Over Transparency of Process URL: https://www.news18.com/news/india/7-iits-to-boycott-times-higher-education- world-university-rankings-over-transparency-of-process-2580467.html

Seven leading Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) on Thursday announced that they will boycott the Times Higher Education World University Rankings in 2020 as they are not satisfied with the transparency of the process.

These seven institutes are IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee.

"The seven IITs will not participate in the ranking this year. They will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process," a senior official said.

These seven institutes are IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and IIT Roorkee.

Date: 17th April 2020 Media: Apherald Edition: Online Journalist: Siby Jeyya Headline: Chennai corporation plans to setup 40 more COVID 19 campus across city to collect samples

URL: https://www.apherald.com/Politics/Read/490103/Chennai-Corporation-plans- to-set-up-40-more-COVID-19-camps-across-city-to-collect-samples

Rows and rows of white cubicles edged with fluorescent tube lights. These are not office cubicles in a large tech firm but isolation beds at a quarantine facility opened newly in Chennai. A large convention hall in chennai that has hosted several trade fairs so far has now been converted into a quarantine facility in the city. Greater chennai Corporation (GCC) Commissioner G Prakash on tuesday launched a 550- bed institutional quarantine ward at Nandambakkam Trade Centre Complex in Alandur neighbourhood of the city. Reportedly, the biggest in the country is a facility in jaisalmer that has 700-bedded capacity.

The exhibit hall has been modified into a quarantine ward with isolated cubicles to treat patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. As on april 14, chennai has 211 COVID-19 cases, the highest in the state. These makeshift cubicles come equipped with steel- framed beds, electrical fittings, a table and a couple of plastic chairs. Speaking to reporters, Prakash said that at places like indian Institute of technology (IIT) madras, anna university and other major government institutions in the city, 10,000-bed facilities will be set up. Those with fever and cough will be isolated at these facilities, he added.

Date: 18th April 2020 Media: Naya India Edition: Delhi Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Headline: 7 IITs not to participate in THE World University Rankings 2020

Date: 18th April 2020 Media: Veer Arjun Edition: Delhi Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Headline: Times Higher Education Rankings get thumbs down from 7 IITs

Date: 18th April 2020 Media: Apale Mahanagar Edition: Mumbai Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Headline: IITs not to participate in THE World University Rankings 2020

Date: 18th April 2020 Media: Careers360 Edition: Online Journalist: Rajaram Sukumar Headline: An IIT in top 100 of Impact Rankings, THE says boycott ‘detrimental’

URL: https://news.careers360.com/iit-in-top-100-of-impact-rankings-says-boycott- detrimental

One Indian Institution of Technology, or IIT, will be ranked in the world top 100 over all in the new THE Impact Rankings to be published next week.

Times Higher Education (THE), which publishes world university rankings in several categories, confirmed this to Careers360 on April 17. “Next week we publish our pioneering new THE Impact Rankings, measuring universities’ social and economic impact, framed around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and we are delighted to confirm that one IIT will be ranked in the world top 100 overall, alongside several other Indian institutions who perform very highly against individual SDGS,” THE’s head of communications Harry Huskisson said. It will be published on April 22. This comes a day after seven top IITs decided to boycott THE’s 2021 World University Rankings, which will be released in September 2020. IIT Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee issued a joint statement on April 16, saying that they have decided not to participate in the THE- World University Rankings 2020. “These IITs will reconsider their decision next year if Times Higher Education is able to convince them about the parameters and transparency in their ranking process,” the joint statement had said.

THE’s response

Times Higher Education believes the IITs’ decision “would be detrimental to those institutions, and to India as a whole.” Huskisson said, “If leading universities in a nation with such a proud heritage of scholarly excellence, and with such huge opportunities for economic growth decline to take part in the gold standard rankings, we believe it would be detrimental to those institutions, and to India as a whole.” As Careers360 has reported, the IITs decided to boycott the ranking, saying they had doubts over the ranking parameters and transparency in the process. However, THE discounted the IITs’ doubts over the ranking parameters, saying “the core of our business is the open sharing of intelligence and insight on global higher education, to help universities to deliver powerful outcomes for their stakeholders.” THE also said that they were due to share the data with the Association of Indian Universities at its annual conference last month. However, it was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. “Our chief data officer visited Delhi in November 2019 to specifically engage with the IITs on our methodology, and in January 2020 our chief knowledge officer held a full one-day forum in Delhi for hundreds of guests, where the rankings data and methodology was front and centre,” the statement from THE said. THE defended the robustness of its data saying they also hold “face-to-face meetings with institutional leaders across the world.” “We have a large dedicated team of data scientists on hand to work directly with all the universities in our ranking systems, and indeed we hold regular face-to- face meetings with institutional leaders across the world.”

Date: 18th April 2020 Media: Dinamani Edition: Chennai Page No: 1 Journalist: NA Headline: 7 IITs won’t take part in Times world rankings this year raise ‘transparency’ issue

Date: 18th April 2020 Media: The Hindu - Tamil Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Headline: 7 IITs won’t take part in Times world rankings this year raise ‘transparency’ issue

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: Pudhari Edition: Mumbai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Headline: Seven IITs in the country are not in the world competition

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: The Wire Edition: Online Journalist: Achal Mehra Headline: Why the IITs' Decision to Quit One Ranking System Is a Smokescreen

URL: https://thewire.in/education/seven-iits-quit-ranking-system-the-qs-academic- performance

Seven IITs have announced plans to boycott the THE World University Rankings this year ostensibly because they are not convinced “about the parameters and transparency” of the ranking agency’s process, according to a joint statement issued by the directors of the IITs at Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras (Chennai) and Roorkee.

However, the seven institutes – proclaiming themselves to be “leading IITs” – are only creating a smokescreen, seeking cover for their poor performance in the global rankings. Nothing demonstrates the hypocrisy of their protestations more than the fact that they embraced the QS World University Rankings, in which they perform marginally better, even though the QS methodology is equally, if not more, objectionable relative to that of THE.

Almost everyone who recognises how educational rankings work also recognises that they are imperfect and increasingly just marketing ploys for the rankers and the universities, instead of being genuine measures of relative performance of institutions. Every ranking methodology is imperfect, and the seven IITs would be justified in rejecting them all, as indeed some highly reputed global institutions do. But cosying up to the QS rankings while rejecting the THE indicates that their real gripe is their performance and not the methodology against which they inveigh.

Consider four specific complaints they have raised against THE:

It does not share its data, so it cannot be cross-checked or verified;

Information about its teaching and reputation surveys is inaccessible and it is not transparent about respondents and their geographies;

Unlike QS, THE doesn’t seek any inputs from institutions about the respondents to its surveys; and

Perception about a university accounts for 33% of the total weight. On their face, these are all legitimate and plausible criticisms of THE’s methods. However, they are either equally or even more applicable to QS’s methods as well. The QS rankings’ data is not publicly available either, and so can’t be “cross checked and verified.” And if THE allocates 33% of the score to reputation surveys, as these institutes point out, QS allocates even more – 50% – to the same category.

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Headline: New protocol suggested for patients requiring cardiac care

URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/new-protocol- suggested-for-patients-requiring-cardiac-care/article31378917.ece

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: Your Story Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sahil Headline: Setu: the dawn of fintech 3.0 and sachetisation of banking services

URL: https://yourstory.com/2020/04/bengaluru-setu-api-fintech-financial-services- startup

An IIT-Madras alumni, Sahil surmises the evolution of financial services in India: “We saw a big shift in financial services. Earlier, you had to go to a branch to make any transactions. In the last 10 years, the financial services companies have come to your phone where they provide net banking, mobile banking etc. And the next shift we are seeing is through the API economy where the user won’t have to go to the bank’s app but the bank/financial services is coming to whichever app the user is using.”

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Online Journalist: Prerna Katiyar Headline: Task force looking at feasibility of online exams for higher education: Ramesh Pokhriyal URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/task-force-looking-at- feasibility-of-online-exams-for-higher-education-ramesh- pokhriyal/articleshow/75225018.cms

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times - Government Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Covid-19 Lockdown: Delhi Metro offers 'online courses' to its employee URL: https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/digital-india/covid- 19-lockdown-delhi-metro-offers-online-courses-for-its-employee/75215284

In a time when public enterprises are rethinking strategies to engage their employees through webinars, e-platforms during the covid-19 lockdown, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is offering online courses to its employees to enhance their skills.

The online courses include natural disasters, smart cities, future cities, solar energy, six sigma, etc, while specialized courses include data analytics and decision making, noise management, cloud computing, energy with environmental constraints to name a few.

“The online courses will not only enhance the employees’ professional knowledge, skills and capabilities but also strengthen their digital technology knowledge enhancement,” said an official communication issued by DMR.

“Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) are widely gaining popularity amongst professionals/organizations today. Such online courses value for time and money and have also become the need of the hour,” the statement further added.

The employees have an option to select between two types of courses: a generic course that can be undertaken by employees of all departments; and a specialized course that is department-specific.

The employees can undertake courses for a period of three weeks to a maximum of 12 weeks. The maximum fee provision for the online course is Rs 12,000. The amount is reimbursed by the company after completion of the course. Notably, no prior approval is required for the employees to join these courses, although post-facto approval from competent authority will be required once the office reopens.

DMRC's Corporate Communication executive director Anuj Dayal said, “DMRC is offering a number of online courses for its employees so that they can enhance their professional skills and capabilities. Both generic and department-specific courses have been provided and DMRC shall reimburse the expenditure incurred in taking up these courses.”

Around 600 employees of Delhi Metro have taken up these online courses costing up to Rs 12,000 during the lockdown period, Dayal informed.

These courses which DMRC employees are eligible to do are being offered by National Programme on Technology Enhance Learning (NPTEL), founded by IITs and IISc, non-profit organisation edX and Coursera.

These courses are conducted by experts and institutions like IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras and some international institutions like ETH Zurich, TUMx, McGilx, Technical University of Denmark and Harvard University to name a few.

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: DT Next Edition: Online Journalist: Hemamalini Venkatraman Headline: ‘Balcony birding’ finds favour with those stuck in urban jungle URL: https://www.dtnext.in/News/City/2020/04/19033740/1225850/Balcony-birding- finds-favour-with-those-stuck-in-urban-.vpf

“While most of the humans are locked inside their homes for safety from the COVID- 19 virus, the feathered friends are enjoying the newfound freedom to roam safely anywhere. Without having to fear human intervention, these birds are now the new inhabitants of the urban jungle,” says Jayashree Mitra, who has been a birdwatcher for more than a decade now.

The banking and IT professional says ‘balcony birding’ has caught the fancy of many avid birdwatchers in Chennai, who have taken to this new way of satisfying their bird- watching appetite.

Mitra and Charlie Singh, another bird watcher, are regulars in this circuit and have spotted as many as 58 species just from the balcony of their 12th-floor apartment in a housing complex in Semmencherry.

Armed with a scope and binoculars that give them a clear view of the marshes and grasslands, Singh and Mitra have spotted birds such as the Marsh Harrier, Barn Owl, Grey Francolin, Eurasian Spoonbill, Glossy Ibis and Indian Pea Fowl among many more.

According to Mitra, friendly competitions take place between birder groups, even across continents, which keeps the bird watchers an enthused lot. “The popular bird listing platform, e bird, is used for this purpose. The growing lists show how many species are there in urban areas, especially when not disturbed by humans. People have reported seeing and hearing a large number of birds, including woodpeckers, thrushes, bulbuls, raptors,” she goes on to add.

After the lockdown, many new sights and sounds are filling the air now. “It’s not just that the birds are becoming louder, but that humans, thrown into new rhythms with fewer distractions, are also absorbing the world in more quietly intimate ways. You just notice more,” Mitra points out. Balcony birding has also brought humans together. “It’s a great way to spend time educating the children on nature and its ways. The excitement is palpable. Sighting a new bird or hearing a new call keeps everyone thoroughly engaged. There’s still much to learn from the birds, including harmony and family bonding,” she says.

The urban area of Chennai houses over 200 species of birds in habitats such as the Theosophical Society gardens, IIT-M campus, Chembarambakkam and Perumbakkam lakes. Even rare raptors like osprey and white-bellied sea eagle form part of the sighting delights of birders in the city.

Date: 19th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IIT's efforts in war with Coronavirus can bring big change, MHRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal tweeted and praised URL: https://www.livehindustan.com/career/story-iit-are-stepping-up-to-help-india- battle-coronavirus-ramesh-pokhriyal-nishank-praise-iit-experiments-3159609.html

आईआईटी कानपुर ने कोडवि-19 से डनपटने के डलए कई ऐसे आडवष्कार डकए हℂ, जो जल्द ही बाजार में उपलब्ध होंगे। ये बड़े स्तर पर मददगार साडबत होंगे। एमएचआरिी मंत्री ने ट्वीट कर संस्थान के प्रयासों की सराहना की है। केंद्रीय मंत्री रमेश पोखररयाल ने अपने ट्वीट में कहा, “कड़ी मेहनत करने वाले आईआईटी कानपुर के डशक्षक और छात्र कोरोनो वायरस के क्टखलाफ लड़ाई में मदद करने के डलए अपना सवसश्रेष्ठ दे रहे हℂ। हम देश को कोडवि-19 से लड़ने में मदद करने के उनके प्रयासों की सराहना करते हℂ ”। ऐसे कई शोि का डजक्र भी डकया है। आईआईटी डनदेशक प्रोफेसर अभय करंदीकर ने इस पर िन्यवाद डदया है।

आईआईटी के ये हℂ प्रयास

गैर-इनवेडसव वेंडटलेटरिः आईआईटी और नोका रोबोडटस शीघ्र ही अस्पतालों को पोटेबल वेंडटलेटर उपलब्ध करा देंगे। बायोसाइंसेस एंि बायोइंजीडनयररंग डवभाग के प्रो. अडमताभ बंद्योपाध्याय और उनकी टीम ने इसे तैयार डकया है।

Date: 20th April 2020 Media: The Wire Edition: Online Journalist: Achal Mehra Headline: Why the IITs' Decision to Quit One Ranking System Is a Smokescreen URL: https://thewire.in/education/seven-iits-quit-ranking-system-the-qs-academic- performance

Date: 20th April 2020 Media: Gujarat Today Edition: Ahmedabad Page No: 8 Journalist: NA Headline: Seven top IITs boycott THE World University Rankings

Date: 20th April 2020 Media: The Hindu Business Line Edition: Chennai / Delhi / Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 12 Journalist: Rishikesha T Krishnan/N Dayasindhu Headline: Can Covid-19 spark deep-tech innovation? URL: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/can-covid-19-spark-deep-tech- innovation/article31382293.ece#

Date: 20th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Mumbai Page No: 2 Journalist: Priyanka Sahoo Headline: Students stuck in Sweden, IIT seeks help from alumni URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/students-stuck-in-sweden-iit- seeks-help-from-alumni/story-aqkSJHSrvbknEleNl8ujsK.html

Date: 20th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Mumbai / Delhi / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 12 & 13 Journalist: Prerna Katiyar Headline: Task Force Looking At Feasibility of Online Exams For Higher Education URL: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/task-force-looking-at- feasibility-of-online-exams-for-higher-education-ramesh- pokhriyal/articleshow/75225018.cms?from=mdr

Date: 20th April 2020 Media: The Telegraph Edition: Online Journalist: Ali Fauz Hassan Student: Mr. Abinash Saikia and Mr. Satya Kishore Headline: Start-up offers work-from-home solution URL: https://www.telegraphindia.com/states/north-east/coronavirus-lockdown-startup-offers-work-from-home-solution/cid/1766306

Date: 20th April 2020 Media: Dinamalar Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Headline: Home guards provided masks made by IIT Madras students

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Kochi Page No: 5 Journalist: Binu Karunakaran Alumni: Mr. Amit Kumar, Mr. Shreeshyam Headline: IIT grads launch WhatsApp teleconsulting URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/iit-grads-launch-whatsapp- teleconsulting/articleshow/75258416.cms

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Maitree Baral Headline: IITs Engaged In Over 200 Active Projects Against COVID-19 URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/covid-19-iits-engaged-in-over-200-active- projects-2214924

Country's premiere technology and research institutes, the Indian Institutes of Technology or the IITs, are currently engaged in 202 active research projects to tackle the COVID-19. Of these, 25 research projects are based on data science and Artificial Intelligence. Majority of the projects, 46 in number, that are being done at IITs include developing personal protective equipment for patients and healthcare workers which include face mask, face shield, protective gown or body suits, surgical marks etc. using low cost component, with high efficiency in terms of quality and anti viral efficacy.

