Nano car drives into Guinness World Records

BANGALORE: Tata Motors' small car Nano entered the Guinness World Records for driving on a longest journey covering the entire country, the company said on Monday.

"The expedition was accomplished in 10 days (March 21-30) covering 10,218 km in a Tata Nano from Kanyakumari in southern Tamil Nadu to circumnavigate the country and return to Bangalore," Tata Motors president Ranjit Yadav said at an event held here.

The car entered the Guinness World Records, breaking the previous record of 8,046 km.

The car was driven by city-based motoring enthusiast Srikarunya Subrahmanyam and his team.

"Tata Nano has put India on the world motoring map by demonstrating its robustness, reliability and frugal engineering. We will encourage motor expeditions to enable customers experience the brand's value," Yadav said.

India's first Formula One motor racing driver Narain Karthikeyan felicitated Subrahmanyam and the team for the record achievement on the occasion.

Karthikeyan also released a book 'Atop the World' authored by Thomas Chacko, a 63-year-old Kochi-based motoring enthusiast who accomplished a 78-day long national expedition driving in a Nano across the country in July 2012.

"I have seen a new breed of traveller emerge, one who has a streak of adventure and passion for motoring. I have known people who have driven long distances for the fun of it despite the option of taking a flight or a train being always there. This is the spirit that encourages enthusiasts like Srikarunya and Thomas to overcome challenges of driving long distances," Karthikeyan said.

3 cooks saved 100 pilgrims from dying of starvation

INDORE: At a time when some state governments selectively helped and airlifted pilgrims of their state from flood-landslide torn Uttarakhand, three young cooks and sweet makers from Madhya Pradesh and Delhi exemplified unity and integrity in troubled times.

Forming part of an 81-strong group of pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh, including Indore, Rewa and Guna, the three young cooks Virendra Thakur (Sagar), Gal Bahadur Singh (Satna) and Hari Om (Delhi) not only ensured timely succor to their group members, but also prevented 50-100 pilgrims from other states, from being starved to death in the jungles near Mussoorie.

The group coordinated by a tour and travel operator from Indore, after offering prayers at Yamunotri shrine managed to climb down to a place near Mussoorie and erected a camp by themselves between June 17 and June 19.

"The trio started a big kitchen at the camp to ensure timely breakfast, lunch and dinner to the entire group, that had not eaten anything for two days," a member of the group Ravi Chauhan told TOI.

Chauhan, a native of Indore's Veena Nagar locality, who returned home with 23 other Indoreans (forming the group) on Tuesday, recounted that just when the big kitchen was started by the three young cooks, out of the provision which the group took along with it, the group came across 50-100 pilgrims from other states stranded in nearby jungles.

"These pilgrims (including children) hailing from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and UP, besides Chatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh were hungry and thirsty for at least three days and were virtually begging for food and water. Even before we could decide on how to help these pilgrims, the three cooks sprung into action," Chauhan added.

With the consent of the group from Madhya Pradesh, the cooks opened a totally free of cost bhandara for the other pilgrims, serving them timely lunch and dinner.

"Overwhelmed by their spirit, the members of the group even skipped one time food to ensure that our group as well as other pilgrims were served proper lunch and dinner from June 18 to June 20, before the army men came to the rescue of the stranded pilgrims," Chauhan reminisced.

The pilgrims, particularly those from Gujarat, included many wealthy families who had turned into virtual beggars, after having lost their vehicles and valuables in the flood and landslide were ready to got to any extent to save themselves from being starved to death.

Nasa to partner Isro in India's Mars mission

MUMBAI: The US would support India in its much-awaited Rs 450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) slated for lift off from Sriharikota in October-November 2013.

"Nasa is providing the deep space navigation and tracking support to this mission during the non-visible period of the Indian Deep Space Network," said a US state department announcement.

The decision to cooperate was taken at the fourth meeting of the US-India joint working group on civil space co-operation held in Washington on March 21. But the details of the meeting were made public on Monday through the US-India joint fact sheet. Its release coincided with the Indo-US Strategic dialogue, and the talks between Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan and Nasa administrator Charles Bolden in New Delhi.

Nasa will provide support from its facilities at Goldstone in the US, Madrid in Spain and Canberra in Australia.

The teaming up for the Mars mission assumes significance in the context of Bolden calling for strengthened co-operation in this programme, when he addressed Isro staffers nationwide on Tuesday afternoon from the Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre.

The American state department document also stated that both countries have "agreed to co-operate in potential future missions to the moon and Mars".

Isro officials have not ruled out a second mission to Mars, which they said will have more scientific content. TOI has also learnt that Nasa was keen on participating with Isro in the analysis of data from the Methane Sensor For Mars, which is one of the five instruments on board the present Indian Mars orbiter.

But Isro has not given any firm response so far.

Nasa discovers ten thousandth near-Earth object in space

WASHINGTON: Nasa has discovered the 10,000th near-Earth object (NEO) that could pass close to our planet in the future.

The 10,000th near-Earth object, asteroid 2013 MZ5, was first detected on the night of June 18, 2013, using Pan-Starrs-1 telescope in Hawaii, located on the 3,000-meter summit of the Haleakala crater.

Ninety-eight per cent of all near-Earth objects discovered were first detected by Nasa-supported surveys, the US space agency claimed.

