Major mathematics awards to two Indian origin scientists

Manjul Bhargava and Subhash Khot, are among the eight winners of the prestigious International Mathematical Union awards

Two mathematicians of Indian origin, Manjul Bhargava and Subhash Khot, are among the eight winners of the prestigious awards of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) that were announced at the inaugural of the 9-day International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) which began today at Seoul, Republic of Korea. The President of Korea, Park Geun-hye, gave away the awards.

The ICM is held every four years and, traditionally, the IMU awards are presented at this quadrennial event. The awards include the Fields Medal, the highest award in mathematics, the Rolf Nevanlinna Prize and the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize. At the last ICM held at Hyderabad, India, two new awards, the Chern Medal and the Leelavati Prize, were added to the existing three awards.

The 40 year-old Canadian-American Manjul Bhargava, a number theorist from Princeton University, is one of the four Fields Medalists chosen for the ICM2014 awards. The Fields Medal is awarded “to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement”. A minimum of two and a maximum of four Fields Medals are given to mathematicians under the age of 40 on January 1 of the year of the Congress.

“Manjul Bhargava has developed powerful new methods in the geometry of numbers and applied them to count rings of small rank and to bound the average rank of elliptic curves,” said the IMU citation for the award. More...

The other three Fields Medalists are:

The Brazilian mathematician Arthur Avila (35) of the Paris Diderot University-Paris 7 and Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro, who has been awarded “for his profound contributions to dynamical systems theory, which have changed the face of the field, using the powerful idea of renormalizations as a unifying principle”; the British mathematician Martin Hairer (39) of the University of Warwick “for his outstanding contributions to stochastic partial differential equations, and in particular for the creation of a theory of regularity structures for such equations”; and, the Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani (37) of Stanford University “for her outstanding contributions to the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their modulii spaces”.

The 36 year-old IIT Bombay alumnus Subhash Khot, an Indian-American theoretical computer scientist at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University has been chosen for the ICM2014 Rolf Nevanlinna Prize. The Nevanlinna Prize is awarded “for outstanding contributions in mathematical aspects of information sciences”.

“Subhash Khot's prescient definition of the "Unique Games" problem, and his leadership in the effort to understand its complexity and its pivotal role in the study of efficient approximation of optimization problems, have produced breakthroughs in algorithmic design and approximation hardness, and new exciting interactions between computational complexity, analysis and geometry,” the award citation said. More….

The Gauss Prize in Applied Mathematics is awarded “to honor scientists whose mathematical research has had an impact outside mathematics – either in technology, in business, or simply in people's everyday lives”.

The winner of the ICM2014 Gauss Prize is Stanley Osher (72) of University of California, Los Angeles, who has been awarded the Prize “for his influential contributions to several fields in applied mathematics, and for far reaching inventions that have changed our conception of physical, perceptual and mathematical concepts, giving us new tools to apprehend the world.”

The Chern Medal is given “to an individual whose accomplishments warrant the highest level of recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of mathematics”.

The Chern Medal this time goes to the American algebraic geometer Phillip Griffiths (76) “for his groundbreaking and transformative development of transcendental methods in complex geometry, particularly his seminal work in Hodge theory and periods of algebraic varieties”.

Unlike the other awards, the Leelavati Prize is not given for achievements in mathematics research but for outstanding public outreach work in mathematics. Proposed by India, it was originally intended as a one-time award using the grant from the Norwegian Abel Foundation. Thanks to the efforts by Indian mathematicians in finding a sponsor to make it a regular affair, it has now been instituted as a recurring four-yearly award under the IMU charter to be given away at the closing ceremony of the ICM. The award is now being sponsored by Infosys, the Indian IT major.

The ICM2014 Leelavati Prize has been given to the Argentine Adrián Paenza (65) “for his decisive contributions to changing the mind of a whole country about the way it perceives mathematics in daily life, and in particular for his books, his TV programmes, and his unique gift of enthusiasm and passion in communicating the beauty and joy of mathematics”.

ICAR- Spearheading Tricolor Revolution in Agriculture

This year 29^th July was the momentous day for the Indian Council of Agricultural Research as Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the agricultural scientists on the occasion of 86^th Foundation Day and ICAR Award Ceremony. In his inspiring, motivating and suggestive address, Prime Minister called upon agricultural scientists to work for making farming community more empowered and prosperous through new science and technology interventions. He reiterated that we must make adequate improvements in technology options in sync with fast changing climate scenario in different agro climatic zones. Emphasizing on the need for conservation and efficient use of water resources, he said ‘More Crop, Per Drop’ should be our mantra. Prime Minister was apprised of some of the key initiatives of ICAR primarily in the areas of climate resilience, natural resource management, input use efficiency, secondary agriculture and economic transformation of farming community through innovations and interventions.