Research initiatives like production of compostable plastic marks is being done by the IIT Guwahati and from May onwards they can provide 10,000 masks per day. These masks can easily be reused and recycled and finally can be composed/ biodegrade. The institute is also working on developing affordable antiviral/ antimicrobial spray based coating for personal protective equipment's to kill and prevent spread of coronavirus.

Researchers at IIT Bhubaneswar are working on a face shield with antimicrobial properties.

On testing kits, 21 active projects are being done at the IITs.

While IIT Kharagpur is working on a smartphone integrated paper strip kit for rapid low- cost diagnostics of COVID-19 infection, the Department of Biotechnology at IIT Madras has proposed to set up a covid19 testing facility. IIT Palakkad is aiming to develop a low-cost test kit for the rapid screening of COVID-19 patients.

IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras are currently engaged in 4 and 5 active projects, respectively for developing testing kits for COVID-19. IIT Delhi, Roorkee, BHU and Guwahati have two projects each in this field.

Researchers are also working on developing highly efficient sanitizers, which are very important to contain the spread of coronavirus. IIT Bombay is working on portable / wheeled uvc germicidal unit / station for disinfection. It is also working on developing low cost incinerators for gloves and mask disposal. Many IITs have already developed sanitizers as per the norms of World Health Organisation (WHO).

35 projects are being done at IITs for development of medical equipment like real time PCR machine and ventilators. IIT Guwahati is working on robot-based screening unit for temperature measurement and drug/ food carrying unit to work in isolation wards.

Various apps and tracking devices are also being developed to trace COVID carriers. IoT enabled patient monitoring system, hands free thermal scanner, travel tracker, etc are among 14 such projects undertaken by IITs.

30 pharmacological, non-pharmacological research projects are also being done at IITs currently.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IITs reach out to alumni abroad to help juniors stranded in foreign countries due to coronavirus URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/iits-reach-out-to-alumni-abroad- to-help-juniors-stranded-in-foreign-countries-due-to-coronavirus/story- uyqxyvZr7ET0UAHNVnFhbI.html

Together we can sail through - say several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) who are reaching out to their alumni settled abroad to help the younger alumni and students stranded in foreign countries due to the COVID-19 situation.

Several IIT students, who were on semester exchange, internships and short term projects in various countries, are stranded due to lockdown restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The IITs have appealed the alumni to offer accommodation and other possible help to the stranded students.

“Six students from IIT Bombay, Madras, Delhi and Roorkee are currently stuck in Sweden where they went for semester exchange. They cannot come back due to international lockdown on travel. They are running out of money as well as accommodation. We requesting the alumni and friends of IITs in Sweden to help them the way they can,” IIT Bombay Director, Subhasis Chaudhury, said in an email to the institute’s alumni association.

In a social media post, Chaudhury, also appealed other IIT students stranded abroad to reach out to alumni but only when they really need it.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: Hindustan Edition: Delhi Page No: 9 Journalist: NA Headline: IITs reach out to alumni abroad to help juniors stranded in foreign countries due to coronavirus

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: NDTV - Hindi Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Sudarsanam Babu Headline: Coronavirus: IIT Bombay ने पूवस छा配ों से मांगा सहयोग, लॉििाउन िे चलते ‍वीिन मᴂ फंस गए हℂ ‍टू िᴂट्स (IITs reach out to alumni abroad to help juniors stranded in foreign countries due to coronavirus) URL: https://khabar.ndtv.com/news/career/iits-reach-out-to-alumni-abroad-to-help- juniors-stranded-in-foreign-countries-due-to-covid-19-2215009

आईआईटी के कई छात्र 'सेमेस्टर एसचेंज', 'इंटनसडशप' और अल्पकाडलक प्रोजेि के डलए डवदेशों में गए थे. वे कोरोनावायरस (Coronavirus) महामारी के कारण लगे लॉकिाउन (Lockdown) के चलते दूसरे देशों में फंसे हℂ.

आईआईटी बंबई के डनदेशक सुभाशीष चौिरी ने संस्थान के पूवस छात्रों के संघ को एक ईमेल में डलखा, "आईआईटी बंबई, आईआईटी मद्रास, आईआईटी डदल्ली और आईआईटी 셁ड़की के छह छात्र 'सेमेस्टर एक्चेंज' कायसक्रम के डलए अभी स्वीिन में हℂ. अब वे अंतरराष्ट्र ीय लॉकिाउन के कारण वापस नहीं आ सकते हℂ. उनके पास रहने की जगह और पैसे भी नहीं हℂ. हम पूवस छात्रों से अनुरोि कर रहे हℂ डक स्वीिन में रह रहे आईआईटी के छात्र इन छात्रों की मदद करें."

सोशल मीडिया पर एक पोस्ट में चौिरी ने डवदेशों में फंसे आईआईटी के अन्य छात्रों को भी आवश्यकता पड़ने पर पूवस छात्रों से संपकस करने की अपील की.

गौरतलब है डक कोरोनावायरस के संक्रमण को फैलने से रोकने के डलए देश भर में 3 मई तक लॉकिाउन है. ऐसे में सभी तरह की घरेलू और अंतरराष्‍‍टरीय उड़ानों पर प्रडतबंि है. उिर, सरकार ने एक बार और साफ डकया है डक कोरोनावायरस को लेकर जब तक क्टस्थडत डनयंत्रण में नहीं आएगी तब तक हवाई अ蕍ों को नहीं खोला जाएगा.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: Analytics India Magazine Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Indian statstical service (ISS) officers take 12-week ML courses URL: https://analyticsindiamag.com/indian-statistical-service-iss-officers-take-12- week-ml-using-python-course/

The importance of machine learning in Indian bureaucratic system seems to be in an uptrend.

The National Statistical Systems Training Academy (NSSTA), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation has launched a twelve-week ‘Online Course of Machine Learning using Python’ for in-service officers of Indian Statistical Service (ISS) and Subordinate Statistical Service (SSS).

The course has been launched in collaboration with IIT-Madras for the financial year 2020-21. In this regard, nominations were invited from interested officers.

W3Schools Further, the aforementioned course is part of the mandatory Mid-Career Training Programme (MCTP) First Phase, under Cohort Based Training Programme (CBTP).

Indian Statistical Service (ISS) officers having a length of service of 8 to 10 years are eligible. Accordingly, the said online course has been started successfully from 10th April 2020.

In the first lot, 150 participants consisting of 62 mandatory and 88 willing officers of different levels (DDGs, Directors, Joint Directors, Deputy Directors, SSOs and JSOs) have been registered.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ chairs the review meeting on SWAYAM and SWAYAM Prabha in New Delhi URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/hrd-minister-ramesh-pokhriyal-nishank-chairs-the- review-meeting-on-swayam-and-swayam-prabha-in-new-delhi/

Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ held a detailed review of the National online education platform SWAYAM and the 32 DTH Television Education Channels SWAYAM PRABHA in New Delhi today. Secretary, MHRD Shri Amit Khare, Chairman, UGC, Shri D.P Singh, Chairman AICTE, Shri Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman NCERT, Shri Hrushikesh Senpaty, Chairman NIOS, senior official of the ministry, National Coordinators and Professors from IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIM Bangalore and IIIT Hyderabad participted in the meeting.

A brief presentation of the progress of these schemes was made. In the lockdown condition there has been a tremendous increase in demand and the usage of SWAYAM Courses and SWAYAM PRABHA videos.

SWAYAM

1902 courses are available currently in SWAYAM, which have been offered to 1.56 cr. students since launch. Currently, over 26 lakh students are taking 574 courses on offer. In all, 1509 courses are available for self-learning. SWAYAM 2.0 also supports launch of Online degree programmes. Mapping of SWAYAM courses to AICTE model curriculum has been done, gaps identified. A similar exercise for non-technical courses is underway by a committee of UGC.

It was decided that all the 1900 SWAYAM Courses and 60000 SWAYAM PRABHA videos would be translated into ten regional languages and made available to the students so that more benefit can be derived from the same. The more popular content, and for engineering courses taught in first year shall, however, be prioritized for translation. It was decided to decentralize the task of translation to the National Coordinators, who may be allowed to use all possible services like students, government or private agencies, available technology to undertake translation of content.

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: Daily Hunt Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Srini V Srinivasan Headline: Electric Two-Wheeler Makers in India You Should Care to Know About URL: https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/motoroids-epaper- motoroid/electric+two+wheeler+makers+in+india+you+should+care+to+know+abou t-newsid-179484076

Over the years, we have witnessed many Indian automobile startups entering the electric vehicle sphere. Though they have been very aggressive in their approach, challenges are many. The biggest challenge for these players in breaking the myths associated with electric mobility is around the range-anxiety and cost efficiency compared with petrol-run vehicles. The second challenge surrounding the industry is the localization factor associated with product manufacturing. However, all the players are adopting different methods and initiatives to address the same. Given that the industry is at a nascent stage, gradual adoption of EVs along with the strengthening of infrastructure is expected. Here's a list of all the electric two-wheelers makers in India you should care to know about.

Okinawa - Indian electric two-wheeler manufacturing company with a focus on 'Make in India' was founded in 2015. The company is the first to get FAME 2 certification for EV two-wheelers in India. By producing high-speed e-scooters and bikes, the company is contributing to the growth of e-vehicles in India. By steadily creating viable alternatives to petrol and diesel vehicles, the company is delivering on its brand aim to #PowertheChange. The company is headquartered in Gurugram and the manufacturing facility is in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. The brand has a pan-India dealership network and a range of e-scooters to meet the demand of users. Their products include the likes of Lite and Praise Pro scooters.

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Delhi / Faridabad / Gurgaon / Noida / Mumbai / Pune / Kolkat a Page No: 1 Journalist: Ritika Chopra Headline: Energy major Schlumberger withdraws job offers to fresh IIT graduates URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/energy-major-schlumberger- withdraws-job-offers-to-fresh-iit-graduates-6373375/

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: The Financial Express Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 1 & 2 Journalist: Ritika Chopra Headline: Another set of IIT job offers are withdrawn

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Veer Arjun Edition: Delhi Page No: 7 Journalist: NA Headline: IIT Bombay seeks alumni support to help stranded students in Sweden

Date: 21st April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Dr. Enakshi Bhattacharya, Headline: Letter from India March for Science to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/letter-from-india-march-for-science- to-the-prime-minister-narendra-modi/article31397462.ece

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof Enakshi Bhattacharya Headline: Letter from India March for Science to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/letter-from-india-march-for-science- to-the-prime-minister-narendra-modi/article31397462.ece

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: Careers360 Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Lockdown 2.0: SWAYAM and SWAYAM Prabha saw a tremendous increase in demand URL: https://news.careers360.com/lockdown-20-swayam-and-swayam-prabha-saw- tremendous-increase-in-demand

In a review held by Ramesh Pokhriyal, union minister for Human Resource and Development, the progress of SWAYAM courses and SWAYAM Prabha videos were discussed. Both of these online educational platforms have enormously been in demand in recent times of lockdown across the country. SWAYAM offers 1,902 courses and around 26,00,000 students have taken up 574 courses on offer. These courses help the students in studying with all the required resources in online mode. SWAYAM 2.0 also supports the launch of online degree programmes. In a review meeting, it was decided that the 1,900 SWAYAM courses and 60,000 SWAYAM Prabha videos will be translated into 10 regional languages. This decision has been made so that more students can take advantage of the online educational programme by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. As per the Press Information Bureau: ‘“To encourage faculty to provide more courses under SWAYAM, appropriate incentives for their career will be provided.” In a review meeting, it has been decided that the University Grants Commission will prepare online and distance learning guidelines in order to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio. Secretary, MHRD Amit Khare, chairman, UGC, D.P Singh, chairman All India Council for Technical Education, Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman National Council of Educational Research and Training, Hrushikesh Senpaty, chairman National Institute of Open Schooling, a senior official of the ministry, national coordinators and professors from IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, IIM Bangalore and IIIT Hyderabad were a part of this meeting. SWAYAM PRABHA, on the other hand, a group of 32 DTH channels telecast high-quality educational programmes 24*7. These programmes are telecasted for four hours and are repeated five times a day for the convenience of the students. The following decisions were taken into consideration: Redistribution of channels to match available content and viewership will be explored. It is also decided to enhance the content in SWAYAM PRABHA by incorporating it from the ones who are willing to contribute under Vidya Daan Programme. Further, it is decided that the subject expert committees will be formed by each NC to approve the received content before uploading it on SWAYAM Prabha The DTH broadcast to be popularized via all available channels. This will also be done through radio and social media. All the content of SWAYAM Prabha videos will be mapped to the curriculum and the academic calendar. CBSE and NIOS are supposed to provide all the assistance to IIT-Delhi, for the translation of IIT-PAL channels.

