aroos • m1r co ours

Vijay Koul's pie bounces into first place at the Canberra Times Autumn Photography Comp

~DHANYA SAMUEL ' oCanber raand

DKashm ir have any thing in co mm on? They do, according to CSIRO scientist, Vijay Koul who won the 1irst prize in the Ca11bQ1Ta

Ti111es Autumn Photography

Competition, 2014. Koul's w inning click, was p icked out from more than 400 entties, is a shot of a bunch of kangaroos grazing peacefully amidst the brea duaking ora nge and red hues of the spectacular Canberra au n1mn.

A native of Kashmir, Koul has been living in Australia with his family for the past 21 years. Re is a scientist working with the Bush Fire Research Grou p of CSIRO.

Koul said that cbe beauty and magnificence of the changing seasons of Canberra, especially the spring and autumn colours, were h ighly reminiscent of bi s homeland, Kashmir, which is often referred to as Paradise on Earth for its breathtaking beauty

This is the second time Koul bas entered th is photography co m petitio n. Last yea r, he cook part in the CaJJherm Times W'inrer Competition 2013; his picture was shore- listed to be pub lished bur did not win the title.

Photography has always been Koul's passion, but this interest took flight when he began work with CSlRO, as he regularlr capmres p hotographs of his experi m ents Even this winni ng picture was shot as he was finishing work in a nearby CSIRO lab

"I looked outs ide my window and saw tbe beautiful aun1mn sunset, ccees, kangaroos; luckily I had my camera wi th me, so jumped over the fence and clicked the shot," he said of hi s winning photo

And when he is n m working, he also enjoys shooting for weddings, birthdays and community-related e\Tents for fr iends and family. A t the moment, Koul said tba t he is not thinking o f turning his passion in to a profession, due to work and famil y commitments, but he is keeping tl1e avenues open

Kou] shoots these captivating images using a Penta., with Sigma zoom lenses 18-200mm and 70300111111. He told Tndio11 Link tl1at he prefers not to use any photoedi ting soft\va.re and if he must, he uses the softwa re provided by P en tax He does not believe in fa nc y camera equipment, bu t rather in the creative eye when it comes to capturing beautifol shots.

"It is always best rouse automode cill one is confide n t before migrating to manual focus," is Koul's advice for photograp hy encbusias t s and wannabe professionals. lt is important co have an in -depth und erstanding of shutter speed and ap erture when using manual m ode He also mentioned ch at a good way of learning and broadening knowledge is co refer to good journals, books and magazines d edicated to photography. Digital Photograpqyfor D11111111ies and Digital II.R Camem ,mdPhotograph.rjor

Dum111ies by David. D. Bush a.re the t\vo books chat Kou! would suggest for novices with a pass ion for phorography.

For those into ttavel photography, Koul's advice would be to invest in a good camera, a couple of SD cards and spa.re batteries "Go ahead and click as many pictures as you like; you can always de lete the bad o n es," he explai ned. "And also remember the best tin1e for capturing good photographs is during tl1e magic or golden hom which is one hour after sunrise and one hour before sw1set"

He also points out the benefit of us ing a wide angle for capn1ring landscapes.

Re said that the scope and potential for growth in the field of nature imd travel photography is immense, as Australia has man y scenic location s and breathtaking namral beauty. He also mentioned that tl1e scope for event photographers is al so huge owing to the lal'ge Indian population bere.

Koul is curre ntly in the process of p roducing a photographic book capturing the spe ctacular scenery of the spring and autumn seasons of Canberra. A project very close to hi.s heart, be says this book will be h is dedication co

Canberra and to i ts breathtaking natural beauty during these seasons.