The wide network of ICAR is functioning and synchronizing its array of activities to realize its mission, ‘harness power of science and education with a human touch for higher and sustainable agricultural production’. Indian agriculture being a monsoon dependent activity, late onset and deficient monsoon posed a serious challenge to farmers vis-à-vis food production of the country. Over 520 district level Contingency Plans under National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) developed and demonstrated at locations. Interface meetings were organized with state officials and other stakeholders for smooth implementation and mobilization of various inputs to the farmers. Facilitations were provided to ensure timely delivery of seeds to farmers of the short duration varieties of crops and contingent/alternate crops. Various measures of water harvesting at farms and efficient use of water were demonstrated to farmers along with organization of awareness camps to mitigate the climate adversity. Council has also prepared the climatic vulnerability atlas of the country to help develop a road map for sustained mitigation interventions. More thrust in being given to develop drought resistant, flood/water logging tolerant, salt tolerant, short duration varieties and multiple disease resistant varieties of major crops.

Technology led and knowledge driven innovations and interventions are spearheading the country towards tricolor revolution having significant increase in overall food production. This year, a record 263 million tonnes production of food grains and 269 million tonnes in horticultural produce ensured sustainable food and nutritional security for the countrymen. National level technology demonstration on pulse production in 6,000 villages along with use of improved varieties resulted in all time high production of 19.5 million tonnes. Continuous efforts to raise productivity of pulses from 750 to 1,000 kg per hectare are being made with horizontal expansion in area up to three million hectare by 2020. In oil seeds new varieties are being developed having high oil content and production potential. Oil palm has been recognized as an alternative and effective oil crop having potential oil yield of 3-4 tonnes per hectare. Tissue culture protocols for mass multiplication of oil palm have been developed to quickly raise its area.

In commercial crops, India emerged as second largest producer of cotton with production of 35.3 million bales during the year. New production, management and crop protection technologies, especially developed for Bt cotton, helped expansion of its area up to 90% of the cotton belt. In sugarcane, production reached to approximately 361 million tonnes with productivity peaking at 70 tonnes per hectare.

Recent advances in livestock production and management practices led to record production of 136 million tonnes of milk, which is highest in the world, as against nearly 128 million tonnes during 2012-13. In poultry, an impressive 70 billion eggs were produced gaining from scientific practices. Gramapriya and Vanaraja breeds of chicken have become most sought after breeds for backyard poultry due to their high performance under rural conditions. Improved breeds of quail, duck, turkey and guinea fowl were introduced and popularized to enhance the poultry basket of the country. This year, fish production reached to 9.45 million tonnes banking upon diversified fish farming system. Popular fish Rohu was improved through selection for better productivity gains.

Dissemination of user friendly technologies at ground level is undertaken by a wide network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) having direct interface with farmers. With the establishment of new KVKs during the year, now the number stands at 639 making it the largest network of technology assessment, refinement and transfer. As part of regional cooperation, the ICAR also organized ASEAN-India Farmers’ Exchange programme and also facilitated the study visit of Nigerian delegation that came to familiarize with Indian agricultural research and extension system in general and KVKs in particular. Under the Tribal Sub Plan, ICAR closely worked with tribal farmers to enhance their livelihood security in different parts of the country. Council also demonstrated technology-led agriculture innovation systems for improving livelihood security in 91 backward districts of the country to about 1.43 lakh poor farming families. Intensive efforts resulted in adoption of sea cage farming by families of Sidi African tribes, living on Veravel coast, Gujarat as a highly profitable vocation. Integrated farm interventions in Bali island of Sunderbans, West Bengal enhanced livelihood of the tribal residents. Location-specific integrated farming systems were designed for small and marginal farm households in different states with farmers’ participation.

Among some milestone achievements, contribution of the ICAR scientists in decoding of wheat genome is the most promising and latest one. As a part of the international consortium, Chromosome ‘2A’ was decoded helping identification of 1, 25,000 genes. The research got prominent coverage in the top international research journal ‘Science’ (18^th July, 2014). Under the ambitious programme of cloning of Murrah Buffaloes, a male calf named ‘Rajat’ was produced through the Hand-guided Cloning Technique. The new born calf is a clone of Proven Buffalo Bull (MU-4393) whose frozen semen was available in the institutional semen bank. The donor cell was taken from the frozen semen of this bull. Female cloned calves named ‘Lalima’ and ‘Purnima’ were produced by taking the donor cell from the ear of elite buffaloes.

To facilitate the advancement of genomics in the country, ‘ASHOKA’ (Advanced Supercomputing Hub for OMICS Knowledge in Agriculture) was dedicated to the nation which is a state-of–art facility, first of its kind devoted exclusively for Indian agricultural research. The supercomputing hub is poised to bridge the gap between genomic information and knowledge by utilizing statistical and computational sciences.