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: India Legal Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. R Subramanian Headline: SC declines compensation to workers of unorganised sector due to lockdown URL: https://www.indialegallive.com/constitutional-law-news/courts-news/pil-filed-in- sc-for-compensation-to-workers-of-unorganised-sector-due-to-lockdown-96830

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL seeking directions to the Central Government to formulate a scheme to provide compensation for the loss of income caused to persons working in the unorganised sector including as self employed for loss of income caused by the lock down imposed to combat COVID-19.

The PIL was filed by Shri R Subramanian, who is a practising advocate and is also a graduate engineer from IIT Madras and a post graduate in management from IIM Ahmedabad. The Petitioner has in the capacity of an Advocate been supporting pro bono the activities of a Chennai based NGO India Awake for Transparency which has been active in various matters of public interest.

The petition seeks direction to Central and State Governments to formulate a scheme to recompense to the persons from economically weaker backgrounds who are daily wage earners or self employed or wage earners in the unorganised sector in respect of the complete deprivation of income suffered by them by the lock down and forced cessation of their vocations and trade during the national lock down for COVID-19. The Petitioner through the instant Writ Petition also seeks that the operations of the provisions of Section 4 of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act 2003 be stayed in the interim to ensure that the same is not a constraint on the Union is discharging its duty as guardian and protector of its citizens.

The petitioner has preferred the PIL on following grounds:-

The unorganised work forces including self employed are dependent for their sustenance on daily earnings and in the absence of such daily earnings their sustenance itself is at stake.

The nature of the pandemic being unprecedented and lock down was sudden and unanticipated there was no manner in which such persons could have been better prepared and averted the consequences of the difficulties now faced by them.

The livelihood is blocked in national interest and not for any fault of the persons denied livelihood themselves the Union as the ultimate guardian is bound to ensure their protection. Any continued deprivation of income would lead to serious and irreversible social consequences for such persons.

The Union of India as the sovereign is bound to support the states and compensate the states for losses arising from such national calamity unprecedented and unanticipated.

The case came up for hearing before bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justice N.V. Ramana, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul & Justice B.R. Gavai wherein the Justice Ramana asked the petitioner, how can we direct the Central Government to give money to the states? If they want to, they will do it. If they have the money, they will give it. Are we experts in the matter.

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said All solutions don’t lie in fault. There is elected government also, they will see. We wont see adequacy and inadequacy and all. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that issue raised in the PIL will be taken up as a representation by the government and action will be taken.

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Delhi / Pune / Chandigarh / Faridabad / Gurgaon / Noida Page No: 11 Journalist: Prasun Sonwalkar Headline: IIT Kharagpur among world best for achieving UN goals URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/iit-kharagpur-among-world-best- for-achieving-un-goals/story-CsCj902EQSmrvvHaWpUPXO.html

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: Careers360 Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: THE Impact Rankings: IIT Kharagpur is India’s best, joint 57 globally URL: https://news.careers360.com/impact-rankings-iit-kharagpur-indias-best-joint-57- globally

The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagapur) has achieved India’s best ever result in a Time Higher Education global ranking, coming in at the 57th place of 766 universities across 89 countries and regions. Released on April 22, the second edition of THE’s new Impact Rankings uses the United Nations’ (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to throw light on unsung actions. IIT Kharagapur delivered “a fantastic performance in the individual SDGs rankings achieving 4th in the world for SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 6th for SDG2 (Zero Hunger), 13th for SDG13 (Climate Action), joint 21st for SDG1 (No Poverty) and 24th for SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy)”, THE said in its rankings report. Of the 28 Indian universities that participated, 26 made it to the overall ranking table. Among Indian institutes, IIT Madras achieved a top 16th position for SDG9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and is at 32 in world for SDG6 (Clean Water & Sanitation). The ranking report arrives less than a week after seven of the best-known IITs, including IIT Kharagpur, announced they were boycotting THE’s global rankings due to concerns over transparency. Positive impact The Rankings provide a measure of the extent to which universities have a positive social and economic impact on the planet, from climate action and gender equality, to good health and wellbeing. It is the first university ranking to use this criteria, rather than traditional metrics, such as reputation and research prestige. In total, 857 universities from 89 countries and regions across six continents have been ranked for at least one SDG, and 766 are included in the overall ranking. In the rankings this year, 28 Indian universities participated, submitting proof of impact against at least one of the 17 individual SDGs. For the overall ranking, 26 universities were eligible, having submitted against SDG17 and at least three others, with IIT Kharagpur achieving India’s best result, placed joint 57th in the world.

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: Mint Edition: Online Journalist: Prashant K Nanda Headline: IIT Kharagpur ranks 57 among global peers for sustainable impact research URL: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/iit-kharagpur-ranks-57-among-global- peers-for-sustainable-impact-research-11587554868017.html

The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has been ranked 57th among global universities for its impact research in areas that help achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) as mandated by the United Nations.

The global ranking maps the contribution of over 800 universities in 89 countries on SDG parameters, and comes at a time when the sustainable development discourse is gathering ground amid a global pandemic.

IIT Kharagpur “delivers a fantastic performance in the individual SDGs rankings achieving 4th in the world for SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation)…13th for SDG13 (Climate Action), joint 21st for SDG1 (No Poverty) and 24th for SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy)," the Times Higher Education (THE), a British ranking agency said.

As per the ranking reports, Anna University (7th) and Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (18th) have also found a place among top 20 positions individual categories like SDG6 -- Clean Water and Sanitation alongside IIT Kharagpur. IIT Madras has been placed at 32nd and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (48th) has been placed in top positions under this parameter. “IIT Madras also achieves 16th position for SDG9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure)," the ranking agency added.

Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at THE said, “it is great to see Indian universities stand as world leaders through their work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, with success in areas as diverse as clean water and sanitation, climate action and good health and well-being. To see IIT Kharagpur achieve India’s best ever result in a THE global rankings is a fantastic accolade to the great work universities are taking across the country to put sustainability at the heart of their missions".

THE said its impact ranking has been designed to move away from research power and prestige “to celebrate the commitment of universities to making a positive social and economic impact."

THE findings comes days after eight top IITs decided not to participate in its world university rankings for lack of transparency and had expressed their displeasure that while another global ranking places top IITs in much prestigious positions through their survey, THE pushes them much below and does not share the detailed methodology with them.

On Wednesday, when contacted IIT-Kharagpur said for this research impact ranking data was shared in January but declined to comment on the outcome as they have collectively issued a statement on not participating in future rankings of THE this year.

Globally, the University of Auckland in New Zealand has been ranked best in terms of impact research followed by University of Sydney, Western Sydney University and La Trobe University (all three from Australia) and Arizona State University (Tempe) in the US. University of Bologna in Italy, University of British Columbia in Canada, University of Manchester and King’s College London (both in UK) and RMIT University in Australia complete the top 10 best university list.

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: THE Impact Ranking: IIT-Kharagpur best in country, 57th globally; India’s best ever performance URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/education/the-impact-ranking-iit-kharagpur- best-in-country-57th-globally-indias-best-ever-performance-6372400/

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur is the most impactful Indian educational institute, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) impact ranking released today. The index ranked higher educational institutes in terms of the social and economic impact they make in society. IIT-Kharagpur has been ranked at the 57th spot globally, out of over 766 universities from 89 countries and regions. This is, so far, India’s best ever result in a THE global ranking, according to the ranking index. The institute secured fourth position in the world for clean water and sanitation, sixth for zero hunger, 13th for climate action, joint 21st rank for no poverty and 24th for affordable and clean energy. All of these are sustainable development goals (SDGs).

In sub-categories, IIT-Madras achieved the 16th spot in industry, innovation and infrastructure and figures among the top 32 in the world for clean water and sanitation. Apart from IITs, Anna University also ranked 7th and Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science claimed the 18th spot in the world for clean water and sanitation sub-category. Both IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Madras are among the seven IITs to have boycotted the THE global ranking earlier this month alleging lack of transparency in their ranking parameters. THE in the official statement said, “We hope this great performance will encourage others to take part and demonstrate their commitment to championing a better and more sustainable future.” “It is the first university ranking to use this criterion, rather than traditional metrics, such as reputation and research prestige,” claims THE. Phil Baty, Chief Knowledge Officer at THE, commented, “It is great to see Indian universities stand as world leaders through their work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, with success in areas as diverse as clean water and sanitation, climate action and good health and wellbeing. To see IIT Kharagpur achieve India’s best ever result in a THE global rankings is a fantastic accolade to the great work universities are taking across the country to put sustainability at the heart of their missions.” Australian universities dominate the overall ranking, securing the top four spots.

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: The Telegraph Edition: Online Journalist: NA Student: Mr. Anoushka Agastya, Headline: The most striking incidents during the lockdown according to students URL: https://www.telegraphindia.com/education/the-most-striking-incidents-during- the-lockdown-according-to-students/cid/1767099

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Online Journalist: Amrita Madhukalya Headline: After success in TN, govt to roll out telesurvey to identify Covid-19 hotspots URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/after-success-in-tamil-nadu- government-to-roll-out-telesurvey-to-identify-covid-19-hotspots/story- BPcqjuxBhebLYHPrdRw8jN.html

After a successful pilot in Tamil Nadu, the government has started a pan-India tele- survey to reach people without smartphones to conduct a Covid-19-related search and trace potential cases of the disease.

Calls will be placed from the phone number 1921, asking people questions about symptoms of the disease.

Follow latest updates on coronavirus here

The tele-survey, announced late on Tuesday, will be done by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), and is intended to help the government detect areas where the Coronavirus has spread. An interactive voice response system (IVRS), back-ended by a NIC team, will be rolled out. Analysis of call data will be done by other wings of the government, said officials.

A senior official of the IT ministry said the tele-survey is expected to reach out to 900 million feature phone users across the country. Officials said of the 1.2 billion mobile phone users in India, only 350 million have smart phones.

“Just as the Aarogya Setu is reaching out to smartphone users, the tele-survey will collect details from feature phone users,” an official said on condition of anonymity.

The call will lead to successive prompts for SMSes on the user’s feature phone, and seek answers to a set menu of questions. The systems are being readied and will be rolled out by the weekend, officials said.

The service will be available in languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi.

The tele-survey was initially piloted in Tamil Nadu a fortnight ago with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, simultaneously when the IT ministry was rolling out Aarogya Setu.

Another ministry official, wishing anonymity, told HT the pilot was successful and helped authorities find the next area of spread. “It helped us find the next red zone or containment zone,” said the official.

During the pilot, 15,000 people were screened through the tele-survey, helping authorities finalise a list of people suspected to be infected by the Coronavirus. “State authorities would then reach out to them for necessary action,” said an official.

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: News Yahoo Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: As Coronavirus Batters Economy, Oilfield Services Firm Schlumberger Withdraws IIT Job Offers URL: https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-batters-economy-oilfield- services-095458064.html

Schlumberger, one of the largest oilfield services company, faced the brunt of economic turmoil due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to a report, the firm has withdrawn job offers to several Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) graduates in the country.

Oil prices crashing globally and the drop in oil demand has cost lucrative employment offers for at least five IITs. According to The Indian Express, Gautam Reddy, Managing Director of Schlumberger in India and Bangladesh, wrote a letter to IITs informing them of the decision on April 6.

Citing “sudden reduction” in “customers spend”, the letter added that all students affected by the decision would be personally contacted by the multinational firm.

The report added that two students at IIT Delhi and Bombay have lost their placement offer, while one IIT-Kanpur student and an IIT-Madras student have been offered alternative roles in the company but at a lower package.

Vice-chairperson of Career Development Centre (CDC) at IIT Kharagpur, Parag Deshpande said they had received some offers from Schlumberger but “none of the offers were revoked”.

Speaking to the paper, Reddy confirmed that the job offers made at placement drives stand nullified. He added that it was “not fair” on the current employees’ part to hire more people while Schlumberger is focusing on “business restructuring”.

“If the business climate changes, we will be the first to reach out to those who have been filtered through the whole recruitment process,” added Reddy.

Date: 22nd April 2020 Media: The Better India Edition: Online Journalist: Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk Alumni: Mr. Kaushik Anand Headline: Anxious About Jobs During COVID-19? 3 Successful IITians Offer Some Great Advice URL: https://www.thebetterindia.com/224429/oronavirus-covid19-lockdown- recession-economy-job-placements-iit-learn-new-skills-online-india- nor41/?utm_source=Article&utm_medium=WhpShareButton&utm_campaign=April- 20

Shrikant Singh graduated from IIT-Kharagpur after completing his five-year integrated Master of Science (MSc) course in Industrial Chemistry. However, by any measure, this was a bad time to enter the job market, as the global recession was hitting its peak.

Shrikant felt the consequences rather sharply. His job offer from campus had been rescinded, and the future looked uncertain.

What Shrikant felt at that moment was fear and anger. He had done everything that was expected out of him. Studying hard, he finished second in his class and had several prestigious international scholarships adorning his resume.

“I had excelled at IIT Kharagpur and was one of those arrogant idiots who thought that they were entitled to great things in life. I had three international internships from IIT, which included a paper in carbon nanotechnology from MIT, USA,” says Shrikant, in an email interview with The Better India.

Desperate, he booked a one-way ticket to Bengaluru with the hope of cracking at least one walk-in-interview and moved in temporarily with some generous seniors from college.

“After two months and multiple rejections, I finally secured a contractual position with General Electric (GE) for a stipend of INR 10,000 per month. I bought a second-hand bicycle for Rs 500 for my daily commute and shifted into a 3-BHK apartment with eight other guys,” he writes in a Facebook post that has now gone viral.

Barely six months into the job, however, GE didn’t renew his contract.

“In my fourth month at GE, my manager told me that they would not be extending my contract and I would be let go. He had even reached out to all his connections in other companies, but no one was in a position to hire. Then, a couple of my college friends mentioned to me that Analytics was the next big thing in the market, and there was a growing demand for analytics professionals in the industry. Mu Sigma was an upcoming player in this sector, and they were conducting regular walk-in drives during that period. I had no idea what analytics was, but I was running out of choices. Thankfully, their selection process revolved around mathematics and puzzles, and I was selected as a Business Analyst for their Bengaluru office. The pay was abysmal (Rs 22,500 per month), but I took it,” he says in the email interview.