"Finding 10,000 near-Earth objects is a significant milestone," said Lindley Johnson, programme executive for Nasa's near-Earth Object Observations Programme at Nasa Headquarters, Washington.

"But there are at least 10 times that many more to be found before we can be assured we will have found any and all that could impact and do significant harm to the citizens of Earth," Johnson said.

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that can approach the Earth's orbital distance to within about 45 million kilometres.

They range in size from as small as a few feet to as large as 41 kilometres for the largest near-Earth asteroid, 1036 Ganymed.

Asteroid 2013 MZ5 is approximately 300 meters across. Its orbit is well understood and will not approach close enough to Earth to be considered potentially hazardous.

"The first near-Earth object was discovered in 1898," said Don Yeomans, long-time manager of Nasa's near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Of the 10,000 discoveries, roughly 10 per cent are larger than six-tenths of one kilometre in size - roughly the size that could produce global consequences should one impact the Earth.

However, the Nasa's NEOO programme has found that none of these larger NEOs currently pose an impact threat and probably only a few dozen more of these large NEOs remain undiscovered.

The vast majority of NEOs are smaller than one kilometre, with the number of objects of a particular size increasing as their sizes decrease, Nasa said.

A NEO hitting Earth would need to be about 30 meters or larger to cause significant devastation in populated areas. Almost 30 per cent of the 460-foot-sized NEOs have been found, but less than one per cent of the 100-foot-sized NEOs have been detected.

2 Smartphone apps developed at Kochi's Startup Village among 10 best

Kochi: Two smartphone applications developed by firms at Kochi's Startup Village have been named among the 10 best apps designed for the security of women, by IT industry body NASSCOM.

Sentinel developed by MindHelix Technosol Pvt Ltd and iFollow from Aucupa Innovative Solutions were among winners of NASSCOM’s first all-India App Fame Contest to search for mobile tools to aid personal safety of women and to help deal with emergencies, a press release said.

Sentinel is a GPS-based application developed by MindHelix for Android devices and iPhone. It can make SOS calls and send text alerts and emails with location information to pre-saved emergency numbers and IDs at the touch of a button.

The application works even in situations where the user is unable to trigger the alert manually or the phone is destroyed or there is no internet access. It can be downloaded for free from Google Play and the App store.

Aucupa's iFollow is an Android app that automatically dials voice calls to emergency contacts pre-configured on the device.It is activated if the phone is shaken continuously for five seconds, and on standby works silently in the background to reduce power consumption and CPU usage. iFollow is also a free application that can be downloaded from Google Play.

MindHelix and Aucupa are both fledgling companies incubating at Startup Village. The latest award follows a series of honours and recognition for products and services developed by young innovators at India’s first telecom technology incubator.

NASSCOM’s App Fame Contest received entries from around the country. The awards were presented at a function in Delhi on June 19. 

Braveheart from Jaipur travels to rain-ravaged Uttarakhand to help victims

JAIPUR: He is a habitual rescuer. Be it serial blasts or a fire incident, 35-year-old AbhishekPandit is the most sought after person by the fire department and the Jaipur police. This time Abhishek along with a 50-member team of volunteers rushed to Dehradun on June 18. He is still there to help the stranded people. Likewise, many others volunteers from Jaipur have gone to Rishikesh irrespective of the fact that they have no relative trapped there.

On June 11, 2011, when a house-cum-chemical factory caught fire in the Walled City, Abhishek arrived on the scene within minutes and rescued three women trapped inside the compound. He was even felicitated by the Jaipur police and civil defence team for his work.

"I was going through the reports of devastation at Gauri Ghat, Kedarnath, Badrinath and other temples. On June 18 I packed my bags and rushed to Rishikesh to help the victims. Later I went to a few villages which had witnessed heavy destruction," said Abhishek, a native of Baba Harish Chandra Marg in the Walled City over phone from Dehradun.

He is with a team of 50 youngsters who have gone with relief material including blankets, biscuit packets, water bottles and first-aid boxes.

"We are in touch with the Army and are urging them to take us in the rescue teams. I have shown my certificates including an appreciation letter by the government of Rajasthan. They said they don't have permission to allow civilians to participate in the rescue operation," said Abhishek.

He said that in the last couple of days the volunteers visited local hospitals in Dehradun where they supplied water, blankets, quilts and other aid to the victims.

"None of my relatives are in Uttarakhand but I know at this time any kind of help and work can help the government authorities here who are engaged in the rescue work," he said.

Bangalore-Mysore highway to be upgraded to six lane

BANGALORE: The state government plans to upgrade the existing 4-lane Bangalore-Mysore highway to 6-lane road.

Public works minister H C Mahadevappa on Monday maintained that upgrading of Mysore-Bangalore road to 6-lane was being actively considered. "Everyday, about 70,000 vehicles use this road and the existing 4-lane is not sufficient to carry that big traffic," he said. The PWD official said the government was in process of land acquisition for the 6-lane. The proposal will be placed before the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), he said.

The minister said the the toll collection on state highways is being done only in few places and it would be extended to at least seven other highways soon. "Toll collection was necessary for maintenance of the roads," he said. In the wake of complaints from the road users that toll was on higher side, Mahadevappa said he would review the collection in those highways.

The minister also said the government will review the allotment of 600 acres of excess land to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) around Bangalore. In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the state government has admitted that it had allotted 600 acres excess land to NICE.