A step forward has been taken for securing India’s crop genetic diversity by joining the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV). India deposited 25 accessions of pigeon pea as ‘safety duplicates’ in the global gene bank on 9 April, 2014. The global gene bank is jointly maintained and managed by the Norway’s Department of Agriculture and the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) under the international Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).

Indian Council of Agricultural Research has geared up to face social-economic challenges before agriculture as a profession. Business partnership has been developed with companies for commercialization of technologies through AgrInnovate India Limited which is a registered company owned by DARE/ICAR. Seeds, farm implements & machinery, diagnostics & vaccines and value added products are the major areas identified for business enterprises. All out efforts are being made to raise profitability of agriculture for making it a really attractive occupation, especially for youth.

Food Processing Industries

Food Processing Sector forms an important segment of the Indian economy in terms of its contribution to GDP, employment and investment. The sector contributes 9.0 to 10.0 per cent of GDP in Agriculture and Manufacturing sector. During the last 5 years ending 2012-13, FPI sector has been growing at an Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) of around 8.6 per cent as compared to 3.8 per cent in Agriculture and 6.6 per cent in Manufacturing. In a developing economy like India, where growth with equity is a primary policy thrust, the optimum development of the food processing sector will contribute significantly in tackling several developmental concerns such as rural poverty, food security, food inflation, improved nutrition, prevention of wastage of food etc. By serving as a bridge between Agriculture and Manufacturing and by dealing with the basic needs of all Indian citizens-the assured supply of healthy and affordable food at all locations in the country, this sector has the potential to be a major driver in India’s growth in the coming years. A network of food testing labs is required to ensure compliance with food standards. There are 151 Food Testing Laboratories under the purview of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for testing food products as per standards prescribed under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Rules/Regulation, 2011. The standards for imported food products are prescribed in Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011 & Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants Toxins and Residues) Regulation, 2011. Further, FSSAI is in the process of harmonizing the existing Indian Standards with Codex Alimentarius(International Food Standards). Food Safety Standards set up by EU countries, are based on risk assessment and all exporters are mandatorily complying with these standards for export of products which are administered through APEDA. Testing of such products is done in APEDA approved laboratories.

Promotion of Food Processing Industries

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN PROCESSED FOOD SECTOR             In order to promote research and development in processed food sector, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing a Scheme namely ‘Quality Assurance, Codex, R&D and Other Promotional Activities’. Research and Development is one of the components of this scheme. The objective of the scheme is that the end product / outcome / findings of R&D work should benefit Food Processing Industry in terms of product and process development, improved preservation, packaging, storage and distribution technologies, value addition, standardization of additives, coloring agents, preservatives, pesticide residues, etc. with focus on enhancement of production, quality, consumer safety, public health and trade.             All Universities, IITs, Central / State Government Institutions, Public FundedOrganisations, R&D laboratories and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) recognized R&D units in private sector are eligible for grant-in-aid under this scheme.             The scheme is being implemented by Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), under Department of Science and Technology w.e.f. 01.04.2012.             Ministry of Food Processing Industries implemented a Scheme for Human Resource Development (HRD) in the Food Processing Sector in 11th Plan. This Scheme focusses on developing technologists, managers, entrepreneurs and manpower for quality management in food processing. Under the scheme, assistance is provided for Creation of Infrastructure facilities in academic institutions for degree/diploma course in food technology and for setting up of Food Processing Training Centres (FPTC) and Entrepreneurship Development Programmes.              There are also two academic-cum-research institutions under this Ministry viz. National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) at Kundli, Sonepat, Haryana and the Indian Institute of Crop Processing Technology (IICPT) at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, which offer academic programmes at Bachelors, Masters and Ph.D. level courses in Food Processing. The institutes are also conducting short term training courses.             During the 12th Five Year Plan, the HRD Scheme has been subsumed under the National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP), for implementation through State/UT Governments.

Promoting Production of Organic Fertilizers

Government is promoting production of organic fertilizers in the country through various programmes under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) and Network Project on Organic Farming under ICAR. Under Soil Health Management (SHM) component of NMSA, financial assistance up 33% of financial outlay, subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.63.00 lakhs for establishment of agro/vegetable waste compost production units, and 25% of financial outlay subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs.40.00 lakh for biofertiliser production units, is provided as back-ended subsidy through NABARD. And also, financial assistance upto 50% of cost subject to a limit of Rs.5, 000/- per hectare and Rs.10, 000/- per beneficiary is provided for promotion of organic inputs including organic fertilizers. Assistance has been provided for 42 biofertiliser production units and 16 agro/vegetable waste compost production units under the scheme. The ICAR has developed technologies to prepare various types or organic manures such as phosphocompost, vermin compost, bio-enriched compost, municipal solid waste compost etc. from various organic wastes. Improved and efficient strains of biofertilizers specific to different crops and soil types are being developed under Network Project on Soil Biodiversity – Biofertilizers being operated in 14 different States. Liquid biofertilizer technology with high shelf life has also been developed.