He also had to contend with expectations at home. With his father in government service and mother working as a school teacher, they were neither privy to the workings of the corporate world, nor did they understand the global recession and its real-life impact.

“Naturally, they were confused when I told them that I had lost my campus offer from IIT, and I was graduating jobless. I knew they were hurt, so I decided not to tell them too much about my daily struggles. I also didn’t keep in touch with my IIT friends. Some had done just fine, and I was embarrassed to let them know about my situation,” he recalls.

Fortunately, Shrikant found support from his then-girlfriend, who he would go on to marry in 2012. Working at an IT firm, she took care of most of their expenses and kept his morale up in difficult times.

Shrikant joined Mu Sigma in November 2009 and worked there for 3.5 years before moving to the Indian School of Business for his MBA. Following that, he joined Amazon India in 2014, a year after the global retail giant had launched their operations in India.

“It was a perfect fit, and I have been here ever since,” he says.

Job Placements Shrikant Singh Why is this story relevant today? The economic fallout of the Coronavirus epidemic could be very similar to what we saw during the global recession in 2008 and 2009. Companies are already withdrawing job offers, letting go of salaried staff and implementing a freeze on any hiring. For those entering the job market, this is a very uncertain time filled with anxiety.

So, how can those looking to enter the job market deal with this situation?

The first step is to acknowledge the circumstances before you.

“Firstly, remember that this is not your fault. Some things are beyond your control. Unlike in an exam or other situations in college where your performance is the result of your effort and ability, in real life, macroeconomic conditions can affect you. I graduated from IIT-Madras in 2010, right around when the global financial crisis was coming to an end. A year before placements, everything seemed unclear, and we weren’t sure if we would find a job. However, 10 years out, I realize that campus placements were just a small part of my journey and that of my batchmates,” says Kaushik Anand, a partner at A91 Partners, a Mumbai-based venture capital firm.

He goes on to add that this is the time to think deeper.

“Many of us sat for placements or applied to universities because everyone else did. This may be a good time for you to step back, think about what you would want to do, focus your efforts on one specific kind of role and prepare for it,” he says.

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Hyderabad / Kochi / Bangalore Page No: 6 Authored by: Prof. Sudhir Rajan Chella, IIT Madras and Ms. Sujatha Byravan Headline: A time for planetary solidarity URL: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-time-for-planetary- solidarity/article31409776.ece

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: The Hans India Edition: Hyderabad Page No: 6 Journalist: Dr. Mohan Kanda Professor: Prof. CVR Murthy Headline: Memoirs of a bureaucrat: One head, many hats URL: சகாநரானா பா鎿ப்பால் நகம்பஸ் இன்டர்ힿ뿂 நவலலலய இழந்த 6 ஐஐ羿 மாணவர்கள் !!

Date: 23rd April 2020 Media: Sakal Times Edition: Online Journalist: Manasi Saraf Joshi Headline: A merge of unequal mass block holes seen URL: https://www.sakaltimes.com/pune/merger-unequal-mass-black-holes-seen- 48899

Date: 24th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Bangalore / Kolkata / Kochi Page No: 1 & 6 Journalist: Sreeradha Basu and Prachi Verma Headline: Job offers drying up for IITians this placement season URL: https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/corporate/job-offers-drying- up-for-iitians-this-placement-season/75339096

Date: 24th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 4 Journalist: A Ragu Raman Headline: Chennai: Anna University ranks seventh in water research URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/anna-univ-ranks-7-in-water- research/articleshow/75334127.cms

Date: 24th April 2020 Media: The Wire Edition: Online Journalist: Anjali Gupta Headline: THE Impact Ranking: IIT-Kharagpur best in country, 57th globally; India’s best ever performance URL: https://www.theindianwire.com/education/the-impact-ranking-iit-kharagpur- best-in-country-57th-globally-indias-best-ever-performance-269727/

According to the Times Higher Education impact which released its ranking today, the Indian Insitute of Technology is one of the most impactful Indian educational institute. In terms of the social and economic impact they make in society the index ranked higher in the educational institutes. Out of over 766 universities from 89 countries and regions, IIT-Kharagpur has been ranked at the 57th spot globally.

As per the the ranking index, this is one of the best India’s best ever result in a THE global ranking, . The institute has been securing fourth position in the world in terms of clean water and sanitation, sixth position for zero hunger, 13th position for climate action, joint 21st rank for no poverty and 24th for affordable and clean energy. All of these come under the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Because of lack of transparency, IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Madras are among the seven IITs which have boycotted THE gloabl ranking earlier this month. In one of the official statement from THE, it said that we are looking forward to have encouragement and other universities to also take part in it.

THE claimed that it is the first university which is using this crieria to rank rather than using traditional metrics such as reputation and research. THE also said that they are expecting more participation so that we can create a better environment.

Date: 24th April 2020 Media: Analytics India Magazine Edition: Online Journalist: Amal Nair Headline: Meet this week's machine hack champions who cracked the 'Metal furnace challenge' URL: https://analyticsindiamag.com/metal-furnace-challenge-winners/

MachineHack’s latest venture into a new series of hackathons has proved to excite the Machine Learning and Data Science Community. Last week MachineHack launched its first Weekend hackathon, a short running hackathon where the participants have just the weekend to compete and win.

The hackathon received an overwhelming response from the Data Science and Machine Learning community with close to 300 registrations and 166 active participants.

Out of the 166 competitors, three topped our leaderboard, we will introduce you to them and the approach they took to solve the problem.

W3Schools #1: G Mothy G Mothy is a final year student of Computer Engineering at Army Institute of Technology, Pune. His Data Science Journey started with his internship at IIT Madras under the guidance of the IIT professors.

From then on he never looked back and had been exploring different areas in data science with the help of his seniors, and using platforms like Kaggle and Analytics Vidhya. He likes exploring various types of hackathons to experiment and acquire new skills.

Approach To Solving The Problem “Working on this dataset was challenging and new ideas were not striking as the data was completely anonymized which provided limited scope for feature engineering.” – Mothy said.

UPCOMING EVENTS

He explains his approach briefly as follows.

Started with exploratory data analysis to find out about the relation between the features and for creating new features. Although local k-fold cross-validation was providing a way to validate the submission. 30% of test data was not providing the right insights about the model performance on the public leaderboard. On EDA feature f9 had only one unique value, so feature ‘f9’ was removed Transformed the test feature values into train feature values, as there was a linear relationship between the feature values. Trained an XGBoost on 80% and validated on 20% of the train data.

Date: 24th April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Anna University's Bio-Informatics Online Hackathon To Fight COVID-19 URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/anna-universitys-bio-informatics-online- hackathon-to-fight-covid-19-2216904

A national level Bio-Informatics online Hackathon on COVID-19 by Anna University is open now until May 6, 2020 for full stackers. Students and faculty from all disciplines, startups, and all full stack developers in app and mobile responsive web development across India are eligible to participate, according to a statement from IIT Bombay.

"This Hackathon is an initiative of Anna University. Anna University has kindly invited the Spoken Tutorial project at IIT Bombay to join hands, and to popularise it," the statement from IIT Bombay said.

IIT Bombay's Spoken Tutorial team has invited all students who scored 80% and above in its online tests of C, C++, HTML, Java, PERL, PHP and MySQL, Python, R, and Scilab to participate.

Apart from Anna University, the other organisers of this Hackathon are Madras School of Social Work, Derbi Foundation, Bangalore, and Climate Smart Technology, Coimbatore.

This activity is supported by AICTE, NSDC, Skill India, Startup India, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).

The last date for registration is April 26, 2020.

Cash prizes and awards will be given to winners.

Date: 25th April 2020 Media: Business Standard Edition: Mumbai / Delhi / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 2 Journalist: Vinay Umarji Professor: Prof. CS Shankar Ram Headline: Job offers revoked IIT students find takers in IT biotech firms URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/education/job-offers-revoked-iit- students-find-takers-in-it-and-biotech-firms-120042401707_1.html

Date: 25th April 2020 Media: Navodya Times Edition: Delhi Page No: 7 Journalist: NA Headline: In the placement season, 30 percent of IIT students without jobs

Date: 25th April 2020 Media: Indian Saga Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Devender Dharavath Headline: Village Agro: Adopting Indian farmers during Lockdown URL: https://theindiasaga.com/social-sector/villageagro-adopting-indian-farmers- during-lockdown

As COVID19 pandemic and lockdown spreads, the situation for farmers, particularly poultry, fruits, vegetables, and dairy farmers are getting worse every day.

Villageagro.com, an Agritech startup founded by a bunch of IITians, comes to the rescue of these farmers. Villageagro.com has launched the "RYTHUSTHAN" campaign, an app-based online dashboard, and a helpline number to onboard farmers to sell their farm produce directly from their farm without going to the markets. Also, at the same time, it solves the lack of fruits, vegetables, poultry, and dairy products available in the market due to the lockdown.

"We are hoping to on-board more than 5000 farmers in the Hyderabad region during the lockdown under the RYTHUSTHAN campaign and we aim to offer them higher margins on their Poultry, fruits, and vegetables through supply chain optimization. We are encouraging farmers to stay at their farms and homes and leave the logistics and negotiations with us. We are launching a farmer-friendly android application as well." said Devender Dharavath, CEO and Founder of Villageagro.com who is an IIT Madras alumni.

Villageagro delivers fresh and organic fruits, vegetables, dairy, and poultry products directly from farms to the businesses. The bright and dedicated team of IITians, strong supply chain optimization tools, and in-depth research has led Villageagro to grow more than 30X in the very early stage of the business. Villageagro offers higher margins to the farmers and provides them with the latest updates on technologies and trends in agriculture, horticulture, and animal husbandry.

"I had a 10-acre crop of tomatoes, I was very worried about not being able to sell my three months of hard work because the markets were closed and coronavirus lockdown was in effect. I sold more than half of my crop through Villageagro at my farm and got 1.5 times margins than the rest of the crop," said Bandeppa Patil a vegetable farmer from Bidar, Telangana.

Villageagro Agritech has tied up with Meesho and several other businesses to strengthen the other end of the supply chain.

Date: 25th April 2020 Media: News 18 - Hindi Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Artificial Intelligence for problem-solving URL: https://hindi.news18.com/news/career/jee-not-required-list-of-online-courses- offered-by-iits-3047893.html

इंडियन इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नोलॉजी में हर साल लाखों स्टूिेंट एिडमशन लेने का सपना देखते हℂ, लेडकन इनमें से कुछ हजार स्टूिेंट्स ही आईआईटी कॉलेजों में एिडमशन ले पाते हℂ. लेडकन इस लॉकिाउन में कई सारे आईआईटी ऑनलाइन सडटसडफकेट कोसे करने का मौका दे रहे हℂ. अगर आप इस मौके का फायदो उठाना चाहते हℂ तो आपको जल्द ही इसके डलए आवेदन करना होगा.

आईएईटी और आईआईएससी दोनों डमलकर ऑनलाइन प्लेटफामस National Programming on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) पर ऑनलाइन कोसस करने के डलए लोगों को ऑफर दे रहे हℂ. ऑनलाइन क्लास के डलए नया बैच 20 जुलाई से शु셂 होने जा रहा है. इसकी परीक्षा 27 डसतंबर, 17 और 18 अिूबर को होगी. जो आडिकाररक बेवसाइट पर डदया गया है. आज हम आपको इन कोसेस और आईआईटी कॉलेज के बारे में बता रहे हℂ जो ये सडटसडफकेट कोसस करवा रहे हℂ.

Artificial Intelligence for problem-solving: भारतीय प्रौद्योडगकी संस्थान (IIT-Madras) इस पर 12 सप्ताह का कोसस शु셂 कर रहा है. यह हर साल जुलाई में आयोडजत डकया जाता है. यह एआई, राज्य अंतररक्ष खोज, एल्गोरर镍म, गेम खेलने, डनयम-आिाररत प्रणाली, गोल पेड़ों के साथ समस्या अपघटन की मूल बातें डसखाता है.

Date: 25th April 2020 Media: Manufacturing India Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Electrifying India URL: https://www.manufacturingtodayindia.com/sectors/7213-electrifying-india

Electric Vehicles (EV) are gaining momentum in Indian market. Although, its feasibility is questioned due to charging problems, it is looked at as an environmentally-friendly mode of transportation. Arjun Jain, president and head electrical & electronics business, Varroc says, “The automotive market has been disrupted. There is an increasing trend towards cleaner and greener mobility. As the emission control norms for conventional vehicles get more and more stringent, there’s a clear movement towards electrification of vehicles.” According to the experts, 2- and 3-wheelers and public transport will be electrified before the wave hits the passenger vehicles space. Biju Mathews, CEO, ETO Motors expressed his thoughts by saying, “Since India is in the early stage of adoption, we intend to focus initially on 3-wheeler public transportation through e-autos and rickshaws in India by providing first mile, last mile, home mile, office mile and intra city services for commuters in India. Our strategic partnerships with public transport operators and aggregators would further enhance the penetration of electric vehicles in our country.”

EESL has a crucial role to play popularising electric passengers vehicles. Speaking about it, Animesh Mishra, head (sales & PR), EESL says, “We are working on aggregating demand by procuring EVs in bulk to leverage economies of scale. We are providing these vehicles to government departments and cab aggregators/institutions only. Thus, EESL has played an important role by being the catalyst and spurring electric vehicles market in the nation. Our e-mobility programme is further helping in creating awareness and boosting the adoption of e-mobility which has led to more consumers being conscious.”

Predicting the trend in manufacturing electric passenger vehicles segment, Sanjeev Saxena, president (automotive), Schaeffler India says, “We are of the view that most of the EV technologies at least in the PV segments will be developed outside India and brought in. We are keenly watching the development and are in close contact with our customers to ensure that with our global portfolio we are quick to fulfil our customers need here in the country.”

Manufacturing Elaborating on the manufacturing, Ravneet Phokela, chief business officer, Ather Energy says, “EVs manufacturing is not as complex as conventional engines vehicles. A simple reason being EVs have very few moving components if compared to vehicles with conventional engines.

According to Nishant Arya, executive director, JBM Group, “India’s ‘one size fits all’ approach may not work in the case of EVs. Products and solutions in the EV domain have to be consciously customised to suit the demands and usage patterns across various geographies or our country. I believe that the public transportation segment in India is best suited to embrace EVs at a much faster pace. Also, the 2-wheeler segment looks promising in this arena.