To i nteract wicb Koul and catch a glimpse of his amazing work; ,risic www.fa.cebook com/vkoul

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The Vatican announces its cricket team: From left, Deepak Anto from India, captain Anthony Currerfrom England, and Ajeesh George, Davidson Jestus and Pratheesh Thomas are part ofthe St Peter's cricket team, made up largely of Indian and Sri Lankan priests, deacons and seminarians studying in Rome. The new team is going on its first tour in September, playing an Anglican squad at the Kent County Cricket Club and the royal household's XI at Windsor. The "Light of Faith Tour " aims to forge greater ties between the Catholic and Anglican churches, which split in 1534 after English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment

Government claims that Indians in captivity in Iraq are safe

According to [be government, Indians held captive by suspected Sunni militants in the Iraq town of Mosul are unharmed - even as efforts continue to secure their release from their abducrors in the vio lence- hit Gulf country.

External affairs ministry spokesperson

Syed Akbaruddin told reporrers that efforts were bei ng made to m ove lndiam out con Aict zones in Iraq,

He said the government's information flow has improved and is enabling more efficient channels of information transmission.

"O n tl1e diplomatic front, o ur efforts are conlinuing both in Iraq and out~ide. Our initiatives are gaining impems. We are proceeding systematically and carefully Various doors are opening now; tl1ese are primarily in Iraq ar various levels, all of which are significant," he said.

Akbaruddin claimed tl1ere were about l 20 Indians in conflict zones in Iraq and 17 had moved ouL

"Seventeen L1dians have been removed from tl1e conflict zone. \'(/e are working to ensure th at resr of the Indian nationals in conflict zones are moved out of there,'' he said

Asked if there was real danger of the 39 abducted Indians being used as a shield , he claimed there was "no safety in captivity"

"'~/e are every day trying co obtain information, corroborate informatiorr and confirm information. Based on that, I can confirm they remain Lmharmed as of now," Akbaruddin stated.

Ir is understood tl1at Inrua i s in touch wirh countries in the region like Saudi Arabia to urge them to assist in freeing tl1e captives.

The Indians, w h o belong mostly to Punjab and Harya na, were worki n g in Mosul as construction workers, drivers or sanitary workers. Suspec ted militants of the Islamic State o f Iraq and the Levanr (ISIL), \vl10 have overnm large parts of northern Irnq and ralken over Mosul and Tikrit, abducted the wo r kers arow1d a week ago

Acco rding to Akbaruddin, the 46 Indian nurses in Tikrit are also safe. He sa id the safety and secu1:ity of Indians in Iraq .remained a matter of priority for the government.

"\Ve have received 120 requests in Baghdad and 300 at our control room in New Delhi for assistance of various types," he said. Some of tl1e requests may, however, be duplication, he added.

Akbaruddin said there were more than 10,000 Indians in 1raq and the remrn of chose not in the conflict zones would be on n ormal contractual terms. He claimed there were 12 major companies where Indians were working and me company with ilie largest presence of Indians, around 2,500, was in Najaf. Several Indians wanted to return and tl1e lndian governmem is also in touch witl1 the companies that bad sent them to Iraq to work

On reports of d1e death of an Indian, he said tl1ere was no infmmation from d1e concerned company about the possibili ty of an L1dian worker in southern lraq who may have succum bed to a heart attack

"\Vhen I checked tl1ar up, tl1ey (the Indian mission] hadn't yet got confirmation from me concerned compan y It is possible tl1at the compan y is completing tl1eir procedures at their end befo re d1ey come to us Bur should this unformnate event have taken place, we will assist the return of the mortal remains of tl1ar lndian national in accordance with the standard procedure," Akbaruddin said.

Officials stared tl1ar requests for assistance from lnruan nationals in Iraq were being constantly addressed. The lnclian mission will h elp me wo r kers co obtain passports ro retutn, as the employers would have taken their passports away under the Iraqi labour laws.

The ' Phoren' dream results in Iraq misery

l'romised a good life in rich havens like Dubai, Kuwait and Jordan, hordes of gullible you tl1 from Punjab and Haryana have been manipulated by trave l agents and in country associates to work in m iserable conditions in conAict- rorn Iraq.