PM lays foundation stone of Leh-Kargil-Srinagar power transmission line. Dedicates to the nation the 45MW capacity Nimmo-Bazgo hydropower project

PM announces series of development initiatives for Jammu and Kashmir: Additional funding of Rs. 8000 crore for road projects Prakash-Paryvaran-Paryatan (Energy, Environment and Tourism) will be given a boost in Ladakh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid the foundation stone for the Leh-Kargil-Srinagar power transmission line, at Leh. This 245 km long transmission line will be built at a cost of Rs. 1788 crore. Shri Narendra Modi also dedicated to the nation the 45 MW installed capacity Nimmo Bazgo hydroelectric power project on the River Indus. Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said these projects will connect Ladakh, and the state of Jammu and Kashmir with the other parts of the country through energy. Addressing the large number of people gathered at the venue, the Prime Minister said these timeless peaks of Ladakh would have witnessed such a mammoth gathering of people after a very long time. He said he is well-acquainted with the love, affection and strength of the people of Ladakh. He said he would return the love that the people of Ladakh have showered on him over the years, now that he has a chance to serve them as the Prime Minister. This would enable Ladakh to join the mainstream of national development. He said there was a time when Prime Ministers would not visit the state for several years. "But I have come here twice in two months - it is your love which draws me here." He said "prakash (energy), paryavaran (environment) aur paryatan (tourism)" of Ladakh are such a strength that not just Jammu and Kashmir - the entire nation will benefit from it. Energy (prakash) from here will dispel darkness, save the environment and help attract tourism. The Prime Minister said the Ladakh has tremendous potential for solar energy and his Government is committed to developing a solar energy park here. He said Ladakh would soon produce all its energy needs. (swayam prakashit roshni). Stating that in the past, there was an issue between the Centre and State governments over a sum of Rs. 60 crore, for the solar project, the Prime Minister announced a waiver for this amount. Stressing on infrastructure for the nation`s development, the Prime Minister said he wants to connect all parts of the country through rail, road, telephone, power. He said his idea of development was to bring about a change in the lives of common people. Talking of the development strategy of Himalayan states, he said the natural resources of this area can help build a development model for the entire country. The Government is committed to boosting tourism in all parts of the country including Jammu and Kashmir. He said a series of announcements for development of the Himalayan states have been made in the budget. These include organic farming - for which we will provide a global market. This will boost the incomes of farmers in rural areas. A research institute for conservation of the natural and environmental resources of the Himalayas would be established. He said saffron cultivation would be given a big boost in the state. A new unit for saffron will be established in Spices Development Board for this purpose. Saying Pashmina is the pride of Jammu and Kashmir, the Prime Minister said a special scheme will be launched to enhance the skill of Pashmina producers and craftsmen. The Prime Minister said 4 important road projects were conceived for the state in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s tenure. However, these projects witnessed cost escalation, which neither the Centre nor the State was willing to bear. He announced an additional funding of Rs. 8000 crore from the Centre, for these projects. He said his Government is committed to providing power and water, not just for industries, but also to make a difference in the lives of ordinary people, and help in skill development of the youth. In this context he said, there is no dearth of funds for development, but a lot of funds are lost in corruption. Therefore, he said, his Government would fight corruption with full force. The Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Shri N.N. Vohra, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Shri Omar Abdullah, the MoS(i/c) for Power, Shri Piyush Goyal, were present on the occasion.

PM's address at the Outstanding Parliamentary Awards Function

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted the importance of the combination of three qualities "Netritva, Kartutva, Vaktutva" - Leadership, Action and Speech - as essential in the making of an Outstanding Parliamentarian. Addressing the Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards function at the Balyogi Auditorium in Parliament Library today, the Prime Minister urged the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to convene a meeting of Speakers of all Vidhan Sabhas, so that the practice of awarding outstanding legislators could be extended to the states as well. Complimenting the three award winners - Shri Arun Jaitley, Shri Karan Singh and Shri Sharad Yadav - for their contribution to Parliament, the Prime Minister hoped that younger MPs would learn from the examples set by them. The Prime Minister said the country is looking at Parliament with a lot of hope, adding that it may also be worthwhile to conduct a survey among the people as to how they judged a particular session of Parliament. This may be an eye-opener, the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister regretted the decline of the use of wit and humour in the proceedings of Parliament in recent years.