Adding to it, Sulajja Firodia Motwani, founder & CEO Kinetic Green says, “Electric vehicles are more about software and electronics. Hence, the whole perspective towards engineering changes. As a result, supply chain for EVs is much different.”

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Hyderabad / Delhi / Mumbai / Bangalore / Chennai Page No: 1 & 6 Journalist: Manash Pratim Gohain Professor: Prof. AK Mishra Headline: With 208 R&D projects, IITs lead India's fight against Covid-19 URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/with-208-rd-projects-iits-lead-indias- fight-against-covid-19/articleshow/75384724.cms

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The Financial Express Edition: Chennai Page No: 7 Journalist: Vaishali Dar Headline: The hard road ahead: Stories of sectors facing their own unique challenges amid Covid pandemic URL: https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/the-hard-road-ahead-stories-of- sectors-facing-their-own-unique-challenges-amid-covid-pandemic/1939595/

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: Hindustan Times Edition: Mumbai Page No: 3 Journalist: Shreya Bhandary Professor: Prof. V Jagadeesh Kumar Headline: IITs conduct online classes, to hold exams in batches URL: https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/iits-conduct-online-classes-to- hold-exams-in-batches/story-mA9CAzFd5HihT3m7DLX1XN.html

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The Sunday Guardian Edition: Delhi Page No: 16 Journalist: Priya Sahgal Headline: 'Privacy debate over Aarogya Setu is blown out of proportion'

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Online Journalist: Manash Pratim Gohain Professor: Prof. AK Mishra Headline: With 208 R&D projects, IITs lead India’s fight against Covid-19 URL: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/diagnostics/with-208-rd- projects-iits-lead-indias-fight-against-covid-19/75385854

India’s scientific effort to contain and eliminate the threat of the novel corona virus is being led by 18 IITs with experts engaged in 208 dedicated R&D projects under seven different categories. As some of their work starts yielding results, IIT-Guwahati has shown the way cornering the biggest pool of projects, followed by IIT-Madras and IIT- Hyderabad. Nearly 50% of the key research in India’s premier technical schools are happening in six of the old IITs.

Majority of the researches are happening in the field of personal protective care equipment (45 projects), followed by sanitisation (33) and treatment, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological (30). The other areas include testing kits, medical equipment/ robots, surveillance and data analytics, AI to model epidemic patterns and disease dynamics. IIT-Madras and IIT-Guwahati are researching in all seven categories.

With projected funding of over 120 crore in the next 18 months for these research projects, even the comparatively new IITs are pitching in. The year-old IIT-Mandi has three research projects, IIT-Palakkad is researching in 10 key areas and IIT-Goa in one. Many of the researches are at advance stage. According to T G Sitharam, director, IIT-Guwahati, “Various projects are already in production stages, like the commercialised ones which include full PPE suits, UV-LED disinfectant, drone technology for disinfection of large areas which is not in use in a few states. Then there is full face protective shield which is being manufactured and being delivered on daily.” The IIT is also ready with prototypes of antiviral spray for PPE, hydrophobic coatings for masks, gloves, robots for waste collection and delivering medicine to patients in isolation wards.

A diagnosis and vaccine development research has also been signed with a company for commercialisation. Sitharam added that “If all the submitted projects are to be implemented successfully it would require an investment of up to 3 to 4 crore initially.”

Researches at IIT-Madras are divided into three groups – the startups reorienting and looking at COVID-19 related problems, faculty and research scholars who stayed back during the lock down and have submitted proposals based on calls from national and international funding agencies and faculty realigning their undergoing projects towards finding solution to the problems related to the pandemic.

The institute is now looking at a month to three for some of its products to go on low cost mass scale production. According to professor A K Mishra, dean, academic research, IIT-Madras, “Majority of the advance stage researches are by the startups. Once the mobility starts the other research will pick pace. But there are quite a few innovative products which could be in mass production soon such as the ‘negative pressure medical cabins’ under the rapid shelter system where one can quickly deploy a reusable medical cabin specially for contagious diseases. Another interesting product at advance stage is a surveillance wide angle camera which can be installed at strategic public space which can detect and alert people with high temperature, then zoom in to detect for other symptoms.”

Among those which have yielded results is the ICMR approved detection assay developed by IIT-Delhi using label-free technology, which would make a Covid-19 test cost just about a few hundred rupees. The team began working on the detection assay kit in 2020 January-end.

On the research underway at the IITs, V Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT-Delhi said: “There’s a lot of research happening in IITs. Almost every week we are releasing something to the society. If institutions don’t do it now it is not justifiable. At IIT-Delhi when lockdown was announced we told our faculty and students that we are open for research and IIT will fund the research and their stay on the campus.”

IITs like Madras and Delhi are also receiving CSR funding for these researches. According to Rao, IIT-Delhi is in talks with at least five industries.

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Gadgets Now Edition: Online Journalist: Manash Pratim Gohain Professor: Prof. AK Mishra Headline: With 208 R&D projects, IITs lead India’s fight against Covid-19 URL: https://www.gadgetsnow.com/slideshows/208-projects-rs-120-crore-and-more- how-iits-are-leading-indias-coronavirus-fight/photolist/75396839.cms

IITs like Madras and Delhi are also receiving CSR funding for these researches. According to Rao, IIT-Delhi is in talks with at least five industries.

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Zee News Edition: Online Journalist: Piyush Sharma & Pushkar Tiwari Professor: Prof. Sachin S Gunthe Headline: Lower COVID-19 cases in hotter regions, reveals IIT-Madras study URL: https://zeenews.india.com/india/lower-covid-19-cases-in-hotter-regions-reveals- iit-madras-study-2279293.html

A recent study by a team of researchers at IIT-Madras have found lower cases of COVID-19 in regions with high temperature. The data collected from around 85 locations shows that 90% of the coronavirus confirmed cases were recorded from the region with temperatures ranging between 3°C to 12°C.

For the study, researchers saw over 1,07,351 confirmed cases from 85 places around the world including the highly affected provinces in China, South Korea, Italy, France, Iran, Germany, the US, Spain, and Japan. This data was further analysed on meteorological parameters.

The reports also suggested that there's a very strong relationship between the UV index and the number of confirmed cases. The areas where the UV index was higher than 5, the number of confirmed infected cases decreased further. It has been documented that higher temperatures or prolonged exposure to UVC radiation lower the virus infectivity.

The study also suggested that artificial UV radiation could be one of the effective ways for sterilizing built-up environments for reducing the spread of the virus amongst the community.

The earlier studies suggest that the most common influenza viruses are seasonality, which implies that during colder temperatures, influenza caused by viruses increases, which then subside with the warming of air temperature. Although, this assumption so far hasn't been backed by any robust analysis and scientific investigation.

Professor Sachin S Gunthe from the Civil Engineering department of IIT-Madras in his previous studies has shown that the survival of other influenza viruses has reduced exposure to high temperatures and higher UV index. However, this study is purely based on statistical evidence. There is no physiological evidence to prove this fact.

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Zee News - Kannada Edition: Online Journalist: NA Professor: Prof. Sachin S Gunthe Headline: Lower COVID-19 cases in hotter regions, reveals IIT-Madras study URL: https://zeenews.india.com/kannada/india/lower-cases-of-covid-19-in-regions- with-high-temperature-iit-madras-study-26385

ಐಐ粿-ಮದ್ರಾನ ಸ‍ ಶೋಧಕರ 邂ಡದ ಇತ್ತೋಚಿನ ಅಧಯ ಯನ퓁 ಚಿಿ ನ ತಾಪಮಾನ ಹ⢂ದಿ상ವ ಪಾ 飇ಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ COVID-19 ನ ಕ蒿룆 ಪಾ ಕರಣಗಳನ್ನು 咂蓁 蒿ದಿ飆. ಮಾ상 85 ಸ್ಥ ಳಗಳ⢂ದ ಗಾ ದ ದತಾತ⢂ಶ퓁 90% ಕರೋನ퓈ರಸ ದೃಢಪ蒿ದ ಪಾ ಕರಣಗ쳁 ಈ ಪಾ 飇ಶದಿ⢂ದ 3 ° ಲ್ಲಿ ಯಸ ನ⢂ದ 12. ಲ್ಲಿ ಯಸ ವ샆岿ನ ತಾಪಮಾನದ⢂ದಿ峆 ದ್ರಖಲಾ岿퓆 ಎ⢂飁 ತೋ삿ತ್ತ. 飆

ಈ ಅಧಯ ಯನಕ್ಕಾ 岿, ಚಿೋನಾ, ದಕ್ಷಿ ಣ 哊삿ಯಾ, ಇಟಲ್ಲ, ಫ್ರಾ ನ್ಸಿ , ಇ삾ನ್ಸ, ಜಮಮನ, 볁ಎಸ, ಪ ೋನ್ಸ ಮತ್ತತ ಜಪಾನ್ಸ‍ನಲ್ಲಿ ಚ್ಚಿ ಪೋ蒿ತ್ ಪಾಾ ⢂ತ್ಯ ಗ쳁 삿颂郆 풿ಶವ ದ 85 ಸ್ಥ ಳಗಳ⢂ದ 1,07,351 ಕ್ಕಾ ಚ್ಚಿ ಪಾ ಕರಣಗಳನ್ನು ಶೋಧಕ상 ತಾ쳆 ಮಾ蒿ದ್ರಾ 샆 ಎನು ಲಾ岿飆. ಈ 蓇精ವನ್ನು ಹ풾ಮಾನ ನಯತಾ⢂ಕಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತ ಷ್ಟು 풿�ಿೋ�ಸ್ಲಾ岿飆. 볁풿 棍ಯ ⢂ಕ ಮತ್ತತ ದೃಢಪ蒿ದ ಪಾ ಕರಣಗಳ ಖ್ಯಯ ಯ ನ蓁퓆 ಬಲ풾ದ 낂ಧ풿飆 ಎ⢂飁 ವರದಿಗ쳁 ಚಿ퓆.볁풿 棍ಯ ⢂ಕ 5 ಕ್ಷಾ ⢂ತ್ ಚಿಿ 상ವ ಪಾ 飇ಶಗ쳁, ದೃಢಪ蒿ದ ಸೋ⢂ಕ್ಷತ್ ಪಾ ಕರಣಗಳ ಖ್ಯಯ ಮತ್ತ ಷ್ಟು ಕ蒿룆ಯಾ岿飆. ಚಿಿ ನ ತಾಪಮಾನ ಅಥ풾 볁풿 풿ಕ್ಷರಣಕ್ಕಾ ದಿೋ샍ಮಕ್ಕಲದವ샆峆 ಒ蒿ಿ 哊쳁ು 퓁ದ삿⢂ದ 퓈ರಸ ಸೋ⢂ಕು ಕ蒿룆ಯಾಗುತ್ತ 飆 ಎ⢂飁 ದ್ರಖಲ್ಲಸ್ಲಾ岿飆.

ಸ್룁ದ್ರಯದಲ್ಲಿ 퓈ರಸ ಹರ蓁퓁ದನ್ನು ಕ蒿룆 ಮಾಡ죁 ಕೃತ್ಕ 볁풿 풿ಕ್ಷರಣ퓁 ಅ⢂ತ್ನಮರ್ಮಮತ್ ಪ삿ಸ್ರವನ್ನು ಕ್ಷಾ ರ್ಮನಾಶಕ峊ಳವ ಪ삿貾ಮಕ್ಕ삿 ಮಾಗಮಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒ⢂ದ್ರ岿飆 ಎ⢂飁 ಅಧಯ ಯನ퓁 ಚಿ飆.⢂ದಿನ ಅಧಯ ಯನಗ쳁 ಮಾನಯ ಇನ್ನಲ ಿ 볆ನಿ 퓈ರಸ‍ಗ쳁 ಕ್ಕಲೋಚಿತ್郆 ಎ⢂飁 ಚಿತ್ತ 퓆, ಇ飁邂ಪಾದ ತಾಪಮಾನದಲ್ಲಿ , 퓈ರಸ‍ಗಳ⢂ದ ಉ⢂精ಗುವ ಇನ್ನಲ ಿ 볆ನಿ ಚ್ಚಿ ಗುತ್ತ 飆 ಮತ್ತತ ಅ飁岾ಳಯ ಉಷ್ಣ 郆ಯ ಉಷ್ಣ 郆ಯ⢂ದಿ峆 ಕ蒿룆ಯಾಗುತ್ತ 飆 ಎ⢂飁 ಚಿತ್ತ. 飆 ಆದ್ರಗ್ಯಯ , ಈ ಊಯನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಯವ샆峆 ಯಾ퓁飇 ದೃಢ풾ದ 풿�ಿೋಷ್賆 ಮತ್ತತ 퓈ಜ್ಞಾ ನಕ ತ್ನಖ್ಯಯ⢂ದ ಬ⢂ಬಲ್ಲಸ್ಲಾ岿ಲಿ .

ಐಐ粿-ಮದ್ರಾನ ಸ‍ 풿죍 ಎ⢂ಜಿನಯ삿⢂峍 풿뒾ಗದ ಪ್ರಾ 곆ಸ್샍 ಸ್ಚಿನ್ಸ ಎಸ ಗು⢂铆 ತ್ಮಮ ⢂ದಿನ ಅಧಯ ಯನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇತ್ರ ಇನ್ನಲ ಿ 볆ನಿ 퓈ರಸ‍ಗಳ ಬ飁ಕುಳ볁풿ಕ್ಕ볁 ಚಿಿ ನ ತಾಪಮಾನ ಮತ್ತತ ಚಿಿ ನ 볁풿 棍ಯ ⢂ಕಕ್ಕಾ ಒ蒿ಿ 哊쳁ು 퓁ದನ್ನು ಕ蒿룆 ಮಾ蒿飆 ಎ⢂飁 ತೋ삿飆. ಆದ್ರಗ್ಯಯ , ಈ ಅಧಯ ಯನ퓁 ꣂಣಮ풾岿 ಖ್ಯಯ �ತ ರೋಯ ಕ್ಷ್ಯ ಗಳನ್ನು ಆಧ삿飆. ಈ ಸ್ತ್ಯ ವನ್ನು ಬೋತ್ತಪ蒿ಸ್죁 ಯಾ퓁飇 ꣁ삾퓆ಗಳಲಿ ಎನು ಲಾ岿飆.

