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This Kerala startup is building drones that can see through the rubble
This Kerala startup is building drones that can see through the rubble

New Indian Express

time15-07-2025

  • Science
  • New Indian Express

This Kerala startup is building drones that can see through the rubble

To help realise that goal, Augsenselab recently raised USD 0.5 million in pre-seed funding from Emul Tek Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Solar Industries India Ltd. The company is also in advanced talks with iDEX, the Ministry of Defence's innovation arm, to build prototypes for national defence and disaster management. But the founders are clear-eyed about the timeline. 'This is an aerospace-grade product. It's a deep R&D effort that takes time,' says Kannan. 'Getting from TRL-4 to TRL-8 and making a deployable product will take at least four years. We're building for the long haul.' Meanwhile, Augsenselab is also developing hyper-local weather prediction systems, which could transform early warning efforts in a state like Kerala, where most landslides are triggered by cloudbursts. 'IMD forecasts are too broad. We want to say: not just Kochi, but Kaloor will face a cloudburst at 3 pm,' says Naveen. Their atmospheric profiling tech measures minute changes in the air's refractive index, allowing pinpoint accuracy. A pilot project is underway in Kerala, funded by K-DISC and deployed by the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA). The data is also being used in a landslide prediction model developed by IIT Roorkee. 'If we can detect a cloudburst early, we can issue warnings with hours of lead time,' says Kannan. 'We've deployed test systems in zones like Kannichira near Kottiyoor in Kannur.'

CBI takes over Ajith probe; invokes murder charge against five cops
CBI takes over Ajith probe; invokes murder charge against five cops

New Indian Express

time13-07-2025

  • New Indian Express

CBI takes over Ajith probe; invokes murder charge against five cops

MADURAI: The CBI on Saturday registered a case against police personnel in connection with the alleged custodial death of B Ajitkumar, a security guard at the Bhadrakaliamman Temple in Thiruppuvanam in Sivaganga district. The CBI registered the case under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and has officially taken over the investigation. According to the FIR, the CBI's Special Crime Branch (Division III) of New Delhi registered the case under Section 103 of BNS for an incident that occurred on June 28 near the cowshed behind the Madapuram temple office in Sivaganga district. 'Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mohit Kumar, has been appointed as the Investigating Officer (IO) for the case.' The CBI's FIR includes an English translation of the initial FIR, which was based on a complaint by head constable Kannan of the Manamadurai subdivision crime team. According to Kannan, the special team was acting on instructions from DSP, Manamadurai, to take Ajitkumar into custody for the theft of 9.5 sovereigns of gold jewels and `2,500 cash from JP Nikita's vehicle. On June 27, around 9.30 pm, they took Ajitkumar into custody. Based on his confession, the roles of Arun (who parked the car), Naveenkumar (his brother), Dhinakaran (who brought the car back), Logeswaran, and his friends Pravin and Vinoth were investigated, but all denied their involvement in the theft.

CAG's study highlights the need for Road Safety Action Plan
CAG's study highlights the need for Road Safety Action Plan

The Hindu

time09-07-2025

  • Automotive
  • The Hindu

CAG's study highlights the need for Road Safety Action Plan

Stories From The Road The State, once the forerunner for road safety in the country as it promulgated the Tamil Nadu Road Safety Policy in 2007 even before the Central government announced a road safety policy in 2010, is languishing well behind that it has the highest road accidents registered in the country. In a recent study published by Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) titled 'Why a comprehensive Road Safety Action Plan is the Solution' it has raised concern about the increasing road accidents in the country as well as the State and the need for implementing a Road Safety Action Plan. The study which was done by researcher Sowmya Kannan called for an action plan to be executed for a time-bound, practical and goal-oriented road map to reduce the road accidents and the fatalities. Ms. Sowmya Kannan said while the State initiated the first Road Safety policy in the country in 2007, it has failed to update it. However the other States are fast catching up. Rajasthan has initiated a 10-year road safety action plan this year and the State has cited the road safety action plan being inspired based on Tamil Nadu's road safety initiatives. The study highlights that the State with the highest number of road accidents in the country at 64,105 and was ranked second in the number of fatalities recording 17,884 in 2022 as per the Road Accidents data 2022 published by Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Ms. Kannan wanted a road safety action plan to be adopted by the State government immediately for preventing road accidents in the State. However officials of the State government point out that already Road Safety Action Plan has been implemented based on which fatalities have been reduced. The coordinated efforts of the different departments including the officials of police personnel and State transport and road safety has resulted in 13% reduction of fatalities from road accidents compared to last year. The reduction in fatalities caused by road accidents has been due to proactive measures designed to improve traffic flow, alleviate congestion, and most importantly, reduce accidents. Director General of Police Shankar Jiwal said the coordinated efforts taken by the traffic police department along with officials of other departments have resulted in reduction of road accident fatalities by 13% from January to May of this year compared to 2024. The reduction in road accidents could be attributed to vigorous enforcement drives, speed detection devices, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras and collating of crash data from accident prone locations for rectification of black spots. The State, having recorded 8,188 fatalities due to road accidents from January to May last year, this year has been reduced to 7,130, resulting in 13% reduction. Mr. Jiwal said the State government was taking several steps to reduce road accidents as well as fatalities through a Road Safety Action plan to bring down the road accidents in which a total of 1,434 black spots have been rectified. The black spot rectification works involved roads belonging to national highway (871), state highway (488), corporation and district roads. The State police based on the accidents data registered in the State Crime Record Bureau (SCRB) portal has identified accident-prone locations whereby through field observations and surveys had been initiating hotspot rectifications of the roads under the control of National Highway and State Highway. The DGP said a total of 3,741 accident hotspots have been rectified with 2,644 hotspots rectified by the State highways department and 1,079 ameliorated by the National Highways authority. The officials conducted field surveys in 6,200 accident-prone locations in the financial year of 2022-23. With major accidents attributed to high speeding the State police department has been in the forefront to install closed circuit television (CCTV) and ANPR cameras for preventing high speed driving by motorists and to penalise through enforcement. The senior police official said a total of 22,300 CCTV and ANPR cameras have been installed under road safety finds of which 18,000 are in working condition. The rigorous enforcement measures of the six main traffic violations carried out by the State police has resulted in fining of 5,72,777 with nearly 94,000 fined for drunken driving in the five months from January to May and 15 lakh motorists fined for talking on the cell phones while driving. The fines were collected from 2022 to May this year.

Contested Childhoods wins award
Contested Childhoods wins award

The Hindu

time09-07-2025

  • General
  • The Hindu

Contested Childhoods wins award

The book Contested Childhoods: Caste and Education in Kerala, penned by Divya Kannan has won the best book prize for 2024 on the history of children. The award was given by the Society for the History of Children and Youth. Ms. Kannan is currently an Assistant Professor in Department of History and Archaeology, Shiv Nadar-University Delhi-NCR. She did her BA History at Lady Shri Ram College (University of Delhi), and her post graduation and PhD at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Contested Childhoods is based on her doctoral dissertation. She is the daughter of economist K.P. Kannan and Shobhana Kannan.

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