Witl1 tl1e number of people stnck in l raq due the recent sectarian flare-up, rising to nearly 700, tl1e o ld sto ry of failed "phoren (foreign) dreams" and lost big bucks is bei n g retold

"Many youth are promised jobs in Dubai , Kuwait and Jordan but tl1ey are taken by t he travel agents to Iraq instead. Once tl1e you th reach tl1ere, they do nor have the option of returning. le is a mi se rable trap. Tbe youd1 spend fakhs of rupees of hard earned money or sell land to go abroad, and end up in a Life of hell," said Paramjit Singh, who renu:ned from Iraq after working there for over two years.

Bhagwant Mann, the Aam Aadmi Parry (AAP ) Lok Sabha member from Sangrnr, has taken to social media and set up a helpline to reach our to youths stranded in Iraq and also help connect tl1em co [heir families in Punjab.

He said the actual number of people from Ptmjab stuck in Iraq could be much higher than 700.

" Though 1 don't have tl1e actual figure,

I am to ld tl1ar up to 4,000 Indians, mostly l'unjabis, are stuck in Iraq," Mann said

"Jvfajority of the youth are taken ro Dubai, Jordan and Kuwait and then sold off [0 companies in Iraq," he added.

The Punjab government has alreadr submitted a list of 5 1 4 people from Punjab who are stranded in lraq.

Go ing abroad is a common fad among youtl1s from Punjab, especially in the Doaba region. (the area between Sutlej and Beas rivers) comprising the district~ of Jalandhar, Hoshiaipur, Shahr and Kapurthala.

"Rural youtl1s and also mose from smaller towns just want to go abroad by any means. Ther see no future and employment for memselves in Punjab. Despite big promises, the Pw1jab government does little for mem The levels of frustration are high," said Samain Singh, a Jalandhar-based travel agent.

The unscrupu lous travel agents rake advantage of th is situation and exploit such youth. They swindle them of lakhs of rupees and dump them in cmmtries like Iraq," be said.

According to reports, militants have taken hostage 40 Indians, mostl y Punjabis, in Iraq's Mosul town. Their fate is unknown since they were abducted The families of the men snic k in Iraq, who are mostly poor or lower m iddle class, say mey can only hope for the return of their loved o n es

"We don't have the resources or money to ger tl1em back. We want our boys back," said Baldev Singh , a relative of o n e of tl1e youths held hostage in Iraq.

The story of and two others, who we re taken hostage in Iraq nearly a decade ago, is still fresh in the minds of people but that has hardly d eterred youth s from riski ng everyth ing ro go co M idd le Eastern countries such as Iraq.

The family of Antaryami, who live in a village in Himachal PraJesh's U na district, adjoining l'unjab's Hoshiarpur district, wants ro keep away from d1e media glare ar rl1is time, when the hostage crisis is being repeated wi t h otl1er youths from Punjab.

Ancaryami him self drives a truck and has nor worked on foreign shores si nce.

India launches five foreign satellites, Modi wants one for SAARC

India placed in orbit five foreign satellites on June 30, prompting a cal.I from Prime Mini ste r arendra Modi ro develop a SAARC satellite to be " dedicated to our neighbourhood as a gift fro m India".

''Truly, dus is a global endorsement of India's space capabilities," said Modi, who app.lauded as the Polar Satelli te Launch Vehicle-C23 - 44.4 metres tall and weighing 230 tonnes - tore into rhe sky wirl1 orange Rames fiercel y burning at its tail

The rocket, which rook off at 9.52 a.m , was tl1e first space mission after Modi's National Democratic Alliance (NOA) government rook o ffice.

The five satellites - one each from France, Germany and Singapore and rwo from Canada - were launched under commercial arrangements that ISRO's commercial arm Antri.J, Corp en tered into witl1 the respective foreign agencies

The 20- minute launch mi ssio n turned out to be a grand success lndia had launched another French satellite SPOT-6 in 2012. The latest in the SPOT family of satellites is SPOT-7.

"Today, I ask our space communi ty to take up the challenge of developing a SAA RC satelli te that we can dedicated ro our neighbourhood, as a gift from lndia," 1vfodi said after wimessing me space mission.