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Swarajya Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: IITs Are Leading Nation’s Scientific Effort To Defeat COVID-19; Working On 208 R&D Projects Under Seven Categories URL: https://swarajyamag.com/insta/iits-are-leading-nations-scientific-effort-to- defeat-covid-19-working-on-208-rd-projects-under-seven-categories

The 18 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are leading the scientific effort to bolster nation's capabilities in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, with experts from these premier institutions engaged in over 208 dedicated research and development (R&D) projects, reports Times of India.

The projects span across seven different categories which include personal protective care equipment (45 projects), sanitisation (33 projects), and pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment (30 projects).

The other areas of projects include testing kits, medical equipment and robots, and surveillance and usage of data analytics, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to model epidemic patterns and disease dynamics.

IIT Guwahati is leading the effort with the most number of projects (34 projects), followed by IIT Madras (25 projects). Both the IITs are engaged in projects spanning across all the seven categories. Meanwhile, it should also be noted that the six old IITs are engaged in almost 50 per cent of all the projects.

Even the new IITs, such as IIT-Palakkad, IIT-Mandi, are pitching in for the research. The projects are set to draw over Rs 120 crore over the course of the next 18 months.

V Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT-Delhi reportedly said: “There’s a lot of research happening in IITs. Almost every week we are releasing something to the society. If institutions don’t do it now it is not justifiable. At IIT-Delhi when lockdown was announced we told our faculty and students that we are open for research and IIT will fund the research and their stay on the campus.”

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Times Now Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Eighteen IITs engaged in 208 R&D projects to fight against COVID19 URL: https://www.timesnownews.com/education/article/eighteen-iits-engaged-in- 208-rd-projects-to-fight-against-covid19/583091

With COVID19 cases increasing in India rapidly, 18 IITs of the nation have been trying their best to fight against this deadly virus with its new researches. IIT experts have engaged in 208 dedicated R&D projects under seven different categories.

IIT- Guwahati is leading the race with more number of projects including a drone to identify patients of Coronavirus. IIT Madras stands second in the list and IIT Hyderabad in third. As per the TOI report, nearly 50 percent of the key research is happening in six of the old IITs of the country.

The researches in India’s premier technical schools are being done majorly in the field of personal protective care equipment, followed by sanitization and treatment, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological. Other areas of research include testing kits, surveillance, medical equipment/ robots, and data analytics.

Among all the IITs, IIT Madras and IIT Guwahati are conducting research in all the seven categories. Newly set-up IITs like IIT Mandi, IIT Palakkad and IIT Goa are also pitching in with three projects, research in 10 key areas and 1 project respectively.

The TOI report reads that IIT Madras researches have been divided into three groups- the startups reorienting and looking at COVID19 related problems, faculty and research scholars who stayed back during the lockdown and have submitted proposals based on calls from national and international funding agencies and faculty realigning their undergoing projects towards finding a solution to the problems related to the pandemic.

Other than this, IIT Delhi has developed an ICMR approved detection assay using label-free technology to fight the coronavirus disease. This development that will make a COVID19 test cost just about a few hundred rupees has produced results as well. IIT Delhi Director, V Ramgopal Rao said, “There’s a lot of research happening in IITs. Almost every week we are releasing something to the society. If institutions don’t do it now it is not justifiable. At IIT-Delhi when the lockdown was announced we told our faculty and students that we are open for research and IIT will find the research and their stay on the campus.” IIT Delhi has reached out to at least five industries for the fund.

Meanwhile, IIT Madras and IIT Delhi will also receive CSR funding for the researches that are underway.

Date: 26th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Chennai Page No: 2 Journalist: NA Student: Mr. Venkataramanan S Headline: The skies are alive URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/the-skies-are- alive/articleshow/75384236.cms

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Eastern Mirror Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: 11 Indian Universities in top 100 for emerging economies of the world URL: https://www.easternmirrornagaland.com/11-indian-universities-in-top-100-for- emerging-economies-of-the-world/

Date: 27th April 2020 Media: Daily Thanthi Edition: Chennai Page No: 11 Journalist: NA Headline: 11 Indian universities in top 100 for emerging economies of economies of the world

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Bhaskar Live Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. Mahek Mahen Headline: IIT Madras startup develops smart bin system to prevent COVID-19 spread URL: https://www.bhaskarlive.in/iit-madras-startup-develops-smart-bin-system-to- prevent-covid-19-spread/

Called AirBin, the system works through waste generated at CVPs (contagion vulnerable points, primarily hospitals, clinics, public bins, quarantine zones), the Institute said on Monday.

The smart bin system can be retrofitted on to existing garbage bins on nearby poles, walls or the bin lids.

The objective is to help rural and urban local bodies clear every bin before it overflows and accelerate sustainability.

According to Antariksh, this product is on track to hit the market in around five months.

Antariksh aims to supply the first 200 AirBin devices across India in the next few months with long-term plans to deliver 100,000 units for 100 smart cities in India.

Only 28 per cent of the waste generated in India is recycled and various studies found that the waste generated in the country was doubling every five years.

The startup aims to clear waste bins before they overflow by digitising waste management processes.

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: BW Education - Business World Edition: Online Journalist: NA Spokesperson Quoted: Mr. SP Balamurugan Headline: Education-tech Startup GUVI Raises Rs 6 Crore Funding URL: http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/Education-tech-Startup-GUVI- Raises-Rs-6-Crore-Funding-/27-04-2020-190329/

GUVI, a startup incubated by IIT Madras and CIIE.CO-IIM Ahmedabad has raised Rs 6 crore in its Pre-series A round of funding from Education Catalyst Fund, an education- focussed venture capital fund managed by CBA Capital. An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has a deep penetration in India with presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges.

During this current lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, GUVI attracted over 1.5 lakh enrolments in technical courses in a period of 12 day. Due to the lockdown, not only students but working professionals are also enrolling for their tech courses.

GUVI offers an online platform for students to learn in their mother tongues and provides specialized courses to upskill students and make them ‘job ready’ without having to leave their house. It has already upskilled more than 2.14 lakh engineers in latest technology skills such as Python, Java and Machine Learning, among others and help them gain placement in IT firms.

GUVI was founded by SP Balamurugan, Arun Prakash and Sri Devi and offers technical courses created by industry experts in vernacular languages.

Highlighting the boost this fund-raising will impart to GUVI in its mission to take technology skills to all deserving students, SP Balamurugan, Chief Executive Officer, GUVI, said, “We will use the capital raised in this round to scale up operations, introduce newer courses in more vernacular languages and expand our geographical presence for our blended (offline + online) learning program ‘Zen class’. During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in the number of people signing up to our online courses and we expect this trend to continue even after it.”

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: Business Insider Edition: Online Journalist: Prerna Sindwani Headline: From hand sanitizers to touchless dispensers and portable ventilators, all that IIT Madras students are developing to battle Coronavirus URL: https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/how-iit-madras-are-developing- innovative-solutions-to-tackle-coronavirus/articleshow/75401210.cms

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express Edition: Chennai Page No: 3 Journalist: NA Headline: IIT Madras' gesture

Date: 28th April 2020 Media: The New Indian Express Edition: Kochi Page No: 10 Journalist: NA Headline: ‘AirBin helps prevent spread of virus through waste from hospitals clinics URL: https://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2020/apr/28/airbin-helps-prevent- spread-of-virus-through-waste-from-hospitals-clinics-2136271.html

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: Financial Express Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore / Hyderabad / Chennai / Kolkata / Kochi / Ahmedabad / Chandigarh Page No: 4 Journalist: NA Headline: Govt working on Aarogya Setu App for feature phones URL: https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/health/govt-working-on-aarogya- setu-app-for-feature-phones/1942527/

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: First Post Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: HRD Ministry urges students to explore UGC MOOCs; here is what you need to know about the free online education platform URL: https://www.firstpost.com/india/hrd-ministry-urges-students-to-explore-ugc- moocs-here-is-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-free-online-education-platform- 8308901.html

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal has asked students in undergraduate or post graduate courses to explore UGC MOOCs.

“Did you know that UGC MOOCs, a vertical of @SWAYAMMHRD, offers a fine variety of courses at UG & PG levels? Explore the platform today and take up a course that you always wanted to! After all, what you learn today stays with you forever,” he tweeted.

University Grants Commission’s MOOCs offers over 100 PG courses and over 200 UG courses.

HRD Ministry urges students to explore UGC MOOCs; here is what you need to know about the free online education platformA screenshot of UGC MOOC's official website. Image courtesy: Uugcmoocs.inflibnet.ac.in What is UGC MOOCs?

UGC MOOC or massive open online courses is a vertical of Study Webs of Active– Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM). It has been designed by the Central Government "to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz, access, equity and quality".

SWAYAM platform aims to give the best teaching learning resources to all. It offers courses taught in classrooms from Class 9 till post-graduation. Anyone can access these courses anytime and anywhere. They are free of cost.

The government has appointed National Coordinators — NPTEL for engineering, UGC for post-graduation education, CEC for under-graduate education, NCERT and NIOS for school education, IGNOU for out of the school students and for management studies – to provide quality content.

How useful is SWAYAM?

Six courses under SWAYAM have managed to cement their place among the top 30 online courses of 2019, according to Class Central, a free online course aggregator from top universities like Stanford, MIT and Harvard.

The six courses are:

- Academic Writing: HNB Garhwal University in Uttarakhand - Digital Marketing: Panjab University Chandigarh - Animation: Banaras Hindu University - Mathematical Economics: Doon University, Dehradun - Python for Data Science: Indian Institute of Technology Madras - Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): Avianshilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore

Earlier this month, Pokhriyal held a detailed review of SWAYAM and the 32 DTH television education channels SWAYAM PRABHA. He said that currently over 26 lakh students are taking 574 courses offered on the platform.

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: Business Standard (clip attached) Edition: Delhi / Mumbai Page No: 1 & 4 Journalist: Neha Alawadhi Headline: India's electronics manufacturing can gain from China's loss, says Prasad URL: https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/india-s-electronics- manufacturing-can-gain-from-china-s-loss-says-prasad-120042801501_1.html

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: Business Standard - Hindi Edition: Delhi Page No: 1 & 4 Journalist: Neha Alawadhi Headline: India's electronics manufacturing can gain from China's loss, says Prasad

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: Jagran Josh Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: SWAYAM online courses among 2019's top 30 best courses URL: https://www.jagranjosh.com/news/swayam-online-courses-among-2019s-top- 30-best-courses-153825

Online courses have seen a steady rise during the COVID-19 lockdown in the country due to which classes have been shut. Six of the online courses offered by the Government's Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) platform have been placed among the top 30 best online courses for 2019. This is according to Class Central - a free online course aggregator from top institutions like MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc

VDO.AI Courses offered by SWAYAM The courses which have been ranked from SWAYAM include the Academic Writing course offered by the HNB Garhwal University, Mathematical Economics course offered by the Doon University, Dehradun, Animation courses offered by Banaras Hindu University, Digital Marketing Course offered by Panjab University, Chandigarh, Early Childhood Care and Education course offered by Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education or Women, Coimbatore and Python for Data Science Course offered by IIT Madras.

The Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds also known as SWAYAM is an integrated platform for online courses for the students from class 9 to 12 until the postgraduate level.

The courses are being conducted for the students with the help of information and communication technology and can be accessed from everywhere. The courses which are interactive in nature have been prepared by the best teachers in the country are available free of cost to the students. According to reports, more than 1000 experts and teachers from across the country have prepared the courses.

SWAYAM has offered a total of 2, 867 courses, and 568 courses have been uploaded for the January 2020 Semester. 57 lakh unique users have registered on the SWAYAM platform with about 1.25 Cr (125,04,722) enrollments in the different courses offered by SWAYAM.

Date: 29th April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Maitree Baral Headline: Subjects Offered By Centre's SWAYAM Platform Is Among 2019's Best Courses URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/swayam-courses-offered-by-centre-s- swayam-portal-is-among-2019-s-best-courses-2219499

As per the Class Central, a free online course aggregator from top universities like Stanford, MIT, Harvard, etc., six courses offered by government's SWAYAM platform have been placed among the top 30 online courses of 2019. The courses are Academic Writing course offered by H.N.B Garhwal University (A Central University) Srinagar Garhwal; Digital Marketing course offered by Panjab University, Chandigarh; Animation course offered by Banaras hindu University, Mathematical Economics course offered by Doon University, Dehradun; IIT Madras' Python for Data Science course and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) course offered by Avianshilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

SWAYAM or the Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds is an integrated platform for online courses for students from classes 9-12 to post graduate level. The courses are imparted to students through information and communication technology (ICT) and can be accessed everywhere.

All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to the students. More than 1,000 experts and teachers from across the country have prepared the courses.

Till date, a total of 2,867 courses have been offered through SWAYAM and 568 courses have been uploaded to offer for January 2020 Semester. About 57 lakhs (57,84,770) unique users / registrations have been made on SWAYAM platform and about 1.25 cr (125,04,722) enrollments in various courses of SWAYAM.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: Dina Thanthi Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: ம쮿ퟁ ힿனை뾿쯁ம் , தரமோகퟁம் ‘கரꮿட் சடஸ்ட் க쏁ힿ’ தயோரிக்க சென்னன ஐ.ஐ.羿. 믁ம்믁ரம் (IIT Madras efforts to develop an affordable 'Rapid Test' kit) URL: https://www.dailythanthi.com/News/Districts/2020/04/30035238/Inexpensive- and-quality-Prepare-Rapid-Test-Tool-IIT.vpf

சகாநரானா நநாய்த் சதாற்லற கண்ட잿ய ‘ஆர்.羿.-ꮿ.殿.ஆர்.’ என்ற க쏁ힿ பயன்ப翁த்தப்பட்翁 வ쏁垿ற鏁. இந்த க쏁ힿ 믂லம் நநாய்த்சதாற்쟁 鏁ல்쮿யமாக கண்ட잿யப்பட்டா쯁ம், காலதாமதம் ஏற்ப翁垿ற鏁.

இதலன க쏁த்鎿ல் சகாண்翁鏁ரிதமாக நநாய்த்சதாற்லற கண்ட잿뿁ம் க쏁ힿயாக நரꮿட் சடஸ்ட் என்ற க쏁ힿலய 毀னாힿல் இ쏁ந்鏁 ெ므பத்鎿ல் இந்鎿யா இறக்埁ம鎿 செய்த鏁. இதன் 믂லம் சகாநரானா நநாய்த்சதாற்쟁 இ쏁ப்பலத கண்ட잿뿁ம் பணி뾿ல் 毁காதாரத்鏁லற 鏀ힿரமாக ஈ翁பட்ட鏁.

இந்தநிலல뾿ல் அந்த க쏁ힿ 鏁ல்쮿யமாக 믁羿ퟁகலள சதரிힿக்கힿல்லல என்쟁 ꯁகார் எ폁ந்த鏁. இதலன ஆய்ퟁ செய்த ஐ.殿.எம்.ஆர். அந்த க쏁ힿலய பயன்ப翁த்த நவண்டாம் என்쟁 அ잿ퟁ쟁த்鎿ய鏁. இலதய翁த்鏁 நா翁 믁폁வ鏁ம் வழங்கப்பட்ட அந்த க쏁ힿகள் 鎿쏁ம்ꮿ அꟁப்பப்பட்டன. த뮿ழகத்鎿쯁ம் அந்த க쏁ힿகலள 毁காதாரத்鏁லற 鎿쏁ப்ꮿ அꟁப்ꯁவதாக சதரிힿத்த鏁.

சென்லன ஐ.ஐ.羿. 믁ம்믁ரம்

இந்த 毂ழ்நிலல뾿ல், ம쮿ퟁ ힿலல뾿쯁ம், தரமானதாகퟁம் நரꮿட் சடஸ்ட் க쏁ힿ தயாரிக்க சென்லன ஐ.ஐ.羿. 믁ம்믁ரம் காட்羿 வ쏁垿ற鏁. இதற்காக நகப்செ뮿னி என்ற தனியார் நி쟁வனத்鏁டன் சென்லன ஐ.ஐ.羿. லகநகார்த்鏁 இ쏁க்垿ற鏁. தற்நபா鏁 அதற்கான பணிகள் நடந்鏁 வ쏁垿ன்றன.

சென்லன ஐ.ஐ.羿. தயாரிக்埁ம் இந்த நரꮿட் சடஸ்ட் க쏁ힿ, தரத்鏁டன் , ம쮿ퟁ ힿலல뾿ல், எளி鎿ல் எ翁த்鏁 செல்쯁ம் வலக뾿ல் இ쏁க்埁ம் என்쟁ம், 10 நி뮿டத்鎿ல் நநாய்த் சதாற்쟁 இ쏁க்垿றதா? இல்லலயா? என்ற 믁羿லவ இந்த க쏁ힿ சதரிힿக்埁ம் என்쟁ம் 埂றப்ப翁垿ற鏁.

இ鏁தힿர, தனிலமப்ப翁த்தப்பட்டவர்க쿁க்காகퟁம், அத்鎿யாவ殿ய நதலவக쿁க்காகퟁம் செய쮿 ஒன்லற உ쏁வாக்埁ம் 믁யற்殿뾿쯁ம் சென்லன ஐ.ஐ.羿. இந்த நி쟁வனத்鏁டன் ஒப்பந்தம் செய்鏁 இ쏁ப்பதாகퟁம் தகவல்கள் சதரிힿக்垿ன்றன.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: The Economic Times Edition: Delhi / Mumbai / Kolkata / Bangalore Page No: 4 Journalist: Prachi Verma Headline: Socially distant life awaits IIT students when they return URL: https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/corporate/socially-distant- life-awaits-iit-students-when-they-return/75462382

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: Millennium Post Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Aarogya Setu app now mandatory for central govt employees URL: http://www.millenniumpost.in/big-stories/aarogya-setu-app-now-mandatory- for-central-govt-employees-408041

The Centre on Wednesday made it mandatory for all its employees to download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones, saying the application will be helpful in breaking the chain of transmission of COVID-19. Those working in the Central government, including officers and outsourced staff, will have to review their status on the app before they start for office. They can come report to work only when if it reflects "safe" or "low risk" status.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: The Indian Express Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Aarogya Setu app now mandatory for central govt employees URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/arogya-setu-app-now-mandatory-for- central-govt-employees-6384664/

Those working in the Central government, including officers and outsourced staff, will have to review their status on the app before they start for office. They can come report to work only when if it reflects “safe” or “low risk” status.

In the latest memorandum on the use of the Aarogya Setu app by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the government said officials who are categorised as high risk or moderate based on recent contact with infected person should isolate themselves for 14 days until the app shows ‘safe’ status.

The order has been sent to all departments, ministries, Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office. “The ministries, departments may issue similar directions to all autonomous, statutory bodies, PSUs,” it further said.

The Aarogya Setu app was developed by the Narendra Modi-led government to track those who come in close contact with COVID-19 positive cases. The app uses Bluetooth and location data to track the movement of users and keep an eye on them including who they meet or come in close contact with.

What are human challenge trials, and why are they controversial? In homemade masks, two fabrics better than one Govt's guidelines for home isolation of mild and pre-symptomatic Covid-19 patients Click here for more The app, which is owned by the government and supported by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), was developed by a joint team of official entities such as NITI Aayog and tech industry volunteers, who also help manage it. The first line of code was written by March 19, and the app launched on April 2 after a security audit conducted by IIT-Madras and a tech consulting firm. According to project volunteers, the data is stored on Amazon Web Services servers — a government-impaneled data storage service run by Amazon — as a temporary measure until the transition is made to a NIC server.

For “at-risk” or positive cases, the user’s 30-day log of previous contacts is downloaded to the server, and an alert is sent to each contact. The “at-risk” decision is taken by an algorithm, but the team plans to add human moderators as another level of verification, Indihood founder Lalitesh Katragadda, who is among about 20 volunteers behind the app’s development had earlier told The Indian Express. However, few experts have flagged privacy concerns related to the app.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: The Hindu Edition: Online Journalist: Santosh Patnaik Alumnus: Sridhar Panuganti Headline: COVID-19: Vizag firm comes up with solution for contact tracing URL: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/covid-19-vizag-firm- comes-up-with-solution-for-contact-tracing/article31467425.ece

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: Asian Nikkei.com Edition: Online Journalist: Akira Hayakawa Professor: Prof. T Pradeep Headline: Indian researcher opens taps on cheap drinking water URL: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Nikkei-Asia-Prizes/Indian-researcher-opens- taps-on-cheap-drinking-water

India's northern state of Punjab, bordering Pakistan, is known as the country's breadbasket, thanks to its abundant groundwater, which flows down from the Himalayas.

Much of that water, however, is contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic and iron. People in rural areas, or the poor who rely on well water in Punjab have long been faced the threat of poisoning, every time they take a drink.

But help is at hand, thanks to a water purification technology developed by Thalappil Pradeep and his team of researchers. Pradeep is a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, in southern India.

The technology uses metals, rather than expensive reverse-osmosis membranes, to filter water. "I found that nanoparticles of metals (such as silver) break the common pesticides molecules -- by science, which we call reductive dehalogenation," Pradeep said. His filtration system is the world's first drinking water purifier that uses nanotechnology, he added.

Another advantage of Pradeep's system is that it does not use electricity and can be operated continuously with only two 15-minute maintenance procedures a month. It also produces less wastewater than treatment with reverse-osmosis. And the end product is cheap: pure water that costs just 2 paise (0.03 cent) per liter.

Pradeep began wrestling with the problem of water purification when Coca-Cola and PepsiCo soft drinks were found to be contaminated with pesticides in India in the early 2000s.

Bottled water and other soft drinks produced by the giant U.S. companies were found to contain pesticides in concentrations far exceeding the legal maximum, setting off a wave of protests.

Pradeep was looking for a new approach. In addition to purifying water, "our focus was clean water that is available to the bottom of the pyramid," he said. "If you have money, of course, you get clean water. So, I was only interested in clean water technologies for the poor," he said. He set a goal of providing clean water for 5 paise per liter on a commercial basis.

It has not been easy. "I didn't have financial support to build this [water purification facility for research]. If I say this is something that I can give to my Ph.D. students, no Ph.D. student will take it because it is not something that will give [you] a professor's job after the Ph.D. This is not appreciated [in the academic community]," he said.

At university, where researchers are judged by the number of academic papers they publish, it seemed difficult to gain recognition by studying water purification, a number of methods for which were already in use.

But Pradeep never doubted the importance of his work, thinking he should both publish a paper and do water purification research.

He applied himself to the task with zeal, even cutting back on his sleep. He began winning over students, and by around 2006 his lab was humming like a startup company. "When you do something good, I think many people support you, and you need to build that base," Pradeep said.

At first, the research focused on removing agrochemicals from water. The target was later widened to include contaminants such as arsenic and iron. Once the technology was established, students at IIT set up a business and commercialized it. Around 2013, they started cleaning up water on a large scale. The system can purify a liter of water every 10 seconds.

At present, more than 80 purification units using the technology have been installed in Punjab, providing arsenic-free drinking water to about 150,000 people. The purifiers are also in use in other states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, providing clean drinking water to more than 7.5 million people.

"He truly aims to provide an environment in which Indians can drink clean water without anxiety, using the nanomaterials he developed independently," said Pradeep's good friend Tatsuya Tsukuda, a professor at the University of Tokyo. "It is his life's work, which he is doing not for profit but from love for humanity."

IIT Madras established International Centre for Clean Water, a facility to foster cooperation between industry and academia in water research at its campus in Chennai in 2018. "We would welcome anyone who wants to work on water research," said Pradeep, who now heads the facility. Its doors are open to universities, companies, governments and nongovernmental organizations.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: The Times of India Edition: Online Journalist: P Naveen Alumni: Mr. D Venkat Ramayya Headline: Madhya Pradesh: Phased resumption of industries need of the hour, say researchers URL: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/madhya-pradesh-phased- resumption-of-industries-need-of-the-hour-say-researchers/articleshow/75453396.cms

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: Digital Learning Edition: Online Journalist: NA Alumni: Mr. Taran Singh Headline: Melvano App by IIT Madras Alumnus becomes popular choice for IIT JEE& NEET aspirants URL: https://digitallearning.eletsonline.com/2020/04/melvano-app-by-iit-madras- alumnus-becomes-popular-choice-for-iit-jee-neet-aspirants/

Going out of homes has become a real problem during the global crisis. The ever increasing infection & the fear of the Novel-Corona-Virus have made people question their old routines. Similarly, there are concerns in the minds of aspiring students (and their parents), who had to stop going to their Entrance exams coaching classes for JEE Main & Advanced, NEET, CBSE Boards, and other state-level engineering entrances.

Melvano (http://www.melvano.com), an Artificial Intelligence-based learning app has emerged as the answer in the COVID-19 pandemic era. It provides a personalized preparation for entrance exams, completely free of costs! It also solves any travel woes, & takes away any second thoughts about a candidate’s preparation journey.

Melvano analyses a student’s strengths & weaknesses presenting the candidate with relevant sets of Practice Questions, Mock tests& Discussions. It provides them with an Intelligent Dashboard matching with their respective learning curves; and Performance Reports, after users go through an assessment test.

Melvano is an all-round Practice tool helping student fraternity. An aspirant need not hassle around for any textbooks, practice books, question banks & sample papers; all available at the finger tip. This interactive app cuts down online distraction, perfectly fitting the times of social distancing & keeping the student community engaged in the practice. Melvano app can be accessed remotely, has the best study materials with one-stop-repository of 40 thousand Practice Questions & detailed solutions with over 10thousand questions being practiced daily. Melvano also provides doubt clearing facility, where students can search their doubts from database of more than 40 thousand Questions and Answers.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: The Science Wire Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: In the latest gravitational wave signal, new music meets an old predict URL: https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/gw190412-black-hole-merger-ligo-virgo- harmonics-einstein-prediction/

An image from a numerical simulation of a black-hole binary merger with asymmetric masses and orbital precession. Caption and image: N. Fischer, H. Pfeiffer, A. Buonanno (Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics), Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Collaboration

For the first time, two international experiments designed to observe and study gravitational waves – ripples in the spacetime continuum itself – have together detected the merger of two black holes of different masses. These experiments, called LIGO and Virgo, have detected black hole mergers before but the new one, dubbed GW190412, is noteworthy for many reasons.

Thanks to many features in the gravitational-wave signal, scientists were also able to extract several curious features of the black holes’ final moments themselves.

The LIGO and Virgo scientific collaborations announced their detection on April 18, 2020. The collision happened a little over two billion lightyears away, and the gravitational waves released by the collision arrived at Earth on April 12, 2019. Gravitational waves also travel at the speed of light, so if they journeyed across two billion lightyears, it means the black hole merger happened roughly two billion years ago (maybe a little less, considering the expansion of the universe). In this event, a black hole weighing about eight-times the mass of the Sun merged with a much more massive black hole that weighed 30-times as much as the Sun, to form a black hole weighing about 37-times as much as the Sun.

Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime. Albert Einstein first predicted their existence in 1915, according to his general theory of relativity, which explains how gravity and spacetime are related. The US-based LIGO observatories first directly detected gravitational waves in 2015, and since then gravitational waves have well and truly become a part of popular imagination. In the last five years, more than a dozen gravitational-wave signals from many violent astronomical phenomena have been detected by LIGO and their European counterpart Virgo.

These detections have opened up an entirely new way to observe the universe. Today, the LIGO and Virgo observatories are new ‘telescopes’ designed to observe the cosmos just as other telescopes use light, neutrinos and cosmic rays as probes.

The Virgo (top), LIGO Hanford (bottom left) and LIGO Livingston (bottom right) observatories. Photos: Virgo and LIGO collaborations PIN IT A rich and complex signal

As black holes come closer to each other, they begin revolving around each other, their orbits slowly shrinking as they spiral closer and closer in. Eventually, they come so close that they collide and merge into one black hole. This motion of black holes induce ripples in the fabric of spacetime. During the inspiralling, the gravitational waves emitted are predominantly at twice the orbital frequency.

That is, the gravitational waves’ frequency is equal to twice the rate at which the black holes revolved around each other. But when the black holes have distinctly different masses, the general theory of relativity predicts that their inspiralling will generate a weaker signal at higher frequencies. So the next-strongest gravitational note produced by the black hole pair should be at one and half times (1.5x) the primary gravitational-wave frequency.

At any instant, the gravitational wave signal contains higher harmonics of the fundamental frequency – like notes from a guitar string, which has a fundamental frequency of vibration as well as several harmonics, which are integer multiples (2x, 3x, 4x, etc.) of the fundamental frequency. In the case of gravitational waves, the fundamental frequency is twice the orbital frequency of the binary black hole system.

In addition, as the black holes come closer and closer, they orbit each other faster, so the orbital frequency increases. As a result, the fundamental frequency of emission itself increases with time, building towards higher and higher pitches like the sound of a bird’s chirp.