"i\ sarellire that provides a full range of applications and services to all our neighbours l also ask you to enlarge the footprint of our sacellire-based navigation system to cover aU of South Asia," he said.

The rocket's main l uggage was the 714-kg French earth observation sateUite SPOT-7.

Piggybacking on it were four smaU satellites: 14-kg AlSAT of Germany; NL57 .1 (CAN -X4) and NLS7.2 (CA -XS) from Canada (each weighing 15 kg); and the 7 -kg VELOX-l of Singapore.

Around 18 minutes into the 8jgbt, che rocket first ejected its heaviest luggageSPOT-7.

The ejection. of SPOT-7 was followed by AISAT (Germany), NLS7.l, NLS7.2 (Canada) and VELOX- 1 (Singapore). Modi sa id, "We have placed five satellites inro their orbits 660 km above the Earth. lndia's advanced space programme puts her in an elite globa l group of 5-6 countries. This is one domain in which we are at the international cutting edge. A domain in which we have pushed beyond mediocrity to achieve eJtceUence. We have launched satellites of advanced nations. PSLV itself has launched 67 satellites; of which 40 have been foreign satellites, coming from 19 countries. Even today's satellites are all from developed nations - France, Canada, Germany and S ingapore"

He added chat inspired by the vision of former prime minister Aral Bihari Vajpayee, "we have sent a mission to the moon".

"Another is on its way to Mars as we speak 'vi/e have also developed our own satellitebased navigation system l am told this will be fully deployed by 2015".

Starting &om 1999, India bas launched 35 foreign satellites till date using its PSLV rocket. The successful launch of five satellites l\fonday takes the tally to 40.

India bewin its space journey in 1975 with the .launch of Aryabhatra using a Russian rocket. It has completed over 100 space mi~sioos including missions ro moon and mars

Indian scientists tap into geoinformatics for mapping natural hazards

Uttarakhand is yet to recover from the massive rain -triggered Aoods that left thousands dead last )7ear and exposed the gaps in disaster management strategies. Now Indian scientists have devised sophisticated satellite- based and computer-centric technologies to map potential natural hazards to aid in disaster mitigation.

Geoinformatic tools (the application of technology to geographi cal sciences) such as remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) were successfully pm to use by researchers at the Jadavpur Universiry's School of Oceanograpby bere to scientifically analyse and prepare zonation maps of Bihar.

The proceclw:e, which can be extendecl to the entire coLmtry, was used to map earthquakes, Roods and droughts and an emerging environmental pbeuomenonurban heat islands

"This study reveals rhe actual zonarion of different natural hazards on the basis of which the policy makers can formulate future p lans. It can be a pathway for making such efforts for every ind ividual state ru1d then compiled together as a country report,

Tuhi n Ghosh, joint director of Jadavpur U niversity's School of Oceanographic Studies, told !ANS.

"le can be charted for various climate zones too," be added.

The report, citied 1 atural Hazard Zonation of Bi har (India) Using Geoiuformarics: A Schen1atic Approach' , can be read in Springer's Briefs in the Earth Sciences' series of publications.

Though previous attempts were made for similar studies, Ghosh contended the report compiled by him and researcher Anirban Mukopadhyay is the first to put all the dataof intensity and distribution of hazards - on a common p latfo r m, chat is, GIS

GIS is a computer system that integrates, stores and analyses geographical data for informed decision-making, while remote sensing, with the help of open source (free ly available) satellite data and sensors, can help one identify, locate and measure objects without coming in direct contact with them.

In addition, these systems save time, are cost-effective and need less human resources when compared to physical surveys for b ig areas, for examp le, while developing statewide reports, said Ghosh.

Lauding the project, environmentalist

P. K. Joshi, who bas expertise in RS and G rs, said d1e information gleaned from a blend of such zonation data, witl1 inpurs from governmental agencies (like the Indian Jvleteorological Department) ru1d nongovernmental agencies can be conveyed directly tO the people through ceU phones that are nowadays geoinformatics-enabled.

Though geoinformatics encompass all the analysis done by Thill, there is a definite edge in mapping hazards,Joshi said.