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Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume. An audio file simulating the waveform of a binary black hole merger with mass ratio 3.6:1. The audio is of a simulated waveform with frequency 25 times higher than GW190412. Credit: Florian Wicke and Frank Ohme (AEI Hannover, Germany)

The observed waves also suggested that the axis around which the black holes were spinning was rotating – a type of motion called precession, seen commonly with a spinning top.

Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts that a rapidly spinning black hole will drag the spacetime around it. This ‘whirlpool’ effect will affect the rotation of the other black hole, as a result of which the spin axes of both black holes start to precess. In response to this, the orbital plane also undergoes precessional motion, creating modulations in the observed gravitational-wave signal.

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Settings Enter fullscreen Play Detecting the signature of precession in the observed signal is challenging, limited by the presence of noise in the detector. But LIGO and Virgo were still able to find weak evidence of precession in the gravitational-wave signals from GW190412.

Altogether, the gravitational waves emitted had a rich wave structure that LIGO and Virgo could study to elucidate various details of a black hole merger – including ones indicating that the predictions of a 105-year old theory still hold true.

Indian contribution

Various research institutes in India are part of the LIGO Science Collaboration: Chennai Mathematical Institute; Directorate of Construction, Services and Estate Management, Mumbai; International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Bengaluru; IISER Kolkata; IISER Pune; IIT Bombay; IIT Gandhinagar; IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras; Institute of Plasma Research, Gandhinagar; Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune; Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore; and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

Since this is the first time we detected higher harmonics of gravitational waves, scientists needed to be absolutely sure. So the LIGO-Virgo collaboration used four different methods to independently confirm their presence in the wave structure. One of these methods was developed by scientists at IIT Gandhinagar and Chennai Mathematical Institute, led by Soumen Roy, a PhD scholar at IIT Gandhinagar. Apratim Ganguly, a researcher at ICTS, led another analysis that confirmed the consistency of the signal with the prediction of Einstein’s theory.

It turns out such mergers are not very rare in nature. If they were, LIGO and Virgo might not have spotted GW190412 given the maximum distances up to which these detectors can ‘see’ such mergers. We expect to observe many more of such events in the coming years, when LIGO and Virgo collect more data with better sensitivity.

These future observations could in turn help us better understand how pairs of black holes – called binaries – are formed. Nature hasn’t yet revealed to us the answer to this question. The simplest hypothesis is that these black holes that form binaries are the remains of massive stars. However, other scientists have argued that these black holes could have been produced in the very early universe, when dense clumps of primordial matter collapsed under their own gravity. To confirm one hypothesis over another, we need more data – which is where LIGO and Virgo, as well as other upcoming instruments, fit in.

A new astronomy

Until the 20th century, astronomers used only optical telescopes, which were and are capable of ‘seeing’ only the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. But in the last hundred years alone, we have become able to ‘see’ the universe in all the frequencies of the spectrum, from radio waves all the way up to gamma rays. And in the last few decades alone, we have developed instruments that help scientists understand events playing out in the far reaches of the cosmos by observing particles called cosmic rays and neutrinos coming from there.

The more ways in which we can ‘see’ the universe, the more we understand about it – not just independently but also by complementing, say, the findings of a neutrino detector with those of a gamma-ray telescope.

The astronomy using gravitational-wave observations has only just begun. In the next few years, LIGO and Virgo are expected to detect hundreds of gravitational-wave events. They will also be joined by the KAGRA detector from Japan and a third LIGO observatory to be built in India. The more detectors we have, the more our ability to probe the cosmos will be.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: NDTV Edition: Online Journalist: Anisha Kumari Headline: 'Experiment With Experiments With Virtual Lab': Education Minister URL: https://www.ndtv.com/education/mhrds-digital-learning-initiative-virtual-lab- 2220477

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank, who has been actively tweeting about digital learning resources and initiatives, today tweeted about the MHRD's 'Virtual Lab' initiative. The initiative was launched under the National Mission on Education through ICT. As is evident with the name, the platform allows students to improve their experimental skills virtually, without any physical laboratory setup. "Experiment with experiments from the comfort of your home with 'Virtual Labs'," wrote HRD Minister.

Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank ✔ @DrRPNishank Experiment with experiments from the comfort of your home with 'Virtual Labs'. As the name suggests, it offers you scientific tools to enhance your experimental skills even without a physical laboratory setup. Interesting? Watch the video for more info! http://www.vlab.co.in/

Embedded video 282 4:10 PM - Apr 29, 2020 Twitter Ads info and privacy 81 people are talking about this On this platform, students will be able to access labs remotely in various disciplines of Science and Engineering and conduct simulation-based experiments. The virtual labs cater to students of all levels of higher education - undergraduate, postgraduate, and research.

Virtual Labs will provide to the students the result of an experiment by one of the following methods (or possibly a combination):

Modeling the physical phenomenon by a set of equations and carrying out simulations to yield the result of the particular experiment. This can, at-the-best, provide an approximate version of the 'real-world' experiment. Providing measured data for virtual lab experiments corresponding to the data previously obtained by measurements on an actual system. Remotely triggering an experiment in an actual lab and providing the student the result of the experiment through the computer interface. This would entail carrying out the actual lab experiment remotely. The virtual lab project was a consortium activity of 12 participating institutes including 7 IITs (IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, and IIT Madras). Under Virtual Labs project, over 100 Virtual Labs consisting of approximately 700+ web-enabled experiments were designed for remote-operation and viewing.

At a time when classes in Universities and colleges have been suspended with no clear sign of m=normalcy returning anytime soon, students with required setup are shifting more and more to virtual learning resources. Virtual Labs will prove to be a valuable asset not just for students but also for teachers and professors.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: Brain Buxa Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Virtual labs to allow students to conduct experiments without physical setup URL: https://www.brainbuxa.com/education-news/virtual-labs-to-allow-students-to- conduct-experiments-without-physical-setup-10333

This platform will allow students to access the labs remotely from the comfort of their homes. Labs are available from various disciplines of Science and Engineering. These labs will cater to the needs of the students of all levels whether they be higher education - undergraduate, postgraduate, or research.

The project is a collaborative effort of 12 participating institutes including 7 IITs (IIT Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Guwahati, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, and IIT Madras).

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: Pagal Guy Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Gartner revokes jobs and internships at IIMs; IITs get hit with cancellation too URL: https://www.pagalguy.com/articles/gartner-revokes-jobs-and-internships-at- iims-iits-get-hit-with-cancellation-too

Many countries have been hit adversely with the pandemic of COVID19, and the placement season in IIMs and IITs have been affected badly as major MNCs are revoking job and internship offers at these major institutes.

Taking into consideration the lockdown scenario and international borders getting sealed, many multinationals have decided to revisit their hiring plans and procedures in IIMs and IITs.

Gartner, which is a leading global research and advisory company, has revoked job offers in several Indian Institutes of Management. IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad have confirmed cases of Gartner revoking final placement offer as well as internships.

Some IIM Bangalore students took to LinkedIn and said that their final placements and internships were revoked by the US-based firm, but IIM Bangalore claimed that it was in touch with the company and is devising other plans and opportunities for the affected students.

“On the other hand, the institute is trying to contact them to find an agreeable outcome,” the IIM Calcutta official said. As per Amit Karna, who is the chairperson of placements at IIM Ahmedabad,: “Gartner has revoked offers made at the final placements. It had hired three students. No other firm has revoked final offers. The institute is finding new opportunities for affected students by reaching out to our alumni network, existing and new recruiters.”

U Dinesh Kumar who is the chairperson of the career development services at IIM Bangalore, quoted “All firms have told us they are going to stand by their commitments. Offers have only been postponed. The companies are trying to work out plans once there is clarity on the lockdown after April 15. Mostly, financial sector firms have postponed offers, as they haven’t been able to begin internships due to logistics and data safety issues.”

Due to travel restrictions, some Gulf-based firms had withdrawn their summer placement offers but have devised other opportunities for the affected students as agreed by Kumar. Instead of denying and postponing the summer internships, some virtual assignments have been allotted to the summer interns by a fast-moving consumer good multinational.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: India Education Diary Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Bound’s first books podcast features guests like Manu Pillai, Lisa Ray and more URL: https://indiaeducationdiary.in/bounds-first-books-podcast-features-guests-like- manu-pillai-lisa-ray-and-more/

Bound, founded by Tara Khandelwal, is one of India’s first literary companies that provides essential skill building for creatives of any kind. We create immersive retreats, host workshops, and create courses with 1:1 coaching. Part of our mission is to recruit India’s literary leaders to teach creative writing and to give tomorrow’s authors the tools to earn extra income and strengthen their craft through quality and affordable education.

In the past, Bound’s mentors have included authors like Chandrahas Chaudhury, Prayaag Akbar, Ratika Kapur, Amitabha Bagchi, Aditi Rao, Tashan Mehta, Pragya Bhagat and Rheea Mukherjee.

Our work has helped us build a community of over 6000+ writers, 2000+ influencers, journalists, and subscribers on social media. Beyond a passion for editing, we focus on growing organic, reliable relationships with each client, enabling them to grow independent and flourish. Our clientele has been published by Penguin, HarperCollins, Hachette, Zubaan, Rupa and more. Media coverage from The Hindu, Conde Nast Traveller, Scroll.in, Mid-Day, Mint Lounge has helped us in our journey.

Through our work, we have gained a unique perspective on what aspiring writers’ want in their editors and coaches, what kinds of collaboration and guidance they look for, what kinds of stories they want to write and what they think of the publishing eco-system, self-publishing, social media and online magazines.

We’ve always tried to build and maintain a strong community of writers. Through ‘Books and Beyond with Bound’, we aim to take this one step further – to bring readers and aspiring writers closer to published authors and their works.

We get to know each writer’s creative process, their writing routine, the inspiration behind their books and what makes them tick through our brand new podcast.

We’ve had a lot of fun speaking to some of our favourite authors and now we want you to partake in the fun too! We can’t wait to share their stories with you. There are not many avenues in India where information about the literary world is easily accessible and that’s why Bound wanted to bring this podcast to you that is both fun and educational!

‘Books and Beyond with Bound’ probes deep into the lives and psyches of writers like never before. These writers are from different backgrounds and write in diverse genres. We’ve recorded with Manu Pillai, Lisa Ray, Rajat Ubhaykar, Tashan Mehta, Jane Borges, Abhijit Kini, Avni Doshi, Arshia Sattar, Deepanjana Pal, Suhit Kelkar, Vivek Tejuja, and Amrita Mahale! And this is just the first season. We are planning many more conversations with brilliant minds.

Testimonial

Just saying that this podcast was amazing or fantastic would be an understatement. Was totally bowled over by the candidness of Manu, the way he brought his books alive, his personal beliefs and the relentless passion with which he pursues writing. Also liked the questions posed which allowed the speaker to enumerate more. Great going Bound. I am looking forward to hearing more in the series.

Date: 30th April 2020 Media: Chennai Vision Edition: Online Journalist: NA Headline: Actor takes Aerospace online classes with support from IIT Madras Incubation cell URL: https://chennaivision.com/actor-takes-aerospace-online-classes-with-support- from-iit-madras-incubation-cell/

Jagadeesh, Well known theatre artist in chennai theatre circle , had his debut in Dinesh selvaraj’s (former associate of maniratnam) Naalu peruku nalladhuna edhuvum thappila as one of the Lead cast, went on to act in National award winner janaki viswananthan’s “Thirai kadal” awaiting fo release, also acted & penned lines for Kadhal Neeyae, A music album released by Anirudh and worked as assistant director with Rajiv menon.

Beinga an Aeornautical Engineer and A Theatre Aritst he combined both skill sets and started an Educational Startup vaayusastra, which teaches Aeronautics and Aerospace for children using theatre as educational tool, and it is Inucuabted under IIT Madras Incubation cell. Vaayusastra provides part time job opportunities for full time theatre artiste.

During this Lockdown period, IIT Mentor Mr.Ravichandran suggested to start conducting online sessions, with his advice Jagdish started the online course which received overwhelming response with more than 300+ children joined within a ten day span.

The Vaayusastra team now continuing this for next one month. lets wish them for this innovative knowledge sharing initiative.

செக鏀ஸ் , இவர் நா쯁 நப쏁க்埁 நல்ல鏁ன்னா எ鏁ퟁம் தப்ꮿல்ல 믂லம் 殿னிமாힿல் அ잿믁கமான நமலட நாடக கலலஞர் ஆவார், 鎿லரக்埁 வர காத்鎿쏁க்埁ம் ொன垿 ힿஸ்வனாதன் இயக்க鎿ல் “鎿லர கடல்” படத்鎿쯁ம் ந羿த்鎿쏁ந்தார்

ꮿன் அனி쏁த் சவளி뾿ட்ட “காதல் நீநய” ஆல்பத்鎿ல் ந羿த்鏁ம், பாடல் எ폁鎿뿁ம், 鎿쏁.ரா玿வ் நமனன் அவர்களிடம் உதힿ இயக்埁னராகퟁம் 鎿லரத்鏁லர뾿ல் வளர்ந்鏁 வ쏁垿றார்.

இவர் ஒ쏁 ힿமானힿயல் 믁鏁நிலல பட்டதாரி뿁ம் ஆவார், இவர் தற்நபா鏁 ஐஐ羿埀ழ் இயங்க்埁ம் “இங்埁நபென் செல்” உதힿ뿁டன் வா뿁-ொஸ்த்鎿ரா என்ற நி쟁வனத்鎿ன் 믂லம் நாடகக் கலல 믂லம் ힿமானힿயல் கற்ப்ꮿத்鏁 வ쏁垿றார். இ鏁 믁폁 நநர நாடக கலலஞர்க쿁க்埁 ஒ쏁 ப埁鎿 நநர நவலல வாய்ப்பாக 15 க்埁ம் நமற்ப்பட்ட நாடக கலலஞர்க쿁க்埁 உதퟁம் நி쟁வனமாகퟁம் வளர்ந்鏁 வ쏁垿ற鏁.

இந்த ஊரடங்埁 ெமயத்鎿ல், ஐஐ羿 இங்埁நபென் செல் – வ펿காட்翁த쮿ன் 믂லம் ,300க்埁ம் நமற்ப்பட்ட பள்ளி மாணவர்க쿁க்埁 ஆன்லலன் 믂லம் பாடங்கள் கற்ப்ꮿத்鏁 சகாண்羿쏁க்垿றார் செக鏀ஸ் மற்쟁ம் அவர் வா뿁ொஸ்த்鎿ரா நாட埁폁ힿனர்.