'Ir can help in retrieval and integration of many more biophysical parameters and prov ide more robust geo-staristi cal analysis.

"Integration of other socio-economic data sets is much easier and powerful in a G rs environment: which can directly feed the policy and decision makers," Joshi, head and professor, Department of Natural Resources at New DeUli's The Energy and Resources Jnstinite (TERI) UniversiLy, told JANS lo addition, GIS is a "hand y cool" for administrators to comprehend the spatial dimension of hazards, according to Chru1dan Ghosh, professor and head, Geo Hazards, at New Delhi's National institute of Disas ter Management (NIDJ\1)

'1c could guide iu rescue efforts in d isasters of huge proportions, like Urtarakhand," be added.

And if tl1ese maps, in. scaled-down and detailed versions, are made available to disa:ict administrators, they can facilitate easy identification of roads and landmarks while planning for rescue operations, Chru1dan Ghosh reckoned.

"From such studies, what is needed cbe most i s the preparation of 'live inundation map' or 'computer anin1ation of virtual flood situation using rainfall and water flowing from adjoi1ling water bodies',"

Chandan Ghosh said, adding ir could enable officials to visualise a near-real situation of Roods and help in marking danger and safe zones.

.At rhe heart of the matter and for large-scale polic y making, there is a pressing need for a change in mindsets and accepting and adopting new vistas for efficient: disaster management.

" Continuous study, analysis, formulation and updating of hazard. zonation can

The Rani- ki- Vav (Queen's) stepwe/1, on the banks of the Saraswati River in western Pata n, some 120 kms from Ahmedabad, has been granted UNESCO World Heritage status maxinlise d1e preparedness strategy and minimise the cost and effort therein. Also, awareness and capacity-building regarding potential namral hazards in every level of stakeholder in the governance, society and industry are iu1portant," said Tub.in Gbosh.

SRK conferred France's highest honour

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius conferred his country's llighest awardKnight of the Legion of Honour - on Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in recognition of llis ourstancling contribution to cultural divers ity across tl1e world.

The function was held at the Taj Mahal Palace boceJ in Mumbai on 1 July.

"There are different moments in life d1at make you feel d1at you are on the rigbr crack and ch is is one such moment. I am truly humbled to receive this honour," said Shah Rukh, thanking French President Francois HoUande and Foreign Minister Fabius for finding him "firring for d1is honour".

"l am a part of the Indian film fraternity and it makes me feel proud. to be recognised for die field l am most passionate abom This honour has furtl1er motivated to take Indian cinema to d1e next level of acceptance, love and g lory. And thank you France for being so l oving and appreciative of Indian films, it's extremely encouraging," he said.

Created. in 1802 by Napo leon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honour is the llighest award given by rhe France for ourstru1ding service ro tl1e country, regardless of tl1e nationality of d1e recipients.

Northeast to have air ambulances soon

Patients from difficult- to-access locations in the landlocked northeastern s tares can heave a sigh of relief, a s a Guwahati -based hospital is plru11ling to launch air ambulance services ro ferr y patients from across the region.

The Guwahati Neurological Research Centre (GNRC) unveiled a plan to launch air ambulance and medical outread1 programme using helicopters to remore areas of all d1e eight northeastern state - Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, "iv[rulipur, ]\,fizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sil<lci.m.

"Doctors from GNRC will be ferried to difficult-to -access locati o ns across the 1·egion and provide doorstep medical support to the people," said neurologist Noma! Chandra Borah of GNR.C Hospitals Led.

Once started, the air ambulance service will be the first of its kind in d1e region. GNRC was founded by Borah iu 1985. lt was the first super specialty heald1care cena·e in nord1east India and presently operates three hospitals offering over 500 beds.

The hospital serves people of Assam, the other northeastern states as well as the neighboring southeast Asian countries of l epal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myruu·uar.

Boral1 said GNRC was recently chosen by the World Bank ro receive a grant of $150,000

"We intend co set up 10 more hospita ls in the region and beyond, witl1in the next five years," he said. IANS